Twist & Shout

Just a quick update that I finished the Twist and Shout dress for Maegwin.  It was in the Interweave Knits Summer 2012 issue and a really quick knit.  I used some Blue Sky multi cotton that Mom got at a yarn store closing sale and never got around to knitting.  It is so sunny and fun and Maegwin loves it.  She tried it out on the trampoline and it was a fun photo shoot.





We also had a visit for several days by a hawk.  As you can hear in the video above, we have tons of cicadas this year.  He was rooting around in the potato patch after we harvested so I'm wondering if he is eating cicadas?  You can see the tree to the right which we lost this year to Emerald Ash Borer beetles.  We have another equally old one that will probably die by next year.  So sad to see trees around here dying to this invasive bug.  :(



We got about one large bucket's worth of potatoes this year-not as good as we were hoping for but honestly better than expected given how much the plants were ravaged by the groundhog.  Maegwin had a great time finding them and putting them into the bucket.  This morning she was lovingly cradling them in her nightgown.


In other news I'm currently in a fight with the insurance company about them charging me beyond my out of pocket max for my sinus surgery. Things are pretty tight while we have to pay on a bill that we don't know whether or not we will ultimately owe. We've been making our grocery bill be under $100 each week and it struck me that you all might want to know what kinds of tasty stuff you can make for such low cost. We're still having lots of yummy food but always packing lunches and I have oatmeal for breakfast each morning. Last week we had:

• homemade pizza (I've been making olive oil dough that we also use for focaccia) 
• focaccia with broccoli and hummus 
• rice salad primavera 
• fresh tomato farfalle with sweet corn and basil (thanks Mom and John for those 14 ears of sweet corn you gave us!) 
• soycatash and mashed potatoes 

I took pesto-potato fritatta for lunch all week. Yummy!

Beginnings and Endings

I realized it has been a while since I've done a knitting post and it's high time I share what's been going on!  For those only here to see the kid, I'll throw you a bone later.

First up in the finishing department-my Lyric Tree Hoodie!  I bought this pattern back in 2008, lost it in the move, refound it a month ago whilst cleaning upstairs to paint Maegwin's room, and decided to knit it up.  I used Berocco Sundae in a nice silvery/black color.  This one is knit with about 2" of negative ease and please note the photos are pre-blocking.  I expect it will grow a wee bit after a nice soak.  If not, it fits fine.

This pattern is not for the faint of heart. Not so much because it is difficult in any way but because it isn't that easy to follow. The designer even admits in her Ravelry page on it that she didn't know a lot about writing patterns back then and while she promised a re-write, it hasn't been forthcoming. I wrote up what notes I could on my project page here in case any of you out there has a hankering to knit your own. I sort of love it though and it has restored my faith in my ability to knit sweaters for myself. I have to say after my last sweater, I wasn't feeling too great. My poor little Pioneer sweater barely got one wearing before being felted in the washer. It was too short anyway and now sits in a felted heap in our basement. Prior to that I knit a Tangled Yoke Cardigan which just never fit right and should have had some negative ease not to mention be knit out of wool instead of alpaca and tencel that draped like nobody's business. This segues nicely into one of my endings. I ripped out the aforementioned cardigan and went from this: To this: with nary a tear shed. Honestly I'm glad to have it back in yarn form where it can become something I truly love instead of something that lays wadded up in the depths of my closet thinking about what it's done. I also wove in all the ends on my Swedish Fish Socks and I love them as well! These are my first color work socks and I'm super proud of how they turned out. They fit great, yarn is great, and my floats are all reasonably tensioned. I'm still finishing up Maegwin's Twist and Shout Dress so maybe pics of that to follow later this weekend. I now just have to knit straight until I get to the length I want for her. Then I have my eye on casting on a pair of True Love socks in some very pretty pinky peach yarn. I also in true me style busted out a ball of this: to maybe make a Gemini sweater. I love that it can be worn two ways and I think it would be pretty in this yarn that has yet to find a pattern to love. I have a skein of Tosh Sock in Tart staring me down from my printer tray also. So much to knit, so little actual knitting time. Not to mention that Christmas isn't getting any further away... 

We had a play date last weekend with my friend Mary, her husband, and daughter, Emma. First we went to the story time at the big main library and then to a kids' jazz concert in the park. It kept looking like rain but managed to hold off until we got home. They ran in circles for a while.
 Then they played under the tarp that was under the picnic blanket. She had so much fun that she sacked out once we were home and slept until the next day. Crazy!

Where does the time go?

I'm always amazed when I go to write a new post in what I think is a "reasonable timeframe" only to find that whoosh another month somehow went by.  How does that happen exactly?  July has been chock full of trips to the zoo and outdoors things in spite of record-breaking heat.  We tried to become morning/evening people when it got really bad but we also made sure Maegwin got some outdoors time as much as possible. Our neighbor whose house burnt down gifted us their trampoline and Maegwin is completely obsessed with it. She will just run in circles around it and makes up little games to play.  It's great to see and lets us get a bit of gardening done.

This year saw the return of the groundhog and his destructive maw.  He even ate our potatoes this year which he has not done in previous ones.  I chalk it up to the crazy drought and the fact that our garden is super inviting.  We also had attempted broccoli and brussels sprouts every other year which happen to be a groundhog's favorite foods if you were not aware.  We managed to get a few harvests of peas and some spinach before the hot weather and otherwise have only had an occasional tomato and cucumber here and there.  We lost a whole batch of tomatoes to blossom end rot during the worst heat but I think we're on the right track now.  We have a few bell peppers that are nearly ripe and several butternut squash ripening nicely.  Our black and green beans were eaten nearly to nubs by the hog so we're calling them a loss.  Luckily we had really scaled back this year anyway.  Our new plan is to clear out the bracken around the fence as fall comes and figure out where the fence is failing and then hopefully we can sneak in some celery, onions, cabbage, and maybe some lettuce before winter.  I had an idea to use our old doors & windows that are downstairs (the ones that were originally in the house) to build some cold frames.  Josh said he'll start working on those once the weather is a bit cooler for being outside.  We've also been noodling over getting a few chickens.  Some of our neighbors have them and today I saw this coop that I think might work really nicely.  I don't think we would need more than two for our egg consumption and it would be a great way for Maegwin to learn about where some of our food comes from.  Plus we get free fertilizer and while we are in the garden they could scratch and peck around.  Obviously a big investment of time and money so still in the planning stages there but maybe next year.

Alright, I know what you are all thinking.  Blah blah blah show us the kid already!  I've done a few home crafty projects for her recently.  We made some more play dough.  Not sure what I did wrong with this batch but it was a little more dry.  Maybe too much salt.

She used the little silicone cupcake forms I have to make some dough cupcakes and cookie cutters to make different shapes. We made a whole stack of stars one day. Fun and nearly free-sign me up!

We also took all of her broken crayons and made some new ones.  Josh broke them up and Maegwin arranged them in pleasing color combinations in a silicone bunny pan I had got from Target last Easter.  My intention was to at some point try to make my own bunny Peeps but I have not attempted this yet.  I love making marshmallows though so they can't be hard.  Anyway, they turned out pretty well I think.


She plays with them all the time. We have to pretend to eat them as she says they are cupcakes or candies. She also colors with them but I'm not complaining. Way better than the bunch of nubs that she couldn't do anything with. If you should want to make some new crayons yourselves, just break them into small pieces, put them in a 225 degree oven until they are melted then take them out and let them cool. We popped ours in the freezer because two-year-olds aren't known for their patience.

On a recent trip to the zoo my mom tagged along and Maegwin had a great day hanging out with Grammy.  She showed her the turtles in the reptile house.

And had a close encounter with one of the orangutans who decided to set up her bed right next to us. We also got to feed the lorikeets. They are only open a short time each day so that was fun. This particular one came and drank the entire cup of nectar. One of the other guys in there had three on him at once! Maegwin loved this monster outside the orangutans area. She was pretending it was biting her. She still giggles everytime she sees this photo. Of course we had to visit the stinkflower which is one of Maegwin's favorite things. On the knitting front I'm working on a hoodie for me, a sun dress for Maegwin, and then I'd like to finish up a couple more pair of socks for me. I know fall is coming soon so I need to stock up! I'm also in the beginning stages of Christmas knitting planning so if you have requests, now is the time...

Mornings

Not sure if I've mentioned this before on the blog or not, but I am a morning person.  As my mother can attest to, I have always been an early riser and would blithely eat cereal and watch cartoons at hours considered uncivilized by some.  As a kid, this talent didn't serve me very well because it also meant I was rather happy to go to bed at a reasonable hour.  I'd be the first asleep at slumber parties and normally the victim of several pranks because of this.  Mom would give me permission to stay up and watch Saturday Night Live and sleep on the sofa bed which I thought was the height of luxury, but rarely if ever did I make it past the opening sketch.  I have found as an adult that while I'm not as chipper in the morning I still feel fairly ready to face the day by 7 am at the latest.  When I'm up, I'm up and I want to start doing things like cooking, straightening, getting things out of the way I don't like doing so I can enjoy the afternoon.

Now, I married a NOT morning person.  Josh is at best barely functional after a cup of morning coffee and at worst incoherent.  Woe betide he who suggests cleaning before 10 am.  This has been the source of many a spat in our relationship, but if that is the worst we ever have to deal with I think we're ok.  Apparently my child shares a similar penchant for sleeping in.  Maegwin is a bear to wake up and wants to just sit and watch some songs and eat her yogurt like a little robot in the morning.  If one deviates from this routine, there will be hell to pay.

All this is my long-winded way of saying that I've found new joy in mornings.  Since both my little sleepy heads like catching late morning Z's, I get up and brew some coffee and enjoy some me time.  For these glorious few hours my coffee is hot, I can watch what I want, and knit without interruption.  I save my more delicate knitting maneuvers or anything that involves scissors for this time.  This morning I wove in the ends on my latest project and sauntered out to get some well lit photos.

I give you-Spring Garden Tee!


I knit it in Rowan Panama yarn in the Hibiscus colorway. I loved everything about this little knit and Maegwin loves the yarn. She tried it on last night and kept petting her belly and saying it was so soft and purple. Best compliment one can get from a two-year-old I'd say!  Now it goes to hang out at the yarn store for a month as a sample and then it is ours.  I made a size 3 so I anticipate getting some good wear out of it.  I think it will look cute with a sweater over it as well.

I haven't done a garden update in a while but things are going nicely.  If you recall, last year I put tons of cone flower seedlings around the tree up by our stone retaining wall.  This year they have filled in nicely and the bee balm really expanded so that section is quite full and we're happy with it.  We get many hummingbirds, finches, and bees.


In the background you can see how bad the fire was next door. The flames were shooting out of the roof in the place where it is gone. We also have a little chipmunk that lives in our stone wall and comes out each morning to sun himself on the rock by the lungwort prior to finding his food.
I love watching him. He's so cute!  We had a hummingbird come by while we were watering the vegetable garden and it darted in and out of the hose spray for about ten minutes.  We were both too afraid to move to go get the camera but it was pretty amazing.  It was a very hot day so I'm thinking he must have been taking a little shower.

I've started reclaiming the pond area.  It got overgrown with weeds last year and we sort of picked our battles and let it alone.  Just too much work to do with our limited outside time.  Now each time we can get Maegwin to play in her sandbox (thanks, Mom & John), I go hack down a little more and leave it to dry out in the sun before I rake it away.  I've almost made it through and then we're going to put down that black weed suppressing stuff and add perennials slowly.


Here's what I've raked out of it so far.


Here's the start of our beans we planted a few weeks ago.  Maegwin was a great helper and diligently placed just a few seeds in each hole.

We also put out sunflowers but only a few have come up so far.  We've had two mini harvests of peas which was nice but they are probably winding down at this point.  Next year we will definitely plant more.  We only did about a third of a bed this year.

We got a zoo membership and have gone once on it so far.


We had a great time but have decided that we need a wagon so we can haul some stuff.  We took drinks and snacks for Mae and my shoulders were aching by the end from the backpack.  Josh had to haul her around on his shoulders once she got tired.


My dad said he had an old one he used to use for my nieces and nephew when they were young so we're going to check that out and see if it will work.  We look forward to many more forays to the zoo though.  I love that we feel no pressure to stay.  If she's tired and we've only been there for an hour, no big deal.  We can bring two unnamed guests on our pass too so come visit us, family.  We can go to the zoo!

All signs point to yes

While recognizing there is still work to be done (changing sheets, making bed, and going through that pile of shorts of Josh's that I put on the rocking chair), I am declaring early victory over the clutter.


I even put some flowers in there. See them?
 I think that's probably what I will get done today because
A: You can't make me neener, neener, neener
B: Our neighbor's house caught fire this morning and we were up at 4 am talking to the police about whether we had seen them over there. (incidentally we are pretty sure they are out of town and they didn't find anyone so all children, adults, and even pets are safe)
C: Last time I saved my PTO for enjoying a long vacation I ended up sick as a dog alternating between my in-laws' and grandpa's couches.

We were so glad that their van wasn't there because the fire was so hot that the firemen had to give up their rescue operation. The entire roof is gone. They used so much retardant in their water mix that it looked like there was six inches of snow. The fire fighters didn't find anyone once they could go in.

Anyway, onward to enjoying my day!

Doing my thing

Hello, All!  It seems I can't even manage one post a month but things have been very busy around here.  Blogger also has some new settings that I'll have to get used to so bear with me.

I'm home today for my version of a "mental health day" which just means the house has gotten to a point where I can't bear it anymore.  I have been using PTO days every few months to reset the system and it seems to work ok.  I hate doing it but I love the result and I seem better able to relax and enjoy my weekend when I'm not trying to cram in laundry, dishes, mopping, dusting, straightening, etc.  I finished the bathroom down to scrubbing the tub and mopping the floor-two tasks that are often overlooked.

Note the streak free mirror even!  I've been taking flowers from bouquets and cutting them down when they start to wilt.  I can then put them in one of the little glass bottles like the one on the sink and they will last for weeks longer.  I think their stems just wear out after long enough but the flowers are ok if they have closer access to water.  I love seeing them in the morning too.  It's a nice start to the day.

Next up today: the bedroom.  Wish me luck! Note that it looks worse because items were dragged out of the bathroom.  I'll post an "after" in a bit.


Now to distract you with cuteness! I'm not having all work today. I'm also knitting a sample for my local yarn store, Knitting Temptations. I've just got the collar bind off to do but I tried it on Maegwin a few days ago and it seemed to fit her pretty well. She had just a little scratch on her nose when we went to my cousin's wedding but she scratched it while on the way home and got all the skin off on the upper area of her nose. We've been keeping it ointmented and bandaged as much as possible to discourage further damage and it seems to be healing well. See? There it is way better. I really need to remember not to stand sideways in pictures. It makes me look heavy. :p Nope, haven't gained any weight since last you all saw me though I had to take about six months off from the gym (I went but it would be a few weeks then off two weeks, etc) because of back to back sinus infections. I'm back to going three times a week though and hope to build my arms and general muscle tone back up. Stupid sickness and not being able to breathe.

More later!

Faster Stronger Better

Hello, gentle readers!  I wanted to check in and let you all know that my surgery went fine although I wasn't completely numb on my left side.  Basically when they got back into my sphenoid sinus on that side I could totally feel it.  Having a balloon inflated inside your skull is not something I highly recommend without sufficient numbing.  The worst is when you're hurting and the medical staff thinks taking it slow will be better.  I'm normally like "GET IT OVER WITH ALREADY!!"  But, as with all things that hurt, I just look at it as something that I know will be over in a set amount of time and just power through.  The right side was fine and they even numbed me extra.  Oddly the left is the same side that my epidural didn't work fully on when I was in labor.  Maybe I have screwed up nerves on that side?  Only one other patient has ever done the balloon sinuplasty without valium at their office.  It was a man and he had prior sinus surgery so the doctor said he had a lot more space to work with.  Everyone was amazed at how well I did with it.

I spent the rest of yesterday blowing my nose and getting all the blood out.  Maegwin was quite fascinated by it and kept asking to see.  I love that she isn't afraid.  This morning I can breathe mostly and it feels very odd.  I feel air all the way back up in my face and it stings.  Guess I'm not used to getting that much oxygen!

I'm feeling quite springy and have the urge to finish up all my knitting projects and start some summery sweaters and tees.  I got two projects done yesterday while I was home.  The first is Bunny Bootees by Debbie Bliss which I knit with the last bit I had of some Lorna's Laces in Periwinkle.  This stuff has made four baby and kid projects at this point so I'm pretty happy at how much I got from it.  I used Knitpicks Comfy fingering weight for the ears and the soles are also white though you can't see them in the photo.



The other thing I finished was a Hippo from Itty Bitty Toys. This was knit with some Knitpicks Imagination in the gingerbread house colorway and I used accents from some Craftsmeow Ice Cream Sundae yarn in Cherries Jubilee colorway. I really want to get a whole skein of this stuff but I'm trying really hard to knit from stash for a while until we get through all the medical stuff. :)



He will be part of my swap package that I hope to send out this week. I'm working on a set of handwarmers as well but they are going really slowly. They use the daisy stitch which involves knitting three together, yarn over, and then knit the same three together before dropping off the needle. It makes the stitches very tight and they make my hands hurt quickly but they are so pretty.

Today I'm home with no Maegwin and I intend to knit and read books for a while. I do need to do some laundry, dishes, cleaning, etc. Days off for me tend to not really be days off but I'm going to let myself relax and try to ignore for a few hours at least. Cheers, all!