Bird Master Eggplant Xylephone

After reading Monday’s post, I realized that I was crazed and scattered. I think that’s the state of my brain right now between nerves, finishing up with work, figuring out classes, and general craziness. I need to start making some lists to help sort everything in my head.

In knitting news, I’m just about done with the shall, Maluka. She’s off the needles and I just need to wind in ends. Next up hand warmers and socks for the Husband. Otherwise, knitting has been slow, but good. I have knitting this weekend so I really need to remember to print out the sock pattern and maybe finally figure out the pattern for my hand warmers. Some day I’ll even get my latest FO up. Someday.

I feel like I have a very deep and philosophical post percolating in my head, but I can’t remember it for the life of me. Of all the things to forget, that one’s fine. I’d hate to forget to finish a project for work or feeding the kid, who by the way is now potty trained! Mostly. 9 times out of 10 she successfully asks to use the potty. The other 1 out of 10…KABOOM! Pee or poop everywhere. She’s like a tiny bomb spraying pee over everything she walks on. Or sits on. The poop sort of stays contained until it isn’t and then ew. No, super ew. Fortunately, she is still willing to do pull ups for gymnastics or going out when we aren’t sure of a potty.

Aren’t you so happy you came to read today?

Deal with the Devil

We loathe cutting our daughter’s toenails. Although, maybe loathe doesn’t quite cut it (ha!). Hate? Dread? Would rather pull our eyeballs out with tweezers? When OP knows that it’s time to trim those talons she tries to pass as toenails, she turns into a crazed banshee soccer player. One of us needs to hold her down while the other grasps her foot in a vice and tries desperately to trim her nails without cutting off a toe.

I’m surprised the neighbors haven’t called social services yet.

Anyway, it is such an awful experience that we put it off as much as we can, leading to sharp, nasty nails that look like she’s been on a deserted island for years. With all things we need to do that OP objects to (baths, diaper, medicine, etc), once we find a distraction or way around the issue, we’re good to go. We just haven’t found the way around this one, yet. Or have we.

Who knew these cute little toes would cause so much drama!

Let me back up. I was what you might consider a tomboy from about 7th grade until well into college. I never wore dresses, heels, make-up, etc. I still don’t do the make-up, really. Okay, sometimes I do and only look like a clown half the time. The other half, I pay someone to do it for me. However, to this day, I will not, nor do I ever plan to, wear nail polish. I think it’s disgusting and just looks wrong. Except on you, it looks lovely on you. Okay, no. No it doesn’t. I just don’t like the stuff. At. All.

The other night, at gymnastics, my daughter pointed out another girl’s blue toenails and it made me start thinking. Ever since they did the letter N at school, OP has begun to mention nail polish. Not often, but enough to make me think it could be our way around the utter gall we have for cutting off her nails. So, we told her that if she is very brave and lets us cut her nails without all the hoopla, we would put on nail polish that she picks out.  (I’ve included her fingernails because while she let’s me do it with the TV on, I figured including it could help her get the idea with her toes.) She is utterly excited, and we’re going to look for a non-toxic, kid-friendly (Piggy Paint or something similar) this weekend with her help. She wants pink, blue, and green if you are curious.

I’m dying inside because I HATE nail polish, and I suspect it will get all over everything. But if that’s the deal I must make with the devil to get this to work, it’s one I’m willing to make. It could be worse. I could cut off her feet.

Wait until I ask you to get my legs waxed!

FO: Legwarmers

Pattern: Super-Easy Leg Warmers (sort of)
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Alpaca Sox
Needles: US 1

It’s FO Friday!!! That’s two weeks in a row! Top that! Yeah, I know.

At a distant Rhinebeck (maybe 4 years ago), I went Alpaca Sox crazy. I bought 3 different colorways that I JUST HAD TO HAVE and then never touched them. When I looked at them while cataloging my stash, I wondered what the heck was I thinking? I must have been high on fumes. They are nice, but not really something that I had to have. I took my least favorite of the 3 and made something for OP (Optimus Prime for those new to the blog).

OP LOVES yarn. I give her scrap yarn that I would otherwise throw out and she “knits” with it. She also knits with my tape measure. I wanted to make something for her that she would like, would grow with her, and could be adapted if she did hated.

I decided on leg warmers because they don’t have a foot, are super cute, and would be a quit knit. I took a look at the Super-Easy Leg Warmers to see how they did it, then just sort of when on my own pattern. I made the leg warmers wide enough that they could fit on my arm if she didn’t like them or so she could wear them when she was older. I tried to make them long enough to grow with her, but I think at 12 inches it’s a bit short for future OP. The length works for now, but I think I will add a couple more inches after the season is over. I have enough yarn for them. There was some weird pooling and my gauge was off which I blame on trying to relax on a plane flight and then switching to normal gauge. I’m fine with the pooling because this isn’t a project I really care about, which feels horrible to say but is true. It’s a project that will most likely get lost or torn, so it is what it is.

She loved that I was making something for her, which is what I wanted with this project. When I pulled it out it was her yarn. OP seems to like them and wore them several times as soon as they were done; although she hasn’t really worn them much lately. Of course, they ended up in a bag of outdoor winter clothing and were out of line of sight. I’ll put them back in rotation and see what happens. If she doesn’t wear them again, I’ve just scored a new pair of arm warmers!

Happy Birthday!

3 years ago today, a beautiful, crazy little girl was born on the darkest day of the year. Every day you light up our lives, crazy child. I love you.

3 Years Old! from Chazari on Vimeo.

Every day I’m shuffling

Hey, Ravelers. Have you heard about Operation Provide Warmth? It’s a drive for handmade items for people affected by Hurricane Sandy. It’s getting cold in the northeast so a blanket, hat, scarf, mittens, and even a sweater may be useful. I bet a little handmade doll would be comforting for kids, but I’d ask the coordinator before you make that.

The month of November has been busy but a great learning experience. I took an online PHP 2 class 3 days a week and shadowed several clinical dietitians at a local hospital. From the PHP class, I learned that I hate online classes. Unless I just hate PHP. It’s a tough call. Although, I did get a TON of knitting done during class.

The job shadow was awesome. I was able to see both the good, the bad, and the crazy. The paperwork is immense and the knowledge needed (drugs, food, surgeries, diseases, etc) is scary, but going on rounds to talk with patients was awesome. I really liked it. I only focused on long-term and in patient care. My favorite was long-term care because you get to form a relationship with your patient. Unfortunately, because long-term care is for elderly, I can see that one would be extremely sad as your patients eventually die. I did not have an opportunity to try out patient. That would have been interesting.

Both the PHP class and the job shadow will help to inform the next steps I take switching careers, but I just can’t figure out what.

On top of all that, I kept starting projects before I finished the old ones. I did finished the Norwegian Star Scarf as you can see in my last post. I also finished a hat for Operation Provide Warmth, which I need to write up. I also made some pot holders out of the leftover Doctor Who bag. Apparently Doctor Who yarn is much like the tardis. There was more yarn on the inside of the skein than on the out! The Doctor Who bag itself is knit and felted, but I need to add grommets and fabric. It’s beautiful, oddly enough and the fabric just came in this week so hopefully I’ll be getting back to it soon, but it really depends on the ability to pull out the sewing machine when the little one isn’t going to want to help.

In the meantime, I’m still working on a shawl, a blue and purple sock, started a purple-only sock for a magic loop class, and a hat for OP. I’m planning to start a hat next week for me and leg warmers for OP. Oh, and probably hand warmers for her too. She needs hand warmers with big goofy flowers or something. She likes big goofy flowers.

I hate everything you think I like, so your goofy flowers will be for naught.