Mason Jar Cozy!!

I have been loving the Melita coffee maker my husband got me for Christmas, but pouring boiling water through the coffee grounds to brew it sure does make some HOT coffee. So I've been brewing it into a quart sized mason jar so it cools faster than in an insulated cup (did I mention that I LOVE coffee), but this is a rather large vessel now filled with nearly boiling hot liquid. I was having to use a hot pad to move it to my desk so I could sit and knit and sip my super hot coffee.

I decided that I wanted to make a mason jar cozy.  I wrote it up just in case anyone else felt like making themselves one.

Without further ado, here it is.

Mason Jar Cozy (fits Quart size jars)
Yarn: Peaches and Cream Cotton
Needles U.S. #8 (5mm) circular needles (yes you can use DPN's if you like them better)
Gauge: not super important, but I did knit it pretty tight. 

Cast on 36 stitches and join to work in the round, place a marker before the first stitch if you need the help remembering where the beginning is.

Round 1-3 Knit all rounds

Round 4 *K1, P1* repeat until the end of the round
Round 5 *P1, K1* repeat until the end of the round
Round 6 *K1, P1* repeat until the end of the round
Round 7 *P1, K1* repeat until the end of the round

Round  8-13  Knit all rounds

Round 14 purl all stitches
Round 15 *yo, k2tog*  repeat to end of row
Round 16 purl all stitches

Round 17 - 38 Knit all rounds

Round 39 *k2, k2tog* repeat to end

Round 40 Knit all stitches

Round 41 *k1, k2tog* repeat until the end

Round 42 Knit all stitches

Round 43 k2tog, k2tog, k2tog, k2tog, k1

Cut yarn with enough length to thread through the 5 stitches. Draw them to a close and fasten off.

Weave in your ends, and them go put your cozy on a nice big mason jar and fill it with something hot and yummy!

Enjoy!

Sick of the Sick

I've been losing my mind. Liam is sick, what I thought was just a cold has turned into a double ear infection and pink eye in both eyes. The antibiotics have made him feel good enough that he now is feeling well enough to be bored, but not well enough to resume things like running wild or going out in public. Mostly because I am still worried about his eyes being contagious and if I saw a kid with gooey eyes at a park I would have to go home and dip my kids into a vat of Purell because NO ONE wants to get this shit. But his boredom has turned him into a little whine beast who is giving me attitude like I would expect from a 14 year old followed by a need for some massive snuggles. Of course, I don't mind all the snuggles.

T.V., my beloved standby for sick days and Mommy Needs 30 Minutes of Peace is no longer a viable option. The only shows desired right now are Transformers Rescue Bots and My Little Pony. While I love Heatwave and Twilight Sparkle, watching all the seasons of both shows in the last 5 days has left me a little weary of both shows. The kids are equally as bored of the shows but not willing to try anything new. Netflix has a show based on King Julian from Madagascar and one of Puss in Boots from Shrek that I would love to check out, but not enough to watch them on my own. Both shows have been met with "But I HATE that show!!!" followed by me trying to be calm and saying "You've never seen it, how do you know?" and their insistence of needing BowBots (Robots, translated as Rescue Bots) or "Ponies!" So I put those shows on, and in 10 minutes both kids are bored and have moved on to torturing each other, decimating a muffin and throwing the crumbs on the floor, jumping on the couch and smacking into each other, or yelling in the dogs face.

Equally as boring are books, drawing, any of the 50 million toys they have, going for a walk or doing anything that doesn't involve something that requires me to monitor them with at least 95% attention.

I wrote up a list of fun things to do with the kids, but most of these are messy and require me to actually remove the laundry pile/legos/my work from the kitchen table to give them a place to work at being messy. Add to that their uncanny ability to take anything colorful and fun and turn it into brown puddles of paint or an argument between them over who gets to use a certain color, and I am just kind of over it.

I just don't have the energy right now. I've been thinking I have a thyroid issue and need to go pester my doctor to do some more tests, or it might just be the sleep deprivation from Evie's little routine of popping up 20 times a night and then coming into the bed at 3am to toss and turn and kick me in the face for two hours and then try to get everyone up at 5am unless put back to sleep with a bottle of milk.

Sometimes, I wish my children were the kind who could do a project without getting messy in ways I didn't even consider when taking my precautions to keep the mess contained. Or were the kind who could be content playing with their toys for even a few moments. I do love them, but my children are the kind who need to be spilled out into the wilds of the back yard or let loose in the park. They are free range kids who do best when given the freedom to be a little crazy. Our house just isn't big enough for that! Our winters are so wet and cold and muddy, it almost makes me miss California. Almost.

Spring can not get here fast enough! Or the end of this cold. Whatever comes first.