It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears…

I “met” Pumpkin Spice a while back when Carole told me about this New Yorker who comes to the shop every time she visits the area. Nosey me had to check out her blog and we started to chat back and forth. We met at S&W this year when she was in line for SWTC, and we hit it off immediately.

So naturally, when she had to find a good home for some Brooks Farm Mohair she purchased, I offered to take in the strays.
In going back and forth with addresses and the like, we found out that Mr. Spice and BroInLaw work in the same building in NYC!!!!
BroInLaw is easily swayed, so he agreed to be our middle man. The InLaws went to see him this weekend, so I now have them in my hot liitle hands!

Is it me, or can you se the possibilities?!?!?
I love that the world is getting smaller and smaller!

Happy 5th Birthday Frack!

My baby is no longer a baby!

I love you sweetie darling!

Naturally

she LOVED her first day of school. Came home telling of recess, lunchtime, learning about the flag, and 2 new best friends.

And we enjoyed our ice cream.

Ch Ch Changes

There’s been a lot going on here at LMSFG lately. With babies, illnesses, war, work, family and such, things have been a little stressful.

I was “advised” a few months ago that I should start to reduce the load a bit. It came with the “taking care of yourself first” speech that was handed out with the referrals… So I have had to make some changes in my lifestyle.

Unfortunately, the most major change is that I had to enroll Frick in school this year.

She’s over the moon about it.
Me?
Not so much.

Yes, I know she’s ready.
Yes, I know it’ll be good for both of us.
Yes, I know that I was going to do it eventually.
Yes, I know that she’s the kind of kid who will not only do well, but excel in that environment.

I just wanted to keep my baby girl close and safe in my arms for a little while longer.
Is that a crime?

I’m gonna go cry some more with Frack and Duckie now. Then we're going for ice cream to help ease the pain…

I’m really not good with deadlines.

My best friend is coming for a visit tomorrow. It’s the first time she’s coming to the house since we moved in.
Lucky for me, we’ve known each other since the 2nd grade, so she doesn’t expect the house to be spotless.
But I’m thinking she also doesn’t want to lose one of her children in the abyss that is the playroom, or the black hole where their bedroom should be…

So what am I doing?
-Sitting in front of the computer for the last 3 hrs. reading e-mails and blogs,
and
-getting ready to frog the sleeve of my sweater that I started last week out of my S&W Alpaca, so I can cast on again on bigger needles to get the correct gauge.

Time to turn off el Machino.

Rather cute...

...in a fetal kinda way if you ask me.



Here's the little man. His due date is 13 October.

Zimmermania

Tonight at the guild we started our first knit-a-long.
Since I have to get cracking on knitting for Baby B, I was thrilled to find out that it would be EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket.
After casting on 3 times and tinking 4 rows at the meeting tonight, I'm thinking it'll be done by the time the kid is awaiting the birth of HIS first child!

I do have his booties and 3/4 of his hat done. Both knit in Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmere. This sweater is being done in Plymouth Encore.
The Warshrags are being knit in Sugar & Cream, and after I'm done with the second contrasting ball band one, I'll knit solid ones out of the remaining yarn.

I also made the command decision that the Aran Afghan that I was supposed to be knitting this year will now be his special blanket.
The idea is that he gets his first square for being born. After that, he'll get a new one for each b-day and all major milestones. By the time he's ready for college, I'll get them back and make him his blanket.

Great idea huh?

Yes, I'll do ANYTHING to get out of knitting the stinking blanket!

I love showers

We had a blast! It was a fun time despite the chaos with planning the shower long distance. Marsha and I did our best and things worked out well, if I do say so myself.

I found the cutest stamp at a shop and sent it to her to work her magic. The result was the neatest invite ever.

We worked the colors in everything else to make it a as much a non-traditional baby shower as possible. Sorry for the bad pic. The lady's belly says Puppy Dog Tails

Mom and I finished the cake Saturday night:

Then my Sunday started out with a good Dominican breakfast – mashed plantains, poached egg, and onion sauce over the whole thing to give it the right flavor. Mine still doesn’t come out tasting the same.

I’m glad I ate, since I never had more than a few slices of salami off the trays after that!

Mom had a few of her friends come early to help. If it wasn’t for that, I would never have gotten everything done on time!

Marsha made an advice box – where everyone puts their words of wisdom and encouragement in a handy dandy case!

Sorry, no picture - it's in the other camera.

Here are the flower pot favors I was up all night cutting and gluing tags for before I left:

Handy tip: make sure the box is securely placed on the dolly before you take it outside so it doesn’t fall off and half of them break on the concrete walkway…

Then Jan finally got there with her hubby and we started to party.

Usual party games…

What’s your favorite flavor?

Obviously not carrots!

Name that poop!

He ate the Milky Way one.

And it was off to presents!

STT and the twins got him a John Deere toy/book. Jan is not really happy with her trying to turn the baby into a red-neck before he even comes out!

Good time to be had by all – and now it’s just the waiting game.

Almost there

I’m doing the mad rush to get things done for the shower on Sunday.
I’m FedExing the box of favors out this afternoon. I’m terrified of getting to the airport and being told I can’t take them on the plane with me, and there’s NO WAY I’m checking it in my suitcase!
My plan is to finish the tags for the gifts here, (I’m waiting for a box from Marsha) and all that can go in my carry-on along with my clothes. The suitcase will filled with baby items that Jan will be able to use.

While I was looking for the extra baby stuff, I’ve been clearing out the clutter associated with having 2 kids in 2 years born in different seasons. So far I’ve filled 4 huge trash bags of nothing but clothes, one bag of shoes and boots, and one with winter stuff.
I have a few friends with younger daughters, so they’ll get first pick. Everything left over is to be donated along with the other 4 bags that went straight into the donation pile. The STUFF was taking over the house, so this was a good time to get it done as any.

Too bad Jan’s having a boy – he’d be set if he were a girl!

I’ll finish knitting the washcloths on the plane on Friday. I know I won't have time before then. I’m doing two of the ones from Mason Dixon book. The cool ball band one in lime green and aqua, and the frilly one for Jan in cotton. I’ll post pics when I get them done.

Deadlines suck…

I love knitting socks. I think they’re fun and quick (when you like the pattern and yarn). I hate knitting on a deadline (even when I’m the one who wrote the pattern and picked out the yarn)!!!!!

I feel as if I haven’t knit for fun all lately.

So I’m actually ahead of the game for the first time in months, and have October’s sock mostly written out. It should go to the test knitter (that shows you how early I am, I haven’t been able to use a test knitter in ages!) as soon as the custom dyed yarn gets back in my hot little hands!!

So to share some knitterly pleasure…

Here’s my latest haul from KnitPicks.

the black yarn is for a special suprise gift...

And these are the other books I’ve acquired w/in the last 2 months (along with Lace Style which STT has in her hot little hands):

And look! I really have been knitting:

I decided that I wanted to use the brown Tess yarn for something else. The straight knit does not do the color justice. So I started this one

out of my Canadian stash to join up with the other and finally be able to finish my two socks and win bragging rights.

These are my SOS project scarves:

That’s all for now – off to finish the favors for Jan’s baby shower that I have to FedEx out by Monday!