Six

Instead of making excuses, I’ll pretend I haven’t neglected my blog and just jump back into it.  Tea is SIX and proud of it.  He put on the pipecleaner crown he made himself at school, and gleefully decorated cupcakes for his class this morning.  He skipped the whole way to school and handed out handfuls of dandelions to crossing guards and passersby.  I love this kid.  Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.  Six is going to be a great year!

A sweater for Tea

The boys were a little jealous of all the baby knitting I did this fall and have been asking when they get another sweater.  I know this desire for handknits can’t last forever so I am trying to knit more for them before they decide it’s embarrassing.

Tea picked out the pattern and then I asked him to choose the yarn.  He’d originally asked for yarn that was “pink or purple” and I was worried because I really hated the thought of staring at a project the color of neon bubblegum for hours.  But thankfully, he decided on a tweed that he called, “Berry-colored with sprinkles” and it suits him, I think.  I worked on it for most of January.  I sized it to fit him next year, thinking it’d take me that long to finish it, but I had it on and off my needles in less than a month.  (Raveled here.)   That’s a record for me for such a large project.  That also means the sleeves are way too long for him.  He didn’t mind that I had to tuck them up and fold over the cuffs to take pictures, and although I asked if we could put it away until next winter, he’s already worn it to school twice.

I loved the texture of the pattern, but it was a very time-consuming stitch.

As a bonus, I had leftover yarn so I knit myself a hat the next day (Raveled here).  It was a fun, fast project to let my brain rest after the finicky sweater pattern.

The yarn for Pea’s sweater arrived this week and I have a rough idea of what I’ll knit for him.  He chose a pattern that doesn’t come in his size, so I’m using it as more of an inspiration.  Together with a customizable raglan pattern and my stitch dictionary, I hope to make something similar to what he liked.  Getting the yarn on the needles, especially without a set pattern to follow, is the hardest part.  Maybe this weekend.

Little Pickle

I am sad and I don’t really feel like blogging, but I sometimes feel better if I make myself write, so here I am.

Tomorrow, my little sister and her beautiful family are flying to New Zealand where my brother-in-law will be a resident in veterinary medicine at Massey University in Palmerston North.  They lived in Madison.  We hope to be moving to Madison very soon.  It bums me out to no end that, on the eve of our arrival in their neighborhood, they sold their home and are moving nearly as far away as humanly possible.  I can’t help but think this is payback for some mild childhood torture I may have inflicted on her.

So as they packed and purged their household, I absolutely did not build a lovely apartment in my basement where they all shall live under lock and key.  But I may have considered it.

Yesterday we said goodbye, although I don’t think I actually said anything at all because I was just trying not to cry as we hugged our way out the door.  Since tears don’t impede typing, I can now tell you, Meredith and Ewan, that I wish you the very best as you set out on  wonderful new adventures.  I will miss you all very, very much.

Finally

I The boys have been itching to build a snowman for ages but we haven’t had good packing snow.

Today it rained and then sleeted and now it’s snowing.  It is wet outside.  Not quite perfect packing snow (the balls kept breaking apart) but decent enough to get a snowman standing (held together with lots of snow “glue”).

Much more fun than cooking.  And now to dig for a can of soup in the back of pantry for dinner…

I think we got cocky with the fourth ball – he’s leaning already. Will he survive until morning?

Recent knitting

I haven’t been in much of a blogging mood lately so I fell behind on documenting my finished knitting projects.  From September to January I completed 10 projects, which sounds like a lot, but all of them were hats, cowls, or baby items.  Still, I’ve been more productive than usual.  It helps that I’ve found a knitting buddy (hi Becky!) to knit with biweekly.  It keeps me always looking ahead to the next project, and it’s more fun to knit with a friend.  I’m sure Kyle would agree that my having a regular knitting date saves him from pretending to care about my ramblings about yarn and gauge swatches.  A bit, anyway.

Top row, left to right: In Threes baby cardigan, Milo baby tunic, cable hat

Middle row: Windschief hat and cowl, Chunky Monkey toddler vest, Thick and Quick newborn hat

Bottom row: Baby Bear hat for newborn, Wee Balaclava, Honey Cowl

Currently on the needles is something that Tea chose – a grandpa-ish cardigan with an annoyingly-slow-to-knit but beautiful sand stitch pattern.  I was sizing it for next year but if winter sticks around into March (which of course it will) he may get some use out of it soon.  I probably just jinxed myself.  Oh well.  The finished project streak was nice while it lasted.

In only vaguely related news, our strange 59 degree weather yesterday has given way to a beautiful snow-globesque snowfall and turned the world into a fairyland again.  It’s the absolute perfect day for sitting near the window with a mug of steaming tea and my knitting, but I am instead cleaning the house for a  showing.  (Not even photographing and blogging, since I wrote this post a few days ago.)  This takes enormous self control.

Perspective and assumptions

I unpacked a drawing from Tea’s school bag on Friday that had a small card attached.  It read “From Tea, To: “M”".

He asked me to put it back in his bag because he needed to finish working on it and give it to his friend.

“That’s nice,” I said.  ”You drew her flowers?”

Tea rolled his eyes and replied, “Noooo, Mom!  Those are spiders!”

And as long as I’m sharing a Tea funny, here’s a recent one from Pea as well:

Pea asked me to replace the batteries in something.  I found a handful of charged AAs and held them out to him.  ”Please put these on the table for me.”

Pea recoiled in horror, exclaiming, “I can’t touch those!  I’ll turn ON!”

Someone to share my yarn with

Tea has been requesting a knitting lesson for awhile and yesterday we had a spare hour, so he hopped on the couch next to me and I cast on a bunch of stitches for him.  I demonstrated how to knit a stitch or 6, and then he took the needles in his little hands and went for it.  He picked it up fast – I was amazed.

I was nearby to rescue the first 20 or so stitches he dropped, but he’s doing incredibly well.  He said “It’s tricky to get my fingers to learn the right movements”, but he stays calm when he gets into trouble, and sometimes puts his project down to “take a little break”.  Ten minutes later, he’s back with needles in his hands.

Tea, age 2

He was laughing, remembering how when he was a toddler and wanted to knit like his Mama, I gave him scrap yarn and needles to jab into the ball as he “knit a sweater”.  He now thinks it was quite silly that he was “only pretending”.  He was fascinated with yarn then, so I had hoped one day he’d want to learn.  I just didn’t guess it would be so soon.  Where did my baby go?!

Last night, when Kyle asked him if he was ready for bed, he said, “I have more knitting to do!”  To which Kyle replied, “You sound like your Mama!”

This morning, he was dressed (in a sweater I knit for him) and lounging on the couch, knitting happily away before I’d even made it downstairs.  He already knits 30 stitches in a stretch before he drops one and needs assistance.

Tea, age 5

He was back at it after breakfast, and before we left for school, he set up a “special knitting place” next to the Christmas tree to use when he gets home from school.

He’s already talking about all of his plans for projects he wants to knit for his family.  That’s my boy.