Guess who got distracted at S&B and had to frog her second jaywalker?
Know this: Poor lighting + beer + jokes about spinning vernix = fucked-up socks.

Ah well, we had fun. A couple new people came who seemed very cool and the good ol' regulars held up their end of keeping it fun, too.

Our house will be done in two months. My brain is bursting with cool crafty decor ideas and it is making me crazy not to be able to actually execute them!

Both kids had their annual check-up today with their new doctor. She was cool. They are both smack-dab average height and weight and are ridiculously healthy with perfect vision and hearing. Now when they go to the dentist next week, I'm sure it will be a different story. They seem to have inherited my weak enamel and deeply creviced molars. Poor kids.

This is random. And possibly quite boring. Whoopsie.

cool, huh? go have some fun.

Um, yeah. I am way. too. cool. for memes. Sorry dudes.




Kidding!!!!
I think memes are fun.
Jenny tagged me with this one:

Instructions: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot.

KimberliNY
Unraveling
Knitorious
Woman Obsessed
strange little mama

Now, who to tag?? Hmmm.... I'm going with bloggers who are new to me (or have new blogs)!
Snowball in Hell, Chef Messy, Christiane, Knitting Iris, and The Silent K.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Getting ready for my wedding and freaking out about being on unemployment.

What were you doing 1 year ago?
Plotting how to convince my husband to move to Albuquerque!

What were you doing 1 hour ago?
Pumping gas.

List five creative things you want to achieve this year:
1. Re-learn to sew.
2. The soopah-seekrit project with scout.
3. Needle-felting.
4. Decorating my house on a v. limited budget with style & edge.
5. Knit. more. socks.

List five snacks you enjoy:
1. Chips & salsa
2. Tamari almonds
3. Baby carrots & hummus
4. Edamame
5. Beer (what do you mean, that doesn't count??!!)

List five things you would do if money were no object:
1. Build a totally custom house with a huge gourmet kitchen and an insane master bath.
2. Travel the world so these spoiled rotten kids could see how life really is. Kidding! Sort of. I really would travel the world, with them some of the time, with just T some of the time, and with sisters/girlfriends a good hunk of the time.
3. Walk away from work and never look back.
4. Hire a full-time housekeeper.
5. Two words: shoes and yarn.

List five bad habits:
1. I interrupt.
2. I swear. A lot.
3. I allow my face to be overly expressive when annoyed.
4. I tut.
5. I forget to wash my face at night. Or, more accurately, I'm too lazy.

List five things you like doing:
1. Knitting, helllooooo.
2. Running.
3. Shopping. Sometimes.
4. Going out for dinner/ drinks.
5. Hanging out at home watching movies.

List five favorite gadgets:
1. I-pod
2. Laptop
3. Ball-winder
4. Vegetable/ rice steamer
5. KitchenAid. Oh wait, I don't actually have that.

Name one thing you like about yourself:

I am intensely loyal.

.....................

I wanted to thank you all for your kind thoughts for my friends and Todd's grandma. I feel surrounded by this. My boss's father is also very close to dying and I am juggling the schedule around like mad to try to cover her and she is constantly in tears and it just feels like death and illness are everywhere.

If you read this, I'm asking you to think some good thoughts for two of my online friends. One lost her mother today from metastatic breast cancer. It was diagnosed very recently and it all happened so quickly, and having been through this with my own mom, I just ache for her.
Another friend just found out that her mother has had a biopsy done, after ten years of being free of breast cancer. She is shocked, of course.

Please do whatever you to to send good energy to these friends.

Todd's grandma is dying, too. She has mesothelioma and had become very ill very suddenly. She is very much the family matriarch and it will be hard to see her go. She is almost 90 and has, until now, remained very vibrant. He will be flying out to see her in the next couple weeks. She will have been the last of our grandparents and my kids will no longer have a great-grandparent. Her name is Evalyn, so please, again do what you do to put positive energy out there that her remaining days will be peaceful and as painless as possible.

gah, let's see if I can get Blogger to cooperate. It ate my post about 20 times yesterday & I got really annoyed. I need to learn Moveable Type or GreyMatter or something.

Hmmm, what was I going to talk about? Ah yes, my sweet, sweet Jaywalker. I am just so pleased that it turned out perfectly, on my first try. Even the "chiaroscuro" didn't turn out to be that big of a deal, and the kitchenering went great! I walked arund wearing one sock last night, because I'm just that dorky & it felt so nice on!




Lesse, what else? Oh, yesterday I was at the LYS again, and their hippest employee Scout filled me in on their soon-to-be new location, which is in our neighborhood! I promptly drove over to my house (which is under construction) and drove to the new location & clocked the mileage. One mile, door-to-door! That is either a very good or a very bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Also, I ran into Ramona there, and we were droooooling over the new Louisa Harding yarns & books. I picked up some needles for various projects & could. not. put that book back.

I am definitely knitting this bag and this hat. However, first I must get through my second Jaywalker and both my sisters' pressies before February 10. Yikes!
I came home yesterday to a little package for my sister. Look at her totally inspired stitchmarkers!

Hmm, that's a bit blurry. I'll remedy that soon. Thank you, seester!


A while ago, I asked Julia if she'd consider dying up a pretty sock yarn for me in colors I wear all the time-- red, pink, and black! Lookie!! It looks delicious, no? I can't wait to touch it! I've heard such amazing things about her yarn & now I have my own beautiful colorway. I can't wait to find the perfect pattern for it.

holy shiz-knit!!!!


I just finished knitting my first sock! And it fits perfectly! I feel like a rock star!!!
I haven't kitchenered it, but I have got to go bed, since I'm up at 5 am. Tomorrow, I kitchener & take pictures & then yeeeha, on to the second sock!

Everyone on livejournal seems to be doing this, so I thought I'd bring it to the greater blogosphere, and oh yes, I will tag a few of you!

Ten Things (many of) My Friends Like That I Don't:

1. Spinning. Never gonna do it! I prefer the mystery.
2. The Bachelor. (You know who you are)
3. Having a jam-packed social calendar. I like to hang out & go out, but I also need plenty of at-home down time.
4. Meat.
5. Manicures. I mean, I admire nice nails, but I don't really care about my own. I do love a nice pedicure, though.
6. Hip-hop.
7. Frosting. Ewwwwww.
8. Uggs. Ugh.
9. Wristwarmers. I just don't really get it. I've never had cold wrists per se.
10. Jayne Cobb Hats. um, why?

Ok, who to tag? Five people!
1.Amanda
2.Alison
3.Christie
4.Chris
5.Lolly

and I don't want to hear any "I don't doooooo memes" whining!

I'm in a sucktastic mood and really want to write about something going on in my life, but it wouldn't really be appropriate for some of my readers and so I won't.
Oh, and I wrote up a long-ass post last night about S&B, tried to upload it, went to bed, and woke up to find my computer crashed in the most irretrievable way. Bah, technology. I love you, yet I hate you.
So, a summary of sorts:

~Last night was a most-excellent S&B, with a big group, and a couple people joining us from Knitters Not Quitters, including Erin herself! She's really sweet & you can barely see her horns! Ramona convinced me to fucking get over the pooling, er... I mean, chiaroscuro on my Jaywalker. She is right and it's a lovely discovery to find that she has a trucker mouth like me!

~On Monday, upon delivering Scout's daughter to her at Village Wools, I found the perfect yarn for Pirates


~Despite causing horrific allergies, the kittens remain ridiculously cute:

I signed up!! Now that I know I'm a perfectly capable sock knitter, I decided it would be fun!

Now, I have to seriously buckle down and finish Jaywalkers, sisters' gifts part deux, and of course my Knitting Olympics project.

I have my work cut out for me.

Today is about grocery shopping, gymnastics (Miss Viv), knitting socks, and S & B!

Hey, Seattleites!! We actually have RAIN in our forecast! Not quite as much as you, but it won't be 100% sunny and beautifull all week here. Feel better?

Ok, since everyone is talking about Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics and its 8-zillion spinoffs, I thought I should confess that I am participating, even though it will probably kill me!
I at first said I would make Danica which while I definitely want to knit someday, I looked at all those ends to weave in & decided no way in hell. For now.
So, instead I am going to be knitting We Call Them Pirates. I need to learn fair isle, and this hat is just too damn cute. I'm thinking black hat, pink pirates. I mean, aren't pink pirates just so ironic?

Looks like #005 & #210, if I go for the Cotton Fleece. My head can't deal with 100% wool.

I have a little Olympics spinoff of my own in mind, but until I have my fracking laptop back in action, I can't make a cute button!

I'm on the gusset decreases on my first Jaywalker! The seem like they will fit perfectly. I did a really stupid thing the first time I tried to pick up the gusset stitches, but scout re-steered me the right direction.
The good news is it looks like I am capable of knitting socks.

Ready for the bad news? The gorgeous striping I had going on ended up pooling! On the FRONT of the sock, no less. I can't provide a picture since I have no camera software on T's computer, but I just know it's going to bug me. I'm trying to be zen and just plug on, being that they are my first socks & all, but it's bugging me!! I guess I'll just finish this pair and come back and do another pair with a different yarn. Has anyone seen any Jaywalkers in a solid color? I have some pretty Lorna's Laces.

Waaahhh. I'm disappointed in this pooling.

Comments weirdness! A few people have mentioned to me that they can't see a way to comment on my blog. I am using haloscan now & I thik the deal is, you have to comment from the main page. SO, if you read a syndicated feed (LJ, bloglines) and click the link, it will take you to the specific entry, which doesn't show the comments link. You have to go to the main page to do so. I'm going to try to fix that problem, but in the meantime, if there is something you are dying to say, click on the main header to take you to the main page.

Speaking of comments, I have a question about my Jaywalkers! Don't laugh at me, beacuse it's my first sock!I'm finally about to start the heel, and the pattern directions say this:
Heel flap: k19 (21) sts on needle #1, turn. Sl1, P37 (41), turn. These 38 (42) sts form the heel flap.
Ummmm, how does it go from 19 to 38 stitches? Do I move the stitches from needle 2 onto needle 1? If so, was I supposed to know that??!!

I am sans laptop for a couple days. My power supply died & even though Todd has ordered one to be overnighted, I assume, since tomorrow is Sunday, it will be at least Monday before I can access my regular (strangelittlemama) email. That said, if you need to reach me before that you can send mail to charris08@gmail.com
I'll be borrowing T's computer between now & then, so I'll still check in on y'all!

Happy birthday, mama.
Yes, today would be my mom's birthday. She would be 69 years old, had she made it to this day. She died 13 years ago of breast cancer, far too young, far too soon for me, my sisters, my father, her many friends. This day used to make me sad, but now, after all these years, I feel grateful on her birthday, thankful for having had her for a mother, thankful for the integrity she instilled in me, the loyalty, and the belief that own children are the most important thing that will ever happen to me. She died before I met T, and well before I had my first child, so I wasn't able to share with her that I finally understood the amazing joy and the intensity of being a mother. But, I am thankful to her and grateful today for her birth.

Look at my little punk rock grrl. Feverish night + recently unbraided braids = grunge godessette.

So, when I moved here to Albuquerque, one thing I failed to consider was that in addition to missing my family at the holidays, I wouldn't get to eat my brother-in-laws amazing chcolate-chip cookies, which have some top-secret ingredient or process, the likes of which he will never divulge. Hmm, maybe my sister knows? Perhaps I need to threaten no more knits until she gives it up.
Well, actually, no. He made up a batch of not only the beloved chocolate chip, but sugar cookie unicorns, gingerbread dinosaurs and some sort of chocolate espresso shortbread (?) goodness. Feast your eyes, suckas!

Betcha wish you were at my house right now!

In Jaywalker news, I'm getting there. I think I'll be turning my first heel ever later tonight. I'm scared, hold me!

STITCH 'N BITCH!!!


Read all about the hoopla here.
And if you want to wear your sttichin' & bitchin' with pride, you can get the goods here.
And while you are buying yourself (or me, if you're feeling generous...) cool knitting gear, check this out:
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Ok, here's my bitching for the day. I had toleave work early to pick Viv up from school. She's sick again. We JUST recovered from the family plague and now she has a fever and a sore throat, and apparently strep throat is going 'round her preschool. Arrrrggghhh!!!
Ok, now for some stitching! I need to make some progress on my sock.

Albuquerque Stitch & Bitch rocks your socks!!!

Here we all are, casting on the ubiquitous yet never dull Jaywalker!

I think eight of us were all working on them!
Here are Laurie and Beth, looking excited.

and Noelle and Ramona.

Here's Beverly and me, looking sweetly eager to knit:

but Scout posted our true nature in this tribute to Johnny Cash. Haaaaa!!!

We had some goooood fun! And here's my Jaywalker thus far:

I'm lovin' the Jungle Stripe!! I love how easy the pattern is to memorize. So far, so good.

music meme!


List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your journal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

1.Oxygen, Willy Mason
2.Apply Some Pressure, Maximo Park
3.Honest Mistake, The Bravery
4.She's Hearing Voices, Bloc Party
5.Ship in a Bottle, Bright Eyes
6.Hollywood Bowl, Fleeing New York
7.Peaches and Cream, The John Butler Trio

Ok! I want to know what everyone else is listening to, so consider yourself tagged!

The ribbing on the first Jaywalker is done. I reeeeeally want to knit some more, but I promised scout I'd wait until S&B tonight. I just can't wait to see the pattern stitch. Anyway, here's the ribbing:



Also, SUSAN (my sister, that is), stop reading now! Do not scroll down!
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I've made progress on Frida. I think that I am just going to knit it as one long rectangle, and get a cool brooch or pin of some sort togo with it. I think it would be more versatile as a wrap. Has anyone knit this? I'm using Knit Picks Andean Silk, which is lovely to work with, but I'm concerened about its drape. Look how the middle panel droops compared to the rest:

Do you think I'll be able to block that into submission? I know the picture appears sort of dark, but aren't those leaves just so freaking cool?

S&B tonight! A whole bunch of cool ABQ chicas knitting Jaywalker together! I'm bringing my camera, so expect some fun tomorrow.

I love Reese Witherspoon! I think she's just so cool and real and respectable. And cute! And she's an awesome mom! And she just won the Golden Globe for Walk The Line! She also had by far the cutest dress I've seen so far this evening.

While watching, I cast on & knit the ribbing for my first Jaywalker! I can't wait to knit with my abq girls tomorrow night.
My other project is coming along, though I drastically underestimated the yardage somehow, so I had to re-order yarn and it will end up costing me double what I originally thought, and adds up to quite a bit, but it will be nice, in the end. Luckily, they had the same dyelot even though I ordered the original batch over two months ago. That kind of good luck never happens to me!
Pictures tomorrow.

Remember, a couple months ago, I mentioned that we had a kitty escape on Halloween evening? Well, despite numerous "sightings" from neighbors, he just didn't come back. By the end of November, we were pretty well resigned that he had either been eaten by coyotes, or was gracing the end of someone else's bed.

Well, look who rolled in two nights ago?


Not only is he back, 2.5 months later, but he's plumped up a little. He's definitely not underfed! It's taken him some time to reacclimate to life indoors here, especially given the two kittens who appeared in his absence. So, yes, that means we are back up to four frickin' cats!! Even though that's about two cats too many for me, I'm glad Rudy toughed it out and came home.

life's good.

After much tweaking, cussing and sighing, I got comments to work! Yay! Now you all just need to re-find me.
I'm sitting here, late at night, knowing I don't have to work tomorrow, knitting something for my sister while sitting under an afghan crocheted for me by my mom, drinking hot sweet tea, watching S&L (death cab for cutie and Scarlett Johansson, yum) and feeling smugly satisfied.
Yes, life is good.

Today, my sweet boy had his seventh birthday party.

They had a blast and it was delightfully easy to pull off.

Tomorrow, an interesting and rather exciting development in our household...

hi!

welcome to strangelittlemama.com, my new home blog base. I decided it was time to merge my personal online journal and my knitting blog, as I became more and more uncertain what to blog about and what to journal about.
Be warned, I may wax political. I may cuss. In fact, it's highly likely. Mostly I'll brag about my children, complain about my children, blather on about the world, fashion, music, new mexico and my new life here and of course, knitting, yarn, and all things knitty!

do me a favor & say hello, so I can see who's figured out the transition!