More for Mom

Thank Dog for Mellow Journal. I knew I saw this hat somewhere, and I was frustrated by my fruitless searches to find it again. Isn't hers SO cute?

The reason for my searching is that my Mom, the post-divorce-mid-life-crisis-avid-skier would LOVE this hat from the Bea Ellis Knitwear site.

Maybe this could be Mom's 50th birthday present? If so, I have until July 11th to finish it. Which ... considering that I have all those MamaCate-inspired projects in the queue for Mom, I'll be knitting for Mom until July, so it'll fit in perfectly. From now until eternity, I will love my Mother through knit goods.

Porcupine & Black Ash

I first saw Joanne Russo at an art show a couple years ago, and I was fascinated by her baskets. Unlike many of the artists at the show, Joanne Russo came prepared with social skills. She took the time to explain her materials and inspirations. I was sad that I couldn't buy one, but hoped to see her again.

I did. About a year ago, I was walking through the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston with a friend. We saw some baskets and I thought of Joanne Russo, so I told the friend about her baskets and the amazing materials she uses. Not 2 minutes later, we rounded a corner and I saw one of Joanne Russo's baskets encased in glass. At the MFA!! I was so excited, I probably looked like a moron to the staid sophisticated elderly wasps. But, hell, it was cool!

Since then, I've periodically purused her website and watched the prices go up. [good for her, I say] And last week, while wandering through the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, I ran into another Joanne Russo basket encased in glass. Shit, this girl's really gettin' around! And then today ... I noticed that the PEM is using Russo's basket as the premier piece to showcase their American Decorative Art collection.

I love her work. I'm fascinated. I'm intrigued. Go check out her website and let me know what you think. She's doing some interesting work with beads and hooks/eyes these days. She recently made a basket with a -functional- zipper down the side, but it has disappeared from the site. I especially love this one:

"Red Button Teapot"


note: Make sure to read Barbara Moore's quote on pg.1 of Russo's site. Clearly Barbara Moore is smoking too much pot. Just sayin'.

P.S. While at the PEM, I saw the Teapot exhibit. If you have the chance, you must see this. It was incredible!

I'm a Junkie

With everything on my plate right now, I tried not to get pulled into this insanity. I'm a great cheerleader, said I. I'll jump around and scream from the sidelines. I'll be a ...
-button courtesy of JenLa-
But was hard.
Real hard.
Too hard.
I got sucked in.

The MIT SnB is officially joining 1366 (and counting) other masochistic idiots delightful knitters and entering a relay team in the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics. We're still working out the details, but it appears that we'll be making a blanket for Afghans for Afghans. I've committed to 2-3 8x8" squares. We already have our own button, thanks to Christine!

In order to compete in the Team portion, I'll still be Likkered Up and cheering for these folks in their individual events:

Team Boston, found at Obsession Du Jour

Danielle and Rhonda, on Team Fair Isle USA
-button courtesy of JenLa-
GO TEAM!

update: Jess defected and joined Team Cable USA. One more group to cheer for!

Cutest!!

Joey's wearing his sweater!

Ok ... I'm procrastinating

I'm supposed to be developing a syllabus, assigning readings, deciding on in-class activities, gathering supplemental readings, establishing expectations, writing objectives, etc...

Ever since saying that I wasn't going to post again until March, I've been obsessed with this damned blog. Now everything shouts, "Blog Me!" Not to mention, my 1st Blogiversary is coming up soon. Shouldn't I acknowledge that by announcing something new and cool -- something I've been working on for a while and keeping semi-secret? Danielle's birthday is coming up, and she would like a little shout out. (she's not shy, in case anyone was wondering.) Little Man is doing fun and interesting things. I'm doing weird things (as usual) like wearing sneakers today. Who wears these things? Shouldn't that be discussed? I have all these f-ing memes that I promised to respond to. Can I do that without revealing too much about me? Mysterious Scorpio that I am. Also, can we discuss the constant misspelling of the word "weird" in blogland? People that I know well, are wicked smart, are excellent writers and tell a kickass story ... but can't spell WEIRD? Several people. Argh!

You see the dilemma? Even if there's no knitting, can't there be Living? Life? Observations? Bitching? I can't assault Wifey with all of my random thoughts, so shouldn't I assault you instead? If I'm allowed back into the fold, there might even be teaching stories...

And about that knitting thing ... can't I just knit a little stockinette? Some mindless garter scarf or something? Puh-lease? Pretty please? My fingers are threatening to dive straight for my nose in a public place unless they get a bit of the yarn-crack. Help!!

Signing Out

-temporarily-

I'm off to act like a fool in front of 17 impressionable minds. In the meantime, feast on this:



and this ... 80% finished:



See you in March.

Love,
The Mafia

+Court+

The very important date in court went perfectly. We were granted a home study waiver, which probably saved us $1500 and the humiliation of having a social worker visit our house several times to determine if we're 'fit parents'. Once the judge and my attorney swap calendars, a finalization date will decided upon, and I'll dance around in my underwear.

There are excellent resources all over the web:
GLAD
GLAD's piece on co-parent adoption in Massachusetts *warning: it's a PDF*
The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's U.S. map of adoption law *PDF*
The Human Rights Campaign's bit
National Coalition for Lesbian Rights

Tuesday was an excellent day all around. Late in the evening I got a call from an old colleague who offered me a teaching gig for a 6 week class. So I'll be MIA until March 8th while I stress over standing in front of a class. Must go write a syllabus -- eek!!

Mafia the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Today's list of Pros and Cons

-1: I have a wicked cold. I'm cranky, snotty, conjested, achy, tired, and otherwise pissy. Did I mention cranky?

-2: I just started bleeding. Fuck. Period + cold = bitch-ass-whore with attitude. Just sayin'.

-3: Please reference above hormonal and white cell insanity when I say that my complexion is a disaster! I'm 31, not 13. What is this?

-4: Which leads me to -- I have no photos of my FINISHED celtic cap. I love it. It loves me. We're very happy together. But the cyberworld must wait for my white cells to finish working on my sinuses and move back to my skin before I'll even dream of posting a lovely cabled head shot.

+1: Did I mention that I finished the CELTIC CAP?! Hooray!

+2: With the addition of this AMAZING piece of technological-peace-love-happiness-commuter's-wet-dream to my life, I've been ripping CDs like mad. Currently listening to old school Arrested Development. Love.

+2: I love my brand new haircut. It's ME, not the suburan mom that I've been posing as for months. (I have nothing against suburan moms, in fact, I'm married to one. But I am -not- one.) My hair looks like this:



That's my new avatar on Yahoo. It's a fun graphic generator that links to your Yahoo mail account. I found it here. It's wicked fun to create my cyberself. It's like having a grown-up and decidedly more attractive Mafia-Barbie doll. Weird, but fun.

+3: It's a long weekend, followed by a very important date in Family Court on Tuesday. If you keep your fingers crossed for me on Tuesday, I promise to explain the mystery on Wednesday.

It's National DeLurking Week!

Snagged from An Elephant's Gestation (aka exGF#3), who is a marvelous writer. If you're interested in domestic transracial adoption by two lesbians, this is your site. Just to answer your question: Yes, I am still friends with most of my exGFs. For better or worse, 'tis the way of the lesbos.

The originator of this cool idea is Paper Napkin.

There's also my Frappr. Give a shout out.

Thanks y'all!

Overdue Meme #1

I've managed to avoid memes for the last 11 months. But for some reason, December was meme-happy, and I was tagged for 3 (and another 1 in January - damned exGF#3!). So I'll be posting a meme here and there until I complete my homework.

This one is from Mellow Journal: "List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to."

iTunes sayeth:

1. Toes - Norah Jones
2. Angel Band - Vinal Avenue String Band
3. Little Martha - The Allman Brothers
4. Michelangelo - Emmylou Harris
5. Sourire - Les Nubians
6. In the Morning - Norah Jones
7. My Baby Needs a Shephard - Emmylou Harris

This is an odd list and not what I expected. It's probably because I keep iTunes on shuffle most of the time, and I only have a few CDs on this computer. Perhaps I'll do this meme again in a couple months when I have my full selection loaded.

Cranking Celtic Cap

I love cables. I love the pattern. I love the yarn (color 50). I love that the designer emailed within hours of me asking her a question.

See how happy I am, peeking around the cube wall at my next door knitting neighbor?



Big steps in my knitting life -- this hat might fit my head correctly; and I measured the gauge swatch without any help from my favorite OCD precise knitter. The Mafia's growing up!

Handmade Holiday ReCap

1) Scarf for Mom



2) Fingerless gloves for 13yoSIL



3) Fingerless gloves for 16yoSIL



4) Beanie for Bro. FYI - he's 24, newly single, sweet and appreciates knit goods.



5) Purple&Pink Bean Bag set for Lily



6) Cowgirls Bean Bag set for Leila



7) Vegetables Bean Bag set for Owen



8) Bean Bag set for Charlotte
- not done. we decided not to exchange gifts.

9) Toddler legwarmers for Ms. G



10) Cut flannel lap blanket for my Gramma

- No photo. I forgot. eek! Little did I know that Gramma had fallen on the ice a couple days before Christmas, so she was bruised and heavily medicated. Even though this blanket was the source of drinking, swearing, throwing of scissors on the floor, and refusing to gift it, Gramma LOVED it. She immediately threw it over herself and didn't move from the recliner for hours. If you're interested in making a homemade chenille blanket, there's a great online resource. Unfortunately I didn't Google prior to embarking. Silly Mafia. Typical. MamaRoo's Mom made an amazing handmade chenille blanket, which I snuggled under and thought, "I could make this..." Note to self: beware of over-confidence. Always Google highly skilled crafters.

11) Framed photos of Little Man and my Mom (for Mom)
12) Framed photos of Little Man and Papa (for Papa)
- Didn't do these, 'cuz the Red-As-Emma-bank wouldn't allow it

13) Felted clogs for 28yoSIL's early January birthday
- Didn't do these. Turns out, she'd rather have a kit for making braided rugs. Wifey tried to give away my braided rug kit, but I threw a temper tantrum (it was my favorite Gram's!!), so we found one on eBay. Phew!

14) Socks for Alice's almost-a-baby-girl
- Haven't done these, and I'm not sure that I will. Still contemplating.

and the last minute additions ...

15) Hat and scarf for Dad. Irish Hiking scarf, with my addition of a seaman's neckband, was a wonderful pattern that I would strongly recommend.





16) Felted recyled sweater tote bag for Wifey's pal Barbara (stash sweater grudgingly surrendered by Mafia; felted, sewn and embroidered by Wifey). Flower is from AlterKnits, on loan from the library. Love this book!



17) painted chalkboard and wooden letters for 16yoSIL
- Finished but photoless. Not very exciting.

18) 10 painted ornaments for family (by Little Man)
- Finished, but photoless. Cute as hell and much appreciated.

19) 4 wreaths with cut greenery
- One is on our front door. The others were deemed unworthy as tossed.


Bottom Line: I finished everything that was necessary and changed my mind on a couple others. There was certainly a Panic Attack though, so 65.2% of you were RIGHT. (Mafia grudgingly admits she overshot, as usual.) However, Hey-Zeus must have assisted because my hair isn't white.

Crafting Disaster

Here's a sneak peek at the Panic Attack of Dec. 23rd:



Wine (sedative)
Tea (upper)
Cake (just because I wanted it, damn it)

Very large ball of thread (can you guess which giftie caused the panic attack?)