A whale of a tale

Have you ever had one of those getaways that were magical? This one falls into that category. The river and the camp was at its peak this trip. The fishing, to be truthful, had its moments. The water was too high at times to catch a lot of fish, but when the water was down, the fishing was perfect. I took my new fly rod out on the water, and for the first time in years, I actually fly fished.

You see, Little Clover goes fishing with us on every trip. He took his first steps on a fishing weekend. He got his own pole when he was 2. For most of our trips, he sat on someone's lap while fishing, or played in the river, or threw rocks trying to skip them like Papa Clover, but not this trip (okay, he did perfect his rock skipping, watch out Papa Clover). This trip, he fished, on his own. My little guy had grown up a bit more. The bittersweetness of it allowed me to wade out into the water and be close enough to help him rebait his hook or net a fish, but far enough away that I had space to cast with a fly rod, and I did.

I watched the water for when the fish ate, and how they ate. I looked to see what they were eating. I selected my fly, casted, and after a few minutes, I had one!

It was this big.

(I'll let you judge the accuracy of the picture, but like all good fishermen, I'm sticking to my story.)

Later that night, with Little Clover up way past a decent bedtime, we took a short drive out to a wide open meadow, and watched a field of fireflies glowing in the grass, in the trees, in the sky. It was a field of stars twinkling on the earth. Now, that is magical.

Fish Tales

We are back with some fish stories to share! Afterall, what is a fishing trip if the fishermen don't have fishing stories to tell? The drive through Arkansas to the Ozarks was rather uneventful. I did get to catch up on Pride and Prejudice on the CraftLit Podcast. The podcast is a wonderful way to listen to classic books and I'm looking forward to each podcast so that I can find out what is happening with Elizabeth and Darcy. Once I reached the campsite, the fishing stories began.

For starters, Little Clover caught 11 fish on Thursday. He outfished all of the guys, and he did the fishing himself. He casted his own pole and reeled in each of those fish. He needed help getting the fish off the hook, but he released most of the fish without any help. Italian said that he caught a fish with almost every cast. By the time I arrived on Friday, he was well in the lead.

The river was up Friday night, so I didn't have much of a chance to fish. Instead, I knitted. I worked on the anniversary sweater, which is appropriately called "River Forrest" and is a gansey. I didn't get a chance to knit with the "Fly Fishing" sock yarn, but I did make another set of the tree repeat. I'm still tickled by the fact that I have trees!

The river finally came down a bit on Saturday. Little Clover got suited up in his new big boy waders and his big boy glassess. He loved the glasses. They were really big boy glasses and that made him feel special.

We made our way down to the river and casted out.

Then, he caught the first fish of the day! It was a small rainbow that put up a decent fight. Little Clover reeled him in and Italian got it off the hook. Little Clover beamed. He was happy and content to be on the river with a pole and the fish around him.

McDreamy

I'm bacheloretting it for a few days. The guys are gone. Well, not all the guys. The dog is still at home with me. The guys have left for a long fly fishing weekend, leaving me at home - alone. I can't really think of the last time I was alone at home, four years maybe? I really miss the guys. The house is too quiet, too clean, and too spacious without Italian and Little Clover there. I missed seeing socks all over the floor and dishes on the table. Fortunately, I had a few things to keep me busy.

First, I finally got to pick up my new tennis racquet. I can't wait to play! I am totally going to beat Italian now, hee, hee. Secondly, my new fly rod came in as well! (What? You didn't think I could let the guys go on a fly fishing weekend without heading up there at some point, did you?) It is a Streamlight 6'11" fly rod. I've used Italian's on the river and it really is the perfect rod for fly fishing in the the Ozarks. The reel came prestrung, so all I have to do is slap it onto the rod and cast away!

After playing with the new toys, I took full advantage of having complete control of the remote and settled on the sofa with a sandwich, a glass of wine, and the Grey's Anatomy Season 1 DVD set. I only recently discovered Grey's Anatomy, so I bought Season 1 to get caught up. I had already breezed through episodes 1-5 before last night, so I only had 4 episodes left. I popped in episode 6, then episode 7, then glanced at the clock, ignored the fact that it was 11:36 p.m. and popped in episode 8. It was at the end of episode 8, while Derrek (Patrick Dempsey) gives Meredith (not sure what her name is, but who cares, she's standing next to Patrick Dempsey) a brief description of himself when I realize that Italian is my McDreamy! For those of you who may not remember the brief monologue, here are some highlights:

• He likes to fly fish (see paragraph 2, Italian is fly fishing this weekend)


• His favorite color is blue, but not powder blue, more of an indigo blue (hmmm, now I do believe Italian's sweater is blue, not powder blue, but more of an indigo blue, as are most of his clothes)


• Dark brown hair with a bit of a wavy (Italian has dark brown hair with, yep, a bit of a wave)
  
• Stubble (love the stubble and have since the day I met him)
  
• I know there were a couple of other points, but I'm blown away at the fact that I married Patrick Dempsey that I just can't remember them at this moment.
  

Little Clover may argue though that his dad is more like Norm from New Yankee Workshop than McDreamy. We may never agree on this. At least the flannel shirts Italian wears are blue.

For the rest of my time as a bachelorette, I'll be spending it at my LYS sit and knit night and winding my ball of sock yarn from Knit Picks in the colorway "Fly Fishing."

Four

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Front Office of a pediatric office
2. Sales Assistant for Men’s Clothing
3. Business Process Analyst
4. IT Consultant

Four movies I would watch over and over:
1. Sleepless in Seattle
2. Dead Poet’s Society
3. Usual Suspects
4. A Christmas Story

Four places I have lived:
1. Yoju, South Korea
2. Colorado Springs, CO
3. Nashville, TN
4. Atlanta, GA (Snellville actually)

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Everyday Italian
3. Good Eats
4. That’s all the TV I watch

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Seagrove Beach
2. Disney World
3. Camp Purcell (Wallings, TN)
4. McClellan’s (Norfork, AR)

Four websites I visit often:
1. The Yarn Harlot
2. Knit and Tonic
3. The Blue Blog
4. Knitty

Four of my favorite foods
1. Sushi
2. Gus’s Fried Chicken (okay, just about anything fried. Hey, I'm a Southerner)
3. Oysters
4. Chocolate covered espresso beans

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Alaska
2. Disney World
3. Fly fishing
4. At home knitting

Four of my favorite books:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. The Sound and the Fury
3. Anne of Green Gables
4. Little Women

House of Blues

We had the blues at Clover Field last week. The week was all blue. It began with this:

She is a little Happy Meal toy from McDonald's. We are not a McDonald's family, so getting a Happy Meal is a huge treat for Little Clover. He, evidently, knew about the Build-a-Bear Happy Meal toy. How these little people can keep up with this kinda stuff without parents being aware is rather frightening. When he got the box (yes, the meal came in a box and not one of those lousy cheap bags), he opened it mumbling, "I wonder which bear I got." Isn't she cute???? Her cuteness and the nostalgia of the Happy Meal box had an amazing affect on me. I offered to take Little Clover back to Ron McDon's later in the week, just to see which bear we would get. Yes I am a sucker, but look at how cute she is!

Then the blues continued with a win for Italian's softball team, Alex's Blue! This was the first win for Alex's Blue. Ironically, they played against Alex's White, who was also coming in with zero wins. Both teams were excited because one of Alex's team would finally win a game. White was in the lead until the last inning when Blue stole the game! Blue won by a slim margin, and Italian had two beautiful hits, or so he told me. I was too busy knitting away on these to pay any attention to my hubby playing softball.

I hope his hits were as nice looking as these socks. They are the Parade sock yarn from KnitPicks in Yukon.

Little Clover even had a case of the blues this week. His Field Day was Friday and it was a day of the blues. His class won a blue ribbon in every single class vs. class competion. They shot more baskets, they went lower in the limbo, they squeezed more water out of sponges, they lead in the relay races, and they tugged harder in the tug of war. Watching first graders in a tug of war is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. His school also does Field Day in style! Moms and Dads were there in huge numbers to help out with events, to grill hot dogs, pass out refreshements, and to cheer the kids on. The DJ (yep, they had a DJ) kept the party atmosphere going by playing a great selection of dancing faves. I have video footage of little people dancing to the Chicken Dance and the YMCA. These kids are ready to party at any wedding now! The teachers had to teach the junior high kids how to do the electric slide, which they got to show off at the junior high dance that evening. Of all the blue ribbons from field day, here is my favorite one.

Little Clover's personal blue ribbon for winning the 50 yard dash (it wasn't even close).

The week ended with one last blue. Italian's sweater is coming along nicely. I'm not sure if I'll make the Father's Day deadline, but I've hit the zen spot of the pattern. I understand the cable and the sweater is "readable." I reknitted the 2312 stitches I had to rip back last week, plus, I've knitted another 2312. Italian can't watch me knit it. It makes him a little nervous. I've given up the cable needle in favor of just letting my stitches dangle free. He can't take seeing those little stitches just hanging there without anything to keep them from laddering down. It gives me a thrill. I like to think of it as Xtreme Knitting :)

2312

2312. That's the number of stitches I had to frog (aka rip out for the nonknitting fam) on Italian's anniversary sweater. Not only did I miss the deadline, but I also will have to reknit 2312 stitches. Oddly enough, I feel better and like the sweater more. I think part of my new found love of the sweater is that now, it may will look right. It didn't look right before. The trees in the forrest motif didn't look like trees. They looked like naked stumps. I found out last night that the reason they looked like naked stumps were because the limbs were showing up on the inside of the sweater and the stumps were on the outside of the sweater. I should have taken a picture to clarify, but there will be many more opportunities to display pictorial proof of my ditziness, so, we'll move on.

I frogged the entire forrest on the gansey and began reknitting it last night. I think this go round, the trees will have limbs. Now, here is the really shocking part of my frogging experience. I did not have a lifeline in my knitting. I frogged without abandon and picked up stitches, praying that I would have the correct number of stitches on my needles. Surprisingly, I did! I did not drop a single stitch! Yay! I did happen to lose two sterling beaded stitch markers (I have no idea how I did this because I frogged on the floor and the missing stitch markers were not on the floor, odd I tell you), but I didn't drop a stitch! I decided to not tempt bad mojo, or karma, or the fates, so I also added a lifeline to my knitting.

I think my love for the sweater was also rejuvinated with a little help from Italian last night. Before I frogged the forrest, I had a gnawing feeling that the sweater was turning out to be more of a crop top, which is not a look that suits Italian. I held the sweater up to him last night and was shocked to see that it hit the perfect spot on his frame. Another Yay! Then, since our anniversary has passed, and I can open knit and talk about the sweater, I showed him the picture from Handknit Holidays. He loved it! He said that it was perfect. He beamed. Yay!

On this day, I thee wed

There is no sweater, but there is an anniversary. Today is the day that we celebrate our commitment to each other and our partnership. We celebrate the love the holds us together and the acts that we perform to make that love grow. We celebrate the love that nurtures our souls and teaches us the lessons of unconditional love. Today we remember that this partnership is made of individuals who strive to become more by being together. We compliment each others' strengths and weakness. We are partners in our marriage and in our lives. Happy Anniversary.

Love,
me

My Mother's Day

My Mother's Day began with a little kiss on the cheek and a hug from my hubby wishing me a happy mother's day and asking if I wanted coffee or a mimosa. This was quickly followed by a very large hug from a small boy and another wish for a Happy Mother's Day. He had given me his gift the night before (just like his momma, he hates to wait). He sat on my lap for a bit and we talked as Italian went to the kitchen to pour a cup of joe. Little Clover convinced me that I didn't need breakfast in bed. What I needed was to eat breakfast in the living room while we watched cartoons. We then convinced Italian that this was truly the best way to spend Mother's Day.

When I was settled on the sofa, and Little Clover was settled on the floor, Italian brought out an amazing plate of cheese grits, eggs benedict with fried oysters, and a luscious cheese biscuit. The food smelled amazing, and best of all, the kitchen was clean! After breakfast, I got to knit. I knitted on the socks for my little guy, the anniversary sweater, and a tank top for me. I knitted for hours without interruption and it was wonderful. Then, later in the day, we spent the rest of the afternoon with Italian's family, playing and snuggling. At one point, I called the Great Grandma Clover to wish her a happy mother's day. When she answered the phone, I said "Hey, Grandma, happy mother's day."

Little Clover: Grandma? She's in the kitchen, momma. Are you calling her? (Yelling) Grandma! Is my mom talking to you?

Italian's Mom: (Responding from the kitchen) No, honey.

Great Grandma Clover and I were giggling as I tried to explain to Little Clover that I was on the phone with his Great Grandma. I'm still not sure if he got it.

Mother's Day is an odd day for me. I enjoy having the guys cook for me and give me space and give me time, but this seems contradictory to a point. Spending time alone, doesn't seem to be celebrating motherhood. Yet, having time alone is sometimes nice and very rare for a mother. Mother's Day is hardest, I think, on the little people. They don't often understand that maybe Moms need some time every now and then. All they understand is that they really miss Mom when she's not around, and you know, that feeling of being missed, of knowing that someone is wanting you, is a great feeling and I think the best reward of motherhood. I know I still miss my mom.

You might be a knitter

I haven't seen another list like this, but I haven't been reading blogs very long either. If anyone knows of another list, please let me know. I'd love to see it. This is also just a little insight into how knitters get a bit quirky; and being the good southerner that I am, I modeled it off of Jeff Foxworthy's famous routine.

This post gets a bit PG, due to a reference that may be taken badly. I was a bit hesitant because I am a daughter and granddaughter before I am an adult and maintain some aspects of those roles. Still, it is funny.

You might be a knitter if:

• Counting sheep keeps you awake with excitement


• You keep rewinding a movie to see the sweaters a little better


• You see a package of cocktail toothpicks as really cheap cable needles


• You stop by the side of the road during cotton harvesting season to snag some free cotton for spinning


• Your mate finds yarn in his drawers (because you've run out of space everywhere else)


• Your kids no longer moan when you say "Just one more row"


• You know how to pronounce "skein"


• You don't own a single handknit scarf


• You don't own a scarf at all


• You only wear hand knit socks


• Your kids always have a scarf


• Your kids' school projects always include yarn


• Thoughts of trans-atlantic flights or cross country train rides fill you with joy


• You know the dangers of SEX*


• You enable other knitters during SEX


• You don't go to movies because they are dark and you can't rewind


• You have an iPod so you can keep up with your "reading"


• Moths terrify you


• You laugh at "Dry Clean Only" labels on wool sweaters


• When planning vacations, you include LYS on the list of "attractions"


• You know how to sew a rip in a knit t-shirt


• Before you buy a sweater on mega-sale, you check the side seams


• You carry a larger purse (backpack) to hold your WIP


• You move to a colder climate to wear more knitted goods


• You visit the "I love alpacas" website daily


• You had to find new friends because your other friends just didn't understand


• You stop random people on the street and asked to see the insides of their sweaters

*Stash Enhancement eXcursions
Shame on you :)

The Threaded Bliss

Many, many, many thanks to Sheila at Threaded Bliss in Nashville(Brentwood)! (Sheila, I have no idea how you stumbled across this blog, but I am very glad that you did!)

I was devastated when I realized I would miss the Yarn Harlot on her book tour, but Sheila let me know that there were extra signed copies at her store. I called and ordered it on Tuesday. It came in my mail Thursday! I've been busy reading it which is why I haven't been blogging. That and the fact that the Clovers have been pretty busy lately. The service at Threaded Bliss was not only very friendly, but also amazingly prompt! Thank you, again!

I've had another mechanically challenged episode. On Friday, Little Clover had an ice cream party at school. We volunteered to bring something to the party and were given our "assignment" Thursday night. We decided to leave early Friday morning and have breakfast together before school. I asked him what he would like and he told me that he just wanted to get a donut at the grocery store. We headed straight for the bakery where the freshly made donuts where waiting in a glass case behind doors. I grabbed the handle and tried my darnest to slide the door over. It wouldn't budge. I tried again. Still, the door wouldn't slide over. I took my hand off the handle and tilted my head, hoping that some movement might stir my brain activity. At this point, Little Clover reached up, pulled the door open and said "I want that one, Momma."

Thank goodness he got his dad's common sense.

Yarn Menagerie

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who loved animals. Where ever he was, he searched and hunted for animals, both real and toys, to hold and hug. One day, he discovered his mom could make animals by waving her magic wand over balls of yarn. The magic was slow at times, but eventually, an animal would emerge for him to hold.

This is the latest addition to Little Clover’s yarn zoo, a zebra made from wool sock yarn. The zebra was finished late Sunday night, just barely coming in under the deadline for a knit along. I placed it in bed with Little Clover who found it in the morning. His eyes light up and he played with it all morning as we got ready for school. Then last night, when he went to bed, he tucked it under the covers with its head on his pillow. He named her Stripes.