If a Child Barfs in the Forest and Mom is Too Tired to Care Anymore, Does That Make Her a Bad Mom?

Well, we have come out of the rubble of barf-covered laundry and we have been victorious. It wasn't pretty and raised some serious questions aimed at Murphy and his ridiculous Law--why did this spectre of vomitousness decide to reveal itself when the Husband was out of town? why did this illness occur on the ONE nite I let Thing 2 have RED fruit punch in the last 6 months? why do they only throw up on the things that are hardest to cram in the washer and dryer like comforters and pillows? The Husband escaped unharmed and I think I did, too-but I did have a little tummy tornado this weekend that could have possibly been food poisoning-and I only threw up once, a major feat as all of my girls hit all-time record numbers of throw ups. Anyway, these are not the pretty things of which I made reference in my last entry so without further ado, here are some of the things I've gotten done recently:

2-Needle Norwegian Mittens, adapted from this pattern. I changed the cuff to corrugated ribbing and the thumb pattern and decreased the overall size by removing part of the chart. In hindsight, I thought it would be easier and faster to do them on 2 needles rather than DPNs, but purling in stranded colorwork left a bit to be desired and slowed me down way more than I intended. The second mitten is just past the halfway mark so it will definitely be ready to give the Thing 1's teacher for Christmas before their break in 3 weeks.

This is a picture (before I had all the ends woven in) of my rapid-fire, bias knit Hokie Scarf knit in 3 hours because 1. I needed one for the game, and 2. I needed a break from the stupid purling of the stupid Norwegian Mitten (did I mention I am not so much with the fair isle purling love right now???) It is made with Lion Brand Thick and Quick which, despite it's acrylic content, I LOVE because it is super squooshy, has beautiful colors, is not at all plastic-y due to it's wool blended in, and it is machine washable-perfection in a yarn that will be worn to the football stadium which is a wee teensy bit on the nasty side in the cleanliness department.

Finally, here are some pictures of what appeared on my deck a few days ago-completely uninvited. I am not ready for this kind of stuff yet. The good thing about living in Blacksburg is that I don't have to be-yesterday and today were in the mid 60s!! However, it is rumored we may have a re-enactment of this silliness in the next couple of days. I suppose if it is to be crazy cold, it may as well snow so it is a least a little prettier, ya know? I hate the cold, even if it does give me a reason to knit, but the snow is OK-it is pretty to look at and if I am going to be miserable and freezing to death, I might as well enjoy the view from behind my scarf.