I found out today that the Frankie Goes To Hollywood song “The Power of Love” is referring to the Hooded Claw (voiced by the awesome Paul Lynde) in the cartoon show. Even though it was a bit before my time, I love old cartoons. Yay for the Boomerang Channel. But if all you’ve ever heard Holly Johnson sing is Relax, then you are missing out.

In others news of my oldness… the little dude is reading a book about movie-making and stop motion animation – you know, the current obsession. And he finds a reference to a “really old” commercial. The California Raisins. “Hey mom, you’re really old. You probably remember this really old commercial. Right?”

This is my favorite picture from our short trip to Disney this weekend. My boys with their cousin that they’ve met for the first time, just fast friends, taking off on the next adventure.

This cousin was on her first trip to Disney. Her new baby brother is at home, and here are the presents I knitted up for him. A simple seed stitch & stockinette baby blanket made out of very soft Muench Big Baby…

And a Peapod Baby Set made out of Berrocco Comfort DK. Less than 3 skeins of it. At $3 a pop, that’s a baby set for under $10. I was really impressed with the Comfort DK. Very nice stuff and crazy soft. And machine washable of course.

I love the way the silver buttons make it look like a little military jacket.

And now it’s back to the designing board. I have lots of ideas, but what I really need is lots of finished objects and written up patterns. If only I weren’t so tired from the trip!

I’ve sold a few patterns here and there at the LYS where I work. But now I’m actually dipping my toe in the real designing waters as they say. Only time will tell if I can make a go of this. I’m excited and very nervous. I had some wonderful test knitters that I found via Ravelry that gave me amazing feedback. So I officially present the Surrey Hat.

The Surrey Hat

A lovely warm hat made out of the softest Malabrigo. With its fold up brim and detailed cabling, it’s guaranteed to keep your ears warm in style. Available in adult sizes S/M and M/L.

Important note: I worked the medium/large size and had very little leftover yarn (less than 10 yards) when I finished the hat. If for some reason your row gauge is more rows per inch than mine (7 rows per inch) then you may not be able to make the medium/large hat with one skein. Forewarned is forearmed!

$5.00 USD

It’s only been a month from inspiration to publication on this one, but I’m sure that’s because it’s a hat. Hey, maybe hat designing is where it’s at! Now I just have to figure out what’s next!

According to my sons, I am the best mom in the world. So y’all can stop all your bickering and just accept the fact that it’s me. My boys say so.

If you’re a mom, you know it’s never that easy. That you second guess every hard decision and most of the easy decisions as well. But you also know that it’s worth it. So let’s make cake!

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix prepared in a 13×9 pan according to package
1 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple in its own juice
1 cup of sugar
2 pkgs instant vanilla puddin’
3 cups of milk
1 12 oz. tub of cool whip like stuff

When the cake is almost done, mix the sugar and the pineapple together in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute.

When the cake comes out and is still hot, poke a bunch of holes in it with the end of wooden spoon. Then pour/spread the pineapple topping evenly over the hot cake. Let cool.

Mix together the milk and the pudding. Let set for 5 minutes in the fridge. Spread evenly over the cooled cake. Frost the whole shebang with the whipped topping. Voila! Pineapple cream cake!

Now back in my working days this was a much requested birthday cake made by a co-worker. They called it better than s*x cake. Now this is very, very good cake. But without chocolate can we really say it’s better? I think not.

In other news the man (and the boys) done good. My Fiestaware collection has officially begun.

Oh! Oh! Oh! I had an FO today. I started it *and* finished it today. In about 30 minutes.

It’s a keychain. Could you just die from the cuteness? I thought so.

I think I said that at least a half a dozen times to my students in my Great American Afghan class this morning. Apologies to those who attended, I was not my most shiny happy self this morning. I mean I knew we were camping on Friday night, but I overestimated how much sleep I would get. I can be quite workable on 3 hours or so. But 30 minutes? Not so much.

But I think the class went well. Knitting up the little critters (3 fish, a crab, and a shell) was fun and our class was filled with great women as usual. The Great American Afghan classes are nearly always on the 2nd Saturday of the month and the squares make a great small project.

The Pea Pod Baby set for my nephew is coming right along as well, although not as fast as I hoped. I’ve been kind of wishy-washy all week though. And life keeps throwing curve balls at me. You know the sort where you don’t know whether to duck or pull out your mitt? I just keep reminding myself that everything happens for a reason. Even if that everything is giving me gas.

Wear waterproof mascara. Or no eye makeup at all. Have tissues handy. Because dude. Yes, I’m a 35 year old woman who says dude. A lot. In type and in person. Just ask Kimber. But as I was saying, dude. This movie is wonderful. Very wonderful. It offers up some serious eye candy. Gerard Butler, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, James Marsters!!!!! But I cried so much my whole head feels like it’s going to explode.

What? You’re here for knitting. Presenting the S.O.S. MayDay Bath Pouf. Name courtesy of Tricia, our favorite MayDay baby. Well she’s not really a baby anymore, although she might punch me in the throat the next time she sees me for saying that. Wait. Kimber is the puncher. Tricia is probably a hair-puller. But I digress. S.O.S. stands for Shower or Sink, and it’s the latest installment in our KnitWitz waschloth club. Actually the next to last installment. We’ve had 12 patterns and the next one will be the leftovers one. Should be interesting. It’s been fun to do these.

I think there might be a bath pouf version 2.0 in the future. With more poufiness!

Each year, on the first weekend of May, the pirates invade. Or so they say. So we caravanned up to Fernandina – my family and our friends down the street – and went to the Shrimp Festival. We saw a couple of pirates. We smelled a lot of shrimp. But we missed the “invasion” and the lines for shrimp that might be delicious and might be food poisoning on a plate were just too danged long. It was a lovely day and so everyone in NE Florida decided to come out and play.

I got a tee shirt out of the mix. I also discovered that I *might* have the power of invisibility. Because I got stepped on, ran into in, and run over by SEVEN strollers. And nary an apology was spoken. This of course leads me to a moral quandry. If I *do* truly have the power of invisibility, will I have the moral fiber to use my powers only for good? Of course the other more plausible explanation is that NE Florida is full of rude rednecks.

The saving grace of the day was the 2 hours the eight of us spent at the beach. There were sandcastles and wave-jumpers and all manners of cute & happy children. And the adults were feeling good as well. The beach is good for what ails you.

My youngest sister (I have three) had a baby on Wednesday. And I have no cute baby knits to show for it. So I’m knitting up the peapod baby set in some lovely wedgewood blue Berocco Comfort DK. I have no illusions that my sister will have the time to handwash anything. So acrylic, here we come! I’m also gonna whip up a baby blanket of some Muench Big Baby. Poor acrylic covered baby. At least he will be cute while he’s covered in petroleum byproducts.

In the really good news department, I’m getting some very positive feedback on the surrey hat. So yay for the good stuff!

So I took a copy of my Misty Hat pdf to Cub Scouts tonight. I was planning to mark it up and figure out some sort of style sheet for future patterns. I’m a math person so when I see numbers I auto-calculate. And I did this with one round of decreases.

The answer was wrong.

Not sure what crazy version of the pattern I uploaded originally. I think it was the red-headed stepchild of Misty and the decrease math I’ve been doing for the Surrey Hat. Who knows.

So if you downloaded it prior to say now, when you are seeing this – please re-download it. I’m so sorry.

So much for establishing some much needed yarn cred with a shiny free pattern. Radda radda.

Ok, not my first one. But my first one that actually looks like something pretty. I took a decent pic of the summer tweed the other day, but that was in perfect mid-morning sun through the blinds conditions. This one was just hanging out in my very own kitchen.

Today my boys were not showing their best selves. So I made something. I made something quickly and angrily and with a box cutter. Probably not the best plan. But hindsight is 20/20 and let’s just all count our blessings that Mommy didn’t end up in the emergency room. (Mommy would be me!)

I made a light box using the tutorial from Strobist.

And then in the kitchen, under fluorescent lights, I took this very true to color picture of yarn. True to color on my monitor that is, which is a first!

If you click to embiggen this picture, you can even see yarny details such as the twist and the slight halo of fuzz on the yarn. It’s amazing. And I’m very proud. I think me and my light box are going to become very good friends!

Some people I know find mannequin heads creepy. I thought it was a necessary investment for my business. Especially because I seem to have a way with hats.

The hat on the left is the surrey prototype. I’ve done some frogging on it this morning and last night, but I figure it needs to be perfect. I should be back up to the decrease section in no time.

The Misty hat pattern will be published shortly. It only takes one skein of Noro Silk Garden or an equivalent and it’s a fast, fun, (and will be free!) knit.

This morning I’ve been unusually productive and now I’m off to get my hair cut, which it really, really needs. Maybe I’ll have cute pictures of my new haircut later. Eh, probably not.