Wretched Wednesday

I am not having a very good day. Let's look at this pretty rose from my Gram's garden and try to reach some zen.

 

 I have nothing. I had to resort to using today's blog prompt, which I kind of had to snicker at when I saw it:

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 

 It's kind of niggling at the back of my mind that I have answered this before and I said I wish I was taller. Well, I have a different answer today. I wish I wasn't so quick and uncontrollably to anger.  My parents and family may have a different view, but I don't think I was a particularly volatile child.  In fact, until I was in my mid-20s, I kept most of my anger bottled in.  Sublimated.  That probably wasn't very good for me, either.  But it's harder when you have children - especially when one child legitimately makes me angry, and I lash out verbally at the uninvolved child because her toddler meltdown happens to intersect with Mama's warpath.  I feel like I have such a short tether these days between Willow's tween cluelessness and Piper's nascent independence.  And poor Andrew gets caught up in all of this, probably wondering most days just what to expect when I walk through the door.

I think I need to go snuggle with Piper.

French Kiss

French Kiss, originally uploaded by jochibi.

This was my work group on Halloween this year. In the back is Starchild Ryan, and in the front from left to right is Demon Rebecca, Spaceman Jo, and Catman Tami. We didn't win the costume contest, but I think we did damn well for an idea we lifted off Facebook and only decided on 24 hours before the party. Even if some people just thought we were mimes...

In Which I am Thankful for Alicia and Melissa

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you probably see me frequently sharing and praising the designs of my friends, Alicia and Melissa. I met both of these lovely women over three years ago on Ravelry in a 'Due in January 2011' due date group. I want to thank them for bringing me out of my knitting shell. This past year, I have had the opportunity to test knit (or just knit if I missed the test call) many of their designs, and not only have Willow and Piper both benefited from these tests, but I can't even remember the last time I made so many things for myself that weren't socks or other accessories. There is a certain fear when you are a larger size or curvy that nothing is going to fit no matter how you try to adjust the pattern. Both Alicia and Melissa's patterns come in larger sizes, but on top of that, are simply written as well as easy to customize when you want something a little different. Here is a sampling of things I have knit for them over the last year:

Piper's Magpie Redux:
 

 My Backshore sweater:
 

 Piper's Countryline vest:
 

 My East End Sweater:
 

 Willow's Lighthouse Keeper's Wife sweater:
 

 Piper's Sebago Cove 2.0:
 

 My Sturgeon Sweater:
 

 Piper's Sebago Cove 1.0:
 

 My Earthen Hat:
 

 I don't remember a year where I ever knit three sweaters for myself, much less three of anything that I love to wear as much as these three sweaters. I urge you to check out both of their blogs - Alicia's Two Little Plums and Melissa's Another Dandi Day and see their patterns for yourself.

Book Review: Hyperbole and a Half

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is not the type of book that I normally read, but having read Bosh's blog before and especially having enjoyed her posts on depression, I picked up the book when I saw it in B&N. I am so glad I did. Well, first I had to pry the book out of my husband's hands - I made the mistake of telling him about the blog as we left the store, and since I was driving, he was able to start reading it while I drove home. I have not had such a visceral reaction to a book in such a long time - within a a few minutes of opening the book, I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face, and I was afraid I was going to wake up my kids. Bosh's posts run the gamut from silly and irreverent to stark and heart-breaking, and so many times I found myself wondering, "How does she know what I am thinking?!!?" I especially enjoyed the segments concerning Bosh's letters to herself as a child, and the parts about her dogs. I wholeheartedly recommend this book - especially to those of us who spend too much time in our heads and let it get the better of us.

View all my reviews

First Family 5K

 This morning, Andrew, Willow, and I walked the Brandywine Y's first 5K race - our first 5K as a family. Piper was there, too - and you can see by the look on her face how much she enjoyed it... She was okay for the first 20 minutes, but then after that she wasn't interested in looking in other people's leftover Halloween decorations and the pretty foliage. All in all, we were timed at 53:45, which was a little more than 17 minutes per mile. This was slower than my time of 51 minutes a few weeks ago, but then again, I was pushing 50 pounds of toddler and stroller in this race, so I will accept the extra 3 minutes! I really hope we can do this again as a family soon - although I don't know how much longer we will be able to manage this with Piper in a stroller (sneaker bugger knows how to undo her seatbelt straps!)

It's That Time Again - NaBloPoMo!

You know, I have to look that up every time - I can never remember the abbreviation.

 

 It's getting harder and harder to maintain this blog - other social media outlets are so much easier to maintain and quicker to update. But, I'm going to make the effort to blog every day in November for National Blog Posting Month, even if it is just a quick snapshot to let you know something that happened that day.

 I don't have any big creative thing planned today - it's just a start. The picture above was taken last weekend when we were at the final day of the PA Rennfaire - I love autumn for the changing colors, and this leaf was just sitting on the floorboards of the place we were sitting at for lunch. Piper picked it up and carried it around for a while afterward and I don't think she realized how fragile it was and how easily it would disintegrate in her hands. But once she figured out that, she made it her mission to crunch as many leaves as possible. Yes, we still call her Piperzilla for a reason.

 

 Me and Piper painting a pumpkin at the Rennfaire. Or rather, me trying to keep Piper from getting paint all over every surface but the pumpkin. Andrew said Jackson Pollock would have been proud.

We're Alive, Just Busy...

DSCN1039, originally uploaded by jochibi.

There you go, Mom. More posts to come - I just need time to organize everything.

Sisters Watching Doctor Who

IMG_0874, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Yes, we started Piper early on Doctor Who. We didn't think she was paying attention at first, but now she knows characters names and the music. She does, however, insist on calling it the 'Scary Show.' At first she would just play around us as we watched the show - but as you see now - she snuggles up to Willow on the sofa and they watch it together.

Blog? What Blog?

P9042683, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Forget about the fact that I seem to be forgetting about my blog. Enjoy this cute picture of me and the girls instead.

Family Picture 2013

IMG_0791, originally uploaded by jochibi.

My Auntie Daryth took this picture in her garden in Nanaimo, BC. The lovely dog is Rosie, who decided she had to be in the picture, too.

Rennfaire 2013

DSCN0841, originally uploaded by jochibi.

I still think we need to get one of these installed in the backyard - and see - this one has two levels! It would fit both girls!

Holy Noodle

When I was growing up, my Mom had a few different containers for pasta - in truth, I think they were old ice cream containers or maybe mayonnaise jars re-purposed to hold noodles, but they were categorized by how long they took to cook.  There was a 6-7 minute jar, a 8-9 minutes jar, and I think a third for those noodles that took longer to cook.  When Mom would make homemade macaroni and cheese (and believe me when I say my Mom makes damned good macaroni and cheese!), she would just scoop out of one of the jars, and we would get a mixture of penne and spiral noodles and sometimes just straight up elbow macaroni.

I think I need to follow her lead here.

Piper was taking forever to eat her dinner tonight, so I wandered into the kitchen, putting stuff away, picking stuff off the floor, etc. I noticed my sugar jar was empty, so I went to the pantry to get the sugar bin to fill it.  That led to me cleaning up the pantry.  In the end, after purging a bunch of stuff way beyond its best before date, I had 17 different boxes and packages of pasta.

SEVENTEEN.

Clearly, I need help.  Penne - three or four different kinds.  High protein, white fiber, mini penne. Pastini. Whole wheat orzo. Shells.  Moscatelli.  Rigatoni.  Spirals.  Linguine, thin spaghetti, angel hair pasta.  These cool noodles I got from Whole Foods that look like long skinny lasagna noodles, but you eat them like linguine.

Guess what I am buying the next time I go to Target?

I think a couple of these should do me.  And I can finally consolidate some space in my not-terribly-spacious pantry cupboard.

P.S.
And apparently I secretly want to pair these noodles with curry, because I had no less than 8 different kinds of curry in the cupboard, from Japanese curry roux to different kinds of simmer sauces to Punjabi curried eggplant mix.

P.P.S.
And we are not even going to talk about the chocolate.

Finished Object: East End Sweater

You know when you see a design, and you think to yourself, "Omigod, I have to make this sweater!!"? This was one of those times. But I was apprehensive... this sweater was made from fingering weight yarn. In linen. And I am not a small girl.

But I volunteered to test the pattern despite my apprehension, and I am so pleased with the results!

 

 Here is a shot of my backside - not normally a view I display willingly, but I wanted to show the neat shaping on the back - it flares out below the hip and creates a beautifully feminine shape:

 

The Particulars:

Pattern: East End by Alicia Plummer
Yarn: Quince and Co. Sparrow, 9 skeins in 'Port.'  Knitting with linen was a completely new experience for me - it's so very crunchy when you knit with it, but it becomes extremely soft once it is washed and dried (yes, you can put it in the washer and dryer!).
Needles: Size 5 circulars in different lengths (depending on the part of the sweater I was knitting).
Would I knit this pattern again? Definitely! Someone in our test group knit hers in Madtosh merino light, and I would love to try that as well. I did do some modifications to the pattern to better suit my short, narrow-shouldered, curvy figure. The original neckline was very wide on me, so I worked a 1x1 ribbing for 9 rows around the neck to bring the sweater in a bit. I also extended the sleeves (with no decreases) to an elbow-length, and then knit 10 rows of 1x1 ribbing there as well. I really like the flirty pattern at the bottom hem, and the A-line of the pattern is very flattering on me.

Thank you for letting me test this pattern, Alicia! I love this sweater!

And I have to say that this was a very quick photoshoot. Not only was it 93'F in the shade, but there were gnats everywhere - as evidenced by this picture and the "ACK! BUGS!" look on my face:

 

Zinnia Visitor

Zinnia Visitor, originally uploaded by jochibi.

I don't know if it is a moth or a butterfly, but it sure was pretty.

Piper Ballerina

Peach Lilies

DSCN0762, originally uploaded by jochibi.

Found these in my father-in-law's garden on the weekend. So pretty!

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Finished Object: Willow's Lighthouse Keeper's Wife Cardigan

Okay, can I start with saying how beautiful this girl is?



This cardigan has been finished for a little while, but we have had torrential rain on and off for the last two weeks, so it has been difficult to get out and take pictures.

Full body:



The funniest thing happened with this sweater.  I normally knit when Willow and I watch TV together, so she had seen me working on this all along.  I have made a few things for Piper recently - but because she is so much smaller, they get completed much faster.  I finished my last little bits, balled it up, and tossed the sweater in Willow's lap.  Willow: "What's this for?" Me: "Try it on." Willow: "It's for ME?!"  It was nice to be able to pull this over on her in the open!

Side view



Back:



The Particulars: 

Pattern: Lighthouse Keeper's Wife by Melissa Schaschwary. A great simple, straightforward top-down pattern.
Yarn: Naturally Caron Spa (a little over 2 skeins for the XS size) - a bamboo/acrylic blend.
Needles: size 13 bamboo circulars (not my favorite needles - way too blunt!), and a J-size crochet hook. Would I Knit This Pattern Again? Definitely - and the next one will be for me - but not in this yarn. This yarn made a nice, airy summer-weight sweater, but was so splitty, especially with these blunt needles. The next time I do this I am going to use a provisional cast on for the hood so I can kitchener the hood rather than seaming. I opted to make long short sleeves (about elbow length) for Willow as this will be a summer cardigan. I created a stabilizing band for buttons by doing three rows of half double crochet along the button bands and hood. I did the same with the ends of the sleeves. The bottom of the sweater I opted for 5 rounds of garter stitch so the sweater wouldn’t roll up. I then added 2 small buttons on the front.



Knitting things for Willow can be a little hit or miss - so I am really happy that she likes this one.  It's also nice that she fits into the ladies' XS size, because there are so many more women's patterns out there than tween girl patterns.

Somehow

Somehow, we have gone from this on her first day of Kindergarten:

to this on her last day of 5th grade:

My amazing firstborn graduated with Distinguished Honors (straight As for the entire year), received an award for leadership, as well a certificate for being involved in the Math Olympiad.  Willow, you never cease to amaze us - we love you so much!

Everyday

DSCN0679, originally uploaded by jochibi.

This is the state of our living room at least once a day - if not multiple times a day. Cleaning up after Piper has seriously cut into my reading and knitting time...