we are only occasional vegetarians

moar funny pictures

Me-blogger-pal-Faith haz introduced me to the lolcats. Haz u seen dem?

That is my kid, I swear. (No, not really, but Joe would totally have done that when he was little if given the chance. He used to lick everything. He even licked a light post in the winter once--and we watch A Christmas Story every year, so it's not like he was surprised when his tongue stuck to the pole.)

happy, merry, joyous

Dear readers, I hope this season of the year is full of happiness for you. Our family celebrates Christmas and I got this little finger puppet nativity set last year. I found it at a wonderful little store that carries handcrafted fair-trade items from around the world. The store is Ten Thousand Villages and their website says they have 160 retail locations in the United States. They are definately worth seeking out.

It's been a fun day here at the Shoeless household. A highlight of the evening would have to be when Little Bitty (7-year-old) was taking her turn reading a verse from the Bible on the birth of Jesus Christ. She read, "And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of heavenly ghosts..."

lists help maintain the illusion of order

• Camera: missing again and I'm peeved because I was almost ready to get her one for Christmas. (Did you hear that, Bob? Too late now!)
• Christmas knitting: a little behind, but not too bad since I deleted 8 items off the list.
• Other Christmas preparations: hahahahaha.
• Herniation in the L4-5 discspace: doing much better.
• PeeWee: wearing panties 'round the clock (YAY!!!!!!).

I really wanted to pad this post with a picture of the Brea bag that I'm making for my sister-in-law. It's waaaay cute. I think she'll like it. I'll probably have to make one for myself when the holidays are over, since I don't need to carry diapers in my purse anymore. Oh YEAH!

That is all.

Oh, all right--let's have the gratuitous shot of PeeWee. This is our farewell-to-nursing picture. Yes. She's done with that now, too. Sigh. My baby is such a big girl. I wish I'd had this handy camera when my other lovies were babies. There's so much about their infancies and early childhoods that has just faded into the void.

a tale of two mittens

PeeWee has a pair of little white mitts. They're a little thin, a little small, and they don't have thumbs. They're okay in a pinch, but the poor thing has a mother who knits, for crying out loud. (Yes, that's my Cheesehead version of Larissa's infamous and darling Meathead on her noggin. It's her favorite hat because it has a mousie, doncha know. We took her dollies for a walk on Tuesday.)

Yesterday, spurred on by the A.D.D Knitter's words ("...the power of the mitten. It will do you right every time.") I decided to whip out a pair of mittens from a bit of leftover handspun merino from Hello Yarn. Such ickle-bitty things! At 3-1/2 stitches per inch, I knew they would be done before I could say bobshrunkle. The first one was finished before lunch. PeeWee was delighted. She pulled it on and wore it the rest of the day. The thumb was a little wonky, but it looked pretty cute and I was very pleased with myself (handspun! handknit!).

After dinner, I settled in to knit the second mitten. PeeWee wouldn't give up the first one for comparison, but no worries! I had noted the stitch and row counts and I was ready to roll. I was also very excited about the idea of ripping back the ribbing on the matching hat I had knit from this handspun and turning it into a wee tam for my darlin'. I think you can all guess where this is heading. Yes. I'll just show you. Sigh.


I know my tension always tightens when I get comfortable with a pattern. I know it. Why do I blow off gauge like this? (Why do my children blow off their homework until it smacks them in the face? Where do they get that from? It must be their father, because I certainly don't live in a near-constant state of denial...)

I have enough yarn for a third mitten. If I start now, I could possibly get it done by lunch if I ditch the laundry. Hmmm. Yeah, because I might strain my back if I lift those heavy wet clothes out of the washer.

***Later in the day...***

PeeWee doesn't care in the slightest whether the mittens are rather homely rustic and mismatched. I reknit the bottom of the hat, and she danced around the living room with the mittens on, asking periodically, "You netting my hat? You made my mettens?" It's so gratifying. When I got the hat done, she put it on and then had to go out to play in the fizzly rain/snow that's coming down today. I don't think I'll bother with another mitten.

warning: exclamation overload

My secret pal is completely AWESOME! Thank you, Valerie!!! (Her name is my name, too!) How fun is that? She sent me this great bag (which Boberly has already hijacked), a package of peach and passionfruit herb tea, a ball of variegated blue merino wool yarn (I've already got a project in mind for this), a hank of georgous blue Manos del Uruguay yarn, one of those fun compacted wash cloths that expand magically when wet, a beautiful red rose journal, a notepad with VIOLETS (LOVE 'EM!), a bar of fabulous chocolate, all accompanied by a very sweet note on the back of the postcard print of a painting by A.X. Pena. (This was originally published in 1937 as a tourism poster--I would love to have a full-size, maybe 24x30, copy of this painting. I love paintings of strong-looking women--Note my affection for Rosie the Riveter...) Thanks again, pal!!!