Two pictures that capture a childhood

These two candid pictures of my favorite boy were taken by a friend of mine while we were all at a music festival in the park. They are, perhaps, my very favorite pictures of him, ever. For me, they totally capture his entire childhood (well, minus the part where he mumbles and grumbles). Man, how do I get that happy? I think I need to start meditating. Maybe just 5 minutes a day, just to clear my mind, it's never clear, constantly thinking and calculating.

Anyway, I hope LB, when he's older, looks back and his childhood feels like these pictures.

What a weekend!

Shew. What a weekend. Filled with work, friends and possibility. I finally got to meet Jodi Green and Shannon Herrick and they are both so awesome I just wanted to pinch their arms to see if they were real. They were here to help out with the project -- the spinning art yarn instructional dvd! More details on that as it gets edited and closer to the release date. For now I'm going to bask and sleep because after 20 hours of shooting, I'm exhausted.

Also in the big news category, LB lost a tooth! His first one. Yep, his first one lost, his first one swallowed. He was so very sad about the latter. So sad that I spent the next three days, sifting and squeezing while wearing rubber gloves, if you know what I mean, if you don't, it's probably better, suffice it to say, I feel I've proved my love. The tooth was never recovered. The note that went under his pillow looked like this --

Tooth Fairy,
Sorry, I swallowed it (the tooth).

Happy birthday baby

Is this your first letter? I think it may be, minus a few lines here and there in cards and e-mails, this is your first letter. A love letter, even. You are turning One tomorrow and before you enter the days of age, I want to say a few things about you, and me, and us, and how much you've filled a part of my heart I didn't even know I had. To be honest, really honest, I didn't know if I wanted another child. I was so happy with your brother, you know him, he's enough for anyone, all smiles and brains and funny ideas. I thought there was no way I could possibly love anyone as much as I loved him (just so you're not kept in suspense, let me tell you, I could and do). He was my number one and I felt really protective of that, protective of the idea of having a single number one. It didn't even really change while I was pregnant, that feeling. You know about how the pregnancy began, right? Almost by ending. Open belly surgery to remove...well, to remove what they though was you, only not you, a you that didn't work out, that grew in the wrong place and then filled my belly with a liter and a half of blood making it so that I couldn't breathe or move or continue to live without your removal...well, removal of what they thought was you. It wasn't you though. The doctors claimed but I knew it wasn't. A mother knows. So they removed the cyst and the blood and they told me that you might be okay.

Nine months later you were okay. Nine months later in the middle of the worst ice storm baltimore had seen in years, you were great, pulled from my abdomen by the gloved hands of a really kind doctor. The moment I saw your tiny, wrinkly, perfect body I knew that I would love you with all my heart and forever. Everyone felt like that, cooing that you were the prettiest baby ever, forgetting that your brother was pretty damn cute as well, but that day all anyone could see was you.

The nurses, who only hours before were shaving my netherbits, snuck your brother in the recovery room right away so that he could tell you your name. He was your biggest supporter, from before you were even an idea, you were his idea and he had equal billing in naming you. We wanted you to be the first besides the three of us to know your name and we wanted him to tell you. Out of your big brother's mouth is the first time you heard your big name. And it is big, I know. I also know that you can fill it out. Just like you filled out your onesies! Yes, you did. We've said from the beginning, “she's got the head of a newborn and the ass of a 2 year old” and it's true girlfriend, you've got back!

A few months ago you had rolls and rolls everywhere, and I loved every one of them, whispering sweet words between them, kissing the creases, holding you close so that your tiny body warmed my big one. How is it that such a tiny body can have so much more warmth than one as big as mine?

Your rolls are less now, your too busy to keep them around. Burning through them like you burn across the floor, splinters be damned, hours later I see a splinter in your knee or hand and I'll marvel that it didn't slow you down.

It's not like you don't eat either. You eat like a champion. You're not the milk-obsessive baby that your brother, all day, all night, but you've got half of it down, for sure. It's a good thing you can unhook a nursing bra or I'd be getting no sleep. Other than milk, raspberries, that's your favorite. You'll spit out anything if you see a raspberry. Tofu is a no-fail as well. Sweet potato. Carrots. Enchaladas! You eat baby, you eat.

Your breath still unhinges me. No matter what you eat you manage have the sweetest little hot breath. Sometimes in the morning when you're still sleeping I'll snug right up to you, as close as I can get without waking you, but I'll put my face even closer, right up next to your open mouth. That feeling of your sweet hot breath fills me with such a good feeling, like fresh baked bread. I know your breath won't stay that sweet, at least if your brother is any indication, but right now it can make me cry.

Pretty much everything about you can still make me cry if I think about it enough. Love does that, feels so good that it hurts, John Melloncamp got that right, though I'm not sure he was talking about sweet, hot baby breath.

I can't not mention your smile, from gummy grin to toothy smile, they've all been disarming. Light up a room, again taking after your big brother, lucky girl, that smile will take you places. Just don't let it or your tiny legs take you too fast, my whole heart is wrapped up in your little limbs. Happy birthday sweetest girl shaped biscuit.

Mouth in a box on a snowy day

What did my day look like? It looked like this --

That was after many hours of sledding down the back hill into the wooded fence and snowball sneakin'. While they warmed up inside LB showed his friends his famous finger in a box trick:

and if the finger in a box is funny, wouldn't a mouth in a box be just as funny?

Why yes, son, it is. Hilarious.

And while the kids played outside, I gocco'ed my little heart out! Yep, I know it is on everyone's resolution list, to be better about keeping in touch and birthdays and such, but I've got a plan! We made a bunch (way too many, like 100 of each) 2008 birthday cards and thank you postcards and that's what everyone will get this year. Next year they'll get a new design. Ha! Automatic boy, the Boggs' are so good at keeping in touch, birthdays and such ! People will be saying that far and wide. They'll also be keeping portfolios of the cool cards! Look at these babies! Year of the RAT! As always, click for the version you can actually see.

Also, I went to lunch with Mama E of fibercyber famosity! And she's as nice as her yarns! Really. I know it's geeky but I hope we become BFFs. Heh.
I think I'll send her a thank you card. Or perhaps I should make some please be my BFF gocco'ed cards.

The old, it was good, but it's out

Three and a half hours until the new year peeks it's promising head through into my life. Three and a half hours. What a year 2007 was, I grew in so many ways, the most obvious being by a whole other person! But there were other growths as well, more subtle one. I'll remember it fondly and welcome 2008 with eager arms. I hope everyone out there feels the same.

Winter holiday was magical. Really wonderful, and I think and thank everyone that had a part in it. It was the craftiest yet, every face was glowing and smiling that morning as we opened
our presents, emptied stockings, played with our giftees and toys and made our seasonal offerings
to friends via secret porch dropping in the wee of morning. Yes, it's become something of a tradition and the thing I love best about the holidays with my little family. On each equinox and solstice, we craft a goody and make a local list of people to sneak-gift. In Spring it was a handwoven paper basket filled with 4-6 experimental muffins (strawberry-chickpea, spinach-curry, banana -coconut etc). For this Winter, we made candied nuts in three flavors (vanilla, spicy old bay, coconut cardamom) and hot chocolate bags made with our own homemade vanilla sugar. We drive around, slowing pull up just past the target house, LB hops out, dashes madly to their porch, drops the preslette, rings the bell or knocks, dashes even more madly back to the car, hops in and we speed off into the sunrise to the house of the next person on our list. I hope it's a tradition we keep up and it's a memory my kids take with them into their adult years. It feels special.

That night we made the traditional stuffed seitan roast, also known around these parts as the grub. And it only looks slightly better cooked. Ate and laughed with people we love that live near us.

Like I said, a magical Winter Solstice. The Winter Moose was good to us this year.

As for the upcoming year, this is gonna be our year! I can feel it.

K.ad already got another sign job offa the ones he finished for the Red Canoe, a folky bookstore for kids, a few weeks ago. They turned out great, the owner cried a bit at their super coolness, she's even afraid to put the sandwich board outside for fear it might get snatched. The new shop he's doing signs for is super cool candy shop called Rock Candy. And I'm already booked for several spinning workshops! Plus, there's that super secret new product that's gonna take the world by storm...or you know, cause some strong winds for a few fiber lovers.

I hope everyone has a lovely night, a great new year, and sweet lips to kiss come midnight.

Skidder Man

A few weeks ago LB was invited to yet another birthday party. And it finally dawned on me, all those billboards and graph charts loudly proclaiming that a baby is gonna break you, coming in a 70K a year or whatever, are taking into account all the birthday party presents for other kids one has to buy (because otherwise what could it be? snack and soda? I don't know...). Still we don't fit onto their stinkin' charts, because even when the invite makes no mention of us being gift enough so no present is required, we make our presents (finger puppets, wooded puzzles, dressup hats). Anyway, this post isn't so much about the gifts -- which turned out to be a hero activity book made entirely by LB -- but about the costumes.

Yes, apparently there was gift expectation and costume expectation, those billboard/graph chart-figuring-people must have known about this eventuality, because I sure didn't.

The kids were supposed to come dressed as their favorite hero. My boy, with no prompting from me to think out of the (store-bought) box decided to be SKIDDER MAN, sometimes shortened without warning or explanation to SKID MAN, I know, right? Skidder man?

He spend some time planning his costume, drawing it, coloring it. I braced myself for the inevitable conversation of Hey baby, papa's out of town this week and he's the one that knows how to work that fancy sewing machine, wouldn't you rather just be hobo-man? You could wear trash! But that conversation never had to happen, Skidder Man, at least from the pictures, looked like a lazy mother's dream costume, it consisted of orange shorts, red shoes, a cape, goggles, and 2 little red circles on his illustrated Skidder man's chest.

Me: Honey, what are those 2 red circles on Skidder Man's chest?

LB: Those are Skidder Man's nipples

Me: Wait, Skidder Man isn't wearing a shirt? You have to wear a shirt. You can't go to a kid's birthday party, at their house, wearing goggles, a cape, and no shirt. This isn't babylon baby.

LB: Skidder Man wears no shirt. Skidder Man proudly displays his nipples!

Yes, he said that! Skidder Man wears no shirt. Skidder Man proudly displays his nipples!

In the end we used an A-shirt that was a bit too small (thus promoting the Queer as Folk reference above) with Skid Man's emblem on the front, an SK and then, because I didn't center the emblem so well, a little skid mark on the side to balance it all out, you know, aesthetically.

I never could really get a feel for what Skidder Man's powers were, aside from nipple pride. It's been bugging me ever since...

Kid videos

My computer's on the blinkity blink so this update is going to be shortity short. My poor mom hasn't had her baby/kid fix for weeks so here's a new video --

Plus, if you go here , you can watch 6 new sweetpea/little bit videos, all with witty names like sweet pea crawls and sweetpea crawls while wearing cute skirt.

real quick, for record keeping sake:
Sweetpea crawled 2 weeks ago and the next day she pulled up and hasn't stopped.
Last Sunday she cut a tooth, then another.
Little Bit got his Yellow sash in Kung Fu 2 weeks ago -- he rocks!
Little Bit got the part of Rumplestiltskin in his theater class play!

Theater mice

Theater class: first there was the audition. I know, right? He's five. It's the second class. Audition? But really it was fine, just a little song they had to sing on stage so that their grad student instructor could hear their voices, see their comfort level, and give them a part in the culmination of the class -- a tiny, couldn't-you-just-die production. The kids, of which there are 6-8, were encouraged to sing such classics as the abcs, twinkle twinkle, happy birthday. My son, always skidding on his head to the sound of a different drumline, had trouble choosing between his 2 favorite songs -- die die die by the Avett Brothers and the wayward wind by Tex Ritter. Both of which he can sing in entirety and with the tone of a small squeaky angel -- the wayward wind is particularly charming when one is familiar with the voice of tex ritter, not so squeaky or angelic.

In the end, the boy picked die die die.

She’s fighting with the sky
She thinks she can
Livin’ within a lie
She thinks she can
But nobody knows what lies behind
The days before the day we die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die

You can try to swim the sea
But say goodbye to you and me
You can try to swim the sea
You can try to hold the breeze
You can try to hide the sun
But say goodbye to everyone
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die

I could have melted, my little boy singing about the futility of life. And the beauty of it.

After auditions they did acting stuff, which included pretending a blue felt blanket was anything besides a blue felt blanket, learning stage directions, and acting like different animals.

First they acted like lions, all the kids on all fours, roaring. Then they acted like giraffes, necks stretched, toes tipped. Finally they acted like mice. Seven kids meandered about, front teeth jutting, hands folded demurely under chin, vibrating, tiny, cute biting noises -- a embroidered sweatshirt mouse come to life. There was one kid alone, on all fours, this way and that, skittering just as fast as he can, a look of sheer terror on his tiny-mouse face.

When we first moved into this house, it was infested with mice. Having never ever lived with any kind of critter, I was seriously skeeved. It was so bad that I used to knit in the front room with a cup full of pencils sitting beside me and when the skittering and chewing in the kitchen got to be a low roar I'd toss a pencil from where I was sitting, through the dining room and into the kitchen. It would shut them up for a few rows and then I'd have to throw another. I'd continue on until I had 3 pencils left. The grand finale throw which had to be bigger to ensure maximum scattering for prompt pencil collection. And then it'd begin again.

I was reminded of those days as I watched that lone kid acting, not like a cute adorable long-tailed creature, but like the terrible, vicious, super-quick monster that mice are. In reality. The reality-mouse was, of course, my son. I could just hear the other parents thinking
Now that's a kid knows mice.
Fer real.

It be talk likea pirate day!

It be talk like a pirate day, so in honor, I give you Little Bit telling his favorite joke. He likes to tell it at the most inappropriate times, like to nuns and men with ties. I used to laugh it off -- oh, he doesn't know what it means, but then he'd follow it with a full and explicit description. Heh. I love my inappropriate kid.

Bathtime video

Oh My Word! Now that I know I can do this with my camera! I'll never have to text update again, it's all video from here on out! Huzzah! I didn't really know it recorded sound, so I'm eerily quite in case sounds distracted her from her big debut. And then I'm not.

Expect more of these! Like one a day! Forget the knitting, it's bathtime videos all day long. Next -- our dog!

Evolution and a list

A few things --

First, I spent, like forever, uploading and sorting pictures. I decided that I couldn't possibly put all my cute kid pictures on my blog without alienating all but 2 of you (those 2 would be my folks). So, while I will continue to put up my favorites for the moment, for a more...uh...exhausting view of my 2 muffin-headed-biscuits, head on over to my flickr collections page -- here. Mom, Pop, that would be the site to bookmark if you want to fill up your little grandparent hearts with love and goo.

Next, only 2 more days to get your raffle ticket, baby! Only 2 more. Less sold this time, so your chances are better! Also, the club goes on sale in 2 days as well. I've got big plans for this round! For those of you waiting for your numbers, they'll be coming tonight or tomorrow.

And, is there a sewer out there that wants to do a swap? I really want one of these asian style baby carriers! here is a pattern, and here's another. I can't sew, but I'd be happy to trade some yarn or fiber! If so, e-mail me!

Since I'm talking about swapping. Is there anyone out there that wants to trade a running vehicle for some handspun. Really...you could have, like a year of handspun, a skein outta my shop every week, your choice, in exchange for a car that'll get my family safely around town. My kingdom, my kingdom for a...well, a gal's gotta try, right?

And to finish up this wayward list of items -- LB is taking an art class at the Creative Alliance, which is the same place I used to do the cabaret shows at. Anyway, his teacher told me about a recent conversation that happened in class --

LB: I'm making a tyrannosaurus rex (in a rice paper collage)
Teacher: It looks very nice.
LB: did you know that Tyrannosaurus rexs evolved into certain kinds of birds?
Other kid: what's evolved?
LB: it means transformed
Other kid: oh
LB: have you heard that humans transformed from apes?
Other kid #2: I've heard that.
Other kid #1: I haven't heard that (this line was delivered very monotoned by the teacher).

And that's how you can tell that we're from Kansas City, Missouri, and not Kansas City, Kansas.

Unconditional kids

My hands are hot from having them in so many fires. Seriously. They are, of course, my own fires, so I can't complain, but damn, talk about busy. It's a good kind of busy though. Not the kind where I'm running crazy, cursing, and spitting and pulling out passive agressive's greatest hits, it's a peaceful kind of busy. Well, peaceful except my knitting has fallen a bit by the wayside. I will have to rectify that, but still, I can't hardly complain.

I've been reading like mad. I read when I nurse the babe, so I get a good amount of time in. Tonight or tomorrow, if I get a chance, I'll post a list of the 30 books I've read in the past 2 months. Yes, seriously.

However, one book I'm reading right now is hitting me where I live -- it's by Alfie Kohn and it's about uncondtional parenting. My friends Mike and Kathleen (and their lovely brood) came down this weekend and the talk, of course, turned to kids, and K recommended Kowen. Yes siree. Freaking amazing. So in tuned with everything I've thought about raising/loving kids. Not that I'm the poster child for it's tactics -- in fact, it's sometimes really humbling to read an example to be avoided and have it be almost verbatim something I've said to LB. Thankfully, it's humbling and enlightening. I'm so thankful to be reading it.

One of the large questions is asks is is how we are raising our kids going to help them turn into the people we want them to be? As in, we want them (at least I hope and assume) to grow up to be creative, independent, happy, peaceful, joyous etc. But do the current trends in parenting support these things? His and my answer is a resounding no.

I've always said that I am not interested in having what people would consider a well-behaved child. I'm interested in having a free, happy, kind, creative child. Sometimes the 2 don't look the same, in fact, I'd say they often don't look the same. There's an example in the book that asks if you overheard 2 mothers or 2 of your friends talking about your child, which words would make you happy to hear, which would not?. For me, and I hope for others, hearing that your kid always did what he/she is told, always follows directions and never talks out of turn, isn't what I'd wanna hear. And yet the methods so often employed in our society is geared towards having kids that will illicit those responses.

We, as a culture, so focus on behavior, control, and manners, that we forget to let kid form, learn, and live freely and organically. They're so busy trying to live up to what we set for them, please us, get our approval and love, that they have trouble finding and building themselves under it all. Don't get me wrong, I love a kind kid. I have a kind kid, sometimes. At his core I know he's kind, but it's an organic kindness, I think, and I hope a sincere one. For example, he may not say he's sorry when he's supposed to, but is that really important? I know it's important to many, in this society. But does it really help when you force a kid to say those words? Does it make them sorry? Does it make them think they should be sorry? Or make them feel like something is wrong with them that they don't feel sorry. Or does it teach them to be insincere? To lie, even. We want authentic kids, right? I know I do. But I think it has to be reached, growed if you will, not forced and faked.

I was recently in a situation where I felt I had to apologize for my LB's behavior even though he wasn't doing a single thing wrong. He was running, playing, whooping it up in a joyous way. In a wide open public place. But the people i was with so tightly controlled their kid, controlled his every movement (and had forever, so the kid was excellently behaved, that my kid looked like a hellion. Again, LB wasn't doing anything wrong, just being a kid, but I felt stressed and inadequate and really shitty the whole time. Bah. I shouldn't have, but it just goes to show, even when we're sure deep down of what we're doing, it's easy to feel insecure on the surface. That's my own failing, something I need to get past -- relying on the opinions of others, looking for validation (which is something I'm trying to NOT instill in my kids).

Anyway, this book is amazing and says everything (and more) I've always felt but didn't have anyone backing me up (except bill, of course). I'm not saying that I do/know everything in the book. I have failings, and make mistakes. That's why it's such a joy to have this resource to draw from.

More on it later, I'm sure.

In fiber/blog/indie news, I'm going to totally wipe my links list and start anew. I'll say that I'm going to only be linking to indie businesses that I can recommend (as in, I know from experience that their work is wonderful/stable/creative). My wonderful customers use my links to find other great indies (not just fiber, folks) and recently one of my favorites was greatly disappointed by a fibery product they received, so no more blind linking. It may take me a bit, being as busy as I've been lately, but if you think you should be listed and I've forgotten you, please drop me a note, my brain is filled right now and forgetting you is not on purpose, really. Also, if we've never worked with each other's products, let's rectify that, a swap does wonders.

Yarnclub and catchup

Yarn club yarns went out last week! And, if I do say so myself, they rocked the rockiest rock. Above is a sideways hinty shot, for those greedy eyes that haven't received it yet but wanna glimpsey glimpse. For those of you that just wanna see -- look here, and here, and finally here. Like with your fingers splayed at a Def Leopard concert, innit? Plus, check those new tags!

First of the month (July 1st) the raffle tickets for the free yarn club spot go on sale! The drawing and the yarn club spots go on sale the 15th of July, only a month off.

I just finished my shop update. Only six new yarns and 2 MHK, but they're all good ones. I wanted to have some wool but I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail, damn slow processing. Next week for almost sure!

Playing catch-up here until I get back in the blog groove.

It's Mary-Louise Parker, y'all. It took me a bit to post it though. I started to feel a bit like a wanker each time I started to announce it. Like I was saying neener neener, which I'm not. Bah. Cool, though, eh? She's so cute.

Thanks everyone for your comments on my friendship woes. I really appreciate knowing that it's not just me, and that others out there feel the same constraints, disappointments, and longings.

This week's menu is all sandwiches. Tonight we had ruebans - yum.

Sweet Pea rolled over. And belly laughed.

Little Bit is writing a book. It's called Rumbling Tower. He lets me read it every few chapters and it's so creepy and cool. On the back of the book (it's art paper folded in half and stapled into a book) it says an unknown series of goosebumps. Author unknown. Heh. Do I have the coolest 5 year old on the planet or what!?!

Cheap blogging

I know, I know, it's a cheap way to blog, but Bill's out playing rock this week and it's just me and the lil 'uns, so forgive my cheapness.

Below are a few of the giftees that arrived for Sweetpea since her birth (9 weeks old btw). There's a sweet fish blanket (and pillow), a rockin halter, a cute as pie aviator bonnet (from Shannon, the hottest fake leather pants, and the sweetest pink frog button outfit. Thanks everyone!

And the cheep just keeps on coming...all new on the insubordiknit blog, no text, all pictures! A swap gone good, I sent a hank of purple eater and Kat sent me this great fiber and some of her own great yarn!

I recently did another fantastic trade but I've got a post planned to go along with the pic and it'll include knitting!

Oh, one more thing. I use a leopard rosado sling to haul the little one around but the weather is starting to warm up and the shoulder is starting to wear down. I think I need a second so that the wear on my body is varied. Anyone have any advice on a warm weather sling?

Sweetpea arrives

She's here! All 6lbs7oz/19 inches of her, wee little thing that she is. She's also perfect. PERFECT. In fact, everything went perfect, but that's always the way it seems with the hindsight in place. It did go extremely well though, minus the crazy ice storm that we had to drive (I don't know? is 13 mph driving? maybe creeping?) through to get me to the hospital Wednesday morning. We were on time, but still delayed an hour due to hospital staff and my doctor dealing with what the news called a "meteorologicalbomb". So Sweetpea was born a 9:42 am with nary a problem and a big whooping scream into a room of oohing and aahing doctors, nurses, and 2 very thrilled parents, not to mention the eager brother and grandparents outside the double doors.

Much like Little Bit, we didn't share her name with anyone until we were able to tell her. Actually, 20 minutes after she was born LB got to come in the recovery room (usually off limits to kids as I'm in there for only 90 minutes, nursing and unnumbing) and name her himself. I had a moment of panic, thinking he was going to forget the names we all agreed upon and go rogue, naming her his top choice of Cobra or Serpent and then we'd be stuck, having to apply to the universe for a name change and all. But he didn't, he was sweetly overjoyed to whisper her name up close to her newly born face, prefaced by I love you XXX Boggs. He's in love. He can't get enough of her. We're all in love, all four of us -- there's FOUR of us now! wow.

A C-section at this hospital usually stays 4 nights, but we were both doing so well that we stayed only 2 nights, making our escape on Friday so that we could all be together, a family, at home. It's been pretty blissful since. The picture below is us taking her home, donned and swimming in a tiny sweater I quickly knit out of the last lovely hank of scout's swag I received.

I'm amazed with her, in awe. I knew I would be, but part of me feared that I couldn't love anything as much as I love LB. I was wrong. They both are in my heart and occupy equal but massive parts of it, making it feel like it's close to bursting. She's so lovely and sweet, and so different from LB. I think I thought she'd be another little LB, as least physically, but she's not. He was 2 lbs heavier, and 2 inches longer, he had barely any hair and it was golden, his skin olive-y and his features bigger, more what they are today. She's so petite with smaller lips and eyes and skin like mine, easy to redden when anything other than smiles grace the face. They do have much in common though, how wonderful they are, how much they're loved, how we're going to do all we can to make their lives glow.

She's already picking up her head and turning it to look side to side, and if you put her on her back (the rare moments she's not being held), she'll immediately turn to her side. She's a great nurser, though I believe poor anna nicole may have left her boobs to me, huge and firm as they are now.

We're all wonderful, sleeping and snuggling and generally loving each other.

This won't hurt a bit

Oh merciful Zeus, I'm so ready to have this baby. Come 7:30 am on February the 14th, that's what I'll be doing. Yes, to the shock and dismay of my internal naturalist, I am having a planned C-section, and you know what, I'm a-okay with it.

Little Bit was born via emergency c-section after 59 hours of undrugged, home-birthing, midwife-attended labor. It was hard, hard work - the hardest I've ever done. I haven't even been able to watch the video yet (and not just because of it's epic length). Being pregnant with him was a joy. Labor, while difficult as all get out, was still joyous (and painful and messy). This baby has been an altogether different story -- difficult. But that's not why I'm not even giving it a running shot at dropping out the ole hoohaa, I'm just not able. My wonderful doctor was willing to let me try a VBAC until she saw the x-rays and notes from my previous birth. With that came the news that due to a strangely bent pelvic bone, my birth canal would remain bare and skinny for all eternity. So I'm okay with the planned extraction. No guilt here. No siree. For LB's pregnancy I alleviated my fear by resting on the idea that my body was made for this, now I alleviate my fear by resting on the idea that science was made for this.

I'm ready doc, open me up.

olive sock in progress

I may have been to busy to blog, but not too busy to get my socktoberfest on! Yep, here's sock #1 for the festivities, a olive-y ribbed number for Bill. It's going supa quick, or it could be that I knit on it all day while I sat in the jury duty common rool watching bad movies and waiting to be called upon.

* When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I took a wonderful class at my lys about a year ago to learn how to knit these little suckers up. It was a 6 week class and we learned how to use dpns, magic loop, and 2 circs.

* What was your first pair? How have they "held up" over time?

Oh, these were my first pair. Not too shabby. I loved them at the time but now I realize the heel flap was too short, the toes to tight and the rolled cuff annoying. heh. They may have stood the test of time had there not been an unfortunate incident with a mouse. Yeck, glad that's over with.

* What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

Hmmm...I haven't used too many different sock yarns. Mostly stuff I've bought and dyed myself. I am, however, looking forward to some of scout's swag! Yowsa girl, send it over!

* Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

Chroch-what? Circs baby, 2 of 'em!

* Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

Well, I've done both now and I have to say I like the flap, but that could be because it's my first and you always love your first...right? I'm willing to give shortrows another try but I'd really like to try an afterthought heel? yep, sarah's gonna teach me...

* How many pairs have you made?

Let's see...1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9 Nine. Though only 3 are currently with me, the others are spread out among those I love. I hope to have 6 by the end of the year and by the end of next year to be totally free of commercial socks! yep, a nice little Frack you to seams that pinch and heels that sag!

Also, here's a few of the Little Bit's newest gems --

In a movie theatre bathroom: mama, I'm dunging, I'm dunging!
In our kitchen:
Little bit -- After I peel all these potatos for you, I'm going to throw the peels behind the stove so any mice outside can come inside and have something to eat
me: um...how bout we don't. We don't have any mice right now and I'd like to keep it that way.
Little bit -- Okay, but which is worse for the Earth, mice living in our house or all these potato peels in a landfill?.

Oh, Bea...

Yes siree, it's done! The bea arthur cocoon monstrosity is finally done. And come to find out, it's not such a monstrosity after all. I knit it on US11s, using 1000 yards of handdyed kid mohair, 80 yards of 2 wacky handspuns from a while back that just happened to match (for the vertical stripes), and 150 yards of 2-ply even handspun (for the seedstich band and cuffs. The pattern was made up as I went along. It's knit from side to side, well...kind of, that was the original plan but how it worked was something like this -- a provisional CO down the middle of the back, knit over just past the neck, a provisional CO from there down the front and then the front and back knit on the same needle until the reached the shoulder.

A short rowed sleeve cap right in the middle, then the sleeves knit straight down to the cuff (which is in seed stitch). The same thing was done on the other side, picking up from the PCO. Then the front stitches were put on the needles all the way from one bottom, up around the neck and down the other side (these were not PUs, it was knit this way so they are just put back on the needle). Lots of short rows to build the front middle out without getting too much at the neck or bottom (because bea would have liked a nice curve). Finally, I picked up the stitches along the bottom and knit the seed stich band (all 100000 stitches scrunched up on a 24" circ).

I have to tell you, it was dicey up until the very end. I really did this sweater to learn the provisional CO and to cement my short row skills, so I was only slightly grumbly as I knit it, thinking all the while that it was crap. Tacky, terrible crap. I felt that way up until I put the band all the way around it, it really tied it together and now I love it! Look at those sleeves! Wowsa! Forget tissue, I could hide scads of snacks, tampons, and tiny toy unicorns in there! Blanche, eat your heart out!

If you listened to my last podcast, you heard a little ditty about what's on my knitting sticks, the above, of course, was talked about and so was this slip stich sweater I started last week for Little Bit, though it may not fit him until he's a medium bit. The front and the back are done and the arms should be joining in a matter of days. As always, you can click to enjoy a larger version. Yeah!

In other news, I've been spinning.

and while I do that, Little Bit's been using my idea white board that hangs in my studio for his own...click on that to really appreciate the full scope of his talent/madness.

Horny devil fairy

In place of actual content, I give you the self proclaimed horny devil fairy. No, really. Last weekend he ran around the fairy festival with those very words coming out of his little lips.

The shop is updated with lots of luxurious stuff, and lots of yardage. I'm not sure why, maybe because of the sadness that had me in it's grips, but I spun way more more traditional type yarns this week, and lots of it. One has over 800 yards, and a few around 400. Hmmm...grief affects a girl in strange ways. I also put up a few monster hat kits and I've got some saved back as I build a new Kpixie order.

And the knitting, I know I said...but I lied. Soon. Bill's been on a mini-tour and I haven't had much time to take pictures or get my head on straight. It's taken all my evening hours to get my new podcast in order! Yeah, a podcast, featuring me, with the voice of a drunk 5 year old. Should be up by Tuesday as soon as Bill hobbles into town. Man, how do single parents do it? Props. And now the van broke down in Mississippi and they're stuck. Heh, maybe it really was a bad idea to get a vanagon for free off craigslist and then try to take it on tour. Ya think?

Also, thanks for all the e-mails this week and last. I'm so terrible about returning words, it's not you, it's me...really. They mean so much and if I were a more, well, together person, I'd be able to tell each and every one of you in a private e-mail. As it stands, thanks.

A moment in history

Okay, it's impossible to post while listening to my new obsession -- podcasts. I've tried several times and you've seen nothin new on these pages, right? Let's collectively blame it on podcasts, shall we. MMmmmm...podcasts.

Okay, to business. Shop update late tonight, less than usual cause I'm slowing a bit with the warm weather, but still a goodly amount of cool stuff. Now to show you what I've been doing, brought to you by the same energy that recently brought you excavating with youngsters, we know bring you Cuneiform for all or as the little bit calls it Some of the stuff they coudla dug up. Yes, we've moved on from nomads wandering the fertile crescent to early Egypt and Mesopotamia. With that grand ole land between two rivers comes, as I'm sure y'all remember, the first writings -- Cuneiform, done on clay tablets. So hold on to your rat-tails, here we go --

First the making of the clay, were you aware of the proliferation of cornstarch and baking soda amoungst those crazy Sumerians? Apparantly, 'cause we're all about the details, folks.

And then there's the translating -- a long and arduous process requiring the manipulation of a pencil, movement English to Cuneiform brain energy, navigation of stray hair, which, when not in the eyes is being sucked on in the mouth...mysteriously power source? and finally, much, much, concentration (sometimes we see concentration tongue emerge). The end result is a name, first and last, or a Little Bit.

Finally we see the tie that binds -- yes, a knitting needle may actually have been the original tool for carving Cuneiform characters into traditional clay tablets, just as we all know it is still used today for unearthing fossils, you did see those pictures, right? Proof positive.

Shaky business, the transporting to a sunny area to dry. Pay no attention to the barren land, these Sumerians had to travel far away from their moist rivers beds to find sun strong enough to dry this clay, and as you know, egypt is a Sandy place, little grass grows on it's dusty plains.

Fairy dust and tiny sweaters

After the near death debacle of the other night (who knew knitting could be so treacherous?), I settled in last night for a nice easy knit. Something sweet and scrumptious, and far too tiny to strangle me with it's knitted tenticals. Not that this is gonna do much to dispel the myth that I'm in the family way. I'm not, I promise. I'd tell ya if I was. I will tell you when I am, how's that? deal? Okay.

I have dear friends that are babylicous and this is for the little one when it comes rockin' into this bright world. On a real baby I hope the sleeves are more short to 3/4 instead of the puffy monstrosity they are on Garnet. I know it'll only fit for a month or two, but won't it just be the cutest 8 weeks ever? And yes, that is a short row collar, my first off-the-cuff employment of shortrows, and it worked just like I planned. Yay for shortrows.

Below is our Spring family painting. We do one at the change of every season and hang it on the front of the house to welcome the . In spring it's the Spring Fairy. In fall it's the Good Gourd, yeah, are ya done laughing yet? Good, listen up, this is a good one. Last fall the Good Gourd brought LB a trampoline, he supposes the gourd must've rolled it here, seeing as he's a gourd and has no hands. So now, when people ask him where he got his trampoline, which happens often, apparantly it's a big giftitem, he relpies The good gourd gave it to me and they, without fail, reply back to him, with a smile The Good Lord, how nice.... Heh.

My favorite part of the painting is the little blue fairy that Little Bit painted. I thought it might be a mosquito but he assures me that it's a fairy, and the fence he painted next to it is how the fairy get to spring. It flys over the fence. to spring. He's awesome. He named the pic, in a big booming voice, Fairy sprinkles dust and spring begins on Earth.

Homeschooling tastes good

Today so totally rocked my handknit socks (that I actually forgot to wear, lulled by 80 degree temps yesterday, and therefore was very cold). My homeschooling martha stewart (who's real name is Mary) eared us onto a homeschooling group activity at a nearby nature center and we got to spend the day learning about that brown sticky stuff you sometimes see in the woods...yep...maple syrup!

It was so super cool. Ten kids about LB's age, all making their own spiles (what you use to tap the tree), hiking through the wood, tapping a tree, watching how indiginous peoples boiled it down (in cool hollowed out trees boiled with dropped in hot rocks), how the settlers did it (of course, first old whitey butched lots of trees, thinking a hatchet would would better and faster than a finesse tool), and then how the preserve does it. Then we tasted. Man oh man, homeschooling tastes goooood.

Speaking of tasting good --

This week's vegan eats:
lentil loaf (no really, it's good!)
tofu pot pie (recylcled from last week, we didn't get to it)
chilleeee
chickpea and spinach curry (that's what i'm talkin' about)
mango and ginger tofu

flax muffins

raspberry chocoloate chip blondie bars (new recipe!!)

Sleeping beauty, vegan eats

So we've been reading fairy tales, biding my time before I can get into myths. We've got a book of greek myths for kids -- which means all the bloodshed, none of the sex -- so we're doing fairy tales first. Not that they couldn't freeze your blood, some of them. Absent mothers and pushover fathers make way for evil-stepmothers and mysoginistic storylines. But we talk about that too, thanks to a brain and a tiny book called PC fairytales that's nice to reference every once in a while.

Okay, this last week we did Sleeping Beauty, or Napping Average-girl, heh, kidding. We read that story many times, talked about it, retold it to each other, acted it out and then I read it aloud and he told he each characters he thought would need a puppet if we were gonna do a puppet show. I made a list. Then we sat down and made little paper and stick puppets. Little Bit drew them all except 2, and I'm not even sure you could guess which 2 (the evil fairy and 'sad prince that gets caught in the briars #2').

Listed in order from left to right and then top to bottom, here's who they are --

king, queen, bad fairy, 3 nice fairies, baby sleeping beauty, 15 year old sleeping beauty, guard that falls asleep, sad prince that gets caught in the briars #2, prince that mades it through the briars (notice only the small bloody splinter on his forehead - hehe), sad prince that gets caught in the briars #1, frog, flower for briars, briars, spinning wheel, fire.

How cool is that? We're performing a puppet show later today. Our audience will consist of B-ill and about 10 stuffed friends. Two drink minimum.

oh, and vegan eats menu below, some meals heald over from last week because we were out, at a birthday party in NJ, or otherwise indisposed.

This week's vegan eats
Mains--
Pesto linguini (last night)
winter veggie stew
quinoa with panfried corn and orange zest
adzuki beans and winter squash sautee
tofu pot pie

sides -- broccoli, brussels, greenbeans and garlic, spinach

dessert -- keylime cheesecake

muffin - banana bran muffins

A few days in the life of homeschooling

Does everyone here know that we homeschool? And yes, I think it's a bit early for, like, hardcore school, but according to present day society, you should have your fetus enrolled in half-day at least. And yes, I realize that I'm in a lucky and unique situation that allows me to stay home and actually do this, let's just get that outta the way. Privilege, in lotsa ways, I've got that shit wired.

Alright, so we're doing some cool kid science-y stuff right now, nothing big, you know, chemistry/magic where the final product is food-coloring-colored-homemade-play-dough. So, here's what we did this week --

After burying some fossils half way down in a bowl and waiting for days for it to dry so we could excavate, it was finally time. With paperbag (yarn packing paper for those of you in the know) down and excavating tools (knitting needle, darning needle, tweezers) ready, little bit dug in .

He was so careful and intense. After he found all the fossils (the biggest hit was the shark's tooth), we made a 2 inch block of fimo clay and he pressed the fossils into the clay and removed them with the needle, to make a mold.

We mixed up some homemade clay (flour, salt, cream of tartar, food coloring, water), he kneaded and kneaded and finally said his hands were all cracky and he thought it was ready. I put a dab of oil in the molds and he gingerly filled the molds.

12 hours later we had our casts. Sorry, no money shot of that. However, we did another step today, pics of the final product in a few days.

Scared man

We don't watch TV, he doesn't watch TV. In fact, up until a few months ago we didn't even have one, now we have one but it gets precisely 0 channels and is only on after he's in bed and I'm knitting to a Netflix DVD. We don't hit, spank, or swat. We recycle, reuse, and conserve. We're don't have weapons of any kind. We're a peace-lovin' people. We only lack patcholi and patchwork that would add a pie to our hip. Know all of this, really, it's the truth. And yet the other day Little Bit says to me my heart hurts because I don't have a sword. Huh? A sword? Your heart hurts? HUH?

I explained to him that we don't think it's okay to have things that can only be used as weapons, such as swords, guns etc.

And then I learned a hard truth -- if you don't give it to them, they'll build it themselves, even at the tender age of three. He marched right down into the basement, found 2 scraps of wood, his little pink hammer (marketed to housewives and, apparantly, little boys with a love for all things sparkly and/or pink) and constructed his own weapon. He says it's an axe, which is also a tool, not just a weapon, so it must be okay. He also says it's just for chopping things and playing. He never wants to hurt things, or kill things and gets freaked out when he sees other kids play that way.

And then yesterday he asked me to play scared man. When I inquired how this was played, he said I chase you with the axe and you act like a scared man. HA! When I told him that sounded a bit scary he replied then we'll just play 'chop down the forest'.

Yep, I've have got a axe wielding maniac that wants to decimate our worlds natural resources on my hands. What's a peace-lovin', recyclin', popular-culture-rejecting pacifist to do?

Vomit boots and fashion bits

Pattern:tempting from knitty. Easy as pie pattern, if you don't mind endless, mindless 2X2 ribbing. I wanted to tear my nail beds out, but that's just me. Like I said, I started this when I first learned to knit and put it away after about a week, not to finish it until almost a year later. Continuous nightly knitting could've produced this in a week or so. And in the end, I think it's fairly lovely but it's a good thing I don't need a bra cause I'm not so fancy as to have a strapless bra, plus, I think you've gotta have a bit more upfront to make those puppies stay up.
Picture: Little Bit, he's got an amazing eye for detail, look at how he chopped off the rest of my face but made sure he got that brute of a chin pimple. Yeah...he rocks.

Speaking of him rocking, I feel like I should start a whole category dedicated to his fantastic fashion sense. Here's his latest concotion which he wore to the Baltimore museum of art on Wednesday and did a mad sparkle dance for whoever mentioned his fancy shirt. That's also the day I picked up the nasty name Vomit-Boots. It took Little Bit and I the whole drive into downtown after leaving the museum to figure out what the rank smell that filled out humble volvo was. I said baby, do you think it's me and he replied from the back seat yes mama, it must be you. Indeed it was. Vomitous boots from a joyful run through the boulevard park. Feh, see if I joyfully run again.

Also, notice the star Little Bit is holding, it's from my rockin' SP. She knows me so well, sitting at home she was no doubt filled with thoughts like old Vomit-boots is always losing her darning needles, I think I'll send her (Vomit-boots) a sweet little star-shaped holder filled to the points with sharp darning needles for all her knitting and spinning needs.

Of course she is right, I am always losing my needles, and I love the star (and the devoured dark chocolate bars that accompianed them) but dammit, I wish she'd stop calling me Vomit-boots, one joyful run and I'm gonna carry that foul moniker around forever!

Finally, here's all the kits I just sent out. A mixture of ragamitten and monster hat kits, 26 in all, hence the lack of an update last week. However, I've got some mad rad yarns for this sunday!

xo,
vomit-boots (by reclaiming this name, I hope to take away it's power to hurt me)

Like mama, like son

Is there any question where the Little bit gets his fashion sense (or lack thereof)? These are 2 outfits assembled and donned independently of each other. Yep, since the boy started dressing himself, he's joining the the ranks of the half-nutso ragamuffins, just like his mama.

And just to prove I'm really knitting and not just sitting on my wee hands to keep them warm, here's a few pics. The first is me finally getting the gumption and strength of will to finish tempting, from knitty. I started it when I first learned to knit and got all blurry-eyed from the tears of boredom at yet another round of 2X2 ribbing, that I tucked it deep in a bag and let it weigh on my conscience for months and months. I decided to clear it, my conscience, moved it from my shoulders into my lap and chuckled aloud at the 3 inches that are required to finish it. The question remains, can I really wear a sweater with a ribbon?

Here's a bitty bit I'm sconce more proud of. It's my first lace work and it's going along swimmingly. I'm knitting it (branching out from knitty) out of a thin single I painted and spun several months back and in natural light it's just beautiful. When it's blocked you should be able to see the leaf pattern better (and perhaps the mistakes as well).

Sid, seattle weather, and soysilk batts

It came in the big brown truck yesterday and nothing has been the same since. Midnight alley, brick wall, your thrall is almost lost! This monstrosity is what's makin' me hot now! O, shiny, spiky goodness, how you make me ache in all the right places. I'll call you Sid. I threw some green domestic fluff on Sid with smallest bits of green/blue soysilk and hot damn, I had beautiful, fluffy bat of shiny, green goodness in no time flat. I also did some old redish falklands with some shiny red firestar. It didn't take long to get a handle on it, the perfect mixture of rough and gentle.

Damn.

And if that wan't enough, my SP sent me a package! a wonderful package of all the right stuff. I must not be maintaining the level of vauge-ity and secretiveness I intend, because people are getting to know me and shit. Look at this load! It's perfect. I've never knitted with bamboo (outside of what I've spun) so I can't wait, and those just happen to be my favorite color combo, strange, eh? Plus the wonderful book and rockin' tape measure, both of which will get worn out with use, I can assure. My own poor SP, I sent her a package 3 weeks ago and it just got returned to me yesterday (she moved, I think), the only mar on my perfect mail experience. I'll just add some stuff and send it out again.

I spent the other evening doing this. It's four pounds. The freakin' weather change is making the drying process a bit tedious. I don't care for the hot and my fiber doesn't care for the cold, but we all have out crosses to bear, right? I haven't spun any of that load up yet but I've spun others. Here's some of it that's currently stuggleing to dry in my rainy, chilly kitchen (and yes, my kitchen is still rainy, though Christine offerend to come fix it while wearing pasties and a cape, that's how it was gonna work, right? 'Cause that would be the shit!). Hanging there is 400 yards of the most lovely, earthy 2-ply, all the rest are self-striping hat kit yarns, which will be available soon. I've already knitted up 4 of them, they look great! If you look closely, you can see the 2 yarns that contain the fiber that's been through Sid, the sparkly reddish in the front, and the green in the black and green to the right. So cool, though I do need to get used to spinning outta bats rather than top.

Finally, for those of you that come for the cute kid, here's my boy, of his own accord --

Studio Saturday

I call it Two point perspective in Cumin. It's big (you can see it bigger with just a click of your lil mouse)! Notice the pen in the upper left corner. Motherfuckin' B-I-G (notorious), especially for such a pungent wee spice. It's not done yet, I'm still working on the background and the 2nd bottle. If it seems weird (and if it doesn't, who the hell are you?) you'd have appreciated that very faucet of it had you been around for crits in a class of 18 two-point perspectives of the school campus library. B to the oring.

This week has been crazed. My short list looks much like my long list and those deadlines keep closing in. I've been working all week on making some hat kits. These two yarns were spun for sample hats and my own knitting experiments involving them. Both are currently galavantin' around town as actual hats! The kits will have yarn, patterns, and a snappy little suprise for each hat! They'll be an official unvieling next week, I plan on wearing pasties and a cape for it, netcast, even.

Also, B-ill set me up a handspun knits gallery! Check it on the right sidebar! Crazy like a fox, eh? Yeah, so all you knitters out there that have insubordiknit yarns knitted into beer cozies, nose warmers, and thongs, send me a pic and you too can be featured!

So, while I have been all spinny, there's not going to be a shop update this week. Sorry. There are some yarns still available though. I've also been experimenting a bit more with bamboo and soysilk. I tried to make a supercoiled soysilk yarn but failed, terribly. Really. I did, however, spin 120 yards of the most gorgeous handpainted bamboo single ya ever did see. I'm not sure what to use it for, it's a bit stiff. Anyone else experience this, uh, stiffness?

Oh, I've yet to mention the smitting. We've been smitted(?) smited(?) by the all-powerful lord, apparantly. The rain will just not freakin' stop. To the right you'll see a very large bowl, not cumin big, but at least double batch of cookies big, full of a yellowish, green water that smells just a bit less rank than it appears. I've dumped it 5 times since this rain started last night. All thanks to this hole/crack/hellmouth in the kitchen ceiling. Hey, if anyone wants to come put a new roof on my house, I'll don the pasties and cape once more, I'll even let ya netcast it!

Clearly, while I've been spinning, knitting, drawing very large spices, and dumping rain water, my son has been practicing the two-board technique so popular with the young kids now days.

Autumn strikes, with soy-gurt and knit

We celebrated the beginning of Autumn. The Good Gourd, which rolls to kids houses with fall-glee and presents in tow, dropped in to take a look at the amazing painting Little Bit and I did. He, LB, not the Gourd, painted all of the actual objects, I just helped him color it all in. In case you're wondering, the Good Gourd, which is pictured in the above painting, is much like the Spring Fairy but rounder, full of roastable seeds, and well, a bit more confusing. We're not a religious people so we celebrate the seasons, and we do it in a particularly wacky way. The Good Gourd brought the Little Bit a freakin' trampoline, breaking out of the usual low-key, homemade presents mold. I'm not sure how he afforded it but there it is, all big and bouncy. He loves it, we bounced all day, or as long as my cardiovascular would allow, which is about 10 minutes before I require a rest of as much time. With it, 'm sure to be down to 15lbs in no time flat.

Oh yeah, just a glimpse of how cool my son (who is insisting on both a unicorn horn, and pig tails lately) is, there's a shelf in our frig that he can reach and is filled with yummies he gets to eat when he wants and on his own. One such thing that's usually on the shelf is several flavors of soy yogurt. Today he told me that he really liked the new flavor we got but that he was a bit somber that it didn't taste like what it was supposed to green bean and flower. Heh. It's vanilla but the picture looks remarkably like a long green bean and yellow flower. What got me was that he looked at that picture, decided that it was green bean and flower and thought, mmmm...green bean and flower yogurt, I better eat that one!.

He's my little biscuit head.

And in knitting news, which I know has been sparser than hamhocks in vegan bean soup, here's what I've been working on. It's actually seamed up now, though the zipper isn't in, nor is the neck on yet. i was going to submit is somewhere, but decided to just post the pattern on my site, all free-like. If you look closely, you can kinda see the diamonds on the front panels (the lighter green). It's super cool and I'm excited to wear it every freakin' day. Also, it's all my own handspun! Rock.

cherry trees and youth

This world. Bah. I get so frusterated, so often. Here's a little story that happened a few weeks ago. B-ill, I and the little bit were at a park that's walking distance from our house. The Bit was playing on the slides, B-ill and I on the giant termite/wood chip pile, watching with the joy that is known to parents observing the hope they have for the world, in the grace of a child.

Not 30 yards from the uneven bars is a huge cherry tree. We've made pie from that tree. We've gone on flashlight walks and picked night cherries. It's already a part of Little Bit's childhood.

And up on bikes come 4 kids, not older than 11, maybe much younger, anything over LB's age and I'm ignorant of the intricacies. They're hanging under the tree. The cherry tree. So there they are, rukusing, 1 boy, 3 girls. They must have just recently (hopefully) learned the words and phrases fuck you, fucking bitch, shut the fuck up, and several other variations containing those key words. You get the idea. So by this time the Little Bit has joined us on the mound and is asking why those kids are so mean.

They I realize that they've got lighters and one little girl is working hard to get the green tree to catch fire. Then it dawns on me that the day before LB and I were hanging out at the park and 3 boys told us that they'd just put out a fire in the trashcan on the other side of the school, that they'd seen a girl set it on fire. Then I hear the girl scream,

It's on fire! Ahhhhh! I did that! I set that on fire! Me, I did it. It's on fire!!

And indeed it was on fire. Just a bit. The boy ran over to put it out and B-ill marched over with a determanance I usually have in those situations, like earlier this summer, when I kicked the proverbial ass of 5 boys who were beating up a little kid, and the jerky big sister of the victim, egging them on. Jerk-off. So, B-ill stepped up this time, with out even thinking. The girl saw him coming and tossed her lighter behind her while B-ill went to the boy

gimme the lighter

and they did. There was a moment of confusion. Strange to have authority, ya know? I could see Bill look a bit surprised and half expected him to follow it with

uh...what else ya got? ha.

Instead he told them that if anything else caught on fire, he'd find where they lived and talk to their parents and the cops.

As they got on their bikes and rode off, the girl screamed back that she wanted her lighter back...blah blah blah.

LB didn't understand, any of it. Not the meaness, not the fire, not the yelling.

Then B-ill and I started feeling regret. Like what kind of good did it really do? I mean really? I half expected those kids' parents to show up on our way home and wanna kick our asses. Or our house to be burnt down in the near future. Or something more sinister and terrible. I started to fear. Not just about this case in particular, but more about the state of the world and how people are raising their children in response to, or is it the other way around?

Like the world is so tough and mean and ugly that they've gotta weed out of their children any bit of compassion, conscience, and innocence, just so they can make it. Of course, any fool can see that logic, but any person, of the less-foolish variety can see how it also breaks the fuck down. Foster the natural, and it is natural, compassion and goodness in children and the world gets less ugly. Less scary. Less terrible.

And for fucks sake, leave my cherry tree alone!

On my summer vacation I learned that...

On this trip I learned that:

* i am not suffering from any false impression, nor is it the infamous parent eye, my son really is the coolest little guy in the whole freakin' world. He can also forget his mama in a hot second to get his head turned by any cute girl that will watch him break dance, let him lick their arm, and not mind all the poop talk.

* my brother is a responsible, stand-up-ish 38 year old man who is now married with 5 amazing kids. It's a shock to me too! No longer the blacksheep, more of a gentle gray, and I for one like the hell outta some gray.

* the camera won't mysteriously combust if my my brother and I are captured in frame together. Observe the only picture of us in 15 years, and I had to take that fucker myself!

* I don't have to don my Live to spin, spin to live shirt every time I sit at the wheel, apparantly it works just fine in a harley bike week shirt too! He's a natural, my pop. His yarn rocks!

* even on vacation, I can spin over 1500 yards of fancy, scmancy yarn! Lookit the pretties! There's lotsa texture and some new colors. I wanna keep them all but they will be up for sale as soon as the Insubordiknit yarn shop is open, which will be very soon!

* that my commenting system, or rather the MTblacklist I have is place to keep out the asshat spammers, actually denies most of my legitimate comments too. I've gotten numerous e-mails and shout outs on other blogs about it. If it's happening to you, leave a comment so I'll know. Yeah, I know. It's actually kinda an ego boost, I can imagine the scads of people out there, desperately trying to tell me how pretty I am and how I'm such a winner, but they just can't get through. Yeah, me, so popular, a true kelly taylor. I almost don't wanna fix it so that my popularity can live on and on. Feh. I'll fix it soon.

* that, according to my parents computer, I need to use fewer and smaller pictures on my blog. Notice the difference already? I'm all about accomodation, baby.

* that my family still deserves the title of crazy bestowed upon them so long ago, though I've added a fuckin' to the beginning.

* butterflies do dirty stuff too.

Now that the obligatory trip talk was taken care of in such short order (due to the ingenius list technique), the blog will return to it's regularly, randomly scheduled updates where I go on and on about spinning, yarn, knitting, and that burning sensation when I pee.

Oh yeah, it's nice as hell to be home.

It's a yarn-y good time

Busy is as busy does. Yeah, I'm not even sure what the hell I mean by that one, but I'm wrinkled in the knees I've been so swamped. I finished honeymoon and will post pics tomorrow along with some major ranting about what shitty, splitty yarn I used, and that goes to show you that when I rhyme I'm not necessarily having a yarny good time.

But a yarny good time I have been having, and the proofs in the puddin'. This post is pic heavy and content dry, like internet porn, have fun!

First there's harley, named after my pop's mean machine when I was a kidlet. It was painted orange with purple flames and no other bike will ever do it for me. The yarn is 175 yards of double ply, 2 hanks of singles, 200 yards and 100 yards. It's all merino, sock wieght. The single should be self striping, random, for the leg and foot while the 2-ply is a color mish mash for the toe, heel and whatever else. It's softee, and I think it'll knit up to be a pair of socks worthy of the name.

Then there's forbidden forest, can you tell what I've been reading? Like a hungry dog. It's also merino. Two hanks of singles, 70 yrds and 105 yrds, and a hank of 2-ply, 90 yards. It wasn't my intention to do them this way, I figured on spinning about 150 yards of double but after I got one bobbin full it looked so pretty I knew the other balls of roving would have to be singles, the one on the wheel was already spun to be plied (more twist than a single could hang with).
So, again a mix, but not sock weight by any means. The singles are so soft and finally, I've got to the point where singles are pretty balanced! Not so many little twisty parts from the drafting, too. If you click on the pics and compare the purple/orange singles to these singles, you can tell how much nicer they are. What a difference a day makes! Rock.

Finally, here's pink goose, 2 hanks of about 55 yrds each. Thick and thin, plied with very thin red fade to pink single. VERY BULKY.

For those of you who come here for kiddie goodness (that'd be my mom and pop), here's the current state of my drive way, at least until it rains --

The tongue actually extends all the way down the driveway, a good 15 feet. Yesterday we saw a neighbor bring over a ladder so that he could get a full shot picture.

Pinching for fun, and magic

And that rock-as-hell picture from last week is to put an end to my new name she who spins and knits for cabbage patch. Cause the dreamy guy on the right is my partner (in life and crime) although, I will add to any wondering, he does actually have lips that cover his teeth like any normally constructed human, he's just making rock-face. Werd.

Okay now that my reputation as a hardcore, club-hoppin' rocker girl is seated firmly in place, (and don't let the irony of the next sentence skip past ya) let me show you the pretty, pretty yarn I spun!

It's 200 yards of self-striping romney and kid mohair, it's got some thick and thin, some unspun blotches, and some super-coils too. Ya gotta click it