Now that I will be stylishly draping myself with Clapotis, I have decided to become French.  I realize that with these ‘stalwart’ legs and freckled skin it will be hard to fool people. 

il n’importe pas!

I will be French. (you may even start confusing me with one skinny rabbit!)

Claire has procurred the livres. Tonight we meet to plan our transformation …. it is only a matter of time.  Of course, I will be needing a cute French name for myself.  Something adorable, yet elegant …. avez-vous des idées?

Finally, some pictures of Clapotis progress!  I am really enjoying this pattern. It is wonderfully designed and written, challenging enough to be interesting, but not so challenging to be exhausting.

As you can see, I am using Berroco Suede.  I started off using my beloved aluminum needles.  The suede is so slippery – it is catching on every rough patch on my hands and fingers and it was hard to keep on the metal needles.  Progress was slow going and frustrating.  Of course, I thought ‘why not switch over to the Denise set?’.  Why oh why I sat there struggling for two days is a mystery – the entire time thinking that I should switch over.  At last I managed to overcome my procratination and tranfer everthing to the interchangeable set.  What a difference!!  No more dropped stitches (except the ones that are supposed to drop) and now that I don’t have to worry about stitches dropping, I can knit up to speed.

Ricki and Peggy took me out for a birthday breakfast today – waffles!!  So there we were at the diner, knitting away, talking about patterns and yarn purchases.  They have agreed to join me in the Fry Up Knitalong and I will post pictures of their progress since they are blogless knitters.  Maybe for my next trick I can talk them into blogging? We have also decided to meet at the diner every week to work on our Fry Ups.  I have already made a public proclamation, but will reiterate here, that I cannot be eating waffles every week – it will be ruinous for my slimming regimen.  Therefore, during our Fry Up meetings, I will be ordering the Hot Cereal.   

and I mean it.

I really do.

   Some before and after shots of a bucket hat.  I sent this to my cousin as a do-it-yourself kit.  I knit the hat right after the holidays, popped it in an envelope with copies of the felting instructions and here you have it!  She looks thrilled with the result.  This cousin is the eldest of my FA in PA’s children.  FA in PA was at the helm of this felting expedition.  FA in PA was pretty impressed with how easy it is and the magical quality of the process.  Perhaps there will be more felting in her future?

I have had some comments asking about my birthday …..

the day started with Daughter #2 surprising me with breakfast in bed!  She woke up extra early on a school day to present me with eggs, toast & juice all on a tray!  (my only regret is that I haven’t taught her how to use the coffee maker!).  Isn’t that girl great?  It ended with my Boar bringing home with a mini Carvel cake — perfect!   I told him not to worry about buying presents and have spent the past two days ordering yarn!  I will post pictures as soon as it arrives. 

Last night some girlfriends took me out to dinner.  We ate at a great Mexican place and I had too many margaritas.  Lots of laughs and great food.  Tomorrow I will be taken to breakfast by my knitting buddies Ricki and Peggy — gotta love those girlfriends!

As you can see this birthday has been marvelous – fiber, fajitas, waffles and margaritas …. what more could I ask for?

of course, this spells trouble for the slimming regimen! 

Here are the pictures of our weekend blizzard.  I know that many people like to engage in the sport of ‘weather-person-maligning’.  Frequently you will hear someone complaining that the forecasters don’t know what they’re talking about, that they rarely get it right.  Well, they hit a bull’s eye with this one.  One of our stations said that the storm would start at noon — sure enough, the flakes started falling right on the dot!  What started as a gentle bit of snow coming down, quickly changed into a blustery, raging snowstorm.  By the time it was said and done on Sunday (another bull’s eye) we had 22" on the ground.  Our snowblower was pressed into service three separate times.

Everyone was at home, so we were all quite snug and that made this blizzard a welcomed event.  When the girls were little, the coziest of times were when we would all climb into my bed for some reading and snuggling.  Well, they are much too big for that now (no matter how much I beg and plead, they just won’t do it), so being all stuck together in the house is the closest I’ll get.  Many might feel that a weekend spent locked up with their teenagers doesn’t sound all that appealing and sometimes I might agree with them.  This time however, was lovely.  There was plenty of food in the fridge and no place to go.  We had a great time watching movies, playing board games and eating. (this is the down side to being housebound — the eating!!)

My good friend has a Coco Motion Machine. Being a gadget lover, I have often thought of getting one.  In fact, I spent a bit of time last winter in fruitless pursuit of one. During this snowy confinement, I had something of a cocomotion epiphany.

• would it be wise to have such convenient hot chocolate?
• I have a pot.
• I have a stove.
• I have an immersion blender …….

ps. in yesterday’s post, mention was made of pot pie ….. I have just one thing to say ….. Costco! 

pps.  actually, I’ll say a few more things.  I have indeed made chicken pot pie myself.  It is quite tasty.  Costco does a fine job – better than my own really – and so cheap!  One pot pie fed the four of us dinner for two nights.  can’t beat that!