I couldn't do it.....

But I have a very good reason.

Exhibit A:

Yep. That doesn't look like my husband's sweater, or a shawl, or the pair of socks I need to finish.

I got bored knitting those things. Really. I was actually NOT knitting because I didn't feel like knitting those items and I knew I had 2 things in my mind that I really wanted to cast on. (The other is a pair of longies from that yarn I just dyed.)

This is a hat for the son of a friend of mine. She lives in the big city, so I don't see her much. But she is coming to visit next week with her little dude, so I figured I better start and finish this hat I promised to make for her. She has little overalls in her favorite team's colors for the little guy and wanted a hat to match. Voila.

It is actually almost done right now. That picture is from a few hours ago.

I know, I know. I said "nothing new" and "nothing not in my queue". What can I say? Knitters are fickle.

Duh!

There is a reason why it is good to have a midwife looking after you even when you are a midwife.

I haven't been sleeping.

I feel tired all the time.

My legs are crampy.

I kick all night long.

I can't sit still.

I am crabby, irritable.

Hmmmm. If someone else came to me with these symptoms, I could probably guess what's going on and make some suggestions to them. But as a pregnant lady, it is impossible to diagnose yourself, or even to think about reasons why your life sucks right now (other than just "I'm pregnant").

I am so grateful to have a great midwife (with awesome assistants).

Why am I so tired, crabby, and restless?

Because - when we checked my iron today (not scheduled to do it, she just did it because of my symptoms) is was 9.5. For those of you who are not midwives, that is really friggin' low. (I've seen lower.....but still...it's not very good.) It causes all of those things that I mentioned up there.

So, I was immediately instructed to pick up some SSS Tonic , which I did, and begin taking it TODAY. It smells like @$$. I am sure it is going to taste horrible too. (I put it in the fridge. I hope that helps a little.) I have to take 3 tablespoons a day.

But I am excited. Looking forward to NOT being super tired, to sleeping, to not feeling like I am going to crawl out of my skin ALL THE TIME. Yeah for Iron!!

And, on a related but separate note, I have actually gained some weight. 1 lb to be exact. I now weigh 217. I started this pregnancy at 216. I dropped down to, I think, 205 a few months back. So technically, I have gained 12 lbs. since then. But really, it's only 1 lb. This is going to be awesome.

8 weeks left. I can do this for 8 weeks - especially if I can get a little rest.

Inspiration

Go check out this awesome post by Ruth. (Okay, looks like I can't link a specific post. So just go to the blog. It's probably the first one.) She blogs at knittingbloggyblog. She knits for charity (also for herself and kids sometimes).

I have been watching her knit mittens, socks, sweaters, hats, etc. for this orphanage for the last few months, although it feels like years b/c when I found her blog I read through all her archives.

It is really neat to see pictures and hear the stories of the kids actually getting the knitted stuff. Like, when you put it in a box and send it somewhere someone who actually needs it and appreciates it is going to get it. Too cool.

I don't do any charity knitting. But I am thinking about it. Imagine knitting for someone who really would love to have something nice and warm to keep you snuggled in when the temps hit 40 degrees below 0 in the winter. It's inspiring.

You can check out the M4A (Mittens for Akkol) website here.

Another FO

I finished the Possessed Socks. I am sooooo happy to have my own pair of woolly socks!! And I love the pattern sooooo much. I will definitely be knitting this pattern again. It goes really fast once you get to the foot, since that's where the "pattern" is. I love it. Did I say that already?

(The pic kind of sucks. But it's the middle of the night and there is no sunshine.)

These are done. I even frogged the toe of the first sock and reknit it. I wove the ends in. I am so proud of myself. I just need to block them...although I am not entirely sure that is necessary.

I also think my feet are narrower than my legs. I think I will test out my next pair of socks by knitting less stitches on the foot than the leg.....less by about 4-6 stitches.....and see if that makes the foot feel better.

So, that leaves only 3 WIP left (if you don't count the 2 baby sweaters that need buttons)(which I do, so I guess that's actually 5)(but 3 sounds nice, doesn't it?).

I have to finish the shawl I have been working on FOREVER, my husband's sweater (ugh!), and the cheap thrill socks. Those socks I think are going to get gifted. They are a little too big for me.

*sigh* Patting myself on the back.

Destruction

(I figured out how to load more than 5 pics!!)

I made a pair of socks for Wobbers last year:

Aren't they pretty?? I took him to the LYS and let him pick out the yarn. He choose beautifully, Claudia's Handpainted Yarn in "Hawaiian". It was lovely to knit with. I found that I LOVE knitting socks. (See more details of this project here.)

Do you want to see what happens to $26 worth of 100% wool sock yarn, soft and lovely, when given to a 9 year old boy??


Ew. See the big hole there??

And all the little holes??

The kid completely destroyed them. He asked me if I would "fix" them. Um, maybe if it was just one little hole I could figure out how to darn it. But this is really beyond fixing. I have a small amount of this yarn left and I'd rather make something new out of it than fix these socks only to have them ripped to shreds again.

I am not even going to take pictures of the other sock. It's just that bad.

I do not blame the boy. He is just a boy and wore the socks as boys do. I blame myself. From now on, he only gets socks with Nylon in them. And not expensive, handpainted yarn. Or I will at least by some sock nylon to run with the working yarn. Ei-yi-yi. These poor socks. Not to mention how worn the colors look now.

He still wears them. They still keep him warm. He just wears them around the house.

Had to share.

One of *Those* Nights

My children are driving me crazy.

My belly aches. It's heavy. And my ligaments are all being pulled. I feel sore.

I have to pee every 5 minutes. And it's only like a tablespoon. Annoying.

Right now my 2 toddlers are wrestling/arguing over some toy car on the floor in their room. I am completely unmotivated to stop it. She won't let go of his truck, and he won't let go of her.

The dog seems very relaxed. He is laying on the couch. Just kind of grrrred to himself, probably from the noise of the kids.

Just yelled at the Flower to give him the truck and come here.

It didn't work.

Big kid and Dad are playing some racing video game downstairs. It sounds like a big fan is swirling around the house.

Wow, I have never seen the toddlers so angry.

What's it going to be like when I have another??

She finally listened and came here. I told her to play with the stroller and her babies.

What are my kids doing up this late, you ask? Oh, I haven't told you yet?

I don't sleep when I am pregnant. Therefore, my kids don't sleep well either. As much as I try to put them to bed earlier than myself (at a regular time), they just fall into my pattern and stay up with me. They do eventually go to sleep, usually a few hours before me. The bonus of them going to bed at 12 is that they sleep till 11. So if I don't fall asleep until 4 or 6 (or later lots of mornings) I at least get to sleep till 10 or 11 every morning. Not so great when I fall asleep at 7, but at least everybody else is asleep.

Now Lovey has his truck and Flower is crying. Gotta run.

Sorry for the dump. Just had to tell someone. Sometimes it sucks. It will not always be like this, I know. But right now......*sigh*.

(And now she's happy again. Hug from Dad fixes it all.) :)

Almost Sidetracked

My resolve to finish WIP and then jump into my queue was almost completely ambushed last night.

When I couldn't sleep at 1 am, I got up and decided to "read" one of my newly acquired knitting books:

My mom actually picked up this book for me via PBS auction on TV. It's even a signed copy (I'm not sure why that matters).

I have skimmed this before. But, with restlessness all consuming last night, I read the entire "Techniques" chapter and perused all the patterns.

The techniques are actually very informative, especially for embroidery techniques for knitted objects. I found a new way to make a "spot" or "dot" on knitted fabric and got a good idea about adding appliques, etc, to knitting work.

I got a little hung up on some of the patterns. I especially like all of the "Sock Yarn Toys" chapter patterns.

I have a bag of sock yarn scraps I scored on Ravelry and was almost tempted to cast some on!! I really LOVE the "New Sock Monkey", "Baby Bear", and "Curly Snake" (all rav links, can't get a good picture off the net).

I also love the Baby Doll Set and Matryoshka Dolls (Russian Nesting Dolls).

But, I am strong. I can avoid the temptation. I can try hard not to think about the cute little toys that will knit up fast and use up leftover yarn. I have knit one of her patterns before and they are well written and fun to knit.

As I read the book last night, I worked on my Possessed Sock. The heel flap is done and heel turned. I picked up gusset stitches today.

Progress. Not sidetracked. (but what great projects to get sidetracked with!!)

Big Kids' Shirts

I also dyed some shirts for the big kids. Flower, when I asked her what colors she wanted said, "Pink." Anything else baby girl? "No. Just Pink." Okay.

Wobbers did his own. Turquoise, Fuscia, Green, and Purple. Never mind those marks on his face. He and his dad got into a marker fight and apparently Wobbs lost.

Lovey is wearing his shirt too.

Baby Shirts

I dyed the baby shirts. Six 3-month short sleeve, Five 6-month short sleeve, Six 6-month long sleeve, and Six 12-month long sleeve. I am not sure what happened to the other 6 month short sleeve, it's gone.

I only "tie-dyed" 5 or 6 of them and I did the other ones with "low water imersion". So the other ones kind of look tie-dyed (not really the exact effect I wanted) but they are not. I wanted a solid color that was kind of mottled, not super solid. I like them.

My favorite ones are the "solid" ones. Some of them looked really crappy when I was rinsing the dye out in the tub, and then they washed up to be my favorites. Others looked pretty cool in the rinse water and turned out OK.

The picture above has one of each color I dyed. (Oh, I actually missed a few, see below pics too.) Some of the colors got one of each size/style shirt and some just got 2. The tie-dyes are all unique.

The top shirt is straight up Fuscia dye done on all 4 shirts in a ziplock bag and squished around to get the effect.

The next one down is what my friend and I were calling a "light purple" - which was a purple we made with about 2 parts Turquoise to 1 part Fuscia with some Lilac thrown in. It turned out really pretty. The dye "broke" and the Turquoise shows through on it's own. I also have 4 of these.

The next is a tie-dyed one with Turquoise, Green, and Navy. Pretty too. Underneath that, another Fuscia snuck in.

The next one is straight Turquoise. I only have this one plain Turquosie shirt. I like it.

Second from the bottom is Fuscia/Purple. We put a lot of the "Light Purple" in the bag and then finished it off with some Fuscia dye. There are only two of these shirts (rats!!). They were really ugly in the bag, and even uglier when I was rinsing them. They are my FAVORITE of all the shirts now that they have been washed. Totally pretty and beautiful. For any of you "Malabrigo Junkies" out there, they are extremely (almost identical) to the colorway "Velvet Grapes" (which I now have to buy! ok, later I'll get some *stash busting* remember?).

The bottom shirt is Fire Engine Red dye. There are two of these. They are really pretty and actually came out of the wash matching my Geranio yarn, which is more of what I'd call a dark pink.



This is a picture of them all folded up in the lamp light last night. The one on the top with green, blue, red, and orange is a tie-dyed shirt done for Lovey. He likes it.

In the bottom left-hand corner of the picture is the "Dark Purple" we mixed up - Navy with Fire Engine Red. I have 4 of these shirts and they are not my favorites. It looked good in the bag, but came out kind of grey. I am thinking about overdyeing these. I am not sure how that would work out, but I am curious.



The top shirt here is the Fuscia/Purple that I LOVE. Then Turquoise, Fuscia, and the "broken" Light Purple. Very nice shirts.

Again, the Fuscia Purple. And the plain Fuscia next to it. Underneath on the left is the "Dark Purple" and on the right is a tie-dyed turquoise, green, and purple.

More shirts layed out. I tried really hard to get good pics of the colors. Unfortunately, it was raining today so I couldn't take them outside. These are all laying next to the patio door on the floor. There are some more tie-dye examples there in the background.

I had a lot of fun doing this. Now that I know how the colors turned out, I totally want to do more. I have more dye left (already mixed up). I will probably do some diapers soon. My legs hurt really bad from sitting on the toilet while I rinsed the shirts out in the tub. That took me all afternoon. I am not looking forward to that again.

I also made a shirt for each of the big kids. I'll put up another post with those pics in a minute. Blogger's 5 pics per post thing and all.

What do you think of the shirts??

One FO Crossed Off the List

Woo Hoo!! One down, like 5 or 6 to go!

I finished the Garter Stripe Yoke Baby Sweater last night. I even wove all the ends in. I don't have a good picture (sorry) yet. She is going to block and then I will have some pics.

I think I may either do buttons with loops or just do some simple I-cord ties to finish it off. It's pretty small (and she will be too!) so I am not overly convinced that it needs a "secure" closure. Especially since babies spit up, drool, spill things, and breastmilk tends to leak everywhere anyway.

:)

Just had to share an accomplishment. I am now working on the second Possessed Sock. I have about 3 inches of the leg done.

I am trying really hard not to cast on anything new. Especially since the things I want to cast on are not in my queue. I really, really want to knit up the yarn I dyed last week (or a few weeks ago, I don't remember). I am leaving it alone. I should just put it away with the rest of the stash so it stops calling to me.

(Just a sidenote here: I ran the "spellcheck" on this post. Apparently, "breastmilk" is not a recognized word. Who knew?)

Order

When you can't seem to get order in your head or in your house, what do you do??

I got up out of bed, in the middle of the night, brain a-full-of-things, and reorganized my Ravelry notebook. Exciting, right?

I know, not really. But it feels good to put something in order.

I moved all the patterns out of my queue that really belonged in my "favorites" and gave them all tags. I added actual things I will (and need to) knit with actual yarn in my stash to the queue. Feels good.

I also decided that it is time to "stash bust" and knit the stuff I have actually purchased yarn specifically for.

In order to start this process off right, I need to clear all my "WIP" (that's Work(s) In Progress for you non-knitters).

So, you are hearing it here first. My WIP list consists of:

Swallowtail Shawl (started over a year ago)
Husband Sweater (this is a rip and re-knit)
1 Possessed Sock
Finish 1st Cheap Thrill Sock, knit 2nd
Buttons on BSJ
Button on Nutmeg Sweater
Finish Pink Garter Stripe Baby Sweater (and block, and add buttons/loops, whatever to close it)(almost done with the last one)

Once these are complete, it is time to start the queue:

Wonderful Wallably for Wobbers
February Lady Sweater for Me
Husband Sweater (yes, I realize this is in both lists, this gives me a little freedom as to when to do it)
Scrappy Malabrigo Longies
Wonderful Wallaby for Lovey
Harry Potter House Bag (before Nov. 19th, I want to take this to the movie!!)
HP Cell Cozy (because it looks cute!!)

I would like to try and accomplish this before the baby comes. You can stop laughing now. No really, stop. You're going to make me cry. Or laugh. Whichever.

Are you done already?

I know I have only 9 weeks, and that is if she decides to stay in the whole time. My last two were evicted early. I use the term "evicted" because I think my body does that when the babies reach a certain size limit. At 7-8 lbs my uterus says, "Get out. I've had enough." I think if the last two had made it to 40 weeks they would have been in the 8-10 lb range. My husband was a large baby and so were his other two daughters. I am glad my body evicts them before they get quite so big. It's nice to have a small one for a little longer.

I am going to try really hard to stick to the plan. Order. It's a good thing. And still, as I type this, I keep thinking about adding in some other misc. baby items, like socks and hats. (As thought I have not knit enough baby stuff yet!!)

Coming Up.....

Pictures of the shirts I dyed today for the new baby! (And one or two for the other kids.)

It is killing me to let them sit in the dye while it "exhausts" overnight. I just want to pull 'em out and see already.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I can rinse and then wash them.

If they turn out good, I'll be doing prefolds with the leftover dye!!

Progress, and A Complaint

First: Progress. Here is the baby sweater.

I kind of wish I had saved the garter stripe at the top (in the yoke) for under the arms/yoke. But it's still cute. I toyed around with some other ideas, and then a phrase of my husband's crossed my mine. "Keep It Simple, Stupid." Simple really is best. So a stockinette sweater it is. I am currently working on one of the sleeves.

It did end up a little wider/longer than a newborn. Mostly because I convinced myself that it would be better if it was "a little too big".

And now: A complaint.

Can I just sleep already? Wtf is wrong with me? I hate being pregnant. I just want to sleep. I only have to do this for nine more weeks and then I can sleep.

I know what you're thinking: "How are you going to sleep with a newborn? They don't really sleep for long periods of time."

I know. But at least with the newborn in my arms and not my belly I CAN GET COMFORTABLE AND FALL ASLEEP. Even if it's only for 45 minutes. At least I'll be knocked out and in a comfy position.

Ok, rant over. Sorry to dump. I am just soooooo sick of not getting any sleep. It sucks.

Help

Where do I go from here??

This is the baby sweater I started. It's really teeny. Like Newborn-ish.....maybe it will be a "small". It's Malabrigo. Dark pink is "Geranio", and the light is "Cactus Flower".

I so far have a top down yoke of Geranio in stockinette with a 3 ridge garter stripe of Cactus Flower. I definitely am putting a 3 ridge garter border of Cactus Flower around the whole thing and it will have long sleeves.

So, my dilemma is: Stockinette body? Lace body? More garter stripes on a stockinette background? Work the owls in? Save them for something else (probably)? A geranio stockinette with a 2 row stripe of Purple Mystery at the bottom hem before the Cactus Flower garter border (I am leaning toward this, it will incorporate all 3 colorways of Malabrigo I bought into one garment so they all go together)? I just don't know.

If I do a stockinette background (most likely) I have to purl every other round/row. Ew. I've been doing that so far and it sucks. But it won't be for long, since it's little.

I am a little stuck. It is really soft and cute though. I am a little worried about the size. Once I add the garter border/hem the neck opening is going to be really small. I did increase the stitches on the body up to 88, which should roughly yield me about 17 1/2 inches in circumference. And it's a cardigan, so it can open, etc., for more size.

What do you think??

My Own Personal Hell....or.....A Day at the Beach

We had a wonderful day yesterday at a local State Park. Clean beach, warm sand, rocks, bluffs to hike (not me), towels, sand toys, sand castles, water play. Wonderful.

The kids had a great time, especially the little ones. They played in the water, made sand castles, stomped castles, buried my feet in the sand, swam with Dad and sisters, and played with sticks. You'd have thought it was magic how much fun they were having.

The big kids swam and then hiked the bluffs. The girls giggled at boys (ew!) and the boys adventurously swam as far away as they thought they could without us yelling. Still, I did. They went a little too far.

Have I ever mentioned before that I *hate* sand?? With a true passion. I hate the sandy gritty feeling on my skin. I hate how it sticks to everything wet. I hate that it gets in everything, clothes, food, drinks. I hate how dirty it is. I hate that there are sticks and rocks in it.

I also hate lake water. I will admit, this is the cleanest lake I think in the state. Very pretty and pretty clear. No motors are allowed in this lake. However, there is still sand, and dirt, and kelp (EWWW!!) and all other amounts of gross things (like minnows swimming at your feet, ew!) to make it still, just, ew.

I am really not much of an outdoorsy person. Really. For my family, and the happiness and satisfaction they get from it, I will sacrifice my better judgement and endure the hell that is the beach. (Ew.)

I finally decided after about 10 minutes of trying to avoid the yuck yesterday to just embrace the grossness of it all. I sat my but down in the edge of the water and tried to keep rinsing all the debris that would stick to my legs when the waves came in off. It was a fruitless attempt.

I decided to start building with the sand toys. Flower had lots of fun stomping down my creations. Then, when my feet got hot, I had the kids bury them in the sand. That was pretty nice. Of course, then they felt really sandy and yucky.

All in all though, completely worth it. The smiles on my children's' faces were priceless. I didn't get any pictures because we left the camera in the car. But it was a great day.

Now I am worn out and resting.

I hope you enjoy your weekend, too.

Tidepool

The yarn is dry and skeined up. Wonderful sunlight today!!

Inside with the flash....looks a little different. But still nice.

And another beautiful sunshine picture. You can see more on my stash page in Ravelry.

More Gratuitous Dye Pictures

Because Blogger limits you to 5 per post......

Yarn in the oven, baking in the dye goodness. (180 degrees for about 30 minutes or so, not an exact science.)

Yarn outside after bath.

Yarn again, looking very pretty I might add.

A Time to Dye

Today, my fingers ended up looking like this. Why? Well, lemme tell you.

It started with these characters. Green, Blue, Red, and Orange.

The Red (Blastin' Berry Cherry) and the Orange (Mandarina Tangarina) mix to make a "true red". I then mixed a little of that with blue to get a purple....it was more navy/grey than purple, but whatever.

I mixed a little green with some blue to get a turquoise-y color. And I mixed a few drops of the red with the blue to get a "true blue" color.

My original color idea was a purple/blue/turquoise skein.

I ended up with something a little different but still pretty. Here is is taking a nice bath after it came out of the oven.

Here is the finished product (minus drying and reskeining). I ended up using not only the blue, "purple" (I use that term loosely here), and turquoise/blue-green I made, but also the straight-up-from-the-packet blue (Berry-Blue) and the straight-from-the-packet green (Lemon-Lime).

I am calling it Tidepool. I really like it. Can't wait for it to dry so I can reskein it. And then cake it!! And then knit with it!!!!! (Probably some longies or shorties).

What fun did you have today?

Normal Guy vs. Edward Cullen

In which I continue my conversation about my love/hate relationship with Twilight. I have more "love" to give, but I thought today we'd touch on the "hate" or more aptly, "these characters aren't real".

"A Normal Guy would wait for you to make him breakfast. Edward Cullen would make you breakfast everyday. " - I found that on another blog. Can't remember where or when, but it got me thinking.

Edward Cullen is a character we can all love. He has some very redeeming qualities. First, he's a gentleman. He was born in 1901 and had that "old school" sense of manners and politeness, especially when it comes to how you treat a woman. He is charming. He opens doors. He's always polite. He offers his coat when you're cold. He has patience.

Most of all, we love Edward Cullen because he loves her. Not in the way most "Normal Guys" love their girlfriend's/wives/fiancees. He LOVES her, with everything that he has, with no chance of failing, no smidge of regret or worry, no sense of what he could find better or easier to love. He unfailingly devotes every second of his being to her happiness and her salvation, even going as far in one of the books to leave her for what he has rationalized is her best interest in staying alive and having a "normal" life. He is ultimately concerned with her soul, and repeatedly refuses to "change her" because he doesn't want her to lose that and be damned (as he believes he is).

You are probably thinking, "Sheesh. You said you'd touch on the "hate", sounds like you love this character too." You are right. I do love this character. What's not to love?

And herein lies the problem.

Edward Cullen is inhumanly perfect. He has no human limitations to him that a normal guy has. He doesn't sleep. He doesn't eat. He doesn't get tired. He has an endless supply of money, and doesn't have to work (his sister can see the future and his family plays the stock market, rather well, not to mention his "dad" is a doctor and makes reasonably good money too). He has endless patience, never ending energy. He is inhumanly strong and fast. He is the ultimate protector, provider, and loving husband.

The fact that there are no human limitations to what he can do sets up the "Normal Guy" for failure. A normal guy has to work overtime to make Christmas gifts happen. Edward Cullen is infinitely rich. A normal guy has to sleep and will get tired no matter how much fun he is having. Edward Cullen can keep doing whatever you want - forever. A normal guy has his own needs and wants. Edward Cullen wants whatever will make YOU happy (or in the book's case, Bella....but the books are written in first person from Bella's perspective, so it is easy to think of Bella as yourself). A normal guy may actually have to back down from a fight (not MY normal guy, hee hee). Edward Cullen is impossibly strong and fast. Normal guys fart. Not Edward.

Do you see what I am getting at? This dude is not real. I mean, I *know* he's not real, duh, it's a book. But he leaves the mind up to wander about the "perfect man" that simply does not exist in this world created for us by God. Humans have human limitations.

My husband is going to be too tired to "mow the lawn" (if you know what I mean *wink*) some nights no matter how much I want to or feel that I need him. My husband is occasionally going to want to do some of his own stuff, stuff I may not be interested in like playing video games, yard work, or cutting wood. (Although, I could watch him cut wood ALL DAY LONG.) He might want to go fishing, even when it's hot and muggy out.

He isn't going to think that everything I do is totally awesome. For example, he thinks the knitting is fine, but really, he could care less. He is glad I have something that makes me happy and excited, but he is not going to sit and listen to me talk about stitch counts, fiber make-up, or the benefits of wool vs. fake stuff.

As wonderful as he thinks midwifery is, he doesn't want to hear about the placenta I delivered at the last birth.

He is going to want food. And if I don't feed him, he is going to get cranky.

He has to work. If he doesn't work, we don't have the things we need, like food, clothing, and shelter. This means he is going to have to leave me at some point during the day to earn a paycheck. I am going to have to be alone, without his presence. I am going to have to handle our children by myself and figure out how to manage. He is going to interact with other humans that are not me. And he is probably going to like it *gasp*. (Because who wouldn't like a little break from babytown to have some adult conversations every now and then?)

Bottom line: As much as I like the series, I have to remember it is fiction - created by a human. Not real. Not created by God. Fascinating, yes. Real, no.

As an adult, I think I have an OK time realizing this and keeping the fiction as entertainment. I think entertainment is good and healthy. I like plenty of other fiction stories too, like Harry Potter and Santa Claus, or Barbie Rapunzel (yes, I like that one!), or my kids' books.

What I think bothers me is that I know there are people out there who are going to have a hard time finding a "Normal Guy" to live up to their expectations after reading about Edward Cullen. I especially would worry about preteens and teenagers (and even some adults). These books are very fun to read (and I would recommend them highly!). But if you can't separate fiction from reality, you are in for a sad time.

Real men don't and won't treat you like Edward Cullen. They won't cater to your every whim, every desire. Real men will love you like humans love. They have faults (just like YOU) and their own needs and desires to be met also. You will have to find a balance and wake up everyday and choose to love them. They will be able to make you happy, but not the kind of unconditional, unending happiness that is for fiction novels. The only unconditional, unending happiness you will find in this world will not come from a human man - it will come from the love of God.

Real men are not gods, and they will not treat you like such. (And really, you don't want to be treated like such, trust me.) The "honeymoon" phase will end with every human relationship at some point and you are going to have to make due with what is left. It is enough, and will work. But not like in the fiction stories. It will take work, and sacrifice, and the rewards will be great. But you are going to have to put some effort in too. Edward Cullen would never make you do that.

Enjoying Fiction

In which I begin my conversation about my ongoing love/hate relationship with The Twilight Saga. I am not sure how many posts it will take, at least 2, maybe more. This is just the beginning. I hope to give a balanced perspective.

I started reading The Twilight Saga not exactly on purpose. Ok, well I obviously chose to read them, so I guess it was on purpose. But the thought was not planted in me when the books first came out. I only got around to reading them this year. In fact, I couldn't figure out what all the hoopla was about "vampires" and weirdo "vampire books" for the last 5 years.

My daughter had seen the first movie when it came out (at her mom's house) and wanted to see it again. I checked it out from the library and begrudgingly sat to watch the movie with her and my son.

The same week, my BFF bought the movie for her eldest boy, who had read all the books. She watched it too.

And we talked. I thought it was good. Not the best movie I'd ever seen, but well done and interesting and totally NOT what I was expecting from a "vampire" movie. She was very intrigued. She wanted to know what the two main characters were talking about in the wide shots of them conversing in large cedars high in the air.

She bought the books.

She devoured them (all 4) in a week.

She said I had to read them.

You must listen to your BFF.

I read them.

I was seriously impressed.

It only took me a week too.

Wow.

Mesmerizing. Exciting. Clean. Thrilling. Mindful of why you got married in the first place.

Then we started having conversations about why we liked these books soooooo much.

One of the first things I realized I liked was the "non-romance novel" way in which the characters interact. Their encounters are "clean". They do not, even though they are teenagers living in this day and time, engage in any "marital activity" (if you know what I mean) until they are actually married. I LOVE that.

And even when they do, it's not like you are an eye witness in their bedroom scrutinizing every move. They are on their honeymoon. They kiss, they suggest a little bit of emotions, chapter ends. Next chapter begins the following morning. You know what happened, but you don't have to live every second of it.

The style this writer used to convey emotions and feelings between the two of them is exciting to read, but not in a sexual way.

I love that the main family of vampires in this story strives to not be "monsters". They did not choose this life and cannot help what they are. But they overcome their natural desires for human blood and live as "vegetarians" - surviving only on the blood of animals. When asked why they fight so hard against what they are, the simple answer is "I didn't choose this life. I don't want to be a monster."

For me, I see a parallel to Christianity. We are sinners. It is our nature, how we were created. We have free will and the temptations around us are endless. However, we can choose, sometimes painfully and against our inner "instincts" to overcome sin. It is not always easy (often the "sinful" choice is MUCH EASIER than the moral or right choice), but we can strive to do it.

It is hard to NOT like the characters in this book. They have shortcomings, they have faults, they are very much like people you know. It is easy, at least for me, to identify with the main character (always good for a writer when society can identify with your main character). She feels unworthy, unwanted, very humble in not understanding what she has done to deserve unconditional love. For someone like me, who has been abandoned many times in my life, that is an easy characteristic to sympathize with.

And, in spite of these shortcomings, you find yourself rooting for them, hoping for the best - just as you do for yourself and your friends.

I have to stop mid-thought now, because it is just not as peaceful in this room as it was when I started typing and I keep losing my train of thought (so to me, the previous paragraphs look like rambling and not quite what I envisioned to say about these books). I will be back soon with more.

Remember, I have a love/hate relationship with the books. I will get to explaining both sides of this, promise.

Eating My Own Words

I remember saying recently that I think plain vanilla socks are "boring". Um, yeah.

I am now knitting a pair of plain vanilla socks. Why?

Well. I was out with my mom and the kids the other day. She wanted to stop at JoAnn's to get some fold up, summery chair for the kids she saw on sale there earlier in the week. So we stopped.

I don't generally go for the yarn at big-box craft stores. The only yarn they usually sell that I will bother with is Paton's Wool. But, I always look when I am there. Because I am usually there with my mom. And she will gladly buy me cheap yarn. To her it's a "bargain".

Did you know they have "sock" yarn at JoAnn's? I didn't. I use the quotes because I am not sure if it really qualifies as sock yarn. It's super itchy and really thin. The band on the skein says "Size 1-3 US needles". Um, noooooo. That would make some super loose, saggy fabric.

Well, anywho. The "sock" yarn was on clearance for $2.97/skein. I picked a few up, my curiosity getting the best of me. (And the fact that I didn't have to pay for the curiosity to be satisfied.) The colors were neat looking, even if I am a yarn snob.

Even though I haven't finished the Possessed Socks yet (#2 is still on the needles), I couldn't wait to cast these socks on just to see how the yarn looks knit up.

I feel like a little kid. I am completely mesmerized by the color changes in this yarn. I'm knitting along and I'm like, "Oooo! Pink!" Then, "Look! Turquoise!" And, "Wow, orange, oh, purple, oh, some kind of fake fair isle striping!"

Yeah. The first sock is at the heel already.

What am I doing with this cheap yarn?? For now, I am liking it.

It's the "Dad Life" - Hee Hee!!

Saw this over at Thy Will Be Done. Awesome! Too Funny!!

What to Knit?

This seems a simple question. I want to knit a baby sweater. Now that I know I want to knit a baby sweater trying to figure out which sweater is making me rack my brain.

I have already knit a Baby Surprise Jacket. While that is a very interesting pattern, I have no desire to knit it again, like ever.

I was thinking about doing a February Baby Sweater. I really want something small though, because I already knit the BSJ and my Nutmeg Sweater (which is a baby kimono) and those both seems to be about 6-9 or 6-12 months sized. And I'd have to modify it to have a stockinette stitch top. Maybe.

I also like the look of garter yoked sweaters, or shall I say yokes with stripes of garter stitch.

And I have an owl chart I really like that I would love to put on the yoke of a baby sweater. The thing with this is, I'd like to knit the baby sweater from the top-down (like I did with the kimono) and the chart is meant to be read from the bottom up. I don't want upside-down owls on the yoke.

Does anyone know how to "invert" a chart with little twisty cables on it?? The cables that make the owl are only two stitches wide, so I am trying really hard to figure out how to flip this chart over and still make it work. For some reason, it is not making sense to me. I have been searching the Ravelry forums (because someone, somewhere must have asked this question before) but coming up with nothing.

A cardigan or a pullover? Buttons, snaps, loops?

So, what do I knit?? I really want to make a sweater. A teeny-tiny little sweater. I may end up doing that FBS. We'll see. The owls are calling me too.

Are There Any Other Animals That Wish to Make an Appearance??

In the rainy afternoon this week, my boy caught a toad.

Which of course had to be brought to the door for pictures.

Kind of cute, in a gross, amphibian kind of way.

Then it was time to wash hands. Ewwww.

Random Question

As I sat in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, eating "Double Stuf" Oreos, I couldn't help but thinking:

Why do they even make the regular Oreos?? Does anyone buy them when there are double stuffed ones available? I mean, what's the point?

More Knitting

'Cause really? Is there ever enough?

I finally embellished the Cutie Girly Longies. They didn't turn out exactly as I had envisioned them, all swirly and curly with vines and leaves and round-type flowers. Instead, they are very linear with tulips. Still pretty, still cute. My embroidery skills are not what they could be to achieve what I envisioned, so the duplicate stitch tulips will have to do. What do you think?


You'll have to excuse the "not-so-great-light-pictures". I took the longies and the following sock outside to photograph them in the good light. And.....it was sooooo dang humid that the camera lens kept fogging up. I couldn't even get a picture of this sock outside. This is inside-light-picture-taken-by-the-boy.

These are my Possessed Socks; they are the Kai-Mei (that's a ravelry link) pattern by Cookie A from her book "Sock Innovation". Love the book. I think I have checked it out from the library like 3 times. I also want to knit "Rick" from this book.


The six inches of 3x3 ribbing kind of suck. But once you do the heel and pick up the gussets the foot of the sock flies off the needles. The little lace pattern dancing across the foot and eating up the instep stitches is totally awesome. I know it must be "cool", because the 14-year old daughter asked for a pair too.

I only have 1 sock done, but I did cast on #2 right away. I really can't wait to have my own pair of knit socks!! The first pair I knit went to the boy. I will post pictures soon of what he did to those socks. They never did anything to him, but he sure beat the heck out of them!

More knitting to do......

Quick FO

And I mean quick. I finished the longies in just over 24 hours!! But, it's almost 3 in the morning, and I should go to bed. I uploaded all my pics on ravelry and I am leaving you with just a link (here). Sorry. I will talk more about these soon, maybe even tomorrow.

I also have been working hard on the Possessed Socks. Turned a heel and finished the gusset on the first sock. They are way fun and pretty cute. I still need to take some new in progress pictures.

I really wish I could figure out how to sleep when I am pregnant without having to stay up all night until I am so exhausted it hurts. *sigh*

See ya soon!

Today is *The* Day

Quick check in today. Why?

I am going to see a movie *gasp* in the theatre *gasp* without my kids *gasp*.

My two best friends and I are off to see "Eclipse" followed by food at my favorite Mexican restauant. I am totally pumped.

(I have FO to show tomorrow or Monday.)

Have a great weekend! Happy Anniversary Michelle! BWYA - Thank you for raising such great young men to serve and protect our country and it's Independance!!

"Quack, Quack!"

Everytime we see a turkey, my almost-4-year-old daughter yells, "Quack, Quack!" It's hilarious. I would correct her, but it's seriously too funny.

Around here, there are a LOT of turkeys. We live in the boonies and regularly have to slow down (or speed up as the case may be) to not hit them in the roads. The spring is the most fun when all the turkeys are out and the little baby turkeys are out too. Turkeys are very ugly. But the little ones are sooooo little and ugly, they're cute!

Yesterday, we had a turkey in our yard. Of course, Wobbers had to collect proof that he really was seeing a turkey.

See, ugly. But neat, and a little cute. It took him/her about 2 seconds to hear the camera go off and run into the field. Still pretty cool for the 10 year old.

On not exactly the same topic, but related and very funny, he also found a bird's nest under our deck. He ran up on the porch to grab the camera from me and then quickly ran back down to snap some photos. He said there were 8 cute little fluffy baby birds down there.

A few seconds later, we (my husband was home by then) heard the camera turn on. Then Wobber's yelled, "Hey! They can fly!!" I started laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. Like, yeah dude, they're birds. It was too funny. He didn't get any pictures. But he did get to see a bird fly into our basement window. He said that was great.

Couldn't Make Up My Mind

I did decide what to knit next: the Rainbow Longies.

What I couldn't figure out was what to pair the "Taste the Rainbow" yarn with? I only have enough left to trim a pair of longies. The main color could be either light purple (Wisteria) or teal (Too Teal). Aren't they pretty??

I decided they looked really pretty together, especially after I caked them up. So I thought, hey, why not stripe them into a pair of longies.

I started knitting right away. After an hour or so, I moved to the porch and knit outside in the breeze while the kids played in their bare feet in the yard.

A little while later, I had this:

Then I started thinking it looked too busy. The rainbow yarn AND the stripes. Should I frog? I pulled it off the needles to get a better look.

And about 5 minutes later......I had this:

Too busy. I frogged and decided just to go with the teal. I do love purple, and she is going to be a girl. But I really like the teal with the rainbow. I think it's because there isn't much blue in this particular skein (my fault, I dyed it) and the teal makes it seem balanced to me.

So now, I have this:

Thanks to my boy there for holding it up for the picture. I actually have quite a bit more than that, b/c it's 10pm now and that was at like 7. I am just about to split for the legs.

Then I'll have lots more knitting before the next decision: What kind of cuffs??