Do you recognize these hands?

Supergirl learned how to knit this afternoon. It actually took about five minutes for her to get it and off she went. The only problem is that she’s a lefty. If you look through the pictures you can see she wants to do everything with her left hand. Advice please? Any other moms out there with lefty kiddos or just left-handed knitters in general?  What do you do? She seems to be able to do it, but I just want to do the *proper* thing. And I know. There really isn’t a right and wrong way if it works. I just don’t want to pay the therapy bills later. “I really wanted to knit like my mom but she taught me how to knit with my right hand when she knew I was left-handed. I wasn’t able to do it very well which made me feel like a failure. It truly changed me as a person when I couldn’t master knitting….” Can’t you see that!??! Oh okay, I know I’m being overly dramatic but I would like to know what most left-handed people do. I read somewhere that lots of left-handed people actually still knit with their right-hands? I mean, look how damn cute she is. I don’t want to mess with her knitting mojo.

I really look forward to see what y’all think.  If you think I should teach her left-handed knitting I will find someone to teach her. She is patiently waiting for me to help her right now. She wants to make a whole scarf tonight to put on her pig. Actually, she wanted to start with a hat. Then she said socks. Hey, aim high sister!

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Just a few of the things I’ve done today. The winding and packaging yarn would be kind of boring to see so I give you these instead. Supergirl had a friend over so after lunch at Whole Foods we hit the playground.

A few of you asked me about the whole wheat loaf I made today and it turned out really well.  I just did 2 cups of all purpose and one cup of whole wheat. The other loaf is already almost gone. Even if you are afraid of making bread you can do this. I promise.

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I’m really tired but wanted to post about a few things. First of all, the article on me got into this month’s issue of Albuquerque the Magazine. It’s in this issue for those of you who are able to get a copy. You’ll just have to get the issue if you want to read it. I don’t have a scanner and the picture I took of it didn’t really come out that well.

If you haven’t noticed already I’ve been doing a lot of cooking/baking. I’ve always loved to cook but sometimes life just gets in the way and it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. You know what I’m talking about right? So lately I’ve been slowly adding foodie blogs to my bloglines and have finally started to test out a few of the things I’ve seen over the past few months. I’ve blogged about a few of them but the latest few I’ve tried in the past two days and I have to share them with you. On Saturday, Supergirl helped me make these Toasted Almond Scones that Tartelette shared the other day. They were gone in two days. We scarfed them down. The other recipe I’ve wanted to try for months is the no-knead bread recipe adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery published in the New York Times. You can also find it on the Becks & Posh blog too. We are about to go eat this right NOW along with the pasta dish I made that the kids love. The only thing I did differently was to bake the bread on my pizza stone. Doesn’t it look amazing? I’m going to make one with whole wheat later tonight.

And finally, I have a skein of Snowbunny I accidentally dyed today that’s for sale. (I dyed the wrong weight for the order I have) It’s in the 3/8’s superwash merino and has 350 yards for $25.00 plus shipping. The first person who comments and pays gets it shipped out tomorrow. It’s one of these pretties in case you haven’t seen it before.

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Don’t let the pretty blue sky fool you today. We’re having some crazy wind right now which makes it very unpleasant to leave the house. I took a few shots near my house of a few things that make me happy.

This is in front of our local fire station. I drive by it every day and I just love it. You know what else I love? The fact that this is going in right by my house.

For those of you who don’t know, the Flying Star Cafe is a local Albuquerque chain. You can read more about them over on their website. We will be spending lots of time there once it opens. Free wireless, tons of magazines you’re allowed to look through while you sit, great food and the most amazing desserts. And I don’t even do sweets. I do Flying Star sweets though. Can you say raspberry-peach pie?

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UPDATE on Carole’s Todd. He is still in the hospital and will probably be there until Monday. He was not responding well to the first few rounds of antibiotics and they were worried they needed to go in and debride the infection. His fever is finally gone so for now, the Infectious Disease Specialist says they will hold off on surgery for now since it’s getting better even though it looks worse. They put in a PICC Line in yesterday as he will need to be on IV antibiotics for the next month. Yes, at least a month. Carole will be the lucky person who gets to learn how to flush out a PICC line and administer the antibiotics. She and Todd want everyone to know they truly appreciate all of your well wishes. Keep him in your thoughts as he’s still not 100% out of the woods. I’m going to see her in a bit if anyone wants to pass along a message.

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Isn’t ironic that after the Julie Amero post I dye a new colorway for John of Yarn Ball Boogie that we name Inner Rage? I love it. It has shade of deep red, orange and bright yellow. They all blend together to make one beautiful skein of yarn. This skein shows the colors a bit more muted because it’s in my new yarn. I want to wait for the Indie Swaggers to get their yarn and then I’ll talk more about it.

Congratulations and thank you Helena. You win a $25.00 gift certificate to Scout’s Swag.

I’m completely wiped out. I busted out all of the Indie Swag and another big order I had and now I’m ready to just sit here, watch tv, have a beer and knit on Supergirl’s Cabo Hoodie. Oh, and speaking of Indie Swag? I will have an announcement about round II very soon so make sure you keep an eye here on the blog. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to make it as fair as possible to everyone and Adam and I have something in the works. It sure pays to have a brilliant, computer geek as a good friend! And hey, have you checked out his new shop? He’s got some beautiful yarn for sale over at Yarn Nerd. Make sure and get on over there if you haven’t yet. He’s good peeps.

Also, if you have a minute, please go over to Carole’s blog and send her husband Todd some get well soon vibes. He was admitted to the hospital last night with an aggressive case of cellulitis, and is on IV antibiotics, as well as morphine for pain. He is still there as they want him on IV antibiotics for 48 hours. The scariest part was that he had two antibiotic shots yesterday which didn’t seem to do anything. Fingers crossed that what they gave him today will do the trick. I just tried calling her a bit ago but her cell phone doesn’t work in the hospital. I’ll update if I hear anything.

Supergirl just came running in to drag me outside to see this.

It almost matches the yarn.

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I’m taking advantage of this space for today to make sure that you all read and learn about Julie Amero. I emailed a few of you last night but wanted to also post about this as well because it truly left me speechless last night when I read this post by Karoli. For those of you who don’t know, Julie Amero is the seventh grade substitute teacher in Connecticut who is facing 40 years in prison after pornographic popup ads came up on her computer screen during a class in 2004.

Forty years. It takes about one second to Google this story. Please take a few minutes to read about what is happening to this woman. It makes my blood boil. I want to help her. Here is what I’m going to do. If you donate money to her defense fund (go here), even if it’s only $1.00 leave me a comment and I will put your name into a drawing for a gift certificate for $25.00 to Scout’s Swag. You can also get your name put in by posting about it on your blog. If you do both, I’ll put your name in twice. Just leave me a comment/pingback and let me know. I will keep comments open for 48 hours. You have until Thursday, February 22nd at 8:00am MST to do this.

We all know the power of the internet. We can make a difference in this woman’s life. Steve Bass also talks about the power of e-mail. The State’s Attorney responsible for supervision of David Smith, the prosecutor in the Amero case, is Michael L. Regan. You might want to write him and strongly urge he help Smith file a motion to vacate the conviction. An e-mail to the Chief State’s Attorneys of Connecticut Kevin T. Kane and Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell can’t hurt, either. (There are more e-mail links on the Julie Amero site.)

Please spread the word. Do something.

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The kids are home today and T. is at work. This means it’s nearly impossible to get any dyeing done. Instead we baked. Both of my kids love to cook with me. How many of you saw this recipe over at Cream Puffs in Venice? I mean, a Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Chip Marble Cake? Um, helloooooo???? This picture was all I needed to see. Go out and get the ingredients for this cake. Trust me. Or better yet, want to come over for dessert? It’s amazing.

I don’t normally like sweets but the little bit of the dark chocolate layer with the lightly melting white chocolate chips? To. Die. For. I don’t know about you but I’m seduced.

The other sweet part was when Superboy said out of the blue, as he obviously was enjoying the time with me, “Did you cry a lot when your mom died? I mean, for a long time?” I answered, “Yep. I cried a lot.” He thought for a second and said, “I really hope you don’t die until I am much older.” “Me too baby. Me too.” We went on to talk about my mom and how much I used to love cooking with her just like they love cooking with me. Even though I got no work done, I’m glad the three of us just got to hang out and spend time with one another today. Some days just need to be like that don’t they?

Now who’s coming over to eat this cake with me?

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I have. I’ve dyed for three days straight and am slowly getting caught up with orders. Because of the lovely weather I was unable to dye for an entire week. I’ve also been waiting on yarn to get here for the Indie Swag and I dyed half of that today thank goodness. I’ve been extremely stressed out waiting on all of this yarn to get here. Friday and Saturday were spent on custom orders and are ready to mail out tomorrow. Can you tell what’s the most popular colorway right now? Click to see the bigger version.

The Indie Swag colorway this month is totally rad. Yes. I said rad. My amazing graphic designer & friend Cynthia of hula-la created this colorway and we both love it. The name is even fun. Also, Indie Swaggers are going to get a brand new yarn I’ll talk about in a few days. I just got it in and am very excited about it. I’m not sure if I’ve seen anyone else dye with it yet either. More on that later.

I had something else to talk about and I can’t remember. I’m tired. I just ate a peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich with a glass of milk. I was feeling slightly hypoglycemic so it sounded good. I think it’s been seven years since I’ve had one of these sandwiches. I never eat sandwiches. Do you? What’s your favorite? Just curious.

I’m going to knit. Maybe I’ll take a nap? I haven’t done that in a few years either. Did you hear about the new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine that shows taking a 30 minute nap decreases your chances of having a heart attack? I order naps all around! Tell your friends,family, employer that you’re just trying to live longer.

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It was a beautiful day. I went for a long run and got a bunch of dyeing done. There was not a single cloud in the sky all day long. This is what it’s supposed to be like in New Mexico in February.

My sister-in-law and her husband are in town and we have a babysitter for the night. I think it’s time for a big cocktail. Ayup. It’s 5:35pm. Most definitely cocktail time.

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I’ve been busy over the past few days. My Eye Candy for today is the almost finished yoke of Supergirl’s Cabo Hoodie. I love the colors. And I really love how they are pooling.

I struggled a bit with the first part only because I’ve never done a top down raglan before. Thanks to Clothesknit, we worked it out and I cranked out this much already with only a few hours of TV time. Here’s a closer shot.

Nala needs to lift some weights to fill out the shoulders in this a bit better. Supergirl was so cute last night. As she kissed me goodnight she looked down at the knitting in my lap and asked, “Will it be done in the morning when I wake up Mommy?” I know. I laughed too. This morning the first thing she said to me was, “Wow. You still have a loooooong way to go huh Mommy?” Uh yeah.

I am really enjoying this so far. I’m such a visual learner I’m having a hard time picturing how it all works. I know that soon the shoulders will go onto stitch holders and then I’ll just knit down the body. I just can’t really envision exactly how the sleeves work but I’m sure I can figure it out. Or beg someone to help me. I want to have it finished within a week so she can still wear it while it’s chilly.

Also? Yes the sky is really that blue.

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