Thoughts on my children

Oh Japanese Beetle



So pretty with your iridescent shell

Gold and Green

You'd be prized as a precious gem if not for your insect legs



Lovely above all insects why are you killing my tree?

As you take nourishment from the leaves you create beauty

Cutouts in the leaves that look like lace



So Beautiful and yet so Destructive

You remind me of my children

Boring Blog

I'm still knitting away on Clapotis. After last weeks flurry of productivity and finished objects this week seems rather anti-climactic. I could post a picture of my progress, but frankly it looks just like the other picture only longer. I haven't touched Mariposa, and almost completely forgot about the Surprise Knitting. I guess I really do need at least three objects ready to be finished before I can finish something. If this theory is correct then once I get Clapotis ready to finish (which will entail weaving in two ends) I'll be able to knock out the other two projects in another Blitzkreig of knitting. I have decided that I want to knit the clover wrap from Stitch-n-Bitch Nation if not next then soon. I just need to decide on a color. I'm also going to do the scarf for my father. I wonder what project will round out the holy trinity of finished knitting. Maybe a baby sweater for Bird. I would like to do a Dragon Hoodie for her, but use the pattern I used for the Bumble Bee Sweater.
Nevermind. I went to Marnie's site to get the link to the Dragon Hoodie and saw this. Love at first sight. I'm thinking of cheating on my Clapotis. I wonder how long it will take to order the pattern?

Just call me butterfingers

Cause I'm dropping stitches all over the place. Check this out



And for a close up of the dropped stitches



Mariposa sits unloved in a pile in the corner. I'm still having my fling with Clapotis. I just couldn't put this down over the long weekend. I love almost everything about it. I love the pattern, I love dropping stitches, I love that I made it wider to be a stole instead of a scarf, and I love the blue stripe pattern. The photo just doesn't do it justice. The change from the darker blue to the white is very subtle and beautiful. The only thing I hate is that the yarn is boucle and it doesn't drop stitches. I have to unravel each dropped stitch line by hand, but I can live wiht that. My sister loaned me the first season of Buffy on DVD and I just sat on my big butt watching vampires and knitting. It was heavenly! I will admit it was a bit boring for The Greatest, but really what did he care he was playing Lego Star Wars on X-Box all weekend. Overall we both had a great time, just not together.

I also finished blocking Pork Chop's dress. It never did block the way I wanted it to, but she loves it, so I guess that's all that matters.



The pattern was called Patrice from Berocco.com. I used a pound of love yarn. I will never buy that yarn again, but I will probably make more patterns from Berroco.com. This one was simple and well written. I added more rows to make the dress long enough for Pork Chop (I swear her legs are a mile long) but that is the only modification I made to this pattern.

And now for some comedy relief, Bird got into my yarn.



She was so happy I didn't have the heart to take it from her. When she was done molesting the yarn I could only throw it away, abused and forgotten.

Hey Victoria I got your secret right here

Ok Dad you don't want to read this.

So I went bra shopping today (I warned you not to read this Dad). I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding since 2002. I need a bra that fits and that doesn't have an easy release in the front for breastfeeding. I have endured plain white with a clasp and two-inch thick straps for years. I have earned a decent bra. I have earned the Promised Land of bras. I have earned a Victoria's Secret Bra.

So I go to Victoria's Secret. I get measured. The woman tries to tell me I'm an A cup. I am not an A cup. I'm small but not nonexistent (or so I thought). So we try on an A cup and no I'm not an A. Then I try on bra after bra. None of them fit right. None of them looked right. I wasn't instantly transformed into a sex goddess. I didn't have any cleavage. I looked decidedly unfuckable. In short I looked nothing like this



I was very depressed. I left the store in my too big, stained, white, stretched out nursing bra with its revolutionary one-handed clasp.

After crying on the car ride home I realized where I went wrong. I wore the wrong clothes bra shopping. As I stood there wearing a black bra and these



No wonder I wasn't transformed into a sex goddess. A sex goddess does not wear shorts with an elastic waistband. A sex goddess wears a matching thong, or at the very least a pair of hot pants. I was also wearing pink flip-flops. Again a sex goddess does not wear pink flip-flops. I should have worn stiletto heels or at least a strappy sandal with a two-inch heel. The lighting was bad. Where was my back lighting? Sure I was lit from above, but I wasn't strategically lit from above and behind. I blame that on the store. And finally I left my wind-machine at home. How could I dream of trying on a bra without my wind-machine? You just don't get the full effect without a wind-machine. Maybe tomorrow I will go back. Maybe tomorrow I will go back with my stilettos and my wind-machine. Maybe tomorrow I'll take my stilettos and wind-machine go to Wal-Mart, all the humiliation at half the price.

So close and yet so far

I'm batting 50/50.
Let me present the finished Sueete Suede Handbag



I made it with some red chenille that was on sale. The liner is red with tiny pink polka dots, but I couldn't get a good photograph of it. I think it turned out well. You can't really see it in the photograph but the straps tie in one corner with a little leaf shape, it is very pretty.

Let me also introduce the world to Squeaky's Bumblebee sweater (modeled and stretched out by Bird).





I made this with Lionbrand Microfiber and I'm really proud of the way it turned out. I especially liked the buttons. They're little bees.

Here's the bad news. Pork Chops dress is resistant to blocking. I'm trying to block it so the ribbed skirt is separated. I tried mist blocking and that just didn't take. So now I've got it full on soaking wet blocking. I'll check it tomorrow. Pork Chop tried it on yesterday and was so disappointed I wouldn't let her wear it. First of all I needed to re-block it, secondly does she not know its 92 degrees outside. I can't let her run around in a heavy knit dress; she'll sweat to death. At least I know she'll like the dress even if the ribbing is held tight together.

Then there is the tragedy of Mariposa. I have such a love/hate relationship with this pattern. Just look at it



These straps are entirely too wide for my body. I'm going to have to re-knit thinner ones. But the thought of more intarsia makes me weep, so last night I cheated on it with the new love of my life Clapotis.


Twelve inches baby. But look at the yarn. It looks like there are shades of medium blue, light blue and white. Now look at my clapotis. Where are the other shades? I think it's an optical illusion and the entire skein is just medium blue. I don't care. I love this pattern anyway. Do you think Mariposa knows I'm seeing someone else?

How we kick it on my block

Things are really coming together. I did so much yesterday at knitting group despite the fact that my sister once again brought the baby over to distract me. What makes newborns smell so good, much better than Meat with his stinky feet, although Bird smells like Lucky Charms (she just finished breakfast). I finished seaming Mariposa. I finished seaming Sueete Suede. And I threw a block party see





That's Pork Chop's dress, Squeaky's bumble bee sweater and my Mariposa all blocking. Coming soon to a blog near you: ACTUAL FINISHED OBJECTS.

And because I'm incapable of sitting in front of the TV without knitting, last night while watching "Saw" I got this done on my clapotis.



That's eight inches baby. I'm knitting it with some cheap acrylic vegregated blue yarn I had in my stash. I can confirm that knitting it IS fun, and I haven't even gotten to the dropped stitch part. One you get in the rhythm of the pattern it is very mindless and soothing but with it's twisted stitches its more interesting that plain garter stitch or stockingnette. I may do a stole instead of a scarf. We'll see how the knitting goes.

No cute children stories. They're driving me crazy. Why are toddlers just designed to be so ornery?

I'm really motivated to get things done now. I finished the final knitting on the Sueete Suede handbag last night. I went to the store and got the fabric I need for the liner (red with tiny white polka dots). I've started seaming and weaving in end for Mariposa. But as motivated as I am I didn't get much done yesterday because my sister came over with this



She's such a pretty baby. It almost makes me want another one but then I see this



And this



And I know I don't have the kind of time on my hands it would take to protect a baby from them. I just can't keep another baby alive and knit at the same time. *

I have realized that when I'm all done I really will have nothing but Evil to work on. I can't let that happen. I'm thinking of doing Clapotis, even though I have no idea how to pronounce it. I never paid much attention to this pattern but it's going around all the blogs. I've been told its very fun to knit with it's intentional dropped stitches, and hey, I'm up for some fun. I'm also considering the One Skein Wonder. Again not something I would pick myself but everyone who has made one just loves it and I'm wondering what all the fuss is about. I'm also going to design a scarf soon. My Father approached me last night and was asking me questions about my knitting, and how I different things, different knitting techniques. He wants me to design him a scarf, and I'm actually really excited about working on this project with him. I think it's because my Father is a computer programmer. He is wicked smart with technology. I'm cursed and I break every techie type thing I touch (did I mention I somehow did a hard reset on my palm and lost everything, and I didn't have a back up on a computer because no one wants to let me touch their computers and install software on them because I'm cursed). But knitting is something I know, something I'm pretty good at, or at least I have a good time at. And if I can make a scarf per his specifications and it's wonderful he'll have tangible proof that I've got talents, just not techie ones. I know he loves me and he's proud of me in that ethereal way all parents love their children. This would be tangible, and making a scarf for him would be tangible love I have for him that he could hold. But since this tangible love looks to include intarsia or duplicate knit its going to be a PITA.

*I write things like that for comedy relief. When my sister goes back to work I'm going to start baby-sitting little Squeaky and I can't wait. We're gonna have fun.

One strap down, only one to go.



I'm getting quite a stack of knitted things that need finished.



I don't think I'll get much done today. Bird's voice is hoarse today and she's just not feeling well. She's been on my lap most of the morning and appears prepared to stay there all day. I'm actually very excited to have a huge finishing party this weekend, and just get all these projects done. But I'm afraid that when I get them done I'll have nothing but Evil left to knit and Evil has mysteriously been "lost" in the move. I'm sure its here somewhere, but I just can not find it anywhere.



Of course that's not a picture that I just took this morning with my digital camera. I can't believe you would suggest such a thing. I'm telling you Evil got misplaced in the move. (tee-hee)

And to add to the many reasons that I love summer, yesterday the city came through and flushed out the fire hydrants





The second picture was Pork Chop with two of her cousins. The water was freezing and there was enough pressure to knock the kids on their butts. All in all it was very entertaining to watch. I just love summer.

My new obsession

My knitting is coming along swimmingly. I've got the surprise knitting all knit. The pattern calls for some actual sewing, the kind that involves a sewing machine so I've set it aside for a while until I feel the urge to sew (oddly enough it is now sitting beside my Sueete Suede hand bag which is also waiting for a machine sewn liner. Maybe I'll finish them both together). Since the surprise knitting is knit I've returned to my Mariposa. I reknit the right side and have fallen back in love with it. We've quarreled, the pattern and I had a difference of opinion (mainly I thought the sweater should fit) but I've seen the true inner beauty of it and all if forgiven. Gaze upon her loveliness (forgive the unwoven ends and the fact that it is held together with straight pins)





Don't you hate it when you have your husband take a picture and later upon further reflection you realize that there are things like your son's potty chair, your husband's dirty towel, and your nursing bra that just ruin the magic? And let's not even talk about the bad lighting. My point is Mariposa is almost done. Just two straps to go.

This leads me to my next point. I've got a new obsession. It's dangerous and stealing my knitting time. It's the pool. At first it was just a way to keep the kids from killing one another. A way to keep them distracted so they would stop fighting for five minutes and keep me from killing them. Then this amazing thing started happening to me. My skin is changing. It's getting darker and starting to glow. I feel almost luminescent. I think I remember this. It's called a tan isn't it? Years of working in a cold office building have rendered this condition a mere memory. Then I had children, and for the past two years I've had babies too small to expose to the harmful daylight. But this year we're out, almost every day, sitting poolside. It used to be about the children, but now I'm afraid I'll lose my glow and just turn kinda yellow, the ugly yellow of a fading tan. I've gotta keep my tan. But I'm conflicted because it's eating up valuable knitting time. I've tried but it's so hard to knit in the humidity of the poolside, not to mention what would happen if I dropped my yarn in the water. So I sit knitless, guilty and glowing. I wish I could show you a picture of my butt. It's so white it glows in the dark. But this isn't that kind of blog.

Maybe he should expand his operation

Old Macdonald Courtesy of Meaty

Me:Old Macdonald had a farm
Meaty: E-I-E-I-O
Me: And on that farm he had a
Meaty: Pig
Both: E-I-E-I-O
Me: With an Oink Oink here
And an Oink Oink there
Here an Oink there an Oink
Everywhere an Oink Oink
Old Macdonald had a farm
Meaty: E-I-E-I-O
Me: And on that farm he had a
Meaty: Pig
Both: E-I-E-I-O
Me: With an Oink Oink here
And an Oink Oink there
Here an Oink there an Oink
Everywhere an Oink Oink
Old Macdonald had a farm
Meaty: E-I-E-I-O
Me: And on that farm he had a
Meaty: Pig
Both: E-I-E-I-O
Me: With an Oink Oink here
And an Oink Oink there
Here an Oink there an Oink
Everywhere an Oink Oink
Old Macdonald had a farm
Meaty: E-I-E-I-O
Me: And on that farm he had a
Meaty: Pig
Me: Don't you think he had a cow
Meaty: No, Pig Farm

Random things from my brain

I know, I know, I know. I promised to make some actual finished objects at knitting group Wednesday, but then I realized that I am unable to finish something unless I have at least three objects in the near finish stage. And as you can see from my progress charts on the left I only have two in the nearly done stage. So you'll just have to wait until the surprise knitting is nearly done. Then I'll just whip them all out in one evening and amaze everyone with my prolific knitting.

But just in case you need a knitting fix, here's a never before seen on my blog picture of the natural disaster that is Mariposa



Sure the knitting looks nice and the seed stitch band turned out well, and the colors are just, well they're fabulous beyond belief, but none of that matters since the shirt doesn't wrap the way it should. I'm going to try again when I stop hating the sweater and remember how great I'm going to look wearing the finished object (maybe I can get it knit in the next week and finish it with the bumble bee sweater, Pork Chop's dress, and the surprise knitting).

In the meantime I had a very unusual day yesterday. I didn't knit at all. I know that sounds strange, but I knit everyday. I once had someone (another stay at home mom) ask me how much I knit a day, and after thinking for a moment I realized it's usually a few hours. I knit for an hour or so when the kids go to bed at night, and if they nap during the day I might pick up my needles, or when I take a phone call I usually knit. I always knit when I watch TV. These random moments add up. She just looked at me and said "There's never a minute when I'm not doing something, I'm just to busy to do things like that." Can we just say snarky? But that's neither here nor there. The point is I didn't knit yesterday at all. I did my housework in the morning (That's the time of day that the children are most likely to entertain themselves so I can do housework. Then we have to whole day to undo it so that by the time The Greatest comes home it looks like I haven't done anything all day), then the kids were fighting, then the fighting wore them out so they all took a nap (prime time for knitting but I balanced the checkbook instead). Then I HAD to take them to the pool so they could work off all their nap energy swimming (it was that or just build them a deathmatch ring and let them have at each other once and for all). We came home, had dinner, put the kids to bed, and then I went on a date. Woo Hoo! We just ran around the corner and shot pool at a bowling alley. But we had the best time. I used to play pool at keg parties in college. The Greatest used to play pool when he was single and in the military. But for some unknown reason we've never played pool together. That also means that neither of us have played pool in almost eight years. We were both pretty bad, not that I was ever any good to begin with. How good can you get when you always play drunk? We spent fifteen minutes chasing the 13 ball around at the end of one game. But we had a great time. It was so nice to go out without the children (don't worry we didn't just put them in bed and leave, we made sure they fell asleep first). It felt like dating again. Even after seven and a half years of marriage you need that once in a while. It was worth losing a night of knitting for that. The Greatest had such a good time he wants to go see a movie tonight after we put the kids to bed. I'm not sure I can go two days without knitting. Do you think I need professional help?

I've made a terrible mistake

I know I promised more knitting content, but with the unshowable surprise knitting I just can't right now. But when I was fiddling with my sidebar (don't you just love the knitting progress bars) I realized how close two of my projects are to completion. Maybe I'll whip those suckers out today at knitting group and have actual Finished Objects to show tomorrow.

In the meantime I've made a terrible discovery. A hideous life altering one. It started out as an ordinary evening. I took the kids to the city pool yesterday. We had a wonderful time. Being me I remembered hats, snacks, water, small floaty toys, little swimmers, towels, a sheet to sit on. Almost everything a person could need, everything except sunscreen that is. Rather than pack everything back up and lose our sitting spot and our parking spot I just borrowed some from the nice lady on the sheet next to us. Now I don't mind borrowing for my children. I got all three in a nice thick coat of sunscreen and turned them loose on the lifeguards. But I didn't think it would be nice to sunscreen myself. Her bottle wasn't that full to begin with and I think sunscreening me would have been the end of it. No big deal I've only burned twice in my life. Well make that three times. When I came home did anyone admire how great I looked in my new finally lost the baby weight-did more Pilates that I can stand-do you know how much ice cream I DIDN'T EAT to wear this bikini. No. I was greeted with
"What happened to your back" obviously it got sunburned
"Didn't you wear sunscreen" obviously not
And my favorite "That's gonna hurt tomorrow" no kidding.

So all this helpfulness had me in a pretty annoyed mood. Knowing this The Greatest decided to try to diffuse the situation by running out to get dinner. He changed out of his work clothes and got ready to go. My Father decided to go along with him, so my Dad changed out of his work clothes and got ready to go. This is what they looked like



And just in case you missed it, this is what their shirts say



Nice isn't it. So as I was looking at the pair of them I realized my mistake. I married my father. Somehow I managed to marry a man just like my father. I swear he didn't start out that way. He was a perfectly nice ordinary guy when I met him. But the older he gets the more he becomes like my father. I thought he was supposed to turn into HIS father as he got older. But in some cruel twist of fate he turned into MY father. I've gotta get out of this marriage before I turn into my Mother-in-Law.

Recent lack of knitting content

All my posts lately have been about my adorable children, and as much as I love my children I understand that they can be a bit boring to people who don't know them and a bit annoying to the people who do. The thing is I started this blog to showcase my wonderful knitting to the world. And for the most part I thought my knitting was extrodinarily wonderful. I taught myself from a book and while it was merely a distraction at first it has grown to an obsession (I really think I might need professional help). My baby hats were cute, my baby sweaters all turned out. I rarely had to frog things. I even had success fiddling with patterns to make them more my style or to make them fit better (I was especially proud of my Gothic Lace Sweater and My Fuzzy Valentine). But that was all beginners luck. Lately I've had a streak of extrodinarily bad knitting. Too bad to even talk about. I'm so ashamed. I got overconfident, cocky even, that I knew how to knit. Hey I even started a blog to showcase my extrodinarily wonderful knitting. I rarely knit patterns as written, and when I felt uninspired by any pattern I decided I could design my own. And the Gods of Knitting were displeased with my growning arrogance. So they sent me beautiful yarn to make a shapely tank that was completely see through and unfit for actual public wearing. They sent me the Belle Paquita with its imposible yet stunning lace design and an unusual bust fitting, I tried and frogged, and tried and frogged, then I hid the yarn from the Greatest so he would forget about that project. They sent me Belle Epoque which is beautiful, I labor for two months making endless rounds of pattern knitting but only to discover upon finishing that it was too maternity looking for a woman who is finally neither pregnant nor breastfeeding. They reassigned my knitting Muse, so when I tried to design my own pattern the neckline failed, and I realized it too was going to look like maternity clothing. And finally to add insult to injury they sent me Mariposa, a beautiful tank top that isn't intended to fit a small busted woman (again the problem is my boobs, I think I need a bust enhancement to improve my knitting). But being unobservant and not realizing the pattern of knitting failure I decided I could alter the lovely Mariposa and make it fit my unendowed chest. That was a waste of a week of my life. You can find the entire story of Mariposa here I'm too grieved to tell it again. I have repented and returned to my knitting roots. I am knitting from patterns again, and not altering them. I am humbled and prostrate before the Gods of Knitting. I hope they are pleased and will send some alpaca to heal my wounded soul.

Congratulations all around!

Such a busy weekend.

My sister gave birth to her second child. Allow me to introduce Squeaky to the world.



We couldn't be happier. They made us wait an hour and a half at the hospital before they let us see the baby. When they finally let us back in there we had quite a party.




At Six pounds Four ounces she isn't the smallest baby born in our family, but she is a tiny peanut (Bird holds the record at nine pounds six ounces, ouch). Her big sister couldn't be prouder (and check out the hair on that baby)



Then if that wasn't enough excitment my little Brother graduated from college on Saturday. See how happy he is holding his diploma surrounded by people he doesn't know.



And here's happy Brother surrounded by people he does know.



Again we couldn't be prouder of him, even if he cap did give him bad hair



Oh when bad hair happens to good people. Congratulations You worked so hard to earn this. Hooray for You!

I did get some knitting done during all this, but it's a surprize for someone, so the story of that will have to come later.

Random Thoughts

First of all do you think this is child abuse?




Secondly, and this has nothing to do with anything, I watched this show last night 30 Days and it really disturbed me. The whole premise was he and his girlfriend moved to Columbus, Ohio with nothing and tried to live off minimum wage for 30 days. I wasn't upset by how hard it was for them. I was more iritated by how cavalier they were about it. At the end of the day they knew they would have their normal life back when the month was over, and that knowledge changed the way they did things. I don't think it was a true representation of what life is like without money. One case in point his girlfriend got a UTI, they had no medical insurance so they went to the emergency room rationalizing that they would find a way to pay for it later. For them later meant at the end of the month when they went back to their normal lives. I can tell you from experience when you have no medical insurance and you have a UTI you drink as much cranberry juice as you can afford and gallons of water for a week until you flush it out. Later that same day they went back to the emergency room because the man had a sprained wrist. And again when you have no medical insuarnce and a very small limited income you don't go to the emergency room for something like that. You wrap it and keep working. They got their furniture from a local charity. But they were only borrowing it for a month. They didn't feel the true shame of not being able to provide their family with the basic necessities of life. The soul crushing feeling of relying of the charity of others. They weren't able to pay all their bills from their minimum wage income, but at the end of the month they went back to their normal lives and were able to pay their debts. They didn't know the true pressure of too many bills and not enough money. Sometimes it's hard to breath. For them this was an experiment with an end date. But a real life lived paycheck to paycheck has no expiration date. There is no end in sight. When you are only a month from being homeless, I can't describe it. But these people did not really live what it is like to work at minimum wage. But the fact that they so arrogantly think they have, that it is that simple, that at the end of the month when the bills aren't paid you can just go back to your regular life and it will all be alright, it really upset me. And the fact that other people who haven't been there will watch the show and also conclude that it is that easy disturbs me. He made this show to promote awareness. But I think he isn't making people aware of the true reality. He showed his reality, but for people who don't have a normal life to go back to at the end of the month, for people who actually live this reality every day, I think he did them a great disservice.

Happy Birthday Pork Chop

Happy Birthday Princess.



I don't think I have the words to tell you how loved you are but I'll try.

You were such a beautiful baby



The world's cutest baby.



Daddy and I wanted you so much. There were times I thought I was going to break in two I just wanted a baby so badly. And you were the worst baby. Oh so pretty, and oh so unhappy. Why did you have to cry for six months straight. You were to cute to be so diabolical, so angelic to be so sadistic. I couldn't have loved you more but there were times I contemplated throwing you out a window.

And oh how you've grown.



So tall and graceful. So athletic and light on your feet. You are so smart. You amaze me everyday with your thirst for knowledge and how quickly you absorb new things. You can't wait to go to school this fall, and I can't wait for you to go. Make no mistake I'm going to miss you, and I might cry a bit that first day. But I'm anxious to see you spread your wings and grow into your own a little bit. I'm excited for you because I know all the new things you're going to get to learn and do. And I know how happy you're going to be doing them. Above all I just want you to be happy.

You as such a joy to have for a daughter. You are helpful and funny. I just enjoy being with you. As you grow we're only going to have more fun doing all those great Mother/Daughter things (yes I know you'll hate me as a teenager, but I've got atleast six or seven years of love before you get too much attitude).

You are a kind big sister.



You're so happy to play with your sister. You're always calling her "Baby" and trying to share with her. You're also wonderful with your brother. You'll fix his train for him, and help color. They're lucky to have you.



The other day you asked me "When I grow up will I have a daughter just like me?" I replied "I sure hope so". And I really do.

Hypnotized by her cuteness

Who can resist this face?



I can't. Her pony will be here Friday.

Future Blackmail

I love my kids. I really do. But there are things that are just too good not to use. Stories I want to remember for future blackmail.

Pork Chop- She has a tiny butt. It's little and cute. But don't for the love of all that's holy tell her so. She will throw a full on tantrum insisting that she is a big girl with a big butt. She also loves public bathrooms. One day she will realize how gross the bathroom at Wal-mart really is and be completely repulsed at the thought that she used to wait until she got there to go pee. In fact she may claim that I am making this story up. But I'm not.

Meat- He opens his mouth as wide as he can and lets the dogs lick the inside of it. GROSS.

Bird- She feels everyone up. This first started when I weaned her. She would stick her hand down my shirt in an attempt to let me know she wanted to nurse. Now I think she does it for comfort. Only she no longer limits herself to me. First it was me, then Daddy, then the grandparents, then my friends (did I mention she felt up everyone at her birthday party). Now she does it to complete strangers at church. She too may later claim I'm making this up, but I'm not. Just ask the nice lady who was sitting behind us yesterday. Bird crawled under the pew. When this nice lady picked her up to hand her back Bird snuch her hand down the neck of her dress. I may have to find a new church.

Watch out for the leopard

We had a productive day at knitting group yesterday. I knit 35 rows of my Mariposa



Then I realized my math for sizing down the sweater was off somewhere and the sweater is still two inches too wide for me. So I frogged it and knit 57 rows of it.



Bird is thinking of taking up knitting.



She just can't decide if she wants to make the bunny hat or the lil devil pants first.

Meaty was content to be leopard.



And scare the pretty girls.



He made one cry.



Bad leopard.