Knitting Projects

Yes, I knit.

Before Christmas, I envisioned a series of fabulous, luxurious hand-knit gifts for all the loves of my life. Greatest among these was a plan for matching socks for Burgundy and Julia. That is, the sock designs matched, but Julia would receive pink, and Burgundy black.

Allow me to backtrack and to completely alienate any readers I might have had who are not completely immersed in the Wondrous World of Knitting. I love to knit socks because they're a small enough project to  keep my attention for the duration and a large enough project to use as a canvas for Real Knitted Artwork.

In support of and deference to this love of mine, I have joined expensive sock clubs, bought expensive sock yarn, and spent countless dollars on books of sock patterns, sock theories, sock blockers, sock needles, sock dolls, sock monkeys, and arrangements of stitch patterns and formulas to stimulate my own creativity. In so doing, I find myself consistently drawn to the patterns and ideas of the magnificent Cookie A.

Her patterns are intricate, mathematically balanced, and they're remarkable for the way that the architectural and structural lines of the sock itself dissolve into the pattern, becoming a feature to enhance the pattern rather than an element around which the pattern must work in order to insinuate itself onto the sock.

Oh dear. I nerded out, didn't I? Well, last year, Cookie A released the Ellington pattern, and I immediately swooped in and scooped it up. I mean, look at this:

Now I have to tell you that I did not take these photos. They're linked from Cookie's photo feed. I tried and tried to find a photo of my own darn sock that shows the majesty of these beauties, but my photography skills are not sufficient to do justice.

Well, I saw the pattern, and I knew that the girls needed these socks for Christmas. I nearly finished Julia's socks:

And I did finally finish them only three days after Christmas while we vacationed in Austin. Actually, it was while Mark, Burgundy, JB, and Julia vacationed. I spent the whole time in the hotel room puking and pooping and praying. And knitting, I guess. Now that I think about it, I understand why Julia hasn't worn her socks much . . .

Alas, Burgundy was not so lucky. She received a small box (in fact, the clear plastic box my iPod Touch came in) with a tag on the front that read, "Band Socks" because I knitted hers in black so she could wear them with her marching band uniform. Sadly, Burgundy has grown accustomed to my ways, what with the quilt for her bedroom and all.

Well, now Ravelympics are upon us. I thought about knitting Burgundy's second sock for the Ravelympics; I really did. I also thought about knitting the second sock from my November sock club package. The one I promised myself I would not knit until I'd finished Burgundy's second sock. As it happens though, neither of these projects have been "hibernating" long enough to qualify for the work-in-progress event.

Alas, no. I'll have to start another project. It breaks my heart, I tell you. However, I have a very definite deadline for this project; shouldn't be any trouble, right? I mean, we see how well I respond to deadlines right?

Hey, why can I hear crickets chirping? Where's my chorus of agreement?

Naggy Mom

If you remember, I recently started following the Naggy [profanity redacted] on Ravelry for housecleaning plans and tips. It's working remarkably well.

Housecleaning

A friend who comes over often came in yesterday and went kind of wild about how great the place looks. She said the house seems to have gotten bigger.

The best part? I'm staying on top of it. There are little things here and there that I haven't been able to bring myself to do. But for the most part, it's looking good.

Here's what I do every day before work:

• Make my bed
• After my shower, grab my washcloth and swipe the dirtiest surface in the bathroom before I toss it in the hamper
• Empty the dishwasher, which should be full of sparkly, clean dishes from the previous evening's delightful game of Crack The Whip Over Your Teens Who Hate You and Know You Are Out To Get Them. If I lost that game, then I load the dishwasher instead of emptying it.

When I get home from work:

• Spend 2 minutes (timed, yo) on a crap magnet. This is a surface in my house that just magnetizes crap. For some, it's their kitchen counter. For others, it's the desk. We have an abundance of crap-magnets in our house; some aren't even horizontal (yes, the fridge).
• Process ONE load of laundry. I don't care about wrinkles, so I let laundry sit in the dryer once it's done. So for this task, I fold yesterday's clean clothes right out of the dryer, throw the clothes sitting in the washer into the dryer, and then throw a load into the washer from the waiting basket. Then my load is done for the day, and I can forget about it.
• Open and process the mail. I don't let myself get up from the desk until the mail is filed, tossed, set in the shredder pile, or schedule (and filed)
• 15 minutes on my current declutter project (currently the craft room)

That's my basic routine. On different days, I like to add other things in. For example, I'm about to start a project to relocate a major piece of furniture (white Ikea 5x5 Expedit bookcase) from the living room to the library. I'm very excited about it. I'll post before and after pictures next week (hopefully). So today I have a task to spend 15 minutes moving books from one room to the other.

Family Planning (but not like that)

Mark and I have also scheduled a weekly 30 - 45 minutes to synchronize our calendars and double check the budget. Mark is the calendar nerd, and I'm the budget nerd. We set the timer for 15 minutes and review the calendar for that long. He's really good about writing EVERYTHING down, so this generally is his chance to make sure my calendar is up to date. We also plan who will pick up the kids from different activities. This week we had to figure out how to work around Mark's scheduled surgery. He's having a hernia repaired.

After 15 minutes, we reset the time and spend another 15 looking at the budget, evaluate whether we have any unplanned expenses coming up for the week and try to figure out how to pay for them. Once that's over, if we have any more energy and haven't started arguing, we wrap up any loose ends.

Overall, we're beginning to really get a handle on things around here. Our goal for February (financially) is to recover to the point that we have our Baby Emergency Fund back in place. In order to really do that, we'll need to stay on top of everything else.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Most everyone has heard that Obama proposed spending caps over the next few years, and to be honest I think he's right to do so. Unfortunately, in his budget proposal released today, he proposed canceling my bread and butter outright: NASA's Constellation Program. For now, I'm still employed, but that might not last until September. Our goal now is to fund our emergency fully before the pink slip comes. Thank goodness this bill has to get through Congress first. And that our work has a 30-day stop-work notification clause. 

Housework Stuff

I've been cleaning house. A lot. I'm sure many of you have heard of FLYlady. Her basic premise is that taking care of your home amounts to taking care of yourself, and you can do it in very small, carefully proscribed baby steps. She starts with, "Shine your sink." Basically, you empty your sink before you go to be and make sure that it's dry and shiny. That one bright, clean spot motivates you the next day. Shine your sink is the touchstone; it's the starting piece, and the first habit that you make sure you do every day.

I do not follow FLYlady.

I have several reasons. First, I hate to be a negative nancy, but her website is disorganized, cluttered, and difficult to navigate. I recognize that she is not a web guru and never intended to be. I don't think the site's state reflects the FLYlady's state, but the fact is, I have trouble navigating her site and figuring out what I should do when. Second, shining my sink is a big, fat waste of my time. In a home where I rarely have time or energy to make dinner, why would I shine my sink? I assure you, my heart does not leap when I see it gleaming in the pale moonlight.

Here's another reason, one I feel a little guilty about. She's too damn chipper. I'm not. Period. I like fart jokes, and I'm grouchy. I think Rodney Dangerfield is funny (most of the time).  Also, I've never had Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome (CHAOS). Oh, sure, my house is chaotic, but my perspective is, "Hey, if you can't handle it, don't come over." Everyone still comes over. Noone's ever complained about my bathrooms or my dishes. And if they had, I would have smiled and said, "You're welcome to come wash my dishes (or scrub my toilet) anytime you want." And meant it.

Happily, I have a substitute. I have been (in the past but not now) a member of Ravelry's Lazy, Stupid and Godless group.  Now I'm none of the three, but they can be a funny, funny bunch of folks. I unjoined the group because it's horrifically drama-ridden, and I got bored with it. However, there's a spin-off group: The Pod People. And they have an LSG version of the FLYlady: Naggy B*tch.

Now that's my kind of name. That's how I feel about housework, too.

Her basic idea is the same: Find something that you clean EVERY DAY so that it motivates you. But hers is Make Your [Profanity Redacted] Bed.

So that's what I've been doing, and it's going remarkably well. I'm really loving it. Every day, I make my bed, spend 60 seconds wiping down surfaces in the bathroom (notice: Not cleaning up the bathroom; you can't do that in 60 seconds), spend about 20 minutes on a load of laundry, 2 minutes decluttering the crap-magnet in my house, and about 20 minutes putting away dishes and reloading the dishwasher. I have two 15-minute drills I do at least once a day to chip away at larger projects: clearing away paperwork and filing on my desk and putting away Christmas crap. In the last week, I've cleared and kept clean my desk, a place I previously just shut the roll-top lid on and pretended didn't exist. And I've taken care of about 80% of the Christmas crap and designated an area to put the random Christmas knick-knacks I find around the house to be put away.

It feels good. My house is starting to feel like it's under control.

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