Kids & knitting- Do we need anything else?

Happy Tuesday (grunt, grumble)! Thanks for the all blessings for Sam’s birthday- the day was a big hit with everyone. He decided that instead of a big party with lots of people, he wanted to take five of his friends to a movie & then dinner at his favorite restaurant. We all met up at the movie theater, bought the tickets for the kids, then Chris & I wandered next door to Barnes & Noble (we decided to take a pass on “The Messenger”). The next two hours past very quickly- not unusual when I’m surrounded by books & not looking for anything in particular.  

When the movie let out, the kids did a little shopping in the mall, then we drove over to GK Mongolian Barbeque for all you can eat stir-fry. Sam & I had been there before, however it was the first time for all of his friends, so they had a lot of fun experimenting with combinations of food & sauces. Man- can those kids pack away the food- even the girls had 2 or 3 bowls!   

We gave Sam our gifts: a 4-mega-pixel camera, 512 mb memory card, camera case, a mini-tripod, & the newest “Monk” mystery book. After dinner, we swung by Cold Stone & then home for some ice cream cake, where a multitude of pictures were taken of completely inane things. Once the cake was decimated, the kids all headed upstairs to play blackjack & watch a video. Most of the kids were picked up around 9:30; Sam’s best friend, G, ended up spending the night.

Jessica dropped to introduce her new boyfriend, Davíd (more on that another day), & say “Hey” to Sam; they only stayed for maybe 15 minutes, long enough to share a piece of cake, drink some water, & give me her W-2’s & signed tax forms to fill out & mail.    

Sam must have told me at least 4 times in the past 2 days how much he & his friends enjoyed themselves Saturday; I keep thinking it was no big deal- just dinner & a movie- but he says it was his best birthday ever, so I guess it was a big deal. We are so fortunate that he is such a great guy & has chosen his friends well; they are all polite, respectful, & well-mannered kids, even when they don’t think we are in earshot.  I listen to them talking, & other then the occasional swear word, they are articulate & funny, & treat each other with kindness. In many ways, they are all still quite young & innocent, & I pray they stay that way for a long time.   

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I completed a couple of knitting projects this week. I finished my sister’s scarf- I just need to weave some ends in & mail it off to New Mexico- & I finally finished Chris’ felted clogs. I started these way back in October & they were 85% completed when I put them aside to complete some deadline knitting for the holidays. I pulled them out of the project bag last week & realized I would be short maybe 25 yards of yarn in order to finish them.   I also saw that one of the cats evidently had an upset tummy in the past month, because someone barfed cat food into my bag! Fortunately, it was dried & these clogs were just about ready to throw into the washer, so I brushed them off outside, sprayed them with Frebreze, & set them in the laundry room while I finished the last sole. I have to say- I was disappointed with how this set felted up; I had to wash them 4 times longer then any of the others & they still came out a little too big & different sizes. I even did a test swatch before I started (which I rarely do) since I was using a different yarn than before, but it felted really well- almost too tight, actually, so I went up a needle size just in case. Oh, well- it was a lesson learned (stick with Cascade or Knit Picks) & Chris probably won’t even notice the difference.

I even started a new pair of socks last night.   I bought this cool new yarn called “Tofutsies”, which is a blend of superwash wool, soy silk, cotton, & Chitin, which is a fiber made from crab & shrimp shells! According to the manufacturer, Chitin has natural anti-bacterial properties, which would make it great for socks, & with the superwash wool, I’ll be able to wash them in the machine. I’m trying a new, toe-up version of my regular sock pattern, using two circular needles- it’s a bit challenging in the beginning, but I like how it looks so far. For you knitters out there, I found a very cool site for knitting help videos- www.knittinghelp.com - which has beginner & advanced techniques, as well as free patterns & an open forum for questions.

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Cat Haiku

You're always typing.
Well, let's see you ignore my
sitting on your hands.

   

Author Unknown