You know I rock because I'm wearing wool!

I haven't had a give away on the blog in ages and ages-- mainly because I wasn't really using the blog anymore. But India got me back to it, and I'm thinking to try to keep it up for a while. And since we could all use a little more love in our lives, I figured to combine the two and give away some knitting on the blog! Plus, now that summer is here, what better time than to give away something warm, hand knit, super fly, and made of wool?

No better time. Clearly. You'll be preparing for the cold (winter is coming, amiright?), looking cute, and making someone smile. 

Here's what's up for grabs: a pair of fingerless gloves, knit by me from soft, squishy merino wool yarn in a color that's a cross between orange juice and gold-- in other words, these gloves are made of happy. 

They're perfect for cozying up to a mug of coffee or tea!

Or, because they are fingerless, you can write in your brand new, blank journal without fear of cold hands! Also great for reading books, playing video games, posting on Facebook, watching cat videos, or otherwise wasting time on the interwebs. And remember: summer time is overly air-conditioned time! 

Here they are in all their glory, along with my fantastic props.

So now you know what I'm offering. But how, HOW do you get them??

It's simple, really. Leave a comment (by, say, June 2) telling me who you'd like to give these gloves to, and telling me why that person is awesome/needs some love/should be cheered up/is in desperate need of fingerless gloves. Assuming I have more than one comment, I'll probably use a random number generator to choose a winner. And then I will pop them in the mail to that person, and, because you were such an great friend to nominate them for such a nommy prize, I will send you a matching pair. Because I made two pairs :) And because I love you. 

Finally, results!

Well, folks, we had a verrrry close race at the end there! In third place was Jill, with 13 points. There was a tie for second: with 18.5 points each we have Robert and Tamara! And in first place, with 19 points....Becka! Nice job, Beck! I will now insist that you call me (or email, I suppose, lol) to discuss your prize.

Happy March! Look for pictures of my newly designed and completed sweater later today!

Don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do?

Happy extra day of February! AND the last day of my contest. *sniff* I'll miss all your cheerful little comments!

Thanks for all the well wishes concerning my encounters with Heffalumps! Of course you were all right, and my manic stressed out energy from yesterday was quite unnecessary. And now I'm tiiiiiiired! So tired. But Liel just woke up from her nap, and there's dinner to make, and as Robert and Tamara like to say, it's time to make the donuts.

D'you think roasted cauliflower will cook itself if I sit here thinking about how tired I am long enough?

I want you to show me

Kind of a stressed out mood today. As a result, we now have fresh, homemade applesauce, granola, yogurt, and banana bread in the house. At least I get things done, right? Um, cooking things. I get those done. Sadly, the house isn't any cleaner or neater than it usually is. Smells good, though.

Thanks for all the props on the kiwi birds! They really are super cute; I'm sure I will be knitting more in the future...

I feel a bit like how Piglet feels when he wakes up and realizes its nearly time to go see if there are any Heffalumps in the trap he and Pooh made. I'm saying lots of calm and rational things to myself, but the word that is really jiggerting about in my brain is Heffalumps (only it's not actually Heffalumps, I just can't go into it at the moment).

And I could tell it wouldn't be long til he was with me...

Special bonus entry today! Since there are two contest posts in one day they are both valid to answer til I post tomorrow. Yay!

I thought I'd give you the current contest standings. Ready?

At the back of the pack, with one point apiece: Leslie, Andrea, Amanda, and Mel.

Next we have Sara, with 2 points, and Stacie, with 4.

Neda and Robin are tied with 5 points each.

Skye has 6 points, Wendy has 7.

Rachel's got 8 1/2 points, and Jill has 11.

The top three are a close contest! Tamara is in 3rd place with 14 points (TL, you know the songs, but not the artists, and it's hurtin' you!).

And....drumroll....we have a tie for first! Robert and Becka each have 15 1/2 points.

I can't say it's anybody's game still, but it is at least several people's game still, and clearly everyone has honor at stake. So play on!

Jack, get back

Let's catch up on some of my knitting, shall we?

First off, I am still alive in Hat Attack! I have no idea who even has the hat intended for me (my assassin was killed before she completed it). Out of the nearly 400 players who started the game, about 50 of us remain.

I've been knitting a fair amount for the kids this week. I've discovered that no matter how excited they are about clothing I knit them, they hardly ever want to wear it. So I decided to branch out and attempt to make them things they'd find exciting for more than an hour. The first thing I made was a string bag for Liel. It's important to note that Liel loves bags. Plus I made it extra cute with pink and white yarn and a cherry print ribbon handle!



Then I turned my attention to Zion. He's been asking me to knit him various toys for a week or two ("could you knit me a donkey, mama? how about a crab?"), so we found a pattern we mutally agreed upon on Sunday: a kiwi bird. He chose the yarn, and insisted that the bird's feet and beak be the same color as the rest of him. The result was Ki-weed, and I'm pleased to say that Zion has loved him for well over an hour!



But of course Liel wanted a kiwi bird after that, too. And if we're keeping score by things-mama-knitted-for-me it must be said that I'd given Zion a knit bag about a year ago. So on Monday I knitted a kiwi bird for Liel, too. She calls hers Seed.



I gotta say, I love the kiwi bird pattern! Super cute, fast knit, lots of fun.

My final bit of fiber and knitting related news is that I got that huge bunch of yarn I bought from someone on Ravelry on Monday. And oh my do I love it! Gorgeous colors. I'm currently attempting to knit a cropped cardigan of my own design out of some of it. So stay tuned!

I'm gonna be your number one

Yesterday we went up to Bear Mountain State Park to have a winter fun day with other families from the nursery school. We ice skated! (Or attempted to. I'm from California and Robert's from Texas, so you do the math...)



We sledded!



(The extra kid in this picture is one of Zion's friends from school.)



We rode a really cool carousel!





What we didn't do was eat from this machine.





I'm sure I've just been living under a rock somewhere, and have super snobbish food taste, but seriously: pizza from a vending machine?? Someone better be adding this to the Rapture Index, that's all I'm sayin'. I thought it was a joke at first, cause that is some sick shit, man.



But the real question is: isn't there anything faster???

I want my MTV

Oh happy day! I am now the proud owner of snow boots. And I'll even get to use 'em this winter, as we're going to a winter family fun day with Zion's preschool tomorrow.

Check out this cool regionalism test! Actually, do more than check it out. Take it, and tell me what your score was. I *heart* regionalisms in a big way. When I lived in Boston my friends and I would collect them; Boston is a treasure trove of regional dialect. I got 47% Yankee on the quiz (Just barely) and Robert got 64% Dixie (A definitive Southern score!). Frosting/icing was our most amusing disagreement about what was "correct", and if you hear me say (or type) "the frosting on the cake" in the future, you'll know why!

The beating of our hearts is the only sound

We got our 3rd snow of the season today! LOL never thought I'd be so excited about snow. But, if you're gonna live with the cold, some snow is a nice bonus, I suppose. Anyway, here are some pictures from our excursion outside today. We have about twice this much snow on the ground now!

Here's Liel and me, looking thrilled (we really did look more pleased in person!)



Zion, dancing in the snow.



"Hmm, what's this on my mitten?"



"Perhaps if I lick it I'll know what it is..." (She spent the rest of the time outside enthusiastically dipping her mittens in snow and licking it off, announcing, "I licking snow!")



Well, he's either trying to make a snow angel, or is tired from pretending to be a dragon and stomping all around in the snow!

I look around but it's you I can't replace

Oh man, what a day I had yesterday. I was stressed out of my mind, Zion was grumpy and acting out all day, and Robert had his night class. I honestly don't remember the last time I've felt so awful emotionally, and thank G-d I don't feel that way often. It was almost like watching another version of me live my life for a day.

Anyway...today things are more or less back to normal. Except for one thing: I burned my chili! Just a little bit...I had visions of myself serving it to my family and insisting that it was just "smoky tasting", but thankfully I caught it just as it started to burn and it's perfectly fine. I swear the burning is the pot's fault. A few years back my grandmother bought us an Emile Henry pot. It's pretty and fancy, and I've never had a pot that seems to conduct heat as terribly. Even soup sticks to the bottom of this pot, right over where the flame on the stove is, and no matter how low said flame may be. I wish I were kidding, cause the damn thing was expensive, and it irks me to no end that I cannot leave it unattended on the stove for more than 15 minutes unless I crave that smoky flavor in my dinner. Even my cheap stainless steel pot does better. To make matters worse, my precious (and most often used) Le Creuset pot (you know, the one I burned a full of pinto beans when we went on a walk one night a few weeks ago?) still smells awful. I've got baking soda in there, hoping it will absorb the smoky smell, cause I can't cook with it as is, it imparts that smoky flavor if I try. And unlike the Emile Henry one, I love and adore my Le Creuset pot (well, pots, technically, but this on is my special pet).

Anyone have tips for un-burninating your favorite enameled cast iron pot?

Once I ran to you

Now I run from you...

Welcome to Wednesday! Another cold day in New York, but at least it's sunny. Friends in Seattle and the PNW, I have no idea how you do it! A week without sunshine leaves me grumpy and annoyed.

I'm doing some knitting for the Thacher auction in May. Hopefully the stuff I send will sell! So far I've made a Binary Cable Hat in orange and I'm working on a scarf in green (school colors, yo!). I suppose they'll need to be in Ojai by April, so I'm actually ahead of the game! But I did buy that big lot of yarn I was swooning and whining about a couple days ago, so I'm feeling the need to use up the yarn I have hanging around. Robert pointed out yesterday that we need to organize our arts and crafts stuff in the play room (aka finished room in the basement)- my sewing stuff (I practically never use it, but I can't bear the thought of giving up the machine or the fabric I have. What if I need them someday?? I know, classic hoarding behavior. But you know, what if I wanted to whip up some crooked curtains? Hmm, typing this has me answering my own hypothetical questions: clearly what I should do is give my machine and fabric away (it's an ancient machine and there isn't much fabric) and hire Becka to do any sewing I may need in the future. Cause she's only on like day 1000 of work without a break, so I'm sure she could find the time to sew me some straight curtains, or whatever. Becka's got sewing skillz, man! /longest digression in ages), his art robot parts, tools, etc.

On to other subjects!

Yesterday Liel was packing a plastic bag full of various toys she'd culled from the toy baskets and shelves. I asked her why she was putting them all in a bag and she said, "So I can take them to Uncle Kenny's!" and carried on finding toys to fit in the bag. A moment later she found a baby washcloth and tucked it in, too. "I taking this cloth in case I need to wipe my face while I am there", she offered. "In case...in case I get cake on it!"

That's my girl, always prepared!

At this moment, you mean everything...

This morning Zion came into our room when he woke up, as he usually does.

"Daddy?", he said. "Um, do I need to put on new underwear? Or can I keep the ones I have on?"

He had on his favorite pair, with Ratchet on them.

"No, you need to get clean underwear buddy", Robert replied.

"Oh." Zion looked a little disappointed. "Well," he continued, brightening, "could you please wash them for me, very politely?"

Don't wanna end up a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard

Happy Monday! Zion has the week off of school, but Robert has late meetings all week. Sigh! Rather poor timing for it, no?

Kids and I aren't doing much today. I just got Zion to fall asleep 15 minutes ago, and I'm hoping he'll sleep a good hour and not be grumpy when he wakes up. It's so precious to watch him sleeping next to me while I type. Ooops, there's Liel, awake from her nap! No rest for the weary (or wicked) it would seem.

Quickly- I'm trying to justify buying a bunch of handspun yarn. It's lovely, and there are 20 skeins in 10 different shades of brown and cream. But I have no idea what to do with it! So if you think you'd like a hat, scarf, shrug, or even stripped sweater in shades of brown, now's your chance to let me know.

Also, Trufflehound's is delicious, and Robert is, as always, totally rockstar. That is all.

Blame it on the train, but my boss is already there

Today we had brunch with Jenna and Joe on the Lower East Side. Afterwards we made a quick trip to Economy Candy, and took the kids to play the park between Delancy and Forsyth. It was pretty cold (mid 20s), but they had fun running around and climbing on the camel statue thing.

On our way home we got on the F train. Apparently Robert and I had a miscommunication about how long we'd be on the F; as we pulled out of the Rockafeller Center stop I asked where we were going to transfer. Robert said Columbus Circle, and I pointed out that I didn't think the F went to Columbus Circle (and in fact it doesn't), which caused Robert a fair amount of stress, since he thought that's what I'd said earlier and we were now happily heading towards Queens instead of going uptown. Oops. And the F wasn't running uptown at the next two stops. We finally got off at Lexington and walked 3 blocks backwards to 60th street, where we caught an R that took us to 42nd so we could finally get on a 1 train. Blame it on the train indeed :P

It's funny- I find New Yorkers to be fairly interested in conversations regarding the trains; which routes are best, where one can transfer, bad train luck, train missteps. But I know most of you are not from NY, so for all of you I present: my first shawl.



I'm reasonably pleased with it, although not certain that its future lies with me. I'm waiting for it to tell me where it wants to live!

Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sad song

Well, I can't say that every cowboy I've met sings a sad song, but Liel sure is singing one today! She's terribly fussy and grumpy- she wants me to hold her, but she doesn't want my arms or hands on her. No, she doesn't want to be in a mei tai. Or get down. Fine, mei tai. And she wants her kitty water. Ack, it's empty!!!!!!! No, it's not. Yes, it is!!! *wails and flings water everywhere as she shakes the bottle*

You see what I mean?

Yesterday Zion and I were examining the WWF animal "adoption" catalog and he wanted to know which animals I thought were cute, and which ones weren't very cute. Then he had Muffins tell the monkey pictured next to him that he, the other monkey, wasn't very cute like Muffins was. I suggested that saying something like that might hurt the other monkey's feelings, and perhaps was not very kind. How would he feel, I asked, if someone told him that he was not very cute? Zion looked at my thoughtfully. Then he grinned.

"I would think they were tricking me, because I am very cute!", he laughed.

And we're spinning with the stars above

And you lift me up, in a wave of love...

Happy Valentine's day!!! I'm sending lots of love and delight to each of you beautiful spirits.

Yesterday's quote seems to have stumped a lot of you! Either that or you just didn't check the blog ;) 2 entries! I think that's the fewest yet. And Rach, I chose that one special for you. I remember all of us sitting on the front porch of the Fillmore house when we were like 6ish and you telling us that it was your favorite song.
Hat Attack update: I am still alive, but apparently my death hat is on it's way to me. Didn't come in today's mail, however!

Kids and I had fun at the Valentine's party yesterday, and I managed to slip and fall on the ice carrying Liel and walking back to the car, which solidified my concern from yesterday re: seriously injuring myself or the kids on the way to school. I mean, it was flat where I fell last night! My only brag is that I managed to keep Liel dry and out of the all danger when I fell.

My grandmother sent the kids really cute toys from the World Wildlife Fund. Liel got a tree frog that she's named Yarn (a girl after my own heart, lol), and Zion got an emperor tamarin that he calls Muffins. This morning Zion had Muffins climbing up the headboard of our bed (we have a cast iron bed frame. Fun to move, lemme tell ya!), and then perching at the top, balanced between the wall and the top of the frame. Liel thought Yarn might like to climb up the "tree" as well, so off he went. But Yarn was having a difficult time balancing at the top. Luckily older brother knew why! "No, Liel", he said authoritatively, "Yarn cannot sit like that because he does not have a nice fat bottom like Muffins!"

And just like that the love of chubby is passed on to a new generation.

She's sitting with you, but her eyes are on the door

Man, you would not believe the weather we are having today (OK, maybe you would, but I'm a 5th generation Californian, so bear with me). Last night we got 3-4" of snow. Overnight the temperature rose, and it's currently 37 and sleeting. A lot. So the snow is melting and slushing and icy and we've got nasty pouring sleet. Poor Zion had to stay home from school today because we only have one car, and Robert needed it to get to work. I tried to take Zion. I got us all bundled up, set up the stroller, put the kids in, and headed out. But I hadn't even passed our neighbor's house before I was slipping on the road (the sidewalks were totally impassable) and unable to get any kind of traction. We live at the top of a rather steep hill, and I seriously doubt my ability to get down the hill with an 80 lb stroller in these conditions without any of the following happening: 1. falling 2. losing control of the stroller, or 3. dislocating my knee (for those of you who don't know I have luxating patellas, which means I dislocating my knees very easily. I'd guess I've done it 50 times in the past 22 years). So, I turned around and went home. Zion was terribly disappointed and cried and cried and stood in the sleet and didn't want to come in. I felt absolutely awful. So I suggested we do something fun at home and gave the kids some of fancy (and delicious) dried/candied fruit we got for Valentine's day, and let them watch part of a movie.

This afternoon Zion's friend Valentina is having a Valentine's day party. Her parents very sweetly offered to pick me and the kids up, since they live a couple miles away and I wasn't too excited about pushing the kids home (all uphill!) in the dark. Now I'm extra grateful to them for that offer! Vivienne, Valentina's mom, even baked the cake with egg replacer, since she knows Zion is allergic to eggs. When I told Zion about that his eyes lit up (he's used to not being able to eat the treats at birthday parties) and he said, "I bet it will be delicious!...That was very thoughtful of them, mama!"

In knitting news I'm working on a shawl to use up all the bits and ends of yarn leftover from other projects. It's fun, and the knitting is super simple, but the color arrangement is challenging since I want to have it come together as a whole piece rather than look like, well, the bits and ends of my leftover yarn!

I said to the man, are you trying to tempt me?

It's snowing! We've only had a few snowfalls this winter, and only one that stuck. Oh, we've had plenty of very cold weather, but every time we get precipitation it's warm enough for it to be rain. Nice, huh?

Anyway, yesterday I was heating water for tea in the microwave when it started smelling funny. Kinda chemically/plasticy yuck. But there was also a touch of incense or something in there, so I decided it was our upstairs neighbor and let the microwave continue. Then there was a loud bang and a really awful smell, so I rushed over and turned it off. And that was the end of the microwave that Robert bought when he was a sophomore in college.

So this morning we headed out to buy a new one. And new jeans for Zion. And underwear for both kids. And sunglasses (with flames!) for Zion. What we didn't buy was new shoes for Zion, though he's going to need them pretty soon. The kid has huge feet! He wears a size 11 right now, and he doesn't have growing room in his current shoes. I figure he'll either grow into his feet, like a puppy, or...he'll have big feet. Either way! All in all we were good patriotic Americans and spent a bunch of money. Would've been more fun to spend it on wine, yarn, socks, perfume, and robots, but that's life, right?

In other news, I have created frozen yogurt perfection! In my own kitchen! If you're a frozen yogurt fan you've probably tried (or are at least aware of) the newish chains (Pinkberry, Cocoplum, Red Mango, Hello Yogo etc) that serve a fairly tangy frozen yogurt. It is delicious. Well, the other day I got to wondering (again) why I don't use my ice cream maker more often. Regular ice cream doesn't do a lot for me- I'm a bit of a glutton and find that consuming something that is 40% fat actually puts a damper on my ability to just relax and enjoy my gluttony. So I'm always on the look out for something that tastes awesome and isn't going to harden my arteries while I'm still actually eating it.

Here's what I did: I made yogurt (Hehehe, but it's true!). Then I strained the yogurt to remove some of the water, since more water = more ice crystals and less creamy texture. Then I mixed the strained yogurt with sugar and a teeny splash of vanilla (Penzey's double strength!). Then I chilled it in the fridge, but only for about 20 minutes, cause I got impatient. Then I popped in my ice cream maker.

I am not kidding when I tell you that only my great love of Robert and the kids kept me from eating the entire batch straight out of the ice cream maker. It is by far the easiest and tastiest frozen dessert I've made, and what's more, it would be easy to gussy up with chocolate or fruit flavor.

I am making more today.

I'm hot, sticky sweet

And I'm also engaging in a bit of wishful thinking today! LOL. Very cold out there. It was 12 degrees, not counting wind chill (and oh yes, there was wind!) this morning when I walked Zion to school. Hooray for the enclosed bike trailer that converts to a stroller for 2 kids! I actually brought the down comforter from Liel's old crib to tuck in around Liel for the walk home (you know, it gets much colder in there without the body heat of her brother!). Brrrr!

In an effort to feel more summery today, I painted my toenails. Zion wandered in as I was doing this, and asked to help. As I was on the last one that didn't work out, but as he watched me finish up he said, "Mama, boys sometimes like to have nail polish!"

"Would you like me to paint your nails?", I asked.

"Yes", he said, promptly.

"OK. Fingers or toes?"

And now my boy has lovely pink toenails, which he has pronounced, "Very pretty". I should probably take a picture for posterity....

Come sit next to me you fine fellow!

Apologies for not updating the contest yesterady! The pattern for Hat Attack was released at 930am EST, so I had to get going on that right away. It's a super fun, super fly pattern with cables representing the binary numbers 0-15. My brother dubbed it "Nerd Bling". I finished mine up this morning in a pretty heathered pink yarn- I like to think of it as a strawberry milkshake hat. And while this one is going off to my target in Arkansas tomorrow morning I will certainly be making at least one more hat from this pattern for my own use (I hope I get to work on at least one more for the game, but only time will tell!). Here's the one I made this weekend.




Anyway, Robert and the kids went to get our CSA and Kenny and Giselle in the Bronx and I had some quiet knitting time, which was fabulous. They all turned up around lunch time, and I started in on the fingerless gloves I'm making for Kenny. I'd been waiting for him to actually be here to work on them since I couldn't find a suitable pattern and am making one up, which requires lots of trying on. Once the kids were settled down for nap/quiet time Kenn and Giselle started getting that hopefully, faraway look in their eyes, and discussing hunger and walks. Clearly, a trip to Gracie's Ravioli for some of their kick-ass panini was in order! And here's the first of Kenny's mitts. It looks a lot cooler on, I swear!



Liel was much friendlier with her aunt and uncle this visit, and even asked to sit on Kenny's lap during story time.



This morning both kids woke up with colds, and we don't have any particular plans. But good news! My mom reports that the sweater fits her and she loves it! *Phew*