Finally finished the second Jaywalker. The first had been languishing in solitude for months. Got a lot done at yesterday's Knitter's Guild meeting. Everytime I finish a pair of socks, I want to immediately cast on for another pair. However, casting on that second sock is not usually so enticing.

I must say, it sure looks a lot better on him than on the chair. Quite the cutie.

Another baby sweater. This was supposed to be for the older brother, but this one and the green one look about the same size.


I'm still not ready to go back to the husband sweater. Perhaps a pair of socks.....

I was compelled to put my husband's sweater aside for a bit, after I realized I had made a mistake with the armhole decreases on the already completed back. The fix involves ripping out at least 25 or 30 rows, and I just couldn't face it.

In the meantime, I made this for a new baby in the family:

Cute, isn't it? I think the buttons make it work. It's based on a free online pattern from Bernat. I've also started a Wallaby for the new baby's older brother. When it's done, I'll try to return to my big sweater project.

Yesterday we went to the Soulard Farmer's Market, figuring it would be quiet on a rainy day. I love going there---and thinking of all the people who've traded there since it began in 1779.

Not knitting related, but certainly blog related---my dean sent me this link today and I thought it was worth sharing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

I imagine teaching communications always involves desperately trying to keep up. That's what's fun about it.

Diligently working on the sweater for my husband. I've finished the back, and I'm about a third of the way on the front. It's not exactly hard to knit, it's just that it takes a lot of attention. You can't just knit without thinking on this one. My next project is going to be mindless, I'll tell you that.

A student of mine asked me about knitting for something he is writing. I said that I think it is interesting how women (and men, but let's face it, mostly women) are returning to the domestic arts. Perhaps they never left them, but I think the increase in younger knitters can be read as a victory for women. We feel able to express ourselves through traditional crafts because we are no longer limited to them. Does that make sense?

Today is the second Bloggers ( Silent) Poetry Reading. This has always been one of my favorites.


SOUP

I saw a famous man eating soup.
I say he was lifting a fat broth
Into his mouth with a spoon.
His name was in the newspapers that day
Spelled out in tall black headlines
And thousands of people were talking about him.

When I saw him,
He sat bending his head over a plate
Putting soup in his mouth with a spoon.

--Carl Sandburg

((This is a corrected attribution---as Seymour pointed out. Thank you, baby boy.)

It's not knitting, but I am proud of this apron I made for my sister. It will match her lime green kitchen.

I haven't really sewn much since junior high, when I was crying so hard over putting a zipper in an a-line skirt that my grandma finally just did it for me. I don't think I will be tacking zippers anytime soon, but look--pleats!!!

We just put in new windows, and I'd like to make some tab top curtains. I think I can do it.
I've also been working on my husband's sweater. It's not an easy knit and last night I ripped out twelve rows because of a mistake. That broke my heart. I think it is looking pretty good.


I've also been doing a little hand spinning. Now that is relaxing.

I finally changed to the new Blogger. So far so good.

I saw this and I liked it.

The Page 123 Meme
1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence.
3. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Include the title and the author's name.

"I was in Chicago. I was broke. I was sitting at the window of my hotel room on North Clark Street and the most delicious smell rose to my nostrils from the bakery downstairs."

It's from On The Road by Jack Kerouac. Though I haven't read it in a million years, I keep my computer in my son's room. If I were in my room, it would have been Abraham Lincoln, The Prairie Years by Carl Sandburg.

As far as knitting goes, I made a simple ribbed cap for one of my boys out of leftovers from the vest I made for the other. I finished one Jaywalker sock and cast on for another, and I've been working on my husband's sweater, which is a lot of work. It's a pattern which changes almost every row and I'm not used to that. I told him it will take awhile.

We did lose power during the recent ice storm, but only for a day and a half this time. School is back in session so I've been busy and stressed with kids changing classes, adding classes, changing majors and generally freaking out. I do enjoy them and their drama. No sarcasm there---I really do like them.

I don't have any pictures because we had new windows installed yesterday and my husband took lots of pictures. I don't know where he stashed the camera.

About 400 picked up stitches later, here it is.



I hope he likes it. After it dries, I'll send it off to my baby boy, along with half his wardrobe, left behind when he went back to college.

BTW, I've been reading about this STR bank snafu and I just can't believe it. It makes me want to join the sock club but it's just a bit too costly for me.

I hate picking up stitches.

Estate sale find.

They saw it as a shoe storage system.



I saw it as a yarn storage system. It was 50 cents, and Trixie likes it too.

I've had a couple of busy, yarn infused days.

I took my youngest back to school in Indiana yesterday for winter term. After dropping him off, I went over to YTC Wool and Ewe in nearby Cloverdale, where a lovely woman named Yvonne--and her adorable daughter Adie, helped me out. YTC is a local yarn producer, with handspun and roving galore. I got some handspun, and invested in my first drop spindle and handful of roving. Yvonne made it look easy, but I don't know. I drove to Terre Haute and checked into a hotel and messed with the roving a bit, but I didn't know what I was doing. I'll get it eventually.

I stayed over even though it is just a 3-hour drive, because I had plans for today. First I went to RiverWools in Terre Haute, which is a nice little store. I bought a skein of bamboo yarn because I just want to try it. Now I can't find it. ( It was under my other stuff---it's Southwest Trading Company Bamboo in the Butter colorway. I think it will be a spring/summer scarf)

At the urging of my husband, who was back in St. Louis, I went to Champaign, Illinois. He wanted to stock up on Papa Del's Pizza, which is the best pizza anywhere. I did that, but not until I had visted Needleworks, a fantastic yarn shop just down the street. It's really something. I bought Shannon Okey's book, Spin to Knit, and a few odds and ends.

Then, instead of coming home, I went to Springfield, where I went to the new Abraham Lincoln Museum & Library. I'm a big fan of Abe's and a big fan of Presidential sites in general and this one is well-done. It made me wish my kids were younger, because it employed a lot of special effects that kids would really enjoy, like holograms and explosions with actual reverberations and smoke. I didn't even get to the Library, since it was after 5.

Quite a day. Lots of fun.

A whole lot of cables going on--



Most of the back of a vest for Ben.

Today is the 21st anniversary of the due date of my first son. He was actually born on the 28th--all 9 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 and a half inches of him. He's now 6-2 with a size 15 foot. Actually a nurse commented that he had big feet when she took his footprints, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
I remember that week of waiting. We tried something new everyday--pizza, Chinese food, a roast beef and apple pie dinner to simulate nesting. That's the one that did the trick. My water broke at about 11:30 and after15 hours with no progress beyong 3 centimeters, I had a c-section.

That was then. This is now.

Most of my grades are in, Ben is home and Alex is due Thursday, and I've finished my cardigan in Classic Elite Lush.
I'm happy with how it came out, though I suck at finishing. The shoulder seams are terrible. (btw, what looks like a spot near the bottom is just some dampness from last minute blocking)

The pattern was On the Button from Design Source Collection 2, which is also called Serendipity.
It was a simple pattern, but I think it is elegant.
Next I start a vest for my younger boy, which puts my husband's sweater back in line.

I'm spending the day at home---what a treat!

My last class was yesterday so now it is all about finals and grading. I hope to get through it in the next week and a half, so that I can enjoy my break---and plan to improve one of my courses substantially for the spring. It was a grad course I taught for the first time this fall, and I know I can make it better.

Still working on my Lush cardigan---a sleeve and a half to go. I also have to complete another pair of Fetching gloves this weekend.

In honor of grad students everywhere, I'm linking to this meme: http://acephalous.typepad.com/acephalous/2006/11/measuring_the_s.html


Thanks Melanie, for directing me to this.

My husband just called---the power is back!!!!!!!!!!

It is time to rant.

It is Monday, December 4. My home, and about 40 percent of my zipcode, has been without power since just before midnight, Novermber 30. This is getting old, not to mention it is the second time in 5 months that there has been a major power outage affecting at least a half million people in this community. I know ice storms are an act of nature, but this is ridiculous. I've been staying at a friends, but my husband is sleeping at the house with the dogs. We're lucky of course--we have options. There have already been half a dozen deaths from this ridiculous situation.

On the plus side, I have done quite a bit of knitting on my Lush sweater. The back and left side are done, and the right side should be complete soon.

The boys are gone and it is back to work time. The house feels so empty. I don't think they ever both left on the same day before. Here's a picture of them teaching my mom to be a badass.