finished socks!

My FO is my finished thimbleberry socks. I wore them again today so I could take pictures for you. Here's what the look like from my point of view.

Here's a shot from closer to the floor. Neither shot is accurate for color. Notice the lack of picot hem. I decided to branch out and ribbed them instead.

Yarn is from Impulse of Delight (I love Ruth's colors). I knit them on US2 Addis (I think). No pattern, just cast on enough to fit around my fat ankles. (Yes, I know they look baggy, that's because my ankles are skinnier in the morning.)

I love them. I now have three pairs of socks in the pink family. Not quite sure how I became a girly girl.

In other news, B has a neurology appointment May 1. His pediatrician felt we could skip the additional auditory testing. She also feels that we shouldn't wait for district-provided services. Hubby's going to make calls today or tomorrow to see if we can get someone to go into the daycare via our insurance. If not, I'm sure my boss will help me coordinate a schedule that will allow me to take him to the SLP that did the eval. He has kids and he's a decent human being. Heck, he's probably not used to seeing me in the office so much. When B was an infant it felt like I was out of the office as much as I was in. Then as a toddler we still had lots of appointments and there was the whole biting thing. He's accomodated a work from home schedule for soccer, I'm sure we could work out something similar for therapy.

lots to show you

I've got another FO. I finished a pair of socks. I've also cast on a new pair. But I can't show you either because my camera battery died on me this morning.

F-i-L's birthday vest

I stayed up until nearly 2 Saturday night to do it, but F-i-L got a dry sweater vest, with buttons attached, Sunday afternoon. And praise knit goddess and Halleluja it fit! Big enough around and long enough. He really, really likes it. Unbeknownst to me, green is his favorite color (between him and my dad I'll be knitting green for a very long time).

There was no pattern for this. I knit a gauge swatch, measured hubby, added 2" and cast on. 286 stitches. I did just over an inch of 2 x 4 ribbing and knit nearly 16 inches to the armholes (from the top of the ribbing).

I cast off 2 inches of stitches on each side of the side seam (I had slipped a stitch purlwise on the RS and knitted it on the WS to make a faux seam) and decreases every RS row for 5 decreases, the every other RS row until I had about 18" of width on the back.

For the fronts, I did the same decreases for the arm holes but also decreased 1 stitch each RS row for the v-neck, until I had about 4". I joined the shoulders with a hybrid 3-needle/crochet cast-off (too lazy to find another needle). Then I picked up around the armholes at a 3 st to every 4 rows ration (pick up 3 in each row, skip a row all the way around). Fudging as needed to stay divisible by 6. I worked about an inch in 2 x 4 ribbing. For the front I did 3 st to every 4 rows on the straight aways, but picked up a stitch for each row on the shaped sections (I figured more stitches for convex, fewer for concave) and knit until I couldn't keep my eyes open. I did a two-row button hole over 4 stitches for the button holes.

Yarn used was Filature di Crosa Zara in Fir on US 5 KnitPicks Options needle (used just under 11 balls). Buttons are faux horn from MJ Trimming.

I wish I had put in some pockets. Since I have over 2 balls left, I could have. I'm thinking I might do a BSJ with the leftovers, though.

I'm so glad that's done. I've barely knit anything since the marathon ribbing Saturday.

Mother Nature doesn't read the calendar

Just because the news says spring has started at 7:44 am, doesn't mean Mother Nature is listening. Oh no, it's been snowing here this morning. Fortunately, it's too warm to accumulate and it looks like it's slowing down. (I tried to take a picture but the snow didn't show up.)

only 3 days left

F-i-L's birthday is on Monday. We're celebrating on Sunday, after nap.

I've got three days to finish this. Right front is all but a few inches done. I hope to finish on the way home tonight and start left front watching TV after B goes to bed. That gives me Friday and Saturday to get the armhole borders and button bands on.

Quick wash Saturday night and buttons on Sunday. Seems doable.

Once this deadline knitting is done I'm going to order yarn for two big projects (two shawls, one for June and one for August) and it's going to be all sewing all the time at my house. I need to bust through some of this fabric stash. And since sandal season is around the corner, I'll be able to wear some of the dresses I want to make.

so tired

I am so completely exhausted today. Not sure why.

And I have a meeting at 3. I just want to take a nap.

What idiot schedules a departmental meeting for 3 pm? Oh yeah, that would be me.

Although, on my own calendar and the request for the conference room, I put 2 pm. I put 3 pm on the invitation so, 3 pm it is.

DST is kicking B's butt

Poor B. He very happily spent Saturday night with the in-laws (other than car shopping, Hubby and I had tickets for the Knicks game).

He came back to us looking very tired. He did nap on Saturday, but he was a cranky pants Sunday.

He had a birthday party to go to and I think it was the worst party experience of his life. He and his buddies were playing a little unsafely on the slides and his foot got mashed. The way he was crying I thought he'd be limping for a few days. But, another mom got us some ice and he was better after a few minutes. Then he got hit in the face with a nerf ball in the cannon room and it must have glanced his eyeball. The biggest indignation was when all the kids were sitting down to eat. I wasn't quick enough and the lady poured him some soda. I figured I'd let him try it, thinking he wouldn't like it like the one time he was given sprite. Oh no, he likes Pepsi. He was so mad when I took it away. Then he was mad that they were out of the kiddie cups and then he didn't want pizza or cake (and this little twerp accused Billy of copying him by not having cake, same one who hit him in the face with the ball and told B to stop "following him" when he wasn't. Bully in the making I think.). He got over it all eventually and had fun for the last 1/2 hour. Came home and only wanted to veg.

Yesterday morning, he would not get out of bed. It was horrible. We haven't had a morning like that in a long time. He reminded me of my sister when she was younger (I don't know if she's still like that, I haven't had to get her out of bed in years). I had to wrestle him out of bed and he just cried and cried. We were so late getting out the door.

No stories or extra shenanigans at bedtime last night. He told me as we went to brush his teeth "I'm so tired."

This morning was marginally better. He lingered in bed a bit, but didn't say he wanted to stay in bed all day like yesterday. He actually had time to eat breakfast (so did I) and do most of his homework (due on Friday). We were out about 10 minutes earlier than yesterday.

Maybe tomorrow, he and hubby will be all adjusted and we can get out on time!

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We had a nice chat with the director of our daycare last night. He reassured us that B is very bright and they will work with us if we find someone to come to the center (sometimes they work in the office, sometimes in the classroom). He even suggested the mom of one of B's classmates.

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I got the computer to boot up last night. It only took two hours. Hopefully, it will work fine tonight.

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I had hoped I was nearing the bind off on F-i-L's sweater yesterday. Oh no, at least 2 more inches needed. I'm so bored. I want to sew or knit something else! Once I've gotten the bind-off done, I'm taking a night off from this thing.

Update on everything

Sweater vest is getting long.... I'm so bored with this thing. I think I'll be able to bind off the armholes tonight or tomorrow (depending on if I have time tonight).

We bought a car this weekend. Our smaller, everyday car (as opposed to the H3 which is our bad-weather, going-to-VT-in-the-winter car) was going to come off lease in a few months. Hubby was getting anxious about trading it in (he gets bored). So, Saturday we went to test drive. And came home with another Saturn 5 hours later. The dealer paid off the lease on the old car and we got a lease-to-finance rebate from GM. We're paying more, but we've got a lot more car now, too. The Aura XE is a lot bigger and nicer than our Ion was. B was so sad we didn't take it to school this morning. He always loved our big, red truck the best (H3), but he thinks the new car's pretty cool.

Friday was interesting, not only did we get the report from the SLP and a message from our pediatrician that B's cholesterol was over 200, our computer is once again beset by BSOD. (This time it's an unmountable boot volume, which I googled and have help to fix.)

Hubby talked to our pediatrician's office this morning. B gets to go have a lipid panel done later this month. In the meantime, we're all going to eat more healthful foods and exercise more. It alwayse seems to me that I'm more likely to clean up my act when it impacts my kid.

The SLP recommends 2-5 days of therapy for B in her report (or 2 days in the hand-written note she included for us). Also, a full auditory processing evaluation and a neurological evaluation, as well as evals by the school district. I spoke to the head of the special services dept. for our school district and they will not provide services until B is enrolled in public school. However, the county will provide services when he hits Kindergarten. The director at the school district said I should call her this summer and she would help me get in touch with those services.

Hubby and I are going to speak to the director of our daycare. His wife is an SLP and he's mentioned in the past that they do often have SLPs providing therapy at the center.

Also waiting for a call from the pediatrician about the auditory and neuro evals (we'll need referrals from her) and what she thinks about the report. I'm not looking forward to that. I really wanted her to be wrong about his speech after his physical last month.

progress and buttons

I'm making good progress on the vest. Over 8". I measured hubby from below the armpit (about where I think the armhole of the vest should sit) to below his belt and I should be about 1/2 done. Which is good, since I've started the 4th ball of 13 (I want to save at least 1 ball for the button band and armhole edging).

The buttons I ordered from MJ Trim came the other day. I think they look good (they're faux horn and machine washable, which is good, so is the yarn).

baby naming

My sister's jaw just dropped on the floor! Gotcha.
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The other day, I offhandedly called B "baby."

I do it quite often because I forget that he's 5 now and a Man.

He said to me, "I'm not a baby."

And I said "I know you're not a baby. But you are my baby, because I don't have any other kids."

He replied like he was putting in an order, "I have a baby sister named Carly."

My response: "We'll have to talk to daddy about that."
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B's asked for a baby brother in the past, but he never wanted a sister. We told him that if we had another baby, there's no guarantee it would be a boy. He seemed disappointed he might have to put up with a sister in the house and just let it go, until Monday.
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I told Hubby this story last night. His response "Just because Matthew has a sister named Carly, doesn't mean B has to."

(Matthew is B's bestest buddy at daycare. His big sister Carly now goes to public school for first grade, but she used to really like B when she was at daycare. )

I said "I know, I don't like the name Carly either."
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There's been a change in the tenor of our conversations about having another kid. It's always been never, never. What with not having the $ for daycare for an infant and having freaked hubby out completely with my PPD, it just wasn't something we considered. I always worry about leaving B without siblings, but never pushed it too hard. Now that we're looking at less expense with B heading to public school in 18 months, the conversations are a little different. Not that we've decided to have more, but it's not never, never either. We seem more likely to consider it before discarding the idea.
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If we do change our minds (and that's a big if) and it is a girl, she won't be named Carly. Poor B. I wonder if he likes the name Allison. That's what he would have been named if he'd been a girl. Allison Ruth.
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I do sometimes still kick myself for not naming him Angus. We thought it might be a little too much. It is his middle name, though. And sometimes he answers to it.
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Poor B is a wee bit hobbled today. I picked him up last night and noticed he was limping. He said he jumped off something playing hide and seek. We iced it last night and have been giving him motrin. It's a little bruised on the sole and a little swollen.

I was surprised there was no note in his cubby and that Miss Jaime hadn't iced it as well.

Hubby asked Miss Jaime about it this morning.

Seems B never told her that he hurt himself. Goofball.

We're going to keep an eye on him and probably take him to the doctor if it's not better in a couple of days (or gets significantly worse).

quick update

B and I had a snow day (so did millions of other people in our area). Ours was only for 4 1/2 inches though. Kind of a waste.

I did get lots of knitting done while B watched lots of TV (the problem with starting him on a video while I was shovelling in the morning was that I couldn't re-direct him to anything else). I just need to finish up the neckline on the left side of his sweater and then sew it up. Unfortunately, I need to put it aside for this.

F-i-L's birthday vest. The color is terribly washed out here (and why does one leg of the stitch look so vertical?).

It's going to be a simple buttoned v-neck with 4 x 2 ribbing knit in one piece from the bottom up.

I've got 1 row done, but a friend and I are knitting at lunch every day this week so I expect lots of progress.

No report from the SLP yet. Hubby starts his next class tonight, wish him luck.

I'm thinking about a second career. My current position in my current industry is not going to be around for me to retire from in 30 years. I need to think about what to do next when the final piece is outsourced in the next X years (probably fewer than 15, maybe more than 10). I've been toying with electronic media librarian (getting an MLIS online) or SLP (I'd read that this is a growing field and a University in my area has a strong Masters program). Hubby doesn't think I'd work well with kids.

I was talking with a colleague about the future of our positions in our industry and we're both thoroughly depressed.

it's called comfort food for a reason

Yesterday afternoon, Hubby and I took Billy for a speech evaluation. I had discussed his speech with his pediatrician at his 4-yr check-up. She gave us a referral, but I came away thinking she'd suggested we wait until he started school and then it would be free. As he continued to improve in his speaking, we decided to not have him evaluated. Big mistake. The pediatrician came down hard on me at his 5-yr evaluation stating that waiting would mean he'd be put in special classes and be held back from where he should be. She gave us another referral. Hubby made an appointment and we went last night.

He doesn't have any speech impediments, other than a slight lisp that the speech language pathologist didn't seem worried about. She does see a language delay. She sees that he's not using language properly, that he doesn't understand the forms of language.

He couldn’t answer a lot of her questions (when she asked what one word describes this group of things in the picture, he’d list the things), didn’t complete sentences properly (when she said john is a boy, chris is a boy, they are both , and he’d say something like friends) and couldn’t re-tell a story about a picture she just told him but went off on his own wacky tangents among other things. She gave him a vocab test and he seemed to do pretty well. She said he probably just needs to have the building blocks spelled out for him. She suggested we call the school district and ask if they will evaluate and provide services before he’s enrolled. I think I’ll wait for her report to arrive in about a week. It will have the official diagnosis (or whatever you call it) along with recommendations for treatment (in case she's not providing the therapy).

I do realize now that he doesn't talk like a lot of kids his age. He doesn't talk about his day. He doesn't ask us a lot of questions about why and how that you usually hear. He doesn't stay engaged in a conversation. He makes things up (he got stung by a bee once, which isn't true), but doesn't really tell stories. He's totally non sequitor boy during the children's message at church.

The SLP gave me the sense that it's a very workable problem. And, strangely, Hubby hasn't freaked out at all. I was fine last night. I talked with my parents (they have some experience with this since one of my sisters had some serious speech impediments, they had to teach how to say the r sound as well as some others, and some reading delays) and did express soem of my underlying concerns about what this means for his learning abilities and whether or not it could go back to his birth (14 hours of episodes of dropping heartbeat and not breathing well on his own which resolved pretty quickly). I did tell the SLP about his early history with ear infections and she felt that was valuable information. Perhaps he just needs help catching up from a slow start. I don't know how far behind he is (maybe that will be in the report).

The problem is, I googled. I know, I shouldn't have. Now, I'm worried about underlying disabilities and future learning issues as well as chastising myself for being a bad parent for not recognizing sooner that he does have a real problem and for obviously doing something wrong so that my kid's not perfect.

I had a little breakdown, e-mailed my sister for some help, had a big, unhealthy lunch and chatted with a work friend who's also a mom. I feel better. E-mailing my sister helps. She's taken some education classes and she's just really grounded (it's because she's a hippie). She helped me find my rational mind and I wrote this:

I agree that too often we try to have kids be homogenous and label and box people to ridiculous levels. And it’s possible he’s just not going to be a chatty person (there’s some of that in the family). But, it was disconcerting to see him not be able to know what she was asking for and not be able to answer the questions. He’s very big on things being boring lately (he told me this morning that last night he didn’t sleep well because sleep is boring [in response to my sister's suggestion that maybe he didn't want to answer some of the questions]). Maybe he is just different and people will have to learn to deal with that. I just want to make sure he’s got all the tools he’s going to need to be whatever it is he wants to be.

I think that's all any parent should try to do, give their kids the tools to be successful in the life the kid chooses (that part's really important).

One other thing I learned, I need to eat more bacon cheeseburgers and chocolate. That's my idea of comfort food!

Where did those two weeks go?

Okay, really only a week and a half. We had a great visit with mom and dad. Hubby and I cooked the entire weekend. I made meatloaf on Friday, Hubby roasted a chicke on Saturdya, I made lasagna on Sunday and Hubby made roast beef on Monday. We ate leftovers all week!

I still haven't sewn anything, but I have been knitting! Billy's Laurie is fast approaching the finish. I completed both sleeves and am nearly half way through the front. Unfortunately, the cabling is slow. I hope to have it finished this weekend. If not, it will have to hibernate and B won't be able to wear it for Patrick's day. I absolutely, positively have to start F-i-L's birthday vest this weekend. Starting on Sunday gives me three weeks to get it done!

I do desparately want to start sewing soon. I so wanted to sew a dress for Patrick's day!

I'm taking tomorrow off. My parents should be arriving by about 4 pm and Billy has his Valentine's day party at 9 am (to which a loved one was invited) and his 5-yo physical at 2:15. In between all this, I need to clean my house. Guest room was cleaned out quite a bit over the weeknd, but still some straightening needs to be done, bed needs clean sheets, and the public areas of the house are a disaster. I sure hope B stays at school tomorrow after the party. It's hard to get housework done when he wants to play.

I wish I could just play with my sewing machine tomorrow. I tried to do some sewing last night, but nothing turned out very well. I may get back at it tonight. Although, I'm really loving knitting B's sweater right now. I'm just zipping along sleeve one. Less than 10 cm to go! (It's a bit longer after lunch knitting than in this morning picture.)

Tomorrow night, after mom and dad hit the hay (they go to bed ridiculously early), I'm going to make a little something for B for V day. I'll share pics on Monday.

where have I been?

Sick, dealing with an exasperating work situation that I had once hoped was done, not knitting much and not sewing at all.

I've gotten the back of B's Laurie about done. According to the pattern I should go 4 more cms, but I think 44 cm is way too long and I'm worried about not having enough yarn. Besides, I like where the patterns will meet up along the shoulder seams.

Since I'm worried about running out of yarn, I started a sleeve. If the sleeves take 1 ball or less, I should be fine. I've completed about 1/6th of the repeats needed.

I plan on knitting on this exclusively for this week and casting on F-i-L's birthday vest next week. I hope to do some sewing this week, but I don't know when. Westminster kennel club is on tonight and LOST is on tomorrow. Then my parents come down this weekend. Maybe I can work on something not too complicated during LOST tomorrow.

I'm so tired again. This time, it's hubby's fault. I caught his cold. I think I'm going to bail on my workout today. I just want to go home and sleep.

I should go home and knit. I still haven't finished the back of Billy's sweater. I measured this weekend and I still had 18 cm to go. I ordered some yarn today from Elann for F-i-L's birthday sweater (green v-neck vest this time). So, I'll need to start on that as soon as the yarn comes in order to finish on time (3/23). Don't think B will get to wear his sweater for St. Patty's day.

I should go home and sew. Fabric stash continues to grow. Some fabric ordered yesterday (4 yds of flannel for lining projects a la Amy Karol and for a kid's jacket) and I'm seriously jonesing on a quilt design (no, not the one I'm supposed to have already made for B).

the birthday sewing/crafting

I think Billy had a good birthday. He got lots of gifts (mostly of the transformer/power ranger variety) and we had a surprise visitor. Our friend Ted joined us at the last minute. I think B did like his mommy-made gifts, but they're nto as cool as the jets that become robots.

First, a new bag for his soccer gear. Easy drawstring bag. (The red is bias binding instead of doing a turned edge on the drawstring channel.)

Next is the tic tac toe game. I wish I could remember where I saw this type of game. Anyway, it was fun to make, but I'd do a few things differently.


All bundled for easy travel.
The bottom of the bundle.
The bottom with my horrible applique.
The game board itself. The Xs and Os are wood pieces I picked up at Joann and painted myself. They came five in a pack. We've already played twice. I'm ashamed to admit it, but he did beat me once.

Happy Fifth Birthday

Billy turns five today.

A few days old.



One year
Two

Three

Four

And five.

It's such a cliche, but time does go too fast.

monkey sew

My dryer works. Yay. We've now put enough money into it in the last two months to have bought a new one. Boo.

I did get a lot of sewing done on Wednesday. B went to daycare in the morning, when the weather was the worst. They called at like 10 to say they were going to close at 3. Since that was in the repair guy window, I picked B up just before noon. He ate his lunch at home and had a nice long nap.

I've got 2 birthday gifts for B nearly finished. I just need to clear coat the wooden X's and O's I bought for his tic tac toe game and I need to put the grommets into his new soccer backpack. Pictures next week. Hopefully, I'll get them finished in time for his birthday Monday.

I do have pictures of something I sewed up for myself. I mentioned that I have a friend whose birthday was yesterday. I decided to make the no cash wallet from Bend the Rules Sewing. I made one for myself first, as a test run. I used some of the left over fabric from my monkey tote.

I could have done a better job lining up the monkey on the outside, but then his head might have hit a weird spot with the button. The button is from the spare buttons pack you get with clothes. Now that I think about it; I think I actually removed all the buttons from this particular shirt before I tossed it due to the fabric completely wearing out. It was a particular favorite.

I think this little guy lined up well, but he's sort of upside down. I usually open it with the button on the right hand side. This has become my commuting wallet. Bus/rail pass in the clear pocket, metrocards in the monkey pocket.

My mods to the pattern were sizing (my printer at home only zooms in increments so closest I could get to 136% was 125%, so I just cut about 1/2" wider than pattern) and using clear plastic for the bottom pocket instead of more folded fabric. I tried to make one for my friend Jenn, but it was a complete bust. Too small to hold a metro card and the lining biased and was weird. I am going to try again (I brought the book into work and made a 136% copy). I'm thinking of some other mods, like putting a bill pocket in the side.

B's party is tomorrow. Sunday is the Super Bowl at home just the three of us, but I'll be baking cupcakes for school Monday and a cake for us to have after school with M-i-L and F-i-L (and more cake again in 2 weeks when my parents visit). Lots of gifties to wrap, too.

I do still knit, so there

I brought Billy's laurie in to work on today so I thought I'd post a picture. Nothing was done last night. After B went to bed, I called my mom and dad and then I went to bed. So tired I couldn't stop yawning while on the phone. Of course, I slept like crap. How does one stay asleep the whole night?