What Day Is It Anyway?

Nobody told me it was Thursday. Nobody. I missed SnB! Thanks to the girls for thinking of me, wondering where I was, and calling me. So sad I missed it. I was sitting on the couch knitting this. Does it look familiar? De ja vu?

It's another, identical Anthropologie. My sister, Kim, wanted one just like mine. And no, Boy, she wasn't just humoring me. She really likes it and wants one of her very own. So there. Go clean your room. I could have been knitting this at Panera surrounded by friends and enjoying a bowl of Summer Corn Chowder. Crappity crap crap.

School is out and no longer do I remember to pay attention to the calendar. Our last day was Monday and it already feels like it was so long ago. So strange. I've been back to school twice since then to get my classroom organized. One or two more days and I'll be done for the summer. I think I have a hard time letting go at the end of the year. I like cleaning and organizing the room. Too bad I can't transfer that energy to cleaning and organizing my home. Home is for couch-sitting and sweater-knitting.

It's also for reading. I stopped at the library on the way home and grabbed these:

Can't wait to get into bed tonight and flip through the books.

As I was going through papers near the end of school, I re-read a story written by my little tough guy/class clown.

Don't know if you can read it, but it really gave me a chuckle. (You can click to embiggen the photo.)

One day I had a football game against Fairfield. I was a left tackle. "Hit," the QB said. Someone tried to blitz. Then a DB ran at me and nailed me big time. But I took the hit like a man.

Nothing better than a 3rd grader who can take it like a man.

Adoption is a Beautiful Thing

My just-friends sweater has a new home!


My sister Kathy has adopted her! I had a feeling that since this sweater looked small on me, it would probably fit my teeny tiny sister. I was right. It looks really cute on her and even though the sleeves are large for her, I think they look good that way. Stylish.

Kathy, being the kind soul that she is, didn't want to adopt this sweater at first, only because she felt guilty about taking it away from me. It took some convincing and many statements about how the sweater would spend its life folded on a shelf and how that's no life for a sweater. She took it. Yay! I'm so happy that this sweater has a good home where it will be loved and cared for, fed and watered, worn and washed. Makes me all warm and fuzzy.

On our way home from Kathy's house, my boy asked me if I thought she might just be humoring me. Just being nice? (And no . . . I didn't smack him.) Look how happy she looks!



She loves it!

Right? She does . . . doesn't she? Right? Kath?

This Kathy-and-my-handknit photo reminded me of another photo that I keep forgetting to post. Remember I knit a Swiffer cover for my sister? Well, she loves that, too. She said it works perfectly on her new hardwood floors.

Here's the proof.


Ew. It really works.

Anthropologie, The Sequel

My new favorite pattern. Couldn't wait to make another.

I'm knitting with a blue and white twist in the same yarn I used for the Sunkist Cardi (the one that I just want to be friends with - maybe, as commenter Emily suggested, we'lll just have coffee). I like this yarn so much better on larger size 11 needles (rather than the 10s I used before). I'm going to make this one a longer cardigan, rather than cropped like my first one, with elbow-length sleeves. I also made the two front panels a bit wider so I won't show so much boobage. (I sure have been saying boobage a lot lately.) It's so much fun to sit inside in air-conditioned comfort, knitting a sweater while the world melts outside. I should be knitting a bikini. Okay . . . a one-piece.

Yesterday, one of my little darlins' told me she'd written a song and wanted to sing it to me. In the 95+ degree heat, she belted out her tune with pride:

All right, now.

Not Feelin' It

Cardigan, cardigan, how do I dislike thee? Let me count the ways . . .


1. Your sleeve length is just plain wrong. Bunching around my elbows. Not good.

2. Your top front area above my boobage is not laying flat. I know you're supposed to have a tie front, but if I give you one, I'd have to put the tie up higher than I'd like it, which would make your neck opening smaller, which will make me feel like I'm choking even though I know it's not that tight because I just have a neck thing. (See? I'm out of breath just thinking about it. I think someone must have tried to strangle me in a previous life.)

3. You make me look . . . um . . . dumpy. You do. Don't even try to deny it. (Okay, I could possibly be slouching in the picture because I wasn't feeling the love, but you'd make me look dumpy even if I stood all perky and proud. You would. You know you would.)

You don't look bad when you're resting on the couch. Maybe you could just do that? Or maybe I could hang you on the wall. You could be art.

Maybe I can just wear you while I'm blogging, like I am right now. You're kind of comfortable, except that I'm really feeling you under my arms. And that bunchiness around my elbows . . . Not good.

Maybe we can just be friends.

Stick a Fork In It

It's done! And I love it. Love love love.

My version of the Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet. I'm so much happier with the longer sleeves.

I wore it to school today and all my Knitting Club groupies went gaga over it. So sweet. The grown-ups were impressed with it, too. The first big girl sweater that I've finished and worn.

While my kids were at their art class, I went into my friend's classroom to drop something off. She told her class that I'd made my sweater myself, so I started walking like a model on the catwalk, posing and making a fool of myself. The kids got a kick out of it. Then I went to pick up my class. As the little darlings were lining up, one of my knitting girls said to one of the boys, "She knit her sweater, you know." As he took a closer look, I started to do the posing thing again, vogue-ing like Madonna. I stopped after about five poses, holding the last one. Then the boy said looked back at the girl and said, "That was awkward." That kid is the king of the nudges, but he is a riot.

Now I'm ready to finish my Sunkist Cardi, and then I think I'll knit another Anthropologie. I love it.

I'll leave you with a glimpse into my excellent teaching this year - a few words from one of my girl's spelling sentences. She spelled all of this week's spelling words correctly, but also gave me this:

I really thinked that I maked shure that I teached that this year.

Halfway to Love

Better? I think so.

The longer sleeve works for me. Off to fix the other one. Be back soon.

Waiting to Feel the Love

I've made lots of progress on my Sunkist Cardi. Just have to finish the sleeve and it's done. Not sure yet if I love it or not. We'll see . . .

Since you heard from me last, I knit this:

It's the Anthropolgie-Inspired Capelet. I got side-tracked after seeing it on Ravelry and couldn't wait another second to make one. I knit on it like crazy, adding some length to the body to accommodate the boobage, and got it finished pretty quickly. Then I tried it on.

Not feeling the love. Yet. But I'm going to try to love it. Really. Tonight, I've ripped back the sleeves a bit so that I can knit them longer. They're too short. I think. It seems to me that this cropped little ditty needs either tiny little cap sleeves (which will call all kinds of unwanted attention to the jiggliest parts of my upper arms) or elbowish-length sleeves. Elbows, here I come. Stay tuned.

I opened the refrigerator door this afternoon, felt a little thud, and heard a little mewing sound. I hadn't seen her, but Emmie was laying inside the kitchen curtain, enjoying the sun, and I clunked the poor thing with the door. Look at the spot she found for herself.

Cuteness.

If My Toes Are Blue . . .

. . . it must be the start of summer.

While I would never paint my fingernails blue, I'm happy to add my favorite color to my toenails. I tried to pick a teal shade this year after reading about Teal Toes, an organization that works to raise ovarian cancer awareness.

The color of the polish looks more teal in this photo than it does in real life, but I still love it. Thanks for tolerating this picture of my ugly feet with my wacky little sideways toes.

Here's the progress on my Grown-Up sweater. As I planned yesterday, I finished the body and started the first sleeve. (Please don't ask about the other things on my to do list. I didn't even watch Juno yet.)

I'm nervous. I'm really intimidated by the idea of picking up stitches around the front and the neckline. The pattern tells me to use a smaller needle and pick up 2 out of every 3 stitches and knit, then knit a 2 by 2 rib for an inch. I'm so afraid that I won't be able to make it look neat. I'm thinking of putting the sleeve-knitting on hold and attempting the big pick-up. Face my fears.

I've decided to keep my Smock-a-Ruche Scarf as it is, allowing it to remain in its natural, un-dyed state. Although 54% of voters encouraged me to dye it, the voices of the 46% who told me to leave it alone or didn't want to get involved were a little louder. Okay. I'm a chicken. Too worried that I'll ruin it. If I really want a bluish-purple Smock-a-Ruche, I'll have to knit one with pre-dyed yarn. I've put it on my list.

Do any of you have the same problem that I'm having lately? It's hard for me to admit, but it's been said that coming to terms with the fact that you have a problem is half the battle in overcoming it, right?

I've become . . . um . . . addicted to this:

It's embarrassing and humiliating, but I'm afraid that one day soon you're going to see me sitting on the curb outside of Stop & Shop eating this stuff out of the can with a plastic spoon. What's wrong with me?

This Chef Boyardee thing started within the last few weeks. I saw it on the grocery store shelf and before I knew what I was doing, I'd put two cans in my cart. When I checked out, I stared at the cans, wondering how they'd gotten there, but I allowed them to be scanned and paid for. When I got home, my fingers found themselves pulling the lid off the can and dumping the mushy contents into a bowl. (Thank goodness I remembered to throw a napkin over the top of the bowl before I microwaved it. Major splatter issues.) I ate it all within minutes. And I liked it.

Now I buy it every time I go to the store. Any store. Wal-Mart. Target. Any store. I look for it. I know I can't be the only person who eats this. There must be others. Any advice for me? Any recovering canned pasta addicts?

Even Emmie likes it.
That's her egging me on to open another can.

Tagged

Nutmeg Knitter tagged me for a meme. (I got to meet her in real-life at SnB after being a reader of her blog!) Could you possibly stand knowing a few more things about ME?

Good answer.

The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing ten years ago? Hmmm . . . May of 1998. I was being a mommy to my 4 1/2 year old boy, sticking it out in an unhappy marriage (hey, just being honest), playing around with polymer clay and jewelry-making, and working on a ridiculous Y2K-disaster-preventing new computer program team at Warnaco (see #6 below). I was also plotting my escape - figuring out how I could go back to school to become a teacher.


2) Five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
Finish knitting the body of my grown-up sweater and start on the sleeves, go to the store to get cookie-baking ingredients for a memorial day picnic, watch Juno, try the self-tanner thing again without ending up with either white or orange feet like last time, and clean out my closet. The last thing is on the list, but that doesn't mean I'm really going to do it.

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Microwave kettle corn popcorn, Friendly's watermelon sherbet, ice cream, Tootsie Pops, dark chocolate M&Ms, and a ton of other things that could keep me sitting here typing all day. There's that to-do list, you know.

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Buy a really nice house and hire people to clean it and take care of it for me, send my boy to a fancypants college for lazy kids who just want to play XBox 360, give my parents and my sisters lots of my money, fund cancer research, and start a program/summer camp to help young girls build their self-esteem. Oh, and I'd buy lots and lots of yarn.

5) Places I have lived:
Connecticut, Connecticut, Connecticut, and more Connecticut. I've lived in North Haven, Fairfield (for college), West Haven, and Milford. I'm a home-state girl and I don't think I'll ever decide to retire to Florida, Arizona or New Mexico. My family and all of my favorite people are right here, so unless everyone would come with me, I'm pretty sure I'm here to stay.

6) Jobs I have had:
I was a brown-and-orange-polyester-uniform-wearing Burger King employee, a cashier/did-whatever-they-told-me-to girl at Inside Outlet - a paint, wallpaper, and flooring store, a babysitter, a returned-dirty-tuxedo unpacker for a tuxedo rental place (for ONE horrible day), a stock girl at Mammoth Mart (for ONE horrible week), an office girl for a auto finance company, a mortgage company, and an attorney, a customer service rep for a company that makes those annoying beeping timer machines for fast food restaurants, a moved-through-the-ranks-doing-many-different-jobs person for Warnaco - the company that makes Warner's and Olga bras, a waitress, a substitute teacher, a tutor, and finally - my favorite job - a 3rd grade teacher. Now wasn't that a sweet little walk down memory lane . . .

7) Peeps I want to know more about:
Yankee Lagniappe
CostumeChick
WifeMomKnitter
Jennsquared
Passimenterie

Chills

Yes, I'll admit it. I'm a goober. A goober who got chills when I just tried this on:

It fits! My Sunkist Cardi fits me. It fits my very own body. I'll be able to actually wear this sweater one day in the not too distant future. (Please don't say anything about what month we're in right now and what months are coming next and what the temperatures will likely be. I will wear this even if it makes me pass out.) When I came to the point in knitting where the pattern told me it was time to divide for the sleeves and the body, I got a little nervous. I thought the armholes would be too tight. I hemmed and hawed and sweated a little while I tried to decide what to do. Then I just kept knitting. I thought I'd better give my arms some extra room. Then, I divided. I'm so glad I did. I think it's perfect. Woohoo! Now I can't knit fast enough. So I won't be writing much more in this post. Gotta knit.

Before I leave you, I'll share a funny from my 3rd grade girls. The Bikini Girls and their friends have now channeled their energy into performing a play of the life of Helen Keller. Their idea! We just read the biography of Helen Keller, as we do every year in 3rd grade, and the kids loved it. This book is the only one that I have to read with the class each year that I actually look forward to and love. I get goosebumps at the end of Chapter 5 and again at the end of Chapter 8 (when Helen reaches some very exciting and important milestones- it's delightful!). After we finished the book, we watched the remake of the movie, "The Miracle Worker," with Hallie Kate Eisenberg (from the Pepsi commercials) as Helen.

The girls were so into the book and the movie that they decided to put on a play. They assigned roles, planned costumes, and decided on the scenes they'd perform. The next day, each of the girls came in carrying a bag of their costumes and props. Since then, every day right before recess they run to the girls lav to change into their costumes for their never-ending dress rehearsals. Dresses, hats, books, and even a porcelain-faced doll (whose entire scalp pulled away from her head, leaving a gaping hole that makes the play look more like a Chucky movie.)

Since yesterday was rainy, we stayed indoors for recess. The girls practiced their play, with Helen taking a doll from Annie Sullivan's suitcase and Annie trying to get Helen to spell D-O-L-L in her hand before she'd let her play with the doll. They practiced the scene where the entire family is in the dining room eating breakfast and Helen goes around the table, sniffing and feeling for her beloved sausages on other people's plates. This scene became exciting when Annie and Helen get into a big pinch-slap fight over Annie's sausage. One of my Bikini Girls, playing the part of Annie, said, "Mr. and Mrs. Keller, if you want Helen to learn, you must leave her alone with me. You can't keeping giving her her way all the time. You've spoiled her."

I just kept biting my lip, trying not to laugh at the unbelievable cuteness I was seeing. I took a few pictures that I so wish I could share with you - but I can't. I can, however, show you this. I didn't even read it until after the recess/dress rehearsal was over. Apparently, it's not a play they're making. It's a movie.


Stand behind desk please
injures can happen
Don't get in front
of camras OR
! Actors!
! oreles !

Whoops. Got a little too caught up in this. Must knit now.

Thanks, Mom!

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. It was celebrated by our PTA with a week-long food fest. Each day we found new goodies in the Teachers' Room. I was lucky enough to find some goodies in my classroom, too.

One of my goodies made this goodie for me:




Cuteness! So cute that I'm not letting my blood pressure rise over the use of the wrong your. We've been working on the your/you're thing all year. Think we need a little more work on that, but hey . . . KNITTER is spelled correctly and that's what really matters.

I also found this ginormous cup & saucer planter. Love it! It was a gift from two of my boys whose mothers are best friends. They wrote on the other side, "Thanks for helping us grow." Adorable.


Yesterday, there was another goodie in the mailbox. It was a little gift to myself, but I'd forgotten that I'd ordered it. Here's the envelope:

A close-up of the stamp that made me chuckle:

And the treat I found inside:

I ordered this little guys from Holly's Designs on Etsy and was planning to use the beads as stitch markers. I might have to wear them as earrings for a while first.

And finally, I already broke my promise-to-self that I would finish my WIPs before I started something new. While I was reading blogs yesterday, I came across a free pattern that called out to me, the Sunkist Cardi, by Kirsten Kapur. It's a top-down raglan cardigan, knit all in one piece with chunky yarn and with very little finishing. Perfect first grown-up sweater.

I'm all excited. Because it's my first sweater-for-me, I was honest with myself about my commitment issues, so I didn't splurge on fancypants yarn. I went to Michaels and bought Bernat Softee Chunky for $1.99 a skein. An $8.00 sweater. Sounds about right!

If I'm successful with this one, I might treat myself to some fancypants yarn some day, but then again, I might just put some gas in my car. YaknowwhatImean?

Before I go, some thoughts on Mother's Day.

A conversation with my boy yesterday:

Him: What are you doing this weekend?

Me: Some shopping and laundry today. Tomorrow we're going to K&J's for Mother's Day and birthdays.

Him: When's Mother's Day?

Me: Um . . . tomorrow.

Him: Really?

Me: Really.

Him: They don't really talk about Mother's Day in high school.

Since I knew that my boy would not have a little gift or even a handmade card for me, I've let him off the hook by asking him to simply cut his fingernails. That's a gift to me.

Tomorrow, I'll probably be vacuuming fingernail clippings on the bathroom floor.

TO MY MOM, a poem:

I'm a lucky daughter,

a lucky girl.

Thanks for teaching me

to knit and purl!

I love you, Mommy.

Imagine That . . .

. . . I actually finished something. I have way too many stops and starts going on right now, so I was determined to stick to my Smock-a-Ruche scarf and get it done. It's done - just in time to . . . um . . . put it away until the fall? Crap. I need to work on my timing.

Here it is:
Now I'm trying to decide if I should leave it as it is, or dye it with Kool-Aid. I'm torn. I like it as it is, but I'd also like it to be a purplish-blue. I'm afraid of ruining it! Help me out here. What should I do?

Should I or Shouldn't I?

Should I dye the Smock-a-Ruche scarf? Dunk it in that Kool-Aid! It'll be beautiful and you'll love it! Leave it alone or you'll ruin it and end up cranky and miserable. I'd rather not be responsible if you don't end up happy, so I'm staying out of this. view results

Emmie loves her Mommy time. The other day, she wanted my attention, so she put herself in the place where I was looking.

Then she realized that she was on the side of the laptop where the fan blows out the warm air.

Zzzzzz . . . .

Twisting

Unable to stand the wait, I unwound my newly spun yarn from the drop spindle onto the legs of a stool.

The yarn was trying so hard to untwist itself and return to its original state and I had to work hard to show it who was boss. There it is before soaking to start the set-the-twist process. (I'm learning stuff.)

There it is again, soaking in warm water.

Hanging from a doorknob in all its glorious imperfection.

Weighted by my keys.

Dry and wound into a ball-ish type bundle of joy. And I'm already spinning more!

I'm so proud!

The boy said, "Um . . . you really didn't make much. Whaddayagonna do with it?"

Maybe I'll use this yarn to stitch his lips together.

Fiber Festival Fun and Frolic

Today was a great day for a knitter. I went to the CT Sheep Breeders Association Sheep, Wool and Fiber Festival in Vernon/Rockville with WifeMomKnitter, Mad Knitter, CostumeChick, Yankee Lagniappe, and Blog-free Pat. It was my first time there and although I knew it would be much smaller than Rhinebeck, it was bigger and better than I'd imagined.

As one would expect, there were sheep.

There were alpacas.

There were angora rabbits:

There were spinning wheels. (That's an antique that reminds me of the one in my parents' living room. No one ever actually used it for spinning because no one knew how. When I was a kid, I would stand at it in front of the window and pretend it was a ship's wheel and I was the captain. Or it was a steering wheel and I was the bus driver.)

There were spinners in pajamas. (I didn't actually expect there to be spinners wearing their pajamas, but I figured there'd be spinners.)

Then there were other things I really didn't expect.

There was an extremely kind spinner who let Yankee give her spinning wheel a . . . well . . . spin.

She even let her take the yarn she made with her. Look how proud she is!

And there were cute kids in funny t-shirts. Yes, it says mama is a yarn ho.

Best of all, there were friends.

I wish I'd gotten a picture with Pat in it, but she must have been busy shopping.

Here's my haul for the day. First, three pins made by two delightful little girls who had a little table set up at their mom's booth. I was happy to support the young fiber lovers.

Two lampwork glass bead stitch markers from Glastonbury Glassworks.

A beautiful sterling silver shawl pin/eyeglass holder from Leslie Wind.

Tiny - and I mean tiny sock earrings from Things by Jeanne.

And my favorite purchase . . . a drop spindle and fiber!

I bought the Kundert Spindle from The Wheel Thing from a fine young man who the girls and I lovingly refer to as Spinning Boy. When I was shopping for a drop spindle I went to The Wheel Thing's booth and asked about the difference between various types of spindles. This appeared-to-be-about-16 -year-old kid very enthusiastically explained what I wanted to know - and he knew this from his own spinning experience. He told us that he got into spinning after going to a spinning guild meeting with his mother. How can anyone not have a little crush on this kid? We were all gaga over him. Spinning Boy.

After a quick lesson from Mad Knitter and CostumeChick, I was off and spinning. Look what I spun so far!

I did that during the ride home. It's so much fun! I don't know if I'll ever spin enough to knit anything with, but even if I don't, the fiber is beautiful and it will look great just sitting on a shelf.

Now if someone tells me to go sit and spin, I will.