So Much For That

Soooooo, I remember saying that I would try to blog more often. And then I disappeared, apparently. Truth is, I got the flu or something that knocked me out for about a week (while Mr. T was out of town, so I was still doing all the mom stuff on my own). I've been playing catch up, and now I can sit down and fill you all in.

In the midst of my ick, I did manage to work in my Moses Not-So-Hoodie. In fact, I just now bound off the last stitch. Here it is, in pieces, because I didn't want to wait any longer to blog:


Now I have to do all the seaming, the neck treatment, and the little button loops, and this is all the yarn I have left:


I think I will rip out my swatch and use that yarn for seaming and try to use this yarn for the neckband/button loops. The sweater, the swatches, and the little yarn ball total three skeins of Wollmeise. I have another skein of this yarn, but I have a sock pattern I want to use it for, so I'm hoping to squeak this sweater out without breaking into it. Wish me luck.

Even though I swatched, washed, measured, calculated and recalculated, I'm still worried about whether this sweater will fit properly. The sleeves look long, among other things, but I find that a lot of sweater patterns lately are a bit long, sleeve-wise.

To take a break from knitting a sweater on size 2 US needles, I'm going to knit a pair of socks on size 1.5 (I think). For these socks, the Dark Isle socks, I'm going to use black and Dornroschen, a pink/red mix:


I originally planned to use this combination, but then I thought I'd use the black with a blue yarn. After spending all this time knitting a blue sweater, however, I'd like to look at another color for a while.

I will also be working on the second Aestlight shawl, done in Sanguine Gryphon's Eidos yarn. I started this one back in August while we were on vacation, but I've been working almost exclusively on the Moses sweater since then.

Now that the weather is getting brisker (yay!), I want another sweater, too. I have two options for a nice warm sweater that I need to think about for a little while. Once is a beautiful dark green/blue merino/cashmere yarn from Squoosh:


(not a good photo, color-wise) Option two is some big, fluffy Eco-wool type stuff that I got at Fibre Space. Time will tell.

In news from the rest of my world, both boys are settling into their respective grades fairly well, as far as I can tell. Reports from Mrs. Meanie are that Jr. Jr. "wants to answer every question I ask and sometimes gets frustrated when I don't call on him. I love his enthusiasm."

Jr. Jr. is playing soccer this Fall, after years of refusing to play. I think he could be a pretty good soccer player. He's quick on his feet and pretty nimble, but he hasn't had the years of play that other kids have had. Nonetheless, he seems to be doing pretty well. His team, apparently, stinks. They've had one game, they were blown out, but Jr. Jr. was the only one who almost scored. Too bad almost doesn't count :)



Sr. Jr. is doing the Saturday afternoon tennis round robin, and he's still bike racing, of course. On Sunday, he took second place in the 10-14 race at the Ed Sanders Memorial Cyclocross race. (For fun: if you Google "Ed Sanders Cyclocross" you can see video of some of the races, including helmet cam video. I believe Mr. T is in some of those.)



Jr. Jr. did the Little Belgians race at Ed Sanders this weekend, but apparently was hobbled by an inferior bike, a circumstance that I'm sure Mr. T is already plotting to rectify.

And so, barring anymore unforeseen illnesses or calamities, I do plan to blog more often...

I'm Alive. Really

I'm here. I'm alive. I need to get back into the routine of posting here or I'll never get back into it.

The end of the summer was nice, with golf camp and hanging out. Jr. Jr. got the teacher with the worst reputation in the school in terms of homework and hard-assedness, so we'll see how that goes. So far, so good. She's very nice in person, but he likes to talk a lot, so I hope he doesn't spend a lot of time getting yelled at. This is kind of a funny picture of him, looking apprehensive as he waits for the bus on the first day of school:


Sr. Jr. seems to be doing fine, too. Seventh grade is old news. He's used to the whole middle school scene now. He will be trying out for the tennis team tomorrow afternoon, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him. He'll also be playing in the local Fall tennis league here in Arlington. Jr. Jr. will have soccer three days a week, too, so it'll be a task to coordinate.

I've been rapt, watching the matches at the US Open. Great tennis this year, and great stories -- Kim Clijsters? Love it! Since we saw Del Potro play here in Washington over the summer, we feel a personal connection with the finals this year.

I just finished a wonderful book, A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore. She is one of my favorite writers, someone who can layer theme upon theme, meaning upon meaning, and make silly yet deep puns while doing it. The book has a big gut-punch in it, too, which I won't discuss in case Sharon hasn't gotten there yet.

But one of the parts that really stuck with me (and I'm not discussing much of the plot here) was when Tassie discovered that her boyfriend was not at all who she thought he was. She said to him something to the effect of "All of your rage and all of your anger... the world is so much smaller than you think it is, and so much bigger than you think it is." That's so very true, no matter what the source of your anger or sadness or worry, isn't it? I won't get all philosophical on you, since Sr. Jr. is on his way home.

Now that school has started again, I'm trying to get back into the exercise routine and the knitting routine. Doing one, however, means doing less of the other. But I'm happy to get my butt moving again.

This morning Mr. T consented to stay home and get the kids ready for school so I could get out early. I left the house at about 6:45 and enjoyed a nice, long and hilly walk. About a mile from home I saw two foxes frolicking with each other, just playing and tumbling along. Very cute. At the end of the walk, coming up to cross Lee Highway (a very busy main street), I saw a guy riding a unicyle up the street in the middle of rush hour traffic. Never dull.

The knitting is going. I've finished the back and front of my non-hoodie sweater, and have started the sleeve. Here's the front (before it was finished):


And here's the sleeve:


The sad thing is that I actually do have a lot to say, just not enough time to say it in, you know? Maybe when things settle into their routine I'll post more substantive crap.