Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Mother of the Year

About time I get back to this blog thing.
There has not been a great deal of crafting going on around here. A pair of capris will be cut out tonight and the sock plods along slowly, but nothing really exciting in the diy category.

I have been enjoying myself though.
Disneyworld was a lot of fun but insanely hard. Monkey is not an easy kid and being at the Happiest Place on EarthTM didn't make things easier. There were still plenty of screaming fits that make you feel like mother of the year, plus the absence seizures that make me feel sick. But overall I'd call the trip a success.
My sister was in Orlando for a medical conference and the Monkey and I met her there. We started off with the tiny kid rides, but noticed in Pirates of the Caribbean that Monkey's favorite parts were the drops. Turns out that he is tall enough to go on the good stuff, like Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad (not Space Mountain, sadly. You have to be 45 inches for that). People really look at you like you are insane when you load your three year old onto a roller coaster, but they love it when it rolls back into the station with him laughing and clapping. The crazier the ride, the better if you ask him. He was downright bored on the Peter Pan ride. Splash Mountain prompted singing and clapping.

The only real regret about the trip is that despite carrying it in my backpack the entire time, the sock NEVER ONCE got pulled out.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Sewing

The sewing world does not seem to be as online as the knitting community. Disappointing because I bought several patterns yesterday and there is not a single other person who seems to have used the pattern and written about it. And I would really like to see someone else's execution of what these capris are going to look like in real life, so as to get some pointers before I get started. If this was a knit pattern that hit bookshelves yesterday, today there would be 9 knitters out there with detailed stats about what yarn they used/needle size/gauge, what size they knit, pictures of the finished product on a real body, what alterations they made, their opinion of the pattern, and a picture of their cat looking adorable.

Technically there is a photo on the front, but this leggy model's body is no more comparable to mine than a framework made of popsicle sticks would be. She's also wearing 5 inch platform sandals, something I rarely slip on for a jaunt to the supermarket or playgroup.

I would be posting the before mentioned details on the pattern right now but I only got as far as prewashing the fabric and ironing before my sister broke my sewing machine. Oops. She was nice enough to go order the part before telling me. I hope I didn't come across as mad, because more than anything this really cracked me up-so much for our craftacular weekend.

The monkey, and therefore me, has been very busy this last week. First a general physical to meet his current doctor and get a neuro referral, then a screening visit to see if he is delayed enough for speech therapy. Slam dunk there, which meant a hearing test too (passed with flying colors). Next comes a long evaluation of how well he actually speaks. Then how well he listens and processes. Plus a visit with occupational therapy. Someday all this will be done and he will start speech therapy and once or twice a week I may get a chance to KNIT again!
Which would be awesome.
Because I haven't even turned the heel on this one yet.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Teeth

Today was the third and final day of much needed work on my teeth and I am so delighted to have it done. I keep running my tongue around my mouth and smiling; for problems that no one else could see I was terribly self-conscious of them. Plus if I bit wrong the pain left a lot to be desired. But I am all reconstructed and so happy now.
During procedures I kept my sock-in-progress on my lap. Not that I have the concentration to knit while having my mouth worked on, more of a security item. Thinking about what a Crafty job dentistry is helped me be less freaked-out too. Dentist drill? Just a teeny tiny Dremmel.
Now I just hope I'm never so broke again that I have to wait as long between checkups.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Grrrrrr

Why yes, that is a finished sock with the toe un-kitchnered. I had a darning needle around here somewhere, a needle that actually had some sentimental value, but it seems to be missing.
It is 1am and I'm up knitting and blogging because I'm too wound up to sleep. One week from tomorrow Monkey will be evaluated to determine what his deficiencies are, so he can begin speech therapy. But until he learns to communicate I still have to live with him grunting and shrieking any time he wants something. Or doesn't want something. Or is bored. Or excited. Or it is just too quiet. Like, say, tonight; when he can hear my brain start to relax and decides to scream for an hour. No half-assed cries either, but full strength Soylent Green is people! screaming. So it's not shocking that my gauge is a little tight tonight.

Thank goodness for knitting, otherwise I'd be eating ice cream straight from the carton.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

This morning I was expecting some serious weather. Thunderstorms had been predicted for all day. We even got upgraded to a tornado warning, and then a tornado watch. 100% humidity, but not one drop of rain. Looks like we got lucky.

I have the potential to be doing a lot of knitting for others in the next little while. Good news from my brother last night, he and his wife are expecting a baby! And my little sister seems to be falling head over heels for a guy... So I surmise, she's always with him and therefore never catches my phone calls. I've decided not to start anything for her until I get a confirmation that she might like something lacy for her potential big day. The pre-baby will get a tiny pair of cammo socks from the perfect yarn sent to me by the lovely and talented Jennifer for the Knit Sock Kit Swap. Absolutely perfect for my brother's baby and will still leave plenty left over for socks for me.