What a Life!

Have you ever wondered what a saint looks like? It’s Saint Valentine’s Day, after all.

Here’s one for you:

This would be St. Steven. My husband. That’s him watching the boys while they take their bath. It’s one of his favorite activities – can you tell?

One of his favorite line’s is one he got from That 70’s Show where Eric’s dad tells him, “Son, you’re a man now. That means you gotta spend your time doing stuff you don’t wanna do.” Or something like that.

My husband talks occasionally about the difference between women who are wife material and those who are just girlfriend material. [He’ll tell you I’m wife material, of course.]

Not to say that Steve isn’t fun to be around. He is. I love his jokes. He’s fun to watch football games with…and baseball…and basketball. Going on a date with him is just fun – there are all sorts of interesting things he enjoys doing. The conversation is great, too.

But he has qualities that make him good husband material as well. He has places he wants to go – he doesn’t just settle for mediocre. He picks up after himself (and after me, too, which sometimes is kind of annoying, but I don’t complain – it could be the other way around). And when presented with things that he needs to do but doesn’t necessarily want to do, he does them anyway. Now that’s character.

So Happy Valentine’s Day one and all! May you have as much to celebrate as I do.

It’s coming along.

Actually, grinding along is what I’d rather say.

I don’t know why this sweater is such a grind, but it is. I’ve discovered it goes easier if I talk on the phone or to a friend while I knit. Listening to podcasts helps too, but isn’t quite as effective.

I think part of the problem is that you’re changing stitches all the time. It’s mindless in that it doesn’t do anything dramatic and is quite simple. But you still have to pay attention to whether you’re working the st as it appears or not.

And short rows in Moss Stitch? I may not be as insane as the Yarn Harlot in her recent escapades, but short rows in the midst of a 4-row stitch pattern is just nuts. They came out pretty good – you have to really look to find them – but they were a pain, none the less.

But that’s all for now. A certain one-year-old keeps trying to do patty-cake on my keyboard.

Put the cracker in your mouth.

Look up at the camera while you chew.

Put the cracker in your mouth again. Be sure to focus – eating a cracker requires serious concentration.

Take a look at the cracker and admire your progress.

Put the cracker in your mouth again. Be sure to smile for the picture – eating a cracker is great fun!

I am so good at eating crackers.

This time, show ’em how to take a really big bite out of that cracker.

Smile for the camera again. You’re having the time of your life!

Put that cracker in your mouth again. It’s time for another bite!

How much more of this dumb thing do I have left to eat?

A couple days ago, after the boys had taken their baths, I decided Joey needed to start wearing the new Robeez I had stashed for him in the next size up. He was completely enamored with them. In fact, he couldn’t stop admiring them.

Note to self: Next time you want to get new shoes or clothes out for Joey, don’t do it right before he goes to bed.

What nice shoes I have.

Don’t ask how many things he ran into on account of admiring his shoes while he walked around.

They feel so nice!

Such nice elephants they have!

Last night, Ben started telling us about this place called “Hoonose.” They have trucks there. And a big crane.

Steve and I were looking at each other, thinking, What on earth is he talking about?

We asked him some more questions, but then he clammed up and wouldn’t say anymore.

Steve finally shrugged his shoulders and said, “Who knows what he’s talking about.”

And then we both realized that he had just answered our question.

Haven’t laughed that hard in a while…

It’s coming along. My sweater. The one that’s going to keep me warm.

I got about as far as it looks like I got in that picture over the weekend. Finished the back and got halfway up to the armhole on the front.

But pictures can be deceiving.

This morning at 4 a.m. when I was up nursing Joey, I decided I wasn’t going to like it the way I was making it, so when I got up for real at 5:30 or so, I started over.

In other words, what you see is the back – which will be frogged – and the new back, which is correct.

I know, it looks just fine in the picture. In fact, I’m really liking how it looks. My gauge is dead on and the fabric the yarn is making is very nice.

But the fabric I’m getting is very elastic, while my impression of the design from the pictures is that the fabric achieved with the yarn called for in the pattern is more dense. Those differences require adjustments in ease. With the more dense fabric, I think I would be happy with the amount of ease as I was knitting originally. With the more elastic fabric, I think I would be happier with a closer fit. So I’m redoing it with less ease and more shaping.

And I’m thinkin’ I’ll also be even happier with the final result than I had hoped. I like things with shaping better anyway. Yes, I wear sweatshirts and other over-sized garments on occasion. But you get more of the tent effect with that type of stuff. I don’t want to look like a football player all suited up for the game.

Speaking of football…Can you believe the Giants won? We were so excited. Steve was tired of hearing how the Patriots were the greatest team ever. While they were definitely good, they won a few of their 18 games this season with a luck. As in, one play could have turned it the other way for them. That kind of a win is not the kind of decisive win you would expect from a team that was really the greatest team ever. I must confess, I even listened to a bit of sports gossip talk radio this morning just to hear all the pundits change their tune. Such fun!

Back to knitting…I also changed the cast on method as well as how I am working the yarn as I go. I’ve recently become more aware of the issue of tension in knitting, and as I switched from knit to purl and vice versa, I was giving the yarn a tug to make sure there wasn’t slack between the stitches. I’ve quit doing that, which is much easier on my arms, and I’m getting the same result. The cast-on method I used in the original piece was the crochet cast on, which has nice elasticity. But it seemed a bit sloppy at the bottom, even though I used a smaller needle to cast on. This morning, when I started over, I used the German Twisted Cast-on, which I am much happier with.

There are times in life when you need to forget about what you’ve invested in something and quit putting anything into it, even if it means losing all you’ve invested so far. This would be one of those times. I’m loving the color of the yarn and how it feels in my hands, and I think I will love the fit so much more with the adjustments I’ve made. I can hardly wait until it’s finished and I can wear it…and be warm.

Speaking of being warm…We’re doing the cold-wet thing today with rain instead of snow. I almost prefer snow to rain – cold and damp is almost worse than just plain cold. Makes me shiver just to think of it.

Speaking of shivering…my dad ordered us an early birthday present (Steve’s and my birthdays are both next month) – an electric blanket. Supposedly it has already shipped, which means it will probably be here before the sweater is done. Warmth is closer than I had thought!

Back again to the knitting…In the end, since I am making my sweater smaller, I may not be doing as much extra work as one might think when you take into consideration the difference in knitting a smaller vs the larger size. The effort put into the adjusted pieces will be about the same as had I kept going with the larger version. About.

It’s all in a days work anyway, right?