PSA

We here at Knit For Your Life feel it is our duty to share some disturbing information with you. As you may or may not be aware, there is a growing problem in so many communities across America and the world. I admit that I have become involved and feel I need to share the facts with my readership so they may not fall into this vicious cycle, as I have.
I used to consider this problem something that affected people different from me, older people, people with more time and money to spare. But it turns out the problem goes deeper than that. Younger generations are getting involved, and the internet is so readily available with all the information you need whether for personal use or on a large distribution scale.
I admit, for me, it started as just something to try, I was never too serious about it. Personal use, I thought, maybe a little for family or friends if they wanted some. But before I realized it, things were getting out of hand and I feel I'm in over my head.
You may not realize it, but someone you know may be in the same situation. I personally know of at least 5 people with same problem I have, although they're not as deep into it as I am.
I feel it is up to me to do my part to make people aware of this problem and ask you to share this information with anyone you know.
I have a picture to share, but you may find this image disturbing.
Below is a picture of a recent crop from my "personal" stash.
Basil: It's easier than you think.

Summer time!

So, of course, I meant to have more pictures things I've gotten done, but here's a start. You'll just have to check back for more later!
Because there's pictures of the wig, but not of the other two hats I'm working on. Special wig and hats for chemo-head. Not the kiddo, he's just the model.
And I have yet to get a picture of the cute sweater I knitted out of that Noro. But stick around, baby, I can change! I've just been busy with summer. I need to get as much out of it as I can! The long days are amazing, but they're getting shorter already. We actually have to turn the lights on around 10:30, ridiculous. But we got a ride-along bike for the kiddo, since I hate trailers and he was too big for the plastic baby seat thing last summer. I love it! Some of the cheaper ones, people are giving bad reviews because the rear wheel locks up. We had the same problem once or twice, but it can be easily fixed by holding the pedals and pulling the wheel against them to tighten what's inside. No problems since, and it was $120 cheaper than the exellently reviewed REI models. But no pictures of that either.
I picked my first crop at the garden two weeks ago. Radishes are so gratifying! Picked the rest of them yesterday. Also have a second round growing.
OH! Guess what else! I've been really excited about trying pickling since we started this garden, so a couple days ago, I had my first attempt. My brother-in-law's birthday is in September and I'm %99.9 sure he hasn't, doesn't and won't read my blog, so I can post this. He likes spicy stuff, so I thought this would be good. He doesn't get them all, though!
It drives me nuts that they have to age, I want to see how they turn out!
Here's how I connect gardening to knitting: I really really want to knit a fruit and veggie basket, including the basket.

Y'all come back now, y'hear?

I have some knitting to show! And some veggies from the garden! And a totally awesome looking first attempt at pickling!
But here's the catch: later.
I'm at work right now, sneaking a blog in. Later today I have to drive 2 hours to tend the garden, see how things are going and hopefully drive home tonight. Last week was a day-trip fail. I figured I'd head up when it was nap time for the kiddo and head home at bed time. Nap time worked, bed time didn't. He usually goes to bed at 8:00, but we got home after 10:00 and I figured since he was still up, he needed a shower. That makes for a cranky baby the next day, let me tell ya. We'll see how it goes today.
I have the day off tomorrow, though! And that means I'll have time to show and tell about stuff!

Oh yeah, I have a blog

It's been over a month since my last post. If you're still reading, you're probably one of two people. Hi guys!
Things have been pretty busy and I find I'd rather spend my spare time doing something other than blogging. I have some edibles growing in the garden and at home. The garden is some property about two hours away and I've added a 24 hour round trip garden tending to each week. It's fun though, I like to get out there. Especially since there's a mosquito magnet that really helps with the itch factor. I'm also growing tomatoes in buckets. My dad was headed up to the property tonight, so he took 4 of the 5 buckets to put in the greenhouse. I kept the 5th because it's the only one with fruit on it already and just in case he kills the others, I'd like to have one that makes it. We'll see. Mostly I'm worried about them getting burnt. It's too cold to have them directly outside, so they've spent their entire lives in my living room. As you know, it's just past Solstice and that means we're still having over 19 hours of daylight out of 24.
The garden takes up a lot of time, but I still get knitting in. I finished the Noro top, but don't have any pictures to show for it. Two skeins and size 15 needles makes a cute short-sleeved summer top and there's enough yarn left for half sleeves if you wanted to! The large gauge means it stretches to fit a range of sizes, I would probably say the single top would fit small through large.
I'm also fiddling with another Lillie cardigan, modifying a few things and getting the pattern worked up. But, of course, I interrupt myself with some sewing and starting more hats.
I've been thinking I should resolve to blog more often and try to keep my readership. We'll see how that goes...

Back to your regularly scheduled knitting blog

Okay, so I guess I can post a couple things. I just didn't want to do it in the same super-story blog.
So, here's that crazy/lovely/hideous Noro!
The picture doesn't do it justice, but I'm really excited to make a super loose knit pullover with stripes that don't match anything.
And some delicious looking roving I picked up because there was a little confusion with my pound of merino and, really, can you leave empty-handed?!
The hot pink is a merino bamboo blend that is, well, HOT PINK! The other is some really pretty tonal blue pencil roving and I've never used pencil roving so this seemed like a lovely start.
And, finally, summer hit Anchorage like a green bomb and it is awesome.

Deviating post/ Story Time

I'm sorry, did I promise pictures of yarn and spring? Sorry, I lied, something more important came up. My son had his first visit to the ER. And I'm going to tell the story!
I'll start out by saying he's fine, you don't have to stick around if that's all you wanted to know.
So, we got together for our first play date with a friend of mine who has three boys 8, 5, and 3, just right for going bonkers in the play area of a particular mega fast-food chain of the Irish persuasion, if you catch my drift. And the kids played, then ate, then played, then had some ice cream, then played some more and two minutes after I said, "Just a few more minutes, it's past your bed-time!" he bounced off another kid and into one of the padded poles. Now, these poles have padding held on with these little bands that probably break a lot. Because the high-traffic area padded poles mostly have the padding held on with zip-ties. So, as my son bounced off this pole, one of those poorly cut zip-ties happened to be right at the level of his forehead. I watched him bounce off and fall down, I saw a spot on his forehead turn red and as I was getting up to see what happened, blood started gushing down his face.
Side note: I really try not to exaggerate unless it's for humorous purposes and there's really nothing humorous about blood gushing down my only child's face.
Side note: I'm not an over-reacting parent. I have only taken him to the doctor outside of regular check-ups three times. The first was when his penis was dripping blood after his circumcision didn't go quite perfectly (but his wee-wee is fine now!), the second was when he had a full body spotty-rash and the only reason I took him in was because we were going out to the middle of nowhere for the weekend. And this is the third.
So, I grab him, run back to the table and grab a napkin for his head, my friend is trying to help get the blood out of his eyes. Another couple came over to help, the husband was a chiropractor, so he had some medical knowledge and, with the best intentions, tells me it's probably not as bad as it seems, head wounds tend to bleed a lot. So I lifted the napkin for a second and got, "Oh..."
So, of course it's the one time I don't have my phone. But this other couple helped us get to the emergency room, he drove so I could keep a napkin on the gash. She followed and they went home when we got in, but gave me their phone numbers (I called and thanked them profusely on their voice mail).
My mom met us at the ER, I called her from the couples' phone, but called my husband at work from my mom's phone at the ER.
So, at the restaurant, the kiddo cried for about ten seconds then just dripped tears a little. He's not much of a crier and usually gets mad at me if I try to console him when he gets any kind of minor boo-boo. So, as we're cleaning him up and figuring out how to get to the hospital he says, kinda quietly, "Mama, I'm gonna be okay..." If I hadn't been in do-something-now mode, I probably would have cried. He's such a tough cookie. He even feel asleep on the way to the hospital. And don't get all upset with me, he was talking and acting totally normal and I was checking his eyes. It was just past his bedtime and he had been playing for nearly two hours before.
So, the two hour ER visit went fine, he was bored, but got to have a pirate cotton-ball strapped to his head for a half hour and then "they glued me back together!" Which, really, I was glad it was the glue and not sutures. The doctor said there may not even be a scar (which I doubt) or that it would be pretty small. And might I say, if there's something that can get the hackles up on the coolest of parents, it's a harsh doctor asking the nurse for the [pointy metal tweezers] because there's some fatty tissue that keeps wanting to come out of there. Lady, it's a REALLY good thing you numbed him up first, don't think I won't take those tweezers to you!
That's about it, then. The little guy didn't seem to mind anything, the nurse said he was easier to work with than some 16 year olds. Plus, he got THREE stickers when we left!
This picture is a little dramatic...
Because he's totally fine and it's difficult to keep him chill enough not to rip the damn thing open again.

Picture Post!

So, my camera battery died before I could take the "after" pictures for spring. I have some other pictures to share!
In case I haven't made myself clear, I procrastinate. Big time. So, I had a birthday party to go to on Saturday and around Wednesday I decided I should make her a purse. Because I had some great bamboo handles and she's an earthy girl. And some leftover sage green tweedy yarn from the sweater I made for the hubby. I started and ripped it out about half a dozen times before deciding on a lace leaf pattern over cables or other lace patterns. It was a pain in the arse working around the handles, but I like how it turned out, and so did she!
I even added a couple elastic-top pockets on the inside. I'm big on pockets.
One of the things I wanted to post a picture of is some new yarn I picked up yesterday. I keep telling myself I should use more of my stash, but isn't there always something?! So the conveniently close yarn shop just got in some new Noro. I've never been big on Noro, the color combinations usually appeal to me as much as nails on a chalk board. Usually. Then sometimes they have something come out that I'm absolutely into. And it happens to be the most HIDEOUSLY AWESOME colorway ever! I'm not even going to link to anything. I have to post my own picture so you can see the true glory of lime green, fucshia, purple, teal, orange and more. Picture next post, I promise (along with the spring ones, right?)
So, sew. A friend thought it would be a good idea for me to teach her to sew. I don't really know much, so we did a little project together. It turned out pretty awesome! We went all matchy-matchy to the birthday party.
This, by the way, is the friend who BAKES. And this is the cake of awesomeness she made for the birthday party!
Not only was it super cool to look at, it was chocolate cake with raspberry cream on the inside. My mouth is watering just thinking about it...
And finally, the kiddo:
Tyrannosaurus Rex says "RAWR!"