Bad Melody!

Argh! Melody is a very smart sheep. She's a very BIG sheep. She's a very strong sheep. Melody did this.

My neighbor Martha likes to mow her lawn, and my neighbor Sheryl and Mike's lawn, and part of my lawn. Whatever floats ya Martha...Anyway, she always tosses the clippings over the fence for the sheep. Melody is a big pig. Like Pavlov's dog , the sheep sit at the fence and cry every time someone mows their lawn, whether or not it's Martha. So all day yesterday other neighbors were mowing their lawns - first Gabe accross the street then Peter, next door, on the other side. Neither of these people offered any free food to Miss Piggy Melody, and she got impatient waiting for it so she decided to remove the gate and seek her own goodies.

Guess what I'm doing tonight?

An actual argument

I have two autistic boys on my bus this summer and what follows is an actual argument they had this morning...

K - "Hey guess what? Did you know..."
E - "not now"
K - "that the.."
E- shoots K a nasty look
**short pause**
K -"Oh, I'm sorry"
E - "I was reading. You interrupted me."
K -"I'm sorry, E. I was just exited about this new book I have. Do you forgive me?"
E - "Yes."

We should spend as much time coaching our non-autistic children on how to behave civilly as we do our special needs kids. The world would be a much nicer place to live if we did.

Visit with Sammie

Ahhh summertime. I'm not going to say the living is easy - far from it in fact with a very headstrong, very mobile, two year old. But today it was a little easier because we went to visit with Sammie. Sammie is the swim instructor at the Nottingham town beach.

This beach is actually on the same road as we are but over the town line. So Sammie's been doing this for a few years now and has built up quite a rapport. We go down there occasionally to chum up the sister after her lessons are all over with. We had a great time swimming there today.

It's a twister! It's a twister!

Wow!!

So we had a tornado on Thursday. My family was safe, as were all of the kids on my bus (a couple of them live really, really close). I still haven't heard from my boss or the people at base, and I'll take a drive up there later today as they just opened the road. I know my boss is OK though, 'cause one of my co-workers who I spoke to saw her on TV, and I'm assuming the damage to the buses was minimal 'cause the news would have been all over it otherwise.

One of the little girls that came to Ali's Birthday party last night lost most of her house and her next door neighbor. Here's a picture of her Dad from the Boston Globe:

Interestingly, this is the fourth deadly tornado to touch down in Deerfield. Wow!

I'm glad it's over.

Coming up for air

Briefly taking a pause to give some updates on life at the O'Brien household. Ali has turned 11.

We had a really hard time deciding what to get her until I heard about a benefit concert that Pete Seeger will be performing for the strolling heifers in Brattleboro VT in September. So we got her 2 tickets and she and I'll be going to the concert and attending the reception afterward. It's going to be a fun night, and I hope she remembers it always.



We spent the day at Grammy and Papa's boat. We had an Om put on her cake 'cause she'd just finished yoga camp.

My gardens are is doing well and I finally got all my tomatoes in the ground. I still need to find something cheap to hill my potatoes in (cheap mulch hay anyone?) . I got some fence sections for my birthday last month and Ali and I spent Saturday putting up the first 3. They look awesome - much better than the old fence, but they'll look even better once I slap a coat of paint on them and plant a nice little perennial garden in front of it.

I've gotten both sleeves and a third of the back of Ali's Peace sign sweater done, and I'm nearly done with the second of her purple and yellow striped socks done - 2 more pairs of socks left to go, and the remainder of the sweater plus a hat and some gloves and she'll be all set knitwise.

We'll wait until next month at least before we start in on the pants - been doing a summer school run and I actually have less time at home between runs now than I do the remainder of the year.

Swap Shop

The town of Deerfield has had a swap shop at the transfer station for many years, but recently it's become overridden with too much junk and not enough maintenance so the board of selectmen shut it down.

I see a swap shop as an essential tool in decluttering, recycling/reusing.

Several other people in town felt the same way and we petitioned the selectmen to re-open the swap shop. They agreed provided it was attended by volunteers every time it was open, and that we keep it clean and organized.

Our grand re-opening was June 28th, and today was my turn to be the attendant.

I had a great time. The lady I worked with was a treat, I met some new people and I scored some cool items too (as well as got to play with some neat toys I left there for someone else to take). Quinnie got a little toy car, a child sized recliner and a child sized adirondak chair. I got a metal thermal coffee cup a wicker laundry basket and the Stitch N Bitch book. All of these items were in supreme condition - very gently used, if at all.

I'm so glad I volunteered.

I'm not dead

I have been so wicked busy and I am so looking forward to school vacation. So what the heck have I been up to? Well....hiking, knitting, planting, lots of field trips, swimming...My plants are almost all in - just a few more to go (no pictures regrettably - I'll get on that soon I promise). I made birthday presents for both my sister and my Mom who have birthdays coming up this summer (no public pictures until they receive their gifts). Here's a peek at some of the highlights of May and early June...

Aren't they gorgeous? Quinn and Daddy hiking at Bear Brook State Park on 4/23/08 - Sean and my 14th anniversary.I saw the Yarn Harlot in North Hampton MA with my Mom - We had a blast!We finished the NETA Afghan. I blocked it and delivered it to Sheryl Amaral of Spin-A-Bit for it's raffle tour.We got some chicks - Quinn LOVES them!And lastly, Ali will be going to environment camp this fall and needs some gear. So I've started making some things...she'll need a hat, some mittens, some fleece pants and rain pants (we'll buy a rain coat), another wool sweater, some more socks (of course). I'm going to have a good time getting all this stuff made up for her (and I'm hoping she'll help with the pants - she likes to sew).

Hopefully I won't be away for so long again.

First hike of the year

Yesterday was glorious weather. I wanted to work in the yard. Sean not being around and Quinn having some massive roaming urges prompted me (after the umpteenth temper tantrum at not being allowed to walk down the road) to load the kids up in the car and take them out for a hike. Quinn loves hiking. It's truly her thing. Granted, she's 2, and her legs aren't that long so we don't usually go too far. But no matter how bad her day was, if she gets out into the woods for a little hike all becomes right in the world again. So off to the boat launch we went. I was sure the ground was dry enough after my visit last Saturday, and I thought Ali would like to climb that big boulder so that's where we went. The water was low, slow and unimpressive - so I didn't take any pictures of it, but I got some lovely shots of the girls in Quinn's element.

Greenpa has a plan

People, Greenpa is angry. Please read what he has to say.

Little Blog In The Big Woods: Hunger compilation - and ACTION

Easy sock recipe

Rhonda Jean asked if I had any tips on getting started with socks. I do. Socks are easy. In fact they're easier than mittens. Socks are basically a long tube with a 90 degree turn in the appropriate place. This is a recipe (not exactly a pattern) for a super duper easy pair of socks that simply can't get any easier unless they were tube socks.

Take a set of smallish double pointed needles and cast on an appropriate amount to go around your calf divisible by 4.

I'll throw some numbers out there for you just to make a trial pair, but these are so readily adaptable you can swap out needles, yarn weights, and body sizes with only second grade math skills.

So for the sake of learning lets say I have sock weight yarn in something that has some give (no cotton or linen without some synthetic additive) like 80/20 wool and nylon, size 2 US (2.75mm) needles...I'd cast on 56 stitches for a skinny leg or 60 for a big fat leg like mine or even 64 if I want them to go up over the biggest part of my calf.

Knit 2x2 rib (k2,p2) until you get sick of it...most of the time it's between 12 and 20 rows for me, but you could do the whole leg portion if you'd like. Continue down the leg in Stockinette Stitch (that's knit only when in the round) until the sock leg is long enough for your tastes and then work a separate waste piece of yarn for 1/2 of the stitches (example30 stitches if I had originally cast on 60) don't attach the yarn just leave the ends dangling. Go back to your main yarn, pick it up and continue working the sock in stockinette stitch. It's helpful to start the waste yarn at the beginning of a needle. Likewise, if you are using 4 needles instead if 5 you'll need to slip the remaining stitches onto the working needle so you can free up a needle to go back with, but you knew that.


When the piece following the scrap yarn is the same length as your foot is from your heel to the base of your toes begin toe.
With the scrap yarn (this is where your heel will go) on the bottom (picture above shows the sock upside down), flatten out your tube and find the two edges where front ends and back begins. Adjust your needles so these are at the edges of your needles (like the beginning of one and the end of another).

The toe goes like this.

round 1 Beginning on edge stitch k1, ssk, k across to3 stitches before next edge stitch k2 tog k1, repeat for other half.

round 2 knit

repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are about 8 stitches in between decreases and kitchener toe closed.

Now carefully take out waste yarn and slide your needles back into the live stitches and make a second "toe" for the heel. These are very cute if made with a contrasting color.


There are two known truths in this world. The first is that you will get a hole at the edge of the thumb on the mitten you are knitting and the second is that you will get a hole at the edge of the heel on the sock you are knitting. This is OK. You'll have a couple ends to darn in, so just make sure you pass over the hole and cinch it closed and you're good to go. I'll take care of this hole when Idarn in my ends - I just tucked them in for the picture.


Enjoy your socks!

PS - the sock in the picture was made with red heart worsted weight ACKrillic and size5 US needles - way fewer stitches (36 total) than the numbers I gave you, but the process is exactly the same.

Ali's second sock

Well things have been progressing a little more slowly on the second sock. Not due to second sock syndrome or anything mundane like that but just that the weather has been sublime so we've been outside as much as possible. Yesterday we raked a wee bit, and then I went for a walk down to the boat launch at Pawtuckaway - that's about 41/2 miles away from my house. It was a gorgeous walk. I was reading the first few chapters of my newest book while I walked ($2.00 used Living the good life by the Nearings). I like it OK I suppose, but I think they're far more pompous than the author of Ten Acres Enough (same idea about 100 years earlier). In any event, it was a pleasant walk down and an even more pleasant sit down on the bridge at the boat launch. It's so beautiful there. The water was running fast but was about 5-7 feet lower than usual because they drained the lake (so it doesn't flood). I saw a couple of guys running the rapids in a canoe - that was a sight - and some kids were climbing a huge boulder at the trail head. It was a real pleasant pause. It was NOT a pleasant walk home. Something about my shoes I guess was not right and my feet hurt wicked bad, my calves were killing me and my hips were grinding the whole walk back from which I had to be rescued because it had already taken me twice as long to get half way home, the kids were crying for me and my hips couldn't take it anymore.

We went to the beach today to check out the tide pools. It was 40 degrees and windy but my family ditched their shoes and got their feet wet - and Quinn got her whole body wet when she fell down - Luckily I anticipated this and brought her a whole new outfit. We walked quite a ways but as I had different shoes on my hips felt fine. My feet still ache but not too bad. I didn't even think to bring the camera until Sean and Ali were way out in the tide pool and I thought how lovely a picture it would have been if I had thought to bring the camera - darn it.

So now about the second sock. I don't like the toe and heel on the first sock They just don't feel as luscious as the body, so on the second sock I switched yarn to something equally yummy, and once the pair have been completed I'll take out the first heel and toe and rework them in the better yarn. That's one of the reasons I like toe up socks and short row heels - you can just cut them off and redo the whole thing over new when they get worn. But I never wear those parts out. I always wear out the ball of the foot - wouldn't you know it?

Sock in progress

This is what was accomplished on Ali's sock yesterday. She loves it.

Ali's yarn and other updates

So I've been a bit busy lately. I joined the totebag swap that Rhonda Jean had going and made my partner Christine a nifty-galifty tote bag that folds up into a little wallet that she can keep in purse so she always has one available when she needs it. The material for the main bag part caught my eye and so I copied the motif in felt applique. It came out alright, but if I had to do it again I'd lower the motif by a centimeter or two.

Next on the list is Quinnie's hand. I'm happy to report that her hand is (mostly) all better. It's still a little tender when she falls on pavement but she doesn't need bandages or medicated cream anymore. And the biggest plus is that she can take a bath - boy did she have a blast when she finally got in the tub. I didn't think she'd ever get out.

And the yarn. Scroll down to the end of the last post where I showed you folks the easter egg dye experiment. I spun it up and it looked like this.

Then I plied it and it looked like this.

The barber pole effect kinda mutes the colors but it feels divine and it'll make same fantabulous socks. I plan on starting them later today while I watch Torchwood.

Happy Birthday Quinnie

This is Quinnie 2 years ago today. Note the IV taped to her hand...


This is Quinnie today. Quinnie has boo boo hand again on her birthday.


On Sunday, I had to go pick Sean and Ali up after they had stayed at the Old Salt (restaurant my sister in law works at) well actually they satyed at Lamies Inn which is attached to the Old Salt, but anyway we had to go there to pick them up so we were going to have brunch there as well. Ali called me on the phone and said something to the effect that we're up and come on down, so I finish doing Quinnie's hair and go downstairs to iron my shirt and once that task has been completed I set the iron on the kitchen table as it is a much more stable place than the ironing board, and I don't want Quinnie to topple the iron onto herself or have the iron set fire to the house or anything like that so I tell Quinnie "no touch, hot hot, lets go find your shoes" and proceed to turn away. I get aproximately 10 feet away when I hear a blood curdling scream and I know instantly Quinn has burned herself. I cannot even express how awful I felt about having my poor baby burn her entire right palm. On something I was trying to be careful with too. It was awful. The burn didn't look too bad at first so I put some bacitracin on it and wrapped it up and took her to get her Dad, and later on that day when we were changing the dressing it had gotten significantly worse so I took her to the emergency room. I got the most acusatory, demeaning attitude from the doctor who not only implied he thought I had done this to her, but that I was also tying to circumvent my own doctor by coming to him (it's sunday night BTW) and then rewrapped the burn exactly as I had it and charged my $50 to boot. Long story short, we went to our doctor on Monday and were treated fairly, and they de-roofed her blisters and sent us away with some medicine for it and instructions to change the dressing twice a day.
The boo boo looks a lot better today. And the birthday girl is happy.



We got Quinnie her "big" birthday present. A fish - well it will be a few fish but the guy at the pet store suggested we start with one 'cause we don't have any beneficial bacteria built up yet so he suggested we come back in 2 weeks for the remainder. Quinnie loves her fish.





So in between fish tanks and boo boo wrappings, Ali had colored some eggs, and I, of course took advantage of the leftover easter egg dye to dye some roving. I wound off balls that looked like they might fit in the dye cups and put the whole thing in the microwave for a couple minutes and this is what I had.
I let it soak while we were out getting the fish and setting the tank up and stuff and a while later I rinsed it and this is how it came out. I made mittens for Sam (when she was about 4 - so 15 years ago) with easter egg dyed yarn and they are still bright and cheery. I think these might become socks for Ali - well at least that's what the roving whispered to me when I was hanging it up on the curtain rod. We'll see.

Cajun's yarn

Cajun

Cajun's fleece washed

carded

drawn through a diz to make a roving

spun on the spinning wheel

plied

wound into a ball

Maple Season

It's maple sugar time! I love this time of year - it means there really will be a spring after all. I saw a lot of maple buckets on Batchelder Rd in Raymond (NH - On my bus route) this week and I just get all warm and fuzzy. Lately there's been a movement to tap with blue tubing into a huge rubbermade bucket, which I suppose is more efficient, but it isn't as picturesque. I'm glad the folks on Batchelder Rd are still using buckets.

Big Girl Bed

Quinnie got a Big Girl Bed yesterday! We got the bed off Craig's List last November and it's been sitting in "Sam's room" ever since, but yesterday, after the latest in the great crib escape escapades I decided to get Sean to help me move the bed upstairs. Now one of the joys of living in an antique colonial is that they have quirky stair wells. Neither of our 2 stair cases is a straight shot so we went with the wider of the two, which also happened to be in closer proximity to both the bed and Quinn's room. Unfortunately for us, and the bed (and the walls) one of the drawbacks to secondhand furniture is that it comes preassembled and in this case that meant pegged and glued. So when the bed inevitably got stuck in the stairwell, we had a tough time disassembling it in situ. I was in the hall end and able to work at waist height, so my end came apart tidier than Sean's end, which was also the end that was stuck, and one of the things about modern furniture is that it's comprised mostly of particle board, which I admit is very strong and very dense, but when it breaks it's also more difficult to repair. So we had a slightly more difficult time reassembling the bed than we should have. Several hours later, Quinn's bed was all assembled and made, the crib was in the attic, her room set right, and the flared tempers tempered. We had a late dinner and started Quinn's new bedtime routine. Gone of the days of drop and go bed times, now they must be orchestrated carefully to avoid having a stressed out Mommy and a resentful, non-sleeping toddler. So I tucked her in and read her a couple of stories and turned on the music and started to leave, and it took her all of 2 minutes to run screaming and crying come get me in my room. So back I went and sat with her while she adjusted to the new bed situation, and after about 15 minutes she was out cold.

Ali's Doll

Yesterday Ali was bitten by the creativity bug and wanted to learn how to make a doll. So I got out a saucer and traced it on some material, and then drew lines for the body and arms and legs. I helped her guide the fabric through the sewing machine while she worked the pedal.
Ali stuffed the doll with some of Eva's fleece I had banging around (washed but not carded), and I showed Ali how to make a wig and attach it to the doll's head. She got the doll nearly finished when we decided to take a break from the doll and go shovel out the new batch of snow.
It was such a nice day out there that we ended up staying outside sledding for the rest of the day.

Ali finished the doll this morning,

and gave it to Quinn.