A Bear In Motion
At Carrabba's: Monday, November 6, 2006

Carnage

Vader's doggie door is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, he has not peed in the house since we moved. On the other hand, sometimes he takes our things on field trips:


This used to be a skein of Wool-Ease Thick & Quick. Now it is a disaster. Vader is lucky that he didn't abduct the sweater I was working on with the aforementioned Thick & Quick, or I might have unraveled him.

Other things he has taken outside - several pairs of my underwear, a snack pack of Oreo cookies, which he unwrapped before eating, a stuffed lobster, a pair of my shoes, his retractable leash, and an Elmore Leonard novel.

How did these critters ever survive in the wild long enough for us to domesticate them?

I have put aside the garter-stitch jacket and hat for now. Todd's cousin is having a baby in May, and I want to make something special for him/her. I'm making this in a grass green (KnitPicks Shine Sport in Grass, to be precise), so it's not overtly feminine.

Candy Land


Last weekend Tyler played his Very First Board Game, Candy Land. He was absolutely ecstatic. He learned some really important concepts that seem so natural to us - taking turns, drawing cards THEN moving pieces, setbacks and shortcuts. The game was perfect for his age, and since I'd never played it, I enjoyed it, too.


Todd and I both love board games, and grew up playing them. Todd was a fan of Deluxe Clue and Scrabble, while I preferred Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, and Life. I really hope it's something we can enjoy as a family.

Hou-darn-dini

Darth Vader is a bona fide escape artist. The duplex we're renting has a fenced back yard - at least, at first glance. It has chain-link across the back, and field fence on the other two sides. Field fence has holes that are about 5" x 6." I thought Vader's big goofy head wouldn't fit through the relatively small gaps.

I thought wrong.

At first, I thought he was escaping via a gap where the chain-link meets the field fence. I used zip-ties to pull the two fences together. Problem solved?

Not hardly.

I came home last week, and Vader was standing behind the gate, just like he was supposed to. My neighbor came walking across the street.

"Your dog is a liar," he stated.
"Excuse me?"
"In the morning, he waits until you've turned the corner, then he squirms through that fence. In the afternoon, he squirms back in - usually two seconds before you turn onto the street."
Darn.

Apparently a previous renter had a similar problem, because there are a few sections of fence that have an overlay of chicken wire. So off to Home Depot for a roll of the stuff. We strung up the chicken wire on all sections of fence not previously covered. Satisfied that our yard was now as heavily fortified as Fort Knox, we patted ourselves on the back and went back inside.

The next day, the dog got out.

It turns out that the previous chicken-wire installers made a critical error - they installed the wire on the outside of the field fence. All Vader had to do was push his cold wet nose through the field fence, and the chicken wire gapped out. Voila! Vanish!

This is war.

Now on the Needles

I am making this jacket and hat set for a friend who just had a baby. It's not for the baby, it's for her older daughter, who is almost 4. I'm knitting it in Caron Simply Soft in Grape, and added a cabled braid on the back and the larger of the front sections. I'm omitting the pocket, and will embroider her name down the sleeves.

Next up on the needles: Interweave's Pea Pod Baby Set for my cousin-in-law, who is due next spring.

Sock Monkey Hat

I made this hat for Tyler using knitty.com's pattern from the Summer 2006 issue, which can be found here. I used Paton's Divine Wool (2 strands held together) and size 10.5 dpns. I also used the nostril embroidery to tack down (up?) the brim of the hat. It's currently hiding at my mom's house, just waiting for Christmas.

A Whole New World
or, An Old World Made New


After much deliberation, and not a few doses of liquid confidence, we decided to move the family to Tallahassee, Florida. I took a job as a paralegal with a law firm, and started September 25. Todd and Tyler didn't arrive until November 1.

The five or so weeks in between were extraordinarily difficult, but I learned a lot about myself, and how I behave when I'm alone. I am still a homebody. I am still hesitant to venture out alone. However, when I'm alone I eat healthy, exercise, and generally take better care of myself.

But gosh, I'm glad to have my boys back. I just didn't feel whole without them.



Tyler likes Tallahassee. He seems totally comfortable with the move, the new location, everything. He's my little Zen master.