More Queueing

Spiral Tarot

Some of the key words for this card are rest, relaxation, healing and contemplation - and this is indeed what I have been trying to do recently. 

Mini Diva is on a visit to my sister Auntie Fashion, where she is being spoiled rotten. If it is dry ie. nearly every day, Destructo Boy is out with his 'Boiz' - he is one of 6 boys in our street; he is the youngest at 6 1/2, the oldest is 9 1/2, so the scooters, bikes and roller skates are taking a beating, when playing Army or Cops & Robbers has begun to pall. 

What this actually means is that I have almost forgotten what my children look like, and that the house is eerily silent; this means that when my insomnia catches up with me, I can take a peaceful nap.

While I was awake, I completed the Sienna cardigan from Dolce Handknits, made with the lambswool/silk chenille given to me by my Twins; as this was not the pattern I originally chose (the yarn wasn't suitable), I knew I would have plenty: Sienna calls for 1250 yards/1143 metres of worsted weight yarn for the 35 1/2 inch size; I appear to have used just over 800m. The cardigan seems to be the correct gauge, and - more importantly - fits. So who knows. Anyhoo, I have about 800m of this lovely stuff left, to make something else with.

I ordered some aran-weight cotton (with great difficulty in finding it, and then some technical glitches which meant that when they found my lost order, there was no longer enough of the colorway that I had chosen) for the Fitzroy cardigan from the same book; I think I may actually have to buy the book - I have already renewed my library loan of it once.

Then on a trip out with Auntie Fashion, she bought some yarn so I could make her a blankey/throw for her bed: ; see, even her yarn has bling in it:

Today I bought some additional supplies for Destructo Boy's school sweater for next year; last year's disappeared at school, and has not been seen since ...

 

Stylecraft Special in the colorway 'Midnight'

 And then, just because they were a good price and I liked the colors, these somehow made their way into my stash after a visit to Wibbling Wools:               

Austermann Merino Lace , 349m/25g

                          

 

Adriafil Azzurra, 3ply, 225m/50g

Even the thought of all this knitting waiting for me is making me feel tired; there is certainly plenty to contemplate ! But, I will not be overwhelmed, I will take it one project at a time. Or maybe more .....

FO Friday 96: Shawla-Palooza

Whimsical Tarot

So while I have been quiet, I have also been industrious, and completed 3 shawls. I have been experimenting with half-circle shawls, and either I have got way quicker at knitting, or the patterns are very easy, or half-circles are quicker than triangular shawls, or there has been a rift in the space-time continuum. Or perhaps a combination of all of the above. 

Anyway, here are the results:

The Celestial Shawl, using Crazy Zauberball in the colorway 'Cloud 7'.

And the 'Slice of Autumn/Spring' Shawl, which I re-named 'A Slice of Summer' as this olive colorway of Crazy Zauberball reminds me of leaves in high summer:

And last, but certainly not least, my 'Summer Flies' made from the YarnAddict Supreme Sock Yarn (50%merino, 50% silk) in the colorway 'Dream Blue' gifted to me by my friend Steph, modelled by it's recipient, my niece on her 21st birthday:

You may remember having seen this yarn before; now it's unrecognizable as the same one. Thank goodness. 

I am really pleased with all of them, and am very likely to make them again: quick, easy, pretty knits. Hop on over to Tami's Amis to see more loveliness ....

Not Waving, But Drowning

Robin Wood Tarot

Robin Wood Tarot

We are in the final countdown to the end of term, and everything seems to be loaded into one week: two sports days - on the same day, of course, so that both children can hate me equally, since I can't be at both places at the same time; Mini Diva told me  she would rather throw herself under a car if I cannot be there to watch the afternoon session, ie, when I will be watching Destructo Boy, having spent the morning and lunchtime with her. I say have no clue where she gets the drama llama gene from, but put it this way: it is not from my side of the family.

There have been 4 birthday parties to attend (three for him, one for her), a sleepover, a Beaver Scout meeting, a zumba display, a dance troupe display, a hiphop class; there will be a class picnic in the park for Mini Diva, a Beavers Olympics, two family birthdays, and a Beavers trip. And in middle of all this fun and frivolity, I am suffering rather badly with insomnia.

And this is only from last Thursday, when the maelstrom sequence started with the Olympic torch relay arriving, for which we had entry tickets to the special arena (won in a school draw):

                                        one of those interesting art imitating life kind of photos

                                     an arty angled photo of the big screen, cauldron being lit

 

cauldron burning

                                                            
 The last photo is of a band called Morning Parade; proving that I am not as down and happening with the kidz as I thought, since I'd never heard of them. Their tunes all sounded the same, a bit like Einaudi, but with twangy rock guitars, kool shades, and LOTS of volume instead of a quiet plinky piano.

I think you can tell, that maybe soon Annie Leibowitz will be calling on me to help her out.

Blog post title, with thanks, from Stevie Smith.

Poll: Parenting Win or Fail ?

Halloween Tarot

So the kids have been super-busy, with school, parties, sleepovers and extra-curricular activities, and going to bed while it's still light outside makes everything more challenging. Destructo Boy didn't get back from his Beaver Scouts trip until just on 9pm yesterday, and Mini Diva is sniffling, so I decided I would let them sleep themselves out today, and phone them in sick to school; I thought this would go down especially well with Mini Diva, who finds school somewhat of a drag currently.

But no. Sometime in the night, some kind of goblin or maybe a fairy had visited, and turned my children into changelings: Destructo Boy said that he didn't want to spoil his good attendance record, and even Mini Diva said she'd like to go to school if I didn't mind.

So, seeing as how by now it was 8:00am and we need to leave the house at 8:20am, the rush started; Mini Diva was only 10 minutes late for school - for just the third time in 4 and a half years. I am back home eating cookies and surfing the web as usual, a little non-plussed by this unexpected behavior. Here's the question: 

The children would rather go to school on a grey drizzly day than stay home with their Mama:

Is this a parenting Win or Fail ?