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May 30, 2006
Yay.
Yay for long weekends, especially long weekends that are scheduled right after the birth of a new nephew. I needed to recover (and I imagine that my sister and her husband did too. Hee). Jacob and I went to Mississippi to visit his grandparents, and we got in lots of relaxation, fishing, and eating.
Here's some broccoli from his grandparents' garden:
It was delicious.
One night, we had a vegetable feast for dinner, and the majority of the veggies came from their garden. New potatoes, English peas, broccoli, lima beans. yumyumyum.
I got to fish in the catfish pond where Jacob fished when he was little - it was really cool. He caught a catfish, and I did too, but it got away. I'd never actually seen a catfish in real life before! Later, I caught a bass and a brim. I am a fisherwoman.
I also did a lot of knitting. I actually finished Green Gable, but it's not blocked yet, so here's a progress picture for you:
Green Gable.
I did a few extra rows of the lace pattern (accidentally) but I think it works. It definitely needs a good blocking, but I think I'm going to really like the finished product.
Other things that happened this weekend:
1. During his weekly haircutting session, Jacob accidentally shaved a hole into the back of his head. Eight years of hair cutting, people, and this is the first time it's ever happened. I admit that I laughed uncontrollably for a little while before empathizing.
Oops.
Luckily, the Pants has a handsome face and normal shaped head, so he just shaved his head. And he still looks cute.
He's not happy about it.
2. I took some generic Pepto-Bismol before I went to sleep on Saturday night (hello, fried Mississippi country food) and I woke up with a BLACK TONGUE. I am not kidding. Click if you want to see part of my gross black tongue.
I immediately thought I was dying of The Black Tongue. I was wrong, (as Jacob and HEJ assured me). Apparently, this can be a side effect of Pepto-Bismol. We even checked the bottle and it said: "This beneficial medicine may cause a darkening of the tongue." Harumph. Thus, I am writing about my Black Tongue to increase awareness of this harmless yet bizarrely disturbing side effect of Pepto-Bismol. Ew.
And that was my weekend. I'm glad to be home, glad to see my doggy schmoos, and glad that tonight I'm going to finally watch the finales of Lost and American Idol on Tivo. Yay.
May 26, 2006
BigHeadSchmoo Wins the Race
He's here!
My nephew, Brady.
Mom, Dad and the baby are doing just fine. He's the cutest schmoo I've ever seen, bar none. And also, I have newfound respect for my older sister and everyone else in the world who has ever had a baby. GOOD LORD. Labor = hard. I knew that already, but now I've heard it. (I wasn't in the room when she delivered but I was just outside the room. )
I don't have time for a real post but I'll tell you all about it soon. Just wanted to post a picture and give you a link to more:
[ NephewSchmoo ]
The slippers were felted but not dry. Brady wins the race!
May 23, 2006
I've Lost It.
I just finished Fuzzy Foot #2, grafted the toe, and I'm ready to felt.
Except that I can't find Fuzzy Foot #1.
That's right, people, I've lost an ENORMOUS PURPLE SOCK. How did this happen? I had a feeling that it's directly related to how messy my house and my car are, but DUDE. That is a big sock to lose. I guess I could call around to all the places I went this weekend, but I'm kind of embarrassed to ask if anyone found an ENORMOUS PURPLE SOCK.
I feel insane.
Like this.
Where are you, Fuzzy Foot?
Here. This will make me feel better.
Scratch my ears.
Okay. Now I'm bored of you.
I'm now starting Fuzzy Foot #3. Fuzzy Foot #2 will be with me until I finish the other one. Must. Felt. Tonight.
May 22, 2006
Fun Times.
There is so much going on around here. Still awaiting the Nephew - in order to speed his arrival, I decided to embark on a new knitting project for my sister Michelle: slippers for the delivery room:
Fuzzy. Feet.
I'm almost done with Foot #2, and then I'll throw them in the washer and felt them. Hey BigHeadSchmoo! Let's race - can I finish my slippers before you get here? GO.
I also did another round of wedding dress shopping, this time with Leslie and Anne Marie. They were so nice at the store -- they actually let us have our own big old dressing room and a huge mirror. I can't believe they left us alone for so long, let alone with a camera to document it all. Inevitably, this happened:
Anne Marie couldn't take it anymore....
She HAD to try on this dress.
And then Leslie tried on this silky number...
Okay, and maybe I tried on this ridiculousness too.
I actually did try on a BUNCH of wedding dresses, but there are very few that I can show you because I liked many of them, and I don't trust the Pants to obey instructions like DO NOT CLICK ON THIS POP-UP PICTURE. [It's okay if he does, this one was cute but not for me.] We found three that were really really beautiful and looked right and felt good and all that jazz. There will be many other trips to the dress shop, but I kinda sorta think I might've found my dress....but I'm definitely going to shop around anyways.
Oh, good times.
Saturday, we went to a cookout and drank daiquiris, which was a deliciously decadent combination, and I may morphed into a party schmoo later that night and stayed out WAY too late. (Sunday was spent recovering from aforementioned activities that might have happened.) Note to self: never mix vodka tonics and beer. NEVER. AGAIN.
Hope you're having a nice and quiet Monday!
May 16, 2006
Summer is here.
Finally. Work is going to calm down considerably now. I'm looking forward to the extra file-organizing and office-rearranging time. (I actually like to do that stuff at work ... I know the Pants is thinking WHY DON'T YOU DO IT AT HOME?)
Nephew Schmoo is still hanging out in my sister's belly. He is now also being referred to as Big Head Schmoo, since more than one of Michelle's doctors have been like, "Dude. His head is BIG." My sister LOVES to hear that, let me tell you. Heeheehee. (We also call Bella BigHeadSchmoo, or BigHeadWorm, right after she's been shaved, because her little furry head looks bigger than the rest of her after a haircut. But I digress.)
Lots of happy things going on around these parts. Got to see Chelsea this weekend, which was a lovely surprise and so much fun. My twin sister Cathy came with us, and was so excited to meet Chelsea that when she actually MET her, Cathy said, "Hi, I'm Chelsea! No,um, I mean, you're Chelsea." Giggle. Anne Marie and I regularly make elaborate plans to get all the fabulous knitbloggers we've met to move to Athens and live near us ... so far nothing is foolproof. We will come up with a plan.
Also got to see the family on Mother's Day, and give Michelle the baby onesie that I've been working on forever. OF course I forgot to take a picture in my finishing frenzy, but here's a picture of my sister opening it:
Tiny baby outfit! In Cotton Fleece!
I seriously hope this fits BigHeadSchmoo. It was a Phildar pattern, and I'm not 100% sure that I followed (or translated) the pattern correctly. But it looks like a baby outfit, at least. cutecutecute.
Other knitting includes a anklet Jaywalker for ME and Green Gable. Both are moving along nicely. Here's the proof:
Green Gable in the car.
So far, so good. I've tried it on and the armpits seem to fit perfectly. Now to survive the rounds of stockinette ... once all my shows are done for the summer (American Idol! Grey's! Law and Order!), I won't have any finales to knit through. (Although, with my new best friend Tivo, I can watch old episodes of the Colbert Report for DAYS.)
Here's the sock:
Socks That Rock, anklet Jaywalker.
I'm going to take a close-up picture of the colorway for you - it's so pretty.
And that's all the news I've got. I've been posting so infrequently recently because work and my Java class have been keeping me busybusy, but things will be calmer now. Until the BigHeadSchmoo arrives, of course.
May 7, 2006
Weekend. (Picture Heavy.)
Nephew Schmoo status: The little guy wants to make us wait a little longer. And that's actually good for my sister, health-wise (although I believe at this point SHE IS READY.) [ Nephew Schmoo probably knows that I need to sew snaps on his onesie and is waiting for that - what a good kid! ]
Anyways, for a weekend that I was supposed to be gone, I actually had lots to do. On Friday, I spent the day with my sisters. Cathy and I hung out with Michelle and Nephew Schmoo-to-be for a little while. Michelle's dog Cash also hung out:
Cash is a schmoo.
After Michelle's, Cathy and I may have stopped at a bridal shop, and I may have tried on a ridiculously large and ornate dress:
I felt like some sort of weird medieval woman.
Um, trying on wedding dresses is SUPER FUN. I'm going to try on like 60 billion. And take pictures of all of them. I actually found one I liked, but it was blue and a bridesmaid's dress. I might return to it eventually.
So. Other activities. Bling played TWO shows this weekend, and since I was here, I played in both shows. Saturday afternoon was a benefit for the Athens Justice Project. It was really strange to play at 3:00 in the afternoon, since we normally don't stop playing until around midnight or LATER. The guys in the band normally wear sunglasses on stage, but on Saturday we actually needed them:
Greasy V and Carrieoke.
More pictures from the benefit concert here: [ Bling Bling ]
Fun times.
And, in knitting news, I got my Sockapaloooza socks in the mail this weekend, and THEY. ARE. AWESOME!
They fit perfectly, they are super comfy, and so beautiful!
These were knitted by the lovely elizagrrl. I was so excited when I opened the package - Eliza sent me these amazing socks and a Chibi too! Thanks so much Eliza! They fit so well...I will be wearing these lots and lots.
Yummy softness.
My socks made it to my pal as well - in some miracle of the post office, I sent my socks to Austria last MONDAY and they got there by Friday! Miraculous. You can see them on Leandra over here: [ click. ] How cool is it that a pair of socks that I knitted are in Austria now? And they fit, too! I'm so glad they fit, Leandra!
It was a great weekend. I heard the weather was good for Sheep and Wool, so ya'll better start posting the pictures! I can't wait to hear all about it.
May 4, 2006
Forces of Nature
People. We've got some situations. For instance, the I'm-about-to-be-an-aunt-situation. This particular situation brings me a great amount of excitement and happiness, since it's my first nephew, and clearly he will be the world's coolest baby. However, said baby has decided that he MIGHT join us in the world THIS WEEKEND! which means no MSW for me. (It should be noted that my older sister insisted that I go, but DUDE, I'm not even going to risk missing his arrival.) Yarn festivals come and go, but tiny baby schmoo arrivals are once in a lifetime.
So, I won't be at MSW this weekend. The only thing I'd really planned to buy was some Socks That Rock, so I may ask Anne Marie to pick me up a skein or two. Or maybe just pet the alpacas for me. I will miss the blogger sightings, but there's always Rhinebeck.
The knitting situation is this: I keep screwing up Green Gable. Here's what it looked like right before I frogged the whole thing:
It's super cute. And totally messed up.
I kept getting an extra stitch in the lace pattern, and I tried to ignore it the first go-round, and it looked like poo. So, I ripped and restarted last night (after knitting about 5 inches on the Ballet Shirt from Loop-d-loop, then changing my mind). I'm still getting the extra stitch, but the High Energy Genius looked at the pattern with me today and figured out my mistake. She is my hero. [And also, she is a schmoo deserving of many good vibes right now due to her own particular situations. GO GO HEE! ]
And here's a little something I'm knitting up for mememe: a Jaywalker.
In Socks That Rock, some yummy pinky color.
Jaywalkers are cool because they love to hug narrow little skinny feet like mine. Of course I've already managed to screw up one of the increases, but I'm not ripping. They are for me, and I'll fudge it. I'm okay with fudging.
Since tiny nephew schmoo could be here any minute, I need to get my butt in gear and sew some snaps on his onesie. Pictures as soon as I do that, I promise!
Everybody travel safely to ye olde Maryland Sheep and Wool, and I'm hoping for a dry weekend for you all.
May 1, 2006
Happee! Mania!
THANK YOU!
Um, you guys are totally like the nicest blog readers ever in the history of the world. No, seriously. I am totally overwhelmed by the congratulations and good wishes and thoughtful comments. You are schmoos, every single one of you. Schmoos, I say! Thank you thank you thank you for sharing my excitement! I pretty much told anyone who looked in my general direction on Friday, and I did a lot of jumping up and down. I'm not usually one to be SUPER girly about things, but um, HI I'M BEING GIRLY. I'm so buying bridal magazines and looking at dresses online and planning Bella's ringbearer costume. Wheeeeeee.
(Just so you know: he picked the ring out all by himself, I didn't know it was coming, and my last name will not actually be Pants. And also, Jacob is really cute.)
Ahem.
Seriously, your comments meant so much to me. It's so fun to share the happy with ya'll.
There is knitting to report, because I had a deadline this week: Sockapaloooza! Here are the socks I knitted for my pal:
Knit with Trekking XXL using Sensational Knitted Socks.
See the pattern close up.
They are definitely fraternal twins, but I still love the way they turned out. I hope my sock pal doesn't mind that the striping doesn't exactly match. These were super fun to knit, and they are winging their way to Europe right now.
Thanks to Blue Blog Alison for organizing such a huge sock swap -- I can't wait to get mine in the mail!
(For future reference, how do I get the stripes to match up on variegated yarn like this? I tried to eyeball the colors and match the stripes when I started the second sock, but I couldn't do it. I've tried before with other yarns too. Educate me, please.)
Tonight I get to start my Green Gable, and I'm kinda sorta hoping that it will go really fast and I can wear it at Maryland Sheep and Wool. Har. We shall see. I told Jacob that his timing is impeccable, because now I get to go hang out with knitbloggers, play with yarn, *and* show my friends my beautiful ring. What more could a girl ask for?