Toys for evil parents

Actually, this isn't about toys that one gives to parents, it's about toys that are gifted to their children so as to slowly drive their parents criminally insane. Observe...

I don't know what this one is called, but if I had to guess, it's the
Brain Borer 2000: A Baby's Revenge

This toy is simple--it's got four turntables (but no microphone!), and when you push the button (actually, I'm sure that YOU would never push the button of doom, but your son surely will) the turntable rotates and a little song plays. Over. And over. And over. And over again. Until the batteries die and your child then begs you to change the batteries. This is no awarding-winning song either such as Funkytown or Sweet Child O' Mine. I don't know the name of the song (does pure evil truly have a name?) and I won't bore your brain with the tune here. There are gears/blocks that supposed to stack on this toy, but from a child's viewpoint they are completely optional. Anything can get thrown on this toy, and it takes amazingly huge batteries so it can handle the weight. Wooden blocks, cat toys, food, clothes, sippy cups and shoes have all ended up on this thing. Apparently it's tasty as well:

Undulating Ribs grows:

wine not included

And Black Bunny continues to beckon:

Look how pretty!

And I just downloaded Juliet, so I'm considering knitting along with NaKniSweMo. It's less than 50,000 stitches I'm sure so I might have to participate in spirit. I don't know how stringent the rules are.

Houston awaits!

Boo to you!

Hello from my perch in Palm Coast, FL. Charlie and I are spending some quality time once again with BooMa and BooPa so that Christian can work that much harder and be finished that much faster. (shall we chant: THE END IS IN SIGHT 1,000 times more to remind us?)

We spent a wonderful weekend at Disney, and the brainwashing is really starting to work on Charlie, now that he has discovered that characters like Nemo and Mickey exist outside of books and off of t-shirts. We went to a WDW Not-So-Scary Halloween party where BooPa made sure that he collected his entrance fee in candy. Charlie helped, and since there was no charge for him to get in his haul was pure profit! Yes, we all did steal candy from a baby. Don't worry--we gave him all of our boxes of raisins in return. Pictures forthcoming, as soon as someone sends me a good one to post. (yes, I am talking to you, Aunt Kari)

I finished Christian's Red Dawn socks on the way down to the Disney compound. I am in love with the colors:

Yummy yummy!

Hopefully they fit!

The colorway is called Central Park from Cherry Blossom Fibers, and this truly does remind me of the time that Dr. Husband and I spend in New York City in October several years ago. These knit up so fast in sport weight on size 4's. I am really digging the sport weight yarn lately, which is unfortunate since now most everybody lives in a warmer climate. I'm not sure how much play these will get when we move to Planet Houston.

I immediately cast on these:

It is hard to tell, but the ribs, they do undulate.

They are Undulating Rib socks from Favorite Socks. I had to go down several needle sizes to get anything close to gauge (along with the rest of the world, if you check Ravelry). The yarn is the new Kaffe Fassett stuff from Regia. This is the first time that I've use any yarn that has nylon in it, and honestly, I prefer merino over all else. I love the soft and squishy. I'm sure that these will hold up wonderfully, however, and am loving the colors (Mirage Fog).

I'm racing through these since I am inspired to cast on some yummy Black Bunny that I have waiting in the wings.

Cheers!

Sexy Old People

You’ll have to forgive me for my absence. Hopefully the 10 of you that have been reading my blog are still here somewhere. A lot has been going on in the land of Siamese Catfood Breath, the most important is that THERE IS NOW AN END IN SIGHT. D-Day, as in Dissertation Defense Day (should that be DD Day?) is officially November 13 (2007!). We are over the moon.

Now, back to the sexy old people. Things were looking pretty bleak at the end of last week, so instead of sitting around watching Christian work, we all decided to head to Chicago for an overnight visit. Since we are broke, the trip almost didn’t happen after it appeared that we couldn’t get a hotel room for less than $220, but thanks to Princeline we ended up staying on the 18th floor of the Hyatt Regency for $100.

The Hyatt Regency is very pretty and in a great location, but apparently has cleverly disguised rice paper for walls. We had a sexy old couple staying next to us, and although we never met them, we HEARD them a lot. Sexy old people don’t care who can hear them. Sexy old people aren’t afraid to moan. Sexy old people aren't afraid to talk dirty when everyone can hear them. And what do sexy old people do when awakened by the toddler next door decides to get up (and stay up) at 4:30 in the morning? Have more sex! What do the parents of the toddler do at 4:30 in the morning? Wish that they were sexy old people.

On the knitting front, I have finished the cloud bolero and Charlie’s vest. My Sea Lettuce Scarf has been attempted and frogged once again and some mystery knitting are in progress. I leave you with a snapshot of my only souvenir, a skein of yarn bought at a Chicago store whose name is escaping me:

Conjoined Creations, color Clue, soy silk lace

I think that this would make a very pretty Storm Water Scarf. I love patterns that you can just knit until the end, and not have to worry about running out of yarn.

Cheers!