Kitchen Help

Buttons loves all things kitchen. Dishes to be done? She's there. Food to cook? She's there. I made some (poor quality) banana muffins the other day. She helped me, then went to her own kitchen and put a banana, an egg and a muffin in a pan to cook. My girl loves to cook soup and muffins.

My girl also loves giving her opinion. Incident in which Baba is clapping:

Buttons: No clapping.

Baba: Clapping makes Baba happy.

Buttons: No happy.

My girl. She's almost two. She's opinionated and full of herself.
I love my girl.

Heel!

Here are some pictures of my current obsession. I turned my first heel! The fabric is going to be the lining for the stocking. I can't wait to finish this puppy. Me thinks she will collect much loot in here. Arrr! (Actually, talk like a pirate day was September 19th.)

Rocco and Rita Update

A little over a month ago, I posted about Rocco and Rita. We had dinner with them today and they shared the good news that they've found an adoption agency. I'm so excited for them. I know they have paperwork and a wait in front of them that must seem daunting right now, but it's so worth it. Karen at Naked Ovary had a wonderful post about the joys of being an adoptive mom. I admit it, I needed the kleenex.

Yeah, Rocco and Rita!!!

Pattern Request

In the comments of my last post, Stephanie asked for the pattern of the stocking I'm making for Buttons. It's in this book and it's called "Jester's Bells" and I'm making it with Green Mountain Spinnery's Mountain Mohair in Wintergreen, Rhubarb and Edelweiss on size 9 circulars (will switch to DPN's for the heel and toe, though).



On a footnote (insert groan here), Edelweiss is the song I sing to Buttons just before I put her into bed.

Christmas Stocking

No time for a big post, so I'll just put a couple of pics of my progress on Button's stocking.






(The work in progress)















(In this picture, the cuff is folded down to reveal what it will look like once finished.)



A few random thoughts in Buttons news...

She seems to be out of the extreme tantrum phase right now, but is getting itno the "Buttons do it" phase. It's an exciting phase as she strives for independence, but every milestone is so bittersweet 'cause time is just flying.

She took her babydoll along with her today during a trip to the mall and held that baby so sweetly and always made sure to give her plenty of milk.

She will often get a purse together, put it over her arm and tell me "bye" and "bee ba back" (be right back) and when I ask where she is going she will mostly reply "knit" or she will say "werk" and "bagel" since her father always takes a bagel with him on the way to work. She's a funny one.

Must go and decide whether to sleep or to knit more on the Christmas stocking. Who am I kidding, a few more rows never hurt anyone.

Knitters Day Out

Went to KDO yesterday with a van load of knitters and had a great time. Due to reasons too boring to explain, I didn't get to take any classes, but decided to go anyway. So, hubby watched Buttons and I spent the day knitting, talking, and shopping the wonderful yarn in the market. Met mother and daughter owners of Kindred Spirit Yarn Studio and really enjoyed the yarn and their helpfulness. I also learned the daughter (oops, forgot her name) is the designer for the undisclosed surprise pattern (it's lovely) in the newest Knitty issue! I LOVED the yarn, so I bought some in a pumpkin color to make hubby a hat from this book. It's called Schulana Merino Cotton 90 and it's soft enough for my guy. He. Cannot. Wear. Wool.

I bought this kit from Susan Wolcott of Y2Knit and can't wait to get it on the needles. I enjoyed meeting Susan and her very dry sense of humor. Susan introduced me to her daughter who was working there and I learned she was adopted from Korea. I'm always excited to meet other IA moms. I wonder if that changes once you've been an IA mom for a while. (Subject for a future post?)





My main goal was to buy some Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair for a Button's stocking from this book (Jester's Bells). Once the yarn was in my hands, I 'had' to buy my first Addi Turbo needles and cast on. I've been trying to decide which stocking to make for Buttons for well over a year now. Finally, I figured if it wasn't right for her, I'd use it for myself!

Being around knitters all day is a very lovely thing. They are kind, generous and passionate. It was, however, the longest time I've been away from Buttons. She was asleep when I left, asleep when I came back and I missed her so much. My hubby rocks, huh? (Must post about that, too.) Ok...too much blogging, not enough knitting...

Red Scarf Project

The Keyboard Biologist Knits is a blog I've been reading for a while now and she does a great job explaining the Red Scarf Project. The short version is the Orphans Foundation of America will be collecting red scarves in the month of January and sending them to college students who have outgrown the foster care system. I plan on making at least one along with a note of encouragement. Perhaps you have some red yarn in your stash yearning for higher education?

Watermelon Gumbo Recipe

The 2's (and the 2 year molars) are coming! Buttons is loving the word 'no' and is really fighting the whole nap scene. Today she woke up from her 30 minute nap with violent thrusting and free-flowing "no"-ing. I tried to hold her, put her down, hug her, kiss her, sing to her, but nothing seemed to work. She finally let me hold her, but she was very unhappy. Everything I offered, she refused. Finally, I asked her if she wanted to hear a story. With a very soft nod, I was given the ok. I started to tell her the story of a wonderful girl who had a case of the crabbies and how her parents tried everything to help her, but still she was crabby. So her parents just hugged her and waited for her crabbies to go away. Buttons enjoyed the parts of the story when the parents asked her if she wanted to oink like a pig or act like a monkey and she still said "no". She aquired the lip quiver when I told her about parents having the crabbies sometimes. She's a compassionate girl. When I asked Buttons to name the girl in the story, I gave her the choice of Shika (her fave name) or Blueberry and "no" was the answer. Then, out of the strange blue, I asked if her name was Watermelon Gumbo. With a sweet smile, she said "yes". That's how you make Watermelon Gumbo and give Buttons a smile.

The portrait above is titled "Watermelon Gumbo" by the artist Buttons using Fisher Price Doodle Pro. This piece is on its side with the legs in the air to the right. Brilliant, right?

Free Love Scarf

The new issue of knitty is on-line and included an article called "7 Knits for 7 Flicks". This involves two of my favorite pastimes, so I took a gander. One of Ms. Pepper's ideas was watching "Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice" and making a 'Free Love Scarf'. The idea is to have everyone knit a few rows from leftover yarn. The author was thinking of just having one scarf at the end of the evening. I was thinking it would be fun to have everyone come with a few different sized needles, some yarn, a sense of humor and willingness to share the love of knitting on each person's scarf. Everyone would have a scarf at the end of the evening. You wouldn't have to watch "B&T&C&A", but that would be chessy goodness.

***Congrats to Karen and 'Random' of "The Naked Ovary". They met their daughter Maya today in China!

5 Years

Friends and Beer

Buttons and I go to a playgroup once a week with some wonderful women and children. After our most recent visit, we came home and ate lunch and started talking about friends. I asked her to name her friends thinking the list would include the kids we just saw. She told me "Shika", which is a name she came up with out of the blue one day and I'm not sure who it refers to except it's her favorite name. This gave me a chuckle and when I asked her to name other friends, she said "Mama". I lapped this up and yes, I know when I have to choose between being her friend and being her mother, I must choose to be her mama, but I'm going to etch that moment into my brain and remember it fondly when the teen years hit.

And now for something completely different...
This weekend my hubby dropped a hint that we only had one beer left in the house. He has been working long hours and has a presentation tomorrow, so after grocery shopping with Buttons I decided to buy beer. I tell Buttons we're on our way to the beer store to take some home.

Buttons: Beer....home! (extremely excitedly)

Me: Buttons, you can't even drink beer!

Buttons: Mama beer!

Then I laughed as I drove to the beer store and hoped that her joy about this alcoholic beverage doesn't make the clerk think I may be giving beer to a minor. I live in what I call a semi-dry state, but when you go to the beer store you have to buy a case of beer. (Yeah, go figure.) When I purchased the case, Buttons in tow, the man carried the beer out to the car for me and told me to just watch the little one because of all the cars that come flying into the parking lot. Perhaps I will restrain from taking Buttons to the beer store from now on since it seems in one way or another I'm missing out on "mother of the year".

One Down...999 To Go

This washcloth was actually started after this post, but we'll just pretend it was one of my many UFO's (unfinished objects). I need to weave in the ends but I'm so excited to have finished a project! On my last row, I even started to wonder if I would be able to bind off since it had been so long. This will be one of the three washcloths I plan to give as a gift along with some handmade soap. Ideally I'd like to make something for everyone this holiday season, but friends have told me to just let that idea go. Wise friends, I know. The washcloth was made out of this and was surprisingly soft. No more blog, must go knit!

Oh, please head on over to my friend Beth's new blog knitsmitten and say hi. She's a wonderful friend and has been knitting for a long time but new to the blogosphere.


I also received an e-mail from Secret Pal 9 stating I'm officially entered and yes, I'm giddy.

It's the end of summer, you can spin the light to gold*

Not since my childhood have I been so sad about the thought of this season coming to a close. This was our first full summer with Buttons and it flew by so fast. So. Fast. And I know that the seasons will come and go faster every year. Summer isn't even my favorite season because it's so hot. I love autumn and always look forward to the cool breezes, the fall color and the fragrance of the wind. However, I can't help but have a bit of the end-of-summer blues. We'll still go to the park, play with sand, and take walks, but Buttons hanging out at home in a just a diaper will probably never happen again (she has a strong interest in the potty). We just put away some of her"baby" toys too, so I'm really feeling time rushing by me. I'm hoping to "spin the light to gold" and look forward to the fall. Currently, I'm immersing myself in knitting, planning patterns and have started yet another project. (And of course doing all I can to enjoy these last lazy days of summer with Buttons.) What do y'all do for these seasonal blues?

*Title refers to the Dar Williams song "End of Summer".

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

I just read this book for a Virtual Book Club called "The Written Word". Stephanie has been posting questions and is taking requests for the next book in our "VBC". I enjoyed this book for many reasons, one of which is its insight into Chinese culture. The novel is set in the late nineteenth century and includes foot binding, arranged marriages, gender roles, women's friendships and familial relationships. It's a great book and I do recommend it. I also urge you to check out "The Written Word".