Yarn Along

Sunshine has come like a flash flood after our long winter.  All of a sudden the grass is bright green and we’re wearing shorts and tank tops.  Knut is now in that near, yet far state of work.  He’s always nearby but never here.  The cold kept them out of the fields extra long this year, so they’re pushing this planting season hard.  At least it feels harder than other years.  He’s getting at least 6 hours at home to sleep every night, which is more than sometimes.  Sometimes he even gets to be home for a whole 8 hours.

Mother’s Day wasn’t as relaxing as it has been in other years because he was so glazed-over-tired.  I told him to take a nap, and he thought I should since it was Mother’s Day.  However, he operates heavy machinery, so I willingly give him that trump card.  For the good of the family, I thought he should get the fought over Sunday afternoon nap.  I was expecting the kids to behave better, but the 2 little girls were taking turns every 10 minutes waking up so I never got rest and felt exhausted by the time nap time was over.  We had a relaxing evening with family, but not before I took some strawberries and a magazine, woke up Knut and sent his groggy self down to watch the kids, and locked the door behind me for a precious 45 minutes.

So for knitting, I’m still on the Tsu Sweater.  The body is nearly done and I should be starting the sleeves any day now.  Soon it will be done, and the pretty lace will be stretched and blocked, and it will stand in line with my other knitting projects that are completed, or near completed, and just waiting for a written pattern, a photo shoot, more editing, etc.

While I’m finding enough moments throughout the day to get knitting in, I’m getting a little overwhelmed with the amount of pattern writing that is lining up to do.  I normally have one pattern in the writing phase, one in the editing phase, one in the knitting phase, etc.  I like to have a variety of stages going, so I always have something to do while watching a show, or a project that is easy to stash in my purse, or a pattern to work on in those precious evening hours.  I now have 3 complete projects done and just waiting for a few hours of technical writing to wrap them up.  I try not to ever have more than one in that waiting spot.

It’s just that my evening hours are so short these days.  I have many projects that don’t need any more knitting work but need a ton of writing work.  I simply cannot do that kind of technical writing as I am constantly interrupted and I can’t seem to find 15 minutes put together from 6am to midnight that is not interrupted.

I’ve been reading “Knitting Rules” for the first time.  I just love reading anything by the Yarn Harlot.  It’s easy to read with interruptions, and it makes you feel like someone gets you.  It’s exactly the kind of book I need right now!  The sections are short, sweet, and hysterically funny.  Laughter is so good!

Solveig is going through the same sleep issues all of our kids have gone through when they were 2-3 years old and Knut heads into a busy season.  Silje, David, and Elias all went through it until they were about 4.  She misses Knut, and won’t go to sleep at night because of it.  She lays in her bed and cries/whines for him for an hour or so on and off.  She doesn’t want me.  She wants her Daddy-routine.

We’ve found in the past that if I take the kids out to the field to visit Knut more, the sleep issues disappear, so I need to make a bigger priority of that sometime this week.  Solveig has been keeping Silje awake, since they share a room.  I’ve been letting Silje stay awake even later until Solveig is sound asleep, because it seems to help Solveig get to sleep a little faster.

Silje has been a bundle of tired emotions during the day, which hasn’t been the easiest to deal with either.  Ingrid just wants to smile at me until 11pm every night, and I’m working hard in the evenings to get her sleeping earlier.  I’m starting to see improvement.  Some nights she goes down around 9:45 now, though she still wakes up every 15 minutes until 11pm.      

I’m dreaming of a day when I’ll get my evenings back.  I miss my quiet evenings so very much.

Right around 11pm, once the last of the 5 children falls asleep, I sit down with a cup of tea and some finally alone time, and Knut walks in pretty hungry as he often doesn’t stop to eat as often as he probably should.  He’s usually eager to tell me about his day.  I’m usually crabby and not interested with seeing another human being.  We end the day, and start it all over again a few hours later.

It’s only Wednesday and I feel myself wearing thin.  I’m thinking I’m going to hire a babysitter to give myself a break on Friday or Saturday.  I’ll call it a self-date night.  Since I doubt we’ll be using our date-night budget this month, I’m claiming it for myself.  I would love 3 or 4 hours of uninterrupted time to just cross big things off my writing list.  I wonder if Ingrid would let me leave her, or if I should just have someone come over and I’ll hide and work in the bedroom.

Either way, I hope you all enjoyed that long winded complaint.  These days get long, but really they go by so very fast.  I’m really loving the time we’re getting outside and in the garden.  I’m loving the projects the kids and I are doing.  I just crave some peace now and then.  Spring planting is only for a season.  It’s almost always a jolt for me after a winter of quiet peace.

Linking up with Ginny, along with other knitters and book lovers!