Wordless Weekend

Happy Birthday To Me!

Look what I woke up to! A set of blocking boards (there are 9 puzzle pieces altogether), 2 sets of size 1 Harmony needles for socks, a set of sizes 0 through 3 Harmony dpns, T-pins, and a skein of Stroll sock yarn in 'Treefort.' Thank you Andrew and Willow!

It's been a great day - went out for ramen at Takumi for lunch, had a massage in the afternoon, my mother-in-law made salmon for dinner, and Andrew and Willow ordered a cake just how I wanted (yellow cake, white buttercream icing, lemon filling, and yellow and orange flowers on top). I'm on a bit of a sugar high right now, but am looking forward to watching a movie and snuggling with Andrew on the sofa.

Yarn Pron Friday - The Canadian Edition

Whenever I travel, I like to pick up some 'souvenir' yarn, and if it comes (whether spun or dyed) from the place I am visiting, so much the better. Now, I know I am stretching this concept a bit with this yarn - but then again, Canada is a pretty big country! Fleece Artist hails from Mineville, Nova Scotia - and I bought this skein from the Beehive Yarn Shop in Victoria, BC - about as far as you can get away from Nova Scotia and still be in the same country.



The yarn? Fleece Artist Trail Socks in the 'Fatrails' colourway.



It's a very skooshy feeling - and machine washable (probably my favourite trait in sock yarn)! It's mostly light and dark teal, but where the colours transition from one to the other there are hints of a purple. What shall I make with it...?

Only 82 days to go...

Until we get to meet this beauty:



This scan looks so much like Willow when she was a newborn! The real life print out is better than this, but it is hard to get a scan of a scan.

WiP It Wednesday

I had hoped to have better pictures taken in daylight to show off the current WiPs, but unfortunately, with the time change, I didn't get home until it was dark out. I think I need to set up one of those light boxes I have seen on some people's blogs to take better lit pictures.

WiP #1: Willow's Mi Escuelita sweater



The only things I have left to finish here is the shawl collar on the sweater, sew up the underarms, and sew on the buttons. If you look closely, you can probably see how the two sleeves are fraternal. Let's not tell Willow about that...

WiP #2: Autumn Socks



I have to say - I haven't liked these socks from the start. I started them when I was going away on a business trip - I needed some mindless plain jane socks to knit on the airplane, so I pulled out the first skein I could find in the stash that was already wound. I'll finish the socks - it's always good to have a fallback mindless knitting project - but I will definitely be giving these ones to charity.

WiP #3: Cheryl's Baby Sweater



I'll be finishing knitting this sweater tonight - the only thing left to finish is 12 rows of 2x2 ribbing on the sleeve. I still need to get some buttons, but I won't be able to get to Hayes until Friday at the earliest. Cheryl is a co-worker of mine whose baby girl is due 12/30, so I've made some good time here. I have plenty of yarn left over, so I think I should be able to come up with matching hat and booties as well.

Favourite Song

Today's Prompt:

What was your favorite song this year? Five years ago? Ten years ago? Twenty?

I'm just going to cover the beginning of this prompt - because in all honesty, I have no clue what was my favourite song 5, 10, or 20 years ago. I can hazard to guess that 20 years ago it may have been something from Phantom of the Opera or by Sinead O'Connor... but that is as close as an answer as I could get.

My music tastes are somewhat warped by the time that Andrew and I lived in Japan - not that our music tastes run heavily to JPop, although there is some of that in our music collection - it is more of an absence from knowledge of North American pop/rock from 1995 - 1998. We came back from Japan with absolutely no understanding of anything on the radio, and as a result, tended to look at alternate sources of music. And, because of that, we have a large assortment of movie soundtracks in our music collection. And what is a common element in many movie soundtracks? Covers!

One of my favourite songs right now is Pearl Jam's cover of The Who's 'Love Reign O'er Me' - and you can hear the song here at Yahoo Music. Not being terribly familiar with The Who, I didn't know the original - but I love the epic nature of the song - and the emotional wailing. I will admit to being very confused over the lyrics to begin with; I wanted to put the song on my MP3 player and kept looking for 'Love *Rain* O'er Me' - the lyrics may help explain it a bit:

Only love,
Can make it rain,
The way the beach is kissed by the sea.
Only love,
Can make it rain,
Like the sweat of lovers laying in the fields.


Love, Reign o'er me.
Love, Reign o'er me, Reign o'er me, Reign o'er me.

I ended up finding the song in a Rhapsody playlist called 'Pearl Jam Has You Covered,' and promptly added the whole playlist to my player.

What is your favourite song right now?

Dream Home

Today's Prompt: What would your dream home/apartment/condo/yurt look like? Where would it be? Who'd live in it with you?

Oh my - that last question is a loaded one depending on who I have been dealing with.

I've posted this picture before, but the house is so pretty it is worth posting again:



This house overlooks the beach in Rehoboth, DE - the only problem is that I would only want to live here in the off-season. I've seen pictures of what Rehoboth looks like in season and I don't want to be anywhere that many people. Mind you, I've never seen the inside of this house and probably never will, but I love all the windows that face the ocean and the natural light they let in.

What would my dream home have? A large kitchen with plenty of cabinet and counter space. Hidey-holes for all my appliances so that the counters are clear. A double sink! More than one bathroom! (Maybe you are correctly guessing here that some of these wants are directly connected to my complaints with my current home...) I would love to have a sitting room off my bedroom so I could read in peace. A library would be wonderful - or even just built in bookshelves! A fireplace...

Oh my. What do you want in your dream home?

Something I Miss From Being A Kid

Big slides...

The picture above is from the Arden Fair earlier this year - and as big as this slide is, it pales in comparison to some of the big slides I remember at the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) or Playland as a child. I did a search on Flickr for other people's slide pictures from PNE, and I found this one:



It isn't the one I remember - the one I remember had multiple slides going across and was all metal. And maybe it was just because I was seeing it from a child's reference point, but it seemed so much taller. I remember going down so fast that I was nearly airborne at times - a heady amount of adrenaline for a six year old.

Wordless Weekend

The Idiocy and Kindness of Strangers

What a strange day it has been. I had promised to get Willow this book she wanted to read, but she had to finish her school project first. The project was finished and handed in this week, so armed with my 33% off coupon for Borders, we headed out and bought the book.

Then we came back out to the car. No, no - don't worry - the car itself was fine. The problem was in the fact that some blind miscreant had parked his black Sienna minivan so close to mine that there was no way I could even get Willow in on the driver's side of the car. And what is even more assinine was that this is a good parking lot - there is a 8" wide double-lined no mans' land between the spots, so plenty of room to go around - but this idiot was parked about 3/4 in his spot, and 1/4 onto mine! Normally I would have just crawled over from the passenger side, but our console comes up between the two front seats - and there was no way I was going to be able to do this with the belly.

So... Willow and I went back into Borders, and they asked over the PA for the customer driving the black Sienna minivan with DE plates to come to the front desk. No one came forward. So, we went to the pizza place next door - same thing - no one came forward. The only other store it could have feasibly been was a toy store - but once again, no one came forward. I didn't know what I was going to do - until this twit moved, there didn't seem to be a way for me to get into the car.

Then this very nice woman in the toy store said if I was okay with it, she would manuever into my car and pull it out of the parking spot so I could drive. She came out with me and Willow to the car and did just that. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And to think - just yesterday I was trying to explain to Willow what 'pay it forward' meant. Now I have a prime example. Thank you!

It's a Little Ironic, Don'tcha Think?

Sigh...

Do you ever go in and check out your blog's statistics? I think it is interesting to see who is coming to my blog and from where - and perhaps the most amusing of all, the searches that bring people to my blog. You know - the person who googles 'turkey baster happiness' and ends up on my blog is going to be awfully disappointed.

Anyhow - I looked at my statistics recently and came up with this graph:



Look at that banner day far to the left at the beginning of October - I was so shocked - I had to go to that day's blogpost to see what I had written about that day that had drawn in so many people. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that was the day I wrote about not being able to go to Rhinebeck. It wasn't me at all drawing people in...

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DMV Postscript -

I have my new license! My father-in-law took me in at lunch today, and there were nowhere near the lines of the night before. I was only gone from the office for about 90 minutes, and we had no problems getting my documents checked or finding a place to sit. And a big thank you to David, the DMV guy who created my license! He was filling in my information, and asked if my height and weight had changed. I said, "My height, no - but I'm 7 months pregnant right now." He replied without a hitch that they would just continue to use the weight that was on my previous driver's license. Thank goodness for thoughtful DMV people!

Holy DMV Misadventures, Batman.

Well.

I had hoped to have a funnier story for you, but the gist of it is:

• I need to renew my driver's license
• Delaware has new document requirements for licenses (passports, birth certificates, green cards, etc.)
• Wednesday is the only day of the week they are open past the time I get off work
• We got lost on our way to the DMV (not horrendously lost, but got there later than we planned)
• We arrived 90 minutes before they closed
• My ticket number was 183
• They were serving 50
• No one was particularly interested in giving a 7 month pregnant woman a seat
• We gave up 15 minutes before they closed... because there was still 83 people ahead of me in line.

Gah!  No one is happy right now.  Andrew was stressing because I couldn't sit down for a long while, and he had a headache.  So many people who didn't understand the new document requirements were clogging up the lines, only to be turned away when they got up there.  It looks like I am going to have to take time off work to get my new license - I'm not terribly pleased with that - but I only have little more than a week before my license expires.

Tuesday Randomness and Half a Prompt

This is one of the trees outside of my local public library, and I love how the colours change on these trees. At any given time there are 5-6 colours involved, and each tree seems to change at a different rate. And for some reason, the leaves don't tend to fall off these trees unless there is a very strong wind, so in the end you get the spooky sound of the wind whistling through the paper-dry leaves.

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I was going to try the NaBloPoMo blog prompt this morning, but find I won't have much to say about it. This is the prompt:

Tell us the story of a piece of jewelry you own. Where did it come from, and what does it mean to you?

Other than my wedding band, I don't wear jewelry. I like my wedding band - I picked it out since Andrew was having breathing fits every time we went into a jewelry store and saw the prices. We have matching gold and platinum striped bands - very plain, and that's just the way I like it. The odd thing about it is since the band was purchased in Japan, on the inside it says the size is 17. And, while my fingers are short and stubby, my fingers aren't quite that sausage-like. That Japanese size 17 equates to about a size 7 (I believe) in North American ring sizes.

And November NaBloPoMo begins

I've tried to post on the blog more frequently in the last few weeks, mostly because I was depressed to see that we were 3/4 through the year and I only had some seventy-odd posts for 2010. I looked back at 2008, and I had 185 posts!

So, what am I doing to rectify that? Well, participate in NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month, for starters. NaBloPoMo used to be only in November, a response to the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but it has since expanded to continue year round. They provide themes or writing prompts you if you need one, and also a list of many blogs of other people who are participating to read.

So, my goal right now is to beat the 110 blogposts from 2009. Think I can do it? If I can get through November, that will bring me up to 119 - still a paltry one post for every three days, but something I could live with for now.

In the meantime, I will leave you with one more Hallowe'en costume picture:



We were at the Y Fall Festival a few weeks back, and I saw this cute little dog dressed up as a lobster. I asked his owners if I could take a picture, and as soon as I squatted down, the little dog went up on two legs and started dancing around! I just wanted to stuff him in my pocket and walk away...

Happy Hallowe'en!

I'm telling everyone that Willow is playing against type this year...



Costume courtesy of Grandma H, who has made almost all of Willow's Hallowe'en costumes so far.



Halo courtesy of my friend, Gail, whose son had dressed up as an angel for a Christmas pageant and no longer needed the halo.



It was a great night for Hallowe'en - clear skies, dry, not too cold - and my little angel made out like a veritable bandit with the candy.

Friday Finished Object: Jo Is A Sheep Hat

I love me a good hat - and I have to say with all due pride, Jo Is A Sheep Hat is a damn fine hat.



I started this hat because I saw so many cool versions of it on my friends' blogs, and Lord knows I have an excess of sock yarn in my stash (which in itself is a little silly because I wear sandals as long as I can physically get away with it). I bought this Noro Silk Garden sock yarn a few years ago because I love the autumnal tone of the colours.



But of course, being Noro, you are going to have your requisite wtfuckery with the shades. After all the beautiful green, rusts, and grey, we segue into... teal and purple. Of course.



Oh well. What are you going to do?

The Particulars:
Pattern: Sockhead Hat (Rav link)
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn colourway 245
Needles: Knitpicks Size 4 circulars and dpns
Modifications: Not much - I took Cristi's suggestion and went with size 4 needles without worrying about gauge, and my hat is a little shorter than called for by about an inch because I was worried about running out of yarn.

Would I make this pattern again? Most definitely. The pattern was beyond easy, and it was nice to have a lightweight slouchy hat made from sock yarn.

And I want to say something - I don't know whether that top shot was just a lucky one, but I will be 38 in less than 3 weeks, I'm 6+ months pregnant, and I am not wearing any make up other than chapstick in these pictures. Yay me :)

With the exception of the first photo (whichi was taken in my driveway), the rest of the pics in the post were taken in Talley Day Park. The fall foliage here in Delaware is at its peak right now and I am in awe of all the reds, golds, and oranges wherever I go. Here are some examples.

Warning from Lucky

If you think you are getting a costume on me, you have another thing coming!

WiP It Wednesday

I'm in the home stretch now - Willow's Mi Escuelita sweater is almost finished!

The front:



The back:



All I have left to do is the neck shaping, which I should finish tonight, and then the button band/shawl collar. Cristi was right - once you join the sleeves to the body, the sweater speeds up considerably. The miles and miles of 2x2 ribbing on the sleeves is enough to make one put down the sweater and pick up quickie projects for a while, but I'm really happy at how it is coming along now.

The Coziest Place To Be

There is no doubt at all that Lucky is a lapcat. He may be pushing 16 pounds, but if anyone sits on the sofa he will become velcro cat within seconds.

What is Willow reading? Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter. This is the book she chose for her book report project - Booklist says it is for kids in grades 6-9. Willow is in grade 3. It's been a struggle to get her to finish it - the book has 288 pages and 25 chapters, so it is easily the longest book she has ever read. I don't think the content is above her - just maybe that the book isn't over in 100 pages and 10 chapters. Less than three chapters to read now!

Monday Pick Me Up: Yarn Pron

Don't you feel like you need a pick me up on a Monday morning? Feast your eyes on this pretty yarn!



Right away when I saw this I knew I wanted to do a striped scarf with it, something along the lines of the Noro Striped Scarf. These two skeins are different colourways, but close enough to make the changes complementary.

Here's a close up of one:



Yarn: Lang Tosca Light (Colourway 777.0088 - so poetic!).



Yarn: Lang Tosca Light (Colourway 777.0006)

The yarn is 55% wool and 45% acrylic and is machine washwable (although lay flat to dry). It's pretty hefty as well at 100g = 400m of yarn. I can't wait to use it!