Knitting updates!

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After a few video heavy kids posts, here’s some recent knitting instead.  I know, I know, JUST what you all were waiting for.

First up, a pair of fingerless gloves-the first ones I’ve ever knit with fingers. I used a men’s glove pattern (http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/PATTcigar.html)  (wordpress isn’t letting me link in text so I have to add it in for this post) and knit the smallest size, hoping that they would fit my huge man hands.  (Yes, my hands are bigger than yours.  If you don’t believe me, ask me next time and we’ll compare.  I’ll win.  Unless you’re a large man.) As it turns out, they were just a bit too big for me, but happened to fit someone else I know rather nicely.

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As a side weather note for those of you not here in Denver, that was taken TODAY.  After some of the snow had melted. I’m quite happy that I’ve been lazy about getting the garden started this year.

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Well, grumble.  What’s a knitter to do? Well, I suppose I just had to knit my own pair

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For this one I switched patterns, doing the innovative “Knucks” pattern from Knitty (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTknucks.html).  In this one, you knit the fingers FIRST and then attach them to the hand.  Much faster and a lot less fixing of holes.  I think if I were to make another pair of these I’d only do them fingers down.

Here’s a pic of an update of the sweater that I’ve been working on since October, on the Lego™ table.

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This is the fabulous “Manu” by Kate Davies (http://katedaviesdesigns.com/designs/manu), knitted in my first Madeline Tosh.  I understand the obsession with that yarn now.

For those of you that don’t know Kate Davies,(and really, if you’re not a knitter why would you) I find her doubly fascinating.  Not only is she an amazing knit designer, but last year she had a very unexpected stroke and blogged about it. Reading about her experiences as a stroke patient, her recovery, her experience with the Scottish medical system, and how she has knitted through it all, has given me a lot of insight into my own stroke patients at the hospital.  I encourage any health care provider who takes care of stroke patients to check out her blog and subsequent recovery. Here’s her blog- http://katedaviesdesigns.com

I’m hoping to get this sweater finished soon, before it’s too warm to wear it.  The way things are going, that might be awhile yet.

Tantrum x 2

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Last night after a day of playing in the snow, the kids were exhausted. I tried reading to the girl but she was so distracted from fatigue I kind of gave up. Below is what ensued.

On a different note, I’m wondering at what age you stop posting embarrassing things about your kids out of a respect for their privacy. The boy already tells me what not to post. I think the girl is getting close…but here’s one last one anyway.

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Poems

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Monday morning comics

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So much of what is fun about having kids isn’t the big events-it’s the little things that they say or do that can keep you in stitches.  Don’t get me wrong, my kids can drive me batty at times and there are plenty of times I yell at them, but really there’s so much that just cracks me up.

Before I forget these I just want to keep a record of some of them so that we have a way to remember, so here’s a list of some of the recent ones, in no particular order.  (sorry for the poor formatting, wordpress is a bit hampering that way)

Walking in from afterschool

Boy, pulling me aside: “Can I talk to you about something?” he says in a soft voice.

Me: “Of course, what is it?”

Boy: “Well, sometimes when I hit my sister, it takes her a long time to start crying.  I’m really worried that the signals aren’t getting to her brain fast enough. Maybe you should take her to a doctor to get her checked out.”

Reading “Oh The Places You’ll Go” at bedtime with both kids:

Me: “…you can steer yourself any direction you choose!”

Girl: “That’s not true.”

Me: “What?”

Girl: “That’s not true for little kids.  You have to steer youself where grownups tell you.”

Boy: “Yeah.  At least until you’re 10, I think.”

Driving back from school

Eric: “Girl, what do you love most in the world?”

Girl: “My whoooole family.  Even brother.  Even you and mommy when you are being mean to me.”

Love triangles of the preschool set

Me: “Are you still friends with that little boy A?”

Girl: “Well, I not so much friends with A anymore.  A was in love with me but I was in love with B. But then I got sad because B wasn’t in love with me but was in love with C.  And then A was sad because I wasn’t in love with him. Now, no one is in love with me. That makes me sad.”

On choosing a travel destination

Boy: “Mom, can we not travel to China, ever?! Let’s just have good Chinese food when we go to Japan.”

Me: “Why not? “(ignoring the food comment)

Boy: “Because! They are friends with North Korea!! And you have to be very controlled in North Korea! It’s not like South Korea where you can be free.  You need documents and government permission and can never leave.”

Fixing an injury

Girl, crying and crying in bed after bumping her knee: “Wahhhhh”

Me, coming over to comfort her, and leaning over to give her a hug.

Girl: “Waaahhhhh Waaa-Mom, are those new earrings? They are beautiful—Waaaahhhh”

Me, rolling my eyes at her clearly severe injury.

There are so, so many more and I wish I had time to write them all in when they happen and I want to get better about it.  Now that they’re both older and really talking, it’s nearly constant.

Penguin jokes

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Media savvy

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Hats & Teeth & Hair

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New knitting!

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Of course, the boy is FAR more excited about his FIRST LOOSE TOOTH.  It is so wobbly here that he’s pointing out how loose it is. Teeth have been a sensitive issue for him, given that he’s 7 1/2 and is the last of his friends to lose teeth, even most of his younger friends have gap toothed grins.

Here’s a better picture of the hat:

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Knitted out of a single skein of Noro Kureyon, just your basic 2×2 ribbed hat.  I used the  flat knit top instructions from the fabulous TechKnitter blog, though it took me quite a few tries to get it right.  Even so, I feel like the hat still rides up a bit at times.  Oh well-the boy doesn’t seem to care too much, though I’d prefer to sew some elastic through the brim.

Back to the tooth…who knew that just that afternoon…

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He was so, so excited.  The tooth fairy did indeed come to Denver, and left 3 golden dollars for him. (Note-there was a bit of discussion between myself and the fairy about the appropriate amount of money, me thinking that the fairy was being just a wee bit too generous.  We compromised saying that first tooths get a special extra.)

As for the hair, it’s getting mighty long, as you may have noticed in these pictures.  We ask the boy often if he wants to cut it, and he always is adamantly against it, even though it’s not without its negative consequences.  He’s frequently mistaken for a girl by others-people often ask the girl about her big sister and things like that.  To his credit, he never seems to get upset, and just corrects them gently, “No, I’m a boy, I just have long hair.” In some ways, I think it’s a good lesson for him-you can look how you want and if you’re happy with it that’s all that really matters, but you’ll have to learn how to react to other people’s reactions.

I once asked him why he wants to grow his hair long, what the inspiration was.  He answered without missing a beat, “I want to look like Shiva.”

Tough to argue with that one!

Cheetahs never…

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The other morning, the boy was in the bathroom down the hall and the girl was keeping him company by sitting outside the closed door and chatting with him.  All of a sudden, she yelled down the hall “MOM! Brother says that there are cheetahs in Asia!! He is WRONG!”

I think about this for a second, and then yell back down, “Kid, there’s no cheetahs in Asia.  They’re only in Africa!”

He yells back (still in bathroom), “NO! There are cheetahs in Asia! They live in Iran!”

Still doubtful, I use my google-fu to learn that, well, shit, there ARE cheetahs in Iran.

“You’re right, actually! How did you know that?!” I asked him.

“‘Cause we’re learning about Asia and we just did a part on Iran,” he replies.

And all I can think is that I’m now living with someone who’s going to be an even more insufferable know-it-all than myself.

Sparkle Scarf

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On a trip to Fancy Tiger a few months back, the girl saw this pretty pretty sparkly yarn and fell in love and wanted a scarf. Given that it’s not exactly cheap, I tied some vague, “you must be good” clause to me getting the yarn for her.

I thought she’d forgotten about it entirely, but then on the way back from the Thanksgiving wedding in Houston, she looked up at me and said, “I be so, so good at Megna’s wedding? Now you buy me that ‘parkly yarn and knit me a scarf?” How could I say no?

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Yarn: Knit Pixie Collage

Needles: 19 to cast on, 15 to knit

Pattern: Cast on 30, join in round, knit in garter, cast off.  reaaaal complicated.

You can’t see the sparkly goodness in this picture, but trust me, it shimmers.  It’s interwoven with a few strands of what seems like gold tinsel.

It took  me a few tries to get this right since there’s no real pattern-I really wanted a longer scarf that she could loop once around her head.  The first time I finished it, the cast on edge was so tight that I had to unravel the whole thing and cast on with larger needles.  Using size 19 needles for anything makes you feel like you’re knitting with broomsticks.  It also means that the entire thing took about an hour to knit, which is such instant gratification that I want to make about a million of them.

Here’s a picture of her wearing it that just screams, “Look, I just discovered photo filters!”

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4 year old sacrifice

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For months, the kids have been doing anything to avoid being a rotten egg. As we go upstairs at night for bath and bed, the boy will scream, “Last one up is a rotten egg!!” and since being a rotten egg is the worst possible thing EVER, both kids will scramble upstairs as fast as they can. Sometimes I’m already halfway up the stairs when the boy darts by and the poor girl is lagging behind. Even though I run AS FAST AS I CAN, somehow I always manage to slip at the last second and the girl ends up on top of the stairs just a split second above me.

I moan, “I’m the rotten egg AGAIN?! I’m always the rotten egg!” and I proceed to weep while both  my children roll on the floor giggling loudly.

The other day after running upstairs and me being the rotten egg YET AGAIN, the girl stopped at the top of the stairs. I was kneeling and she put her hands on my shoulders, looked into my eyes, and said, “Mommy, I be rotten egg for you today,” and then gave me a big hug. I almost cried for real-it was one of the sweetest things she could have done.

I’m sure, though, tonight I’ll be back to being the rotten egg as usual.