I’d like to say it’s been a crazy few weeks around here, but I’m beginning to see that it’s always a crazy few weeks at my house.  With two very active little girls, there is no rest for the wicked!  Between piano lessons, baking for random school events, helping with reading homework, and just keeping all their stuff organized, it gets hectic around here.  To add to the chaos, we’ve had an on again, off again schedule of people getting sick.  In the last 2 months, we’ve had 3 rounds of strep throat, 1 sinus infection and numerous colds.  Yesterday I had an appointment with the podiatrist because I was having pain in the ball of my foot when I walked (or ran) a lot.  It (along with the sinus infection) had finally caused me to stop running.  The podiatrist said it wasn’t a big deal, just a impinged nerve and that he could give me a simple little injection.  Again, let me stress that this sounded like it wasn’t a big deal. I asked if it was cortisone, and he said no, it was another steroid and a pain killer.  The pain killer should have been my first hint.  He seemed rather nonchalant about the whole thing.  So, I said go ahead, let’s get this thing taken care of.  Holy Hannah!!!  The shot itself wasn’t a big deal.  It tweaked the nerve endings a bit but didn’t really hurt much.  However, by noon I was feeling it.  By 2pm I was walking to a drug store to find an ice pack to put on my foot.  By 5pm when I left the office, I could barely get my shoe back on.  My foot had swelled up like a sausage and it hurt to put weight on it.  I went home and planted myself on the sofa with an ice pack and barely moved.  It hurt every time the kids came to cuddle up with me. It hurt to have a light blanket on me.

This morning when I woke up, it was still very painful.  However, it’s steadily gotten better over the course of the day.  I can now almost completely curl my toes.  I no longer want to curse the doctor or the broom he road in on.  Honestly, the only good thought I had about that man was that at least he kind of flirted with me before putting me through this much pain.

Since I was stuck in a sitting position anyway, I decided it was time to take stock of our winter hats and see if the girls need any new hats for winter.  I was amazed (not at the variety of hats, after all this is the Northland) but of how dirty they all were.  I took several of the knit hats that were the worst offenders and washed them in the sink.  Several fleece hats went into the washing machine.  To be fair, only the bright multi-colored hat and the purple pointy hat are ones my girls will wear this fall.  The others are baby hats that need to find a good home.  In fact, the green one is one that will be going to a relatively new baby as soon as I finish it.  I’ll talk more about it in my next post.

I’m starting to feel a new hat binge coming on soon.  Maybe a sized up Vine Lace Baby Hat for Lily.   There’s a better picture on Ravelry here.  Since I can still get away with fun hats for both girls, maybe I’ll try the Purple Delight Hat.  Whatever hat I choose, it’s got to be cool enough for the playground but still fun for the girls to wear (and for me to knit!).

I was talking to some men not of my generation a few days ago when one of them mentioned that I have a knitting blog.  This gentleman looked at me and said something along the lines of, "what’s it about?" 

"Knitting," I replied. 
Clearly, this was not the answer he was looking for.  I don’t think he could imagine what someone could write about knitting that would hold anyone’s attention.  So I explained that I showed pictures of my finished projects.  That seemed to make more sense. 

So I give you an actual. real. finished project.  Whoo hoo!  Strike up the band because I actually finished something that I can show on the blog.  Secret Squirrel projects are nice for the pocketbook, but rough on the blog. 

It’s a hat made out of stash yarn.  It’s a wool yarn, but the type is a mystery as the ball band was lost.  I think I bought the yarn on super discount a while back because I wanted to break out of my blue rut – what I didn’t realize, was that I was only getting into a green yarn rut.  The project I bought this for never really peaked my interest and the yarn just sat in my basement.  I finally got it out for a little boy’s birthday hat.  Now I realize that it’s kind of strange to give a little boy a wool hat in June, even in Northern Wisconsin it’s not that cold.  However, I decided that this little boy’s brother got a hat last year for his birthday (his birthday is in November) and it just wasn’t fair if the one child got a hat and the other one didn’t. 

The hat is loosely based on Jared Flood’s Turn a Square Hat.  It’s my favorite hat pattern as it seems to flatter everyone.  I found a gauge that was good for this yarn and just guestimated how many stitches to cast on.  I knit purl 2 knit 2 ribbing for about an inch and then changed to stockinette.  When it got to be time to decrease, I divided the stitches by 4 and put markers at those four points.  Easy peasy.  It’s a simple hat that takes very little time to knit (that is, as long as you don’t let it sit for a month before doing the decreases). 

By the way, have you heard that the Knitmore Girls podcast is doing a preemie hat design contest?  The rules are here.  You use leftover sock yarn to knit hats for preemies.  The deadline is August 31, so you have plenty of time. 

ThisThorpe Hat won’t be worn for much longer.  The days are getting longer and the sun is getting warmer eah day.  I’ve been wearing my sunglasses almost permanently for the last few weeks.  If they’re not over my eyes, they’re resting on top of my head.  In this neck of the woods, that’s a sure sign that spring is on it’s way.  Now, I know that this spring thaw probably won’t last.  It’s a teaser before the real spring starts.  We always have a monster snow storm in March or a big ice storm in April.  So it won’t last, but boy does it feel good while it’s here!  Sam Cook, one of my favorite writers from the News Tribune, wrote an article about it here.  He wrote exactly what I’ve been feeling lately.  Check out the link today, as it’s only good for 5 more days. 

As for the hat, it’s one I made for my husband after he saw the baby version I did.  It’s made out of Cascade Superwash in a chocolatey brown.  My husband thinks it would be even cooler with a nose piece – it would look like a battle helmet.  I guess this is what I get for marrying a history geek.   

I am off to pack for my short trip to Florida!  I have some sock yarn in a yummy multi-colored brown to make Millicent from Cookie A.  I’ve got a thing for knee high socks, I must have a pair!  I also took some Handmaiden Seasilk for a scarf – seems like perfect beach knitting to me.  I’ll be posting photos on Facebook while I’m gone and will be sure to write a full report when I get back.  Don’t tell my husband, but I’ve heard that Sanibel Island has 2 knitting stores!!