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Tuesday, November 30, 2004

I finished the ankle stitches on the sock for Jonathan... and what did I do next? The heel flap? No, silly, I started some gloves. Duh...



These are going to be my grandmother's Chanukah present. It all started because Grandma was going on and on one day about how very "in" shawls and ponchos are these days. I, in a really egotistical way, assumed that this was a hint that she'd like me to knit one for her. I didn't want to make her something she wouldn't like, so I told her that I would like to knit her a shawl for Chanukah, and asked if she had any preferences. She said she didn't think she'd wear a shawl(?!?), so I offered to make her socks. She didn't think that hand-knit socks would fit in her shoes. So she said "How about gloves?". Okay... I can do gloves (although I never have). Then she debated for a while about whether she wanted the gloves to be black or hot pink, and settled on hot pink... so while I was in Toronto, I bought a pattern & yarn for these. I also bought some black eyelashy stuff to maybe put at the wrists... we'll see.

Anyway, they're going really fast. I just started them last night. The pattern seems a bit asinine... why wouldn't you knit gloves in the round? Since I haven't made gloves before, I'm following the pattern... but it seems there has to be a better way.

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Sunday, November 28, 2004

It's good to be home! Our visit to Toronto was great... Sam got to spend lots of time with his Granny Sylvia, and see Auntie Lara and Uncle Steven. I got to shop for yarn. We ate well... VERY well... VERY much, really... and got to see some friends as well.

Speaking of friends... this is our friend Joel. He's the one on the right (well, my left... but looking at the screen, he's on the right). Jonathan's the one on the left-- those of you who know him know that he's lost a lot of weight recently... perhaps you didn't know that all of this weight came off his head... anyway...



Joel was pretty funny. He was making fun of me for knitting socks for Jonathan... and then he discovered (okay I showed him) my knitting blog, and he proceeded to read my entries out loud with feeling... pretty hilarious (the reading, not the blog entries). If I wasn't laughing so hard, I would have been embarrassed...

In any event, Joel needs a nice girl in his world to love him, and to knit socks for his size 12 feet (I put his foot size in ONLY in the interest of knitting... not to entice potential mates)... he's tall, dark & handsome... and if anyone out there is from the Toronto area, and knows a single Jewish female knitter (okay, a knitter's just a bonus), please let me know. He's really a great guy. Here's another picture... look at that girls, he's good with babies...



(Who's embarrassed now, Joel??? But wouldn't it be a great story to tell your grandkids?)

And here is a knitting picture--- these are the socks I started for Jonathan.


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Friday, November 26, 2004

Hello... blogging from my mother-in-law's computer in Toronto today...

On the recommendation of the Yarn Harlot (thanks!), we took a trip downtown to Romni Wools. Quite a store!!! A huge space-- literally wall to wall (and ceiling to floor) of every yarn I could imagine (except Jaeger Merino, which I was looking for, but that's okay, read on). I got lots... not tons... but lots. The highlight, I think was 2 skeins of Regia Silk sock yarn, which I hadn't seen before. I am using this to make socks for Jonathan based on Nancy Bush's "Socks for a Guy" pattern which was in Pieceworks magazine. So far, very nice. They were going to be Jaeger Merino... but this is even better, and machine washable, so I'm happy. I also got 5 skeins of some awesome charcoal gray 100% alpaca, which will probably become a scarf. I bought some hot pink and black novelty-ish stuff to make gloves for my grandmother (I offered to make her a shawl for Chanukah, and she said she'd rather have gloves). I also bought some orange Baby Ull which I am hoping will solve the problem of Sam's sweater, but am thinking now it might not... and a ball of Paton's Kroy, to use with a ball I already have in stash, for another hat from my hat book.

Sorry for no links/photos... I'm on dial-up here! I'll have lots of pictures when I get back. Happy belated Thanksgiving!

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Tuesday, November 23, 2004

On this, my 1-year blogiversary, I present:

100 Things About Me
(I've been meaning to write this for oh, about a year now)

1. I am an optometrist
2. I am a mom
3. I am a knitter
4. I am a vegetarian… 99% vegan
5. I will eat cakes and cookies made with eggs, on occasion
6. I have not had any meat, chicken, or fish since 1993.
7. I grew up in Cranford, NJ
8. I graduated from Cranford High School in 1989.
9. I was on the tennis team, but I sucked at tennis
10. The rest of the team sucked too, and I played 2nd singles and was the captain.
11. Our record my senior year was 2 wins, 18 losses, and 1 tie.
12. I was 16 when I graduated from high school and started college.
13. Even though I was 16 (and looked younger), the bartenders at the Cash Inn used to serve me grapefruit juice and vodka (yuck)
14. I graduated from SUNY Binghamton (now Binghamton University) in 1993.
15. I graduated from New England College of Optometry in 1997
16. Within 3 months, I graduated, got married, started working, and moved.
17. I became interested in eye care while working at a camp for blind children while I was in college
18. I worked there for 5 summers as lifeguard, and then as waterfront director
19. One of the things I am proudest of during my time there was inventing a game called Pok-Oar, where the kids went around in rowboats and picked up playing cards which were glued to Styrofoam plates floating in the lake… they could only pick up 5, and then could exchange one and draw another. Whoever got the best hand at the end of the boating period won.
20. Boating was really boring before Pok-Oar.
21. Now I go back to camp to do staff training about eyes and low vision.
22. Next year, I should ask if they still play Pok-Oar
23. I am married to an incredible man
24. He and I own an optometry office together
25. I am really proud of our office, and I love going to work
26. I have had a quasi-famous person as a patient, but HIPAA prevents me from telling you who it is.
27. We also run a Low Vision Center in New Brunswick NJ
28. I like running a business, but I don’t like being “the boss”
29. Before Sam, we called our office “our baby”
30. Sam was born August 17, 2003
31. Before Sam was born, I was a bit of a workaholic
32. Sometimes I think I still am.
33. Money represents independence to me
34. I have had a lot of jobs.
35. I used to be a birthday party hostess at Chuck E. Cheese… and filled in as Chuck E. when the regular guy was out.
36. I used to teach CPR classes
37. I was a campus tour guide at Binghamton, and could be informative and funny while walking backwards.
38. I like making people laugh.
39. I was a USY advisor for 6 years, and loved it.
40. I like getting kids excited about positive things.
41. I like being the center of attention
42. I am an only child
43. My parents got divorced a few years ago and didn’t tell me.
44. I happened to ask my dad “What did you do today?” and he said he got divorced.
45. They were separated, so it wasn’t a huge shock
46. Still, as their kid, I thought I should have known in advance.
47. I’m over it.
48. I tend to be very forgiving, usually give people the benefit of the doubt, and don’t hold grudges.
49. I don’t have any nicknames.
50. Well… maybe Jonathan calls me “Boo” on occasion… but only because I call him “Boo”
51. If you ask Sam, “What does a ghost say?” he says, “Booooooo”
52. I wonder if all parents think that their baby is the cutest baby in the world, or if ours just really is.
53. I think Sam should have his own blog, but I don’t have enough time to help him keep it up.
54. There are a lot of things I want to do, but there are not enough hours in the day to do them all.
55. I really like public speaking
56. I think about consulting and lecturing, a lot
57. I am working on a project that will hopefully lead in this direction.
58. I know almost nothing about geography
59. I am a terrible procrastinator
60. I procrastinate because I have always done it, and everything always works out okay.
61. I work best under pressure, and respond well to deadlines
62. I try not to put deadlines on my knitting
63. People think I am very organized, but I am totally not… I just fake it really well.
64. Even some of my good friends are fooled by my organized façade
65. I have 18 boobs-- scattered all over the world
66. I’d explain further, but it’s a secret
67. I think I have more e-friends than real friends
68. That is probably because I can talk with e-friends whenever I have free time, and they respond when they have free time
69. I don’t have a lot of free time
70. I am terrible about giving gifts and sending cards on time
71. Fortunately, so is Jonathan
72. We are making an effort to improve this, so that Sam can learn the joy of giving gifts… on time.
73. I had LASIK in January 2000, and purposely left myself a little blurry.
74. I like eyeglasses a lot, but can’t find glasses I like.
75. Fortunately, I don’t really need glasses that much, but get to help other people with their glasses every day.
76. I want a new set of drinking glasses for our house.
77. I want a lot of things for our house—including a bedroom set.
78. We have lived in our current house (a townhouse) since February 1999.
79. People told us not to buy a townhouse because it was a bad investment, but ours has more than doubled in value since we bought it.
80. The light in our refrigerator went out almost a year ago, and we can’t fix it. Now we are so used to it that we see other peoples’ refrigerator lights as something exciting and special.
81. I have a bad habit of buying produce, and then throwing it out when it goes bad.
82. Bad things don’t usually happen to me.
83. I think that this is partially luck, but mostly because I have made some really good decisions.
84. Because I don’t have experience dealing with bad things, I have some anxiety about how it will be when something bad does happen.
85. I had 4 living grandparents until I was 30 and my grandfather died.
86. I think he was the only person I really loved who died.
87. At 32 years old (me, not him) that’s not a bad track record.
88. Sometimes I worry that it will all come crashing down at once.
89. As long as I have Jonathan, I should be okay.
90. Our wedding song was “Sleeping Dog”
91. Jonathan really likes Pete Townshend
92. He also really likes Bruce Springteen
93. I really didn’t have my own taste in music until recently.
94. I just liked whatever the guy I was dating at the time liked.
95. Then I discovered I like jazz.
96. I have absolutely NO musical talent whatsoever
97. I think people who sing are amazing
98. I have more rhythm than Jonathan
99. That’s not saying much.
100. I procrastinated a whole year, and it only took me 40 minutes to write this list. Now I feel like a real blogger

I'm going to work on a FO gallery and fill in my "inspiration" links as well... maybe before my 2-year blogiversary.

Can someone help me figure out how to set up a permanent link to this in my sidebar?

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Friday, November 19, 2004

Oh, the knitting angst (shouldn't that be an oxymoron?)

Sue came over last night with 2 halves of a poncho... for an evening of finishing, and Apprentice-watching. I sewed one of the sleeves onto Sam's sweater. Well remember how I ran out of yarn, and was worried they were going to be really really REALLY small. Yeah, they were. Freakishly so.



So I was obviously disappointed once the sleeve was sewed on... I think my only alternative is to take out the sleeves, and make them longer and wider with a contrasting color stripe... which is not going to be easy to find in the same exact yarn... and I'm really bad about re-doing things, but maybe just maybe this is too cute to not finish. Anyway, I didn't have the heart to take it apart last night... so I decided to wait.

Well, this morning, I tried it on Sam. What do you think?





He was wearing it over a long-sleeved shirt, and overalls... and it looks like the sleeve fits him just right. Just the sweater is big :)

So the main issue is that the whole thing is kind of disproportionate... and I don't want him to be in therapy in 23 years saying "My mom always made me these sweaters with huge bodies that she knew I couldn't live up to..." and the sweater looks funny when it's off... but if it looks cute when it's on, is that good enough? Or am I settling just to avoid more work on this sweater?

If I finish it the way it is now, he definitely won't get more than this season's wear out of it. BUT, we don't have to roll up the sleeves for him to eat and stuff like that... With bigger/longer sleeves, he would probably be able to wear it next fall too... although he grows so fast, it's hard to say for sure.

So what do you think?

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Tuesday, November 16, 2004

It's been so long, I almost forget how to blog.

Lots going on this past week-- including some knitting.

I would have finished Sam's sweater long ago, but Carriellen (hi!) got me sidetracked by faxing me the pattern for knitted balls! Isn't that cruel? Imagine me, settling down at my desk, ready to have a good, productive day... brrrring... pfft pfft pfft pfft (that's the fax printing noise)... what's this? A quick easy project that uses up leftover yarn, AND makes something that my son will love to play with? Oh yes, then I can concentrate on work.

So I immediately knitted two. Here's one, made with leftover yarn from Sam's hoodie sweater. Yes, my son has a ball made of Cashmerino. It's very cute, in a not-really-round sort of way. Jonathan and I have been playing with it more than Sam has... suddenly "catch" is very popular in our house again.



The other one was made with leftover self-striping sock yarn... it's been played with, and now I can't find it. It's cute and small.

I had a bit of a crisis with Sam's sweater. Basically, I ran out of yarn. This was made with the skein I bought at Stitches East, so I couldn't get more. I was about 1/3 of the way through the sleeves when I realized that the yarn situation was looking dire... a contrasting color stripe on the sleeve would have helped, but I really like the colors the way they are, and wanted to keep it uniform if at all possible. So basically, I picked up and finished the neck, and then just did as much sleeve as I could, down to the very very end of the yarn (half of the bind off row of the 2nd sleeve is actually done in another yarn).



So the sleeves are a bit shorter and narrower than I would have liked, but I tried the front/back/neck on Sam, and with the drop shoulder, they will be just long enough. It will probably be better to have them short like this, now that he does things like fingerpaint and eat macaroni and soy cheese.

I'm thinking of frogging the poncho.


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Sunday, November 07, 2004

Okay... got the front & back of Sam's sweater done... now onward to the sleeves!



I never liked finishing... but now that I took the finishing class at Stitches, I'm looking forward to having the pieces done so I can practice what I've learned!

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Friday, November 05, 2004

What happened to this week?

I've been working on Sam's new sweater a lot. I finished the back-- this is actually the front. I have about 10 or 15 more rows before starting the neck shaping. It's going to be a really nice sweater, I think. Once I finish, I'll go back to the poncho.



Remember Nina Jane (of Oh My God, better finish the blanket before Amy has this baby fame?) Here she is, 3 months old-- covered head to toe in hand-me-down knitted goodness. The hat & sweater ensemble were actually made for her older sister Emily almost 4 years ago, but she wears them well, don't you think? The socks are the ones that were intended for fast-growing Sam... he grew out of them before they ever got use.


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Monday, November 01, 2004

I finished Sam's hat... all the imperfect stitches just fade away on his tiny perfect head. It's a little bit big for him now, but that's okay-- hopefully he'll be able to wear it next year too.



And here we are in our matching hats... are we cute, or what???



At some point, I'll make one for Jonathan too...

But for now, here's the beginning of the new sweater I started for Sam, with the yarn I bought at Stitches. It's just a simple double moss stitch pattern-- I've always liked that.


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