It Happened in the Night

I imagined a post explaining in gory detail the germs that have swept through our house the past week and a half, but decided against it.  I was going to tell you about projectile vomit (times five) in the middle of four separate nights (Can someone give me some sort of scientific-type explanation for why vomitous episodes begin during deep sleep?), in places like a kindergarten classroom, the middle of three different beds, the hallway, the walls, the old chair in the middle bedroom.  About 50 loads of laundry.  About eating nothing but jello and toast for four days.  

But I decided you might not want to hear about that.  

So instead I’ll show you some knitting I finished.  I’ve been inching ahead on three different projects for such a long time that I despaired ever finishing anything.  But lo, here is one finished object to behold.  

This is BYOB from Knitty Summer ‘08, made with Lily Sugar ‘n Cream in Milk Chocolate, Creme Brulee, and Blueberry Pie (these cutesy names do not give any sense of the actual color of the yarn, but it’s a workhorse of a cotton yarn that I like for functional items that might see a fair bit of washing).  It’s a nice easy, lacy stitch there on the sides to create those stretchy mesh panels, so if you can get over knitting acres of seed stitch on the bottom and edges, it’s a nice introduction to a simple repeated lace pattern.  The only fussy part was evenly picking up the right number of stitches around the edge of the bag bottom in order to knit the sides.  It’s a rather large, very functional grocery bag, wider than it is tall, but I suspect it will stretch vertically when loaded with goods.  It will be gifted next week, perhaps loaded with a nice box of fancy tea.  

There is a good chance that I’ll also finish Sonar X3’s Hogwart’s socks today or tomorrow as well.  Which will leave only the Mystery Stole.  I have finished three clues on one end of it and one clue on the other end.  I have all six clues in hand now (five are knit twice, one is knit once in the center), so it’s just a matter of knitting my way through them.  (Which should be much easier now that I can sit upright for more than a few minutes without fear of fainting.)  I’m really enjoying this shawl.  The very fine lacy knitting is so delicate and lovely, which is funny, because fussy sorts of things don’t usually appeal to me.  Still, I think it will be rather pretty when it’s finished.    

I have a tendency to Over-Do

In case you hadn’t noticed.  

I over-do with knitting, and sewing and teacher-gifts and occasionally cooking.  A couple of months ago, I declared this ridiculous to do list.  Look, here’s another thing finished! (The socks, not the child)

 

Those are the new, Hogwarts-inspired, Sonar X3 socks.  I finished one of the shirts mentioned in that post, the other is half-finished.  The other two were cancelled due to a glut of long-sleeved dress shirts.  The Partner Hoodie is done.  The three stealth projects are done.  

I have finished one Deployment sock.  BIL has commenced to being less than familial, and as much as I’d like these socks to be about his service and sacrifice and not about his contribution to our family…. Well, let me just say that a lot of my emotions (and time) go into the things I make for people, and when I’m feeling particularly Not Good about someone, let’s just say that it makes it hard to knit for that person.  But that is one seriously cool sock.  There is a chance that a joke I made about finishing them for Partner, rather than for BIL, was recently misconstrued. But I digress.  

The Mystery Stole is about 1/3 finished.  I love it.  I love making it.  But it requires quiet and concentration, both of which have been in short supply here lately.  It goes on, bit by bit.  

The Urban Aran, Cardiganized is still in the dreaming stages.  

That shopping bag, though not on the list, also managed to sneak into the knitting queue.  It is, as mentioned in a recent post, finished.  

I cast on Kilt Hose *this morning* in the vain hope that I can finish them by early to mid-November.  I’m using Chasing Bunny’s very lovely pattern for Professor Moody’s Kilt Hose (because we just can’t seem to escape dear Harry around here, ever).  

The sanity of that November goal is in question, especially since, right now, I’m in the midst of Halloween Crafting.  I love Halloween.  I think it is a good opportunity to let your imagination run wild and then see if you can make some reality out of it, even if it’s only an approximation.  The educational institution that the elder two sonars attend has, rather cleverly I think, for several years held a Storybook Character Parade on October 31.  Children are invited to choose a character from a book, dress up as that character, and sashay around the campus before the flashbulbs of an adoring set of parents, books in hand.  Various literary and pseudo-literary activities ensue.  This allows any Halloween controversies to evaporate.  

The Sonars, being such imaginative little buggers—er, I mean, darlings, have come up with several lovely ideas.  

Sonar X8 has been inspired by Cornelia Funke’s When Santa Fell to Earth to be, well, Niklas Goodfellow (you might know him better by another name, ahem, Santa).  I dug around in the cupboard and came out with several yards of red felt gifted by a neighbor a while back.  He now has a coat and pants.  Also in the cupboard, some black and red neoprene and fleece, which became spats to resemble big black boots.  Hat will follow.  There will be no beard.  

Sonar X5 had toyed with Animalia by Graeme Base for some time, hoping first to be a Great Green Gorilla Growing Grapes in a Gorgeous Glass Greenhouse, then later to be a Zany Zebra Zig-zagging in a Zinc Zeppelin.  Thankfully (I wasn’t looking forward to using or approximating fur, or stripes) we later came across Enigma, by the same author, and a fascination with a magician has ensued.  It’s going to take me just as long to put this costume together, but it’s a bunch of small things rather than one big complicated (hot) costume, and it can all be done with fabric I have that isn’t a pain in the butt to sew with.  A vest and pants (done).  A bow tie (awaiting tying).  A cape.  A hat (half-finished) complete with “bunny” trick).  

Sonar X3 also started with Animalia.  He was totally fixed on being a Lazy Lion Lounging in the Local Library.  I have made a lion-ish suit before.  A simple lion-colored hoodie with great loops of felt sewn to the hood.  Unfortunately we no longer have it.  Still, it wouldn’t have been too hard, especially after I found half a bolt of upholstery fabric in another neighbor’s trash that was just about the right color to be a lion-y.  But then, we started talking.  We started looking at books.  We started looking at patterns.  And lo, we will soon have the White Rabbit.  Yes, That White Rabbit.  Before you start hyperventilating about fur rearing its ugly head again, know that I’m making only the rabbit’s head, and with white double-nap flannel rather than fur.  And no, it won’t cover his face.  He’s three.  I don’t think that would be wise.  Or cute.  To go with this wonderous head, there will be a vest and of course, a pocket watch.  

What?  For me?  Well, I don’t have much reason to wear a costume, except that there *is* a home football game on Halloween night here.  And I think it would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to do some small thing.  So there’s a very good chance I’ll break out my pink Hallowig and put on the Hawaiian dress.  If it’s not too windy.  Pictures will surely ensue should that take place.  

We bought a few apples yesterday.  Six different varieties to be exact.

Turning North

A glance to the southeast from the back porch.  Ike’s out there somewhere.  

Portland, Texas

Thursday 4:30 p.m.

403 miles and closing

Landfall estimated in 33 hours

We’re in a liminal space.  The storm has turned to the north.  We are now no longer in the Cone of Uncertainty for hurricane force winds.  There could be a wobble back toward us, of course, but the closer we get to landfall, the less likely that becomes.  

We are receiving mixed messages.  Minutes after the county issued a mandatory evacuation order earlier, the city indicated that evacuation was still recommended and NOT mandatory (“…contrary to what you may have heard…”).  Huh?  

Stay or go?  We don’t know.  Stay, and make room for the evacuation of those more directly in the path of the storm now?  Go, on the chance that this large and unusually unpredictable storm could drive back toward us?  

So we wait.  I have the utmost sympathy for anyone wanting to drive westbound on I-10 out of Houston right now.  

Oh, and there’s been some knitting.  This represents Clue 1 from Mystery Stole 4.  

Celery with lemon. In the shade.

Ketchup

A mish mash of things I’ve been wanting to write about.  But not all of them.  There’s still that name thing and the GOP VP candidate and stuff like that.  And my kids.  Who are great.  And I love to talk about them.  So there’s no explanation for why I’m talking about knitting and herbiculture.  

Ok, so Mystery Stole 4 started last Friday with the release of the first clue.  I got halfway through that clue with the orange beads:

But decided the orange beads were wayyyyyy too much.  Then I wept at the six or eight (I lost track) hours worth of work that went into that few inches and ripped it out.  Ok, I didn’t weep, but I sighed a lot.  I did get to have fun steaming the crinkles out of the yarn by pulling it through the whistle hole on my boiling teakettle (yeah, don’t read that too fast, it makes it sound dirty). 

I started over with yellow beads.  And a lot of cursing.  

 

Yes, I know the yellow is harder to see, but seriously, I like the subtlety of it so much more.  

In other knitting news… Here’s Deployment Sock the first, right before I finished it.  It’s finished now.  I hope to cast on the second one soon.  Maybe.  If I don’t start kilt hose.  Or evacuate.  Evacuation puts a crimp on all knitting.  

This is a picture of one of the trees in the yard across the street from ours.  People ask us what it is all the time.  We didn’t know, and neither do the current residents because they didn’t plant it.  But it’s pretty and it grows fast, and I finally had to know.  

Meet Royal Poinciana.  Good shade tree.  I hope it’s still there next week.  

Yes, I’ll talk about Ike later.  

A mix, Good, Very Good and Not So Much

Many things running through my mind today.  Little energy.  Will abbreviate.  

1.  New Mystery Stole swatch on US Size 2 needles.  Like it much better.  Really like the orange beads.  Or maybe the purple.  Must decide before Friday.  

2.  Sonar X3 is super cute.  This is the SuperCowboy ensemble, made from some old suedy polyester fabric with McCall’s 8398, copyright 1966 (Batman, Robin and Superman official Costumes).  Made for a family friend’s Cowboy fifth birthday.  She and her folks loved it. 

3.  We’re sick.  Ok, four out of five of us are sick, including me and all of the small people.  Right now it’s general malaise, sore throat and ache ache ache.  I’m hoping we can kick it with a low-key long weekend.  

4.  Go make this Malted Milk Ice Cream.  It’ll mess up a lot of dishes, but it’s so worth it.  So so worth it.  

5.  Deployment socks are progressing slowly, but progressing.  Thinking of a modification of this Pink Lemon Twist pattern in the foot area.  With red and yellow.  Or maybe blue and grey.  Or something.  

6.  I found the major speeches of the Democratic National Convention very stirring, particularly the focus on families.  I find John McCain’s VP choice profoundly troubling.  Inexperience, energy policy, family rights.  Very troubling.  

7.  There’s a meteorological par-tay happening in the tropics.  Gustav.  Hanna.  And a couple of “pre-” storms here and here.  I have something to say about the storm name choices this year.  But I’m not sure what it is yet.  We look to be on the safe side of the named monsters at least.  Check on your friends in Louisiana.  It’s going to be a bad scene for them.  Again.