Ok, perhaps I'm done seething. At least for today. Poor girls! We went to get their hair cut and the hairdresser found one of those muther f*^%ing pests on my baby's head! We had them once before about six years ago, and let me tell you, I should have been hospitalized. Really. I completely lost it. I "relaxed" with the vaccuum cleaner in my hand. I vacuumed every surface in my house . . . . at least three times the first day! I threw away every freakin' toy including the plastic ones. Screw bagging up the stuffed animals, they went in the garbage. I used the damn pesticides on my girls' heads . . . twice. Why? Because I saw one of the creepy crawlies crawling after the first time! I made them sit in wood chairs on top of sheets and vacuumed underneath them when they moved. Finally, my husband caught me wandering vacantly around the house holding the vacuum cleaner like a lover and mumbling something incoherent. I'm not kidding people. He forced me to take a xanax and really, all went pretty well after that. We nit picked for a few days but we pretty much cleared it up. Probably the vacuuming.

This time, I don't know what happened. Some kind of super mom thing or something. I totally didn't panic. Sophie did. She had a screaming hissy fit outside of the salon (which is conveniently located in a strip mall) and can you really blame her? The idea that those beasts are crawling around on your head . . . yikes.

So we went to Wal-Mart, bought our drugs and assorted combs and brushes (I'm throwing the old ones away) and went home and de-loused ourselves. I deloused myself, because I trust no one in this house to check me for nits. I'm the only person who can do it correctly, so I guess I'm just screwed.

I didn't find ANYTHING on the child's head where the hairdresser said she saw a live one. Nary a nit and no dead bugs after the drugs. I did find about 15 nits in the other child's hair. Her hair. Oh my lord. It is down to the middle of her back and thick. Thick thick. I've gone over her about three times today and each time found one or two that I missed. Savannah's hair is thin and fine, which in general sucks for her, but rocks when you have lice. I went over her three or four times, found nothing and am positive I missed nothing. One thing that is kind of funny yet kind of mean is Savannah knows I didn't find anything on her head but did on Sophie's. She keeps inching away from Sophie when they are sitting down and looking at her and going "What's that moving on your forehead?"! I know she's just scared but Sophie thinks she's screwing with her. Ah, sisters.

Then I did ass loads of laundry (still doing them) because I really think that (and the vacuuming) are what kept us from a reinfestation. That's what the Harvard Website says and I trust the Harvard dudes. Google lice and you will come up with millions of different stories and opinions. I'm sticking with the big guys.

Just to be on the safe side we are now all sitting with our heads doused in olive oil, wrapped in saran wrap and covered in shower caps and we will remain so until tomorrow at which time we will wash our oily heads and pick nits again. Well, I'll nit-pick the girls and pray there are no nits in my hair.

Those of you who have gone through this before, doesn't it suck? I know in the grand scheme of things it really doesn't. I mean, my kids don't have cancer (although I could just have possibly caused some sort of damage to them what with all the pesticide) right? Lice don't hurt you, they just make you crazy.

If you haven't gone through it yet, I pray you never have to. Please wish us well.

Can Lice Live in Wool?

Oh yes my friends you read that correctly. I'll update you all when I've quit seething from anger and yuckness. Any advice will be appreciated.

The Heat's Bringin' Out the Crazies

First, a wee bit of knitting to take the edge off . . . . .
Here are my new socks, made from Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet in some sort of brownish purply color (love it!) The pattern is Cabletini, you can find it on The Loopy Ewe under free patterns if the link doesn't work which is highly likely! But I'm gonna call 'em "Mochatini" you know, after those hideous drinks that look all pretty like chocolate but taste like straight vodka. I know some of you may enjoy those, but I prefer my drinks to be fruity and not taste like alcohol! (Even though I need some in it!)
Isn't the cable pretty? You may have noticed that I found my camera. Well, Savannah found it when she was cleaning up the loft. Look at the picture below. . . .
Evidence! She totally misplaced it, especially since this was NOT the only picture of her! There were like 20! Can you tell it's totally a self-portrait? Love it.

The crazy new mom next door (I say new as a way to excuse her behavior, but really, her kids are 6, she should be more broken in by now) has banned her children from playing with mine because they are too old. Now look, it's not like my 12 and 10 year olds are banging down their door to ask them to play, it's quite the other way around. And all they want to do is get Sophie to play softball with them or do crafts. But apparently( since she used this line with me - I know what I was doing when I was 12) she thinks all 12 year olds are little pervs or something.

I tried to explain to her that Sophie was a young 12. I don't think she thinks its a good thing to have a 12 year old who isn't really interested in boys yet (she thinks they are gross and they are, witness her brother) or doesn't care about Abercrombie and Fitch or all the crap the mean girls gossip about. HELLO! Rookie mistake!

I believe that you should expose your kids to lots of stuff when they are still under your control, so you can explain things to them, tell them why something is dangerous or stupid. Older kids can be good or bad influences. As long as the older kid your kid wants to hang out with isn't doing drugs or something, use it as a lesson if they are doing something you don't like. And trust me, Sophie is not doing anything this woman wouldn't like.

But you know this is America, a free world and I'm allowed to parent however I want as long as I don't abuse my kids right? So I guess she is too. I just told Sophie to tell those kids next time they ask to play that their mother won't let them play with older kids. Ha! Then she can deal with the crap, not me!

The Camera Fairy Stole My Camera

It's missing. Not just misplaced because it's been missing since before the fourth of July! No one in this house will admit to messing with it. However, it is not in the place which I last left it, which is right here by the computer. So you tell me. I suspect Savannah, as the last time I downloaded pictures there were about 20 of her hamming it up and taking pictures of herself. She can't resist that for more than a couple of days so I think I need to go scope out her room.

And oh, I had so many photo ops this weekend! The parade of course, which my dogs and children were in! They walked with the groomer. So cute! Then there was the lameness of the Maritime Festival. Now, if you like the Maritime stuff I'm sure it was ok, but when you are used to a regular carnival like we have downstate every fourth, this one made me sad. It really was all about the ships.

The fireworks were pretty cool though. We sat on the huge rocks at the side of Lake Huron and watched the fireworks over the water. It was rocker. This year they had new ones (to me anyway) They would start of like those big balls of white points and then the points would all melt into each other like snow!

The next day I could have taken pictures at our friend's cabin at Hubbard Lake. It was a beautiful day and I remembered sun block so I didn't burn! Sophie was finding petoskey stones and catching crawdads! One that they caught was looking like he suffered from some sort of pollution or something, he was missing his front pincers and an antennae. Our friend Lily made some killer Pina Coladas!

Yesterday was chill day, but I could have taken pictures of the strawberries Savannah picked on the fifth and that we made into Strawberry Smoothies! Yum. Alas, no pictures, but I hope the description kept you all interested until I find the dang camera!

I'm still knitting away on my Tapestry scarf, almost through one skein. It's curling horribly at the edges, but I'm hoping blocking will straighten it out. And five of my 11 squares for the Not Your Ordinary Block Exchange have come in so far! It 's so exciting getting stuff in the mail! Speaking of , I need to mail my squares for the Hopps for Hope Lodge Afghan to Holly.

Gotta jet!

Amy's Yarn Finds It's Special Purpose!

I thought this chevrony pattern would suit the Rowan Tapestry that I won from a contest on Amy's blog. What do you think? Sunsets, fall leaves . . . hmmmm. . . do I detect a theme?

Foliage all done! I think I knitted it on needles that might have been to big. They were the only circs with a small enough cord I could find. So it's sort of short and squat but still wearable as evidenced by Sophie . . .
And here are my nicely blocked socks. The reason I blocked them was to see if they would make a better picture that way. I'm not sure. Blocking is great for some things, like lace and sweaters, but when you put on a pair of socks, they kind of conform to your feet, blocked or not. Maybe I'll just try to perfect the "socks on feet" pictures in the future.

Necessity Being the Mother of Invention

I don't have sock blockers, but I love the way socks look in pictures after they've been blocked, so I made my own sock blockers out of wire hangers! And look, the coolest part? You can hang them up to dry - cuz they are hangers!

Here's the obligatory shot of them on my feet (pre-blocking). I tried and tried to get a picture without the puppy in it, but he was seriously licking the camera! He loves the camera.

They are Monkeys made with Alpaca Sox sock yarn. Of course, I threw away the band so I can not tell you the colorway.

I'm also working on a pair of socks for Sophie, out of Panda Wool, purple and pink. I'm making them like the great old tube sox (except with a short row heel) of the seventies - you know with the bonus stripes at the top? They will be a Christmas surprise, so I only knit them when she's not around.

In the meantime, I've got to have something to work on so she doesn't get suspicious. My fingers were itching for some bigger needles and fatter yarn, so I grabbed my lone skein of Manos Del Uruguay which has been languishing in the stash for well over a year and Raveled it to see what you can make with one skein of the stuff.

Foliage! Ta-da!
Isn't it just the perfect colorway for something called foliage? All nice and fall like. I'm loving it!

Two at a Time

What the bejezus is this mess? Am I just stupid? Do you people have this book? Can you knit two socks at one time? Because I can't. Just can't. Like, whipped the needles and yarn across the room can't. And I'm totally bummed because that book cost a lot of money! And so did the stupid 47 inch Addi Lace Needle that I had to buy to knit two socks on and that I will never use for anything else.

I tried for four hours at least to make a go of it. I even knit just the one sock at a time with the magic loop method. Which I could do, but seriously, all the pushing around stitches and pulling out cables just took too long to make it worthwhile. But when I would try for two at a time, I just ended up with twisted skeins of yarn, cables everywhere, and somehow I kept losing the little loop of cable you are supposed to have between the stitches on each sock.

I really want to learn how to do this. I don't want to give up. If any of you out there have mastered this technique and have any advice for me, please throw it over here. I need help! : )