Spring is here!

Our tulips are (finally) starting to bloom! Huzzah!

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(Not that I've taken any pictures yet. These are last year's tulips, in

the hands of last year's non-mobile still-baby.)

When Is Too Much Of A Good Thing?

In the fall of 2006, the man & I had a lovely long weekend in New York. It was an add-on - he had a conference in Philly, so it was basically free. Yay free! I made a point of stopping by a couple yarn stores in Philadelphia & NY. In Philly, I learned the importance of insisting on going yarn stores by myself, or at least not going with non-knitting acquaintances. My non-knitting friends & family love & understand me; and they'll usually wander off to find a coffee, or something. My enjoyment of Philly's yarn store was somewhat trammelled; although it was a good lesson. Last fall, In San Francisco, I knew enough to insist (almost to the point of rudeness) that I really was fine walking 12 blocks over to the yarn store, and that I really would prefer to go by myself, and I wasn't afraid, & I didn't want company, and really, Let Me Go By Myself. And it was a good thing.

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But I digress. I think the yarn store in NY was the first time that the man had ever come to a YS with me, and while I was so fixated on finding the address & reading street signs that I didn't notice much else, apparently he was feeling a little uncomfortable with the yarns store's area. When we did find it, it was on a second floor, and had a buzzer you rang so that they would let you in. Maybe that's why he was so content to sit while I pawed through skein after skein. On the way out, I was so stoked from my finds that I again didn't notice anything about the area, other than maybe a lot of pawnshops with gold in their windows.

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This is some of what I got there - I fell in love. It was soft, hand-dyed, has cashmere in it, and was pretty reasonable. This is before I''d begun my knitting journals, so I don't remember how cheap, the yardage, or the fiber content. Oh well. It's still soft & pretty. It's also very fine, much finer than my usual knit.

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It's also magic. This ball has gone on for ever, and when I got clever tonite, I found that I have 7g of 43g knitted. That means that 16% of that yarn is left to knit.

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I'm discouraged. I planned to knit a scarf, out of this ball of yarn, and it's the scarf that never ends, it just goes on and on and on.... And it feels like cheating if I just cast off (even though the scarf is a lovely length), and I'm the one setting the rules (so how can I be cheating?). Despite picked this sucker up periodically and plugging away at it, it's still not close (10%) to being done. (I kept putting it down so that I wouldn't start hating it.)

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And I'm starting to hate it, just a little. I think it could sure recover from the hate with a good blocking, but... do I continue knitting, risking the hate increase? Do I cast of know, and know that forever, that little 7g ball of yarn will be snickering at me? Do I put it back into the "thinking" pile of knitting?

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Who can say. I am, for sure, going to go & tub though.

What a lovely sound...

Thank goodnesss. It's the sound of the dryer working. I was afraid that the dryer had broken, and would spin but not create heat. I am so relieved that it is my faulty brain* that didn't start the dryer, NOT the dryer itself.

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I had horrid visions of having to be on top of Am's laundry enough to have time for everything to hang dry, and her not run around naked, or looking like her father dressed her**.

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Now, if the other thing I'm worried about turns out to be (similarily) hot air, life would be great.

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PS: Keyboard has mysteriously started working again - hence the verbosity.

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*Brain, you are taking the fall for this, even though I am sure I remember turning the dryer on.

**Joke! But he doesn't like to match her socks to her shirt. And he mismatched the lid & body of her sippy cup for daycare this week. He's the engineer; he should be more OCD than I am, no? I confess, I am deeply intrigued to see how Am dresses herself once she is more autonomous.

What Showed Up Today

Well, I thought I was feeling a lack of motivation yesterday, but I guess that only applied to the office job. I was quite productive other than that. And as I drifted off, I thought "Boy! Think what I can get done tomorrow!"

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Turns out, not as much. I've been to yoga, and the bookstore. I found this at the bookstore:

I was idly reading it at the register, & just after those bad kittens get dirty & loose their clothes, this is what their mother does:

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Can you read that? "She pulled them off the wall, smacked them, and took them back to the house."

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The smacking was even illustrated. Well, for three bucks, I had to have that book - how could I not? I'm debating having those pages matted & framed. (For my room, not Am's.) (I also like that Mrs. Tabitha doesn't appear to be enjoying the smacking - this is just one more chore to be done before her friends come over for tea. I imagine she looks a bit the same beating rugs.)

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I forgot to get groceries,but I did get the mail. And in the heaping piles of blah, mundane mail, I found this:

(Note heaping piles of blah mundane mail in background.)

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Guess what it is & where it's from?

(Hint:)

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Yes, our very own postcard from Ethiopia. Hand painted imagery of Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednigo, with Angel, on goatskin.* Have you ever received a goatskin postcard? I felt very special, & a little like washing my hands &mentally apologizing to all the postal workers who are weekend animal rights activists & unknowingly touched that. (There had to be at least one, eh?)

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Then I had lunch, then a nap. I woke up because Kitten was valiantly defending the basement window from a neighbourhood cat. The fight was quite raucous, despite the panes of glass, as the outside contestant was launching off a swinging chair that kept banging into the house, & Kitten's corner was actually behind A's toy organizer, so it was banging & bonging too. Poor Kitten. He's trying to be a good cat, and he's really improved, except that he still insists on chewing large holes into our good furniture. I'm torn between sending him back (an actual option for this cat, unlike with children), and just wincing, & hoping he doesn't go after the new loveseat.

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(Actual scene of couch violence. He's chewed through the fabric & stuffing, right down to the wood. Which he also gnawed on. And yes, we've tried many, many deterrents, none of which work. This cat is the most stubborn thing I've ever met. He's Manx crossed with Siamese.)

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I'm also torn between sewing & trying to rescue my room from the mess it's becoming - I keep pulling non-pregnancy compatible clothing into piles, and really, we're getting a little swamped. But I'd rather sew. So instead, I am blogging. A reasonable compromise, no?

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All right, I'm going to go & carry on with something.

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*S____, I know that sentence is a little goofy, but I like the mental image of the three brothers & the angel all lolling about on goatskin pillows. I almost like it better than the bible story, with the furnace & the faith & all. I bet the lollers had iced pomegranates & chilled fruit slushes to drink. (Also, spellcheck makes them into Messiah, Matriarch, & Abidingly.)

Shawl That Counting

So, I’ve cast on for Shawl That Jazz. The yarn I’m using is finer, as I believe I’ve mentioned, and I ordered heaps & piles more.

(Me, preening with the newly delivered yarn.)

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I got all mathematical about the difference in gauge – I knit a swatch I liked the hand of, then I reverse engineered the amount of stitches to cast on. I also reverse engineered the row instructions. I cast on on the way back from BC last weekend, & it’s going quite splendidly, actually. The first ball zoomed by, as has the second.

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(The colorway is call "Tulip Fields". I know the above are geraniums, but I think you'll get the vibe.)

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Thus far, my only complaint would be the fact that the balls are a little prone to yarn puke, as you might notice, off to the left. Happens when there's about a third of a ball left. And I'm afraid to stop using them as a center-pull, because what if there's a noticeable change in the color variation?

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(Or would it be noticeable? Please leave me a comment & an opinion. If you don't I'll have to ask the man - I actually can't help myself - I always ask him knitting questions* - and I know that's not fair to him.)

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The cast-on was a little perplexing - I didn't know that the e-loop cast-on was what I've always done, using my thumb, for mitten & armpit gussets. Thankfully, Gate-Gamba has the internet, so I got that sorted. I was a little leery, but it's proved lovely & not too fiddly. (It was fiddly, true, but not enough that I gave it up or put it down. I was trapped in a car, true, but I did have alternate projects.) (The secret - I think - is to wrap them right snug next to each other. Don't leave the usual space you might when casting on.)

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Today, on the train, this niggling thought finally worked ti's way to the forefront of my brain: "Do I have enough yarn?" And instead of thinking "Suuuuuuure", for some reason I started figuring out how to figure that out. I got a little uneasy, because I realized that I would end up with a stitch count for the entire shawl, & I didn't know if that was something I really needed to think about. (Kind of like contemplating contractions in your 4th month. You know you're committed, let's just not dwell on it, please.)

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I figured work would be busy enough to knock the idea clean out of my head, but no. It was slow. So I took a break, and an excel spreadsheet, & calculated as much of the shawl as I could remember the pattern for. I flinched a little when I figured out how many thousand stitches I get to a ball.

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I flinched a little more when I got home to the pattern, & finished my calculations. I'm going to try & forget that number, but, like a woman carrying her second child, thinking about dilation - it may fade a little, but I can't make that number go away.

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Oh well. Even my most wildly optimistic estimates think I have enough yarn, so I should be okay. And that (and new babies) are the happy ending, right?

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* And crossword puzzle questions too. It was so nice at Mom's this weekend, we finished a couple crosswords together.

Ha-ha! Home for a couple weeks.

The road, the road. We've been on the road. Last weekend we went west to see "Gate Gamba"; this weekend we went east to see Gran & Uncle Gorilla & Nena.

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It was a great weekend, with some pleasingly okay weather (no snow! a little sunshine!), some bbq (steak! potatoes! chicken! cheese toast!), and lots of family (Grampa stopped by the lake to see us too!).

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Amoryn was almost completely perfect; apart from climbing on top of a picnic table repeatedly, then looking at me & saying "noOo"* when I asked her to get down. That was the last time, & was closely followed by us leaving the bbq supper & going back to the cabin. The hosts & other guests all understood, or most of them; there were grandparents & parents. The two teenagers might not have totally got it, and wished that they could leave too, but hey, that's teenagers.

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There was also some work - the menfolk put in the docks (yay! I'm not a menfolk! Another reason to celebrate my womanhood!), and mom & I tidied the cabin, & arranged the deck furniture, and raked & bagged all the leaves. (Five big bags. FIVE, not three, as the man thought.)

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My brother helped the man fix his fishing boat motor - they went to go for a little cruise to make sure that it was working. The pull start wouldn't budge, so they went to work on it. (I'm sure that Gorilla was secretly gleeful; he loves fixing things.) As the pulled the sparkplugs out, some grain came out. Like, wheat. Turns out that an enterprising & misguided mouse had been crawling up the exhaust pipe all winter & storing his grain all through the motor. The engine was eventually cleared & returned to running order; so all's well that ends well, except for maybe that poor mouse. On the other hand, they didn't catch & kill the mouse, & it's spring now, so it could be worse for the mouse too.

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Today we drove home. And I vacuumed the living room, & snuggled my girl, & we made cookies. I actually just got up, with the fearful sensation that I had left the last pan of the cookies in the oven, to find that no, I hadn't. I was so pleased my my mis-remembered efficiency that I rewarded myself with a couple more cookies. Yay me!

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And now, I'm going to go & catch up on my recorded CSI's. Mmmm, murder & chocolate chips.

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*Yes, she did in fact have three rather petulant syllables in her 'no'.

So!

My keyboard is broken again. As I was trying to fix it by hammering at it, I had a sudden glimmering as to why it is broken... and you know, I've been calling her Hammerin' Amoryn for a while now.

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So. I had plans on chatting, and junk, and photos, & junk, but a) I am standing so that I can use my laptop keyboard b) the camera is upstairs & c) I are lazy, you are stuck with a briefer inane babble, with no pics. I are a little sorry, but not much.

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I are also getting fatter (although the man assures me it's phat, yo). I are also busy with Petal, who required a light yoke rework due to the arm/body scale, the shawl, and hm, what else? Oh yes, Hamerrin' Amoryn herself.

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We went visiting last weekend - hi Gramma! (Gate Gamba for Amoryn), this weekend coming up is more visiting! Yay! Anything to keep us distracted from putting plants in the dirt outside, because it it not nice enough yet. I know that, and still am almost helpless before my urges at the garden center...

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Thankfully, I can stop by a yarn store if I really need to sate some kind of craving. Phew.

Of course.

There are only so many hours in a day, and only a select few of them are Amoryn’s naptime.

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Today, I deemed it more important to spend Am’s naptime making stuffed pasta shells – four pans full.  Well, three pans pf stuffed shells, and one pan that I am calling “Stuffed Shell Casserole”.  It’s a jumble of broken pasta, leftover stuffing, & more cheese.  They all look fantastic, and I’m quite pleased with them.

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Of course, now all I want for supper is blueberries, Oreos, & popcorn.  Possibly in that order, or possibly as some type of unholy sundae.

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Figures.

Ha ha ha Amoryn ha...

I know this look… it does appear on my toddler some days…

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well! What a busy... since I last blogged.

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Friday night the man & I went out for supper, to celebrate Sandy & the last week of the first trimester. He bought. (I'm carrying the kid, okay?) It was good, but dessert was even better - from Nectar, in Inglewood. I highly recommend it. (Want to see what $30 of dessert looks like?)

(Fragrant Lemon Tart, Raspberry with Green Tea Tart, Vol Au Vent, Red Velvet Cake. Yum, yummy, ohmyword, and mmmmmmm.)

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Amoryn, C___, S___, M____, & I all went for a "hike" on Saturday morning.

Then we rested (& snacked).

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Then C___, S____, Am, & I went for lunch. And I was a terrible friend & took pictures of when C____ had some hot mustard getting the better of her.

See? This is the second shot, featuring sunburn, look of betrayal, and "AGH HOT MUSTARD!!!". (She did say it was okay to post this though - I was just going to print one copy to treasure forever.)

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Then I sewed. Some. On the interminable couch cushions.

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On Sunday, we went to the garden store. For people who made a solemn vow to buy no living plants - only bulbs & dirt - we did pretty well. I snatched up the second last arctic kiwi - edible fruit, self pollinating, zone 3 - and we got a half dozen day-neutral strawberries to 'top up' that patch. (Yes, we have two patches of strawberries. The day-neutral, for regular snacks, and the Kents, for big-time snacks... I mean harvest. The man was deeply concerned that te day-neutrals were doing pretty crappy, & not producing, so I sheepishly admitted that he might never see the berries because of the vigilance that Amoryn & I seem to share when it comes to fresh strawberries.)

(Am has her bag all ready to go to the plant store.)

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And toady, we ran errands, I finished the couch project!!! (except for about 8" of hand sewing), and then I spent a large portion of the evening ordering photos to mail to everyone.

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And now I'm knitting while I wait for that process to finish.

See? Isn't Petal lovely? Not quite so blue in real life. (And not on the Addi's you may note. Do you think the gauge difference would be noticeable if I switched after I'm done the yoke portion of the sweater?)

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And we're done uploading... so I'm going to bed. Nighty-nooties.

Shawl Settled.

So, I decided to order the yarn that caught my fancy. It's from elann, and the colorway is called "Tulip Field".
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Doesn't that look like me?
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I used to adore tulips as a child - I still love them,; I've just broadened my horizons a bit. Tulips are my favorite spring flower. Marigolds and gallardia are my favorite summer flowers. Lilacs are my favorite tree flowers*. Alstromeria are one of my favorite cut flowers. Etc. And orange is one of my favorite colors, as is purple, as is red. And I like the green, just to have a bit of a 'poison' color in there to make it pop. All in all, I envision this as a shawl that will make me feel warm & happy, even when it's 2 am, then 4 am, then 6am, & I'm feeding a newborn, and wondering if anyone else is awake, anywhere in my neighbourhood. Even in the dark, in November, I'll be able to close my eyes & think of tulip fields**.
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Of course, it's a lighter yarn than what the pattern calls for - but I don't care. I ordered GOBS of it - because it was pretty cheap, and because if there's enough extra, maybe I'll make a Baby Surprise Jacket, or a vest for Amoryn, or hats for Am & Sandy, or hats, or gloves, or socks, or. Something. I have faith that I can adjust the stitch count enough to make myself happy.
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And even if the yarn gods end up screwing with this project***, they can't take away the honest anticipation & joy that I feel right now.
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PS: I find the opinion poll very entertaining, so I've updated it & will do so periodically. Look on the lower right hand side, pls.

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*At least, tree flower that will grow here. Should I ever move someplace that's a gentler zone, I may amend that a bit. I'd like another chance to appreciate magnolias & jasmine.
**More likely, I will close my eyes & go to sleep.
***Can we talk about WHY a 4mm Addi is smaller than the 4mm hole on my needle gauge & smaller than my other 4mm needle? Hmm? Actually, maybe I'm a little aggravated; it's still too soon to discuss it. Carry on.