Erica’s Blog

 Well, I completely blew this in March.  My goal for April is to do the finishing section of this and bind off.  I’ve decided that the pattern just doesn’t work, plus I’ve since realized that I was doing my ssk’s wrong all the way through.  I don’t want to change up and have it look different for the rest, and I don’t want to continue doing it wrong for the sake of consistency.  And I definitely don’t want to frog it.  So, I’ll finish it off, block it, and either frame it and hang it on the wall as “art” or somehow make it into a pillow cover or something.

 Not doing too well with this, either.  Having all the “this doesn’t count” caveats leaves me too many loopholes for being able to actually buy yarn.  (Doesn’t help that I spent about $50 on the Bambino Ull.)  I guess the main benefit of it has been that it’s kept me from some impulse purchases I would otherwise have made.

Speaking of buying yarn…I want to make a blanket for Robin’s baby who’s due later this year.  She won’t know the sex till the 23rd, but I’d like to get the yarn on the 17th when our knitting group has our field trip to the LYS (Katheryn’s giving us 10% off that night only).  I’m willing to wait, however, if the right yarn isn’t there.  What I have stuck in my mind is a simple entrelac blanket or the Argosy blanket done in variegated Noro-like ocean colors (Robin has an MS in Marine Biology and lives in Half Moon Bay with a nautical-looking house).  Problem is, Noro yarns are totally impractical for this kind of project, both b/c of price and b/c they don’t make a machine washable yarn (that Bambino Ull is superwash).  I’ve looked at other options, but nothing thrills me.  Anybody got any suggestions?  Helga made her daughter a dress out of some funky yarn that I’m sort of considering.  It comes in some oceany colors, and it’s not only a mix of colors, but also a mix of different fibers.  I would knit it fairly loosely - probably on 9’s - but I think it would still have to be a pretty small blanket b/c of the price (even w/the 10% discount I would get on it @ the LYS).  Heeeelllllpppppp!

Have you ever missed an important appointment because you have become so engrossed in a book you forgot the time or were up so late reading that you didn’t wake up in time? Been late to work because you couldn’t resist the temptation and left the house too late?  Missed an appointment, etc. - nope.  Been up too late and therefore overslept, oh yeah.  Last night, as a matter of fact, I was up past 12:00 reading a silly mystery novel.  Now, if it weren’t Easter vacation, I probably would have overslept till 7:30 or so.  B/c it’s vacation, however, I didn’t get out of bed till about 10:00.  Ahhhhh…

Booking Through Thursday

More Peeps.  Color’s just a tad off — that one that looks dark blue is really dark purple, as is the larger flower and the center of the fancy ponytail holder.  Those two items went to Thing Two’s pal Ainsley for her birthday.  There are a couple missing from the pictures, but the Things gave their teachers Peeps, too.  My original intention was to give each kid at Easter dinner a Peep, but that just didn’t happen, so now we have four Peeps on the mantel, ready to go up in the attic w/the other Easter decorations.

Insert here [xxxxxx] a picture of a pink Encore preemie hat done in quatrefoil eyelet with two i-cords on top, tied into a knot.  I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to Nicole for Mahalia.

Ah, beauty that is unblocked lace, tee hee!  This is a square lace baby shawl a la EZ for Bob & Ginger’s Baby Boy 1.0.  I’m using Bambino Ull, knitting it loosely on US 7’s.  For those who aren’t familiar with the EZ shawl, it starts from the middle, then works its way outward.  When people see me working on it, they have a hard time believing it’s a square b/c I’m knitting in a circle.  I really like how it’s turning out, but I’ll be SO glad when it’s done.  I got ready to start the third section of lace and realized I’d made a mistake a few inches back, so I had to figure out how to go back.  I tried a couple of different things and ended up just…gulp…carefully taking the needle out, ripping back several rows, then c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y putting it on a size 5 needle, then tinking back the rest of the way.  I then proceeded to knit three rounds on the size 5 before I realized that I hadn’t put it back on the 7, so back I tinked three rounds and swapped the size 5 tips for the size 7 tips (thank you, thank you, thank you, ‘Nette!!!).  Now, I’m way past where the mistake was.  I’m on the next-to-last ball of yarn, so I guess I’m nearly on the last section.  The last ball will be for the border.

NO, it’s NOT a sock.  Really, it’s not!  This is a newborn baby cap, a.k.a. my car knitting & Easter dinner knitting from Sunday.  I thiiiink it’s big enough.  I need to try it on Baby Kelly (Thing One’s weird-looking too-lifelike newborn baby doll) soon.

[As Hubby & I were getting ready to leave Easter dinner on Sunday]

I know you’re busy when you haven’t been posting on your blog.

Yeah, either busy or depressed.

Now, there’s a conversation-stopper, eh?  So, which has it been?  A little of both, actually.  OK, with the amount of eating I’ve done the past couple of weeks (no I will NOT post the ticker!), probably more of the latter.  Feh.

NICOLE UPDATE:  Long story short, Nicole was induced last Wednesday and had a c-section on Friday (yes, you read that right).  She’s home from the hospital, but Miss Mahalia will be in for a while.  She’s totally healthy, but the docs are playing it safe since she was so early (6 or 7 weeks). She’s going nuts, not being able to do anything for their move this Saturday (remember, this kid wasn’t really due till late May).  She did too much yesterday, and her bp went up again, so her doc told her to stay home today.  As a mutual friend told her, If you feel like you’re getting stuff done, then you’re doing too much.  If you feel like you’re being lazy and just lying around, then you’re doing what you’re supposed to do.  C-sections are pretty major surgery (your guts are outside your body and everything!), so all she needs to do is rest & pump, but I know it’s driving her crazy to have to sit back and let other people do all her packing, etc.

EASTER VACATION: The Things are enjoying Easter vacation.  We had the traditional first-day-of-vacation Jammie Day on Friday.  Sunday, they went home with Poppa & Nana after Easter dinner.  The plan was for them to come back this afternoon, but Nana & Auntie brought them back yesterday b/c Thing One had a 24-hour bug.  She puked all over Auntie’s bedroom floor in the middle of the night, then later got a fever.  Good thing they brought along a pukey bucket b/c she puked in Nana’s car on the way down here.  Ever since she’s been home, though, she’s been fine - no fever, no pukies.  Woot!  Did some spring cleaning yesterday & today.  Today marked the quickest the Things have ever cleaned up their rooms — really clean, ready for me to set down the Roomba and run it.  I helped, but it’s still amazing that it took only 40 minutes to do Thing One’s room, then Thing Two’s.  Tomorrow, the laundry room!  Maybe.

1. Just out of curiosity, as we enter into Passover and Easter season… have you ever read the Bible? Just the odd chapter or Psalm? The whole thing? (Or, almost the whole thing? It’s some heavy reading, of course, and those “begats” get kind of tedious.)  Yes, I’ve read the whole thing through a couple of times, and many parts numerous times.  The “begats” aren’t as bad in a more modern translation.   Theoretically, I read it every day, but that doesn’t always happen.
2. If so, was it from religious motivation or from a literary perspective? Stuck with nothing else to read in a hotel room the Gideon’s have visited? Any combination? All of the above.  My dad used to read to me from the Bible at bedtime when I was a kid, and then as I became a better reader, I read to him.  (Sadly, I also used it to manipulate by reading him his favorite Psalm when he was mad at me.)  In high school, I started reading it from a motivation of faith.  I’m pretty sure I’ve even read the one in the hotel room, too!
3. If not, why not? Against your religious principles? Too boring? Just not interested? Something you’re planning on taking care of when you get marooned on a desert island?
4. And while we’re on the subject… what about the other great religious works out there? Are they more to your liking? Nope.