Cost Saving Measures

Like many people in the world today, we are trying to find ways to live more economically. I know we are not alone, because it seems like every TV show has a segment with money-saving tips, but I've found most of the tips to be, shall we say, less than useful. I assume that many of these are meant for people who are truly feeling the pinch in today's economy due to job loss, so I find some of these suggestions truly baffling (we are not in this position, thankfully, but two kids in daycare is killing our budget). Here are some of my favorites:

1. Stop getting your daily latte at Starbucks and save $15 a week! - Seriously, who buys a latte every day? I spend at most $5 a week on coffee. I don't feel like that $20 a month will go real far, but maybe I'm wrong.

2. Have your maid come every other week instead of once a week. - While I'm at it I'll fire the chauffeur and really save a bundle.

3. Carry your lunch, cook at home, don't carry a balance on your credit card, try generic brands, don't buy a new car every 3 years, etc. - Hmmm, I've been doing all these things for years. Evidently my frugal nature does not need to be inspired by being broke.

4. Look for a cheaper place to live. The cost of living in Iowa is surprisingly low. - I actually found this piece of advice on a web site. Look, I lived in Iowa for over 6 years, and I'm not going back. I'm just not a country girl. Oh, yeah, and my job and our house which is underwater are actually in SoCal, not Iowa.

5. Start a garden. - We have one, but the f*#@ing squirrel keeps eating everything! Do you think buying a weapon to get rid of the squirrel would be a good long-term investment? Seriously, that stupid rat with a fluffy tail has eaten every single vegetable that has started to grow.

A lot of the tips you hear are repetitive and obvious, but there are other more underground tips that you won't hear on NPR or the Today Show. Here are a couple:

1. Take the extra garbage bag. In businesses and public places there is always an extra bag in the can. Grab it whenever you get the chance and you will never have to buy trash bags again!

2. Fill up on condiments whenever you go out to eat. I have enough socked away that I may never have to buy ketchup, parmesan cheese, salt, or crushed red pepper again. Ditto napkins.

I suppose I could stop buying craft stuff, like yarn. Egads, now THAT would be horrible. Do you have any clever money-saving tips (naughty or nice)? Here is my latest FO, a dishcloth. Perhaps knitting dishcloths will save me money on sponges?

Ravelry vs. The KnitBlog

I have long been suspicious that Ravelry would be the death of the knitblog. The other day I was looking at my list of blogs for new posts and realized just how many of those blogs had not been updated in a really long time. I've know for a long time that I should delete most of them, but I just couldn't seem to give up on the idea that my virtual friends will return someday. Now it seems that Bloglines is shutting down and I need to move all my knitblog RSS feeds to my Google reader, so I will probably finally give up on all those long quiet blogs.

Why has my list gone from 15 active blogs to 2 or 3? I think for most knitters Ravelry gives you what you need with less of a consistent time commitment. Don't get me wrong, I love Ravelry. It is a HUGE improvement over googling around trying to find someone who made a particular pattern and blogged about it. The tools, organization, and community are something that I would not give up now that I am used to it and I use it all the time. However, I find that I blog much less in part because I spend my "free" time on Ravelry instead. The problem is that you just don't communicate the same way on Ravelry as you do when blogging. A blog is a sort of soliloquy that you can make as short or as long as you desire, as personal or intimate as you dare, and as silly and off-topic as you feel moved to be. Crazily, you then allow the general public to read and comment on it. You get to know people more intimately, as if you are reading their thoughts, and it's so much different than the type of dialogue you get from Ravelry, FaceBook, or Twitter. Perhaps the knitblog will revive, but I fear that it is on the way out.

On to actual knitting. Back in August while in Santa Barbara for a wedding, I bought some fantastic new yarn to make a baby sweater. It is Punta Yarns South American Cotton Space Dyed in a beautiful soft lavender:

I am planning to make the 5 hour baby sweater in a newborn size for the new baby. With RJ, the 0-3 month size took quite awhile to grow into, and even newborn sizes were big at first. So, against all the advice I am going to make something very tiny, because if this little girl is anything like her sister she will be pretty small and will definitely need at least a sweater and several hats when she is born in late December/early January.

Summer Projects

As you have probably noticed I am not keeping up with my blog posting as well I'd hoped. In the beginning of the summer I was teaching, and that seemed to take up all my time. Within a couple days of my class ending, we left on vacation to visit my husband's family in Trinidad for two weeks. What a whirlwind! (I will post details and photos of our vacation later.) What has really taken up most of my time, however, is that I'M PREGNANT! I am due in January, and we are quite excited to be giving RJ a younger sibling. I have had a few ultrasounds already, so we just found out that we are having a GIRL! We would be thrilled either way, but knowing the sex allowed me to buy some yarn just for this baby. So I got some beautiful lavender space-dyed cotton by Punta Yarns:

After I bought the yarn, I remembered that RJ had two lavender handknit sweaters that she would be passing down, but it is such a lovely color and so soft that I'm not too upset. I got the yarn at the lovely yarn shop Loop and Leaf in Santa Barbara. We spent the weekend in Santa Barbara for a wedding and had a wonderful time. Here is RJ at the wedding, looking adorable in her orange dress:

I have FOs, and other summer vacation photos to post, so hopefully I will catch up on things soon.

A Little About Me

It's been a long time since my last post for a variety of reasons. Teaching, a two-week vacation (in which knitting actually got done), and other things. I really want to update you all on everything, but I find that I have no knitting, vacation, relevant photos to do so, so for now I will at least get back into posting with a fun quiz that was posted by Karoline of Karoline Knits.

1. What's your staple meal (ie. what meal do you cook most often when you can't be bothered to be adventurous) ?
Right now, it's homemade pizza or pasta sauce. For the pizza I make whole wheat dough from scratch, and from there it's easy. Just add tomato sauce, herbs, cheese and whatever is in the fridge that sounds good. The possibilities are endless. If I am feeling uncreative and pressed for time I open up a jar of spaghetti sauce, add some fresh vegetables and herbs and makes some pasta. As long as I doctor it up I don't feel too bad about the dinner from a jar thing.

2. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Is it boring to say my current job, a college professor? It took me a very long time to get to this point and I really enjoy it (most days anyway). My plan is to retire in 30 years and travel the world.

3. What book are you reading at the moment (if any)
I just read Having Faith and was deeply affected by it. I am now finishing reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. I love his writing style. I primarily read nonfiction. I actually love fiction, but find that it is too engrossing and I don't get anything else done. I can enjoy nonfiction, but it doesn't take over my life (J.K. Rowling, you know I'm talking about you).

4. How do you relax?
I zone out, watch one of my favorite TV shows, and knit.

5. What color are the interior walls of your home?
We are trying to paint all the rooms, but much of the house is still builder's white. The living room is light tan, dark tan, and smokey blue. Our master bedroom is off-white, and our master bathroom is dusty purple. RJ's room is blue and her bathroom is yellow. Our entryway is light blue.

6. What is your guiltiest pleasure?
I love pastries of all kinds. Give me a cup of coffee and a pastry and I am in heaven

7. What time is bedtime and getting up time?
Lately I've been going to bed between 9:00 and 10:00 pm and getting up at 6:00 am. I am still adjusting from being 3 hours ahead.

8. How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)?
Not a whole lot of time, maybe 5-10 minutes? Ravelry and other internet stuff, however, probably wastes way too much of my time.

Here is proof that my daughter is destined to be crafty. She found my old poncho and insists on wearing it, even though it fall off. I am making her one of her own now, in pink and gray.

Birthday Exhaustion

The reason it has take me so long to post is that we have just ended our one month of birthday celebrating at my house. My husband's birthday is February 16th, mine is March 12th, and RJ's is March 13th. It seems like there has been nonstop celebrating and planning since forever, but that's mostly because I planned parties for both my husband and RJ. So, this Saturday was the overblown, kid-centered, party for RJ's second birthday. The theme was "Old MacDonald" so I was generally going for anything farm-related. There was a bounce house (which had palm trees and was not farm-themed, but oh well), rented tables and chairs, animal cupcakes (sheep, cows, pigs, & chicks), and balloons.

I sewed RJ a little shirt out of red gingham and had hairbows made in cow print with a red accents. Here she is modeling the shirt I sewed. Sadly, the hairbows kept falling out in the bounce house. Boy, does that girl love to bounce!

I got flowers at the farmer's market and made flower arrangements in small galvanized pails and watering cans.

I don't want to bore you with photos of everything, but it was pretty much out-of-control crafting. I made bean bags from felt for a bean bag toss (which we never got to, the kids refused to leave the bounce for anything but food). There were goody bags decorated with a hot glue gun, ribbon, and scrapbook paper with horses on it. There was also a pig pinata and tons of food, most made from scratch. We had over 20 kids show up and at least as many parents. Thankfully the work was worth it and it was a big success (according to the guests and the guest of honor), and now I am exhausted. I have done some knitting these past couple weeks whenever I could squeeze it in. I also want to post about an FO I finished over a month ago for which I finally got some modeled photos. More on that next week, after a restful and hopefully uneventful weekend.

Ultimate Doughnuts

I am currently working very hard to get to get back to healthy eating habits. It seems like once you get used to eating junk food, it's really hard to stop. I nursed RJ for 13 months, and during that time I ate everything, both healthy and unhealthy. Now there's no excuse and just feel like I am setting a bad example for RJ. Quitting cold turkey has been pretty hard though. I must be craving the stuff pretty bad, because the other day I was on my way to Jo-Ann's for some craft supplies and I read this on the sign "Ultimate Doughnuts." I thought to myself "woohoo, I could really use an ultimate doughnut!" A moment later I read the sign again and realized it said "Ultimate Discounts." So much for the chocolate doughnut I was craving, which was probably a good thing.

I mentioned that I had actual FO's to report, despite a lack of knitting time. I have to confess that two projects are dishcloths, so don't get too excited. So here is one, the Reverse Miter Dishcloth (Ravelry link). I used Vickie Howell Collection Organic Cotton and Milk yarn, which is discontinued I am pretty sure. I got it donated from a friend for my gift project. I am trying to knit dishcloths for RJ's teachers. I started last January, so this is taking awhile, but dishcloths are fun so I'm not too concerned. The yarn was definitely thinner than worsted, so I chose a pattern that could be adjusted in size as you went along. The reverse miter cloth pattern was perfect for it and I was able to use pretty much the entire skein, so no waste.

Zen Askew

This morning when I got into my office I noticed that my Mini Zen Garden had been trashed. No doubt it was shoved aside as I scrambled to finish grading exams or papers, or complete a journal article review (I reviewed no less than 3 articles this past semester and am currently working on a 4th!). I think that probably sums up this past semester quite nicely: Zen askew. I have now fixed the Zen Garden and hope that that bodes well for the upcoming semester.

On the knitting front, I still need to take photos of some of my actual FOs from the past few months. I completed 2 dishcloths and a cute summer top for RJ (a Katja in a lovely silk/cotton blend). I feel like I also started a million different projects and really haven't made much progress on them: a crocheted shawl for my niece, another Anouk for RJ, glittens for my brother, socks for RJ, another dishcloth, a baby sweater for a friend, and probably one or two other projects I am forgetting. I guess startitus really kicked in and kept hoping I would get time to work on them. Well, until I remember to take some photos, here is a picture of RJ in a handknit sweater from a couple weeks ago at Downtown Disney. No, I didn't knit it myself, but it sure is cute, isn't it?

The Forgotten Blog

I'm not sure if anyone is following along anymore, but I always hate it when I've been following someone's blog and then all the sudden they disappear with no explanation. Are they OK? Did something bad happen? Or did something good happen that is taking up all their time? Or did the person just lose interest in blogging? For me, this past semester turned out to be overwhelmingly busy and complicated, so I had no time for anything other than the absolute necessities.

Why was I so busy? It was several things, really. The hubby started a new job, while continuing to take evening classes toward earning an MBA. So, while trying to prove himself at his new job, he was also trying to ace two classes. No easy feat, and one that meant he was working late into the night or in class nearly every evening during the week and studying/working on weekends. That meant that I was taking care of RJ on my own a lot more. I think it is a worthwhile sacrifice, but it does cut down on my free time a lot. I am also teaching more courses than I am accustomed to, and the addition of the furlough (unpaid days off to save the university money in faculty salaries) actually created more work, not less. Nobody seemed to know how we should choose these days off, and rules were given last minute or after we had chosen, so I had to change my days at least twice. Then we were told to give our students out of class assignments for those days, which then meant that we had to create the assignments, give them out, and then grade them. Ugh, what a disaster! This semester I have resolved to say screw it and make sure that I don't end up with more work rather than less. I also wrote a grant that got me a course release (yippee!), so things should be a lot better this semester. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with blogging, but I'll try.

What about my knitting? I actually did finish a few small projects knitting whenever I could, and RJ is developing a love of yarn. I definitely see a future knitter here, as she creates a lovely mess of yarn barf for me:

Helloooo, Out There!

With such a long absence from posting, I'd better have news right? Well, I actually do have good news. My hubby has started a new job! It was a long (i.e., two months!) interview process, but the end result was good. He has been working at his new job for two weeks now and we are still scrambling to adjust our lives to suit his new schedule. He is still taking evening classes towards an MBA and my teaching load is really heavy right now, we are stretched pretty thin. Even though we're super busy, this came at a perfect time and in general we are less worried about things.

On a less positive note, I have been furloughed, which means that by definition I am supposed to work 10% less and get 10% less pay. In reality, the stupid furlough has created twice as much work as usual and decreased moral among faculty, staff, and students at California universities to basement levels. The administrators made sure to give themselves raises so they are unaffected, while our raises have been indefinitely suspended (never to return, I'm sure). That means no cost of living raises, nada, nothing, PLUS a 10% decrease. Can you tell I'm bitter? Honestly, I love being a professor, but I do feel pretty betrayed by this whole situation. I try not to think about it too much and just keep working along.

I haven't photographed anything in quite awhile (including poor RJ, who needs an 18-month photo taken this weekend!), but will try to catch up this weekend so I can post some actually knitting content. In the meantime I'll post a photo of RJ playing in the sandbox her grandpa and grandma made for her in Wisconsin. I love her cute sweater, which sadly was purchased, not handmade. However, after our visit I must have really inspired my mom to pick up the needles and she has been knitting like a crazy person. RJ now has 5 (yes 5!) new sweaters knit by her grandma. My mom needs some new projects, so I'm downloading some cute dress patterns and buying a bunch of yarn for her from Knitpicks. If anyone knows of some cute toddler patterns (12-24 months or so), please share them!

Daydreaming

When I was a kid, probably around 9 or 10 years old, I would go through the Spiegel Catalog page by page, deciding which items I would buy if I were rich. We were what you might describe as "dirt poor" while I was growing up, so this was quite a feat of daydreaming even with Spiegel. You're probably asking yourself, "why Spiegel?" which isn't really known for being a luxury catalog. Living in a rural area before there was the internet (for the youngins out there, yes such a time did exist), Spiegel was the most posh catalog I had access to. It was so much more tony than Sears or JCPenney's. I had not even heard of Saks, Niemans, or Nordstroms, and Macy's was something related to the Thanksgiving Day parade, not a place to shop. Anyway, it turns out that if I had lots of money I would pretty much buy everything in the catalog. Afterall, you just never know when you'll need a juicer or aerobic shoes. Once I eventually did start to earn a bit more money, I did not buy out the Spiegel catalog. Honestly, I'm fairly certain I've never ordered a thing from them. I still do daydream about what I would buy if I were rich, though. I can tell you that my craft closet would have to get a lot bigger to accommodate all the silk, cashmere, and merino wool.

Back in the real world, I am making dishcloths for RJ's teachers. I want to give them each a cloth for Christmas, along with some nice soap. Because she is in the infant/toddler room, she has about 8-9 teachers, so I need to get moving on these. Here is the first one I started, which is now nearly finished. Frustratingly, I ran out of both the red and the ecru yarn. I was able to find more red, but I still need to hunt down some more (Ravelry, here I come!).

Update on Life and Birthday Yarn

I turned in my grades over a week ago, and I moved to a lovely new office that is slightly smaller, but has windows with a great view. What a difference natural light makes! Last week I spent a lot of time working on getting a research project up and running as well as organizing my office (with some help from the hubby, thanks sweetie!). What does all that mean? I finally have some free time to blog. I am way, way behind on blogging about my life and knitting-related stuff. I will try to catch up in the next few posts.

First, an update on all of our bad luck this semester. My broken foot has pretty much healed and really only aches a bit now and again, just to make me feel old (although turning 36 will also make you feel old). The hubby is still looking for another job, unfortunately. He's had several phone interviews and a couple in-person interviews, but no offers. We are hopeful that he will have something by this fall, but right now we are taking one day at a time and spending more time together as a family. In unequivocal good news, our illnesses have momentarily abated. Just yesterday I finished my last dose of antibiotic for a sinus infection and RJ's most recent ear infection has cleared up. Overall, things aren't perfect, but they could be a lot worse and we are hopeful that they are getting better.

In yarn-related news, I had a fun shopping trip for my birthday all the way back in March which I never posted about. I went to Alamitos Bay Yarn Company, which took an hour to drive to, but only 30 minutes to drive home from (I used the GPS, so maybe it led me astray on the way there?). My friend Kim came along and we took advantage of my 10% birthday discount to treat ourselves. I didn't want to go too crazy, so I just bought a few things. Here's what I got:

First, one skein of Berroco Twist Variegated to go with some I got free from my good friend Marie. I'm not sure exactly what to do with this, but perhaps I could make a summer top for RJ or a scarf. I love the vibrant color, but I heard this yarn is difficult to knit with (snagging and splitting). Perhaps it would be better to crochet something?



Next, I got two skeins of Dale of Norway Svale in a dusty purple. This I bought to go with a small ball of lighter lavender silk blend yarn that I also got from Marie. I am making RJ Katja from Knitty Spring 2006. It is an adorable halter top and is coming along nicely. I will devote a post to my progress soon.



Finally, I bought one skein of Blue Sky Alpaca & Silk. It is lusciously soft and I thinking I will make some fingerless gloves or a small scarf out of this. It would be for a gift since I already have scarves and gloves, but I haven't decided for certain who I would give them to. My mom would like the color, but she always insists she doesn't need any knitwear. I am thinking that it may work for my niece for a birthday gift. Honestly, I would love to go back and get a few more skeins for a sweater for myself, but it's so expensive. Maybe I can use it for the contrast trim on the Diane Cardigan from Knitting Little Luxuries?

Not Dead Yet...

For those of you who don't know, the title refers to one of my favorite scenes in "Monty Python: Search for the Holy Grail" which you can see here on YouTube. They even turned it into a song for the musical Spamalot, which made me very happy.

Anyway, I know it's been well over a month since my last post, so I wanted to at least put a little something on here to let people know that things are OK. The hubby is still looking for another job, but we are looking at the bright side and trying to spend more time together as a family while we can. That hasn't been easy while I'm teaching four classes (ugh!), but the semester is nearly over so we are hoping that some days at the beach or, more importantly, organizing the closets will make us feel more relaxed. We've been so busy and stressed that the house has really descended into disorder. Random items of clothing are starting to go missing (other than the usual socks), so I know it's getting bad. Thankfully, the yarn appears to still be safe.

I recently attended a conference in Florida and the long flights to and from allowed me to start some new projects. I started a new Anouk (love that pattern!) and Katja (so cute!). I will post photos as soon as I get my finals out of the way this week and finish grading papers. In the meantime, I am almost finished with my brother's gaiter. I think only a couple more rounds and I will bind off. Oh, and I will try to catch up on everyone else's blogs and not be absent so long from blogging again. Honestly, I have actual knitting and yarn-related content to post!

Sixth Photo

JenfromRI at Newton's Knitting tagged me for the 6th photo meme, so here's mine. You pick the the 6th photo in the 6th folder. Technically this is the 7th folder, because the 6th one only had 2 photos. So, here it is:



I take my lab class (in animal behavior) to the local aquarium for a behind the scenes tour and this is a photo from that visit. We got to feed a sea otter too. I think I enjoy it more than the students, but they do seem to really like it.

No Resolve

I am slowly catching up on blogs, work, and rest just as my break is coming to an end. I've noticed that the annual New Year's posts are full of recaps and reflection on the year, knitting, and how we did on last year's resolutions. Not one to break from tradition, I will try to do the same. This year is rather a mixed bag. For me personally it was one of the best years of my life because my daughter was born. We have settled into our new house and are both relatively happy with our career progress. For the country and much of the world, however, the economic downturn and increased unemployment has made this a very difficult year. We also elected a new president, which was not only historic, but gives many hope that the economy and other things will improve in the coming years. I am choosing to reflect on the positive right now, and enjoy looking back on the lovely memories of watching my daughter grow and change in her first year.

As for knitting, I can't say that it was a stellar year for finished objects. In 2008 I completed 3 hats, a scarf, 2 baby blankets, a baby sweater, a bib, a pair of baby mitts, and a pair of booties. Seeing it listed does make it seem a bit less terrible than I thought, especially when taking into account the fact that RJ really monopolized most of my time this year (and rightfully so).
And then there are my resolutions from last year:

1. organize, organize, organize
I made some progress on this. Organization is an ungoing battle.

2. finish the projects in my sidebar
I didn't do too badly with this resolution. I frogged a couple lingering projects and finally finished others just recently. I also modified my sidebar to better reflect things I'm actively working on. With my mom's help and Theresa's inspiration in sewing her first garment I've also started sewing again, which helped me complete a few more projects.

3. Learn to cable and do colorwork
I didn't really get to this, but sleep deprivation and learning new techniques don't mix. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I get to the more complicated knit stuffs. For now, I am just exploring the amazing array of things that can be done with knit and purl. ;)

How about some resolutions for 2009? With RJ, a big increase in my course load (thanks to the depleted California budget), and the hubby taking some evening classes, I will be as busy as ever this year. I think my knitting resolution this year will be to try to knit a little each day. Even just a row a day will keep me going. To help with that, I will bring a small project to work and have several easy things around the house to work on. My real hope is that knitting each day will help use up some of the stash, so I can make room for more stash of course. I figure it's the least I can do to help reinvigorate the economy. ;)

When Nerds Knit

First off, my long absence is related to some rather large household projects which my parents helped me with over the holidays. They are some very energetic people, and they remind me that it's Ok to start a project even if you aren't sure it'll turn out. I tend to research things to death before I start, which sometimes means that I never get around to starting a major project. With my mom to guide me, I finished the kitchen chair cushions finally. I bought the foam for these an embarrasing 8 years ago. Yikes! I will snap some photos to post tomorrow. I also made cushions for the new window seat my dad built (yes, he is the most talented carpenter in the world!). We also painted the living room, fixed a couple lamps and a light fixture, put up a shelf/wine glass holder in the dining room, and finished countless other small projects around the house. I need my parents to visit more often! Since I don't have any project photos yet to share, here is RJ's holiday photo. Doesn't she look cute with pigtails?



Finally, here is a link to some really cool knitted brains. I really wish I had thought of this. As a neuroscientist and a knitter I feel like I should add to the collection. Any thoughts on how to knit the fusiform gyrus?

When It Rains, It Pours

Sigh. Yesterday was one of those days where you think to yourself, "gosh, it couldn't get any worse," after which it promptly gets much worse. I don't want to rehash all the gory details, but it included such fun things as a crashed office computer (still broken and awaiting campus tech support), a broken copier (discovered 15 minutes before class), a missing TA (who could have made the copies for me) due to an emergency, a lab that was too complicated for the students, and disappearing quizzes (they were eventually found after several minutes of panic). No knitting was done yesterday, for fear of the dire consequences. Prior to the day of horror, I was able to finish one pocket of Anouk, and start on the second pocket. Soon there will be duplicate stitched flowers on these:

Happy and Playful

Thanks for the suggestions for things to do with my scraps of yarn. I am anxious to start something new actually, so I will likely be casting on with some of this yarn soon.

Anyway, I have clearly fallen off the NaBloPoMo wagon, but hope to keep up for the rest of the month. The weekend was extremely busy and RJ really keeps us on our toes (in a good way). She really is quite delightful to be around. Usually on her daycare sheets under "today I was feeling" she usually has circled "happy" and "playful." Can you see why?


She doesn't get her easygoing personality from me. According to my mom, if I had been in daycare they would have circled "sensitive" and "tearful." Thankfully, I outgrew that. I try to keep the crying to a minimum, even during faculty meetings.

Exercising My Rights

I hope everyone plans to vote today! The hubby and both voted just after the polls opened this morning. We even took RJ, who got her very own "I Voted" sticker. We want to teach her early that it is her duty and privilege to exercise her right to vote.

On a related note, have you seen these finger puppets?




You can find the pattern for each one at Lion Brand. I wish I'd had time to crochet them so I could have mock debates (they would always end in thumb wars). Perhaps tonight one puppet will concede to the other. The question is, will the candidates follow suit?

Comfort in Tough Times

Anyone else feeling nervous about the current state of the world? Even though the weather is still rather warm here, all the stuff going on makes me want to knit my family some woolly sweaters to cuddle us. Sure, we'd probably die in the California heat if I actually did that, but I suppose it's the knitters version of a hug. Meanwhile, I am still working on my cotton projects for RJ, which are much more practical for our climate. Anouk is nearly done, with only the pockets left to do.



My original plan was to make the pockets blue with a white flower and orange center, more true to the very colorful original. As I got closer to the end I started to think perhaps white pockets with a yellow flower and orange center might be a good option. I am definitely leaning towards the white at this point, particularly since I have some shirts that it would match really well with those colors.

Also, we are getting ready for RJ's first Halloween. Someone gave us a small pumpkin, and it turns out RJ is huge fan. Evidently, this was much better than her other toys. :)

America's Biggest Threat: Bears!

For those of you who are Stephen Colbert Report fans (and besides Barry Manilow, who isn't?) you know that Stephen has a strong hatred of bears. Evidently, all these months of watching the Colbert Report with Mom and Dad has led RJ to feel similarly about bears. She was sucking so violently on this bear's leg, I'm not sure if he will ever recover:


Don't think for one moment that this is an isolated act of violence against bears for RJ. She has a long history (well for her anyway) of attacking the fuzzy teddy versions of these obviously evil animals. Just look at her during her three-month old photo shoot. This bear clearly had it coming, trying to hog the spotlight during her photo session.


I apologize for the long blogging absence. We are going through what seems like all the daycare illnesses one by one. RJ has been sick every week, and she has been kind enough to share many of her illnesses with me, my husband or both of us. Thankfully, this is just a phase which will surely strengthen our immune systems in the long run. I hope to blog more regularly now that I've lost my voice in the most recent illness. I won't waste any of my time, you know, talking to people. Despite the illnesses, I do have some knitting related content for the blog. I just purchased this beautiful hank of Paca Peds in the colorway Fireside from Anne at the Handicraft Cafe:


It will be the sock portion of this pair of socks for RJ. I started the cuff in a dusty apricot color, but I don't have enough for two whole pairs of socks (I managed to secure a bunch of sock yarn leftovers from my wonderful knitting friends to practice with. Thanks guys!). I think the colors have a very fall look. Maybe I will make a matching pair of mittens for RJ in the Paca Peds?