I'd never seen this plastic mesh stuff before and then in two weeks last month, I saw both of these little things. I don't know what it is about this stuff, but I'm intrigued. It's plastic, but then there's, you know, yarn. It's not really needlepoint, but, then again, you can bend it and make shapes. It's sort of tacky, but it's also kinda cute. So what is it? Anyone?

Finally, after getting my deadline knitting out of the way, I can tell you about the fabulous semi-annual Knitsmiths yarn swap that happened this weekend. I wasn't there (had to work at the store) but, thanks to Johanna, I still managed to swap a lot of stuff.

Here's my swap stuff, here's my swap stuff with Johanna's dog, and here's the whole table of yarn everyone brought in:

oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

oooooh, what should I pick?

And here's what I got:

Classic Elite Gatsby for a hat
(thanks Colleen!)

white yarn for some Kool-Aid dyeing with the kids
(thanks Johanna and Monica!)

a giant ball of hand-dyed mohair boucle
(whatever should I do with this stuff???)

Plus a couple other lovely yarny goodies. Hooray for yarn swaps!

(By the way, when I post late in the morning like this, it's usually because I've had to spend my usual blogging time building Lego cars like these for my boys. Woo hoo.)

Yesterday we made our annual trip to Davis Mega Maze, "the finest field maze in the United States." Each year they make a HUGE corn maze with a fun theme. Last year was the Wild West, this year was superheroes.

The boys wore their capes.

We got lost, shot tennis balls at bad guys, had lunch in the middle, got lost some more, and finally, after over three hours, we got to ring the bell and exit the maze (and, don't tell the boys, but mom and dad even asked the maze's "Superheroes" for a couple of hints along the way!).

So that's three hours I didn't spend knitting the Halloween costumes. Then there were the almost three hours we spent in the car driving there and back, during which I still didn't knit a thing. Yes, we all knew it would happen: I've felt a few twinges in the wrist. A day off is what my hands needed. Well, after yesterday, my hands may be well rested, but boy are my legs tired!

From the Canadian tech show, Call for Help (which hubby TiVo's):

>> Leo Laporte: Okay, if you're tired from surfing around on your computer for interesting news to read, if you go to, you know, a bunch of different blogs, it can get completely out of control. Wouldn't it be nice to search and research your favourite topics, very simply, one site, tell you exactly what's going on, where to go? Amber's here to show us how one of the most popular blog tracking sites has a new feature that makes it even easier to keep track of what's going on. Technerati, what is Technerati?

So some of the Top 10 searches are, podcasts, Michael Jackson, Web 2.0, KNITTING -- KNITTING ALWAYS COMES UP IN THE TOP 10, WHICH I FIND KIND OF INTERESTING -- John Stewart, Ruby on Rails, Star Wars, Trio and Ajax.

Uh, Michael Jackson? Still? But hey, we beat John Stewart and Ruby on Rails (what ever the heck that is!) We are so taking over the internet!

We got back from the weekend wedding late last night, so I had no time to prepare a sock update for today. Wednesday will have to be knitalong day this week. This Tuesday I bring you more wedding pics and a very litte knitting.

you asked for it, you got it: Shannon pics

the men of wedding party lifting up Shannon during Hava Nagila

Monday was the bride's family vs. groom's family softball game

The bride and groom couldn't decide whose side the boys were on, so they split them up. B in yellow on the groom's team and S in red on Shannon's.

the groom needed more players, so hubby got a quick lesson in batting
(what a trooper - they don't even have softball in Germany, so he's never played)

the happy couple with their happy ring bearers

And a little knitting on the ride home.

something for the boys to wear for Halloween

Yes, I am actually knitting their costumes. How dumb was that idea?! I just couldn't stop thinking about how to make something for the boys with that Fun Fur that they always play with when we go to the crap store. More details on the costumes later...

getting dressed and clearing out the nasal passages

some last minute practice

pictures with the groom

ring bearers on duty

warming up the dance floor
(yes, they are the blurs)

And how was the shawl, you ask?

whoops, found a loose end an hour before go time

me likey

Now, I call that a success. Congrats to everyone!

ring bearers at rest

and in motion

can you see the apple?

The weather has been so gorgeous that we, and apparently every other kid in the Metro Boston area (don't these kids have to go to school?), decided to go apple picking at Marino Lookout Farm. They have a train to take you through the orchard, a hay maze, and wonderful grape canopes over the walkways through the orchard. (Funny, I didn't take any pictures of the apples.)

"a little higher mommy - I can almost reach them!"

If I could pick yarn off a vine, this is what I'd pick.

This gorgeous hand-dyed yarn was sent to me by Jo (she knits such lovely things - go see!) all the way from Australia. This is going to make one beautiful scarf! And although yarn may not grow on trees around here, it looks like the scarves do!

I can't wait to add this grape scarf to the vine. Thanks, Jo!

B & S at the 2005 Boston Knit-Out. The boys watched the Show and Share from above.

What can I say, the boys loooove wheels! They had no interest in the vendor tents, but the spinning wheels were a different story. B even got some roving from one of the friendly spinners. "I love purple. I love yarn." That's my boy.

Although the park was full of knitters, the boys only wanted pretzels and the nearby playground.

So I had to wait until Knitsmiths to get some knitting done.

Mmmm, that shawl is looking so yummy. And that yarn ball from the 800 yd skein is finally looking conquerable.

(My apologies to those who said hi to me while I was being pulled through the knit-out at top speed by the boys. I was a little distracted. A proper hello to you all. Drop me a note in the comments!)

Look what B made for me yesterday! Out of the whole coloring book, he picked out this page and colored it for me.

The other day we caught a quick video between episodes of Spongebob Squarepants called "How to Draw Plankton" (don't you just love Plankton?! The boys do.). The boys immediately turned off the tv (gasp!) and went to the table to try to draw Planktons. They made me do a few first, then I went upstairs for a minute. When I returned B had drawn this.

The first thing one of them has drawn that has actually looked like something. I was so proud that I got all teary-eyed. Awww. Plankton would hate that.

My contribution to Annie's blanket project in honor of Kerstin's brother-in-law. The square was knit using the "Ripple Pattern" from the 365 Knit Stitches Calendar and leftover Jaeger Baby Merino DK from B.'s blankie. The yarn has given him four years of warm, snuggly consolation and love and I hope that this square can do its part to bring some of that to another. Thanks Annie for taking on this huge and wonderful project!

It's been a busy week! After overtime blogging on two knitalongs, a trip with the boys to the yogurt factory, and a day-long yarn storage re-org (look, it's a sock yarn bin!), guess where we went yesterday?

B thinks that turning his back means he's not in the picture

The boys wanted to see grandma, but I wasn't up for another trip down to NYC again so soon, so we met halfway at IKEA.

We ate.

"wheels!"

They played.

B is the blurry one, S is watching Dora

"more wheels!"

And we bought stuff. After a three-hour drive each way, you know we got some good stuff to bring home, right? Wanna see?

Uh, that was fun, but can I knit now?

Finally back online after a massive thunderstorm and almost 10-hour power outage. We lost power last night while I was finishing the sockapal-2-za update. I posted the update under UPS power (that's a temporary backup power source for the computer - computer geek husband standard equipment) just in case the power returned while we were sleeping. And as I was finishing up, the boys were woken by the thunder. It was actually the very first time that we've all gotten together to watch a storm in mommy and daddy's bed.

B under the covers, S holding his ears, and lightning in the window

It's been hard dividing my free time over the last week betweeen knitting and reading. I've been making progress on the feather and fan scarf, but each night I force myself to put it down and go to bed early so I can read a little. No, I'm not reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince just yet. After starting the first two chapters, I realized that I needed to go back and reread the fifth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. As I was pulling out the old books, I realized that I was about 100 pages away from finishing the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when I had set it aside last winter (I was planning to reread all the books). So I finished the fourth and should be starting the fifth very soon. Then I'll get to six, so don't tell me what happens, 'kay?!

But I said read two. I'm not just reading Harry Potter. During the day, when the boys are playing hard on the playground (and it's like 90 degrees so I can't knit!), I can sometimes sneak in a little reading time, but it's not good Harry Potter reading time (I can't focus too much on the book while I'm watching the boys and there's no way I'm carrying the giant tome that is HPOoP to the playground!). Nope, on the playground, I'm reading Knit One, Kill Two, subtitled "A Knitting Mystery". The Amazon reviews of it are terrible, and it is pretty predictable. For example, the main character, a young woman who finds herself having to solve the mystery of her aunt's murder, finds she has to stay in town longer than she had planned. Her new friends at the local knitting shop, who are teaching her to knit like her aunt did, would love her to stay and live in the house she's now inherited from her aunt. As soon as one of the girls says, oh yes, you should stay longer, I think, well, there's got to be some sort of love interest if this girl's gonna stay longer. Turn page. Enter love interest character. Still, as light, playground reading, I have to say I'm enjoying it. It's actually supposed to be the first book in a series! Here's a little from the book description for the next one: "...splayed out on her original hand-woven rug, her blood seeping into the design." (Roll eyes now.)

Still, this is all loooooaaads better than this book, which was so sappy and maudlin about knitting and it's power to bring some ridiculous, stereotyped characters together that I just had to stop reading it after about 20 pages. Yuck! I'd rather be knitting wool in the 90 degree heat, thanks.

birthday cake

birthday burp

birthday smile

sophie - felted and blocking

Wishes really do come true.

There's even a new edition to mommy's week-old birthday present pile: a sophie bag all ready for felting.

I was working in the store yesterday and was so pleased to see little things I had made here and there. The store is now closed on Sundays for the summer, but that doesn't mean we can't take a little tour today.

First we notice the beachy window I put together a few weeks ago - rather perilously, I might add, since the whole wall of sale yarn threatened to fall down on top of me while I was doing it.

Upon entering, we'll turn left towards the cotton yarns and find my first swatch, Rowan's Summer Tweed.

Next we'll swing around to the big wall o' wool on the right, and find my favorite little swatch, the super fantabulous Art Yarns Supermerino. (This is actually the colorway I'll be using for my sock pal's socks.)

Then, if we look down a little lower, there's the funnest swatch of all, Berroco's Softy. (Note: if you cast on 24 stitches on a US8, the little tufts of softy-ness will POOL! Seriously, I had to reknit the swatch with a couple fewer stitches to kill the pooling.)

And behind us, by the window, we find the so-called model tee, my nothing but a t-shirt store model.

And on the way out, let's sneak a peek at the new window in progress. (Pictures coming tomorrow!)

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox
And there's one more--that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?

from "Sick" by Shel Silverstein

Since I'm feeling sick today, I'll just post some pics from our Father's Day dinner at Bugaboo Creek.

I like Daddy's restaurant

Look, the buffalo is talking!

Out of nowhere the flyer for Wild & Wooly's Bi-Annual Clearance Sale arrived. And I think to myself, 'that can't be this week, they don't have that until June'. Aaaack, it is June! (Not that we Bostonians would know with the crap weather we've been having.) Of course, I got a call the next day from my dentist to remind me that I have an appointment for Thursday morning. "Uh, I'm gonna have to move that appointment."

stalking the store from the car at 6:45am

So I drove out to Lexington this morning for the 7am start and rushed downstairs to the sale area as soon as they opened the doors. Look at all those bags of sale yarn!

the mother lode

In my three years of coming to these clearance sales, I think this is the best selection of yarn yet. If you live anywhere near Lexington, you gotta go! Unfortunately, a terrible thing has happened to me in the last three years. I've become much more sensible about buying yarn. I came home only with a modest bag of Mission Falls wool and Jaeger Trinity cotton. (Passing up Debbie Bliss wool/cotton and Merino DK, Dale's superwash wool Freestyle, loads of Plymouth's Baby Alpaca Grande and Baby Alpaca DK, Southwest Trading Company's Optimum wool and a really cool cotton/elastic yarn called Point.)

Still I have big hopes for this yarn, as ALL of my previous W&W clearance sale purchases have turned into incredible projects (like January and the weasley sweaters). I have no doubt that these will be winners as well.

So, that's the good news. Then I came home. I opened up the laptop to write this post and nothing but loud sounds, a black screen, and general badness. Hard drive dead, dead, dead. Aaaaack! Hubby has rushed off to buy a new hard drive in order to stop my shrieking. (Conveniently leaving his desktop computer free for blogging.)

Oh and to those of you who recognized me at the sale, please remember, I look much better when I've had a shower.

I got to go to a swatch party over the weekend at the bookish girl's. There were lots of Boston-area bloggers there, tons of fabulous food and a basket full of wonderful yarns to sample.

Concateknit Elisa, Stitchy McYarnpants, Wendy, the bookish girl,
Kellee, Jackie, Melanie, and Colleen, the Subway Knitter
(just to name a few)

First, I began with Debbie Bliss' new cotton yarn, Cathay. Knit on US5's, this cotton/silk blend produces beautiful even stitches and is very pleasant to knit with. The gauge is small enough for the cotton to be light and delicate - perfect for summer knits - but not too small to be uncomfortable. And what a beautiful color! If I ever get to my summer knitting, I think you'll be seeing more of this yarn.

Next up was Elann's Peruvian Baby Cashmere. I definitely wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to try out a little cashmere, no matter how small the actual fiber content (it's 10% cashmere actually - the rest is 60% alpaca, 30% merino)! Knit up on US3's, this yarn was a tad to fine for me. I couldn't imagine making a whole sweater out of it at that gauge. It was very soft and knit up quite well, but I didn't love knitting with it, as I felt like my hands were working too hard to control the tiny stitches. It's not like I can't work with yarn at this gauge. Perhaps different needles would have made the work easier. We'll never know, because....

The ball of KnitPicks Elegance was available, so I tossed the Baby Cashmere aside and snatched up the Elegance before someone else did! Elegance is an alpaca/silk blend knit on US6's and it feels wonderful. The stitches weren't perfectly even, which disappointed me a little, but it sure was soft. At KnitPicks' prices, I think this yarn is definitely worth a try.

Now, what can I say about this next yarn? Malabrigo's Kettle Dyed Merino is an absolute dream. As beautiful as any Manos colorway, but as soft as butter (no seriously, I can't describe how incredible this yarn feels any other way). It doesn't just have a wonderful hand, it's like you're not even knitting. Perfect even stitches just float off the needles effortlessly. And it's knit on US8's! And there's over 200 yards in a quite reasonably priced hank! If it weren't slightly variegated, I'd be in big trouble here. Luckily, I still have issues with variegated yarns, so I should be able to keep my Malabrigo obsession in check. I ONLY have three skeins on hold for me at the store so far.

Last up, before I had to make a very early exit from the party, was Rowan Cork. This soon-to-be-discontinued yarn is really neat. It's knit on US11's, although it neither looks nor feels that chunky. It also has a neat sort of stretch to it. I really, really liked it. I'm very excited about using the few balls I got in my Rowan membership giftie (Yes, if it's in the Rowan giftie bag, you can bet it'll soon be discontinued. Look, they even sent me blue!) and maybe even snatching up a sweater's worth if it, if it goes on sale.

Wow, that was fun!

Sunday morning and I'm just playing around with a random assortment of scrabble letters we got in a goodie bag.

technically speaking:

for sock-knitters:

projects:

and of course:

Just got back from a mother's day outing to... now don't laugh...

Foxwoods Casino! This place is huge (check out the never-ending hallway of hotel rooms). I played a little poker, lost a little money (net loss= $2), and ate a lot of food.

Questions from my first casino experience:
1) What's with all the slots? Rows and rows of droning slot machines looked a little too much like one of the circles of Hell to me. What am I missing?
2) People, do we really have to smoke this much? Now I know why I never see anyone smoking on the street anymore - every remaining smoker in America is smoking in Foxwoods Casino. Right now.
3) When did Bingo get so complicated?
4) Who out there is playing so many Keno games that the numbers have to be posted in every hallway, restaurant, casino area, television and in the internet?
5) And please, please tell me what was supposed to be going on in Ocean's Twelve. We watched the movie in our room and hadn't a single clue!

Super boys getting ready to fly off to a superhero birthday party.

I even wore my "super mom" shirt!

The birthday season has officially begun! It seems like all of our family and friends' birthdays are in the spring and summer. Luckily, Santa comes along six months after the bitter end of birthday season to make up for the loss. At the end of last year's birthday season, the boys had finally grasped the concept of birthday party. And it was good. So this spring when we received this first party invitation, you could see it in their eyes: "the birthdays are back!".

Super!

- - - - - - - - -

A happy mother's day to all the other super moms out there, including mine!

Apparently, I say this a lot. The boys told me this. Now, they didn't just say, "hey ma, you say that a lot." No, but when getting ready to go to the playground, they say, "Hold the phone, we gotta get our shoes." And while playing with their Thomas trains, they say, "Stop, hold the phone, I gotta fix my train!"

They're going through a little phone phase in general it seems, always telling me that the phone is ringing. I can see from the caller id that it's some telemarketer and so I'm not answering and the boys are saying, "moooooommmmmyyyyyyyy, the phone is ringing, mooooooommmmmmmyyyyyy...."

And now they have started using their Happy Meal video games, which we keep in the car, as cell phones. They hop into their car seats and immediately flip them open and say stuff like, "No, I am late. I can't do that. I have a busy day." And then the "phone call" always ends for some unknown reason with them saying, "So you build me the pink house. Okay."

Anyway, my knitting is a bit on hold right now as I finish up a BIG design project that I can't share with you all. It's very exciting, but it's a lot of work. Plus, the germans are coming! First they select a German pope and now the in-laws are coming to visit. I'll still be knitting and posting, but only in the breaks between designing and Oma & Opa funtime.

So you build me the pink house. Okay?

So Sandy, of the aptly-named Sandy's Knitting, tells me that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is coming to the neighborhood for a reading and book signing. I'm so used to traveling miles and miles to get to cool stuff (like Webs or Ikea or Germany), that I couldn't believe that the cool people were coming to me for a change. Sweet! I mean, not only am I a mere 10 minute drive from Circles, but I actually know how to get there. (Believe me, this is a big deal in Boston.)

Look, look, right next to Stephanie, it's yarn!

the harlot, saying funny things

Good times. I knitted (about 150 yards of yarn!), I ate way too much food (why aren't all book readings pot-luck?), I saw a nothing but a t-shirt (Joan came into the room saying "Alison... Alison..." and I, thinking she meant the store owner, totally ignored her until I noticed what she was wearing!) and I got my book signed.

I now own a total of five books that have signatures in them. Two already had signatures when I got them: the first, Brandon Mably's Brilliant Knits, which I got at Wild & Wooly in Lexington and was totally surprised to find a signature in; and the second, an old children's German primer from the former East Germany, which my non-German-speaking mother picked up for me at a book sale having no idea what it was, and which contains a signed dedication to Angela Davis (yes, the Angela Davis). But the other two, I stood in line for: Michael Moore's Downsize This! and Douglas Coupland's Shampoo Planet.

That's Brandon Mably, Angela Davis, Michael Moore, Douglas Coupland and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. That's not such bad company, is it Stephanie? Oh, I also have an autograph from Famous Amos, the cookie guy, does that help?

My very good day started the night before when my LYS handed me 7 balls of Calmer to make a store model of my own nothing but a t-shirt pattern.

It then continued the next morning with a yarn delivery from the mailman.

Merino stretch from Elann to substitute for a Jaeger pattern calling for Jaeger's old wool stretch yarn (I found the old Jaeger mag in Columbus!).

And speaking of Columbus, the mailman also delivered my grand opening door prize from Knitters Mercantile!!

Fabulously pink Berroco Suede yarn and two balls of Skacel's fiori print yarn, which reminds me of Karabella Roses or Cascade's Malizia (such an incredible yarn!).

Then the best part of all: after we all get dressed and are ready for the day, the boys look out the window and S declares "It's a rainy day. Let's go to that yarn store with the trains." Oh, I've trained them well. So off we go to Circles in Jamaica Plain, which has a wonderful playroom for kids. The boys played, I shopped.

I came home with this beautiful hank of Blackberry Ridge fingering weight wool in blue stone. Perfect for socks to wear with jeans!

And just in case that wasn't enough, a little bird told me that my new favorite online store, The Knitting Zone, is having a sale this week!

Yes, it was a very good day.

So I'm out last week at my car dealer, getting the oil changed and having the car looked over before our big trip. The boys are playing in the dealership's playroom and I'm knitting on my retro rib sock while watching the Red Sox on the tv. (It's not so bad having the car serviced at the dealership. Definitely worth the half hour drive out of town for every oil change.) And as we are packing up to go, what do I see on the side table, next to crayons and coffee stains but a ball band for some Rowan yarn!

I didn't have my camera with me, so this will have to do

How neat to know that I hadn't been the only woman in there that day knitting amidst the pictures of SUV's and 'tires as decorations'. The ball band had been ripped and the yarn name was gone, but it was a silk blend, so I'm guessing maybe Summer Tweed. It would be so cool if it had been Kidsilk Haze though. Can you imagine lace in the service area? I love it!

- - - - - - - - - -

Okay, I shouldn't be telling you this one, but some mommy stories, as embarrassing as they may be for the mommy, are just too funny not to share.

click here for the big poop pic

This is a picture box in what is officially our favorite bathroom in the Boston Children's Museum. I like this bathroom because there is ALWAYS one of those Schoolhouse Rock songs playing in there and the boys love it for this crazy display case of animal poops. We pretty much have to visit this bathroom every time we go to the museum. As soon as we get to the area where the bathroom is (it's the handicapped bathroom by the Air Balls exhibit for anyone who's curious), B suddenly "has to go" and then they both go running in to see the poops.

So one time, we're in there waiting for B to finish up and S starts asking me to tell him all about the poops in the picture. They're actually really gross, but I was willing to do anything to get them to stop pressing on the glass to try to touch them! I mean okay, we're at a museum, let's have a little learning experience about poop. So I'm reading and explaining, "this is rabbit poop, look at how small it is" and "this is wolf poop, look at how big it is." We'd gone through them all and then I asked the boys, "so who makes the biggest poops?" They thought for a bit and then S answered, "Mommy." This from the one whose diapers I'm still changing!

While I've been busy, a huge pile of new knitting mags and books has accumulated!

Not surprisingly, I've spent the last few evenings with my knit lit instead of my knit kit. New knitting books are hard to resist, especially if you find yourself in a little post-project blue phase like I am now. They're filled with possibilities, are always the perfect size and there's no need to frog them ever. A few hours with Rowan, Verena and Stephanie and I'll feel much better.

Another week and another trip to IKEA, but this time not just for furniture shopping. I had to make that looooong drive down to pick up one little thing that they didn't have in stock last week, so some New Haven Stitch n' Bitchers helped make it worth my while by coming to meet me for a little knitting in the cafeteria.

seriously, we're knitting at IKEA!

Lauren arranged everything and brought her man and his wonderful newly finished sweater. Jessica brought her beautiful Koigu Clapotis-in-progress and some lovely blue stitch markers for me (thanks!!). Sami brought her blue(!) yarn for tempting and her Wiseman Finishing Techniques book and managed to do the tubular cast on with all of us blabbing. Karen brought some fabulous recycled sari silk yarn for the water bottle sling from Knit Wit and some books for Bookcrossing's IKEA release challenge. And Eklectika brought the wrong half of her sock knitting, which would be an empty needle holder and an extra ball of yarn. We stitched (well, everyone except for Eklectika), we bitched (okay, mostly Eklectika), ate meatballs and cinnamon buns (me, me) while the boys watched SpongeBob, which was mercifully playing in a loop in the kids area of the cafeteria.

Thanks gals, for making the trip so much fun! (Thanks from the little guys too, who were in a good mood all the way home!) See ya next time for knitting in one of the display living rooms.

Have you heard about the yarn bus?? Not only did Flying Fingers' shuttle bus, which takes shoppers from downtown NYC to their yarn shop out in Westchester, make the Channel 7 News, it got a write up in the New Yorker!

Next time I'm in New York I so want to do this! But there are still plenty of fun yarn trips to be had up here in New England. In fact, I'm off today on an excursion out to Webs in Western Mass. No giant fiberglass yarn balls on the car, but I'll be knitting all the way!

Update: I just found this awesome post of Bevin and Sooner's yarn bus adventure. Check it out! Thanks to Illana for the link.

Can I help it if the Match Game people keep talking about knitting?!

Brett Somers began this show by mentioning that she gets lots of fan mail from women wanting to know where they can find the pattern for this poncho that she often wore. (Sound familiar?) She was sorry to say that no, she doesn't knit and she has no idea if there is a pattern anywhere for it. Lion Brand? Herrshners?

So I'm watching Match Game and the question is:

"Fred said, 'I knew the honeymoon was over when I took my wife to an X-rated movie and she brought along her ________'"

If you said "knitting", you matched me,

Brett Somers,

and Raymond Burr!

Remember how I said I couldn't take the boys into a vintage store? Well, I was wrong. I can if it's the Garment District in Cambridge. On the first floor they have a pile (I'm talking a literal pile here) of clothes on the floor. You climb in and crawl through the pile, pulling out sweaters and blankets and god knows what, bag what you like and pay $1.50 a pound. The boys liked the pile.

can you find the boy in the pile?

And upstairs they have a huge vintage/used clothing store, complete with fun retro decorations. Happy is the three-year old boy who finds a train in the middle of mommy's clothing store.

What'd we get? Upstairs I found a lovely cashmere twinset. And out of the pile (for a total of $3!) I got a huge, soft (and blue!) cardigan that I can probably recycle the yarn from and my favorite find a fun little sweater that reminds me of Jenn's blog.

The boys got ice cream.

And when I get to do it with gals like these, I love it even more.

queen bee Kay and sew-up organizer Julia

Click for scenes from yesterday's Mason-Dixon Afghan Sew-Up in Newburyport, MA.

That has to be the most fun I've ever had with a darning needle!

I heard about this "wacky knit" from one of my friends who's on all the cool net discussion groups. It's crocheted, not knitted as he (and probably most of those who are linking to it) thought, but it is wacky.

order them here

It's a Katamari ball hat. Apparently, Katamari Damacy is a video game where you roll a sticky ball around picking up stuff (here's a QuickTime trailer of the game). As the ball gets bigger and bigger, with all the stuff sticking to it, it can pick up larger things, like people, buildings etc. (Katamari Damacy, so I've read, translates into something like "clump of souls". Yuk!). Anyhoo, a crocheted Katamari hat. I think it's actually kind of cool.

But then again, I thought our knitted tea set, the retro fry up bag and that crazy womb were cool too!

Other wacky knits that people have pointed me to:

freaky ski masks (with knitting instructions!)

more knitted food

knitted rock bands

(Thanks to Matthew, Jason and Allyson for the fun links!)

Back working at my LYS today. See you there!

I'll leave you with a picture of my yarn storage system that I got from IKEA a while back. Some of you seemed genuinely interested to see it with my stash inside.

I can't believe I filled up the whole thing!

seen in Parents Magazine, March 2005
click for the BIG version

Why does this annoy me?

They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, so I'm out today on a mommy's day off - yes, the whole day to do whatever I want(!), courtesy of my wonderful husband - to eat a year's worth of apples. See ya tomorrow.

Hi ho, it's off to work I go! I'll be working for a few hours this weekend at my LYS, A Good Yarn, as they find themselves suddenly a bit understaffed. So stop by and say hi!

While I'm at work, the boys will be having tons of fun with daddy. They've come up with a new way to play with my leftover yarns. Previously they'd just run through the house holding the end of a ball and wrap yarn all over everything, remember? Now they have a new contraption. Inspired by their attempts to play with the cord on the venetian blinds, daddy hooked a strand of yarn for each of them over the entrance to the kitchen and made a loop at the bottom large enough to hang one matchbox car on. Attach car, pull yarn back, let go, and the it flies into the kitchen and then right back at you!

At least I won't have to rewind entire balls of yarn when I get home.

If you are trying to sqeeze in a couple of minutes of knitting while hubby and the boys are doing the grocery shopping, do not watch Cash in the Attic. Counting shoulder bind offs and listening to an auctioneer at the same time does not work!

(I'm sneaking in some daytime knitting today because we're going out tonight, sans kids, for our anniversary! The last time we went out alone was while we were on vacation in September and before that to see Harry Potter on opening night in June. We're averaging about one night out every quarter year. Oh my.)

I don't usually do these memes but since one of my favorite knitbuds, Jackie, tagged me I guess I gotta do it.

1. Total amount of music files on your computer:

Zero. Nada. Zilch. And no I don't own an iPod or MP3 player. I just don't listen to music much. I used to have a huge cassette collection when I was in college (it was full of Depeche Mode and the like), but I sold most of it when I moved to Germany. This is a sampling of what's left. And now the boys use my cassette deck as a pretend oven, stuffing toys in the cassette slots to "cook". See!

Now if you asked me the total number of catchy kids show songs in my head, I'd say about 50, including "I love my boots", "Ski patrol to the rescue", "Welcome to Lazy Town", "Ladybugs Picnic", "Give us back our treasure!", and "What's the name of that song?". (Bonus points to anyone who can identify all those references!)

2. The last CD you bought was:

I used to buy music without even hearing it. I would buy new things from the labels that I liked. I'd just pick up anything that looked cool from Sire records, for example. I found out about bands like The The and the Wild Swans that way and introduced their stuff to all my friends. But that was back in like 1990. When I was much cooler.

The last CD I bought was probably Tracy Chapman's first album, which I ordered online around 2001. Yes, that was the last time I bought a CD! I did ask hubby for a CD this Christmas, though. Remember? Oh yeah, I'm definitely not cool anymore.

3. What is the last song you listened to before reading this message:

Whatever was on the pop radio station the last time I was driving in the car. That's really when I do my music listening. I have no idea what it was but here's a few clues to my radio listening behavior.

Switch station immediately = any song by Elton John, Phil Collins or U2.

Check other stations to see if any favorite songs are on, if not come back = any song by a hip new band with some wacky name like Matchbox 20 or Third Eye Blind, Foo Fighters or Goo Goo Dolls. I can't tell any of them apart.

Stop here and sing along = oh, you know, stuff by Avril Levigne, Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway", Jessica Simpson's "With You", one of those Five for Fighting dirges, something John Mayer-ish. (I can't sing, by the way.)

4. Write down 5 songs you listen to often or that mean a lot to you:

These are songs that at one time I really loved and that, if they ever came on the radio, I'd sit in the car in the parking lot to listen to the end of them.

"I'm a Believer" by the Monkees (I used to LOVE watching the Monkees in reruns on tv. I remember being soooo excited one day when I discovered that my grandparents actually owned a Monkees album and I could listen to the songs whenever I wanted. I still have that album. Somewhere. No turntable though.)

"Alison" by Elvis Costello (For obvious reasons.)

"Reunion" by Erasure (Heck, anything from Erasure's first seven or so albums.)

"God Will" by Lyle Lovett

"Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman

Note, I'm leaving out whole phases of my muscial history, like my Howard Jones phase (the keyboards! the hair! the lyrics: "whoa, whoa, whohohoh, whoa, whoa, whohohoh"!), my Billy Joel phase (I lived on Long Island - it's like a law there), and my Harry Connick Jr. phase (up until he got married and started starrring in crappy movies opposite Sandra Bullock).

5. Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

Oh man, do I really have to pass it on? I'm so not a meme person. Okay, first three commenters consider yourself tagged.

(Pssst.... don't tell anyone, but that was kinda fun!)

I took the boys to IKEA in New Haven again this week. This time just me and the boys and not for any particular reason. Just for fun, 'cause what else are you going to do with two boys who are going crazy being shut in the house all day, but are still too sniffly and coughy to hang out with other kids? Their favorite thing at IKEA: the cinnamon buns!

They were so excited to get to the snack at the end that they actually chanted "Go! Go! Go!" through the last half of the downstairs marketplace.

Their favorite part of the whole trip though was after the IKEA, when we went to McDonalds for dinner on the way back home. Their happy meals included the perfect toy for two boys trapped in the back seat on a long car ride: giant blow-up clubs to beat each other with.

get mommy!

So here's what you're thinking: "I wish she'd just get back to the knitting!" I'm thinking the same thing. Rest assured, whenever I do get time to do some knitting around here (ie - when I'm done with the Sockapalooza organizing), I'll let you know about it for sure. Until then you'll have to settle for more Pythons "knitting".

Graham Chapman couldn't knit either

For those of you who imagine that with twin toilet-training toddler boys I get some chance to knit during the daylight hours, here's a picture of what I did yesterday.

I spent over an hour constructing this. Well, it's slow going when someone's playing on it while it's still in progress! (A little like the Big Dig actually.) When I finally added the final flourish, the little overpass for cars to drive over the train tracks and under the bridge, the boys got so excited that they started dismantling the rest of the track. "We're done with this part." Nooooo!