Not An Entirely Unproductive Weekend

So, I spent the weekend mostly just vegging out, except for the past few hours, which was spent setting up some HTML crap for work so I wouldn't have to scramble to get it done tomorrow.

I got Zacky's blanket DONE!!! All squares sewn together, all ends woven in. And that was a freakin' lot of ends. It's blocking now (okay, technically it's not yet, but it will be as soon as I'm done writing this, so by the time you're reading the tense will be correct. Unless you're reading it a few days from now. Okay, fine "It WILL HAVE BEEN blocking." Happy now?)



I cast on my Cookie A. Twisted Flower socks for the first Sock Knitters Anonymous challenge.




I'm trying to use both patterns and yarns that I've been wanting to use anyway -- there are quite a few combos that fit the monthly challenges quite well, so I'm very pleased. I'm using the first Yarn Botanika that I purchased for myself (I bought some for Colleen's socks first, I think), which is one of the first sock yarns I ever bought at all, so it's pretty well aged. It's their Merino/tencel blend in Pine Forest, which is a really rich, deep, foresty green. I'm knitting these socks two at a time on the magic loop (love you, magic loop!) and ran into an odd problem when casting on: I couldn't get the damn things lined up right! This would not be odd if I didn't already have several pairs on the needles this way, which I didn't have any trouble with. The issues were only exacerbated by my finding out halfway through one of the many cast-on attempts that one of my needles was splitting. Despite lots (and lots) of filing, I had to switch needles halfway through. Bleh. I finally realized that the trouble I was having is because I normally do toe-up socks, and the way I do the toes makes it very easy to get everything all lined up (if you want to know how that is, check out the Puss' Magical Stockings pattern -- it's free!).

But I did finally get everything lined up -- it only took me two hours -- and have completed the cuff ribbing.





Of course, it gets super complicated after that (you did hear me say it's a Cookie A. pattern, right?) so they now go into the basket, to be picked up after I've completed the wrap sweater. I can really only do one complex pattern at a time, especially if I want to complete them.

I wound the yarn for the bulky sweater from Inspired Knits into balls so it'll be ready to go when I finish the wrap sweater. Who decided little tiny skeins like this are okay?



Whoever it was, I have news for you: not okay. Seriously. Big PITA. Please stop. Thanks bunches. (That's Tahki Montana in Black, which it's really not, incidentally.)

Also, I built a bench (okay, Kit, we built a bench). Becky helped by handing me things and generally getting underfoot. Here she is on "her" bench.



I don't expect it to last more than a few years, but it's a nice place to sit in the backyard. We inherited a bench when we moved in, and I am not kidding when I tell you that it was the most uncomfortable bench in the world. It was impossible to sit on the thing for more than a minute or two. I'm looking forward to sitting on the new bench with Becky and Zacky and Kit and just hanging out in the back yard.

Finally,I managed to injure my shoulder Saturday night...sitting on the couch. I have no idea what happened. I pretty literally did nothing Saturday night, and all of a sudden when I went up to bed, my arm was killing me. It continued to hurt most of the day yesterday, felt better by the time we went to bed, and is back to hurting now. I have absolutely no idea what I've done.

Becky was mostly pretty good this weekend -- we need to work on the naptime pottying, since she went both yesterday and today. We think she just doesn't understand that she needs to come get us, since at school she's right there in the room with the teachers. So we're going to work on that next weekend. We got to read lots of books together, and sing, and play in the yard, and go to the pool.



Zack was also good, but he's at that age when he's really pretty much always good. He seems very happy, and he'll eat just about anything you put in front of him, whether it's food or not. Oh, and he's trying to pull himself up, and he's starting to sort of walk when we hold him up by his hands. Seriously, I can't wait until Thugsley can walk. Dude's gotta weigh 25 pounds, and unlike his lanky sister, it's all in his trunk, so it's pretty close to carrying around a 25 pound sack of flour. A very sweet, cute sack of flower, though.



And they still seem to like each other a lot, even though Zacky is really getting into Becky's toys, and Becky's not all that keen on sharing if she hasn't decided that it's something she wants to share. In other words, she's happy to give him a toy that she selects, but not as thrilled when he picks a toy for himself.

posted by Laura Y. @ 7:43 PM