men and knits

I’ve been married for 6 years.

Each year I tell hubby to select a Christmas sweater and each year it becomes the equivalent of a souffle – a delicate procedure that involves so many stars in the right line and no sudden movements to be successful that it becomes scrapped for a crockpot meal (not that there is anything wrong with that).

A knitter’s crockpot meal equals a scarf or a hat.  Easy, can sit on warm for long lengths of time, and can’t be burned and requires minimal chef/knitter preparation.  Last year, I thought it was gonna happen with the Cobblestone Sweater…but that yoke on a couple Raverly peeps who were made for men who didn’t look like hubby put that in the scrap pile.

Hello another scarf.

Then I found a very nice cabled number that I KNEW he would love and even went on a mad search of a discontinued pattern and paid extra cash ’cause hubbo was gonna be worth this handknit,

but then he saw the model.

And the model was too pretty.  I even tried to cover the model’s head when I showed the pic, knowing this was the possible reaction.  But hubbo saw the head, the too pretty head and,

it was dashed.

The dissonance for me is beyond comprehension because this is the same man who would kill me if I’d announce he loves Project Runway (he set up the DVR for this season) and can do THE best Tim Gunn impression EVER!!!  He is also someone who critiques other’s wardrobes for clean lines and color and texture that POPS!.

Looking through his sweater wardrobe of sweaters that he wears, a lot.

I found ribbing.

Lots of ribbing.

I think he likes ribbing because when we met, he told me his weight was like Oprah, “I’m all over the place with my weight”.

Ribbing is forgiving, but is also makes a nice developed chest look manly, and it can move with those “not so light days”.

He picked a nice ribbed sweater last year but it was in DK weight yarn.  I told them if he could commit to a weight, I would consider it.

Moving along….

About a month ago, I messaged him a link to a ribbed sweater, in bulky weight yarn that was soft.  He texted me back and told he didn’t like it….

HE LOVED IT!!!!

My first sweater for him was the Einstein Jacket in grey Lambs Pride Bulky and he wore it twice..to make me feel good.

He later confessed it was too hot and frankly this was in my pre-finishing days and my finishing…

sucked.

He never wore again so I considered frogging it for this other sweater, but then I explained to him that the dark grey may not show the ribbing really well, and he informed me he had his heart set on Oatmeal.

Oatmeal???  This guy had his specs in mind.

So I swatched. And I have been ribbing…ribbing, ribbing….

A 48″ chest in k4, p2 ribbing is extreme but somewhat do-able, even with  232 sts on a needle.  But then it switches to k1, p1 for 16″.  Oy!  I would kill for miles of stockinette. But,

yesterday, he saw it in progress in between pre-school pumpkin patch and nature trail hike field trips and such and said, “that looks nice”.

So, I will soldier up, and keep ribbing.

Yoga classes are popping and I’m enjoying it so so much….I love my students and enjoy their feedback and comments, and their gratitude.  Their decision to share their practice with my own, is such an experience.

and, knitting all this ribbing,

in the bigger scheme of a vision of a man who has deserved a handknit for over  6 years,

is pretty small….

in the broad scheme of things.

A Looooong Year

The last 365 summed up in 7 minutes.

Please, Just Get Out Of My Grill For 2 seconds!

Yes, the title of this post was indeed a statement that fell from my mouth…at 9am.  If it’s 9am and I am already attempting to create a little biosphere of 2 inches of personal space, I knew I was in for a long day. 

Every day I wonder about these women I see at the grocery store or out and about.  They are showered, nails, hair, and makeup done and I’m pretty sure they are sporting clean underwear.  They look rested.  I just don’t get how they do it?  I have to shower at night after the boys go to bed and in the last 2 weeks, they have become like feral children so I can’t really remember if I showered last night.  And every day, my to do list is to call the dentist for a cleaning.  I’m obsessive about clean teeth and I could never understand how people could go to sleep without brushing their teeth..I am now one of them.  I thought the beauty of having twins was that they have a constant playmate….why are they constantly wondering what I am doing…and insist on helping and not in a helpful way.

Yesterday, Scrappy “helped” Papa go potty by tearing off squares of toilet tissue as he asked “what are you doing Papa???  Papa are you pooping????”

Two weeks ago, they decided they wanted to share a room.  Pros and Cons.  Pro:  Scrappy isn’t getting up during the night as much and is sleeping later in the morning than his usual 5:30am.  Con: Jumping on the bed, wrestling, and doing somersaults and flips off the bed has substituted singing to sleep.  We are still in a trial phase and I find it so interesting why two boys who can fight over a cheerio on the floor want to sleep in the same room.  And that is probably the answer to my question…stop trying to understand the brain activity of a small feral boy and/or boys.

My mom has had a slower road to recovery than expected and had to undergo a couple extra procedures to get her heart back into rhythm.  Dad is a handful and as soon as mom is well enough, she will be having a little come to Jesus meeting about creating a man who relies on someone to pour his bowl of cereal.  My sister and I have had wonderful discussions and debates about if 2 toddler or 2 older parents are harder.   But nothing was better than her comments about my knitting while mom was having surgery.

“what are those???  (in reference to dpns, needle/gauge, stitch markers, circular needles, etc)

“why do knitters have so many things and gadgets?”

“I understand how spiders make webs now.  They have 8 legs moving and knitting and you have two circular needles and wires and sticks everywhere.  Like a spider”

“OMG!!!!  That actually looks like a REAL sleeve!!!”  And begins to tell this to every person in the room.

“I still can’t get over that you can make actual wearable garments out of some sticks and yarn.”

And so, dear sister, here is a real live person wearing an actual wearable knitted sweater jacket:

 

If you think he is cute, let me just add that he threw a wooden puzzle so hard in a fit of rage that he put a hole in the closet door.  And so the “If You Don’t Stop That, You’re Going To Military School!” Military Cardigan Jacket was born.

Test Knitting Anyone? Anyone?

Although I am in the beginning stages for the “if you don’t stop #%^$# throwing that, you’re going to military school” military knit cardigan, I’m on the prowl for some test knitters.  I can’t compensate monetary wise for your time but can give you a huge bucket o’ gratitude and you get a snazzy new pattern for free and a handknit that will look groovy on a kid.  It’s a cardigan (duh) in worsted weight for child sizing 2-12.  I hope to have the pattern written up by Novemberish for the test knitting phase.  If you are willing and interested, please e-mail me at reddogknitsATgmailDOTcom.

When life gives you lemons….

Donegal, my lovely green laptop, that replaced my former laptop which also had a halted demise way before a full lifespan (and never obtained a name, it was that short) which replaced a former laptop that I ran over..

twice

has met the wrath of toddler who felt it necessary to throw you with its ac power cord attached and rip your motherboard to another motherland.  RIP.  Note to self…buy extended warranty service plan.

My response to said toddler resulted in threats of military school, looking up minimum age requirements for military school, and do you have to be completely potty trained as a criteria for admittance. 

But, the $500 plus incident done spuntailed me out of my knitter design block funk.  I am swatching for what will be titled “If you don’t %$#@ stop throwing that, you are going to military school” military knit cardigan.  And for the record, dear knit pockets, you don’t scare me…

maybe just a little.

The summer has been filled with my 20th reunion in which I was able to catch up with an old friend.

work, day trips,

a first date for the boys that Gangles appeared to enjoy,

 and what I have deemed “the year of the hat”.

and my newest free pattern – Hollandpeno

. 

I also completed something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile – a triathlon.  I kicked butt on swimming and running but riding a 20 year old moutain bike and being passed by an 80 year old is a bit daunting.  I’ll be bike shopping this winter because I’m hooked.

Did some toddler sock knitting per requests,

and a contribution to the Mid-Michigan Guild’s annual preemie knitting drive in memory of Elija:

Ms. Amby also graced me with her presence and to bitch slap my serger – which made an awesome large box bag and we may have also shown a wine bottle(s) who was boss.

My mom is scheduled for quadruple bypass surgery on Friday so worry knitting a la military cardigan will commence. 

And to the reader (s?) who are out there, thanks for tuning in.

I’ll take your downward facing dog and raise you one cobra

Our summer cultural festival tour landed us at Cristo Rey

hello furrowed brows

and smack in the middle of a long outdoor mass…a long…bilingual mass.

In so doing, we helped our children utilize their cross-cultural cheap hollander skills and hit up the vendors for free food.

We’ve done a lot of farming and have had several discussions as to why their crops are not ready to harvest two days after planting seeds.

Lots of bike riding.

and potty training.

Oy.

I have calculated that the amount of time I spend getting them both on and off and rewarded and singing and clapping and potty songs and dances, I could have knit a shawl using toothpicks and cobweb yarn…

to cover my house.

Which is why I have not knit a stitch in weeks. 

But I have done some sewing for my new career direction, hint number one:

and my first practice student:

two tatoos = 2 days of successful potty

Im gonna take a couple months off folks…enjoy your summer!

May Giveaway Day Winners

Comments are now closed for the May Giveaway and the random generator pulled numbers 28 and 65.

So….

Sally and Mel are winners – check your e-mails for the pdf of the pattern in the next day or so.

May Giveaway Day!

On May 27, Sew Mama Sew is once again creating a list of shops and blogs  providing free giveaways to highlight their crafts ..and this time, I threw my hat in the ring.

Please leave a comment to this post by May 31, 2009 12midnight EST for a chance to win a PDF of Sailor Daane

or Pinocle Knitting Sweater Pattern

More pattern information is located here.

A random number generator will be used to select the two winners.

 

ch-ch-changes

I have three days left. 

Three days…

of my job.

I gave my notice a couple weeks ago after months of discussion, anxiety, budgeting, anxiety, and more discussion..

and after countless sleepless nights.

Maintaining two jobs, two kids, and a husband’s stressful career of on-call and overtime has taken it’s toll. 

A year ago when I wrote out the one of many checks to pay for my licensing and then trying to figure out how and when I would cram in and afford my CEU’s, I told myself that if in a year I still felt no desire to do this career that I worked so hard toward, I would stop.  I feel even less desire to do it now than I did a year ago.  Regrets? Nope, I’ve done this social work thing since I was 19.  I did all the milestones..undergrad, graduate, this license, that license, private practice, consulting, teaching, big government, small government, this population, that population, non-profit, for-profit…

I will maintain my second job that is quite stress-free and enjoyable.  I will also maintain the mom-job that is not stress-free and sometimes enjoyable. 

But I have a major change in my career direction that begins the end of June.  Details later.

In part of our budget discussions, we all identified ways that we could cut back.  The boys are still firm on the potty-training thing and we are still in contract negotiations, but they did agree to take part in our summer plans to start living off the land…

g’pa struggles with vegetable spelling, but the job got done.

Grandpa set up a huge part of his ginormous garden for the boys to plant seeds of their choosing.  Every week we will be visiting to water but grandpa will babysit while we are gone.

and this picture is continued proof of why Dad choose to stick around a little after a period of time when we were told to say goodbye to him.

The stryofoam bat? 

don’t get me started.

The kid is obsessed…

He has graduated to a real bat.  He watches every game played on the fields in our backyard, games on television, talks about it in his sleep.  And he can hit.  My lefty Gangles can hit a ball.  Hard.  And coaches have already noticed.

He uses anything available to be a bat.

Plastic corn cobs, sand shovels.

What is Scrappy doing while Gangles plays “pinch the ball to me!!!”?

He’s is twirling in circles next to the softball fields until he gets dizzy and falls down…

He is my kid.

 

when 30 minutes makes it worth 6 months…

Today hubbo informed me that we are halfway past the 2 year-mark….why this is significant is because both of us agree without hesitation that this is not our favorite stage…

but today, I saw a glimmer of that thing people talk about when they say “it does get better”…

I got him started…

but then he was on his own….

I could have watched this for hours….

nevermind, that within a few minutes, I was climbing a tree and hubbo was winding miles of twine through a gazillion branches and limbs…

it was worth every minute…

I’m praying for wind tomorrow.