I survived the week.

I've kept this quote on my fridge for years. And it certainly described my life last week while the kids were on mid winter break. Every day was an exercise in keeping ones head above water.. that, and a reminder that I really need to better organize our summer activities in keeping everyone busy and occupied. This is imperative... with everyone getting older, and louder, I may very well lose my mind during three months of unrestrained chaos.

Despite the constant bickering, like who got to watch the tv with digital cable, who got to pick a movie, a video game, what was for lunch, yada yada, I did manage to finish a sock. Admittedly, the majority of it was done on Friday evening while listening to an audio book on my iPod while Richard watched a movie...

Charade Socks, in Claudia Hand Painted Fingering - colorway: Chocolate Cherry. I love this pattern. Its a simple two row repeat - perfect for tv knitting.

A little better shot of the colorway.. which is entirely pretty if not pooly. I'm not so much a fan of the pooly tendencies of some hand painted yarns, but the colors themselves make up for that. Besides, I love my macro setting. I'd take all pictures in macro if I could get away with it. The second sock was on the needles within minutes of weaving in ends on the first. I managed to get that little bit done on the second one while watching the Oscars with Richard last night. Great big yelps of glee for Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for taking home a statue. What a great song, they truly deserved the recognition.

Sorry 'bout that. I intended to blog every day last week, but just never got around to it. Same as last week, there is no particular reason for this.

Last week I did want to blog about a recipe I tried, pasta with peas and bacon...

When I made this last week, I followed the recipe exactly. It was good, although a little dry in my opinion. So I tried it again, this time using more cream, and adding some sauted shrimp at Richard's request. My goodness this was good. Rich. But oh so good.And I've been knitting. Not as much as usual, but I did manage to finish a quick knit project...

The Boutique Scarf by Pam Grossman. Knit on US15 and US6 needles using Twilley's of Stamford Freedom Spirit. I received one ball of this at my spinning guild's yearly yarn swap from Christina. In this swap, we each bring in a ball of yarn from our stashes in a brown paper bag then randomly choose a bag from the pile. The point is to then go home and make something with it, with the idea that you may end up with a yarn or colorway you wouldn't normally use. This yarn and colorway wasn't a real stretch for me at all.. I actually love the colorway and who doesn't love 100% wool? Luckily I found another ball in the same color number and lot at Sheep Thrills in N. Syracuse so that I could complete this scarf. Its currently blocking on my bed, and will be ready to wear by tonight.

Now, real life..

The kids are off school all of this week, so I'm likely to be busy more than usual. And I may end up taking a trip down home, as my aunt and godmother is in the ICU and unlikely to make it through the week. There has been quite a bit of drama and infighting in my family for the past several years and I've had a hard time forgiving things said and done, especially to my gram. My heart tells me that I should make the trip down to see her ASAP. I'm not sure what I'll do yet, but my mom has asked me to, for my gram. Inner struggle - I really suck at this.

Anyway, if I'm not here for another week, don't be alarmed.

Picture taken at 7AM this morning, of my dining room window. As always, click for big.

It's c-c-cold.
Brrrrrrr.
I wish I had fur.
I wish I was a bear with furry furry hair.
It's cold...It's c-c-cold.

~ Barney The Dinosaur

Carla = Bad Blogger. You know its bad when you're actually expecting that phone call when it comes (thanks Janet!) There are no real reasons however, for my little hiatus. Sure I've been sick (again), but there is also this little thing going on called the democratic primary (maybe you've heard of it?) in which I'm ever so slightly obsessed. Polls, pundits, blogs... goodness, I wish it were November already. I'm dreadfully behind in personal emails, responding to blog comments, and my bloglines "need to read" list is at a record high.

Today school was canceled, surely because of the sub zero wind chill, so I'm off to coerce the tribe into stepping away from the XBox, to watch a movie with me.

I think I have them. I haven't been able to really concentrate on a project for several days now. I've started and ripped three socks. Started and ripped two hats and a scarf. I've even tried to spin, thinking that would be the creative cure, but it just didn't hit the spot. Bleh.. I hate this time of year. It even affects my blogging.

I did manage to finish something. That something red I was knitting last week? It was a secret Gretel for Kris since she asked for one. Connor and I had a little photo shoot before I shipped it off, but I only managed to get decent shots with the flash on...

I don't usually like using the flash, but the rest of the pictures from our "shoot" came out like this...

I haven't even cooked anything interesting this past week. This is a serious case of the blahs.

The kids have a snow day today and the endless fighting and yelling has been non stop. I need chocolate, some calgon and earplugs, STAT!

I bought a new chair yesterday. Nothing special. Just this club chair from Target. My glider rocker, the very expensive one that Richard bought for me, just prior to giving birth to Dylan, was going to just collapse any day. I can't knit or spin without my chair. So in other words, this seating situation was reaching critical mass.

Last night while I'm sitting in my comfy new, inexpensive chair, my dad calls and asks how our day was, what did we do, yada yada. So I tell him about the new chair..

Dad: laugh, you bought a chair?

Me: Yep!

Dad: Not a new couch?

Me: Nope

Dad: You didn't find it on the side of the road?

Me: Nope

Dad: You didn't get it on that internet thingie you do?

Me: Nope

Dad: Your telling me you paid cold hard cash.. for furniture?

Me: laughing.. Yep!

Dad: So when are you buying a new couch?

Ok, I admit.. we need a new couch. Everyone knows that. But everyone also knows, I'm pretty cheap. Not so much cheap as frugal and insistent on "using up" what we have. Besides that, have you any idea the kind of abuse children inflict on furniture? Before I lay down cold hard cash, as my dad said.. I make damn sure I can't repair, or "make pretty" what we already have. I mean, my glider is the perfect example of this.. my kids ruined this chair. What was once a lovely soft cream color, turned gray. The original "floating on air" graceful glide of that cushy soft chair, one day turned into a loud, clunking, metal scraping wood, uncomfortable place to park my arse.

To get back on my main topic of knitting, I actually did some knitting in my new chair last night. I'm in the homestretch of the second Shibui Breeze basic sock, having turned the heel and completed gusset stitches while watching movies with Richard. For the interested they were Clerks 2 (predictable, boring) and Jackass 2 (hilarious, but stupid in that "boys are weird" kind of way.)

Lastly, back to my cheapness.. I'd have never paid the price on the Target website. I got it for half that price, in store. If the kids destroy it.. I won't cry.

I've had an urge to bake something for a few days now, but certainly nothing too ambitious. Fitting the bill, a little too perfectly was this super simple pumpkin cookie recipe, found at Dana's blog, Life In Abundance.

The only thing I changed was adding a bit of pumpkin pie spice. They are tasty, in that I like anything pumpkin. But they really do have the texture of box cake mix.. and that doesn't say "cookie" to me. Connor really enjoyed making them though.. and Alex and Dylan keep grabbing one from the kitchen counter. So I'm sure we'll make this again on a weekend when the kids are wanting to bake.

Another easy cookie recipe was just posted on The Pioneer Woman Cooks this morning. I'll be buying the ingredients tomorrow for sure. The peanut butter cup ones particularly ... I can almost taste them. Yummm.

Speaking of ambitious cooking.. I'm making this tonight. I think. I sort of feel like ordering Chinese instead, and saving this for Saturday evening. If you click that link, stick around Deb's blog and savor the recipes and especially the pictures. Smitten Kitchen is probably the most inspiring food blog I've come across so far.

We had an estimate done for some basement/foundation work this morning. In one word: depressing. Let me tell you.. it has set the tone for my day. With the temperature outside, a balmy 48.. and expected to climb higher tomorrow, it only adds to this melancholy feeling. Because, by Friday we'll be back in the deep freeze that is January in upstate New York. In a nutshell, I've discovered over the years, that I'm a prime candidate to be one of those people who spend the summer up north, and the winter down south (that is, if I could find a nice liberal, nicely colored blue locality somewhere in the south!)

Additionally, I have another sinus infection brewing. Saturday was pretty horrid, fighting off the intense pain behind my eyes and forehead - all day long. By Sunday it lessened, but it still feels a bit concrete in there. Oh, and the resulting discomfort while eating, associated with a sinus infection. Bleh. But enough about that.. I've been working through it... and the theme is Gretel!

I just can't get enough of this pattern! You'll recall I did one some time ago for Cassidy in Pink Jaeger Shetland Aran. But I was wearing it earlier this week due to the extreme cold temperatures and everyone said it looked great on me. So stash diving I went, emerging with the leftover custom spun alpaca merino from last year's spinning guild holiday wool. I thought for sure I'd have enough to complete the fitted style of the Gretel hat, but no such luck. A frantic email to Christina was composed, and I was able to retrieve 2oz of this coveted and one of a kind yarn at our spinning guild meeting yesterday. Once I wind up that 2oz skein, I expect I'll be done in one evening.

But after the yarn shortage mishap, I couldn't just let go of Gretel. Another dive in the stash resulted in 2 balls of Karabella Aurora 8 in a "coal" looking color that I bought for a mere song at the Mission Rose yearly sale. I looooove this yarn. I don't like the retail price of it.. and I'll never knit an entire sweater with it because of that.. but I do love it. I cast this on around 3PM on Friday afternoon, and was finishing it up Saturday evening around 10PM (this is how I dealt with the sinus headache, all day long on Saturday.)

Now if that wasn't enough Gretel.. Cassidy reported to me that her pink Gretel is a smidge too big, and that my new black one was "perfect for her". So while we were out on Sunday morning doing some shopping, she picked out this multi blue Patons Merino. I'm not entirely confident that this multi blue will show the cables well, but its what she wanted.

I have so much more to take pictures of, but I'm a little picture lazy this week. There are the breeze Shibui socks.. the Bird In Hand mittens that I started before Christmas (50% done), a Koolhaus hat. But after my lengthy hiatus, perhaps I'll spread it all out this week, so as to not overload everyone. Especially my non knitting family and friends who stop in every day. I can literally sense the yawning over the internet after a knitting post.

Oh.. and Happy St. Distaff's Day. This means I need to remember to get my wheel out of the back of the van, and make some time, once the children are pajamafied and tucked in to do some spinning.

*this is not the best image. darn cloudy skies. damn lack of decent indoor lighting. and where the hell is the tripod?

Its a new year. The kids have returned to school. Connor's therapy schedule goes back to normal. Richard's office and teaching schedule return..

Its a relief, and also a little sad. Vacation is over.

But... the contract project was finished and shipped off (Its a horrid pattern. I wouldn't suggest it to anyone. I'll talk more about it.. if, when, it makes it to the site or catalog.) The previous one I returned is now up on the site, but I'm not telling which it is until I receive my catalog. This all means, I can go back to knitting what I want to knit.. when I want to.

More relief.

I've started another Gretel, a woven stitch scarf, which will likely be frogged - its not coming out the way I expected, the second basic sock is on the needles. I have plenty to keep my hands busy.

With that said, I haven't made resolutions, but I have set goals for myself. They are..

Get organized or be more organized. I'm sick of looking for obscure paperwork. Or for seasonal clothes for the kids. I need to organize them better in the attic so that they can be pulled out easily.

Make a routine and stick to it. Connor's sensory issues demand this. And some behind the scenes family happenings will also require this.

Be more creative. Not just knit already published patterns. Finally get down to brass tacks with the shawl design mulling in my noggin and get.it.done.

Spin more. And ultimately use more self spun yarn (which means BUY LESS commercially spun yarn.)

Family menus, where we all eat LESS meat.

Cook more. I love to cook.. I should be more adventurous in the kitchen.

Research buying a violin. I want to learn to play one. I've put this goal off for years.. its time to research buying one and actually learning!