If cats puked yarn

then the results would be the same as the sweater I'm currently knitting.

You could otherwise title this "When will I learn?"

The story goes like this: I was at the store the other day picking up something completely unrelated to my own personal knitting, and this yarn on an endcap really caught my eye. Actually, it caught J's attention first, and he snatched up a ball of it and said "Here Mama, yours yarn." When I went to take it away from him, I couldn't help but love how soft and squishy it was. That, coupled with the fact that it was on sale, and I really like eartyh greens, helped it find a home with me.

Ok, I admit it, it's mostly acryillic, it's chunky, and now that I've been knitting with it, it's also incredibly splitty, but that still hasn't deterred me from trying to coax it into something I might love.

Go ahead, roll your eyes.

So, I started out thinking "vest". Just something simple without much shaping that I can throw over a shirt when it's chilly. Of course, it's never really chilly here, but that didn't stop me either. I cast on, despite all of my better judgement, and despite the splitty quality, I really enjoyed the instant gratification of the big needles and thick yarn.

Let me pause here and say this, though. I've read a lot of people who say "I knit on size 15's with two strands of super-chunk yarn because I have arthritis and the little needles hurt my hands." And to them I say "You're full of crap!" Ok, so maybe it would be hard for you to manipulate size 00's and embroidery floss, but how in the world do you think holding those heavy, huge needles with 10 pounds of weight suspended from them is easier on your hands and wrists? For the first time since I started knitting, I'm working on a project that has left a callus both my thumb and index finger. Probably doesn't help that I use my thumb to push the needle with advancing my stitches, but hey, it's worked all this time.

Ok, back to the story. I've finished the back of the sweater, started the front and I've added a big cable down the center to give it a little more interest. BTW, did I mention that I'm pretty much winging this thing. Call me adventurous, or a moron. Either way, it's turning out ok, and if nothing else, I'm learning from it. I get to about 3/4 of the way done with the front and I ask hubby whether he likes the color or not. He stares at it for a few moments, I guess trying to gather the nicest words he can come up with, and then he sweetly tells me that it reminds him of cat puke.

Thanks honey! Really, is that the best you can do?


But the more I look at it, the more I think he's right. Of course, even that hasn't stopped me from working on the hideous beast, and I'm determined to finish it. I've actually finished the front, done the collar, and cast on for a sleeve now. My biggest problem here is that I've never really constructed a sleeve without a pattern telling me when and where to do my increases, so I've started and frogged a couple of times, looked up some tutorials, and will start again renewed today.

In other news, J's hair isn't growing fast enough for my tastes, but I do have to admit that his new shorter style is starting to grow on me. Not so much that I would consider keeping it this short, but as Gretchen sweetly said- now when you look at him you see his adorable face instead of his hair.


Please ignore the mess in the background- that's the "dryclean only" pile, and it's not sufficiently large enough to warrant a trip to the drycleaners yet. :)

And what else have we been doing? Well, my kid loves to help me in the kitchen, and at least once a week he asks if we can make "dough-dough". Who am I to argue with him when he already knows which ingredients we need and goes to get them before I even say yes?

One of the goodies we were given for Easter was a humongus jar of Nutella. Now, this stuff is like crack! Once you start eating it you'll want to put it on just about everything. J is enamoured, and right now it's being called "Apple pudding" by J because he likes to dip his apples in it, and I guess it does sort of look like chocolate pudding.

A while back I had read on a food blog that I frequent a recipe for nutella self-frosting cupcakes. Sounded like a winner to me. So I did a search, found the recipe, and we set to work. They couldn't be any easier! And they sure did turn out delicious! No wonder I'm having such a hard time keeping the weight off lately. I'm going to have to start making up for my sinful eating with some miles-long stroller pushing walks, I think. Tell me you could resist these.