MONKEY SWAP 3!!!

I had such fun with Sockapalooza that I decided to join another swap!!

Monkey Sock Swap THREE
(Click to join!!)

The Basics:
Do you consider yourself a beginning sock knitter, an intermediate, or have you been doing this so long you could probably knit a pair in your sleep? I'm probably an intermediate

The measurements:
Shoe Size: 10
Foot circumference: 9 inches
Foot length: 10 inches

Yarn Preferences:
What colors do you love? Purples, blues and greens... but I also love pink!
Do you prefer solids or variegated? Either
Do you prefer wool, cotton or acrylic yarn? No real preference but I do like washable yarns
What colors would you never wear? orange and yellow
What are your favorite brands of yarn? Blue Moon, Crystal Palace (especially Bamboo Cotton) and Knit Picks Rissata
Are there any new brands you would like to try? Nothing that comes to mind...

Cookie A. Patterns:
Which of her patterns have you already knit? None!!
Which pattern(s) would you like to knit and don’t already own? Millicent

Other pertinent information:

Would you be willing to have an international Monkey Pal or do you prefer one in the US? International is fine
Do you have any allergies? Nope
Will your knitting be exposed to smoke or animals? Cats
Are you on Ravelry yet? Yes!
If you don’t mind having new friends, what is your Ravelry name? Jillo

Happy Birthday Isaac

It's my youngest nephew's first birthday today. It was a series of events that culminated at his birth that caused my sister to confront me and then refuse to speak to me.
As my sister and I are still not speaking I have held him four times: the night he was born, my mother's birthday dinner, Easter and Ian's birthday.
I hate this.
I am still angry at her for a lot of things and she is (clearly) still angry at me, but none of it means anything at all. She is my sister and I should be able to talk to her. Even if it's only on the polite family level. I should be able to say, "hey, we're going to the zoo, do you want to meet us there?" She should be able to say, "Hey, the kids are making me nuts can I come over for an hour?"
We don't have to resolve this, nobody has to be right or wrong. We don't even have to talk about it.
I have more contact - more friendly communication - with Bean's stepmother. The woman who was my best friend until she fell in love with my husband.
And that is just stupid.
I have spent the last year pretending that I am too busy to care about this. I have spent the last year adding up all of the times that I should have been able to rely on support from my sister and feeling really resentful. I have spent the last year offering up olive branches and waiting for her to respond. (And then feeling resentful). I have spent the last year denying that I am really really hurting because of this. There is not anything else I can do to fix this rift... and I can add up all of my resentments and categorize my anger and keep pretending, but if she called me tomorrow may walls would disintegrate like sandcastles.
If she weren't my sister we would never be friends and I know that we will never be as close as we used to be - if only because I would never be able to trust that she wouldn't freeze me out again at any time - but I would settle for talking about diaper rash.
So happy birthday, Isaac. I don't know if you're walking yet or if you like things that flash more than things that beep. I don't know if you like to be read to or if you would rather eat the book and have your toes tickled. Your present is in the mail.

Eating Hobbity

I'm not sure what the original diet consisted of... mostly whole grains and walnuts and vegetables and a lot of water. There was a schedule to it, and also measuring. I don't know. It's some sort of "detoxifying" diet that Andie found that is supposed to help you kick-start healthier eating habits following a McDonalds and/or pledge-drive-induced Krispy Kreme splurge. I guess it worked... I never really tried it. It also involved a lot of Salmon and I am not really all that fond of fish. A co-worker accused her of eating like a Hobbit. And I guess she was - there were all of these little snacks that she would pack away and nibble on throughout the day. Really, from what I understand, a quite healthy way to approach food.
"Eating Hobbity" has transformed over the years to mean planning out a nutrition-focused breakfast and/or lunch rather than eating out or microwaving a Lean Cuisine. It usually involves this revolting-looking (but really yummy) yogurt concoction that Andie and I have been revising and personalizing. It is filling and healthy and (can be) low calorie and low fat. The "original" is sugar free, fat free yogurt with Fiber One. In Weight Watchers it's one point and it's filling. The newest incarnation involves Kashi, walnuts and dried cranberries. Seriously? It was amazing. I added up the calories and it's higher than you'd want for diet food, but much less (and much more nutritionally sound) than going to Wendy's. And it's been hours and I'm not at all hungry.
So today I'm Hobbity and it's all good.

Allergies Bad, Knitting Good

I am feeling sort of blank and sluggish today. My allergies are winning. The allergy medicine I'm taking seems to have no effect on anything but my sneezing and energy levels. My head is still full and my throat still hurts... and now I'm just exhausted. And a little stoned.

So I'm going to write about yarn now. No pictures, of course, just babbling.

My Blue Moon Fiber Arts order shipped (finally). I ordered some STR heavyweight - enough to make the Clapotis (I hope). I ordered it on the 10th and was starting to get frustrated by the fact that it was still "pending" and then I remembered that they are sending out sock club shipments last week and this week and maybe I should cut them a little slack! And also, I was thinking that maybe the Clapotis would be better out of the STR shipment from April - a sort of rainbow-colored silkie sock yarn.

Sigh.

I'm also working on a garter for Kerri's wedding and that is going well... It cemented my love for my friend Lara and the website Ravlery. I was having some problems with the pattern, so last week Lara went over the pattern and made some notes and was generally fabulous - I went home and knit through the first repeat with no problems at all. And then I was poking around on Ravelry and met another person who was working on it and she had lots of supportive things to say about it as well. There is no other place in my life where I feel this supported and understood. Is that sad or just really really cool?

And my LYS is having a monthly Lizard Ridge knit-along. I completed two squares last weekend and love it. I did one square just as the directions stated and on the second one I didn't switch yarns every 6 rows and while I like the way the first one looks best, they're both really pretty.

What else am I knitting... um... oh! My sweater! I have 5 whole inches!! Just another foot and I can start doing something besides knit the knits and purl the purls.

In non-knitting news, Andie and I are watching Lost on DVD. I had no idea this was such a cool freaking show! I avoided it because it sounded dumb and then by the time everyone and their cat was raving about it I figured it was too late to "get it." So we started by ordering the individual discs on Netflix but it was so good that one at a time was way too slow so we're speeding through the second season.
The cool thing about watching it this way is that we don't have to wait more than fifteen seconds for the next episode. The bad thing is that it is really difficult to avoid spoilers. I was poking around online today trying to figure out when season 3 would be available on DVD (December 11) and accidentally found out that one of my favorite characters dies. I'm really disappointed.

Knit on! I'll post pictures soon.

Sockapalooza Update: What I Sent

Alli has received and opened her package so I can post about it!!

This is the first thing she saw: a fabulous tote bag (with little pockets inside and everything!) that I got from StickChickSchwag on Etsy. I couldn't resist this cool bag!




And then I found these little Chinese food takeout containers at Hobby Lobby that were perfect for yarn and sock packing!










Here's what I packed inside: lace yarn from Knitpicks (Alli likes to knit lace) and the Crusoe socks in Chapman Springs from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.











I also sent a chart keeper from Knitpicks... something every lace knitter must have, right?!?











And finally, another view of the socks. She says they fit and she loves them. Yay me!


These really are my favorite socks to knit.

Back to School

Bean is back in school and all is right with the world. The first day of school I dropped her off at the bus stop and waited with her. Well, more accurately, I waited in the car and watched her. I asked her if she would be embarrassed if I waited with her and she said, "Well, sort of." So I got back in the car and slunk down and waited. As she got on the bus she put her hand down at hip level and fluttered a little inconspicuous wave in my general direction. I'll take what I can get as we enter this adolescence.

It's so weird... I have gone from being the mom who dropped her off at school and watched until she entered the building to being the mom who waits for her to come home from the bus stop. Instead of knowing where she is at all times I must now trust that she can walk two blocks without getting lost or kidnapped by dragons or joining a gang or smoking pot. This is practice for next year when she will be walking to school. She has made the transition beautifully and I am feeling a little superfluous.

I have always championed her independence, and her independence and maturity has made my life exponentially easier, but I sometimes wish she needed me a little more. But she is my child. I shouldn't expect anything different.

When they tell you that it goes by faster than you can imagine they're right. I feel like I was pregnant with her yesterday and today she's asking me if I want her to pack lunch for me while she's packing her own. Tomorrow she'll be married and having kids of her own. I should teach her how to bake brownies...

PS. Look what I ordered from Knit-Whit today!! I'm going to use it at Kerri's Bachelorette Sleepover!!

If I Admit I'm Stupid Will You Go Away??

I am apparently a huge file-erasing moron and there are people who are incredibly angry at me. I faced the music (well, the music producer whose files I lost) and said, "Look, I'm not entirely sure what happened but this file is gone and I am more sorry than I can even explain." He did not explode in his classic way, but he did get very icy. I don't blame him.

The engineer has found a way to try and recover what I lost and we'll know tomorrow if it worked or not. (Please let it work!! Please!!). I am feeling a lack of chocolate cake in my day.

Knitting tonight (bonus: it's at a bar, double bonus: it's at a bar with great burgers).