Why I love Donald Sobel

I discovered last week while traveling for Thanksgiving that I greatly underestimated the power of Encyclopedia Brown. We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us Wednesday evening, and being an experienced traveling mom, I grabbed the travel activity bag to ensure it was well stocked. In the bag, I keep some activity books, crayons, a pen, a pencil, a comic book, car appropriate games, a portable dvd player, a case of dvds, and snacks. Everything looked fine so I only added the Encyclopedia Brown Little Clover was currently reading. We hit the road Wednesday evening fueled with coffee and began our journey.

Once we hit the interstate, Little Clover turned on his light and asked if we would like to listen to him read. He then proceeded to read and finish the one book I packed that was intended to last the entire Thanksgiving holiday. So, what did we do? We pulled off the interstate for a detour and found a bookstore.


Once we refreshed his supply of books, we piled back into the car and continued on with the rest or our Thanksgiving tradition of food, bonfires, and paintball.

The food part with family is always a fun experience and this year was no exception. The food continues the day after with a bonfire in the woods of Tennessee, which is also when the paintballing begins. As odd as the whole thing sounds, we have a wonderful time. The teams are split between the older generation and the younger cousins. Before you feel sorry for the older group, I think you should know they include former and current military personnel. They can hold their own.


Before we headed back home, I got to see a memory be made. My dad and my son took out the canoe together and paddled across the lake. Little Clover was thrilled with being in a canoe and even more excited about paddling. I was thrilled with watching the two of them beaming with happiness.


As for the furnace saga, the furnace and I just could not come to terms. I wanted to keep the house, so the furnace left. We found a replacement and are enjoying the new relationship.

Apology

Dear Furnace,

Let me begin by expressing my deepest apologies for not giving you the attention you deserve. I am truly sorry for not spending more time with you before this weekend. When we left Wednesday without so much as a "See ya," you must have been crushed and I can understand how lonely you must have felt. I can also understand if you are jealous of the attention we have been giving the fireplace, but throwing a temper tantrum and refusing to work is no way to get my attention. Please believe me when I tell you that the fireplace is nothing more to me than a little flame. You are the one I really need each winter. I hope to have you back soon.

I miss you,
Irish Clover

Thank goodness for big men's sweaters to keep one's lap warm while the furnace misbehaves.

Reality Check

Cliches and phrases are a very common part of everyday speech, but not all cliches and phrases are equally relevant or true. I've heard one particular phrase quite a bit in the last few weeks and I would like to start a campaign to have this phrase banned, for good.

"Perception is reality."

I hate this sentence; I really, really do. I hate it with an amazing passion, and not because it is overused. I hate it because it is dismissive and defeatist and flat out wrong. I think knitters, more than anyone else, know just how inaccurate the statement is.

Think of all the knitters out there who have knit a gargantuan sock, one too large for Big Foot, who honestly perceived the sock as maybe big enough to fit their husbands' feet. They may have even been a bit concerned the sock would be too small. They happily knitted away as the sock grew to the size of Delaware and then casted off, only to be shocked when their dear hubbies slipped the sock over both feet... at the same time. These knitters believed the sock would fit. According to the statement above, their perception of the size of the sock should have been enough to make it a reality, but it didn't because the statement is wrong, people! Just because someone, or a group of someones, perceives something as true and real doesn't mean it is true or real.

Think back to the middle ages when all of Europe believed the world was flat. They looked around and said to each other, the world must be flat because it looks flat. Everyone then acted as if the world was flat because the flatness was part of his reality. People didn't wonder far from home or sail too far out into the ocean because they were worried they would fall off the earth. Then one voice stood up and looked around and decided he was going to question this "reality." He had daring to think beyond the small dismissive thinking of everyone else and to search for what was truly real.

Saying "Perception is reality" keeps people from pushing the envelope and making advances and finding new interest and finding the talents in others. Saying it is the same as throwing up one's hands and saying "Oh, well, that's what someone else thinks. It is right because he thinks it is right. I must now let it impact my reality, and there is nothing I can do to change."

Well, I'm not going to take that attitude. People may perceive me as the voice of doubt or a nonconformist, but really, I'm the voice that asks, "Are you sure you believe that? Why don't you look at that sock one more time. I know, how about trying it on as you knit! You may be surprised by what you find."

Almost done

Fall arrived this year. For most people, fall is a given. It happens every year at the same time. This is not so for us in the Delta. Some years, the leaves on the trees turn a muddy brown and drop like burnt pieces of paper. This year, though, we are experience the full technicolor joy of fall. Little Clover and I have been watching the leaves change during our drive to school each morning. The leaves are reaching their peak and are starting to strewn the ground in reds, yellows, and oranges. With some luck, the changing leaves will bring cooler weather. I'm ready for sweaters and hats and gloves. I'm also ready to finish my Christmas knitting.

Holiday knitting below
Pattern: Fetching
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft in dark blue, 2 balls
Changes: I made the cuff longer and the glove portion longer. I also added a seed stitch border at the top and bottom. The top border flares a bit, so I would recommend knitting it on one size smaller needles.
Notes: The Cashsoft is perfect for this pattern. The knit fabric is dense and warm.


My original goal was to finish the holiday knitting by the end of October. Then I realized I didn't need the additional stress in my life, so I'm finishing the Christmas knitting in the middle of November instead. I'm still ahead of the game and I can stress myself out with reknitting the River Forrest Gansey for Italian, by Christmas.

On another note entirely, Sunday was Veteran's Day in America. We didn't do a very good observing the day at Clover Field, so today, I would like to thank everyone in the Armed Services, especially those in mine and Italian's families. Thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you for safeguarding my freedoms. Thank you for doing a job that many of us are unwilling to do. Thank you. To those currently fighting overseas, I wish you safe journeys home.

One Week

What happens when you don't blog for a week? You finish a sweater:

Pattern: Sahara
Yarn: Tilli Thomas Pure and Simple and Disco Lights
Size: Medium
Notes: I hate the yarn. Really, I do. It is a beautiful yarn, but it pills while knitting and the Disco Lights skein had five knots. Yep, five annoying troublesome knots. There is no way I would buy Tilli Thomas again, and I can't recommend it. Other than the horrid yarn, I really like the sweater. It fits nicely and is very flattering. Italian loves it. It is not a difficult knit at all. The shaping is easy to do. The only modification I made was to shorten the length by 2 inches at the hem.

Happy Halloween!

I started thinking about my goal to finish all the Christmas presents and the Sahara by the end of October and realized my sanity is just way too important. Now, I'm striving to finish Sahara by the end of the month, and I might just make it not miss the deadline by too much. I would love to wear it to a party this weekend and with some luck, I might just have it blocked and ready. This means that Christmas knitting at home has ceased, but it is continuing in small little bits during my lunch break.

I've had a decent amount of knitting time at home in the evenings. We've gotten into the groove with school for Little Clover and soccer season is now over, giving us a little more time. Plus, he has a short week this week which translates into less stressful evenings for us. With this additional time, I've managed to knit the entire body and finish the shirttail hem with the main yarn.

I opted to use Japanese shortrows instead of the more traditional wrap and turn method. I like the slight slanting of the stitches, but I'm not completely sure I did it correctly.

On a practice swatch, the stitches are pretty much invisible. (If I had found the practice swatch, you would have seen the picture here. The practice swatch is wherever I put it when I cleaned up. I should do less of that.) One big difference on the practice swatch is that there are five stitches between each shortrow section because the slope is more gradual. With the shirttail, the shortrows do not have any stitches between each row, resulting in a much steeper slope. I'll see how the stitches end up when I finally blog the sweater.

I'm still not sure how much I like the Tilli Thomas, but the knitting of it has gotten better. Maybe I had a really bad skein.

So, how did I manage to have all this time to knit? Well, the guys kept themselves busy reading Encyclopedia Brown and then playing Detective as they tried to reenact the cases in the book. Here they are with their "Detective" coats, analyzing the "crime scene."






Then, the next night, they had a pumpkin carving party. Xavier Guy even came over to join in the fun.

Little Clover took full ownership of his pumpkin and pretty much carved it all by himself (with supervision).

I must say, I'm pretty impressed.


Happy Halloween

Happy Birthday

Today we celebrate Mrs. Soprano, and I'd like to send her a very happy birthday wish. She has been a wonderful mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother to our family. I hope she knows she is well loved, and may today be filled with many happy moments. Happy Birthday!

Knitting on the Christmas presents continue and I'm about halfway done. My goal is to finish the presents by the end of October (which is only a week away), so that I can enjoy November and December relatively holiday stress free. I finished another gift last night while we watched the Colts game (picture at the bottom).

Of course, I'm not content without stress, which is why I've decided to knit Little Clover's holiday sweater this year. I think this is borderline crazy, especially since I still haven't finished Sahara.

I am making progress though! The Tilli Tomas still disappoints me. I would not recommend purchasing this yarn. It may be soft and feel heavenly, but it looks dirty and is already starting to pill even though I'm only knitting it and haven't really put it to use yet. For the price of the silk, I think you could find better substitutes. The construction of the piece is very interesting. The sweater is knit flat for the V-neck section and then joined after the very low V is complete. I almost made a huge error in the pattern. The pattern tells you to knit flat until the piece reaches a certain measurement from a particular marker. I added this marker a couple of months ago when I started the sweater, so I was measuring from a different marker, placed much, much lower in the sweater. Fortunately, I caught my error before I had made a huge knitting blunder and am progressing merrily (despite the yarn) along.

I also want to finish this sweater before I start on Little Clover's holiday sweater, and since I can't seem to find a little boy pattern I like, I'm just going to make it up as I go. Yep, this is definitely crazy.

Warning! Christmas Knitting!

Pattern: Fetching
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Sport
Modifications: I made the overall gloves longer by adding an extra set of cables at the bottom and knitting more rib at the top before the seed stitch border I added. I also knitted more rows between the bottom of the cable cuff and the thumb. On my next pair, I think I may not knit those extra rows.

Are we having fun yet?

We have a great group of friends in our life. We have friends we see or talk to on a regular basis and we have friends we may not see for months. Fortunately, with the friends we don't see often, when we finally do get together, we seem to pick up right where we left off. This weekend, we had the chance to hang out with a family we haven't seen since January.

Our two boys have been buddies since they were infants. We all meet at daycare when our sons were in the same little daycare room. Since then, we've spent several birthdays and ballgames together with the occasional playdate thrown in here and there. Since the boys have been apart for several months, we worked out a time when our hectic schedules allowed us to get together.

We had a great time! Although we stayed clear of wearing lampshades, we did allow ourselves to get a little crazy.

The dad is a balloon artist, so he whipped up a couple of crazy hats for the grown-ups. We couldn't let the kids be the only ones having fun.

We also allowed ourselves to let loose a couple of weekends ago as well. We took a trip to Nashville to finally have a belated birthday celebration with my family. While there, we sneaked a peek at the Parthenon, and caught a Predators game. The game was fantastic! Nashville has the potential to become a true hockey town. The fans are very, very supportive of the team, evident by the number of jerseys and face paint we saw. We even got into the spirit with a little face paint ourselves.

Speaking of fun, I allowed myself to splurge a little and bought some fleece from the makers of Socks that Rock.
Yummy!! I can't wait to give it a go!

P.S. The balloon artist does do parties.

I really do knit

In case anyone is wondering, I really am knitting and I've got the FOs to prove it. Granted, these FOs are small, but the small things still count. The knitting is one of the few things keeping me calm and relatively stress free.

Warning!!!!
Fall is quickly approaching the southern United States and with the onset of Fall comes the onset of Holiday knitting. This Christmas is a knitting Christmas. If you feel you may be eligible to receive a knitted gift under the tree, then stop reading and do not scroll down. I repeat. Do not scroll down. This warning is in place until the holiday season has been lifted. For friends, the holiday season does not expire until gifts have been exchanged.

Mommy Russian, I mean it. Go. (PS, I do still love you).

I think everyone is gone. Let the pictures commence!

Two Christmases ago, I knitted scarves for the girls in my immediate family. This year, I'm knitting them somewhat matching fingerless mitts. Mommy Russian's mitts completely match her ribbed scarf.

I used the same Brown Sheep yarn to finish off her gloves. The pattern is from the front section of the Interweave Knits Fall 2005 issue. It's hard to believe this month marks my three year knitiversary. On one level, I feel that I have not accomplished a lot in three years. At the same time, I've done quite a bit in three years. I can now add "Spinning" to my list of fibre related hobbies.

For the Engineer, I tried by hand at Fetching.

Overall, I like the pattern, but I think it could be longer, both at the top and the bottom. I used GGH Sublime for the yarn and it is yummy! The picture shows off the cables well. I also added a seed stitch border to the bottom and top of the mitts to draw in the mitts. On the next pair, I'm going to try going down a needle size for the seed stitch at the tops of the mitt to make the fit a bit more snug.

I apologize for the rushed feel of the blog. I wanted to get this post out though so I can show that I really am still a knitter.

Pause

Life at Clover Field is stormy right now. Both Italian and I are adjusting to relatively new jobs and new projects and our work days are spilling into our personal evenings. In addition, we have had some rough times personally, as our families have experienced various hardships. We needed a change in scenery, so we packed up for a little fly fishing trip.

Now, for those who fly fish, you know the importance of the pause. It is the pause in the cast that allows the fly line to straighten and lengthen. When you cast, giving your fly line a slight tug as you raise the line out of the water gives the line enough resistance to pull out the slack and enough tension to extend and pull more line forward to cast further. The pause is when the line extends and straightens to its full potential. Without the pause, the line becomes a tangled unworkable mess.

I was rushing through the months without a pause and I was quickly becoming the tangled unworkable mess. The purpose of our little trip was not really to camp or to fish, those activities were an excuse for the trip. The purpose was to take a pause, to reconnect with family, and to find our center of peace. We spent the days standing in the middle of a large river watching the fish and the birds. We spent the evenings around a campfire as the sky darkened and then lightened with an infinite number of stars. We laughed as we told stories and running jokes. I even knitted and Little Clover caught his first fish on a fly rod. We paused and as a result, we straighten back out to our full potential.

We saw a very big walking stick bug right by our picnic table. Isn't it huge?

InRainbows

Radiohead is releasing a new album in the upcoming weeks and they are toppling the music distribution model on its head. Instead of releasing a CD through traditional venues, they are offering the album digitally on their website. The buyer determines the price. Yep, there is no set price for the digital album. Instead, the person buyer the record can determine how much he or she wants to pay.

If you are a reader of knitting blogs and a listener to Brenda Dayne's Cast-On, then you may have heard discussions on what a knitted item is worth. How much would a buyer want to pay for a handknitted good, and as an artist, how much should we ask for a handknitted item? Do we as knitters value what we produce or do we downplay it as a craft? Is knitting a craft or is it artform? Radiohead, by letting the buyer decide the price is asking the buyer to determine the worth of their output. Fortunately for Radiohead, they have established the worth of their music. Their fans value their music.

What I have noticed is I value knitted goods more now. Certain prices on handmade knitwear do not shock me anymore. I know the time and the effort required to make sweaters and hats and mittens. I am willing to pay for quality and time. I'm also pickier now about the knitwear I buy. Since becoming a knitter, I try to buy only things I cannot create due to time or desire, and I expect it to be well made.

Now, back to Radiohead, they accepting pre-orders for CDs and vinyls. Shockingly, CD sales are decreasing but vinyl sales are holding steady and increasing for some labels. Vinyl listeners tend to be music fanatics. Generally, they have an entire wall or library devoted to their collection and hardware. They notice the differences in sound quality between vinyl and digital and they view music as an experience. They see their hobby of listening to music as a time to slow down and reconnect to a different era. Sound familiar? When knitted good as easy to come by, the knitting movement is holding strong. It's a time to slow down and to block out some of the noise we hear in our fast pace world.

The Comfy Chair

We don't have a dining room. Instead, we have a room that I am sure has been used for dining by other owners of this house. We have re-purposed the room as a "Drunken Reading Room." We keep our wine cabinet and wine glasses there, along with a big chair and a half in the corner. The chair is often referred to as "The Big Comfy Chair."

The other day, while I was cooking dinner, I noticed the house was very quiet. I wondered through the house looking for my guys and found my guys snuggled in the big comfy chair, each with a book, a sight to make any English major happy.

Sometimes, I wonder if I would like a formal dining room for nice Norman Rockwell style dinners, but then I see the pile of books on the table by the chair and the toss pillows strewn about the room. I smile to know the room is being used more than if it were a dining room, and I wonder if I have any patterns for a nice comfy blanket to match the big comfy chair.

Thank you to everyone who expressed her condolences. Your warm thoughts are much appreciated. I also send out hugs to those of you who have lost someone special to cancer. I hope you remember all the good times.

Finally Done

After whipping out one sock in under a week, I finally finished the second sock a month later. Granted, I've had other distractions, knitting and life, between the first and second sock, but I still like to finish socks in under a month.

Part of the long duration was due to reknitting the top of the first sock. The first sock looked long enough and even felt long enough before I started knitting the rib, but when I bound off the sock, it was a couple of inches short of "long enough." Of course, I knit the second sock to be the right height which meant the first sock was definitely too short. I didn't mind reknitting the top of the sock. The act was rather cathartic. It is one area of my crazy life where I have complete control and can fix anything. I need the sense of control right now.

Pattern notes
Pattern: Widdershins
Yarn: Tofutsies color 723 - Put Your Foot Down
Gauge:
Needles: US Size 0 DPN, metal (Knitpicks)
Thoughts: Very easy pattern and I adjusted it to larger number of casted on stiches at a smaller gauge. I think I have a better understanding of the pattern and can adjust it to any number of stitches. I love, love, love the heel flap and definitely prefer toe-up. I used Judy's magic cast-on, which i think is now my new favorite for toe-up socks.

With the socks out of the way and only one project in my knitting bag, I naturally casted on for another project. I'm trying my hand (hee, hee) at mitts. We have some camping trips coming up and I want my hands to stay warm. I found a pattern in an older copy of Interweave Knits. They are knitting up quickly on Brown Sheep wool and I love the sturdiness of the fabric. Instead of using the recommended US size 8 needles, I'm knitting them on US size 6, mainly because I had size 6 DPNs and not size 8. I think the change will work in my favor and keep my hands nice and toasty.

Little Clover is also requesting an knitted moose and since he scored 4 out of his team's 7 goals at yesterday's soccer match, I think he has earned a moose. He and his team played a fantatic game. I'm amazed to watch them play. No matter the conditions, these kids play with a zeal and a commitment lacking in many adult activities. I hope they keep their gusto as long as they can.

Now for the not so good news. We found out last week that Zoo Baby, Nana Clover's sister has breast cancer and there is a chance that their other sister may have some complications from her breast cancer. Please send prayers/warm thoughts/good karma/cyber hugs their way. They need it. The good news about Zoo Baby's cancer is it is Stage 0, the earliest one can find cancer, so the outlook is good.

The news is still scary and it makes me think of all the people who are affected by cancer. September is Children's Cancer Awareness Month and we are quickly approaching Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The opportunities to help out will be great the next few weeks. Tonight, Chili's restaurant will be having St. Jude night. All profits from today's sales at participating Chili's restaurants will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Go treat yourself to a dinner (and a margarita) and help out a wonderful hospital.

Also, October usually means at least one breast cancer awareness walk. In my city, we will have two. One walk will be sponsored by the Susan G. Komen foundation and the other will be sponsored by the American Cancer Society. I'll be walking with many others to raise cancer awareness. I'd love for you to walk, too.

For Elaine

Last week, we lost a shining star in Italian's family. His Auntie Lane lost her battle with lung cancer. She was a mother, a sister, an aunt, a friend, and young. At her young age though, she had positively touched the lives of many people, and her good-bye wish was to wish us all a life we would be proud to lead. Her enthusiasm for life was palpable and the void her death is leaving was immediately felt. She was generous with her love and the love she sent forth was generously given back to her and this family will miss her very much.

I know the statistics show that more deaths are caused by heart disease than anything else, but not for this family. Between Italian and I, we have lost an aunt, a cousin, and two great grandparents to various cancers. We have the joy of knowing three friends, two cousins, and a step aunt who are all cancer survivors. The cancers that have touched our family have been cancers of all types, attacking all parts of the body, at all ages. As the medical world makes stunning advancements in fighting diseases and ailments, the progress in cancer research has been painfully slow for this family and we want it to move faster.

When Auntie Lane was diagnosed, I knitted a cap and wrapped it with prayer and good thoughts and love. Despite promising I would write out the pattern and post it on the site, I just never found the time. The time was this weekend. In between the grieving and the traveling and the remembering, I knitted one more cap for Elaine. Although she will never wear it, I hope her legacy will continue through it and I hope she touches you. As a thank you on behalf of all those families whose lives have been touched by some cancer in some way, I want to offer you Elaine whenever you make a donation to any Cancer foundation/institute. Just send me an email at irishcloveratgmaildot com, and if you include your amount, I'll keep a running tally.

For those who have lost someone, I offer you a hug of sympathy. For those who are helping someone fight cancer, I wish you strength. For Elaine, I give her a thank you for letting me have a glimpse of just how special she was.

Bohus

This weekend, I had the luxury of attending a class on the history of Bohus Stickning with Susanna Hansson. If you ever have a chance to take a class with Susanna, take it! She was a fantastic teacher and has a wealth of knowledge to share. Plus, having the time with other knitters is also a treat.

Bohus (pronounce "boo-hoos") is a stranding technique which also involves texturing by adding purl stitches to the right side of the work. Unlike Fair Isle, which has a two colors per row rule, Bohus can have multiple colors being used on one row. At the most, I knitted with three colors and found myself preforming knitting acrobatics as I tried to hold all three colors in my hand at once. It was quite a sight.

Bohus patterns were primarily designed for sweaters, but for the sake of the class, we made little wristlets. We received little kits for the class containing tiny yarns. I knitted my wristlets on US Size 0 at a gauge of roughly 9 stitches to the inch. These stitches are teeny tiny, but the overall effect is amazing! To show what a difference the stitche size makes, Susanna passed around two samples hat, one matching the traditional gauage for Bohus sweaters and knitted with fingering weight yarn, and one knitted with Shetland/aran weight yarn. The hats were both the same pattern, but almost looked like two different pieces. The color was the prominent feature of the traditional hat, while it was more of a secondary player in the aran weight hat.

At the end of the class, Susanna asked if we would all line up our wristlets so we could we could see the differences between each one. Seeing all the beautiful partially finished wristlets in one place was amazing. Equally amazing was seeing all the balls of yarn attached to the wristlets. Everyone was able to retrieve her wristlet from the pile without tangling a ball!

After the class, I rushed home and found some time later in the evening to finish one of the two wristlets.

Although I did have a ton of time to knit, we also had a very fun family game night. Little Clover recieved a Clue Mysteries game which contains over 40 kid friendly mysteries (meaning, no one dies and all the "crimes" have an accidental undertone). To help set the mood, we donned fake mustaches. Even Italian put on a fake mustache over his real goatee. (That picture was very very blurry. I think the two mustaches confused my camera and prevented it from focusing.) Italian did successfully capture a shot of Detective Little Clover in mid thought.

Oh, we also managed to watch the first (American) football game of the season.
Go Colts!

Celebrate

Since Little Clover and I share a birthday weekend, we try to do special little things on our birthday weekend. Luckily, this birthday weekend is almost always Labor Day weekend, which means an extra day of special somethings. This year, we jammed the entire weekend with fun activities.

We started celebrating Friday with a jaunt to a little fair. Little Clover tried out the hay bale maze:

Rode a few rides, including the Ferris Wheel:


He's blurry from the speed of the roller coaster, that or my camera had a sip of my beer while I wasn't looking.


Little Clover and I went through our first House of Mirrors and boy, the maze was much harder then I expected. I actually ran into two walls and the maze was designed for kids. We even visited two petting zoos, one of which had:

An alpaca! This is the softest animal I have ever felt in my life. Papa Clover asked if I petted it with my scissors. Unfortunately, no, my scissors were in the car. There's always next year, right?

We also took in the sights and scoped out all the food vendors. For some reason, most foods taste better on a stick and the fair did not disappoint us with its multitude of food-on-stick vendors. There was even one I had never seen before (and didn't try this time).

Maybe one day I'll be brave enough.

We spent Saturday at The Lion King. This is only the second show to bring me to tears upon the opening (the first being Les Miserable). The color is breathtaking and the entrance is beyond words. The puppeteers were fantastic and the costuming was superb. Little spent most of the show staring intently at the stage. He loved the cheetah and I must admit, he was my favorite puppeteer as well. The music was good, but not the best, but the visual eye candy made up for the lack of musical variety. The performers did a wonderful job as well. This is a show one should see at least once.

On the way home, Little Clover had the camera. He wanted to show his grandma the pictures from the fair. Then he took a few pictures himself. He took a lovely shot of his grandma:

And a picture of his socks.

Yep, his socks. Obviously, this is normal behavior since his mother is constantly taking pictures of socks.

We rounded the weekend by taking in a baseball game. This time, we had the pleasure of sitting on the bluff seats, which is a huge grassy hill behind left field. Despite the home team loss (we are in last place), a good time was had by all. I think the beer and BBQ nachos helped with that.

Finally, we celebrated Little Clover's birthday on Monday. He has been a part of our lives for several years now and they have been the happiest years of my life.

Now, I did have some time to knit. The sock enjoyed the Lion King and loved the concession line when it had a chance to people watch. The Sahara sweater also received some love this weekend, but it must of been jealous about not seeing the Lion King and greated me with a gigantic knot in the Tilli Tomas silk. I faced the knot with an ultra serene calm and spent 45 mintues soothing the yarn's hurt feelings and lovingly untangling and unknotting. I was starting to lose my patients towards the end, but I perservered. Italian's family watched and wondered why I didn't just cut the yarn and then unknot it, or better yet, throw away the knotted yarn. I told them I didn't mind working out the yarn and it was much better to keep it all intact. I finally wound the formally knotted yarn back onto the ball, looked at the patter and read "at end of row, break yarn." Yep, the yarn won that round.

To my little guy

Once upon a time, there was a little spirit boy. He was very happy and played with the other little spirit children. As the days passed though, he began to become restless. He wanted to be a real boy and to play in real fields. He looked down upon the real world and longed to be a part of it.

He asked if he could go and be with the children he saw through the clouds. The search began for the two people who would become his parents. The spirits searched through every land until finally, the right two people were found. The spirits showed the two people to the little spirit boy and he was glad, but also a bit nervous about leaving his home. He said good-bye to the other little spirit children and made his way to the real world, where on this day, he met his parents and became a family.

Hello, Little Clover. Happy birthday! As you grow another year older, I wish you a world of happiness, laughter to fill the tallest building, and love to warm you through the year. I am so very, very glad I have the privilege to call you mine. You brighten every day of my and your daddy's life.

I love you.

What to do next

I finished up Elly the other night, and as I stitched the corsage in place, I realized I didn't have a replacement project in mind. Life has been hectic lately, and I've been in survival mode, focusing on one day at a time, doing little to no future planning. The end of Elly just happened and left me a bit stranded in the knitting world. Sure I had the Widdershins socks to keep me knitting, but I am not a monogamous knitter. I need variety.

I reviewed the colors for Project Spectrum and thought of working on either my orange or my purple project, but I thought the new Project Spectrum color scheme began in September. Nope, they started in August. I was already a month behind. Then, I had to be honest with myself. I really didn't want to work on my orange socks or my purple scarf. I wanted to knit Sahara. I wanted to feel the pretty pink silk flow through my fingers. I wanted to wear the finished top while there was still some warm weather left in the summer. I dug the yarn out of my stash and started the pattern review process. I think I'm going to like this little top.

Happy Birthdays

The sweater for Little Lolli Lolli Lollipop is almost finished. I've seamed together all the pieces and I've even completed the crochet edge. I only have to complete the corsage flower and the teeny tiny sweater will be done. I am completely on schedule for her September 4 due date. Unfortunately, she's not on track for her due date. She's an early bird and was born on Friday August 24. Welcome to world Lolli Lolli Lollipop! I was hoping she would wait until yesterday so we could share a birthday, but I guess it is much better to have one's own special day.

Now, I'm sure Foxy is wondering how in the world her little person received the name Lolli Lolli Lollipop. Little Clover gave her the name. When we were talking about the new arrival and I mentioned her name, he looked at me with complete shock and said, "They named her already?" I told him yes, and he was a bit disappointed. He told me he wanted to name her because he loves naming babies. I told him he had to wait many, many, many years and then he could have his own baby to name. I offered him the chance to pick her name for the blog. We tried out Munchkin, Monkey, Bay Bay, and finally settled on Lolli Lolli Lollipop. After typing it a few times, I think we should have picked a shorter name.

So, what did we do to celebrate my birthday? We had beer and nachos at a baseball game.

The Iowa Cubs were in town and we arrived in full force wearing the appropriate clothing.

The sight of the Italian family all wearing Cubs gear shocked two of my friends who don't follow baseball (or the Cubs) as closely as we do. I think we scared them a little. They did manage to enjoy themselves in spite of our shenanigans. I hope everyone has this much fun on their special days.

Of Rainbows and Clovers

It has been eight years since my mom died. In previous years, the weeks leading up to this date are generally filled with anxiety and dread. My mood darkens and I turn inward and keep the sadness to myself. I think of all the should haves, could haves, and become rather selfish in my grief. Then, the anniversary of her death comes and of course, tears usually accompany this date. I miss her.

This year, though, I could look at the numbers 23 on a calendar and be okay. The thought of the date wasn't dreadful at all. It seemed more like a regular day. I could think about it and think of the anniversary and not instantly dissolve into a moody revelry. I could remember my mom and smile. It may be a slightly wet smile, but it is a smile nonetheless. I could talk about my mom and how long she's been gone and not tear up. Honestly, I like this approach better.

This year, I was able to remember my mom and think about how fortunate I was to have her. My mom was fun and knew how to laugh. She could be silly and spontaneously burst into silly songs. She also gave great hugs just when you needed it. She loved. She was beautiful. Although these sentences about her are in the past tense, I still feel that she is with me. I know I've mentioned her knack for finding four leaf clovers and following her death, I saw rainbows everywhere. Since then, whenever I see a patch of clovers or a rainbow, which I still see frequently, I have the feeling my mom is saying hello. It's weird, but it is comforting. I may no longer have her hugs or her laugh, but I do have her rainbows and clovers and that works for me. I love remembering my mom and on this day especially, my memories help me smile.