Stylin'

Devil is starting to assert her own, individual fashion sense. She went off to daycare this morning wearing:

1) Dora panties
2) a pink and yellow floral print "dress" (for dress, read: nightgown)
3) Dora sneakers
4) about 42 Dora band-aids from the (almost empty) box that was purchased at 6:30 pm last night. And she insists that "Mama, I'm not using them all up!" Yeah, right.

This entire ensemble was pronounced "Cool!" Unfortunately no blackmail material pictures were obtained, but I suspect there will be a repeat performance in the not-too distant future. Three year olds are fun!

Odds and ends

Yesterday was a red-letter day as far as my kids are concerned:

1) Devil headed happily off to daycare yesterday morning wearing...panties. The whole potty-training thing has been ongoing for a while now, but we've shifted in to high gear since she needs to be fully trained before she moves up to her next class (in May). She did great.

2) Boo, after deciding at 8:15 pm "Hell no Mama, I'm not going to sleep" (normal bedtime ~7:30) stayed up for another hour, entertaining her parents with her new party trick: walking. She would shakily stand up, totter across the rug for eight or ten steps, sit down with a Whump!, giggle and get back up again. But she still wasn't interested in going to sleep...

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The Fire element of Project Spectrum is over, and I didn't complete either of the pairs of socks I started. Not because I wasn't working on them, but because I started one pair before the other was finished. So they continue along, one sock of each pair done, and one sock of each pair at the heel/gusset. I'm curious as to how long it takes me to knit a pair, so I'm keeping track on one pair (Firestarter), and just muddling along on the Spiral boot socks when I get a moment. Here's some shots of both, just to keep you somewhat entertained:

Four days/6.5 hrs worth of sock knitting

Handspun knee-high goodness

I've got big plans for the Earth segment of PS: resurrecting the Basalt tank and redoing it with waist shaping in time for summer, and finishing off the Verdant laceweight I've been working on. I finished the singles last night, and hope to ply over the weekend once they've had a chance to rest for a bit, so that should be done soon. If I can, I'd also like to knit it up into a lace leafy shawl type of thing - it's been a while since I did any lace.

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March progress report:

Finished:
Rainbow sock leftovers for Devil

And that's it. Harumph.

In progress:
Summertime tunic
Firestarters
Spiral boot socks
Verdant laceweight

Snoozing:
Duck blanket - I can truthfully say that I hate intarsia. We're going to try to get Devil's big girl bed put together this weekend, so hopefully I can finish this off soon, but I'm not optimistic.

Hopefully I'll have some FO posts in the next week or so - it's been a long dry spell around here!

FO: Devil's leftover socks

Pattern: my own, simple toe-up socks worked in k5/p1 rib, short-row heel
Yarn: leftovers from the Rainbow Socks, Lang Jawoll Aktion
Needles: well, theoretically US 1.5/2.5 mm, but I lost one needle partway through and substituted a US 1/2.25 mm. Didn't make any difference.
Gauge: 11 sts/12 rows per inch in pattern, unstretched.
Comments: These are finally done! It's been a long time coming. I made these extra long in the foot so they'll actually fit her the next time it's cold enough to force her to put on socks (like in December).

Some may notice that the stripe repeat is disrupted in one of the sock legs (which one?). That's because I finished the first one and ran out of yarn on the second leg, so I had to cannabilize the first to make them match. I totally guesstimated how far to rip back, but it came out pretty close:

Note small amount of yarn left after binding off.

I use the work two, put back on left needle, ktbl bind off method for toe-up socks, and realized this morning that I'm not particularly consistent about the orientation of the stitches (twisted vs. untwisted) when I'm doing it. I wonder if it makes any difference in the appearance? Perhaps there's a tutorial post in there somewhere.

These socks are my first contribution to the Sock a Month knitalong, which I just joined a few weeks ago (although it started in January). Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with at least one pair a month!

36 months of Devil

Today is a banner day for you kiddo - you turn three years old today! This is the first birthday you've actually really been aware of. I blame the long string of birthday parties last summer when you first got it into your head that this birthday thing might be a pretty good gig. Since then, you've been off-and-on obsessed by the entire concept and periodically would run down the list of birthdays that had to occur before we got to yours (Mama's birthday, then Boo's, then Daddy's birthday and then Devil's birthday!) But yesterday it finally arrived.

Since you have not had the benefit (misfortune?) of my blogging since your early days, lets do a quick photographic rundown:

First there was this,

And then at one year, this:

By two you had discovered the joys of talking and were happily going on and on in a more-or-less intelligible fashion, although linear thought was not one of your strengths.

Now you are becoming your own person with a vengance, and it's both thrilling and slightly sad to watch. You love books and animals almost without measure, which thrills your parents (who are both somewhat bookish and animal-friendly themselves).

You've suddenly discovered the pleasures of your own company, and are not shy about indicating when you are channeling Ms. Garbo and would like us all to just bugger off for a bit please (although thankfully you don't use that exact phrasing).

You like to serenade us in the car with your own interpretations of popular children's songs. We knew you liked singing when you busted out with a punk rock version of "Frere Jacques" at about 26 months, but your freeform interpretations of "The Wheels on the Bus" are not to be missed.

In short sweetie pie, you are an absolute delight, even when you are being a royal pain in the ass. You are sweet and giving and funny and wonderful. I see myself in your not-insignificant grumpiness when we get you out of bed in the morning, and your Daddy in your insistence on everything being in its proper place (and the tendancy to eat the same thing for breakfast. Every. Single. Day.)

I love you more then I ever knew was possible.

Mama

Fiber Friday: Sara need not read this post

No really S, I won't be upset if you just navigate away from this page right now. I'm sure you've got more important things to do. Seriously, all that's going on around here is normal, everyday, humdrum stuff. That's right, go read a good book or something. And if that's not enough for you, here's a couple of cute pictures of the girls on Christmas day.

OK, that's it. Get out of here. Scat!




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Is she gone? Good.

OK, let me tell you something about Sara. Sara is one of my bestest friends ever since (my) junior year in college. She is a (semi)new knitter - she messed about with it a bit years ago I believe, but has been wanting to get back into it recently in a more serious fashion. She braved a weekend Chez Porpoise back in November and we made a trip to Yarntopia to get her set up. She walked away with several gorgeous skeins of yarn to make some hats. Given that she lives in Chicago, hats are a necessity.

Needless to say, despite many protestations of "I don't really know what I'm doing!", in short order she was zooming along on a beautiful alpaca hat for someone for Christmas. Disgusting I tell you. In any event, she seemed well on her way to getting sucked in by the Massive Fiber Black Hole that seems to be invading the world as we know it.

Now that she's out of the way, I can show you my most recent spinning project:

This is handpainted Targhee roving in the colorway Wild Raspberry from Woodland Woolworks. I split the entire length of top into four pieces and spun them end to end at 12:1, using a short draw and smoothing the single as the twist went into the fiber (my standard "worsted" technique).

I managed to get all 4 oz on to one bobbin, which I then chain plied at 7:1. I ended up with 274 yds of approximately DK weight yarn (14 wpi), soft, squishy, beautiful yarn. Yarn it was hard to part with (it all but killed me to wrap it up in tissue and stick it in a box), but yesterday was Sara's birthday. So the yarn is sitting here, along with some other goodies to further bring her over to the dark side, waiting to be shipped out tomorrow. If it does actually get mailed tomorrow, it will be the most timely birthday package either one of us has ever sent each other (case in point: when I was home with Boo on maternity leave, Sara allowed as how she had a package of goodies to send me. Boo is now almost walking, and said package is still somewhere in either Illinois or Wisconsin freezing it's poor little butt off, when it could be down here in Houston enjoying the loverly winter weather. But I digress...). Enjoy it sweetness!

PS - Devil wants you to know this is from her too - she helped.