Anyone know a kid with 2 right hands?

I was quite proud of myself this morning when I finished this pair of mittens. It has been a bit of a trial for me. I think my son is going to love them, but I seem to be incapable of following my own charts and have had to rip out large sections of each mitten multiple times because I made a major mistake (like forgetting to start the thumb gusset). Plus my fair isle is lumpy since I apparently still haven't learned to keep the floats loose enough.

So, this morning, I knit the thumb, put down the second mitten and smiled to myself because now the mittens were done and I could move onto the hat. Wrong. Once I had grabbed my darning needle and found the other mitten, I took a good look at them. This just isn't going to work. They are both for the right hand. My son most definitely does not have 2 right hands, so I have 2 choices. I can rip one of the mittens and knit a left handed on this time, or I can just knit an entirely new mitten... and possibly make a 4th mitten so I now have 2 pairs instead of a screwed up pair. I think I need to stew on this for a while.

It's going to be one of those days

I already know that it's going to be one of those days. One of those days where you count the minutes until your husband will be home from work.

It all started when I went to put a load of laundry in (which still needs to be moved over) and noticed that Odin, the male member of our bunny pair was laying dead, stiff as a board in his cage. Both bunnies had just been into the vet less than a month ago to be checked out. Odin had been neutered and all seemed to be going fine. I have no idea what happened. The poor thing is now laying on the snow covered back porch until I figure out what to do with him. It's so sad. He's still such a pretty bunny as he's laying there. *sigh*

While cleaning out and thoroughly scrubbing the cage the rest of my children proceeded to yell and scream and generally have a good time in the family room. Currently, the floor is covered in puzzle pieces and other toys. They are now yelling and screaming at the lunch table and trying to get up and run around when mommy isn't looking.

Alex is trying to "earn" money for his Santa's secret shop fund and has been doing little jobs around the house, which would be great if a 6 yr old's idea of sweeping the floor was the same as mine. Just because you can't see the sugar you spilled on the floor earlier, doesn't mean that it's not there for mommy to step in. *sigh*

I haven't gotten hardly any yarn work done this week because of the holiday and the fact that we had 2 different doctor appointments this week. Since I don't make any money if I don't wind yarn I've been feeling extremely guilty. Not too guilty to knit with my spare time, mind you, but guilty all the same. What I have managed to accomplish, though, is to knit a lot of small objects.

I met my new OB, who seems quite nice. My family practice doctor, who has delivered all 3 of my other children, can't handle delivering twins, so he referred me to his wife's OB. I'm now taking a whole battery of vitamins and such, including a DHA supplement. It's supposed to be good for baby brains and eyesight. That's wonderful, but I find it really obnoxious and totally wrong that the package strongly implies that if you don't take this supplement your child will be stupid and have horrible eyesight. Glad to know that's what they think of my current children, and almost everyone else on the planet.

Let's look at some knitting. That always makes me feel better.

Both hat and mitten sets are Christmas presents. The left set is for my niece Sam. It is my flower petal hat pattern and improvised mittens knit in Caron Simply Soft and Bernat Boa. The right set is for her brother Evan. It is a the Fiber Trends Ear Cozies hat and improvised mittens knit in Plymouth Encore and Caron Simply Soft. I prefer wool for mittens since it's so much warmer and dry so much quicker, but some how I don't think my sister is fond of hand washing.

This set is for Shaya. It is also an Ear cozies hat, but with a rounded top this time. It is knit in my own handspun yarn and Bernat Boa. The yarn is spun from Coper Moose roving in Colorful Rainforest. I split the roving lengthwise into thin strips and then spun it woolen into a mostly worsted weight single. The finished yarn had a really wonderful barber pole effect with the different bright colors on the dark teal background. It made a really neat self striping yarn when I knit it up since each strip of roving had a different color in it and I just spun the strips one after another. I had 2 skeins of this yarn and it was enough for the hat and mitten set, and a Calorimetry headband. I still have a little ball left, which will probably go in one of these as soon as I can find my clear balls.

This headband is an amazingly quick knit. I think I will be making a lot more of them. This one still needs a button, but I love how squishy, and pretty, and lovely it is.

Some Hats and almost finished objects

This is the time of year when I do a lot of small, easy to finish projects. Add to that the fact that I'm pregnant and obviously nesting, I have had a serious urge to knit the garter stitch, or the smiple and quickly done. We won't even go into my urge to organize every closet in the house.

This is my first Ear Cozies hat from the Fiber Trends pattern. While organizing the stash the other day (see, there it is, me with the organizing closets) I found a lone ball of Berroco Keltic that I had bought to try it out. I love it. It is soft, easy to knit with, warm and just enough for a child's hat. I love how the hat graduates from green at the bottom to brown at the top. It makes me think of those little acorn hats that people wear in fairy tales.

This is a flower petal Hat to be part of a hat and mitten set for my niece Sam for Christmas. I knit it from my own pattern instructions, which apparently still need some work before they are ready for publication. The pattern actually got tested this time, since it's been so long since I wrote it I couldn't really remember what I was doing. It's knit in Caron Simply Soft acrylic against all urge to knit in wool because I know my sister would not appreciate hand washing the hats and mittens. I still think it's better in wool.

Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket needing buttons and destined for one of the twins.


Mason Dixon baby bib o love needing a button and a cute patch also destined for one of the twins. This was knit in a fit of desperation for "garter stitch therapy" after a particularly long, hard, day. You know you're pregnant when the school bus people calling and telling you the bus is outside and your child is waiting makes you want to cry. DH doesn't understand the power of garter stitch therapy... The muggles never do.

Mason Dixon 1 color log cabin blanket destined for one of the twins and it seems destined to not be all 1 color. I LOVE knitting this. It is addictive and relaxing. I recycled this 50/50 wool, acrylic yarn with a baby blanket in mind, but it's not enough for a garter stitch blanket. The garter stitch eats the wool. It is currently on hold until I can find a nice bulky yarn to do a nice boarder. Apparently it is still too small.

Now I need to decide if I want to fold a mountain of laundry, or unravel sweaters. Work never stops. I guess the fuzzy mittens I have planned will have to wait.

On The Farm at Sunset