Lunar Love and Poncho Frog

First things first, a health update:

several of you have asked how we're doing. The Grand Lunar recovered fine from his stomach pains. Only to get a bad headache, today. :( But I think a little extra sleep and he'll be fine. He's sleeping now. Shhh.

And me? The children asked me, today, "Why are you talking like that?" I've got a combination of a husky Cyndi Lauper and a squeaky Bobby Brady going on. My coughing fits, they come and go. Some are fast and some are slow. Some are loud and some are soft. Each one of them make sure I've cough't. Oh, sorry, I was lapsing Seussian on you.

I drank my weight in hot tea today - no small feat, I tell you. (Actually, my feet are small. Size 6!) but I have to admit to stalling about going to bed. Not looking forward to laying there coughing and wishing I was asleep. So I'll have another cup of hot tea and blog awhile first.

Lunar Love:

Today's the Grand Lunar's Twelvity-Tooth Birthday (minus 80 or so) and we celebrated yesterday at my folks'. But to make today special, I baked him this:

I might do really poorly in speaking most of the Love Languages, but I do okay speaking food. Nothing says love like apple pie, right?

Some website told me to sprinkle sugar on the crust to make it sparkly. It didn't say how hard it would be to sprinkle lightly and decoratively. Oh well. It was still a tasty-good pie. Special thanks to my long-lost friend Jodie Out West for the crust recipe, and for Christine to my near-West for looking it up when I'd lost that same recipe.

Good night, Poncho. I'll most likely frog you in the morning:

It turns out my "to frog or not to frog" dilemma has been solved for me. You might recall that I didn't really learn to knit in the round so much as fumble through it on the fly. I thought to myself, "how hard can it be?" -- and since I managed to knit round to where I'd started, I thought I'd figured it out.

I knit many more rows today to see whether, as it grew, I would like the pattern and all. And when the stitches went round and round and the length grew and I could see the knitty side and the purly side I thought I had it made in the shade.

Except for that pesky problem of not being able to untwist the loopy needles to get a good look at it. I blamed the extra loop from being wound in the package. Until I looked closer today. And found an irreconcilable loop. Yes indeed, the hanging edge of my knitting, the one that started it all, with the cast on stitches, must've been twisted on the needle when I started. So my knitting goes up and over the loop. I'm knitting a permatwist in it. There is NO WAY to fix it other than to frog bag to where I went wrong. Which was, of course, the very very first row. Ta da! I'm so clever.

So here's a picture of it, so you can say goodbye to it. It'll probably be frogged before you see this. Yes indeed.

If you're watching the score, that makes: Poncho: 0 - Frog: 2

very not sick and knit

okay maybe not very not sick, but still pretty "not sick".

I thought I was getting better from not being sick, but coincidentally the only day I really felt pretty good was the day after I got 11 hours straight in bed and actually slept most of them. Since then I've been back to my 7-and-under sleep plan, and have been feeling rather worse. Today I was coughing up a lung, off and on, and hoarse off and on, and feeling generally poopy. We ended up calling off tonight's small group Bible study because I really wasn't up for the cleaning/prep for it, much less sitting and trying to cough politely instead of hackingly. I'm sure it would've been hard for The Grand Lunar to lead over my hacking. Yesterday the kids kept looking at me funny and saying, "Are you alright?" Plus there was the whole spewing germs around thing.

The final straw, though, was when The Grand Lunar got some mysterious stomach pain. I'm hoping it's not appendicitis. I have no real reason to think it IS, but then again it was a strange, fairly sudden, fairly intense pain. So. We'll see. Anyway without him to be my right-hand-man for getting children-and-home ready for the study, we copped out. I feel bad calling things off (sorry, lurker-friend! I was looking forward to chatting with you!!) when I don't meet the 'sick criteria' but I think I at least quality for 'Mom's not sick only because mom's don't get sick' and there's no such rule that The Grand Lunar can't be sick, his family had different rules and can count stomach pain and coughs as sick.

So what was I saying? I'm a little in a fog here. I tried hard to nap, but couldn't sleep, which is amazingly weird for me. Maybe not being able to sleep qualifies as sick? I don't know why I couldn't sleep, I wasn't even as over-caffeinated as usual. But since The Grand Lunar obviously felt poorly AND can sleep at any time, I figured he would be better suited to capitalize on the nap potential than me. So I'm up.

So here's a question for the knitterly folk out there.

If I don't like something now, two handfuls of rows into it, does that mean I won't like it? Or is it hard to tell early on?

The beginning of the poncho.
It's knit from the neck down, all in the round.
Those holes at the centerish are the yarn-over pattern
that goes down the front and back.
You can't see it very well here.

Here's the rub: I'm knitting like I cook. I read sixty bazillion recipes patterns for ponchos and finally picked one I liked, but I'd previously liked ones with big lacy "open knit" looks, so I'd previously bought big fat size 19 needles - the roundy-ones. The pattern is NOT for gihugic needles, but I figure since it's a poncho it'll change the look but the size is fairly flexible ANYway, another reason I liked the pattern. I mean, I'm confident it will make a perfectly useable poncho.

I like the big fat needles because it knits up really fast and I feel speedy.

And I like the color of the yarn. It's bright and a little bit shiny-sparkly.

but I don't like:

1.) the feel of the yarn. Eminoodle picked it, and it's 100% acrylic. Worsted weight. It has a cheesy old 70's feel to me. It's pretty, but it just doesn't feel nicey.

2.) I'm not sure I like how the pattern looks with the extra "openness" of the big fat needles. It looks so much less tidy than the pattern. But of course it does, with the big fat needles. And in general I like the "open knit" things I've seen, but they've all been with fancy-pantsy yarns. And I'm afraid the YO pattern will just look like it was poorly knit or is unravelling or something.

3.) with the circular needles I'm having a hard time smoothing it out and thinking about what it'll look like. It seems like it's twisted, although it's not twisted that I can figure out - when I try to untwist it, it gets worse and I can see an obvious twist. But maybe it's just because the needles were looped around in the package and are stuck in loopity shape?

ANYway ... I'm debating frogging it and starting again on smaller needles.
OR working in some fancy yarn. I figure I could start it in the middle somewhere, so it won't be obvious near the YO pattern, and go around a few knits with fluffy pinkity yarn? Make some stripes now and then, as I feel like it?

(shrugs vaguely)

Maybe both.

What's your experience, knitters? Can you usually tell right away if something's a "keeper" or do you sometimes need to press on and give it a chance to grow?

I'm not sick.

Here's some facts I learned about being sick, while I was growing up:

1.) sick = throwing up or having a fever. If you don't have either, you're not sick.

2.) moms don't get sick

3.) if moms DO get sick, they have to pretend they're not sick and just keep going. Even if it's walking pneumonia and a camping trip.

Of course #3 never comes up because of #1 and #2. It's just theoretical.

So I'm there at #1 and #2 today. I have a headache and a cough and am congested. Plus, I didn't get enough sleep. Because the Grand Lunar discovered that The Office was on some french website or something. I don't know. All I know is that we could watch the entire current season of The Office. And Pam didn't go through with the wedding! That's good! But Jim did move away from Scranton. That's bad. But maybe he'll have to move back! That's good. But he's so nice now that other girl likes him. That's bad. And Michael was just so painfully Michael.

So anyway. Now I'm back to what used to happen when we had TV. I have to actually wait a whole week to find out what happens. That's sad.

I bought a little more yarn last night, so I could make a poncho for Eminoodle. It won't be a surprise because 1.) if I knit only when she's in bed it'll REALLY never get done, and 2.) I wanted her input on yarn. I was at first going to make it just with yarn we already have. But then I figure that the chances are slim that I'll finish it while she still lives here, so I better at least make it what she likes the first time. So I better get knitting. In my spare time. Which I think I'll have a lot of, today.

Because I'm not planning on walking. I'm on the verge of giving up. Despite 500 miles still being a stretch but attainable.

Why would I give up when I'm so close? Because I keep sleeping in and dawdling and then I have no good time to walk. I don't do well without a buddy, without the camaraderie to spur me on. I guess. I don't know. Mostly because I've always been a quitter and I just think it's time.

I am making a quickbread for breakfast. After I found the recipe I multiplied it by 1.5 so I could put it in my LONG bread pan, which holds about 1.5 x what my regular ones do.

Only when I went to pour the batter into the pan it filled it totally to the very top rim. What?

Then I read the LAST part of the recipe, where it said "pour into one 9x5x3 pan or two 5x3 breadpans"

Oh. So someone else on earth already HAS a big long breadpan like mine, and the recipe was already FOR that. Go figure. I never would've guessed. So when I multiplied it, without reading the pan sizes ... I made a big tactical error. I just stuck it in the oven anyway. It's probably dripping all over the bottom of the oven now. Although it smells good, not burning, so maybe it's not. I'm afraid to look.

Sometimes while I'm typing, my children come up to me and say, "Mom ..." and just start talking, and they are well into what they are saying before they really have my attention. And then I spend the rest of what they are saying trying to figure out what the topic is. Then I feel bad.

The only good side to this not sick and brain fog is at least I don't remember how spacey I am for very long.

What were we talking about?

I can't believe they let me drive

Most of you are lucky you don't live in my town, only so you don't have to worry about me driving around town, or mixing chemicals, or shopping near you.

I was at Kroger this evening to get things for dinner ... I wanted to get Velveeta. Yes, I know, half of you are shaking in your healthy boots or vomiting in your healthy toilets at the mention of Velveeta. So, just to be obnoxious, I'll say it a few more times. Velveeta Velveeta Velveeta.

I will admit I never buy Velveeta, or other large blocks of "cheese" that don't somehow require refrigeration. (Do they? Maybe I should double check before leaving mine sitting on the counter for months) ... and my story will prove that Velveeta is not a regular staple in the Lunar-T'Mahk home.

Hm, I don't like the sound of that. Sounds like I didn't take the Grand Lunar's name when we married. But I did. I'm totally all for that family-identification taking hubby's name thing. In case you were wondering. But I digress. (Really? Me?)

So here I was in Kroger with a very short grocery list that I never once looked at and probably did NOT buy what was on. I had, you see, a written list and a mental list. And I bought what was on the mental list. (As far as I know. Ha ha. There's one advantage to forgetting everything in your brain - you don't really know if you DID forget!) And I think I bought one thing on the written list. I'm pretty sure. That's waffles. My kids eat a lot of frozen waffles. Well, they toast them first. I know, I know, I'm just raking in the "healthy ideas" points today, aren't I? So waffles are always on our list and I always (well, almost) buy them. I don't know what else was on the written list because, like I said, I didn't look at it. Why not? I don't know. I was tired. I got it in my head that it wasn't a "real" shopping trip, and that I'd be making a "real" one sometime soon, and that it wasn't worth the effort to make a "real" list or do any planning. So I TOOK the short written list that we keep, but didn't look at it.

And I went fairly promptly to the Dairy section. To get the Velveeta. Because it does have the word "cheese" -- or maybe "cheeze" or perhaps even "cheaze food" on the label. They at least want you to think it's cheese. So I went to the Dairy Section. Wouldn't you? And I looked around. Creamer, sour cream, shredded cheeses, yogurts of all shapes and sizes, butter, eggs, refrigerated cookies and rolls ... hm. No Velveeta.

Then it occured to me that the giant logs are not usually refrigerated. I recalled them being somewhere NEAR the dairy area at Meijer, but I was not at Meijer and Kroger's grocery arrangement often befuddles me. Where might Velveeta live?

I wandered from dairy to frozen breakfast foods. Picked up the waffles. Although, at Kroger, I could not find the specific type I wanted. I got some other kind. That'll do, Pig. And then thought "huh. soup?" (apparently I think in italics) and looked in the soup section. No Velveeta. Then in the salsa/mexican section, because I know you're supposed to melt Velveeta with salsa for the SuperBowl, I saw it on a coupon once. I found jars of "queso" and "cheesy salsa" and stuff, but no boxed logs of Velveeta.

Um ... cracker section? nope.

Organic/international/non-dairy food section? That's a stretch! But no, alas.

Lunch meat section? Nope.

Mac and cheese aisle? Nope.

So I went back, for the sixty-third time, to the Mexican Aisle and got some jars of Cheesy Salsa in a Jar stuff. Medium and Mild. (Which, I remembered at dinner, I don't like. They taste like dried milk to me. I don't like things that taste like dried milk. That includes cocoa mix and powdered creamer. And apparently Cheese In A Jar. And apparently I already knew that, because the Grand Lunar said, when I complained, "You didn't remember that you didn't like that?" - because HE remembered. He's so sweet. But I guess he forgot to tell me that I didn't remember that I didn't like Cheese in A Jar, because he let me eat it.)

SOOOOoooooo then I wandered back to the other end of the store, once again dodging all the same people who were irritated with my mindless wandering the FIRST and SECOND times through. I stopped my cart askew in the aisle nearish the dairy, I guess to get the fish-eye long distance all encompassing view. And lo and behold, there, on the endcap of one of those parked-in-the-middle-containing-all-the-same-stuff-as-the-shelves refrigeration units that I never really understand, were stacks and stacks of Velveeta logs. Spicy and Regular. Low(er) fat and High fat. And even Krogeeta, or something, too, but ... well, let's just say off-brand processed Cheaze Food is one step too scary for me. I know, I know, but everyone's gotta draw the line somewhere. So I'm sticking with the Brand Name processed Cheaze Food.

Actually, I'll insert here the fact that Velveeta thinks it really is processed Cheese. I shouldn't talk behind it's back like this. But between you and me and the keyboard? Cheaze Food. How could it not be?

But anyway. So there it was, plain as day, about 3 feet from where I'd originally stood, surveyed the scene, and deemed it devoid of Velveeta. And only about 20 minutes and 6 miles of Kroger Wandering later.

Which reminds me, my dad always makes fun of the old men at Meijer. Who apparently never shop, and so, when their wives send them, they wander slowly down the aisle. Looking at their list. Then slowly up at the shelf. Then down at the list. Then up at the shelf. Then down at their list ... I have seen my dad act out that scene many times. Only today, I was that old man. Only not a man. And without the list.

Which is why I can't believe they let me drive.

Really. People should have to pass some basic grocery shopping test, like "can you spot the obvious velveeta in this scene?" and "can you navigate down the middle of this aisle without offending any shoppers?" and "can you align your cart next to the product and not block the whole aisle?" before they let you drive a car.

Much less a 15-passenger van.