One last playdate

 Tuesday, Alex's friend came over to play for the last time before moving away to Florida.  It was really good to have them get together one more time, and it was good for Alex and I to be able to spend the day with our special friend before we had to say goodbye.  'J' came over at about 1pm and hung out until about 5:30pm when it was clear that both boys were getting pretty tired and were ready to wind down for bed.  I was grateful for my child development courses, that helped me to plan a fun and mostly uneventful day for these two little guys (ages 4 & 5).

To start, we went to 4-Town Farms to pick berries.  I checked online first to see what was in season, and they were supposed to have blueberries.  However, when we got there they said that they weren't picking berries that day.  So I looked at my two little guys...then looked back at this woman...and then I said "what can we pick?"  Flowers.  Okay, flowers it is.  As you can see, the boys adapted.

 We walked up and down the rows, looking carefully at the available flowers and letting each of the boys pick out exactly which flower they wanted.  Then I cut the flower, and they tossed them into the bucket.  There were some very pretty ones.  Some were bug magnets, and some of these bugs were pretty scary looking, so we avoided those.  As hot as it was, I am happy to say that the flowers made it safely back home and didn't wilt...even with our making a stop for ice-cream on the way home.

 We stopped at the Dairy Bee in Riverside for some soft serve ice-cream for the boys, and a cone and a shake for dad and I.  They have a soft serve there that comes with a flavor striped along the edges, in fun colors.  I tried to keep it simple by asking them what color they wanted.  "Red".  Easy enough.  So I asked the girl for "what ever the red is", and she asked me in return "watermelon, cherry, or raspberry?".  Sigh.  So much for keeping it simple.  So Alex went for watermelon and 'J' went for cherry. 

 They both stayed pretty clean, and managed to avoid dropping their cones on the ground, so it was a pretty successful outing.  Overall, it was a wonderful day.  We went back home, watched some Spongebob and The Andy Griffith Show on Netflix, and "J" sat right against my left arm on the couch for a while (something that Alex usually does).  Alex didn't even get jealous!  They played upstairs, and didn't make a huge amount of noise.  No one cried.  No one got hurt.  No one whined (much).  Everyone shared, played nicely with their friend, kept their hands to themselves, and generally had a great time.  It was the best "last day to play" we've ever had.

I'm admittedly

a little sad that these two won't get to grow up together, as "J" is the first friend Alex ever had.  I love him and his family, and they've been really good to us and understanding of my boys and their needs.  They've loved my two boys (even when it was hard to do) and they've always welcomed my boys into their home.  Josh has been a huge influence for good to my teenage son, and Kristen has been a friend, a visiting-teaching companion, a relief-society president, and a primary co-worker to/with me for the last handful of years.  I've really enjoyed getting to know them and making friends with them, and I'll really miss them.

So...hot...

The thermometer says it's 83 degrees F, but the humidity has to be over 90%.  It's too hot to knit.  It's too hot to walk.  It's too hot to type, or do homework, or cook, or eat, or sleep, or watch t.v.  This is ridiculous.  Lets just say that today, I finally gave up and turned on the A.C.

Yesterday, I actually did some knitting and I managed to fix the issue with the cuff and the thumb placement but I need to adjust the numbers on the mitten body again because the lace needs to be able to stretch.  I'm also trying to figure out if I want to knit a plain stockinette palm and just keep the lace to the back of the hand, or if I want to have the lace all the way around.  I know that I'd love to have the lace all over, but I'm worried that the lace might snag, so for the sake of practicality...I think the palm will need to be plain.  Thank goodness I've secured a few test-knitters, because I've had to change the numbers so many times on this pattern that I know I'll need 'em to help me sort out the issues before this goes off to Cascade.

I guess I *can* wear shawls

Forgive the craptastic photo

Anyone remember this?  It's the lace-edge swirl shawl that I knit in the Noro Kirameki Singles for the shop almost a year ago.  It's finally come home to live with me, and although I was happy to have it back, I was unsure of whether or not I could pull it off.  I know I've said this before, but I'm not really a lace shawl kind of girl (although I love to knit them).  So today it was pretty warm and I decided to bring this with me to church instead of my Noro sweater.  The air conditioner was kicking pretty good when we got there and I was glad to have it.  I tossed it over my shoulders and it took the chill right off without being too warm.  And you know what?...I felt pretty in it.  Turns out that this circular shape works well for me and it looks good on.  Guess I can wear a shawl after all.

Vlad photos

 I finally have photographic evidence that I completed Vlad, as part of the True Blood season 4 knit-along.  I know what you're thinking and you're right.  With a blog named Knit-along little doggie...you'd think that I would participate in more knit-alongs, lol.  I try but stuff always gets in the way.

full blocking shot

blocking close-up

I don't usually feel like I can pull off a lace shawl, but I'm really going to give it a try because I just love the details on this one, and it matches my hat (which matches my scarf, which matches... etc, etc).  I'm a junkie for this particular colorway.

Total bandana-style (I'm from the West, after all)

Pattern: Vlad
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) circulars, 40"
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Ruby River (from my stash!!)
Cast on June 27th, bound off July 7th.

If you've never heard of Ravelry...

I can't imagine how its even possible in this day and age, but I run into people every day at work who have never heard of Ravelry.  I can't understand how they have never come across it yet, when they've been knitting for a million years, and honesty it's really hard to explain exactly what Ravelry is without taking 20 minutes to give them a quick tutorial on the site and it's features.  Then today, I ran across anarticle while trolling Facebook, and I thought "that's perfect!".  So, here is the link.  If you don't know about Ravelry (and I just don't know how you couldn't by now...), here ya go.

Happy Birthday Mom & Dante

Totally random, non-knitting or content-related photo

Today is my mom's birthday.  Oh, and my son's birthday.  And my good friend from high school's birthday.  And my first friend in Rhode Island's birthday.  Did I leave anyone out?

We're going to go out to Best Buy today and pick up the iPod 4g, 8GB that Dante saved up for all year.  Every time there was a gift-giving occasion, we just told people that he was saving up for a big-ticket item and to please just give cash.  They were perfectly fine with not having to stress over "what to get a 14-year old boy", and after only seven months of saving, he finally has enough for his iPod touch.  When he asked for one last Christmas, I had to put my foot down because I just couldn't justify spending over $250 for an iPod for a 13-year old (at the time) when I don't even have one of those.  After all, he'd only lose it or break it.  But he really wanted one and I didn't want to totally shoot him down at Christmas, so I told him that if he could save the money himself, he could have one.  So he did.  I didn't think he would, but he did.  So this morning I went online and ordered it for him, with in-store pickup, and I tossed in a screen protector and a decent set of headphones while I was at it.  He is a happy kid, and I know that he'll take good care of it because he had to work so hard for it.  And if he doesn't...well I won't care because I didn't have to pay for it.

In knitting news, I'm making fantastic progress on Vlad.  I started the final body repeat yesterday at my in-laws.  We had a great time there and I got a lot of knitting done at my MIL's kitchen table.  She was blown away by my shawlette, so I can see that I'll need to knit her one this year.  I'm thinking it'll probably be Ishbel.  Maybe I'll make her the matching beret.  Anyway, I'm expecting delivery of the yarn from Cascade today so I'll be starting on my next project for them soon.  Unfortunately, my other potential projects keep hitting snags.  I had a few ideas for the yarns that they sent me to play with, but then I found a similar project on Ravelry so I had to scrap that idea and go back to the drawing board.  It all goes back to my rant about how there's nothing new because it's all been done before.  But I'll just keep working on it and hopefully I'll be able to put my own spin on something, and make fresh and new.

Owls...not so much

Well, to say that my owls sweater was a colossal failure would not be out of the question.  And it's nobody's fault but my own.  I over-estimated how much the Eco Wool could stretch, and I under-estimated how much of a difference that 1/4 stitch per inch would make in a 38 inch garment.  I'm here today to tell you that it makes a HUGE difference.  I can't even get my arms in the sleeves.  It's like being strangled by wool.  There's just no saving this sweater.  So unless you're a 6' woman with a 32" bust, this sweater needs to be ripped back and started over. 

See, I really want one of these sweaters for my own.  I'm a lemming.  Everyone else has one, so I need one too.  It's one of those projects that as a knitter, you should knit.  You know...one of those?  Like the potato chip scarf (which I've never personally knit), or the stripped silk garden scarf from Jarred Flood (again, not one that I've knit), or the Central Park Hoodie (which I totally knit).  So I've tossed the sweater into the basket-of-shame, to be ripped at a later date.  The plan is to use a larger needle, and to knit this at one size larger than my usual so it'll be sure to fit.  And this time I'm starting with the sleeves, so I can check the fit before I put all that time into the body.  But at least I found the buttons for the eyes and set them aside.

In other "rookie-mistake" news, I just had to take my Vlad off the needles and start over because the yarn just wasn't a good match for the pattern.  It's so bright!  I couldn't see the lace pattern at all, and while I was knitting with it, I kept telling myself "I don't know if I'll even be able to wear this..." and "I don't think I can pull off this color..." and yet I still kept going.  Finally today I faced facts, and pulled it out.  I've opted to go for the mountain colors bearfoot in Ruby River instead, and I'm much happier.  Photos as soon and I can find the darn camera charger.