Knintting goodies

Big J and i dropped in at WalMart after my doctor's appointment today, and, well, i didn't mean to get anything that wasn't on my list (Big J might have had a different idea. that would explain all the dog treats and frozen food that wound up int the cart) but I wandered, slowly, by the yarn isle, and found this!

Peaches & Creme dishcloth cotton. In pretty colors :) It will become baby bibs. Cynthia from my knitting night had made some up from the Mason-Dixon pattern, and they were really cute.

And these are the other knitting goodies I have. They're mounted rubber stamps...Baaa! I saw some of the stamps in the PatternWorks catalog, but, I found that they are originally from Kaspareks online.

Kaspareks has a lot of other kewl stamps, but, I got these two as being of the most utility...and i couldn't justify spending lots and lots on rubber stamps. ::shrug:: This was a little pick-me-up present in the midst of plumbing drama. To get more, maybe I'll wait until my birthday. Or, hmm, maybe an unbirthday present...

oh, regarding the plumbing...the original issue is fixed. Yay! Toilets work again, which is a very very good thing. However, i swear, we've been cursed by the plumbing gods. Last night, we found that the water shut-off by the upstairs toilet was leaking when it was open. Because the downstairs closet had it's ceiling dripping! Lovely! so, we're not using that toilet right now...oh well. This may be something i can fix, or, maybe it's not that serious...

9mths pregnant, and no working toilet

I wanna go live at a hotel! (if i went to the hospital today, they'ld have toilets. And showers, yes?)

yes, the plumbing drama has been still ongoing. I enlisted the landlord's help in dealing with the Drain company...he thinks I'm a helpless female, but, as much as don't appreciate that, I don't have enough energy to deal with it all myself.

They are talking about running a camera thru the pipes...and talking of cameras (and to stop talking about plumbing), here's a picture of my Pomatomous socks (I've realized i don't know how to spell that...). I'm still working on the first sock, and it's going well...

I do really like this color. It's not something I'd wear, but it's pretty, and calming to work with. Now that I'm on the foot, there's a bit of pooling. The pink is making a thin spiral stripe around it. i had to consciously relax my tension a tiny bit, because at first it was trying to keep all the pink in the exact same spot. I can live with the stripe, it's sort of cute.

what do you do when you knit from 2 different rows?

I haven't figured out how to fix this problem yet. I was knitting on my Potamous socks at Panera's tonight (with the Indianapolis Southside Knitters group) and about 5 minutes before it was time to leave, I realized that the lace pattern wasn't quite lining up with the chart...I don't know how I did it, but it looks like I was knitting from two different rows on the chart. and, I'm not sure how to fix it, either! This may require some thought...

Tonight, we had a stray knitter stop and talk with us. Actually, she was intrigued enough by our group that she went outside, then told her friends that she had to come back inside to talk to us. I hope she does come back some Monday, she's definitely a knitter. She said that she had only just learned, but her comment as she left (about Chris' spinning wheel) was "I can do that!" LOL! definitely a natural knitter.

Oh, I've got to post this: "Thank you, Big J!" My darling husband decided that he needed to drive me to knitting tonight. And, by the time he picked me up, I was really appreciating it. It had started to sleet, and while I don't normally mind driving my Aztek around, I sometimes have troubles with night vision, and then my reactions are a little off from being so pregnant (and tired). It was probably safer if he drove.

Future project: Road to Morocco

IMG_1121
Originally uploaded by pandosu

Today was a slow day - we let Big J sleep in after his late night cranking out a paper, so in the morning I went to church by my self with the kidlets. Little J gets heavy! especially when he falls asleep during Mass. and refuses (in his sleep) to be put down. Afternoon, Little J finished his nap, we did a bit of shopping, and then we went to see a movie. Spiderwyck is pretty good. I haven't read the books, and I didn't really like the kids in the movie, but I can see how they are realistic characters that today's kids could relate to. They were dealing with their parent's divorce, their mom moving them to a new place, and reacted in various ways. Then you have the faeries and monsters, but the kids, on the side of good, win out in the end. Little J watched the whole thing...he did better than the little boy behind us who was probably 3 or 4. That boy kept asking "Is it almost over?" But then, Little J likes monsters.

I haven't did any knitting today, and as tired as i feel, I probably won't manage to do any tonight either. But, I wanted to show you this! This is the "Road to Morocco" Shawl, by Susan Pandorf. There's a KAL over on Ravelry, if you're interested in it. I think this shwal is absolutely gorgeous...it might take me a while to do it, but I'm going to try it.

See Big J? I DO bake!

I told Big J last night not to worry about the rapidly browning bananas on the counter - I was going to make banana bread with them today. His reply (and yes, it's an ongoing joke) "I've heard that before!"

Well, here is proof! Proof, I say!

Little J helped me with the mixing. He likes dumping in the ingredients, and I try to involve him with cooking when I can. Also, this morning, it was have him help, or have him keep eating the raisins (he dumped out) off the fuzzy floor that needs vacuumed.

I used this recipe from King Arthur Flour. The only change was to use White whole wheat flour, instead of the 100% organic whole wheat. I really like their flour, and they've got a lot ....

whoops! I had forgotten to set the timer on the oven! that's done now :)

anyway, King Arthur Flour's website has a section devoted to recipes. I look there first when I need to make something, because they taste good, and they work, unlike some other ones you can find on the internet.


And the finished product!


On the plumbing front, it looks like it's fixed. This time, when a guy came out from the drain service, he did a lot more work, and tested it thoroughly before he left. We didn't get charged for the service either (We shouldn't have been, I was prepared to argue about it.) I haven't been brave enough to run a bathtub full of water and test it yet. Big J says that he'll run a shower for me tonight, to see if it works, isn't that nice of him? hehe.

more plumbing excitement

Oh yes. We are still dealing with the plumbing. What Fun! pbththth!

The bathroom sink is fixed, thank goodness. The Landlord's brother did come over, and fixed it in about 30 minutes. I really don't think it was b'cause he was lazy, I don't think either the landlord or his brother know how to be lazy. And, honestly, if he was ill i'd rather he stayed far far away. :) keep those germs at a safe distance, right-o?

The drains...now, that's a different matter. At first, yes, it seemed that the plumbing was draining properly. The toilet would flush, a very important thing. However, after the little boy's bath last night, guess what? The tub didn't want to drain again! And even worse, there was water over the floor near the toilet. (No, i hadn't been flushing the toilet out of curiosity. I may have more curiosity than a cat, but I do have a little bit of sense about waterworks.) It was warm water, so, it must have came from the bath water...great...we didn't use the toilet until the water started draining again, b'cause I didn't want soiled water mixing with the water already on the floor. Le sigh. And it was only after I discovered the bath tub fiasco that dear hubby let me know that the tub hadn't been draining too well after his showers. again, le sigh.

I called the Drain service again this morning. i couldn't have them send any one out this afternoon, b'cause I had a doctor's appointment. So, they're supposed to send out a "supervisor" tomorrow morning. I don't know what difference a supervisor can make, but, I am thiiiis close to calling the Better Business Bureau. Oh, not to mention, who knows if they will actually be able to make it here tomorrow, considering the weather is supposed to have icy conditions overnight... (let's hope school isn't cancelled tomorrow. please, please, please God!)

Remind me not to tempt the universe. It's got a nasty sense of humor.

The Universe is laughing...

y'know, I'd like to blame this week on someone, anyone, but it's just the Universe out to get me. Again...

Sunday, I had the week planned out. Monday was to be my shopping day, because we were running out of groceries, and the natives were getting restless. No, really, it was because with Little Sister out of school, I would have an extra set of hands for shopping and little boy handling. Tuesday and Wednesday were "stay-at-home"/library days, because it would be cold. Thursday, that's my doctor's appointment. Friday...it was open to possibilites. And then I gave the boy a bath.

The bath tub refused to drain. All of that water just wasn't going away the way it is supposed to. And then, the toilet refused to flush. Or drain. WONDERFUL. I kept an eye on it all night (every time I woke up in the middle of the night to pee...isn't being pregnant wonderful) and it was slowly, oh-so-slowly draining. That was good, but I called our landlord in the morning anyway. (It may just be my isolationist tendencies due to impending pregnancy, but I don't really like talking to him. For one thing, he calls me "young lady". riiiight...) He pointed out that it was probably clogged sewer lines (actually, he intimated that it was flushing "women's things" that clogged the lines) and that it would be our responsibility to pay for it to be fixed. Okay, I can live with paying for it as long as the toilet gets fixed. Then, our landlord recommended a place to do the drains. The place where his wife's ex-husband works.

Okay, he should know who would do a good job, right? They did get someone out on Monday, and, in several hours, managed to get a snake through the clog and have everything draining. and put the toilet back in, too! yep, but then there was the aftermath. I spent over an hour cleaning sludge from the bathroom. Sewer sludge off the floors and the walls. Off of everything that was in the bathroom (the guy didn't warn me that it might make a mess. Or I would have taken everything OUT before he started! Perhaps it seemed obvious to him, but I'm not up on all these plumbing matters) Washed all the towels and rugs that were in the bathroom. Got the toilet grease off the wall (how the heck did it get at eyelevel by the window?) sanitize EVERYTHING with Lysol. Clean out from under the sink, where there was more sludge all over everything that had been in the drawers....

And that's when I found that the piping under the sink had been broken. yep. broken. The metal before the PVC U-bend had come apart into 2 pieces. And it hadn't been like that before the drain guy messed with it. After an hour of cleaning, discovering this almost made me cry. I had missed lunch, missed my nap, didn't get my afternoon snack, and now this?

Back to the phone I went. I called up the drain service, to complain about this, and they agreed to send someone out to look at it. (This is where I need to be a better blogger. If I had taken pictures of the bathroom _before_ I cleaned it, I would have proof for when I sued them for improper handling of biological waste. As it was, the bathroom was mostly clean. All except for the spot behind the toilet where this preganat lady couldn't reach because her tummy sticks out too far.) Their guy looked at it, and wouldn't admit to anything. Except that their company only did drains, not plumbing. But, I did explain why I was not happy, (in a very polite fashion) and they should know that I am NOT recommending them to _anyone_ who needs their drains cleaned. He did call up the landlord for me (the guy the drain company sent might have been the ex-husband. i dunna) and explain that it wasn't my fault it broke (I should say not!) but that the metal had just worn out. (I imagine the landlord put it in himself, originally. that's what he gets for using cheap fittings..)

So (this is still Monday) my landlord then calls me up, and says not to worry about it, that he'll have it taken care of. His brother will come by, after he gets off work, and and fix the plumbing bit. I didn't know what time he was coming by, so, there goes the rest of the day (down the drain, so to speak). The brother did come by, trailed by two highschool age (? maybe a little older, but not much) guys. The kids were very impressed by my dog, which is always a good thing when potential juvenile delinquents are in your house. The Landlord's Brother looked at what he would need to do, and we set up for him to come by on Tuesday morning, around 9:30 or 10.

I was so glad it was Monday, and I could go hang out with the knitting group at Panera's that evening. Not that i don't love my husband and family, but sometimes, I need to get out to preserve my sanity.

So, Tuesday morning, today, I drag myself out of bed at a decent (i suppose, for me) hour in order to be dressed and have the boy dressed by the time the landlord's helpful brother got here. hmmm...he didn't show up. Golly gee. can we say that I was a bit irritated? Why yes, I do believe we can. Late this afternoon, the landlord called me up, to explain that his brother had been in the emergency room at the hospital with a stomach virus/bug last night, and had been sleeping all day long. I, of course, was feeling lie a terrible person, since I had been all indignant over my lost day...when of course, if he was sick, it was best he stayed home, and got better (Neither my landlord or his brother are young men. My conscience would feel terrible if anything happened to them because of me...) the brother is supposed to call me tomorrow, and then come to the house to fix the bathroom sink.

We'll see what happens.I still can't use the bathroom sink, and I'm fully expecting us to come down with cholera or dysentery. I'm tempting the universe's sense of humor to say this, but, what else can happen?

It's been a while since I've posted. Part of it has been that I've been entranced by the potamous pattern, and, haven't been able to put it down to turn on the computer. The other part of my procrastination, is that I really wanted to post a picture of my Valentine's day flowers, and I still haven't managed to take a picture of them. Bad me! oddly enough, i think I've gotten more flowers this year than any other year i've known Big j....maybe because he's too busy to do anything other than get on the internet to the florist's website? but I appreciate it! Very much!

FO: Purple Baby Hat

Isn't he cute? Little J is happy to be a model, and he's getting really good at saying "Cheese!" (he has a completely different sound he uses when he wants to eat cheese, but this is very definitely the word cheese) The hat is way to small for him, I wasn't trying for the hebrew-ish beanie look.

It's the Berocco Ultra Alpaca yarn again, what I had left over from the purple baby sweater. I cast on 72 stitches (2 extra stitches for selvedges because I did the bottom section on straight needles) on #5 needles, worked 5 ridges of garter stitch, then did the gull lace pattern in the light purple until I ran out of yarn. I think...it's about 3" worth? Then I switched back to dark purple, joined the stitches into a circle on dpns, and quickly decreased. I seamed up the lace section, and voila! it's done.

What I should do, is work on Little J's sweater some more. I haven't...I don't feel like working in worsted weight right now. So, I started the pomatomus sock from Knitty. It's working out very nice! and i understand the pattern, so I don't have look at the charts every row. The Alpaca Sox yarn in the Easter colors is looking lovely in this sock pattern. It's nicely mixed, no pooling...i'm very happy with it. This sock is probably going to the Little Sister for Easter.

Speaking of sisters, my other sister is going to come visit! She's going to be here in March (hopefully, it's after the baby is born ;) ) so she can see the kidlets, be here for the baptism...and if she's really nice, maybe I'll knit her a pair of socks, too.

FO: Purple Baby Sweater

I forgot about taking a picture of this sweater until late tonight, so the lighting is terrible. But, it is a really cute sweater. Last night I had put it on Little J to see how big it was, and well, it was too small for him, but it will probably be too big for the new baby. At least at first... I didn't take a picture of Little J wearing it, because last night he didn't want to take it off!

FO: Purple Baby Sweater

I forgot about taking a picture of this sweater until late tonight, so the lighting is terrible. But, it is a really cute sweater. Last night I had put it on Little J to see how big it was, and well, it was too small for him, but it will probably be too big for the new baby. At least at first... I didn't take a picture of Little J wearing it, because last night he didn't want to take it off!

kntting happened too!

actually, I probably do more knitting than reading, even though my lack of finished objects would seem to belie that...

ANYWAY! I finished up the baby sweater! :D I'll have pictures of it tomorrow.

Reading updates

I've been reading, but it's been mostly things that I already have at home. Getting to the library these days is just one more thing to do, that I do really have enough energy to do.

• The Ship Errant, by Jody Lynn Nye
• the Ship Avenged, by S.M. Stirling
• Hurricane Moon, by Alexis Glynn Latner
• Thursday Next, First Among Sequels, by Jasper Fforde (Didn't get into this one as much as the previous books. Thursday Next was too domesticated, and too whiny about her publishing problems. it was almost like the author was projecting his problems into the book.)
• Miles, Mystery & Mayhem, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Includes "Cetaganda", "Ethan of Athos", and "Labryinth")
• Diplomatic Immunity, by Lois McMaster Bujold
• A Civil Campaign, by Lois McMaster Bujold
• Crossroads and Other Tales of Valdemar, ed. Mercedes Lackey
• Sword of Ice, ed Mercedes Lackey
• Sun in Glory, ed Mercedes Lackey
• Reserved for the Cat, by Mercedes Lackey
• Oath of Swords, by David Weber
  
• War God's Own, by David Weber
  
• Wind-Rider's Oath, by David Weber

Running Total: 28

The week's been a blur

Well, what have I been doing? I haven't been on the computer since Monday, since I was either busy, or way too tired. Monday was knitting at Panera's, and I know I did something else, but i can't remember what it was now (pregnant women have lousy memories. Everyone knows that!). Noraleen showed us all her work on the Secret of the Stole II project, and it's lovely! And educational! we learned about KnitPicks harmony needles, and putting lifelines in the lace. My personal eureka moment was when Noraleen said that she puts them into rows that are straight purl. of course! That would make it alot easier to pick up the stitches again later. A few of us were sitting there, still knitting and chatting, after Panera's was officially closed. I'd like to say, the Panera's staff at the Southport and Hwy 65 are very nice to us knitters. Always helpful, and they've never made us feel guilty for keeping them there after closing hours (Nice, since I can make myself feel guilty without any outside help...).

Tuesday was almost as busy. Little Sister and I had dentist appointments in the morning. Neither of us had any cavities (yay!), I had been expecting something to have to be fixed, as we hadn't been to the dentist in a year (or maybe closer to two...) what with us moving, and me procrastinating. The staff at the dentist's office was quite kind, too. Even when Little J got bored watching them clean my teeth and was running in circles thru the office, me chasing him with the bib around my neck...the receptionist volunteered to keep an eye on him while he played with the toys in the waiting area. Thank you so much! And, my dental hygenist had to take a short break while the FedEx guy came with the pictures of the little girl she's going to be adopting from China. That was pretty cool. The little girl looks adorable! a perfect chubby little angel.
Little Sister was dropped off at school, perfect timing for her to take her math test, and Little J and I went home for lunch. After lunch, we ran errands to the city building and to the vet's, then it was home again for naptime. And at that point, Little J needed it. He broke down into tears when we had to leave the cats at the veterinarian's office. Poor baby :(

And today? Doctor's appointment today. Big J had to work, so I dropped Little J off at the babysitter's, and drove myself to the doctor's. I don't mind the driving, but it does mean that I can't knit on the way. Everything's still good with the new baby! :) when I got back to pick up the boy, we ran into a snag, though. He didn't want to come home. He wanted to stay, where there were TV's in the bedroom and cupcakes for snacks, and other little kids to play with. (darn it, I still haven't asked her what her other kids are named...) Part of it was that he needed a nap, but he was crying like his little heart was breaking...Y'know, writing this all out, it sounds like Little J has had a really rough week. I don't think he has, he's just been doing so many things that he's been overwhelmed. I've been feeling a bit that way too.

Knitting is going along. Both sleeves are done on the February baby sweater, yipee skippee! and i've been working on the body. The body isn't going as fast as the sleeves did, but I think I've got a good chance of finishing it by sunday. Great! (I'm feeling vaguely superstitous that if I finish it, the baby will decide to be born...i hope not...) if I finish up the baby sweater, I'll be able to work on Little J's sweater some this month, too. I'd like to finish it so that he can wear it before summer. Oh yes, and I _finally_ finished winding the new alpaca sox yarn into a ball, so maybe I'll cast on for potamous socks with that yarn. maybe. it could happen...

update: and we had church this evening after supper. I am so wiped out. Happy Ash Wednesday!

WIP update (baby sweater)

Thanks Cindy! The yarn is lucious, and i was really wondering what it was. :)

My Super Bowl knitting was the Febuary Baby Sweater. It's looking really nice! The gull lace pattern is pretty easy, and by the end of the game I had it memorized. I actually finished off one of the sleeves last night, by the time I went to bed. Now, if I knit on it for 3 hrs every night, I'd probably have it done in a week...

Hot Cocoa swap present!

My package from my secret pal came today while I was out! Wheeee! look at these goodies from Cindy W!

There's a project bag, just the right size for knitting socks, a notion kit with everything I could ever need (and all the stuff that i never do have when I need it :) ), a set of Brittany needles #4 (good choice, I don't have them in 4's), a pattern for handwarmers, and the Yarn!

The yarn is yummy! I can't make out the brand, but, it's a alpaca silk mix. The alpaca part of it by itself makes me a very happy girl, but, I can't wait to see what the mix with silk does. Silk...well, I've been telling myself it's not in the budget, so I haven't tried knitting with any yet. This is so cool!

And then we have the Hot Cocoa:

Inct a wonderful red satin covered box, there's a perfect mug (seriously!perfect shape, perfect handle, wonderful color...)
a box of Starbuck's hot cocoa, and a tin of starbuck's cinnamon gum. so kewl!

The husband is trying to claim the hot cocoa, and the little boy wants the box...i don't think so! Mine :)

Thanks so much Cindy!

Hot Cocoa swap box to mail...

Here's what I'm mailing to my swapee (hope she likes it!):


These are the stitch markers I'm sending...chocolate cake! yummy :)


And THIS is the rest of the package. That would be two skeins of Noro Kujaku yarn, the owl buddy, Godiva hot chocolate mix, and Ritter Sport (german) chocolate with hazelnuts. y'know, I'd really like to keep this for myself...yarn, chocolate, hot cocoa...yum yum yum yum...

I'll mail it out on Moday, so, I hope she gets it next week.

cutie pie finished object

Isn't he a cute little owl? It's a crochet pattern, from Crochetme.com, "Crochet Owl(Talons)", by momwithahook.

Also today, I finished winding my Ultra Alpaca yarn into balls, then I cast on for the Elizabeth Zimmermann baby sweater from Knitter's Almanac. I think I'm doing it the way the instructions read, instead of switching it to have the sleeves knit in the round. I want to see how EZ made this work, and I can think it better if I actually do it, rather than just read it. And, I don't really like garter stitch, but if when working on straight needles, it is nice not to have to purl.

Contest at House of Wool

Kris, at My House of Wool, is having a contest to celebrate her 2nd blogiversary. Leave a comment, and tell her I sent ya!