Frozen Great Lake Hat.

So since Spring straight up refuses to come to Cleveland how about I finally post about my Frozen Great Lakes Hat?

The yarn is Destination Yarn Letter (my own handdyed) in the colorway Frozen Great Lake.  I've blogged about my inspiration for this colorway before but I can pretty much sum it up in this one of my dad's Lake Erie photographs:

Beautiful.  Although I am SO sick of our lake looking like that.  But it makes for pretty yarn:

And an even prettier hat:

It took one skein of yarn with a tiny bit left over.  My skeins are typical 100 gram skeins so that's alot of sockyarn for a hat.  Worth it, though:

The pattern is Ripple from Knit and Tonic.  I loved the pattern - hers are always well written - but I DO NOT love that you can't buy the PDF through Ravelry.  I have to actually keep track of where I save the file.  Boo to that.  However I love the whole Ripple concept used for a yarn based on water:

I was trying so hard to get a picture of me in the hat with the frozen lake in the background...

That didn't make me look like a crazy person.

It just makes sense to me.  I do like aligning patterns with yarn names, though.  It's kindof a thing.

The yarn matches the water!  Which ripples like the pattern!  I CAN'T HANDLE THE COORDINATION!

As far as where to acquire this lovely yarn - Destination Yarn the Etsy site has been shut down for awhile now.  I apologize for that.  But!  I'm currently dying towards Knitters Fantasy next weekend.  So if you're going to be there I'll have this and lots of other beautiful colorways with me.  Hopefully after next weekend I"ll get Etsy back in action.

Overall I'm really thrilled with this hat.  It's stylishly slouchy, the ripples break up the variegation in the yarn in a super pleasing way, and I tend to get compliments on it wherever I go.  A total knitting win!

Less of a win has been this weather.  Last year we were already going to the beach.  Seriously.  Monday I took the attitude of Fine.  If it's going to insist on snowing we're going to at least enjoy it:

 By Thurs. I was more of the attitude of I don't care if it's cold we WILL be outside:

They seem to be missing a crucial element... Except that they were pretending it was a boat so...

Today I gave up on spring and took them to the Cleveland Aquarium:



Our passes expire at the end of the month so I wanted to squeeze in one last visit.  Of course since it's Good Friday EVERYONE had off and EVERYONE was there.  It was crazy crowded.  And can I just... well... I hate to judge other parents but there was a couple there with 2 kids who were obviously older than both of mine blocking the way with a giant double stroller.  Um?  Really?  It's a small space with not much walking and your kids can't handle that?  Not to mention there are two parents - that's one for each kid.  But you need to contain them in a stroller?  And I get it... there are kids with special needs and sometimes that's not always apparent and you never know what a family is dealing with and you should NEVER judge because you just don't know and blah blah blah....

The Lion fish is not pleased with my judging.

Meanwhile I'm 7.5 months pregnant waddling through the place by myself with my 2 and no stroller of any kind.  And it was no big deal because SHOCK!  My kids actually listen to me.  A friend of mine told me that this third kid has pushed me over the edge and I no longer have any tolerance or patience for anyone else's nonsense.  I'm afraid that it's true.  Meh.

The Political Post.

So.  I've been avoiding blogging because I've been avoiding posting about politics.  And that's all anyone's been thinking about for the last week.  But I've decided, screw it.  I get one political post every 4 years.  Warning... it gets a little ranty and I cuss alot.  Let's do it.

First of all let me say that I went into this election more open minded than any other one before.  It's been a rough 5 or 6 years for this country.  If someone else had better solutions I was more than willing to listen.  And with no residual hatred for the awful that was Bush tainting this election I'd even go as far as to say I was leaning right.  And then the second debate happened and.... well..

FLAMES.  ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE...

So I ended up voting for Obama.  Again.  It wasn't a perfect vote and I don't think he has all of the answers.  But I also don't think it was the most important thing that happened last night.  Here's who I think the real winners were:

6.)  Women.  There are more women elected to the Senate than ever before.  The ENTIRE delegation from New Hampshire is women - both Republican and Democrat - including all senators, congressmen, and even the governor.  That has never happened before.  The first openly gay senator (also a women) was elected in Wisconsin and the first Asian American senator was elected in Hawaii.  Bottom line:  Women kicked ass and took names last night. 

5.)  The City of Cleveland.  We cannot expect to have a great city without great schools.  PERIOD.  End of conversation.  Because without great schools people like me - who love this city, who love living here, who love their neighborhood and their home and who have no reason to move away - will leave the second their first child hits Kindergarten.

Pictured.  The very tough decision we have to make before the 2014 school year begins feasting at the West Side Market.

To say I am happy that Issue 107 passed would be an understatement.

4.)  Women's Health.  First of all.  FUCK YOU TODD - LEGITIMATE RAPE -AKIN.  Ok now that I got that one out of my system...  Also I really don't think that his resounding defeat last night was because that many more people are pro-life.  I think it's because PEOPLE UNDERSTAND SCIENCE YOU RIDICULOUS DOUCHEBAG. 

Anyways!

I also want to say that by Women's health I very much do not just mean abortion.  Bottom line here is that I'm a Catholic.  I am pro-life.  However I also believe that the path to making abortion unnecessary is through education paired with easy and affordable access to birth control.  We live in a country where 49% of pregnancies are unintended  (49% WTF HOW? OMFG.)  We need to decrease that number for a whole host of reasons.  And the way to do that is not through forcing religious views on people who do not want them (again I'm not just talking about abortion.)  I also believe that it's not just the babies that may or may not have been aborted that deserve our care and protection.  So any organization that provides prenatal care for children that would not otherwise have had access to it is not all bad.

I know that one is an issue people feel very passionately about and I'm really putting myself out there by expressing my opinion on it.  Please be respectful if you respond.

3.)  Equal Civil Rights.  On Tuesday for the first time it was put to voters Marriage Equality won.  I'm not going to go into this too much other than to say that the tide is turning.  It IS happening.  And there WILL be a wrong side to history on this one.  What I mean is this... Do you really think any of these peoples' grandchildren are proud to have relatives in this picture?

People protesting changing laws against Interracial Marriage.  It wasn't until 1967 that The Supreme Court ruled that laws against it were unconstitutional.

2.)  FACTS.  So I case you don't know who he is Nate Silver is the geek behind the political polling blog Five Thirty Eight.  On his site he has some sortof complicated mathematical formula for assessing all of the polls to come up with his predictions on the election.  And for months he has been predicting that Obama would win.  Which means that Romney supporters were LIVID.  They called him some awful names.  And claimed over and over that he was biased.  Let's see how that played out:

He got every single prediction right.  Every. Single. State.  you know why?

BECAUSE FACTS ARE NOT BIASED.

That's the most disturbing thing this election cycle.  If facts don't support your argument then the facts are biased.  Um, no.  Facts are FACTS.  Period.  And if they don't support your argument than maybe you need to find a new position.  Because the bottom line is this - we all get to have our own opinions.  We do NOT get to have our own facts.  Just ask Unskewed Polls.  So I'm really hoping between Nate Silver and Sandy that we stop arguing about facts and start arguing about how to actually fix this country. 

1.)  Women.  Last night I voted as a woman along that line.  Very clearly.  And I know a ton of other people who did, too.  And that was the difference in this election:

How women voted in the 2012 election vs how men voted.  Chart from BBC News.

Bottom line:  You can't tell 53% of the electorate that it's cool if they don't make equal wages as long as they are home for dinner and win.  HEAR THAT BOYS????

Maybe next presidential election instead of talking about how women decided the election we'll be talking about how a woman WON the election.  A girl can dream, right?

Whew.  Ok.  I'm spent now.  That will be the last political post for a while.   Please if you respond be respectful.  We're all in this together. 

Life is not over. A Rant.

So it's been awhile since I've gone on an old fashioned rant so why not.... 

A few things have happened lately that have nothing to do with me and yet have frustrated me to distraction.  And I couldn't understand why situations that I have no stake in whatsoever would make me so angry.  By all accounts it made no sense.  But the more I thought about it the more I realized it had nothing to do with the situations themselves.   And what I'm angry about makes perfect sense:

I am so, so, SO sick of the thought that when you have kids?  LIFE IS OVER.

Um no.  NO.  No it's not. Yet this seems to be the prevailing attitude lately.  There are whole websites devoted to Before Kids Bucket Lists.  And even a whole advertising campaign devoted to this concept.  And it pisses me off.

Because there is an inherent insult in this way of thinking.  You know what?  I have two kids.  And my life is FAR from over thankyouverymuch.

Pictured:  Last Friday night.  I went out with the intention of having one drink.  Maybe two.  Then we made friends with the bartender, tried a new shot on the house, and hung out with the band.  A night that would have made even my kidless 27 year old self proud.

I'm not saying things aren't different.  I would never say that.  I joke all the time about how different things are.  Hell my little About Me on my sidebar is basically a paragraph about how things have changed.  But different is NOT the death of funtimes.

Pictured:  No fun at all, obviously.

The opposite of that, actually.  Because with kids - especially kids my kids' age - anything and everything can be a recipe for ridiculous funtimes.  Situations that suck as an adult become awesome adventures with a kid.  Even a random lazy Sunday lunch in our pj's can result in laughing so hard that you cry:


Video of our entire family cry-laughing at lunch today.  Over basically nothing.  Yet I laughed so hard my sides hurt afterwards.

And yes.  It's hard.  I'm frazzled.  I'm sleep deprived (I did the math once and realized that in the whole of 2011 I never had more than 2 nights in a row of 6+ hours of uninterrupted sleep.  So "sleep deprived" seems like a poor description of just how fucking tired I am.)  And alot of the times I'm also sticky.

But I am happy.

Deeply happy.  Soulfully happy.  The type of happy that only comes when you know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be.  When you are no longer living towards some dream of a hopeful future.  When you are actually in it, giggles and stickiness and all.

But don't get me wrong.  I would also never say that "life began with my children" or "I never knew what love was until I saw her face" or "There's nothing more beautiful than a child's laugh" or any of those awful platitudes on the other side of it.  They make me equally insane.  Because kids are absolutely NOT a requirement for happiness (neither is marriage or travel or any other life choice people are intent on being judgy about) But I will tell you this:

I wouldn't trade my kids for any awesome trip, amazing time with friends, or ridiculous night out in the entire world.

(and I know from awesome trips, amazing times with friends, and ridiculous nights out)

In other less rant-y news we finally have a grown up patio set a mere 6 years after we built our patio!

 My kid in typical her fashion immediately asked "Are we having a party?"  I explained that no, this was going to be a permanent fixture in our backyard.  Her reaction?  "We should have a party"

Yes.  Yes we should.

Edited to add a line of clarification.  I do NOT believe that kids are the only road to happiness any more than I believe that they are the death of it.  Just wanted to make that clear.

Kid's TV.

So I have more on how our daughter's been doing and how we've been surviving and all of that later. Right now? A brief aside. We've been watching a whole lot more TV than we normally do. When her painkillers wear off it's simply the best way to distract her. Especially in the middle of the night. I have some thoughts.

1.) I HATE the Disney Vault. No seriously, you guys, I motherfucking hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. Because right about now we would own the whole Disney collection* except we can't b/c of the vault. So we're stuck watching the same two movies over and over and over and over and over again.

Bastards.

2.) Oh the repetition. When I was pregnant the first time I bought our unborn child my favorite kids' movie ever. Sleeping Beauty. I couldn't wait to share it with my daughter. Now? If I have to watch "MOONIE, GIRL, NIGH-NIGH, MAN, UP" again you're going to find me in a corner rocking and muttering OnceuponaDream. So I added Beauty and the Beast to our repertoire (only one out of the damn vault) figuring that since both Matt and I had fond memories of it, it would hold up to multiple viewings. Un huh. Those songs? Haunt my dreams. Also as Matt asked me at 5AM the other night "Why does anyone even like Gaston. He's not that hot."

Also he's kindof a dick.

 3.) However, Disney is still King. I thought we could get away with some off brand animated kids movie and watched some generic princess something. Yeah. The songs were TERRIBLE. Also it may have resulted in me screaming things at the tv such as WAITING FOR A PRINCE IS NOT A VIABLE LIFE PLAN or IF A GUY EVER TREATS YOU LIKE THAT KICK HIS ASS TO THE CURB. Which, probably not the most productive way to teach my daughter about independence, standing on her own two feet, etc.

Calm down, mom.  I like primates but you have a long time before you have to worry about me dating one.

4.) RAWR CHOO CHOO. Yes. There is a television show called... wait for it... Dinosaur Train. Where Dinosaurs ride on a Train. It sounds completely random. Except that both of these are things that a toddler can get behind. I would love to have been in on the marketing meeting that came up with this one. 'Hey what's your toddler into?" "Dinosaurs and trains" "Brilliant. We're done here." Next up Helicopter Princess or Dog Car.

I can't make this shit up.

5.) My kid is not an idiot. She's just small. So much of the television out there treats my kid like she's straight up dumb. Not Ok with that. And Dora? Fits squarely into this category. Seriously, this is a billion dollar franchise with an entire song that is "I'm a MAP!" That's the entirety of the lyrics. I'm a Map. NO.

and by friend I mean "gullible kid whose parents will spend a fortune on my licensed merchandise"

6.) There's a reason Sesame Street has endured. And it's not their many marketing strategies. It's moderately educational**, the characters are relatable, and it doesn't make me stabby in any way. So bring on OOOR (elmo), COOKIE, and BIRDIE. Also every time I see the count I think of this and that's always a win:


7.) DJ Lance is a rockstar. That is all.

So wow. That got alot longer than I thought it would. Clearly I can't wait for a time when she can roam around without ending up in pain and I can turn the damn TV off.

I would roam now if you'd let me.  Screw what the doctor says.  Girl's gotta MOVE.

*We would own the whole Disney Collection except, of course, for Snow White. When I was a kid we took my two cousins to see this movie thinking it would be perfect for little girls. And both my mom and I were HORRIFIED. Have you ever seen this movie? The whole premise is that she's going to cook and clean for 7 little men until her prince comes along and rescues her. So many things wrong with this. So many. I vowed then and there that my kids would never be allowed to see it. I think I was like 12 at the time.

** Just a heads up. TELEVISION CANNOT REPLACE EDUCATING YOUR CHILD. Right now Nick Jr's whole schtick is "It's like preschool on your tv." Um. No. It's not. Stop it. I'm not that gullible. Even if you call your product Preschool or Einstein or whatever it's still just TV. And the end result is not an Einstein it's a kid who's quiet and sitting still for once. Market it that way. I'd respect you a whole lot more.