Sad today

The dear woman that I talked about in my last post passed away early this morning. Luckily, I was home with a sick Peanut when I got the news. I've been a mess. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful she was. Such a classy, classy lady.

Tiny Dancer

I finished the felted ballet slippers. The photos don't really show how much they shrunk. You might think I was well prepared by showing the before photo on a tray with one of Peanut's magnetic numbers for a size reference. I was prepared for the before...but not the after.

Here's the after...I couldn't remember what I'd used for the size reference and grabbed one of the magnets off the fridge. Silly momma...the numbers are larger than the letters. You get the idea. I really liked this little project and will definitely be making them again. These were made with Cascade 220, but I don't recall the color. It's a darker purple than what's showing, though. The Mister was even impressed!


I'm nearly finished with the CMU sweater. I started on a new project today, though. I need another project like a hole in the head, but this one's important. There's a woman that I work with that I just think the world of. She was the first person to go out of her way to come to talk with me when I started at my job 6+ years ago. She's always referred to herself as my "work grandmother". She's had a rough road the last few years. Her son was in a major accident and is now unable to live alone. She doesn't have any other family in the area. On Monday, she started having chest pains and complained to her boss. They called 911 and rushed her to the hospital and then airlifted to a major medical center in the area. They've found that she has two tears in her aorta. She's in for a long road of recovery, but things are looking up. I found a whole mess of old lion brand chenille sensations yarn in the stash. I think it was passed on by my aunt as some of it's crocheted. I've started working on a shawl for her. I'm hoping it'll work up quickly doubled using US13 needles.

In Peanut news, one of her daily reports had the following note on it from daycare TALKED A LOT TODAY!! It's been a verbal explosion! Her new thing is to pick up one of our old landline phones and pretend to talk to someone. This morning she picked it up and said "Hello!! Ummm...question? TALK!!" Some of the words she throws at us are hysterical. She's really becoming such a big girl. I keep wondering where my teeny baby peanut is. Mister and I discussed the possibility of more kids in the future. Right now it wouldn't be smart for our family, but we're not saying we'll never have anymore. The most important factor is my health. I have to get that in check before we can even discuss getting pregnant. We'd like to have kids a few years apart, so I still have some time. Even if we only have Peanut, that's a blessing and we're grateful for the blond wonder in our lives.

Of Mice and Men....

Ah, the joys of country living...field mice. We found signs of them in the undersink kitchen cabinet when we moved in. I bought some of those nice, new dCon traps that offer to trap them without harming them. They've been set for 2 weeks with a smidge of peanut butter to lure them in. Yeah..we caught one. It then proceeded to chew it's way out of the trap and exit the cabinet. It left behind a trail of shredded red and black plastic. Well, I can't have mice running rampant no matter how cute they are. We have resorted to the archaic wood plank/metal spring mouse trap. I feel horrible about them, but I'd feel worse about Peanut encountering one or their calling cards. I can't have that on my watch. Pepper has gone into stalker cat mode and is doing her part as well.

Speaking of Pepper, I have great news. Since moving into the house we have not had a single accident. I guess she hated the apartment as much as we did. She's a totally different cat. I'm so glad we kept her. She's also becoming more like a dog everyday. It's so fun to watch her.

Yesterday at lunch, I shirked my family secretary responsibility of running errands to visit a new yarn shop in the area. After finding the expressway exit closed and turning around twice, I finally arrived at Neighborhood Knits in Dearborn. I've been in four yarn shops in my life, this being the fifth. This is a very small store, but it was incredibly homey and welcoming. Mind you, they'd only been open 3 days but I had the place to myself for most of my visit. The owners are incredibly sweet and were interested in me, not just what I was going to buy from them. With it being a small store, they don't have an overwhelming amount of yarn. They've done a nice job of giving you a sampling of many different yarns. I bought my very first skeins of alpaca yarn. So soft! This will be a lacy scarf for gram or Aunt Jack. I also picked up the Great American Aran Afghan book, a nifty yarn guide tool and a new INOX needle. All of my INOX needles are teflon coated, this one is nickel and is supposed to rival the Addi turbo I've recently acquired. I bought it in a size 4 to hopefully use it to contribute a completed bereavement item to the Preemie Project sometime before Peanut goes to kindergarten. If you're out in the Telegraph & Ford Road area, definitely make the time to stop by. They're having their grand opening the first weekend in December.

I'm still working on the felted ballet slippers. I'm nearly finished with the second one. I'm hoping that will happen tonight, but I have a feeling it won't. Mister has class tonight, so it's just me and Peanut. My father-in-law is coming in for Thanksgiving, so we need to have things in order before then. We still have a lot of "we'll wash it once we move" laundry to do. Having to pay for it in the apartment, we kind of let things pile up. Now that pile is overtaking our master bath.

UFO's are becoming a problem in the house. I still need to wash and sew buttons to the Sunshine sweater to send out to it's gifter. The CMU sweater is in the home stretch, but it needs a hat. I'd love to do a blanket for it too. The Allison Sweater will have to been given to another little Miss as Miss Allison has outgrown it before I could finish it. There's another Allyson I know that is still teeny enough to wear it. I may need to send it her way. I have several preemie project items that are in final stages. Oh, it's a lot to think about. Once the boxes are unpacked, I'm going to refocus on my knitting. That's a promise to myself.

As life slows down...

This is the first weekend in nearly a month that I don't have an apartment to worry about. I can't tell you what a relief that is to me. Mister and his buddy ventured out and picked up our "new" furniture. My friend Lisa moved to Tucson and gave us her living room set. Now that she's a full fledged orthopedic surgeon, she can afford something quite a bit nicer for her new sprawling ranch. She also gave us the table & chairs from her basement. We now have a place to sit and eat in the kitchen. The house kind of feels complete now. The big empty spaces are gone. The boxes have been distributed to the rooms they belong to and are just waiting for someone to unpack them. All in due time. I need a small vacation first.

A couple weeks ago we visited A Stitch In Time in Howell. Very nice LYS. I think it'd be worth the trip out there from time to time. The ladies in the shop were fabulous. It was Mister and Peanut's first LYS trip. They sat down at the big ol' wooden table and hung out while I shopped. They have an awesome selection of Addi Turbos!! I broke down and bought my first one. It's fabulous! I think I'm addicted. I also picked up the Fibertrends felted ballet slipper pattern. I've seen it around online for a while and it was a impulse buy. I got home and found my new needle was just the right size for it and OH! that skein of Cascade 220 in purple was screaming to jump out of the stash. This is the first project I've started without a recipient in mind. It's also my first felted item. I have one done and am barely started on the second. I'm thinking tomorrow might offer some time for progress during the 30 loads of laundry that needs to be done.

Peanut seems to have taken another personality change in the last week. The highs are higher and the lows are lower and they are closer together. Wow. If she was an adult, I'd suggest some paxil or something. I'm sure this too will pass soon.

I did scout out the new Lyon's Den yarn shop in South Lyon. I have yet to find the opportunity to visit. Amy has paid it a visit and said some nice things. I joke with the Mister that they heard we were moving out here and that I would need a LYS. From what I've heard, it's only been open a month or so.

On a sad note, after much discussion with the Mister and a lot of thought...I've decided it would be best for everyone if I stepped down as the Preemie Project Michigan Chapter Co-coordinator. I'm not leaving the group but will now be a volunteer rather than coordinating donations and hospital stuff. It was a hard decision to make, but it would have been selfish for me to continue on when I really don't have the time to keep things in check at home and work and the MI chapter. Jan will now be taking over. She and Laura have been tremendously supportive and I can't even begin to tell them how much I've appreciated it.

Milestones...

The Mister graduated for the first time....

And Peanut the Giraffe, Trick or Treated for the first time.