There’s a Macbeth line for this.

Do you know that feeling of ineffectiveness? The one where your whole day is busy, busy, rushing but nothing at all has been accomplished? I’m so there. I’ve tidied the living room, it’s still a disaster, I’ve mopped the kitchen floor, it’s still sticky. I do laundry, there’s more. I write, I don’t have a chapter. I knit, nothing is bigger.

I’m getting about as much done as a fifteen year old girl with a fully charged phone and a new boy in the neighbourhood.

It disturbs me most when it happens to the writing, (that may be because I have to write successfully for this family to keep having those little luxuries, like bread.) but when it happens to my knitting it practically sucks the will to go on right out of me. Knitting is supposed to be respite from all of that. Knitting is supposed to be the one thing in my life where there is tangible progress. Knitting is CONCRETE. You can count the stitches and the rows and you can have some stinking proof that your life is moving forward.

Summerinkansasdet66

Sure, sure, you can’t really tell over the course of a day that your kids are maturing. (As a matter of fact, I find it better to look at their growth over months or years. Some of the individual days are pretty discouraging. How is it possible that the girls are becoming women this quickly but are still capable of having an outrageously piercing dispute about sparkle body lotion at 7:15am? There is a secondary question here, one about how it is possible that any children raised on oatmeal and homemade yoghurt by a braless woman could possibly care about sparkle body lotion enough to fight over it, but that’s likely just the fates laughing at me again.) There’s no way to feel like a book is really going to come together over a day, books are too long. These things you just have to accept are slow and organic, but knitting? You’re supposed to be able to get that done.

This is all, naturally, just a very long winded way of saying that Summer in Kansas kicked my arse last night and I’m not on to the edging.

Worse than that, I didn’t read the instructions very well (try to hide your shock) and I thought that all I had left to do was knit on the edging, but it turns out that I’m really screwed there is an elegant picot edging that gets knit onto the long top edge when I’m done the bottom. You pick up stitches all of the way across, then throttle yourself with the circular needle cable work an edge that has you cast on two stitches for every one that you would like to cast off. (You do the math. It makes me want to shred something.)

Shawldaliah66

There was something about sitting in the living room (that is resisting being cleaned) taking a break from the book (which was resisting being written) wearing my last clean tee-shirt (because the laundry is multiplying every-time I leave the house.) realizing that I couldn’t even make progress on my stinking knitting that just about put me over the edge.

Shawlclem66

I know that freaking out about ineffective time management and accomplishment is…er…ineffective, and furthermore, I know myself and realize that aforementioned freaking out only makes me flail and rage about the house, moving fast and accomplishing nothing, as that sort of tantrum only makes what time I do have completely unfocussed and impotent. What is needed here is to take the stinking shawl and all it symbolizes out to the barbecue and cackle like a madwoman while the sick smell of charring wool/silk drifts across the locust tree is to settle down, pick a goal and make today about efficient, calm work, directed in a meaningful way. That or eat nine pounds of chocolate. Hard to tell really.

To distract you from the absolute lack of interesting progress of any sort, I present…Twins wearing hand knit hats.

Lilyinherhat

Lily in her watermelon. (Lily needs to grow her head and maybe wake up a little for maximum effect in hat pictures.)

Parkerinhishat

Parker in his tangerine. Parker’s hat fits a little better, but he would improve his hat pictures by gaining motor control of his eyes and tongue. Little dude’s expressions are still pretty random. I feel bad about lighting him from one side and making him look crooked, but I bet he preferred it to the flash.

Lilysweateralittlebig

The sweater modeling will have to wait. The size 0-3 months are a little big.

187 thoughts on “There’s a Macbeth line for this.

  1. Tell your daughters that my 6-year-old has sparkle body gel (some birthday loot-bag junk). It’s not for a mature-type person.

  2. ok, since I am the first, I am the first…
    Every one has days like this. I tend to have several of them a week. Do not pick small goals. Do not try to do anything for at least 20 minutes, except have a cuppa; chocolate is good, too.
    regroup. focus. Then attack.

  3. Some days we feel like we’re not progressing, but then the next all the progress catches up to us. Either that or we sulk in the bath with beer and chocolate.

  4. “First you must find… another shrubbery! (dramatic chord) Then, when you have found the shrubbery, you must place it here, beside this shrubbery, only slightly higher so you get a two layer effect with a little path running down the middle. (“A path! A path!”) Then, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forrest… with… a herring!”
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
    So I’m wondering if I too am doomed to have sparkle lotion battles with my daughter…. Sigh, how can a tom-boy mom have such a girlie girl? Course, she’s only 2.
    The twins and the summer in Kansas are both stunning!

  5. My goodness those hats are even more stunning while being modeled!
    I completely understand the feeling of doing things and getting nowhere. It happens more than I would like.

  6. I love the color of your Summer in Kansas, you can really see the blue clearly in these photos. It is gorgeous, edging or not.
    The frustration of not progressing is even worse after sitting in an office for 8 hours every day, although I suppose an office job does help with the bread supply…

  7. Ok i can empathize. This was my past week: moved to the new apt, no heat hydro phone or internet for 2 whole days. Would have been bearable had there been a FRICKN LOCK ON THE DOOR! Yes..the management took out the lock, disappeared and did not replace it for 2 days.This forced me, as the work at home partner, to stay home. Not working of course as there was no internet power ectera.I tried and tried to work through a lace knitting block ( registered with Amazing Lace in a mad fit) but cannot seem to get past 3 rows without hating it.Today there is no hot water in the building. I’m doing nothing but sitting and knitting and ignoring the unpacking. I need to de stress.
    Whoops this was a comment not my blog *blush*
    laurie in Victoria

  8. What do you expect from this day of the evil 666? So far I’ve managed to do a little work, read blogs and think about lunch. If the world is going to end today, why couldn’t it have done so before I had to get up and get to work?

  9. It seems we are in the same mood today. I think I need to pull out a few more “babies in handknits” pictures to keep me calm….
    And goodness, what cute babies in such cute knits!

  10. Sound, fury? Signifying nada? Shakespeare was undoubtedly talking about the sparkle body lotion.

  11. There is still hope for this tired world when we see these beautiful twins healthy and thriving. Kind of puts into perspective what is important…not laundry, not sparkling body bath, not oatmeal and GASP, sometimes not knitting. Just sitting and gazing upon a new born is all you need to feed your soul. Thank You! (and thank the mom for the photo op.)

  12. Steph, we do not invoke the Scottish Play for fear of more bad luck. Supposedly this only applies to theaters, but I think it applies to knitting as well, since I was explaining the superstition behind it to someone yesterday, slipped, and actually said Mr. M’s full name, and suddenly my shawl (yes, the same one from the Olympics) is FUBAR. I would like to thrust it into a barbeque as well, but since Mom’s birthday is only two weeks away, I guess I’ll have to suck it up and frog. Or something.
    However, the hats are gorgeous. As are the twins, motor skills or no.

  13. Cute twins, as always! I love the hats too:)
    Summer in Kansas is so beautiful; forget the edging. The color and pattern are lovely!

  14. Well, it looks like the black hole that has been lurking over my house has moved to Canada! I swear everytime I turn around, the mess is multiplying – gotta stop turning around! I have about 2 inched left on the Nina Shawl from Mason Dixon – I love it but I swear it is taking me to the edge!!! It just doesn’t want to be completed.
    Luckily I am in close proximity to Hershey PA….and the Hershey’s Extra Dark with Macadamia nuts and Cranberries helps take the edge off!

  15. Stephanie, I’d send therapeutic chocolate, but I’m afraid it’s not the season for mailing chocolate successfully. I know! I’ll eat it in your honor; I’m sure that will help.
    By the way, it was terribly clever of you to make those sweaters just the right size to fit when it starts cooling down at the end of the summer. . .

  16. With two daughters two years apart, I can only say: It WILL get better. Probably 😉
    The youngest bopped her big sister on the nose at 2 days old and it took about 20 years to be forgiven. (Grudges may still be harbored!)
    The sparkle lotion issue reminds me of the “big earring stage” Stephani went through. A visit to the dollar store and it never failed Steph bought HUGE clip on earrings. Walking through the parking lot back to the car I asked her if she picked the biggest earrings she could find, only to turn and see a woman with equally huge earrings walking towards us. Earth, please swallow me up now moment.
    And, she still wears big funky jewelry!

  17. The babies are adorable!! As for the lotion, girls will be girls, no matter how you raise them. Even though I am 34, my mom is still putting up a stink that I got my nose pierced in April. LOL Guess that is what mums are for. And as for not accomplishing much, it is different from any other day how? Read my blog Stress and Knitting…I had one of those unaccomplished days last week.

  18. Ah how fun to find out that all your hard work is invisible. I hate when that happens.
    The closets and dressers in this house are constantly throwing up clothes and making a mess of everything.
    The fur mates and has tumbleweed babies that appear in random places after I sweep.
    Juice mysteriously explodes in places. I found some on the window this morning. I haven’t given the children juice in two days.
    The sand … it’s a desert in here.
    Eating chocolate is a goal. It can be accomplished and if it’s invisible, goal!!
    I may have to go have some myself.

  19. Man oh man… I think I forgot everything you just wrote seeing the baby in handknits pics, and then the too big sweater, oy.

  20. Oh my. It’s bad enough when it’s just the writing that’s standing still. But when the knitting conspires with the writing? That’s just unfair. I’d suggest some kind of baked good, some soothing sock knitting, and a good cleansing freewrite full of drivel to get the pipes cleared out, but that’s just what would work for me.
    Then again, ripping a really bad paperback book to shreds feels pretty damn good too. The only downside to that is there’s cleaning to do when you’re done.

  21. Ooops!
    Cute babies! Awesome hats!!
    “… and miles to go before I sleep.” Is my favourite line to mutter around 9:00pm. It’s not Shakespeare but it does fit.

  22. My cousin was the ultimate sporty girl, whose idea of getting ready for a date was to brush her hair and tie her tennies correctly. Her daughter could apply makeup (well) and french-braid her hair when she was four, having had no instruction. If she didn’t look so much like Kelly, we’d all assume she’d been switched at birth. So the sparkle lotion really isn’t too far out there.
    And DANG those babies are CUTE!

  23. Well, I definitely feel for you on the suckiness of the shawl pattern… my heart seized a little as I read your entry. But hey, cute babies!

  24. I vote for the chocolate. Really though, how can you look at those twins in those hats and not feel accomplished? Not to mention that amazing shawl, which looks pretty close to done from here.
    That said, I’m not letting my daughter near any body lotion at all until she’s at least 3, which gives me almost a whole year.

  25. My advice (for whatever it’s worth), brew a cup of tea (or coffee if you must) and enjoy all 5 pounds of that chocolate. You’ll be amazed at how much better the world looks. The twins are super cute, and apparently need to grow a heck of a lot for those sweaters. And on a completely random topic – I make homemade yogurt too and people always think I’m very odd. It’s nice to know someone else is also odd. 🙂

  26. At *least* 9 lbs. of chocolate. Dahlias! (Or are those zinnias?) Clematis! Spring, which jumped right to summer. Beautiful babies with beautiful hats. Today is just One Of Those Days. Cut back on the coffee, eat chocolate, read a trashy book. Tommorow or even this evening will be better. I like all the Python references. It’s amazing how much they’ve influenced modern culture.

  27. Fabulous babies, hats, sweaters and shawl. Looks like alot accomplished to me! You’ll get it done, you always do. Time for a hot bubble bath. Treat yourself to a little timeout.

  28. Siblings don’t need something substantive to fight over. All they need is something to trigger the clash. The fight has nothing to do with the body lotion. When they were each respectively 4 months old, you spent 30 seconds more with one than with the other. That’s all it takes for the rest of their lives….. 😉

  29. *sigh* Babies… Sounds weird, but I can almost smell them. That new baby smell was so intoxicating, as I remember.
    I say go back to the sock for while. The sock and some chocolate.

  30. “Blow wind and crack your cheeks rage blow you cataracts and hurricanos spout till you’ve drenched the steeple and drowned the cox.” Maybe that should be shawl instead of cox.

  31. Take some refuge in the picture of the shawl and the flowers being really, really, really beuatiful.
    (I vote for 9lbs of chocolate)

  32. Out, out, damned sparkle lotion?
    Nestled within distractions yon, another book she writes. Huzzah!

  33. My vote’s for the chocolate.
    With a fair bit of wine as a chaser.
    Always works for me. Then again, my shawl edgings often look a little wonky after this particular therapy. Ahem.

  34. It’s all about focus – instead of focusing on that shawl (with a border as big as the state), you need to focus on the adorable twins and how quickly those sweaters will be too small because they are healthy, normal, growing, babies. Yes, they will grow up and argue about silly things, but they are new lives, full of potential and loved by many.

  35. Progress. you mean you are supposed to make progress.. oh.oops..
    and you are making me so glad I have three boys.. I think..

  36. The busyness IS the accomplishment. Unless you are sitting very still, then you say you are meditating and that IS the accomplishment. See how this works? You are accomplishing whilst doing anything at all or nothing at all. At least that’s my excuse.

  37. ah, sparkle body lotion….there’s this great song by Nancy White about daughters of feminists and how they want a barbie….. “Daughters of feminists love to wear pink and white short frilly dresses they speak of successes with boys, It annoys their mom.”…..and….”Daughters of feminists don’t bother voting at all, Daughters of feminists beg to wear lipstick each day from the age of three.”….its a terrific song! the knitting though slow, is lovely … i’m stuck doing boring knitting lately…must..get…new book on tape!!! kath

  38. Book? There’s another book coming? Woo-hoo!
    And frankly, I think you get a hell of a lot done. Three (THREE!) teen-age daughters, a male-type person around, a cat or two, clematises (beautiful, btw), sixteen flocks’ worth of fleece in one form or another, a couple of well-clad and completely adorable twins, plus their mom – do you sleep? At all?
    At least you don’t have to keep track of your bras…

  39. Stephanie,
    As a back to the woods, braless, crunchy granola Mother I am here to tell you that daughters, and sparkle body lotion are not always permenant affilictions. My daugther became a cheerleader in high school, I wept and wondered where I had gone terribly wrong…skimpy uniforms, lots of lipstick and pom poms… Oh God help us!
    Today, ten years later she is a yoga streching, organic food eating, assertive woman who makes me proud to be her Mother! Hang in there … time advances most things…knitting, daugthers…. but unfortunately not laudry or cleaning!!!

  40. I’ve had a whole month like that. The house looks fuller than it did when I started my “I have a whole 6 months to declutter and downsize before we move” plan. Now there’s two months left. My solution is strong coffee (in the vain hope that this will jump start some sort of adrenaline fueled time management ability), chocolate and internet shopping for yarn. You can actually SEE the stash grow. Tangible Progress.

  41. Who cares if you’re having a crappy day? You’ve got cute baby pictures! That’s all that really matters.
    Oh, and eat the chocolate while you’re admiring your clematis and dahlias – lovely!

  42. I wondered about that shawl when I saw the name! Perhaps we should have warned you that summer in Kansas is long, hot, humid and seems to go on forever. However, when summer’s finally done you realize that it did have some good days and overall was a beautiful thing. Hopefully the same with the shawl!

  43. The hats are lovely as are the babes. Lay down on the couch with a cold compress. Some days you just can’t get ahead . . . tomorrow will be better.

  44. Adorable pics! And thank you for sharing your life… once again I find it relieving to know that it’s not just me. Now off to do laundry. That is if I can find the machine… I’m assuming it’s under the piles.

  45. So you are knitting up this shawl that would take me over a year and gallons of tears and about fifteen tempertantrums where I throw the whole thing on the floor and WEEP with frustration to get about half as far as you have. Then, rather than just drape it casually across the sofa and snap the pikkie, you take it outside to dance with the dahlias and the dogwoods. And you have the hueveos to complain that you aren’t accomplishing anything? Suck it up, Harlot! You are working to an extraordinarily elevated standard. Sometimes, those feelings we have accomplished naught are LIES!! I think you are being just a weensy bit too hard on yourself.If I could, I’d drop by and give you a foot massage and a single perfect chocolate bar.(I, too, hate it when the writing doesn’t come together.)

  46. Very cute twins. Nice hats too ( I very much like the leaves) but I think orange is not Parker’s best color. VBG I am so relieved to see the size of your sweater against LIly. When I made one for my third grandson and proudly took it out to California it looked about the same against him and he was already 3 months old. ah… good old swatching (or not) in action again.
    I guess 1.5 days of sunshine is our limit here this spring in upstate NY. The clouds are rolling in.

  47. A feeling of accomplishment is so unrelated to getting something done. And as for looking at children’s progress over time, I prefer to hang on to those moments where you felt like an angel just passed over; everyone was doing their homework or anyone was clearing the table. And just go from one of those to the next. I’m writing because I’m working on a book and I look at your knitting to get a vicarious feeling that SOMETHING is progressing. I bet if you looked at all your readers’ feelings of satisfaction, glee, joy, etc. at each posting it would be mountainous. Anyway, thanks,it really does all add up. Sorry it’s hard for you to tell that today. Sometimes running down a hill can cheer you right up. All I can think of at the moment. Cheers, Maggie

  48. One suggestion… then one word:
    Ice Cold Blue Moon Brew in a frosted pilsner with a orange slice… Chocolate.
    One or the other or maybe one after the other. Hmmm.

  49. Summer in Kansas. Ever been there in the summer? 0.o
    Have some chocolate, think about teaching the girls how to do laundry, go sniff the babies, and remember that we don’t always see the progress we make in this life, but it’s still there.

  50. I don’t know if it will make you feel better, but the clematis in the picture is lovely. (At least I think it is a clematis?) Either way it is beautiful, as are the hats!
    Perhaps its time to sacrifice to the knitting goddess again. Chocolate, tea, and some good wool go a long way to appeasing her. 🙂

  51. Oh my goodness, they are adorable.
    And I’m sure this doesn’t make you feel any better, but I think that post was just what I needed today, because I’m doing the same no-progress thing but instead of giving me a tantrum it is making me really, really sad. And that is bad. So thank you!

  52. Hey! I live in Kansas, it’s almost Summer, and I have 6 kids who are home on Summer break asking “What’s for Lunch” every morning by 10 am!!!!!! Now, hubby came home yesterday and says he is off work for a week! Great! The jaywalkers i am trying to knit are going to have to wait!! They are kicking my tail…you guys made them look so easy. Mine seem to be very tight. Ok, have a great day!!!!!

  53. Dude. It’s Tuesday. Therefore it isn’t YOU that’s responsible for the ineffectiveness, it’s the little Rams that’s taken up residence in a corner of your phyche that’s preventing you from settling into anything but spinning. For a shawl perhaps. Or an insurance skien of gansey yarn now that your little detour into sparkly things and Fleece Artist is done. Try it. It’ll help you focus. Really.

  54. Whoa. It would seem I too have a little Rams in residence. A prodder in waiting for days when I know she’s stinkin’ busy. Interesting.
    Ahem. Well. Off I go then.

  55. Stephanie, you’ve made my day. I know it doesn’t say much that I’m entertained by your frustration but I know you’ll survive because you have a great sense of humor.

  56. First off… babies so cute! I want to squeeze them!
    The whole knitting thing sometimes gets you.(I mean the general ‘you’. Not YOU personally.) I though I was chugging along really well on my little dale of norway sweater, when all of a sudden I realized that the big BOLD black box was the repete. Not the whole chart.
    Huh. So. I get to frog. yeah.
    Back to almost square one.

  57. I think I would settle for sparkle lotion arguments as a lovely change of pace from my two boys fighting over the Axe deodorant and Crew hair goop and one slobbery 150 pound Saint Bernard puppy(male of course) who finds it necessary to shed particularly on me. I think I go to work to escape the testosterone only to find more of it in my office. Gah! I would like 48 hours off with just my knitting and some good food, wine and movies. Where is my fairy godmother?

  58. Beautiful baby pics! The shawl looks lovely with the flowers. Perhaps those killer robotic sheep can be re-programed as house elves??

  59. You’re killing me with the baby pictures. The one yesterday? I have that picture. Different babies, but seriously, same picture. Also, I remember everyone telling me their (singleton) kids were *way* too big for the 0-3 month clothes and we should concentrate on the next size up. Well, girlfriend didn’t have two of those watermelons squished up inside her diasticized rectii, because mine were about like that with the newborn sized clothes. Now they’re gigantic and have attitudes to match so no worries there.
    I had a similar night of hopelessly unsatisfying knitting. I’ve taken to knitting swatches. It’s really quite horrible. Even they are progressing infintesimally. Sigh.

  60. Thank you for providing a laugh for today. I have been in serious need. The babies are so cute. I would say that I especially love the watermelon hat, but it might just be a hunger/craving issue, and everything you’ve knit for the twins is gorgeous. I’ve got the urge to eat watermelon or to try to dye some self-striping watermelon yarn. Maybe eating watermelon would help you. I don’t know. My brain needs rinsing or something, so my advice probably shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

  61. I’ve got one word for you: socks. No shawls when you must. see. progress. Socks. Or more adorable baby hats. (I bet I’m the last knitter on the planet to see those cupcake baby hat kits, but I am SO making something like that, some time…..)
    On the “where did THIS come from?” thing — when my daughter started preschool, her very favorite thing to do there was dress up in all the girly girl stuff — pretend heels, flounces, ruffles, jewelry, you name it. She surely never got that from watching me……… I think it’s in the genes….. (For those of you with only little girls, I’m happy to report that the girlygirl thing can be transient — my girl went off to work this morning in jeans and a tshirt!)
    Stephanie, I’ve got several bottles of glitter stuff left over from when my daughter was in that phase. Want me to ship ’em over? I’m sure your daughters would be thrilled with leftover hand-me-down glitter gel………….

  62. A long time ago a friend told me about The Salami Technique. I know I’m saying this to a vegetarian, but you can figure out an appropriate analogy of your own. Although telling you to approach housework like you would a salami is appropriate — you would avoid either! But here’s the technique:
    Think about eating a whole salami. Yaak! You don’t want to do it all at once, you’ll get sick of salami and it will go to waste. But you really can eat the whole darned thing, if you do it one slice at a time.
    Maybe if you thought of housework as a giant block of tofu…

  63. Goooooo tooo chocccccolaaatttteeee!!
    Goooooooo straight toooo chocccccoooollllaattte!!! 😉
    bets

  64. Oooh, doesn’t Macbeth have some lovely lines?!
    All the perfumes of Arabia…
    The Thane of Fife had a wife…

  65. There’s obviously something going around! I had a simple yard chore to do last night and couldn’t even get half of it done. I’ve accomplished minimal at work today. We went out to lunch and the service was abysmal. The good part was that we ate outside in the sunshine (Susan…go north, it’s still sunny in Rochester.) In my case, I also knit on the traveling sock.
    At least it’s Tuesday and my spinning group meets tonight; Tuesdays are for spinning other places besides TO.

  66. My 8 year old argues with *me* about wearing sparkly makeup. I told her she’s too young for makeup. She told me Santa brought it so HE thinks she’s old enough for makeup. How do you explain that someone who still believes in Santa is not as independent as she thinks?
    P.S. Those babies are just about the cutest I’ve seen!

  67. I guess even children of idealist will find some (small) way to rebel. Be thankful that it’s only sparkled body lotion.

  68. Knitting is beautiful…flowers are beautiful…babies are beautiful…you must be having a wonderful time out in Canada! I vote for the chocolate; it’s always tastier, and you won’t gain weight because you’ll knit it all away 😉

  69. I can only sympathize with you on having such a day … sometimes, especially lately, its been a way of life for me, and at that time I just remember to say, “This to shall pass … just like a gallstone!”. Have you considered that maybe you just need to go buy more yarn to add to the stash? Always works for me!

  70. Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out.
    Now, go grab a bottle of Screech and the biggest chocolate bar you can find, wrap yourself up in that – finished or not – gorgeous shawl, sit under a tree and revel in how amazing you are, to have pushed out three books, a boutique’s worth of clothing, and (by proxy) a baby baseball team in the two years I’ve been reading your blog.
    You’re an inspiration.
    Everything will be okay.

  71. Stephanie, it’s time to take another walk through High Park…a long walk…meditative and slow…as if you were walking through a labyrinth. Think of whatever diety delights you…or that nine pounds of chocolate…that’s nice. Maybe even pack a small backpack with sleeping bag, candle and a few munchies — chocolate again, and stay the night. It’ll seem better in the morning.

  72. Stephanie, it’s time to take another walk through High Park…a long walk…meditative and slow…as if you were walking through a labyrinth. Think of whatever diety delights you…or that nine pounds of chocolate…that’s nice. Maybe even pack a small backpack with sleeping bag, candle and a few munchies — chocolate again, and stay the night. It’ll all seem better in the morning.

  73. I vote for the chocolate. But, please, oh please, don’t burn the lovely yarn! If you must get rid of it, I’ll take it! And despite the frustration that you are feeling towards this piece of knitting, you did manage to take lovely, calm-inducing pictures of it.

  74. So maybe I should modify the length of those sleeves on my newborn sweater down 5 cm or so, huh?
    The heat is what causes the ineffectiveness. I’m sure of it. I can’t even THINK of picking up my current project. It’s 100% cotton and my hands are damp. Reminds me of touching wet tissues (one of those sensory things that makes me squirrely). As for the housework….screw it.

  75. You did accomplish something. You’ve accurately described my last 3 days. Rejoice in the small accomplishments.

  76. Oooh, you’re writing another book? What’s this one about?
    Wait, don’t tell me… It’s about crochet. *giggle*

  77. Ok now I have read the books and pulled out my hair and chewed my finger nails and then I have tried again to Moebius cast on – what the heck am I missing. I am getting them on I think but then when I go to continue I loose the cables then not sure on where to start the knitting oh please help help Lost in Ottawa
    PS: Love all you pictures especially the Babes. Boy and girl lucky one of each. I have two boys – Twins and they are 27 and just by chance when they were born the same weight as these two little ones fun times I tell you.

  78. The shawl is beautiful and with the frustrations it is just like Summer in Kansas. The sky is exactly that color of blue out my window but it is hotter than normal. That makes the wheat ripen faster (see the wheat in the shawl?) but it is still stormy here, which is not good for harvesting. So put off the knitting, the farmers are worried too and doing other things while the wheat turns golden and the rains keep coming. I’m putting off the cleaning and reading blogs.

  79. (Mom’s doing that screech-in-delight laughing over there, she must be reading Stephanie, mutters my daughter…)
    Loved it all. The knitted flowers resting in the real ones, the frustrations, the babies, the honest take on the whole thing. Know that you made our day, even if the knitting didn’t make yours–yet. On to the next.

  80. Oh Oh Oh! I love those baby pics.
    Thank heavens it’s Tuesday. The Fiber Fates (or maybe it’s just Rams) are telling you to spin instead of knit. I had an “Apparently Not A Knitting Day” recently, and it took me all 24 of those hours to finally come to terms with that. Learn from the slow/stubborn…don’t fight it.

  81. Sound and fury maybe, but hardly signifying nothing! At the very least, you have continuing book fodder. You also have more shawl than most, darling twins and twin stuff, and obviously normal teenage girls. Don’t eat chocolate, go out again to your lovely garden and enjoy that clematis! (Take wine and chocolate)

  82. “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so” (Act II, Scene II Hamlet)
    “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall”. – (Act II, Scene I). Measure for Measure
    King Henry the Sixth, Part II
    “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”. – (Act IV, Scene II).
    Just trying to be helpful 😉 Have a good day.

  83. At least you can take a damn good picture of the shawl, and you’re flowers are blooming.
    I know, I know, “The Bright Side” of stuff sucks when you’re in the mood for an all out freak-fest.

  84. Summer in Kansas kicks my ass for at least three months every year. But that’s a side-effect of living here. 😉

  85. Screech, pineapple juice, more Screech, coconut juice, ice. Mix together in tall glass, add small umbrella. Repeat as necessary.

  86. No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. It does fit. It’s a sweater dress, not a cardigan.
    The twins really are just beautiful. Feel free to continue posting pics of them for the forseeable future.
    As far as the day’s progress? It’ll all feel better after a couple of pounds of chocolate & couple of glasses of wine. Trust me on this one.

  87. “There is a secondary question here, one about how it is possible that any children raised on oatmeal and homemade yoghurt by a braless woman could possibly care about sparkle body lotion enough to fight over it. . .” I think that is inevitable. As the former braless woman who fed her daughters oatmeal, homemade breead & yoghurt, I can attest that your daughters, as teens, will inevitably find fascinating everything you find trivial. But, when they get to college, they will start to see the wisdom of your child rearing methods (just barely). And by the time they are in their 20’s & having children of their own, they will actually start to ask your advice, quote you to friends & advise neighbors who are a bit embarassed by still nursing their toddlers that HER mom nursed her until she was almost 2 & there is nothing wrong with it! Ahhhhh – the rewards of motherhood are a long time coming but all the sweeter for it!!!!!

  88. No, no. You’re not in Macbeth, you’ve just gone Through the Looking Glass. “A strange sort of country, said the Queen. Now, here you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.” See?

  89. Ok, 1. go for the chocolate! 2. twins in hand-knit hats are the cutest things ever – like, manipulatively cute! 3. I’m not looking forward to the sparkly body lotion times (she’s only 2, and so far the only one, so I have SOME time to prepare myself) 4. Beautiful clematis!

  90. Ear plugs might help reduce the decibel levels of squabbling teenage girls…

  91. I bet you have had one interruption after another. Maybe a few individuals assisted in re-disasterizing the living room. But you are really a high achieving woman, and in the end there is a lot you do accomplish. I once knew an artist who kept a scrapbook full of her newspaper clippings, snapshots of finished work, and awards. It is a great method for self-esteem boosting. It started out small time and gathered speed to some solid successes. But it would take a long long time for you to list all you have done. As for the girls, you won’t ever know how much you are teaching them. ( A Moms’ feelings are no clue ) I am still realizing this about my own Mother, and I’m sort of old. It takes a while. With the shawl, well, you don’t have to follow the instructions exactly, do you? Work it the way YOU want to.

  92. Chocolate, which knitteth up the ravelled sleeve of care…
    Okay, I do believe in Si/K, I do believe in Si/K…But it is interesting that Rachel H. (who’s Not Dead Yet) pointed out that today is Tuesday. Since when is Tuesday Lace Shawl Knitting Day? Holy hand grenade. (“Five is right out.”)
    Women’s grooming principles, like knitting, alternate generations. I hope your mum’s reading today’s post and hooting. Some people believe it’s reasonable to defy their mum’s standards on what to shave where yet are amazed their daughters balance the boat by leaning over to grab the sparkly body-whatsit.

  93. Ever wonder what i’d be like if someone turned your blog into a movie? Or a sitcom? Just sayin…..

  94. Sometimes you’re the Louisville slugger, baby,
    Sometimes you’re the ball.
    -Dire Straights

  95. Lovely babies, lovely hats and flowers. The shawl will be lovely too someday. As will teenaged daughters with or without glitter gel.
    I vote for chocolate and a nice Bordeaux.
    Pat-pat-pat

  96. Martha, Cookie, Sue in Kansas, Lara, and all the other Kansans are right. I grew up there and summer in Kansas is…hot. Not as pretty as the shawl. Though, every time I see it in your blog I think you’ve picked just the right color–it’s very close to the pale Kansas sky on a summer’s day. Maybe just as big, too. 😉
    Love the hats on the twins. So cute. 🙂

  97. I have a philosophy about my knitting. I do it for me. I enjoy it and it relaxes me. After a 10 hr day and 2-3 more in traffic, I can be pretty spent by the time I get to sit and knit a little. When I’m tired, I mess up. When I mess up, I frog. Progress you say? Some nights some might confuse me with Homer’s Penelope! I have a choice: Don’t knit when I’m tired or knit for the pleasure of the process recognizing I won’t see much progress. I knit, tired or not, for everything else there is chocolate!!!
    When I have days like this, my daughter says I’m “spinning” …no, not that kind! She means a whirl of activity but I’m just going in circles…around and around. 🙂
    The twins are adorable and the hats are scrumptious!

  98. I say – Go for the chocolate. Well, then after that you could do the calm, goal setting stuff. . ya da ya da ya da. Really, just go for the chocolate.
    LOVE the twins! Too cute!

  99. Picot looks pretty but you have to pick up stitches all the way across the top of the shawl??? and then do picot? ICK!
    Is that a dahlia with summer in kansas? Surely not, it is too early! Love the clematis.
    I tidied my loungeroom on Sunday. You can see the couch now behind the piles of boxes….

  100. I usually lurk, but as you are in such distress I will add my sympathy and my vote for the nine pounds (4.0909090909 kg) of chocolate — I suggest Laura Secord. Just go right to the shoppe and climb into one of the display cases. We will provide a note for police.

  101. Summer in Kansas? Didn’t Dorothy escape from that to a much cooler and more colorful place? Knit yourself some baby shoes, or hats (cuz those hats are too adorable) or colorful cotton washcloths or something else that takes roughly 15 minutes to make. Wine and chocolate are also good. Picot, shmicot. (And yet, somehow I know you will get it done, and I will bow down before your stubbornness, er, perseverance once again.)

  102. No time to read the threeteen billion comments before me, but I’m sure someone else said this: It is precisely BECAUSE they were “raised on oatmeal and homemade yoghurt by a braless woman” that they “could possibly care about sparkle body lotion enough to fight over it.” That’s just the cycle of life. Or something. But then the next thing you know, they’ll be 36 and braless and serving oatmeal to their own sparkle-Barbie loving preteens. Just the way it goes.

  103. Totally distracted from the knitting by the flowers in your yard – was that a clematis under the shawl!?!
    This happened last year at about this time. In duluth the lilacs have just peaked, the poppies and iris’s are blooming, but I have not seen any clematis yet – tame or wild. Hey, but the yellow ladyslippers are in full bloom!
    As far as teenage daughters – mine raised the same way, similar issues. My solution: one is on a trip driving around Lake Superior with her school (three weeks total travel time), only to return home for three days and leave again to live on a local college campus during the week. The other – off to Norway for a month in less than a week. Maybe you and Joe should farm them out for a bit – distance makes the heart grow fonder (and the house stays cleaner)

  104. About those teenagers, don’t worry. At age 25 they will be back to braless-ness, shudder at sparkle body lotion and organic foods. I raised my 29 year old the same way as you have yours, and she was a teenager similar to yours. Now, she lectures me about the benefits of organic, vegan food, as if I wasn’t using the original Moosewood Cookbook before she was born!!!!!
    The babies will grow into their hats, just as your teenagers will grow into their upbringing!!

  105. That would be the same fates that destined a woman who wears Birks, no makeup, and leaves her hair silvering to have a 13 year old daughter who loves makeup, spending hours on her hair, and wears 4 inch heels (because her mother won’t let her wear 6 inch ones!).
    The babies and their knitwear are beautiful. So’s the shawl. I might have to try lace, after I master socks…..

  106. you took some mighty fine pictures and shared them with all of us…thanks!

  107. Brave Stephanie. Mentioning that play. On this day. *shudders*
    At the risk of being sacriligious, I think that Summer in Kansas looks just fine without an edging. And don’t wish motor control on the babies’ poor mom too soon! Let her enjoy the floppy, cute stage. She’ll need that to look back on once the terrible two’s times two hit.

  108. OK, that’s just cute overload! I can hardly stand the last few days of my own pregnancy looking at those pictures!
    If itmakes you feel better, I spent all day yesterday cleaning my 6 year old’s bedroom and it still looks like a Toy-r-us exploded in there.

  109. you and my Mama are in the same sort of boat. my grammy fell down the stairs on saturday, my birthday was sunday, my little brother’s is tomorrow, she’s training for a job, and this morning we found out my brother has pinworms.
    i think she’ll go with the chocolate option also.

  110. I didn’t have a sister and my daughter doesn’t have a sister–but I have three sons and two of them ended up in the emergency room after one of them *touched* something belonging to the other.
    Chocolate, definitely–and a crotch novel.
    Some days are like that and tomorrow will be better.

  111. Stephanie, your lace is lovely and your flowers are gorgeous. SOme days I tear out more than I knit. It is like that, life. You are experiencing a coming down after the amazing week of twin birthing you have accomplished. Congratulations to you on all of your amazing and wonderful gifts. A more wonderful yarn harlot there could never be!

  112. Try knitting the Summer in Texas Shawl next. It’s more commmonly known as a piece of string tied to a tree to help you swing the hammock while in it. (It’s too hot to wear shawls here – we’ve hit 100F.)

  113. I feel your pain. For two days I have been at a workshop learning to tat – make lace with a shuttle and thread. Yay, you’re thinking, a fun new craft. NO! I’m screaming. The teacher keeps telling me: You do very even lovely work, but you’re doing it all wrong. Perhaps you have mastered the art of tatting, if so, God bless you and send help. If you have not learned tatting and think you might want to, poke yourself in the eye with a sharp stick (knitting needle) and keep knitting. You will go back to the zen knitting. I am not sure I will ever make a knot right – a skill I thought I had mastered in kindgarten.

  114. Awwwwww Stephanie , you are just having a bad day. Go sit by your flowers and take some time for yourself and smell them and dream a little .Those babes are sooo precious and the hats and the sweaters will look soo good on them. There you go — you ‘ve got lovely flowers to smell and beautiful babes to see–who could ask for more ? Don’t be worrying aboaut Kansas right now either it’ll all come together when you are ready. .OHHHhhhhhhhhh “”””BOOK”” you said ?? Whooppeeee .

  115. ya know, it’s funny. I’m a fifteen year old girl, my phone is fully charged and this guy just moved in across the street . . . oh wait, I’ve also got nothing done today. Good metaphor then!

  116. I’m beginning to think that accomplishments are highly over-rated. Borrow Margenes favorite phrase—“it’s the process.”
    Oh, the babes are soooooo sweet!

  117. Oooh, me too! I had two hours to knit today & still have less than two inches of my lace stole done.
    That I wish to be finished with in two weeks.
    Yeah right.

  118. Oh, definitely the chocolate for you and the bbq for Summer in Kansas. Who wants to spend the summer in Kansas anyway? It’s like a million degrees.

  119. By the time it gets cool enough for the babies to actually be dressed in sweaters they will have grown enough to fit into them. Personally I am beginning to think baby sizes are like designer womens sizes… the numbers are small to protect the egos of the buyers.

  120. Uh, Macbeth…Is it this one:
    “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
    Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
    To the last syllable of recorded time;
    And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
    The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
    Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
    That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
    And then is heard no more: it is a tale
    Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
    Signifying nothing.”
    Not hardly. If you are feeling like this, here’s a hug. There is a feeding frenzy around you. Take a deep breath, exhale and knit up the ravelle’d sleeve of care. Be contained. You are wonderful.

  121. 1. I wanna know why your blog never remembers my Personal Info, even though I reply “Yes” every time.
    2. My son, the Shakespeare Genius (aka the 3rd year BFA(Drama) student) can’t think of a line from “Macbeth” that fits — but maybe from “Hamlet”? How about, “To knit or not to knit, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of unpredictable patterns or, by frogging, end them…”
    3. The twins are cute.
    4. Don’t worry; just like with your kids, one day you’ll look down and the shawl will be longer and you’ll have no idea how it got that way!
    Hugs!

  122. Cheer up, it’s a teenaged daughter’s job to reject everything her mother believes in. But they do reach an age, eventually, where you once again become wise, talented and her hero. Rejoice in the knowledge that while she’s in this rebellious stage, it’s incredibly easy to get revenge by embarrassing her in public. To bad you don’t have a son. Sons never outgrow the stage when they can be embarrassed by their mother.
    I just had an instance of not making any progress. I’ve started a baby blanket for my daughter’s baby due in January. After knitting the first half of the first ball of yarn, I became convinced that I was going to be way short of having enough yarn to make it the size I planned. After all, there was only about 3 inches of the thing and I needed each ball to make about 8 inches. I madly drove to 3 yarn shops before finding, and snatching up, the apparently last 3 balls of that dye lot in town. Upon finishing that first ball, I found that it had amazingly managed to make 9 inches! I now have enough yarn to make 2 blankets. A good thing since my son and his wife just told me that they are now trying to get pregnant too. Is it wrong of me to hope they are delayed long enough to allow for a little knitting time between babies?

  123. Whoa, dude. Living with two teenagers myself (of the male persuasion), I can SO relate to the edge of (in)sanity on which you perch! Hang in there, sistah. (Do you have those moments when you actually stand back and watch yourself go over the edge with these little darlings, over something like not wearing a belt to keep the pants over the boxers…or say…sparkle body lotion? Train wreck, I tell you.) Tomorrow’s another day. Wait…do you hear that? I think it sounds like a Snickers bar to me.

  124. I dunno…laundry, writing, knitting, kids–there are days when it all goes sideways. But then, you look at two beautiful babies (*especially* babies in cute hats) and you just know that the world’s okay after all.
    If you want to feel a little better–booties. Remember the little tiger and ladybug booties? The twins really need booties and how can you feel bad looking at wee little shoes?

  125. The babies are so very precious. WHo cares really if you are making progress in the “real” world so long as they are making progress in their world.

  126. Make your goal the consumption of 8 or 9 pounds of chocolate, then you can eat the chocolate while feeling productive.

  127. And here I am, with the shawl pattern in hand, preparing to knit “Summer in Kansas” and suddenly I’m thinking “maybe not yet”…. Grandchild is due this fall… Maybe I should just wait… Oh, babies are to be held! I must finish the shawl so I can wrap the baby in it!!!!
    Lorie

  128. The summer in Kansas (which looked white yesterday and today i see it is a very nice shade of blue)is an example of why I also crochet, quilt, and tat. When one type of project makes me curse, I throw it aside and just stop the knitting or whatever it was and pick up some crocheting or something different.

  129. Would it help if I told you that I lived in Kansas for 2 1/2 years, and with the exception of the birth of my daughter (whose middle name is Virginia cuz I was so freakin homesick) hated every last minute of it. There is no way I could EVER make that shawl, but in spite of it’s name, and your frustration, it is beautiful.
    And the same accomplishment vacuum is happening down here, too. You’re not alone.

  130. Whenever I am feeling particularly discouraged, like I am raising a pack of wild female hyenas, I just come by here and realize that at least they will have others to search out and form a pack with.
    Tip: I close the door and sleep with a fan on every night of the year. A big industrial strength fan that drowns all but the highest piercings of the morning. Then, the few mornings I do help them greet the day, I am totally unbearable to the point that they wouldn’t wake me for bottles and bottles of glitter lotion. Or hair product. That is the biggie in this house, all of the hair product.

  131. We’re like twins! I’m so glad somebody else is capable of ineffective cleaning. I feel validated. Here’s to chocolate!

  132. I’ve had a horrible day, feeling much like I’m facing my own unending picot edging, and seeing a beautiful teeny person modelling a beautiful teeny sweater just made my day. Thanks for the smile.

  133. Um, I hate to tell you but I was also “raised on oatmeal and homemade yoghurt by a braless woman” and never had processed sugar as a child, AND given trucks to play with instead of dolls, and I am one of the girly-girliest sugar-fiends you’ll ever meet. Well, except that I’ve declared a moratorium in my house on wearing makeup this year and that I really am doing better about how much sweet stuff I eat, really. No, really.
    I guess what I’m trying to say is that in spite of all of this, at least I turned out being an obsessive knitter?

  134. I think that the appropriate quote for today might be “out, out d*** spot! or maybe spots!! Take care, I’m sure tomorrow will be a bit better.
    And as for cleaning, my beautiful loooong haired, grey scottish fold cat sheds enough each week that I tell people I could knit a new cat from it.
    The shawl, flowers, babies, hats etc. are all beautiful.

  135. Well, you might be stressing over the shawl but the pictures are downright beautiful.
    And the babies are adorable, as newborns should be. Love their hats. They’ll be even cuter when they grow into them!

  136. What is baby Lily laying upon in that last shot?! It makes her look like a miniature from some Anne Geddes book … that looks like a knitted leaf or something — is it a rug? an afgan? is that how you spell afgan? (i know, shoot me) she is adorable!
    oh ya and sorry about your lack of progress … chocolate. definitely the chocolate! i hear it goes well with coffee 🙂

  137. I know the feeling…I’ve been cleaning up the new house for days but it’s still a mess. In fact, there keeps being new, unexplained mess. Except I don’t have teenage daughters, I have twenty-year-old roommates. Same thing though, same thing.
    PS. Thank you so much for hooking me up with Anjenette! She came over today and proved that my wheel is, in fact, not posessed by evil and it does produce yarn. So good. Thanks times ten.

  138. one thing you accomplished today – you made me belly laugh. It was the line about “children raised on oatmeal and yoghurt by a braless woman”. hi-lar-ious! Thanks – have some chocolate.

  139. I know the feeling…I’ve been cleaning up the new house for days but it’s still a mess. In fact, there keeps being new, unexplained mess. Except I don’t have teenage daughters, I have twenty-year-old roommates. Same thing though, same thing.
    PS. Thank you so much for hooking me up with Anjenette! She came over today and proved that my wheel is, in fact, not posessed by evil and it does produce yarn. So good. Thanks times ten.

  140. Hey, I’m living in summer in kansas and it’s kicking my ass too LOL — only June 6 and already in the 90s everyday YUCK

  141. You could always settle the sparkle body lotion debate by sending it to me 🙂 The shawl looks lovely, despite its resisting of progress. And the baby clothes are just adorable! The watermelon hat has to be the cutest one I’ve ever seen, hands down.

  142. Just buy yourself some new tee shirts, sit in your great new office, have yourself some chocolate and call it a day. Blessings, Julie

  143. So sorry that you are having one of those days! The clematis in the background of the shawl pic is gorgeous. Ours down here in Maryland are a couple weeks past their last blooms.
    I read your blog avidly, as I have already “consumed” all three of your books, after purchasing the first one less than a month ago!
    Thanks!!!
    Lee

  144. Your writing so captured the essence of my unfocused business yesterday, where I did a million little things and they added up to naught. Worse is that we have workman here siding our house. They put in hrs of labor and leave behind another side of the house covered in lovely cedar.
    But I bet if I had completed as much of a lovely shawl as you have, I’d fling it under people’s noses and say “See what I did today?”
    Your twin pics are wonderful. I love them and all your links. And esp. your sense of humor. You make my day.

  145. Eeeek! Invoking the Scottish play on the day of the devil? Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war!
    I’m sticking my fingers in my ears (eyes?) and pretending that I didn’t hear (see?) that Summer in Kansas is complicated. I only have 10 more months to finish knitting it (in cobweb cashmere on Addis, which I’m convinced are the dullest needles EVER).

  146. Riiiiight. The laundry…..hmmmm…..hasn’t somebody already finished the pile that is taking over and nomadically extending from my bedroom. No? Really? Alright then. Better go. Just completely frogged my latest anyways.

  147. Even when there is no progress there IS progress. It’s ALL blog & book fodder. Yay for us.
    Maybe you could grab the sparkly lotion and slather it on , saying, I LOVE this stuff. hee hee.

  148. I finished the Summer in Kansas shawl about a month ago, a gift for my mother. The worst thing about that stinkin’ picot edge is that it doesn’t even look very good – you hardly notice it!

  149. Those babies are wonderful! My daughter is newly (six weeks) pregnant and I can’t wait to knit cute baby things for the baby. Could you, would you, at some point, explain, if you have time, what a doula does? I suppose I could google it, but it would be so much nicer to hear about it from one who does it. A blog entry would be fine, no need for a private explanation.
    Thank you for your knitting and your writing and your life. They’re all so inspiring!
    Trudy

  150. Babies wearing fruit hats = way to cute for words!! And your shawl is awesome even if it’s a non-growning, time sucking, pain in the butt – I have two just like it, maybe they secretly conspire against us while we sleep?!

  151. I was going to suggest that you go hug the twins to make your day swing back to the calm center, but I see you already did that.

  152. Stephanie, you sound like you need a little pick-me–up. My husband and I are on vacation in Chicago. We wandered into a Barnes and Noble bookstore. On one of the main aisle displays is a selection of books about knitting and crafts… featuring “Best Selling Author Stephanie Pearl-McPhee” with all 3 of your books prominently displayed, along with Debbie Bliss and a couple of books by the lady who writes the knitting mystery series (I don’t read them and don’t remember her name).
    Sounds like you’ve made it, girl!

  153. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
    You have provided the bright spot in my day.

  154. Oh dear. Why are your daughters not doing the laundry instead? I realize that will not save you time, but at least you can shout “Why have you not done the laundry yet!” repeatedly until they get tired of hearing it and do the laundry, while still having your hands full of knitting, or spinning, or babies.

  155. I love your blog. And am so blown away by the amount of fabulous knitting you produce – I feel WAY unproductive. AND you write and spin, too!! WOW!! Girl, you put me to shame.
    And know that you truely are not alone – see above – we all have days that are “.. a total waste of make-up” (Yes, I wear that stuff – believe me, it is best for all involved). I remember the old song – “Mama said there’d be days like these, there’d be days like these my Mama said…” We all need them to remind us we are human.
    You still rock and so inspire – I want to grow up to knit just like you!! And I have decided that when I finally reach the empty nest stage (2 down, 2 to go), I want to learn to spin – your yarns are fabulous!!
    Liz in Colorado – it’s hot here, too – hey is there a ‘summer in Colorado’ shawl?

  156. Thank again, as always, for the laugh. I need more laughing. Or cackling like a madwoman. Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish the difference over here LOL.

  157. Despite your threats to harm Summer in Kansas, I think after reading your blog now for 5-6 months I can safely assume that you won’t harm the beautiful, absolutely georgeous, shawl…please? The watermelon hat is too cute for words and I adore the leaves atop Parker’s hat as well. You Canadians must be exceptionally polite…I can’t believe your mail delivery man has never asked what you do or what’s inside all those packages!
    I think you deserve (need?) a luxurious bubble bath with some lovely music of your choosing playing in the background and a glass of wine while soaking…sound good?

  158. I am confused, and I was an English major! What’s the Macbeth line? “Not so happy, yet much happier?” Enlighten me please!

  159. Aaaww… Cute babies! 🙂
    I have a question for you though… I have been wondering for a long time if – as busy as you are – you are ever able to read all the comments in your blog? 🙂
    Isabelle aka Tricotine

  160. That’s odd- after tearing my hair out(and ripping my work back) over the same stupid mistake I keep making on a shawl with the most easy-to-knit-it-drunk-with-your-eyes-closed lace pattern I know, Parker and I are wearing the exact same expression.

  161. And all our yesterdays have lighted the way for fools to dusty death… (I make my Seniors memorize that speech every year…and I think I still mangled it:-) The twins are so cute I almost can’t stand it. Real summer in Kansas is probably enough to make you want to slit your wrists anyway– I don’t know why a pattern with the name would be any different… I think this would perhaps be a good time to finish the pattern off in your own way because you were just too creative to follow the rules… (It looks beautiful by the way…)

  162. I so feel your pain…I am certain taht I have been washing the same damn clothes all week because if left in the washer in the Los Angeles heat they start to smell musty and must be washed again to not offend my husband’s sensitive nose…

  163. My solution for awful days is to work on sock knitting. Calms your crazy mind and you can see the progress. Besides, if the sizing is off, give them to someone with differently sized feet.

  164. I think I just ovulated…those babies are *so* cute! I hope the mom is getting a little bit of sleep.

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