Falling In Love

I remember when I was first falling in love with Bryan we couldn't see enough of each other. I was in school full time during the day and working part time in a pediatric practice at night and Bryan would meet me almost every night to make sure that I got out to my car safely. Sometimes after everyone had gone he would come inside the office and talk with me while I filed or got charts ready for the next day. We saw each other every single day and when we were apart we spent our time thinking of the next time we would see each other.

We've been married now for 8 and a half years and even though he doesn't walk me to the car each night that I work (can you blame him for not wanting to wake 2 sleeping kids?) I still think of him when we're apart. I wonder what he's doing and if he's thinking of me. I wonder if he'll like what I made him for dinner or if he's having a good day at work.

When I first started knitting I had very similar feelings. I thought about my knitting all the time and wondered if it was thinking of me, too. I couldn't go a single day without knitting and not having my knitting with me was enough to make my eyes mist up a bit. I'd be working and thinking about what I'd be knitting right at that second if I could and thinking about all the progress that could be made if I were knitting and not working on month-end reports or filing lien releases from subcontractors.

While I still enjoy knitting I'd be lying if I said that I still LOVE my knitting. I want to. I really do. I look at it and wonder where the joy has gone and when I lost it. Mom has the joy. Where's my joy?! Knitting isn't sparkly and new anymore. I do it because it seems odd not to knit. My hands don't seem right when there aren't knitting needles in them, but at the same time I look at it and feel kind of "meh" about it.

I think I need a marriage retreat for my knitting and me. You know the kind. You go away, just you and your loved one and attend sessions and have candlelit dinners and go for long walks holding hands and leave feeling like newlyweds again. Yeah, I need one. I want to feel attached to my knitting again and not just because it feels odd not to have it but because I love it. I want to fall in love with my knitting again!

As a first step I decided to take good pictures of my projects again. I'd been settling for phone pictures but no more! I got out the camera, put in freshly charged batteries, and laid out my projects. Secondly, it's time to start knitblogging again. I've neglected my blog for far too long and it's time that that changed!

Blog, meet my knitting!

Here we have the ever elusive Clapotis. This Clapotis is one that I'm making for myself from some yarn that Mom purchased for my birthday last year while we were visiting San Diego. The yarn is a-ma-zing.


The best thing about this yarn is the drape and shine on it. Oh, and the colors are to die for. And don't forget how incredible it feels. Okay, so there's a lot of things to mention about the yarn. What keeps me from working on it is... I don't know. I'm almost half way through the yarn and it seems to take forever because I'm doing it on size 5 needles.


Okay, so here are some Sweet Plain Jane socks for Mom. She picked out the yarn, Trekking, to match her new Dansko clogs. The thing is that I'm kind of over Trekking at this point. I usually love watching the colors change but there's none of that going on here unless you count going from red to black to red to black and back to red. This is truly a labor of love.


Hello, Hourlgass sweater! As you can see I've worked the body and started on a sleeve. Love love love the yarn (KnitPicks Comfy) and I think the sweater will look great on me but I'm afraid of 2 things. 1.) I'm afraid that though I made the sweater length as written, it might be too short 2.) I'm afraid of working on the sleeves and joining them to the sweater/yoke because I have no idea how that's going to work out and so therefore am not working on any part of this sweater.


Last but not least, (but we'll see because I'm questioning it), Branching Out. This is one of those patterns that I've wanted to make forever but haven't done because of no good reason other than I've been nervous about trying lace. There's something about lace charts that freak me out. I can totally make sense of cable charts because you can see where they're going but lace is a mystery to me. I cast on once for this pattern and pulled it out because it was using Kidsilk Haze and I was ready to pull out my hair, too. I cast on for it a second time I didn't like the yarn and conveniently Ailish happened to get a hold of the project and take care of the problem for me because she ripped out the whole thing. Now I'm using the leftover yarn from Owen's sweater and I have no more yarn excuses. Darn it!

So there you have it. There are my works in progress and there are all my excuses and thoughts on them. It feels really good to get all that out! Okay, so now I need to hire a cheering section and a babysitter and get to work!

Pretty Purls Spa Cloth

Pretty Purls Spa Cloth

Yarn:

Knit Picks CotLin (shown in Linen, Chocolate and Creme Brulee)
Skeins: 1
Needles: Size 5 US

Pretty Purls Stitch Pattern:
Row (Left Justified Pretty Purl Row)

1: p
2: k

3: p
4,6: k4, p1, *k5, p1, repeat from * 7 more times, k1
5: *k1, p1, k1, p3, repeat from *7 more times

Row (Right Justified Pretty Purl Row)

7: p
8: k

9: p

10,12: k1, p1, *k5, p1, repeat from *7 more times, k4
11: *p3, k1, p1, k1, repeat from *7 more times

Notes: There are 3 rows of seed stitch at the beginning and end of the pattern and 3 stitches of seed stitch at the beginning and ending of each row. I'm not going to include instructions on this, but if you need help on seed stitch I would recommend that you go to KnittingHelp.com.

There are 3 rows of stockinette after the seed stitch at the beginning and before the seed stitch at the end of the pattern. The first row of stockinette should begin with a purl row. There are also 3 stitches of stockinette on each row that immediately follow the seed stitches at the front of the row and just before the seed stitches at the end of the row.

INSTRUCTIONS

Cast On 60 stitches using Long Tail Cast On.

Rows 1-3:

Seed Stitch Border (For help regarding seed stitch go to KnittingHelp.com.)

Rows 4-66:

Begin Pretty Purls pattern for a total of 6 repeats, adding Seed Stitch edging (3 stitches at the beginning and ending of rows) and remembering to include 3 stitches of stockinette immediately after the Seed Stitch at the beginning of the row and immediately after the Pretty Purls stitch pattern before the Seed Stitch at the end of the row.

Row 67 - 69:

Repeat rows 1-3 (stockinette portion) of Pretty Purls stitch Pattern remembering to include Seed Stitch edging (3 stitches at beginning and ending of rows).

Rows 70-72:

Seed Stitch Border.

Row 73:

Bind off in Seed Stitch

Hobbies

Maybe it's the fact that I'm on day 8 of 13 straight days of working. Maybe it's the PMS. Maybe it's that I have 3 sick people in my house and I'm running myself ragged trying to take care of everything. Perhaps it's not any of those things... but I had such a frustrating experience last night and I'm still irked by it.

Saturday and Sunday I worked my usual 5pm to 10 pm shift at the hospital doing Bed Control. Thank heavens it was a slow weekend and I didn't find myself stressed at all, which is unusual for Bed Control. In fact, yesterday was so slow that I brought out my knitting from my purse and knitted on a sock while I watched the bed board and the bed control program for new ER patients to place. I love that I can knit without looking at my hands! In between calls to and from the nursing stations I knit a good 1.5" on the sock!

At 8:45 the third shift came upstairs from finishing pre-reg close and started their other closing duties. They don't take over Bed Control and Labor & Delivery until 9:15 so there's a bit of time between when they come up and when they take over. At 9:00 they were both at my booth for some reason and one of the girls asked me about the sock I was working on. She talked about how she wishes she had time for doing something like this but there's just no time at all. I told her that I knit while I watch tv or movies, and that I knit some before bed or while I'm waiting in lines or at appointments. She asked how much yarn it took to make a pair of socks and I pulled out a skein of the yarn so she could see and then I told her that it took 2 of these skeins.

My coworker took the skein of yarn from my hand and turned it around and around to look at the colors. Then she saw the price and had a cow. "7.25 for this? And it takes two of them? Do you know how much this costs?" I looked at her and said, "Yes, I am pretty good at math, plus I PURCHASED the yarn so I know that it costs $14.50 plus tax"

She starts in about how she would NEVER pay so much for string and how RIDICULOUS it is! I asked her, "Do you go to the movies? You pay $9.50 for the ticket and more for popcorn or a drink. For that much money you get 2, maybe 3 hours of entertainment. For $14.50 I get 20 hours or more of entertainment and at the end of it I have a beautiful pair of socks that I get to enjoy or I get the pleasure of seeing someone else wear and enjoy." My coworker didn't care to listen but then went on for another 10 minutes talking with someone else about how crazy and stupid it was to spend so much money on string.

Allow me to vent for a moment.

1. Frankly, I don't care what hobbies you have. As long as what you do isn't illegal, hurts yourself or someone else then have fun! You like to garden? Great! You enjoy building stuff in your garage? Wonderful! Just don't have your fun by burning kittens with matches and I'll be happy for you.

2. I was raised that you don't talk about money and the price of things with people outside of family. Enough said.

3. Knitting isn't just about the socks, the sweater or the mittens that it produces. It's a process for me and I like to pick yarn and needles that are pleasurable to use. I love the feel of the needles in my hand and the texture of the yarn as it passes through my fingers. I admire the colors and the tone of the yarn in the skein, after it's been wound and in the fabric. I don't mind paying more for yarn that I'll love through the whole process and after the project is off the needles. I like quality items and it is worth it to me to pay more. I can get a pound of yarn at Wal-Mart for $4.00 but I won't enjoy knitting it and it won't be nice to wear. What is the point of that?

4. Yes, I paid $14.50 for a pair of socks that I'll have to make myself, nonetheless. What they won't know is that I waited until that yarn was on sale to purchase it. I also make other sacrifices if it is going to be an expensive project and will save up the money before I purchase the yarn. It may seem ridiculous to you but that's probably why this is not your hobby. Personally, I think her $10,000 collection of manga is ridiculous but that's why it's not my hobby. Refer to #1... as long as she can afford it and she enjoys it then that's great!

It took everything in me not to throw double pointed needles at them or make it personal by throwing their own hobbies back at them. (You just had major back surgery 7 months ago so why exactly are you swing dancing and hurting your back again to the point of missing work?) But I stayed on the high ground by just smiling and letting them be tactless. Ooookay! I feel better now!

Namaste

A big part of my 2008 so far has been spent going through my house room by room and making decisions about "stuff". We have a lot of "stuff" around here and now that Ailish has joined us and added her own "stuff" to the mix... well, let's just say that it didn't make things any better. For a little thing she's has a surprising amount of "stuff" and considering her size you'd think it'd be small "stuff" but you'd be wrong.

Exhibit A

One thing that I've decided is that I have a lot of purses that don't suit me. I'm not a small purse kind of person. To make life a little easier I've ordered a Namaste Everyday bag in black and I'm looking forward to its arrival! In order to make a little room for it I'm putting up my Namaste Messenger bag in chocolate brown up for sale on Ravelry.

Ravelry ladies, here are the pictures of the bag!

The outside of the bag

Cute striped lining and pockets
Zippered divider and side zipper. There are also two interior pockets
Just like luggage, the outside can unzip to add some width to the bag. There is a small stain next to the zipper on the bottom of the bag.

The seam has popped open here just a little bit but would be easily repairable. Obviously seaming is not my favorite part of any project.

If you have any questions you can feel free to email me at briannekeene@gmail.com

Stalled

Knitting has been uneventful as of late. Well, I take that back. There has been eventful knitting just not of the good and productive nature.

I started a modified Anouk for Ailish and things were going well until Owen found the project and managed to remove and lose one of the size 7s from my Denise needles. We've searched the house over and over for weeks with no luck! Anouk went back in the bag and into the craft closet until I receive a replacement from the company. The order was placed today and hopefully I'll be back to knitting my girl more cuddly clothes by next week.

The Monkey fever bit me and I pulled some Tofutsies (color 718) from the stash play with. Mom had purchased this yarn for me while on vacation and I thought it would be fun to play with such an interesting yarn. Fun was not quite the right word. I went through three needle sizes and then when I found the right one (size 0 if you were interested) I knitted the cuff down to the heel and tried it on for kicks just to find that the sock wouldn't fit over my heel.

I'm an adult so I did the only obvious thing. I pulled my needles from the sock and stuffed it in my knitting bag to give the yarn to someone else. This is why it is so important to have knitting friends to help you through the hard times! Kate is going to make some socks for little miss Haley and I hope that she loves them! (Kate, I happen to have a skein of 724 in the stash if you'd like it.)

Thankfully, inspiration struck and I'm in the middle of a sock that I'm in love with and should fit. (My fingers are crossed which makes knitting a little difficult, but I'm dealing.) These are done toe-up and while I've made 2 pairs of socks this way I've never been happy with the way that the heels have turned out so I sent out an email to my girls to get some help.

While I wait for help to arrive it's time to look back to projects that I've finished recently but haven't displayed!

May I present Thuja. These socks were a quick knit on size 2 double points, knitted exactly as written in the pattern. Sarah dyed the yarn herself and I love the amazing job she did with the fiber! Just look at the subtle variations in color. Beautiful! It is the perfect match of yarn and pattern.

The last project for today is Wisp. (I've been on Knitty a lot, can you tell?)

Call it sacrelige, but I'm using this lace scarf as a table runner.

Knit as directed by the pattern but on size 6 needles instead of 8 to give it a little tighter look and without the yarn overs on the sides. The yarn is Misti Alpaca Lace in Sea Mist, which was a joy to work with. Even with doing a full 17 repeats of the lace pattern I still have 25 grams of yarn left which is enough to make another Wisp. Perhaps someone will see a Wisp of their own under the Christmas tree this year?

Yes, I'm already thinking of Christmas knitting! Ailish started crawling on Christmas Day and is now pulling herself up onto her feet and I think I'm going to need all the head start I can get to make sure that I have my holiday knitting done before Easter 2009!

Hey Tammy...

Guess what I've worn to work for the past 2, very very cold nights?

Saying hello to some old friends

And now for to FO's that never properly made their debut on the blog...

Pattern: The UnGranny Smith at Knitty
Yarn: RYC Cashcotton DK in Apple
Needles: KP Options in Size 3 and 5 US
Time To Knit: A very long time. Started in November 2006 and finished in June 2007

If I were to knit this again I would have made it in a smaller size since it has a bit of ease to it. Also, I'd make the body of it longer and the arms a bit shorter. It is a WARM sweater and I can wear it on a cool day without having to put a jacket on, which is wonderful!

Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty
Yarn: Art Fibers Royal Silk
Needles: Brittany straights size 6 US
Time To Knit: Started during big ice storm in January 2006 and finished in March 2006, approximately

This is a great pattern! Once I just decided to trust the pattern and not second guess every single stitch it went better. I had originally planned on making this for myself but then I came to the realization that I was having my second child in a couple of months and the odds of me wearing 100% silk within the next 10 years without completely ruining it were pretty slim. So this became my Mom's Christmas present and she is in love with it! She wears it almost every day, whether she's out and about or just at home. The fact that Mom adores it and uses it so often is such a pleasure to me.

The silk was incredible to work with and made the finished product absolutely delightful. The fabric has amazing drape and shine to it. Mom claims that it is one of the warmest scarves that she owns and yet is wonderfully light. Perhaps in a few years I'll be working with that yarn again on a project for myself!

I've started my own Clapotis out of Reynolds Rapture so that I can have my own Clapotis to enjoy. With it knitting up on 10.5 US needles it moves quickly so I'll be able to enjoy it soon. I had 7 skeins to start with and now only have 1.5 left to go! Hopefully I'll be done with it this weekend so that I can show it off!

More than just knitting

Monday was quite a day. Tornadoes in January boggles my mind, but it happened and it happened on a night that I was at work.

I work at a local hospital in the Admissions Department. My whole job is to find beds for the people who need to be admitted through the ER, are directly admitted by their doctor, and who are coming out of surgery. It is a stressful job and I'm never ever bored. Multi-tasking is a must for this job and so is a hard skin because you spend your entire time calling people (nurses on the floors) who really don't want to talk with you and don't want to give up their empty beds.

When I came on shift at 5pm I went down to the basement of the hospital to Bed Control, where I sit in front of my computer and 2 very large, flat screen televisions that show me every single bed in the hospital (there are over 600 beds in total). I work with Dorothy almost every night unless one of us has a day off. We've gotten close and work really well together.

We soon get word about the tornado warnings and all patients are evacuated to the hallways. Dorothy and I started getting increasing ER patients over the system that we needed to find beds for. By 7:30 the ER was declared a Level III disaster and we were getting 4 and 5 ER admits at a time and as soon as a bed was found for one person another 2 would pop up... and this on a day when we were a bit short on beds as it was.

Everyone worked together amazingly from the ER to surgeons and the floors. I ended up staying an extra 2 1/2 hours to help the third shift with Bed Control and left work at almost 12:30am. It was a long, stressful night and on my way home (through rain where visibility was less than 10 feet) I realized that I hadn't eaten or taken a break through the whole night. I stopped at home to check the weather and then drove to a local storm shelter to help Bryan get the kids home because Owen was really upset.

When we got home at 1am and after the kids were asleep I sat in bed and knitted. I breathed deeply and felt my neck and back start to relax.

Last night was not much better. The hospital was still packed from the night before and it was another busy night in the ER. I worked my usual Tuesday 8 hour shift and at lunch I brought out my iPod and knitting. Between the Clapotis on my needles and the Mozart in my ears I was able to go back to my computer with a better attitude and outlook on the night.

When I first started knitting in April of 2005 I never would have thought that it would impact my life as much as it has. I'm working my usual Wednesday 8 hour shift and while I can't count on it being an easy night, I can count on knitting to help me get through it.

Start as you mean to continue

This phrase succinctly sums up my thoughts about the New Year. I did my best to end 2007 with having already started some of my goals that way I can keep moving with the momentum and give myself a great start to the year! Then I heard Brenda Dayne's podcast by the same name and knew that it was going to be my motto for the year.

I was having a hard time falling asleep one night early last week and decided to write down a list of everything that I wanted and needed to do the next day. List writing is a favorite activity of mine but that night I got on a roll and even surprised myself when my list ended at #65. Obviously this list was not going to be accomplished in one day but I gave myself to the end of the month to finish it.

Updating the blog was number seven on the list. It has been over a month since I posted anything and at some point I began putting it off because I didn't have sufficient time to make a really good post and then it just snowballed from there. Today I decided that I just needed to make a post and get on with it!

A lot has happened in one month and I hear Ailish starting to wake from her nap so this won't be much longer... but look at what Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas!

This is an Amy Butler bag by Rowan purchased from Simply Fibers, a skein of Alpaca Soxx yarn in cream and the Interweave Press book Favorite Socks.

I'm so in love with this bag... it's ridiculous.

It holds so much stuff!!! LOOOOVE!

Hello!

I've unburied myself long enough to make this very quick post. This past week (heck the past month!) has been crazy and I'm managing keeping up with life but only if I pretty much ignore the internet altogether. The good news is that I'm still mostly sane. The bad news is that the next few weeks don't look good either so the blog and my knitting will suffer! To try to get more pleasure from my very limited down time I'm trying to combine some of my loves...

Hardback library books stay open very well by themselves!

I've been incredibly remiss in saying a big "Thank you!" to my Secret Pal, who turned out to be Danielle! Danielle was an incredible Secret Pal who spoiled me rotten! Take a look at my final package...

It's a yarn bouquet! There's a skein of Zen sock yarn and some bamboo size 1us dpns in that beautiful bouquet. Isn't that fun?! Thank you so much for all of the thought and time that you put into the packages, Danielle. You were a great pal!!!

And now back to just two of the many reasons why I'm so busy. Exhibit #1...

Ailish, who is contemplating crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. The other day she even moved up both knees before falling over onto her side in a fit of giggles. Time to baby proof the house!

And exhibit #2...
Owen, who is doing great and is very sweet to his sister. He's needing more attention these days and it's been a balancing act between giving both kids the time they require and deserve.

Busy?

It has been so busy lately that I hadn't checked my email since Tuesday morning. I was almost scared to see what Google Reader had in store for me!

About 15 minutes after my last post about the too-big socks I found Thuja in my Ravelry Queue and noticed that I had noted that Sarah's yarn would be perfect for it. Great! So I cast on the 56 stitches and went to town. Halfway into the heel I started wondering if this sock might just be too loose but kept on with it thinking that it would be better to try on the sock after finishing the gusset decreases. True to my word, I tried on the sock after decreasing and it was too big. Way too big, in fact. The sock would probably even be a little loose on Bryan!

The yarn is perfect with that particular pattern so that won't change but there's no way I'm casting on 56 stitches. It's a seed stitch rib with a 4 stitch repeat and I'm thinking that if I remove two repeats for a total of 8 stitches that I should be just fine.

This morning we woke up to snow! The weather has been swinging between beautifully warm and beautifully cold. A 4am trip to Wal-Greens for a feverish Ailish made me so thankful for warm knitted scarves! Ailish definitely needs a cute knitted hat. Any suggestions?

P.S. Secret Pal, I got your final package today! Expect a full post on it Monday!!! :D

Either way it is not good

I finished Bryan's Christmas socks and started digging around in the stash to find the next sock! Last year I purchased some of Sarah's hand dyed yarn from Simply Fibers and it has marinated to perfection. It is a heavier sock yarn and it looks great on size 2 needles so the socks will be a quick knit.

Last night I found the pattern I wanted to use in the Knitting Vintage Socks book by Nancy Bush. The Heelless Sleeping Socks but with a heel would be just about perfect so I cast on and worked 2" of the pattern after which I stepped back to take a look at it. I didn't like it! Okay, so it was late and not the best lighting so I decided to wait until the morning to see what I thought.

Here's what I found:



Right side: Bad. I don't know that I like all the purl stitches. The knits look amazing in this yarn, though... which made me think to turn the sock inside out.



Wrong side: Bad. Now it just looks like I don't know how to knit in the round and made a bunch of mistakes.

Back to the drawing board!

Making the effort

I've been making the conscious decision to not procrastinate. It's an easy thing for me to do. "Oh, I'll just knit one more row and then I'll unload the dishwasher." "During the commercial I'll put the laundry into the dryer." "I really need to deflate Owen's blow up pool and put it away but I'll do that when he goes down for a nap."

When I decide to be honest with myself I realize that I put off way too many things. How much more effective would I be in my life if I just got off my tush and did whatever it was that needed to be done instead of fooling myself into thinking that I can really just knit one more row and not make it 1.5" of knitting before I reluctantly get up and attend to to the task at hand. And you know what? My house looks better and I'm less stressed out. Now I'm working on clearing out some of the clutter in my life and it is therapeutic to say the least.

Yay!

And just so that you all can see something knitting related:

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
Take this quiz!








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The View From Here

I have to admit that one of my favorite things about going to my parents' house is their amazing views. Every single room has plenty of windows with which to admire the surrounding nature and every single room has a beautiful view. The front door opens to the living room and here's what you see from the balcony outside of the living room.


Isn't it breathtaking?


This is Wisp and while it doesn't look like much right now, I can already see the potential. Today I started my second repeat of the lace pattern and I love it. This is some Misti Alpaca laceweight in Sea Mist, knitted on size 6 US Brittany's. The combination of the soft alpaca yarn and the warm wood needles is heavenly.

This weekend was a big one! As I mentioned in Saturday's post, I got to see my knitterly girls which was quite a treat. I need good pictures of each of you to keep in my knitting bag so that I can pretend to have conversations with you while I'm knitting in the car in front of work. Just kidding, sort of. In any case, I finished Ailish's pants while at Tammy's house!!! Yay!

I am cute, no?

The pants are a bit on the large side but that
just means that I can wear them for the whole winter!

My Mama rocked the short rows. The tush on these pants fit me just right!

Sunday I drove to my parents' house and spent the day with them at church and at home to celebrate my brother Jared's 13th birthday. He's 13 years old and taller than me with a voice that is lower than our dad's. Scary, no? We had a great time! I love spending time with my parents and brothers and they love having us around. My kids enjoy their grandparents and uncles so much and it's something that I want to continue encouraging especially since we don't have much family in the area!

With so many people to play with Owen and help keep an eye on him and to hold Ailish, I get so much knitting time in! I had made a deal that when I finished Ailish's pants and Bryan's socks that I would start a fun new project, but I just couldn't wait and cast on for something a bit more challenging than stockinette in the round. Details tomorrow!

Fun times and loofahs

Tonight we all got together at Tammy's house for a little knitting time... and by we I mean Tammy, Sarah, Kate and myself. Tammy's sister, Kathy, was also there for a few minutes and I had the kids with me for a little over an hour until Bryan picked them up after work. We were also joined by Hayley, Kate's step-daughter, who was learning how to knit! Tammy gave us a tour of her yarn cave and I was impressed! The girl has got it together!!!

I love getting together with the girls and miss being able to see them often since I work evenings and that's when their weekly knitting time is. Thankfully, we email each other and plan little evenings like this so I'm still able to be involved.

If you want to have a fun time make sure you invite me because it is inevitable that I will hear something in correctly and then hilarity ensues. For example, I stayed behind after the rest of the girls left and Tammy and I watched an episode of American Idol Rewind. During that show Simon tells this guy, "You're like a Luther" meaning Luther Vandross. I heard, "You're like a loofah" and was more than a bit confused why that might be a good thing. Tammy then corrected me and we spent the next few minutes laughing over it.

Ailish also finds me to be quite amusing

Come back next time for more on the pants!

3 days per week

On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays I pack the kids into the car and meet Bryan in the parking lot of his work so that we can make The Great Kid Exchange. While I wait for Bryan to come out I knit for a few minutes and listen to whatever music Owen dictates. Once Bryan emerges from the building, he sits in the car with me for a few minutes and we talk about our days before I give him the run down of when they ate last and napped last. After 10 or 15 minutes I take the keys to his car and go to work.

Ah, 4:07pm. Bryan should be out any moment! Hello, pants.
My green shirt matches you today!

This is grumpy Owen making his debut on the blog. Owen did NOT want to see Dad and spent much of the drive and wait time making that very well known. It's hard to see but in this picture he's pointing out the window telling me that he wants to "Go this way!"

Ailish woke up about five minutes after this picture was taken and cried. She was still crying when I escaped left Bryan with the kids.

When I get home from work both kids are already in bed. If I can I'll sneak in a little more knitting time before I wake up Ailish at around midnight so that she can nurse. Owen generally wakes up some time after that to come into our room and sleep on a sleeping bag or make a place for himself in our bed. No crying then! Just kids who are happy to see their Mama and ready for some cuddling.

Note to self

10:30pm is not a good time to take pictures. You'll never be happy with the results.

Almost 5" done on the body of the pants.

I am, however, very happy with how Ailish's pants are turning out. The short rows that I added to the backside are perfect! They're creating a cloth-diaper-tush-pocket that the last pair of pants I knitted for her lacked.

Take a good look at the effect of the short rows. The back of the pants gained 10 extra rows.

I'm going to add a little extra length to the body of the pants because our girly has a long torso and since I'm hoping she can wear these for at least 4 or 5 months. I'm not sure how appropriate low-rise pants are for a 5 month old but I'm pretty sure it's still not okay when you are 10 months old.

I wanted to share another picture from our wedding because I think our photographer, Grant Usell, did an amazing job. We love our pictures even 7 years later!

Bryan and I decided to meet before the ceremony and have a few minutes to pray and remember what all the fuss was really about. A family friend, who also happened to live next door to my parents, kindly let us use their beautiful backyard for that time.

Bryan waited in the garden for me with his back turned. I got to see his reaction close up when he turned around and saw me in my wedding dress. The photographer took pictures from far away for just a few moments and then let us have 10 minutes together. Those pictures are by far some of my favorites from the whole day.

Sometimes breaking tradition is a good thing.

I know why the caged bird sings

wAnd I know why I don't post every day. Why? Because it would be very boring, indeed. The pants pictured yesterday are exactly 2.5" bigger today. That's it. Tomorrow I'll have more done and then I can amaze you with the difference that 5 additional inches makes! Exciting!

The holidays are coming up and my parents are going to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and brother-in-law who will be celebrating with his family. This leaves our little family here to celebrate on our own or with my aunt and uncle who live down the street from my parents. It's an odd thought, that I won't be with my parents on Thanksgiving but considering that my sister hasn't had Thanksgiving with my parents for the last 2 years, I think I can let her have a turn!

I love it when my whole family is together. There's something so perfect about it. Not that we're a perfect family, but it feels different. We mesh together in a lovely way.

This is one of my very favorite pictures from our wedding. The photographer had an assistant with them and they had two cameras. One camera had color film and took the more traditional staged shots and the other was a black and white that took pictures of whatever was going on. I love those black and whites infinitely more than the color pictures because they show US. He somehow managed to capture the heart of my family and our wedding.

From left to right you can see the edge of my sister, Heather, then comes me and you can see the top of Bryan's head above me. Next to Bryan is the older of my brothers, Jared, who turns 13 years old on Sunday, and then there's Isaac who was only 1 and a half years old when we got married. Holding Isaac is Bryan's best man, Shane.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll share more wedding pictures if you're interested! For now I'm going to make a cup of hot tea (thanks, Secret Pal!) and cuddle up next to my honey. It's another cold night!

Proof of the Legs!

Here we have the legs of the Baby Bell Bottoms! (Forgive the odd picture.) Last night I finished the second leg and then joined the legs to start the bottom of the... well, bottom. As of this moment there's about an inch and a half of the bottom and I've worked my first short row on the back of the pants.

Tonight I showed the pants to a coworker. She's a sweet grandmotherly type with lots of energy and a love of crafts, the perfect person to show the knitting to. Right? Her response was, "Huh. Isn't that interesting. You know you could just buy her some pants." Guess who I won't be showing my knitting to in the future.

She's right, though. I really could just buy her some pants. The thing is that I love being able to custom-fit them! Also, how cute are these?! Plus, wool pants aren't the easiest thing to find in the store and they'll be so warm for the winter. As if I need to justify my knitting to you guys?!