First things first September 25, 2007

Cam starts electric bass lessons today.  He is so excited.  He wanted to play an instrument at school but with all his challenges we said no and compromised with lessons at home on the guitar.  I can’t even tell you how cute he was last night when we walked into the Guitar Center and he oohed and ahhed and proclaimed the place "guitar heaven".  Honestly, we went there just to get strings for the My First Gibson he had bought last year with his Christmas and birthday money.  But when I started enquiring about the next step up…seeing Cam there, sitting on the stool with this huge guitar…we agreed on an early Christmas present.   

I leave for Paris in less than a week.  I have been working on a dog jacket for my friends French  bulldog.  It is coming along pretty quickly with Encore DK.  It has a shawl collar–how cute is that?  Guess you really can’t tell due to the stinky picture.  Somewhere before there a tea cozy was knit for my swap pal.  The Kureyon Kozy was a quick and fun knit.  I tried to get the stripes to match up but the knot in the ball didn’t make it any easier.  And St. Brigid seems to get very little attention these days.  No one mention my brother’s socks.  I lost the second one that was in progress.  No clue where it is.  Sigh.

Look what my mom knit up!  Will she give them to me when she is done?

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this and that September 17, 2007

Knitting friends just left and I want to get a quickie blog post in as it has been a while.  I still haven’t gotten the hang of iPhoto so I am sharing a picture of Owen from this weekend’s family picture with Kevin’s family.  It was at the arboretum and a little overcast (also a bit rainy at times) but we pressed on.  It is very hard to take pictures with kids from 8 months to 13 but I think it turned out okay.  The one with the grandparents and kids was unique!  Owen was standing on an Adirondack chair behind my MIL and as the photographer snapped the picture, Owen jumped into the air.  He caught him airborne and it was typical Owen. 

Kevin golfed, I worked the sale at Granny’s and the kids went back to Grandma K’s.  Owen took a dip in the pond a few minutes after I got there.  Sigh.  He is a fabulous swimmer but I didn’t think he was nervy enough to go in.  His teacher got him out.  Love her. 

I haven’t been knitting too much.  I finished a tea cozy for my swap and have been plugging away on St. Brigid in little fits and starts.  Dreaming of a sweater for a french bulldog and not coming up with a decent size to fit the dog.  The kids will start rolling in any minute… 

Not sure what to say…not even sure what to think September 11, 2007

Or what to tell Cam about why the school asked everyone to wear red, white and blue today.  To me, September 11th seems so long ago.  We were living in Massachusetts…Kevin was working in NY all of the time…I just diagnosed Owen–at least in my head–with PDD and got him started in Early Intervention.  But I can still so clearly remember my mom and I on the phone–chatting and watching the Today Show–as they went to the crash.  I was a baby when the Twin Towers were built and everyone–my mom included–thought they were too tall and would get hit by airplanes.  We discussed this that day but 17 minutes later…I was on the phone with Kevin telling him to get the hell out of his office.  Do you remember the silence afterwards?  We lived just outside of Boston and not hearing the airplanes was so eery. 

I think of Cameron now–in 4th grade–only 3 that day.  Gracie, however, was in 2nd grade and knew Kevin was in NY–along with a classmates father who worked for the same company.  Gracie was pulled out and assured that her dad was alright.  But really, I didn’t know.  We lost contact for over 12 hours and as annoying as his Blackberry is…I am so grateful he was able to email his friend who was able to get in touch with me and let me know he was alive.  Gracie wrote a beautiful essay after that on her hero–Kevin.  He helped a coworker look for his wife–risking his own safety to help a friend.  They are divorced now…but he is remarried and expecting a baby. 

September 11.  Kevin will get together with his coworkers today for lunch and remember the friends and coworkers they lost.  He is coming home early to spend a quiet night with us–appreciating what we have and remembering.  We will especially remember Jim–his friend and coworker who was in the Trade Center that day.  Our hearts and thoughts are with his wife and his family.

An E for effort on pictures… September 7, 2007

Well, I meant to upload a picture of the Guernsey books!  Why won’t the Mac accept the names I change my pictures to?  And why won’t it allow them to remain rotated when I rotate them?  And why don’t I just read the book?

Granny got these two new books in.  I requested the Knitting Lace Triangles book and offered to maybe even teach an advanced knitting class in lace.  That new Cat Bordhi book looks so interesting.  Granny has them both if you are interested.

I only have this sideways picture of the Guernsey books my mom dug up.  From the top left and clockwise
Traditional Guernsey and Jersey Knitting, Fishermen’s Sweaters, Knitting from the Netherlands, Cornish Guernseys and Knit Frocks, Knitting Ganseys, Traditional Knitting  of the British Isles.

Well, Typepad won’t let me upload my cruddy sideways picture.  Ugh, there they are!!

Pictureless September 6, 2007

Part of that is guilt.  I forgot to take a picture of Owen.  Everyone went back to school today.  It’s usually with mixed emotions–on my part–but I was a bit relieved today.  We put Owen on a new med this week for blood pressure to help with his hyperactivity.  I am not sure if behaviors increased but he did seem calmer.  It was almost eery.  He was also taking a nap every afternoon…poor thing.  Cameron and Grace both seemed glad to be going back and  I had a flat tire.  My dad came over and pumped it up.  Kevin is out of town and somehow life is never dull.  At least I have Kevin’s car.

I haven’t been knitting much.  I did rip the sleeve on St. Brigid and reknit a few rows to find I screwed up again.  I ripped and left it there.  I have been thinking I would like to knit a guernsey.  Need only mention the word to my mother and I have at least 10 books on guernseys.  A picture of the plenitude of books on the subject forthcoming.