Friday, October 23, 2009

On the value and function of hats...


Little D. learned a lesson this weekend about hats.  He learned the 'why' of hats, let's say.  It turns out that they are especially important in the mountains and to people with no hair and nice, soft ears.  I did manage to snap one pic of the boys in their matching hats.  I love my boys.

LEAF was awesome... great group, great music, and our campsite was like a living room, complete with a plastic oriental rug, purple glider, end tables with candles and lanterns, teapot on the stove, and about seven coolers full of goodies...  We had lots of reasons to celebrate-- three engagements, a baby on the way, and a 30th birthday!  LEAFing with baby is a bit trickier than I thought it might be.  I didn't get to see as much music as I would have liked to between managing naptime, feedings, and keeping baby warm enough.  He rocked out to Cowboy Junkies on Friday night, and Soul Feather (New Orleans Indians in full regalia with horns and everything) on Saturday.  Daddy tucked baby in bed on Saturday night so mama could go dance to Zap Mama.  I thought he would sleep in the wagon at the main stage (haha!)  The weather was kinda rough-- rain on Friday and winds on Saturday-- but on Sunday the sun came out.  Baby could crawl in the grass again!  Without mittens!  All our friends were wonderful helpers with the wee one.  On Saturday night, six of us piled in the camper and sang an endless chorus of "Twinkle, twinkle" until he nodded off to dreamland.  The verdict: Spring LEAF, here we come!

On Monday, a new toy arrived in the mail... A surprise from Aunt Carol in Florida-- Baby's First Chainsaw!  She designed and crocheted him a chainsaw "stuffed animal."  I'm not sure if it is a Husqvarna or a Stihl, but he loves it!  All he needs is a Carolina Tree Care t-shirt, and he can be daddy for Halloween!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Off to LEAF (with everything plus the kitchen sink)!  Have a great weekend...

Monday, October 12, 2009

Boy Meets Apple






Still no teeth... but those gums can chomp!

Thursday, October 08, 2009

FO: Hats for the Danas

How bout some actual knitting content?

The pattern: Basic Cable Hat from Stitch 'n Bitch Nation

The yarn: mystery acrylic

The needles: US 7s and 8s for the daddy hat and US7s for the baby hat

The story: Pictured above are the two acrylic hats I knitted for the boys. (Since I can't get living & breathing actual models, you shall see them as pictured on my doorstep.) It's not my style to knit with synthetic yarn, but I did enjoy making these. In 2000, I bought this yarn in Maine when I was a mere twenty years old, dreaming of learning to learn to knit or crochet a hat for my boyfriend. For years, I never learned, but I couldn't bring myself to donate the yarn to Goodwill. When I did learn to knit in 2004 and became a lover of wool, I still never threw out the mystery acrylic. The ballband is long lost. At least it's tweed acrylic, right? Nine years+ later, the boyfriend is the husband and the father. I knitted his hat first, while pregnant with our little boy who was very late in coming. I decided to boycott baby knitting and cranked out a few hats for the family. It only seemed appropriate now to finish up the leftovers into a matching hat for my little guy.

The mods: I knitted the ribbing of both hats using a 2x2 rib, instead of a K1,P1 as specified in the pattern. I think this flows into the cables nicely. I completed several more pattern repeats for the daddy hat, as I found the version in the book to be too short. I cast-on only 72 stitches for the baby hat. I would say it's a 9-12 mos. size.




Tuesday, October 06, 2009

The boy has been a real fashion animal lately... Here he is dressed to go to church last Sunday. He likes the contrast between fancy john-john and bare legs and feet. Rockin out in his African safari PJs (a gift from Aunt Lolly) this morning.Playing in the hay/"carpet" in Morgan's tent at Campmeeting. Like those pumpkin stains on his onesie? This is our normal day-t0-day look.


Every little boy needs a pair of railroad striped overalls. Out cold.

His newest wardrobe acquisition is a rib & cabled hat knitted by mommy. Unfortunately, he HATES it and snatches it off his head so fast that I can't get a decent picture. I knitted it out of *gasp* acrylic that was leftover from an identical hat that I made for his father when I was pregnant. I can't wait to see the boys in matching hats at LEAF.



Back to Aunt Lolly's jaywalkers... One down, one to go.

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Little man serenaded us on our 5th wedding anniversary yesterday. Enjoy!

Friday, October 02, 2009

While in the Charleston area last weekend, we also visited the nearby Charleston Tea Plantation on Wadmalaw Island, which has been on my to-do list for ages. We made it in time for one of the last trolley ride/tours on Saturday. Little Dana got boisterous and very vocal toward the end of the tour, and I plugged him up with his favorite chew toy, my cellphone. So if you don't get any return texts from me, that's why! I learned so much about tea (Camellia sinesis) at the gardens. I had no idea what a sustainable and unique plant tea is! Once planted, the land never has to be tilled. The tea shrub can produce delicious tea leaves for 600 years. Tea doesn't require pesticides or herbicides, and because of the way it is harvested, most of the weeding is done by hand. I got the impression that only the new plants required much irrigation. I was fascinated by the place and would love to return for a flushing or when the plants are in bloom. The only tea grown in America is right down the road in Charleston.

Here are the boys on the trolley. Note that Little D. is wearing his feather romper. We have been getting lots of good use out of it, but next time I will definitely use the snap tape for easy access during diaper changes.




Hedgerows of Camellia sinesis.The nearest tea plantations are far, far away. The tour guide said that tea is not grown elsewhere in the US because it's not cost-effective, not because the climate is not right. It blows my mind that we can import a product, prepared by a thousand hands, from around the globe for cheaper than we can harvest it right here at home. A close-up in the propagation hut.
Tea is related to Camellia japonica and Camellia sasanqua, which Southerners are used to seeing growing down here. There is a tiny bloom on the plant... In a few weeks, the fields will be covered. I would love to go back and see this. Wouldn't you love to have honey made from the nectar of tea blossoms? Does this exist? If so, I need some. Here is the plantation's custom-made tea harvester... and my cute little boy and his grandmother. This machine does the work of five hundred men.







Little Dana helped host a tea party picnic for his cousins after school one day last week. It was pretty muggy before a thunderstorm, but everyone enjoyed several cups of tea... The menu included edamame, blueberry snacking cake, and little mock-chicken salad sandwiches.