Plans

Some days just don't go the way you planned.

Rain cancelled my walk with Wee One to the library this afternoon and our walk in the park with Nature Boy this evening.

A kitchen sink catastrophe cancelled out my hopes to chill on the couch and watch a movie with Nature Boy when Wee One had gone to bed (which he is still working on right now at 10PM on Friday night and that is why I am here blogging...it's best to just stay out of the way).

All of our zoo pics and videos were lost due to a "format error" on the little disk thing that goes in the Webbie video camera.

It will be ok though...my sissie is sending a disk with all of her photos from the weekend! Nature Boy is good at fixing stuff! It will not rain all day long tomorrow and we can walk and get to the library then!

This week, Nature Boy turned to me and said maybe I should go buy some yarn. That's right and I almost spit my drink out all over him in disbelief. What could ever make Nature Boy utter such a thing?

A holiday stocking for the Wee One, that's what! The only thing Nature Boy ever asked me to knit for him was a holiday stocking. Not a hat or scarf or sweater or socks or earwarmers. A stocking. So we hang it over the fireplace every Yule/Winter Solstice/Christmas/Hanukkah/Hogmany season. This Yule/Winter Solstice/Christmas/Hanukkah/Hogmany season, Nature Boy gifted me a set of deer stocking holders. There were three, a stag, a doe and a fawn, in anticipation of the new addition to our family and cause we really dig the deer. So Wee One needs a stocking to hang on his little fawn stocking hook over the fireplace.

We looked at many a pattern and narrowed it down to three. I haven't been thinking of it lately since I have three current projects on the needles but Nature Boy expressed some concern it will not be finished in time. So this week I looked at the three patterns and chose "the one." Wee One and I went to the yarn store and got us some yarn for the stocking (Hempton by Hemp for Knitting) and some other yarn too...whoops. Once I start it I will blog more about it, I'm excited and scared at once because I'll be embarking on New Technique Territory. I've been there before with mixed feelings. Sometimes it's a nice trip; other times you need a vacation from it when you come back to Same Old Same Oldsville.

Finally, here are some other things besides making a stocking I need to do soon...or at least sometime...
-Make THESE!!! For camping. Or just for any old day.
-Get cracking hard-core on Wee One's baby book. Before I forget stuff...
-Sew some more stuff. Like the pillows for the porch swing. And maybe a cushion for the new radiator covers in the bedrooms so the kitties have a soft landing. And make THIS. AND THIS!!!
-Rearrange our bedroom furniture and paint the walls.
-Read more.
-Turn off the TV more.
-Blog more.
-Use spellcheck.

Would you believe the asters in the above photo were unplanned? I planted them last year and they bloomed and apparently, they self-seeded and bloomed yet again this year for me too! Thanks Mother Nature for keeping the estate grounds looking cheery, in an unplanned lovely way.

How to Get a Carpenter...

Look what came for Wee One last week:

A veggie crate from Mandi (thank you Mandi they are too cute and we love them) and...

...A print for his room by James Browne, who I have been trying to find for months after losing his business card and not remembering his name except it started with a J. Check out his site, he has lots of beautiful artwork. He included a story with the picture and signed it for Wee One, how sweet of him! Nature Boy is making a nice rustic wooden frame for it.

So last night, as I came to bed, Nature Boy asked what scent I had on. Told him it was my Kiss My Face Peaceful Patchouli moisturizer. Turns out he thinks it smells like wood, kinda like cedar and would be the smell of "an old store out west." Some gals might not take this the right way, but it was actually the highest compliment one could get from Nature Boy. So if anyone out there wants to get them a carpenter, slather on some patchouli and say, gee, I wish someone could make me a frame for my awesome tree print...

Started a new project for you-know-who:

It's Laurie's own Cotton Sox pattern--so far so good, just very slow going cause I can't work on it in the evenings or on weekends when you-know-who is at Knitsburgh! THANKS LAURIE for the pattern, I think they will be just what you-know-who would want!

I'm still working on the kimono sweater too. I finished the body and started a sleeve, which the pattern wants me to knit the sleeves back and forth, then seam them. Not me, I rebelled and refuse to seam something I really don't have to. So you can see I'm working the sleeves in the round. A girl's gotta put her foot down and revolt for something she really believes in every now and then.

So I'm a vegan and I have many thoughts on animals and their humane treatment. We took the Wee One to the zoo with his aunt this weekend. I feel so bad for the animals there, it made me sad on one hand but it's so cool to see something you would never normally get the chance to see so closely, unless you live in Africa next to a game preserve or something. We did decide to pay a donation to have our picture taken with one of the elephants, which went to helping elephants in the wild. I hope the elephant Victoria somehow knew that by standing there and taking pictures with loud, obnoxious people she was doing good for the 'phants back home. I also have to say that elelphant eyelashes up close are amazing! Nature Boy said for a brief moment her trunk wrapped around his leg too.

Lil' Twin Stars

So there are two in my life now. Two that must have attention and I must try to divide it evenly. Two that I love. Two.
I'm talking baby sweaters peeps; what did you think I was talking about???



I cast on for a vintage baby sweater with the yarn scooped up at the LYS recently. It's coming along but like so many of my projects, at a somewhat slow pace. With the use of a boppy I can actually knit while nursing the Wee One. In fact, this might be TMI but we are nursing atop the boppy as I type this out. Since discovering this I hope to knit much more.

Anyway, the pattern for the Red Sweater is from one of the books that Nature Boy's mother gave me from some books that his grandmother had and used. She told me that her mother had knit many a sweater for babies from the two books she gifted to me; I wonder did she ever knit this one? I wonder if she also would have chosen to knit this one for the Wee One out of all the other patterns too?

The center stitch pattern is sort of a mock-cable. On the right side, it looks like this:
seed stitch 4, *slip 1, k 2, pass slipped stitch over 2 knitted stitches, seed stitch 4*; repeat between * once
Wrong side:
seed stitch 4, *p1, yo, p1, seed stitch 4,*;repeat between * once.
The next two rows are as follows:
seed stitch 4, *k3, seed stitch 4*; repeat between * once.
seed stitch 4, *p3, seed stitch 4*; repeat between * once.
The slipped stitch ends up crossing over in faux cable fashion. The yo kind of disappears within the work but keeps the stitch count the same. I still prefer the real cable effect but this is kinda cool in its own way.

So Nature Boy doesn't read this unless forced to, which at first I took as an insult, but now I am OK with it. It means I can tell you about the Birthday Project. I need to make Nature Boy some socks for his upcoming birthday. We normally go camping for the weekend as he loves camping almost as much as he loves the Wee One! He gets that Camping Smile all over his face and just beams all weekend as he gathers the firewood and starts the fire, or as he hikes, or as he makes a mean mountain pie pizza for dinner. I happen to have in my stash a skein of Bernat Sox Yarn in Camouflage which a. will suit Nature Boy because of the green colors; b. will be perfect for socks and not a sweater (Nature Boy will not wear sweaters, no ifs, ands or buts) and finally, c. will make him happy that I actually used yarn I ALREADY POSSESS instead of buying more. So I need a nice pattern for a pair of plainish men's socks with some ribbing due to the use of vegan (therefore not wool and not as innately stretchy) fibre. This has been more difficult than one might think. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to send 'em my way.

Plenty of good things too--my orchid is blooming again (I cut off the last blooms and yay, it decided to bloom for us):