... is you get a lot of knitting done. Latest project: Harvey Kimono, from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Louisa Harding.
I used the suggested yarn, Rowan Purelife 100% organic cotton. It is very soft and came in a lot of nice muted colors. I chose "Lipstick Tree."
The only problem I saw with this yarn is that when I pinned and sprayed the sweater to block it, all the orange color ran to the back. Hmmm, pretty big problem? I thought so. I flipped it over and squirted the back too, to try to reach some kind of dye equilibrium. It worked ok. But I won't be surprised if the first time I wash this sweater it comes out white.
I originally started this sweater for a tiny new addition to Brent's sister's family. However, I did so many projects inbetween, and was just so overall lazy about it, that she is now a quite jumbo and only moderately-new addition. So I figure I'll make her something bigger and more wintry. This sweater will wait for someone small again.
Hi Pepper. Remember when this blog was all about you? Ahh, the good old days. Right?
Look how wise and relaxed you look. You understand.
Pepper recently had to go to the vet. I warned them that she can be grumpy about inspections of her personal self. So they went and put on their armpit-length leather gauntlets, just to be safe. In the meantime, Pepper is snuggling a beach towel and sniffing cautiously. Obviously ferocious. They pick her up with the leather gauntlets, she snuggles into their chest. She goes to sleep. Hmmm, I said, apparently she is only grumpy about MY inspections of her personal self. They decide she needs a bath. Um, I say nervously, maybe you should wear some eye protection? But five minutes later, there's Pepper in a bath,practically cooing and smiling while they doted on her. Well!
Pepper, seven years, and do I really know you at all? You still surprise me.
We had quite a weekend, camping our hearts out at Interstate State Park (Wisconsin side). We arrived at dinner time on Friday, set up camp, and began making my Mexican feast for dinner: dutch-oven chicken enchiladas and tin foil nachos. Ole! But what is this? A real Mexican is camping with us? Oops. Well, the (Mexican) friend of a friend joining us got a good laugh out of my fiesta. Thank goodness I left the zombrero at home (due to space constraints).
We had a bit of a rough night, partly due to Bella being an overtired lunatic and partly due to the people in the next campsite. Let me give you a hint: You might be a redneck if.... you bring more than 2 dogs camping, you have so many kids that you need to bring 3 tents, and you like to shout at both dogs/kids while chopping firewood that you're going to "cut their noses off." But, as I lay listening to all the shouting and barking and chopping and tent-stake-pounding-in at 11:30 PM, I thought smugly to myself, "What goes around comes around, assholes. I will unleash my no-volume-control toddler on you at the break of dawn!" But I ended up getting no satisfaction, since they were up at the break of dawn chopping firewood on my head (I'm fairly sure it was on my head. Otherwise, how could it have been so loud?).
The next morning Bella was so excited to open a special camping treat:
She loves it so much that even at home she wants to sleep with the little dolls.
Then it was off on our first geo-cache hike! Which was pretty much a normal hike, except in the middle, five of the adults disappear and root around in the woods. Brent finally found the cache, which was disguised as a big rock!
Then it was weenie roasting time and then a quick run to the St. Croix Falls espresso bar, then swimming on a nice sandy beach, then pouring POURING buckets of gushing rain. The ranger drove around saying there was a possibility of evacuation. So we did what every good camper does when it rains... we all got in our minivans and went to see Space Chimps!!
After the movie it had cleared up and it just happened to be time for the St. Croix Falls parade.
We had a much nicer night the second night--I flashed my flashlight at the site next door in annoyance, and after that they all jumped in their trucks and left for a while. Huh. We stayed up late around the campfire, then woke up and had pancakes and sausages and packed up camp before heading on a beautiful bluff hike.
That picture looks crowded but is actually only 9 out of the 15 of us! Oh and I almost forgot to mention the craziest part... we all have the same minivan!! So if you have a Toyota Sienna and want to join the camping club, let me know!
I would like all you anti-global warming people to take a look at this. A nice fourth of July picnic.
Is that little girl wearing a parka? A down parka? Why yes! Yes she is! Because it's FREEZING out. A perfect day for a Minnesota picnic? Apparently. Dad found a hiking trail near this picnic site (which we took the boat to) and Bella enjoyed hiking for about 12 feet before needing to be piggy-backed. That warmed me right up, hiking with a 25 lb piggy on my back! Bella fell asleep sitting up in the boat on the ride home.
We had a jolly old time up north taking boat rides, playing at the beach, eating ice cream, and having our (Bella's, of course) every desire be granted by Nana and G'pa. Here we are for Brent's "Half Birthday" Dinner (my parents celebrate in July because it is more convenient):
The cake was red velvet and was delicious. I plan on finding a recipe to try it out soon.
And a perfect of illustration of doting grandparents: Bella wanted to play with bubbles, but Nana forgot to pack the bubbles, so Gpa made bubble solution and a wire bubble wand.
And one of my favorite parts about the lake, boating to get ice cream! Bella didn't like to get splashed, so she was usually telling Gpa to go slower. Here's a video of us on a boatride to get ice cream:
Bella didn't manage to stay up for the fireworks, which were shot off over the bay on Saturday. My parents and I got driven away by the mosquitoes anyway.
On Monday I left Bella napping in a wagon under a pine tree and headed out with a friend to the local quilt shop. I fell in love with the Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt they had on display (similar to this one). However, with New Years Resolution 2008 ringing in my ears, I resisted purchasing a new project! Except for a pattern and some fabric to make toddler pants. I guess that counts. Shoot.
The 4-hour drive home on Tuesday was a doozy. Bella was restless and grumpy and Brent had already driven home, so no one to entertain her. We stopped at a park in Cloquet to get some wiggles out and have a snack. Bella must have noticed that I was longing for Brent to be with us, because she cheerfully pointed out that a daddy right next to us had on "cute pants and a cute shirt."
Another fourth of July up north, full of fun and memories and ice cream, the stuff childhood is made of.
Time for a wholesome family activity: strawberry picking! We got an early start and headed up to Pine Tree Apple (Strawberry) Orchard in White Bear Lake, where I discovered that yes, the minivan will off-road in a cornfield. Good to know.
The perhaps best part about this particular berry patch is that you ride a tractor to get out to the berries. It's really not that far, maybe 1/3 mile, but I suspect they prefer you don't walk through their pumpkin patches that lie inbetween. Either way, everybody patiently waits for the tractor rather than hiking out.
Then we are assigned a row, bursting with strawberries. The rows are well mulched with soft, clean straw, so it is a pleasure to kneel and get busy filling our boxes.
Bella was a very conscientious berry picker, UNTIL she saw the boys in the next row munching on some strawberries. Then something dawned on her. And all she did the rest of the time was slowly stuff berries into her mouth.
I wasn't much better myself, I must admit. And the sky was so perfect for photos, and the berries were posing so prettily, that I was more than a little distracted with taking pictures. But we managed to take home 12 lbs of strawberries.
They were quickly transformed into loaves of Strawberry Bread, strawberry jam, and vacuum sealed frozen berries for later use. Brent read me Twilight while I hulled and jammed. (Although I have since finished the book on my own, since once it was apparent it was a romance novel, he wouldn't read another page.) And I attribute this year's being the Best Jam Ever to Brent's excellent berry-mashing skills. I usually use the food processor, but a potato masher and a strong man seem to be the way to go. Oh! I almost forgot Bella's favorite part of our berry picking adventure! The strawberry donut at the end.
So the Mr. and I went on a date (a real date!) this weekend. With dinner and a movie and everything. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting on the lovely patio of the newly opened Grand Avenue Salut, where we laughed at other couples trying to control their toddlers and sampled the "city's best french fries," (not bad at all). Brent got a steak, which was really delicious, I got a salad, which was quite delicious, and we shared some soup, which was not delicious at all. But that was quickly and politely taken off of our bill, so overall it was very pleasant. I had my heart set on eating outside, which is a dangerous expectation on a beautiful June evening. We were there very early so hardly had to wait at all. But when we left around 6:45, the place was jammed. A family was wedged into the waiting area, balancing drinks and pizza on their laps, and I heard the dad say, with false brightness, "It's like we're having a picnic!" Which for some reason I found hilarious and embarrassed myself by laughing out loud.
We went to my wonderful old neighborhood to see Get Smart at the Grandview Theater.
It is strange and sweet to drive around near my old apartment, the apartment I still dream about, the one I would rent if I had a million dollars, just so I could walk into it and smell it every now and then. It is not that close to our neighborhood now, so it was an impractical frivolity to have our date on Grand. But Brent said so many times, "No YOU pick what we do." That I got flustered and blurted out what I wanted to do. New French restaurant, old cozy theater. So there. See what you think of that date idea. That'll teach you to pressure me into making decisions. Everyone knows I prefer to let others make decisions and then complain about it later.
But, it turned out to be a great evening (much better than last time I picked, when we ended up at Lowe's looking at faucets).
Bella, by the way, was busy at daycare having a Mexican Fiesta and dying herself blue with Dairy Queen Rocket Pops.
I avidly read Yarn Harlot, and her recent Stash Toss this spring (apparently "toss" in Canadian means a good going-through. What I would call a "yarn fondle." But anyway.) was highly amusing. I don't have much of a stash because I am very careful (cheap) and only buy yarn for specific projects. I have always been secretly proud of myself for this organization and frugality. Why hoard? It's just silly. I mean, why would you stockpile?
It just doesn't make sense. I'm so glad I'm much more practical than that.
What is the urge to hoard? So primitive! I am much more highly evolved than that.
Whoops, is that 13 lbs of coffee in the house? And is one of those pounds in the bedroom?
