Update on Blogstalking #3

It has been brought to my attention that I omitted my first true finished knitted object. I cannot believe that I forgot it, but my mother was there to remember for me: My first true knitting project was a beer cozy. Looking back, I shared it on an online knitting message board on November 13, 2006. I've officially been knitting more than two years now. How time flies when you're accumulating stash.


There's a 4th assignment from blogstalking, and I'll get that put up this weekend. But first I need to finish the front room. The walls are basically done, there are now curtains in the windows and everything! I'm getting so excited!

Blogstalking assignment #3: Why I learned to knit

I have known about this Blogstalking assignment for a whole week now, but hadn't posted my answer yet because I could not come up with one decent answer about what possessed me to knit. I knew that one day I didn't knit, then next I threw some horrible blue Red Heart Super Saver in my bascart at Wal-Mart and started obsessively watching knittinghelp.com videos. I've been wracking my brain about it for days. I was prepared to come here this morning and admit that I don't know what came over me that spurred the yarny obsession.

Finally, last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, kicking at the cat to keep her from sleeping on top of my knees: It was the needles! I had needles first, and one day I saw other people knitting and said, "hey, I can just buy some yarn and I'll be a knitter."

Why did I have needles first, you ask? (I know you probably aren't actually asking, but I'm pretending you did.) Because long ago I took part in a handmade sewing and craft swap at amitymama.com. Each person makes 5 of the same thing, then sends it to the swap organizer. She then sorts out the stuff, and sends 5 assorted items to each participant. Everyone makes 5 things, everyone gets 5 different things back. It's really a cool deal, except for the shipping costs, of course. My friend and I coordinated the Christmas 2004 swap, and when you're the organizer, you sometimes end up with some odd things. And one of the items that I, a non-knitter, got were some handmade wooden needles (about a size 10 or so) in a little fleece pouch.

I brought them home, put them on the shelf with all my sewing thread and needles and bobbins and elastic, and ignored them for a couple of years. Eventually, here in the "new" house, I got quite burned out on home-improvement projects, and decided that a good winter replacement hobby would be knitting. I made a large swatch with the above-mentioned Red Heart yarn (now happily living out its life as a dolly blanket), then moved on to a boucle yarn garter stitch scarf that my mom got started for me the previous winter. It's a very functional scarf, but it is a bit of a trapezoid. By then I was hooked. I started with dish cloths and fell in love with the craft.

So there. All that, and to be honest, I still really don't know what prompted me to pick up needles and learn. I think it might be coded in my DNA somewhere.

Blogstalking is back!

I found out that the folks over at Knittyboard started up Blogstalking again. For those of you not in the know, it's just a fun deal in which we all post on the same topic once a week. I missed week one (serves me right for not checking the board often), but week two's topic is:

"I love ________ because ___________"

So here it goes. I love high density foam paint rollers because they kick ass. It's true. If you have trim to paint in your house, invest in these. They are fast, don't leave stupid brush marks in the paint, and the rounded ends will even paint in the curvy bits of the molding. You only have to use a brush for the inside corner-y bits.

Last time I was at the home improvement store, I bought the jumbo economy size pack of the roller heads, and when the front room project is done, they'll also be the tool of choice for repainting the kitchen cabinets.

Blogstalking '08, Week Two. My needles.

I actually suggested this topic, "my knitting needles all in one place." I figured that it would be an easy one for me, since I mostly use my Knitpicks Options set for most things. But then I realized that I would have to round up my many WIPs and needles that I do not use often. Suddenly, I got scared. If I show all of it, then people will know about how many projects I have on the needles, with little to no hope of finishing. ouch. Maybe that should have been my "bad habit" post last week. I have developed a bad case of Cast-On-itis.

In the interest of good sportsmanship, I did round up a few WIPs for this assignment, but not all of them. There are at least three still sitting in project bags, not pictured. I would love to finish any of them, but between my desire to start new projects and my children and this here computer thingy, I don't hold out much hope for them.

But I digress. I'll get down to business. First up is the tin where my DPNs live. They are pretty happy in there, as it still smells like cookies, but I'd love to have a needle roll, so I didn't have to sort through them, then pull out the needle gauge to figure which ones I need. (That's on my very long sewing to-do list.)
And here are most of my needles, attractively displayed. I think metal needles are so pretty and shiny. They make me happy. Wooden ones are great, too, but I don't own any of them (anymore,that is. The boy broke my one pair), so I cannot vouch for the happy-factor of wood needles. The Knitpicks Harmony needles are awfully pretty, though.

And here is my favorite set. This is a vintage Boye Needlemaster set, as bought at auction by my grandmother. It apparently originally was owned by a woman named Louise Jones. I wonder if Louise agreed that it was the "most exciting knitting innovations ever." It really is quite a nifty concept, but the execution in the 1960's lacked a little.


Look at the cords. The things are huge. When stuck through my handy dandy needle-sizer, I find that they are equivalent to a US6 needle: a far cry from today's skinny cords. Funny enough, though, they aren't much less flexibly than some of the cheaper circs' cords I've tried. And the needle tips are actually a bit smoother and nicer than the modern Boye Knitmates needle(one-at-a-time version of the Needlemasters) I bought last year. When I was a novice knitter, I did complete a few projects on these. I'm quietly proud of that.


So there you have it, most of my needles in one place. Ta daa! Now I am going to sign off and use them a little bit.

Blogstalking week something-or-other: My bad habit

This one is easy:

Yep, my computer is a nasty nasty habit. I spend too much time with it (after all my friends live in there), and my house is messier than it should be (but who wants to clean, when she can browse at lolcats.com, right?). I knit less than I'd like (although I look at a whole metric ton of knitting each day, thanks to Ravelry), and I even manage to blog less than I want, thanks to the internet's siren song.

Oh well. Only one thing to do about it. That's to turn it off. But we all know that's not going to happen, right?

By the way, the computer behind the computer is not a bad habit. That's the computer I work on. It will be pressed into service tomorrow.

Year-end reflections, 2007

The blogstalking assignment (yes, I know I've ignored 6 weeks of this, but I'm hopping back on the bandwagon again here) for this week is to do a reflection on 2007, and maybe a resolution or goal for 2008. Well, there are 4 hours left in the year, and I really don't know what to write. But I'll give it a shot.

Tangent: it snowed this afternoon. I just heard a snow plow go by. I really hope that the guy gets to be home to smooch his significant other by midnight. I know from experience the suckiness of having your spouse working on NYE (and Mother's day, Easter, Independence day, etc.)

Now back to the subject at hand. A reflection. I don't know what to write here. One thing that was mentioned was to state my "proudest moment." Hrm. I am drawing a blank here. I learned entrelac, I started knitting lace, learned to plaster a wall. My son learned how to use the potty (with my help). My daughter started kindergarten. I guess those all count.

As for resolutions, I typically don't make them. Partly because I think that if you need to make a change, you should make that change right then, not wait for January to do it. But really really really, I just know that I'll think about it for 3.7 weeks, then it will slip my mind. I assume that I tried to come up with something for New Year's 2007, but I have no idea what it was. Oh well.

If I were forced to make a resolution, it would be to exercise more. I love doing yoga, but have problems getting around to doing it outside of class. Mr. Deplume moved our recumbent bike up into the TV room, so maybe I'll get into the cardioi more. That would be a plus.

I dunno. This is a cop out year-end post, but it seemed like something I should do. I've grown tired of it now, and will sign off to snuggle with my family for the last time this year. I hope you all have a good night, and a lovely 2008.

I still live.. mostly

Last Sunday, I considered posting here that I was feeling better, and might actually be posting something of note in the near future. I really felt like I was finally getting over the bronchitis that had plagued me for over a week. I've heard of typing things like that jinxing things, but I didn't know that even the very thought of typing such hopeful words could send the bad juju action my way. Sunday night, about 11:30, I sat up in bed to cough a bit, felt a pop, and was greeted with searing pain in my back. I had just coughed my way to a broken rib.

In case you had not heard, broken ribs hurt like H-E-doublehockeysticks. I fell back asleep, only to wake up a couple of hours later nearly immobile. I managed to whimper a little, then work my way downstairs to take some of the narcotic cough syrup the doctor has prescribed on Thursday. I got myself to the couch, cried a little bit, then fell asleep. When Mr. Deplume got up at 4am for work, I told him about my troubles. He offered to stay home from work for the day, waited on me hand and foot, and took me to the doctor, who prescribed me some very nice pain pills.

Some friends and family members took charge and brought some dinners and got the girl to and from school for me, and for that I will be forever grateful. After two days on the couch, mostly asleep from the drugs, I am again mobile, and mostly narcotic-free. I am still moving very slowly, however, in what can only be described as a cross between Tim Conway's Old Man character from the Carol Burnett Show and Leaning Tower of Pisa. It's not pretty.

Of course I am still cursing under my breath every time I cough, but I am moderately sure that I will live.

I even managed to knit a little this morning, finishing a pair of mittens for the boy. I don't think I'm going to attempt to catch up on the blogstalking I've missed, though. I buried enough as it is in stuff that needed to be done last week. Sorry, folks. You won't get to see a picture of my oatmeal.

Blogstalking Week Seven: oldest picture of me.

I'm so lucky that my parents have scanned many old photos into their computer , then sent them to me. Otherwise, the oldest picture I could find would probably have been from my high school production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

This here photo is of me (the baby), my brother Matt, who died when I was one, and I'm still a little angry about it (damned leukemia), and my older sister Kirsten. My parents still have those encyclopedias in their living room. So many school reports plagiarized from them over the years....


I hope Week eight is a real humdinger. I need a little kick in the creative writing patootie.

It's official: I'm punking out.

Week six of Blogstalking: pictures of a day in my life. I tried to do this. I really did. On Sunday, I got up and started it in earnest. I showed my morning roost, which is usually coffee and a little Ravelry. I also got some work done while sitting there.

We played hooky from church that day, as there was to be a pageant, and no Sunday school. It just wasn't my cup of tea. So Mr. Deplume and the kids made pancakes:

Then we needed to head into town to buy a birthday present, and I needed elastic and bias tape for the girl's Halloween costume. She's going to be Rapunzel, which is much better than her original idea: a zombie.

While out, the small headache that was there when I awoke got bad. Very bad. We cut our shopping trip short and I came home and went to bed (very rare for me). The headache was so bad that I dreamed I hit my head on a cabinet. I've never ever dreamt about a headache before. That was odd. I woke up two hours later, feeling better, but no more pictures for the day. The pain wasn't completely gone until Monday morning. It didn't feel like a migraine, but it sure was a doozy.

I was going to re-try the picture thing yesterday, but forgot until it was too late. And I'm just not feeling it today. Since week seven's assignment will be out tomorrow, I'm officially throwing in the towel. You all will not get a "Day in the Life" from me.

Sorry. I know everyone was really excited to see me washing dishes and scrubbing crayon off the walls. Maybe someday.

Blogstalk week 5: interesting statues

The trouble with this assignment is that my teeny town has no neat statues. There might be some, but I don't know where they are. The nearest city with stuff worth sharing is 30 miutes away, and I don't feel like driving that far for a blog assignment. (Sorry knittyfolks). So you get statue-like things from my home, instead.

First up, the trophy given to my husband by his father, upon the birth of our daughter, 5.5 years ago. His dad really loves a good desk decoration. Unfortunately, my husband gave up his desk job 4.5 years ago, so this became a nick-knack in the house. It's cute, but doesn't really match the decor. (Please note the poetic license in that last sentence-- people who have been in my house know that there is no 'decor')

Next, my favorite little guy. He looks to be handmade from metal fittings, and spray painted green and copper. My mother accidentally bought him at an estate auction. If you are unfamiliar with auctions, sometimes the one thing you are looking for ends up in a box with other crap. This is both good news and bad: it typically means that the item you want will ultimately be pretty inexpensive, but it also means that you bring home a box of junk you neither need nor want. This is one of those happy accidents. My mom didn't want it, but I find it to be pretty clever, and he found a home in my front garden, between the clump of ornamental grass and the rose bush.

Last up, an afterthought. This is another gift. We like hot sauce, we like smooching naked, perfect for us, right? But it doesn't go with my decor either. I keep thinking I should open it and use it, but I don't think it would fit in the fridge.

So there you have it. Another phoned-in blogstalking assignment. As penance for my slackerosity, I'll include some knitting content. This is 1/2 of a pair of mittens, from the pattern Gifted, by Kate Gilbert. They are made using Wool-Ease double-stranded and US 10-1/2 needles. After working of lace for awhile, this feels like using drumsticks to knit. The "P2tog TBL" on giant sticks is particularly challenging to me, although it might be easier on less-slippery needles (I'm a Knitpicks Options gal). I really prefer working on about a US5 needle. Once the Luna Moth shawl is done, I'm going to learn socks. Who knows, I may fall in love with even smaller projects. I do like a challenge. :)

gifted WIP

Blogstalking week Four: Stuff I love and/or hate

This week's task is to name three things I love and three things I hate. That's a lot of picture taking. So I thought I'd be clever and take just three pictures to signify all six items. It almost worked, too, but try as I might, I could find no love in the third picture. My internal need for things to work out "just so" has kept me from posting anything all week. Until now, that is. I am boldly laughing in the face of my obsession with this, and posting my irregular and imperfect loves and loathes.


First up, the easy one. I love my Tivo. I had planned on discussing my hatred of commercials. But then I uploaded my photo and realized something. I apparently hate dusting, too. Actually, I don't hate dusting so much, I just don't get around to it very often. I'm a sub-par housekeeper. I hate that about myself.


Second photo. This is a bit of an easy one, really. I love knitting lace. It feeds my need for instant gratification in a way that making garments just cannot. There is a LOT of knitting, then waiting for the other parts to be knit, then seaming, blabbadee blabbadah before a hank of yarn becomes a sweater. Conversely, with lace, each row is a new part of the pattern. It is constantly changing and growing and blossoming into a piece of art. This particular one is my beginnings of the Luna Moth Shawl from elann.com. The pattern is pretty easy, though, which can lull one into a false sense of security.

Which brings me to hate #2: I hate when I get cocky and neglect to count the number of stitches in each row. I managed to get one extra stitch in row 35, and because I was so sure that I rock at knitting lace, I went ahead and not only knit row 36 on top of it, I put a lifeline in. It wasn't until I started the next pattern row that I realized my error. That's a lot of tinking. Argh.


Third photo. This is the one for which I have no love. I hate my bedroom closet door. I hate this thing with a white hot passion. Why on earth would anyone take down a perfectly good closet door only to replace it with a hollow core sliding door that slips of its track at least once a day. And for reasons unbeknownst to me, it doesn't fit correctly into the lower track, so It swings loose at the floor. The cat enjoys batting at it while I sleep. I used to think that she was trying to push it open to get in there for various and sundry nefarious cat purposes, but I was mistaken. She bats at it so that I will wake up. When I stir, she runs over to me and purrs and rubs her little kitty noggin on my hand. The little shit is waking me up on purpose for midnight tickles. I hate that too.

And don't get me started on the fact that instead of real moulding around the door openings, the previous owners used lumber. Plain old 1x4s. They neither mitred nor sanded it before slapping it up on the wall around the room. Another thing about which I have no love.

There are lots of things in this life I do love, however most of them are not photographable. (is that a word?) Here's a quick list of some off the top of my head (in no particular order, of course). I love that when my daughter put on her hat and scarf this morning, she stated that she was "all bungled up and ready to go." I love that my son calls his favorite fruit "blannas." I love that our home is less than 3 blocks from the girl's school, so we can walk there every morning. I love that my husband is home most evenings, and that he's a really super dad. I love that my parents are both still here with me on this earth. I'd miss them terribly if they weren't so close. I love that we have a roof over our heads and a little money in the bank. I really do love my life, even if I bitch about it a lot.

So there you have it. Some things I love and some things I hate. Pretty close to the assignment. As my dad would say, "close enough for government work."

How I get from here to there. And back again

**Please do not judge the quality of this blog by this entry. I wanted to get it in before the new Blogstalking topic comes out tomorrow, and I still have to do laundry, make dinner, finish a birthday present for a party tomorrow, and go to yoga class. This is a C- entry for sure.

I was going to take a picture of my 2000 Hyundai Sonata, complete with child safety seats and the boy's artwork (said artwork being ball point pen on the steering wheel hub). But then I realized that I only drive it about twice a week. The rest of the time it's all Flintstone power. That being said, my feet are much prettier than Fred's, and to keep them pretty, I wear shoes.


By the way, those are my new shoes, by way of Clarks and TJMaxx. Not only are they comfy and cute, they are also made outside of China. That's not easy to find these days. Even the fancy schmancy pricey brands are mostly made there. And none of their websites have statements on their policies on product safety or sweatshops. ("None" might be an overstatement, but I haven't found any. If you have any information on companies that actually disclose this stuff, please let me know. I'm always on the lookout.) In this day and age, that's surprising to me. It also leads me to believe one of two things: either those companies have no specific policies on product safety and labor, or they are hiding something. Either way, I'm being a very picky shopper.

Now this isn't exactly part of the Blogstalking assignment, but I'm also including what the boy gets around in. He's plenty old enough to walk most places with me, but having him strapped in gets us from point a to point b much faster (and safer, too). Since we're usually running late getting out the door to walk the girl to school, I am usually accompanied by this, the Nigel-mobile.


So that's the big story of how we get around. Small-town life has it's advantages, you know.

Purse Guts

Week two of Blogstalking, was to share the contents of my purse. This may have been more scary than the subject from last week. My purse is typically a jumble of spilled snacks, grocery receipts and miscellaneous bric a brac that I try to hide from everyone. It's embarrassing that I cannot even keep something as small as a handbag organized. But having seen some of the other pocketbooks out there, I felt the courage to do it. And here it is:


It doesn't look as bad as I though it would. lucky for me, most of the paper bits had sunk below the big, normal items, looking much better than reality. And here are the entrails of my purse, after having been removed. It's kind of like an autopsy table, although I didn't weigh anything.

Here's the rundown:

+2 nylon reusable shopping bags. I really need more of them. I got one from a local shop, and the other from reusablebags.com
cell phone
+garage door opener
+brush -- I don't use brushes, I'm a short-hair gal. But my daughter is always in need for a good hairbrushing.
+patchouli perfume oil from the Body Shop. I don't actually wear patchouli every day, but this made it into my purse a few weeks ago and I haven't managed to get it back up to my room yet.
+wallet -- I hate this wallet: the dollar-section isn't big enough to hold dollar bills.
+New Kroger discount cards that I have yet to put on my keyring. In my defense, I only got the new ones last weekend.
+pens
+Lip glosses, balms, and lipsticks. My favorite of them are a Mary Kay gloss and a basil and cinnamon lip balm from Dreamseeds. The really sparkly lip gloss actually belongs to my 5-year-old daughter.
+too much change
+a rubber band,
+glass marble
+hair clip
+plastic buffalo
+spider ring
+one key to a car I no longer own
+one peppermint candy
+one peanut
+one dirty Smartie
+tissues
+hand sanitizer
+and a pile of paper: receipts, coupons, shopping lists and candy wrappers. There were more of them in there, but I did clean my purse out recently, and the pile is pretty small right now.

Not Pictured: My keys, which were hanging on the rack by the door, and my sunglasses that were in the stroller, waiting for the next trip to go get the girl from kindergarten.

So, nothing earth shattering. But amusing, nonetheless.

My Blogstalking debut

I've "signed up" to be part of the Blogstalk as created by members of Knittyboard. Each week, participants post about a common theme. This week's theme is "Who Am I". Geez, people, could you have started with a bigger can of worms? I'd rather show you the mold growing in the corner of my basement. But I signed up, so here goes:

I am Robin, a 35-year-old wife and mother of two. I proofread foreclosure notices for extra money. I am mostly a stay-at-home-mom. I like to knit, but knitting is all part of the swirling vortex of housework procrastination and guilt that makes up the lion's share of my life. The result is that I knit less than I like, my house is messier than I like, and I spend too much time on this, my computer.

That pretty much sums me up. The rest of my neuroses are hidden elsewhere in this blog. Except for the really neurotic neuroses: I keep them hidden under my pillow. ;)

I'll post later this week with progress reports on the stairway and my many knitting projects. I also hope to soon write of our recent harrowing experience with the 'friendly' squirrel in the back yard. But for now, I must get the girl ready for school. And refill my coffee.