Women's Roles

I was absolutely flabbergasted when I read Stephanie's post titled "Just Keep Your Mouth Shut". I started to send e-mails to my state senators and decided instead to call their local offices Monday morning and then follow up with e-mails.

Yesterday we had to take Jake to the local emergency room. Addison was outside taking apart an old section of fence that he is going to reassemble in a different part of the yard. He hammered out a slat, it went sailing up into the air, and came down (nail point first) on Jake's little head. There was blood everywhere. We applied pressure and it had stopped bleeding before we could get out the door but we went anyway.

Jake was a real trooper. He took his little doctor bag with him. He answered their questions about where his boo-boo was. He didn't cry (or even fuss for that matter). And, he waited patiently with us.

After they showed us into an exam area and we were finally waiting for a doctor, Jake pipes up that when the doctor gets there, he is going to talk to HER and ask HER questions. It took me a moment to process what he had said and meant. My unrully, obnoxious when in his own home, beast of a 3 year old ASSUMED the doctor would be a WOMAN!! Our regular family doctor is a man so, where he got this I'll never know. I was so proud of him that I got teary eyed (of course, that's not unusual).

I tried to explain to him that there was a time when women weren't allowed to be doctors and he gave me that look. If you have kids, you know the one. Where he doesn't believe a word I am saying and I must be making this up for some strange parental reason.

Anyway, that's about it for today. I finished the multi-colored Regia socks for me. Made a pair from the leftover yarn for Jake, made a collar for the cat from the still leftover yarn. I still have a tiny ball left...it is the neverending yarn.

I finished the Lemonade sock that was on the DPs and am on the toe decreases of it's mate (done on one long circ). So far, I can't tell the difference between them except for the swearing I am NOT doing on the second one that I did with the first...

I think I am going to try to finish ALL of the socks (including mates) that I already have on needles before I cast on any new ones. When I finish this Lemonade, I will be down to 3 (well, 4 technically since only the first one of the pair for my mom is started). I'm going to try but I doubt I'll manage to do it. Just typing this makes me want to cast on something new...

Bringing in hay

These pictures are actually from May. I am trying to improve the regularity of my posting and as such am sort of catching up on photos also. Jake wanted to help so much! Unfortunately, he didn't understnd when told that the best way he could help was to stay out of the way and not get himself hurt. Behind him (chopped off at the shoulders) is CJ (the almost teenager). Whose limitless energy would have been a huge help were it not for the fact that the hay bales still weigh more than he does...that should change in a couple more years.



Max was a huge help. I moved bales from 2 (okay 1 and a 1/2) of the 3 trucks. My back wouldn't hear of my doing any more than that. Between being overweight, out of shape, and having a bad back I was pretty useless. Max came to the rescue and put bales on the elevator and then also went up in the loft to help my Dad put them away. Oh, to be a young teenager with strength and stamina again...





This is the newest edition to Mom and Dad's herd. Her name is 'Rosie'. I don't know how she got that name or if she has a longer registered name (she is a Pony of the Americas). My neice, Katie, is attempting to bring her in without a halter...no such luck.








Here is the entire group. Buttons is off somewhere training (I think in the Philadelphia area but don't know for sure where). Harley has moved to Florida where my neice, Haley rides him. Bandit, my Mom's Appaloosa, died this winter. Dan (registered name Yankey Doodle) is on the far right and Muffy (Little Miss Muffit) is in the middle. Dan is now 23, Muffy is aprox 6 or 7, and I think Rosie is only about 4...I'm never sure on the ponys' ages. But, the Old Man was my horse (back in the day when I was thin enough to ride) and I will always remember how old he is.

















What a pretty little girl!

Cherry Picking

Max (the teenager) and Addison (the hubby) picking sour cherries in the back yard. This is the view from Max and Carter's window.












Too high for me to help (darn) since the ladder only holds two.

Max!! Whos fourteenth birthday (Ohmygod I can't believe he's fourteen...where does the time go???) is TODAY! He was born on the Fourth of July and came home from the hospital on the 6th...our 2nd anniversary. Talk about an expensive anniversary present! He is my firecracker.





Here is Jake (the mighty midget) with Dad. I would say he was helping but someone once told me you can get in trouble for telling a lie. He was just looking for a good photo op.

Sockitis

This is all of them. I currently have five socks on the needles. And still, I want to start more. I seem more immune than most to the finishitis virus. This resistance also leaves me extremely vulnerable to the startitis bug that plagues the knitting community. Thankfully it's not fatal (to knitters...marriages and sanity are other issues).









These two are yarn I dyed. The one on the left is one I am particularly proud of. If for no other reason than it is the first time I have managed to dye something subtlely. It is called "Lemonades" (I used Kool-aid lemonade and pink lemonade). I know, not very creative but what the heck, the creativity is in the dying, not the naming. It was done in such a way as to have no true repeat of the colors. The one on the right is called "English Garden". It was supposed to be a masculine colorway. I used icing food coloring in black, blue, green, and brown. The lesson here is that the black food coloring is comprised of a magenta, a blue, and a green. When the food color hits anything wet it breaks down to the individual colors...they are gorgeous...however, the only one that 'sticks' to the yarn is the hot pink! Used in a stronger concentration and left on longer yielded a sort of lavender-grey. So, the 'masculine' yarn became "English Garden". With the olive greens and bits of brown combined with the pinks and bits of blue a garden is the only thing that comes to mind. The Lemonade socks are for me, the garden socks are for my sister.

I am doing the Lemonade ones on double points just to prove to myself that I can (and I couldn't find a sock circ at the time). For the record I hate knitting this way! For me it is like wrestling a porcupine! I started out on the typical 3 needles using the 4th to knit. I am used to thinking of my socks (and counting my stitches) in quarters. So, I switched to using 5 needles so I could keep each quarter seperate. I am past the decreases and knitting into the black hole. My biggest decission now is when I do the 2nd sock, do I make them the same and continue to torture myself or do I (happily) switch to a circ and then compare the results? I think we all know what I am going to do...anything in the name of science.

These are for Addison. I like the way the yarn is pooling on the rib sections. This is the first time I have carried a ribbing down the whole foot (sole side too). I like it but it is a pain in the hindparts.











This is more of the yarn from Loop that is Mom's. This is the same pattern (from the Schaeffer web site) that I used for Dad's socks that were knit with Anne yarn from Schaeffer. It is a simple k2, p2 twisted rib stitch. Every 4th row you use a right twist stitch instead of the k2. On Dad's socks I carried this stitch down the top of the foot. This time, when I get to the foot I am just going to make it plain.














These will be short socks for me. I love the colors but didn't realize the repeat is so short. Hopefully because I am making these with a short cuff I will have enough left over yarn to make Jake a pair too. He's growing like a weed and so his socks are taking more yarn. Mental note, stop feeding the kids or start buying more yarn....Hmmmmm

Shrug

Last weekend I bought a new black lace camisole. I was thinking of it more as a tank top but the straps are lacy and it really is more camisole than tank. Anyway, I like wearing tops like this to work (now that the temperature in my office is tolerable) but I have to wear something over the top to cover my arms (and decolatage...sometimes, when the drivers start leering) and keep the whole thing respectable. So, I decided to knit a shrug to wear over this new thing. I started on Monday. I had hoped to finish on Wednesday but had to give in to sleep. I finally finished it Sunday. The problem is that I don't like it with the top it was intended with. I wear a 2x or about a size 20-24 depending on the cut on top. I'm thinking this thing is more like a 16-18.



This is me taking a photo in the mirror without the benefit of also being able to see through the viewfinder...I thought a straight-on photo with the camera in my face would defeat the purpose of trying to see me in it. The back looks okay. It's the front that bugs me...it wants to pull back along the edge that goes from the back of my neck to the underarm...









Can you see what I mean? If the straps on this thing were wider it might be okay. The other problem is these straps are too long/loose/stretchy. I will have to tighten/shorten them to be able to wear this thing without being too self conscious. It feels like it wants to fall down and it's already low enough!

This was originally going to be all pink but I soon realized there was no way the 3 skeins of pink that I was using up from the stash were going to make it (Moda Dea Ticker Tape...discontinued, I think). So I used Lion Brand Incredible in Accent on Black held together with Lion Brand Microspun in black and saved a little of the pink for some edging (I-cord). There was no written down pattern. I measured from arm to arm around my back and multiplied by guage and we were off and flying. When it got to the point where it was wide enough to go around my arms I would pick up the end stitch from the cast-on row with the first stitch on the needle and knit them together (sort of like a bizarre 3 needle bind off). The only problem there is that I am not a good judge of how large something is and also forgot that your arms get BIGGER as they get closer to your body (Duh...) So, I would bind togther just 3 stitches at a time. Sort of a combination of short rows and binding off. The sleeves have a negative ease as a result.

I still like it. I just don't like it with the top that originally inspired it. I guess I just need to get over that, wear it with something else (less revealing), and knit something else for this top (after I fix the straps). I haven't tried cardigans yet... Of course, there is also EZ's surprize jacket...