The Family Jewels August 30, 2007

One of the reps at the shop came in wearing this beauty and it had to be mine!  Completely appropriate–it was the day after I discovered my BIG mistake on St. Brigid.  Cabling without a needle didn’t work so well for me on that sleeve so I thought a sterling silver cable needle hanging around my neck might help.  It’s lovely.  And heavy.  I was an indentured servant for several days but I was finally payed up at 11am on Saturday.  If anyone is interested in the necklace, let me know–I can send more pictures too.  They sell for $160 plus shipping.

Life has been a bit nutty with Owen home.  He has been very clingy and 12 hours of him hanging on me, requesting "tickle bombs" is draining.  He is actually at his teacher’s house now for a couple of hours, hanging out with her kids and going in the pool.  It’s a nice little break.  I feel absolutely awful about it as he has such a short vacation but when he isn’t requesting tickle bombs–he wants to go get a "donut".  We have to do something about that.  He only likes pink frosted sprinkle Dunkin Donuts.  I think he would alternate between everything bagel with butter and donuts if he could.

Knitting…not so much.  I finished the Neapolitan sock but it is hanging at Granny’s.  The worsted weight socks for my brother are a bit stalled.  I couldn’t get the toe decreases right.  I asked my mom to finish it for me–she is my brother’s mother–GASP!  She insists I conquer my dpn fears.  Honestly, I learned on dpns–I made Sunny’s Mittens with some handspun as my first real knitting project.  I just suck at them.

Oh yea…Owen’s meeting went well.  The coordinator doesn’t plan on doing 10 block trials of verbal imitation.  Hurray!!

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August 23, 2007

While the sleeve dilemma on St. Brigid is pondered, I have been plugging along on a couple of other projects.  The Superior yarn is an absolute delight to knit with.  However, the pattern I am using–not so much.  I have discovered a few errors but Takhi has only confirmed one.  There is no chart and I find reading the pattern to be murder.  Consequently, I picked up a
sock.  Not just any sock–a huge, worsted weight sock in Knitaly for my brother’s 5oth birthday.  He is a former Navy Seal–a real tough guy who likes to hunt and fish.  It’s a quick knit but I am using up yarn pretty quickly.  I am not sure about the yarn amounts listed in Ann Budd’s Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns.  Granny says she has more.

Gracie and I went to see Phantom of the Opera on Saturday.  It was very good and a wonderful day with Gracie.  However, the family behind us–older couple with a 4 or 5 year old–spoke, sang and ate during the show.  I was horrified.  Someone’s cell phone even went off towards the end and you could see the reaction on the actors face.  Horrible.

Owen’s last day is tomorrow.  We have his team meeting today.  I am a bit apprehensive about programming plans for Owen as they are planning more verbal imitation programs.  He hates VI programs.  There is nothing worse in his book then being asked to say "the" 20 times.  Sigh.  He is leaving off final consonants–as he always has and they want him to do better.  I understand there is a difference between bow and boat.  But in the context of a sentence like, "I swam to the boat," I think the listener can comprehend Owen’s meaning.  We shall see.  His Dyna went off the table and is in need of repair.  I am sure he is looking forward to his nearly two weeks off.

The countdown June 26, 2007

Just a few days before we head off to Hilton Head.  I have done something to my back so Kevin has kindly booked me a flight and is driving the kids down without me.  I have some serious reservations about this as I am the voice of caffeine and stretching.  However, I am not so helpful on pain killers.  I go for an MRI tomorrow but I suppose it will be a bit before we get any answers.  I had backpain similar to this 11 years ago and with exercise I brought it under control–really building up those abs.  I haven’t seriously exercised since we moved back here and my weight is heavier than it ever has been before.  Sigh.  There is some work to be done once we figure things out.  I did try out a chiropractor.  This is something I have never done before.  I am still not sold but I know some people swear by them. 

Nancy’s birthday blogger fest was so much fun.  Ann drove us in style–Onslow, of course!  Miss Maribel–a cookarific caramel–made delicious food.  The company–Risa, Tisha, and Chante was wonderful.  Rinaldo was an absolute doll especially delivering carrot cake.  I brought a Lloyd’s Carrot Cake home for every holiday when I was in college.  YUM!

In other countdown news, I want to  have a birthday party too.  That was so much fun.  I just need to find my own Maribel! 

Geesh, nearly forgot my own knitting content.  One sock is finished and I started the other.  I don’t know if I have enough for the second.  The second picot didn’t go as smoothly as the first but it is good enough.  I still have to figure out what to bring down to Hilton Head.  I now have to consider what I can bring on the plane. 

I am sorry for any incoherent content….

Socks by my mom June 4, 2007

Knitting has been limited as of late.  I have been distracted, to say the least, and this is a crazy time of year anyway.  Thanks for all of the input and support on Cameron.  The district has reconsidered and he is staying in his current placement.  We are finishing testing today on his independent evaluation.  The scores have been about 10 points higher on each of the tests.  We also started Fast Forword last week.  I hope it is as effective this time as it was last.

My mom has been busy knitting.  The blue socks are from Vogue Knitting by Charlene Schurch in Claudia’s Handpainted Deep Blue colorway.  The purple socks are a Cookie A. Twisted Flower in Tess Designer yarn.  Perhaps not the best yarn choice as the pattern doesn’t show as well as it could.  They are goregous though and my mom thoroughly enjoyed knitting them.  What’s not looking so hot are her  Monkey socks.  She is using the Great Adirondack Silky Sock and it seems to be another case of pattern not working with yarn.  She is continuing on though.  They are just socks, she says.  The process, right?  😉

6 days later May 29, 2007

Well, I didn’t expect that to take so long.  I think I was frustrated as I wrote a heartfelt yet balanced post without too much emotion.  Why don’t I save to draft more often?  I also realized this morning, as I lay in bed, I still haven’t posted a picture of the Shetland Triangle.  Bad blogger extraordinaire.

I will start with the knitting, of which there has been very little.  I ripped my sock to just before the picot and reknit on 0’s.  Much better.  I also tried an Eye of Partridge heel which got lost in the striping but I think it is there.  I ripped back the sleeves on my Kersti cardigan and making them a tad longer for my monkey arms.  I finished a tank top in Berroco Zen at the shop and continue to work on a Karabella Gossamer stole.  Nearly every sentence in this paragraph starts with "I".  While I know it is my blog–even Cameron knows better. I am not rewriting it but I am going to save this draft right now.

In other realms, time has been pressed with the kids.  We had Cameron’s meeting and it went worse than we expected but perhaps there was some good in that too.  Once again, the school is recommending a self-contained placement in the fall.  They have planned a high functioning 12:1:1.  For those not familiar, 12 students, one special education teacher and one aide.  The disabilities are comprised of speech disorders, learning disabilities and autism.  3 of the kids have autism.  That is 1/4 of the class.  Cameron needs positive role models and this classroom will not offer that for him.  I brought up to the district that this was not the least restrictive environment and asked about the integrated.  I was told it was filled.  This is not a legal answer and I pointed out to them they had to offer him something less restrictive.  I think they tried to threaten me with an out of district placement but I said we would love to look into it.  We are waiting to hear back from them but I suppose they will try to stall us for as long as possible.  I am asking to visit these placements before the school year ends.

Now for the good results from this meeting.  I have gotten Cameron a private, independent evaluation.  The results are proving to be better than that which the school showed.  I attended a parent advocacy workshop and found I was not alone.  4 of the 12 parents in attendence were from my district.  The trainer wants to take on our case with the district.  I bought and borrowed a ton of books on advocacy and am changing how I handle our paperwork and interactions with the district.  Today I am touring a local Catholic School.  And, lastly, I am reading all I can on homeschooling. 

Owen’s coasting.  He has a new teaching assistant in his class.  Owen adores older men–"grandfather" is one of his favorite words.  And Gracie is awesome.  It looks like London is a no go.  And I have been gardening–not something I especially enjoy.   

…been kind of quiet April 18, 2007

I started a diet and it was going very well.  I don’t know if it was just water weight but I plateaued and gave up.  Needless to say, I am frustrated with myself.  My high school reunion is next year.  I really don’t want to be overweight.  I was missing Twizzlers something fierce–so I started some candy inspired socks.  Yum.  Look at that picot edge baby.  My first.  Not too bad.  Wow, that is a  really big picture.

But you can see the detail, can’tcha?

I also finished a shawl for Owen’s school dinner dance.  I don’t really want to discuss the less than warm reception when I dropped it off.  We know it was pretty much dummy knitting–garter stitch on big ‘ole needles.  But Fiesta Yarns usually do all the work for you.  They decided to beef up the chinese auction basket with the GC Granny donated.  I tried to explain an evening shawl and a GC to a yarn shop–even if it is a SHOPPE–don’t go to together but they had their own thoughts.  Can you believe I considered offering a hand knit aran?  DUH!!  What would go with that?  A pile of poo?

Here’s Gracie modelling it sans head.

Now, I am off to her swim meeting.  Have a good night.