Fluff

Lately I feel like my head is stuffed with fluff and I can’t remember anything.  That isn’t always a bad thing though.  As long as I don’t forget to turn off the stove and burn down the house or forget to pay bills all will be fine.  Winnie the Pooh’s head was stuffed with fluff and he was quite wise for being a bear of very little brain.  Some of my favorite quotes are from Pooh, including this one that I remind my girls of often, 

” Promise me you’ll always remember,

you are braver than you believe, 

stronger than you seem

and smarter than you think.”

My family, co-workers and even the children I work with at school are all aware of my brain deficiencies.  To their immense credit though, rather than take advantage of my forgetful nature or making fun of me, they patiently remind me why I walked into a room and what I was speaking about 30 seconds earlier.  At least I don’t think they make fun of me.  Maybe they do and I just can’t remember.

Speaking of fluff… two days ago one of my illustrious co-workers gifted me with 2 bags of alpaca wool, from his freshly-shorn pair of critters. There is no leg or neck hair, just the body fleeces in the sacks. It is lovely stuff!

It is a little bit dusty, but there is very little vegetable matter and there are no poop clumps, urine matts or other disgusting inclusions.  I learned from past mistakes to not try washing too much at once, so only a few small handfuls were washed at a time.  I used a mild shampoo, tepid water and gentle squeezing so it wouldn’t felt.

After its bath I laid it out on towels in the sun to air dry.

Today I took the doggy brush and combed out a small pile.

It is heavenly soft and the color is beautiful!  This will be a dream to spin. I can’t wait until summer when I can delve into this project with wild abandon.

Oh yes, I almost forgot.  I finished a pair of fingerless mitts for a student too.

 

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!  I love the idea of a day to honor mothers.  Mine is pretty darned awesome and she set a high standard to live up to.  She sewed everything from homemade diapers to my bridesmaid dresses and just about anything imaginable in between those times.  My sister and I always had the prettiest Dance Festival dresses in the entire school.  She is an amazing cook who baked homemade bread for us through most of our childhood.  At the time I was so jealous of kids who got Wonder Bread in their lunches and had store-bought cookies, which leads me to conclude that children can be ungrateful by nature.  I never even tasted commercially canned tuna fish until I was 21 years old.  

It’s my firm belief that anyone who undertakes the role of “mother” should be honored on this day, regardless of sex, age or biological affiliation with children.  I am fortunate enough to have wonderful friends who voluntarily stepped forward to bravely take on the daunting task of raising a relative’s teenage child.  I know single fathers who claim that they have no choice in the matter, due to circumstances, except to take on the role of mother, but I whole heartedly disagree with them.   They do not have to take their daughters dress shopping, or be subjected to the “unmanly” experience of having their toenails painted. They do these things so that their children won’t miss out on experiences.  Step mothers are usually portrayed as villainous hags who take great delight in torturing their spouse’s offspring, but seldom is that the reality.  I hope that each and every person out there today thanks to everyone who helped nurture them.

I’m missing A1, but she is growing in ways that she never could back home.  We were able to video chat (my husband told me it isn’t actually Skype) with her several nights ago.  The 16 hour time difference limits our conversations.

Bonny is now almost 8 years old and we’re concerned about her weight.  She doesn’t seem to eat more than the other kitties, but she’s grown quite large over the years.  She often lays like this, but it is NOT an invitation to touch her stomach unless you wish to draw back a bloody stump.  I think she gets hot and lays this way to cool off.  She doesn’t seem interested much in playing with toys or chasing string.  Any suggestions regarding our portly feline are welcome.

As the end of my career as a para-educator winds down I realize that there are a lot of things I wish to accomplish before school is out.   In addition to organizing my students’ records and curriculum I’d like to knock out a few knitted presents for people at the school as well.  This first item is for a delightful co-worker.

The hat was made following a two-year old request from a persistent student.  He wanted a plain blue hat with earflaps.  Hopefully this will fulfill his wishes.

Two pairs of socks, one more hat and a pair of fingerless mittens round out the list.  Hope you’re all enjoying a stellar weekend.  Cheers!

Proof!

Finally I have real, live photographic proof that I actually finished one of my knitted projects!

This is a tunic with 3/4 sleeves that started out originally as the Picovoli knitted t-shirt but was modified beyond all recognition and can hardly be referred to as Picovoli any more.

The sleeves fit loosely, but they aren’t floppy enough to be distracting or annoying while I’m working, etc. 

Procuring a photographer was quite a challenge because neither of my girls wanted to do it and my DH was away for National Guard training.  Eventually A3 agreed, but only after I begged, pleaded and nagged her into submission.  Here she is with Steven, showing just how “agreeable” she was.

I also have photographic evidence showing that the sun does come out in western Washington.  My children’s claims that I never take them anywhere or do anything with them are unfounded, as proven by these pictures.  I took A2 and A3 to a park along the Columbia River today where we had a picnic and the girls played in the water.

There were lots of boats.  Some were small, unique examples of marine transportation.

Others were monstrosities that commanded the attention of everyone on shore.

Thor came too.  We’re trying to distract the pooch as he is missing A1.  Still no word on where her suitcase is, but today she is going to an amusement park with her host family.

All is Well

A1 arrived safely in Japan, transferred airplanes in Tokyo by herself and was met up with a Canadian gentleman from her new school at the airport in Nagoya.  From there they took a train to the town (considered small there because it only has 800,000 people) where she’ll be living.  Her suitcase took an alternate route, and is still sight-seeing.  Her new host mom took her shopping to pick up some clothes to get her through until hers arrive.  She starts school on there on Tuesday.  She took a picture of her bedroom using the skype camera on her computer.  It looks really nice and unnaturally clean for A1! 

We are meeting with a lawyer on Tuesday to try to settle this house issue.  Hopefully we can prompt the bank to accept the offer that was made back in February.  Only 27 more work/school days left.  I’m crossing my fingers, legs, eyes, you name it, that I can make it through this last little stint.  A2, A3 and I are going to look at a prospective rental house today.  We plan on taking Thor with us and having a picnic, but someone needs to give the pooch a bath first.  He gets ripe shockingly fast for such a small critter.  Cheers!

 

Knitting Notes

I always feel like I’m being watched, measured… judged.  Seriously, even while taking a shower I can’t shake that feeling.  Justification for my paranoia can be substantiated though.  I caught Mr. Soapy staring at me with nary a blink last week while I was bathing. His steady gaze startled the bejesus out of me.  

“Mr. Soapy”, left in the bathtub, courtesy of A3

Don’t worry, I’ve no delusions of importance.  Big Brother isn’t watching my insignificant self.  Heck, my own family barely knows or cares what I do on a day-to-day basis, which is why I turn to blogging.  If one lonely soul checks my blog to see what I’m up to now and again, even if they click here by mistake, I feel special. 

Since you’re already here, let me catch you up on my latest knitting projects. The Picovoli sweater has been  altered, then frogged,

altered, then frogged

altered, then frogged,

 

repeat, until finally, I settled on a version with applied I-cord edging and 3/4 length sleeves and a folded and hemmed neckline.  Part of the reason for choosing this as a final product was the fear of ruining the yarn.  The other part is that I’m just plain sick of the bloody thing and I wanted to move on. 

Eventually I’ll weave in the ends and block it.  At that point I’ll take a finished picture.

The project I’ve moved on to is the BFF Cowl.   My partner in crime is Penny.  The pattern isn’t difficult to execute, but the way that it’s presented on the Knitty site had me bouncing back and forth between two sections, reading descriptions and trying to mesh those directions with the incomplete chart.  I prefer chart knitting but in the chart does not show the edging and the (K3 into 3) and (K3 into 2) look the same to my middle-aged eyes.  After matching up the correct part of the written description to the charts then I was able to figure it out.  Here is half of the first repeat, knitted in the colorway, “Steel Cut Oats.”

Elsewhere in my knitting corner, I scored a bag of sock yarn at the local Goodwill store.  Most of the skeins still had price tags on them.  Had I paid retail for these the total would have been over $90, but I paid $14.  Little things like this make me extremely happy!

Finally, in non-knitting news, only two days until A1 leaves for Japan.  The whole family is very excited for her, but we’re also apprehensive and sad at the thought of her year-long absence.  I’ve had a few comments from incredulous people, such as, “I could never let my child go that far away!” and “Aren’t you going to miss her?”  Well duh!  Of course I’m going to miss her.  And I’m worried to beat all.  However, her long-term goal is to live in Japan and teach English.  We aren’t in a position financially to send her off to a four-year university to study Japanese at home, so when this opportunity arose we decided to let her go.  The private school she’ll be attending there also has a University attached and if she studies hard and meets people there, then perhaps a door will open for post high school education.   I realize that some people would choose against this course of action, we almost did.  It’s a huge step and a major severing of Apron strings.  If you are among the multitude of people who disagree with our parenting, then I respect your opinions, but please don’t air them to me until she is settled in safely with her host family.  In a fit of unbridled nerves, I may just poke you with one of my knitting needles.

ps, The soap really freaked me out so Mr. Soapy was dismembered so I could shower peacefully.

Knitting With Critters

The other evening I took a bath, put on my ugly, comfy sweats and settled in with a cuppa for some productive knitting time.  The four legged males in our house had other plans though.  Both Steven and Thor decided they needed attention.  They weren’t content with merely keeping me company.  Every time I’d pick up me needles I’d get a head-butt until satisfactory scritches and rubs were administered.  Not much knitting progress was made.

The project in progress is a Picovoli sweater. Of course, the pattern will be modified, because following directions is just too darned hard.

In order to keep the bottom edge from rolling I am adding a lace border.  In addition, if more yarn can be found (I got this at our local Fred Meyers Store) then I’ll add sleeves to it as well to hide my chicken arms.  Wearing it like a vest over another shirt with sleeves isn’t an option because it is quite form-fitting (tight).  Losing 5 or 20 pounds would remedy both problems, but that would require committment.  I have issues.

Anyway, most of this has been knitted on breaks at work because the two-legged and four-legged critters at home don’t give me much of a chance.  It’s wonderful work therapy.  I just sit in the staff-room corner, knitting and mumbling to myself in strange tongues.  For the most part my co-workers just ignore me.  They find their own ways of coping. Cheers!

Picturette

Good afternoon!  Just a few pictures to sum up activities from the past few days.

A chemo-cap mid-blocking.  I made it with handspun silk and modified a pattern that I found on Ravelry by adding a second lace edge.

A nifty little oak chair I picked up for $5.00 at an estate sale.  It needed a little glue in the joints to tighten it up, but otherwise it’s in great condition.

A very large, hand crocheted table-cloth I picked up at the same estate sale where I bought the chair. 

A detail picture of the table-cloth.  I can’t imagine someone spending so much time, not to mention money for materials, to make something this lovely, only to have it end up being sold for a few measly dollars at a sale.

A3 dressed as the Cheshire Cat and posing for tea-party pictures.  She is wearing the fingerless mitts that I knitted for A2′s Christmas present.

A2 as the Mad Hatter at the same mock tea party.  It was a rainy day and they were bored. 

A linen scarf I made using a drop stitch lace pattern.

Any guesses as to what is pictured above?  One week ago I would have been stumped for an answer.

The lime-green device is to help people locate Geocaches. Geocaching is kind of like a GPS-assisted treasure hunt.  The red-covered pill bottle holds the geocache record sheet. The containers holding the sheet can be as small as a watch battery, or bigger than a bread box.  Sometimes small items to be used as swaps are included.  My friend, Karen, does this as a hobby with her children.  I’d never heard of it before she took me on this adventure with her.  I don’t think I will take this up as a pastime.  Not having a GPS device or a smart phone would make it a bit more challenging than I’m willing to put up with.  And if truth be told, I expect fanfare and chocolate for my efforts.  I think we found 4 or 5 while she was down.  I can’t remember the exact number.  When we get together again I might tag along for more searches.

That is about all I’ve got.  All of the major life-changing events we have planned are on hold.  It’s quite frustrating, but everything is completely out of our control.  Cheers!