I'm a liar

Cousins!

That baby Blake came over with his mom yesterday to spend the day. Since it was 500 degrees out (well, 95, but after a certain point, does it really matter?), the big boys played in the sprinkler while Blake played on the deck with bowls of water and ate his first popsicle. And then played with his popsicle in the bowls of water. Tiffany and I then drank diet coke all afternoon while a nearly naked Blake emptied out my tupperware cupboard. It was entirely too hot to do anything else.

No Will Power

I also showed Tiffany the sock yarn I had ear marked for her. Several weeks ago I had described the sock yarn from Jane and she had been pretty excited about Black Purl (which is in black and various shades of purple). Yesterday I showed her all of my sock yarn and she quickly switched from Black Purl to New Year's Lights. She was really excited about it.

And so even though I told you I was not going to cast on any more socks, I lied. I have no will power and I wanted to see how these would knit up.

Help!

I can't help it. Each skein of Lorna's Laces knits up differently. Each one is a surprise. You just don't quite know what kind of pattern you are going to get. It's too compelling to patiently finished up the 3 pairs you are working on before starting a 4th. That, and I'm a bit unstable.

And I needed some success. I'm trying to knit a pair of socks for our friend Scott. And I've learned that you truly need to cast on more stitches for men. Mens legs are, how shall I say this...not dainty. Unless you are my son Ryan, who is the width of a toothpick, most men require a little more girth around their calves. There. I've said it. Men have big calves.

So I've tried two different Lorna's Laces for Scott--Baltic Sea and Forest. Both very manly and both, according to the many finished products I've seen on Ravelry, designed to stripe. I am unable to make these socks stripe. I think they would stripe if I cast on my usual 64 stitches, but again, the dainty calves issue. At 70 stitches, they won't stripe. I get this weird random warping color way. And I don't like the way they look on size 2's. I'm a tried and true size 1 sock knitter.

I did find a member of Ravelry who knit Forest for a man and they striped beautifully. But of course, she didn't log in the details of how many she cast on or what size needle she used. I emailed her, asking for insight, but alas, have not heard back.

My fall back is to use some beautiful charcoal gray Alpaca Sox from my stash, as soon as I get my Knitted Gifts book in August 1st. It has a pretty great men's sock pattern that I think would be fun. In the end, Scott will end up with a fabulous pair of socks, but the fact still remains that I have Lorna's Laces in two different male-oriented colorways that will only stripe in women's sizes.

Today Ryan's best friend Zach is here and Eric has spent the better part of the playdate whining and crying that they won't include him or do anything he wants to do (such as sit with wonder and awe as he dazzles them with his Mario Kart abilities). I then have spent a lot of quality time with Eric, explaining that no one wants to play with a kid who cries and whines. Want to be treated like a big kid=acting like a big kid. Which has produced more whining and crying. It's a vicious cycle. After some valuable alone time in his room, contemplating that, just because being a little brother sucks, doesn't mean life for the rest of us has to suck, Eric has emerged with the attitude that he doesn't want to lose yet another day of the Wii and perhaps Ryan and Zach's ideas aren't so horribly offensive after all.

And he wonders why he can't have a 9:00 bedtime like his older brother....

Back in the Saddle Again

Jane strikes again
New Year's Lights
and Forest

Wow--the last three weeks of my life have been out of control. Truly, this is the first moment I have had to sit at the computer for any length of time since the beginning of July. And today is only possible thanks to a handy playdate I arranged. I have 3 boys upstairs in Ryan's room as we speak. They are being awfully quiet, so I better make this quick....

Oh, where to begin....well, my husband got two jobs. Yep, two. One regular full time Monday through Friday job that we are very happy about. On the news the other night they announced that unemployment in the state of Washington is up to 9.3%, which is the highest it has ever been. So indeed we are feeling very very blessed with this job. And then he got another one. He is working swing shift about 4 evenings a week doing computer installs in different offices (where was this job 3 months ago?!). And so between the two, Mike is home for about two waking hours each day. Which kind of sucks in a I-don't-have-a-moment-to-myself-and-have-to-do-everything kind of way, but we're certainly not ones to turn down extra income right now. So Mike plans to keep up the 2nd job for a while so we can try and catch up.

And then, during the hottest July on record in Seattle, baby hat sales are at an all time high. Really? Knit baby hats in July? Whatever. Again, who am I to turn down income. So in between dealing with my kids all the livelong day, running 98% of the errands, and throwing my hands up in the air because I can't keep up with the house, I have been knitting like crazy.

Severe case of 1-itis
1 Sonata mitten,
1 Lilypad sock for
Leah, 1 Narragansett
sock for Kristin, and
1 Mixed Berries Monkey
sock for mom.

And this last week I worked close to 40 hours at the shop. So here we are. In a dirty house, in a city where it will hit at least 90 today, where I have traded poverty for single parenthood.

All of which accounts for very little blogging and an inability to finish a pair of socks or mittens.

Now, if we want to talk about knitting for a minute, you should know that crazy Jane has gifted me MORE sock yarn. Truly, I will never want for sock yarn again. I have some of it earmarked for people (should I ever get around to finishing my current sock projects. I'm not opposed to starting another pair--it's just that all my sock needles are in use), but I have several skeins just waiting for inspiration.

Must have...

Sock knitting aside, I still have about 3/4 of Mike's Town and Country sweater to go, 100% of my Must Have Cardigan to go, projects from my Estonian Lace book, a list of mittens and gloves I absolutely must make, and then there is this book. This incredible fantastic new book.

Our shop just got the new Interweave Knitted Gifts book in. And just sold out. It is fabulous. Some of the patterns are simple indescribable. And guess who has a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card burning a hole in her pocket? Technically this book is not available until August 1st (so why we got it and were able to sell it, I don't know). Come August 1st, my list of Must Knits will have grown by leaps and bounds.

Alrighty people. Time to go accomplish something. That baby Blake is coming tomorrow, so better pick up the Legos.

Big News!

No time for a real post, but wanted to let you all know that the husband accepted a full time job yesterday. He starts on Monday. Your thoughts and well wishes along the way of this journey have been so appreciated. Maybe now I'll get back to blogging about knitting!

Who Who!

Who Who!

Well, look at me blogging again! That's twice in one week! Don't get too use to it.

I finished up these two Who hats that I found here. Pretty darn cute, don't you think? One is for that baby, Blake, and one is for Mara's baby that apparently will never come out.

Quick deer update: No sign of the evil one. Don't know if the Irish Spring is actually working, or if the creatures of darkness are haunting another neighborhood this week. We shall see...

Quick summer break update: So far my boys have spent almost all of their time outside, which suits me just fine, until they come in at the end of the day so filthy that I need to hose them down on the deck. Keith next door is nearly finished with the tree house his is building and rumor has it that Ryan and Eric will be packing their bags and moving into said tree house as soon as it's done. Again--I have no problem with that.

Quick job update: SphericalDave, husband of My Pink Toes, generously loaned Mike a laptop that, wait for it wait for it, works upon booting up. Each and every time. So that is making life a bit easier for the man who is spending every waking moment searching for jobs, applying for jobs, and networking with people who have jobs, all the live long day. Mike continues to apply for everything that moves and soon will have applied for every job posting in the world. One of those has got to work--right? We do have a couple of things we are a little more excited about than the average nameless faceless job, but we continue to wait and pray.

That all for now. Over and out.

Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad

By popular request (well, from 3 of you), here is the recipe for Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad.

About 40 years ago my dad's best friend, Bob's mom, died. More specifically, she took her life. And while that event in itself is tragic, this particular story is a little funny.

At Bob's mom's funeral, some anonymous person had brought this salad. My mom thought it was great and wrote down the ingredients. Since she never did figure out who brought that salad, we have always and forever called it Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad. Every summer, for the last 40 years, she has made this salad. And ever summer for the last 20 years, I have made it.

Several years ago Mike and I were sitting around my parents' kitchen and the subject of the salad came up. And suddenly my dad said "you call it WHAT?!?". My mom looked very uncomfortable and said that she had always called the salad Bob's Mom's Funeral Salad. "Really? This is how you have always referred to this salad?!?" Well, yes..... and suddenly, with a gleam in his eye, my dad exclaimed "It's suicide salad!"

So, without further ado--here is the recipe for:

BOB'S MOM'S FUNERAL SALAD

1. Cook one package of small sea shell pasta

2. At the same time, boil eggs (I use a tried and true method--put cold eggs into a pot of cold water, salt, cover, and bring to a boil. When the water starts to boil, turn the burner off and let the eggs sit on the burner for about 15 minutes. Voila!).

3. Drain the pasta and add the following: chopped celery, chopped sweet pickles, a couple of small cans of sliced black olives, and about 3/4 pound of shrimp.

4. Mix it all up with some mayo and salt and pepper.

5. Slice the boiled eggs and lay them over the top of the salad.

6. Refrigerate, preferably over night. The salad is best when the pickle juices and olive juices can really soak in.

Enjoy!