Out the Window

So much for sleep training. With the return of the Italian and then Buddy getting sick (he ran a fever for a couple of days) all of the progress that I made with getting him to sleep by himself has disappeared.

Oh well, we'll get there eventually. Hopefully before he goes to college.

In knitting news, I finished the Seraphim shawl for my mother:







I hope she enjoys it. Her hair is a beautiful white with just a hint of steel gray in places, so I think the blue/purple will set off her hair nicely. She lives in a cold place and enjoys warm, cozy things, so I hope this finds some good use for her.

Photographing a lace shawl is a wickedly tricky business. I tried for a while to find a good solution (I'm not showing all the shots that were much worse than this) and am not thrilled with the results. I held on to the shawl for an extra week, hoping to get a chance to take some pictures on a person, but we've had crummy weather lately and the sun did not cooperate. I decided it was time to get the package on its way while I still stood a chance of getting it there on time.

The photography experience makes me appreciate even more the people who do it so well - Cara, Anne, and Bonne Marie to name a few.

With that gift out the door I have been gripped with an urge to finish other languishing projects. I am close to finishing my Wrapped in Tradition - I just have the crochet trim around the neck to do, although I think I need to undo my bind-off an re-do - it's too loose and it flares up at the neck. The socks that I've been making for the Italian just need to be bound off, and I have picked up Serrano after months of neglect. I have plenty of projects that I want to start, but I'm running with the urge to finish some, since that doesn't happen very often!

And now, because it's much easier to photograph kids than lace knitting, I leave you with a couple of pics of the kinder...


because kids in a tub are just cute


I was trying to capture that moment when he's still half asleep in the morning and his eyelashes rest against his cheek, but of course he wouldn't sit still.


That boy really works his sippy cup!

A Little Backsliding

Bedtime was not as smooth last night as the day before. This is to be expected, but frustrating nonetheless.

It could be because Buddy had a nap yesterday (and he didn't the day before), or it could be that his daddy was home, or it could just be the normal variation of things, but we had more tantrum last night at bedtime. This has evolved into punching me in the head (he's only 2 1/2 but it still hurts) and pulling my glasses off and flinging them across the room.

Fortunately it didn't last long, and somehow a little bit of extra bedtime milk did the trick after about 15 minutes.

This morning we abandoned our usual Monday morning frenzy of grocery shopping in favor of a long walk, a trip to the park and a leisurely lunch. It's nice to take the pressure off sometimes and not be worried about getting somewhere in a hurry.

Off to pick up Punkin from school in and hour and a half, maybe do some grocery shopping after that. Or maybe we'll go hang out at the local library. Good times with the kids, got to enjoy that more.

Third time's a charm

Bedtime last night was entirely civilized. I put Buddy in bed, gave him a bunch of kisses, and headed for the door. He gave it one try - "mamma, stay here, rocking chair!" and I just said no, Buddy, and I love you, and left him by himself. I left the door half open, and then sat quietly in the living room. He called out for me a couple of times, but no screaming, no climbing out, just falling asleep. It was wonderful.

I sat and read for a while (I was reading "Life as we Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer - wow, what a story!) and I just had to finish it. When I looked up at the clock, after reading for a while, I thought I read 10:30 and that seemed about right. Then I was doing something at the computer and realized that it was only 9:30 - I guess that when you don't have to spend the first hour of the evening dozing in a dark room with a grumpy child that you get to do something else with that time!

Of course I spent the rest of the evening doing dishes, laundry, vacuuming, picking up, etc., getting ready for the Italian's return. Not that he hasn't seen the house messy plenty of times, I just wanted him to come home to a nice house. It's nice to have him back.

So no knitting to speak of last night. I have put the needles back in Wrapped in Tradition (I took the size 6 bamboo circular points out of that project to make Seraphim) and plan to finish that next. It's very close, and if I get it done quickly I will still have a chance to wear it this winter. I'm also working on the Italian's socks, one just needs to be bound off and the other is almost at the heel (toe up, so I still have to do the leg).

Since I have no knitting pictures to share, I'm giving you a random photo (to go with this rather random post)


Last fall we took the kids on a field trip to the Muir Woods and had a great time looking at creatures large and small. One of the special finds was a large cluster of ladybugs scuttling along the tops of the fence rails. Punkin put down her hand and let one of the bugs crawl on, and I managed to get one in-focus shot. I love the contrast of the bug's colors against her pale skin.

Getting there

Tonight's scream fest (oh wait, I mean sleep training) only lasted for 35 minutes. Compared to last night's 75+ minutes, that's a huge improvement!

Seraphim has been bound off, so all that's left is to sew in the ends and block. I have to figure out where to block it, but I think I'm going to try to get that done tonight.

The Italian comes home late tomorrow night, so just one more day. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day - Mandarin class, school ice skating party, possible sleepover for Punkin - I'm tired just thinking about it!

Must sleep tonight...

A Visit

Once a year my dear friend Jill comes to my neck of the woods for work, and this year she came a day early to spend a little bit of time with us last weekend.

We had a lovely time. I picked her up at the airport on Saturday morning (she made it here in spite of our terrible weather). On the way home we went to Amazing Yarns. This is a lovely shop. It's built inside the house of one of the owners in the Emerald Hills part of Redwood City, and it's a beautiful area. The shop was open in spite of the fact that she had no power, which made it a little bit dark but not as bad as you would think, because the building has lots of skylights. We admired lots of yarn, and I was sorely tempted by some Mountain Colors wool to make the Koolhaas Hat, but I decided to wait until I had a chance to thoroughly inspect my stash for possibilities.

We had hoped to go into San Francisco that afternoon but the wind, rain, and hail (yes, hail) made us opt for a quiet afternoon at home instead. And a quiet afternoon we did have. Punkin decided she wanted to make a quilt for her doll, so we worked on that together for a while. Here's the layout we decided on:


It's her first quilting project (and only her second sewing project) and she's already got almost half the blocks sewn together - by hand!

and here are Punkin and Jill working on their projects on the sofa (made possible by Buddy's afternoon nap)


We exchanged Christmas presents. The kids and the Italian got some great toys, and I got this!


I had almost bought one for myself after reading Rachael'spost about them, but decided not to. I love it!

And what's the backdrop for the abacus bracelet?


I promised a progress shot, I just didn't realize I would be almost finished by the time I got around to photographing it! This is the Seraphim Shawlthat I am making for my mother out of Malabrigo Lace. It is wonderfully soft, and almost finished - I am binding off. I hope to get it washed and blocked today, but don't know if that will really happen.

I'm excited to finish this, I hope my mother will enjoy it. Her birthday is in early February, but I'm going to go ahead and send it as soon as it's finished and photographed.

I'm also excited to work on something else - maybe I'll finish Wrapped in Tradition, or the Italian's socks, or Buddy's sweater...

We had a lovely rest of the weekend. On Sunday afternoon we went to Artfibers, a lovely shop with beautiful yarns, and I didn't buy anything. After that we met up with some friends and walked around in Chinatown and North Beach (that's San Francisco!) and then had a great dinner. Great weekend!

It was good to have a great weekend, because the Italian has been away this week and it's a long slog doing the solo parenting thing. Especially since I decided to do some sleep training and Buddy didn't fall asleep until 11:15 tonight...

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Beach!

Yesterday afternoon we received a package from my parents. Included in the package was a large, dragon-shaped kite, with a very nifty kite string winder tool. Buddy, who wasn't around when we opened the package, was very interested in the kite string winder. His dad explained that it was for a kite, at which point Buddy started talking about going to the beach, to fly the kite. I don't know what the Italian promised him, but certainly nothing more concrete than "yes, we'll go to the beach again at some point".

Fast forward several hours later, at 3:30 in the morning to be exact. After getting to bed late and having a fitful night, I was awakened by the sound of my 2.5 year old yelling "beach!" It seems he really wanted to fly the damn kite, and woke us all up to tell us about it!

A mind is a terrible thing. And it must be stopped.

Snow Day!

Well, not really...

We've been having weather here. This is different for us, as normally we just have climate. Of course I think the rain made my son was extra special hyper this morning, and decided to muck with my spinning wheel, which he just can't seem to resist. So I decided this morning was the day to show him how it worked. I spent 15 minutes trying to find my little bag with the oil, whorls, orifice hook, etc.

Could I find it?

Nope, so I made an orifice hook out of a paper clip and muddled through. But it left me feeling extra frazzled that my house is a wreck and I can't find anything. While I was showing the kids the spinning wheel I was mentally running through the calendar trying to figure out when would be my next day at home without the kids...

Then the phone rang. It was work calling to say that the power was out, the library was closed, and I didn't have to come to work today! (Not from snow, since I live in Northern California, but from rain and high winds).

Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it was such a treat to get a free afternoon off!

Of course, I haven't spent as much time picking up as I wanted because the Italian had some suggestions of things I needed to do, and I do have Punkin at home with me, but still it's better than nothing.

I'm making good progress on the Seraphim shawl, but I'm getting to the slow stage, when each row seems to take forever. I got nothing done last night, but that's because I was in bed, asleep, before 9:30, and I slept until 7 (with only two interruptions). This was heaven for me, as I normally get about 6 hours of sleep, at most. So a "snow day" after a full night's sleep - wahoo!

NAME

Another Year Begins

It is almost the end of the first day of a new year. We had a lovely day with not one, not two, but three different "sets" of friends and it was great. There were kids who played with my kids, and grownups to talk to, and good food to eat (that I didn't cook. After several days of cooking I had enough!)

2007 was a momentous and difficult year for us. Here's hoping that 2008 will be less momentous and more enjoyable.

No great resolutions for me. There are of course things in my life that I wish to do better (or at least differently!) but no need to bore you with them. I'm looking forward to many things and planning to enjoy at least some of each day. That seems reasonable, don't you think?

I'll close with this bit of entertainment:

"Five Gold Rings"

Watch it all the way through, even if you think you have already gotten the gag, it's very cute and clever. Thanks to my friend Jill for linking to this; we shall not mention what I will do to her for getting that song stuck in my head for the last five days. And she will be here for a visit next weekend, so I have time to contemplate my revenge!

Best wishes to you for a glorious 2008.