Another exciting Saturday is taking a brief pause whilst the twins nap. The folks are off on the boat, where they will spend most weekends until September, and the house is quiet. Perfect blogging time to hopefully be followed by some good knitting time. I have a serious backlog of yarn to catch up on! But we’ll get to that later.
This morning, my dad pulled a toy out of the shed for the twins to try out. They’d been pestering him to play with this thing for weeks. He’d always reply when it got warmer. While finally it is warmer and not currently raining (though it did start to sprinkle as I carried sleeping toddlers into the house) so dad finally consented.
It’s a battery operated ride on Cat. It goes pretty fast and the age rate is probably way over their current age, but try telling that to my dad. Anyway, Kat took to it very well and rode up and down the block in front of the house having a grand time. Alex, on the other hand, made it this far past the driveway and decided he was done. I think it moves too fast for him. His daredevil sister thoroughly enjoyed it.
From the Cat ride, I packed them into the car for some fun in Montclair. Deb and I had arranged to meet at Modern Yarn for Wendy’s book signing. Deb is just back from her vacation in Martha’s Vineyard. She brought me a lovely souvenier from Black Dog. A cool mug! Thanks so much Deb!
Wendy is just as nice in person as she is on her blog. She was busy working on a Flower Basket Shawl in her handspun as we chatted about yarns, spinning wheels and books. It was very good meeting her. She was kind enough to pose for pictures with the monkeys.
Kat wasn’t about to get into someone’s lap, though Alex barely hesitated. As an aside, I’m continuously amazed by the differences between the two of them. How of much of it is gender related, which does beg the question of nature versus nurture. But I digress. Wendy was so sweet as to come pose next to Kat, who had dragged the chair over to that spot so she could pose. Deb, Wendy and I all posed for a photo holding our socks in progress. Short term memory is failing me, but I think it was with Wendy’s camera, hopefully she’ll post it.
As I’m completely incapable of entering MY without buying anything, and well I had hit a milestone on my frequent buyer card, I got a 10% discount on purchase. I’m a Cascade ‘ho and couldn’t resist it yet again. This time I picked up enough in the superwash to make new fall sweaters for the twins. They each picked their own color. I’m thinking basic cardigan, but maybe a nice cable or stitch pattern to jazz up this years. I also picked up a skein of Trekking XXL for the Trekking Along KAL. This is color 130, a bit more pastel-ee than my normal purchase, but I wanted to change it up a bit. It should make Kat some cute socks out of the remainder and the colors aren’t quite as jarring as the 100 that had fallen out of favor recently. BTW, I finished turning the heel on the blue Aktiv Color socks during Friday’s commute home, accompanied by 11:00PM-12:00AM Day 2 of 24 
I luuuuv the new iPod!
Deb and I got the kids out of MY before they destroyed the place. They had been busily moving the chairs from the back of the store all the way to the front and the cushy cube seats from the front to the back. We put the place back in order and beat a hasty retreat. 
Deb suggested heading over to Stix-n-Stitches. It’s a short walk and seriously, you can’t hit town and not visit both places (though I did do that last week). I happily agreed and the two of us walked the twins down the block. Much to my surprise, SnS was having a sale! Sale + Yarn = Good Times! Conveniently having Wendy’s book in my bag (as I had just had her sign it), I was able to pick up the yarn for another pattern in it that I really want to make as well. I picked up this Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in color 36 at 30% off to make Lisa. The gauge on the band is close to the Koigu Kersti so I’m going to swatch for this soon, erm, actually as soon as I post this!
We slowly walked the two now hungry tired children back up Bloomfield Avenue to find them some lunch. We found a place, Pops(?), an old 50′s soda shop style restaurant based on a suggestion by a couple we asked along the way. The foot was good, the place was cool with old record covers, movie posters and games decorating the walls. By the time we finished lunch and wandered back to the car, it was 1:30 and the kids were really beginning to crash. Kat has a meltdown as I tried to drag her away from looking at the ducks (actually pigeons) that were eating bread in front of MY on Church Street. She went so far as to throw herself to the ground forcing me to carry her the rest of the way. We got them into the car, bade Deb goodbye and headed for home. Not surprisingly, they were asleep before we hit the Garden State Parkway.
All in all, a very pleasant early Saturday. Getting together with Deb is always a fun. It was great to meet Wendy, whose blog is one of my regular reads and absolute favorites. Her knitting is always inspiring and her book has added to my queue in an amazing way. Tomorrow brings an SMC get together in Princeton. Should be fun and as I hear it, there are two more sets of twins in the group, both are younger than mine.
As a quick update on the job thing, the folks I’ve been freelancing for are pushing hard to create a permanent position for me. The gentleman who signs my timesheets, M, told me he’s all in favor of it and has been making a business case for hiring me full time. I thanked him but impressed upon him that time was a bit of the essence. I can’t leave the other company hanging too long. We have a "deadline" of Wednesday. I think that’s pretty reasonable. Cross your fingers, wave dpns or please pray to your prefered diety on this for me. I would prefer a job there as the intangibles and little things all add up to a very desirable place to work regardless of the salary level. The other company will allow working remotely, but only on an emergency basis as it "interferes with team working". Freelance place doesn’t seem to have a problem with it and has embraced AOL IM as a team communication method. They’re flexible and understand the priorities of people with little children.
Anyway.. off to swatch me some Silky Wool!
Craft on!
