Arwen is confused

Which is not unusual, but she seems pretty concerned by the sock. It’s probably the pooling – it’s got me concerned too. The pooling around the leg wasn’t so bad, but the pooling around the foot is pretty bad.



Why couldn't the whole thing look like the toe?



I did the first sleeve of Ainsley’s sweater last night and joined it to the body (I love no-seam sweaters), so the second sleeve will be tonight. I’m getting tired of knitting with the Crayon because it sends to snag. But it’s soft, and a nice bright color, so I can’t complain too much.

I also started the Ruffles scarf from Scarf Style in Paton’s Grace. The picture is pretty dark – it’s more of a cornflower blue. I’m not sure if I’m doing it right, and if I am, this could take forever…



Ainsley’s hand continues to heal – thanks for all the sympathetic comments. We went in for debriding this morning, and it looks like she only has one more time. She got to read a Dora book and she got a sticker, so all was well.

I gotcha pictures

First, the clapotis, in the infamous "head covered in the fuzzy mirror shot"...


And, the booties and hat set:


And last, Arwen protects my pattern from dust...



Luckily, after our $400 headlight fiasco yesterday, nothing else on Chris's car had to be fixed. However, mine goes in tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. Stitch n Bitch is tonight - hooray!!

Nothing's ever easy

What a week. It’s starting off badly, folks. Last week we went to the doctor to see about Ainsley’s hand. While it’s healing really well, the burns have to be debrieded every few days by her doctor, which is really painful and is at least a 3 person job. We also have to go see a burn specialist at the VCU burn center because some of the burns are across joints, which can cause range of motion issues as they heal. Kids, DON’T TOUCH THE F$%&KING STOVE!

Moving on. Our washing machine, a front-loading Kenmore, has been really loud for the past few months. I finally got around to having someone out to look at it, assuming it just needed to be aligned. No. It needs $600 worth of parts. I can buy a new one for that much. The repair guy was all "It could DIE at any TIME and it's really SERIOUS blah blah blah trying to sell you stuff blah blah..." So, we're going to run ours until it drops, and then get a new one. I'm taking bets on how long it lasts - I'm thinking about 9 months. But wait, it gets better!

We took Chris’s car to get a state inspection today, knowing that one headlight was blown out. We asked them to replace it, thinking it would cost about $25. Apparently the whole headlight needs to be replaced. That costs about $400. And they haven’t even done the state inspection – who knows what they’ll find there? Cross your fingers and hope “nothing” or I might jump off a bridge.

Knitting! Sanity! I finished a baby hat and a set of booties for a newborn girl-baby…I have pictures but they’re at home. They’re cute, trust me. But a bit big, I think. Ainsley’s sweater is coming along – I have another 2 inches on the body, and then I work on sleeves, which will be easy because they’re short sleeved. Join sleeves to body, knit for a while, then I’m done! I was going to order some yarn, but I think I’ll hold out until Maryland Sheep and Wool which is in 2 weeks!

Is it seriously only Monday??????

We're Back

Home sweet home. Vegas was good, except I found out I’m allergic to Crest toothpaste. I had a little travel tube of it, and used it for 2 days when POW my tongue swelled up and all my taste buds tried to explode. It was a bad scene. Good thing I’m not a foodie, because I would have been (even more) pissed about missing out on all the restaurants. Other than weird-ass allergies (like I would have anything other than weird-ass allergies – only strange things happen to me), it was a good trip. I have pictures, almost all of them of the Bellagio. Hey, it’s a nice place. Check out my Flickr album.

So all was going along merrily until Tuesday night (this is actually knitting-related, slightly) when I was sitting at Panera waiting for Stitch n Bitch, and Chris called to say Ainsley had put her hand on the burner of our stove, right after Chris took a pot off it. One trip to the emergency room, lots of bandages, codeine, and $300 later, we arrived back at home with a very sad-looking almost-3-year-old. Luckily kids heal fast, and she should be back to normal in a week or so.


The Dora bandaids help.

I do not have any knitting pictures, due to the fact that I am a slacker (but you knew that already, based on my time between posts). I finished Clapotis right before we left for Vegas, so I did get to wear it there.

I started a sweater for Ainsley using some Knitpicks Crayon that I bought a while back but never used. It’s a short-sleeved raglan knit in the round in stockinette, so it’s pretty mindless (like me). I took out yarn for a cotton summery scarf, but haven’t started yet. And I’m still working (not really) on those braided cable socks.

She'll grow into it

This is a sweater for a youngling about to be adpoted by a co-worker of mine. Lily is 7 months old and will be coming from China to her new home in a month. The sweater fits Ainsley, who is almost 3, so Lily will have some room to grow!

Project specs - Seamless yoke sweater from Knitters Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, knit using 4 balls of KnitPicks Shine in Orchid.

I still have the clap, and I think I like it:




Chris and I are headed to VEGAS BABY next week, so Chez Berney will be shutting down for a week (not that I post regularly anyway). Stay tuned for vegas pictures and maybe a finished clap-o-tis.