Erica's Blog

On Tuesday, around 1:00, I found out that our friend Anita was just over four months pregnant.  A couple of years ago, she had two or three miscarriages in one year, then she & Patrick adopted their son DeShaun when he was just born.  They hadn't been telling very many people b/c they were nervous since she'd had some problems early on.

Around 5:00 on Tuesday, I got an email that she'd just found out that the baby had died.  Le tres grand sigh.  Please toss up a prayer for Patrick & Anita.  Yesterday was Patrick's birthday, and instead of celebrating, they had to visit the doctor to find out what the next step would be.  So, so sad.  Even Thing One was asking the obvious, deep questions like How many babies have to die for that lady?  So, so, so sad.

Yesterday was Doily Dude's birthday, so we all chipped in to get him a gift certificate to Cottage Yarns so that he'd be able to buy some GOOD STUFF for a change.  When Kathryn heard that it was for Matthew and the amount, she kicked in some money, too, so that it would be a nice, even amount.  Wow!  Matthew was really happy about the gift.

Mrs. M's scarf isn't really Starbucks knitting, so last night I worked on a fisherman's rib scarf I'm doing out of the rest of the Silver Thaw.  Good thing I got more allergy pills, b/c without them the angora in that stuff drive me crazy, I'm telling you.

Met Bobcat at Cottage Yarns yesterday, and she bought a bunch of yarn for me to make her a couple of small shawls.  She was only going to have me make one -- to replace the original one I made her out of LB Homespun (shudder) -- but she fell in love with two different yarns.  Sooo, she ended up with some Cascade Jewel (color #9890) and some Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed (color #11).  When we were done picking out her yarns, we had this conversation:

Well, aren't you going to get anything for yourself?

No, are you kidding?  Hubby would shoot me if I bought yarn right now!

Well, I'm going to pay you for making the second one.

Hmmm...How 'bout you pay me in yarn?

Yeah, that's what I was planning to do.

Since I hadn't been expecting to get anything for myself, I didn't have anything particular in mind, so it took me a while to choose.  I instinctively gravitated toward the Noro, but then I decided that I should get something I've never worked with before, something I wouldn't normally buy for myself.  This is how I ended up with the aforementioned two 100-gram hanks of Euroflax linen (color: sandalwood) and a beautiful ball of laceweight Malabrigo.  I figured the linen would be good summer knitting on the boat, plus it would be a good summer-weight wrap.  The Malabrigo is sooooo soft and yummy.  (Color is Mariposa, but I don't see it on their website.)

 I worked on Shannon's wristers this weekend.  Really, I did!  They seem really small to me, but I have big wrists, so I'm taking them to church tonight for her to try on and make sure they fit before I proceed.  Plus...I'm terrified of the thumbs.  There, I said it.

Lastly, I seem to have been getting fashion guidance from Thing One.  When I drove to school this morning, I was wearing my nightgown with sweats thrown on over (the top) and under (the pants), plus my new knit cap and Hubby's slippers (mine being in the dryer at the time).  Ah, yes, I was a sight to behold.  NO, I did NOT get out of the car.

 It's NOT MY FAULT!  Really!

• I won four balls of Hip-Hop from Tiffany.
• Bobcat bought me two hanks of Euroflax linen and a gorgeous little ball of Malabrigo as "payment" for some shawls I'll be making her.
• David's brother Phillip brought a boatload of yarn from Nepal (which he bought at insanely cheap prices!), and David gave me a huge hank of grey wool to knit up into...something...for him (I get to decide the something).

So, those disclaimers being given, here's the update:

Mileage:  19.5548 miles

Weight:    35.702 pounds

Mom, even my FEET are sleepy...

[Heard at the baby shower on Sunday night.]

Victor:  Would any of you like some cake?

Erica:  No, thanks.

Hubby:  (Lifts sweater, exposing undershirt-clad belly.  Sticks belly out, rubs it in a circle.)  Do I look like I need any cake?

Victor:  Uh, no.

Victor's Dad:  (cringing) Later, I'll tell you what the correct answer to that question was.

Erica:  The correct answer is, "Yes!  Everyone needs cake."....By the way, how old are you Victor?

Victor:  Twelve.

Erica:  Yupp, that's what I thought.

Mrs. M emailed me this picture, which was included in last week's slideshow at the kindergarten/first grade performance.  Pictured are, in order, Thing Two, Becky & Ainsley.  Cute picture, yes?

Saturday was a relaxed, lazy day.  Hubby worked from 11:00 till 7:30 or so, and the rest of us just hung out at home.

Sunday was BUSY:

• Up early to bake Uncle Jimmy's sugar-free chocolate birthday cake.
• Church.
• Home.
• Stop @ Hubby's work to pick up Uncle Jimmy's present.
• Meet @ Jimmy & Velia's in Richmond at 2:00 for a major food-fest in honor of Uncle Jimmy's 53rd birthday.
• Down to Emeryville for Erik & Florence's baby shower at 6:00.  They loved the parquet squares blanket.  It was quite the shower; I've been to weddings with fewer guests!
• Home by...mmm...10:00 ish.
• Car/party knitting for the day:  a mitred dish cloth.

Today, we all slept in (after a horrible headache woke me up at 1:00).  Hubby & the girls worked outside a bit while I caught up on laundry & Roomba-ing, etc.  In the afternoon, we spent an hour or so over at the military cemetery, which looked really impressive with all the flags the Boy Scouts put out on the graves for Memorial Day.  It was really interesting -- they even have some soldiers from the Spanish-American War there.  I could have stayed a lot longer, but the girls got bored after a while.  I was really puzzled to find a lot of babies who had died in February 1967.  Makes me wonder what happened then.  I guess I've got some poking around to do....

Worked on Shannon's wristers.  Worked on Mrs. M's scarf.  Swatched for something w/the Hip-Hop yarn (OK, it wasn't really a swatch, but a false start).  Hubby grilled a bunch of salmon that his buddy Jeremy caught and gave us.  We're winding down now.  Tomorrow will be here too soon...

Adri emailed this picture from Tony & Juli's wedding the other day.  It's pretty good, considering it was taken with Steven's camera phone.

Uh, worsted weight yoga socks don't r-e-a-l-l-y count as socks, do they?  Do they?

I finished Mrs. G's yoga socks yesterday afternoon.  They were such a quick, easy project!  Using Silk Garden was fun b/c I got to watch the slow color changes.  B/c of that, they're definitely fraternal, not identical, twins.  I think she'll like them.

Speaking of year-end teacher gifts...I made some good progress on Mrs. M's scarf, too.  It's slow going, though.  That's what I get for doing lace.  At least it's on 6's, not real lace needles.  Oy.

In other knitting news, I finally decided what the Silver Thaw that I bought from Webs wanted to be.  Gioia.  This is a belated bday present for my friend Michele.  This Gioia is going much better than the first one (knock on wood).  There's something to be said for another year and a half of knitting experience, lol.

Got my Hip-Hop (color:  Be Bop) in the mail yesterday from Tiffany.  Yippee!  Thanks, Tiff!  It's so soft, and I love the colors.  Now, to figure out what to make with 304 yards of a bulky thick & thin wool....

Carry on.  I'm off to my totally lazy day where all I really *need* to do is finish weaving in the ends on the baby blanket (time to watch a movie!) and bake Uncle Jimmy's sugar-free chocolate birthday cake tonight.

[NO, that does NOT say "Rainbow Coalition" - PUHleeze!]

Last night was the big kindergarten & first grade spring performance.  The title was Rainbow Connection, as in the song Kermit sings at the end of The Muppet Movie.  All the songs had something to do with colors, such as Red, Red Robin, Blue Moon (Sha-Na-Na version, not the mushy version), and Purple People Eater.  Thing Two was in the front row and did great.  She didn't appear to be nervous at all.  There were three dance numbers, too, and her class did the Bunny Hop to Red, Red Robin.  Very cute.

I'm going crazy w/o a camera (and Auntie's batteries were dead), but Karizma's mom emailed me this one of Karizma & Thing Two, taken on the risers after the show:

Thing One did let me use her camera, so after I finish the roll and get the disc made, I'll see if any of the pictures came out OK and post them if they did.