Meet Lugh

My fabu Wifey rescued this little baby from potential doom after one of her macho little middle school students confessed that the litter was headed off to the local animal shelter.

So I jumped off the train the other night, ran to the car and found a brown wicker basket nestled in Little Man's lap. He was grinning from ear to ear.

However, when I tried to meet the new kitten, Little Man insisted, "My Kitty. Mine." I was delighted that Little Man was gently petting the kitten and clearly bonding with "his" new pet, so I ignored the sass. Needless to say, I had to wait for bedtime to snuggle the new family member.

The next day, we named her Lugh, after the Celtic God of the Sun, known as the "Shining One." (since she's white, we're not being terribly creative here) After deciding on Lugh, I realized that the God was also known for arts and crafts. Hooray, the kitty is blog-worthy. I'm just hoping she's won't become the Goddess of Yarn Balls. eek!


UPDATE: Lugh is pronounced like Lou. Thanks for asking.

Little Man's Art

I swear I only walked out of the room for a moment.

And I must confess, I wasn't terribly upset. He's being creative. Truly creative. The kind of creative that says, "Hey, I'm bored with the coloring book, I wonder how this might look on my legs, arms, belly, face, mouth and the soles of my feet? Hmmm...I wonder: 1) if I run around the house with marker on the bottom of my feet, exactly how many steps can I take before the ink stops being ground into Mom's carpet? and 2) Will this non-Crayola marker with questionable toxicity wash off my skin?*

This type of artistic and scientific curiosity drives all great inventions and Grumperina's wacky insightful experiments. So why not let him explore? I suppose there is a limit. For instance, he's not allowed to draw on the walls, his Moms, furniture or the rugs (although accidents do happen). But his body? I don't see anything wrong with that. Or should I? Will he grow up to look like this guy? There are limits, you know.

*Answers from Mom: 1) 3 steps. Which, if multiplied by 2 feet = not a terrible clean-up job. 2) Yep. Easily.

Wet Sheep in Shower

I spent some time this weekend soaking, squeezing, hanging and skeining the yarn from my recycled Irish sweater. It was an amazing process, which made me realize how time-consuming, hard and utterly satisfying it is to create a beautiful knit-thing from start to finish. Wifey is worried that she'll come home to a sheep, happily mowing our yard munching away on our grass, with me looming nearby with a crazed look and clutching some scary shears.

For the parents in the crowd, yes, those are Melissa and Doug wooden lacing beads (have I mentioned that I love Melissa and Doug toys?). Until Little Man grows fond of this toy, Mommy uses it for crafty tasks.

For the stalkers in the crowd, yes, this is another picture of my bathroom. But -- I cannot be held responsible for the 1970s vomiting all over the decor. The house is a family house. We are renting it. We would LOVE to strip all this ugly shit vintage decor from every surface in the damned place, but we cannot. I rest easily in the knowledge that we're moving in just under two weeks. My new bathroom has white shower walls. Ahhh ... the glory.

Working Mom Steals Knitting Time

This one's for you MamaCate for your moments of working mom frustration. A gift of laughter.

What is this yarn?

Hi all. It's me ... Ms. Startitis. Once again, I need help from the gurus. This yarn is perfect for my sock pal. I already checked the loop website and couldn't find it. That site is not very user-friendly, IMHO. Anyone know what it is?


UPDATE: Thanks a bundle to Local Egg from such a girl to me! I think you're right. It's ArtYarns Super Merino. Unfortunately, its a worsted weight yarn. Bummer. But -- your suggestion of Koigu is excellent. For whatever reason, I didn't think of it. THANKS!

Sockapal-2-za!

Fun! I got my assignment for Sockapal-2-za, courtesy of The Blue Blog. Since I have to keep the identity of my assignment secret for the next couple months, let's give her a kick ass temporary name. How about "Assig"? It has a certain ring, yes? So ... I've already started stalking Assig online reading Assig's blog in order to find the perfect color and pattern. As you may know, I've made one pair of socks. They were gray. They were boring. They were tall. They were 'short row challenged' at the heel. And I love them. Imperfection is a good thing. But I'll try harder to create perfect little socks for my sockpal. So far, I'm thinking ... green(s), mitered squares or cables, or something in blues (since she's very into her fish tank). We'll see. Luckily I have until September to complete them. Wish me luck!

WTF?

As I'm sitting here fuming over yet another item stolen from my wife at the low-income inner-city school where she teaches, I came across this.

Seriously. What the fuck!?

Scaling WAY back

It was bound to happen. I finally realized that I have far too many blogs in my Bloglines feed. I can't keep up. I can't comment very much. I don't reply to comments posted here in a timely fashion. The other night I decided to read blogs instead of packing boxes to move into our new apartment. With my tail tucked between my legs, I admitted it. I'm obsessed. And it must stop.

My Bloglines account was running nearly 100 feeds at its peak. Now I'm down to 30. I'll probably trim that too. Sorry to those who got the boot. I methodically bookmarked each and every blog address, so I won't permanently lose anyone. I'll read periodically, but for now ... I must focus on other things. Later chicas.

Finishitis Paradox

I am still grudgingly happily working on Branching Out and avoiding finishing because I'm obsessed with deciding what my next project will be and spending all my knitting time looking around for ideas ocassionally thinking about my next knitting excursion. In the meantime, I grace you with yet another time-wasting, but totally fun QUIZ. Weee...

You're Catch-22!

by Joseph Heller

Incredibly witty and funny, you have a taste for irony in all that you
see. It seems that life has put you in perpetually untenable situations, and your sense
of humor is all that gets you through them. These experiences have also made you an
ardent pacifist, though you present your message with tongue sewn into cheek. You
could coin a phrase that replaces the word "paradox" for millions of
people.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

HAPPY PRIDE!

Happy Pride, Boston!! Congrats on marriage, having choices, the non-discrimination statute, increasing community support, unexpected community support, the sox, our elected officials, and our babies.

My son will be wearing this T-shirt (which apparently got some Missouri teens into trouble) to his 3rd Pride celebration tomorrow. The T-shirt was a gift from the ever-fabulous Kevin, BBF to Ms. Nina Bean, who is Mommy to Gracie, Little Man's BFF. Make sense? Kevin bought the shirt for Gracie too, so if you see two 2 year olds holding hands and wearing matching T-shirts, you'll find The Mafia and Nina Bean in hot pursuit.

Maybe I'll see you there. I'll be chasing a small blond boy and knitting away at the god damned fabulous learning experience Branching Out.

-phew! that was a lot of HTML

Shawl Ideas

With the ever-evolving New England weather bearing down on me, I've been thinking of making a shawl for myself. For those who know me, this is a very very strange thing indeed. I'm not a shawl person. I've never been a shawl person. I like them on other people, but much like red nail polish, shawls make me feel like a drag queen. However, my icebox-sauna office is forcing me to reconsider. So ... I could use a little help from the knitting gurus. Does anyone know of a distinctively non-feminine shawl pattern?
- brrr -

Another huge shock

I'm a sucker for a silly quiz. Thanks to Redneck Feminist for this one.

Your Political Profile

Overall: 10% Conservative, 90% Liberal

Social Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Personal Responsibility: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal

Defense and Crime: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal

How Liberal / Conservative Are You?

NOT a republican

This is what happens when I have no knitting content to report. Thanks to Pinko Feminist Hellcat for the entertaining multiple choice selection of completely absurd answers. No suprise, I'm NOT a republican.

I am: -21% Republican.

"The Marxists are too reactionary for you.  With people like you around, America collectively thanks God for John Ashcroft."

Are You A Republican?

I'm in Love!

UPDATE: The knitting stationery is available! Go see, it's wicked cute.

I just found this great LiveJournal called Limelady and the corresponding bizsite Sewing Stars and I'm simply tickled by these knitting cards. I must admit I'm in awe of super crafty people. I'm the craftiest person in my group of friends and am continuously harassed for it. But I am downright banal when compared to some of the amazing crafters that I'm finding out here in cyberland. And I'm terribly impressed by the mini-businesses these folks start. So much fun! So impressive.

For those Secret Pal folks out there, these cards would make a great knitter gift.

My World View

Hi there "World View." You are fucking up my layout. Perhaps its only on Macs that you misbehave so thoroughly. Unfortunately I don't know enough HTML to smack your ass into submission, but I'm heading off to find a nice strong chick to beat you down. I'll be back with a computer goddess. You better be ready.

You scored as Existentialist. Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility. Existentialist 75% Postmodernist 69% Modernist 63% Cultural Creative 63% Materialist 63% Romanticist 50% Idealist 31% Fundamentalist 19% What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com

Fair Isle Revealed

Here's the inside peek at my first attempt at fair isle. I'm pretty proud of myself. Neat little rows. Evenly spaced weaving. Yarn carried across with just a bit of tension and no slack. Hooray, Mafia. You done good.

Finished Tea Set

Little Missy Grace had her 2nd birthday party this weekend, and after slaving over this project for weeks, I was able to hand it off. I followed the directions for the Fiesta Tea Set almost to the letter. The directions for the tea set were excellent. However, this strange little placemat was a pain in the ass. First of all, there was no picture of the placemat in the pattern instructions, so I didn't know if I'd like it at all. Then, after working through the fair isle (my first stab at fair isle, by the way), I discovered that the entire piece measured abut 3 inches wide. With a gift deadline looming, I asked the all-knowledgeable gals for help at my SnB on Thursday. They suggested ripping out and knitting stripes (nope, I'm not frogging my first fair isle), repeating the pattern until I achieve the desired length (no time for that), or knit a big swath of a solid color and do another fair isle section on the other end (good idea ... let's go with that). After knitting a swath of blue, I realized that the dimensions were completely off. The whole piece was too small to function as a placemat. So I threw in the towel and did some "free association" knitting and turning the damned thing into a bag. Mind you, the entire time, my feminist self was hollering about showing up to a 2 year old girls birthday party with a tea set and bag. But ... it's colorful. It's functional. She can throw it against the wall and it won't break. And we bought her a green wooden toy truck for Christmas. So there. Back off you overly p.c. self righteous inner voice.