Rainy Friday Post

The rain has me a bit nostalgic, and a little mopey. I want a hug and maybe my ginormous knitting mug of black tea and milk. I need to get the knitting needles a clacking and maybe The Kid and I would read some more of the latest Lemony Snicket book outloud to justify a movie moment later ...

I could bake something.

Maybe we should make a stew/curry/soup.

Pink Martini at the symphony last night was fabulous. Kappy took me as a holiday treat. It had been so long since I saw her, it was a double treat.

I can't remember the last time I was at Davies Hall for music culture. haha. I might have to go next year if they come back. I will probably buy their holiday album to infuse some holiday spirit. Although right now, I'm having a hard time wanting to listen to them knowing they won't have the full symphony behind them.

Such a brat right?

The Manfriend made delicious crab cakes last night. We had mini Baker of Paris rolls. They are really great. I will have to put them in the bread rotation; good for mini sammies, a dip of nutella, a spread of jam or a little melted cheese on one with a thermos of soup is making my son happy. We have had this thermos since 1st grade, but it is only now he finally has the strength to open it.Sigh.

My friend Rae was relating stories of his friend's 12 year old daughter's interactions. We both sighed. 12 yrs. It's going to happen I know. The kid parked it in the living room with us when we were watching Moonrise Kingdom (PG-13) (He was reading for most of it, and he missed the beginning when he was playing Minecraft.)

Afterwards he said, "I didn't really like your movie. It was kind of weird."

The Manfriend replied, "It was art."

hahahhaa.

You know The Kid missed most of the movie, but of course he was in the room for the make out scene. And I was making the "should we pause /fast forward face/crazy gestures" to Manfriend (there were puberty references I can't even say it! ack mom!)

Anyways, all I really ended up doing was bringing attention to it, w/my w/my knitting chair physical freak out. Good job Mom! I hate that. And he just looked up, made an embarrassed eww face and went back to reading yet another Rick Riordan book yet again.

I think tomorrow we'll keep it PG with my sister and nephew ;)

Lessons Learned

My whole idea to knit the left and right front at Aidez, and see if the pattern looked odd a few repeats in ... backfired. I am almost done w/the decreasing and I realize, by transposing the ear of corn pattern, it's making the two fronts look totally different - duh! I mean I write that and it seems so obvious it's going to be different. Anyways, most people won't notice it, but I will. I'm frogging the right side all the way back to the ribbing, and I've frogged the left side just to get rid of some pattern mistakes that I never bothered to notice. It's okay. I feel more comfortable now. I am glad I just decided to take care of it. The problem is I lost a lot of time.

Time I need for holiday knitting. I'm torn. I really just want to take the momentum I've been rolling with on this project and get at least back to where I was. On the other hand, December is just right around the corner. Looking at my last knit related post I realize I didn't even include on the "hopes & dreams holiday list" 2 cowls I bought the sparkly yarn for (Sis and Step Mom).

My mother is sending me yarn and a pattern she wants me to make for her. Apparently she purchased it thinking it was crochet. She said, "It says Easy, so I thought I would be able to do it. But you know, knitting is not really my thing."

Then she says, "I'm putting it in the mail this week. It says Easy, Ellen so if you can't do it, then I don't think you are a very good knitter after all." And then she started laughing as if she just said the best Grampa joke ever.

Eegads.

The yarn came. It's ribbon yarn. I've had to google a video of how to use this stuff. I think it can be done.

I finished hat 4/5 for the Work Koffee Klatch. The problem is I knit where I should purl and purled where I should knit in one section of the hat. (Dark brown yarn and bad eyes. sigh. I am thinking I will put a creative spin on it.) I am not feeling like ripping it out, though I'm comfortable with reknitting the hat in another yarn. How insane is that?

Hat 5 ... I don't think my color combinations for the Christopher is a good idea anymore. I will have to ... go to the yarn store and see if I can find a better match for the gray madelinetosh.

It's never as easy as you think, even if you don't really think it's going to be easy.

Don't Talk With Your Mouthful

I woke up in a good mood today, but then The Kid was mean to me. And as much as I tell Sister, we are not supposed to take it personally. I did. I hate that. Thankfully Dear Manfriend took The Kid to school today so we didn't have to fake it for too long. My skin was crawling. I often wonder if I am really cut out for motherhood. ha! Too late now!

The Kid left the breakfast table, (without clearing his plate if I might add) abruptly. He barely ate. When asked why he said he doesn't like it when people talk with their mouthful.

Now The Kid has complained about this before. Usually at school and says he has to eat the rest of his lunch after school if he gets really grossed out. I do understand this. I do. I have not had a second date or two because of a guy that can't close his mouth, chew, and then tell his story. Apparently I'm a bigger hypocrite than I realize? (I'm not convinced I'm that bad.)

This is all More Irony, since the thing that bugs me the most about it is the lack of self awareness. The amount of stuff we are probably too lenient on with his manners is obviously not appreciated. For all the things that I try to be a good, like Mrs. B, and keep my calmness and gently point out the issue and not yell, he doesn't notice. I have to nag.

I'm ready to return to yelling.

So of course I am spiteful, despite my living decades of "experience" compared to this kid, the joy of motherhood experience and what not. I remind him of a few things he is inept at in the manners and neatness department. Of course Manfriend being from that same calm and quiet zen place like Mrs. B says, "Now, don't get into this for that." Ugh.

He's right of course.

So now, I'm left like a Russian Romance, from reckless actions ... guilt ridden and sad. The center star of my self-made tragedy.

I call the play, "Bad Mama".

November Rain

Oh Axel Rose ... I hope you're finding some laughs in life. I have a sneaking suspicion you have taken not just yourself but everything a tad too seriously for most of your life.

Today is 1 November. To remind us of the new month and the beginning of a Bay Area winter, it began to drizzle during Trick-or-Treating and became enough for an umbrella by the time we got home.

The time for things spooky are done. Tricks have been put to the wayside, but it was just the beginning of treats. Now we will have them decorated in green and gold, bulbs and stars, blue and white and plenty of sparkles. There is something sweet for everyone in the months to come.

The best, is just the cozy. I am looking forward to a few glasses of bubbles with A & Snoopy. Baking cookies and stirring soup with The Kid. Roasting meats and winter veggies with the Dear Manfriend.

And knitting of course!

Two months, for my main holiday knitting. Here are how things are lining up.

3/5 Koffee Klatch Holiday Knitting Hats are done. 2 to go. My plans are to to do a Christopher (maybe without the stripes depending on the time) for one pal, and my old standby bit of quality a Seaman's Cap for the other.

A scarf for mom. She requested this when we visited her for Spring Break in March. She asked for red, said no fancy yarn, but my lovely M-I-L gave me a box of vintage red silk ... and Mom might just have to "settle". I'm thinking about either this waffle pattern or this reversible brioche cable.

I'd like to make my cousin the GAPtastic cowl with some lovely misti chunky grey yarn I have languishing in my stash. However that might get pushed out to New Years.

I'm not a fast knitter, and I would like to finish my sweater and maybe one item for HM's baby before the end of the year. But I think that will be ambitious with what I've listed above -- and I simply must make time for my sweater (that includes error buffering time).

I Need A Nap and More Knitting Time

I'm suffering from an acute case of Weekend Whiplash. It wasn't a bad weekend. It was a busy weekend. So busy, when my father asked what we did on Friday ... I couldn't remember.

(We ran the food order table at the school Harvest/Halloween festival)

The good thing is, I managed to knit.

I finished Koffee Klatch Hat #3! And I think it's not bad, and I feel confident it will fit. Crazypants!

I picked up the diaper pants project again. I was sooo into the idea of this when I started. I got the appropriate needles, and finished the ribbing and eyelet and was making pace and now ... I need to start short rowing. Ugh. For some reason, the thrill is gone. My eyes are wandering to other patterns now. I mean there simply has to be something better than what I'm doing ...

So I put them in a corner and picked up Aidez.

I am so embarrassed about my inability to read a "simple pattern."

Okay so I'm trying to knit the left AND right fronts at the same time. There are specific instructions for the left front. For the right there is this:

Work to correspond to left front, reversing all shaping and placement of pat sts. Bind off for armholes on WS rows. Work armhole decs at end of RS rows as SSK, k2.

Yes, I understand that I must reverse the order of the Rows. The problem is the rows, reference ... other rows of pattern. Do I reverse these as well?

for example: Row 2 of the Seed Wishbone pattern is:

Rows 2, 4 and 6: K2, (p1, k1) 3 times, p2, k2.

Do I knit: k2,p2, k1,p1, (3x) K2? Am I making this too difficult? Do I knit as usual just in the reverse order?

I pinged a friend/co-worker knitter and tried to email her about it. She said she'd get to come by tomorrow. What she doesn't realize is I'm itching to knit today.

I may have to go back to baby pants eh?

Sorry I'm a Judgey Mean Girl

I feel like I should apologize for the previous post. I wish I was more like the other knitters I like to read. They include stories about their weekends and lives and are so much more positive than mine.

Even when they vent, they don't sound like a 15 year old who can't have new shoes and a candy bar.

I thought about deleting the post. But this is who I can sometimes be. And maybe it's a good reminder for myself to leave it here. I need to be kinder. I need to not be so defensive.

One can dislike, disagree and be respectful. (isn't this what I'm always lording over The Kid?)

So on that note. What can I say that is more positive about the world we live in and the people we share it with?

We keep trying.

Funny & Amazing Things (rambling story)

Today something pretty whack-a-doodle happened at lunch.

I took the F up to the Castro to procure some periodicals and new bedtime reading at Books Inc. (Love the store, helpful folks and they support our local schools) I bought some less than exciting pozole soup at Harvest and headed to the Market St. Island stop to take the F-line back to the office.

A train approaches as I cross to the stop.

A man approaches the stop.

He says something that sounds muffled because I've got my orange earbuds in and I'm rocking out to my Mom music.

I try to be polite and give people the benefit of the doubt, and take my earbuds out, "Just in time!" he says.

"Yeah, sure." I say, and he starts chattering. The old instincts are kind of kicking in and I think, hmm he's rather friendly, this feels like flirting?? But you know, I'm practical somewhere underneath this hot mess exterior, I rifle through my Mary Poppins bag looking for my Clipper Card/Bus pass. It's in hand just in time to see the approaching street car is labelled, "No Passengers -- Training Car".

"Oh well." I say. And -- honest, I swear he said, "that's okay I get to chat w/a cute girl."

I know!!

(And before you ask, no he wasn't cute. I wouldn't fix him up with a rebounding friend with a low batting average, if you know what I mean.)

Anyhow, I'm seasoned now. I am queen of the smile and nod. I can even do it without rolling my eyes or looking bored or thinking rude things. (scratch that last one)

He asks, "Do you get a lot of men flirting with you in this neighborhood?" -- dude you are killing me, but you are a braver man than I would have you pegged for. Can't kill a dude for trying, even if his taste is questionable. The Dear Manfriend is sufficiently brainwashed, it only took one kid and approximately 14 years to pull that off.

"Uh, no." I don't get hit on much anywhere, and really ... that's ok. (I need validation, but not that kind. It makes me ... uncomfortable.)

"Haha! I can't imagine why!" (dear readers this is sarcasm, because in case you aren't familiar, The Castro is one of the gayest neighborhoods in the global hood.)

I promise you I'm not inviting conversation at this point. I try to distract by helping out a lost City visitor at the stop. He persists.

"Oh man, I just came from downtown ... everybody is crazy for the Giants game!"  -- now if this was someone I was enjoying a chat with, I would tell them how I was super-cited as my little sister used to say, for the first game of the World Series. But such as it was not the case, I let him carry on ... "Geez, I was glad to get out there! People are crazy about sports. Some people act so stupid about it." - Another sign of my new maturity ... I didn't even quip, "Yeah, but people are stupid.". 

"You know, I loved sports when I was younger. But I liked to play, not watch. I'm a doer." -- Okay, I fall off the wagon here but bear with me. 

"Yeah, my kid is kind of like that." -- see dude? I gotta kid, I got responsibilities, so um you should yeah just go chat someone else up. I realize in hindsight that it's not uncommon for almost 40, disheveled women to have kids and be single. I realize I am often in my own little world.

"That's a good kid." -- yes he is, which is why I must apologize for comparing my sweet chip off a whackadoodle block to that ... man.

Wait there's more. "You know sports started off for the circus and the bread, like in the Roman times -- to appease the plebs and masses. No seriously, from ancient times. Before that, in Sparta it wasn't teams. They didn't have official armies (?) they would do sport so they could teach them to work as a team, so they would respond properly if they had to go to war ... blah blah blah ..."

Oh my. This guy really thinks I don't like sports. And thinks I'm unfamiliar w/the classics and is going to give me his bastardize version of history. It's been a while since I studied. But I don't remember it like THAT.

"Do you speak Spanish." Oh here we go. Ever are the trials of the Brown Unidentifiable Ethnic Girl -- I really should write a memoir (with a strong editor, yes HM, I know.)

"No."

"Really?"

"Yep, I took Latin for 4 years in high school, doesn't help as much." hint hint, I'm not a Classics idiot.

"Filipino"

Oh here we go. If he says the word, "Oriental" or "Exotic" I might lose my maturity in a hot minute.

"No."

"Really? (insert some Spanish phrase here?? WTF) as the blessed street car approaches. Well, you know I'm from L.A. and pretty much everyone ..."

"Yeah, I can see that." Every *sshat ...

I climb into a single seat, and I think he understands that I am not inviting anymore conversation. Oh no, he wants to talk about how excited his kids are for Halloween. I let him prattle on for two stops when he gets off.

Okay let's deconstruct this before you tell me that I'm crazypants. (which I am.)

Dude came from downtown.

Dude got on the streetcar with me in the direction of downtown.

Dude stayed on the streetcar for what essentially is a 3.5 city block distance. (unimpressed on so many levels).

Dude smack talked sports AND the Giants fans/game tonight.

Let me show you what I looked like today (orange and black are the SF Giants colors). Let me remind you I just came from the bookstore:

Four Four Two is an English Soccer Magazine. Not that I like sports (sarcasm)