Three weeks old and cracking jokes with me!

Such a bright little boy! This is baby Thomas, who just arrived on the planet three weeks ago. His mom is friends with my daughter. As you can see, he was smiling and interacting with me. And a bonus--when he smiles he has a dimple on his right cheek. Gotta love that! No, Thomas doesn't usually wear pink....he just borrowed the blanket because there was a chill in the air. His mom, Becky let me hold him for a couple of hours I think.....I lost track of time.

Look familiar?

Yes, I took these photos on a little excursion to Plymouth, MA this week. Very peaceful and filled with history, of course.

Thanks to Noreen from Wisconsin!

Noreen set me on the path to creating some cool bun covers for my granddaughter. Having your long hair caught up in a bun is a requirement at dancing school, and it always looks cute to have a fancy cover atop your bun.

The "Mystery" Audition.......

So....today was my day to take T-Dogg to a casting company in the Boston area for a My Little Pony commercial.

After I picked her up from pre-school where she had obviously been having a wild old time, running a relay race, I took her home to groom her. The point here is that I am the grown up and she is the child. She is a creative child. She creates situations to teach me patience when I am planning to get on the highway by a certain hour.

In any case, I decided to dress her in primary colors, and added matching bows pulling just a little hair off her face, letting the rest of it cascade down her back. Sweet and natural. But she told me that the doctor told her not to wear pants. I said "We are wearing pants today." She said that she didn't need shoes and socks. I encouraged her to wear them. While I fixed her hair she bounced up and down on her tippy toes until I was reduced to begging her to let me put those two elastics in. She has a way of letting me know who's in charge here.

She slept blissfully in the car and when we arrived at the casting call she had rosy cheeks and looked like an angel. We went in, signed in, and filled out the necessary paperwork.

It was interesting glimpsing what some people do to find their niche. One guy was reminiscent of "Joey" on Friends. All of the same mannerisms. I tried not to snicker. A bunch of guys trying out for a part portraying a security guard passed by me all dressed in blue shirts. A few young girls entered the area, mostly looking like Avril Lavigne.

When Taylor was called for the audition she left me in a heartbeat and ran in to do the My Little Pony thing. But what took place behind those doors will remain a mystery. I heard children laughing and jumping around (getting warmed up, I guess) and later my little star popped out to tell me she was done. I asked what she did with the pony. She said "It was a girl pony and I kissed it on the head and hugged it....then I pushed its back." (She pushed its back???) I asked if the woman took her picture, as I had been instructed to fill out a little sign (mug shot style) for Taylor to hold up, with her name and phone number on it. "Nope" she answered. So, in front of the other dozen waiting children and parents, I told the woman that Taylor still needed her photo taken. She said "Oh I just took it." Taylor's reply to me was "Well....ummmm" She does this little thing with me that I refer to as "withholding of information". It keeps me on my toes and keeps her in charge.

On the way home, I plied her with a few questions about the audition, but she said "Nope, I already told you that, don't you remember?" to most of my questions, then quietly hummed as she looked out the window.

Suddenly, I heard from the backseat:

"Nana?" "Yes", I answered....waiting for some little clue about the audition....

She said "Did you know that bad men like worms? And if you eat them, you could be dead-ed and have to go to the doctor!"

Don't move the hydrant, please.

I sure hope the city keeps that hydrant in back of the nearby elementary school, because it's my yardstick for Markie's growth. According to the doctor, he should peak out at about 6'4" or so.

Noted here are pics taken from January '06 to January '08-- at ages four, five and six.

Misocandidatist

Yes, I'm a self-proclaimed misocandidatist this year. I just coined that word, after hearing that Elton John accused people who won't vote for Hillary as "misogynists" meaning that they disliked women. I think my term is more appropriate--seeing that we aren't offered much to choose from this year. Oh, I'll vote, I always do....but after researching them all, I think of a person looking in their closet and finding three less-than-desirable outfits to wear. You have to wear something; but none of them are a great fit.

Charity knitting

For anyone who has just "winged it" when making newborn knitted hats for hospital nurseries, here are some sizes worth noting:

Since there is a need to cover the heads of full term babies, down to the small preemies--here's a simple guide to follow: needles: size 6---- yarn: 4 ply---- Make a K1,P1 ribbing for 1 in.
Full term: 66 sts. 5.5 in. of stockinette st./ 10 in. across
Lg. Preemie: 50 sts. 4 in. of stockinette st./ 8 in. across
Med. Preemie: 44 sts. 3.5 in. of stockinette st./ 7 in. across
Sm. Preemie: 40 sts. 3 in. of stockinette st./ 6 in. across

This is just a guide. You can knit to the full length of the hat, then gather your yarn through the stitches and end off there; or you can knit to within an inch of the length then decrease the last few rows with K3, K2 tog.
You can add a pom pom or bow or just leave the hat plain. When using Simply Soft by Caron, I like to use a stockinette stitching throughout and turn up a brim of an inch or two. This makes a soft, stretchy hat that is flexible for a good fit.
It's helpful if you place the hats in plastic bags before shipping, with the sizes marked on the bags.

My first taste-tester

Well, today's project was to create some all-natural dog cookies, boasting healthy ingredients and absolutely no preservatives. This was my first batch; and I chose to add peanut butter as an ingredient in the cookie dough that I created. Angel has been a fan of peanut butter for as long as I can remember. (She's 11 years old now.) No wonder she volunteered to be my first taste-tester. After that, I delivered a batch to Phoenix, my grand dog and she gave them a definite thumbs up....or is that a paws up? In any case, she begged for more--so I guess they were a hit!

A completed hatching....and another on the way!

I love the way this varigated alligator came out. (far right) I opted to lengthen the original Morehouse Farms pattern and I think this one is just right.

Lori surprised me with a great new stash of greens and blends, so I will have enough yarn to provide alligator scarves for everyone next Fall.

An old New England home

We decided to go to the Assonet Inn today for lunch. Haven't been there in a few years. My sources say that the place was built in 1900. It's a big old house with very worn wood floors and booths for customers. I couldn't help thinking that I was sitting in what had been someone's living room long ago. There are two magnificent old fireplaces in the dining rooms. The jukebox sported an "out of order" sign today. They specialize in comfort food, as you can see in the pic. I like to sit in a booth overlooking the porch in the summer and feel the breeze come in, blowing the cotton curtains a little. Very nostalgic. I think that's more important than the menu. However, I've been there on a weekend in the past, and had to stand in line in the old hallway just to get a seat. Today, we were one of two families there; but it was mid-day and I think the crowds arrive at night. Today's special: Shepherd's Pie. I don't know why I brought my camera....I felt like I was working for the Food Network today.

My second alligator

What you are viewing here is an actual hatching of a new alligator.
My first one was my "test alligator" after receiving the pattern in the mail from Morehouse Farms.
At first I started it in green, which I thought was appropriate for an alligator.....and I thought it seemed thin or a little skimpy, using regular 4 ply worsted yarn. So I changed to double strands of the yarn. Big mistake!
The result was an alligator which actually feels like it's the size of a real alligator wrapped around your neck.
This time, I settled for a single strand of yarn--and decided that alligators most certainly hatch in various colors. This one is varigated and the yarn is appropriately called "surf and turf" by TLC Essentials. I will be hatching some for Fall.

I'm a "bag lady"....I admit it.

Thanks to my daughter, that is. Here's my favorite
knitting bag which contains my current projects,
scissors, ruler, yarn--you know--all the essentials for my knitting binges.

I'm waiting in line....

OK, so in one of my posts, I mentioned that I like to visit yarn, knitting, crocheting sites.

So today, I was reading a post by someone who mentioned that she actually received her "invitation" to join Ravelry. She described the wait, and her anticipation about what she would find as a member.

It got me to thinking. Why in the world would someone sign up to join a website hosted by crafty people and have to wait to be invited? I mean....there are so many other websites out there where you can wax eloquently about fibers and prices and techniques with needles, yarn, etc...

If I DID go to that site, would I be lured in, like a lamb to the slaughter? Would they offer me Kool Aid in a Dixie cup?

I mean it's well known that people wait in line for days to audition for American Idol--but that's because there's possible fame and millions at the end of that rainbow.

And when my daughter was little, I DID wait in line for 5 1/2 hours for that Cabbage Patch doll for her....the one with the red braids and freckles and that cute little white sweater she came with....her name was Ardelia and she smelled wonderfully like baby powder. But back to the present day:

Why oh why would someone like myself, who has free rein of thousands of knitting, crocheting, yarn, pattern-sharing, tip-giving, friend-making sites, give a hoot about some site that you have to sign up for, wait in line, then join only after receiving an invitation in your email box? Why?

What could possibly be there at Ravelry that I couldn't access on other sites? Why should I even take the time to Google them? Why should I take a quick peek at their site? Why should I even take a nano second glance at the way that they catalog yarns, links to patterns and their newsletter, share photos, blogs and maps and directions to local yarn stores....or as knitters refer to them, LYS?

Why would I read about how after you sign up, you can expect quite a wait in line before you become a part of the group?

So, just because I DID sign up today....and I went to their counter where you can find out how many people are ahead of you in line....and I found that more than six thousand people have signed up ahead of me.....So what? Does that make me a knitwit? Does that mean that my thoughts are tangled? Does that mean that I enjoy needling others? Does that mean that I have my skeins of yarn all lined up on my shelves in the computer room.... in a color-coordinated fashion?

No! I think it means that I am a patient person. After all, since they only send out their invitations to 800 to 1,000 people per day, I will patiently sit here and wait it out. According to my calculations, that should be approximately 7 days, 10 1/2 hours and 4 minutes.