Pleasantly Surprised

Ever head into something with a touch of dread?  Well, add in feeling rushed, wishing I’d bought some Spanx and/or tried on the dress I grabbed Monday to wear to said event, and that’s how I felt yesterday evening as I headed across town for a fundraiser.  I was scheduled to sell books before the dinner, didn’t know with whom I’d be sitting, etc.

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with the gals also selling books with me, and was delighted to see my “standing date” from years gone by wander in!  Jessica is single, and the Knight doesn’t attend League events with me often, so we always go as each other’s “date” for the dinners and such.  She’s busy living in NYC and trying to maintain her home here, so I never expected to see her…

Laura Moriarty  was my favorite author-speaker to date.  I will confess that I never got around to reading her book, but after hearing her excerpts and listening to the messages she intended to convey, I’ll be cracking it open this weekend.  That, and I feel a bit of pressure when the author not only signs the book but personalizes it for me… 

The friend in charge of table assignments has never failed to treat me far better than my meager ticket purchase deserves, and this year was no exception.  I was seated immediately to the right of the podium, with a great group, including a three other League members I know and don’t get to chat with often enough.  It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed getting gussied up, but last night was a great reminder of how fun it can be to leave the jeans and clogs behind.

The final treat came while Jessica and I were in line, waiting to get our books signed.  I’m an eavesdropper - Ms. Moriarty gives me the courage to admit that - and I heard the woman in front of me mention New Orleans.  Huh.  The wheels whirled and clicked…  My friend and the driving force behind the cookbook we hope to get approved in the fall is from New Orleans, and her parents were going to use her tickets for the event, because she and her sweet husband had infant CPR class last night.  (Yup.  They were the recipients of Oh My!)  It was great fun to meet them, and I don’t have to tell you how gratifying it was to have them immediately connect me with my knitted goodies.  I knew the parents to be would appreciate my efforts, but when the out of town grandparents have already seen my items and can connect them with my name…  It meant a lot.  I wish that kind of appreciation for every single one of you, every time you give a handmade treasure!

The last surprise comes this evening.  By now, Michelle is already on her way to my house.  We tried to meet last summer on her move north, but I botched the time and we didn’t connect.  She’s going to be here until Sunday morning, so I’m sure you’ll get reports from both of us sooner or later…

It’s Tea Time Somewhere

Mugsy and I are having tea.  (Sissy’s napping.  Gotta’ love those puppy evening naps.)  It’s probably not technically afternoon here anymore, but who cares?!  Are these not the cutest tea tins EVER?!  Straight from London, courtesy of my WordPress coach Monica, come the bus and its traveler’s pal, the map.  Joy! 

They didn’t travel across the pond alone.  They brought along these beauties.  I cannot WAIT to turn this made for me colorway into socks.  (The ones for my mother’s birthday just got bumped down the queue…)  Many, MANY thanks Monica.  They did indeed arrive on a bleak and blustery winter’s day and I am most assuredly cheered by your thoughtful generosity!

I was rewarded for sending out several packages myself by having a two parcel day at home.  This wad of cotton is Knit One Crochet Too’s Ty-Dy, in the very colorway that is in the lead for my Clapotis yarn.  A vendor in my Yahoo Group knits was kind enough to send it to me to try before I buy.  You know I love that kind of customer service, so if it knits like it feels to the touch, I’ll have to make a color choice very soon!

Daylight was fading, so it’s not the best shot, but I quickly tossed out the Oh My! blankie for you to see.  Kiss, kiss, love, love…  this is my baby yarn of choice now.  The static electricity it creates with me is a small concern though.  (Comments?!  I am always shocking Sissy and Mugsy when I wear my Crocs…  Is this a concern for babies?) 

Details:  7 skeins of Plymouth’s Oh My!, 6 for blankie, one (almost to the centimeter) for the shell trim.  I had feared I’d need more for the trim, so I have one ball left over.  That’s ten sets of 35 stitches there, thank you.  The shells were crocheted, and I’m soooo pleased with this whole project, done on #8 Knitpick Metal Options.  I did cast on with the Bryspun DPNs, and I can promise you that the next trip to Knitting Addiction  will find more of those and the Oh My in other colors in my basket.   I think I used a J hook, but maybe not.  I can’t wait to present this to my friend; I very nearly took it to her last night, but then I’d have to whip up another shower gift!  The Knight is demanding a baby hat with the remainder.  What say you?

Look ma, I got gauge!  Me, the loose knitter (or so I thought?), I’m getting 3 stitches per inch on the #10.5 Harmony Options.  Whoda’ thunkit?  So, the Omega Wrap is underway, and I moved up to the Large size too.  I’d rather have to fidget to keep it on my shoulders than have parts smashed or yarn stretched a bit below the shoulders, ya’ know?!  Oh - and Firefly? - it’s a mohair blend.  I won’t make it back to the beach before your birthday, but maybe I’ll find a few skeins for you there…  I saw more of the same yarn there last visit. 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go play with the Ty-Dy and make a decision, and I really want to make serious progress on the Omega tonight too.  Last night was long and tedious, so I think I’ll make another pot of tea and settle in. 

Sissy, Sand and Sage Advice

(But not in that order.) 

Many of you have great LYSs and/or a special person who can always bail you out when you’re stuck on a pattern, or when you want to substitute another yarn or…  I’ve not had that, not in the retail sense, so it makes Jeanne of Knitting Addiction such a treat.  I walked in with a pattern I’d ordered online and downloaded at home, mumbling and confused.  Didn’t bring my work in progress, but within seconds, Jeanne knew not only where my confusion came from, but she quickly cleared it up with a quick sketch and I was on my way.  (Note to all new lace/shawl knitters: Just because you start with five stitches doesn’t mean you’re *NOT* starting from the neck down.  Maybe that’s intuitively clear to most, but it wasn’t to me, and I felt so much better when Jeanne explained that she knew instantly how to “fix it” for me, because it hadn’t been clear to her either when she’d done a similar shawl, until she took it off the needles and manipulated it around.

Obviously, it needs to be blocked in a pin style, and that will happen this week.  Once it goes to its secret destination, I’ll share details.  And yes, you do see my patient and my faithful assistant there on the left.  I’ll be doing more lace and more shawls.  They’re as addictive as socks!

So, a Sissy status report.  We saw the third vet at our new clinic, who is actually the manager, owner, head honcho.  He’s incredible, and Sissy liked him too.  He gave her a shot of something to stop the vomiting, and it must be working.  So far, so good.  If this continues, she can have a few sips of water this evening, and some special “bad tummy” food in the morning…  He’s assuming that despite constant vigilance, she ate a bite of something that she shouldn’t have.  Sigh.  Life with a basset…

Sissy also wants y’all to know that while she loves the beach, especially the sand, the ocean is cold and pushy, cactus needles hurt the the lip and the pads of a girl’s feet, and one should never sleep too close to the edge on a sofa.  Dr. Chris (the vet) says it sounds as though tequila should be involved in there somewhere…  (I told you he was great!)  We didn’t know there was a tiny little cactus at the base of one of the piers under the house.  Sissy found it.  Twice.  She was asleep on the sofa with her ailing Dadaw, on her back, in his arm, and he moved.  She moved too, and hit her hip on the coffee table before landing on her feet like a cat.  Despite it all, she loved the sand and the way it would blow (or could be dug) out of the way to reveal another layer of smells and stuff to explore. 

 

Mugsy was tough, as usual, and didn’t mind the cold water. 

He even eyed this board thingee, but decided the neighbor kid wasn’t going to share too readily, so he moved on.

That’s the way those three spent Friday, Saturday and much of Sunday.  I don’t know if they sensed that the Knight wasn’t well, or whether the were annoyed by my rather large knitting project that made my lap a non-option.  And yes, the princess is well on her way to being the queen, because if you haven’t noticed, she’s quite often perched on a throne of some sort. 

Last, but hardly least, is my current work in progress.  It’s a neat little pattern - see my Ravelry notebook or wait until I’m done and I do the project review - perfect for watching a race and for riding for hour upon hour.  The yarn is another credit to Jeanne.  It isn’t something I would select normally, but the color is perfect, and it feels just like the name - Oh My!  I know my friend will love it, and now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to tend to an errand for the Knight and then head into town on my own errands, including picking up a book to help me select a pattern for the edge of this blankie.

Plans

I can’t show you any knitting yet, but I’ve got plans.  Today’s been a good day for knitting plans.  I have a blues busting buddy planned for my Hot Cocoa Swap downstream.  I have plans for all of my PiF projects.  I have yarn selected for Megan’s hat.  (Well, Sissy selected it, but anyway…) 

Now, I need your help.  There’s a baby shower in the Knight’s family in a few weeks.  I can’t do a blanket, because I didn’t do a blanket for the cousin (I wasn’t knitting then, but if you have inlaws like mine, you understand).  Booties will be outgrown quickly, so what else can I do quickly that will have more than a few weeks of use?  I also have a baby blanket to knit for a good friend, but she’s due April 15th, and we decided tonight that 4-4-08 is a really “cute” birthday, so either way, I have plenty of time to pull of the blanket I admire most off for a special, first-time mom.  I need your help here too.  What’s the best yarn to use?  I’ve always used acrylic, but I read a good article the other day about wool not being flammable, so now that’s on my firefighting mind…  This is a mom to be up to handwashing, if that matters.

Shhh…  don’t wake *MY* baby. 

 

Oh - and don’t forget to swing in and check out Michelle’s random contest!

Grace, Hope and Love

It’s hard not to hold a very newborn baby and fall in love. Everything seems right with the world when you watch first-time new parents gush and coo, and share their precious gift and their joy with their family and friends. Thank you PoG (Parents of Grace) for bringing a little more beauty, joy, hope and love into the world.

Here is Miss Grace, showing off her first pair of socks. (Good thing I didn’t knit newborn size!) There’s just a bit of growing room, but they were so well received that I’ll be making a couple more pairs in this size, and lots more in the next. No, the photography isn’t even good, but she’s barely 48 hours old, and isn’t fond of light yet, much less a flash. You’ve seen the socks before, so just admire the Sleeping Beauty wearing them. She snoozed through most of our first visit, and her dad has a shot of my Knight cradling Grace in his left arm, while coordinating fire training with his cell phone in his right hand. Heart-warming…

Here is the young lady of the week (month, year?) enjoying her first nap with blankie. It dwarfs her, and leaves me wondering what the full 42 inch version suggested in the pattern would have done! Her auntie made sure the cute socks showed too. I’ll remember that Auntie, and when you are a new mom, your baby will get handknits too. (And just to record my bet for posterity, I bet brand new Uncle that in 10.5 months, we’ll be welcoming his first baby into the world…)

Last, but hardly least, Auntie wanted a photo of her niece with her eyes open. In an effort to capture it, we both took a photo at the same time, from slightly different angles. If you look hard, you can see the dark of Grace’s eye! That’s her dad’s proud arm (and chest) holding her. Thanks to all of you who have sent good wishes to Grace, her parents and the rest of us who love them all dearly. She’s perfect, truly. Of course, that’s easy for me to say, because there are no poopy diapers yet, and the Knight and I will sleep soundly tonight…

Pass those favorite baby girl patterns this way, will you?

Say Good-night, Blankie

Mugsy is not pleased with these late-night Netflix and knitting sessions. He digs the Netflix part; he sleeps throughout, unless he hears me sniff (how is it that no one warned me Million Dollar Baby was a tragedy?) or cheer (North Country), but this up ’til midnight finishing off a blankie is for the birds, he says.

There she is. Baby Cables for Baby Grace. LOVE the pattern, HATE the yarn. I’ve never met a stretchier acrylic. (Lions Brand Pound of Love, if you missed it, earlier in the blog. The pattern’s also from the Debbie Macomber pattern book.) Maybe the visit to present the blankie to the young lady will afford you a better photo, but tired as I am, I couldn’t wait to show off the first baby blankie I can say I’d knit again - in a different yarn. Changes? The blanket is supposed to be something like 34″ x 42″. Mine is truly not measurable, because of how easily the yarn stretches, but I think I stopped a couple repeats shorter, because Grace is just a newborn. I don’t think the Knight or his duty crew would be amused if I paged them and asked them to swing by the house on their way home from the little house fire in town, especially since they’d have to drive five miles past the station to get here. No, there will just be no final measurements on blankie, okay?

Here. Have a close up of the pattern. I adore it. I just hope Grace’s little fingers and toes don’t… Never mind. The way this stuff stretches, she’ll be able to slip right back out, and with a good tug by mom, the stitches will ease back into position. Insane.

Now, I really must let Mugsy in before he destroys the front door. Fred is just chillin’ on the front porch, hoping against all hope that his Dadaw (aka: the Knitter’s Knight) will come home. When he was younger, he’d actually growl at me if I made him come in before he abandoned hope. Silly dog.

Good night Grace. Can’t wait to meet you.

Blankie’s in the Lead

The race is on and here come blankie. So far, baby’s not even at the track. This pattern has done what no other blankie before it had; I’m still knitting and I’m not hating the blankie! I figure I’ve just crossed the half-way mark, so with a meeting tomorrow night, no Knight on Tuesday, and no other obligations for the rest of the week, it should be done this weekend, at the latest, all of a few days before the baby is due. If you’re inclined to cheer us on, obviously, blankie would feel supported by all things yellow. (School starts tomorrow here. I wonder if blankie will be encouraged by the big yellow bus?)

Evidently, the Knight knows of what he demands. The baby’s father has said that if the blankie’s ready, all of the hospital photos will be taken with blankie showing. I guess that means I should stop blogging and return to knitting. That, and the roll of thunder that just boomed.

Least you think I’ve forsaken the sock or something, I have picked out the yarn and pattern for my Sock it to Me pal’s socks. Yeah, yeah, I’m going to start more than a month before they’re due. Get this - I’ve even ordered the yarn I’m going to include in her package. (I do require breaks from blankie, thank you.) I also ordered the yarn for a Christmas present, and I’m re-doing my Christmas knitting list.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to order the pattern for said Christmas present too. Of course, if anything else jumps in the virtual cart, that just can’t be helped, can it?

We All Live in a Yellow…

…baby blanket. Yellow, yellow, yellow. Have I mentioned that I am not a fan of yellow, all on its own? With other colors, I can appreciate it, and this photo isn’t showing the solid, baby yarn YELLOW I feel I’m drowning in. Better than school bus yellow, but still. I won’t use Lion Brand’s Pound of Love yarn, ever again, no matter how easy I think it will make blankie care for the mom to be. I just don’t like it, and there are plenty of other wash and snuggle baby acrylics out there. (Aren’t there?) What are your favorites? Help me out here, because I’ve never had a baby to try to keep blankies and clothes clean for, but I do know that this working mom to be needs machine wash and dry. That’s what she’s getting, but surely she can have that and I can have a yarn I like to knit with too?

The pattern? Lydia’s Baby Cables from Knit Along with Debbie Macomber : The Shop on Blossom Street. (Look! Wee little baby cables, repeating all over this ding dang blankie!) Now that I’m on my second repeat (there are two of those kinda’ diamond thingees per repeat), I’m getting the hang of the pattern and picking up speed. It’s surely not one I can memorize, but that means I’m not getting bored either. When it is done, it will look like a yellow version of this, I hope. The finished dimensions in the book are 32″ x 41″ (don’t quote me, but something like that - I’m too lazy to walk back and check), but I don’t know that I’ll go that long. Those of you whom endured the three blankies in a row this spring know that probably somewhere in the 20″ range, I’ll be looking for an excuse to wrap it up. So, I’m thinking as soon as I get to row 21 of the repeat (the stopping point for the last repeat, the book says) and I’m past 30″, I’m heading home and wrapping it up.

You very nearly had no photos. I don’t know what’s wrong with the HP Photosmart program, but it has a seizure when I try to upload. Corel Photos had no problem, so I guess I’ll be using that until I am inclined to dig deep and figure out what troubles HP. I did have a frantic moment though, until my gooblette noggin’ recalled that Corel existed!

But back to knitting. My box from JoAnn’s arrived yesterday. Strangely enough, that Total Tote wasn’t packaged as well, but it’s going back for a refund anyway. (Thanks again, R! I’ve already used the one you sent earlier this week, and I like it very much.) However, I finally found me some 2.25 mm circs.! The picture says it all. The tips look pointy enough, and I’ll be casting on - again - for the June Tofutsies Sock of the (not quite every) Month just as soon as I either finish Baby Cables (I’m a cable knitter, no matter how simplified they are!) or at the moment just after I realize that I cannot knit another stitch on that gag me with not even weak sunshine yellow blankie. You see, I not only have to finish the blankie before said baby makes his/her way into the world, but the sooner I get that on the FO list, the sooner I can try out some of that Maizy sock yarn.

It’s all about socks with me, I know. I’m about to try lace too, but that will be a Christmas gift for someone known to stop in here once in a while, so mum’s the word. I might sneak a peek when I get to a place where I think it’s innocuous enough, because after all, you won’t know that I’m really doing the lace thing unless I show you, right? Wow. What a world. Cables, lace, and there’s still entrelac out there too.

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‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, 1850, line 27, stanza 4English poet (1809 - 1892)

(Thanks, The Quotation Page!)

And thanks to all of you whom showered us with kind words and supportive thoughts. My favorite poet said it best here too, so I’ll leave it at that.

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Did you write once, and I mean more than blog posts? Have you thought about writing?

Pop over to Paula’s and check out her new short story writing plan, and sign up if you’re so inclined.

Last Call for…

…the tea swap sign ups.

That’s not what you were thinking, is it? Are you kidding?! There’s no such thing as last call for alcohol at our house. There’s a glass of wine or a bottle of beer for any guest still capable of appreciating it. The dogs and I might retire before you leave, but the Knight will host on…

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go knit a blankie. Sigh. Didn’t I vow not to wait until the 11th hour again? (It’s her first. She’ll be in labor for HOURS, right?! And she’s not *IN* labor yet, so I still have time!)

Get Your Trivia…

I completely forgot that we’re supposed to be answering trivia questions for House Points. So, if my prefect is looking, the answer is Voldemort and Dumbledore. That’s a nice, Ravenclawish blue there, to help her find it! I still can’t believe that I get to combine two passions - knitting and Harry Potter - not once, but twice! There are the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap and Charmed Knits, one for rather selfish fun, and the other for a great cause. I plan to start my first Charmed knit probably next week. I have that KAL dishcloth to finish, and the first sock to hopefully polish off this weekend, and that will allow me to whip out one last dishcloth for my mother inlaw’s Mothers Day assortment. The first hat comes after that. My husband’s blanket’s yarn is now back ordered (just the yellow, but then two other colors I’d selected were from an outdated color chart), so we’ll be well into May before I can start that. I’m not happy, but such is life. I can say I’ll be ordering most of my yarn online from now on.

Oh yeah. There are the baby blankets too. Both will be in non-gender-specific colors, but they’re not due until July. The blankets, that is. The babies aren’t due until August and September. Lots of knitting will be happening here!