Is There Such A Thing As Working Mom Syndrome?

Being a working parent really sucks sometimes. I didn’t feel this way during the school year, but this is the first week that my daughter has to be in summer camp. Summer is supposed to be a time to relax and be lazy. I was lucky enough to be able to stay home during the summer when I was 6. To tell you the truth, I probably would have cried my eyes out if my mom had brought me to camp.

And why is it that as I am thinking about her all day – checking the schedule to see what she is doing, worrying about her finding a friend - my husband can just go off to work and not give her a second thought. And give me a hard time for worrying. And then she comes home sunburned because no one helped her put her sunscreen on. She’s 6 for heaven sakes. We spent a whole frigging week in Florida with no sunburns and then she goes to camp for one day and comes home with wicked red arms. Unfortunately she has my skin which means we end up looking like lobsters instead of bronzed beauties. So this morning when I dropped her off, I had to have a little talk with one of the girls to make sure that someone will help her. Of course, I woke up in the middle of the night last night with all sorts of thoughts on my mind and couldn’t get back to sleep. I hate when that happens. And thanks for letting me rant.

On a knitting note, I’m thinking of making socks as the knitted gift for my One Skein Secret Pal. She lives in Arizona so I was thinking maybe ankle socks??? Do they wear wool ankle socks in Arizona? Or would regular length socks be ok? I did find these two patterns here and here. Both look like fun. Any suggestions on the sock idea?

Back From Vacation

We arrived at the airport in RI in the pouring rain on Saturday and my first thought was that Claudia was riding in this mess. And my second thought was wondering about the weather in NY and if everything went well for Cara’s Spin In. Thankfully Cara found an indoor site and the event went off fabulously. I’m hoping Claudia is resting up after her weekend.

Disney was fun as always – hot (well, duh, it is June) and tiring. My daughter loves the rollercoasters and she decided she wanted to go on the new one – Expedition Everest – 10 times. She went on it 11 and I ended up with a headache. She also loved being in the pool and at the water parks. I definitely need to get her into another session of swimming lessons. It’s scary when she keeps insisting to me that she is a strong swimmer. I know better.

I didn’t do as much knitting as I thought I would although I did drag my Trekking sock around with me and got several comments about it. Of course, I tend to over estimate the amount of knitting I will do and pack more yarn/projects than I need, but I'm sure you will agree, it’s better to be safe than sorry. But I did manage to sniff out probably the only fiber available for sale in Disney. There is a store in Norway (at Epcot) that sells the most beautiful and $$$ Dale sweaters. I drooled over those. They also had a Learn To Knit kit containing needles, 3 skeins of Dale yarn, instructions and patterns. I almost forgot about the Summer of Stash to buy it for my daughter – who already knows how to knit. Silly me, she has my whole stash as a Learn To Knit kit.

This morning I almost succumbed to some Vesper sock yarn but I decided I should be able to hold out until after Labor Day. Risa told me that roving was NOT included in the SOS. Yeah!!! I can buy roving or fleece. I think Risa may well be my savior. I admit it - I'm a fiber addict. Maybe I'll just head on over and see if that Vesper sock yarn is still available - it is so hard to get.

My Mind is Turning to Mush

I’m not sure where my mind has been lately – maybe it’s already on vacation without me. I had started my Trekking socks last week – grabbed the needles and cast on. The ribbing was done and I decided to use the simple lace pattern posted on Wendy’s site. About two inches into this pattern I decided that I may not be the lacey sock type so I ripped back to the ribbing and started again with plain old stockinette. Then I noticed that the sock was looking a little big (even for me with my size 10 feet and 72 stitches). What an idiot! I had grabbed size 2 needles – I always use size 1 for fingering weight socks.

Well, here are the before and after pictures of my socks. Looks like I'll be starting again.






To cheer me up, I got to open the package from my One Skein Secret Pal. What beautiful sock yarn – a cotton blend that I have never used. Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Fondo. And such beautiful colors. Thank you for the wonderful gift!

And I started a project in this month's color of blue - these cute baby jeans. I think they will make a cute gift along with the bibs I've been working on from Mason Dixon Knitting.

I’m also trying to decide what to take with me on our upcoming vacation. We are heading off to Disney and I can’t wait to get away. I’ll probably bring socks since those are easy to carry around and I have been known to knit while waiting in the lines. Kids stare at me but don't say anything and one time a woman commented that it was a great idea and she wished she had brought her knitting with her. I should also bring my Amazing Lace partner – maybe I can get some extreme knitting in while we are away. But I doubt I’d be allowed to knit while dropping 13 stories in The Tower of Terror.

By the way, Helen and I share a very special day next week. We emailed each other about an online party, but since I’ll be away from the computer at that time, it may be a good idea to just get the party started early. Margaritas anyone??

An Eye Opener

Well, I attended my first Town Council meeting last night and to say the least, it was quite an eye opener. The school budget was on the agenda and it seemed to me that you had the teachers and parents on one side and the senior citizens on the other. School programs are being cut and I feel that my daughter deserves the same opportunities that the people had who came before her. Students have to choose between taking art or a foreign language. The metal shop, wood shop and home ec classes are being cancelled in the high school. Those may be the only route that some students can go. And I found out that some of the town council members send their kids to private schools. Somehow, that doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I know, I voted for some of these people so I am to blame too. Anyway, I hate to admit this, but I kept thinking that I'm lucky - I can always choose to put Rebecca in private school. Of course, it would mean a big argument with my husband, but that is another story.

On to more pleasant topics. Yesterday I renewed my pledge to eat locally (and healthier). Last summer I joined a coop at a local farm - I got to pick up my share of organically grown vegetables every week for like 4 months. So, I joined again this year and yesterday was the first pick up.

The only problem is that I don't have a clue what some of the stuff is. There are always ALOT of greens. I know I got some kale, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, radishes, possibly beets (which reminds me, I need to ask Cate for her beet recipe) and a bunch of other stuff I can't identify. I need to invite Norma over and maybe she could help me out! So, last night I heated up some olive oil (EVOO as Rachel Ray says - for some reason, my daughter loves watching Rachel Ray), threw in some garlic, then quickly cooked the kale and some other green stuff. Added some sesame oil, salt and pepper and threw some cooked shrimp on top. It was yummy. Reminder - I need to look for some of that sea salt everyone talks about.

Here are some of the pictures I promised from last time. The beautiful green fabric that was hand dyed by Susan. She also made the stoneware charm. I have to think of some extra special way to use this fabric. The greens are even more vibrant than the picture shows. Thank you Susan for a wonderful gift.

I finally sent off my package for The Dulaan Project. In the box are a woman's mohair sweater, a baby sweater and matching hat, a toddler's vest and 2 hats (one child sized and one adult sized).

For some reason I can't seem to load my spinning pictures so they will have to wait for another time. Instead I leave you with a picture of one of my favorite flowers - with the ever prevalent raindrops that we seem to be having lately.

KAL Update

Well, I joined the Summer of Stash. The button has been added to the sidebar. I really liked the button with the sunflower, but felt that the sinking ship better represented the whole idea of the growing stash. So, I officially state that I am knitting from the stash this summer. My introduction to SOS is here. I keep telling myself that this is a good thing. For some incentive, I'm going to try and keep a running total of yardage used on the sidebar.

I also broke out the Trekking (color 100 - in the stash) for the Come Trek With Me KAL.

This past Sunday we walked with other 2 and 4 legged creatures.

It was the annual fundraising walk for our local animal shelter. I didn't get to pull out the sock on the walk but had to wait until lunchtime. As you can see, I'm just starting it. Instead of my usual stockinette sock, I'm trying out a simple lace pattern that I saw on Wendy's site.

I'm also working on a project from the Mason Dixon book - the baby bib since I now know of 3 babies that will be here in the next few months. And I have some of this cotton in my stash.

I was going to show a few more things - the beautiful fabric that I received from my May Project Spectrum Postcard Pal and some spinning, but Blogger seems to be choking on pictures so you'll have to wait until next time. Stash Rocks!

What would you do?

Scenario: You are visiting someone – family, friends, etc. – and find out that the man who lives next door has started traveling to Iceland for business. Now, you have met this man, his wife and their three children on previous visits. You have even made a baby gift for their third child (a really nice Miss Dashwood and baby booties). He seems like a really nice guy. OK, now the people you are visiting are having a picnic and the family next door is invited.
Do you:
1. Attack the man when he comes into the yard, demanding that he brings home some fleecy goodness next time he goes to Iceland.
2. Casually mention that you have heard about his trips and ask, nicely, if he has ever been in the vicinity of any yarn shops – this being Iceland and all and I would imagine that wool is easily accessible to the average person..
3. Ignore the whole Iceland thing and don’t even bring it up.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I decided to go for number 2. While talking with him,he told me that he doesn't like to stay away too long because his wife needs help with the kids. This results in a trip to Iceland that could actually be a trip to anywhere since he spends the majority of the time in conference rooms and takes the red eye so he can be back home as quickly as possible. Not looking good for bringing back any wool. By the way fleece was mentioned, but I wasn’t sure if he’d really understand that.

Well, I can't give up yet, so we continue talking and I find out that his central air is not working (and it was a hot weekend in NJ) so I try to work out a deal with my brother in law - an engineer who specializes in heating and cooling systems. You know, wool for a cool house. I thought that maybe I was getting someone when I overheard the man say something about bringing back some sheep, but then I realized he was probably joking. Little did he know, that wouldn’t be a joke in some circles.

Well, I tried, but I don’t think I got anywhere. You never know, maybe there will be some Icelandic sheep in my parents back yard being herded by the dog the next time I go home to visit. Come on, a grrl can dream.