The novelty nightmare is over…or is it? June 24, 2004

Today is the last day of school for my kids. Cameron and Gracie have a half day and tomorrow is one hour–just to get the state mandated attendance. We are leaving the house at 4am. Ugh…the airlines cancelled our flight and put us on an earlier one. Kevin worked a couple of upgrades out of the inconvenience. So he said I can fly first class with one of the kids. He did that two years ago too.

End of year gifts have been given. I guess the novelty nightmare is finally over…for now. Gracie’s teacher thought the Leaf Cravat was a belt. More power to her if she can tie it around her waist. Miss G, the Resource Room teacher, received the Giotto scarf and loved it. We all love Miss G. She is the sweetest woman and a great teacher too. I had mixed emotions about Cameron’s teacher as this had not been a good year. Granted she had the largest kindergarten and the most boys. Anyway…I went back and forth on whether to knit her anything or not. There had been a collection by the class mom’s and I gave money. I actually knit two scarves–she loves green–and let Cameron pick. I didn’t photograph the scarf ’cause when you’ve seen one novelty scarf, you’ve seen one too many. The one he didn’t pick gave me fits I tell you. I started on an 11, moved to a 13, then a 15 and finished with a 17.

The Colinette Giotto scarf could have been a little wider. I did a moss or seed stitch. I started with 17 stitches and thought it was too wide. I think I settled on 11 stitches and it was too skinny. I also fringed it (14″). I would do it wider, maybe 13. I had a good bit of yarn left over. I bought the Giotto at Wool Needlework Discounter. As always, her price is more than reasonable and the service great.

The yarn for Devan came. I bought the same color as used in the pattern. I let Kevin choose and I hope his coworker isn’t disappointed. He is a manly guy from Staten Island. So Devan will be coming with me and something else…must finish packing. We are bringing the laptop, as Kevin has work to do and Owen will, hopefully, watch a DVD on the plane. Fingers crossed!

Pictureless day June 22, 2004

Oh, it is cold and kind of icky today. Poor Gracie has a field trip to Splish Splash and they are calling for scattered thunderstorms. The 4th graders had all their field trips held till the end of the year so they could focus all of their attention on standardized exams. I told her we would go again but it is disappointing.

Speaking of disappointments…I am working on that Giotto scarf for Gracie’s teacher. I tried the drop stitch and didn’t care for it. I am going with the moss stitch and had to rip it as it was going to be too short. I started with 17 stitches and am now down to 11 and I think I will be able to give it fringe. I also let my mother rip Gracie’s Katia top. I screwed up the three needle bind off…cast off stitches were falling…it was mess! Gracie was desperate to wear it to school so I just “sewed” it up. All of the wraps have unwrapped. I think I need to rip it down to the armpit. Thank goodness it is a kids top and this time I will bind off with K2tog and put back on the needle.

Today looks like a good movie day for me. Curl up on the couch with knitting and a video. (And think of Gracie freezing her butt off)

The Luncheon June 19, 2004

I see Ann wrote that I put up pictures from the luncheon. I will add more photos later. There was Berroco trunk show and I modeled a few sweaters. It’ll make for a good laugh. 🙂

Be nice–my mother took those cruddy pictures

Thanks cupcake June 18, 2004

Look at these fabulous stitch markers I received from Chris. She thought they would cheer me up when I was posting about my sleepover worries. Chris I love them! Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. They are beautiful!

School ends next week for my kids. I bought this skein of Giotto to knit a scarf for Gracie’s Resource Room teacher. Any pattern suggestions? Knit Happens had a pattern for a moss stitch scarf. Or I was thinking of something drop stitch. Help!

I made my cupcakes yesterday. They turned out really cute. This is my second batch this week. I made Dirt and Worm cupcakes for Gracie’s birthday.

Guild luncheon today…better run.

Cheap Charlottte June 17, 2004

Oh dear, what’s a mother to do?

I do have 32 hanks of koigu at the ready, some mill ends some not, I think I may let sister Liz pick her own colorway, oh yes, I’d like to sneak one in for me. Charlotte was fun to do, easy to remember, let the colors do the work.
I may have to get Liz to do counted cross stitch, oops, KT does that too, Liz may feel somewhat left out in our knitting conversations.
I have repo’d a Alice Starmore from Liz, she doesn’t even know it, I made her Catriona from Scottish Collection, years ago, I’ve seen it on her once.
As I said what’s a mother to do?

sibling rivalry

I am not talking about my kids today and I am talking about knitting. Specifically, I am talking about Charlotte’s Web shawl. My mother finished knitting it the other day. I went over to help pin it down to block. My sister came over in the evening with her kids for a swim and said she wanted it. Hrumph! Did she go to the Maryland Sheep and Wolf Festival? Did she fight the maddening crowd to buy Koigu millends? Does she knit? Would she really appreciate it? No! No! No! No!

With the pattern fresh in her mind, my mom wants to knit another Charlotte. So she said I could have Cheap Charlotte and she would make my sister one with Koigu she has bought. Basically, Liz gets the expensive Charlotte. Hrumph again. Can you tell I am the baby of the family?

I have shown my mother how to use Typepad but she still hasn’t blogged. I have been leaving Tuesday and Thursday open for her–still nothing. I should have taken pictures of her Charlotte but I was hoping she would do it. Maybe be Liz will do it for her. (said in a snotty tone)

Guild luncheon tomorrow. Ann from Purling Swine is going. Yea. School is wrapping up too. We leave for Hilton Head next Friday morning. It will be good to get away. Owen will be in school for the whole summer. I love him dearly but it is nice to have time with Cameron and Gracie to do things we cannot do because it too difficult with Owen. Gracie will be flying to Maine for a week also–to visit her best friend, Caitlin. Now I have to go make 24 sprinkle cupcakes for Cameron’s end of year party. It looks like we won’t be moving right now. We couldn’t close on a house in time for the new school year. We are going to have to fight our school district. Round 1 begins today with a letter of intent. They have put our backs up against the wall and it is time to push back. (Can you hear that empowered voice?)

Warning: Personal Content Ahead June 16, 2004

Gracie’s sleepover was a great success. Preparing ourselves for the worst probably helped. One of the mom’s does dress up parties as a side job and offered an hour of her services. I was a little worried as the girls are getting past the dress up age. But you see, these were no ordinary dress up clothes. Recycled prom dresses!

Even Owen was trying to get in on the action. I was worried that it might be too overstimulating for him with all of those girls but he had a great time and they loved him.

The dress up mom had dresses, boas, hats, shoes and makeup. One girl, a bit of a jock, refused to dress up. It started with just a boa and pretty soon she was all dolled up–wearing it all.

After unsuccessfully trying to get into a dress, the ever-resourceful Owen found his Buzz Lightyear costume and joined the fun.

All that lipstick was put to good use as the girls played a new version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Kiss the movie star on the lips. Gracie and I discovered that one via Google.

Prizes were given to all but the girl who got closest had first pick. We gave out picture frames, lip balm and necklaces. (The picture frames worked out especially well as we printed out pictures for all of the girls to bring home).

Owen had such a great time. The girls were throwing tissue paper and dancing and he was right there, schooching in between them on the couch too. We had to drag him away at about 8:45 for bed.

The pillowcases were a great success too. It was the perfect activity to settle them down before the movie.

I have to say, this one was my favorite. The gerbils bit two girls. The one who painted this pillowcase had us laughing all night. Her best line about the gerbils, “They’re for display only.”

Gracie had a really great time. I think they all did. I was really surprised just how well it went. Thank you all for the great suggestions!

Happy Birthday Gracie June 14, 2004

Today is Gracie’s 10th birthday.
I had no idea when I gave birth to Gracie
that I could learn so much from her.

Gracie’s kindness and
compassion know no limit. She is a
terrific big sister to Owen and Cameron.

Gracie has moved and traveled
more than most children her age. London,
Paris, Rome, Dublin, Copenhagen, New York,
Boston, Sitka.

Gracie has a flair for the
dramatics with a terrific sense
of humor.

Gracie, you bring a joy
to my heart I never knew possible.
You inspire me to be a better person.
I love you dearly and thank you for
being you.

Having a Field Day June 11, 2004

Today was Field Day up at the school for Cameron and Gracie. I had notions of sitting at the field, sipping water and reknitting the back of my Everyday Cardigan. No such luck. I had a ton of errands to run this morning to get everything done for the sleepover. I was a pillowcase short so I had to get another package of those. Shamefully, we never put curtains in Gracie’s room, so I got those too. (Her old curtains didn’t fit these windows). I am shallow, what can I say? I even planted some flowers in the front. And I was going to run the vaccum anyway.

I did, however, head down to the school for a little while. I like the way they do it. There are teams and each team has a class from each grade. Makes it a bit more fair, don’t you think? One girl in the school has CP and the gym teacher pushed her in a wheel chair through the relay. Goodness knows the school is on my sh*t list these days but I was impressed by that. Other mothers were complaining though as it was holding up their kids team. Ladies, can we get a grip with reality? I wanted to poke them with my knitting needles.

I think we are squared away for the party aside from last minute tidying. UGH! I hate cleaning. And I am not particularly neat. Bad combo, right? Oh well. I keep threatening to get a job to pay for a cleaning person. No one is taking me seriously. Gracie and I made her cake last night. Nothing fancy as she wanted to also make ice cream sundaes. Out of a box with container frosting. I actually like those cakes. Mmm…preservatives. (Does anyone notice I am rambling so as to avoid cleaning?) Pillowcases to decorate, some crazy light up yo yo balls for dancing in the dark. Oh, and a girlish take on pin the tail on the donkey…plant the kiss on the superstar. Yes, 10 year old girls will be puckering up with lipstick and whoever gets the closest to Orlando Blooms lips wins a prize. I wish I were original and thought that up on my own but I found it on the internet just as I found the CD case circular needle thing.

Prizes, what prizes you ask! What does one get for 10 year old girls? I bought toe rings, pots of lip balm and picture frames. I hope they are cool enough. 🙂 I am so reliving fourth grade and trying to be cooler.

Shoot. I have to clean. Really. I do. If I get it all done before the kids start rolling in I will reward myself with some knitting.

Kicking the bucket June 9, 2004

That’s it! I am kicking the bucket habit. 3 kids, 3 buckets…I am done! This one wasn’t as bad as the last. I spaced out my knitting so as not to kill my hands and wrists. Why did I use kitchen cotton again? ‘Cause I like the colors and the price is right. Cameron really liked the beach bucket we saw on Becky’s site so he wanted something similar. It is finished but he wants some beach themed buttons. Specifically, fish and seagulls. Fish buttons are pretty easy to find but a seagull button…I have found it but the website is not cooperating. Oh, and it is $1.75 plus $2.00 shipping. I think that is more than the yarn cost! How about that stitch marker? It’s an Orbitz gum wrapper. I have been losing stitch makers left and right. The gum wrapper held up surprisingly well. Oh, in the background is my new pocketbook. Alison from the blue blog got one from her Secret Pal and I loved it–beats Coach anyday!

I got this cool CD holder at Target and I am holding my circular needles in it. I think Gracie wants to swipe it. I had a picture of it open with needles in it but my hard drive ate it. (Found it)

The sleepover party is 2 sleeps away. I went to ACMoore yesterday and bought fabric paints and got my pillowcases at HomeGoods and Target. HomeGoods was considerably less expensive than Target and the pillowcases were nicer! I hope Owen is alright with all of these girls in the house. He is currently afraid of Cameron and Gracie’s battery operated toothbrushes. He has used one of these in the past but it has been a couple of years. He is afraid to go into the bathroom. Thank goodness we have that second one.