seeing stripes

Progress on Baby H's blanket. I would be a lot further along if I'd crocheted the entire 2 hour bus ride of my three hour commute yesterday morning, but I napped for some of it.

B wore his sweater to school again. And he knows to say "Mommy made it" when asked where he got it.

Have a great weekend everybody.

sleevie stitchies

I'd much rather spend my commute actually knitting or crocheting, but I'm making great progress with the duplicate stitching. I figure, I should be done tomorrow. Then I can snip ends (I'm trying to weave in as I go along as much as possible) and finish seaming. The sweater got a great reaction from my knitting group last Thursday. Someone even mentioned wanting an adult size.

Thanks for the positive feedback on the blanket. I really like it, although it doesn't scream "BABY BLANKET" to me. But, if they want generic pastel, they can get it at BabiesRUs. I especially like Amy's suggestion of putting fringe on it instead of weaving in the ends! If I didn't have to do a border (my corners always curl without a border), I'd definitely fringe.

Funny Hubby story. The other day we got a delivery attempt notice from the post office about a confirmation required letter. I was wondering why we were getting a letter from a Costello who needed confirmation of delivery. Hubby freaked out worrying that someone was going to sue us. We couldn't think of any reason we'd be sued (no late payments, no accidents, blah blah blah). So, instead of just leaving the notice for redelivery in two days, he had to be late to work yesterday to go down and pick up the letter. The man is obsessive, especially about anything that could be the list bit negative. Anyway, he gets there at 8:20 thinking the window doesn't open until 8:30, but it's been open since 8. And the letter is from someone within 200 ft of our house who needs a variance to build a front porch. Now, this house is behind a house across the street from us. There is no way we will ever see the porch unless we go up the block and make two right turns.

The irony is, he thought, maybe it was a property thing, but since the closest Costello in the phone book wasn't close (nevermind that you won't find anyone with our last name in our town via the phone book), he assumed it couldn't be that.

This is why Netter rarely gets to freak out about anything. I have to hold him together.

one foot in two days

So, I started something new this weekend. Some friends of ours are expecting their first child this summer. You may remember me posting a pic of a box of KnitPicks Shine. Here it is crocheted very simply. Hubby thinks it's very sharp. I'm going to add a border of some sort. Part of me wants to put a row of granny squares in the middle (I was going to do a granny square blanket because the mom has a granny square blanket her grandmother made her that's very special to her, but that's way too much work). Or, I may just do my usual crochet shell pattern. Hubby asked why I was crocheting it instead of knitting, and I said because it's faster. I started it Saturday and I've got over a foot done. Which means I'm about a third of the way through the body.

I think Hubby had a pretty good Father's Day weekend, although we got some sad news on Friday night. One of his college friends has recently been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He's out of the hospital (recuperating from surgery I assume) and will be starting his chemo this week. I don't have many details, that's the way the boys operate, generalities not details.

Saturday was a bit brighter. He golfed with his dad, our pastor, and a friend and hit a hole in one! His first. The rec department is going to send him something to commemorate it and put his name up at the course. He downplays it a bit because it's a short course, but, it still required some luck.

He enjoyed his gifts yesterday (a Dwight Schrute bobble head and a remote meat probe thermometer like Alton recommends) and a mellow afternoon at home. His mom made corned beef and homemade cream puffs for dessert. Not to mention, the Yanks took two of three from the Mets.

Yipee, Pictures!

Okay, I thought I was pretty funny yesterday, but no comments tells me I'm not quite as funny as I think I am. Here are the actual buttons. Thank you, blogger, for cooperating for once and sparing everyone from my humor. I hope my photography is better.

In Drab progress news, I didn't quite make my goal for last night. I have one WS/purl row to complete before I separate the sleeves from the body. I'm also 2 rows into ball four of six designated for the body, so I'm starting to anxious about length. I'm a bit of a pear and I need this sweater to fall past my waist.

Hot damn! Blogger let me post a second picture! This is the yarn for the baby blanket I was talking about yesterday. The colors are a little off. The dark green is a little more yellow in real life and the cream isn't quite so oyster. I'm still thinking Moderne Baby Blanket. But, I'll let you know.

In Billy news, my son thinks he's a dog. The panting, barking and crawling on all fours is cute. Particularly when I picked him up at daycare and he didn't say a word to me for a few minutes. But, when I picked up his lunch box he did break character asking "what's in there?" (He really, really likes to have a snack when I pick him up, usually left over dry cereal or, if he's been good or there's been a party, a piece of candy will have made it into the box.) Fortunately, he hasn't figured out how to mark his territory, but I'm not sure I want all these puppy kisses from my kid. Generally when he asks "I wick it?" He's referring to food (usually ice cream). Last night, he meant mommy's clothes. Ewww.

dressing up the drab

Imagine, in this space, that there is a close-up of the Drab sweater. Lying on the bottom of the v-neck are five shell buttons. These buttons have shanks, so don't picture any holes. The tops are very light gray and etched in a swirl of five circles with leaves and other pretty things. Imagine I could post the nice picture I took so you could see. Then imagine me moving 950+ entries to a new blog server and laugh yourself silly.

I went over to Purl today to buy some buttons for Drab. I was thinking I'd just go to Joann after Billy and I go to the dentist on Saturday and pick up some buttons there, but Hubby's thinking he might come to provide pre-schooler distraction, so the craft store is off the list (I do have to find time this weekend to get the grommets and cord I need for the Piderman Packback). I was torn between a few button options at Purl, but picked the gray shells. Ultimately, I may not use them. The may be too femme (we'll know for sure when I decide upon and execute an edging), in which case they'll be stashed for something else. I'll need to go back to Purl tomorrow. They undercharged me. I got four buttons for free.

Drab is only about 18 rows from having her sleeves split off from the body. I'm hoping to commence with the splitting tonight. We shall see. I'm hoping once I take off over 100 stitches, the knitting will go much faster. I'd still like to be able to wear her sometime next week.

In this space, you should imagine a box full of 20 balls of Knitpicks Shine Sport in cream, yellow, apple and grass green. We have friends who are expecting a baby in September. Hubby suggested yellow and green. I'm thinking a log cabin of some sort, maby the moderne from Mason Dixon Knitting.