Man, Oh Man...

I SO want to catch up on blog stuff. I'm going to do it right now even though I didn't even come down stairs from putting the girls to bed till almost 10. And then I spent half an hour catching up with my husband. Some of these photos go back a ways...but at least I'm finally getting around to the knitting and spinning updates!

About a week or so ago, a rare thing happened - the girls both fell asleep in the car. It happened on the way home from the Mall of America - Julie was holding the bag with her new dress in it.



So I had Joe drive us through Starbucks, and we sat in the car for a few minutes and had a little mini-date. And I did some knitting.



Changing subjects, last Thursday we were at a playdate, and one of the girls found a cicada on the ground. One of those giant, creepy-looking bugs. It was a moment in which we were on the brink of having four little girls freak right the hell out. Instead, I leaned over and picked it up, told them a few little factoids about how they spend most of their lives underground and stuff, and before I knew it, Julie wanted a turn holding it.



And then Sophie wanted a turn, too.



Our little friends were a little more reticent about the giant bug, but at least nobody climbed the walls over it.

On to the spinning. I'm still working on the Sheep-to-Shoe kit from Blue Moon. Here's where it stood last week - half done, plus one finished spindle and a second spindle half full...



And here's the status as of last night - half of the yarn, finished in front, two full spindles and one empty spindle, one sixth of the roving left to go on it. That ball of roving looks a lot smaller in the picture than it does in real life. It really amazes me that such a large volume of wool can turn into such a relatively small volume of singles.



I'd really like to finish this spinning project this week. Because - um - I have an appointment for Saturday morning out at Detta's to try out new wheels. Detta sounded super-nice on the phone and I'm really looking forward to meeting her in person. She was all "You really have to sit down and try several out - it's like picking out puppies from a litter - you just know which one wants to follow you home when you play with it."

It sure would be nice to have the spindle project done before my new wheel follows me home on Saturday so that I can focus on the wheel guilt-free. Yay!

Oh, look - it's a finished object - those cotton socks are finally done. They look like crap all unblocked and just laying there in my semimostly-shaded backyard.



But they look pretty happy on my feet, and they're quite comfy. Yay!



I've got another pair of socks started at the moment, but I really don't want to talk about them just yet. If they turn out decently and I finish them in time, they might go to the Fair. Or maybe not. The clock's ticking on the entry deadline of August 13, and I really don't want to pressure myself on a silly ole pair of socks.

Finally, we can't ignore the diamond sweater. I have been working on the diamond sweater whenever I have some quality couch time in the evening with a DVD. That hasn't been happening very regularly, though, and even when I do get an hour or so, it's slow going.

Here's the big-picture view of the sleeves.



They kind of remind me of a giant, wooly jellyfish with their long tendrils of yarn tails. I continually waffle between winding the yarn up into nice little butterflies and just letting the tails run wild. It almost seems like the butterflies are harder to untangle than the unfettered strands.



The thing is, I am adding in new color chunks every few rows, so having to stop to splice more yarn onto an existing strand (usually the grey-purple background color) just pisses me off. So I usually splice in a pretty long chunk. Also, the weaving in of the ends takes for freakin' ever, and there are a lot of ends. Unlike with the mitered square blanket, there is no great place to put a lot of the ends, so I have to get creative.



Yeah, so it's creeping along. I think I need to add a few more rows to the body before it'll be ready for joining at the underarms as well. The sleeves are maybe 1/3 or so finished. I'm not betting on this one making it to the fair, but definitely I'll be wearing it this winter.

Wanna hear something funny? One of my readers messaged me and said

Which made me laugh out loud. I think the internal me is all about sexy librarian. HA! And by the way, I keep meaning to do a post about all the audio books I've been listening to. Does anyone care about audio books?

And finally, I've been having a neighbor kid come over and play with Sophie one or two mornings a week while Julie is in pre-school. J is really good with my girls, we've known him since we moved here a couple years ago, and he is the son of one of my fabulous favorite neighbors. He's only 12, but I'm around the house and available for any help they might need, and I check in on them regularly. Still, it gives me a chance to get a little cleaning or bill-paying done unassisted. Nice!



I snuck this picture through the kitchen window - they are playing with a tub of uncooked rice mixed with some beads that I keep around for digging in, measuring, and generally squishing. Best toy I ever bought! They got bored with the combination of sidewalk chalk, bubbles, bike, and water toys after about fifteen minutes - they played with the rice for more than half an hour!


Whew! That's it. I'm off to spin a little before bed.

I Am...

...almost at a loss as to what to do with myself since Sophie is asleep at her normal bedtime for the first time in about three weeks.

...going to finish a pair of socks tonight (knock on wood)

...probably going to enjoy a bowl of the Fruit Loops I bought at the grocery store the other day and have hidden in the cabinet so that I don't have to set a bad example for the girls.

...going to catch up on some of the Netflix that have been waiting for me to get an evening to myself.

...totally in love with my family even though they drive me insane.

...without any good pictures to offer tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

And Then This Happened...

Sunday Afternoon

We spent most of the day at the Maul of America getting some new shorts
for Joe and a couple of dresses for Julie - all her little friends at
pre-school seem to favor dresses, so now she does too.

It's super warm here today, and the water in the wading pool has finally
warmed up to comfortable temperature, so the girls are relaxing a bit
while Joe digs the detritus of last months' storm from the gutters on
the garage - there are tiny seed saplings starting to pop up from them,
which was our sign to pay them some attention.

As for me, I am cruising along on my stripey cotton socks and resting my
feet in the pool while Sophie teases me"Ribbi Ribbi Mommy" (her floatie
is a frog)

Holidazed

I'm still in a daze from yesterday's fun. I can't remember the last time I had such an incredibly fun, yet relaxed and relatively carefree day. The girls woke up happy and stayed happy till the very end. Joe was in a pretty good mood all day. I did almost no cooking. And there was fun, fun, fun till I started to feel like I was dreaming. This is a pretty knitting-free post, and quite picture heavy, so if you're not interested in my family saga, move along now and see you next time. Here we go...

We slept in just a little bit, but not too late because the parade was to start at 10, which meant we had to leave the house by 9:30. Joe fed the girls breakfast while I took a shower and got dressed. We made it to the parade site at just the right time - early enough to find a decent spot and late enough that the girls didn't get too restless while they waited. The red wagon worked out pretty well as a vehicle since we had to park several blocks away, and it provided better seating for them than the double stroller did last year - this way they both got front row seats.



I love this parade since it reminds me very much of the parades from my childhood, in downtown Columbia Missouri. It was a lot like last year's parade, but at only once a year and with a few changes it never seems to get boring. There's the fire engines,



The horses (there were many - I liked this one's glitter-painted hooves.)



The men in kilts...



The war veterans...



While I am generally anti-war, I feel a strong sense of pride and gratitude for these men and women who have given so much for our country - the young veterans as well as the old. We clapped for about fifteen minutes straight as the ranks passed us by, and I explained in simple words to my girls that these were people who have done brave things for our country and we should cheer for them.

The girls got stickered up by the politicians - we accepted only the Democrats' labels, of course.



Several flag teams...



and marching bands...



countless clowns...



more horses, or in this case really Icelandic ponies. Ponies having really bad hair days, that is...



A float full of mini beauty queens...



and a pack of tiny cheerleaders...



This family was sitting right next to us, and they had the candy-whoring down to a science. They were dressed in their gaudiest, glitteriest "patriotic" frippery, and every time a candy-wielding parade group passed by, the girls chimed "Happy Independence Day!" It never failed - every group showered them with hand-fulls of whatever they were giving out. Not that I really wanted my girls to get too much junk, and we did come home with quite our share of freebies, but a lot of people passed my cuties by altogether in the lee of this family, and it irked me just a bit - mostly because I wanted my girls to feel as lavished with attention as those two were.



This guy impressed me, riding his horse this way - and the horse impressed me even more as it didn't even flinch when the other people in the group shot very loud toy guns.



Stilt-walkers...



These two kids in their little toy convertible, with their stressed-out mom who was trying to keep them going at the right speed.



Some hot dogs - this black one in particular - the weather was at least perfect for people this year - neither overly hot or humid like last year.



The Edina swim team with their alligator mascot...



After the parade we came home and I made BLTs for lunch. I had a giant head of leaf-lettuce from our CSA share, and recently discovered Campari brand of tomatoes from the store, which unlike most store-bought tomatoes actually taste really good and are big enough to slice for sandwiches. Yum! Then it was time for Sophie's nap, and I indulged in a nap along with her. Glorious sleep! (She's napping again as I type, but this time I'm sipping on a cup of coffee instead of the sleep that I could really still use today.)

By the time everyone was up, I had just enough time to make a nice berry salad - I like to toss in a little brown sugar, and for the adult version a splash of dark rum for flavor with my strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries. MMMM! And we headed over to Joe's cousin's house for barbecue. She made some awesome ribs, and we all ate out on the deck. This time, the kids actually stayed put at their table and ate their food. My girls love ribs almost as much as I do.



Then there were cupcakes, which they all enjoyed, but Sophie especially.



The kids blew bubbles and ran around while the grownups...





played croquet! I haven't played croquet for a very long time, but I've always loved it. That's Joe's cousin John taking a turn.



Joe played only during the first game, while I helped wrangle the kids and clean up. During the second game, I played and he amused me in between my turns by tossing a frisbee. I SO suck at throwing a frisbee. But I still kind of enjoy it.



Here's my croquet ball.



Here's the view from my place on the field ahead of the pack as we finished the game.



For once, I actually won - coming out of a dismal start - I felt like a little kid having way too much fun.

But it was time for the cousins to take a b-a-t-h and we decided to toss ours in with them. Please don't mention this one in the comments or link to it - I'm hoping the creeps don't get their hands on it, but the bubbles are doing a pretty good job here.



It was pretty hilarious, watching them all do their thing, and they loved it.

And then it was time for the fireworks. The girls - Julie especially - had been looking forward to it. I'd promised them we could go if they were up to it and not too tired or crabby. We got there just late enough that there were no parking spots left anywhere close, so Joe dropped us off and drove around while the girls and I sat and watched the show.



I only wish he could have seen the looks of wonder and excitement on their faces. They sat in my lap and watched at first...



And then Julie jumped up and did a little happy-fireworks dance.



And despite an almost-dead cell phone on my part, we managed to meet back up with Joe just a block away and hop back in the van for the ride home. At which point Julie kind of lost it a bit and fell into whinging mode till we got her to bed, but that was to be expected as it was a good three hours past her normal bed time. So I'm calling the day a wild success.

This morning was a little slower, but just as happy. Joe got up and went off to play disc golf, then the girls and I had breakfast before Joining some of our favorite neighbors for a splash in their wading pool that lasted the rest of the morning. The men came home just in time to go back out and fetch sandwiches for our lunch, which we ate out on the neighbor's fantastic deck before bringing the girls home for Sophie's nap time and a break all around.

Later, there will probably be more wading pool action (we had filled ours already when the neighbors invited us over, and it will be warm enough to swim in by the time Sophie wakes up). I also have a rack of ribs thawed in the fridge that need to be barbecued - I bought them before I knew the menu for yesterday's cook-out, but I'm happy to eat ribs twice in a row anyway. Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Happy Independence Day

(To my American readers)

From the parade in Edina.

Night On The Town

Me and my two favorite neighbors are just wraping up a girls' night
out...pedicures, chinese food, and ice cream at Sebastian Joe's. I love
the chocolate coyote. Home I go to see if there's any chance both girls
are asleep yet.

Titanium!

I continue to struggle with finding time to blog or do much anything for myself really. Our days have been happy ones around here lately, and I really have very little to complain about - it's just that we're keeping busy with summery stuff and also that Sophie continues to play night owl. I think she's getting close to needing to give up naps, only she does really well with her nap and gets super-tired without one. But with her nap, she's been staying wide-awake till 10 p.m. or later, though we put her to bed at 8. But I'll just hang in there and it will get better soon, I'm sure.

In the mean time, I have the most awesome thing to tell you about. The knitters are going to be crazy-jealous, so brace yourselves. I mentioned my friend the machinist last week, and teased him about the titanium knitting needles he promised me months and months ago. What crazy timing, because yesterday Joe brought home a package that had arrived at his office - with a letter from our friend dated before my post and with a delicious one-of-a-kind gift inside.



Titanium knitting needles! They measure at about US size 8, and are about a foot long. Here's what our friend had to say:

"Sorry it took so long to make it happen, but I reckon the result is about as high zoot as you'll ever see...These are 6AL-Titanium throughout. Shafts 0.187" shrink-fitted (with liquid nitrogen!) Into holes bored to only 0.185".

If you break them, I'd love to hear how! The length might be too much, but the material is valuable so I did not want to waste what I got. Have fun!"

I don't really understand some of those terms, but they are super-neat, and as our friend went on to say that he's probably not going to make any more sets of these, they will likely remain unique. Thanks, D! Think of something hand-knit that you'd like to have and I'll do my best to fill an order - maybe a little dog sweater? (Joe's idea.)

Let's take some more looks. The tips are nicely shaped, with slightly sharp tips, but a smooth transition to the full diameter of the shaft.



The back ends have largish stops, but I love the shape - it's kind of mod looking!



I had to cast on something right away. I decided to use some of that handspun yarn from my first attempt - I had a pattern in mind, and while these are slightly smaller needles than what the pattern would have recommended, I knit loosely and I think they will work out just fine. I think I'll keep the identity of the project to myself for now - it's so silly and funny - feel free to guess.



The texture of these needles is a little different than any other that I've used so far. The polish is smooth to the touch, but as you pass the woolly stitches over it, you can feel the slight texture almost like you would feel with wood or bamboo needles - not like the uber-slickness of Addi Turbos. They are a bit on the heavy side - but the weight feels kind of good in the hands, and they are pretty well-balanced - more so than I would have expected with the large stopper ends.

The sheer novelty of these needles makes them an amazing tool to own, and the story behind them - coming from our friend, about whom I've already shared as much as I'm comfortable doing, makes them very special.

I hate to add anything else to this post because a) I hate to steal the limelight and b) how could anything I add top it? But who knows when I'll be able to come up for air again, so I'll go ahead and clear out the photo que.

Here's the current pair of mindless socks in progress. I'm past both heels, so I've got a nice supply of mindless knitting ahead of me for the home stretch of this pair. I really haven't spent much time on these as most of my meager free time in the house or yard has been going to the spinning or the diamond sweater project. Still, I've had a few minutes here and there riding in the car while Joe drives, or sitting with friends and chatting, when the spinning is just a little too distracting.



I did finally finish the anniversary socks for Joe, and he tried them on with his usual lackluster enthusiasm. They fit, he likes them, and will wear them when the weather is cold enough.



Really, he prefers electronic gifts over wooly ones, though. These are Dream in Color Smooshy yarn, knit on size 0000 Addi Turbos with the magic loop method. There is K2P2 ribbing up the instep and on through the cuffs, which finish in a 2X2 tubular sewn bind-off.

Oh, and we made some little masks over the weekend. Here's Sophie wearing a piggy one. Julie, per her usual, refused to be photographed.



Oink!

Spinning, Sofa-ing, Splashing

I remain mostly too busy having fun around here to bother documenting the fun. But I'm taking a brief break during naptime to stop by and say hello.

First, let's look at the spinning progress. I finished up the third cop (spindle-full) of singles. And I had a question from a muggle non-spinning friend (Hi, Doug!) about what exacty I'm spinning with, so I think I need to do some basic 'splaining. Here's a picture of my three spindles full of yarn.



The spindles are made of wood, with brass rings around the circle at the top to help balance the weight in the best way so that it will spin longer. The idea is, the spindle acts as a top. You hang the newly-made yarn off it, then start it spinning so you can spin some more of it. Yes, Doug - super low-tech. So low-tech that methods like this have been used for tens of thousands of years.

Now, the spindles are standing in a gadget called a Lazy Kate. It's a tool that you use for plying. Most yarn is made up of several plies, or layers of single-spun yarn. It makes it stronger. The lazy kate holds the spindles for me, I run the three strings through the tension ring like so...



And then I use a fourth spindle to twist the three together, winding up the finished yarn onto the stick as I go.



Once the yarn is all spun, I unwind it off the spindle and onto this:



That's a niddy-noddy. I use it so I can make a big loop with the yarn - sort of like winding an extension cord around your arm. Only faster and neater. Once the yarn is skeined, you tie bits of yarn around it in several places to secure it so that it can be washed. Washing it does something called "setting the twist" which means that it kind of finishes the yarn, kind of like how washing and drying your hair when it's on curlers sets the curl.

And to clarify, spindles are different than spinning wheels - two paths to the same end. And yes, spinning wheels are still mostly made out of wood - there are some versions made out of PVC pipes, some made from old bike wheels, and various other materials, but the most popular styles are still made mostly from wood, with metal fittings and often ball bearings these days. Very old-school

As an aside to my other readers, Doug is a very cool guy. He lives in Hawaii, spends a lot of time sailing, has been to the north pole (wearing one of my handknit hats!), and a while back offered to make me some titanium dpns. Where's my knitting-needle love, Doug?

And a close-up of the finished yarn. I'm happy with how this batch turned out. I still have more than half of the fiber left to spin before I can knit up some socks with it.



In other news, we got the new living room furniture we'd been planning to buy, and now our living room looks completely different.







The couch, chairs and ottoman are from IKEA. The rug is a really nice one that we'd had rolled up in the basement since we moved here. I thought I'd never find a place to use it again, and kind of forgot that we even had it. But when I saw the furniture all set up, I thought it was worth bringing it out and taking a look-see. The colors match perfectly, and although the size is much smaller than I'd wanted, I think it just may work. In any case, I'm going to live with it for a while before I go spend another big chunk of change on a new rug.

I feel like such a grown-up with real matching furniture! All this just in time for a house guest who's arriving tomorrow. One of Joe's lovely cousins will be spending the night here tomorrow night, and I've also been running around scrubbing here and there trying to bring the house back up to a liveable standard. We don't want her running away screaming when she tries to use our bathrooms, and the dust bunnies have been getting a little too assertive lately. Having guests is such a great reason to to ahead and do the necessary cleaning!

Finally, we took our first trip of the year to the splash pad today.







It was a bit chilly, but we had a good time. I was going to fill up the girls' wading pool, but it was cloudy this morning and I didn't think there was enough sun to warm the water up in time for them to play this afternoon. Maybe Saturday will be warmer.

Next time, a knitting update. I have a finished object to report and some small progress in other areas as well.