Quiet Time, not just for toddlers

Truly, it's not so much for the kids anymore as it is for me.  Without that hour or two of quiet every day Mister Vonkysmeed might come home from work one day to find one or both of the munchkins dangling by their ankles from the pergola over the back patio.  A few years ago Lil' Miss outgrew her naps but I had not outgrown the need for some quiet time for myself and I need it even more since Destructo-boy arrived on the scene.  Even though she wouldn't sleep anymore during naptime, her body still needed the down time of some rest in the middle of the day (or so I told her).  So I stole an idea from my lovely neighbor and instead let her choose a movie out of our rather large children's/family collection of DVD's to watch while relaxing on her bed in her darkened room.  Yes, my munchkins have both a television and a DVD player in their room.  In my defense, there is no cable in there, nor will there ever be while children reside in there; also the components are located on a high shelf so she cannot access them other than to turn the television on and off.  Thus, the tv only gets used for an hour or two of quiet time each day (see, I'm not such a terrible mom, so there ttthhhppptt!).

Right now she is on a Looney Tunes kick, we have a few of their DVD collections and she has chosen one of them every day this week.  At least the kid has good taste, and Mister Vonkysmeed is very pleased as they were originally his DVD's!  It seems to go in cycles, she gets hooked on a movie or a series of movies and watches them multiple times (must get it from her daddy, at last count he had watched The Fifth Element about 65,488 times), I would go crazy doing that!  Last week it was the Ice Age movies that kept getting pulled out, and it was Wallace & Gromit or Shaun the Sheep the week before that.  But lets be honest here, as long as it is at least an hour and half long I really don't care what she chooses (thank gawd I don't allow the purple dinosaur in the house, that I couldn't handle!).

What I love about this arrangement beyond the quiet I get (no Mommy do this, Mommy I need that, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy for a little bit!), is that I get to catch up on tv shows I can't watch with the munchkins, well at least the elder one, around.  After the first time Lil' Miss, at age 2, described an autopsy while asking a question I informed Mister Vonkysmeed there would be no more crime shows on while she was in the room such as our favorites CSI, NCIS, Castle, Lost, or V.  During their quiet time I sometimes even get a chance to lay down for a little bit of a nap myself (gasp!), but usually I'm working on the computer, knitting, cruising the internet or blogging, while the tv is simply providing background noise.  Unfortunately quiet time is always over much too soon with Lil' Miss bounding out of her room asking if she can have her afternoon snack now.  Oh well, there is always her computer time!

Isabella: a tangy tank for summer

When I first saw the images of the Stroll Tonal yarns from Knit Picks I knew that I had to have some.  Yet, I don't knit socks (yet!) so what would I do with beautiful yarn like that?  A quick search on ravelry yielded the lovely Isabella pattern that was in Knitty a few summers ago, I remember admiring it last year but felt it was beyond my abilities.  Well, no more!  I decided to further the difficulty by knitting this in the round, and not just in the round but using the magic loop method.  It took about 5 tries to get it cast on right, but now that I am about 7 rows into the project it is getting much easier.

Casting on was fine, it was the whole dividing the cast on stitches in half and pulling the cable into position while ensuring the stitches didn't twist or get super tight that was a total bitch.  I had actually given up after my first try, thinking maybe I should just stick to the pattern as written and not make things too hard on myself; but after another failed start I thought that if Granola-Mama can do the magic loop for two at a time socks, than by gawd I can do it for one bloody shirt!  Destructo-boy assisted a little in this decision, I had foolishly left my knitting on the couch where he could reach and he pulled all the stitches off one needle after I had started to knit the back piece back and forth rather than both front and back together in the round.  After that I decided to try the magic loop method once again (did I mention that I am also much slower at purling than knitting?).  I waited until the ankle biters were in bed and was able to get it started with a little bit of patience and a lot of luck.

Since the hem will be a picot edge I realized that is okay for the first few rows to look hideous as they will be folded under to be hemmed in place, which really allowed me to relax as I started working through my fear of this project/technique.  I don't know why, but whenever I attempt anything new it seems I have to work my way up to it, giving myself little pep talks just to get over the hump of getting it started.  For the record this is my first time working with fingering weight yarn and my first time using US 3 needles, and using the magic loop method of knitting, a lot of firsts for one project.  It will take forever (maybe I'll get to wear it by next summer!), but I am loving how the colors of the hand dyed yarn are flowing from one to the other so far. Maybe with a lot of luck and patience I'll even get it done in time to wear it by the end of this summer!

My mini-me, aka Lil' Miss

It was clear to us as soon as we saw her in profile during an ultrasound, Lil' Miss is a tiny little version of me.  Some days it is truly frightening to see a miniature version of yourself running around, all the good is just fine it's the bad stuff that's not so terrific.  Grumpy has stated that not only did the apple not fall far from the tree, it simply fell straight down, thud, no rolling away, nothing.  This isn't just the striking physical resemblance between us either, it's that she often acts just like me, the same turns of phrase, the same gestures and mannerisms, yikes!

To give you an idea of just how much she looks like me, one day Mister Vonkysmeed was looking at old pictures on the computer (don't ask me why) he came across one of me when I was the same age as Lil' Miss, about 4 years old.  He was immediately struck by the strong resemblance between us, exacerbated by the fact it was a black and white picture.  When she came into the room and was asked who was in the photo she immediately replied that it was her.  Then she realized that she didn't know the other two people in the picture and had never owned that dress, hmm, does not compute!  We explained that it was actually Mommy in the picture and she still looked a little confused than just accepted it and went on with her day. Which goes to show she is definitely her own person in spite of looking like me, I would never just accept something so cavalierly, I must have full disclosure to be truly happy!

Beaded stitch markers: Adventures in crafting

After seeing many beautiful pictures of beaded stitch markers and having an elevated view of my own craftiness, I decided to try making some myself.  You see, I have a whole bunch of beads along with head pins, and know how to make a wrapped loop;  I don't really make jewelry for myself (maybe I should start you think?!) and I love finding uses for items I already have stashed.  The first attempt involved purchasing (gasp!) toggle clasps and using those for my rings.  The beauty of this method is that the clasps already have a place to attach the beads to and the toggle itself is a seamless circle so nothing will catch on the yarn.  They came out great, and I immediately put them onto several projects already in progress.  Here is where I learned the failings with this method, they work just great for lace work (currently being used for my liesel scarf and working quite well) and would probably be okay with heavier weights of yarn but for my hell-sweater they created a laddering problem so I had to abandon them in favor of the plain rubber ones I have from Clover.  So back to the craft store to peruse for more supplies.

small toggle clasp markers

On my next trip to the craft store I purchased some 12mm split rings to try, (you know, like miniature key rings) not sure how well they will work but I'll give them a shot.  I need to make a handful at least as I will be starting a clapotis scarf soon and I understand it needs at least ten markers.  After making some of these and casting on my clapotis I learned that the jump rings are definitely lighter in weight than the toggle clasps, which is very desirable when using nine markers on a straight needle.  I also used lighter beads for these and I find that is helpful also with the weight issue, I had on seven of my toggle clasp markers and I could definitely tell the difference when I switched between the two. 

April was very productive!

Owls vest for Destructo-boy

Since I had already made a few summer items for Lil' Miss I was feeling a bit guilty that Destructo-boy didn't ave anything made for hi for summer yet.  After a request for help on the Ravelry Knitting For Boys group for summer knit ideas, I was given numerous suggestions of summer clothing items I could make for Destructo-boy.  This Owls vest was by far my favorite and was a really quick knit.  the pattern was originally designed for babies but with some modifications to needle size, yarn weight and adding in some stitches and rows it ended up being a bit big on the boy.  Oh well, he can wear it next year too!