Month: November 2010

Nightmare

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Last night I went up to bed, and just as I crawled under the covers I heard screaming from the boy’s room.

I ran down the hall to find him quaking in his bed, half-awake.

I climbed into his bed and held him.  “What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?”

His head just nodded, small movements and fast.

“What was the dream about?” I asked.

He shook his head from side to side, and covered his mouth with his hands.

“You couldn’t breathe? Oh, honey that’s–” I started, but then saw he was shaking his head “no.”

“What was it?” I asked again.  I was getting worried that it was something bad involving ME, and that’s why he couldn’t tell me.

“I couldn’t,” he began.  “I couldn’t…”

“You couldn’t what?”

“I….I couldn’t get all the cereal out of the cereal box.”

“Oh, honey, I think that’ll be okay.” I patted him on the back, he rolled over and went back to sleep.

Another crisis averted.

More Good Hair Days

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It had been a decidedly un-cute morning.

First came the refusal to poop in the toilet, followed by an enthusiastic pooping in the underwear.

Then came the screaming fit because the “zeeba skut” (or “zebra skirt” for those of us with good enunciation) was dirty and could not be worn.

Then the tantrum because I hadn’t put enough “puh-puh pinkows” (or “purple sprinkles”) on her oatmeal.

But then she seemed to calm down and said, “Do pigtaows mommy? Teggie?” (Do pigtails mommy? Steggie?)

You may remember the ponyhawk, popularized by Sanjaya and worn well by the boy in this earlier post.  The girl calls this her “Steggie” hair because then she looks like a stegosaurus.  Of course, I obliged.

 

And thus was cuteness restored.

Gratitude

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To get an expression of gratitude from my son for ANY gift usually requires the obvious prompt of “What do you say?” After which a “Thank you” is uttered, with varying degrees of sincerity.  Even if he loves a present, it just doesn’t occur to him to say thanks.

Recently, I decided it was time to upgrade from the 13 year old smallish TV and get a flat panel.

The TV was delivered in the morning, but I was working the evening shift so I wasn’t home to see their reaction.

At the hospital, my pager buzzed and I looked down and saw my home number.

I called back.  The boy picked up, “Thank you Mommy. I love it,” he said in hushed tones. He then handed the phone back to Eric, who told me that the boy insisted on calling me, all on his own.

So that’s what I have to do to get some gratitude around here.

 

February Lady Sweater

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I finished this sweater nearly a month ago, but because it’s tough to get someone to take pictures of me wearing it, I haven’t been able to post it until now. You know, most knitters who blog seem to have a dedicated professional photographer and stylist who do their hair and take them to some appropriate place for pictures where, it always seems, brightly colored leaves wait in piles to be thrown up and float down for dramatic effect.

Me? I just hope my hair looks slightly less crazy then usual and there aren’t a million toys about in the backyard.

Here’s a picture of the back–the lace goes all the way around.

And here’s a picture of my “Hopeful Obama” pose.

Pattern: February Lady Sweater

Yarn: Dream in Color Classy

I love this sweater.  According to others who have knit it, this sweater grows a ton when you block it, so when I was about 2 inches before I thought I needed to stop, I put the whole thing on waste yarn and blocked it then to see how much bigger it got.  I was so happy I did this as it got about 1 1/2 inches longer and I only knitted another 1/2 inch. I think it could be a tiny bit longer, but that will stretch with wear.  This yarn is also so soft and I love the color variation.  Some of the variegated yarns can look like Rainbow Brite had diarrhea, but I’ve found that the ones that are subtly different in the same color family look prettiest.  It’s gotten a fair bit of wear already and hasn’t pilled much at all.

On another note, this is now the third sweater I’ve knit and it’s amazing how much better it looks than the first one I did, which is honestly sort of lumpy and unwearable.  I may even end up frogging the whole thing and making something else from the yarn.

Back to the FLS, it is a bit more of a spring/fall sweater and it’s already getting too cold to wear this sweater outside.  Luckily, I’m almost done with a big cushy winter sweater.  Maybe I’ll even get pictures with that one with snowy trees in the background…or sipping hot chocolate by a warm fire…or maybe it’ll just be the fence again.

Trial and Error

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My general approach to new things is to just jump in and figure it out as I go along.

I could break this down a bit more like this:

1. See new idea

2. Think, “Hey, that’s cool, I should do it.”

3. Start new project/task with no real clue as to what I’m doing, only some vague memory and help from Mr. Google.

4. Realize I have bitten off waaay more than I can chew.

5. Spend a lot more time with Mr. Google.

6. Figure it out.

7. Final result not quite what I initially pictured, but looking fine.

I then repeat steps 3-7 with increasing ability and end up getting pretty good at what it is I’m trying to do.  Knitting, gardening, parenting, the triathlon–all fall into this same pattern.  I’ll walk you through the steps with my latest project.

My new thing (because, clearly, I need another project) is mid century modern furniture, like everyone else out there.  Actually, I realize that’s what I’ve always liked, I just didn’t have a good name for it.  I hate all things foofy and puffy in home design.  (Step #1)

Eric found a great vintage leather lounge chair at a local vintage store, and I went back to look for an end table and found this little guy.

As you can see in the picture, this was after I thought, hey, I can just refinish that! How hard could it be? (Why I haven’t learned that the mere thought of that question should be a big red light is beyond me.) (This would be Step #2)

Here’s a closeup of the bottom level–you can see where the paint was pretty well worn, and it looked sort of crappy.

After dredging up memories of junior high woodshop and some time spent on Google (Step #3), I was armed with varying grits of sandpaper, Watco stain and brushes.  I then learned that it’s damn impossible to get all of the old finish off with just sandpaper on a piece like this with little nooks. I could NOT get into all the corners with the electric sander, and even with hand sanding couldn’t quite get all the old finish off.  I didn’t get a pic of the table when it was all sanded, but here’s one of the drawer.  I got a bit worried because at this point, it was looking a little pine-y, like an Ikea piece.

I really didn’t want to spend all this time to have something that looked like it came from Ikea.

At this point, all the Google instructions I found told me to basically slop on the Watco, wipe it off a few hours later, repeat, and then do it again the next day.

I did this a few times over a 3 week period and ended up with this sticky mess (Step #4):

Now, the color looks okay in that picture, but if you look on the bottom level you can see patches of very uneven color and the whole thing was slightly sticky.

Back to the computer, I started Googling terms like “Watco finish sticky” and came up with a whole NEW list of instructions, which basically said NOT to do what I did.  (Step #5)

I then had to make a decision–either I could let it dry fully and live with it, or I’d just have to redo it.

What’s a perfectionist to do?

Out came the sanders again, and I completely redid the entire piece.  (Step #6) Here it is in its final resting place next to the couch.

And a closeup of the top, where the scratches are still there, but the color is much more even (Step #7):

If I was ever to redo another piece like this, the big change I’d do would be to use a chemical stripper instead of trying to sand it.  I was hoping to avoid using more chemicals, but I think it’s kind of necessary to get a great result.

Now, I just need to find a nice table lamp for it.

Maybe I’ll find one at the vintage store. Oh! I know! I think I saw something online to  handmake your own lampshade.  It didn’t look that hard.

And thus begins Step #1 allll over again.

Special Daze

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We just got home from a great night out with friends and were chatting with the babysitter, Alex.

As most of you know, the boy loves wearing his suits whenever he can, though he hasn’t worn them quite as frequently these days.

Alex told us that she’d noticed this and had a conversation with the boy about it.

Alex: “So, I’ve noticed that you haven’t been wearing your suits as much these days.”

Boy: “Yeah, I only wear them on special days.”

Alex: “Oh, okay.”

(after a pause)

Boy: “When I wake up, I can feel if it’s a special day or not.”

Click Beep Whirr

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How do you make one VERY happy 5 year old?

It’s easy.

Just add hat.

 

Recognize R2D2? I have to say I think this is the coolest hat EVER.  I’m still missing a few details–the black dot in the large blue patch and a few white lights.  I wasn’t going to add the second projecting bit since I don’t like how it looks on the hat, but the boy is a stickler for details and noticed its absence immediately.   Here’s a shot of the left side, and then a closeup:

 

Pattern: R2D2 Hat

Yarn: Loops and Threads Impeccable Worsted

 

(Note to non-knitters who read this blog: Feel free to skip the next paragraph of knitting minutiae.) The hat is created as a basic striped hat and then the details are done in duplicate stitch.  I didn’t find this nearly as tedious as other knitters seemed to, though I used a bit of intarsia for the blue rectangle area and it really does look much better that way.  I also used cheapo acrylic yarn because I wanted something that can be easily washed and dried.  I could not get the red spot to look good in duplicate stitch, so I knitted a circle out of red Cascade 220 and then felted it before stitching it on, which is what I plan to do with the large black spot as well.  Also, the sizing of the hat as the pattern is written didn’t work–the first hat I made was HUGE, and thus gifted to a friend with a big-headed child.  I also added a few extra rows of gray for a deeper hat to cover the ears.

Of course, now the boy is asking for a matching C-3PO hat.