There's no place like home...

Every time I get a little down on my life as a stay-at-home mom, I think "wow, all my problems would be solved if only I got a break once in awhile..." What better opportunity than to jet off to Ohio to be surrounded by all things yarn for four whole days? Well, before I even set foot on the plane this morning I was already plotting ways I could get myself back home. I hated seeing Portland fade into the distance from the window of the airplane. I've been worried for months about the effect my little trip would have on my kids - what I didn't expect was how it would effect me!

Rather than surf the web for cheap return fares to Portland, I thought I'd share with you the Yarn Harlot's lovely letter to her daughter, in honor of her 18th birthday (okay, am I the only one who can't believe that she has a freaking 18-year-old daughter - was she like twelve when she had her?). Of course, you probably all saw this post before I did, being the good blog readers that you are. Except for Bill, who I am instructing to go read it right now. Thanks, honey!

It's so easy to get bogged down in the little annoyances of raising a toddler and a preschooler, especially ones who are "spirited" like mine. It's so easy to forget that the fact that Sydney needs to say everything at top volume is a sign of her zest for life, her sheer exuberance for every little thing that she's experiencing, and not something that we need to constantly shush lest the people at the next table be slightly disturbed. Now, saying the same thing at top volume twenty-five times in a row, that's something else entirely. Persistence? Unwillingness to give up at the first sign of impediment? I will try to take a deep breath and think about that the next time I'm ready to throttle her for demanding her vitamins for the forty-eighth time in five minutes. I do tend to be forgetful, which means that she may have learned this habit out of necessity rather than simply to annoy me.

When I'm away from them, though, even for the day, I forget all the little irritations and only remember their sweet little faces - Sydney's small voice over the phone (for some reason she sounds even more doll-like on the phone than in person), telling me she misses me, and how long is it until Sunday when I get to come home? Owen's chubby little hand planted firmly on my cheek, turning my head to show me the "woof" or "meow" or "boon" (ballon, to those who don't speak Owenese) or "coo-coo" (train, ditto) he's spotted. Their little footsteps when they run to greet me at the door, shrieking "mama", when I get home from wherever I've been for the evening.

It's good to have someone with experience reinforce the notion that the very traits that drive you crazy when your kids are small are things that will serve them very well as adults. Thank you, Stephanie, once again, for your fine words of wisdom. Now I'm trying to decide what I will be doing - trying to find the first flight out in the morning? Reviewing my class descriptions and the trade show map to get myself psyched up for the rest of the weekend here? Calling Bill so he can talk me down (or talk me into coming home)? I guess you'll find out soon enough!

PS - thank you all for your most helpful comments on the state of the blog. Sounds like you pretty much like it as it is, but perhaps with some tutorials and a bit more knitting thrown in. Duly noted - I will try to get on that, but as always, I reserve the right to remain incredibly lazy and just talk about things rather than actually doing them!

Off to Columbus

My plane leaves in about an hour and a half. I'm abandoning my family and heading off to the big needlearts trade show until Sunday. Boy, am I conflicted! I'm looking forward to going, but the idea of hugging Bill and the kids and getting on that plane makes me want to crawl back into bed. Today is sort of a wasted day anyway - I'm going to end up traveling all day with a 3-1/2 hour (3-1/2 hour!) layover in Detroit, my all-time favorite airport. At least I'll have my knitting and no restless kids to try to entertain...

Yesterday, all of my procrastinating caught up with me. I had three sample socks to block and only one sock blocker willing to show itself to me. Fortunately, it was a nice hot, dry day so I rigged up a little air-drying situation on our back patio. Here's the Succulent sock drying out:



This was the last sock to dry. Its sisters, Lazy River and Walk in the Woods, relaxed on the sofa while waiting for it to finish up.



The socks turned out really nice in the Nature's Palette yarn, and they'll spend the next few days hanging in the Nature's Palette booth at TNNA. Yay! I'll be back in a couple days with a report from the front (assuming internet access at the hotel doesn't cost $5/minute).

What now?

We're going to be coming up on my 2-year blogiversary this summer, and I'm having a bit of a mid-life crisis. So far, I've been pretty happy toodling along, posting whatever I feel like. However, it feels like it's time to focus a bit. Get down to business. To that end, I'm asking you, gentle readers, to tell me what you'd like me to write about.

When I first started this blog, I didn't think anyone besides my mom (and occasionally my husband) would ever read it. Now, I get in the neighborhood of 100 hits a day. Not a huge number, but I think it's pretty darn good, especially considering I can go days at a time without posting. I would like to get motivated to blog again, instead of putting it at the bottom of the priority list where it only gets done when I don't have anything better to do.

So...what do you like about this blog? What would you like to see more of? What are you interested in? Do you want knitting pictures? More design talk? Techniques & tutorials? More about the kids? Never want to see the kids again? What are your favorite (and least favorite) posts about? Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh, yeah...

In all the excitement, I nearly forgot...I have new patterns available!

Lazy River:



Walk in the Woods:



and Succulent:



Cables, texture and lace - a little something for everyone! Thanks to Lisa for kniting the beautiful samples pictured for Lazy River and Succulent, and Katrina for knitting Walk in the Woods.

I also just got a big box of Nature's Palette yarn in today and will have it up in the shop shortly. If you want to know what it looks like, see Lazy River above.

Finally, if you're in the Portland area, I'll have a little table at the Crafty Mamas Bazaar tomorrow from 11-3 over at Milagro's. If you happen by, be sure to say hi!

Oh, my goodness - meditations on bumps in the road!

Seems that this is the House o' Drama lately. Remember Sea Socks '08? That little cruise up to Ketchikan, Alaska that I was going to be doing with Mama-E and Amy Singer? Well, Princess up and canceled the sailing that we were booked on. Yup, canceled, out of the blue, no substitutes or consolation gifts to those who had already booked. Poor Patricia nearly burst a blood vessel, but after a flurry of e-mails, things calmed down a bit and we found a worthy substitute. Better than worthy, in fact - it's now a 7-day cruise and goes up to Hubbard Glacier and Juneau as well as Ketchikan (we get to stop in Victoria again, too - there was a shop downtown that advertised authentic Cowichan sweaters, but we didn't have time to stop). The other cruise just barely got us into Alaska, but this one will give us the whole shbang!

Not only that, but the longer cruise allowed us to snag another knitting celebrity. I just about peed my pants when I heard who was joining us, although when I spilled the beans to Katrina and Donna last night at our guild board meeting, they both said "who's that?" Philistines! This person to whom I'm referring is none other than the legendary Brenda Dayne of Cast-On, mother of all knitting podcasts. If you've never listened to Cast-On, get thee to thy iPod, quick! Or if you've lost your iPod (which was Katrina's excuse), you can listen via iTunes on any computer with sound.

I am shaking in my boots at the thought of being on the roster with Brenda & Amy - how did this happen? It's very delightful and humbling. Thank you, Erin, for getting me involved in all this! Details of how to go on the new and improved cruise are on the Sea Socks blog. Keep your fingers crossed for us that Celebrity is a little more reliable with their sailings than Princess proved to be!

But that wasn't the only crisis affecting the Gardiner household this week - oh, no! I mentioned a little while back that Bill was quitting his job. Well, I can't get into too many details here since there are and will continue to be lawyers involved (and that should key you into why I use the word "crisis"), but we've been on an emotional roller-coaster that is threatening to drag on ad infinitum. Nobody's getting sued (at least, not yet), but there is some serious disagreement as to what Bill can be doing for the next two years. There's nothing like a situation where lawyers get involved to make your stomach curl up into knots!

I've been knitting to help myself chill out. Remember that little sleeve cuff from the other day? Well, it turned into a full-blown sleeve, and it has a little friend!



Amazing how much sleeve you can knit in a few days when you put your mind to it. Do you think this had anything to do with it?



Um, maybe not (at least he didn't pull the needles all the way out this time).

I really should be swatching for a May 29th deadline, but this is so much more fun. I'm a little bit swatched out right now, to be completely honest. I get nervous during these downtimes when I have a bunch of designs that have been accepted, but I'm waiting for the yarn and really don't have much I can do to get them going. I know that as soon as the yarn arrives on the porch, frenzied knitting and pattern writing will ensue. I should enjoy the calm before the storm, but it's hard! I'm always waiting for the day when I just won't be able to get it all done. It's a really tough balance between submitting enough so that you always have plenty of work, and not submitting too much that you get completely overwhelmed. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that you never know what's going to get accepted. You can submit 20 swatches that all turn out to be duds, or you can submit three and have them all accepted. You just never know.

At least sibling rivalry seems to be a bit on the downturn. The other morning, Bill left early in the morning to play golf and put Sydney in bed with Owen. I went downstairs to check my e-mail, and when I came back up I found them like this:



Just when I'm ready to give them away, they prove themselves to be the sweetest kids on earth. Lucky for them!

Breaking up is hard to do.

I've spent the past couple days engaged in an ugly breakup with a former member of our knitting group. I won't get into all the gory details, except to say that it was pretty ugly and all-around sucked. The upside is that this person, who really changed the dynamic of our group when she came in, decided to remove herself from the group. The rest of us are relieved and ready to get back to our old comfortable, happy, relaxed dynamic.

I guess there's really no good way to tell someone she's no longer wanted, and I tried to do it as nicely as possible (which got me labeled as "passive-aggressive", something I won't necessarily deny since I am 75% Scandinavian and tend to avoid conflict at all costs - no offense to Scandinavians if this is just a trait of my large Scandinavian family, who always jokes about it being a trait of Scandinavians...). I sure wouldn't have taken it well if I'd been on the flip side of the whole thing, although I don't think it would've come to a head like it did if this person had not sent an e-mail to several people that started off with a nasty remark to another member of the group who happens to be one of my best friends. Coupled with a few other things she's said and done in the past few months (all small and forgiveable on their own but when viewed all together, not so much), this ended up being the straw that broke the camel's back.

I told her in pretty strong words how I felt (via e-mail, since I can't get past being a wuss about these kinds of things and tend to be completely inarticulate when trying to talk about stuff like this under duress), gave her an opening to initiate a conversation about what I'd said, and was basically told to screw off. Oh, well. I probably would've done the same thing in her shoes. At this point, I'll be happy if I never have to see or hear about her ever again! I don't hate her or wish her ill, but as she said in her final FOAD e-mail, we don't have to be friends. Some people just don't get along. It's still yucky to go through something like this. Oh, the humanity!

I cheered myself up by finishing my Grasshoppers:



And starting the first sleeve of my Lacy Cabled Scoop:



I have this crazy idea that I'm going to finish this in time to wear it at TNNA (I'm leaving for Columbus next Wednesday). I may be weaving in ends on Saturday night in my hotel so I can wear it on Sunday, but I think maybe it can be done! It's so rare that I actually have something knitted that I can wear since it usually gets sent off to someone else. I've got lots of socks, but those are harder to show off when walking the show floor...

I can also seek relaxation by hanging out with the girls:



Aren't they sweet? Or checking in on my ethereal little asparagus spears:



They are somewhere between DK and Worsted-weight right now but I was so worried that they would never come up, I don't care if they are the tiniest asparagus spears ever! We can't harvest them for a couple years anyway, so it doesn't really matter how big they are as long as they're alive... Think it might help if I did a little weeding? Sheesh!

We also are anxiously anticipating our strawberry harvest:



Along with lots of big, fat blueberries:



Yummy! Can't wait for ripeness to happen around here!

Greenin' it up

Yesterday was the mother of all yard-work days. The chicken coop is now 99% finished (we just need to get some sand for the floor and lower the perch a bit), and the chickies are happily out of the basement and in their new home. I'd love to show you a picture, but I didn't manage to take any yesterday and today it's raining. (I no longer mind rainy days like I used to, however, because it means I don't have to drag out the sprinkler and water the garden now...)

The main, major project was getting all of our plastic ready to take to the Master Recycler's semi-annual plastic round-up. When we first started collecting plastic for this, we didn't realize that everything needed to be clean and sorted. It makes sense now that we think about it, but it was a big step for us to just start saving all of our plastic so we threw a lot of stuff in that was dirty.

Yesterday morning, we dragged all the bags full of old plastic out to the back yard along with a bucket full of hot soapy water and started to clean and sort. What a job! It was also really eye-opening to discover just how much plastic waste we'd produced over the past nine months (we missed the last round-up, so we've been saving for a looooong time). We weren't 100% diligent about putting everything into the bags to save, so we probably only managed to divert about 75% of our plastic waste out of the trash. We ended up with about 10 garbage bags full of plastic which filled up the entire back of our minivan. It felt great to know that all that plastic was going to find a good home, but it was also a little bit depressing to realize how insidious disposable plastic is in our everyday lives.

We are definitely going to continue to save all our plastic for the next plastic round-up, but I'm hoping that yesterday's experience will help us think about our purchases and how we can reduce all that extraneous plastic from our lives as much as possible. It's difficult, because there aren't a ton of options at the grocery store that don't involve plastic or some other kind of long-living waste like foil packets. The sheer volume of little yogurt and applesauce cups that made it into the recycling have made me think twice before grabbing the snack pack - I try to buy the biggest container and put it into little reusable plastic tubs for the kids to take in their lunch or wherever.

ETA - I should've clarified - we can recycle some plastic curbside, but we're limited to only putting "things with a neck" in our yellow bins. Soon they're going to be including plastic tubs, but this still leaves out heaps and heaps of plastic that's hard to avoid in everyday life - plastic bags, plastic wrap, bottle lids (which can't be left on the bottles because it melts at a different rate and screws everything up), clamshells, numberless hard plastic that toys, etc. come packaged in, those stupid AOL CDs that come in the mail once a month... The Master Recyclers have worked out a deal with a great local company, Agri-plas, that has come up with technology and markets that allow them to recycle nearly every kind of plastic, many of which are almost impossible to recycle through traditional recyclers. It's really very cool!

These days, I try to make green living something I think about all the time. Some things are easier than others, like buying a gigantic pack of washcloths at Costco and using them in the kitchen instead of paper towels, and using boiling water to kill weeds in the driveway instead of Round-Up (well, that would assume that we actually kill the weeds in the driveway, which hasn't been the case at all this spring...). Some things take a bit of a shift in mindset, like taking reusable bags to the grocery store or your own cup to the coffee shop (these are particularly difficult for me since it's almost impossible for me to remember to bring anything besides the children when I leave th house). And some things I'm just not quite ready for, like taking Sydney to school on the bus instead of driving every single day. I'm trying to psych myself up for doing that next year, when Owen's older and more manageable on public transportation. This year, I've found every excuse in the book not to do it - mainly "oops, we should've been on the bus five minutes ago to get there in time...maybe tomorrow."

Knitting green has been a big thing in the magazines this spring. Apparently the new Knit.1 magazine is dedicated to knitting green (and caused quite the controversy on the Socknitters Yahoo! list when somebody took offense at the political stance of the letter from the editor and a couple of the articles), but I haven't had a chance to pick it up yet. I got my latest issue of Yarn Market News yesterday, which had a few articles dedicated to environmental knitting that were enlightening.

I must admit, my green outlook hasn't necessarily been reflected in my own knitting and designing, apart from a few small things (like printing all the patterns for my sock kits double-sided on 100% recycled paper, and ordering a huge mess of Nature's Palette naturally-dyed sock yarn for the GYW shop). I love Blue Sky Organic Cotton and have a pile of organic wool from New Zealand that I have yet to knit up. I love the idea behind SWTC's alternative-fiber yarns, although I haven't knit with many of them because I find them a little bit too scratchy. Bamboo yarn rocks my world. But when it comes down to it, I love my microfiber as much as the next gal and I don't know that knitwear design is ever going to be an uber-green business. But I'm glad that the green-ness that is sweeping the country (at least in some sectors) is starting to touch the yarn industry, and I hope it continues.

I will have to do a photo tour of the garden for you all very soon. My asparagus has finally come up in the skinnies, spindly little spears you've ever seen. They are so cute! We've got a bumper crop of pea plants that really need a trellis soon and our strawberry patch looks like it was built on a toxic waste dump, the plants are so gigantic. And of course the chickens are so incredibly cute right now - they're full-on pullets, with all their feathers and chicken features but in miniature. They are the best pets ever!

Now, I'm back to swatching up some of the big box of Classic Elite yarn that arrived on my doorstep last week. Ironically, all the yarn is green! I really look forward to getting my Classic Elite yarn because it stretches my boundaries a bit. There's always yarn in the box that I would never, ever pick up on my own at the yarn store but for whatever reason turns out to totally float my boat when I swatch it up. Last fall it was Paintbox. This spring, it's Pebbles. Go figure! And, if you were wondering what happened to Pam Allen after she left as editor of Interweave Knits, well, you can find out here. Yay, Pam!

Sea Socks '08 bookings are open - and going fast!

You'll probably be hearing a lot about the next Sea Socks here over the next few months. Turns out, I'm going to be teaching some workshops on board! I can't wait - me and Amy Singer, co-instructors! Who would've ever guessed? I'll also be designing some exclusive Sea Socks patterns with some of Mama-E's amazing yarn.

Bookings are officially open - you can go to the Sea Socks blog for all the info. There's a menu at the top, and Book Now is one of the options. You can go in there and log in to the Sea Socks group (logging in doesn't commit you to anything - it just gives you access to the pricing and cruise itinerary) to get all the info you need.

I'm all excited about Sea Socks '08 for another reason, which has nothing to do with socks. I've talked my mom into coming to Portland and staying with the kids here while Bill and I go on the cruise - ALONE! It will be our first trip away from the young'uns and will be like a second honeymoon for us. After the luck my mom had on Sea Socks '07, I bet she's secretly relieved to be staying safely in Portland this time around...

You Portlanders out there should be particularly interested in this cruise, since Patricia has arranged for us to depart from Seattle. We will probably take the train up, but regardless there will be no airfare involved which makes the price even more reasonable.

I'm almost done with my shameless promotion, but one last thing - I know it seems early to be booking almost a year in advance, but cabins on the ship fill up fast. Patricia has reserved a chunk of cabins for us Sea Sockers, but we don't have the whole ship and it will fill up fast. Part of the reason why we're leaving the kids at home is that the 4-person balcony cabins are already full. You can save your spot with a deposit right now and don't have to pay in full until Feb '08. You'll have to go to the official Sea Socks site for the details about refundability and all that, but if you want to get in on the fun, you should act soon to ensure your spot.

That is all! I hope to see some of you on the boat next year, where you can help me get Amy drunk and talk her into publishing a dang pattern of mine in Knitty. Think that'll work?

Random Facts!

Oh, boy - I haven't been tagged for a meme for ages, and now I get it from both Crafty Momma and Yarnhog within two days of each other! Whew! One asked for seven random facts, and one asked for eight. We'll see how this goes, and you'll get however many I can think of...

1. I grew up in a somewhat technologically-challenged household. We never had a dryer (all our clothes went on the line, even during the winter in MN), we rarely had television and for the longest time, my mom washed all our clothes in a funky old-fashioned ringer washing machine. I was terrified of that thing (my mom scared me out of ever touching it by telling me how my entire arm would get flattened if I put my fingers between the rollers). We did have a microwave and a CD player, however, back when they still cost about $600 apiece.

2. During high school, I taught myself to play every single band instrument, out of sheer boredom. My passion was the clarinet, but my "chosen" instrument was the trombone. On an aside, I was the only girl in the trombone section for a long time. We'd have weekly "sectionals", where each instrument section in the band would go to a practice room and rehearse. The senior boys didn't seem to have a problem talking about their weekend exploits in front of this blushing freshman - I wasn't totally innocent myself, but BOY did I learn a lot! As mother of a boy myself now, I'm sort of glad for this knowledge and am trying to figure out how to use it to my advantage when it comes time to teach my son how (or how not) to treat young women.

3. I was both a cheerleader in high school and Miss Aitkin. Anyone who knows me now but didn't know me then practically falls over dead with surprise when they find this out.

4. My husband and I were set up on a blind date by our moms, of all people. In some cases, mother really does know best!

5. I grew up with a houseful of guns, even though my parents were both vegetarian. I learned to shoot when I was 10 (the same year I learned how to knit) and have fired a shotgun, .22, .357 & .44 Magnum. I'm a pretty good shot, but can't imagine the situation where I would ever fire a gun again.

6. My right foot is slightly bigger than my left. I have to be sure to try on the right shoe of any pair I'm thinking of buying (something I've learned from painful experience).

7. I love roller coasters but I have such bad motion sickness, I can barely ride the carousel with my kids, much less any kind of roller coaster. I still try on occasion, but I always regret it for the rest of the day.

8. I have my PADI Advanced scuba-diving certification, but I also have Meniers Disease, which is an inner-ear condition (likely at least partially responsible for my inability to ride roller coasters) that makes it unsafe to dive. Bill is happy about this, because he never wants to be convinced to give it a try. I've gone diving in Mexico, the British Virgin Islands and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Wow, I made it to eight! I'm impressed with myself. I've got some serious swatching to do (with these calls for submissions, when it rains, it pours - seriously), so I'm tagging everyone who needs something to blog about. Just let me know if you do this so I can come read your random things! Although I think Yarnhog's story about forging Clinton's signature will be hard to beat...

Say a little prayer

Two bloggerly friends are on my mind this week. First is Katrina, who is in Washington, DC for National Police Week, where her brother and his fellow fallen officers are being honored. Politics aside (since you all know how I feel about our current president), I think that it is right and good that President Bush will be attending and thanking family members personally. Please keep Katrina in your thoughts since this is bound to be a difficult time for her - hopefully this will help bring some comfort to her and her family.

The other is Amanda, who on Mother's Day became a mom to a lovely baby boy, Everett. Everett was born with a little fluid on his lungs (which possibly can be blamed on his planned c-section and lack of lung-squeezing labor, although I'm skeptical since of my two children, the one born with hours upon hours of labor was much worse-off breathing-wise than the one who had no labor), and has had to spend some time in the NICU. He's going to be just fine (since we won't have it any other way, will we?), but he and his family could use some good thoughts sent their way until he's out of the hospital and home with them.

And now I'm off to the Tigard Knitting Guild yarn garage sale. I'm bringing stuff to sell, but I'm leaving my checkbook at home so I can NOT buy anything. I had to comb through my stash to find my offerings, and BOY do I have a lot of yarn. Surprisingly, I've discovered that I have an unhealthy affinity for Cascade 220. I must have 30 skeins of the stuff. That's a lot of wool, there!

Last but not least, I have to send belated birthday props out to my girl Michelle at The Sweet Sheep. Go wish her well if you have a second! She's got yarn coming into the shop fast and furious, so you may want to check that out as well...

What did you do yesterday?

I spent the day cleaning up. Owen has decided he wants to use the potty. He'll sit on it and squeeze out a couple drops, and he's so proud of himself (we all clap and cheer him on). However, when it comes to the big amounts, he prefers the floor. He's also decided that food is to play with as much as it is to eat (here's proof):



Yesterday, I made him a pb&j. He ate about three bites, then decided to squeeze the jam out onto the kitchen table and drive his bus through it. He covered himself and most of the kitchen in jam before I managed to get it away from him. So, I put him in the tub. He was content in there, playing with his tub toys, so I decided to take the opportunity to heat up some lunch. He was out of sight range, but I could hear him happily yelling and splashing in there so I would've known if he'd started drowning (the kitchen is right across the hall from the bathroom). I was gone for about five minutes, and when I went back in, I discovered that he'd grabbed two new rolls of toilet paper out of the basket on top of the toilet and put them in the tub.

Yup. Picture an entire bathtub full of papier mache, with your kid in the middle of it.

Toilet paper dissolves like crazy when it hits the water. I suppose this is a good thing in the sewer pipes, but not so good when you have to clean it out of your tub. I spent the next 15 minutes pulling soggy clumps of paper out of the tub drain so the water would keep going down, until I couldn't take it any more. It took most of the rest of the afternoon and evening, but eventually the water all drained out and I could scoop the remaining sludge out of the empty tub. So gross.

Owen's at the stage right now where he's either making a mess, destroying something, tormenting his sister, or following me around the house crying because I'm not letting him do one or all of the above. It's enough to drive me to drink. This morning we went to the zoo and had a delightful time because I let him go wherever he wanted, do whatever he wanted (as long as he wasn't a harm to himself, zoo property/animals, or others) and his sister wasn't around. He's great as long as he gets exactly what he wants when he wants it. If not - watch out! I'm about ready to sell him on Ebay.

I got a lovely package from my Secret Pal (SP10) which helped make up for it. She sent me this on May 11 for my 3/4 birthday. Isn't that the best idea?



This is the most yummy-smelling soap from The Alchemic Dragon. I have the best SP!

Even amidst all this chaos, I've found time to do a little bit of knitting. I finished my first Knee High to a Grasshopper sock (the short version), and I'm well into the foot on the other.



Here's the close-up:



I love this yarn! And you'd think I'd be sick of the pattern by now - this is the fourth pair I've knit from it, but there's something about (p2tog, yo) that is nice and rhythmic and relaxing. Plus it flies like the wind once you get past the stockinette of the foot.

I also got a huge pile of swatches out the door yesterday. I meant to take a picture, but I was too focused on getting them in the mail before I missed the mailman. Here's a little taste of what I do all day (and can't blog about):



That's Socks That Rock, can't find the ballband to tell you the colorway, but it is GORGEOUS. Any guesses as to what the swatch is for? A sock, perhaps?

Now it's time to try to get the Boy to bed. I like it so much better when this happens:



There's nothing better than sitting on the couch, knitting away, and feeling a little head slump onto your shoulder. It's so much more pleasant than the screaming and carrying on that accompanies our normal bedtimes. I can't wait for the terrible twos to be over. I keep reminding myself that this, too, will pass...

Vic & Van - Sea Socks Part 2!

In our last episode, we were on the boat, chasing after Owen and anxiously awaiting our shore day in Victoria since we totally missed San Francisco. Actually, we'd spent the two days before we arrived in Victoria trying to decide if we should abandon ship and have my in-laws pick us up in Port Angeles. We weren't sure Mom was going to get better in time to enjoy our last two stops, and I was exhausted from being up all night worrying about her. Fortunately, when morning dawned on that fifth day, we both woke up feeling great and decided to make a go of it. Boy, are we glad we did! Our days in Canada were by far the best part of the cruise, eh? (Sorry, I'll stop that now.)



After waiting FOREVER to get off the ship (standing in line for over an hour with a 2-year-old is NOT fun, although Owen did amazingly well - my back, on the other hand, not so much), we got on a bus and headed to Butchart Gardens.

After a quick buffet lunch (we were running a couple hours behind at this point, thanks to the delay in getting off the ship), we headed out for some exploring. We managed to see most of the gardens on a super-speedy circuit tour, led by Mr. Speedy himself:



This is the Sunken Garden, which was Mrs. Butchart's brilliant idea for the revamping of an old limestone quarry:



If only every business was so thoughtful with their impact. The tulips were in full bloom (they're a couple weeks behind Portland, it seems, garden-wise) and so very pretty.



What more can I say about a place that's so gorgeous?







They even have their own inlet (well, they've got a dock, anyway)! The Butcharts really lived it up, back in the day...



After the gardens, we headed to Beehive Wool back in downtown Victoria. Owen fell asleep on the bus, so we stayed on the bus and let him nap for another half hour or so, then walked back to the ship through downtown. Yes, I skipped the yarn shop. I have a few pangs of regret, but if there's one thing I need like a hole in the head (or a third child), it's more yarn.

This was the night that Owen decided to go completely postal in the buffet.



I didn't have a problem with him and Sydney sitting/walking/crawling on this little ledge next to the windows until they decided to head around the corner, full-speed, and we had to drag them out from behind other people's tables. Fortunately, the farewell cocktail party (and open bar) was close at hand.

I got to hang out with a lounge-full of amazing knitters, but I only managed to get pics with a few. Here I am sucking up to Eunny (it must've worked, because I got a design accepted for the Winter Knits, her first issue - although that was decided well before the cruise):



Here's Erin, holding me up after I had one too many Cosmopolitans (okay, I had only one, but I'm not a big drinker these days):



And here I am with the totally awesome Sweet Sheep proprietress, Michelle:



She stocks Gardiner Yarn Works patterns in her shop, so if you want one of my designs with a much wider selection of yarn that I have in my store, go check her out.

The next morning, Mom and I got up early to check out the scenery as we were sailing into Vancouver. It was totally breathtaking!







Next year, Sea Socks will be leaving from Vancouver and sailing up the Inside Passage to Ketchikan, Alaska. These pics give you a little taste of what the scenery will be for the start of the trip, and it should only get better farther north! I've never been to Alaska, and I can't wait! Remember, sign-ups open tomorrow for everyone...

The morning of our arrival in Vancouver, we got kicked out of our room at 8 am but couldn't get off the boat until about 9:30. Fortunately, Mom was a total champ and herded the kids most of that time so I could relax and knit, although when I saw her pictures later, I wondered what exactly they were doing that whole time...



At least he doesn't have a cigar in one hand! We managed to clear customs, depsite a nervous moment when the customs agent asked me if I had written permission from "the father" to take the kids out of the country (I didn't, but she let us through anyway, after a bit of questioning and several disapproving looks) and after an hour wait in the taxi line (now THAT was a good time), we finally made it to our hotel. We ordered room service lunch and took a little time to regroup, and then headed out to Stanley Park, which is a gigantic park on the tip of a peninsula just north of downtown. We got to play on sculpture by the marina:



And saw the famous totem poles:



We also went to the aquarium, which was fabulous but I didn't manage to get any pictures due to the fact that I was dealing with an extremely touchy, crabby, screaming Sydney. After the aquarium, we put the kids in the stroller we'd rented, closed the rain flap and let them scream it out so that this would happen:



Ah, sweetness!

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed to the beach to wait for Bill to arrive from Portland:



Owen, of course, had to try to get as sandy as possible (after I took this picture, he started putting handfuls of sand on top of his head - boys!):



Sydney was more interested in finding shells, so she and Mom had a great time beachcombing.



The kids were so busy playing in the sand, I even managed to get a couple rounds done on my sock!



The drive back to Portland was uneventful - the worst part was getting out of Vancouver, where we got stuck in a huge traffic jam caused by a pro-pot parade marching through downtown. We also had a 45-minute wait at the border, even though it took us about a minute to get through once we finally got up to the booth (this time, "the father" was with the kids so we didn't have to answer questions about that).

Ever since we got back from the cruise, I haven't been able to get my bearings. I spent all week thinking that it was the previous week and ended up totally forgetting several things I was supposed to do (including signing up for a parent-teacher conference at Sydney's school). I was heading upstairs yesterday morning to get the kids up so we could drop Sydney off at school when I glanced at the hot lunch menu and discovered there was no school! How fun it would've been if I'd gotten the kids up and made the 20-minute drive only to discover there wasn't anybody there. I just can't get my head on straight lately! Oh, and Bill quit his job on Thursday, so there has been much stress surrounding that whole situation lately. It is a great opportunity for him, but it's always hard to take a leap of faith and do something that's outside your comfort zone.

Today we finish the chicken coop (those little buggers are huge now and totally ready to get out of their tiny little brooder) and I try to sneak off to Abundant Yarn's Mother's Day sale with Chris (go check out her blog to see what our Oregon legislators have been up to recently - yay!). And now I think I've used up all of my blogging time (and then some), so it's time to go spend some time with the family. Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies and grand-mommies out there!

Cursed!

I tell you, my poor mom's trip to Sea Socks '07 was cursed. On Monday night, I got a call that she'd gotten in a car accident on her way home from the airport in Minneapolis and totaled her car. Fortunately she was okay, but it remains to be seen what kind of financial damage the whole affair will do to her. She's not sure what happened, but the other driver accused her of running a red light (which she didn't see), so it's hard to say what will happen there. Luckily, she's married to an attorney!

I finally managed to get my camera hooked up to the computer, so I've got a ton of pictures for you. Starting out on the first night of the cruise, here is my darling daughter who is drawn to music like a moth to flame.



They were having some sort of line-dancing lesson out on the deck by the pool, and when Sydney saw them, she ran right up and joined them. Owen, on the other hand, was more interested in trying to get himself in the pool, despite my mom's best efforts...



Here's my first class - Color Theory with Mama-E herself (with Phil, who came along to supervise):



That afternoon, we got instruction on sock design and making the most of handpainted yarns from Queen Eunny herself.

Here is my poor mom, hanging out on our balcony in freezing cold the morning of our arrival in San Francisco (that's the Golden Gate bridge behind her):



She looks pretty good for someone who spent the previous few hours throwing up, doesn't she?

Going under the GG bridge was one of the highlights of the trip for me. How often do you get to see it from this vantage?



To make it even cooler, the captain blew the ship's horn three times as we passed underneath. Quite an impressive sound when you're outside and in the front of the ship!

We also got a great sunrise view of Alcatraz (that's one of our tugboats out front).



I already talked about our day of captivity in San Francisco, but here's what we did get to see from our little balcony (the balcony cabin was quite a bit more expensive, but on this trip it was worth every single penny!):



Owen joined us for the docking and had a great time watching the tugboats push us up to the pier.



Speaking of my darling boy, this is what he spent most of the cruise doing - running away. Here he is in the Centrum (the big central atrium that was open up to the top of the ship):



And out by the pool:



And on the running/walking track on the upper deck:



He did slow down long enough to charm the pants off several of the Sea Sockers (or maybe I should say "charm the socks off").



Really, he did, even though the picture I tried to get of it makes it look like they aren't the least bit interested in him! Here he is, entertaining Michelle...



Sydney managed to grab everyone's attention with her "cruise shoes" (the silver-with-lavender-feathered-toe contraptions she's struggling to keep her feet in here):



They were extremely difficult for her to walk in and keep her feet in, and yet she insisted on wearing them every time we left the cabin (and had wild raging scream-fests if we tried to talk her into wearing her more practical albeit less fabulous blue-denim tennies). I tried hard not to curse my mother-in-law for giving them to her right before we left and telling her they were to be worn on our cruise...

And now I fear I've gone way overboard with the pictures, so I'll leave you with one final photo of my darling, adorable son. This is one of the few times I actually snapped something other than his back, so I was quite delighted with it!



This face was the only thing that kept him from being thrown overboard several times throughout the trip. It was so nice of the kids to decide they needed to bring out the sibling rivalry full-force on the boat. They're lucky they're cute, or they might still be in Victoria!

Speaking of Victoria, my next post will cover the Canadian portion of our travels, eh? Victoria and Vancouver were both awesome, with many, many pretty pictures to be shared. I will try to get to it before next week!