November 18, 2006 - 11:37 PM.

Xmas sweater etc

Twenty-six of the 32 people who list me as a read here have not updated their diaries in at least 6 months. Nearly all of them have been defunct so long that when you click on them an error page comes up. I just added a few reads back in that I used to look at long ago when I started this, and a few that I have stumbled across somehow.

I just don't know how someone starts a journal and doesn't continue it. I hear that people do, but -- how does one stop? The only thing keeping me away from mine is the sheer amount of time demanded by mothering a toddler (baby, infant, newborn if we work backwards). I just don't know how the stuff doesn't keep coming out of people. Although I can tell that quite a few people like the setup part of blogging far more than the actual writing - that happens off Diaryland too, as blogs come and go.

Mother's surgery is Monday. I am surprised to find her in apparently excellent Italian hands. Plus the docs reconsidered surgery for my father, and decided he would be much better off with a wait-&-see, so we are waiting 3 months to see.

Child continues his 2-3-month difficulty eliminating, as I try to cram him with fiber. He likes to make up nonsense words, and is offended if we use the word "pretend" - he wants to do everything for real or it's not on. He had a tiny cold last week and was snurfley yesterday morning; he heard the sound of his mucousy little sinuses, put his fingertips on his nose and moved it around in amazement, and said to me, "No nose make sound!" He also has made sudden great strides feeding himself, and insists on drinking from an open glass, with a straw ("stvaaawh").

Husband's job has changed, from sort of nebulous marketing/internal communications/media production/order forms, to straight graphic design & production. He is happier at work, is going through some (later-bankable) training on the company dime, and expects a raise and a shift from hourly to salary in the next few months. I'm glad he's happy.

Plus when I asked him to keep today's birthday low-key for me (so much to manage this week), he did so with a Cafe Press apron and a DQ treat! So I am redoubling m my efforts to complete his Xmas sweatervest by actual Xmas, to show him how much I appreciate all his loving attention and his many kindnesses. Like all his clothing, he prefers understated and "classy," so I chose a chocolate-brown sport-weight wool from Knitpicks (Telemark in the color Chestnut). It is not working up as soft as the New Zealand superwash I made his black waistcoat of a few years ago - this is a stiffer yarn somehow - but I think it will soften with washing and wear. Because there will be no buttons to embellish this piece, I am going to "decorate" the front somehow - maybe a thin double cable going down one side, or a cable on the necklinle. VERY subtle, per his instructions.

I told him the other night how lucky he is to have a wife who will stick to his requests when knitting for him. This piece is 180 tiny stitches per row, on size 3 needles, in a plain color many of my knitting friends would consider boring. Too many of their guys get garish scarves or nothing at all! I don't know a single one who will knit fine gauge items in solid earth tones, in lightweight yarns. Worsted or bulky for them, and size 10 1/2 needles or nothing! (Apparently I am a saint in my own mind.)

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