Who knew?

I'm a rabid NPR listener. It's quite the wide variety of things that they talk about on NPR. Today, for instance, on Fresh Air, there was a substantial review of Britney Spears' new album, Blackout, complete with samples of many of the tracks from said album. So, thanks to my NPR habit, I've now heard many of Britney's new songs. Go figure! There's probably no other way I would've listened to that much Britney. I'm not rushing out to buy my own copy, but it was quite interesting to listen to the reviewer interpret her lyrics. Who knew that Britney had such depth?

Anyway...you never know what you're going to learn about on public radio. It's funny - I'm baking bread and listening to public radio, I've given up on wearing makeup or doing much of anything with my hair, and I'm on a serious natural food and anti-consumerist kick. I'm turning into my mother. Or rather, my mother twenty years ago. Mom was the ultimate hippy when I was growing up, when I wanted nothing more than to be left alone to Aqua Net my hair, read Seventeen magazine, and save my pennies for a new pair of Guess jeans. When I went to college, Mom went to graduate school and now she's the one buying convenience foods and dressing for success. I find it a bit fascinating how we've switched places.

I'm almost done with my first pair of socks (remember me complaining about the two pairs of socks and sweater I have to finish by the end of the year?) and waiting for the yarn for the second. The sweater is yet-to-be-started (but I'm not worried, since I should be able to get 'er done in about two weeks). In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how I can knit some toys for the kids for Christmas. For Owen, I'd like to make some Dinosaurs. For Sydney, I've been meaning forever to make a doll or two out of the fabulous book Dream Toys. In all of my spare time.

(PS - the reason I don't do affiliate links to Amazon and instead link books to Powell's is that Powell's is our local independent bookstore and I'd much rather direct people to them than to Amazon!)

Here I am!

Why in the world did they have to put a holiday smack in the middle of NaBloPoMo? I was doomed to failure from the start. I'm just not reliable when it comes to doing something every single day, without fail. We did have a fabulous Thanksgiving, though, as I hope all of you did as well.

I spent the weekend cleaning like crazy, cooking like crazy, and knitting like crazy. My poor mom (who left to return to the frozen Midwest this morning) got sick like she always does - her immune system is just not used to the cesspool of germs created by small children... I made some good bread with my lovely Kitchenaid mixer and this cool white whole wheat flower from Bob's Red Mill. I also whipped up a turkey soup using our leftover turkey that was fan-freakin'-tastic, if I do say so myself. Even the kids liked it, and that's saying a lot! I also ventured into the wild world of applesauce and whipped up a batch that's really tasty - no sugar, just a little cinnamon and vanilla added to some amazing super-sweet apples that we got at the farm stand yesterday.

I got fifteen designs swatched, sketched and finally sent out this weekend. Here's a rare picture of me at work, snapped by my mom:



Whew! That's a lot of submitting. I could find myself completely overwhelmed, although it seems like the more work I have to do, the faster I knit. I've also located some really fabulous sample knitters to help me out when I get totally desperate. Thanks, ladies!

Progress is being made on the TNNA designs. I must admit, the last thing in the world I feel like doing is formatting patterns, but it has to be done. I'd love to just knit, knit, knit all the time. Unfortunately, running a design business sometimes has very little to do with knitting and has a lot to do with publishing, figuring out how to use your software correctly, thinking about things like marketing and advertising budgets, fun stuff like that. There are definitely days when I want nothing more than to go back to the leisurely world of knitting for fun. Only problem is, I can't just leave things well enough alone. I have to try to make something out of them. Silly me.

Some of you may remember waaaaay back two years ago, when I published pictures of our rotten Halloween pumpkins melting into our porch. Well - they're back!



I wonder how long they'll stay...

I am thankful...

There are so many things I'm thankful for, there's no way I can include them all. So, here are a few of the highlights.

I'm thankful for my lovely, comfortable home and the fact that we're able to live in it without struggling excessively to pay the bills.

I'm thankful for Portland, and that I've finally found a place in the world that feels like home.

I'm thankful for knitting, of course, and that I've managed to find a way to make a career out of the hobby that I love. I'm so thankful that I get to do something I'm truly passionate about.

I'm thankful for our gorgeous chickens, who give us nutritious, flavorful, healthy eggs every day (along with all that fabulous poop for our garden).

I'm thankful that I get to spend today surrounded by family and friends and nearly all of the people who mean the most to me in this world.

I'm thankful for my gorgeous, healthy, intelligent, beautiful children and the fact that I get to watch them grow into fantastic little people every day.

I'm thankful for my amazing husband, who is truly my soul mate and who I love more deeply every day.

And I'm thankful for all of you, the people who take time from their day to read my ramblings. I'm constantly surprised at the comments, support, encouragement and friendship I've found with so many of you, even though we've never met (and with those of you who I have met and instantly felt connected to). Thank you!

Okay...

So, maybe every other day is going to have to be my new goal. There just isn't time for blogging when I'm so busy cooking and cleaning the house! And let me tell you, the house is cleaner than it has been since our cleaning lady quit to go back to school. I love it, although it does cut into my internet surfing time. That's probably a good thing - there's much less time for me to get involved with Ravelry drama when I'm busy scrubbing out the bathtub.

The great thing is that the kids are totally into it! They're picking up all their toys right now (Owen's running around singing out "clean up, clean up, clean up, clean up, clean up, clean up..." I don't know how helpful he's actually being, but it's the thought that counts.

I've made some good progress on my submissions and sent off one packet of swatches/sketches this morning. I still have four more designs I want to swatch, but the end is in sight. I'm submitting a total of 16 designs with the hope that I can get one into each of the four publications I'm submitting to. If that happens, I'm going to be one very busy girl in the next few months. I'm already wondering how I'm going to get two pairs of socks and a sweater done before the end of the year. I'd better get started...

Tomorrow is going to be a big food day around here. Bill picked up our 18-lb turkey at the market this afternoon, and I made a batch of whole-wheat yeast rolls with my Kitchenaid mixer. Bill got me the mixer for Christmas three years ago but it hasn't been out of its box until this morning. I have to say, that dough hook totally rocks! I do like kneading bread, but the rolls were so nice and moist because I didn't have to use the extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to my hands. The dough hook took care of it all!

Now we just have to make garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (we have this totally decadent sweet potato recipe from a friend of mine that's just scrump-diddly-umptious), green bean casserole (with cream of mushroom soup and the little french-fried onions on top) and the turkey. My in-laws are bringing the stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie and our friends are bringing cranberry-hazelnut salad, corn pudding and more pumpkin pie. Oh, yeah - I'm also making a chocolate cream pie. You can never have too much pie, says I!

Happy turkey day, everyone!

Oops! I did it again!

I totally forgot to post yesterday. Did you miss me? I know you did!

Yesterday was the day of cleaning. Again. My mom is coming tomorrow, and she's going to think she's in the wrong house, it's so clean around here. If only I could figure out how to get my yarn organized!

I've also been cooking like crazy, can you believe it? I made menu plans last week and this, and so far, we've been sticking to 'em. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for cleanliness was dampened a bit when I found out the cat had peed in the middle of my nicely made bed...stupid cat. We thought she'd outgrown the whole peeing in the house thing, but I think she's mad at being cooped up inside so much lately with the bad weather we've been having.

I keep meaning to write a long post about my current obsession - shopping locally - but I don't know if I have the energy after a full day at work. I'll just leave you with the dilemma that stumped me for about 15 minutes at the grocery store yesterday in the hopes that maybe you can help. Is it better to buy organic milk in a plastic jug or paper carton that is produced locally, or is it better to get organic milk from California, a little further away, that's in returnable glass jugs? On the one hand, local is good because it takes less energy to get the milk to the store - but does that energy savings offset the energy that it takes to make/recycle the non-reusable paper/plastic cartons/jugs? After much agonizing in front of the dairy case, I opted for whipping cream in a glass bottle and no milk for the moment since we still have half a gallon in the fridge. What would you do?

In any case, we're incredibly lucky here in Portland to have the most amazing grocery chain ever - New Seasons. It makes those environmentally-conscious eating decisions so much easier than shopping at, say, Albertsons (or that evil natural-food-is-only-good-because-it's-trendy-and-expensive chain, Whole Foods...).

Do we feel like knitting?

Yes we do! I feel so good having started the process of getting my life in order - it's having the unexpected benefit of inspiring my knitting! The pile o' swatches continues to grow at breakneck speed. Pretty soon they will be set to blocking while I start to sketch up my design submissions. It's really fun to see the swatch pile grow, because I can see how my designing has improved from just a year ago. I don't know why it surprises me that I'm getting better with practice... Sometimes it feels like creative talent is inborn - either you have it, or you don't. It's easy to forget that craft can be learned as well as inherited.

I think everyone else feels like knitting, too, because the shop was hopping today! And I was so happy about one particular sale - the right knitter finally came through the door and grabbed Janet Szabo's Cables Volume One off the shelf! If you don't remember my story about scaring a knitter my second day on the job with this book, you can review here, mid-post. Anyway, today's intrepid customer was none other than Blue Moon's Tina Newton. I won't tell you whether or not she bought any yarn...

At work, I get a nice break from work knitting to do...well, work knitting. But at work, I get to pick out other people's patterns to knit. Right now, I'm making the Sand Dollar Sweater from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature out of Fleece Artist Scotian Silk. Yummy! Up next, I'm going to be doing one of the Purl Grey kits made from Handmaiden Ottawa. After that, who knows! It's fun to have so many possibilities (and get to use someone else's yarn to make it with).

Tonight, I'm back to the swatch pile. I've got a couple sweaters and some socks to swatch for, and maybe a baby outfit and a scarf. So many swatches, so little time!

Seeking Recipe Suggestions!

Wow, two posts in one day! This is to make up for skipping Monday and Wednesday. Actually, I'd love to get some recipe suggestions from y'all. I'd love either links to online recipes or cookbooks to buy, especially for whole food recipes and natural ingredient recipes. A few things I'm looking for:

- pumpkin pie/other pumpkin recipes that use actual pumpkin (as opposed to the canned stuff)
- a fabulous whole-wheat pizza dough recipe
- a great bagel recipe
- good egg recipes (even better if they use LOTS of eggs!)
- your favorite holiday cookie/baked good recipe
- does anyone make egg nog anymore?

Thanks, everyone!

Look what I made!

Yes, I had to take a picture of my masterpiece.



No, I didn't make the crust myself, although I'm tempted to try it next time. The quiche has chopped deli ham, frozen spinach sauteed with garlic in olive oil, cheddar & parmesan cheese, cream, milk and four fresh backyard eggs. It needed to cook about ten more minutes, but other than that, it was great. I have one more frozen crust, so I'm going to make it again when my mom's here next week. The next one will be perfect!

Today I decided to forgo the playgroup at Abundant Yarn in favor of making bread. Owen's going through a very pissy phase right now, and I just don't have the energy for public tantrums. To give you an example of his current "normal" behavior, this morning we had an extremely heated argument about toast. He wanted toast, but he didn't want me to cook it. I gave him a piece of regular bread. No, he wanted toast. I tried to put it in the toaster, and freak-out ensued. "Don't cook it, Mommy! Don't cook it!" I patiently tried to explain that without cooking, you couldn't have toast. Flopping on the floor, kicking, and much screaming was the result of my efforts.

Bread baking was almost as fun. Owen insisted on trying to help, which basically meant that he tried to grab everything I was working with in order to dump it out on the floor. I finally managed to give him his own little ball of dough to play with on the kitchen table, which allowed me to get my dough kneaded and safely into the oven to rise. Sigh. I love being a 2-year-old's mom.

In my non-baking free time, I'm working on a crazy mountain of swatches. Here are the ones I've got done so far:



These will be going off to various places for next winter's publications. I've still got a bunch more to do, but they're working up pretty quickly. I just need to make myself sit down and do them. Swatches are harder than just picking up a project and working on it because you need to come up with your idea, find the yarn you want to use, find the right needles (a challenge in my messy office), figure out if the stitch pattern you want to use is going to work, rip out several times (it's rare that I get a swatch right on the first try), and all you have to show for your work is this little square. It's definitely not my favorite part of designing, but it can be fun when I come up with something good and get a glimpse of the larger possibilities.

And now it's time to check on that bread - please, please be nice and risen!

Oh, well...

Looks like I've failed in my quest to post every day during November. I've been too busy cooking, cleaning the house (can you believe it?) and knitting! At chrispy's recommendation, I've signed up for the Fly Lady e-mails and have been going to town on getting my life organized. I don't know how long it will last (I give it another two weeks), but the house looks great for the moment! Not only that, but Owen is doing great with his potty training. He's almost there - now I just need to figure out how to get him to stay dry while he's wearing pants. He does great when he's pantsless, but obviously that doesn't work when we leave the house. It is winter, after all.

So far this week, I've made ham & spinach quiche, whole wheat biscuits and apricot-glazed chicken. I also ordered us a free-range turkey for Thanksgiving from the neighborhood market. I've taken to calling Animal, Vegetable, Miracle "The Book" because I talk about it all the time. I'm sure it's more than a little annoying, but it has sure influenced how I think about food and shopping in general. But more on that later - now it is time for me to get some sleep! That and the cat keeps licking my arm while I'm typing (speaking of something that's more than a little annoying).

Happy Veteran's Day!

I meant to post this all day yesterday, but things got away from me. Mondays are rough - I work all day and then meet up with my knitting group in the evening. Not a lot of time for extras! Anyway, consider this yesterday's post!

I want to take a second to thank our veterans, both past and present, for their service to me, my family, and our country. All day (yesterday) I thought about our current troops and their families who have been asked to make so many sacrifices for us. Particularly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and lost a loved one in the line of duty.

To all of you who serve our country, thank you. I hope you come home soon.

Thanks, Mims!

I got tagged with a meme by my friend Mims, who blogs about knitting for the Oregonian. Now I don't have to think about what to post today! Rock on!

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
Need you even ask? The kids are constantly cracking me up. Although Bill and I did have a moment at the end of this week's episode of The Office, when Jim and Michael are saying "that's what she said" after everything. Of course Bill and I had to start doing it to each other. Yeah, that's what she said!

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Snuggling on the couch with Owen, watching Little Bear and thinking desperately about extracting myself so I could make a pot of coffee.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Talking Bill into taking Sydney grocery shopping.

4. What happened to you in 2006?
What didn't? I got my first design published in February and things got crazy from there!

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"Shhh, time to go to sleep now." Since Bill got grocery shopping duty, I got get-the-kid-to-sleep duty...

6. How many beverages did you have today?
A cup of microwaved coffee that I got cold out of the pot this morning, a sugar-free vanilla latte from Ristretto Roasters and a caffeine-free Diet Coke.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Red and black.

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
A bottle of red wine, spaghetti noodles, a jar of pasta sauce, a pound of hamburger, a quart of milk and a box of Lucky Charms at the market.

9. Where were you last night?
At home, eating Chinese takeout and watching The Office, House and Grey's Anatomy on Tivo.

10. What color is your front door?
Red!

11. Where do you keep your change?
All over the place. There's a stash in both cars, some in my knitting notions pouch, some in the bottom of my bag and a big bowlful on the mantle.

12. What's the weather like today?
It looks nice, although I haven't made it outside yet (I did open the door to let the cat out).

13. What's the best ice-cream flavor?
Homemade Spumoni from the Italian restaurant down the street.

14. What excites you?
Besides yarn? Um...world peace? Global warming? The budget deficit?

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Not yet! It has a few more inches to go before it will start to drive me crazy.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
A bit...

17. Do you talk a lot?
Every once in awhile I get on a tear, but normally I'm not particularly talkative. I am definitely an introvert.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
Nope. I'm a Beverly Hills 90210 girl (thank you, Soap Network).

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
I've worked with several Stevens in the past and we've got a friend named Steve.

20. Do you make up your own words?
Sometimes - I was trying to think of an example but no luck.

21. Are you a jealous person?
Yes!

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A'.
Alenna

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'K'.
Karna

24. Who's the first person on your received call list?
Home

25. What does the last text message you received say?
No idea. I delete them without reading them since I'm charged 15 cents for each one.

26. Do you chew on your straw?
No way!

27. Do you have curly hair?
Nope

28. Where's the next place you're going to?
My in-laws' for dinner.

29. Who's the rudest person in your life?
See yesterday's post.

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Pepperoni pizza

31. Will you get married in the future?
I've been married for almost 8 years now and have no plans to change husbands. It would be fun to fly to Vegas and renew our vows...

32. What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?
We don't see too many movies around here. I watched part of Dirty Dancing last night - that was pretty good.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Like, like like? Or just like, like a friend? Like, I'm not sure! You'll have to, like, get back to me on this one.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Last night before bed.

35. Are you currently depressed?
Not at the moment.

36. Did you cry today?
Not yet...

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Because I got tagged and was thankful to have something frivolous to post today. Although I have to say this is probably the least insightful meme I've ever done... I don't think I'm the target age group for this one!

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
I'm too tired from all that heavy thinking to tag anyone, so if you've managed to read this far, consider yourself "it"!

House of Naughtiness

Owen has been on a streak lately. He's hit the "terrible twos" with a vengeance that Sydney never had. In the past two days, he's:

- pushed his highchair around the kitchen and taken liberties with anything on the bottom shelves of the cabinets
- run around the house brandishing knitting needles, scissors, a screwdriver and one of those hefty MagLite flashlights
- thrown an entire new roll of toilet paper into the toilet (right after using it, of course - although I guess I should be happy he's using the potty!)
- taken a single bite out of each of a several apples and pears sitting on the kitchen cabinet, then left them there to turn brown
- dumped an entire box of Cheerios out on the backseat of the car
- taken to calling everyone "'tupid jerk" with impunity
- pulled all big utensils out of the silverware drawer and used them to do various unknown things around the house, including the potato masher, pizza wheel, ice cream scooper and corkscrew
- refused to wear pants for more than five minutes at a time (fortunately he only does this at home and doesn't insist on going commando in public)

We've got our hands full with this one...it's a good thing he's so darn cute!!!



They look innocent enough, don't they? This was taken right before they decided to pull a bunch of my freshly folded laundry off the table and haul it around the house. For the second time today. No wonder I never get anything done around here.

I heart Barbara Kingsolver

I am just past the middle of her wonderful latest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I have in audio format from Audible. I love this book. I am going to keep it on my iPod so I can listen to it over and over. It is funny, inspiring and heartbreaking. I'm also hoping that if I can listen to it enough, it will ultimately be motivating.

As an adult, I find I have an increasingly poor relationship with my food. In fact, I would be perfectly happy to not eat for days. Unfortunately, my stomach has different ideas. In general, I don't like to cook and have little patience for cleaning the kitchen. We order a lot of takeout in this house, but I REALLY don't like all the waste that takeout involves and it's not very easy on my waistline.

When I was a kid, we ate very well. We had a gigantic garden in our backyard and my mom baked bread, canned tomato sauce, whipped up crabapple jelly and generally fed us pretty naturally. I gorged myself on meat and sugared cereal whenever I visited either set of grandparents, who were of course convinced that I was going to be terminally unhealthy on my mostly-vegetarian diet.

As an adult, I've increasingly relied on convenience foods and drive-thru dinners. We go through phases where we eat very well, and of course we grow a bit of food in our front-yard garden every summer. This year we added our chickens and a CSA share to the mix but ultimately, we avoid the grocery store like the plague and eat an awful lot of meals delivered from Pizza Hut. Even as I type this, my stomach is rumbling because I don't feel like making myself breakfast (even though there are a dozen-and-a-half yummy backyard eggs in the fridge, just waiting to be scrambled up). My weight has gone up with each of my pregnancies and just won't go back down again. I can't help but thing that my refined sugar-heavy diet is to blame. I like being able to pop the top (or hand my credit card over at the drive-thru window) and satisfy the cravings for a few hours.

Listening to Barbara Kingsolver (she reads the audio version herself in a lovely, soothing, slightly-drawling voice) talk about the wonderful, important place good food takes in their lives and, even more impactfully, to her daughter talking about how her upbringing has affected HER relationship with food makes me want to try, yet again, to revamp my own stunted attitude about food. Why is it so difficult? I know what I want to do, but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. Even with our CSA share, countless veggies rotted on our counter and in our vegetable bins before heading out to the compost pile. There were only a few weeks when I really got into cooking up all those great local veggies. The meals were wonderful, and I had a noticeable boost in mood and energy levels. I just can't seem to keep it up, though.

I once heard someone say that the main challenge of exercise was putting your legs in shorts. I think it's the same way with me and cooking (and cleaning, and any other number of things I really want to do but keep putting off). If anyone has any secrets about how to get yourself to "just do it", I'm all ears!

And now for some knitting...

First of all, thank you for all of your wonderful, supportive comments on yesterday's post. I did finally manage to stop bawling (don't quite know what happened there) and spent the afternoon figuring out what I was going to do to keep from driving myself crazy on those stupid forums. Don't get me wrong, I love Ravelry and I've had some great discussions on the forums and met some great people, but I just can't seem to keep myself from getting caught up in the drama. I'm noticing today that when I go onto the forums, I'm looking for the threads that I know are going to arouse some debate. I heard a thing on NPR awhile ago that was talking about how listening to partisan political talk radio stimulates the same brain function as drug abuse, and I could totally relate. Anyway, this was probably a good excuse for me to stop checking in on Ravelry every five minutes and actually get some work done!

The January TNNA show ticks ever closer. I made a list of things I need to get done before the show today. It was frightening. A few of the items:

- order a company name & logo banner to display in the booth
- figure out which new sweater I'm going to put in the fashion show
- order printed materials to hand out in the booth
- format all the new patterns in InDesign and get them to my tech editors
- photograph all the new designs
- finish knitting display samples
- get a couple more small designs ready for test knitting

I'm also trying to find the time to submit design ideas for Classic Elite's Fall/Winter '08 pattern books along with another Interweave book that just put out a call for submissions. I'm preparing myself for the Fall '08 Interweave Knits call for submissions. I have to be ready to knit & write up any submissions that Knitscene accepts, just in case they liked any of my ideas. I need to knit & write up the pattern that I'm designing for one of Donna Druchunas' upcoming books. And I want to get my book proposals polished up and resubmitted. Listing it all out here, it sounds completely insane. Fortunately I've always been pretty good at juggling things and managing to get stuff done by its absolute deadline. I've also become pretty darn fast at knitting this stuff up when I put my mind to it.

Here are a couple of sneak peeks at what I'm working on now in preparation for TNNA. The first two pictures are samples I'm almost finished with, one in Kidsilk Haze and the other in Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb.





This last picture is of a skein that has been taunting me ever since I found it. Even though I really don't have time to, I'm going to whip up something quick out of this puppy (and its mate). I just can't resist.



This is Terra, from The Fibre Co, which can be found at Close Knit (and is yet more proof that if I were to own a yarn store, I would stock it exactly the way Sally has stocked this one). The way this yarn is dyed makes it look almost iridescent. I know I really don't have time for yet another project, but....oooh, shiny!

What is wrong with me?

I'm having a rough day. I got involved in a discussion on a Ravelry forum regarding their "say no to babies" groups, even though I knew better, and haven't been able to stop crying for the past hour. I don't know why I'm so emotional. Hormones? Lack of sleep? Stress? Always wanting everyone to like me and agree with everything I say?

Maybe this is a sign that I've been investing too much time and energy into the forums and I really need to take a break. Some of the copyright disucssions on Ravelry have been very draining, but none of them hurt me emotionally in the way that this one has. Perhaps because I'm way too close to the topic to be objective. The forum in question has several different threads about how horrible kids and their parents are. I have no problem with the "childfree by choice" crowd venting about the constant pressure to have kids, etc., but I have a serious problem when it devolves into general child-hating discussion.

I can understand the rabidly anti-baby folks. I used to be one of them, even though I always planned to have kids. My kids were going to be perfect, never misbehave in public, I'd never let them bother anyone else, yada yada yada. As most parents learn quickly, this is much easier said than done. My attitude has completely changed since having my kids, although I still don't like to see obviously permissive parents and wild children running amok. I'm much more likely, however, to give them the benefit of a doubt since I know how easy it is to be completely exhausted and unable to do anything with your hungry/sleepy/hopped-up-on-sugar wild child short of hog-tying them and throwing them in the trunk of your car.

I think what bugs me most about these kinds of discussions is that it emphasizes how child-unfriendly our culture has gotten. I know this may be a surprising sentiment since much of our culture seems very focused on kids, but it seems like it's focused more on kids as objects than as human beings (which is why I think the child-dislike has become so prevalent and socially acceptable). If our society truly cared about children like it should, we would be taking much more of the "it takes a village" approach. Education would be a top priority instead of barely scraping by like it is now. All children would have health care. Daycare would be federally funded and held to rigorous quality standards. Flexible work schedules and long maternity leaves would be a priority rather than a luxury.

Children are of benefit to everyone (really - if everyone stopped having kids, society would be in trouble), but these days it seems as if they're viewed as just one more material object people are expected to add to their household, like a new car or refrigerator. When children are viewed as objects rather than members of society, it's so much easier to put the sole responsibility for raising them, educating them, caring for them, etc. on their parents rather than communities as a whole.

I think this makes me particularly sad because I spend so much time fearing for my childrens' future. They are the ones who are going to need to sort out all the problems we're creating for them. Our kids will inherit this earth, and if people are only concerned about their own lifetimes, what will they leave behind for my children? Curse us humans with our giant brains - if I was a turtle or, say, a sheep, I wouldn't have to worry about all this stuff (although I'm sure turtles and sheep have their own sets of problems).

Fortunately, the moderators on Ravelry shut this particular thread down so I don't have to obsess about it anymore. Now if I could just get the waterworks to shut off... I don't know why I let this stuff get to me. I take it so personally, even though I don't know these people and probably never will. I need to try to channel this energy into something positive, like designing, or playing with my kids. I had this whole post planned out this morning in the car about thinking locally, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Gah! Some days, I just wish my laptop would crash and burn and solve all my problems for me.

It's now or never!

Since I'm working movie night tonight at Dublin Bay, I'd better post now or risk breaking my streak! I'm really liking this posting every day thing as long as y'all don't expect me to put pictures up every day. I've been expecting myself to only post when I have pictures, since pictures are eye candy and I figure people don't want to just read words. On the other hand, there are plenty of grown-up books without pictures that get read, so I just need to write something worth reading and then I don't need to worry about pictures, right?

Unfortunately I can't bring myself to write anything worth reading today since I haven't had breakfast yet (unless you count my giant mug of coffee) and Owen is getting impatient with the fact that I've been on the computer all morning.

So I will just say this - remember to vote today! If you're in Oregon, make sure you drop your ballot off. While Oregon's voting by mail sure is convenient (if you don't forget to mail your ballot), I sure do miss going to the polls. Voting has always been very exciting to me and I get a thrill each and every time I do it. I wish everyone felt the same way - I often wonder what the outcome would be if everyone voted.

And now I'm off to cook up some eggs! Go vote!

Ah....

The kids are playing in the bathroom sink, Bill's watching the Steelers win, and all is well for the moment. Oh, never mind. Owen just threw toilet paper in the bathtub, and the kids are fighting over the potty. I guess that's a good thing, since it means Owen's actually wanting to use the potty... He's still at about a 35-40% success rate, which is endlessly frustrating since Sydney was very easy and quick on the potty-using front.

But let's not talk about that. I didn't get very much sleep last night, since I was busy worrying about the query letter I sent to the editor at Interweave. I'm thinking that I might resurrect my sock book proposal and send it around to a few more places. I fired the query off last night and had this crazy thought that the idea was so fantastic she'd be e-mailing me first thing this morning with a book contract. Yeah, and Ed McMahon showed up on my doorstep today with a giant check. Maybe tomorrow.

I also was alerted to some errata in the Tilting Cables Socks pattern in the winter IK. If you're knitting these, the correct way to start the ribbing is as follows:

Rnds 1 & 2: Needles 1 & 3: K2, p4, k4, p8, k2; Needles 2 & 4: K2, p8, k4, p4, k2.
Rnd 3: Needles 1 & 3: K2, p4, k4, p8, k2; Needle 2: K2, p8, k4, p4, k2; Needle 4: K2, p8, k4, p4 (end 2 sts before end of rnd).
Rnd 4 is correct.

D'oh! That's what I get for not including the ribbing on the chart like I should have. I also have a couple pictures of the stitch pattern in a lighter-colored yarn:





(click to enlarge for a better view)

Now I'm back to work on my January stuff. I've been working on something in Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb, which is like crack to me. It is so nice, when I knit with it I wonder why I ever want to knit with anything else.

Oh, and I just found out today that I've been elected to the board of the Association of Knitwear Designers as a member at large. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing since the organization has been going through some growing pains, but I think ultimately it will be great. I'm really starting to feel like I'm a legitimate designer and, not only that, someone who's actually going somewhere. Now if only I could get the kids to stop fighting and pick up their toys...

Look what's in the kitchen!

On nice days, the kids have free access to the backyard, and the chickens free-range out there. Often the back door gets left open as everyone goes in and out. Today, I was sitting at the dining room table, working on my computer, and I heard suspiciously loud clucking. Yup - chicken in the kitchen! She was totally excited about the new source of crumbs. Fortunately we noticed her before she was able to make a big mess, although sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be worth a little bit of chicken poo to get the kitchen floor pecked clean... I'm not quite to that point just yet.

So, yesterday I promised you new pattern releases. I had two new published patterns come out in the past week - the first were my Tilting Cables Socks in the Winter Interweave Knits. I think I already mentioned my disappointment in the pictures. They're a little bit better in the print mag because they're bigger, but the yarn still obscures the pattern. I also got an e-mail this morning pointing out a major error in the ribbing instructions but haven't had a chance to check it out yet. I'll keep you posted.

The second pattern was published in Designer One-Skein Wonders from Storey Publishing. It's called the Cabled Baglet and is worked up in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport. I'm also going to offer this as a single pattern in my line since this was an instance of the publisher being respectful of the designer and allowing me to retain full rights to the pattern. It seems like there are many people who want single patterns rather than entire books, so I'll let them buy the pattern for $3 if they don't want to pay an additional $15 to get 100 other patterns (if they like the other patterns, it would definitely be worthwhile to buy the book, but if they don't, then it's not). It is certainly nice to give folks options!

I've also been very busy working on my website this weekend. Go check it out! Make sure to refresh if you've been there lately so that you clear your cache and see the newest pages. Since I'm no longer selling patterns via Zencart, I set up individual pattern pages and a catalog with thumbnails. This should be much faster to navigate than it was in Zencart. I also added a "classes & events" page and a new option to sign up for a Constant Contact newsletter from the main page instead of making people create an account in Zencart to get on the mailing list. Finally, the Plush Footies pattern is linked directly - again, people no longer have to create an account to get the pattern.

I also just recently became aware that Spun Mag is no more. The website appears to have expired, and the Cleo Clutch pattern instructions went along with it. I am working to get this pattern formatted into a pdf and will make it available as soon as I can. If you're dying to get your hands on it, sign up for the newsletter!

Now I'm back to work on reworking my Zencart so that shops can use it to order patterns at wholesale. It's a good thing I was a software developer in my former life - I can't imagine trying to do all this without knowing a thing or two about coding!

Happy Pumpkin Day!

My dear husband cleaned the house (partially, anyway) today while I was at work and, in the process, found my camera cord. So here are our Halloween pictures! First, carving the giant pumpkins that sprouted from seeds in our front yard. They were beauties! We put the kids in the picture for scale.



Bill carved, and I had the fun job of scooping the guts out. Surprisingly, I couldn't get either of the kids to help me - they're fastidious about the strangest things. Here's the result of our handiwork, glowing on the front porch on Halloween night:



And here are the little gremlins, all dressed up:



My mother-in-law is to thank for Owen's devil costume...she dressed up as a devil last year, and Sydney found the accoutrements when she was helping decorate the in-laws' house for Halloween. She was all set to be the devilish one (I even bought her a red shirt and pants for the occasion), but at the last minute decided that she wanted to squeeze into her Blue's Clues costume from two years ago. Owen didn't have a strong opinion either way, so he made a delightful little devil. He was too cute when we pinned his tail on him - he ran around in a little circle barking. I wouldn't make this stuff up, folks!

Trick or treating was a great success - we went up our street and the next one over (our street is only two blocks long, so it wasn't too big a trek). The kids were totally into it (especially Sydney, who started asking if she could "pick out one more piece" at every house after one kind person made that offer to her) and came home with a great haul. It was fun for me to meet a few neighbors I hadn't run into yet (and peek inside their houses). We were also delighted to run into a family dressed up as the Teletubbies, complete with an adult-sized Tinky Winky.

We got several trick-or-treaters at our house, but of course I bought way too much candy (as I do every year) so we're totally candied out here. I'm going to need to go up a size in all my clothes between Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! It's ridiculous.

On the knitting front, I'm working on yet more samples for January TNNA. I tweaked my shoulder a few days ago putting on a sweatshirt but fortunately knitting doesn't bother it too much. I just can't reach out to pick anything up. I'm knitting furiously on a lace stole made out of Kidsilk Haze which has been in progress for over a year. I'm glad to finally have a specific deadline for it since maybe now I'll actually finish it! I've also got a few small samples to finish up and test knitters to hear from, and then I'll be all set for the show.

Gee, this blogging every day thing isn't so hard after all! I just need an excuse to make it a priority. Obviously, from the length of these posts, I have plenty to say... In fact, I could go on and on, but I think I'll save something for tomorrow! Coming up, more published patterns!

Day 2...

Here we are, November 2nd, day 2 of NaBloPoMo. I love that word. Last night, when I was lying awake in the dark, I kept saying it over and over in my head, coming up with different accentuations. NAblopomo. NAbloPOmo. NaBLOpomo. NabloPOmo. Yeah, you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, I was all ready to upload the Halloween pictures to post today but I can't find the USB cord for my camera. If you could see my house, you'd know why. I'm afraid it's just going to be words today.

This morning Owen and I went to the Friday morning playgroup at Abundant Yarn. Heather, the lovely new owner, has a daughter who's just a little younger than Owen and on Friday mornings opens up the shop to harried moms and tiny terrors. I also met up with Larissa and her small fry, who is around Owen's age as well. Once Owen got over his fear that the other kids were going to take his airplanes away forever, he had a great time. Heather even took all the kids to see the store rabbit, allowing Larissa and I some time to chat about book publishing and TNNA. Larissa's book is coming out in the spring, and I've got a couple book ideas kicking around that I eventually want to do something with, so we had a good chat about it.

I am really conflicted about the whole book thing. On the one hand, who doesn't want a glossy, beautiful knitting book with their name on the front cover? It seems like the ultimate goal for a designer, which is why I think I continue to feel so compelled to do it. It feels like a book is respected in a way that pattern leaflets and individual designs in compilations aren't. Maybe it's just me. On the flip side, a book is a lot of work. It involves the labyrinth of publishing contracts and agents and negotiating a fair deal for yourself while navigating the fine line between not letting yourself get screwed and not being so bullheaded that you tick off your agent and publisher and they decide they never want to work with you. It frightens me.

On the other hand, I'll be going to Cat Bordhi's Visionary Retreat for self-publishing authors in February (my 2nd time in attendance). While I think that self-publishing could ultimately be the best way to go, it frightens me as well. I almost feel like I need someone to lead me through the book-writing process the first time, or it just won't ever get done. It's too easy to get distracted with other projects, like designing one-offs for my pattern line or submitting to the various and sundry books and mags that are always soliciting designs. I just can't decide what I want to do, and so I do nothing.

I did write up a proposal a few months ago for a sock book and sent it off to a publisher. An editor contacted me and said that they liked my book idea but it wasn't marketable because too many other sock books have come out lately. She asked if I had any other ideas, and I sent her a few that were also shot down as "unmarketable". I think this kind of gave me cold feet about working up another proposal. They're a lot of work, and it's hard to commit to putting in all that time when I'm not sure that it's going to pan out. I think what I'll ultimately do is write up the proposal for the book I have in my head right now (there are actually two, and I love them both) and shop it around. If it doesn't get any takers, I'll self-publish. I really need to love the idea enough to keep it going no matter what happens, and I think I finally have that. Now, if only I could find a way to keep all these other little projects from encroaching on my book-proposal-polishing time...

Well, I'm two for two - only 28 more posts to go! Can you stand it?

NaBloPoMo

Since my blog has been so very, very neglected as of late, I've decided to join NaBloPoMo (or National Blog Posting Month, for those of you who don't speak acronym, or semi-acronym, or whatever the heck that word made out of the front halves of a bunch of other words is). The goal is to post every day for a month. Good luck to me.

I was inspired to do this by a post on the Ravelry forums, where I have been spending an inordinate amount of time lately. There has been oh so much drama going on there, and I am attracted to drama like a moth to the flame. Between posts asking for an illegal pattern photocopy and accusations of pattern theft, I've had quite the busy time reading and getting all worked up about things done by complete strangers that don't really (but hypothetically could) affect me. I often wonder why I'm so compelled to stick my nose in where it at best only marginally belongs.

The kids were in super-terror mode all afternoon, so I chugged a couple glasses of wine after dinner. If this post is a bit incoherent, I apologize. It was a choice between wine and homicide. Owen is in the midst of potty training, which means he's about halfway there. He has an equal number of successes and failures throughout the day. I was dealing with a particularly stinky failure when I realized I hadn't heard from Sydney in far too long. I thought she was out in the backyard, whispering to the chickens, so I went out to see what she was up to. Imagine my panic when I couldn't find her anywhere. We have a backyard with a high fence and live in a safe neighborhood full of nosy neighbors, but I still had a moment of electrifying panic when I couldn't find her. I raced through the house, checking all of her favorite hiding spots, and finally found her in her room with the door shut, hunched over her bag of Halloween candy in the back of the closet, stuffing her face with chocolate. This is just one of the many trying situations I faced today. Couple that with a pinched nerve in my shoulder that just won't work itself out, and alcohol seemed like the only good solution.

A whole month of posts like this - can you stand it? I do have knitting to talk about, and Halloween pictures, but they'll have to wait. Right now I've got a TiVoed episode of 90210 to watch (thank you, Soap Network!). See you tomorrow!