Looka Me!! Ya hoo!!

Two socks, one circ, two socks at once on the magic loop!!!

Remember the socks that didn't match? Well, I ripped out the entire leg of the smaller one and re-knit it with the correct number of stitches. I did both gusset decreases separately and now I'm working on the foot, two socks on the needle at once.

My opinion, I love it. There is a big advantage:
Two socks get done at once. OK, Ok, the needle length isn't ideal. BUT: Two socks get done at once, buy a longer needle. You like the Addis...let your conscience be your guide. Time to e-mail knitpicks to come out with size 0 and 1 in 40" cables. I am very excited about this. I may attempt to do two socks at once pretty much the whole way next time. I think the cable is too short to accommodate all the sts through the gusset decrease though. Here's the plan.

1. Get sock 1 started, do 10 rnds of ribbing, put on holder.
2. Get sock 2 started, do 10 rnds of ribbing.
3. Put sock 1 back on the needle with sock two, continue in ribbing (I usually do 20 rnds) and do all of the legs at the same time.
4. Do sock 1 heel flap + turn while sock 2 hangs out on the cable.
5. Do sock 2 heel flap + turn and then put on stitch holder.
6. Do sock 1 through the gusset and gusset decrease, put on holder.
7. Do sock 2 through the gusset and gusset decrease.
8. Put sock 1 back on the needle and sail through the foot and toe.
9. Kitchener both and they come off the needles within a few mins of each other.
Ta-da!

I am going to attempt a toe up sock soon. It would be really nice to finish two socks at once and not have all these little balls of sock yarn decorating my house. I could basically just go until I ran out of yarn for the most part. Not the next pair though. I am itchin' to try out my STR Rose Quartz and I am going to do the Crosshatch Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks.

That's what I'm going to try, so stay tuned.

As for the Wallaby, I've nearly recovered from my nervous breakdown short dilemma, I was able to knit enough rounds and I will be re-joining the pouch tonight. Then, only 10" more to be back where I was the other day.

In other news, I went to NYC for work. I used to go every single day and now I only go once in awhile. It was an adventure and now I'm back to my LI office which is about 1/3 of the commute so I have a 'longer day'. That means more free time but I usually spend it working.

Two more weeks of double daycare and I will be home free. I think I will be a millionaire. Maybe step up a few things around here. Let's see what do I need? More stash? A new set of needles? (I'm wearing out my Options?) I know, time to save for a new front door and to fix the leak in the roof and to finish the basement. My contractor will retire someday so I need to get this done. I just have to plan out the basement and we'll have a nice big playroom. We'll wire the walls for optimum sound and get a nice large screen tv down there. I have two gliders to knit in and one can go down there. I'll put in a nice dehumidifier that drains to the outside so I don't have to dump the tray. It'll be nice, I'll the kids will have a really nice playroom. Too bad the lighting sucks. I do have a good electrician now though. Outside outlets and pool grounding will be done on June 29th. Yippeee!!!

Ho hum, it's 7:25am, time to get ready to make license plates go to work.

Stay tuned for more stories of the Wallaby and the Socks.

Endangered Species

Are Wallabies endangered? Or is that three year old daughters? Are the Gremlins back?

I was in the kitchen, getting things ready for dinner and I peeked out and noticed her playing in my knitting. She looked VERY guilty and I asked her to stop. Later, we were all swimming in the pool. I came into the house and saw that the puppy had grabbed one of her stuffed animals so I took it away. I then checked on the Wallaby...and he was WOUNDED. A HOLE!

See the HOLE. I quickly blamed the puppy. Then, the rest of the family came into the house and the little girl sheepishly said, "No, she didn't do it...I did". "YOU DID WHAT? HOW?" "I cut it with a scissor". Why in the world would she ever do such a thing?? My husband felt really bad but his answer was, "Because she's three".

UGH!! So, I ripped it all out, below the beautiful pouch join by 11 rnds, not to mention the other 40 or so. So, let's say 50 rounds, 200 sts in a round, 10,000 stitches. How many hours worth of work is that?! UGH! (say UGH! as Lucy did in Charlie Brown Christmas when bobbing for apples, 'my lips touched DOG LIPS'.)

It was a very bad evening. Mostly because I went berserk for a walk and calmed down. Lesson learned, do not leave scissors in bottom of knitting basket where innocent DD could find them and cut things up that aren't paper. Sadly, vacation is over and I will be returning to work tomorrow. No time to knit this all back up.

Here's how the sleeves are coming along, almost ready to be joined. There are two there, I just had folded it in half. They're past the elbow now. Had the sleeves been joined and she did this, I would've had to be taken away in a straight jacket. I think I would've totally flipped.

In other news, we hit the beach for the first time this season. We went to Jones Beach for a little walk the other night. I enjoy looking at the city folk. Those are the people that come out from the city for the day at the beach and are often unprepared, sort of like I would be if I had to go camping. Unfortunately, some of them are yahoos and they're often the ones that drown because they don't have the same respect for the water as native Long Islanders do. Kids here grow up in the ocean, they've been knocked down by waves and don't underestimate the undertow. City kids swim in pools, they come out here and do crazy things. Here's a nice shot of the little waves at 7PM. The water was 52 degrees and some of the yahoos were swimming in it, see them there in the second photo?

Every picture tells a story...do you think maybe someone cut up their Wallabies and they need to 'cool down' a bit?

I'm Sailing Away with Wallaby!

This project is going so fast. You know, I can really get alot of things done when I don't have to go to work. I am on Vacation!!! I am waiting for the pool man to return. I plugged in the filter and it was as if I put one of those fire hydrant caps on the fire hydrant....it's squirting all over. He should be here this morning so we'll knit while waiting.

Here's the body, completed and waiting for the sleeve join.

I have started to knit the sleeves and I have decided, after much debate with myself, that I am going to knit two sleeves at the same time and they're going to be knit flat instead of in the round. Here's why:

1. It's easier to assemble and join when the sleeve is flat.

2. I am almost missing the purl stitch.

3. I like to sew sleeve seams and it'll look more like a grown up sweater if it has seams down the sleeves.

4. No second sleeve syndrome.

5. No need to count rows.

I do have to mark the edge of one sleeve otherwise I don't turn in the right place. There is a little phrase about "tails together" but I can't remember it now. If you don't turn in the right place, then one sleeve will have more rows than the other and that would be a very bad thing.

I did that last night watching American Idol, such a joke that show is...but anyway, I have to increase twice more and then knit until 18" in stockinette and join to the body. I'd like to get them done today but we'll see how the day goes because I have other things to do and they're only 5" so far. It's early.....

Also, I picked this up at Amazon. Being you have to spend $25 to get free shipping and I have an entire DVD Collection of children's classics, it was time for another knitting book. I was surprised at how nice it was. Although I have no desire to knit a 'Wand Cozy' or Harry's Cape or Molly's Technicolor Sweater, most of the patterns are very nice. There are house sweaters, a stuffed owl pattern, socks, beret and cap, the now infamous Harry Scarf (which takes like 600 yards of yarn, BTW) and is knit in the round so it's a tube. Harry's cape would be great for a Halloween costume. There is also a very nice visible invisibility shawl. Tons of stuff, nicely laid out, all in the spirit of Harry. Note that this book isn't endorsed by J.K. Rowling so there are no beautiful illustrations or movie pictures, just regular models but I love it just the same. **** !
I can't wait until the new book comes out.

On to other news. Yesterday, I took DS to kindergarten screening. They had a box of tissues there and I found out why. My little baby bundle of joy went waltzing down the hall with three evaluators to see about his "Kindergarten Prepardness". I sat in the lobby and cried..well...just a little. Ok, ok, more than a little. He's embarking on a new stage of his life and his mother is a basketcase. They asked him a few questions about where he lives, his phone number, things like that. They also asked him, "Why do you brush your teeth?" and he went on to tell them the truth. "Because if you don't the cavity monster will come and take them away when you're sleeping". He said they didn't laugh. I wonder if other kids have told them about the cavity monster? Only a few more months and I won't have two preschoolers. It's sad but it's good because public school is 'free' and day care is COSTLY!

Stay tuned for more Wallaby Adventures!

I am the Wallaby, Goo Goo Goo Joob!

It's 7:45 am. I stayed up a little late last night to ensure that I got well past the pouch so I could show you how nice it looked. It's rolling a bit so we'll get more pictures after a bit more of the body is complete but check this out...


Ain't that purdy? It's really ingenious the way that the pouch is attached. You can't even SEE IT, totally invisible from both the wrong and the right sides. This is the way to go. I didn't find it difficult to do the math. The hardest part was picking up the stitches. They're picked up after the ribbing plus one row of increases. If you run the thread and look for the little bar, it helps alot. I didn't place the Wallaby down evenly because I didn't want the markers or sts to pull off the end of the needle but the pouch is perfectly centered. Now, back to stockinette (knit only, remember, we're in the round people!) Round and round and up and down she goes.... Just knit...and more knit .... yawn..until armpits. I may start the sleeves this afternoon, we'll see how much knitting we get done today. It's a nice day and I have to take the kiddies out on a vacation day thing, like beach, park, zoo.


Another suggestion on the Wallaby, when I'm up to the shoulders, the number of sts in a round will be well over 200. I am using a 40" circular and sorta magic looping this. The directions call for a shorter cable and I don't think that that would be too comfy to work with. I think we're almost at FOUR HUNDRED for the XL size so keep that in mind. The good thing about the longer cable is that I can lie it down and get a good look at the size as well as try it on. Still looking a bit small though for 44" sweater. You can't tell from the picture, where it looks even smaller, but it seems like it's going to be a smallish men's medium. My gauge is still totally correct. This means when I make them for the kids, I'm going up a full size.


I also want to tell you that I came across a lovely photo of a white or natural color cotton Wallaby on the web at another blog which had cables on the pouch and around the hood. You can really modify this pattern any way you want. The cables were lovely! I was thinking of doing seed stitch but I like the cables better. Let me make this once and see how I like it and then I can change the pattern here and there. I'm a little confused on the way the directions read for the sleeves getting attached right now...I have to look at them again when I'm awake. I think that maybe there is a comma in the wrong place and I'm reading it wrong. For those of you unfamiliar with Cottage Creations patterns, they aren't conventional in that they don't read like a normal pattern. They're 'conversational'. The Wallaby pattern is in every size from toddler to big grown up man. You can make it out of worsted weight wool, wool blend or cotton. People have converted it to bulky weight, too. It can be knit with or without a hood per the directions. People have also knit in the round tee-shirts with a yoke or split collar, like a polo shirt. Just make it short sleeves instead of long. Very versatile and minimal finishing is required. That's part of the reason this is so fun. It's probably nicer for kids and babies to have seemless than grown ups but we'll see how it comes out. I am imagining on a woman it'd be very 'shapeless' but I could be wrong.

In other knitting news, two legs and gussets are done on the blue/purple broad spiral ribbed socks. I'm about ready to put them both onto the needle and knit the feet together. It's something that I haven't tried with magic looping yet.



In other news:


I think the puppy is finally calming down. She's learned to sit for her food and stay (sorta!) and she knows to come when called, most of the time. She has to learn to stop going on my couch though...
At least the little pink feet are clean, usually she's digging a giant hole out of the yard, under the fence, or deep down to China.

The pool is up but not running. (sigh) The clowns that put it together didn't tighten all the screws so it was like Niagra Falls when I turned on the water. The screws are really nuts and bolts and should be tightened with a rachet but I don't own anything that small. Furthermore, I don't want to hold the nut with pliers while turning the screw in the opposite direction because I'll only strip the nut and have more problems. In addition, it's squirting water from a place that doesn't have a screw. Maybe a bad gasket? In any event, let them come and fix it. That's Wednesday. Two more days for the sun and leaves to rot in what is becoming dirty water. I had visions of crystal clear but not now! It'll be ugly before long.

On the diet front, I was sick. I was sick for like a week, must've been cholera or something. Friday was the peak and I am just starting to feel better. Needless to say, I lost a bunch of weight and water. I drank Gatorade, which doesn't taste as bad as I was imagining. I thought it would taste like Tang. I will probably put on a pound or two when I rehydrate but I'm down about almost five more. We'll see where that takes us. Gotta look good when I'm up there on my deck for all the world to see!

I've Been Workin' on the Wallaby, All the Live Long Day...

Well, time to update everyone on the Wallaby as well as offer suggestions and comments to those of you knitting or thinking of knitting this one. I am thoroughly enjoying this pattern. It's easy enough to go fast and it's hard enough to keep my interest.

So, yesterday Shrek openned and DH took DS and DD to see it. The Wallaby looked like this when they left in the morning:

You can see it if you look closely, I ran a little dark pink sock yarn through "THE ROW" to pick up the pouch sts. Then, I continued on to work the body. This picking up sts for the pouch sounds easier than it is. With careful planning, you can do it! Then, I marked the beg of rnd and the halfway point on the working row. I ticked off 10 sts at a time and I decided to pick up 10, check the alignment of each one, pick up the next 10, etc. I pulled the yarn through the left side and pulled the yarn through the right side and then proceeded to go blind pickin gup the stitches. I got through it. My suggestion is don't knit for 6" (or more, as I did because it was late and straight stockinette was my fancy at that time) before doing it. Knit a few rows, then pick them up. I used an afghan hook, got the sts all onto the needle, then turned the whole piece upside down and slipped them onto the knitting needle.

I also used pins to ensure that I got the sts on the needles aligned with the sts on the afghan hook as I worked across the row. Then, I knit the pouch, put the sts on the stitch holder and got back work on the body.

I went to bed last night when it looked like this. More progress was made today and I will show you that soon. Tonight: Pouch Fusing and the Sopranos! This is supposed to work up to a 44" chest and I am right on when it come to gauge. It will not fit Tony Soprano. It looks small to me but we'll see how it turns out. If it's snug, it'll probably fit me and, aw shucks, I'll have to make a bigger one for the hubby.

I leave you for today with the Shrek kids:

Is it Soup Yet?

Ta-Da! You can see the puppy in the foreground checking it out. I hope she doesn't eat it.....but anyway, you can now see the wonderful exposure my backyard has. Everyone for several blocks will be able to see me in a bathing suit when sunning myself on the deck, right over the top of the 6' fence. We can fill it only 8-12 inches a day, only in sunlight, in order to warranty the liner. Seems weird. They must make cheapy liners these days. So, right now, we're on inch 7 or so being we only had a little bit of sunlight yesterday. I'm shooting for a foot today though! It's running a bit now and it'll run a few more hours this afternoon. I want it up an running by Sunday at the latest so hope for lotsa sunshine. Of course, being I stopped global warming by buying this thing, it's only 57 degrees out now so we'll see how this goes.... I have memories of two summers ago where hubby had a last day of school party for his teacher friends and we had to stay indoors. It was 100 degrees that June day.

Meanwhile, the electrician fixed the spaghetti! Here's a before shot, so you could see that he had his work cut out for him.

And, now, I give you a picture of the eighth wonder of the world! A CLEARED OFF Kitchen countertop. It's all nice and neat and inside the panel now. He's coming back yet again to ground the pool and install two outside outlets for my patio. That never happens but I figured I would be nice and clear it so the electrician could install the under the cabinet lighting, which is really cool. Three bars of halogen lights, they warm up so that'll help with the very cold winter days if need be. They're perfect for making midnight snacks.

Speaking of which, those two bars of butter and four more of their friends are gone from my body. Mysteriously. I guess it's been all the running up and down the stairs I've been doing.

Needless to say, the Wallaby settled down for a nap yesterday so I'll have to update you tomorrow. Little daughter has been asking, "can you knit my poncho? I want to be Little Red Riding Hood". Soon it'll be too hot to wear it anyway but she still wants it. I'll finish the blue socks and then get that poncho going.

The Pool, the Spaghetti and the Wallaby

Well, good morning to you! It's a nice 60 degree day here today. I must've stopped global warming by spending my money on a pool. Here's a picture of the backyard pre-pool:

Ha ha ha, had you there for a moment, didn't I? More on this story later. Here's the real picture. They should be here within the hour to start digging things up...I see the gremlins have returned once again to fiddle with the date setting on my camera. Sheesh.

Did someone say Wallaby? I knew you would ask. I am having a fun time with this pattern. It's written in coversational English, which is so weird. I am just about done with the ribbing and will be putting in the increases for the body of the Wallaby and working on the pouch. It doesn't seem to be all that difficult but it looks like alot of people complain about it. It involves a bit of math though. We'll see how it goes. Here's the little guy now:

DH is very pleased with the color of his Wallaby. I was thinking that he wouldn't like it being it's kinda greenish. It's Cascade Superwash #860. The color that came out in the picture above is pretty accurate.

I also have an electrician coming today. Being I live in a cape with the kitchen in the back plus a room behind it, I don't have a kitchen window. It makes for warmth in the summer. The kitchen is also unheated and honestly, if there were two days that I noticed it, it was alot. There isn't a need for heat there. Being it doesn't have a window, there isn't a place for a skylight, so, it's dark most of the time. Except maybe in June when there are many hours of daylight. For the rest of the year, it's as dark in there as Alaska on Halloween. Anyway, I have an electrician coming today to fix the spaghetti electrical box I have downstairs. I'll upload a picture later. Gotta take a before and after picture of that. He'll also be installing bar lights under my kitchen cabinets. Yes, you guessed it, I had been inspired to clear my countertop and did it. (Plus knit the baby afghan and do 86 loads of wash. Plus, bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan...) YIPPEE!! So, that's where the spaghetti comes in.

Now, more on the story of the picture above. That is a picture of Dowling College and the main building belonged to a Vanderbilt and was called Idle Hour. For you history buffs, read the story here. It's beautiful, it is on the water and was a playground of the turn of the century rich and famous old money sort. My brother in law, a native Floridian, had never been to NY until he was engaged to my sister. They married in 1996 and currently live in Florida and probably always will. In 2000, DH and I bought this house. For those of you familiar with Long Island, these houses, particularly where I live, were built for the GIs after WWII who were back from the war and now wanted to live in the 'country'. You can read about that here. You can also spend the day on that site, interesting stuff! Anyway, the houses are cookie cutter, more or less the same, cape, cape, cape, cape, split, split, split, split, you get the picture. Nothing fancy at all...except the price tag. So, when we bought the house, I told him how much we paid for it. It was a little more than three times what they paid for their house. Their house is much nicer than mine, located in the heart of town in a beautiful area. I said, "Oh, it's nice, I'll send you a picture". So, I e-mailed a few pictures of Dowling College/Idle Hour to him and had him going for awhile. Tee hee hee!!

One more thing, I don't need to knit another sleeve for my son's hooded raglan. I knit two sleeves at the same time. It now just requires some assembly. That is probably a good Friday morning project for me. Maybe, we'll have yet another finished object to show you soon enough. It requires assembly and a knit hood.

I have like a real blog now. I feel like such a grown up these days, a house, a husband, 2.0 kids, 2.0 dogs, a pool in the backyard, spaghetti in my basement and light in my kitchen. I thought this day would never come back when I was four and I told my mom I wanted to be a grown-up but it finally has. She was right, being a kid was fun! Being a grown up is fun too but the recovery time has changed from seconds of crying to aches and pains all day. But anyway...onward, I've been blogging here for quite sometime and the Wallaby is calling me..as is the laundry basket.

I now leave you with this quote to think about:
"It is easy to say how we love new friends, and what we think of them, but words can never trace out all the fibers that knit us to the old".
-George Elliot.

I thought that was very nice.

Visions of Sugarplums?

The other day, the kids asked me about Christmas. My daughter wants a Denali, black. My son wants the world but that's a story for another day.

I turned my back for 10 minutes. After all, he is five. He does understand alot of things. She's only 3 1/2, able to get into things but is basically well mannered and calm. There I was, blogging away and ... all was quiet on the western front. So, I went to the other end of the house...then, what to my wondering eye should appear....but this on the floor of my kitchen:

Isn't that lovely?

It's SUGAR. Dumped on the floor. I flipped. I then went into my sunroom and saw....the attempt at "clean-up". This wasn't an 'accident', it wouldn't have been in two places! What a mess...Like Hansel and Gretel, they left a nice sugar trail to the bathroom where they were experimenting with a new syrup recipe with what was remaining out of the four or so cups that they had dumped on the floor. Sticky counter, sticky floor, and a carpet....I flipped some more. I upset the puppy with my flippin' out ... and ... she couldn't hold it....so we added that to the mess.

Sugar, puppy pee pee, syrup, kids with sugar plum clothing. Time for bath #2 for them both and all day long time out. I told my son that I was calling the bad boy school. This can't be tolerated and he'll be eating gruel, like Oliver, before long. And...cleaning a chimney...I may have to call Nanny 911. They were given their second bath of the day and spent the entire afternoon in full blown time out. We didn't go outside in the beautiful weather other than as necessary.

Let's talk about better things!

Later that day, Lorna's Dora Colors arrived!

They are the same dye lot and doesn't the one on the far right seem to have a deeper purple? It's like that in person as well. I'll be knitting from three balls at once. Should prove interesting.

Also, the 'gray' Cascade for the Wallaby arrived, too! I think that it's kinda greenish, as opposed to grayish in person. I love the color but I'm not certain that he'll love it. I hope so.

Here's a better shot. It matches the greenish half moon in the pattern I chose for my glider. I love the color. It's earthy and mossy and gray and green and natural. Being baby blanket was done, (YAY!) I casted on 180 sts in the round and have 1" of ribbing done. I did that while watching Seinfeld last night in my freshly vacuumed sunroom....

So, 1" of Wallaby done, baby blanket done, blue socks in the works, poncho in the bullpen. (YAY YAY!!)

BTW, I have already knit the two sleeves for the Hooded Raglan. I knit them at the same time so I wouldn't get 'second sleeve syndrome'. Everything is ready to go, pin it, sew it, add the hood. I can probably do that tomorrow while I'm home alone and the pool is going up. (YAY YAY YAY!!!) It still looks kinda small but the pieces are all rolly. I'll have to unroll and pin and see what's what.

I see the Gremlins were at work again, fooling with the date setting on my camera.....

Called in 'Sock' today...

Well, I called in sick today. I haven't been sick for months but I felt sick this morning and last night so I decided to not go in and rough it in the office. Instead, I'll rough it here at home.

Here's the updates:

Pool Update: Sand delivery is scheduled for "Today or Tomorrow, between 9-3". That's a nice window. I'm parked in the street and a tire is low and I don't know what to do with a flat. I'm helpless when it comes to anything more than checking oil and adding gas. Kids have been signed up for swimming lessons. My son swims in the ocean, under large waves, holding my hand. He has swam across a 3' pool but not really in water over his head all that much. This pool will be over his head. My daughter is afraid of the ocean waves and sometimes won't even stick her feet in. Two summers ago, she swam out there as a mere yearling, last summer, she wanted no part of it. We'll see how she does this year, alot can happen in a year.

Diet Update: I have been eating Nutrisystems and have cheated here and there. I could drink more water on some days and I admit that I am hungry from time to time and squeeze in a cheese stick, a few melba rounds but not an ice cream sundae. I have also used the Chinese Buffet as an excuse to pig out because I cannot control myself when it comes to dumplings. That's like, once a month. Next planned day off is June 14, pre-k graduation night so we'll eat out. That lousy half a pound is back. Two sticks of butter. It's the attack of Gremlins, Part Deux.

Puppy Update: I think we may be done with pee pee in the house...I think I like watching the Dog Whisperer. He showed me how to bite her back. She doesn't do it viciously, she just plays and wants to hold on with her teeth.

Knitting Update: Baby Ripples to Knit, Leisure Arts #3159, #7, Chevron Ripple. It's done and photo is in my brag book! It's ok. I don't like the yarn and the gauge is a little loose and I bound off a little tightly. Ok, ok, it's very, very nice. It's also my first knitted afghan. (I have crocheted tons of them). I like the color, hate the yarn, it's that Caron softee stuff. It splits easily. Next time, Red Heart that new soft one, feels like it's been waxed.

Options Update: Could it be?? Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrreeeeeeeeee's OPTIONS!


I got some extra cables, 40" and 60". I have it in the back of my mind to make my sister in law an afghan for Christmas for her new house. Maybe five panels, like a fisherman knit, two panels of one pattern, three of another. I will design it myself. We'll see how motivated I am.

My little girl cannot contain herself. I am done with the baby blanket and now only have two WIPs. The blue socks, which look now have both legs and gussets complete and need two feet. I am considering doing them together...the other WIP is the hooded raglan for my son which needs one sleeve, to be put together and then one hood. I suppose I could knit the sleeve today. I am not so sure this is going to fit him. He's 5 and I made a 6 - 8 size to be safe but he's grown a few inches since I started around February! I'll have to just make him a Wallaby after all. I haven't heard back from Knitpicks. I did e-mail them and ask if they sent my needles via mule train. That order took like 11 days to get here.

Yarn should be coming today. My daugter can hardly contain herself with excitement. Being we're home today, she keeps looking out the window to see if the priority mail is here yet. She also wants Elizzabetty to come over and help her wind her yarn. She wants a 'Little Red Riding Hood Poncho". I have to admit, for a three year old, that was quite observant of her to relate that pattern with Red.

I think that I will whip out the hooded raglan and see how it's going, photograph it and then see if it'll fit the big boy. Next, I'll be casting on for either the Wallaby for DH, a Wallaby for DS, or the poncho.

Until next time, happy completed baby afghan day to you and may my belly feel better.

One Goal...Up?

Well, I spent some more money. I just purchased the Knitting Pure & Simple Hooded Poncho #243 pattern for my daughter as well as Lorna's Lace's Shepard Worsted Iris Garden #12. I'm putting this on my to do list. She'll love the "Dora Colors". I also like Red Rover......



Still working on finishing up my Cherry Tree Hill that I've ripped out a few times.

Cherry Tree Hill Sock #2, restarted:

I've been very tired lately. Too much happening here.

Pool Update: The pool just got delivered today. It's huge! And, it all fits onto a 4x4 pallet. Almost the same size pallet that we'd need for my WIPs....The deck is huge too. It's all one big giant 5.5x16 foot piece of aluminum. I hope the dog doesn't chew the carpet off, I'll be really mad at her for doing that. She will most certainly be inspecting it and will try to eat it. I'm going to have to do something with it, like wrap it in contractor bags.

Kid update: Meanwhile, my son has decided he hates pre-K and he wants to stay home all day, every day with his mommy. He wants to be 'retired'. He never wants to work or do anything. He doesn't want to take piano lessons because he wants to be a bathroom fixer, not a musician. He also wants to be a professional knitter. I was hoping for the Nobel Peace Prize but it seems that his aspirations are not the same as mine. What to do?

The little girl, on the other hand, continues to be Miss Independent. She wants only a few things out of life. A big, black Denali or a Yukon to drive around in and a pocketbook and a poncho. Easy to please.

Both of them want to go to the beach and I think I'm with them. Summer is just around the corner and even though it's only 62 degrees here today, the humidity is like 200%.

Puppy Update: She's booked for boarding when we go on vacation this summer.

Diet Update: Goal hasn't been achieved, I found a pound, darnit.

Sock Update: I have completed the gusset on sock #2 so it no longer looks like that picture above.

Kitchen Update: I have an electrician coming next week to install under the cabinet lighting. I can't find my countertop yet...should I start clearing it off? Just push everything into a pail?

Knitpicks Order Update: I think they sent my Options Needle Set via muletrain. I ordered it on the 2nd and according to tracking, it should've been here yesterday. I seems that it is still sitting in Edison, NJ. Four days in Ohio, two days in Edison, probably one day here on Long Island. When I receive them, they'll have seen more of the country than I have. I e-mailed Knitpicks to inform them that they should look into their shipping methods but haven't received a reply yet.

Wallaby Update: Hello Knitty has my yarn and it's on its way to my house. Wallaby, here we come!

OK, remember, one blanket, one sock, one sweater and that's it. Three projects for the WIP basket at one time. After that, it's too many. The baby blanket (which I still haven't showed you) also had some un-knitting done to it the other day. I am nearly near the cut off point. Like Scheherazade, I must keep you all in suspense as to what the pattern is and what it looks like so you'll come back for more of my antics.

Until next time, let's have another look at Lorna's "Dora Colors".

One Goal Down

Good Morning Loyal Readers!

One goal down, it seems the 10 lbs is gone off my body. Only I noticed but that's ok. (Ok, one other person at work). Phew. I better not find it.

We are now into May, post Kentucky Derby Day, post Cinco De Mayo, nearly time for summer. So, we bought a pool. More on that later, including pictures. First off, this weekend was the MS Walk. Here's a picture of our highly motivated sucessful team, Sleepy's Crew. You can pick me out, I'm the one with the sunglasses. My dogs hind end is peaking out there, too. The other is a picture of Bunker trying to keep warm.

At the bottom of the page, we have a nice picture of my Dark Pink Broad Spiral Ribbed Socks which are finally completed!

Today, I will be telecommuting due to pool prep. I need to take the Beast (Zoey, the puppy) for a walk so she'll be calm.

In other news: I'm happy to tell you all that Elizzabetty's Weather Pixie is out of her ugly outfit and into a nice two piece leather ditty that is very becoming. We can all rest easily tonight.

More later! Including pool pictures and blue socks pictures. And don't forget to check out my Brag Book that I've been working on.

Must be Gremlins

This morning, I hopped on the scale hoping to achieve one of my goals, to lose 10 lbs. Well, I did lose weight...but cumulative it's only 9.5. That's two sticks of butter, a half pint of milk, two skiens of the old 4oz kind. Someone was putting it on the back of my scale. I thought that maybe I should run out to the orthodontist to have my braces removed for the weekly weigh in. I then decided a shower would be cheaper. I must have 8 oz of dirt on me. I then proceeded to dry my hair, really well. I jumped up and down and guess what? It still was only 9.5 lbs. Someone was standing on the scale with me.

Then, I thought about the other things that happen in the house. The washing machine has been eating socks for years. Someone leaves butter wrappers, empty juice boxes and dirty knives in my kitchen sink. Someone uses the entire bottle of lotion soap in the bathroom within a day or two of me putting it there. Someone messes up my kitchen counter when I'm not looking. Someone also put a mistake in the dark pink ribbed socks.

Must be Gremlins......

It also must be time to go to work!

Gearing up for the Wallaby!

Well, I've reached a decision today. It's time to make hubby the Wonderful Wallaby that he wants. He's picked his color: Cascade Superwash 220 color number 860. I am considering ordering the yarn from Hello Knitty, being they charge $2.50 to ship and have very good prices. I may order it from Infinite Yarns being they're local and I like to keep the local businesses in business. Let's get a price first!

In any event, I got the yarn coming...I have the pattern in hand...he picked his color... only one more thing is needed! SO....I also treated myself to the Knitpicks Options Needle set today! I got the needles and a few extra cables. I'm wondering if you can remove the needles from the cables and use them as stitch holders? Do they have endcaps to put on? I should've sprung for a spare 0 and 1 while I was at it though, being I'm thinking about making socks two at a time going forward.

I'm also thinking about taking out the pink sock with the mistake. It bothers me. Let me put that on hold for now.......

The blue socks are coming along nicely! Love's always better, the second time around! My frogging skills have really increased. While waiting on the needles and yarn to come in, I'm going to finish the baby blanket. Only a few more rows to go.

So, let's set some goals for ten days ahead:

1. Finish the Blue Socks for the last time.
2. Finish the baby blanket that I haven't shown you yet.
3. At least start the sleeve for Daniel's blue hooded raglan pullover.
4. Ensure that the 10 lbs is gone off of my body.

Yep, I've been hanging at 8-9 lbs for awhile now. Tomorrow is weigh in day and I feel fatter than ever. Tomorrow night is departmental night out. We're going to dinner and then to bowl. Should be fun! (I love Burgers and Beer diet!!! OH MY!) Today I had a yogurt, two meal replacement bars (one for breffie, one for lunch) a salad with lowfat blue cheese dressing and six large croutons (or as my daughter says, "FUTONS") and one cup of fresh strawberries. I'm not hungry but I'm looking forward to dinner. Nutrisystems Chicken Pasta Parm over a large bed of spaghetti squash with two tablespoons of grated cheese. Then, delicious water. Then, for dessert, nutrisystems chocolate bar with the crunchies inside or maybe a blueberry lemon dessert bar which I like. ....

Then, finish the sock!

BTW, did you click over to Elizzabetty's blog? Her weatherpixie needs a new wardrobe, don't you think? What Not to Wear?!