Knitting

Frog?


ON THE NEEDLES

The Maidenhair Fern socks have been have been in time out for a week or so; I decided to try the first one on and it is enormous.  Enormous as in two feet at the same time.  You know that little voice inside your head (in mine at least) that always tries to give a heads up when something is going off track?  I finally decided to give it a short listen and by golly, these socks are way, way too big for me; so big that I know of no one that they would fit.   Now, should I frog or go around staring at people’s feet, hoping I’ll find a match, sort of like Cinderella?  I offered them to Mr. Iknead, but he says the yarn is too “girly” (it’s teal, pink and purple).

THE GRANDS

Here’s the latest pic of the Papoose at the pool.  Did I mention that she looooves the water?

IN THE OVEN

Look!  My fancy new silicone pans are here!  I’m totally making the cute apple cakes Friday.  I love them and think they’re very photogenic!

What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.  Joseph Addison

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Knitting

The one where I figured out


Update

fonts.  Really, though, I have no freakin’ idea about computer code, don’t know what it is, don’t know how to write it and honestly, I don’t want to learn.  So, I bought the WordPress Typekit and it magically worked and now I have fonts.  I like it.

In the Oven

I’m still baking like a crazy woman.  Today, it was Salted Caramel Nutella Brownies, which I pulled from vittlesandbits.blogspot.com, from Pinterest..  They’re the ultimate brownie, chewy, chocolately and the caramel glaze puts them completely over the top.  I was going to post a picture, but they are very gooey and haven’t been photogenic at all today, I think I’ll try heating the knife a bit next on the next try.

By the Book

My current read(s) are The Daughter’s Walk , by Jane Kirkpatrick and I am Forbidden: A Novel, by Anouk Markovits.  Both are somewhat of a departure from my usual reads, I lean more toward nonfiction, but these books just may change my reading habits a little.  These are going to be repeaters, I think.

The Papoose

Here’s Susannah blowing out her  birthday candles last weekend, from a bakery in Fayetteville called Rick’s.  It was as pretty as it was delicious and she got both of them on her first try!

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OK, so the fonts aren’t perfect, but I’m learning.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!  Live the life you’ve imagined.  As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.  Henry David Thoreau

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Knitting

The one where I start to tweak


my blog a little bit.  It had become a little bit stale (to me) and after browsing other blogs and looking at different layouts, I decided to try a new one on for size.  I like the idea of headings, so I’m going to take test drive that too.

On The Needles

Still working on Maidenhair Fern socks, I’m nearly finished with the first sock, about an inch from starting to decrease for the toe.  Is it just me or does any other knitter feel like the last few inches on a project seem to last forever and just when project burnout is threatening, all of a sudden, the magic row appears and that particular part or project is finished.  Is it some sort of tear in the space time continuum or something?

The Papoose

Susannah and family celebrated her second birthday a week ago last Saturday (again with the space time continuum, I swear it was just last month that we were relearning the art of baby swaddling and burping) and a good time was had by all.  Four two year old girls, two wading pools, a picnic and a birthday cake sounds like a recipe for disaster, but everybody played nice and left smiling.

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 Susannah Grace

OK, this is about all the tweak I can handle today.  Tomorrow, fonts (but I have to read up on them first).

I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.  Walt Whitman

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Knitting

The one where the papoose


turns two today!  Happy birthday sweet Susannah, can’t wait to see you and celebrate more this weekend!  You’re growing up much too fast for me!

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.  Charles Dickens

 

 

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Knitting

The one where I’m sure that everyone


is suffering from an overdose of my precious granddaughters, but here’s one I couldn’t not share.

 

How sweet is her tutu?  It was a baby shower gift and of course, I had to reverse engineer it immediately and am planning a run to Hobby Lobby to procure materials for it, for a pearl and twine bracelet I saw on Pinterest, with a quick run down the yarn aisle just to see if anything new is there, then then maybe a basket or three, and don’t forget to look for sheep related doodads and ……………….. you get the picture, don’t you.  Yes, I do love Hobby Lobby, why oh why would you ask?

Mr. Iknead and I are back home from our field trip to DeQueen and thankfully have finished the packing and moving of my mom and dad’s things since their house has been sold and we are to close on 05/02.  Other than a small meltdown Tuesday morning with some tears and sniffling every once in a while, it went very smoothly and wasn’t at all as traumatic as I thought it would be.  I think though that I really started letting go when Daddy died last July, home is supposed to be where your loved ones are and after he passed away, well, it just didn’t feel like home.  We moved my mom here to Little Rock last August so there really hasn’t been anything keeping me rooted to my hometown for quite a while.

I have no new Susannah pictures at the moment, guess I’ll have to check Lindsey’s facebook to get some new ones.  Have I mentioned that she’s talking up a storm and that she repeats everything she hears?  When she says Bebe (that’s what she calls me), I crumble.  Her second birthday is coming up May 15, can’t believe it’s been two years and now we’re looking forward to October for her new brother or sister.  My life is excellent!

The most important question in the world is, “Why is the child crying?”  Alice Walker

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Knitting

The one where I reached grandma


nirvana these past few days.  Mr. Iknead and I had both our grandbabies over the weekend.  The Papoose is fascinated with Baby Harper; she was very nurturing (for an almost two year old), wanted to hold her and help change her, it was really sweet.  Now, how it’s going to be when her new brother or sister comes along in October we don’t know, hopefully she’ll be at least a little accustomed to having a baby around.

Do I have the most precious babies on the planet?

We are truly blessed!

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.  Paul McCartney

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Knitting

The one where I’m back


at work after being off sick for two weeks. I’ve never, ever been away from work for this long, except for maternity leave many, many, many moons ago. Overall, I’m glad to be back, I mean, really, how much Martha Stewart and Paula Deen can one take? The cause of this unintentional “vacation” was a bad flare of my ischemic colitis, the worst ever. This has been a chronic thing for me, but it’s becoming more and more difficult for me to manage and it’s been taking me a lot longer to bounce back when I do have an attack. But, I’m feeling better, am back at work, and am going to try to take an easy walk when I get home. Looking forward to that.

A couple of hours later….I got an easy 45 minute walk in after work, it felt terrific. I think I’m hooked on endorphins, I can definitely tell a difference in my mood/attitude for the better when I get some exercise.

Here’s a look at my two precious baby girls together for the first time –

Susannah and Harper getting acquainted. This picture makes my heart sing.
Kind words do not cost much. the never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their on image on men’s souls and a beautiful imjage it is. Blaise Pascal
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Knitting

The one where the threatened


cold from Sunday has definitely moved in and set up shop.  I can’t remember the last time I even had a cold.  A couple of years ago at least.  This is not because I am a fanatic about handwashing and what have you, I think just have a really, really stubborn, healthy immune system.  But today, I’m an unhappy camper with a scratchy throat, runny nose and lots of sneezing and coughing.  Yuck.  Here’s the suspected carrier –

  IMG_0367It’s impossible to turn down Susannah kisses, so I took a chance.  Totally worth it!  Now I have a date with Dimetapp and a box of tissues, but again, totally worth it.

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.  Bernard Baruch

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Knitting

The one where the Bunny Booties


are finally completed and turned out to be the sweetest things ever, a huge hit at Katie’s baby shower.  Lots of squees and oohs, Katie made sure that everyone knew that I had knitted them.  Believe it or not, I was able to keep them a secret, so they were a complete surprise.  See?

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More exciting news – The Papoose is going to be a big sister!  Yep, that’s right, next Christmas, there will be THREE, count ’em, THREE babies to spoil!  Susannah, not yet born, Harper and just got started Baby Vaughan.  My needles will be smoking, I see a lot of baby knits in  my future.

I finished my current book this afternoon, The Long Journey Home, by Margaret Robison.  I thought a lot of the content was familiar, characters and such; come to find out, one of her sons is Augusten Burroughs, author of Running with Scissors, which I read a couple of years ago and enjoyed.  I thought they had similar styles, which would make sense, being mother and son.

Work tomorrow, I think I’m coming down with a cold, have a scratchy throat, stuffy nose and just generally feeling washed out, I hope I feel better tomorrow.

One’s own thought is one’s world.  What a person things is what he becomes.  Maitri Upanishhads

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Knitting

The one where I have a 100% authentic


omgdidisaythatoutloud moment and for the record, yes, I did say it out loud.  Here’s a little backstory:  There’s this guy who works out in the same gym as I do and usually about the same time.  In the past few weeks, he’s started making this really odd noise, sort of a moan/singing/grunting sound and loud.  Loud as in I can hear him from across the room, over the other conversations and the TV and over my ipod blasting.  I’ve tried polite looks, more pointed looks and outright irritated stares, he’s oblivious.  So, he climbed on the treadmill next to me yesterday and out of my mouth popped “If you’re going to use that treadmill next to me, you’re going to have to keep your voice a little quieter.”  I can’t believe I really said that; I’d been thinking it, but crap, it just came out.  That was my OMG moment.  I immediately started apologizing profusely and did my best to laugh it off, saying I had no idea he was a singer, hahaha.  Open mouth, insert foot.  Off the chart embarrassment.  Please let him not be there today, pleasepleaseplease.

I’m nearly finished with the first of Mr. Iknead’s new pair of socks.  He’s anxiously awaiting but as mild a winter as Arkansas has had this year, he’s not going to need them.  It’s 8:49 pm and the temp is 66 degrees F. and stormy.

I’ve been working on Debbie Bliss’ Bunny Booties for the new baby due to arrive in March.  All that’s left to do is sew the ears on and embroider their faces.  Entirely too, too sweet.  I’ll get a picture up in the next week or so.

Here’s a new installation of Miss Susannah.  Pretty cute herself I think.062

One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.  French proverb

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Knitting

The one where it’s Sunday


evening and I’m trying to get into the work week groove, getting my clothes for tomorrow ready along with my lunch, getting as much taken care of tonight as I can so that I have the minimum amount of stress and disorganization in the morning.  This plan works for me more times than not, but it does require some preplanning and sometimes, I just don’t want to acknowledge that tomorrow and work are going to happen, I don’t know, something about wanting the weekend to last forever.  Tonight, though, I’ve gotten my T’s crossed and my I’s dotted and there’ll be smooth sailing tomorrow morning.

I finished the socks in progress this afternoon.  Don’t know if I’ve mentioned them or not and am too lazy to go back and check, but the pattern is Cable Twist, a Ravelry freebie and I love them.  They worked up really quickly and easily, which in my case means little or no math involved and straightforward instructions.  Here’s a pic, oops, not so fast.  Mr Iknead informs me that yes indeed, he did take a photo but hasn’t downloaded it as of yet.  Next time.  To tide you over, here’s a current pic of the Papoose, modeling the latest in hair fashions.

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I’m apparently a tad rusty on the inserting pictures routine.  I’ll get better, I promise and as quick as I can, get the Cable Twist socks on board.

Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts.  Charles Dickens

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Knitting

The one where I’m reminded


for about the billionth (give or take a few million) time that most of the time, more is not better.  As in:  see how busy I am?  See how efficiently I keep everything going smoothly (uh-huh, right) and just how well I manage to be all things to all people?  See?  All this is leading up to my feelings of frustration of not getting everything on my to do list accomplished last weekend.  Never mind that I started said list about three months ago and for every cross off, another three things are added.  All I can say about this impossible list is that everything on it seemed like such a good idea at the time.

As for knitting projects, all is finished on the Drop Stitch Shawl, except for blocking, which is (0f course) at or near the top of The List.  Mirrorsocks are presently in time out.  I’m stuck somehow on the gusset, it’s obvious that I’m screwing it up somehow but heck if I know how.  It’s just wonky looking and I’m torn between forging ahead with the pattern, no matter what or frogging and giving it another go.  Maybe I’ll flip a coin.

Here’s a new pic of the Papoose, we had a wonderful visit over the weekend, just can’t get enough Susannah love!  She’s so proud of those new teeth!

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Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps.  The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples.  I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests.  And so are you.  Elie Wiesel

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