Nov 18: does not follow directions

My knitting habits are starting to get a bit silly. I use to be so orderly, so follow the pattern. Now I start off deciding I don't like the way it is written and venture out to do it a different way. Or worse combine two patterns to make the thing I really want to make. Take this hat for instance. A friend asked for the pattern today and i couldn't give it to her because it started as this toasty topper, got reversed (became bottom to top instead of top down) and then I switched over to this baby jester hat with a lot of hand waiving in between.

Poor Carrie S had to suffer through my horrible teaching when I tried to teach her how to make toe up socks. Which starts with Judy's Magic toe up socks, switches over to the universal sock pattern which I was re-writing as we went, finally I usually bail out of when I get past the heel and do my own random increases until the socks fit right. It also feels like the more I explained the less I communicated. I'm obviously a big fan of knitty.com and get most of my bad encouragement inspiration from there.

So the newest project is a sweater for JoyGirl. I want to stick with my current obsession, two round needles and knitting in a whole piece, but sweaters are usually knitted in separate pieces and then sown together at the end. [If your inner voice added a boring after you read that, you are probably as bad as I am.] So this Helena pattern would be perfect right? But I also really like this lacy Reid pattern, too bad it's piece work....or is it? Could I think of a way to knit in pattern in the round? And why not take what I learned from making seamless raglan sweaters from a 1976 leaflet I picked up from my mom, only as a cardigan? What could possible go wrong since I've never done lace work?

I then start doing crazy math and dive in. And more often than not pull out some, back up, rehash the math, start again. But that's the fun of it. Why would I want to make something that can be reproduced? Knitting to me is a lot like working in clay on the wheel. Only Very. Slowly.

Nov 17: watershed day

I know i said I wouldn't talk about my son too much during this month of posting, but today was really a watershed day, language wise. There are so many new things that Tobo has done today, I can't keep track of them all. I think the biggest thing was that he has named himself, Ham, and sometimes Hammy. He's also named dad, (Standing out side our bedroom door yelling "Paul!" no less) My name is still mama, though he kind of got it when I said my name was Cat. He drank from a regular cup really well today, (though after he's done he needs to pay a little more attention) did pretty good with a fork. Came up with a batch of new ideas and basic sentence building the likes of which we have not seen before. (hammy happy milk milk puppy go = I'm happy I have milk after going out where the dogs play.) Ok, it's still not english, but getting there.

Tobo: dada go?
Mom: dada is at work, we'll see him later.
tobo: dada hello (holding his hand up to his ear like he's on the phone) looks at me with a question.
Mom: um, no we can't call him right now but boy would he be proud to hear you ask that.

Most exciting is we counted up to three today. I don't think he really gets the concept of three, just repeats it after two, but that we're even getting to talk about it is pretty amazing. We did a lot of playing in the snow today just because it was finally warm enough to do so before it all melted away. We had fun with our sand box bucket and the snow building little snow pyramids on our porch.

I also finished his socks. These are made from left over moda dea sassy striping yarn I had from a pair of socks I made a few years ago. This is apparently more rare now since this line of yarn has been discontinued. The socks are a little big, but not by much, so I figure he should grow into them soon. He is a bit approach avoid about them. I think they are kind of like his puppy dog costume, fun but "I'd like to take it off now." I've thrown them in his sock box for now, so we'll see if he warms up to them. Maybe after playing out side.

Nov 10: blogger's block / to do lists

Well, I made it 10 days before I hit my usual blogger's block. It's some weird combination of stage fright and weariness. Do I talk about my son? Should I complain about my computer? I've told you some of the major thoughts I've had. My mind is a blank.

So um, here are some of my smaller goals:

Knitting projects:
- Socks for Tobo: Nobody makes warm winter socks for toddlers because they grow like weeds. I'm take the chance to make a small set of socks for Tobo from left over yarn.
- No more yarn: I've cut myself off from buying anymore yarn until I use up the odds and ends I've got stashed away for a rainy day. So these socks are perfect kind of thing.
- Next? I'm debating making a hat or socks for myself next.

Diaper projects:
- flips: I've been thinking about picking up some disposable flips from cottonbabies.com for our christmas travel. Happily, it looks like you can buy the covers and the insert separately. I really don't need more regular diapers. We'll see if its actually worth it.
- better inserts: I am investigating hemp inserts for night time in an attempt to get away from disposables at night. I don't want to spend too much money on anything, so I'm going to be looking at used and ebay first, no rush really. If I procrastinate long enough he'll be potty trained. Another option is to look at hemp fitted diapers that would work with our dancing bear cover. The cover works great, I just need to find a combination that is thin and absorbent. We're also looking at cutting back on liquids at night.
- replace the diaper bag: We're also trying to replace our backpack/diaper bag with something that is more travel friendly than what we have. I've got one I like at Landsend, but the jury is still out.

Computer projects:
- Fix the *$%^ mac. Really tired of getting a notice on my phone that I have new mail before I see it on my computer. I have no idea what is going on with mac mail and I'm about ready to chuck it and install thunderbird, mozilla's mail client. If I can get this resolved, I will be completely off the old mac and ready to move onto software upgrades.
- Quicken 2010 is coming out for mac, which is the first update since 2008. I highly doubt it will have anything earth shattering in it, but it will hopefully be less buggy than 2008 has become. I've looked around at iBudget, but not sure if I really understand their premise. (envelope budgeting)
- InDesign CS4: If I upgrade I can work some from home. Probably.

ok, boy is crying, off to save the day.