Whoops!

I missed a post yesterday!  Uh, maybe two tomorrow?  Or a picture AND a video??  Sorry, yesterday was a long day, and we were all in bed by about 9:30.  If only we'd gotten to sleep early...  Have I mentioned that we converted Rosina's crib to a toddler bed a few weeks ago?  If she weren't already such a champion sleeper, we would all be a wreck by now.  We seem to have figured out a naptime solution ("mommy/daddy chair", meaning one of us sits in her room for 10-15 minutes until she falls asleep--soon I think we can ease off and leave when she's almost asleep, and ratchet back from there), but she is definitely afraid to fall asleep in there at night.  The problem seems to be the darkness, and she has a projection nightlight and a fairly bright carry-along owl nightlight, but it's not quite enough.  She is currently falling asleep in our bed and being moved back to her bed, but obviously we don't want to make a habit of that.  We are working on several alternatives, such as keeping a low-wattage lamp on in her room all night, or on a timer--but we are indeed headed to Ocean City, Maryland, home of the infernal Winterfest of Lights and the world's crappiest photo-prop Santa, this weekend.  We were thinking of bringing an air mattress with us for her to sleep on, if she can handle it, but otherwise we have a king room so we can theoretically manage having her in bed with us.

In honor of the aforementioned shitty light show (which the preschoolers will definitely enjoy--and it's not bad, really, I just hate driving all that way largely for that one brief and anticlimactic event), here is some fantastic holiday cheer:




Ugh, nobody else should ATTEMPT this song.  You all suck in comparison to this.

We have been having bad weather here, as with most of the East Coast (though my years living in New York's Southern Tier have prepared me for this brand of crappy weather--cold, grey and rainy), but yesterday Amanda hosted a potluck for our KIP group.  Mass quantities were consumed.  And today Amanda loaned us her old fake tree--many thanks to her!  We'd been planning to buy one at Costco this year--$27.99 for a 7-8 foot North Carolina farm tree, can you beat that?!--but Mark went by yesterday afternoon and they were sold out!  He tried a few tree lots, and they all wanted $70 for a medium-sized tree. I know there's a blight this year, but come ON!  Not only that, but the lots are starting to run out of trees, too.  You'd think they'd have more than average at this point, since Thanksgiving was so late.  I have no idea.  Anyway, we're like, renting-to-own this tree, which is a spare.  Everything I've read about the real vs. fake debate falls in favor of real trees (particularly since North Carolina is the #2 tree-producing state--so it's buying local produce, basically!), but a five-year-old fake tree has basically amortized the carbon footprint created by importing it from China, hasn't it?  Reduce-reuse-recycle, yo.

Besides meeting Amanda this morning, we headed to Target for face products for me (damn you, Seasonale, I am having to use Persa Gel like a fifteen-year-old, and my skin is not nearly so resilient as it was back then) and some gift accessories.  Then I went back to work. Despite my remote desktop being down until mid-afternoon, I still managed to log four hours today.  I'm sleeping in tomorrow after my late night tonight, but hopefully things will run smoothly and I won't need to do another long shift.

I promised a picture.  Here's Rosina in the Trellis cardigan I finished last month:

It was definitely worth the hard work!  It's roomy enough that it may fit next fall (fingers crossed).  I loved working with this yarn (Schachenmayr Punto), and the pattern was easy to follow.  I did make the 12-month width with the 18-month length; the pattern seems to run roomy, though that may just be because it's meant to be an outer layer over heavier clothes than we wear down here.  I literally had just enough yarn left for the seams after making the sweater for Jean's little girl.  I decided to sew seams for everything to add structure (especially with a cotton-blend).  I thought I had screwed up big-time when I realized I'd knit the arm holes for the 18-month size and the arms for the 12-month size, but then I realized it was only a difference of a few rows.  The arm holes looked REALLY big, but I was able to set in the sleeves without too much problem.

I have one tiny eight-round thumb to knit, and I will be officially done with children's mittens for the year!  I am bringing the second of Mark's socks with me tonight--I'm in that Neverland of the foot, when you don't think you'll ever get to the heel.  I picked up some supplies today for a quick crocheted ornament, but I should be able to dash one off in about half an hour, so I'm not worried about the three or four I'd have to finish before Friday afternoon.