Frustration!

Okay, so I spent last night working on the jumper for Isolde. I'm frustrated because I would get 6 or 7 rows done and then decide to tear it out and try again. What's the problem? Well, the stripes are working just fine except for the fact that all the gray and white are on one side and the colors are on the other. I trying to cast on a different places in the color scheme, but EVERY time it's the same thing. (sigh) Maybe it's because it's knit in rounds rather than rows. So anyway, I'm thinking about tearing it out again and adding 16 or 24 stitches. The pattern at the bottom of the skirt is in multiples of 8. Or maybe I'll have to go up to the size 2 dress instead of the size 1.

Here is what I have done so far. I'm thinking about continuing working until I'm past the "Fish tail lace" pattern, I have 13 more rows to go and then I'll just be knitting around for a few inches. What do you think? I really want this to be done by next week-end for the baby shower.

It came!

Wow! Just a couple of minutes after I finished the last post the UPS Lady came by! I was almost dancing with excitement. The yarn is beautiful, soft and I think will knit up really pretty. I started the first jumper, when Sweet little Girl was napping, I got as far as the second row already. (It took me awhile to get the right amount of a tail with the casting on.) So anyway, now that Sweet little Girl has gone home with her Daddy, I'm going to be knitting until time to cook dinner, and then if my hands can handle it I'll be knitting up until bed time, with some breaks of course when I put The Boy to bed and other such things.

Here is a picture of the yarn, needles, stitch holders, and what I've gotten done so far. (The pattern starts on circular needles. I'm just hoping that I can knit it in the correct gauge.)

Have I mentioned I hate waiting?!

Okay, so the box with the yarn and other stuff for the jumpers is on the truck to be delivered today! I'm really excited about it. But now I will be spending the day until it arrives waiting for it to get here! At least I have The Boy and Sweet little Girl to keep my busy.

I got things vacuumed last night so she can play here around the table, but that also means she can get to the cords for the modem and router and the laptop charger. So far she has only found them once, and I've laid something over them now so they aren't so obvious to her.

The Boy wavers between wanting to cuddle her and being tired of her wanting to play with HIS stuff. He told me that he would like to keep her, but every night when she goes home he happily gets out the toys he has to keep in his room while she is here. This has been good for him, and for me. We will miss her when she goes to her other daycare situation in September. I am hoping that her Mom and I will be able to get together often now that we are living in the same city again.

Hmm ... I'm still waiting for the UPS guy to get here. (I guess it could be a UPS gal, so maybe UPS person would be the better choice of words.) Waiting sucks! I know that it's still early in the day but ... I want it NOW! Oh, and I know that I won't be able to do anything with it yet, because knitting with a wide awake baby isn't something I want to try to do. But at least it would be here in case she goes to sleep or something.

Writing takes a lot longer when you have little children wanting attention. LOL I've been writing this entry for almost an hour now. I stopped to feed our Sweet little Girl. (She didn't eat much because she wanted to blow bubbles in her food. Then she bumped her head on the table. I stopped to cuddle her and try to get her to drink some milk. She was more interested in what Aidan was doing than anything. (She didn't even want to be held for more than a minute.) Aidan needed to go to the potty, but didn't make it so we had to change his pull up. And I often stop typing just to look around and see where they are. Right now they are sitting on the kitchen floor looking at each other and clapping their hands.

Will the UPS person EVER get here! (sigh) Maybe I'd better stop writing now and find something else to keep me busy. I HATE waiting!

Project update.

None of the stores in town have the yarn I want to use for the jumpers, so I had to order it. I know the Lion Brand yarn isn't usually one of the yarns used by some knitters. It's one of the yarns you find in places like Wal-Mart, but not that little speciality yarn store down the block. I would love to be able to afford to use pure natural fibers, hand spun and hand painted yarns. But even with the "cheaper" yarns like Lion Brand and Red Heart it costs quite a bit more to make a sweater than it does to buy one in the store. (One sweater I'd like to make for myself would cost $118 just in materials.)

I got a notice just hours after making the order that it had already been shipped! Maybe it will be here before the shower after all. I doubt I'll have time to get one for the jumpers finished before the shower, but I'd like to show Snowanna the yarn I chose anyway. The only thing I need to get, that I couldn't order from Lion Brand, are the buttons. I need 4 for each jumper. They need to be 3/4 inch buttons, but I'm not sure what color they should be. I went ahead with the Spring colors magic stripe yarn. Maybe I should keep it on the safe side and go with white buttons. But pink or green would be fun. What do you think? I'll have to get to a store to get them soon after I get the yarn, so I don't forget them. LOL

Cooking with kids.

The Boy is getting really interested in cooking, so I got the Rachael Ray book "Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-minute meals For Kids". He likes it, and the recipes are pretty good for the most part. But we don't use the book all that often. He does help me stir things when I'm making dinner, or baking, He adds ingredients if I've measured them for him, and he will even help me clean up after wards. Well, he will empty the trash bowl or put the bowls, plates and measuring equipment in the sink for me and then he's usually off to do other things. LOL I think it's nice that he and I can share an interest in cooking. (I'm going to give my Dad a copy of the "For Kids" recipe book for his birthday, he has some Grand-kids that would probably love to help their Grandaddy cook.)

The knitting projects.

Okay, I think I've found the pattern I want to make for the baby girls. It is a little jumper/sleeveless dress that can be worn with a shirt in cooler weather or with one a onesie when it's warm. The yarn is fairly light weight, and is designed to make stripes all on it's own. Now all I have to do is choose the color pallet I want to use. Maybe you can help me? Here are m two favorites which one do you think would make the best little girl dress? I'm going to make them both in the 12 month size, I think.


This is the Purple, I hope you can see the colors better than they look on my computer right now. It has purple, gray and white and blue stripes.

This is the Spring colors selection. It has orange, gray and white, green and "hot" pink stripes. I'm leaning toward this one, but I'm not really sure I like the purple one too.

I was going to post a picture from the pattern, but for some reason I can't copy it from Adobe Reader. Oh well.

I was going to order the yarn from Lion Brand Yarn On-line, but Snowanna is going to be having a baby shower on June 2nd, so I'd probably better go find the yarn at a store here in town. I have a list of stores that stock Lion brand yarn so I'll call around and see if any of them have it in stock. If not I guess I'll just have to order it and get something else for the shower. Maybe some tights and a little blouse or something to go with the jumper when it's finished.

Happy Birthday Christopher!

My oldest son turned 28 today! I remember being pregnant with him, I remember how I felt when I knew I was actually in labor. It seems like just last week when the Doctor told me I was fully dilated but he couldn't feel the babies head so we would need an x-ray to find out what was happening. I can close my eyes and see the x-ray of my baby high up in my uterus, breech, legs crossed and sucking his thumb. I shiver with fear when I remember hearing the Doctor saying "We are going to have to do a C-section. If the placenta should detach before his head comes out he might suffer brain damage from lack of oxygen, or he could die." I remember looking down into his tiny little face, and feeling that rush of love I always feel when thinking of him for the first time. I might not be able to remember a lot of details of his growing up, but I remember how it felt when he was little and kissed me, or when he was a teen-ager and hugged me.

Happy Birthday Christopher, I hope that your day has been and will continue to be special you deserve it.

An Anniversary.

Last week Howard and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We've been together for 9 years now. We have our problems, but for the most part we are still very happy together.

Lately I've been more aware of how small our problems really are. I have two friends who are in the middle of ending important relationships, and two of my favorite bloggers, who happen to be married to each other, have announced that they are getting divorced. I wish I could do something, give them some advice or sympathy or something. But there really isn't anything anyone can do except for being around for them if they need a friend. I hope my friends know that I'm here, I'll listen, I'll help in anyway I can, I just need to know what I can do.

I think in a way I'm feeling a little guilty or something because my relationship is still on good standing while theirs isn't. I know it isn't a rational feeling, I know that they wouldn't want me to be going through what they are. But I'm still a bit reluctant to talk about my marriage with them, or blog about it here because they read might read it and feel sad. Silly I know, but do you understand why I might feel like this?

Reduced energy.

Why is it that when I have the least to give, (energy, strength or emotion) the people around me ask and need the most? It seems like every time I get busy with the dishes or caring for the Sweet little Girl, Aidan needs something to eat or drink or just needs me. Howard isn't much better. For some reason he thinks I should be cooking for him when ever he is home. Today for example: he wanted a sandwich, a grilled ham and cheese, and asked me when I was going to make it for him. The Boy then wanted one too. Sweet Little Girl was about 5 minutes from taking a nap, so she was a bit fussy as well.

Normally that wouldn't have been so bad, but today I'm tired because The Boy took a nap yesterday and then stayed up until 2:30 AM fussing. I also have a head ache, probably because it's that time of the month, or because I only had four and a half hours of sleep last night, or maybe both. Anyway, I could have handled making lunch after Sweet Little Girl was sleeping, but for some reason they didn't really want to wait. I got it taken care of, and she is sleeping right now, so I guess I had enough energy after all.

Maybe I'm just grumpy today and all this is really just a symptom of my grouchiness.

Screaming

I had thought that we were past the long drawn out crying and screaming fits. But the last few days we have had at least one a day, some days had two. He gets upset when told not to do something, so he yells or screams about it. Then kicks his feet or stomps around the room. So far he seems to be calmed by having my friends little girl here. (I'm babysitting for a little while, she's 9 months old, and The Boy adores her.) Today we just went through 20 minutes of screaming because he popped his balloon. It got worse when I couldn't blow it up again, and worse still when I told him to either stop screaming or go into his room. I finally had to take him by the hand and lead him to his room. He screamed in there for quite a while but finally quieted down again. I hope that this doesn't bode badly for the rest of the day. We have to go to the grocery store and I really don't want to deal with a melt down while there.