Happy New Year

Howdy folks.  Just wanted to take a minute to wish y’all a happy and healthy new year.  Nothing at  all exciting going on at Casa Dwire tonight.  TJ and Jake have gone up north to spend a few days debauching with Unkie and Kay.  After having over a month of 24 hour Little Man care while TJ worked overtime, I’m thrilled to have a few days to unwind and just veg out.  Since I don’t really drink (why is that?  I used to enjoy it so much), New Year’s Eve hasn’t been that important of a “holiday” for me.  Right about now, TJ is putting Little Man to bed and then he’ll begin to imbibe until he falls down.  That’s not much fun to watch and I know he doesn’t have as much fun worrying if I’m having fun or bored etc.  Besides, having this time to unwind is going to be great for when he comes home (without L.M. who is staying with Unkie and Kay for a few days) and we have some much needed and missed time alone together.  We haven’t been alone since we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary last December.

I’ve had a few offers from some friends to come by their places tonight, and I actually considered going, but TJ took the car and I didn’t want to inconvenience friends by asking them to come and pick me up and then get me back home.  I do enough of that.  That should be another one of my New Year’s resolutions:  drive myself around more.  I’m tired of feeling like a mooch all the time and having to ask Shannon to pick me up for knitting etc.  I’m going to drive myself to the next meeting I go to (unless it’s Guild b/c I have no clue how to get to Marshall or what to do once I’m there).  I really want to have more freedom and be able to do things that don’t include having to be picked up.

On the knitting front:  I finished the first of my Malabrigo Fetching mitts last night and I love the way it came out.  I did it on DPN’s b/c I was nervous about the 2 circs or the Magic Loop method.  The second one, though, I’m doing using 2 circs b/c I was annoyed with the dpns.  I’m going to go look up ways to cable without a needle b/c the cable needle irritated me, the regular dpn was even worse and the short dpn, while better, still bugged me.  It’s only a C4B, so it should be pretty easy to do.  I love working with the Malabrigo.  It’s just as great as I’ve been hearing it is.  Soft like butta and the colors are so pretty.  No real pooling and the slight effect of striping without actual striping.  I really want to get more of this and make a sweater for myself.

I really need to get busy swatching for the Secret of the Stole ii.  I have several different yarns that I want to try; different colorways as well.  I have some fingering weight silk/rayon in a variety of colors.  They aren’t solid, but I like the variegation and it’s fairly subtle.  I’ve also got some cashmere and some bamboo I’m considering.  I’m looking forward to swatching and playing with color and size of needle until I get a fabric that I like.  This is my first mystery a-long and I’m very eager for it to start.  I’ll be doing much of it once I’m in California visiting my mother, so I’ll have to have her get the cable modem for the month or so that I’m there.  Come to think of it, I’ll have to consider a new laptop – I’ve got a fairly cheap on in mind; I’ve realized that I really don’t need the bells and whistles to be happy with a laptop – since this one is falling apart and I don’t think it could take the journey, to be honest.  This one can become a desk top with the laptop portion as the “tower”.  I’m already using an external keyboard and want a mouse as well.  It’s totally falling apart.

I’ve gotten totally off topic here.  So I’ve got to swatch for SoTS ii and I also want to play with a market bag pattern.  I’ve been talking to TJ about it and then read a post on Holly’s blog that spurred me to want to do something about it.  I’ve had the patterns printed for awhile, but have never really paid much attention to them.

I also just got a few new book:  Big Girl Knits, , Sensual Knits and Romantic Hand Knits.  All great books and some great patterns for tops, cardigans, and sweaters.  This is a big goal of mine, but I seem to continuously find reasons to put it off.  It’s either something else that needs knitting (market bags, shawls for gifts etc.) or I don’t have the right materials (even though if I dug hard enough I bet I could find them) etc.  I need someone to keep on me about making a garment.  I know I’ll feel such a sense of accomplishment once I do it, but I put it off.  There’s another resolution, one garment for myself this year, be it a tank top, cardigan, whatever.  I must knit something to wear for myself this year.  Another knitting goal I have is socks.  I have TONS of sock yarn, dpns, sets of circs, long circs for magic loop (even Addi’s in the long ones).  I really want to knit socks, badly.  So come on knitting pals:  bug me, nag me, tease me, do what it takes to help me keep my goals.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who is in my life for what you’ve added in the last year.  Everyone I know, especially my newer friends (read knitting friends) have added so much to life, more than I can say.  I’m thrilled and grateful  to know you gals and hope our friendships continue to grow in the new year.  To my “older” friends:  I’m sorry I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to spend with all of you.  You know that I love you now and always and promise to make more of an effort in 2008.  Happy New Year everyone!!!

AHA

I’ve had it. That “Aha” moment in spinning that everyone talks about; the one where your brain and your hands start communicating about what needs to be done without any extra effort on your part; happened to me yesterday afternoon. Of course I’m no master spinner and won’t be for a long time to come, but it’s no longer a struggle for me, nor does it require the amount of preparation it did just a week ago. The night before last I ripped off a chunk of roving to pre-draft it so I could spin it. The only way I’ve been able to spin any sort of consistent yarn to this point has been to pre-draft to the point of being even narrower than pencil roving so that there was very little drafting required during the spinning process. That wasn’t a bad way to spin; anything that makes yarn at the end is “right”, but it certainly was a very time consuming way of doing it. I watch Shannon or Em spinning at knit nights or here or wherever and for them it has always seemed to effortless and I’ve been so jealous of that ability, thinking I was never going to get there. So I had the chunk of roving in my hand and I thought “what the hell, I’ll give it a shot the “real” way, at least what I think of as the “real” way. I held the roving in my right hand, used the hook to grab some fiber (rather than using a leader) and pulled a little fiber out and started to spin. It just happened. There I was holding a fat ol’ chunk of gorgeous bright blue and pink roving and drafting it pretty well. The singles are fairly consistent. There are some fat and thin places, but not as many as I expected and it’s really renewed my passion for spindling. I’ve been so anxious to get my wheel ASAP b/c I thought it would be so much easier to deal with the drafting issue with two hands free from having to spin the spindle by hand etc.. I’m still very anxious to get it, but not to get me away from spindles now, rather to add to my knowledge. I’m going to visit my mother for three weeks in Feb. and I had told TJ that I didn’t want to go without my wheel, but now I don’t care. I’ll be perfectly content to bring my spindles and lazy kate and to keep working on the skills I’ve developed. AHA!!

I’m having another really cool spinning/knitting experience today as well. I’m knitting a swatch with my own handspun for the first time ever. There’s not enough singles here to do anything else with, not even ply, but it’s been in a ball for about a month now; I took it off the spindle and balled it quickly one day when I needed the spindle and didn’t have a free one. It’s silk and it’s really pretty and it’s REALLY slubby. When I picked up the ball yesterday, I realized that it was perfectly balanced now, no twist at all when I pulled a length out and let the tension off of it. I will post a picture when I’m done playing with it. I thought that I spun really thin, but I guess I’m not a great judge. I started swatching with my Harmony needles using a US 5 and that was way to small, right now I’m up to a size 7 and I’m still not loving it. I’m just going to keep swatching with bigger needles until I’m out of yarn or until I love the result.

Exciting stuff, huh?!?!

101 in 1001

While reading from my bloglines last night, I got a treat; there was a post from Eliza    (aka  Miss Violet from Lime n Violet).  I enjoy her posts very much, but they are rather rare at the moment.  So this was cool.  It turned out to be a list of 101 things that she wants to accomplish (personally) in the next 1001 days (about 2.75 years).  What a great idea.  I”m a big list maker, unfortunately I’m not a big finisher.  Maybe one of my goals should be to get through my goals…LOL

So I’m putting this out there so that I’m more accountable to finishing it.  I don’t have it done yet, hell, I don’t even have it started, but I was so excited about this that I wanted to post immediately.

Dental time…ugh

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a deep and abiding fear of the dentist. I don’t know where it comes from or why I can’t shake it, but it’s there and it’s strong. I have to have the nitrous gas at the dentist just to walk into the room and have them look at my teeth – yes, it’s really that bad. That’s why I have the ugliest teeth in creation. Fear is really a damaging thing. It’s embarrasing to be a grown adult with a husband and a child and still have this totally child like fear of the dentist. There it is, though.

I have been having major trouble with my mouth for the last four or five months now…there is a cavity in my front top tooth that needs to be taken care of – it’s almost impossible to miss and I always feel like everyone is staring at it and making comments behind my back (just b/c you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re NOT out to get you). Anyway, I bit the big baby bullet and went to see a new dentist last Tuesday. It wasn’t a terrible experience and everyone seemed really nice. Of course I was higher than kite on nitrous the whole time which tends to color the whole thing in a much rosier light than may be accurate. I have an appointment at the end of January to deal with the issues that the neglect I’ve visited upon my mouth has created. In the meantime, it’s brush, brush, brush and watch what I eat so as not to aggravate the situation.

The holiday season was apparently not very good for that. After my last post, I sauntered downstairs; that’s right, I saunter at times; to eat some breakfast and discovered that I have a MAJOR toothache ‘a brewing. So here I am, waiting for pain meds from my back to kick in enough to make talking feasible and praying it will be soon. I’m supposed to go to ZPDK in an hour and if I don’t start to feel a little better soon, I’m going to miss it for the third week in a row. I SUCK!! I miss my knitting gals. I don’t get my weekly dose of Holly and Shelly laughter if I don’t go and that’s a real tragedy. I can see Shannon more readily, as I have her phone number and I see her for other knitting events as well. Hey, Shannon, lets do something this coming week – TJ is taking Jake up north on Monday and I’m on my own for a few days. Give me a call, let me know what you’re plans are for Mon-Thurs. Actually Tues. I guess, since TJ works till 4 on Monday.

Zombie Gals: So sorry to have missed you all for almost a month. I’m a bad Zombie fighter, but fear not, Holly, if I see any on my own, I’ll take care of them to the best of my ability {GRIN}. I WILL be back next week, I promise, hopefully with no more tooth pain and a slightly prettier smile. I’ll be thinking of you all this afternoon while I’m sitting here waiting to hear from the dentist and hoping I can be fit in sometime today. If any of you gals want to get together and do something next week, I’m free and up for an fiberly adventure…Let me know. Have fun knitting, see you guys soon.

Merry Christmas…better late than never, right?

I don’t post nearly enough. I’ve been in a computer funk/trying like a madwoman to get X-mas knitting done. I didn’t finish on time (should have seen that coming) but I did show the progress I had made to the people who were supposed to get gifts; they were duely impressed and I’m going to have to keep working my butt off to get things done before V-Day. LOL Mom’s moebius scarf was actually done, the knitting at least, but I didn’t finish the blocking so I didn’t want to give it to her. She liked it, though. We also gave her a collage frame with pictures of Jake and us and John and Kate (brother in law and his girlfriend of 4 years – who say they’re getting married at the beginning of the year but we’ll see) and even one of her (Mom) at Christmas Eve Celebration. It really was a nice gift. I wish we did more crap like that for our house which, after a year of living here, still lacks all but the most basic of decoration. We suck at that homey stuff. Blah. Fran’s shawl is nowhere near done, but I did show her my progress and, again, it was complimented. I feel like absolute crap about that one, b/c it was the only gift we had for her and now she’ll have to wait for it. I’m going to prioritize getting that done after a SHORT break. It’s all I’ve been working on for weeks now and, frankly, I’m sick of it.

Right now I’m working on a pair of Fetching mitts for myself using the Malabrigo that I got before X-mas. I also want to make the thrummed mittens for myself that I saw on Grumperina’s blog. So pretty. I have some bamboo roving on the way, but I’m not sure it will be warm enough. I have plenty of other roving as well, so I’m sure I’ll find something to use.

I’ve done a fair amount of spinning over the holidays. The roving I got from Over the Rainbow Yarns on Ebay is spinning up really prettily. It’s full of electric blues and vivid pinks with some deap teal and a hint of purple thrown in for fun. I’ve been reading Spinning the Old Way and it’s been giving great insight into spindle spinning and I’m getting better, I think. I still have to give Shannon too her spindle for X-mas and I have yet to get something for Emily as well. I’m lazy, lazy, lazy.

Jake had a great X-mas. Got lots of stuff: a Leap Frog computer, REAL Tonka truck (metal and everything), a Thomas the Tank Engine playset, Radio Controlled racing game, some books, some clothes (which he didn’t care about) etc. TJ and I didn’t do too bad either. All in all it was a very nice Christmas with his family. I’m hoping to be out in CA next year with my mom and family for Christmas and after that start our own “at home” family traditions. All the travelling for just a day or two is hard on me and on Jake. I’m not big on the leaving the house to begin with and I have so much of it coming up. In Feb. I’m off to CA for three weeks to a month, then in April we’re off to Delaware for TJ’s work (we will be getting a side trip to DC out of it, though and I CAN’T WAIT for that), then in June/July we’re back out west to AZ to visit TJ’s grandparents (they haven’t seen Jake since he was 4 months old) and I might make a “side trip” to Texas to visit my best girlfriend, Brooke. She’s had a tough year; she lost her father to a six year battle with prostate cancer; and I want to spend some time with her. That’s a lot of travel for the girl who went six weeks or more without ever stepping foot any father than the front porch last year. See, all this going out to knit has been really good for me. It’s opened up horizons that I thought were closed forever. I actually like being social and all that. LOL

Off to have a late breakfast with the family. TJ has been tending to little man while I play on the “puger” (Jake’s word for it). Time to do my share. Later friends.

Beat the repeat and other adventures

I finally beat the lace repeat from hell!!!  I swear the thing was trying to drive me insane.  I’ve been cruising along on the BJLL shawl and then I got to repeat number 12 (you would think it would have been #13 that was unlucky…lol).  For some reason, I just couldn’t get through this repeat.  Something went wrong with one of the 8 rows of it 4 different times.  Good thing I moved the repeat at the beginning of each repeat, so I only had to rip back 8 rows or less each time.  I just kept having to go back to the beginning of the repeat and I was getting more and more frustrated with it.  After three days of trying,  though, I finally got through it the other night.  I let out such a whoop of joy, I startled the cat who jumped up and then fell off the bed.

Last night was my first Zombie Prom Date Knitters without Andrea with me; my first knitting anything without her.  I still didn’t have to drive, though.  Shannon was kind enough to pick me up and drive me to Water Street and then TJ and little man picked me up.  I really do have to start driving, but the snow makes me really paranoid about driving.  Give me a nice, clear, warmish day and I’ll be all over it!!

Got more yarn in the mail yesterday:  some kidsilk spray (yummy) and some hand-dyed rayon/silk in pretty pink shades.  Will photo and put up later or tomorrow…

Harmony and a Little Bit of Heaven

Quite a different tone to this post as from the post yesterday, huh? What a difference a day makes. I’m still not feeling 100%, but a good friend reaching out to me this morning and a GREAT mail day really helped to lift my spirits. I didn’t get much sleep last night. Around 4:30 this morning I made a proactive move and took the cable box back down to the living room, then I spent awhile reading The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook and getting my spinning urge back in gear. I stopped myself from getting up then and there to spin a bit (I would have been up all night if I had) and went to bed listening to a knitting podcast. I can’t remember the topic, but it was a KnitPicks cast. I fell asleep just a few minutes in, I think; I don’t remember anything from it. I always fall asleep a few minutes after starting, but I need the background noise to sleep and I don’t want to mess around with trying to find my place in an audio book over and over again.

Jake woke up later than usual, almost 10 am and though I only got 5 1/2 hours or so of sleep, I felt more rested than I had in awhile. Circumstances, meaning my cats and a large glass of water left on the end table next to the couch, forced me to bring the cable box back upstairs this morning. That’s teach me to be proactive…lol. Got everything moved back up and got food, drink, etc. for the little man and myself and it was time for his morning viewing of Monster House. That movie is going to drive me crazy at some point soon. While he was watching I got out the old “puger”, as he calls it, and read blogs, checked email etc. Found the email from Shannon and gave her a call. Talked for awhile, made plans for later this week and just generally made me feel like someone, other than TJ of course, cares. It’s amazing how little it takes to lift my spirits. Thanks Shannon. I can’t tell you how much that short phone call, and the laughter helped me. You rock!!

The rest of the day was pretty ordinary, which is a good thing when most of my days lately have seemed so dark and long. I got out the fiber I got from Greg and Amy’s farm and spun for a little while. After reading the Twisted Sisters book, I decided to give spinning from the fold another try. I had tried it briefly with the silk I spun (poorly) a while back, but it didn’t work so well. This time, though, it clicked and I found drafting to be a lot easier that way than the regular way of drafting. I’m still not clicking on the regular drafting without the massive pre-drafting, but I’ll get there. I’m NOT giving up. With lots of pre-drafting I can spin a fairly consistent single; they still tend to be way over-spun. I have much work to do on that. Any hints on how to not over spin so much would be much appreciated.

I realized, after TJ got home from work, that it had been a few days since anyone had gotten the mail. So I braved the icy porch and the driveway and when I got to the mailbox it was JAM PACKED full. There were packages galore. I got a skein of 100% cashmere

Isn’t it pretty? It’s called “Oh Holy Night” and it’s a combination of burgundy and black; not sure if you can tell from the picture or not.

Next is the only fiber I bought. I had planned to stay away from fiber since I went on a binge not that long ago, but I really enjoy spinning the Kareoke (did I spell that wrong?) fiber and I couldn’t resist the colorway. It’s called Mermaid and it’s so shimmery and soft. YUMMY!

There was also some Cascade 220 in Cotton Candy Pink and in black, but they are pretty plain and don’t merit the time for uploading and then playing with size…lol.

The part where a little bit of heaven comes in is here:

This is the first time I’ve seen Malabrigo in person, none-the-less touched it.  OMG.  This is the softest, most luscious wool I’ve ever felt.  The only thing that comes close is wool that I got from an Ebay store called South Wool.  I love their stuff, too.  So affordable.  The only problem with the Malabrigo is that I only have 3 skeins of it (625 yds) which doesn’t seem like enough to make any sort of top or sweater.  I don’t want to make a scarf or gloves or something like that.  I want a sweater.  I’m going to have to buy more.  Of course then the dye lot won’t match, so I’m going to have to buy a whole lot more of whatever I choose.  The horror…:)

Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any better.  There was a ring of the bell at 7 pm and it was a delivery from Knit Picks.  My Harmony needle set was sitting there waiting for me.  I’m so excited.  I’ve been wanting these forever and now I have them.  I want to start knitting with them immediately, but I have my last X-mas gift and my Circular Shrug on the needles already so I can’t start just yet.  Bummer.  All in all, though, a much better day than yesterday!!!

Grief sneaks up on you

Corky’s been gone 2 weeks tomorrow.  The first night and the following day were pretty bad, then Thanksgiving and traveling were upon us and that took my mind off of things.  Coming home gave me a twinge of sadness, but I shook it off.  Corky was really sick and he was weak enough that he couldn’t even tell us if he was in pain or not.  We made the best, nay the ONLY decision that a caring, loving family could make for their pet.  I was okay with the decision and I was getting over the loss.  So I thought…

I wasn’t feeling like being social at all the night after Corky left us, but my BIL was visiting from up north.  So we moved the cable box up to the TV in our bedroom (which usually isn’t even plugged in) and holed up for the night to wallow in my grief and self pity.  The problem is that it’s two weeks later and the TV and cable box are still up here.  Most of Jake’s toys have also made their way up here.  More and more lately, I don’t want to leave the room; I don’t want to face the memories of Corky that are all over the living room and kitchen.  I don’t want to face my grief.  The more I’m up here, though, the worse I feel.  I don’t notice it all that often, I just see it as tired, and not feeling well, but when I look at it objectively, usually in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep, I see it for what it is:  a downward spiral of depression and self-pity.  It’s not healthy.  It’s not good for me or for Jake or for anyone else for that matter.  The housework isn’t up to par, the cat box is dirty, TJ is sleeping on the couch b/c I don’t sleep and even Jake is starting to act out.

It’s time to shake the cobwebs out of my head and do something about this.  I could be complacent about this for months, letting the time slip by without my even really noticing it, but the one who really suffers here is Jacob and I have to be more concerned about his well being than I am weak and depressed.  I have to fight this for his sake as well as for mine.

I haven’t left the house in days.  Not good.  It’s reminiscent of the last months in Lake City.  I even missed knitting last week, which isn’t like me at all.  Sure, I had a decent reason, TJ had work to get done after being at work so much all week. It would have been a MAJOR inconvenience for him to take Jake for the few hours I would have been gone, but he would have done it and without complaint.  I know that.  It really was just a lot easier to stay in bed, watch movies with Jacob and not bother with the world.  The thing is that I know I would have had a great time!   Ilove the Zombie Prom Daters and being one is one of my favorite things.  I always have a great time and laugh a ton when I’m with Spinsanity.  I just didn’t have it in me.  It was totally self destructive, though.  This week I’m going not only to ZPDK but to Guild as well and to Spinsanity’s house for some knitting/spinning before guild.  I’m jumping back into life even if feels like it takes everything I have to do it.  The TV is also coming down tomorrow no matter what.  If we want to watch TV, it will be in the living room like normal people.  I’m coming back, baby, just wait and see.

I’m not pregnant

There’s an interesting title for a blog post. It’s true, though. The hubby and I have been talking about/trying to get pregnant for a little while now, but to no avail.

****WARNING*** Personal, somewhat icky (to some) information re: my reproductive system coming up… Will let you know when it’s over…

Getting pregnant with Jacob was fairly easy. I read Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler and started charting. It worked. Within 3-4 cycles, I was pregnant with Little Man. Periods were slow to come back after I stopped pumping (he wouldn’t nurse adequately and I was determined to give him only breast milk for the first six months…that’s a whole post of its own, though) and weren’t regular to say the least; number of days ranged from 30 days (not bad) to 90+ days (kind of crazy). Didn’t really think much about it at the time since we weren’t interested in getting pregnant at the time. Since my back has been better, though, it’s become more and more an obsession of mine. It’s kind of like knitting and spinning but without the pretty yarn. So I’ve been keeping an eye on things and discovered something terrible. I’m not ovulating at all, nor am I getting a period without the help of Provera every three months. This is very disconcerting to say the least. My doctor has been rather casual about the whole thing, not wanting to get too crazy with treatment or even tests too soon. Frustrating, but I’ve been going with it. A few weeks ago, she gave in and ordered a panel of blood tests (which I’m still waiting to hear anything about the results on) and said that after getting them she’d call in a Progesterone cream script for me. Hasn’t happened yet. The frustrating thing is that my body is giving me all the signs of the regular hormonal things happening: My cervical mucus (that’s such an ugly sounding phrase) regularly goes from dry to sticky to wet and egg whitey several times per “cycle”. I regularly have three or four days of “egg white CM” which tricks me into thinking I might be fertile. I have to admit that I haven’t been great about the morning temping (by this I mean I haven’t been doing it) so I don’t have that information to look at. I also get the pregnancy/period on its way symptoms on a regular basis. Take this month for example: my boobs are heavy, rounder and sore, the veins in them are much more noticeable (it’s like a road map on my chest), I’ve had heart burn on and off for about a week and a half (that was the first sign with Jacob), not to mention the cramping which has been going on for a few days.

***END OF TMI WARNING***

All of these signs/symptoms led me to believe that it was possible that I really might have ovulated without realizing it and might indeed be pregnant. I didn’t get my hopes up too far b/c I knew just how unlikely it was that after all this time I’d just start ovulating, but I couldn’t help getting the tiniest bit excited at that thought. Another mid to late summer baby wasn’t a great thought, but at this point, I’ll take what I can get. Did a pregnancy test last night and, of course, it was negative. What was I expecting though. I’m starting to wonder if I don’t have to just accept the fact that Little Man will be the only baby I have. It’s not like I’m getting any younger. I really wanted to go with a more aggressive stance on testing and treating my fertility problems, but Dr. M doesn’t think it’s a good idea. I’m not concerned enough, yet, to push it to another doctor, but I’m not sure how far away that is, either.

Onto other topics. Color Wonder fingerpaints. Can I just say Hooray for these. Jacob wants to draw/paint etc. all the time. The problem with this is that, like any three year old, he has no comprehension that the bed, walls, cat etc. are not the appropriate places to do this. For example, I lay down with him one day last week for nap time and he woke up before me, rather than wake me up like he normally does, he got into my knitting notions bag and pulled out my dry erase markers that I use for marking up the page sleeves I keep my patterns in and drew all over my $200 dollar (my one real luxury item are my sheets) sheets, my pajamas and himself. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or kill him. I chose laugh b/c really, what could I do. After that TJ and I sat him down and had a talk with him, but I really don’t think he gets it. We tried the Color Wonder line when he was a little younger – the marker and coloring book set – but he didn’t show much interest in it. He didn’t have the patience to wait for the chemical reaction to make the color develop. Those markers really do take a long time to develop the color. We bought the finger paints at the same time, but after his reaction to the markers we didn’t bother to get them out. The other night while TJ and I were making dinner, I got them out as a last ditch effort to get him to behave while we were cooking. Amazingly enough, he was fascinated by it. For the last few days it’s all he’s wanted to do. Of course we don’t let him finger paint all day, but it’s a great way to give him something to do that isn’t messy and totally engrosses him. I strongly recommend them to all parents of toddlers who have any interest in coloring/painting etc.

Knitting content: I figure, since the word Knits is in the title of this blog, there should be something said about knitting. The BJL&L Shawl is coming along nicely. I’ve got 10 1/2 of 25 repeats done. I don’t see a problem with getting it done long before Christmas, though. Or at least on time. I’m also working on the Circular Shrug which is my mindless knitting project. It’s all k2p2 ribbing and a mock rib pattern. I’m enjoying working on it and hope to have it done before Christmas so I can wear it. I’m making it with Noro Silver Thaw and it’s soft and very vibrant. The main colors are oranges and blue greens. I’ll post a picture when I get around to it. I’m really glad I only committed to two projects for Christmas this year. Anymore and I would have been screwed. There are actually a few more gifts I’m planning to make, but they are for people who know that they won’t be done until after the holiday. Small things like a ball band bag etc.