Author Archives: WoolyMama

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Rainy Monday

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It’s Monday again.  Can’t you just tell how overjoyed I am?  Mondays always mean another week alone with the kids, another week of making sure the kids get carted around to the various and sundry activities that make up our week, when really I’d much rather stay in the house and snuggle the baby and knit.  Especially in the winter.  I love the cold weather, but I also love that it’s a good excuse to stay in.  But, even though it’s a rainy Monday, the temps are really mild in these parts right now so cold is no excuse this week for me.  I really need to get out into the garden and get it ready for spring.

I have a good reason to be happy this morning because I have bagels!  There’s a new bagel place about 2 minutes away from our house now, (this is huge – there’s been a real lack of any good food in this area for as long as we’ve been here) and the best part is, the owners are from New York!  I went in Sunday morning for the first time since they opened a few weeks ago and I felt like I was back north.  There’s bagels, pastries, NY hot dogs, cake……..I am so happy!  And I have heard rumors that they make real Italian bread.  We’ve been missing that sorely since moving down south.

And speaking of NY, go Giants!  My satellite was out (of course) but I caught the end of the Superbowl in fuzzy black & white  thanks to good ol’ bunny ears.  Need to get my tv in better working order.  Being alone can be rough and having the tv on (I know, it’s sad!) really helps take the edge off.  On nights when I am feeling freaked out for whatever reason I can turn on Discovery and feel less alone.

In knitting news, I just cast on another pair of socks, and I am still working on that sweater for Emily.  I may as well face the reality that it won’t be done in time for her to wear it this winter.  Oh well.  It’s ok.  While lounging on the couch last night watching the game with the baby asleep on me I looked over at Ems on the other couch.  There she was, laptop in lap, playing some game, all comfy and content, wearing the socks I knit her in the fall.  Now that is a happy mommy moment.

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Hats Are Done!

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harlot-hats.jpg

It’s sure hard to take a good picture when you’re holding a baby in one arm. Anyway the pattern is Yarn Harlot’s Unoriginal Hat  .  I worked it up on size 8 US dpn’s (had to go down a few needle sizes so they’d fit their little heads) and the yarn is Blue Moon Fibers’ Leticia in colorways Scottish Highlands (Neve, on left) and Downpour (Emily, on right).  I wish the colors had come out better here.  I’m going to have to start breakin’ out the photo lamps.  It’d also help to have 2 hands!

Anyway the hats fit them really well and are very warm.  While I was knitting them I was thinking how I’d like to knit up a cabled throw blanket out of it.  I still may – maybe just one or two squares at a time – in different colors, like a patchwork quilt.  That would be fun actually……………..now the gears are turning!

We got ice last night so schools are closed today.  It’s nice to have Emily around to help out with the baby a bit but she and Neve tend to fight a lot so…..it’s a trade- off.    Maddie will be over later to spend the night so I’ll have more help – the girls tend to behave better when she’s around (she might not believe that!) so it makes my life easier.  With Mads around I should be able to get some cleaning done as well, and maybe make a big batch of spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.  If only she never had to go to school………..

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‘Twas brillig, and……um………

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This brain is now full and is no longer accepting new information. We apologize for any inconvenience.

You know, there are studies that say motherhood makes you smarter. Oh yeah? ‘Cause I don’t think so. I am feeling pretty darn dumb these days, and after talking to a few other mothers I’ve come to the conclusion that I am not alone. I mean, I still have an awful lot of useless information rattling around in my brain, but I feel like every time I learn something new (that cleaning barnacles off a buoy is a Dirty Job, for example), older information gets pushed out. And yes, I had to look up how to spell buoy just now. So sad. Motherhood isn’t making me smarter. In fact, it feels a lot more like a quiz I keep failing, and my kids are the quiz masters. I mean really, the questions never stop and I am pretty useless in answering. Thank GOD for Google. Neve asked me yesterday what was inside our brains, and I said “electrical impulses?”. And of course she wanted to know what those were, and what was in them. So I googled “brain” and showed her the resulting images. That’s what’s in our brains. But mostly it’s more like they ask me what something is or how something works and I tell them to ask their papa when he calls.

It’s memory as well. Or maybe that is most of it anyway. I used to be able to recite Jabberwocky from memory. Not anymore. Across the Universe? Can’t remember the words to sing along. Was the brownie meeting today or last week? Don’t ask me.

This wouldn’t be so bad if I was acquiring newer and more useful skills. A second set of arms, even. I’d even settle for a thought filter that prevents those “open mouth and insert foot” situations. But noooooooo.

Is brain function one of those “use it or lose it” deals? Maybe I need some brain exercise. You know what though? I am so shallow that I’d prefer to work on getting my butt back down to a size 4 than work on being smart.

Oh well.

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Sick Child Brand

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Amor told me a few times how whenever they got sick as kids, their grandfather would look at them laying miserably on the couch and say “Sick child brand”.  That seems to have stuck in my head.  At 3 this morning when Oona was all snorty and stuffy all I could think in my grogginess was “sick child brand”.   Neve has likewise been feeling unwell, and I can feel the beginnings of a head cold.  Sick family brand?

It’s funny what things stick with you after someone is gone.  My kids are the second generation to be frustrated by being told “You’re doing a good job”.   Paul’s grandfather used to tell them that whenever they were mad about doing chores, or feeling particularly ornery about an assignment.   Amor laughs about it now, but I can picture all of them as kids feeling exasperated by it, as my kids are now.   Neve screams when she can’t properly dress her Barbie and Emily whines about cleaning her room and all Paul will say is “You’re doing a good job.”  They roll their eyes, but I wonder if it will stick with them the same way it has stuck with their father and aunts and uncles.

My grandfather was always after us to wash our hands.  My brother was terrified of him as a child – he wasn’t a big man but he had a large, if somewhat quiet, presence that seemed to command respect without saying a word.   Every evening at dinner grandpa would say to my brother “You wash your hands, boy?”  It’s a family joke now, and I’m sure if I ever had a son my brother would pester him with it.  It was good advice.  Maybe if my kids would be more diligent in heeding it  I wouldn’t be calling them “sick child brand” today.

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Ode to Laundry

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How I loathe thee, oh diabolical laundry

With your troublesome piles calling “come fold me”

You stare at me dirtily from the hamper in here

That I’ll never triumph over you, I fear

Even when clean, your power to overwhelm me you keep

Scattered as you are in great untidy heaps

Please disappear laundry, I can take you no more

I tried to sort you, now you cover the floor

Dirty or clean, you’re a horrible mess,

Though goodness knows I’ve tried my best

I’m drowning here, I can’t find anything I need

How I loathe thee laundry, I loathe thee indeed.

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I Need a New Bagel Horse

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When Emily was about 2 years old we spent Thanksgiving up in New York, and for some reason that I can no longer remember we went to FAO Schwartz with her.  We spent some time perusing the (expensive!) cute toys and even though we swore to each other we wouldn’t spend any money, it soon became clear to Emily’s papa that I wasn’t going to keep my end of the bargain.  There were just too many cute things that she was captivated by, and at 2 years old and my first child I was still firmly wrapped around her tiny finger.  What we left with was a Gund kitty cat that I thought was pretty cute and she would not let go of once she had it.  Her papa grumbled over the $20 price (he had nooooooo clue back then……) but he bought it anyway because clearly Emily was in love.

All the way back to my in – laws’ place I kept asking Emily what her new kitty’s name was.   She kept shrugging.  I would offer suggestions but most of them she rejected.  We had just seen Austin Powers so I asked her if she’d like to call her kitty “Mr. Bigglesworth”.  She didn’t seem overly excited about it, but since she offered no other names (and for some reason I really felt she needed a name for her fake cat) we began to refer to it as such.

Now, the thing about a 2 year old Emily calling her cat “Mr. Bigglesworth” lay in the pronunciation.  Specifically, that  she could not pronounce it correctly, but like everything else, added her own twist to it (kind of like how frappuccinos became crap-uccinos) and what she called it sounded much closer to “Mr. Bagel-horse”.  And as sometimes happens, we began to call him “Bagel – horse” as well.

Bagel – horse was her best friend.  He slept with her at bedtime, he sat with her at mealtime, he came with us wherever we traveled to.  When she started daycare, he was her take along companion.

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Emily, papa and Bagel horse

Now flash forward to Neve.  Emily was 4 when Neve was born, and she was (and still is) Neve’s idol.  As soon as she could crawl and walk, she followed Emily.  Unfortunately, she also loved Emily’s possessions.  Most troublesome was her attachment to Emily’s Bagel horse.  By this time he wasn’t Emily’s accessory anymore, but he held (and still does today) the honored spot on her pillow.   Emily therefore did not take too kindly to “sharing” him.  So imagine my delight when I found an exact replica while shopping for christmas gifts that year at a local toy store.  The same Gund kitty, called “Bootsie”.  I snatched it up and Neve gleefully hugged him to herself christmas morning.  All was well with the world, there was Bagel horse 1 and Bagel horse 2 (yes, that was what we named him).  Best of all, they were very easy to tell apart; Emily’s Bagel horse was very clearly well loved.  He was not the fluffy clean toy that Neve had.  His fur was matted and worn down and his stuffing was uneven.  Amazingly, that made Emily love him all the more.

Now that we have Oona I have been thinking about Bagel horse 3.  I’m pretty sure the toy store still carries them (good thing Gund hasn’t discontinued it!).  Neve doesn’t love hers in the same way that Emily did, and I wonder what Oona will find that will be her lovey.  Either way, there’s a Bagel horse for all.

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All the Yarny Goodness

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I finally picked up the sweater I had cast on for Emily a few months ago. I only had about an inch done, but I’ve been working on it in the evenings so it’s starting to come along a bit. It’s rather boring right now since it’s just row after row of stockinette in chocolate brown. I’m working as fast as I can so I can get to the fun part – a mock fair isle band in pink and cream. But for now, mindless and boring. Plus I really don’t care for circular needles – I’d much rather use dpn’s. Next time I think I will. At least it’s working up rather fast. I’m a lot further along now than I was when I took this picture:

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I’m using Plymouth’s Galway wool and the pattern is the Drive-thru sweater from Wendy over at Knit & Tonic. I’ve got more to make one for Neve as well. The good news is that if I don’t finish in time for it to fit either of them, there’s still Oona. One always must be thinking of these things when embarking on a project!

Notice the ginormous Starbucks cup? It’s pretty much my constant companion these days. The good news is I have started Oona on rice cereal so I am hoping that will translate to longer periods of sleeping at night! This week has been pretty decent – she’s been falling asleep around 9 pm and sleeping until about 3 before wanting to nurse. So I’ve been using my evenings to knit (as much as I can while holding her) and catching up on some tv. I recorded about 8 hours worth of Dirty Jobs last week in case my satellite went out again (it didn’t….yay!) and I was also happy to see a new show on Discovery (I’m a Discovery junkie) called Some Assembly Required. One of the hosts is Lou Bloomfield, my old college physics professor. So I’ve been having fun watching him on tv, doing basically the same things he did in class. I’m also impatiently waiting for new Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers. These shows were the staples of my couch – bound pregnancy. I can’t help but think of Alaskan crab when I look at my newly finished socks (the first was was mostly worked on during a Deadliest Catch marathon, with my feet up and the sock propped on my huge uncomfortable belly).

But now those socks are done, evening tv is fun, and I have a pile of new projects to look forward to. See what came today?

kitty-yarn.jpg

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee………….

There’s Blue Moon Fiber Arts Leticia for hats, some Socks That Rock, a toddler sock kit from KnitWhit and some Rowan Big Wool Fusion for a Kitty Pi bed. It’s gonna be great.

Drools…………

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Cradle Cat

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No I do not mean Cradle Cap, the skin condition in infants and toddlers that causes scaliness. I am talking about a much more serious condition.

Cradle Cat is caused by leaving a warm and comfy cradle in an accessible area, such as the living room. Symptoms include, but are not limited to: an inordinate amount of fur buildup in cradle liner (more fur than your child could shed on his or her own); a strange “purring” noise emanating from the cradle; sharp swiping at unwanted passersby (ie., YOU); and perhaps the most serious of the symptoms, the inability to put your child down.*

*this condition may lead to frustration, tension headaches and cursing.

There is no known cure for Cradle Cat.

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