My Only Sunshine

Sickies

First I want to answer the question Lanie asked.  The shrug is a pattern from Lopi #25.  I found the kit for it on this website, Camilla Valley Farm.  The Lopi book has lots of wonderful patterns in it that I would love to try.

Next up, the sickies.  Last night as Bit was winding down and getting ready for bed she started complaining that her neck was hurting.  She said it hurt on the inside and that it was hard to drink because it hurt, meaning her throat.  I took her temp and it was 100.8.  My poor baby.  This morning she woke up with a temperature of 102.2 and her neck hurting worse. I gave her some kid Motrin and it seems to have done the trick. She's bopping around the house in her energetic Bitty way saying she feels fine.  So now I have to wonder if she can go to school and keep up her perfect attendance or if I should keep her home.  She only goes for a couple of hours, but I certainly don't want to get other kids sick if she is contagious.  She doesn't have any other symptoms though.

To add to the excitement of a sick kid in the house, her Daddy just called me from work.  His throat hurts and he is feeling feverish.  I don't know how many of you have men like mine in your life, but those that do know that some men can be the world's biggest babies.  My Bit is perky and happy and not at all worried about being sick.  Her Dad, my Buster, is beside himself with discomfort and weakness related to his illness. He probably needs to come home and lay in bed, being waited on hand and foot.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind taking care of him, it's my job, but this week is tough.

On Friday I have outpatient surgery.  I'm having a Laparoscopy with AIP which means all indicated procedures.  That means that while they are in my abdomen with a scope they can do anything that looks like it needs doing.  As the doctor put it, they will "zap" off any endometriosis they find, snip any adehesions they find, drain any cysts they can see, or anything else that might need doing.  Who knows how long that will take on Friday, how long I will be in the hospital, or how I will feel after.  I so don't need my entire family to be sick and in need of pampering by me.  I do love to pamper them, but this weekend I was hoping for a little pampering of my own.  Then again, as my kids say, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit" so we'll see how things go.  It's hard not to remember the day I was supposed to come home from the hospital after Bit was born and I ended up sitting around the hospital all day long just waiting because that was the day Buster came down with the flu.

Wish my some luck.

Knitting Acid

I'm nuts.  No really, I have proof.

I joined the naked stix KA.  If you've been by here before you've probably seen the things I have on the needles that need to get finished.  You've probably even noticed in my WIPs pile that I have a list of things that still look like hanks of yarn, not even cast on yet.  So you would think I would be working towards finishing those things up, but what did I do?  I cast on something totally different.  Meet Acid---

The problem with my WIP list as it was is that it didn't take into considersation how cold and painful my hands get in the winter.  I have a condition called Raynaud's and it can make knitting a little hard sometimes.  So before I can get to work on my other knits that need attention I need something to keep my hands warm while I am knitting.  It also won't hurt to have something really simple to knit while I am in the hospital on Friday.  I am sure to be a touch on the nervous side so intricate work probably wouldn't turn out all too well.  I'm making simple little wrist and hand warmers out of some fingering weight wool I dyed myself.  Don't you think it looks a little acidic?

I can redeem myself...  I have an FO to show off as well.
This is Marissa.  She is an adapted OSW for Bug's friend who fell in love with Bug's shrug the first time she saw it.  I made the sleeves a bit longer and also made a wider rib for the body/neck edging.  Mostly the changes are just so the two girls don't have identical shrugs, just close.  Probably Bug will deliver it tomorrow.

Speaking of shrugs, look what I found while I was window shopping on the net (would that be Windows shopping?).

I'm pretty sure I am going to have to knit it at some point.  I promise not until after I finish other stuff though.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today Daddy "Wilgrum", the little Indians, and I are cooking, eating, playing, and...

watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

Buster has gotten Bug so totally excited about Star Wars.  His enthusiasm is amazingly contagious.  It's one of the many reason I love him as much as I do.

This morning Bug drew me the "progression of a turkey".  Here it is...
Turkey
Cooked
Eaten in one bite!

That cracked me up.

Before I get back to cooking I wanted to show you some of the progress I have made for the Naked Stix KAL.

Do you shower alone? (Otherwise known as The Naked Indian from Indiana)

I have a memory, from childhood, of Haley’s Comet. We went out to a field to see it pass over head. The thing I remember most about it is not the comet itself, but all the discussions of how often it passes, how old you were, are, or will be when it is visiting. In 1986, the last time it was close enough to our planet for us to see I was 12. Due to my somewhat early age it may be possible for me to see it make another pass. I’ll be 88, think I’ll make it?

 You may be asking yourself, what does Haley’s Comet have to do with partnered showering and naked Indians, I’ll tie it together, just stick with me.

 A few months ago, around the time of school starting, I had a brief email correspondence with the Yarn Harlot. She had written a post about being able to take a bath. Not just any bath, a very special, solitary, bath. I responded to her, incredulous, wondering if it were true. Could a person take a bath, or bathe in any way, alone, without interruption, in peace? She assured me that if you are patient, wait for it, it may happen. She did say that certain stars must align, that children must both be in school at the same moment, that you must not be otherwise occupied, etc. but that if things worked out, it could happen. So this morning while I was in the shower I was wondering (while kids scampered in and out of the bathroom… I’ll get to that shortly) if it could happen twice. Just like getting to see Haley cross the sky at an early age, could you maybe have two showers uninterrupted? If the first time happens when a Mommy is somewhat early in her Mommy years, and she lives just long enough, could it really happen?

As I was smearing conditioner into my hair, hoping I live long enough even to see the first solitary shower pass by, I hear the older child (all of 6 years) say, “Mommy, look, I’m big as you!” I open my eyes and peer through the frosted, textured, shower door just in time to see that she is indeed tall, having climbed up onto the toilet. I only saw her at this size for a moment before the shadowy image lost focus completely in a loud thump and crumple. The 6 year old was no longer as tall as her Mommy, instead she was lying in a crying heap on the floor between the toilet and the wall (good thing I just cleaned the bathroom).

As any good Mommy would do, I threw the shower door open and leapt out of the shower. Thankfully the Bug was not hurt, just a little shaken. Mommy on the other hand was crouching on the bathroom floor, naked, wet, hair full of conditioner. (Please, dear readers, do not picture this. Nothing good can come from picturing me in this position. I sincerely do not want to lose the few readers I have to nude squatting images) I stood Bug back up and sent her on her way. I had to get back into the shower to rinse my hair. My thoughts had changed from thinking of maybe getting to shower twice in my life without potty climbing kids to thankfulness that I had not been shaving my legs when she began her yodel to draw my attention to her new found height.

Now I am out of the shower, dried off and dressed. My children have stripped off their PJs and donned feathered headdresses and socks and are running around the house yelling, “We are Na-ked In-d-uns from In-d-ana!” Who needs to shower alone, anyway?

Is it a skirt? A dress?

I'm pretty sure I won't be adding this to my WIPs list.  If you'd like to see the rest of the list, though, I have made a WIPs photo album for my sidebar.

My stix are fully dressed

I emailed Lisa with my To-Do list though I left one thing off, the teacher scarf.  It's not like my list of things on the needles right now wasn't long enough, but I have to have that scarf done before Christmas break starts so it better be on the list.  The next step to getting my stix naked it to show you how things stand right now.  I took my pics "in situ" around my house so you could see how things are coming and exactly how I treat my WIPs. First is Samus.

I don't know if you can tell, but Samus is under the coffee table.  Knitting off of such a huge cone makes this a hard project to take around with me.  It is slowly getting there though.  The biggest issue is keeping the kitties from tearing it to shreds.

Next up is Marissa.  She is a One Skein Wonder for Bug's friend in Kindergarten.  I need to  finish knitting the sleeves I am adding, seam them, and then pick up the stitches for the ribbing and knit it.  Doesn't sound like all that much does it?  Yes, well I'm just on my second project.  Wait until you see what else I have to get done.

Number 3 is the Nana sweater.  I have completed the back.  It's a cardigan, so that means 4 more pieces before I can seam and then work on things like neck, zipper, or button bands, depending on how things looks once I get more done.

4 would be Bug's mittens.  As I mentioned before, the mits I knit for her did not come out at all the same size.  I got new yarn dyes so I decided to start again on her mittens.  This is where they stand so far.  The yarn should be dry by the end of the day and then I can actually start to knit on them.  Did that green come out bright enough?

Dude's Scarf is next.  This may well be the craziest thing on my list.  Why?  Dude is going to get an Irish Hiking Scarf.  Doesn't look like a irish hiking scarf does it?  Wanna know what is crazier than that?  I'm not even sure this is the yarn I am going to use.  I may go back to my hand dyed alpaca.  We'll see.

Number 6 is Vintage Velvet scarf from Scarf Style.  I'm making this one for me.  See how far I have gotten?

7 is a Pom Pon scarf for Bitty.  I've made three pompons so far.  They haven't been trimmed yet, I will probably wait until all the pompons have been made before I trim them so that maybe I can trim them all in a similar way.

8 is mittens for Bit.  They are in even worse shape than Bug's mittens.  I will be dying this yarn too, but I haven't done it yet.  Maybe today while I still have everything out.

9 is the scarf for Bug's teacher.  It still needs fringe, which I have been putting off.  I have to get this done pretty quick.

10 Doesn't even get a picture because project 10 is just the concept that Bug needs a scarf to go with her mittens.  I haven't even figured out what kind of scarf to knit her or anything like that.

I'm also hoping to knit myself a hat at some point.  Do I have enough projects on the needles or what?  That's point behind the Naked Stix knit along though isn't it.  Wish me luck.

A week from this coming Friday I will be having surgery.  I'm having a laparoscopy to find out (hopefully) why I am having pelvic pain.  I don't know if being post anestheia will hurt my knitting or if it will give me lots of laid up time to get things done.  I'm hoping it's the latter.  If any of you friendly readers have any stories to tell me about laparoscopy or endometriosis let me know.  I've never had surgery that involved an incision before.

Naked Stix

I joined another knit along, but this one is a little different.  It doesn't involve starting a new project, it involves finishing all of my old ones.  (For those of you who just snorted, and I did hear you, shut up)  I mean, I like naked, stix I mean.  What could be a better excuse to get things finished for a change, other than people asking me if I am ever going to finish this, or how much time do I really spend on that.  If anyone else would like to join in getting naked (again, I mean stix here, get your mind out of the gutter) go take a look at Continue In Kind .

I finished my recycled sweater bag this morning.

I haven't come up with a good name for it though.  It turned out as well as I had hoped and I learned quite a good deal about using these types of handles.  The base is the pants Bug used to wear with this sweater.  It is fully lined with a decorator fabric I found on sale at Joann's and the base has buckram in it to make it a bit more stiff and sturdy.  I can hardly wait to get my wallet and phone in there and see how it is to carry.

I got a few pics of Bit modeling it as well.

Was Run DMC a Frappr?

Maybe not, but I am.  Go put your little blip on my map, K?

Of snowflakes and busy bees

Ok, so I know what you are thinking, "what do snowflakes and bees have in common?"  I promise, the title will not lead you astray.

First, the bees.  I have been a very busy bee lately here at Sunshine.  I've been working hard to get this blog up and running. Seems easy enough, no?  The problem is, I am no html expert, and I want it to be really well put together.  No slipshod for me (if it is, feel free to tell me, I'm still up for criticism, I'll let you know when that ends)  The basic design isn't TOO hard, but I am also working on a sales area for my Kneadles, which are handmade knitting needles with decorative polymer clay ends.  I will probably be selling other things as well, I'll let you know.  Merchant accounts, paypal, shopping carts, it's a bunch to figure out when you only get an hour or so a day of uninterrupted "figure out" time.  I'm getting there though, it won't be long.  To add to the busy-ness of this bee I have also been getting business (business, busy-ness, HA!) cards made for the company, that would be me, with my blog address on them and some custom pic work.  They should be pretty cool, we'll see in 8 to 15 days.  It'll take another 3 weeks on top of that for the new woven tags to come in.   See, busyme = busybee.

As for the snowflake part, that has also kept me busy, but in a more artistic (what I mean by artistic is that the kids saw me make one and are now asking me to make them by the bushel) way.

These are the snowflakes I made using our initials.  The first one is for Bug, I don't know if you can see it, but the pattern is her initials SJT.  Actually, that one is her father's as well, they have the same initials.  The second one is for Bit.  Her initials are CET.  Can you see it?  I think her's is the easiest.  The third one is mine, AST.  What do you think?  I'm planning on hanging them on the Christmas tree.  Next time I will have to show off the snowflakes the girls have made.

Everyone needs a peppermint shot glass, don't you think?  I don't know what I will do with it, but it was only $1 a Target so I had to bring it home for a blog photo shoot.  It is posing atop my second One Skein Wonder. This OSW, which is in the same Shaefer yarn as the one I made for Bug, is for Bug's school friend Marissa.  Bug wore her cute little shruggy thing to school one day, and from reports (her Mom) Marissa went home raving about it.  Understandable, who hasn't raved over Glampyre's knits?  So Marissa's Mom asked where she could get something like it.  Well you can't buy it at the store, and I already had plenty of leftover yarn, so I offered to make one for her.  I am going to put sleeves on this one since it is starting to get cold here.  We wouldn't want Bug and Marissa to match exactly either would we?

Last but not least, I give you "The Pouch".  I got this pattern over at Split Yarn and had to start whipping some up immediately.  It's a great little credit card/coin case and was really fun to make.  I have made them for both the girls, Nana, and myself.  I'll probably be crunching out a few more for gifts, or just for the fun of making them.  We'll see.

Have a great day everyone.

If it quacks like a...

...book, then this is the one you want.

This is an amazingly cute book, in my opinion.  I haven't made anything from it yet, but I am finding the instructions for the duck to be pretty easy to follow.  I am looking forward to making the monkey and the little bugs as well, maybe the dog draft blocker too.