Tales Of A Shut-In

Well, I think the great illness of '09 is finally ending. Miss Serious has been sick since last Friday (thus home from school), and I think we're both more than ready to be done with this thing. Big Trouble continues to be healthy, although I'm touching his forehead and shoving a thermometer in his mouth whenever I can get him to stop tearing around the place (which isn't that often - I swear someone sneaks in here and feeds him espresso...), and I figure (actually desperately hope) that if he hasn't gotten it by now, we're safe. I know this is denial, but sometimes that's the only thing that keeps me sane.

Being housebound with a sick child could not be more fun. The fact that I was excited to take Miss Serious to the doctor yesterday (and thus actually breathe in some fresh, if not freezing cold, air) shows just how far the bar has been lowered.

However, being stuck in the house does have a few benefits. I baked pumpkin bread, cookies, and granola:

I know, you're jealous of my fancy storage containers (old Trader Joe's cookie tubs). A helpful hint - when the pumpkin bread recipe calls for 2 cups of pumpkin but you only have 1 3/4 and you think, "Oh, that won't make any difference.." it actually does make quite a difference, and your pumpkin bread comes out really flat (but still tasty).

I finished a sweater for Miss Serious (it's a summer sweater, but she was dying to wear it immediately - I know, whose child is this? Must have been the fever...) so she put it on over a turtleneck, thus it looks a tad odd:


I also finished a sock and began its mate:

(Yes, I was able to stand on one foot and take this picture while my other foot was on the couch. I think I got a lot more flexible doing yoga that one time last week....)

And then (because have I mentioned that I really need to get out of the house???) I decided that I needed something new and interesting to knit. In the spirit of National Thrift Week and in my ongoing effort to pare down some of our stuff, I went hunting under my bed and unearthed this:

Yes, I do know that's a lot of yarn. It's the Knitpicks Palette sampler, a wonderful gift from my mother-in-law at least 2 Christmases ago (it may be 3 - don't judge me). I had visions of making Latvian mittens (I've also got the book, but oddly enough, still no mittens). Due to my moth infestation, I had to frog a pair of fingerless gloves I had made myself a couple of years back, so I thought now would be a good time to try Eunny Jang's endpaper mitts (have I stunned you all with the amount of links in this paragraph?):


This is such a lovely pattern, and the Palette works really well with it. I picked brown and pink to go with my brown coat. I still can't decide if I like the colors together - I am not a trendy dresser (some might say boring) and though I see this color combination often (and like the way it looks) I am still somehow uncomfortable with it (I know, I'm very complicated...). I love knitting things like this, and while the pattern is complex enough to keep me interested, it's something I can work on while the kids are around (as opposed to lace, where I need a silent room, and sadly more brainpower than I can muster most days - thus, no lace on the needles).

Here's hoping that fever stays gone and everyone can happily go off to school tomorrow - I've enjoyed my time with you Miss Serious, but have I mentioned that I'd kind of like to get out of the house?