on being a mom

I was told yesterday that I'm a great mom. Ok, I think the term "Super Mom" was actually used, but still. It was on the phone, by one of the kidlet's teachers. I started to say something self-deprecating, but stopped myself, accepted the compliment, and moved on. After reading Stephanie's post I was thinking, I'd gladly accept any blame, were the kidlet out doing mischief - legal or illegal, but she's not. She really, genuinely, is a good kid. At 15 1/2 I keep expecting the screaming, horrible, nasty fights like I had with my mom. But they haven't materialized. Don't misunderstand, we fight. But, once the fight is over, it's over. We go back to being mom & daughter, friends, co-conspiritors, confidants. Truth is, I'm more impressed by her than I can possibly say. She, like me, is a larger-than-average person, but she has more self-esteem than I can muster on most days, she is not only happy with who she is, but proud of who she is. I guess I had something to do with that, although I don't know how. I made some conscious decisions, some not-so-conscious ones, but mostly I let her be her, something I didn't have. I raised her by myself - without husband (he bailed early on), family (they all live away, not far away, but away), and mostly without "the village". I carefully chose the people I allowed in her life - those I felt would benefit her, and those I trusted to not do horrible things to her. I've been lucky, I guess - most days I'm just seconds away from freaking out completely about the random violence that could snatch her from me - what parent doesn't? But you can't dwell on that stuff, because if you do, it WILL drive you crazy.
So, this turned out to be more maudlin than I intended, and was harder to write than I thought - I love my kid, and I do all I can to make her the person her dog thinks she is - and, thankfully, she is that person.
OK, now for the knitting - I'm working on gauntlets, two at a time, and it seems to be going pretty well - it's a 2x2 rib pattern, and I haven't totally confused myself to the point of no return yet, so I'm thinking this might work! Washed & blocked the latest pair of gloves - they are quite lovely - all lemony yellow and orangey orange! I'll take pics once they dry completely.
So, for now - that's it!

I forgot

On binding off THOSE socks - I used a needle 2 sizes bigger, and it was JUST what I was looking for - perfect bind off, and it's not too tight around the leg. Now, if I can just finish the second one!!!!!

OMG!!!

Here all this time I thought I was unloved and unread!!! I just switched to Beta, and blogger showed me all these unmoderated comments - you like me, you really like me!!!! LOL
I'm such a COMPLETE DUMBASS!!! OK, I changed the settings, and now I can actually TELL when someone comments - i'm going to my corner now, i've been a very baaaaaaad blogger.


Those of you who've taken the time to post comments, I thank you so much, please forgive me for being such a dunderhead - i promise to do better in the future!

New stuff

I spent the weekend knitting. Not anything really new, but I DID get lots & lots done! I finished the 2nd fingerless glove in the loverly yellow & orange stripe yarn from Cascade yarns - and I have enough to make another pair - or something else. Pics once they've been washed & blocked. I've been obsessing about double-knitting ever since I read this article, and last night I did it!!! I followed the instructions in the article (including the cheating part for the caston, I just couldn't do it last night, but I will!!) And, guess what? Turns out all the struggle I've had teaching myself to knit continental has paid off! My feeble mind grasps working with 2 strands of yarn, one in each hand, and I was knitting TWO SOCKS AT THE SAME TIME!!!!!!!!! I freakin LOVE it! Now, when I knit socks for my nephew and his GF, it will take half the time. I'm thinking about trying to do it with gloves/gauntlets. It will have to be a pretty easy pattern, at first - I don't want to completely melt down by trying something tricky like a YO, or K2tog, or anything - I'm trying to pace myself - yeah, like that'll work!
I found a gauntlet pattern on Knitty (LOVE THEM) that I'm going to try - I wanted long, and worsted weight - this is it - I can make them longer, do some short-row shaping for width around the arm, and voila! Toasty warm gauntlets. If I don't completely loose my mind, I'll let you know how it goes.

THOSE Knee Socks

It's not very often that the people in my life agree to allow me to knit something for them. And, when I do decide to knit something as a gift, I expect it to be worn, not put away in the closet and saved for "nice". Mom's a prime example. I've knitted I don't know how many items for her, and she doesn't wear them. She's perpetually cold, so last year for Christmas, I knitted her a really pretty (if I do say so myself) shrug. So she could sit in her chair in the evenings (or during the day) with her shrug around her shoulders and a blanket on her lap, and be warm. Does she wear it? NOOOOOOOO! "It falls off my shoulders," she says. I told her that she sits in a chair, what does she does that makes it fall off???? She just shrugs and mumbles "well, it does."
So, when the kidlet said she'd wear a pair of socks I knitted for her, I was thrilled. She liked the Tabi socks pattern (the one with the separate big toe) and she wanted knee socks and she wanted them in her school colors (I think we finally decided turquoise & black). Ok, I'm good with that - but do you have any idea how difficult it is to find solid color sock yarn? With all the wonderful new stripe designs (which I TOTALLY love, BTW), it's almost impossible. I mentioned in a previous post that we found some solid black and that she found some Koigu KPPPM that has enough turquoise (among the other blues) that she declared herself happy.
I've been knitting ONE SOCK forever! No one told me how long it would take to knit knees socks - especially from the toe up. I'm used to doing sock the "regular" way - top down, and when you've done the heel, you're almost done. A few rounds of stocking knit (after the instep) and then the decreases for the toes, the kitchener, and you're done! But working from the toe up, you get the "hard" (exciting) part out of the way first, then it's endless hours and hours and hours of stocking knit. Today, I finally finished the first knee sock - but when I did the bind-off, it was too tight, so I'm going to have to figure out a different bind off - this has to go over the calf (the fattest part of the leg) and still stay up. I did about 2" off 2x2 ribbing, and I think that's going to give it the firmness I think it needs - but I've got to figure out that whole bind-off thing. I'm open to suggestions. First I'm going to try a crochet bind-off, if that doesn't work, I'm pretty much stumped.