Sugar Bunny Boulevard

CALLIOPE

First things first:  Wonderful news!  As of yesterday afternoon, the word is "Lee Ann is out of intensive care, the doctor is "very pleased" and though she's not a happy camper (headache and nausea from the anesthesia), she's doing well."  They're hoping she can go home as early as Tuesday or Wednesday!  Yay!

Second:  there is no news to tell about court stuff at the moment.  I phoned my attorney's office at 8:30 this morning. 

Me:  What's the status of the motion we want to file?
Paralegal: I know he's working on your motion because your file is spread out all over his desk.
Me:  Do you know when it will be ready to deliver?
Paralegal:  Hang on..... He's with another attorney right now and I don't feel comfortable interrupting - I'll find out and call you back.

It's now 11:45am and I haven't heard anything.  I'll wait until my usual 3:00-3:30 and phone again if I don't get a call back.  I'll update here if there's any news to tell.

Now for something else wonderful - Calliope is Finished!!  YAY!!  Can you hear the singing?  Can you hear the chirpy voice of a happy knitter?  This post was going to have a different title because when I got up this morning I wasn't quite finished.  But I woke early, went to Curves, got home and played with the new chain saw (yes, more later), watered the garden, made Lila's bottles and a handful of other various motherly tasks.... then sat myself down and finished the last little bit of the armhole finishing.  Tried it on.  Did a happy dance, took some pre-blocked pictures, wove in the last few ends, and now she's in the washing machine. 

I don't think I've ever been so completely in love with something I've knit.  I have felt a sense of "thank goodness that's finished!" and "boy they better like this!" but never "wow - this is super fabulous and I am completely in love with this".  Maybe because I've never actually made something for myself?  I don't know but this is wonderful.  I did it.  From start to finish.  I found a pattern I liked, bought the yarn, used the needles, followed the pattern, knit the entire thing, and now it's finished and I actually like it.  And it fits me.  I'm amazed really.  I've sewn many items - garments that take a blink of time compared to knitting a sweater of any kind - and had them come out badly.  Don't fit well, don't look good, etc.  Knitting a sweater, in my opinion, is a much much bigger risk and commitment.  I'm so happy and pleased with the results.  I hope I still love it as much when it's been washed and blocked.  Any suggestions about blocking this cotton/modal blend?  Lay flat or toss in dryer??  Anybody?  This is supposed to be a very easy-care machine washable yarn we've got here but I'm afraid the cotton in there might shrink if I'm not careful with the dryer.  I typically hang my tops to dry or lay flat.  I'll probably go with that.

So this top - I plan to wear it to court.  I love it so much.  And I have hoped for that as I knit it.  Now I know that will happen.  There's something else though, which I haven't mentioned, that I plan to wear to court.  A few weeks ago I was reading Lee Ann's blog and she showed a necklace that she had purchased.  It's a silver necklace hand made by Leslie Wind.  Someone had seen Leslie's work at a fiber festival and told Lee Ann about Leslie's work - Lee Ann fell in love with this particular piece of jewelry.  It's an ancient matriarchal symbol of strength for women heading into battle.  The moment I saw it on Lee Ann's blog I thought "I need that."  I thought about it for several days and kept going back to read what Lee Ann said about it and looking at the photo.  I finally decided to contact Leslie Wind and ask about the necklace.  I was very afraid that she would say I couldn't have one for whatever reason or I couldn't afford it.  Lucky for me she had one and the price was right.  In one of several friendly email exchanges I briefly told my story of the upcoming custody battle and she put the necklace in the mail immediately - she didn't even have my money yet!  She engraved a rune on the back that is to bring strength, courage, and wisdom regarding legal matters.  The rune is also associated with the color scarlet and the oak tree, which both inspired my COURAGE yarn colorway.

These two items together, combined with the encouragement and support of our friends and family, will be with me (us) in court.  I nearly feel like it's a shield of armor for the battle we face.

Jeff and I were talking a few days ago and agreed that we're really working hard to encourage each other to continue improving our general health and keep losing weight.  I have a goal to lose at least 12 more pounds before our court date.  It's just another thing we're doing to be mentally and physically prepared.  I know all this must sound so weird to some people but .... well, it's important to us.  And the kids.  We'll be ready when the time is here.

Next knit:  Branching Out scarf in a snuggly alpaca yarn.  I'm cruising right along with the Amazing Lace!  Yay for me.  :)

No Inhibitions

Hello out there everybody!!  I think a few people are wondering where we are and how we are!  It's awfully nice to open my email and find that I have friends asking how we are.  :)

We are all fine.  The big kids are all three here now after a visit with their dad during the 4th of July holiday.  Suzannah enjoyed camp and somehow endured a great deal of misery as well.  I was afraid it was a mistake to let her spend time down there alone - I was right.  Camp wasn't worth it.

In court'ish news, we've paid the retainer to our attorney and he's hoping to draft our motion on Friday or Monday.  Of course I was wanting/hoping for this to happen a month ago.  It's just how things go.  A rotten waiting game.  Always just a few more days.  It's okay.  We're sitting around holding our breath in the waiting game and turning blue in the face because it's what we must do.  I suspect that this will not be resolved until the very last split second before school starts and the children might have a slightly uncomfortable transition to the new school(s).  But they want this - we all want this.  We're all bracing for what we have to deal with to get what we want.

On the knitting front, Calliope is looking good!  I finished the back on Sunday or Monday (can't remember now) and cast on for the front right away.  I got my Channel Island Caston instructions back out and realized that I didn't do it correctly.  The instructions state that the basic concept is:  a yarn over plus a normal long tail caston stitch.  What I did was:  a yarn over plus a backward loop caston stitch.  When I realized my mistake, of course, I had to do it the wrong way for the front piece but I did practice the proper technique too.  The resulting effect is similar  - my mistake method is much faster - the proper method looks good.  Both are useable and both have a pretty edge.  Doesn't matter to me that I did it incorrectly. 

I just started my 6th skein of yarn, so on the yarn ball scale I'm approximately 48% finished.  However, now that the back is finished I'm predicting that I will only use 9 balls of yarn.  With the modified yarn ball scale I'm approximately 58% finished.  I think that's more accurate since the back should be approximately 50%. 

We had a very quiet and uneventful Fourth of July holiday.  No parades.  No big fanfare.  The big kids were with their dad and stepmother having a terrible time so we didn't really need to buy any fireworks.  I watered the grass and knit in the back yard.  Emeline stayed in her pajamas until lunch time when she decided to come outside and join me in the back yard.  She saw the sprinkler and said, DRINK!!  She loves to play in the sprinkler and thinks that all spraying water is intended to be played in.  So, completely uninhibited by the fact that she was still wearing her pajamas, she walked over and played in the drink.  She stood there very still while the drops of water hit her hair and face.  She looked down and touched her arm where it felt cold and wet.  Her Daddy said, Oh Emeline, you'll get your clothes wet.  I said, It doesn't matter.  Don't you wish that we were still so young and carefree without being inhibited by the fact that we might get our clothes or hair wet and we could just go stand in the sprinkler and feel the water on our face and skin and be amazed by the wonder of it?  By the time we went inside she was soaked from head to toe and enjoyed it very much.

After playing in the drink we took a drive to Wichita, got Emeline some sandals and visited Jeff's parents.  We grilled steaks for dinner (oh so yum) and then settled in for the night.  In our town you don't go to the fireworks, the fireworks come to you!!  It sounds like a war zone for about three days with people shooting fireworks in town.  I went out and walked down the street a little ways and saw some nice fireworks, heard people having fun.  It's a dramatic feeling to see my neighbor's flag flying in the spotlight at night with those booming sounds all around. 

Getting Ready

So here we are.  Friday before a 4-day holiday weekend.  Emeline has had a night time fever of 101.5 axillary* the past two nights and woke up with 99.1 in the ear this morning.  Experience tells me "possible ear infection".  Doctor's office won't call me back to let me know if they think it's important to see us today.  Nice.  Do you think by the fourth child maybe I actually know what I'm doing and can troubleshoot fevers?  I don't just jump on the "emergency room for a fever" bandwagon.  I will be having a serious discussion with this doctor if they don't see Emeline today.  Doctor's office just called - they'll see Emeline at 3:45 today.

*Axillary temperature (under the arm) is typically .5 to 1 degree lower than oral temperature.

No progress photo to show of Calliope because... well, she looks the same.  Oh, I guess I do have a photo.  This is when I was holding Calliope up to my favorite tank top to see how it compares in size.  I'm VERY glad I decided to do the next bigger size.  The pattern isn't generous with measurements but I have read enough of the pattern to see that the armhole shaping begins a little lower than it does on this red tank top but the overall length from the shoulder seam to lower edge is very near to the same as this tank top.

Here's the Calliope pattern photo.  I've decided I don't want the back neck area to come up so far.  After looking at this picture over and over I've decided I don't want the back neck shaping to be up so high - I want it to be lower like the tank top in the above photo.  The front is knit to exactly the same dimensions as the back (possibly with different arm hole shaping which I will check) so I will duplicate the front neck shaping but start a little higher in the back.  This will save me a little yarn and I think I will like the look and feel a lot better thah having the high back neck on Calliope.  Wish me luck on this part - I'll be starting it very soon.  I've finished the 9th pattern repeat on the body part so I only have 12 more rows before I start the armhole shaping which should happen later today I hope.

I think the pattern example is knit in a much smaller size than what I'm making.  *sigh*  One day maybe.

My progress at Curves wasn't bad this week when I weighed.  It wasn't great but there has been measureable change since I began.  It's just a very very very slow change.  I have lost a total of 6.5 inches and overall total of 1 pound, which doesn't tell the whole story.  When I went for my 1-month weigh-in I was 5 pounds heavier than when I started.  Does that explain why I waited so long to mention it on my blog? 

So speaking of weight loss, how about that ice cream?  I took a few photos of the making process and then my camera decided it was through for the day and we couldn't take any more.  Here's what we got:

We got this great ice cream maker at a flea market for $10.  I couldn't resist after searching on ebay for several years for a bargain and couldn't bear to pay the shipping cost it would take!!  All of the internal parts are perfect and it works very well if you have a strong arm or two.  :)

The ice cream was SOOOOO GOOOD.  Sorry no photos of the finished product.  Maybe next time.  This batch was vanilla.  I like to use the Junket mix we find at the grocery store.  With all the cranking I don't feel too guilty about using a mix instead of making it from scratch.

This morning I was finally able to get a picture of an eggplant flower from my little garden.  I've been waiting a few days for it to finally open.  I've grown a different variety of eggplant before which had small flowers that looked white though maybe they were a very pale lavender (or orchid in my mind) - these are a larger size and are definitely a pretty violet color.  And they point DOWN!  How do you take a picture of a flower that's pointing down?  It's not easy, I promise.

So, like the title of this post says, we're getting ready.  Getting ready for a long holiday weekend.  Getting ready for the kids to have their dad come visit for the first of two visits he has planned while they're with us for these short six weeks during the summer.  And getting ready for our attorney to draft the motion that gets this court thing going.  We're bracing for the day my X is served with the motion - hopefully by the end of next week when he has returned to Texas from his trip to Kansas.  Suzannah will be back here and won't have to deal with the initial heat from their anger and upset over getting served.  It's a scary nervous time for us.  The money for an attorney has come together though nothing less than a miracle, I'm sure.  On a related note, everything has been flying off the shelves of my etsy shop - time to dye more yarn for sure!!  Thank you to everyone that has been buying my yarn and stitch markers.  We appreciate it so much.

Have a wonderful and fun safe Fourth of July holiday weekend everybody!!  I might not post again until Wednesday or Thursday next week - let's hope for plenty of knitting progress and maybe a little 4th of July fun. 

Here are a few 4th of July photos from years past.  The first three pictures are from the 4th of July parade in Valley Mills, Texas in 1991 2001 (GAH!  No, the kids aren't that old now).  The kids were so little and my camera was so bad.  Suzannah's birthday is July 9 8th (what kind of mother AM I??) so two years ago we celebrated her 8th birthday on the 4th of July when my sister was visiting and Emeline was just a month old.