Finally, Friday

So, Hubby's home with B this morning. When B first woke up, he said he'd poked his eye. It was goopy and pink and he wouldn't open it for a long time. So in the less than 30 minutes I had to make the decision, I decided to keep him home in case it's pink eye (which in the world of group daycare is as bad as gastrointestinal problems when it comes to forcing kids out). Since I had a conference call at 9 and an important appointment at 3, Hubby volunteered to take him to the doctor. Of course, now the eye's not looking so pink, but B has whomped Hubby on all the board games, watched Bob the Builder 8 times, and at last check in was playing drums along with Bruce and the E Street band. Doctor's appointment is at 2, so I'll know sometime later today if I pulled the trigger too quickly.

This is the first full day Hubby's been home alone with the kid. Even if I did overreact, I think it's probably going to work out well.

As for me, my conference call was with an impossible person, but my day's been improving. I'm going out for lunch with a colleague to catch up and my happy picots sock is moving along.

I have to admit I was a bit stumped. I decided to knit a heel flap and gusset, but didn't realize until I was done the flap that a gusset might be difficult to knit with the magic loop method. But, an additional loop's gotten the job done!

I should be working on the instep on the commute home tonight.

I'm having difficulties with Hubby's sweater. I thought I had finished the front last night and ripped out the neckline on the back, when I realized that I hadn't decreased enough on the front! Whoopsie. I'm going to see if the accidental front neckline will work. It'll be easier to adjust the back to fit than re-do the front!

Busy weekend, tomorrow, we're going to an indoor soccer game with the in-laws and B. Sunday, we're the family at church. Hubby's ushering and serving communion AND we're lighting the first candle on the advent wreath. Good thing we've got four wheel drive. We can't miss church Sunday if the "winter weather event" they've been hyping turns out to be worse than a coating.

why isn't it time to go home yet?

I feel like this has been a very long day. I feel like I've been having the same conversations over and over and over again for the last few months. I feel like people here just love to pile it on and never, ever say thank you regardless of how huge an effort is made by me or my staff on their behalf.

I cannot wait for my Christmas vacation December 21 through January 2. It will be the longest amount of time (12 straight days) I have been out of the office since I came back from maternity leave. I know B will drive me crazy and I will have to come up with field trips and fun things to do (and to try not to overload nap time with too many things I want to/need to do), but I need a break from this place and these people.

I really do like my job and can't really imagine doing anything else, but the frustration level is high these days.

Thank yarn for Orange knitting and happy picots. Also, thanks for happy boys and easy mornings, thanks for great school pictures (apparently, my son was the only 3 yo to smile), thanks for having fun with Hubby and going home to him every day.

character

The character of a person isn't in never having made a mistake. Character is shown in how they respond to that mistake.

happy little picots

Here's my trekking sock, looking a bit brown. I tried to adjust the color to be less yellow. My camera does not capture the ORANGE glory that is this yarn. This is the third cast-on and I'm loving it. The first one was way too big at too big a gauge and the second was also too big at two different gauges (switching needles will do that). I cast on Monday night and hope to hit the heel tonight (depending on how much I knit at the Devils game).

The workout happened last night. The housework happened this morning (m-i-l's babysitting tonight) and I completed one side of the front neckline on Hubby's sweater as well. No sewing can start, as much as I am obsessed with skirts, until I get a yardstick. I've already decided my first skirt's going to be an A-line in Cranberry microwale corduroy. Now, if only I had shoes that would work. Oh, and I need tights!

So want to sew

I got this book in the mail last night. Forget working out. Forget housework. Forget nearly being to the neckline on the front of Hubby's sweater. Forget my new orange sock. Forget my square for the Oliver raffle blanket. I want to sew skirts now!

We had a very nice thanksgiving. Once again, Hubby did the culinary heavy lifting and did a great job. B was an awesome traveller. Only once on the way home was there much fussing. He then promptly took a two hour nap (falling asleep with his hand in a bag of cheetos).

I'm totally not looking forward to Christmas. Well, I'm looking forward to watching other people celebrate and enjoying their decorating and what not. I'm not looking forward to my having to shop and wrap and decorate and all that hoo-ha. I am very much looking forward to singing in choir on Christmas Eve. I had a good first performance on Sunday (when we passed the peace many people told me they were happy to see I'd joined, I think they were happy to see the body count increase). Our director complimented my voice and how quickly I learned my part, but I didn't see her after we performed so I don't know if I lived up to rehearsal.

How about you all? Excited, ambivalent, dreading the holidays?

My in-laws have officially been married 40 years. We had cake for them after church, in the church where they were married, on the exact date of their marriage. Now, we need to take them out to dinner.

I must be crazy, but with escape plan

So, in my quest to have the perfect pair of Harlot-copying, Hazel Knits Sailor's Delight Monkey socks, I'm back on US 1 circs. Yes, that's right. The too small sock is getting a retry. Because I didn't want to knit the picot hem for the fourth time in a week, I modified by going with the twisted rib as callled for in the pattern.

Ooh, pretty. And stretchy! Now, to knit a couple of repeats, wash and block and see if they will fit my large-ish ankles.

Of course, this means that I will not have sock knitting for our long ride tomorrow. No worries, I have a back-up plan.

Once again, I am copying a more famous blogger. In this case, Claudia. When I saw this yarn on her blog, I had to buy it. (I think I went to the same online shop, too.) They're going to be a nice plain stockinette sock, maybe with a picot hem. I'm going to knit a gauge swatch and just cast on the stitches needed to fit me and have at it.

Hubby's sweater has finally reached the X crossing on the front. I hope to be able to knit on it on the ride tomorrow and all weekend. Hubby assures me I'll probably get lots of praise while working on this sweater at the house of the source of the Scottish heritage. I may even find myself knitting another one for his Grandpa who was born in Paisley. But, it won't be at 6 st to the inch if I do!

Fortunately for those who will be in such a confined space with me tomorrow, my cold is improving rapidly. I'm sure they'll be very happy that I'll be sneeezing and coughing in their general vicinity at a lower frequency.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers. And a great November weekend to those of you who are not. I hope to be back with a post on Monday.

US 2 = more stripes

Okay, they're skinnier, but not what I want. Big sigh, how do I make the US 1 socks fit? I'm afraid more stitches will make the striping thing happen. Maybe ribbing and a good soak and block?

In other news, I have a cold and I'm not real happy about it since the allergies and the cough that came from all that goop was just going away!

unhappy boy = unhappy mommy

I do not know what has gotten into my kid lately, but can I exchange him for a child that is happy at least 15 minutes a day? OMG. Last night dinnertime was fine. But he didn't want a bath, he didn't want to brush his teeth, he didn't want to go to bed. I didn't scream. But, I was not a happy mommy with the Nth iteration of the fucking whining. I hate whining. Yell at me, scream at me, do not keep whining "I don't want...." Then of course, I couldn't blow off steam at the "gym" because there's a class and since the place is a shoe box, all the equipment was moved.

And then this morning, he didn't want to get dressed and screamed all the way to school because we didn't have a blanket for him in the cold car. It took a half hour to get him into some clothes. What really burned me was him saying he wanted to cooperate and then proceeding to not pick out a freaking shirt.

Boy, I'm really looking forward to our dentist appointments tomorrow. Wouldn't you? Cranky kid and new dentist is not going to be fun. But, since we have to buy a birthday present for his friend's party Sunday, maybe I can bribe him with the promise of a new toy.

On to things more in my control. I'm much happier with this second attempt at a monkey sock. The colors are working much better. But, of course, on US 1 it is too small. I couldn't find a US 2 in my house. So, I am going to Purl at lunch. (I had a lunch meeting yesterday and had no chance to get over there.) I think I'll treat myself to a deli sanwich while I'm out, too. Just for a little spoil me moment. I imagine dinner tonight (like last night's can of Campbell's) will be something quick, light, and not what I really want so I can get to the "gym".

I forgot to mention a little pick-me-up from the weekend. I think I've mentioned before that we have a very small church. Fewer than 50 members, with 25-35 in attendance most weeks. Well, the boiler for the sanctuary hasn't been working and we've been having service in fellowship hall, which means we're all closer together and the choir (all five of them) sits with everyone else during the service and is only up front for the anthem. Anyway, after Sunday's service our choir director (and only alto) went up to Hubby to ask him who was sitting next to him. Me, of course. So they chatted and he mentioned that I'd sung in college (not true, last choir was in high school) and another elder said they had to get me for the choir. So, he pointed me out (I'd gone to the classroom to pick up B) and she asked me to join. I agreed. My first practice is Sunday, the 25th. Much to my chagrin I'll be singing alto. All through my choir experiences I've either been an alto or a second soprano. I'd been singing Soprano and she'd lamented that it was too bad I wasn't an alto, and I shot myself in the foot by saying I'd sing alto if that's what she needed. Dumbass.

So, apparently, I'm not a horrible singer. This does not indicate that I have an awesome voice, but it does say that I'm not horrible. Not that B recognizes it. With him, I'm rarely allowed to sing other than at bedtime. Sunday afternoon, I was singing along with a commercial and he told me to stop. I told him that I'm not a bad singer because they want me to sing at church.

One of the best parts about the whole choir thing? Our director is a knitter!

Still haven't touched Hubby's sweater.

not so much with the liking on this monkey

I made awesome progress on the Monkey sock yesterday. I cast on and did 8 of the ten rows for the picot hem at lunch and completed the hem and nearly two repeats at the game.

I'm not loving it, though. With the dragon socks, I knit at 7 st to the inch to accomodate my large-ish ankles. So, I thought I would do the same here, since it's the same stitch count. However, I'm getting way too much striping. It looks nothing like the Harlot's. Compare them side-to-side. (I know the color's way different. I suck with photographing reds.) I tried on what I've got an it's biggish, so I'm going to see if I can get out to Purl today and pick up a size 2 circ. If that doesn't fix it, I'll knit the yarn into Jaywalkers and make my SOTR Foo-Foo into monkeys.

The game last night was sooo much fun. The seats our buddy had from work were in the club section. $200 gets you a comfy seat, a great view, and all the free food and soda you could want. We got to hang with a couple of friends we hadn't seen in a while and, although the Devs lost, it was a good time.

I don't know what was up with the B today. He didn't want to get out of bed. He didn't want to change his clothes (M-i-L had let him sleep in yesterday's outfit, not that I blame her, I do it, too). He didn't want to eat. He didn't want to go potty. He didn't want to ride in the little car (our Saturn Ion as opposed to the H3 we only drive on weekends). He wanted a book, but not the first one he thought of. He didn't want to go to school. I do not envy his teachers today.

I showed motherly patience today and only snapped a little bit when he was dawdling in the bathroom and I really needed to go myself. I sure hope he's in a better mood tonight. Aiy yi yi.

Gym tonight, for the first time since Monday. I'm looking forward to it.

monkey up

I finished the Dragon socks last night. I still need to wash and block sock #2. I'll FO them when it's dry and I can take modelled pics. I love the pattern and plan to knit them again. I showed Hubby the difference between washed and not. He noticed the pattern is not as obvious, but that they are so much softer.

I did not touch Hubby's sweater last night. I feel bad about it, since I won't be touching it again tonight. A friend got free seats to tonight's Devils game. So much for crossing the X this week!

I did have a nice long chat with my grandparents last night. Papa's bummed that he's still restricted in his activities. He's got two more weeks before he can lift more than 5 lbs. But, he sounds really good. They're planning a scaled back holiday season (although, I bet one of their brood will decorate for them), but they're excited we're coming up next month. I also got the run down on most of my cousins and aunts and uncles. I really should call them more often.

I also did the dishes and wound the yarn for my monkeys. I cannot wait to cast on. If I hadn't needed the nap on the bus this morning, I probably would have. This pic's a little washed out. The colors should be more vibrant and red (the gold should be orange). I was going back and forth over doing the twisted rib as noted in the pattern or Cara's picot hem. I think I'm going to do the picot. Since I fell in love with The Harlot's in this colorway, I want to be true to the inspiration. Besides, I can always snip off the hem and do the ribbing if it turns out I don't like the hem.

It's scary what a good mood I'm in. I don't know if it's the residuals from the exercise, positive reinforcement (the scale and Hubby telling me how proud he is everyday that I'm making an effort), or looking forward to a night out, but I'm feeling pretty upbeat. You don't think Hubby's been spiking my OJ with SSRIs, do you?

ignoring the candy bowl

My boss generously fills the cand bowl on the table near my office at least once a week. Today, I'm not even looking to see what's in it (last week it was all stuff I didn't like).

Yesterday's vent really helped me adjust my thinking, as did a nice sweaty workout. But, I still stepped on the scale this morning. I like the number better, but I really need to stop stepping on the scale. How do you turn off the little voice in your head, though? The one that's been worried about the number since I hit puberty and stopped be scrawny?

I'm blasting through my goals on the dragon socks. I have completed over two and a half repeats after the heel. Since sock one fits great after washing and "blocking," I just need to complete repeat 3, do half a repeat and complete the toe shaping. I should have a finished pair of socks tomorrow! (I think trying to bust it all out tonight would be overreaching.) I do plan to wind up the yarn for my Monkey socks tonight. I can't wait to start them!

I hope to cross the X on hubby's St A sweater this week. I wonder if that's too ambitious. Well, it is motivating to have a goal.

I keep thinking today is Wednesday. It's going to be a long week.

ruminating

Ruminating usually gets me into trouble. Right now, I'm ruminating on weight loss. Or a decided lack thereof. Last week, when I signed up at the new "gym," I told the lady I wasn't ready to set a weight loss goal. And I'm not. I can tell you that I'm X pounds over a healthy weight, that I'd need to lose X pounds to be at my pre-pregnancy weight, or that I weighed X when I was married. But I can't say that my ulitmate goal is to lose all the weight needed to get me to a "healthy" weight or that I'd be happy to get to X pounds. If I say I want to lose all 124 pounds it would take to get me to the top of the range of "healthy" weights for my height, I'd lose all hope of being able to accomplish such a huge task. If I focus on 10 pounds at a time, I feel I'm not challenging myself enough. If I say, no goals, just healthier, the scale makes me a liar. I know I wasn't 100% on target all of last week. There was wine with dinner Thursday, Saturday and Sunday nights and we had cheeseburgers for dinner on Friday. But, I did go to the "gym" three times and we did a lot of housework (as opposed to my usual weekend sloth routine) and I ate sensibly for all the other meals. So, why am I at the same number on the scale as last Monday? I know it shouldn't matter, but it does. I guess I just have to try harder.

Small victory, the ruminating had me wanting to ditch my healthy lunch so badly , but I stuck with it and ate the damn thing. Hopefully, I'll do the same with my moderate dinner. I resent the hell out of people who can eat anything they damn well choose. And I'm good at resentment. I'm a champion resenter (having an ill sibling growing up can do that when you're not perfect).

I'm not quitting, yet. I'll give it a good try this week. Including no alcohol. If there's no movement on the scale, I'm going to go the kelp route that worked for Samurai. It's ridiculously irritating to weigh the same damn thing after putting in effort as I did after weeks of being a lazy overeater!

Yes, I do know I should go to my doctor. But, short of telling me to eat less and exercise more, what's he going to do?

I do have sock progress. That goal I'm keeping to. One heel and most of the next repeat completed. At this rate, I'll only need three days to finish. (Assuming the first sock, which has been washed and should be dry enough for a try on tonight, fits to my liking.)

I made good progress on the front of Hubby's St. Andrews sweater this weekend, too. I need to knit about an inch and a half a day to have that finished by 11/30. I do find that I've got a manipulative side. I was threatening Hubby with not working on his sweater as a punishment. I can't remember why I was wanting to punish him, but I do remember the threat.

rip and re-knit and rip and re-knit

I blew through my goal for the socks last night. I'm more than half-way through the third repeat. I just couldn't put it down. But, I have to rip back. I kept forgetting the last M1 in the round. As you can see, the sock comes in quite a bit on the side there. This could be a problem for a girl like me with generous proportions.

Then there was a ripping fest on St. Andrew last night. I had messed up the color changes (sequence has me moving 1 stitch and then 2 stitches and I just did one stitch a couple of times in a row) back below where the blue disappears on the sides. When I first noticed the other day, I just kept knitting and tried to make up for it further on. Then I realized that might cause problems with matching the lengths front to back. So, I ripped back, knit to where I was and realized I had another error further down. Ripped again and still haven't gotten back to where I was. I wish the slope on this thing wasn't so jagged. But, I just couldn't make the X fit the dimensions any other way. Hubby likes it, but looking at this picture is making me cringe.

I had another good workout last night, but I stayed up way to late with the ripping and re-knitting. We got out the door twenty minutes earlier today and B only mildly disagreed about wearing a coat. First words out of his mouth when he got outside (which were then repeated ad nauseum), "Mommy, I cold." My response, "Duh."

I know, I'm going to Hell for Sarcastic Mommies. He knows I love him and when he's a late night TV host, he'll thank me for it.

goals

My goal is to complete a repeat a day. Then the sock should be done in about a week. Here's last night's repeat.

Of course, if I complete more than a repeat, it's even better.

I've got about 12 rows left on the back of Hubby's St. Andrew's sweater. I'll be bringing that in tomorrow. My knitting group at work's started meeting again and I promised to bring it in to show it to them (first I need to make sure we aren't going on a field trip tomorrow). I really want to cast on for the front this weekend. I'll post a pic tomorrow if I bring it in to the office.

My other goals are more family-oriented. I've apparently been appointed family nag. I hate nagging. It's counter-productive and makes everyone unhappy. But it seems, the male half of my family needs me to be constantly reminding them about what makes getting out of the house go smoothly each day. So it's constant reminders to B that he's going to have to wear a coat because it's not Summer anymore and getting Hubby to get in the shower well before the time we're supposed to be leaving the house. The kid thing I don't mind so much. The grown-up half is a serious problem. I really don't ask for much. But, getting in the shower an hour and a half after me is not going to get us out the door on time and suggesting that I should just handle the drop-off as well as the pick-up is assinine. Especially since it wouldn't get me to work any freaking earlier!

He has since apologized and promised to do better. But, you know we've all heard it before.

less knitting time = happier Netter?

It seems antithetical to me, that cutting down on my knitting time is going to improve my mood. But, we're going to try this working out and going to bed earlier thing. Last night was my first workout at the new "gym." I had forgotten how good moving makes you feel. I'm pretty sure I liked the equipment at Curves better, but being able to have dinner and put Billy to bed (earlier, but still following our same routine) was great. I always worried that working out after dinner would keep me up. I've had insomnia my whole life, but I went to bed at 10 and had been asleep when Hubby came up at 10 of eleven. I was a little sore this morning, just enough to remind me that I do, indeed, have muscles! So far, so good.

But, I didn't spend my usual 2+ hours knitting after B went to bed. So, only a sock toe for you today. I would have had time to do something else if I hadn't had to rip out the toe on the way home. When one is picking up stitches after screwing up after attempting to knit something for the first time without the pattern, one should really make sure she's split the sock evenly in half or the toe decreases ain't going to work. Still, it's a very pretty sock and I sincerely doubt sock two will take 5+ months. Especially since I've already cast on and can't wait to knit up a few repeats.

Goes without saying that sock one might be a wee short, but we'll know for sure after a warm bath and a little bit of a stretch and dry.

Hubby's going to the Devils/Rangers Knicks game tonight (free tickets through a colleague). I'm not sure if I'm going to knit on his sweater or sew up a little jacket for B. I do know that I'm not going to sit on my butt with a pint of ice cream!

How do I turn this thing on again?

I think the blog has seen less action than my dishwasher lately. Actually, I know it has. We cooked all last week. The dishwasher's seen a lot of action since I last posted.

I didn't go away. Well, not literally. I did find myself in a deep dark place on Thursday night, but we've decided that I just need to take better care of myself. So, I joined a new 30-min circuit training place. (Ironic point, I haven't been to Curves in over a year and finally cancelled my membership two months ago.)

I've also tried to put my nose to the grindstone a bit more today and that's helped with work stress. Especially since I owned up to a mistake. Not surfing until lunchtime meant I could get a lot done.

We had a fun Halloween, although B and I have been fighting a lot lately. Nothing yesterday, but we've been averaging a big blowout once a day. Why is it I have such a hard time remembering that I'm the adult?

Hubby and I had a big fight on the way home from our hockey game date Friday night. This is what happens when you let the resentments and the bad feelings simmer. Sense the theme?

Knitting-wise, I've barely touched Hubby's sweater, have one nearly finished sock, and a completed hat and almost mitten. The hat and mitten are for a drive B's former teacher is having with her girl scout troop. B really likes the both pieces, even though they aren't orange.

I did get some fantastic news. My grandfather's lymph nodes were clear of cancer. So the colon cancer was contained to his colon and he's chomping at the bit to get back to his regular level of activity. He's been home for a week or so and we're all so very pleased.

I'm interested to see B's reaction tonight when I pick him up and it's already dark.