It was the busiest of times, it was the laziest of times. It was a time of great accomplishment, it was a time of great loafing. I got up at the crack of dawn on a non school day to take the boys to the dentist. (+1) I made a hot lunch for me and the little men. (+1) I washed the dog and all his bedding. (+2 – the dog is wiley!) I sat on the couch with my friends and watched a million episodes of various reality tv shows (-17).

I did make some progress on my new shawl pattern. Here’s a good representation of the color.

And here is what the lace edging looks like so far. I’ve thrown in a lifeline and I’m trying the body pattern that I think will look good. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

In the stores (if not in the outdoors) my favorite flowers are in bloom. I love any form of daffodil. Yellow, white, any mix in between. There’s a picture in my mind’s eye of the hills of the Cincinnati Nature Center covered in daffodils at Easter time. Makes me homesick. So I bought myself a little bit of sunshine that I’ll share with you.

So I’ve made five slippers. Three individual slippers and two that are actually the same size *and* color. I made one lovely green one for myself. Then I made a second green slipper. But apparently I forgot how to measure. And that slipper came out a leetle too long. I’ll spare you the photographic evidence.

So I learned how to measure. But then I forgot how to count to two. As in for an adult pair of slippers you need 2 skeins. Anyone got a skein of Peace Fleece Worsted in Perestroika Pink lying around?

The final thing I struggled with was taking pictures of my own feet. So really not happening. And the timer and the tripod and  I are not friends yet. So I made up a quick pair of blue slippers for one of my bubbies and took pictures of his feet.

Oh and I do mean quick. Like I did these in an afternoon. They are worked in double-stranded Cascade 220 on size 13 needles. It’s a perfect quick knit for a gift. And the part I love best is that these are unisex. My bubbies – who are 10 and 11 and have very strong anti-pink sentiments – even love them.

So make a pair for yourself, your hubby, your daughters, your sons. Make a whole gaggle of them and be one of “those” people – you know the ones who won’t let people wear shoes inside? It’s ok. I won’t judge.

They come in three widths – narrow, wide, and medium. Narrow is suitable for most school-age kids and some teensy footed women. Medium is for most women and some mens. And wide is for my husband. No, really, wide is for well, wide feet. And the length is customizable.

Oh and did I mention they are seamless? I really wanted a better slipper. I wanted something unisex, easy, seam-free, and quick to knit. But they turn out real nice. And you don’t even have to kitchener. A three-needle bind-off on an inside out toe works just fine and dandy.

Needles: Size 13 needles (9.0 mm)

Yarn: Cascade 220, 220 yards to 100g, 1-2 skeins

Size: In narrow, medium, and wide sizes and custom lengths

Gauge: 11 stitches and 16 rows = 4 inches in stockinette, 12 stitches and 19 rows in felted stockinette

Notes: Can be worked on two circulars, or dpns, or magic loop style. Most kid sizes will use one skein of yarn, and most adult sizes will take 2 skeins of yarn.

The Mother Necessity Slippers on Ravelry - only $5.00 USD

So I’m knitting a sweater. Which is perfect timing because our wintery days are seriously numbered here. (That was sarcasm by the way.) My ten year old feels the need to tell me every time he uses sarcasm. As if I couldn’t tell by the tone of his voice or the roll of his eyes. (He learned from the best – me!)

The beginning of a sweater never looks like much. I knit this in public quite a bit the last few days and tons of people asked me what it was. “It’s a sweater”, I would reply. And they would look at me funny and say “Oh.” It’s ok. I know what it’s going to be when it grows up.

I knit this on a field trip to the Old Florida Museum with the fourth graders. Fourth graders – boys and girls alike – are always fascinated by knitting. I got in some good knitting while riding on the school bus. I would have napped, but Catholic school kids don’t get to ride school buses often, so they are *really* loud and over-excited.

I also knit on it Sunday night at the Jacksonville Rollergirls bout. It was super fun. I wasn’t sure if it would be my cup of tea. But it was awesome and full of girl power. Not really violent like I expected. Maybe it was a tame match? Any, Kimber got me a rollergirls button because she loves me! There’s another derby at the end of the month – and I’ll definitely be going again!

Oh and day two? It went well. I walked for about 55 minutes during the second basketball practice of the week. My eleven year old gave me nutrition advice. Turns out I should eat lots of apples and give up the diet pepsi. Like that’s gonna happen.

I realize that taste is subjective. Especially when it comes to food. Odd things I love would turn other people’s stomachs and vice versa. I for one will never understand the urge to slide raw oysters down one’s throat. *shudder* But certain things most people agree are gross. Like this.

It doesn’t look that bad, does it? It starts off innocent enough. Half a banana, a cup of orange juice, some whey powder… but then it’s fiber time. Lots of fiber. Cardboard refrigerator boxes of fiber. Psyllium husks, wheat germ, ground flaxseeds, chia seeds… and I’m pretty sure the chia seeds are the same thing you use to grow “hair” on those clay faces – ch-ch-ch-chia! Then you add 600mg of fish oil. Ok, it sounds pretty bad now, yes? But I trust the good doctor. Trust with a capital T. Like even when I don’t believe anything anyone says about nutrition, I believe him.

So I blended it up. I added the 3 optional ice cubes – because cold is better for these sorts of things. And I took a sip. I shuddered. I vurped in my mouth a bit. But I was naive. I trusted the doctor. I thought maybe it just needed to be colder. So I stuck it in the freezer for 5 minutes. I tasted it again. I realized that there was no way I was ever gonna be able to stomach that concoction.  So instead I took more pictures of it.

It congealed. Like into gelatinous, gritty, slimy sludge. And yes, the spoon is being held up by the “smoothie”.

Now wait, you may be saying. Maybe I let it set too long. But no…. the article with the recipe had a lovely lady who claimed she made a big batch of it at the beginning of the week and drank it all week long. She’s got to be kidding me. By the way, does my smoothie look anything like the “tasty concoction” in the magazine? I don’t think so.

Wait, you gotta see the action shot. Yeah. How’s that for an appetite suppressant? Maybe that’s how it helps you lose weight. Dr. Oz, I will never trust you again. Tasty my ass. Ooh, wait, maybe that’s what it tastes like.

So today is Day One. With capital letters even. I started my training for the 3-Day Breast Cancer walk with a solid hour of walking. Ok, so I had a cupcake for lunch instead of the sludgy shake of doom. But I walked for an hour!

And just for the record I completely disposed of the shake. Because I’m pretty sure it would take form and come and eat me in my sleep if I left it in the cup overnight.

So the other night I was at a meeting. And one of the members was pitching an idea for a group activity. A really crazy group activity. That included sleeping in tents. And a lot of exercise. And serious risk of dehydration and heat exhaustion. And probably more blisters in one weekend than I’ve had in my entire life combined. The 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk.

Turns out it was the ten year anniversary of a former’s members battle. And across from me sat the sweetest woman – who had lost her mother to the disease. Two seats down from me sat my son’s current teacher – a dear of a woman – who piped up that it was her 10 year anniversary as well. Really? I didn’t know that. Of course we’ve only been at the school for 2 years. I won’t know everything. But looking around the room, so many of us had been touched – personally or peripherally – by this disease.

I lost a beloved Aunt to it some years back. She was that aunt – the fun one – who brought her daughters along on all sorts of fun adventures when I was a child. I still tell stories about her and how much fun she was. She fought so hard but eventually it was too much. Nowadays everyone has some sort of story.

So before I could think, before I could process 60 miles, I spoke. “I’m in”. And the friend next to me, my son’s teacher’s daughter-in-law echoed it. Well at least I’m not alone in the crazy. I need to drop some weight anyway, and if training for this doesn’t help, nothing will. I need new shoes – 2 pairs probably – and a very good air mattress, and oh yeah, I need $2300. That’s how much I have to raise for the walk. I need to check with our team leader to see exactly how the sign up works, but I figure better start sooner rather than later.

So here’s my first fund-raiser. The Carnivale Cowl. I thought it was appropriate to release it on Fat Tuesday – what with the bright and beautiful colors and all. It’s only $3.50 and it’s highly versatile – could be easily adjusted to any weight yarn – and all of the proceeds will be going to our 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk fund.

Needles: Size 6 needles (4.5 mm)

Yarn: Shibui Silk Cloud & Malabrigo Silky Wool (1/2 skein of each)

Size: 9 inches tall and 18 inches wide

Gauge: 20 stitches  = 4 inches in garter

Notes: Worked side to side. Requires four 3/4″ buttons. Can be worked with other yarns, but stitch count and needles will need to be adjusted to achieve desired height and width. A full skein of each yarn will easily net you two cowls.

Ravelry Link

$3.50 USD

So a couple of years ago, there was a group started on Ravelry. One of thousands. It’s called Yarnography, and it’s about being able to use your camera better – in general – and in specific to take better pictures of your knitting and your yarn. I joined right up. And promptly ignored the group.

For Christmas I got a new camera. A step up from the tiny point and shoot I had been using. It’s a Canon SX120 IS. And it’s very nice. In theory. See I never read the 144 page (!!!!) manual or tried to figure it out.  Until today. Today I visited the Yarnography group and started doing the assignments that other folks did years ago.

The first lovely shot you see here is on manual settings. With a tight aperture and a deep depth of field. So everything is pretty much in focus. On a good day, this is the sort of pictures I take on the auto settings.

But today I figured out how to change the settings. So I opened the aperture up wide, and took the same picture with a nice shallow depth of field. See how the yarn is in focus, but not the stuff behind it? I’ve been dying to take shots like that all along. And the first couple of Yarnography lessons had me rocking and rolling and no time.

And finally we have the 2nd photo assignment for Yarnography. Take a picture of an egg. No, I’m not kidding. Doesn’t my egg look nice? You can even see all the bumpy parts on the shell. Although in hindsight it kind of looks like the yarn laid the egg, which is vaguely disturbing.  To be honest, I’m still not sure what I was supposed to learn from this one, but I did have fun with it.

There’s a joke here somewhere about which came first, the yarn or the egg, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

And apparently I know the right people. Sugarbee stepped up to the plate and got pictures for me again with her gorgeous daughter as the model. So here it is, for sale and everything.

Just to let you know, I was never this pretty.  And she also got an even better picture on the details of the cowl.

Needles: Size 7 needles (4.5 mm) – 16 inch circulars

Yarn: 2 skeins Plymouth Mulberry Merino, 50g, 99 yards, 48% Merino, 52% silk in the color Eggplant

Sizes: 20″ circumference

Gauge: 20 stitches and 30 rows = 4 inches in stockinette

Notes: This cowl is worked in the round. The instructions are offered in written and charted form.

For sale on Ravelry. Only $4.50.

So I’m complaining about the man socks when I really shouldn’t. The man has been insanely patient about the whole thing. Like years patient. Last night I had a moment of inspiration and I charted out a pattern. Which I think will be perfect. For boy socks. The man might have to wait longer.

But it’s nice yarn, no? I traded Kimber some very lovely pink Miss Babs for this yarn, which is quite manly and quite perfect for my man, who may never get a hand-knit pair of socks. The colorway is even manly – Brewhouse Ale. A quite nice merino/nylon blend from Cables and Lace.

Oh and by the by – the cowl did not get published today. Whoever said it’s always sunny in Jacksonville must have been smoking something. It was a very grey day.  But I’m hoping tomorrow will be better!

So I am having trouble with the man socks. I’ve started these socks so many different times. The cast on is too big, the cast on is too small, the pattern doesn’t show well enough, the gauge is too loose, the gauge is too tight… and so on, and so on, and so on. A couple of days ago I had the perfect twisted 1×1 ribbing on the perfect yarn and it flowed just perfectly into the perfect manly pattern. (I am nothing if not all about the flow).

But then a good friend of mine on Ravelry favorited a lovely new sock pattern. Which was exactly what I was starting with. So there’s another no-go for you. Back to the drawing board as they say.

The good news is the cowl is finished and will be published tomorrow. I would just like to get some modeled pictures of it. The light today was horrible, but I did get a lovely shot in my light-box that shows all the gorgeous texture.

Wish me perfect light and a willing model tomorrow. And some mojo for these man socks – ’cause I’m about ready to throw in the towel again!

So I did all the morning crazy-ness. I got up early, I fixed lunches for all my menfolk. I cooked breakfast. Everyone went off to school looking neat and nice. I of course drove the boys to school with crazy hair and dark circles under my eyes. The people in the school office must be used to it by now. I very rarely put myself together anymore. Must remedy that. No one takes the woman with crazy hair and a wild look in her naked eye seriously.

And then I realized it was February. February and I don’t get along. February brings me broken arms, and crazy high temperatures, and all manner of bad stuff. But this year will be different. I will make friends with February. Friends I tell you.

I started the South Beach Diet this morning to try to take off some extra poundage. After I took the boys to school I came home and did some business stuff and have begun the process of making myself look human. Makeup is next. I’m cleaning the house and running numbers and I’m telling February in no uncertain terms that good things will happen this month.

We’re planning a Disney trip mid-February. That will be good. And the boys will start basketball practice this week. That will be good. Little J is loving his guitar lessons and Big J is still doing well with trumpet. Also good.

And I’ve raised nearly $1000 for Doctors Without Borders with my Help for Haiti campaign via Ravelry. I am giving 50% of pattern sales. The end date for this was originally yesterday. But less than $1000 – $925 and change is such an unsatisfying number. Really. We can do better. I want to break that $1000 mark. So I’m extending the contributions until February 14th. So we can send that organization a lot of love!

So if you have any PicnicKnits patterns on your to-do list, now is the time to buy. It’s my offering to February, so that it will stop kicking me in the arse.