Knitting projects

Jared pointed out that I haven't put any of my recent knitting projects online. So, here they are, in no particular order:

Jared's hat

He went with me to Knitty Gritty to pick out the yarn, and he spent a long time online choosing between patterns. It turned out really well, and I'm quite proud of my first cables, and my first hat on circulars.


Katie's hat

I love this. I really like fair isle patterns, and I'm so proud of this! It looks way more complicated than it was. HOWEVER. The pattern read "small adult" which apparently translates into "tight on a toddler." Granted, my kiddo has a monster melon, but still. I enlarged it and made one for myself as well.


Katie's Christmas Stocking

Jared decided right before winter break that I needed to knit Katie a new Christmas stocking. And he's right: we bought her stocking last year at WinCo. Girl deserves better.

And the Good Grief hat

For Jared. Currently in progress.

Daughter of the pancake king

Jared is proud of his pancakes. He makes them thick, and fluffy, so you have to use tons of butter and syrup, and then you can only eat one, even though you try so hard to eat more. Yum. He perfected his technique at Ricks, where the pancake was a favorite cheap (like, cheeeeap) dinner.

Katie likes them too. Jared always makes her a few Katie-sized cakes for her little self.


Getting ready...


Jared is proud of his creation (both of them!)


Yum yum!

An historic day

I'm probably the last person in the world who should be writing about the state of the nation. I usually get my news from Bob and Tom and my political news from The Daily Show, but today made a huge impact on me.



I actually watched the Inauguration today. I had it on and the kids asked if they could watch it. And I'm so glad we did. This man, who took an Oath in front of a nation of hopeful citizens, has inspired a generation. There are young men and women who will be willing to stand up and advocate for change because of the barriers Obama has broken. Perhaps these young people will become more committed voters because of change they observed in their lifetime. Perhaps my daughter will get to live in a better world because of change begun here today.

Obama's speech was masterful. Vague, but with a definite sense of hope. I am interested to see what he does in the next four years. I hope he reforms NCLB. I hope he adequately funds social services programs, like the Arc. I hope he gets the economy out of the toilet, and brings the troops home.

I hope Michelle uses her status as First Lady to advocate for women and children, to ensure that all of the nation's children are adequately cared for and protected.

I hope his girls escape the White House relatively unscathed. I think Chelsea should give them some pointers. I hope they get a puppy and let him sleep on their bed.

I hope someone can give me a reason for Aretha's hat. Seriously, it was so bad I can't even find a picture of it on the internet.

My smart cookie

Today was a crazy day. Since Jared's class started up, Dad has been watching the girl child for a few hours, Monday through Thursday. Today, however, he had a checkup at Harborview (more on that tomorrow, I forgot to call him tonight) so we needed to figure out what to do with Katie while Jared went to class.

Of course. She should come visit Momma at Kamiakin!

Katie was a trooper. She actually walked around with me while I checked assignments, investigating each student carefully. But then she wanted me to hold her while I lectured. I think she wanted a good view.

And clearly, she wasn't all that interested in learning about transparent and opaque materials: as I came to the end of the last slide, Katie pulled her Nuk out of her mouth and popped it into mine. The class was very grateful.

On a side note: I think Katie's preparing to run away with the circus. This weekend, Jared and I were watching her play on her pink pony. She's using her knee to push the button to make the music play. We were laughing about this when Katie stands up on the saddle of the horse. She had both feet stagger-stepped, so she had a good base, and she pushed her little bottom up in the air. She still had a hold of the handles, but you could clearly see that she was thinking about letting go. She sat down again, and thought some more. Then, feet in the saddle, she stands up and puts her arms over her head. Ta-da! We're going to try to get some pictures. We were laughing too hard to find the camera.