Winding Yarn

How many "wads" of yarn does a sane person hand wind before a swift and ball winder become a necessity? Most of the yarn that I have purchased to this point has been in lovely pre-wound skeins -- but I have recently become the owner of some lovely hand dyed yarns. It's so much yummier to knit with, but must first be wound into usable balls.

Winding yarn into a ball involves finding something or someone to hold the yarn while I wind it into a ball. My children's wooden rocking chair has "hands" that I can use, but it is still a very time consuming process. And, rolling a center pull ball is never a pretty process.

I've still got two more skeins to wind, but if I get anymore, a swift and ball winder may just become the perfect anniversary (or mother's day, or happy festivus) present.

Leftover yarn bathmat

I promised to post a picture of the bathmat I made with leftover dishcloth yarn. It's a simple garter stitch, and is done with double strands of yarn (I bought a cone of off white Peaches & Creme to tie it all together). I haven't washed it yet, but since I wash my dishcloths constantly I know it will wash well and keep the colors bright.

Sorta looks like a fiesta on the bathroom floor!

(Do you love the brownish grass of February?)

What got into that dog?

Apparently Ed either wanted a bath or wanted to help with chores - either way, here he is on the dishwasher. When I went to get the camera he was lying down on the door of the dishwasher, but when I got to him, he wanted to sit up so I could get a good picture of his face.

Knitting Pictures

I finished my mid-month cloth for February. I like the way it turned out. Since it was a two color cloth, I decided to use up leftover yarn.

I also made a Jayne Cobb Hat for baby Brigid. The kids have been asking me to make them Jayne hats, and it seemed wise to make a baby one first. She wasn't awake when I gave it to her mom, but I hope we have a cool day soon so I can see her in her new hat.

The Day Before Valentines

I finished my new Sockamania socks and finally took a picture, so I wore them today. I love the pattern and the yarn is yummy. Still need to work on my photography skills (or find better feet to model).

Free Pancake Day

My kids spend all year looking forward to the annual Free Pancake Day. Taking four kids for pancakes really adds up, so the only time we go is on free day. We tried to go after our orthodontist appointment, but the IHOP near the ortho was closed for renovations, and there wasn't another one anywhere close. The next best thing was to go after improv class, so we went for snack. Now they have to wait another year before we go again.

We finally had nice weather last week for tennis lessons, but it doesn't look promising for this week. No wonder tennis has been cancelled during the winter in the past! My boys just love it so much -- we're willing to play it by ear every week hoping for good weather. They are either playing guitar or playing tennis. Could be worse. At least ds3 is learning to play something besides the first few notes of Iron Man and Smoke on the Water.

It's so interesting to watch the boy's personalities come through in their guitar playing. DS2 is very into intricate details and practices until things are perfect. DS3 seems to be naturally musically inclined and only practices the exact amount his teacher requires; then it's back to heavy rock riffs. DS4 can't compete with the older boys and acts silly. This week I'm going to have him "teach" mom so that he can catch up with his brothers a bit.

DD is taking piano while the boys are taking guitar. She loved it when they just were hitting the keys, and she's willing to practice - but the rhythm is just something that is not natural for her. At least she's having fun.

Finishing Socks

I'm almost finished with my Sockamania socks for February. They're called Simply Love and have hearts running up the foot and the cuffs. They are perfect for Valentine's Day. For some reason, I knit them in a purple color. I have red, but I did them in purple. Maybe I thought that purple would be more wearable on days other than February 14?

We have the best dog in the world!! Last night he got sick, and he actually rang the bell to go outside to be sick. Someone gave him Nacho Cheese Doritos, and apparently he gets sick when he eats Nacho Cheese Doritos. DH asked how I knew he was sick and I told him that Ed had rung the bell to go outside and I was wondering what was taking him so long to get back inside. Normally I wouldn't care what he was doing outside, but it was 2:30 in the morning and I wanted to go back to bed. Oh well, I'll trade a bit of sleep not to have to clean up after the dog. He seems to be fine today. I reminded everyone that the dog really doesn't need a snack in the evening.

Knitting posted today

I finished my Monthly Dishcloth KAL. It's a box of Valentines Candy!

Pretty cloth, lousy picture.

And I finished my November socks from Sockamania. These things have been hanging over my head since November! I had the worst time with them. The pattern is easy to remember, but I somehow got my world all twisted up when it came to the heel of the first sock. By the time I'd finally finished the first one, I needed a break. Then when I went to finally work on the second one, I realized that I really like doing a different heel, and actually toyed with the idea of frogging the first one AGAIN! I didn't, and just kept going, trying to get them to match when I didn't really remember what I'd done for the heel in the first pair. They are a beautiful turquoise blue (but look more green in the picture).

What a Day!

Ed and I finally got tired of the constant brushing to keep him looking decent, so we decided to get him a doggie do. I called a local groomer and found out that it would be at least $40 to trim him up! Now, I believe that everyone should get paid a fair price for their work, but $40 for a doggie?

I got to cypherin' and realized that for $40 I could buy some doggie clippers and give it a go myself. I cut dh's hair, and the kids hair, so why not the dog? I was just going to use the clippers that I use on the boy's hair, but dh felt that it would be worth the money to buy the dog his own clippers.

Off we went to the pet store to buy some new clippers. Do you know how much dog clippers are? Let me just say that people clippers are cheaper! I bought the cheapest pair they had and came home to "face my fears" so to speak.

Got the dog happily laying on the floor, and started massaging him with the buzzing clippers (didn't want him to be scared - he's my baby after all). He didn't mind the clippers at all. So, I took off the blade guard and started.

Not one bit of hair came off! The clippers don't work worth a darn. Had ds4 go get the kiddie scissors I've been using on the dog to do touch up stuff around his face, and just started cutting.

Do you watch Dirty Jobs? Well, on one show Mike Rowe cut llama hair - it was all skewed and crazy. That's what poor Ed looks like. DS3 begged me not to cut Ed's head and face hair, and I didn't get around to the tail, so the poor thing looks like a Yeti and a lion had a baby.

We still love him and he's still soft, and luckily dogs don't get embarrassed.

Button Button Who's Got the Button?

Don't you love the buttons on blogs? Several of the groups that I like have buttons, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to insert one. I've looked at the information, but just can't get them to work. I guess I need to get a Flikr account first, so that'll be the next thing to work on.

It looks like it might finally be nice enough for tennis on Friday. The boys are anxious to play and the princess misses her friends. Can you play tennis with wind gusts up to 50 mph? We'll find out.

One of the nice ladies on Rachel's knitting group suggested keeping your knitting in a basket on the table. I have a basket that my friend Mary made me 10 years ago that's just been sitting, lonely, looking for a special purpose. It is just perfect. Holds a small knitting project (like a dishcloth), and looks cozy on the table.

When you have a lot of books, organization is key. We bought two new little book cases from Target, and they fit exactly under the bar. I just guesstimated the height, didn't measure. There is less than an inch to spare. Now I just have to move, reorganize and reshelve the kids current school stuff. Maybe a trip to Starbucks is in order first!

New Scanner

My scanner finally bit the dust, so off to Frye's I went. I called dh and asked him to figure out which one I wanted, and then I took ds4 with me to pick it up. I tried to buy exactly what we had so that I could just plug it in and use it, but nooooo. There wasn't one to be had at our store or any other stores in the state. I ended up with the one that dh wanted (same brand, different model than what we had). Came home and ran the install.

A bunch of things came up that I wasn't sure about, so I called dh to ask him if I wanted to accept the options or not - he was pretty good about not reminding me that the point of me installing the thing in the first place was so that he wouldn't have to do it and if I had him on the phone the whole time he was pretty much doing it himself.

Good news is that it's installed, and it works!! DS3 isn't too thrilled - it was his math that was being scanned, and he was hoping that I wouldn't be able to get it finished.

My DVD's got here for the class that ds2 and I are doing.

It's called Movies as Literature and should be fun. We're going to be watching old movies and doing a literary analysis of them. The first one is Shane, which I've never seen. I'm looking forward to it, not sure ds2 is quite so happy, but he's a trooper. Here's a picture of the book we're using. Best part of all, the answers are included!! Don't you just cringe when there are questions, but no answers? It's got great movies - like Raiders of the Lost Ark and ET; so the little ones can watch the movies and ds2 can learn from the "literary" aspects.

High Tech in the Kitchen

With dh's blessing, I've set up shop in the kitchen. We've got wireless internet, and can use a computer anywhere in the house. We also have a laptop that the kids had claimed so that they could play their online games at the same time.

I've been having this terrible problem as of late -- my practically perfect children think that whenever I leave the room (even for a moment) that it's time for a free for all. This does not go well with my idea of peace and harmony in the home. So, whenever I wanted to do anything on the computer, I would instantly hear screams.

In an "I shoulda had a V8" moment, I realized that we have a laptop, wireless internet, and a kitchen counter that is really in the middle of all the action. Today, I brought it in, and plugged it in. So simple, yet so effective.

Now I can shout at the kids and surf the web, all without hurting my throat!

Always something new to learn

I finished my January mid-month cloth and love the pattern and the colors (although the photo leaves something to be desired).

Also, thanks to Andi at the MonthlyDishcloth group, I am no longer such a slave to bloggers placement of my pictures.

I'm getting close to turning the heel of my Ripples sock. DD tried on the completed sock (over her nice, warm footie jammies) and asked if they could be for her. I will have enough leftover yarn to make her a little matching pair. I haven't knit socks for my little ones yet - they all tend to walk around in socks and wear them out, so I've been really reluctant to knit socks for them. But - since I've been wanting to try an afterthought heel, I may knit dd a little pair as practice.

Today all of the kids have their art classes. The boys are all taking guitar together, and have promised to teach dh what they've learned every week. We bought dh a left handed guitar on Friday. He's thrilled. I told him that he should just learn to play right handed, and he had pretty much agreed - but we found a left handed guitar on craigslist. Happy birthday, honey.

A Cold Weekend

It's shivery cold here. This week Barnes & Noble is having a teacher appreciation sale, so we're going to head over and see if there's anything we don't need, but will get anyway. DD loves to read Junie B. books, so we'll see if there are any she doesn't have.

Actually, I've been trying to figure out how to insert a link and have it say something besides the actual link name, and it looks like I might have figured it out! Yeah, me!

I cast on and knit the first few inches of my Ripples sock last night, thus avoiding the dreaded SSS. I totally see why SSS happens - you finish the first sock and put everything away for awhile. When you pick up the needles and yarn to start the second sock, you've forgotten all of the little things. Since the pattern was written cuff down, and I'm knitting it toe-up, I couldn't remember how many stitches I cast on. Also, I discovered that I did a different heel than I'd done (and become enchanted with) on my two most recent pairs. Oh well, it's a good learning experience for me. Never abandon a first sock! Everything will be okay - I love the pattern and the yarn, and really want to finish this pair.

I still have my shawl, ds4's scarf and dh's afghan to finish also, so there's plenty of knitting/crocheting to do. Since it's so cold, I may just pull out the afghan and work on it - crocheting and keeping warm. With a nice cup of tea at my side, the day may just be bearable after all.

Monthly Dishcloths 2008

I'm on the Monthly Dishcloth Yahoo group, and they do a KAL twice a month. Quite a few of the members have made a commitment to do all of the KAL's this year - that's 24 cloths.

Here's the first one - it's a football. I had to grab a picture quickly, as ds4 decided it was his cloth and was trying to take it as I was binding it off.