Kin I Git A Yee-Haw???

*First, because what else does one say at a Toby "Testosterone" Keith concert besides Yee-Haw?? And second, I finished the Minimalist Cardigan (stats: the yarn is discontinued Filatura di Crosa Trilly - cashmere and silk, half of each! - and Ella Rae Palermo, color 02, which is used as a contrast for the front band and rib on the sleeve. I did this because I thought I did not have enough Trilly {8 balls} to make it all the way. I was wrong, but love the contrast anyway) in the nick of time - cashmere and cowboy boots just...go together. So Toby Keith was actually fun. And if you repeat that I know where you all live and I will find you and...oh, forget it. The truth is that after my second appletini it didn't matter so much any more that I would have cheerfully bought a copy of Natalie Maines' delightful t-shirt (girl just spoke her mind and what a can of something else she opened up) a few years back, or that I consider TK to be...well, a bit, ummm, over the top?? Or that all of his music seems to revolve around three basic themes: gettin' some, drinkin' some or smokin' some?? It just became one three hour joke, and I just sat back and enjoyed it. It was loud and coarse and everything you expect from TK. And I wasn't the only one...I saw fins in the water, people - Buffet fans love Toby Keith?? Who knew. I could post the picture I got of Mr. W...naaah. That'd be mean. Poor man. Couple of beers and the next thing you know you're singing Toby Keith tunes wearing a cowboy hat, and your wife's a blogger, and the camera's on...that'd be exploitation. It'd be evil of me, truly evil. Anyway, it was an interesting life experience that I might even, if the tickets were free, repeat. Since they were free this time, and since it was a delightful evening out (no dog, cat, kid, dishes)...why not?! I like this place - The Meadows, aka the Dodge Music Center in Hartford. Because we didn't pay for the tix, Mr. W. felt OK about paying for spiffy parking. I would do that again also. Totally worth it. $20, car was right out front. Easy in, easy exit. Lovely. I want to go back...but there's nothing till spring (sigh). I feel lately like I am reliving the youth I missed while parenting and going to school and working and doing what needed to be done. The last little bird is perched on the edge of the nest and my foot is heading toward her little tail feathers. The time has come for me to let my hair down and have a little fun. My job is nearly finished here, the whole baby food mill, diaper scrubbing, potty training, educating, frog catching (hey some of this was a heck of a lot of fun), goop making, child training thing is winding down. I am ready to kick back a little.
Now about my discipline switch...just for a couple of hours, no biggie, I jumped off the knitting wagon and jumped on the sewing wagon. See, there was this class Katy and Pete wanted to take, and they needed just one more person to sign up so the class would run and so I said yes and here's the result - very fun and cool reversible messenger bag that I promptly came home and gave to Girl. I want to make another one now. I kinda messed with it. I missed the first class, so went by Katy's email, and it worked out well. Then last night in class I decided to be weird with the flap, so instead of making it rounded or straight I kinda did some weird wave thing, and top-stitched it. I love it. They went for a beer after at the Beer Can Museum, which apparently is something I've been totally missing out on. Who knew??
Oh, knitting right? I got some of that - aside from the finished Minimalist Cardigan which I ADORE (silk and cashmere, half of each!!), I also got moving on the Sheep Shop baby set. The yarn is Sheep One, a single ply worsted yarn in these edible colorways. I don't remember which colorway this is, but I promise to post more on that when it's done - done. For now it's nearly done, needing final finishing and the hat which is about half done to be added to the pile. I am contemplating bootees since it's moving along so well. The pattern will be available from Sheep Shop at some point in the future. It's so cute...makes me wanna procreate(not).OK, thanks to the weather I lost my internet connection last night so now I can tell you that the colorway is G123, the yarn is Sheep Number One knitted at 4 sts to the inch on a US 8 needle. The colors are warmly autumnal, which right now blends with the mood and weather. We've got trees turning but the temperatures yesterday were in the 80's. Go figure. This is New England. If you don't like the weather right now, give it ten minutes.
Special gift arrived yesterday (muchos gracias gifter - now I can truly be the grandma I was always meant to be), just in the nick of time for Grandma-hood Part Deux - somehow I managed to make it this far in life without ever laying my hands on Knit Baby Head & Toes or Knit Baby Blankets, but edited by my editor Gwen Steege. Now they're here and I feel a sudden compulsion to find worsted weight yarn in bumblebee colors...or maybe the ladybugs...actually my next-up really should be machine washable shower gifts for the little cuss...
Speaking of Little Cuss. Back for his third appearance this year, Tucker-Man has adapted very well this trip - no voiding on my furniture or floors, no destruction of yarn, no chasing of cat. He does have a problem with feathers. He finds them in the yard (they are everywhere) and snaps them up. Snap being the operative. Jaws of Death the boy has. He also has a compulsion for exploded milk weed pods which, being fluffy, must needs be VERMIN!!! I can't have my treadmill any more. He's decided the only way to keep me from turning it on (he hates the noise) is to stay on it. Permanantly.


*that is a Stewart's Root Beer in my hand in case you were wondering.

More Redbridge, Please

It has happened. Someone - Anheuser Busch - got the memo about all the celiac and gluten intolerant peoples the world over. And they responded by producing the first gluten free carbonated beer-type product that I can call "beer". I have a new friend. His name is Redbridge Guy. And I have a new name. It's Redbridge Girl. I was so happy. Out of 30-odd brewers, most sporting 3-5 brews a piece, only one guy had what I could have. I did try an oatmeal stout from the People's Pint and didn't react...now that - that was Beer. Serious beer. Wonderful chocolately, rich, dark beer.
More tomorrow, but for now, shots from the second annual Green River Brewfest:

Persnickety Knitter (right) and her sister Cindy (left) sample in tent 1.



George and Bunny enjoy a sip and a smoke.



After a tough morning modeling Valley Yarns garments, Ms. Cirilia Rose relaxes with a Bratwurst and a beer.



Folks mingling, sipping, sampling, smoking, listening and generally having a great time.



My new friend Redbridge Guy. I didn't think I had any physical evidence of his presence, but when I got home he popped up in this shot from set-up time.



Awwwwwww........



Mr. Wonderful graciously accepting his role as 'Blog Fodder'.



And last, but most importantly, Uncool Guy, husband of Persnickety Knitter who pointed out that he did not get his picture on the blog after my birthday party. I did post a picture of the top of his head. But this is better.

More tomorrow or the next day...probably the next day...about Vickie Howell, my day-long discipline switch, Toby Keith, and some fo's.

Dear Family: and other things...

***DON'T FORGET - Green River Brewfest, Saturday September 22nd, noon-SIX pm at Ryan and Casey in Greenfield, MA. Vendors, music, lots of free samples, and a knitting corner that I hope expands to take over the parking lot. Be there or be...someplace else, but we'll be having more fun!***

I know I am difficult at times, and often most complicated at holidays and birthdays. What does she need? What does she want? Well, I am putting you on notice. A big old pre-holiday season alert. I want this. I want more and more and more. I want it every day, every morning, noon and night. I love love love this fish. This is why I schlep to Springfield for the BigE every year. This fish keeps me up at night, in a GOOD way, for weeks after and before the next Exposition. Dreaming about it. Lusting for it. Wishing it were here. So just to let you know, they sell it online even, and you could have a lovely six pack of Kabobs shipped down just in time for the holidays. And I might - might - even share. I can be easily had for exquisite smoked salmon and a good root beer.
As it may appear from the above, we went to the Big E yesterday. The BigE is also known as the Eastern States Exposition, and is like a big old multi-state fair. Like all state fairs it has a midway, hawkers selling everything from snake oil and custom cowboy boots ($400 a pair) to The Famous Boerner V-Slicer and the ever-popular Super Chamois. There's booths selling every possible type of unhealthy, unholy, cardiac-destroying fare from french fries and corn dogs to donuts and candy apples, not to mention the famous BigE Cream Puffs. There's exhibits of all kind - commercial exhibits of hot tubs and tractors, agricultural exhibits including a chick brooder stocked with hatching birds, and the coolest of all, the Avenue of States which consists of miniature versions of the New England (ME,VT,NH,MA,CT,RI)statehouses in a row, all filled with the best each state has to offer (like Maine. They've got Bold Coast Smokehouse, for example...hint hint, dear family...)
We wandered through the exhibits, seeing all sorts of demos of all sorts of products, and people selling all sorts of things including my kid selling cell phone service (I am still waiting for my smartphone, Dan. 7 hours of labor and who knows how many sleepless nights ought to count for something...). Last year Mr Wonderful stood entranced by the Chinese juggling troupe on the Court of Honor Stage. This year he was sadly disappointed. Wrong day, or wrong year, in their place was JIGU: Thunder Drums of China, which while neat did not have the appeal of the jugglers, so we moved on. Poor Mr. W. It was the last day of his vacation. He's spent most of the week working around here, when not escorting me to Maine to see Brad, or Springfield so I could eat my way through Bold Coast's coolers.
In fact, he's laboring pretty intensely to create food production here. When we first moved in we inherited a series of badly overgrown perennial gardens which we've continued to ignore. This was traditionally my job and I have completely ditched it in favor of writing book and patterns and knitting stuff. We'd left behind fruit trees, berry bushes and a garden that fed us. It'd taken years to get anything producing at the old house which was nothing but a giant sand bank and needed constant soil amending. It was daunting to think we had to start all over again from scratch; all new nursery stock, all new labor, all new everything. Cutting down the trees last winter did not help the overgrowth, as once the sun hit there was no stopping the weeds from taking over. Because of the artistic placement of some rocks it was difficult to just go on in and mow it down, unless you wanted to wear half of the mower blade as an anklet. So Mr. Wonderful dedicated this vacation week (when not being my personal driver and ATM) to cleaning up the side garden and preparing for food production. He built garden boxes for raised beds, laid landscapers black stuff to keep weeds down, chain-sawed out a stump or two, and generally could have made a film, loosely titled "Mr. Wonderful Builds His Dream Garden". Things around here can be comical at best. Pulling rocks out of the yard with the Civic, or using a chain saw to do a job it was never intended for can lead to some entertaining moments. All in all it was a wonderful feeling, both of us here working at whatever we were working at, moving through the days like the twisted co-dependent people we are.
So now it's Tuesday, and after a prolonged lie-in with the snooze button at length he dragged himself up, showered and left home. He's gone back to work at the place away from home, and I'm here writing up patterns just like last week but...well...I miss him. Girl says we're "sick, just SICK". Poor kid. Her parents like each other. How twisted is that??

Neat

Let's all Spin Out!

I love Heifer. I love the concept. It's one of my favorite charities ever.

New Directions in Infant Knitting, My Hero, and Yarn in Portland (a saga)

So today I am writing patterns up for this next catalog. I have four things I think, the kid Sugarloaf sweater with the color block on it, Southwick infant set, pair of Franklin socks and the t-shaped pullover in Williamstown. Writing is not my favorite part of the process. I often forget to record things as I go, although I was getting much better. Or I thought I was. I did the socks first – socks are easy. I should have saved them for last, but we’ll call it a little toe-dip before we jump in headlong. Next was the kid pullover. I wrote nearly nothing about it except some chicken scratch on a notebook page and a lovely color sketch. I moved onto the infant’s set. Things were going really well. Then I come to this notation:

“4 rows gs, patt 1 full rep.
st st to underarm.
+2@end gs??
st thru TF over bridge L Aberton??”

I kid you not. This is apparently some new sweater knitting method which will require all who knit this garment to drive, fly or swim to Turners Falls, MA, go straight over the bridge and then go left (don’t ask me where) onto something apparently called Aberton (or is Aberton a person??). Or maybe it's take a left and watch for Aberton? I read it over. I read it out loud. I don’t remember writing it and didn’t know what it pertained to. Had I missed an appointment on Aberton? Or with Aberton? Is Aberton a person? A place? Was I supposed to deliver Aberton to the bridge in Turners and then take a left? Then it came to me. Girl. Girl got a flat tire a couple of weeks ago. She had directed me to her location by telling me how she’d gotten to where she was – she’s not so good with the whole street name thing. The good news is that anyone knitting this garment will NOT have to come to Massachusetts to do it. The bad news is that the notes for the sweater stop right there. Nothing more. Not shaping, not anything. Just a dead stall interrupted by a flat tire on a car I just PUT brand new tires on not more than a year ago. AAARRRGGGHHH!!

OK, now a field trip!
Back a few weeks ago I discovered that Brad Paisley was going to be performing in Portland, Maine. Now, you must understand that I have been dragged kicking and screaming to the alter of country music. When my friend Cindy started humming along I considered taking her in for treatment. When other friend Kristie urged me to try Tim McGraw's latest CD a couple of years ago, I spurned her. But then there were these free tickets to a Tim McGraw show in Connecticut and she begged me to come along, so I went and was hooked. I drew the line there though, Tim Only. Meantime Mr. Wonderful, always a rock person, was being slowly and covertly corrupted. I'd get in his car and strains of the local country station would flow forth from the radio. I'd say "What's this?" and he'd reach out and slap the dial and mumble something like "How did THAT get on there? I wasn't listening to THAT!!" Eventually he broke down and confessed - he'd been secretly listening to country for months. And he liked it. And he wanted to buy a Toby Keith CD, on purpose. I gave in. A lot of it I reject, but some appeals to me. Brad Paisley appeals. I like, for some reason at this time in my life, the stories. The realness. The sweetness, and mostly the simplicity. I'm Gonna Miss Her. Online. She's Everything. And, recently, I’m Still a Guy.
Mr. Wonderful managed to WIN tickets to see Toby Keith - or rather Girl won them for him, and Tim didn't come close enough or to a venue I like. So the big chance for me to see an act I enjoy was Portland, Maine. I bought cheap seats - if we'd been any higher we'd have been hanging from the girders. Thank God for the modern invention of the large screen. You get itty bitty whoever live way down there on stage, and a big screen or three, so at least you know you're at the right show.
We saw Itty Bitty Taylor Swift first. Next was not so itty bitty Rodney Atkins. Oh wait - here I totally have to back up! Remember the other day when I said I adore Mr. Wonderful?? He is totally and utterly my hero. This man, those of you who know him will attest, is rather of a quiet man. This is not a man who pushes himself forward,
He's not a performer. Well, he performed for me, baby, and won me a t-shirt with a big picture of Brad right on the front. Hershey's is sponsoring this Brad tour, and they do all these fun pre-show giveaways, including karaoke and this quiz thing. As the Hershey's guy chooses people from the pre-show audience to go up on the little outdoor stage, he notices he's got a lot more girls than guys. All of a sudden he's grabbing Mr. Wonderful and dragging him up. MY Mr. Wonderful. Mr. "Allow me to sit here in this chair while you socialize". Mr. "Do we have to go to the social event?" That Mr. Wonderful. On stage. And answering questions! Hershey guy asks each contestant one starter question (simple stuff, fill in the blank of this Brad Paisley song title - "___on the Tires.") and then they enter the lightning round...this is it, the first to get two points is the winner. There were some simple ones - who is Brad married to? (Kim Williams, that adorable girl from Father of the Bride). What is Brad's son's middle name?(Huckleberry, as in Finn). I knew the answers and it was killing me not to scream them at poor Mr. W. He got himself on the board with "What Disney movie did Brad write and record two songs for?" (Cars - if I had a dime for the number of times we watched Lightnin' McQueen last year with Aidan I'd be rich). A few more questions fly, and now there's four or five folks all with one point - it's coming down to the wire..."What is the title of Brad's recently released CD?"
I draw a blank. Everyone drew a blank. People were guessing stuff all over the place. I am panicking. I can't even help the man cheat because I can't remember the name of the CD I just BOUGHT, Then Mr. W’s hand shoots up and Hershey guy says "Yes, Gene...", and Gene (that's Mr. Wonderful's other name) says "Fifth Gear". And he was right! MR WONDERFUL ROCKS! And I got a T-shirt identical to the two I just ordered from Hershey's - for which we had to eat 20 bars of Special Dark, torment indeed. But the one Mr. Wonderful won is WAY the best of them all.
OK, here's me and Brad hanging out before the show (like you believe that? I wish I did). The truth is that yes, this is a cut-out Brad and yes I posed with it. Sadly, because STUPID Ticketmaster would not accept my code, I did not get the preferred Fan Club Member Meet N Greet ticket, or that'd be Real Brad Paisley not Cut-Out Brad Paisley (stupid Ticketmaster.) Eh, it wasn't meant to be. I just wanted to ask him if it's true that he's a 32nd Degree Mason. And if I were my father I'd have slipped him the Secret Handshake or whatever. The real Brad actually performed well, but looked very very pale to me and if I were his wife I'd be worried. He looks overworked and exhausted. Which is what happens to people when they have babies and music tours, even if they're man-people. The tour schedule is scary fierce. From Maine to Ohio in less than 48 hours, by bus. Uggh.
I found yarn - technically chronologically before the music, but presented out of order here:
Tess Hand Dyed. We found this by accident, sort of. The shop is on Spring Street, 1 Spring Street to be precise, and was obscured by a bunch of construction stuff going on at the site itself. OtherMelissa told me about this yarn and I tried to find it online but am an idiot. Mr. Wonderful spotted it as we headed for Starbucks and Stonewall Kitchen (the samples can carry you through a meal. They even had corn chips so those of us not tolerant of gluten could indulge) and he said "Hey, there's yarn..." pointing across the street. I just kind of took off, totally ignoring, oh, stop lights and traffic in Portland on a weekday?? (What's a vacation for but to be run over in the street 150 miles from home??) Anyway, about the yarn - sock yarn, $15 a skein, though not that way for long I guess as they're expecting a price increase from the vendor of said yarn, 450 yards, hand dyed. I bought two skeins. One reminds me of a pinto pony and the other, well, I just liked it. I call it Bug. I don't know any blue bugs, but it's Bug anyway. The yarn is quite squashy-soft, has great elasticity and looks to me like it's going to have wonderful stitch definition. Reminded me a bit of Louet Gems, only hand dyed. Be great on babies, grand babies maybe even...


I also hit KnitWit on Congress Street and got a skein of Colinette Jitterbug, just because I could. Mr. W. set a budget of $20 a store (silly man). Someone needs to tell him about the actual price of sock yarn. I had plans to progress through other yarn shops - Seaport and Central Yarn respectively, but when we realized what time it was, and how long we had till showtime, we decided in favor of pre-show dinner at Margaritas. I love this place. Aside from the fact that out server Andrew was charming and wise in the ways of Agave, we were totally entertained by the presence of the local country station and a string of pre-show party goers attired in their country best. Cowboy hats and boots reigned supreme. About Andrew - Margs must go out of their way to educate their servers about tequila. When I said I wanted a '...nice anejo', Andrew suggested something I had not tried previously, Herradura - top shelf, so out of my budget, but hey, what's a vacation for if not to hit the top shelf?? - and I LOVED it. Very earhty, lots of flavor. He also suggested a straight up Marg - no green goo, just tequila, Gran Marnier, lime juice. Lovely.
Another trip highlight - Room 900 of Holiday Inn By The Bay. Ask for it by name. Actually anything 00-ish will do, as long as you're up a bit, say over the 5th floor. You get rewarded with this:


On a cleeeeaar ddaaaaayyyy....you can seeee.....ok, you can see the bay and the Atlantic. And boats coming in and out, and the Scotia Prince if she's in town. Once we sat and watched a cruise ship coming in. You don't realize just how big them Carnival puppies are till one's stopping in Portland, Maine.
OK, mostly all I did today was write patterns and my brain is mostly dead. I am going to sleep now and hope that all the missing information comes back into my brain by morning. Tomorrow is the last day of Mr. W's vacation. We're going to the Big E. We're going to eat dried fish on a stick, and see cows and stuff. I love the Big E.

P.S. - which one is he? Well, we have a rule around here. "Always choose the guy on the right."

P.P.S. - Aberton doesn't exist. It's actually Atherton, and it's a nearly dirt dead end, and it's not even in Turners. But we did find her and fix the flat.

Knit Now, More Later

Where to begin...well, knitting first? How's that sound? OK - here goes. First we have one pair of socks designed for Sojourner Designs new and wonderful yarn Two-For-Toes. This will be a self-published pattern that will be available either from Diane at Sojourner, or through my website. We're still working the details out on that whole sell direct thing. Anyone with any helpful shopping cart advice?? It's just so over my head. At this point we'll start off with Pay pal payments and good old snail mail patterns. Downloads look to be a way in the future. But the socks - first the yarn. This is a light dk, knitted up at about 7.5 sts per inch on a US 2. The socks are wonderfully warm with a waffle thing happening that creates great denseness and makes this a perfect design for cooler weather wearing. Form and function all in one! Imagine! Special thanks to Girl (model) and Julia Grace (photographer). We'll hear more from them soon.
Then there's a little baby thing to cleanse the grandma palate. This is in Southwick, a wonderful pima cotton bamboo blend that shows stitches marvellously, and blocked like a dream, and I really just love. I embellished it (or rather am embellishing it) with little ribbon roses from Michael's. Very sweet, classic infant, perfect shower gift. And it does not have to be all creamy white, either. Whip it up in some other awesome Southwick color(thee are a few...) for the babies who shun tradition. I think it would be awesome in a bright color with some amazing buttons, like goldfish or froglings! I am in some kind of infant design freak at the moment. I have further plans - more to be revealed. The sad thing is that the infant who's inspiring all of this won't ever get any of it, since it's all going elsewhere as samples.
Last knitted item of the day, a pair of socks designed just for Webs that I think will be given free with purchase of the book 2-at-a-Time Socks (anyone heard of that book? it's supposed to be awesome) from Storey Publishing. The yarn is, of course, Franklin and the colorway is Pinecone. I have not decided on a name for the pattern yet, but have to admit that the pine cone concept entered into the design phase. I took this picture just after kitchenering on route 95 south yesterday just outside of Portland, Maine. Wanna know why I was in Maine? That's coming up.
Then there's this - - this pile of Gail-Inspired, Kanga-Saturated color, this stack of rejects, poor tragic cast-offs. I am going to design something with one of these colorways, maybe more than one. And it will be stellar, and I will knit a second one. And then Gail will have to dye more of it, and name it after me...this is also inspired by baby April - and while I'd prefer it if my kids stopped trying to age me by making me a grandmother so bloody young, I do appreciate the inspiration the little cherubs create.
Uh-oh...looks like it's time for me to fly...you'll have to wait for tomorrow to hear about Portland, including two yarn shop visits, a country music concert and why Mr. Wonderful is my hero (but didn't we already know that?).

I am not crazy after all...

I do this thing when I do short rows. I lift the wrap totally over the stitch before knitting them together. I did this spontaneously in a class when I was, as usual, forging ahead without reading directions (I made my elementary school teachers insane with this practice. Any still living will attest) because it made sense (just like filling in the entire dot on the Stanford test), and hid the wrap completely. Turns out I am not alone. Also turns out Cat Bordhi has a series of very cool You Tube videos, many on Pathyways teqhniques. Why are you still here? Get thee hence. Go. Watch. Wonderful! I live on in the faint but distant hope that I might one day be anywhere touching "as creative as Cat Bordhi among others".
Good post coming very soon with pics, I promise. Deadlines, you know. Rush, rush, knit, knit, although I do manage to drink a little water now and then. Not too much, or then I have to stop knitting to visit the sand box. Sand box - kitten is happily established in new home with Webs' Receiver Sharlene and her husband. Just in time, too - that kitten had really started to blossom into full kittenhood, BLECK!!

***giggle***

OK, so I know you all want to know how the kitten is, right? She's got a bit of diarrhea at the moment which smells horrible. She's also spoiled, but I just don't know how that's happening. She likes to wake up at 5am and cry. Then she eats and naps for a while. Next is independent playtime for an hour or so, during which she's encouraged to play with her toys and not my toes. (toe, toy, what's the difference, right??). Now, so you all know - she won't be staying with us after all. She will be admitted to the Dakin Humane Society and will be adopted from there once she's old enough and stops pooping badly. She'll get vet care, and a microchip, and a good home with people who love her. This is not to say that I don't love her - because I do - but at this point in my life I don't really want the commitment of a young animal. And we did say temporary, remember? We need to stick to that. In the meantime she will continue to be spoiled - I mean loved and cared for - in our home. I will take her for her vet visits and eventually when she's big enough hand her over to the shelter so they can do their job.
Oh..look what came today?? GIGGLE!! Cafe press rocks! One t-shirt, 200 buttons, all about me! Love it! Girl's t-shirt came last week and she wore it to work Monday. Mine is white. Mr. Wonderful refuses to wear one. We love him anyway. Most days. The buttons are very cool, and little and I adore them! Come find us at Rhinebeck - we'll be handing them out like candy. But when they're gone, they're gone! You'll recognize us - we'll be the crazy people wearing the t-shirts with the book cover on the back. This is going to be the coolest Rhinebeck ever. I am very excited. I am bringing buttons to work tomorrow to share. I am also very excited to report that the book allegedly went off to be printed last week. WOOT! Maybe, just maybe, there will be a hard copy to fondle someday soon. A copy with a spiral, and a hard cover and all 16 patterns, and the lovely technique section and the amazing art and...and...and...maybe I should relax a little!? It's sort of like being pregnant. You know, the end part, where you just want to get it out and look at it?? That's where I am at. I want to see it and hold it and cry over it. NOW.
Today I am working on finishing up this little ditty - an infant set in Sss...sss...WHY can't I remember the name of this yarn??? I have some kind of mental block about this...lemme look...SOUTHWICK! I knew it was an S. I keep wanting to say Stockbridge, which I know is totally wrong. OK, so Southwick. Wick. Cotton. Candle wick. Southwick is the cotton yarn...mabye that'll do it?? Anyway - it's an infant sent starting at a size 3 mo and ending at 18-24 mo. It will have little embroidered flowers around the bottom, and there will be a hat and bootees. Maybe even by Friday!
I just went to answer the phone and happened to see a whole flock of wild turkey in the yard. All sizes, from fluffy chicks (though it's a little late in the year for them) to adolescents and adults. Lovely. I love the woods!

Wwwrow!

It's all over. Temporary my a$$. She stays. Totally stays. And she's mine. Totally mine. I decided I need a cat. Or, rather, the cat needs me. I am not sure her name is Ollie. More will be revealed.
Today we had our nails trimmed - no pics, there were no hands to take any. Ever try to cut the nails of a four-five week old kitten without hurting or scaring it, since you're planning on this as a recurrent activity? Mr. Wonderful held her. I did not get a picture of that either, but it happened. And my dad held her and pronounced her a "cute little thing...heh,heh,heh..." Then she attacked him and he laughed more. We spent some time determining gender - two rational adults staring at the business end of a kitten making a determination? Hysterical. So my week in pictures? Well, there's no yarn:






There's no fear. There's big blue eyes. Mini-cat behaviors, like twitching our tail but it's too young to twitch right, or pouncing, but we have no balance so we fall over.
Someone help me. I've forgotten my personal prime directive - "I hate cats." I find myself perusing the PetEdge website and looking at stuff like this or this or THIS, while my brain screams "but she neeeeeds it, and it'll protect the furniture..." So far I am doing well. I have not bought it anything. Yet. It's got to be some thwarted maternal instinct gone haywire. HEEELLLPP MEEE!!!!!!!! (no. don't. I am having too much fun!)
Now. I think it's almost sweater weather. And I think at babies need sweaters. Even fur babies.
(Man, we don't know anything about where this animal came from. I find that the height of stupidity and a thing I shun. It's probably gonna have rabies or something equally as horrible just as punishment for taking in an animal I know nothing about, which is an activity I totally disapprove of.)