You know..

You know, how sometimes just lifting your head off the pillow seems like a days work?
You know how the darkness won't settle in fast enough?
You know how sometimes you count the endless hours off in your mind until you can hit the hay?
You know how instead of knitting, or reading, or blogging you just sit like a lump in front of some mindless tv show and it's too overwhelming?
Yeah. It's like that lately.
Oh, you know what does not help?
My daughter, my baby, the girl of the house has made the BHS first ever girls ice hockey team. Practice time: 5:30-6:30 AM. In the morning. If indeed you call that morning. I call that, "pull up the covers and roll over". Practice is in Saugus, about a half an hour away from here. That puts departure time at 4:45 in the fricking AM. Andy, ever the loving, supportive father, has volunteered for all practice driving to and fro. He is a wonderful man. A wonderful man who needs to put on the light at that time of the morning to get dressed. Thereby waking me. The one who has tried valiantly to roll over and go back to sleep. But the light flicks on. Then off. Then on. Perhaps he forgot to get a shirt. Then off. Then on. What? Socks? Have the socks not resided in the same abode since we moved here 18 years ago? Perhaps not. Maybe a person DOES need to put clothing on with full lighting. But I doubt it.
I will lovingly suggest to him today that perhaps he can pick out his tomorrow clothes today. Saving his wife from waking up at this ungodly hour again and turning into a stark raving beeyotch.
Or I'll have to start going to bed a lot earlier!
I suppose they want dinner. Didn't they eat yesterday?

Are your hands warm?

Because I am feeling very lazy tonight, I point you over to the Warm Hands update. Let others knitting inspire!

Leftovers galore!

First of all, a great big thank you goes to all of you. I am thankful for you. Who knew that blogging could be so heartwarming? I mean really.
The days are passing, as they are apt to do. The sun comes up, the shoppers fight for bargains, life goes on even when some people have sore hearts. I am and will be fine. The fact that I am sitting here eating leftover mashed potatoes and gravy has nothing to do with it. It doesn't! Plenty of people munch their thansgiving leftovers for breakfast! Come on! You've done it, haven't you?
~~

Knitting has been slow this weekend. It's been all about the food. And movies. And dishes. Groan. Why can't I be rich again?
This is the cuff for the second Liidia's mitten from Folk Knitting in Estonia. For those who may have forgotten, it's knitpicks andean treasures. Love. In a skein. Knitting is my plan for the day so more should be happening on that front.
This is the weekend that us college parents think that we are going to get to spend time with our dorm living children. How wrong we could be. I am no different. With College Derek moving in for the weekend, the family is once again complete. Mama hen can sleep knowing where her chicks are, safe and sound.
Is that you laughing?
Yeah. I do have evidence that he is staying here. There is a lump in his bed until mid afternoon, you know, revelie? Then there is this:

Ah, it's been a while, snack litter! I've missed you!
So, he IS living here!

Twas the night before Thanksgiving

The day before, technically. And I have a full day of preparations all of which I welcome and enjoy. Well, except for the bathroom cleaning part!
I have lots to be thankful for. Lots.
Here's the short list:
~ My home. It may be a little worn around the edges, but it did not get ravaged by tornadoes or hurricanes or flood. I am thankful for my home.
~My family. How can you explain the joy of loving your family? Words are incompetant. They are light in my life. I am thankful for Andy, Derek and Bethany.
~My extended family. In the background they always love and support. I am thankful for my inlaws and parents.
~Yarn. You get this one. Wool is always there for me. My needles await not only my hands, but my heart. I am thankful for knitting.
~Food on my table. An abundance of food, in fact. We do not hunger for anything in our family. And I'm thankful for that.
~Blue skies. Or grey, they bring me joy. I am thankful for the beauty around me.
So, in this time of thanksgiving, it is with a heavy heart that I come to understand how my Mother has just been diagnosed with uterine cancer. We know no more details except that it exists. More will follow with endless oncologist appointments. For now, I can't get rid of the flutters in my stomach, the sadness in my heart, the fear in my bones. I hope for the best and fear the worst. This diagnosis has shaken me to my core, leaving me thinking and rethinking of our mother/daughter relationship. I do believe I am more attatched to her than I ever thought possible. It is an attachment that runs in the background of my life. Quiet at times, but always there, always tethered to me. I did not know. I assumed it was independence from my family, but perhaps it was just freedom to live my own life.
So, I'm hoping there will be more to be thankful for. I know you will be hoping along with me.

Saturday is for Powderpuffs!

It is Beverly High School tradition that before the big Thanksgiving grudge match is played against Salem High School, the Senior BHS girls will take on the Senior SHS girls. Powderpuff Football. That is where I spent my afternoon. A better afternoon could not have been spent!

Go BHS! It's okay if you cannot pick out Bethany in this picture! (She's playing Safety. Whatever that is!)

There she is, my little BHurl! (That's what her shirt said!)
There were Cheerleaders!

What's a football game without cheerleaders?
And Proud fathers of cheerleaders!

When Beverly scored, the cheerleaders couldn't help but show some testosterone. They did pushups in the end zone!

Final Score?

Beverly 35
Salem 13
Beverly Powderpuffs Rule!
It's almost too much fun for one day, really!

Mittening

So, mittens. Right?
There is the Hermione mitten that I have going. And I love it! I do! But why all of a sudden did the meandering pattern stop meandering?
I mean, where is the meandering justice?

Follow the zigzaggy line from right to left. All of a sudden it's gone. And THIS is the fixed version. Yeah. It needs to be fixed again, obviously. I hate it when that happens. Me and fixing means mittens sitting on the table for a while. I can't help myself.

I am very excited to tell you that I got my yarn delivery from Knitpicks yesterday and among them was the yarn needed to finish Liidia's mittens. How I love them! Not much done yet, but it felt good to be doing to latvian braids again!
Latvian? Estonian? Why do I keep thinking these words are interchangeable. I'm sure they are not. Especially if you live there. I do not want to be ticking off Estonian/Latvian knitters. Can you imagine? A gang waiting to take me out?
It's sad, really.

Vinter Lue hat

Vinter Lue hat made with stashbusting Lopi. I started this great hat on Saturday around 4:30 pm. By 4 pm the next day, I was putting the finishing touches on it! The pattern was clear, the knitting quick and the end product wonderful! Not only that, but Andy was eyeing it, saying, "who is that for?"
What wifey hears:"HINT HINT". He liked it! He tried it on, even. Alas, it's not for him. It is for a new knitalong.
Knit unto Others

This hat will be making it's way over to Anne for the tornado victims in Indiana. They need warmth, I've got wool. A match made in heaven.
However, one of these hats WILL be making it's way onto my Christmas list for one hat craving husband. This hat was a bit too small for him. So, bigger and longer it will be.
Look at the top of the hat. I love the little braid!

And the earflap braids:

Hats off to the designer of this wonderful pattern!
~~~
My computer is out to get me. Every time I have a few minutes to spend with the blog, the connection goes down. Should I be paranoid? I do believe we need a new router. It's wearing down. But why no one else? Was it something I said?
~~
Look up!

Warmth needed!

When our loved one are cold, we knit for them. We knit not only with our hands and wool, but with our hearts. We have faith that every stitch we lovingly put into the hat, mitten, socks, scarf is going to keep the cold away from them, protecting them from the snow and wind. As knitbloggers, our hearts grow bigger with our extending family. I have seen you women and men come forth and knit for children and people in need all over the world.
Now there is a neighborhood in Indiana that needs our warmth. A mammoth tornado has struck their lives and taken loved ones away, leaving those left behind grieving and forever changed. As they struggle to rebuild their homes and their lives, the local knitbloggers have call out for handknit warmth. Hats and scarves. This time of year the weather is turning cold and these families have nothing. They need our warmth. Can you join us in knitting a hat or two?
See Anne's blog for details and if you are in the area, some heartwarming gatherings will be happening, you will want to be part of them. I'm sure mittens would be a welcome warmth for them as well.
I do believe that I have a pair or two of mittens planned that can be sent out.
Join me?

Tree of life

The start of a Hermione mitten. I saw them at Beth's place and knew they were for me! She's like that, Beth. So far, I love the pattern. It's fun to do cables again. The yarn is from my stash. It is Hebredian yarn, colorway mountain hare, which in reality looks nothing like this picture. This is the type of yarn color that I can get either the color or the texture/pattern right. Not both. So, I'll do a color photo shoot another day.
You know I like to knit mittens, right?
haha! Oh, sometimes...
And I like the sky. When someone calls me the sky queen, I have to put up a sky shot every now and again so I won't be dethroned.

Sky at dawn. It's much cloudier now as it's raining. The weather cannot make up it's mind which season it would like to be in. I do believe we have seen all 4 seasons in the past week.
A story about a tree
When Bethany was in 5th grade, 7 years ago, on arbor day she brought home a tree. "Tree" is such a big word for what it was. It was a twig. It was about 12 inches high with a couple of roots hanging off the end. The paper wrapper proclaimed it as a dogwood tree. As life sometimes is, it was a busy time. I stuck the twig in a big pot of dirt and watered it now and again for about a month. I doubted the tree would have a future in our yard. I couldn't figure out what to do with it.
As luck would have it, our neighbor, Ian picked that time to work his "magic". He cleared his property, which is behind our house, of all trees. I understood why some of them had to go but not all. It looked so naked and left us feeling so exposed. Where trees sheltered us, there were none anymore. We took to calling him "Ian the tree hater". He was. A tree hater.
I looked at the twig in a pot and my idea grew. That tree needed to be planted in between our homes. I dug a hole, threw in some peat moss and planted the dogwood twig. I put a circle of rocks around it so it would not get mowed down by Andy during his yarn work, that is how small and insignificant it was. Bethany was so proud that "her" tree got planted. As I watched the tree grow, I realized it grew in my heart as well. That tree reminded me of the 5th grade Bethany,of Ian the tree hater (who is long gone now) and the plain fact that given enough time and love, things grow. 7 years later, that tree is taller than I am. It stands about 10 maybe 12 feet high. We got our first flowers on it last summer. This summer it bloomed profusely.
I love that little tree.
A couple of weeks ago, we got the freak snowstorm. I looked out the window and saw Bethany's tree in distress.

See the sagging branch hanging over the neighbor's driveway? Poor tree. I pointed it out to Andy and said aloud "I hope that tree doesn't break, I love that tree". Andy disappeared in the basement for a while. This is man's domain so I just accepted it as something with power tools. But he came up the stairs, boots and gloves on, bundled up in a winter coat. He went out to the tree and shook the snow off the branches of the tree.
I, of course, took a picture through the window. Hey, it was cold outside!

What a guy, huh? The roots in my heart, for the man and the tree grew a little firmer that day.
Take notice of the color of the leaves on the tree. Green turning to gold.
Look at them now!

I do believe that tree is thanking us!

New update on Warm hands! Partial one anyway! Anyone have an extra hour to hand over to me??

New updates on the Warm hands blog! Check out the mittens! It's enough to make my hands get cold just to get some sympathy so they will get new mittens!
More later!

Say bye bye!

It IS pretty. The yarn is lovely to work with. And the colors? Aren't they fabulous?
But.
That is one little word that says so much. I do not feel the love. I am disappointed as I fully expected to love these mittens.
Why?
Oh, the cuff is too long, the stripes on the mitten are fun but on my hand they do nothing for me except feel ridiculous, the decreases are a bit wonky and do not match my hand well. Yes, it's true, all these can be fixed. Shorten the cuff, fix the decreases.
But.
There it is again.
I just can't bring myself to do it. I can't. I love it but I'm not IN love with it. You know?
So, I'm back to the scheming stage. The most fun. What will it be? I wonder..

Update for you

I did a bit of an experiment on the blog last night to see if bloglines would pick up the feed to the warm hands blog. It didn't.
So, check out the Mitten update! Click on Warm Hands Knitalong on the right.
Go ahead, why are you still here?

Halloween '05. 5 kids

I know that I said that Monday would be Mitten Monday Update time. But lets just make believe that, for this week only, Tuesday evening is Monday, shall we? You'll play along, won't you? Homework came first for computer time last night. And carving pumpkins. And the exhausting handing out the candy to all 5 trick or treaters that pounded my door. That leaves a heck of a lot of candy sitting around here. OR rather in a candy bowl at work.
We did get one interesting couple, sans any kid, who had a big Unicef poster and the little orange Unicef trick or treat box. When I opened the door (or rather when I got to the opened screened door, it was THAT warm last night. No more snow around here!) "Would you like to give to Unicef to feed hungry children a hot meal?"
And what could I say, really. "NO?"
sigh.
Just a minute. I rummaged through my purse, came up with a couple of bucks, took a second look at the charity collecting couple and decided that they possibly could use a hot meal themselves. They looked a bit rough. Andy the pessimist would state that that money is not going for any hungry children, but into an alcohol bottle. Me, the ever optimist, would rather think that they are paying back to a world that has helped them through some hard luck times.
See? How the pessimist/optimist marraige works well with each other? We both sniff our contrary opinions and go on our merry way. Which happened to be towards the couch. But that is besides the point.
Hey Jack!

Jack 'o lanterns '05
Be back later with some updates for you!
Ta!