Friday, April 10, 2009

Still Alive!

Yes, I'm still alive, but I don't blame you if you wondered. Blogger didn't even recognize me when I signed on. The kids are on Spring Break this week, and if you have kids, you already know where I've been. Between feeding them (and all their friends, who have also been here all week), shoveling laundry, breaking up fights, and running Mom's Taxi Service, I haven't had time for much else.

We celebrate both Passover and Easter (both this week), and--oh, yeah--our good friend is turning 60 on Saturday and my parents' 50th wedding anniversary is next week, and guess who gets to throw the party? Remind me to tell you all about that family drama sometime...when it's all over.

This morning I had a doctor's appointment I scheduled last month that absolutely had to happen exactly today...so of course, my husband got an emergency case two days ago that went to trial when? Yep. This morning. I left my children alone together for the very first time. I have left them each home alone individually before, but never together (they're nine and eleven). Today I just didn't feel like I had a choice. I posted my cell phone number by the phone and held my cell phone in my hand through the entire appointment (although what I could have done for them with my feet in the stirrups, I don't know). And then the doctor was unable to complete the procedure, and I have to go back this afternoon to try again (nothing serious, I assure you, but rather time-sensitive). I'll have to take the kids with me, too, since one of them has to be at a violin lesson less than an hour after my scheduled appointment time...

Just to demonstrate how crazed I've been, this is what I cast on last night:

LACE!!!

If that isn't proof of my complete loss of control, I don't know what is. That's Swallowtail (do I really need to link to it?)--again. I think this is my third attempt at this pattern. The others are best not spoken of in polite company. This time, it only took me four tries to get the cast on right. *sigh* But the yarn is sort of my reward for the struggle. The picture does not do it justice. This is my own handspun, and, at the risk of throwing my hubris in the face of the Knitting Goddess, I can tell you this is the best yarn I have ever made (which admittedly is not saying much). It's the only yarn I've ever been able to spin that might actually make decent lace, although it's really somewhere between fingering and dk weight. But Swallowtail is a tiny shawl, and I wanted something bigger, so that's okay. So far, I seem to have slipped under the KG's radar with this one, but it's still early in the game. Stay tuned for the rest of the saga! And now I have to run. The doctor is waiting.

10 comments:

sophanne said...

That is some delicious looking yarn. As to going back to lace- I'm not saying a word-nor am I knitting any at the moment. Again- some things best left unsaid.

Khalila said...

Good luck with your lace! At the risk of annoying the KG, my lace has been going along slowly and surely. And I'm loving watching the lace grow. You'll be fine!

At Home Mommy Knits said...

Best of luck with the lace, the doctor appointment, and the rest of your weekend :)

punkin said...

I was immediately struck by the beauty of the yarn even before I read about it. You spun it!! Wow.

Suzanne said...

Beautiful yarn! Good luck with everything.

Good Yarns said...

Been missing you, so gla dyou been having so much...uh...fun. The swallowtail hasn't even been in my queue, it looks so hard. I wish you well on it.

Life's a Stitch said...

Welcome back. I bet there are some funny "while in stirups" stories out there. Mine involved a bomb scare and cops walking into the room.

marit said...

What a beautiful yarn! Swallowtail is such a fun pattern to knit- and it will look gorgeous with that yarn!
I reckon the house was still in the same place when you came home...that's what I usually tell mine when I leave them:"don't tear down the house!!!" They are 16, 15, 13 and 11 now...
Hope all went well at the doctor's- not exactly a favourite position, is it...?

Kim said...

Wow, you are a whirlign dervish of activity. If the lace pattern was one you hadn't knit before, I would say you were crazy, but since you've knit Swallowtail before, it's not so crazy. Love the handspun BTW.

Haley said...

glad you're back. hope all the family events go well. sorry to hear the lace isn't going well, but knowing you the finished product will be amazing!