Carpet & Tinking

This last week I have been very busy doing non-crafting things.  I am now watching one of Thomas' classmates, and his sister, before and after school.  I had to do a bunch of setup to start our routine off right!  First I bought a carpet cleaner and started cleaning the carpets!  They still need a second (and maybe a third) round of cleaning, but at least it no longer looks like I'm running a zoo!  (No more monkeys spilling milk, etc, all over the floor, please!  Ick!)  I'm monitoring closer than ever to make sure Thomas and Anna behave with their food, however still somehow a banana peel made its way under the couch.  Grrr.

After I started the carpets I went and bought a small cabinet, too.  I assembled it and put in puzzles, activity books, Playmobile people, games, etc, in it.  The kiddos are supposed to ask before they dive in so I can make sure all the pieces get put back away.   So far so good.   I'm thinking about getting a second cabinet.

I picked up my nephew's hat this week again.  I started it in June when I was on vacation visiting family but didn't finish before I left.  He wanted a slouchy hat but I underestimated the length and finished it too early.  I decided to pick it up again and rip back to the decreases.  Lots of tiny black stitches on size 3 needles.

Then on Monday it was knit night at West Slope Community Library.  I trouble shoot and teach basic knitting.  We had three new people this time!  Two were new knitters and one was teaching the other (the best way to learn is to teach!)  I backed them up as they had questions.  Another woman had put down knitting for about 3 years as she dealt with various life stuff and wanted help figuring out where she was on the pattern of a gorgeous scarf she was working on.  I helped her figure out which row she was at by "tink" ing (that is "knit"ing backwards) the last couple of rows.  She was having trouble getting back into the groove so I suggested that she get some plain yarn (the  scarf was textured) and practice the pattern on that for a couple of repeats.  Then when she found her groove again she could jump back into the scarf. :)

I've been taking the hat as my travel knitting this week.  I took it when I went to lunch with a friend and now I've finally re-knit all the yarn that was attached, which is about 2" past where I ripped out to, and need to connect more yarn, .  I think I might go another half-inch or so before I start decreasing again.  (The altoids are because I ate a lot of onions and didn't want to make my friend pass out! lol)

Other than that, I've been busy with kids, cleaning, and reading!  Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series is fun!  I'm reading the second book, Lost in a Good Book, with my sister for our Friday Night knit club.

By the way, I *did* start writing this on Thursday, and I've been pretty good about doing so.  I just don't always finish editing and publishing on Thursday, so perhaps its better to say that I'll publish weekly by Friday, though I'll still be aiming for Thursdays. :)

My back is very fatigued from the week's work so I hope to get back into knitting more and rest a bit this weekend.

TTFN.  Ta ta for now! ;)