Brrrrr

It's colder today and I'm sitting in front of the big window in the living room. This particular window seems to radiate cold in the winter. It's doubled paned and I'm not sure why it always feels so cold in front of this window--but when I put plastic on the windows (I'm trying to hold out another week or two) you can see the plastic bow out into the room in the evening (and it's much warmer sitting next to the window.

But most of today I was not cold. Most of today I was cleaning. I picked up the downstairs--something I've started and failed to finish at least three times in the last six weeks. I sorted the kids' VHS and DVD collection and listed the ones that they've outgrown on the market board.

Next, I attacked the kitchen. The kitchen never quite gets clean during canning season and from time to time descends into a chaos that it seems impossible to recover from. Although I have a few more batches of beans to do, I managed to get most of the kitchen cleaned, and I got the dishes caught up. I swiffered. Phew.

Finally, I attacked the living room. For a moment there it looked back. I made the mistake of sitting on the floor as I put the books back on the bookshelf. This led to laying back for a moment which led to closing my eyes for a moment. That was almost it. But at the last possible moment before losing consciousness (in spite of back pain because I guess I'm getting kind of old for laying on the floor for a nap) Chris called my name as he tromped up the stairs. I don't remember what he wanted but I woke up and feeling guilty for no reason, struggled to look busy instead of sleepy and confused. So the rest of the living room got picked up and vacuumed and the whole house feels better for finally getting those three living areas under control.

Now I'm listening to an old CD that the Lake Elsinore Ward Relief Society put together and working on a variety of different sweaters. I do have an unusual quantity of sweaters all going at the same time. I could knit on nothing but sweaters in October and probably still not finish them all (although truthfully, I'd probably finish all but Chris's sweater--which is not my fault but the fault of his 47 inch circumference). I don't have any plans to make October the month of sweaters though. I'd like to make considerable progress on the Orenburg shawl or it will start to worry me that I won't get it done in time for Christmas.

I did finish the second baby girl sweater and it's washed and blocking right now. So hopefully in another day or two I'll have photos of the big sister and little sister sweaters. I strongly suspect that both sweaters blocked out at a larger-than-intended size and won't fit either intended recipient until NEXT winter, but they're still cute and they'll need to be warm next winter anyway.

Did I mention the yarn I ended up knitting for Chris's sweater? I switched from the single-ply wool to JaggerSpun Zephyr DK weight. It's such a pleasant yarn to work with and by buying it in cones from Sarah's Yarn I save a gazillion bucks on it. It will cost me less to make this sweater for Chris than the smaller Prairie Silk sweater for Max.

oops dying battery! more later