Monday, September 15, 2008

A real date!

On Friday, Big J and I went out for a date! really! We left Little J home with Little Sister (i paid her for her babysitting, because that's what you do on a date, right?) and Big J and I went out for dinner and a movie.

Dinner was at Yokohama Japanese restaurant, in Greenwood. We were early for supper, and i don't think they were quite ready for guests. We sat for 10 minutes before anyone asked if we needed menus or a drink :( But the food was quite good. And, we learned later, that they were short a waitress that night. (makes a huge difference, especially if it's 50% of your waitstaff) By the time we left, the restaurant was full, so if you want to eat there, make reservations!

I had ordered tickets to the ArtCraft movie theater in Franklin. They were showing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Big J likes Monty Python very much, so I insisted he take me to see it. It's a good thing we didn't take Little J along; I had forgotten how bloody the movie is. We had a good time, enjoyed the little play and doorprize give-away before the movie, and the ambience. The theater is very nice, a small town version of ArtDeco.

When we got home (after stopping at BurgerKing. I was starving!) the kiddos were all still awake, but Little J fell asleep quickly, thank goodness. It was a good evening, and lots of fun.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

knitting happiness

can you believe, I couldn't fall asleep last night because I was thinking of knitting. Really! I couldn't get out of bed, because the baby was asleep next to me (and she's fallen off the bed several times already, so I can not leave her on the bed. asleep or no.) so, i grabbed my handy ddandy cell phone and called Big J in the other room.

"Dearest, can you look at a webpage for me?
"Sure, what is it?"
"It's a knitting pattern, google for 'kniity.com' and 'sheldon', and that should bring it up."
"Hmm...knitty.com, issue winter 2006....Sheldon the Turtle??"
"Yes, that's it. Can you print it off for me?"

and then he started reading off gobbledygook. I thought it was some sort of computer code, until I realized he was reading knitting directions, letter by letter! Try it, and see how wierd it sounds:

[Kfb] in each st. 12 sts.K all sts. [Kfb, k1] twice, [kfb] twice, [k1, kfb] twice, k2. 18 sts.all sts.[Kfb, k2] six times. 24 sts.


That's the first 5 rounds of sheldon. :)

My other happiness yesterday, was imaging how I could store my yarn/fabric stash. Grumperina had pictures of IKEA shelves on her blog, with glass doors...I'd prefer to have barrister bookcases, so that I could rearrange the stacks. And slide out drawers to keep my fabric in..that is a very happy thought.

Oh, now I remember my other knitting thought. I just recieved a stroller organizer from Amazon, and I realized that the water bottle pockets were just the right size to hold a ball of sock yarn! How serendipitous is that?

Rhonda, I'm not sure which of Cat Bordhi's socks I'm going to make, but I'm leaning toward Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks, because I want to try that slipped stitch. As soon as I actually decide, I'll put the project up on ravelry.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Knitting since I do't know when....


Did I post about the Ravelry Olympics already? I'm not sure..I entered two events, a WIP and a shawl. Due to small children occupying a large amount of my awake time, I didn't finish either projects by the closing ceremonies of the olympics (They had some way cool stuff at the closing ceremonies, didn't they?) but on Monday I finished up the shawl. Yay! It's a pi shawl, (over to the left. That's Baby G with her favorite new chew toy/shawl) made of Merino Stripes yarn from Crystal Palace yarns. I need to block it out - hopefully it will stretch from baby blanket size out to adult shawl size. Hmm...considering that blocking will involve lots and lots of pins, I'll need to do it without the small children around.

The WIP, a Baby Surprise Jacket, is going back into hibernation. I ran out of yarn for it. Im undecided between looking for more yarn (Anyone have Noro Kujaku? It's discontinued :( ) or frogging it.

Let's see...current project is a little boy sock. I'm making him ones that match the ones I made last winter. For little socks, they are taking a long time to finish.

I put in a KnitPicks order today. the next project I need to start is a little cardigan for Little G, from Debbie Bliss, and I think the DK superwash will work just right. I also ordered yarn to make Sheldon the Turtle (The boy put in a request) annnnd I ordered a pair of the new Harmony straight needles. I can't wait to try them!

And, I'm going to start a pair of socks from Cat Bordhi's book, as soon as I finish the Little boy socks. I can't wait! those patterns are amazing!

why are bandages so big?

The Little boy had a teeny tiny cut on his finger, and insisted on a bandage (not using the TM names, but it was a brand name bandage) and, when I fetched one of the cool fishie bandages out of the medicine cabinet, we had to wrap the bandage completely around his little finger to keep the huge thing on. Now why do kids' bandages not come in a super small size?

I'll write about knitting later, I promise.