Viking Tea Party

Shop Talk

Hmm, I'm posting using the Typepad app which only let's you post plain text with no easy way to add HTML so I'm adding it the old fashioned way and it doesn't seem to like it much. That said, pardon the mess in my last post!

Bears and Books

So much to catch up on!

Back in the fall, after I finished Emmett's enormous race track rug (another post for another day), I decided it was time to make something for myself and I wanted a bear. Although I think he kind of looks like a sad alien rather than a bear, I do love him. He crocheted up in no time since he's made from double crochets and I might eventually make another one for Emmett in shades of blue or purple. Right now the only stuffed animal he has any interest in is a hand me down otter that came from his cousins so there's no hurry. Ironic, considering Emmett the Otter is probably one of the more famous Emmetts (but <i>not</i> the reason we picked the name).

Thanks to my Kindle, I've been doing quite a bit of reading, too. Not much to shout about but I did read Stephen King's latest <i>11.23.63</i> and loved it. Like some of my other favorite King novels (specifically <i>Misery</i>), the scary isn't supernatural or anything else that goes bump in the night. I actually read a real, paper book recently, too - bought because it was only £2.99 if you bought the Times and we were doing that already. It's <i>The Sisters Brothers</i> by Patrick DeWitt - also excellent! It got a bit wacky toward the end but the rest of it so good it's easy to shrug that off. One of the reviews used the words "If Cormac McCarthy had a sense of humor" and I think that's about right.

What are you reading these days? Has anyone read <i>A Discovery of Witches</i> by Deborah Harkness? The reviews are good but the sample chapter I read didn't make me rush to read it. I preordered <i>Legend</i> by Marie Lu as it's already gotten good reviews from the states and is supposed to be a bit like <i>The Hunger Games</i>. Anyone heard or it or read it?

Ravelry link for bear pattern: <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/happyberry-bear-dotty-in-christmas-colours">Happybeary Bear</a>

Becoming British

The week before Christmas, we dropped Emmett off at Matt's mum's and drove to
a nice little town - the name of which completely escapes me - where I took my Life in UK test.

I'd been cramming for a week or two - taking test quizzes and going over my flash cards whenever I had a moment. I felt fairly confident but had to stop in Boots for something to cure my nervous heartburn.

The test questions are a mixed bag of difficult things like how the government is structured to ridiculous questions like what holiday is on February 14th. Seriously. I can only remember one of my questions and it asked what time pubs without special licenses were supposed to close. You know, because knowing they close at eleven pm is incredibly important and proves that you're British. Ridiculous.

Anyhow, I passed, thankfully, and spent all day on December 23rd gathering the dozens of things the settlement application requires, including filling out my debit card information so that they could charge me an outrageous fee of £972. Ouch. Strangely, there's nothing on the application about any children you and your partner might have. They want mail addressed to you over the two years you've resided together to prove you live under the same roof but nothing about the flesh and blood that proves you're not a green card couple. So I included some family photos, Emmett's birth certificate and a letter.

I packaged it all up along with our passports (yikes), mailed it off, came home and opened a bottle of Buck's Fizz (like a mimosa). Now we have to wait for up to six months for the verdict. I'm not too worried but it is quite scary....

Time Flies

Last week I sat down with a pen and a blank piece of paper. In the middle of the paper I wrote "In 2012 I Will Try to..." and then filled it with things like "bake and cook from scratch more often" because I've found that it makes me happy, "take Emmett to more play groups," "think happy thoughts as I fall asleep" and make our home homier."

The one I'm most excited about is "find (re-find) my blog voice." I'm not sure who I am now but I do miss this blog and have so many things to share that have happened over the past few months. Unfortunately, I think the hard drive on my laptop has died. We have a desktop computer but it's currently hooked up to the television for Skype chats and can only be used as a computer when Emmett is elsewhere because he's computer crazy. I'm actually posting this via the Typepad app. I'm going to figure something out soon, though so watch this space. :)

Webify Me

I love that my web persona includes knitting needles! Not so sure about the wristband though...

Webify yourself here.

Light My Fire

Matt and Emmett bought me a Kindle for my birthday. I wasn't exactly a Kindle fan before or at least I really didn't think I wanted one. The idea of reading a book on a screen, without the heft of the book in your hand and turning the pages, just really didn't appeal. I'm one of those people.

No longer.

Like my iTouch, it's something every new mom should have. It's much easier to pick up than a book (especially since I'm currently reading Game of Thrones and it's 700+ pages thick) when Emmett's taking a snooze in my arms.

Even though I'd already paid £9 for a paperback copy, I had to buy Game of Thrones for the Kindle. It's taking me forever to get through it and not because I'm not interested. I've read more of it in the past couple of days than I have in a week.

Back to the Kindle. The screen is gorgeous. When I opened it, I assumed the screen saver (like the one above of Virginia) was actually something that would peel off with the sticky screen protector - nope.

This, though, is what sold me...

I can email PDFs to a special Kindle address and, like magic, they'll appear the next time I turn it on! That means rather than keeping track of paper patterns and keeping them away from little hands that like to crumple and a mouth that likes to chew, I can keep my current project on the Kindle. Awe-some. That's the Bunny Nuggets pattern but Rebecca Danger, by the way. I haven't checked to see if you can add notes to a PDF but that's on my list of things to investigate in the user's manual. If not, I'll still have to keep a notebook to write down where I am which is a bit of a pain but easier to keep away from Emmett than pieces of paper.

Anyway, I love it and have been trolling Etsy and Folksy for a sleeve. I really need to see if my sewing machine works here because it's going to kill me to buy one when I could make one myself.

I'll end with a little gratuitous Emmett. He's wickedly fussy - damned teething - at the moment so I really need to close up and get some dinner in the little fellow because eating always soothes the savage beast!

Vroooom!

I've actually been doing a bit of crocheting recently. It's simple and mindless but that's what I need since it gets picked up and put down several times a day.

It's a racetrack rug (Ravelry Link) for Emmett's first birthday. I'm pretty damned proud of myself because I had the feeling when I started it that there was no way I could stick with it. Five thousand plus single crochets later and I'm halfway through the road with only the one row of loopy grass and two green rows to go after that! 

I'm also going to crochet a couple of cars to go with it using the Steve the Car (Ravelry Link) pattern, minus the buttons for eyes and hubcaps. I think he'll be old enough to play with it at one year old. If not, it'll keep!

I started it at knit group during my very last minute trip to Ohio last month. Last minute as in "bought a ticket on Thursday, left on Friday". It was expensive and stupid but things were bad and I needed to go. Travelling alone with Emmett wasn't as hard as I expected it to be but I can say I will never, ever fly through O'Hare again. That was a nightmare. NIGHT. MARE.

Unfortunately, I managed to leave without downloading Dad's photos and I used his camera for the most part since I didn't travel with the laptop and couldn't download from my camera to his laptop without buying an SD card reader. I did end up with photos from our trip to the Columbus Zoo, though.

This kid loves to eat and he really enjoyed his first Dippin Dots experience!

This is my favorite part of going to the zoo - feeding the lorikeets.

He really enjoyed playing on a blanket in Granny and Paw Paw's backyard. He can't go five minutes without climbing into Mommy's lap when I'm around but since I was inside, he played on his own for over an hour!

I miss the sleeveless weather. Here it's the end of July and most days I'm in jeans and a jacket. I know it's in the nineties in Ohio and that's not ideal but I'd gladly trade temperatures for a least a day or two.

We took Emmett to the beach at the end of last month...in sweatershirts and long pants. He loved it, though.

The Ohio trip did help with the depression and homesickness...for a bit. England and I are having a hard time learning to love one another. I'm trying, though. Each day is a little battle - thank goodness for my blue-eyed men.

I'll end this ridiculously long, Emmett photo filled update with a bit of book. My friend Delly sent me a link to this article about the Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones books. I watched the first couple of episiodes of the series based on the first book but even though I really enjoyed it, I couldn't keep up. Babies do that. I wasn't sure I would really enjoy the books, though - I was afraid thay might be...too sci-fi fantasy to put it simply. When I read the words "historical fiction" in the article, though, I was sold and walked into town immediately to buy it. I'm a mere (the first book is over 700 pages, after all) two hundred pages in and already look forward to picking it up every time I have to put it down. I find the characters a little unweildy and have to consult the appendix every once in awhile but I'm really enjoying it and am thinking about taking advantage of Waterstones 3 for 2 sale to get the next three in the series....

A True Friend and Saint

While I was on a last minute trip to Ohio (more on that another day), my friend Kim did something really neat and rather ambitious on her blog - she matched her friends to saints. Over twenty of them. That's a lot of work!

I was lucky enough to have been given Raymond, Mothers of Infants which was especially apropos as Emmett and I travelled solo to the states and it was really a challenge to my motherhood. A good challenge and one that wasn't as tough as I thought it would be (it helps that I gave birth to an angel) but a challenge never the less.

Kim is really amazing and I wanted to return this favor in kind. And I tried. I looked at lists of saints by name and by subject and nothing really encompassed everything that she stands for.

So I made one up.

Kim's saint is Saint Hyer...

 

Saint of the Cowboy Boot

I chose this saint not just because Kim loves her boots (and was even married in a pair) but because there really is a bit of her in a good pair of boots. For one thing, she's as colorful and quirky as the really unique kind - like the ones above that she mentioned on her blog some time ago. The past year and more has been difficult (to say the very, very least) but she remains sturdy, standing as tall as she possibly could in these circumstances. And, to continue this little bit of cheesiness, she's reliable. Always there with a comment or a quick email that just brightens your day - seemingly when I need it the most. 

I'm very fortunate to have met her all those years ago when her love of handsome celebrities (another thing she's really good at: posting eye candy on her blog) led her to put together the Knitter's Hunk competition. We may not have met up before I left for the UK but I think a night in Nashville for some music and unending chatter will happen some day, I really do.

P.S. Kim, I did an extensive search for a photo of Hugh Laurie in cowboy boots - alas, I couldn't find one. :)

Got My New Shoes On

I'm a Croc fan. My pregnant feet loved them and they are about all I've worn for the past year.

This is my latest pair, bought for me by my Dad while we were in Ohio. My mom and dad both love them, too, and we tried a pair on Emmett but he's a bit too small. He can have his first pair next trip. And when he does he needs one of the cool new 3-D Jibbitz like this one.

I've never been one for charms on my Crocs but when I found this little squirrel, I had to have him. While Dad was paying, I was going to the car to get a cooler outfit for Emmett but Mom told me later that he also bought a squirrel for himself and one for Emmett...and he choked up a little bit. He does that a lot now and has since he turned fifty but still - it's really sweet. He also bought E a crazy Croc toy that's a shoe with arms and legs since he's too small for his own pair. It's creepy but kinda cute.

I just searched the Croc store for a Jibbitz using the word "yarn". Yeah, they're not quite that cool yet.

Old Man Hat for Little E

Before we left for New Orleans and Ohio, I crocheted Emmett a little bucket hat.

I thought this pattern was so cute, I had it planned before he was even born and had Mom bring the Sugar and Cream yarn for it when she came to meet him for the first time.

My husband has a big head. Literally. It runs in his family and it terrified me a little while I was pregnant. Emmett's big noggin wasn't the reason that I had to have an emergency c-section (he was actually turned the wrong way and wouldn't budge), thankfully, but it is pretty big. I started with the infant circumference and it was way too small so I continued on with the toddler size. Nope. I had to use the children's size to make the top and then finish it with the infact size. Poor kid. His dad can't really wear hats (although I don't think he would if he could) and forget about the paper crowns that come in the Christmas crackers. My child is doomed.

But he looks pretty cute in his bucket hat!

Rav link - Bucket Hat.