"I Pledge Allegiance....."

So today the Little Guy and his mommy came over for a visit. Naturally he was excited to demonstrate the newest thing he has learned - the Pledge of Allegiance! (or Pwedze of Awwediance) He can recite it right through from beginning to end without missing a single word. Of course his articulation is not perfect, but I had no trouble understanding what he was saying, and at the very end he added his own special touch, saying "...wif wibbety and dustis fo' aww - OH YEAH!!"

Some Random Knitterly Thoughts

It's been a busy knitting month around here. I've completed (and listed on Etsy) three winky-wonky scarves:


I've also done a few dishcloths. One of my friends attended a weekend women's retreat, and received a goodie bag which contained, among other things, a ball of yarn and a pair of knitting needles.

She decided that she wasn't really that interested in learning to knit, so she gave me the yarn and needles. I made a basic diagonal dishcloth

and had some yarn left over, but not enough to make a second dishcloth. So I combined the leftover yarn with some solid color yarn I had on hand, and made a two-toned round dishcloth. Both of these went back to the friend who gave me the yarn.

I also knitted three pairs of slippers as a special request for another friend (who is also our church organist)

and a special baby hat for yet another church friend.

This pattern is very special because it's the one her mother-in-law used to make to give as baby gifts for all of the new babies in the family. Since she is no longer with us, I was asked if I could duplicate the hat pattern and now I'm the official supplier of Joie baby hats for the family.

Of course the month is far from over. I still have to make two pairs of socks for two of my yoga sisters (one pair is started, still looking for the right yarn to do the other), and several other projects that have been on the back burner for a while.

Party Animal!

I celebrated my birthday last Saturday (and THIS year I got to really celebrate, unlike last year). Of course I'm turning into a real party animal now -- I partied four days in a row! On Friday night Mike took me to Knit Wits in Springfield, where he purchased a pair of sock blockers for me as my birthday gift. After a couple other stops we drove further north to Sherman and had dinner at Cancun. A wonderful evening was enjoyed by both of us, and we even made it home at a (semi) reasonable hour.

On Saturday (my actual birthday) I was delighted to attend "Love and Chocolate" held in Blackburn's Bothwell Auditorium. The show was a delightful mix of love songs from different eras and genres, and the fact that I knew several of the performers only enhanced the enjoyment. The tickets to this show were a birthday gift from two of my dear neighbors.

On Sunday afternoon, three of my four kids, my parents, son-in-law, grandson, and his mommy all gathered here for dinner and to celebrate my birthday and Jeremy's. Mike made Italian beef in the crcokpot, Sara made pasta salad, and bought the rest of the groceries. She also baked the cake AND put trick candles on it! We had a marvelous time celebrating family and togetherness.

On Monday morning my friend Sue hosted the "yoga sisters" at her house to celebrate my birthday. She baked a luscious carrot cake and spoiled us with a choice of a warm cider drink and various teas. I received an assortment of lovely gifts from my very special yoga sisters.

I think I'm about partied out though. I can't remember any other time in my life when I've had four days of partying in a row. Maybe things will be peaceful and quiet for a few days (and maybe I can remember how to act when that happens).

Field trip!

Today was the long-awaited fabulous knitting class field trip. Two of my knitting students, one of their friends, and I set off this morning to head to Decatur. Our driver is a Decatur native, so in addition to our yarn store destination we got the grand tour of the town; where she grew up, where her husband grew up, where they went to school, etc. Then we drove downtown and entered Enticements, a wonderful yarn shop in downtown Decatur. Two hours later, the four of us emerged with filled shop bags and lighter wallets. After a quick stop at Del's Popcorn Shop, where chocolate and other goodies were procured, we headed off to Monical's Pizza for a fabulous buffet lunch. After we had filled our plates and our stomachs it was decided that we needed to walk off some of the calories we had consumed, so off we headed to Hobby Lobby to buy still more yarn! After a stop at Sam's Club for some essential groceries and a quick trip through the Culver's drive-through for ice cream, we headed for home. At the end of the trip we all agreed that it had been a fabulous day, and we can't wait to do it again (once our wallets have recovered, of course!).