One Crazy Fiber Lady

The dog days of August are definitely here.  While this week has brought some much needed relief to the three H’s we had of late, this past weekend was more than even this summer lover could handle.  Thank goodness my parents had the good sense to not hide out in their boat for the duration of the weekend and came home instead.  That enabled me to not have to hide out in my apartment all weekend (The ankle, while worlds better, is not up to a day on scorching sands at the public pool.) and get the monkeys out into the fresh, albeit ghastly humid, air.  We spent considerable time frolicking in the pool.  Is it me or does Alex look like a big boy in a regular bathing suit?!  I ran out of those disposable swim diapers and instead pulled out some of the hand-me-down bathing suits they’ve both had stashed in their drawers since the summer started.  With the subtle change from "diaper" to swimsuit they look so much older.  Just not right.  Almost reminds me of the stark change in the way Alex looked after his very first haircut.  He no longer looked like a baby.  They grow far too fast.

In the category of this next bit being an embarrassment to them as they get older, I have to do my motherly job and go for it.  They both found a huge source of amusement last night in the bath and something new to play with. Care to guess?  Umm.. Alexander’s appendage.  He had been standing in the water next to Kat who I guess got a good look for the first time and reached out and flicked it.  He giggled.  She giggled and fortified with his giggle, flicked again.  Oy.  Nothing more than toddler curiosity and I got a good giggle as well.  He poked her in the butt later.  Toddlers, got to love them.

I did pull out my Shetland lace book last night (Yes Elaine, good buddy you can borrow my books), but didn’t find anything near what I remembered as to the construction of a Shetland shawl for percentage balance between the center and the border.  I did take a look at the finished measurements of the Hap Shawl and will base my finished size on a square of 52".  Now I wish I measured the center square before I picked up the edges.  I can get a good guestimate from the picture I took of it as I laid it on one of my bath towels and can measure that.  That should give me a good idea of how big and it just doesn’t need to be exact.  I didn’t do much in the way of knitting last night, having decided it was time to do a little exercise and maybe, just maybe, finally take care of the pregnancy induced flabby midsection. I’ve lost just about all the 50lbs I gained when I was pregnant, but gaining 50% of my weight did wreck havoc on the old tummy.  I had a huge 45" waist right before I finally delivered, which when you consider I am only 60" tall, made for one funny looking chick.  I did sit ups and crunches.  Its definitely time and I hope to get it all under control by umm bathing suit weather

I tried to spend a little extra time with dear sweet Baron last night.  He had a rough day.  He spent it at the Vet’s office taking that step from intact male to nice indoor pet boy cat.  He was quick and groggy when I got him home.  He spent most of the evening laying on the couch, sacked out.  I had to convince Alex to go gentle on the fuzzball because he had a boo-boo. Alex wanted to bring the cat to the water and make him drink.  Back to normal was the little boy this morning.  The vet proclaimed him a gorgeous cat and I have to agree with him.  Now I just need to fax the paperwork to Maggie at Pennyrock and the boy’s registry can be changed along with his official name.

Danielle asked my opinion on the Walker books in a comment yesterday.  :

Risa, what do you think of the Walker books?  I have the first treasury (ahem, my mother in law owns it and I keep borrowing it from her). I am going to buy one of the treasuries for myself and I am debating if I should buy the first one since I know I like it, or the second one so that we have twice the resources in the family.  Unfortunately, due to financial resources, I will only be buying one book right now!  What do you think?

While I haven’t had extensive time with either one of them, I have to admit that I am using stitch patterns from both volumes for Birchington.  If I had to choose only one to buy, I’d definitely get the one my MIL didn’t have, as long as she were open to my continuing to periodically borrow it from her. Definitely go for having twice the resources in the family.  Who knows, she’ll probably be borrowing the second one from you.

Craft on!