All In A Day's Work (actually, All In Three Hours)

     No I am knot (get the knitting pun?) going give a blow by blow description.  But some highlights might be interesting if you can relate them to your life.  Then they become comical, and I can stop crying.  
     Wednesday night was a doozy.  After a late afternoon commitment, both sons and I headed for Wendy's  drive through.  (By the way, why isn't "drive through" an official food group already?)  B was in charge of holding the ice cream drinks and the food.  I told him to roll the bag top down so if they fall, the fries won't fall out.  This has happened to him a few times and to me a thousand times.  But as with any teen, my advice was met with resistance, and since there is so very much my teen and I can fight about, I decided to let it go that he ignored me.  (Ever notice that ignore and ignorance sound a lot alike?)  While driving I had to stop a little short and, yes, smart readers, the bag went flying to the floor and the fries spilled all over the floor.  W said "Uh oh" in his "watch out, it's gonna blow" voice.  B did indeed "blow."
     Well, I don't have to go into any details of the tone the rest of the evening had taken.  Teenagers!  Can't live with 'em, can't throw them out on the street.  
     When we arrived home, Ri had thrown up and pee'd in his crate and was a stinky, disgusting mess.  He was curled in a corner looking sad, forlorn, and shamed.  Riley threw up 6 times that day in total, and two times the evening before, so my theory that he ate something bad outside, flew out the window.  He was sick.  
     But like an ER, I had to triage.  W needed dinner.  His allergies prevent him from eating the fast food.  He was starving and it was only an hour from his bedtime.  I guiltily left Riley in his sad corner, and made W a very quick and easy dinner.  Pasta with sauce.   Bored with it though he was, he knew not to complain.
     After we were all upstairs,  W was getting ready for bed, B was doing his homework on the PC, and I was running a bath for Riley.  I was about to give Riley his long overdue bath and I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel when...
     Something went a little haywire on the PC and it "told" us that a new user had logged in at a time when no one was home.  B decided we were being hacked or the victim of a virus.   B started telling stories of the kinds of things computer criminals can do and in the process freaking out himself and W.  W asked for me to hang with him in his room while he read.  
     I looked at him and I said "Honey there is only one of me, and right now I need to convince B our identities have not been stolen, but you come before the dog.  Okay?"  And somehow, after making a positively ridiculous statement like that.  I found some clarity.  


     I told B that high tech in movies and books these days are the monsters and zombies of my day.  If they become too real for you, it's time to pick another genre.  I gave him our other PC, and left his room. 
     Next to W.  I made sure he had a funny book to read and told him to read it.  And then I left the room.
     And when I finally had Ri in the bath, W came up to me and said "Wow, this is a lot tonight, huh?"  All in a day's work my son.  And then when I kissed him goodnight I said "Well a lot of excitement tonight for no real reason at all, huh?"  He told me that I described it perfectly.  
     After all was said and done and lights were out, I went downstairs to a dirty sink,  I cleared the food but decided the plates could stay until morning.  I had my Wendy's Twisty Vanilla Oreo Cookie drink for dinner.  And another day was done!   

Have Fun

Here is a great website if you like to look at well-dressed homes.  http://hookedonhouses.net/

My new favorite.

NOT ONE COMMENT ABOUT QUANTITY OF YARN

Please?

YARN, GLORIOUS YARN

I've been organizing and cataloging the yarn I have accumulated over the last few years.  Some people love shoes and handbags.  I love yarn.

Three Irish Girls Hand Dyed Yarn.  It's a catch.

Yarn I bought to support Breast Cancer Awareness.

I have tons more of this workhorse of yarn in lots of blues. This color will be a nice complement, when I actually knit something with it all. 

Beautiful Blue and Black (ish) Malabrigo.  Another find.

Tweed.  I have to knit something in tweed.

Wool, silk, and angora.  Yum.

Same

Same

Same

Same

Noro Furisode.  Multiple self striping colors.  

Dream in Color Classy in Some Summer Sky.  Another good find.

All 100% linen.  1 color each will make a small shawlette.  Eventually.

Rowan Summer Tweed

Sock Yarn.  For a shawlette.

Dream in Color Starry in Cocoa Kiss.  Will make a gorgeous scarf or shawl.  I can't wait to make something with it, but I'll need a lot of support from my local yarn store.  No room for mistakes in this yarn.

Berroco Foliage.  Self striping.  Soft and yummy,

They are SO SO SO happy for me.

And my family jumps for joy when I am happy.  Ben is jumping from joy for me too.  He is just avoiding the camera these days.

Pure White Paint and Rubbed Bronze Door Knob

Thank goodness I like our recent small renovation to the doors to the bedrooms.  This is most of what I see when I interact with Ben.  He must be a teenager or something.

My Shame

One of the things I love about knitting is that you can experiment with different yarns, different stitches, and different needle sizes.  When I am done experimenting, I rip out what I have done, toss the yarn aside.  Ultimately I regret it.  And this is why:

I have no idea if other knitters are as lazy as I am.  But I tend to experiment at night when I am tired.  Things just end up getting shoved to the back of something.   I am pleased to report that after many hours and hours of undoing knots.  Most of the yarn is separated.  Time to start experimenting again...

I recently learned from http://www.ravelry.com that there is a group who love working on messes like the above.  They encourage you to send them your knotted mess, and they will unknot and re-roll and send it back. Depending on your patience level and if you need/appreciate mindless hand work, this kind of work can be soothing.  After the first week, I never picked up one of those messes, unless I was in the mood to let my mind wander.   However, if you are un-knotting in order to start a project, then the job is frustrating and endless.   In any case, I'll never let my yarn knot again!  That's my story, and I am sticking to it.

The Never Ending Blanket

I just realized that my newly re-named 480 stitch sock yarn blanket is wonderfully long enough, but not nearly wide enough.  I'll be picking up 480 stitches this weekend, and then knit for at least 6 more months. 480 stitches.