Fall is in the air

I've been sitting at my computer today, in a huge sun puddle, and it feels so nice and warm. Imagine my surprise when I went outside to collect the mail and it was chilly! - 58F according to my computer. Wow. We had 2 real weeks of summer and then after a rainstorm this week that brought down leaves, WHOOSH, hello fall! It's a nice change that's for sure - one of the reasons why I never want to live anywhere else but New England.

I think even Lorelai is noticing the changes (as she should be - she is getting older, 22 months today!) - last Friday I put a fleece coat on her when we went out in the morning and she refused to take it off "No... warm!". Huh. And today, I put on her hooded shirt and she wanted to keep the hood on - "Warm!". I find this really interesting as she has always run warm - she fought the swaddle and pulls off her socks! But it gives me hope that maybe we won't have to fight wearing a hat this winter... there are many in my queue I want to knit.

Knitting pictures will be tomorrow, I'm planning a State of my Knits / What's in the bag sort of post. To hold you over, here's a picture of the old Lorax, in a hood, eating toast (her request - she pulled the plate out of her shopping cart and brought it to me.... Mama, toast? sure kid. As you wish.)

Weekend Whirlwind

I've been knitting away on several projects, but they are in various states of "Let me knit a few more rows and photograph them in better light" - so, soon. Interesting stuff in these parts.

This weekend we took Lorelai to the Guilford Fair - she's much more into the animals, so we had high hopes that going on Saturday afternoon would be a good idea. One of the first photos I took over near the little "zoo" was this:

Saddest fair face ever? We were watching the goats. Maybe she was tired - we did spend 45 minutes in the car getting to the fair (mind you, that's a trip of a distance that we could normally do in less than 10 minutes, even on a busy day in town!). We walked and strolled about, checking out the animals. Rabbits bigger than our dog, ducks of all feathers (and noises)..






Sheep. And Llamas - including a mama / baby, which were cute - our favorite books lately are the "Llama Llama" series (mad at mama, red pajama, misses mama) by Anna Dewdney.

After some fair food and a break we went back to the zoo and fed the goats.


Much better mood!

That was it - we were there for maybe an hour and a half tops. It's still hard with her - she wants to walk about, but doesn't want to walk and hold our hand. She's still picky about the food (though she did eventually like some watered down lemonade, a bite of pretzel and some ice cream - not so big on the fried dough this year). On the plus side - she's too little for rides still. Next year maybe.

On Sunday, Dan and I went up to the U2 Concert in Foxboro - what a show. They've got talent and they know how to work the crowd.

We were way up - it was breezy, but I had a neckwarmer / fingerless mitts / central park hoodie - yay for wool! I was quite cozy :)

This was one of the best bits from the show - "Stuck in a Moment" done acoustic (or, as acoustic as you can get playing at Gillette Stadium for umpteen thousand people!)

I found a setlist online - yay!

Edit this setlist | More U2 setlists

Now I need to find a bootleg to download!

Distractions

Lately I've been distracted by other things than what's on my needles - I'm enjoying working on my bat shawl and on my Trellis and Vine sweater, but I'm heeding the call of other projects.

Exhibit 1 - I can crochet! Is this the dark side? I can do a basic chain, single crochet and double crochet and make a ring, and now I'm browsing Ravelry for crochet patterns! Amigurumi here I come! It started with a custom knit request from one of my aunts for one of my cousins for a sort of headband that they saw in a shop. After conversing with my sister-in-law, Virginia, who is way more up with these sorts of fashion things than I am, I decided that even though it was crochet, Headband with Flower was the best choice.

Ravelry details - I used some cotton yarn from my stash, and it was done in an afternoon. Crochet is pretty cool and I like that it has rejuvenated how I browse patterns!

Exhibit 1a: I told you I couldn't stop crocheting. I made the another crochet flower and attached a clip to the back - haven't been able to get Lorelai to wear it yet.

Totally not blocked, the yarn is Schaefer Yarn "Laurel".

Exhibit 2: I went digging in the bags of projects I keep near my computer. So sad to have hibernating projects! I finished up a loaf of bread!

Ok, not really. This is better:

It's one of the Pile-able Pups from Mochimochiland - so cute. It was cute, but I think I have lost my momentum on this project and it may just be the one pup. But he's still pile-able, see?

Stuff on my dog. Other details about this are on here.

Exhibit 3: This sweater, Peace Baby has been in and out of hibernation for a while. I finished all the seaming and have to now go back and do the neck trim and the little design on the front.


I've also be distracted / inspired by these websites - go check them out!
*Craft Hope
*Sharing Our Gifts: 50 Gifts, 50 States
*ReadyMade's A Week Without Spending - written by Virginia - I really admire her taking on this challenge and look forward to her tips and revelations!

In the world of Lorelai, she's been really cute lately - this is a fun stage - there's been a lot of mimicking me throughout the day and her "helping" to clean or whatever.

Oh, and we're obsessed with the potty. Not actually using it, but playing with it. Using the cushy tushy part as a big bracelet, or something to look through, or pretend to drive a car...

Back Up The Roller Coaster

It's all good and perfectly normal (and according to others who have commented) I can expect more of the same when it comes to Lorelai and her mood / actions / whatnot. I don't want my blog to become a place of all venting or whining. Here's what happened the rest of yesterday.

After she got up from her "rest" (I don't think she slept at all, but quiet time is good for everyone) we went outside to play for a bit. One of her new favorite activities is picking the cherry tomatoes:

My tomato plants are all kinds of crazy - they have fallen over and just are everywhere, in all shades of green and brown. Anyway, she's very particular - she holds the bag, she picks the tomatoes - and she was pretty good about only picking the red ones.... Maybe we should hit up Bishop's Pick Your Own?

After we picked tomatoes I went to pick a few green beans. I handed them to her and told her to put them in the bag as well. I turned my back to grab a few more beans and I hear CRUNCH!...


Silly little rabbit. :)


Little rabbit.

This I Believe.

Hello "Terrible Twos". It's another day with the toddler. Today she nearly melted down in the grocery store (we compromised and she walked around the store and helped pick items off the shelf. She's no longer content to sit in the cart at all and snack and watch the world go by.) We came home and she threw a fit that I didn't take her outside with me when I took the dog out. She had a nap, actually ate some lunch (yogurt! apparently that is "in" again. grapes. chips.) She watched me vaccuum. She threw toys. She had a time out. She threw more toys. She had another time out. We snuggled, we picked up the toys. We talked about going to the swings and slides. She threw a fit when I put on her socks and shoes. She contorted her body in such a way I couldn't get her into the car seat. We snuggled and I told her she was going to have a nap. "Yeah". Put her in there and she's out. Resting at least.

In talking with others plurkers, she's acting like a kitten - all cute and cuddly, then in the same minute is destructive and crazy. Oy.

On the plus side, I've got some extra knitting time now - off to the projects: my sweater for the sweater KAL, the bat shawl, a bag I'm test knitting / editing....

Picture is from a brief moment in the madness of this past weekend. It had stopped raining, but she wanted to wear the coat. With the hood on. Whatever. The puddle was great.