I couldn’t blog this the other night when I made it, but Lookie!!
Birthday card with flowers on it
I really enjoyed making this! I got the idea for the flowers from this hat pattern, and went into my button stash and a jar of confetti for the rest. I printed the saying on my computer first, directly onto the card paper. I found the saying on the internet (thought it was appropriate for the person I made it for) and set it using my greeting card maker software.
Several people have asked me about the card stock I use. It’s this one by Avery (the label people). Their plainer cards come in boxes of 30, and with these, you only get 20 in a box, but the paper is really quite lovely and worth it.
I find that making cute little cards is the perfect antidote to the problem of big project monotony. Often I find that I can’t focus on a large project very well. This happens to me during times of stress, or when there’s a lot going on at work or something. With small projects like these i can feel like I’ve made something cute and it does usually involve yarn and it offers a sense of accomplishment–and the all-important break from the project that I can’t seem to concentrate on anyway.
Tonight we had a family pool party with my Mom and Tony, aunt and uncle, and cousins. It’s an almost annual event that includes a ton of wonderful picnic foods. I supplied the steak and hot dogs. Yes I said steak. We eat GOOD in my family. There was only a scrap small enough to give my cat a good snack later. It was a beautiful day, too… hot, but not humid at all, and breezy. This is rare for a Maryland summer and I’ve learned to take full advantage of days like this when they happen.
I did bring some knitting along but only knit about 8 stitches in total. The company was just too good.
it was a great day. Too bad it has to be over… sigh.
That’s what our daughter used to call it, “McMorial Day.” This was probably when she was about three years old, and it’s one of those phrases that has a permanent place in our family lexicon. And it was a good weekend, too! Busy, but really, unusually wonderful.
After the Stitch n Pitch on Saturday night, on Sunday, we had the pleasure of visiting with Marc, Jen, Caitlin and Calli, who we’ve been missing terribly over the last four years since they moved to Michigan. I’ve known Jen since she was 5 years old, and by some twist of fate, our two oldest children were born on the same day, 88 minutes apart. So, one of my oldest friends and I had birthday buddy daughters. How cool is that?
When they lived here we all even lived in the same town and our kids went to the same school. We all even used to hang out at the swim club together, so it seemed only right that since this weekend was opening weekend for the swim club, that, weather permitting, we should all hang out there, like always. It was such great fun to see them again and to let the kids play together. Of course I’m not the only one whose kids have gotten bigger over the last four years. It was fun to see how everyone has grown and how Jen and Marc’s girls are becoming such beautiful young ladies.
Jen and TrishThis is Jen with me. Of course, as I suspected, I didn’t get the hot pink scarf done in time, but I worked on it and she said she’d like to have one in that color. Phew! She likes it. Of course I’m really bad at keeping secrets and I told her she’d have it in about three weeks.
Diana and CaitlinThe birthday buddies, together again.
Baby ClaireI also got to meet little Claire, for whom I made the February Baby Sweater last year. She’s a happy girl! (She’s the daughter of our former pool manager, and they happened by to say hello!)
Our time at the pool was cut short by a thunderstorm, but luckily there was a family-style restaurant just up the road that could handle a large group on short notice. So it was our two families, plus some other friends of the girls and their parents, for a lovely impromptu dinner party after the pool.
CalliLook how big Calli is getting! She is as sweet as ever!
MarcMarc! With Hair! (My kids didn’t even remember that he HAD hair, as he used to sport the shaved head look.)
Caitlin and MaraMara and her mom were able to join us at the pool and at dinner.
Emily, Diana, Caitlin and MaraFour friends, together again. The cameras were flashing and there was much giggling going on at their end of the table. Afterward, Emily’s mom drove the other girls to Caitlin’s hotel so they could enjoy a night swim at the hotel’s indoor pool. I’m so glad all our girls had the chance to spend so much time together. I’m really hoping that we can all get together again soon.
Today was the annual Memorial Day Picnic at our swim club. It was sunny off and on (mostly off), and we were able to get some swimming in before the promised thunderstorms brought and abrupt end to the party.
BoyZilla strikes a swim poseBoyZilla is quite proud of himself that he can swim in the shallow end of the pool by himself this year. When he saw me come over to the pool with the camera, he said, “Here mom, let me do my best swimming pose for you.” Nope, that one’s not camera shy!
BoyZilla shows off his underwater handstandBoyZilla was eager to perform his feats of daring do for the camera. I think he figured out how to do the handstand just this weekend.
Her Highness the TeenThe girl child is quite a bit more camera shy, however, and she thought that if she stayed far enough away from me that I wouldn’t be able to get her photo. She thought wrong. Haha!
Hot dog… yum!Call me weird, but I love taking closeup photos of food. This was my lovely grilled hot dog, shortly before it found its way into my mouth.
So, we had a very full weekend! I was so glad to participate in so many fun activities, and will be sorry to return to a more “normal” routine tomorrow. I’m having my usual Sunday night dread of work, except that it’s Monday. Which is a good thing, I guess, because that means it’s a short week coming up. Thank goodness for that!
I haven’t gotten a lot of knitting done at all. Just a couple more little hearts for my Valentine’s goody bags for my co-workers. I’m glad it’s a three-day weekend and I’ll have time to get more done.
My cable access was very intermittent until Wednesday evening of this week, when I think they finally tightened it up enough to hold for a while. (I think there was a loose connection outside. It usually went out with bad weather, wind, cold, you name it.) Yesterday we managed to maintain our cable and internet service through a pretty serious windstorm. I guess I’m supposed to feel lucky.
My great-aunt Evelyn died on Wednesday evening, probably just as I was rejoicing over the return of the interwebs. Uncle Bob, her former husband, had passed away on December 30, and I just saw her at his memorial service. She looked great. Was getting around with a walker, but to be expected at her age… but walking well and being her usual self. Age had not clouded her mind at the least and she talked about how she still drives and goes and visits with her girlfriends every week.
Two weeks later, it was discovered that she had advanced bone cancer. I’m not sure how this happened so suddenly. I guess she probably fell… I don’t even know. And then two nights ago she just slipped away. At least, I guess, she wasn’t sick for long and could not have suffered much. I am, I suppose, grateful for that. But at the same time I am sad. It feels like I am losing lots of my older relatives now. My Christmas card list gets shorter every year. I love my extended family. We’re a big bunch. Chaotic, and sometimes dramatic, but usually fun. But nowadays it is starting to feel like the circle is smaller, and people are missing. Sigh.
Wednesday was also a good day. My little man’s first grade class had a performance for the school’s weekly chapel. The theme honored Black History Month, and the students each played an important character from history. My son played Henry “Box” Brown, a slave who climbed into a box and shipped himself to freedom.
In the days and weeks leading up to the performance, Little Man was very anxious about the whole thing, and would not even practice his lines with us. He eventually confided that he was nervous and worried that people would laugh at him. And yet, we could not ever get him to practice. So I wasn’t sure how it would go that morning, but he did know all of his lines, and he said them perfectly. I was so proud! I would post pictures but I don’t want to inadvertently share photos here of other people’s children, or give clues as to the location from the surrounding imagery. I know I post pics of my kids a lot, but there are certain things I won’t post. So sorry! But suffice it to say that he did great and I was SO proud of him, and that yes, there will be a video for private family viewing only.
But, I can’t leave you with nothing to look at for this post, so here’s Tegan. As you can see, she’s really thrilled to be video’d:
Ok, she’s probably just wishing that I hadn’t disturbed her nap.
Thanks for reading this update. I’ll have knitting content sometime this weekend.
Actually, I feel pretty stupid. Elizabeth Zimmermann is always right, and I should just trust her, that even though her patterns aren’t always the most specific, hand-holding things in the world, I should just trust that they’re right.
It’s all about the short rows. Most of the time, a pattern will specifically say when you are short rowing and turning before the end of the row, and then they specifically say when you will begin picking the unknit stitches back up and knitting them again. This pattern didn’t specifically include those little notes, so it was hard for me to figure out where in the directions to begin picking the unknit stitches back up again. Ok, the pattern didn’t specifically point it out, but if I had just had faith and followed along just as written without second-guessing, then I would be doing it anyway. It all worked beautifully of course. It was Elizabeth Zimmermann, after all.
Today is Steven’s 7th birthday! I am so proud of my little boy, who is growing up so fast. His big party is still a week or so away, but my mom and Tony came for dinner tonight and brought an ice cream cake. Here are a few photos from the evening:
Getting ready to blow out candlesBlowing out candlesSteven and Nonna cut the cakeSteven, with sister being goofyDianaNonnoDaddy
Were it not for a slight accident this morning with the needle slipping out of the stitches and quite a few more than I would have wanted being dropped, I might be writing the Finished Object Report instead of just a run of the mill progress report. But, such is life when we’re knitting, eh? I’m not sure if I’ve ever knit a project that didn’t have at least some major mishap involved.
When I originally envisioned this hat I thought it might make a nice Christmas present for my daughter. Then I started it so early that I thought she’d get to wear it some this fall. And now? Well it looks like it’s regained it’s Christmas present status again. Oh well, at least I feel like I’m on track for something now!
Last night, we went around the kitchen table and each of us said what we liked best about the holidays. I asked the kids to ignore the obvious (presents!) and to pick their other favorite thing. Here’s what everybody said:
Diana: The Food
Steven: Making Christmas Cookies
John: Looking at All the Lights
Trish: Christmas Music
WordPress Upgrade And Other Site Stuff
Yesterday I upgraded this site to WordPress 2.7. So far, I love it! If you’re thinking of upgrading, there are a couple of things to consider. At least there are a couple of basics that I did that helped make things go smoothly. First, I made sure that the theme I’m using is 2.7-compatible (it is). I grabbed the latest version of my theme, installed the upgrade, then disabled all my plugins, and let my hosting company do the automatic upgrade. Then I went in and reactivated my plugins. That’s all there was to it!
I’m finding that it’s hard to maintain three separate blogs, so I’m going to do some more general type blogging here from time to time. I’ll still keep my family blog, but even that needs a serious update. But I’m going to add a page for my writings and stuff that I had intended to develop at my long-neglected personal blog.
This blog will still be a knitting blog, but you might notice a couple of other sections in the menu over time. I’m just finding it harder and harder to even think about keeping up with three blogs. Let me know if you have any feedback on this issue! For now, I’ve uploaded an article I wrote for my college newspaper, more than 20 years ago. Even though my life is in a completely different place now, this article captures how I’m feeling right now:
Tonight as we were picking up the kids from school, we noticed bright lights in the sky, near the moon. On the car radio, we quickly learned that for at least a couple hours this evening, Jupiter and Venus would be visible next to the moon. None of us in this house had ever seen anything like it, so we all agreed this must be something special. My camera doesn’t know how to focus on objects that twinkle in the sky, but the video function did much better. My DH was able to capture this quick little clip so we’ll always remember what we saw.
Not much knitting today. I got a couple more rows done on Diana’s hat. Hopefully tomorrow morning before I start telecommuting I can knock out the rest of the body and start the ribbing. I can’t wait!
It’s a typical Monday after a holiday around here. Which means the little one is a homework refusnik and the older one called in the afternoon, complaining of a “headache” and wondering if we could pick her up early. Nope, kid, go back to class. Ugh. Better sign off for now and reel the little one back in. Wish me luck, and hopefully there will be a knitting update tomorrow.
. I’m definitely going to make a bunch of smaller hearts starting tomorrow.
