Enthusiasm

The Lotus Blossom Tank has just zoomed along to the point where it is almost finished. I just have to knit the edging and weave in the ends and it will official be a finished object. For a tank top I didn't want to knit, I can't wait to work on it so I can finish it and wear it. This is an extremely wearable item and it has already received the praise of non-knitters; quite an accomplishment.

The appreciation of non knitters speaks volumes regarding this pattern. A knitter will look at it, understand the effort time and skill needed to make it and give a genuine nod of satisfaction at the finished item. The knitter is usually familiar with the pattern and has seen plenty of LBTs, maybe even a few in the wild. A non knitter, though, will probably have little to no awareness of the LBT pattern, and will often times think of the act of knitting as something odd and novel. So when a non knitter sees this particular sweater and gives me a "wow," I get a little giddy inside. The "wow" factor generally increases when I mention the yarn is bamboo. I'm hoping to get a few more wows when this sucker is finally done.

Not only am I enthusiastic about this sweater, but I am enthusiastic about Little Clover's baseball season. I love seeing the kids out there playing giving it their all. I love watching them improve throughout the course of the season, and I love seeing their excitement when they play well. Little Clover especially gets excited and will occasionally check the stands to make sure we saw his super awesome play or hit. I try not to disappoint and cheer loudly and exuberantly. I never knew being such a huge fan could be painful.

Somehow, I manage to injure myself at Little Clover's game, by clapping. Those of you who know me, are not surprised. Italian thinks I might of broken my hand because it is badly bruised. He asked if it hurt. I said only for a little while, but I knitted through it. I have a tank top to finish.

Growing

Today, I stole. I stole a little bit of time for just myself and had a date with Maggie, my spinning wheel. Maggie and I settled in the living room with this lavender roving and we made yarn. I feel slightly bad about stealing some time for myself instead of picking up Little Clover right away, but honestly, I wasn't ready to see him just yet.

Today, he became a fourth grader, and sure, he probably didn't grow a centimeter in the time between being dropped off for his last day of third grade and being picked up, but the fact remains, he's older now and, well, bigger. He's hitting the upper limits of elementary school. This school year, his friends will enter the double digit age range. Plus, I've already noticed the shift in his perspective. Now, when I participate in school events, I'm only present to him on the periphery. He's fully engaged in a world of boys and friends and sports, and I'm becoming more of a chauffeur and less a part of the activities. Trust me, I view these shifts as wonderful. Maybe I'm doing an ok job and he'll be a fantastically independent adult when the time is right, but I sure do miss his little hands in mine when I see him at school.

His hands have filled more of mine lately. My time to myself today was a way for me to pour all these thoughts and feelings into a yarn. One day, I'll pull out the yarn in whatever form it will have become and remember the day of transition, when my little person grew a little bit bigger. Then, maybe I'll have an easier time of looking at my big person and remember when he was little.

Lotus

I'm not sure if bad vibes lingered around my Lotus Blossum Tank or if it was purely a mental hump I needed to get over, but I was not really enjoying the LBT. The lace repeat seemed complex and difficult and I didn't pull it out of my knitting bag with excitement. Instead, a sense of obligation hung around the yarn and pattern. Each time I worked on the piece, a little voice in my head nagged me about not "feeling" like I wanted to knit it. This voice practiced tough love and shouted that she didn't care whether I felt like knitting the LBT or not, but to suck it up and knit! I don't like this voice. I think she is rude and a meanie, but she is also right.

After the first lace repeat was complete, the second repeat was easier and more rational. The third repeat was a walk in the park, and the fourth repeat was reading my knitting. Then, I realized, I was done. The LBT would be straight knit stitches from then on. Whoo hoo! I shouted with joy. Then I heard the little voice again. This time though, she told me I did a good job. I think I'm going to love this knitted sweater.

Encore

Remeber the opera? Well, Wednesday night, Little Clover got to do it again. His school did such an amazing job with our local Opera company that they were invited back, along with two other schools, to perform highlights from "Mystery on the Docks" as part of the Opera Company's season preview performance. The season preview was also broadcasted live over our public radio station. Needless to say, this was a very big night for Little Clover, so we let him pick a special dinner treat.

He picked McDonald's. I hate McDonald's.

I tried to steer him away from McDonald's by offering up other possible restaurants he likes, but we never visit. Burger King tempted him the most, but he wasn't sure what toy they offered at the moment, where as he knew McDonald's carried the Speed Racer toys. Italian and I told him we could go to McDonald's to ge the toy and go somewhere else to get food. Little Clover loved this idea, because he just isn't that fond of the food either. I pull up to the drive through, and when asked what I would like, I responded, "I'd like a Happy Meal toy, please."

This confused the drive through attendee, who asked, "What kind of Happy Meal do you want?"

"No, no," I said. "I just want the Happy Meal toy."

"You want a Happy Meal"

"No, just the toy."

"Just the toy?"

"Yes, just the toy." Finally, I think he got it.

"What kind of toy do you want?" This was an odd question to me because I thought we were clear that I wanted the Happy Meal toy. Granted, I didn't go to McDonald's often, but now, I'm beginning to wonder if I am confused.

"I want a boy toy." I respond with a hint of a question in my voice. At this time, Italian looks at me, pauses, and says, "Oh, really? You want a boy toy? Nice."

By the way, all the little kids did a great job at the Opera.

In addition to the opera this week, Italian and I celebrated an anniversary (and I can't wait to show you the gift!) I feel very fortunate to have such a wonderful husband who is not only the love of my life, but my very best friend. He is someone I am blessed to share my life with.

The day after our anniversary, he was telling me about an article he read online that questioned whether it was better to marry your best friend or your prince. I asked, shouldn't the person you marry be both? I think this brought a smile to Italian. He is my best friend, but he is also my Prince Charming. He is my McDreamy and I love him. Happy Anniversary honey :) I love you more than four.

Ok, so I tried to find a "couple" picture of the two of us, but all the picture I have are family pictures, which I think fit us better. We've been a couple for a very long time, but being a family really suites us a bit better.

To be a mom

There are many moments where the love of being a mom hits me. Of course, this strong feeling of enjoyment always occurs on Mother's Day and this year was no different. Mother's Day began with my annual breakfast in bed. Italian gets up early and spends the morning making Eggs Benedict from scratch, topped with fried oysters and served with Andouille sausage cheese grits and a cheese biscuit. He also makes a pancake for Little Clover who likes to have breakfast in bed with me, so my day starts off with extra snuggles from the little person who makes me a mom. Generally, Italian also spoils me with a mimosa, but not this year. This year, I had to drive to my Mother's Day present, the second in a set of knitting class with Lucy Neatby. Gas prices being what they are and in need of exercise, I biked to the yarn shop on Saturday for my first class.

Sunday, though, I let myself sleep in a little longer and drove.

The classes with Lucy Neatby were fantastic. She is lively and colorful and very knowledgeable. I think of myself as a fairly proficient and daring knitter, and stilled learned a lot by being in her class. The first class covered multi-directional knitting. I knit my first triangle and tried free form knitting. Free form knitting was extremely difficult for me because I am a product knitter. I've never knitted for the sake of knitting. I've always knitted with an end goal in mind, so being told, cast on a few stitches and just try things out was a mind scramble. It took about 15 minutes before I relaxed and let my hands go. Once I did, it was actually pretty fun and relaxing. Her tips for keeping track of stitches to pick up later is indispensable, and I love the modified bind-off.

Lucy's second class covered sock knitting. Again, I feel comfortable knitting socks, but learned new things in her class. I adore the channel island cast-on and will turn to it first before any other. Besides, her sock class dispelled the lingering bad feelings from my last socks and I casted on for a new pair later that night.
Casted on for the Retro Rib Sock from Interweave Knits using That Swell Yarn Shop Skinny Duet yarn.

Before I could start knitting after the class, I spent the evening throwing a baseball with my little guy. I love being the mom to such a great kid. He gave me one of the best Mother's Day ever.

Not only do I feel lucky to have two great guys to share my life with, but I also feel fortunate for the moms in my life. My own mom loved me with all her heart. I know this because of the love she gave me growing up. I could feel her love everyday I had with her. I miss her, but her love still lingers around me. I also have a great mother-in-law who has opened her family to me and brought me in as a part of it. One day, I hope to live by her example and be at least half as great of a mother-in-law as she has been to me. My stepmom is yet another mom who I feel blessed to know. She brings great joy to my dad, has been a wonderful grandma to my little guy, and is a joyful addition to my life. I hope she knows how much she is loved by our family. Finally, my grandma is a amazing woman. She is strong and a true matriarch who has guided her family through good times and not so great times. I look up to her as a model of what it means to be independent and sure of oneself while raising a child and being a loving wife. These are just a few of the phenomenal women I know. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Put a sock in it

Today, I present socks:
I think these socks took the longest to knit, but I blame the long knitting time to having to knit the first sock twice. Now that they are complete, we are in full sandal season down South. They will be tucked into a drawer, ready for the first cold snap sometime in November. I still love them.

Pattern: Uptown Boot Sock from Interweave Knits Favorite Socks book

Yarn: Araucania Ranco Multi

Needles: US Size 1, mm

Gauge: 9 stitches to the inch

Size: Made for a US size 7.5 woman's shoes

Notes: I only casts on 56 stitches instead of the recommended 64 stitches. I did increase back to 64 stitches after knitting the cuff for the cabled socks. I also decreased to 12 stitches at the toe instead of the 4 recommended in the pattern.

After casting off the socks, I contemplated what to knit next. I could start another pair of socks, but I have this little sock knitting class this weekend with Lucy Neatby (hee, hee, I am brimming with excitement). For my non-knitting readers, imagine taking a class with an industry pioneer and expert from your field of interest. My weekend is going to be really incredible.

I decided I didn't want to knit socks since I might be inspired by the class and want to cast on something related to what I learned, so I'm knitting a little baby hat for a co-worker instead.

I still want to practice my fair isle. My stitches just pull in more than I like. If I ever want to tackle a stranded sweater, I want my technique to be impeccable. The pattern is from Knitting Little Luxuries by Louisa Harding, knit with cotton from Rowan and Patons. Instead of doubling the strands as the pattern suggests, I kept single strands and only casts on 72 stitches. The hat was a huge hit at the shower. The mom and dad to be both loved it.

p.s. My orchid finally bloomed again after 2 years!

Oh, oh, oh, it's magic

There is something amazingly magically in first flowers and sock heels. Between extracurricular family activities, crazy work schedules, personal commitments, and a disasterly messy house, I haven't had much time to knit, refocus, or clean my house. In addition, reknitting the first Uptown Boot Sock and picking up the cursed Lotus Blossom tank mad my spirit sink and sadden. The knitting was becoming "obligation" knitting and to me, that is one of the worst kinds.

Then, this week, I got two extra "pick-me-ups." All of my flowers in the front yard have been blooming steadily and look lovely. They have even garnered compliments from neighbors. Yet the rosebushes in the back remained bare. I sneaked a peek this week to see if any buds decided to come out and was surprised to see a rose. This lovely little rose quickly bloomed into its full glory a couple of days later and brought some friends. It made me smile.

In addition to the flower, I decided to work on the second Uptown Boot Sock. Some little voice suggested I measure it before I knitted and it is a good thing I did. The sock was ready for the heel. I love sock heels, really I do. It's like taking the last turn on the track when running a 400 yard dash. The heel means you are entering the finally stretch.

I'll soon have a new pair of socks and just in time for a sock class with Lucy Neatby. Now how is that for a fresh start?

The knitting mojo didn't stop with my socks either. The week ended today with a little gift at work. The mailroom dropped of a coffee mug from the company knitting charity group as a thank you for being part of the group this year. Isn't it cute????

Then, I got a call from our community affairs coordinator about expanding the charity group down to my local office. I'll have even more excuses for knitting now!

Bravo

Monday, my wee one performed in an Opera, Mystery on the Docks, performed in three acts. He was a rat.

Actually, all the performers were rats, mine was just the cutest (granted, my opinion is slightly biased). Our city's local opera company has a small educational program and through a grant, Little Clover's school was able to schedule a performance during the day. His music teacher was given two weeks to find performers and rehearse and she did a fantastic job. Roughly 20 kids from the third and fourth grades were selected to perform and Little Clover was given the chance to be on stage.

All of the children worked very hard to be in the Opera. They gave up a week of recess to rehearse the songs and the music. When the time came to perform, they were eager and excited to finally meet the grown-up Opera singers. Then, they performed for grades 1-5, who were an excellent audience. The children watched attentively and the story was quickly drawing them in. Of course, the Opera timed the breaks between acts at the most suspenseful moments, gasps from the children.

At the end, the cast came out for a curtain call while cries of "Bravo!" accompanied the applause. Little Clover beamed and the assistant principal told us we had a budding actor on our hands.

This was huge for Italian and I.

You see, our relationship began around theater. Italian was the technical director for our college theater. I thought he was cute so I joined the theater club. We spent our entire college career performing in plays, playing musical instruments, singing, and taking painting classes. When Little Clover was born, we naturally anticipated having an artsy child. Image our shock when we discovered he had unbelievable athletic ability. We tossed away thoughts of plays and music and plunged into baseball, soccer, and basketball practices. He is great at all things involving a ball and he is fun to watch.

Then, this year, he discovered he had talents in other things. It began with a lead angel part in the school Christmas play, then he began to plink out songs on the piano more and more and is now strumming a guitar. Who knows, maybe he's more of a Renaissance Man than anything else.

In case you are wondering, there is knitting in this post. I knitted the tail for Little Clover's costume using some Fun Fur from my stash and knitting an I-Cord around a couple of pipe cleaners.

Week in review

The week has been a busy week of accomplishments, celebration, and a little bit of pain. The pain has lead to some reflection and the accomplishments and celebrations have lead to much happiness.

We began by celebrating the ordination of The Godfather as a deacon in our local diocese. Our families being Irish and Italian are Catholic and The Godfather and Mrs. Soprano have spent the last five years, yep five long years of classes every other Saturday, studying to become a deacon in the Church. The ordination was very beautiful and shockingly long. It beats the snockers off a High Catholic Marriage Mass which is pretty darn long. It was worth it though and we are proud of the accomplishment.

Then, I began my Lean Sigma training, which I knew was a bit of a big deal, but I didn't fully realize how big of a deal it is. After discovering what I needed to do to become certified, I gained a large amount of respect for the Certified Green Belts and Black Belts I know. Once I recovered from the shock of what I was doing, the pain began and continued all week.

Being the overachiever that I am, I quickly volunteered for the first exercise we did. For my part, I performed squats for a solid 15 minutes. Sure I had fun, but my legs were killing me the next day! I felt like an out of shape sack of potatoes! The pain didn't stop with my legs, either. On Tuesday, we began statistics. I have not had to do advance math on my own without a calculator in a long time. I had to guesstimate the square root of 7 in order to calculate the standard deviation for a normal statistical distribution to then answer the question "At which point will 4 sigma be achieved." My brain was killing me.

Then, on Wednesday, I hit Ravelry withdrawal. I had not been on Ravelry for 4 days and I was itching to see what other people were knitting, what yarns people had just acquired, and what projects were in people's queues. I had not knitted in three days and it was getting to me. I called a special session at home and demanded a small excursion to celebrate something, anything!

We celebrated being Southerns and went out for crawfish.

They were yummy. If you have never had crawfish prepared in a crawfish boil, then come on down south and try it at least once. You will either love it or hate it. There is no in-between. We love it. We invited our neighbors to join us. At the invitation, they looked at us and replied, "but we have children." This is one of the best responses to an invitation I have ever received. They came with us and even brought the children.

Oh, after the crawfish, I had some renewed energy and made some headway on the Lotus Blossom Tank.

I even spun a bit. Tune in tomorrow where I tell you about going to the Opera.

One weight lifted, another one still weighing

I did it! After more than a year, I have finally spun and plied a pound of bamboo fiber. This project was wrought with disappointment and dashed dreams, but it is done and over. The bamboo entered my house because it looked interesting and fun. Plus, honestly, how hard could it be to spin? For a brand new spinner is is really freaking hard to spin! I hated my singles because they were inconsistent and slubby and thin. Plying it though, made a fairly consistent yarn, one I may enjoy using, which taught me spinning lesson one: don't judge a yarn by its singles.

This bamboo also taught me spinning lesson number two: Plying sucks up a lot of yardage. My hope was to have enough yarn to make the Green Tea Raglan from Interweave Knits Spring 07. That didn't happen. In fact, I have almost half the amount of yarn I need. I was surprised to realize a sweater requires two pounds of material to make. I will not spin two pounds of 100% bamboo anytime soon. This lesson will give me the experience I need to plan better. Granted, when I mentioned my shock to my spinning guru, she seemed nonplussed. I should also seek out the guidance of those who know more than me.

So now I have about 500 yards of finished bamboo yarn sitting around my stash. This yarn seemed to have no purpose since it would not be able to fulfill the purpose I had in mind. This leads to spinning lesson number 3: Let the yarn decide its future. Once I accepted the yarn would not become the sweater I wanted, a new project popped into my head. I've been longing to cast on for the Green Gables sweater. I've loved this little sweater for a while now, but have never gone out to buy the yarn and have put myself on a yarn diet for a while. Wouldn't you know, the bamboo is the right gauge, and the perfect quantity for me to make the sweater now. The world is balanced.

Of course, being balanced means that I have released on burden, but still have another one to teach me. I've never been bothered by knitting the second sock. I

Usually, a third sock is a nonissue. How often does one need to knit three socks? My Uptown Socks are not bringing me much joy right now because I knitted one sock, ripped it back to the cuff when I couldn't get the sock over my heel, have reknitted it now, and am sad at knowing I still have to knit one more to have a pair. Not only that, but I have lost one of my Tufootsie socks and must knit yet another third sock to complete the pair. Maybe knitting the bamboo will keep my spirits up.

April showers

Bring May babies and out of town guests. Teelee drove in for our friends baby shower and stayed with us at Clover Field. She brought her littlest one who graciously modeled the finished Baby Surprise Jacket and hat.

I still marvel at how small a baby sweater looks and how I'm sure it will never fit a baby, yet it always does.

I found perfect green buttons this week with little teddy bears on them. The mom to be seemed to really like the buttons and the sweater as a whole. I hope both she and the baby enjoy the gift.

in addition to modeling sweaters, Lollipop kept my little guy entertained. Little Clover enjoy having a baby in the house and helping out. He fed her a few bottles
and expressed his desire for a baby brother to Teelee. Teelee asked what if he gets a baby sister, would that be ok? Little Clover sighed and replied, "Well, that would be disappointing." At least I don't have to worry about disappointing him anytime soon.

After the little people went to bed, Teelee and I took the rare opportunity to catch up in person. We sat on the sofa, chatting, drinking wine from a bottle with a pretty label(Aaron you would be so proud), and knitting. I taught Teelee to knit during my last trip to see her in November. She not only stuck with it, but asked for a little stash enhancement excursion. I willingly took her to my favorite shop in town and we picked up some yarn for the Mudflap Girl tank from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation. She's well on her way to becoming a knitter.

On a professional note, I just got accepted into Lean Sigma Training. Whoo hoo!

Respite

What does a knitter do when the Yarn Harlot isn't coming to her town? She goes to the Yarn Harlot! At least, that was an option I was leaving open for myself. The Yarn Harlot was in Nashville for a book signing and having never seen her in person, I cleared my calendar as best as I could and left it open for driving to Nashville and back. I'm pretty sure she is worth the effort. I decided though not to go. I didn't like the idea of being away from my family for the entire evening, so I opted to have an evening of quiet sublime home-life.

I prepped my toes for sandal season. I spent some time reacquainting myself with the laundry. We still seem to have some differences and have agreed to separate again for a few days.

I had a "family mini movie night" where we had a carpet picnic while vegging out in front of the television. Pokemon is getting more thrilling with every day.

And then I took some Alchemy bamboo out of hibernation and casted on for the Lotus Blossom Tank. This time though, I remembered how to count to 50 and that 4 sets, not 8, equals 200. Which leads me to a proud mommy moment!

My kid figured out the Fibonacci sequence all by himself.

We were reading The Math Curse, which is a super fun book and I highly recommend it. Some where in the middle of the book, the main character begins to see sequences and the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 was laid out on the page. I told him the next number in the sequence was 21. He looked at it for a bit, and I counted silently to three which is the recommend wait time before one supplies an answer to a question. Just as I was about to open my mouth and explain the sequence, he looked at me and said, "34 must be next, then," and correctly explained why. I almost cried. Of course, he had no idea what the big deal was, making the moment better. I then tried to explain binary and completely bombed explaining the concept. I'll save that for another day.

Reassurance

Thank you for the support last week. I didn't think my last post would really garnish much comment, but I got quite a few words of encouragement. Thanks. I had a few other reassuring moments as well last week. A baby gift I have been working on drew to a close last week. I casted off this weekend and will have time to make one more little gift. I haven't found the right buttons yet, but honestly, I think that should be a relatively easy task.

Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket
Source: Knitting Workshop by EZ
Yarn: Rowan Purelife 100% Organic Cotton and Natural Dyes (3 balls)
Needles: US Size 6 Denise Interchangeables
Notes: I love the yarn and I like the pattern. The pattern is easy to knit and you don't have to think about it, just follow the directions. The pattern truly is just a blob of fabric, then you kinda fold it and the next thing you know, you have a cardigan. Very cool.

The yarn was great to knit. I have had some problems with cotton hurting my hands, but this cotton was a pleasure. It is soft and felt more like wool. It is also light instead of heavy like other 100% cottons. I could seem myself knitting a three quarters sleeve sweater with this. The colors available are muted and subtle as well. Overall, I think I will buy more of the yarn.

In addition to having an FO this week, I also received some reassurances in the area of spinning. I've been struggling with spinning bamboo. I thought I was making great progress as a spinner, but I've had difficulty with the bamboo singles coming off my wheel. The singles have been inconsistent in size and have been disappointing. I thought I was a pretty bad spinner. Then, while at my LYS, I noticed she had a Ladybug wheel. I tried it out. Not only was the wheel a dream to spin on, but my yarn was consistent and beautiful and well spun. My confidence came back. I also discovered the new going rate for the Schacht Matchless, which I have, and the price has increased $200 in a year. I definitely made the right choice in asking for the Matchless when I did.

Finally, I need to send out some reassuring words. Between Saturday, April 5 and today April 7, I have the joy of celebrating four birthdays. My best friend, brother-in-law, and hubby share April 5 as their day. I love them all and each holds a very special place in my life. The years we have spent together are years in which we have all grown and changed and I am fortunate enough to know that we grew together as we became the adults we are today.

I feel especially lucky to have Italian as my partner. He brings a twinkle to my life and I look forward to seeing him every morning and wishing him good night every evening. I hope he had a great birthday weekend. I love you :)

Today is Italian's dad's birthday. He is also a great man who inspires me with his love for his family. Happy birthday, Dad.

Dismissals

This weekend, a very minor event caused a disproportionally large downturn in my mood. At first, I was agitated and disgruntled because of a small little email. Then, I because more agitated and disgruntled because I was agitated and disgruntled. I felt that I was going way overboard and couldn't figure out why this little email consisting of a few sentences was bothering me as much as it was until it suddenly dawned on me. I wasn't upset by the email. I was feeling dismissed and discounted and it wasn't the first time I felt this way with a particular group. I have felt discounted because I had a child. I've felt discounted because of a zip code. I've especially been discounted because I knit, and heaven forbid, spin.

Granted, we all make minor judgment calls when we meet people or even when we have known people for years. I wonder though how often these "small" judgments prevent us from seeing individuals as they are. I have had people make assumptions about my political beliefs, my religious beliefs, my interests in certain activities, and my values because of my address/ the car I drive/ the number of kids I have/ my hobbies/ the color of my hair/ where I go to church/ where my son goes to school/ my love for the color red. Then, people act on these assumptions in both positive and negative ways without ever taking the opportunity to find out if their assumptions are true.

I get odd looks when I pull my current socks on needles out of my designer purse while wearing a suit. I may be hard to pin down into a certain category or group, but then again, aren't we all? Shouldn't we be proud of the fact that we don't fit neatly into a boxed in statistical grouping? More importantly, I think we should try very hard to not box anyone else in, either. I know I hate the feeling of misunderstanding that accompanies being dismissed and hope I remember the feeling well enough not to do it to anyone else.

Catching up

I knew this past week would be hectic and busy, but I didn't realize it would vanish like Socks That Rock at a fiber festival. Before I knew what was happening, the week was gone and I had failed to blog yet again. I'll do my best then to catch you up on the week's happenings at Clover Field.

We ended last week and began this week with an Easter celebration. Mrs. Soprano and Xavier Guy made the trek with us to Papa and Nana Clover's and after a restful evening, we headed out to a hockey game. The sock enjoyed the game.

Poor Little Clover was a bit conflicted. We were afterall in our state's home stadium, but the Preds were battling the Blackhawk's and his loyalty to all things Chicago was at stake. He bravely wore his Blackhawk's jersey to the game, but still got a Predator's facepainting.

After the game, we relaxed even more and enjoyed the time with both families. I miss not being able to see my extended family, but I do truly appreciate the time whenever I do get it, and holidays are a wonderful time to be together. A decent amount of the many aunts and uncles congregated at my grandmother's for Easter lunch. Little Clover enjoyed an egg hunt with his cousins and Papa Clover and Italian bonded while changing my tire. A curb had jumped out and viciously attacked my tire while I was driving, managing to slice a bit gash into the car footwear. You really need to watch out for curbs. They can be pretty vicious at times.

My trouble with footwear didn't end there. While making the long drive home, Italian drove and I knitted. Then, I knitted some more. After knitting even more:

I tried on the sock. The sweet lovely looking sock who I had treated to a hockey game betrayed me by being too small. I couldn't get it past my heel. I ripped the difiant sock back to the ribbing, which did fit, added one more repeat of the pattern, and began knitting again. After another week, I am now at the same place I was last Sunday. At least the colors are still pretty.

I could have been further along if I had more time to knit. This week was Spring Break for Little Clover and I took some time off to spend it with him. I promised him my full attention, meaning no chores and little knitting, but it was worth the piles of laundry and dirty dishes. We spent the majority of our time playing carpet hockey and then we squeezed in a trip to the zoo.

I'm stealing as many moments as I can before he grows up. It's happening much faster than I could have ever anticipated.

Great Unexpectations (and an FO)

Pattern: Basic Sock Recipe
Yarn: KnitPicks Sock Memories in Fly Fishing
Needles: Clover Bamboo US Size 2 DPNs
Notes: The sock yarn is softer than I remember and knits up quickly. I still will not purchase more KnitPicks sock yarn in the future, in liue of other brands I like better. Plus, I like thinner sock yarns and a size 2 needle is a bit large for me.

I try to be relatively rule free when it comes to knitting, since knitting is meant to be my creative outlet, but I am a bit of a control freak and find I exert rules even when rules aren't necessary. Because of this, I try to keep one project going with yarn I have purchased from a particular shop, then I can pop into the shops knit nights guilt free. The use of yarn from the shop is strictly a self imposed rule. The shop owner is wonderful and would never kick you out on knit night for knitting with something from a different store, I just try to promote her business because I selfishly love having her shop around. Therefore, when I finished the socks for Little Clover, I was very tempted to knit with some Duet Sock yarn in the color "Spring Glen," but tossed it aside because it wasn't from my favorite LYS.

I dove into my stash to find a spring inspired sock yarn and pulled out skein after skein after skein (boy, I have a lot of sock yarn) until my fingers finally stumbled upon this:

It looked springy enough with its light blues and purples. I thought I spotted a dot of pink here and there as well, so I took it to my swift and ball winder and began to become intrigued withe yarn. As a general rule, I don't like variegated or self striping yarns. I'm more of a semi solid to solid color kinda gal. I feel a single color gives me more variety and opportunity to play with texture and color techniques, so at first blush, I was only slightly excited with the yarn. Then as I wound the yarn, I noticed the color changes happened very quickly. I guessed the colors were repeating, but it was a mass of colors as the yarn flew off the swift. I became really excited about the possibilities in this ball when I saw it on my table. I couldn't wait to see what would happen when I casted on, and the yarn didn't disappoint me.

The yarn is not pooling and it isn't striping. I'm not getting vertical color shifts either. The yarn is shifting hues in a vertical manner, but there are flecks of color throughout the little bit I've knitted. It has almost a tie dyed look, but then again, not really. Honestly, it looks like a colorful semi solid. I actually watched the yarn as it slipped across my fingers forming the bumps and Vs. I was excited and couldn't wait to see what color came next and would it still line up in neat columns. (I think I may need to get out of the house more) This yarn is the perfect yarn for the beginning of Spring. Maybe having a rule or two isn't quite so bad.

For Mom

Monday, I was Irish and Irish all the way. I celebrated in true Irish fashion by drinking Irish beers (yes more than one) with some close mates. The Irish value friendship and family and I have the luxury of both being very present in my life.

Today, I am Korean. I even had the person sitting next to me in a training class ask me what was my ethnic origin. I smiled and happily told him I am Korean. He smiled in turn and said "So am I." Coincidence? Maybe. Or it could have been my mom letting me know she's with me. You see, I am Korean today, not because of any Korean holiday or historical event. I am Korean because it is my mother's birthday, and today is becoming less an less a reminder of her absence in my life and more and more a celebration of her time with me and our shared ethnicity. How funny and great it is to be able to celebrate being Irish and being Korean within a few days of each other!

My mom and I were both born in Korean. She was much more of a Korean woman than I am. When we moved to the States, I quickly became Americanized and have just now started looking back at my personal history. At about the time I became interested in relearning Korean and learning more about the culture, my mom died suddenly and left a bit of a void. Honestly, I quickly abandoned my Korean background because it was just too hard and difficult to make the journey without her. Now, though, I'm feeling more comfortable about making this journey. I might find my mom on the way or I might only blaze a new pathway for my son. Who knows? What I do know is that she opened the door by being my mom. Now, it is my turn to step back on the path. I owe it to her and I owe it to myself. I can't think of a better way to honor. Today, I want to thank my mom for being who she was and for giving me a very special part of herself. I, like my mom before me, am Korean.

Not what you expect

I had a large change in plans last week. Thursday, I left work looking forward to my bi-weekly knit night with a group who has been meeting together for a couple of years now. I haven't seen this group of knitters since our little retreat in early February and was ready to do some catching up and knitting. While driving home, I received a call from Italian which put a bit of a kink into my plans. He was dealing with a major problem at work and wasn't sure when he would be home. This type of message usually means the issue is indeed major and he wouldn't be home until late in the evening. I resigned myself to the fact that knit night was just not in the card. Sure, I was a bit bummed at first, but then, I seized the moment, changed my outlook and spun, or plyed rather.

After several months, I now have three bobbins of singles which I am now plying. So far, I think I hate the yarn. I've given this bamboo days of my time. I've adjusted my behaviour to make this fiber happy and it rewards me by being defiant and something other than I had envisioned. It is slubby and inconsistent. It is lazy and slovenly and not what I wanted. I realized I needed to just let go and let the fiber be. Once I did that, I took another look at it and though maybe, just maybe, things will work out with us afterall. I'm still not sure if it will be the right yarn for the sweater I had in mind, but if it isn't, then I'm sure it will be right for something else.

I used the niddy noddy to wind my skeins (Aaron, that's where the two anchors come in) and washed and hung my skeins. I looked at it again and thought, maybe it would work out okay. I took another look at the pattern and the yardage required for the sweater. The sweater needs 1001 yards for my size. I may be Asian, but I am not spending that much time on bamboo.

Which leads to the next "unexpected" thing. I love St. Patrick's Day. Blame it on my Irish heritage. Yep, I am half Irish, married someone who is half Irish and have a half Irish child with two Irish name. My Asian appearance is generally one of the first things people notice about me, but it's not the only thing I am. My family is from Kilkenny and one side of my family hasn't been in the US for very long (relatively speaking). Today is a heritage day for me which is fantastic. What I love the most about today, though, is that in the States, everyone is little bit Irish and seeing the unity is a bit refresh. So on this day of Irish celebration, may your cup never run dry, may your purse be always heavy, and may your stash never empty. Erin go braugh!

Swatch me

Here is a swatch I love.

Here is a swatch I am learning to love.

This little swatch saved me from making a very big oops. This is a swatch of KnitPicks Andean Silk, an alpaca silk blend. The yarn is generally classified as a worsted weight yarn and the label recommends knitting it with US size 6-8 needle. I knew I had a sweater's worth of yarn, and thanks to the wonders of Ravelry, I was quickly able to see what other people are making with it. I noticed a Lush and Lacy sweater which was something I had been keen on making. I got home, looked at the yarn, looked at the gauge of the sweater and thought "No, way." I was right. The sweater calls for 16 stitches to 4 inches on US size 9 needles. I was getting 18 stitches on the Andean Silk with US size 9 and I didn't like the knitted fabric. The yarn needed to be knit at a tighter gauge. I rummaged my stash, taking all of 2 minutes to decide on the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran I had just received from Webs at a huge discount. As you can see from the second swatch, not only is the swatch bigger than the Andean Silk, but it knits up to a perfect 16 stitches over 4 inches on US size 9.

Snow

The talk of snow turned into snow, and not just the typical southern dusting of an inch or less; we had a real, full, ankle to shin deep snow and it was beautiful. The excitement began Friday, when Little Clover's school closed 2 hours early. I left work to pick him up and Italian joined us shortly afterwards. Once at home, we waited and waited and waited for the snow to fall. Honestly, I thought all the warnings would not amount to anything, but I was glad to be home a bit early on a Friday.

Then, it happened. Little white balls of sleet began falling and covering the ground. The sleet began to soften into small flakes of snow and sleet, and then it changed once more to just snow. After another hour, the ground had a nice little layer of white and enough snow lay on the ground to have


A snowball fight! By this time, we were all suited up and outside, enjoying our annual snow day. We caught snowflakes on our tongue, we caught snowflakes in our gloves. I had snowflakes on my nose and eyelashes, and my socks.


Finally, after having snow in our hair, down our backs, and in our gloves, we clammered back inside and built a fire. The snow continued to fall through most of the night, and I had the joy of sitting in our dark drunken reading room, watching the snow fall on the quite street. It was bliss.


When we awoke the next day, the snow had grown on the ground.
The azaleas I had just planted five days ago were covered in a heavy blanket of white.

We built the obligatory snowman, the mark of a house with children, and continued our snowball fight from the day before. Who knows when the next annual snow day will happen. All I know is that we will enjoy it just as much if not more than this one.