Two Black Sheep

If it Kills Me

I always go into a funk when Ava leaves.  It's usually immediate, but we had dinner plans on Tuesday.  I guess my body didn't have time to slip into the blues that night.  But Wednesday came and things sucked.  The house is quieter.  No one's there to discuss alternate ways to SSK.  When I make a snarky comment about TV, I don't get one in return.  Granted, there's a lot less empty beer bottles.  It's just sad and boring.  It only last for a day, but it's a long day.

The one potentially good thing about yesterday also ended with a loud "Fuck!"  Our very good friend was accepted into a law school that isn't in our city.  When I moved here after college, SK followed about 3 months later.  He & our friend moved into a house near campus.  Once they came, things got better in the city.  Our friend has played a huge role in our grown-up lives (when you finally realize that you're becoming an adult).  We asked him to be ordained so he could marry us.  We've visited him at the hospital a couple of times & it wasn't because of some dumb college accident.  He was the first person to visit me after Tuck was born.  I don't think the drugs had even worn off & he was there with coffee in hand.  I know his Moving Day is coming, but I'm not prepared.  Since he's still going to be in a cold climate, I started a Marsan Cap out of my leftover baby camel.  I covet this yarn, but I felt like this would be an important knit to whittle away at my last cake.  A day of 1x1 twisted rib (not fun) and I had a cap.  With the baby camel, you have to wash it to felt the thread-like yarn.  I was so excited to toss it in the washer & feel the glorious yarn on my forehead.  Seriously, this yarn has got to be how it feels to be wrapped up in a Jolie-Pitt (take your pick) embrace.  Yesterday, it was tossed in & I waited.  Here's what greeted me 20 minutes later.

Ah well, it was a fast knit.  Maybe I'll give Ava's new favorite a spin. 

When things go shitty, Two Black Sheep throw a contest!  Actually it's because we've almost got 1000 comments.  When we started our blog, we thought we'd get an occasional comment from the Flyer or SK.  We're so happy with the friends we've made & the processes we've learned from our blog.  Selfishly, one reason I enjoy the blog because it serves as a journal.  I'm pretty sure my mind is slipping, so someday I'll need a clue on how the boy went from babies to men.  Without the blog, I'd have to rely on our mother's photographs (I never took photo pre-blog) & other people's memories of the boys (I tend to exaggerate).  In honor of remembering your lives, Ava came up with this fantastic contest.  She found this book a couple months ago & called me about the idea.  As an example, Ava's would be, "Roller coaster, front car, hands high."  She said that I need to come up with one too, but I need way more time.  If you're a long-time reader, you know she's the Wordsmith of the family.  Basically, you need to post  your six-word memoir in the comments by July 9th.  We'll pick one at random & then pick our favorite. Two lucky winners will have a fantastic black-sheepy prize sent to their home!  Get writing!  We're not a huge blog, so the odds are in your favor that you'll be walking home with something from Ava's nice stash.

Happy 4th!  I'll be watching Christmas trees explode.  That's right.  There's a whole post coming, don't worry.

-Lola

Power and the Passion

So, my sister is a quitter . . . about fucking time! Honestly, Grace was the first knitting pattern I ever "officially" quit, but truth be told, there are lingering WIPs that are so far gone that I ought to quit them; when you pick up a project and can't remember where you are or why you were there, it might be time to call it quits whether the yarn was pricey silk-merino or cheap-ass acrylic.

Today's topic de rigeur is Obligation Knitting. You can call it Guilt Knitting or Knitting-for-Others or Knitting Because You Have To, but I'm going to call it what it is: knitting because you feel obligated. My Obligation Knitting takes the the form of EZ's beautiful February baby sweater. I knit this once before (out of obligation, by the way) for a colleague at work who was having a baby girl. The yarn was cheap and I wanted to try the pattern, so I wasn't too broken up over it.  Suffice it to say, the sweater turned out marginally okay, the colleague loved it, and slowly people began to expect a small baby sweater when the bumps began to grow. Turns out I started a trend and four baby sweaters later, I was fine with it. But this sweater is different. You see, up until this point, I liked all the colleagues that I was knitting for. This time around . . . I don't. Please - don't roll your eyes and say, "How horrible! How can she say that!" We just don't get along. Period. The truly bad part is we work on the same team, eat lunch together every day, and should work closely together. So, in a few short months she'll be welcoming her first child, and I was torn. To knit or not to knit . . . Shakespeare forgive me.

So, I began knitting it out of obligation. Sure I could have said no to that inner nag inside my head, but she just wouldn't go away. I rationalized it by saying that I was truly knitting for her baby girl who had done nothing to me other than make her mamma sick a little and thus inconvenience me during a project. So, Baby M will have a cute February baby sweater in the most luscious chili pepper red wool bamboo yarn Moda Dea could produce. I might be knitting out of obligation, but I don't have to knit it out of yarn that I don't like. Besides, that little nag in my head has a mind of her own and I have great plans for this pattern during the summer.

With Earth Day a mere 12 hours away, another topic I need to get off my chest is this whole push towards green marketing. Hello? Wal-Mart? Let's talk about how annoying those idiot pre-teens are that you have shilling your Coca-Cola t-shirts made with recycled plastic bottles. Here's a thought. Why not encourage people to drink less soda as a means of reducing plastic bottles in the first place instead of shoving crap t-shirts at us. Call it "feel good green" or "eco-consumerism" or whatever other good awful clap-trap your marketing firm thought up, you're still making a buck because you use cheap labor in a Third World country. And Campbell's Soup with a green label? Pittsburgh's favorite son is spinning in his grave as we speak. There are other blogs who put it better than I do, so please . . . go see what they have to say. For Earth Day, I plan on not handing out a single worksheet and have decided to reduce my printing by 25% for next year. If I can keep it up, I'll be back to slates for my students in no time at all.

So, I'll stop while I'm only a little bit bitter since I have the body of the sweater to finish as well as the seaming. Oh, and the baby shower. Did I mention that I'm co-planning the baby shower? No, well, I am. That takes obligation to a whole new level. Have a lovely time in Florida, Lola. Don't do anything I wouldn't do . . . that still leaves you plenty!

Ava

PS - If you live in Pennsylvania and you are registered . . . VOTE tomorrow! Even if your candidate has it all sewn up . . . VOTE!

Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop

We attended Catholic school.  Ava went through high-school & I made it through grade school.  This means that we went to lots of masses.  Lots!  I'm not real sure about Ava's schedule, but I went to 3 services a week.  That seems like a lot of kneeling & standing for a kid.  Every once in a while there'd be a surprise.  Sometimes we'd have a guest priest, & that priest would cause a silent uproar.  During the service he'd try to relate AC/DC lyrics to teachings or make a connection between Jesus & the latest sitcom character.  Most of the adults would be disgusted with this new take on their religion.  During the walk back to school, one adult would say they understood where he was going.  "Tsk. Tsk," a nun would admonish.  Let's relate this story to my latest knitting endeavor, because today I'm the woman in the last pew nodding my head & shaking my fist, "Rock on, father!" 

When I started knitting, it seemed like Noro Kureyon was the pinnacle of yarn.  I couldn't find one bad word about the fiber.  When I felt confident with my skills, I purchased some for a small project.  During the knitting, my hands hurt from the roughness.  I thought it'd soften with a good soak.  Nope.  I just didn't get it.  Why does this yarn get a virtual blow job from every knitter on earth?  Sure the colors can be gorgeous.  The changes are dramatic and unmatched, but there's sheep poop left in the yarn!  If it isn't poop, it's part of the field.  Can't they get rid of this extra crap?

When I saw Lizard Ridge, I fell madly in love.  It had been awhile since I knit with Noro Kureyon, so I had forgot about our torrid past.  I wanted a portable project & one without a deadline.  I picked up 2 skeins & got to work.  After a decent blocking, I really thought that it had soften up enough for a nice blanket.  So I carried on.  Ava knew I was crazy & that I was ignoring the little knit teacher on my shoulder "It's never going to be a cuddly blanket. Abandon now."  I finished the squares over a year ago.  I had no desire to seam the squares since I knew I wouldn't really enjoy curling up with it.  I almost listed it on ebay or on Raverly.  But what good knitter gets rid of Noro?  But no good knitter does what I did next...  Once again, I went to Mom's house & told her to thread the sewing machine.   One hour, a bunch of pins, & a few passes on the sewing machine gives you a beautiful non-comfy throw. As I was running the machine over the blanket, I could hear tons of knitters screaming at me,  "How dare you sew on Noro!  You tramp.  May the Knitting Gods save your soul!"

The blanket is truly beautiful.  Noro does beauty well.  I threw in a couple balls of Plymouth's Boku.  I found this yarn enjoyable.  The color change isn't as dramatic, but there's no nature left in the skein.  If I were still making the blanket, I'd probably try this yarn.  The colors are brighter than Plymouth's Boku, but also not as dramatic as Noro.  I think the feel is little more comparable to Silk Garden.  I think that I've gotten my Noro fix for a while.  If I ever post about trying a project with Noro, could someone please link back to this post!

Here's what I finished yesterday.  I love this project!   We have a baby shower next week & I'm sick of booties & hats.  What little boy wouldn't like a realistic octopus to toss around?  Even SK wants one.  I'll make another, but I'll use pipe cleaners in the tentacles.  Since it's for a baby, I followed the author's advice & left out the pipe cleaners.  I was afraid that the tentacles wouldn't curl, so I  did a really tight bind off.  I think it did the trick.  Don't be surprised if there's a parade of octopi next week on Two Black Sheep.

-Lola

Fake is the New Real

I think that the song title today is very fitting for the following photos.  Staging photos with children & a tired Momma is proving to be difficult. 

Please Gus, put the hat on so I can show Ava.  Yes, you can play with the phone.  Hi sir.  Yes I'm aware that my son called you.  How's the weather in Florida? 

Sorry Tuck for pulling your ear, but Momma just needs a picture of the hat. 

Koolhaus, stay put.  Tuck needs some boobage.

I'm still not sure of my role with Project Spectrum.  Dealing with an almost 3-year-old & a newborn sort of dictates what I'm capable of these days.  So it's a day-by-day decision on most matters in our household.  The first leg of PS deals with red, pink, orange & the element, fire.  The color part of PS is easy for me this month.  I enjoy these colors & I've been going through an orange phase.  PS gave me an excuse to buy some new yarn & reason to use up some of the stash.  But the element part of PS is trickier.  Fire means warmth, & what could be warmer than a gaggle of hats?  Enter my project: Warm hats for the family.

Hat #1 is Knitty's Toasty Topper.  I was looking at the pattern & Gus said, "That looks like a Super Hero's helmet.  I want one"  How can I deny him his very first requested hand-knit?  The pattern is a great solution for cold ears, neck, & head.  I imagine that it's very warm since it's knit with 2 strands held together.  I used some Cascade 220 in a heathered red.  When I ran out of the MC, I added some gray to the bottom.  Thank god for the Buckeye's.  You can get away with a mismatched hat as long as it's in your favorite team's colors. 

Hat #2 is Little Boy Blue Ribbed Baby hat (via Raverly).  I had just enough Malagribo leftover that it would be devilish of me to let it linger in the stash.  While Ava was here, she said "Knit this kid a hat already."  But I did!  I made Tuck 4 Zeebee's but they've started to creep off his head.   During Idol (link to my favorite performance of the night), I finished a very warm hat for the Tuckster.  See Ava, I do listen!

Hat #3 Koolhaus.  I wanted to make this hat just so I could try out Malabrigo.  Ever since I finished, I've been thinking about ways to horde the stuff.  A sweater would be lovely.  An afghan would be heavenly.  A body suit?  I just pooped myself.  I can't really say anything else about this hat that hasn't already been said.  I will make another & probably a third.  When I use Malabrigo again for the hat, I'll take out one of the repeats for a snugger fit.

Next to the hat are the tools that have been getting us through the days.  All you mothers, is there anything worse than having to suck out your baby's nose?  Tuck has been really stuffy for the past 3 days.  I called the nurse & she told me that there's nothing that they can do for him.  Keep him upright & only suck when I'm sure that something will come out.  That's the advice I got.   The tea is for me.  I need all the caffeine I can get.  Thankfully, it doesn't seem to bother Tuck.

I'll be back with a "D" post very soon.  I just have to find a D word that won't worry everyone.  Yesterday it would have been Depressed, Dammit, or Done.  But today is much better.  That's the thing about pregnancies & newborns.  Everyone tells you that you forget labor pains the minute the baby shoots out (lie), but really you forget the first couple months of a newborn.  Why would you want to do it again & again if you remembered?  Not that this go round is as fun as Gus' time as a little squirt, but it's still challenging.  You're tired.  You've been pee'd on.  You've bounced & walked for 10 miles in your little house.  You have visions of being selfish.  It involves you just sitting on the couch.  Just sitting...  But like I said, today is better.  I was able to capture a little smile on the camera.

Paths of Victory

Remind me that winter travel can be rather dicey. I thought that the worst part would be on the Ohio end . . . how wrong I was. The New Jersey/ getting-to-Pennsylvania part sucked. My flight was delayed for two hours, we sat on the runway for another 45 minutes, and then the fun began. It took two hours to make it from Newark to Rockaway, and the roads hadn't been plowed since the morning. Lack of plows? Nope - passed about 30 of them pulled off on the berm. Any reasons? Not quite sure. Suffice it to say that when the freezing rain kicked in, I called the Flyer, asked him to get me a room some where along the way, and call the girls to tell them that they were on their own overnight for the very first time. I got up at 6 AM and began the 30 mile slow drive back to Pennsy and finished off Koolhaas since a) knitting in a row with two men isn't fun, b) I made a mistake but didn't think to question myself (question Jared? yes! question me? no! dumbass), and c) was too drained to finish it in the hotel room. Better photos when a daughter awakens, but I'm not pushing for that . . . they deserve a little kip right now.

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood

Yarn: Malabrigo worsted in Hollyhocks

Needles: Denise 6 and 8, plus Clover 8 DPNs

Mods: For once, nothing . . . not even some major fuck ups. Granted, I had to tink the first two rows of decreases because I read the pattern wrong (it's knit two through the back loops, Lola, NOT knit two together through the back loops). I think if I make another for me, I might make the ribbing a titch shorter. I have enough leftover to make a junior version . . . maybe for Beaner, maybe for the Princess.

Letter C post is coming up soon. It's down to the wire with children, childhood, Candlemas, and something else leading the pack . . . I think it might be that something else.

Ava

Stop This Train

All plans for a PS 3 post went out the window when Tuck decided to finally turn on me. Finding & taking pretty red/orange/pink pictures isn't easy when you're working off of 4 hours of sleep. We could have had a lovely collage of Tuck in various shades of red, but I was too busy begging him to keep his eyes shut.  So instead, Ava & I decided to become engrossed with the Britney Spears drama.  At least our nights aren't as bad as hers.  Sure one more night of Tuck screaming, & you might have found us sitting on a corner clutching Pup.  Thankfully, Tuck slept last night, so no fake British accents or a cocktail mix of prescription drugs for these Sheep.  At least for today . . .

Let's talk knits, friends.  When Ava got into town, I had just received my issue of Spring Interweave.  As always, I got excited to see what was inside.  I saw the preview, but there are usually a couple of patterns that are left out.  I wanted to see those patterns to make my judgments on the issue.  Everything in the preview was in the magazine.  No pleasant surprises.  Perhaps it's because Spring knitting just isn't that exciting, but we were both unimpressed with the issue & have been with the past 2 issues.  What's even more surprising is we have yet to find another blogger or thread that shares our views.   Are other bloggers just really nice and we're really bitchy?  Maybe Interweaves doesn't fit our taste any longer?  I would be surprised if this were true.  We aren't sitting around creating artistic knit items.  Sure, some of the patterns are pretty, but knit worthy?  Not for us.  But why do knitters only voice praise for a magazine?  Is it because we look forward to knit magazine so much and feel bad if we're disappointed?  Whatever the reasons, we'd like to see a great issue real soon. 

So, what's on the needles? Did Tuck ask for anything specific other than a boob in his mouth? Well, Koolhass and no. We both decided to give Malabrigo a go and figured since so many others had great success with Jared's pattern and the yarn that we'd buy a ticket for the train and see where it took us. So far, two repeats in, all is well on the Koolhaas Express. In fact, Ava could have her finished before she gets on the plane back East . . . if she gets on the plane (shit-tastic weather here and at home). Granted, knitting through the back loop is a pain when you aren't used to it, but so far, so good. Tuck was being entertained by the knitting lingo so maybe there is hope for the boys yet, but if you look very closely, we're pretty sure that it's the Jedi mind trick thing he's trying to perfect, not cabling without a needle.

We'll get  PS 3 and ABC Along posts up soon. Ava is still trying to pick a C word (mind out of the gutter, folks . . . that one would be too easy). If she gets on a plane this afternoon and makes it home to snuggle in her own bed, it just may be Continental.

Lola and Ava

PS - Because you are probably waiting on pins and needles (and thus in an uncomfortable position), Ava chose the Hollyhock colorway for her Koolhaas and Lola picked Glazed Carrots - always looking out for her family's nutrition, that one is. Let's face it, Lola will be done with hers well before Ava  . . . even with the two repeat head start since it really is a fast and dirty knit.