Destructo-Boy Eats Floss!

In what might have been his worst crime yet, Murphy “Destructo-Boy” Reilly was caught eating embroidery floss this morning. The crime occurred while Destructo-Boy’s guardian was in the shower; she had evidently thought it safe to leave him unattended after several months of good behavior. Investigators have discovered that it is not the first time he has been left unsupervised, and that there has not been a problem in the past.

Destructo-Boy denied the allegations at first, but finally admitted that he might have mistaken the palette of floss (left picture) for the dolly (right picture), which he has always been allowed to chew on.

The owner of the floss has decided not to press charges, considering it a message from a higher power to start putting things away more often. She is, however, looking for replacement thread for Anchor color #275. Apparently, the floss was part of a kit, and there is not enough usable thread left of that color to complete the project. When asked why that was the only color needed, the owner stated, “Actually, the damage was quite extensive, but aside from that color, Destructo-Boy was kind enough to leave enough of the rest of the colors to finish. Somehow he knew that I had already finished with the browns and greens. I am just thankful that he chewed on the floss, and not the completed sections of the cross-stitch.”

This is just the latest in a string of craft-related (and other) crimes that Destructo-Boy has been accused of committing.

Baby News and Knitting

We got to hear the baby’s heartbeat today! It was very quiet and hard to find, but once found it was steady and strong. I have to admit, that’s something of a relief – I’ve been trying not to be obsessively worried, but sometimes I just can’t help it. I’m sure I will worry less once I’m getting kicked constantly.

I am 13 1/2 weeks pregnant. In just a few weeks I’ll have my ultrasound appointment to find out if the pumpkin baby is a boy or a girl! Yes, yes, I know, it spoils the surprise somewhat, but I don’t want to have to exclusively knit yellow and green things! Besides, if we don’t narrow down the possible names to something less than half the baby name dictionary, we’ll never find a name.

Actually, to be honest, I already bought some orange yarn to make a little cabled, hooded sweater. Yes, orange. Well, the pumpkin child will need something orange, right? And it won’t matter if it’s a boy or a girl, since it’s a unisex design and orange can work for either. I splurged and bought the Rowan Cork yarn (on sale, no less!) the pattern called for – not machine washable, which is probably very silly for a baby sweater, but, oh, I couldn’t resist the color!

I also cast on for Rosebud at Sit & Knit last Thursday. I haven’t had a lot of knitting time since, but I really like how the yarn feels while knitting up, and I think this is going to be a lovely project.

Stop the world…

…I want to get off. Just for a little while, please?

I have to confess, I’ve been feeling very overwhelmed lately, which is why I haven’t been very good about posting (or even replying to emails – I owe a few!)

There is so much to do to get ready for the baby, and there are so many other things to do, because the rest of my life hasn’t stopped or anything, and I finally feel like I have enough energy to do things again, and I don’t know where to start. So I haven’t been doing any of it, which of course is the absolute worst thing I could be doing. Sigh.

Ooeeeeoooooeee

(A theremin plays in the background…)
There I was, innocently enjoying my cereal while watching TiVo. The dogs were peacefully napping by my side – with one eye open each to make sure no cereal escaped my bowl without notice.

Suddenly, the sound of a vacuum cleaner intruded into the scene…and just as quickly, stopped. I thought to myself, “Self, nobody else is home. Besides which, the vacuum cleaner is dusty from disuse and sitting in the closet right in this room. It must have been outside.”

Again, the noise. This time it did not stop. It was now obvious that the noise was coming from upstairs. The urge to throw a blanket over my head until it went away was quite strong, but instead I ran up the stairs with two dogs tearing after me, ready to come to my defense by licking any intruders to death.

Pausing at the top of the stairs, I realized that the noise was coming from the office! Visions of rogue computer fans spinning madly about the room after having burst out of their cases crossed my mind. What I actually saw, however, is not for the faint of heart. As I gingerly looked around the door frame I saw nothing amiss, except that the shredder was happily shredding nothing.

It was shredding the very air we breathe, the light streaming into the room, its own shredding sound… The off button did not work. Realizing that there were dark and mysterious forces at work here, I quickly reached back and yanked the plug. The sound stopped. The possessed shredder quieted; an eerie silence blanketed the house. Hands shaking, I slowly returned to my bowl of now soggy cereal, the dogs once more peacefully napping by my side.

It waits. Waits for some new unsuspecting soul to give it life again. It will then be able to shred the sign now hanging on it that only has three little words of warning: “Out of Order”.

See? I’m Still Knitting!

Let’s see, I guess we’ll go oldest to newest…

So, the first thing on the list is another finished afghan square for my Aran afghan. Bet you thought this project was doomed to sit on the needles forever! Actually, there’s even yet another finished square, but it’s two pieces that need to be sewn together, and I haven’t found a good amount of floor space to do the blocking that needs to be done first. (Yes, my house is a disaster area. Oh, well.)

Next up, the finished sweater (and hat) for my cousin’s baby Benjamin. This was a very quick knit – under two weeks for both items – so I will definitely be re-using the pattern. I can see it with sheep on a green background instead of duckies on blue, can’t you?


Finally, my new project is going to be Rosebud from the spring Knitty. Except, it’s really going to be a maternity top. I’m still planning a bit, which is why I only have a swatch to show off, but I will definitely have to cast on soon!

Currently, I’m working away at the perforated paper project I’ve mentioned a couple of times. No pictures to show off for that, but I’ve made some fantastic progress on it – I guess I just had to get used to the new medium, although I won’t be willingly picking up another kit like this again…

I think that’s all…well, if you don’t count the three different pairs of socks I have on the needles, or the projects that are on hold until the pumpkin baby comes!

Happy (Belated) Easter!

Reflections on Easter while pregnant:

  1. Having running water in the large, seasonal baptismal font (more like a jacuzzi) in church is a very bad thing, especially when mass is longer than usual.
  2. Not eating lunch because dinner is at 4 and breakfast was at 10 is a very bad idea, especially when it causes one to pick at the velveeta cheese and artichoke leaves…all afternoon.
  3. Eating for two at Grandma’s should mean eating less than is customary for one, since there just isn’t room for baby and a full stomach in there. Oh, and desserts should be completely off-limits.
  4. If the above is not followed, large amounts of Tylenol and Tums should be taken before bed, to prevent agita.
  5. If the above advice is also not taken, one should expect to not be able to sleep. At all.

Other than that, though, yesterday was a very nice day. Almost our whole extended family was there – just my “baby” brother who couldn’t come home from college and a significant other or two were missing. Little Benjamin was the star of the party, of course, and I tried not to hog him, but it’s just so nice to hold little babies. I kept having to remind myself that I would soon have one of my own to hold as much as I want. (And I’ll probably be happy to have other people do most of the holding in big family gatherings, too!)

I promise, tomorrow, a big crafty post. All the work is done, I just have to find some energy to write. Maybe I’ll get some sleep tonight…where’s the Tums bottle?

Nothing Much to Say

If the weather will ever cooperate, I’ll get some pictures of my recent knitting up. There’s still snow on my deck, and it’s been overcast. (Excuses, excuses.) I actually haven’t been knitting, this week, either. I’ve been working on that perforated paper project I gave up on several weeks ago. It seems to be going much better now…

But, wait! Sarah’s new bedtime is 9:30, and it’s well after 10. What gives? Well, I just finished watching “Under the Tuscan Sun”, which was enough to keep me awake way past my pathetically early bedtime! It’s a nice movie – not too sad, not too sappy, just nice. It did make me wish I’d gotten to see some of Italy besides Rome and Venice. I guess I’ll just have to go back someday!

Monday, Monday.

It’s definitely Monday. Seems like yesterday the time change wasn’t so bad, but today I’ve been all screwed up. And the weird thing is that it feels an hour later to me, not an hour earlier. For example, I was starving for dinner by 5:00. And I’m ready to fall asleep now.

This is not helping me get anything done. Although, I think I can officially declare Mt. Laundry done. Yes, that would be the Mt. Laundry from the trip. Don’t worry, there’s another Mt. Laundry already in progress…

Oh, and yesterday’s blizzard had better be the last of the snow this year, because I can’t take the spring-winter-spring-winter see-saw any more!

Spring Forward!

Don’t forget to change your clocks tonight. I’ll be dragging my sorry self out of bed at what feels like an ungodly hour to go to church tomorrow. (This is when playing piano at the 8 AM mass really, truly sucks.)

I finished a whole bunch of stuff today, but the weather and lighting weren’t cooperating, so no pictures until at least tomorrow. Of course, I also started something new – well, swatched for it, anyway. Again, though, no pictures yet. It’s very springy, and from the new Knitty… (I’m such a tease!)

An Open Letter To Comment Spammers

To all those who leave comments advertising pill suppliers, adult sites, and yes, even zip code look-up sites on my blog:

Don’t you have anything better to do with your pathetic little lives than to leave strange comments with inappropriate links on my personal blog? My blog readership isn’t that big. And I sincerely doubt any of the people who actually read my blog are stupid enough to click on your links. As far as Google ranking goes, I delete the comments long before Google could ever possibly see those links. All you are doing is wasting your time…and mine. And I honestly don’t care if you waste your own time, but I have better things to do with my time than to clean up the graffiti you post on my site.

So, I’ll ask nicely: stop spamming me. I’ll find a way to prevent it anyway, even if you don’t.

Sincerely,
A Frustrated Blog Owner
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Now, to all those who leave nice, friendly comments on my blog – or even unfriendly comments, as long as they are relevant:

Please don’t stop commenting! And thank you for letting me vent! Since I delete these things before most people see them, you have no idea how much of this goes on – and I intend to keep it that way – but to give you an idea, I have deleted hundreds of comments with inappropriate content from this blog.

Movable Type 3.0 is going to come out soon, and I am probably going to implement a registration system. That doesn’t mean you can’t comment if you don’t register, but your comments will be queued for review. I really hate to do this to my regular visitors, but I’ve got to stop this somehow.