Four Roses

When I saw this block on my block a day calender I knew I had to make it for my Ellen Plum (Stephanie Plum's Mom) quilt! It's called Four Roses and was really easy to copy and applique, though I haven't done the machine zigzag stitch yet 'cause I JUST got home for the day. I think this totally fits her though because the books are always talking about her getting nervous or overwhelmed and going into the kitchen to knock back a tumbler of Four Roses.

I thought I had messed up the pattern for these mittens and it turns out that I had just skipped a page and was reading the wrong part of the pattern. At least I didn't keep on knitting. I put it down and waiting for Mom to take a look to see what I was missing. In the meantime I knitted some soft black merino around the opening on my shrug and finished it! Yay! It is DONE! Of course I was sitting around in the house without the a/c on when it was 90 degrees with a heavy knitted sweater on my lap. Then I had to try it on. Ooh, I can only imagine hot flashes LoL! I was wearing the wrong clothes to try this on and my blue bulky tank top totally clashed but I just had to see. Diantha snapped this one pic of me while I was rolling me eyes; really I'm not demented, just bad timing. I smiled for the next pic and she cut my head off. Ah well, ya win some, ya lose some.

I had made more progress on my mitten last night before I got the pattern confused. I'm almost up to the thumb. This yarn is making such a wonderful cloth, with the stitches being just slightly varied because the yarn is almost thick and thin in places. I tried to spin it very evenly and it paid off!

Tony finally got Mom's bike rewired and able to start! Now it just needs a new clutch assembly and a headlight and she'll be ready to ride. Over a year ago my brother Allen rode to work one very cold morning and took a curve too quickly, over a railroad track. Condensation from the weather caused the track to be slippery and the bike slid out from under him, turning the handle bars and breaking all the wiring. They have a small bike, a 250 that they use to "practice on" and Tony used it this afternoon to give Jeremiah his first ever motorcycle ride--around the yard. It's not legal to take him out on the road until his feet reach the back pegs.

After a day of playing in the yard with motorcycles we gave Jeremiah a buzz cut tonight, cutting off his very large mass of curls. I couldn't believe how much hair that kid had and how much cooler he instantly was! Tony got one too and now they match. : )

I just had to snap this picture of my very sleepy babies in the car on the way home.