Token

Token December post, and token "Last Post of 2011".  Sorry about that.  :-)

I've slacked on setting goals for 2012 and I'm finding it hard to imagine what our lives will be like one year from tonight.  Ideally, B and C will have been in Pre-K for a few months, and I have no clue how that will feel.  As for the rest?

Since I can't post without mentioning knitting, I will admit that I've been in a Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi knitting frenzy the last few days - ever since my yarn arrived from Knit Picks.  So far I've knit the following:  tiny snowmen, tiny Santa, tiny elephant, tiny chicken, tiny reindeer, and I'm in the middle of a tiny lion.  These are so much fun!  The tiny knitting is a bit fiddly, but the results are so cute it's almost unbearable.

Tiny Elephant will STOMP on mouse!

All the best to you in 2012; may it be a joyful and rewarding year for all of us.

What You Need to Hear

The girls handed me a book from the bookshelf today; it was one of my books, not one of theirs.

The Book:  Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting.

What I needed to hear:  "If you are currently in the grip of startitis, look for emotional needs that you might be meeting by casting on new projects, then congratulate yourself for managing to come up with such an interesting way to balance your life."

Yep.  Startitis.  And other things I should be dealing with, but am procrastinating on.

Happy Pie-for-Breakfast!  (i.e., Thanksgiving weekend)

Obligatory September Post

Well, damn.  I guess I missed August. 

Oh well.

September was busy and I can't believe it's already over.  It was "International Month" here:  Visits from (Suzy, Kim, and Max - all the way from Australia) and (Kay and Jen - from Canada) brought much fun and joy.  The visits also reminded me how much I miss *all* of them.  They also taught me more about how much bigger and more flexible the girls are getting! 

One of the definite highlights of Kay & Jen's visit was going to the beach, where the girls finally decided that the waves looked much more fun than scary and actually played in the water!  This makes me very happy, because it was kind of sad to go to the beach earlier in the year and not be able to really enjoy the waves.  We went to Natural Bridges State Park for a pretty much perfect day:

I've been knitting quite a lot.  Dishcloths, a Clapotis, and I started a gift baby sweater that I'll probably work on some more this evening.  It's a bottom-up raglan, knit in pieces, which is a very different construction than the sweaters I've done for the girls thus far.

Anyway.  I'll sign off here.

File Under...

...Things I Do. Not. Miss.

Laundering a LARGE load of diapers every other night.

There are things about potty training that have not been completely full of joy and delight, and there is definitely still a laundry factor, but I realized recently how nice it was to not have a clothes basket full of diapers to fold, stuff, and put away every other morning.  We still do an occasional load, because C prefers to wear a FuzziBunz diaper at night, but going from 20ish per day to 1 per day?  Just, wow.  :-)

Stroller usage is definitely down as well.  If I had a garage, I might even consider taking the thing out of my trunk.

Titular Changes

Finally!

I had enough of an inspiration to give this blog an actual title.  Yay!

Compliments of Merriam-Webster Online:

abecedarian (n):  one learning the rudiments of something (as the alphabet)

This word cropped up in one of our "A Word a Day" calendars nearly a decade ago.  Tonight, for some reason, was the night I finally made the connection between it, and another (kinda major) piece of my life.

I am A.  The incredibly wonderful man who is my husband is D*.  When the girls surprised us by arriving a bit ahead of schedule, C's name was already determined.  However, we still needed another girl's name.  When we realized that we already had A, C, and D as first initials, it seemed clear that we should focus on names beginning with the letter B.  This may be the only reason we were able to decide on a name before leaving the hospital!


I also love the idea of an abecedarian being someone who is still learning, because that's something I truly enjoy and value.

*I know, I know.  Technically, D could or should also be considered an A, but he's gone by D his entire life.  And it works out so much better this way for my title.  :-)

The Berry Pickers

A really fun morning at Webb Ranch in Portola Valley on Friday.  Many berries were picked, and just as many were consumed, as you can see by the empty basket C is holding.  The girls had a great time, which made me happy that we'd made the effort to go.  What made me even happier was the taste of sun-warmed blackberries and boysenberries straight off the vines.  Definitely a win on the happiness-per-effort-expended basis!

I have so many good memories of picking berries as a kid.  Raspberries and boysenberries at Grandma's house.  Blackberries *everywhere*.  Huckleberries up at the cabin.  Blueberries and gooseberries in our backyard.  Two days later, I'm still enjoying that the girls had fun doing something I loved as a kid.

Second Sweater Syndrome

I found dresses I liked for the girls' 3-year portraits, got home with them, and discovered that the blue yarn I'd gotten on sale at Tuesday Morning this spring would be perfect for little lacy shrug sweaters to go over the dresses.  I cruised Ravelry and found a pattern I liked, which was even in stock at my local yarn store.  I took a little time to swatch for gauge and check for shrinkage by washing the swatch, but once I cast on, I blew through the first sweater.  The second, not so much.

Many knitters talk about "second sock syndrome" where the second sock of a pair lingers on the needles or never gets finished.  I have second sweater syndrome.

I am plugging away, a few rows per night.  Having the deadline of wanting to get the portraits done soon is helping keep me focused.  Barely.  Pictures when (no, really, when) I finish.

Of Serendipitous Dinners and Self-flagellation

More than a month.  :-(

I knew that this would be a problem, which is why I haven't mentioned this blog to anyone but D thus far.  And if you're reading this now, it's probably because I've gotten my act together sometime in the future.  I've had lots of ideas and intentions.  Those have never made it into "e-reality".

I am still in awe of how delicious yesterday's dinner turned out, so I'm going to rave here!  We had quite a lot of leftover grilled chicken from earlier in the week, and were tired of eating it unadorned.  After perusing the grocery store circulars, quesadillas popped into my head.  Plus several places had avocados on sale.  So, we shredded some of the chicken, added cheddar and jack cheeses and a bit of salsa, and made quesadillas.  I made guacamole following the recipe in "The Best Recipe".  Simple ingredients.  Simply prepared.  Delicious beyond all expectation.

And I am also happy because tonight I have nearly finished a crochet project I started back in January.  All I need are 3 buttons for the underside of the shell, and this guy is done!

Alright.  Off to fold laundry.  Good night!

Birthday Parties and Merry-Go-Rounds

Today was so much fun that I decided to write about it without stopping to apologize for my lack of posts recently.  :-)

All four of us headed up to Tilden Regional Park today to attend the 5th birthday party of a lovely young lady named Rosemary.  Rosemary's mom had told me about the park several times before, but we hadn't made it there.  It's over an hour from Santa Clara, in Berkeley, so it's quite an expedition.

The party was held beside the park's historic merry-go-round.  This carousel was built in 1911, and came to the Bay Area in the 1940s.  I have ridden more carousels in the last year than in any year previously, thanks to the girls.  They're fun, and I love seeing the two of them enjoying the ride, but y'know, nothing too exciting.  This merry-go-round was different.  This merry-go-round was amazing!  The vintage animals were gorgeous and the horses had real horsehair tails.  What really surprised me, though, was the non-animal seating options.

There was a bench arranged so that 4 or 5 tiny horses were suspended in front, at just the right height for a parent to hold a very small child astride one.  There was a sled-shaped bench unit that rocked back and forth as the carousel turned.  And my (and C's) favorite - a circular unit that spun around its center as the carousel turned.  That thing got some serious rotation going!  I really, really enjoyed riding it.  So did C:

The gorgeous weather, birthday festivities, delicious food, family time, and the pleasure of being so unexpectedly delighted by something I'd assumed would not be too big a deal made it a wonderful day.

And a tiring one.

Yet Another Knitting Post

I finished these headbands tonight.  The knitting had been done for a couple of days, and the girls wouldn't be put off any longer, so I finally got around to assembling them.

I think they turned out really cute.  Now we'll see if the girls can be convinced to keep them on for more than 2 seconds...  The pattern is by Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting.  I got the pattern at Stitches West back in February.  The yarn is Knit Picks Palette.

It's really hard not to imagine all sorts of other versions of this idea:  A red headband with blue and white stars for Independence Day, spring headbands with flowers, a stripey Easter egg headband...

That's all for tonight.  Otherwhere on the web, I'm trying to get a little more up-to-date with some newer photos of what we've been up to recently.

Stunning Realization

I was retrieving my reusable grocery bags from the trunk before heading to Trader Joe's this afternoon, and I realized that I hadn't actually hauled the stroller out and used it for over a week.  That's unheard of!

I have no intention of attempting to reclaim my trunk space for other purposes; we still need the stroller quite frequently, but that's still a milestone of sorts.

This Is Not a Knitting Blog

...No, really.

Except that a couple of days ago I started a project that I must wax rhapsodic upon.  The yarn is "Gaia Fingering" from Becoming Art in colorway "Night Owl".  It's a 100% Merino single-ply with the most amazing color shadings and combinations.  Lots of blues, but also shots of yellow, purple, mauve, rusty browns, flashes of rose and wine.  It's hard to explain (and the photo on the website is much 'cooler' in tone than the skein I bought).  It leapt off the wall and into my hands at Stitches West a few weeks ago.

Also at Stitches West, the pattern was  brought to my attention:  A helpful woman at the Miss Babs booth mentioned the "Hitchhiker" shawlette  by Martina Behm as a great way to use variegated yarns.  It's garter stitch, with a sawtooth detail on one of the edges.  Beautiful.  And I have a *very* soft spot for anything at all related to Douglas Adams's works.

And the needles are Knit Picks Harmony interchangeables.  To get the drape I wanted, I used the size 4 tips.  They are gorgeous to look at, and so smooth, without being too slick.

The combination is magic.  Sensual.  Buttery.  The springiness of the yarn, the smoothness of the needles.  The sunlit luster and colors of the fiber slipping through my fingers.  I think my favorite bits are the streaks of yolky yellow, and how they make the colors near them glow.  I don't think I've ever had a yarn project quite like this in terms of overall level of delight in the process.  If the finished product spontaneously combusted in my hands as I cast it off, I think I'd still be satisfied.

Toddler Fashion Advice

B followed me into the bathroom this morning and spotted the dish I keep on the counter to corral any jewelry I take off as I go to bed.  "Want Mommy to put something ON," she said, pointing at the bowl.

I took out the gold earrings I usually wear and put them on.  B kept pointing, "AND a necklace!"

So, I spent today much better accessorized than I otherwise would have!

House Diet

Hooray!  3 more bags of stuff gone today. 

I Freecycled some cloth diapers that D was tired of futzing with.  The velcro was starting to go, and while I would have used them to the bitter end, he is actually the one who does a lot of the diaper changes, so I smiled and replaced them.  They still had enough life in them that I felt guilty throwing them out.  One quick note on Freecycle with my best attempt at an accurate report of their condition, and 24 hours later they are gone!  I hope that the person who picked them up is happy and gets lots of use out of them.

One bag of clothing donated to our MOMS Club Clothing swap.  This one doesn't really count volume-wise, because tomorrow I will attend the swap and look out some bigger summer clothes for the girls.  The clothing swap is a nifty fundraiser in so many ways.  I get a tax deduction for the FMV of the stuff I donate to it; I get the opportunity to buy items for the girls at $1.00 each; and all those $1.00s from all the moms in the club add up to a nice amount of money which the club donates to a local charity.

One more bag of the girls' outgrown clothing to a friend with twins almost exactly one year younger than B&C.  I still have one more bag of outgrown clothes for another friend with a younger daughter, and one bag of assorted stuff for Goodwill.  I'm also collecting a box of stuff for the MOMS Club's garage sale fundraiser, which can't come soon enough!  Oh, and Santa Clara's Annual Clean Up Campaign is coming up soon, too.  We'll be able to get rid of some e-waste there.

Meanwhile, I've bought a fair amount of yarn recently.  Tuesday Morning got a new shipment with some nice organic cottons, so I grabbed a bunch of that, thinking of some spring shrugs or cardis for the girls.  And Bobbin's Nest Studio (my totally awesome Local Yarn Shop) was having a Mardi Gras sale today, so I got some navy blue wool to make a hat for D.  It's like there's some vacuum that wants the space to be filled.  I think I'm still at a net reduction in volume, though!

I haven't managed to work on Girl Friday the last couple of days.  It's been dishcloths and a garter stitch swatch for a scarf/shawlette I want to start soon.  And, having recently broken my crochet drought, I started a sunhat for one of the girls out of some yarn I had leftover from an afghan I crocheted a couple of years ago.  The pattern looks super-cute; I hope my efforts look half as good when I'm done.  I'm hoping to also use some other scraps of yarn to crochet flowers to trim the hats with.  Since the base yarn will be the same for both hats, I want to put different colored flowers on them.

See, I was just going to type a couple sentences, and here we are.  Now, I'm going to go put a couple of rows into Girl Friday.  The real problem there is that I'm near a decision point about how long I want the sweater to be.  I hate making decisions!

Relative Value

I am just back from Half-Price Books, looking at the shelves that I thought I had been relatively ruthless about, and having seller's remorse!  I wish I had gotten rid of more!  More!

The mere presence of really-truly-useless-shouldn't-be-here crap seems to cloud my brain.  "Well, Y is more valuable to me / I am more likely to want to read Y than X, and X is still here, so obviously I shouldn't get rid of Y"  Funny how once X is gone, and Y sits there exposed on the very bottom of the utility scale, I wonder why I wanted to keep Y around at all!

All of which is to say that it's a process.  Always a process.  And I am not a patient person, particularly with myself.

We got rid of about 4 decent-sized boxes of books, though.  And I have free shelf space!  Not much, but it's a start.  And we had a pretty nice family outing.  And I got Rubio's fish tacos out of the deal. 

I am also going through the girls' clothes for our MOMS Club clothing swap this coming week.  That's hard too, especially since we're teetering between being able to wear last summer's sizes (especially if we're out of diapers soon) and needing the next size up...

No great insights, nothing pithy.  Hope you had a great weekend!

Adventures in Spit-Splicing

It's been a few days.  I'm still working on Girl Friday.  I try to knit 4 or 5 rows every day, just to keep some sort of momentum going on it.  I'm really enjoying knitting it right now.  I love the color of the wool, and I love the feel of it.  It's not the softest yarn I've ever knit with, but it's making this wonderfully squooshy fabric that feels so nice coming off the needles.  I stop to pet it quite frequently.

Today's new knitting experience was actually spit-splicing the ends of the first and second balls of yarn together.  I've really not knit much with yarn that can be felted to itself like this to join ends.  It's great because it means I won't have to carefully weave in those yarn ends later!  A responsible blogger would probably either describe the entire process, or provide a link to a good tutorial.  Perhaps I'll come back later and do that...or maybe even add a picture of the progress I've made on the sweater...

...and, in fact, a lot of other "Responsible Bloggers" have already documented the joys of spit-splicing, so I shall not.  In general, I love Knitting Help (www.knittinghelp.com) for excellent videos of many knitting techniques.

Otherwise, it's been a somewhat trying week or so.  C came down with a stomach bug on Friday night.  Of course this was the weekend that D had to be at work quite a bit for some data center upgrades.  We survived, though the washing machine is probably still begging for mercy in some alternate universe where machines can talk.  Then we had a great day Monday, with a productive morning running errands and a fun afternoon at the "Train Park" with friends.  Then Monday night, I got the stomach bug.  No.  Fun.

Fortunately, D had already planned on taking Tuesday off work as his comp day for being on pager duty the previous week, so I got to invalid it up, which was a HUGE help.  Today?  Today was OK.  We survived, which is a very good thing.  :-)

Sweater Anxiety

I have sweater anxiety.  I know the pattern I want to knit (Girl Friday from Knitty, Fall 2009).  I have the yarn sitting in the office / disaster area (Paton's Classic Wool in Cognac Heather).  I just can't seem to pick up and cast on, though.  This would be my first sweater for myself, and I seem to be afraid of it.  I swatched the lace pattern a few months ago, and have no idea what needle size I used at the time, so that irritation with myself for not taking proper notes and wasting time is part of the finger-dragging, I think.  I also am afraid of my own ability to create something that actually fits me.

...I started the draft of this post a few days ago (Before Stitches West!) and that same night, I finally managed to haul out needles and wool and get a new swatch cast on.  Today I finished and blocked the swatch, so I'll take some final measurements (and hopefully edit this post to include a picture)  tomorrow.  It looks like the 9's I used today were a touch large, but I don't actually have size 8 tips in wood, so I'll spend some time negotiating with myself about the merits of doing a little extra math vs. ordering size 8 tips, having to wait for them to arrive, and then swatching again.

What do you think I'll decide?

Edited to add this picture of my swatch, now that it's been washed, blocked, and dried.  The color is a bit washed out in this photo, but the texture shows up pretty well. 

TGIF

The end of a long rainy week.  Spaghetti for dinner.  A glass of wine. 

Now, if only the living room would pick itself up.

Pardon Me, But Did You Know That You Have A Flower Stuck In Your Teeth?

Alrighty, here's a picture D took this morning.  I had just gotten out of the shower and went to see what he and the girls were doing.  The girls both really, really wanted to show me their flowers.

Just Checking In

Wow, more than a week has already slipped by.  I knew this would be my weak point as an erstwhile blogger.

I suppose it says something that I've made the time to figure out how to get my knit meter on here, but haven't actually tried uploading a picture yet.  I've been knitting a lot of cotton dishcloths this week.  Totally mindless.  I got the yarn on sale at Michael's a couple weeks ago, and I now I wish I'd gotten more, the rate I'm blowing through it.  I told D last night that it was "preemptive mood adjustment".  Between that and the wine, I survived a week of toddler mayhem, anyway.

I'll work on the photo thing later, I guess!

There were some good things about the week:  A wonderful morning at Ponderosa Park, where the girls tackled all sorts of new and interesting playground climbing structures, and a tour of one of the Santa Clara fire stations on Friday afternoon.

Today's Unexpected Awesome

...5 bagpipers, all wearing different kilts, tuning their instruments and warming up in the parking garage as the girls and I walked back to the car this afternoon.

The First Post

I'm feeling a distinct lack of clever this afternoon, but I am going to proceed anyway.  I do not know what this blog is or will become.  There is so much potential it's hard to even get started.  I suspect that you will eventually get to hear about what we're cooking and eating, what I'm reading, where we've been, what I'm listening to, some of my more random reactions to things I've encountered on the web and in "real life", what I'm knitting / crocheting / stitching, and the obligatory cute kid stuff.

Be warned:  I am hopelessly addicted to exclamation points and smilies when I type.  I will do my best to avoid inflicting them on you.  I am also just a smidgen verbose.

I will be back soon with a real introduction, but for now I'm off to play with blog widgets and gewgaws.