Keeping Warm

We went to Hohenzollern Castle today. It was amazingly beautiful. And freezing cold, as evidenced by this picture featuring 6 different hand knits (you can only see five, but I'm wearing hand knit socks), also a fleece sweatshirt and jacket that I sewed for the Monkey.

Solstice

Monkey and I were going a little crazy, with the sun going down here at 4:30, so we took a little road trip. Piled in the car and visited the N.O. Aquarium. Ate biegnets. Sang along with Trogdor. Danced with buskers. Not a bad day to turn 32. It might be the darkest day of the year, but it is looking up.

Birds

It finally stopped raining Thursday night, so this morning I was able to shampoo smelly dog and acquired a large branch, broken off my neighbors tree. A firm believer in power tools, I used my skil saw to hack up a branch for my kitchen and stuck on a few fabric birds I made the other day using this pattern from Spool. I think it needs more birds, so if I'm feeling really brave I'll call a friend and see if she wants to have a bird party. I'll bring the stash.

Also, my dog stinks.

Totally Lost.My.Shit. on the phone with Lawyerguy yesterday.
It wasn't pretty.
For the first two months the deployment really wasn't bad at all. I had projects to do, visitors planned. Monkey and I went to Disneyworld. But it seems all my good ideas and projects took about two months to finish, and on a day where I had been sick for the last 6 weeks (not sleeping means you catch every single microbe to come along), it rained 4 inches preventing Monkey, the dog, or me from going outside, and a 15 time-zone move "somewhere within the next 10 months" looming heavily on my mind, Lawyerguy tactfully mentions "You sound a little stressed".

You think?

After much eye related leakage I was reminded that I need to get out of the house every single day (you forget this when you don't talk to grown-ups every day). So Monkey and I participated in a little retail therapy and came home with another Engine for his train set (Mavis-we needed a girl train) and flowers. Because a girl should remember to get herself flowers when she needs them.

Potholders

Good news! If you forgot to get graham crackers yesterday for a cheesecake crust and are too agoraphobic to brave the Commissary today, Ritz crackers make a perfectly tasty crust.
On the crafty front, I recently acquired a darning foot and practiced free motion quilting on a couple potholders. Free motion quilting is lots of fun. Crazy, holy-crap-we-are-all-over-the-place fun. The fall colors quilt top is done, and I would love to quilt it with leaf shapes (which will probably be more of a meander with vague leafy hints). At least for now I can loose the dangerously beat up (and hideous) snowman potholders.

11 years

Happy anniversary Lawyerguy!
You still make my heart go pitter pat every time I see you, even now when it is just on Messenger.

I will see you soon.

I can has mood swings?

Today while on the webcam with Lawyerguy he told me a friend in the Pentagon (I know, WEIRD) called him to say that his new orders just cleared, and next summer we are PCSing to Kadena AFB in Okinawa.
Since then I have accomplished absolutely nothing.
I am really really really excited; years ago Lawyerguy and I spent a summer in Japan on a study abroad trip and I loved the country. I think about it all the time. My kid has grown up on a steady diet of onigiri and My Neighbor Totoro (um, not that he is eating Totoro. That came out weird.) My sister took Monkey on the Finding Nemo ride at Epcot 3 or 4 times, just so I could run out to the Japan area. I was actually thinking about how much I would like to go back yesterday.

But just between you and me, I have a bit of a stomach ache. When my dad responded to my news with "Oh no!" it didn't help.

Quilt decisions

Home from my trip and life is back to as normal as it ever is. My big event today is deciding which color sashing to do on my fall colors quilt. Opinions?















The pattern on the dark might be a little too linear. But it is so beautiful, and the colors make you want to snuggle under it with a cup of tea and a good book, and listen to the leaves blow.











The light, leafy print looks better than it photographed here. The scattering of leaves is subtle and is thematically perfect. Instead of reminding you of quiet nights inside, it makes you think of walking outside under a bright sky, white from clouds covering the blue and acting as a giant diffuser.










Then there is the option of combining the two, with small squares of one color where all the corners meet to add interest. But which should be the main color? Once again I am so busy seeing both sides of an argument that I am unable to make a decision.

Frogs

The amphibian, not the knitting type.
A girl can only sit in front of Netflicks watching Red Dwarf and knitting a sweater for so long. Plus, visitors are coming soon and my ratty looking ironing board lives in the guest room.
I followed no particular pattern or tutorial; it's an ironing board cover, not rocket science. The fabric was from my stash too, so I get to feel all wholesome about that. The real question is why did I have 2+ yards of poison arrow frog fabric sitting around?

Totoro

No trick or treating for us last night; we got dressed up after dinner and when asked if he wanted to go get candy, Monkey replied "No thanks!"

Really? You don't want to go next door and get a treat?

Nope.

Huh.

So we stayed in and watched My Neighbor Totoro for the millionth time, and I painted Chibi Totoro in Monkey's bedroom, to go with Chu Totoro who sits on top of his closet.

Happy Halloween!

Monkey is running around quite adorably, wearing a wolf suit I made like Max from Where the Wild Things Are. He likes the tail but is generally a stink about wearing the hood.

I am dressed as the planet Pluto. Rhinestones in my hair like stars, and a pink slip in my pocket from where I was fired. Very nerdy am I.

Have a wicked good night, everyone.

Netflix to the rescue

I have been knitting a pair of slippers for the last 10 days now, which seems pretty rediculous considering I am using worsted yarn held double on huge size 11 needles. But I haven't been especially rushed because I am mailing them off to Lawyerguy and his box won't be mailed out until something I ordered him arrived.

Well, it arrived today. Now I really need to get these knit.

They look so humongous, I keep chanting "believe the swatch" to keep myself from panicking. He has big feet, but still...

Thank goodness for Netflix. Now that Monkey has left for school I'm going to park myself on the couch until the second slipper is done.

Flight Suit

Pictures of the birthday project I made for my nephew. My brother is a helicopter pilot for the Army, so I made him a tiny flight suit.

It is sewn with Otaku-level attention to detail (except no pocket zippers, to keep it from being too stiff).

Happy Birthday little buddy!

Bed, version 1.2

The first major construction project since Lawyerguy left has been rebuilding Monkey's bed, since he is a destructive little demon. I really loved how it turned out initially, but between the jumping and the kicking he knocked the foot board loose. Not a problem! More screws, and I assumed all was well.

Assumed was the correct term because I must have had my head up my ass to think that furniture constructed with mere inch thick boards could survive my kid. The destruction continued and I needed to upgrade to 2x8s, 3 inch deck screws, and Gorilla glue. I also re-worked the mattress supports, as they had suffered too. There is no way to upgrade this bed in terms of strength now. If he destroys this, he is back to sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

Next up is a bed frame for me, as soon as I stop being a chicken about committing to a design. Also, these cute little 9 patch blocks seem to be constructing themselves at my machine when I need just enough distraction to keep me from thinking.

Happy Monkey Day!

Happy Birthday little Monkey!

5 years old! I love you so much!

I'm back

I admittedly did not take a complete craft hiatus while preparing for deployment, because you all know darn well that sometimes preparations require a little craftiness. This made me feel like I could help him after he had left.


So Lawyerguy has been gone for 2 weeks now. We get to talk on the webcam every day, which makes things easier. Not easy, but easier. Monkey gets off the bus from school and runs to the computer to "say hi daddy!" which absolutely makes me swoon. Free from my Make Something Interesting For Dinner duties, I have concocted quite a list to keep me occupied. First up: Halloween (completed for Monkey, in progress for Nephew). Next in line is some major organizational projects, mostly involving power tools.

Friday flowers

As I've been absent for a couple weeks now, it will come to no one's surprise as I announce that I'll be on hiatus until Lawyerguy deploys on the 6th.

There will be much craftage after that. Right now I'm pretty occupied with gathering paperwork, special passports and sewing patches to new uniforms. I've also taken the wisdom from my friend Heather that "starting new projects is a sign of hope for the future" and created a To Do list full of awesome.Until then, the sunflowers that make me feel better about my gardening abilities; sweet yellow salve for the disappointing scar of my scraggly sad tomato plants. See you soon!

Self-defeating behaviors

Because I need another project like I need a hole in my head.

(Did I mention I just started Durrow for Lawyerguy? Who asked me yesterday if I would knit him a sweater? For Germany! He leaves in a month, holy crap.)

Quilt and other progress

I've spent the last hour since I put Monkey on the bus looking at the phone with distrust, fearing a phone call from his PreK teacher telling me to get my ass over there and pick up my kid already, how could I send him to school this way? The way I sent him to school was doped up on (non-drowsy) decongestant, because he got the first cold of the school year this weekend after a grand total of 5 days of school. He fell asleep yesterday in my bed after waking up long enough to take his seizure meds and get naked. And damn it we are not missing day after day of school this early in the year. I am burned out from all this togetherness all summer and I need my time. I am unable to keep up with the house when he is here this much. Want proof?
He cruised past the useless child lock on the sewing room door, climbed onto a table for my vorpal scissors, grabbed the quilt that has been hanging on the wall for a year which I had finally quilted the night before, and went snicker-snack.

I did not feed him to the wolves. I sat down next to him and looked really really sad, and told him why. And instead of not understanding, he looked sad too and quickly said "Sorry Momma," and gave me a hug. And suddenly the quilt didn't matter much, because that is the first time he's ever empathized with someone who was sad.
Slowly we make progress.

Rocket Jammies!

Not jammies for rockets, sadly. Flannel jammie pants, cut out a week ago but sewn together today because the guest room is back to being a sewing room. The decadence of having an entire room for such things still blows me away.

When I cut these out I was shocked that 1 yard of fabric is just barely enough for a pair of pants for the little guy. They look huge in my hands, but don't seem too big on him. Same with his new school clothes.

It is still about 20 degrees too warm at night to wear these, so they will be tucked away for Monkey's birthday in a few months. Actual planning ahead, hurray!

Jam

Today Monkey and I made delicious plum jam, and clementine marmelade. The plum jam is completely smooth and texture-free, because Monkey was in charge of the food processer and I didn't supervise enough. Then we made bread, because if you have fresh warm jam you need fresh warm bread to smear it on. All this to avoid doing the chores I need to before houseguests arrive tomorrow evening.

Micro sweater

Micro sweater. 2 1/2 inches wide by 4 inches tall.

No pattern to speak of, just fooling around with the basic construction of a raglan sweater as a practice run for Christmas. Knit of scraps of Sugar and Cream on size 6 needles. The sweater is cute, but the neck is way too small ;)

The yoke was an unvention of slip stitch patterning, of which I had heard but had no practical knowledge. I'm not sure you could call it an unvention even, as just the name of the technique gives it away. Worked way better than two colors at a time for me.

Garterlac to the rescue!

I was so glad to have a simple little project like this to pick up and throw in my bag last Thursday night. I had just settled down on the couch for some quiet Erin time, with the Monkey in bed and Lawyerguy at his Jujitsu class, when I hear the car pull into the carport. Lawyerguy walks inside to catch me watching Ghost Hunters (guilty pleasure) and eating Dove Promises (another guilty pleasure), and announces he has broken his clavicle in class.
shitshitshitshitshit.
So I tie his arm up with triangular and ace bandages, high five myself for taking an advanced first aid class years ago, get the Monkey out of bed and drive to the hospital. Things actually went quite quickly-the nice thing about going to a base hospital on a Thursday night. The ER doc complimented both my knitting and bandaging skills. Monkey curled up in my lap and listened to his headphones and I happily knit away during xrays. The good news is that he only separated his shoulder, and an orthopedics doc follow up today confirmed that no surgery is needed. He will in a sling nearly until he leaves for Germany though, the big dork.
Anyway, the Garterlac washcloth pattern gets my praises and adulation, for perfectly explaining how this works and removing completely my entrelac apprehension.

Oops

Yesterday I started the Garterlac dishcloth, squarely addressing my fascination and fear of entralac knitting. It started out easier than I expected, the directions are written out very clearly, and I've been zipping along quickly. Somehow I seem to have gotten lost though, bringing the washcloth into previously unimagined dimensions.
I should try a cube sometime.

Finished!

Cloud Bolero. Knit ever so inexpensively and comfortably out of less than 3 balls of Sugar'n Cream in Jute. I lengthened the sleeves to elbow length, to keep short sleeve shirts from hanging out the end and to actually keep me warm in church. I knit a size large, but on smaller needles for tighter fabric, a smaller neckline, and more wavey old shale goodness. It is very comfortable, it looked great today, and did it's job quite well. I even decided I liked the picot bind off.

Friday Flower

Delphiniums, or Larkspur. Another photo from my trip to Aspen in June.

In high school I worked with a florist (looking back, this was probably the best job ever). Occasionally she would bring in Delphiniums from her garden. When fallen blossoms were left on the white counter in the work room, they would leave little blue shadows on the formica.

Tie-dye

Yesterday I celebrated/mourned the last day of Monkey's summer term of school by tie-dyeing some t-shirts for him and his cousin (also some underpants for him because I think I'm funny). Then I hung them outside to dry. Someday I hope it will stop raining long enough for them to dry, before it starts raining again.

Cloud Bolero

We found a new favorite beach today, favorite possibly because it is nearly deserted. This friendly fellow was quite fine with parking himself right next to our umbrella for a while, possibly hoping we had brought some snacks (he was out of luck). It is quiet enough here that Monkey can run around and I don't worry about him disappearing, or helping himself to someones picnic. This allows for time to read or knit, but not much knitting because the salt water doesn't help yarn slide around fingers. Maybe I should knit English-style on the beach.

I am thiiiiiiissss close to finishing Cloud Bolero, but am suddenly not so sure about the bind off. The pattern calls for, and I performed, a picot bind off. It sounded cute, but now I am not so sure. It doesn't help that when asked for his opinion, Lawyerguy unequivocally said he didn't like it. The picture of tact, he is. Opinions? Looking at it now it doesn't look so bad.

Flower Friday

Columbine, photographed in Aspen last month.

Floral Friday

Blue Passion Flower. Purchased in front of the Commissary, based entirely on the tag as it had no blossoms on it at the time. I saw something on Passion flowers years ago on Discovery and have wanted one ever since.

I gave notice on my church position a week or two ago, and found out last night that they have a replacement for me now. I will be released either this Sunday, or the next. Maybe now I can stop having the dreams where I'm naked and hiding; my unconscious knows I feel raw and exposed. Yay Freud.

ATC

Wow, a whole month. I wasn't this half-assed about posting when we were homeless. But it is summer time and I, like everyone else, have been crazy busy.
Maybe the biggest thing in my life right now is the Monkey, who at nearly 5, has suddenly grown out of his terrible twos. Nearly over night he is a sweet and pleasant child. He comes home from school with notes that say he was great, instead of phone calls explaining that he will probably be hoarse when he gets off the bus because he was screaming ALL DAY (I got those phone calls all last year. His teacher is a saint.) He was even good on the airplane from Colorado to home, listening to his MP3 player and eating Pez. This especially gives me hope, because in October Lawyerboy is deploying to Germany. It does suck that he will be gone for 6 months, but it could be way worse. We will get to see him in Germany, although we can't go the whole time (I can't take Monkey out of school and therapy for that long anyway). It is only 6 months; lots of deployments are much longer than that. He will be doing very important things in some cool places. But while my brain does a happy dance because Germany is my 3rd favorite country I've visited, my heart does a quiet little sigh.

Hmm, totally didn't mean to write lots about that. But there you have it.

Sooo, artist trading cards! Two batches from assorted swaps on Glitter. I meant to do a few more of the quilted ones, but my math sucks.