Fuzzy Love

Raccoons, Cowboys, and Cake

I forgot to mention that Mark turned forty-one this week. He pointed it out. I certainly didn't forget the day (he had a nice day: jumped on first thing by kids with presents, breakfast and coffee made by me, a trip to the zoo, pizza and cake for dinner), but I somehow forgot to post about it. Sorry honey; here's your due.

Friends Allison and Eric came over to help us celebrate. Mark had a golf ball cake (Liam's idea) because Mark used to enjoy golf. He still likes golf, but doesn't get to enjoy it. Ever.

So, in honor of Mark's birthday, I present you with a photo entitled Mark in Tank Top. Happy birthday, honey.

Besides the trip to the zoo last weekend, we also were able to spend some time on a pint-sized hike (and I use the term loosely). Honestly, it's tough to enjoy the peak of a Denver summer, but lately there has been a break in the heat and outdoor activities have been fun again. So we took a walk on the High Line Canal Trail, a greenway that runs for miles right through the heart of Denver.

It's a beautiful walk, at least on the small bits of the trail that I've been on, with huge shady trees that are rare in this part of the country. And we saw lots of little animals, including a raccoon, which was cause for much excitement. We stood and watched the little guy for quite a while, both on the way out and back, and talked about all the things we knew about raccoons (more than you'd think, actually; it's amazing what you pick up).

At one point, as we were all standing and staring upwards, a mother hustled her two pre-teens (with an arm around each) past our raccoon warning them not to get too close. Too close to a sleepy raccoon twelve feet up in a tree. Now I know that raccoons can carry disease, but standing and looking is not quite the same as cuddling and petting, is it? But then we're going for a healthy respect for nature, rather than outright fear.

Anyway, note the cowboy hat. Mark told Liam that cowboy hats "Keep the sun out of your eyes and the rain off your face," so Liam has decided that his hat is appropriate for all occasions, rain or shine. Which, of course, it is (especially when you are four).

Ack! Thbbt!

Looks like a perfectly good Fifi in progress, doesn't it? I thought it was but, well, it isn't. If you follow the link you'll see that the finished product is supposed to have one cable continue all the way down the middle of the sweater. The middle of my sweater is a dead space, a bunch of knit stitches, an anti-cable. It's all wrong. And the only way to fix it is to RIP IT ALL OUT.

Goddammit.

Jaysus frickin' H on a stick.

Yes, I am aware that many patterns have published errata. I did look it up, read it even, and then ignored it. You see, the errata doesn't begin until round 22 so, instead of printing it off and stuffing it into the little sleeve that holds the original pattern, like a reasonable person might do, I told myself some sort of drivel like, "Now Katherine, don't you forget to stop at round 22 and look up what to do next!" and continued through to round 51, where I was supposed to stop all cables except the pretty middle one. Which I don't have.

So, after seriously considering just leaving it, but deciding that I love this sweater too much for that (after all, I just made it to the try-on point, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to love this one*), I will rip.

Bloody freekin' Hell.

*Assuming it doesn't hug the ol' paunch too much. I am making size 37.5" for a 36" bust, pretty much ignoring the negative ease warning in fear that things will be revealed that are best hidden. So I do run the risk that this might be baggy. Better baggy than showing the muffin top, I always say.

I Have Indeed Been Knitting

If you aren't in to knitting, this post will just be so much gobbledygook. But there are a couple of cute pictures near the top.

I'm back to knitting obsessively. I guess it started again when we rented the first episodes of The Office, because you kind of have to knit while watching TV. But can I just say that I adore this show? We're watching the American remake version, even though my brother claims the British one is better, but right now I'm enjoying it too much to care. Honestly, it's worth watching just to see John Krasinski's can-you-believe-this stare at the camera. It's also a little bit like being back at my old job, but since I have four years between that and here, I find it funny.

Anyway, although I've been plugging away at Liam's dog sweater on those horrible size 3 needles, it looks exactly the same as it did a week ago. This is a long-haul project and, believe me, it would be tossed aside as unknittable if Liam weren't so excited about it. So, to get little breaks, I've been churning out little winterish projects, perhaps to make me forget the 90-100 degree heat outside. First, a Calorimetry.

It looks much cuter on Olivia (buttoned under her chin) than it does on me. In order to wear it, I have to carefully arrange some hair around my face to make it look all casual, but then my hair is in my face all the time. I wore it around the house for a little while and then, when it began to annoy me, stuck it on Olivia. I guess I need to face the fact that head coverings just don't work on me. {sigh}

Then I made me some wrist warmers. The kiddos immediately claimed them as leg warmers. Liam got them on first, so I had to immediately dig in the closet for another pair so Olivia could have some too. It's purely coincidental that the leg warmers match their pajamas (by the way, Olivia wouldn't take hers off for hours, so I'm guessing that Cash Iroha would make some good Baby Legs).

I've been churning out the dishcloths lately too, since we really needed more. I used up a bunch of leftover bits making those ball band Mason-Dixon ones. They are, after all, happy dish cloths, and who can't use some of those?

I was on a roll with all these good little things, using up stash, no large yarn purchases or anything. Then the new magazines came out. And my queue got longer. It now includes (amongst the twenty-odd things that were in there already) the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, the Tilted Duster, and the Minimalist Cardigan. I have honestly never liked a copy of Interweave Knits so much. Am I just noticing, or are they now using yarns that, you know, you can find for sale somewhere? I'm not a good substituter. Anyway, with those sweaters in mind, I went to my LYS. And came home with this, which, of course, is not appropriate for any of those sweaters:

Eight skeins of fifty-percent-off Calmer, people. I immediately cast on for Fifi (top right - flower in hair). I loooove this pattern. Well, other than that it's cropped and I don't like things to be too close-fitting. But lots of others have lengthened it by five inches or more (thank you again Ravelry) and I have lots of extra yarn. Of course I'll be back for more soon, because I think I have to make those three sweaters. But then if you've read this far into this post, you know how that is.

First Day of School! First Day of School!

I know, it's only the 8th of August. But, nevertheless, Liam is off for his first day of preschool this morning. Yesterday was an open house so Mark went to work late and we all dressed up a bit and went to meet Liam's classmates and get reacquainted with the teachers and the classroom. Liam was very excited, although a bit put out that Mark, Olivia, and I would be joining him; he wanted to get down to business and apparently we didn't need to be around for that. He was quite clear this morning (the first full day) that he was the only one invited. Hmph.

At least he's comfortable there. I must admit, it's a bit of a relief that he's back. Even though the house is a little too quiet right now without him (well, I'll get used to that), he's in a safe place that is heavy on routine - predictable - and his teachers know what we've been going through and are very loving. So I know he's having lots of fun right now. And, since he's going four mornings a week, preschool has forced me back into a routine that feels very comfortable and secure. Not to mention I will get errands done in half the time with half the children (with half the arguments). Much as I miss having Liam around all the time, I will get used to that too. (Man, I feel guilty just writing that down).

Look, we all know that my parenting has gotten a bit slack this summer: too much TV, for sure; not enough trips to the park. Not that I've been sitting around crying or anything, but I have been more sad, and more distracted, and more impatient and Liam has certainly noticed as it is reflected in his behavior. But, at least for the moment, I feel like my hibernation period is over. You may have noticed that blogs are being commented upon and that emails are being replied to (rest assured, however, that voice mails continue to be ignored). Anyway, there is no question that Liam feels more secure as I act more like the mom he is used to. For a little while there he wouldn't be alone ever, which made things like sleeping and going to the bathroom a mite bit difficult, to say the least. But now he's playing nicely again, lost in his imaginative worlds, without concern that I'm going to disappear.

Monsters are still a bit of a problem. Not nearly the problem that they used to be (and thank you Holly Jo for the book recommendation - Liam really liked it). I must admit, out of desperation (which is not the best place to make parenting decisions), I resorted to Monster Spray.

Or Sugar Lily Pillow and Sheet Spray. Whatever. It has a picture of a little pink bed on it, and that's the key. I really really didn't want to go the route of "admitting" that monsters were out there, but Liam clearly thought I was lying when I said they didn't exist. So, one tired night I announced that I'd picked up Monster Spray. And the damn stuff worked. We sprayed in the closet and under the bed and inside his dresser (?) and lo and behold, he slept through the night. The stuff isn't foolproof, but it helps.

So, we're back to school and feeling hopeful. To celebrate we made bug sandwiches (tuna fish) and pudding for dinner. Yum.

Before the Word Explosion

When Liam was little, someone told me that babies learn words slowly up until they know about forty or fifty, then, all of a sudden, they start picking up new words at a huge rate: a word explosion. Olivia now knows a bunch of words, but not too many, so I decided to write them down. Here they are (for the grandparents):

Oh oh, gook [milk], ear, eye, nose, me, Mommy, Daddy, Fuzzy, mo [no!], Papa, kay, deritis [there it is!], hi, bye, be [beep], ba [bath], cookie, ook [book], hair, baby, mine, orry [sorry], boo boo, ucky, moo, oooww [meow], oof [woof], ducky, hat, hot, nana [banana], ba [ball], uck [stuck], yummy, whee, poo, pee, oops, ewww, gen [again], go, yay!

Forty-four. Unfortunately, the girl's first two-word phrase was an enthusiastic, "Bye poo!" which is now repeated every time a toilet flushes in our household. Other popular phrases are, "No Mommy, no!" and, well, anything with "Mine!" in it.

Blah blah blah

I don't post for almost a month, and look at what's gotten pent up in here. I have so many things to show you.

First of all, happy anniversary to us!

That's the beautiful shot. Here's another nice one, posted last year. And then here's a candid. Can't you just hear it? My brother: bride's guy and chief tissue dispenser.

Nine flippin' years. Wow. We celebrated by going out last week to dinner at The 9th Door (Tapas: oh-my-god yum) and the Cirque du Soleil show Corteo, which was, of course, fabulous, despite being about a man on his deathbed who ultimately dies. Nice way to escape, that was. (Well, actually, it was).

(The kids did not go with us; they just wouldn't stay out of the picture.)

Then here's Liam with a Deputy Sheriff tattoo. Now, every single person I've told about this already knew it could happen on a locked phone, so apparently I was the last one in creation to find out about it, but Olivia dialed 911 the other day. She was wandering around the house babbling into the phone, and I was doing other things and not really listening, when suddenly I heard, "This is 911; how can we help you?" (thank god she had it on speaker phone). Of course I immediately snatched it away and - somewhat stammering but trying to sound sincere - explained that my toddler was playing with the phone and really everything was okay and I was very very sorry.

That didn't stop the police from showing up on our doorstep a few minutes later.

Now, I am really pleased that our big ol' help system works so well, and of course if I or a member of my family had been held hostage or whatever it is reassuring that help will arrive even when told not too. But on that afternoon I felt like I was trying my hardest to act normal and was failing miserably. It didn't help that Olivia was having a small melt-down when the doorbell rang. The officer didn't really talk to me, but focused in on Liam, asking him his name and age and all sorts of other things. And then, because these things always happen on a perfect day, the officer asked Liam about the stains on the front of his t-shirt: "What happened to your shirt there, buddy? Did you have a nose bleed?" Well, of course it was chocolate milk, and I said so, but it sure sounded like a lie to me.

Anyway, Liam got to sit in the police car and turn on the lights and wear a cool tattoo. And I'm pretty sure a file has just been opened on us somewhere.

And then this is the first knitting project I've worked on in weeks (poor Monkey socks).

It's going to be the Dougie Dog sweater from Lucinda Guy's Handknits for Kids. It is the ONLY sweater Liam has ever asked me to knit for him, despite many attempts on my part to interest him in anything. So of course it has to be made, even though it's on size 3 needles. I think he likes the fact that, since I spend sooo much time knitting, these sweaters must be important (I notion I'm sure he'll outgrown soon).

I had to cast on for something (the many WIPs hold no interest for me right now) because I went to a knitting event over the weekend. Stitch 'N' Pitch! Now, I'm sure my husband is rolling his eyes at this (uh, because he did when I told him about it), and I know it seems a bit dorky to many of you (uh, a bit?), but I went to a baseball game just because I could sit with other knitters and knit in the stands. Honestly.

The lovely Cathi of In the Pink arranged tickets for a few local bloggers/friends, so I got to meet her for the first time, along with Jenifer of Cast On, Cast Off, Sam of Diary of a Mad Fabri-Holic, and Amy, who just seems to be a normal sort of person (that is: blogless). Sam took some great pictures and I did not, so check them out over at her place. I really enjoyed meeting them (my first bloggers!). We knitted and drank through the whole game and were even visited by the Rockies' mascot, and I got to hold his ball.

Ahem.

That's really enough for one day, but, as always happens when I've gone a while without blogging, I then feel the need to gush. Soooo, just one more thing (and is anyone at all surprised?):

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?