I logged in today thinking that it had been at least two weeks since I last posted, only to see that I dropped by last Monday to memorialize Young'un's Extreme Corn Shucking (no chainsaw necessary after all -- I snapped the stem off the corn for him with no problems. "Wow!" he said, impressed. "Those big arms of yours have a lot of strength!").
Although the calendar claims it has only been three weeks, it feels as though the kids have been hanging around forever, all in my space and clamoring for my time. There was an uptick in activity last Thursday, when my friend Tanya's older children arrived for a pre-camp visit, and the weekend was purely nuts, with all the list-making and shopping and airing out sleeping bags and fighting over whether or not Eldest should take his iPod to camp and driving kids about and refereeing computer time.
It was helpful to have Tanya's kids here, actually, because not only are they neat and polite, they could and did earn their keep entertaining MY children, but -- and it's a big but -- two more kids means that there were SIX of them here, to only one of me. Had they decided to stage an insurrection, the odds would have been decidedly in their favor.
Happily, they are all good kids, who get along well together. Even happier, B took the older four to camp yesterday, and Young'un started day camp this morning. For the next 12 days we are back to our school year schedule, with only two children in the house, both of whom will be in bed by 8:30P.
It's like a mini vacation, only without the manicures and fruity drinks.
Between limited free time during the day and the shroud of exhaustion that settles on my shoulders within 30 minutes of the last child's departure for bed, I have not done a lot of knitting since school got out. I have been plugging away on the pink and orange
Trekking socks (which, by the way, seem to be doing an admirable job with the weather ... the only rain we've had since I started them fell after sundown) and on the tunic I started last month for WB:

I actually cast off the neckline on this thing two days ago, only to discover that it didn't fit over WB's ginormous noggin. I'm afraid this is becoming a
pattern.
The bulk of my scare knitting time has been dedicated to tiny baby hats, in honor of Savannah Faith Hampson, the granddaughter of the wonderful woman who owns my
LYS, who was born prematurely on June 20, 2009 and died on the 21st (Father's Day).

They are my contribution for The Woolpack's summer knitalong, which is focusing on preemie items to be distributed to area NICUs in Savannah's memory. If you have some spare (soft, machine-washable) yarn hanging about and would care to join us, please do ... you can either mail your finished knits to the shop (address in the link above) or to me, and I'll make sure they get where they need to go.
Savannah’s Baby Cappattern courtesy of Janet Hampson
1 skein sport or DK weight yarn (depending on how tightly you knit, one skein of Berroco Comfort DK will make three hats)
size 4 needles - may be worked straight or in the round
note: finished size is not important, as not all babies in the NICU are teeny-tiny.
Cast on 72 stitches
Work in knit 2 purl 2 rib for 1”
Work in stockinette stitch for 3”
Shape cap as follows:
Next round knit 6, knit 2 together, repeat 8 more time
Work one round even
Repeat these two rows six more time, each time knitting 1 less stitch before the knit 2 together
When 9 stitches remain, (knit 1, knit 2 together) three times. Cut yarn and thread through the three remaining stitches. Seam side if knit in the flat, weave in ends, lock in the love.
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Coming Soon: another episode of Old House Follies. This time it's not just us v. the house ... it's us v. the house v. our older daughter's expecatations. Whee!!
Labels: Baby Knitting, hats, kid stuff, sweaters