Blue Henna

My son hennaed his feet this morning with a blue pen.

My first impulse was to scrub it off. He didn't like that idea (Owww momma! No No No!!!). So I decided that it really wasn't a big deal...in fact, I was amused that he found it so entertaining to color his feet that way, and not the rest of his body. I also decided that better his feet, and not his little cheeks...His sister hennaed her face with yellow, green, and blue marker one day while in daycare a few years ago. She looked pretty scary, actually, and reminded me of Darth Maul from Star Wars...seriously! It took 2 days for the ink to wear off (washable my ***!)

I forgot to take a picture of his feet before his bath, so please excuse the faded pen on his cute little feet, and imagine the ink darker and more of it:

So there you have it - blue henna!

Thank you Fairy Godmother

These past few weeks have been crazy.

The puppy has been coming out of his shell. We've been making friends with dog owners and their dogs. Pippin is a very social dog and he loves to run around...and around...and around. I think if I let him play with his dog friends all day, he would, and would come home ready for more.

My daughter was getting restless, waiting for the end of school to arrive. She has been talking about going to the pool with her best friend everyday for the past month. In fact, she talks alot...about her stuffed animals, imaginary friend, Buggy, what she did at school, about everything that she is curious about (how many rings does Saturn have momma? Guess what - Jupiter is a gaseous planet; daddy told me so; what does gaseous mean?) And on and on...

My son was getting antsy in the house and I signed him up for gymnastics. He loves it but he is such a bundle of energy, I often have to take him out and let him run around with the puppy at the park. Otherwise, he and the puppy fight over toys...

So, like so many other mothers at this time of year, I often wished that I could have a little break for myself. Just a little tiny one....

This past weekend, I got my wish:

Thank you Fairy Godmother!

Last day of school 2009

My daughter's last day of school was today. She gave Mrs Brown her completed scarf today, along with some brownies to share with her class.

Mrs. Brown was very grateful for the scarf. She said that she loved that I made it with my own hands. She wrote in her thank you card that she was so happy to be acknowledged (!) I am happy to give her something to show how much I appreciated her work - with my daughter and her classmates.

I know that not everyone appreciates knitted gifts because they are so easily bought at a department store. At times, I know that the people I give some gifts to don't realize the time and care that I put into my knitted items, as well as the thoughtfulness that I put into choosing the right yarn: color, softness, fabric that it creates, fiber. Mrs. Brown knew, and I appreciated that.

It's been a good year for my daughter and I am thankful that she had the good fortune to have a teacher like Mrs. Brown.

Charted it!

I charted a pattern for the first time this week. I saw a scarf that someone on Ravelry had knit using the Candelight pattern from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns and love the way the stitches undulate on the fabric. The description in the book claims that it is reversible (not in those words, but that is the way that I read it). I looked for a pattern that someone had already written out to no avail. Barbara Walker didn't chart it out either.

I was intimidated at first to chart it out myself. It is a 36 line chart, hardly any of the rows are repeated and many of the rows had different stitch counts in the final repeat. However, I decided that the end result would be worth it.

It took me a few hours to chart it out, proof it, and rewrite it in pen. I wasn't sure how I wanted to edges to be. I looked for the right edging in all of my stitch books and couldn't find one with the right stitch counts. I thought that it would be a good idea to improvise this too.

After knitting a few rows, I decided that a plain garter stitch edge would look best. I am about halfway through the first set and it is really looking good! I am using (finally!) the skeins of Karabella Breeze (cashmere and silk) that I bought from Babs a few months ago (last year, I think). I have 5 left, having given one to my swap partner and swapping one in the KYS board on Ravelry. I plan on making the stole as big as possible, before I get bored. I actually want to use up all of the yarn, but we'll see if that happens.

Overall, I am very proud of myself for taking the challenge and being able to chart such a long written pattern out correctly!

Frankensteining my Kauni yarn

I was going to sell my Kauni. I started to wind it into a cake, even. But the more I looked at the skein and the pictures I took when I was in love with the colorway, the more I wanted to keep it. After much thought, I decided that I could live with the scratchiness. After all, I could condition it after it was knit up and washing is supposed to make the yarn softer. Also I really really really like the colors. Pinks and creams. Even in a cake, the colors still remind me of beautiful pink roses. I haven't seen very many yarns that have the pretty colors and transitions that my Kauni has.

While I was winding it from the ball, I kept looking at the offensive amount of tan in the ball. I swear, it just kept going and going in the tan color! After I was sure that most of the tan was wound, I broke the yarn, put the brown wad aside and starting winding the rest of the ball. When it came to the tan again, I repeated this process. In the end, I had to rewind the balls that I wanted into one.

I was a little shocked at what I wound up with (forgive the pun!)

The tan portion weighed 1.3 ounces! The rest of the ball was much prettier after I cut it out though...I like the colors much better.

But look at the comparison! No wonder I felt like I was knitting a lot of tan...I was!

Kinnearing Kids Part 2: Mamarazzi

My son enjoys watching his sister play Super Mario Galaxy. I will admit that the music and sound effects in this game are catchy and very well thought out. Sometimes I find myself humming the music while I am grocery shopping, or hear my son singingone of the songs in the car.

It's easy for me to to get distracted when they are involved in the game: her playing it, and him watching and dancing to it. I find myself just watching the two of them because it is so cute.

This past weekend, I remembered halfway in my reverie to get my camera and see if I could record some of it. My son apparently did not want me to...

Enjoy!

Sock Wars is ON!!

Knitting away on my weapon and hoping to have it kill my target as soon as possible. That's all for now. More news to come...