I gotta start posting more often

Yet again, I've let a whole bunch of blogworthy stuff build up, and now I'm going to spew it all out at you. Duck.

I had a birthday. It was full of awesomeness. I got comfy new snowboots (which I needed) a new food processor (also needed) a set of ShamWows (who doesn't need these?), dinner at Virgil's with Merri and Sharad, and a birthday cake in the shape of Darth Vader's head. You may now all bask in the awesomeness that is my husband.



Now, I know you're thinking Why in the world would he make the detailing brown? That's just silly. DV is clearly black all over. Well, if Betty Crocker wouldn't label cans of Easy Flow Icing "Black" when the icing inside is clearly "Brown" it would be much easier to do these things properly. Regardless, the cake is yummy and mine and you can't have any (though there is still some left -- I'm pacing myself on this one).

Becky will have a birthday or, Procrastication For the Win! I was supposed to schedule Becky's birthday party all last week. I finally headed over to the place(there's a deposit required) Tuesday of this week and of course there were no days open even close to her birthday. So the very nice guy who was helping me said he'd print out all of April and May so I could see if there was anything at all available that would work. One of the moms that was there for a class with her kid overheard him and said, "Oh, you can open up April 25th at noon -- you were holding it for me, but we're going to have a bead party instead." Which is the absolute perfect day and time for Becky's party. Thank you, Birthday Fairy!

Go West, Old Woman! Speaking of awesome things, it has been arranged that I will be able to attend the Fortunetide Ball in San Francisco at the end of the month. The only negative is that Kit will not be able to attend, and I will miss him a whole lot while I'm out there. I don't think we've spent any whole days (24 hours) apart since I moved up here. I'm just going for a couple of days, but it will be so nice to see everyone out there and hang out. I am super excited about this and have already started to pack. Why yes, I am a big dork, why do you ask?

But wait, there's even more awesomeness! Because two of our favorite people are coming to visit next weekend! Whee! There will be White Castle and monkeybread and other yumminess (Kit claims there's more to people visiting than making sure they're well-fed, but I'm not sure about that), and doggies and KevinandPeggys. Sweet!

Owl be seeing you There's a painted tree in Becky's room, and every once in a while I like to add a little something to it. Recently, I asked her if she would like an owl in her tree (because I can draw an owl), and she said that she would. It would need to be green. So now there is a green owl in her tree. She has named it Horgan. Yes, Horgan. I have no idea.



I made mittens, because it's almost spring. I saw these in the Webs catalog and just had to have a pair. This was my first Fair Isle project, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it as that because some of the floats get really long and you have to go across the thumb gusset and it's kind of a pain. But I do lurvs them and they're nice and warm to drive in, which is what I made them for.



Service with a smile I've been working on a sock design that I really wanted to have done in time to submit for the Knitty Summer issue. I'd've had it done, too, but I was knitting the samples two at a time (one from the center, one from the outside) and they didn't even look like they were from the same ball of yarn. I am not one to insist that my socks made from hand-dyed yarn should match, but I do want them to look related.



I notified Fleece Artist, who made the yarn, of the problem and within an hour got an apology and offer to replace the yarn. Now, I obviously won't make the deadline (Mar. 2), but I can always self-publish the pattern. I just thought it was really awesome that they responded so quickly and generously. I also want to say about this yarn -- which is their Sea Wool blend -- that it is really a pleasure to knit with. I've got a couple of skeins in other colorways and I can't wait to knit it up.

Since when is a B-cup an extra large? Not that there's anything wrong with being a B-cup. I'm just saying, when I buy an extra-large t-shirt, I expect it to not be super-crazy tight. Even American Apparel tees, notorious for running small, fit me decently in an XL. Most tees fit me properly in a medium. Threadless, however, makes the smallest XL I have ever experienced. Since I've already exchanged my tee once (I ordered a medium the first time, which makes me even more surprised about the XL, because it's not comparatively much bigger than the medium) I'm kind of done with it. Not sure what I'm going to do with the tee. I did get a really cute tee from them for Becky, though, and it appears to be the right size.

So that's what I've been doing. I'm going to go eat some cake and knit a few rows before I have to get the kids. Yes, the kids are still cute. See?







I think the cute might stick -- even when they're making me crazy, they're still pretty cute. Becky has entered the "why?" stage and I might strangle her soon, but I'm sure she'll be cute while I do it.

posted by Laura Y. @ 12:30 PM