An Inspirational Pattern - Day Two

Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to. Whether it happens to be because the skills needed are ones which you have not yet acquired, or just because it seems like a huge undertaking of time and dedication, most people feel they still have something to aspire to in their craft. If you don’t feel like you have any left of the mountain of learning yet to climb, say so!

I think that every new pattern / project you start is inspirational - at the beginning, before you make any mistakes, before you realize you do understand short rows or cables or charts, before you get to a knot in the yarn, before any of that, I find I am so excited about a project. I can do it! I can do it!

As I puzzled over this post I thought about my previous projects that I aspired to. Cables have always awed me. A huge project for me was "Shedir" (Ravelry link) - I loved the cables, I loved the story behind it and most importantly I loved the person I was making it for - my Nana who at the time was going through chemo treatments. It took a lot of time and attention and I did it, one stitch at a time. It was beautiful - Nana loved it.


Lace is usually a show stopper, and usually make me hesitate. Again, one stitch at a time and eventually - Ta-dah! You've got your project!

"Ishbel" (Ravelry link)

"Bat Shawl" (Ravelry Link)

I think what I most aspire to is to be a better knitter. Certainly there are techniques that intimidate me - steeking for one. And each year there are more and more beautiful patterns from which to choose. I might sit and lust over sock patterns by Yarnissima or Cookie A.. The Bridgewater shawl (Ravelry link) is a dream project. A new blanket. A new sweater or two that fit and I wear frequently. I want to crochet in the worst way possible - those amigurumi characters are so adorable (dachshund, stacking toy, Foamies, Happy day mobile) The pause in those plans often comes not from lack of time or ability, but from having the right yarn for the project!! I'm getting better at learning how much is needed for each type of project, and that solid colors tend to show off some details a lot better than the variegateds!

One stitch at a time... just keep knitting, just keep knitting... :)
TAGGING CODE: knitcroblo2

Starting Out - Day One - Knit & Crochet Blog Week

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?

I've been crafty for as long as I can remember. As a kid I often went to craft classes at a local craft store (and I still have many of them, in various states of being scrunched up and glue is coming undone after so many years!). I made friendship bracelets out of embroidery floss. I beaded. I think it was only a matter of time before I found knitting. When I was in graduate school I was still beading, but I was losing interest in it. I had thought about knitting on and off for a while, but only in passing. After September 11, like many people, I decided to get some yarn and needles and a booklet, one of those "OMG I'm knitting!" types of booklets and had a go. A great feature of that booklet was that it had illustrated left-handed instructions! I started with Red Heart yarn, big needles and just knit - one stitch at a time.

I decided to make an afghan for then-boyfriend (now-husband!). Two huge honking garter stitch rectangles. Miles of garter stitch it felt like. Dan was thrilled - and that was it - I was a knitter! We still have and use that afghan too - all i can see are the mistakes, the terrible seam, and I want to make a new one asap. After grad school I slowly built up my stash. I've learned there acrylic and there's acryl-ICK. I knit slippers, beer cozies, a dolphin, a ladybug washcloth... I started a sweater and frogged it and started it again (still have some of that yarn too).


As I started knitting more and getting better I started learning about the knitting my grandmothers dabbled in - Nana told me about an argyle sock that went on way longer than a sock should be (and that was the end of her knitting) and Gram had acrylic yarn stashed and a few hand-written patterns on index cards. That was surprising to me because I really didn't see either grandmother indulge in crafty things!

My mom is a crafty one, and soon after I told her about my knitting, she told me that she was trying it too. She even went with me to a knit night at a local library - but she really was still a beginner and it just didn't take with her like it did with me. Interesting - she hasn't given me all the yarn and needles in her house, so maybe she'll pick it up at some point.

I sometimes wish that I could say "Oh yes, my Irish great grandmother taught me the proper Aran cabling" or something like that, but on the other hand I *almost* think it might be more fun to be that to someone else down my family tree that I haven't even met yet.

knitcroblog1

Local Win! Take 2!

Saturday was a perfect day for being outside - I headed out to the CT Sheep & Wool Festival. I set out with a plan to indulge in some lace, find some buttons for a sweater in progress and maybe one or two other special things. I lucked out and got exactly that! It was a great time at the festival and I enjoyed getting to spend more time with my fellow knitters (and meeting a few that I only know through Ravelery / online-blogs).

It's such a novelty to me to see these animals right up close!

All I know about sheep-dog trials I learned from the movie "Babe".


Freshly shorn.


You're so saaaaaaafft.


Hello.


Teal sock yarn.


Blue lace yarn.

I actually took care of my purchases at one booth, though there were so many nice choices. I bought from Mocha's Fiber Connection last year as well. The price was right, the color was right and the feel was right. Win!

One of the most fun finds was a woman with a great selection of vintage buttons. It was so hard to not buy something in every color! I ended up with a set of purple for a sweater (that was what I was looking for anyway) and a splurged on the sunflower ones. I think they would look good with the teal yarn, but I'm not sure what / how. I think I would want to be selfish and keep them on a sweater / cowl / fingerless mitts for me, since I would appreciate them the most. I also am thinking about turning one of the sunflower buttons into a necklace... decisions...


All in all a great time! Though there were a few blips in the day. Betsy couldn't make it because of an ailing pug (but he's on the mend, yay!). I made a side stop on the way home at a yarn shop only to find the yarn shop had closed / moved! Oh well. And then, there was the helmet-less jerk on a motorcycle - I decided to obey traffic rules and I didn't go through the yellow light. I stopped. I saw him mutter and then heard him swear about me, including dropping "F-ing C... " Nice. Sure solved his problem because then he was still stuck behind my car for another 10 miles. Ugh.

Knit & Crochet Blog Week April 26 - May 2

(From Eskimimi's Blog)
What is Knitting and Crochet Blog Week?

This is a week of blogging for knitters and crocheters, where individual bloggers will all simultaneously post about the same topics over the course of seven days, so that for one week readers might be able to read from blog to blog and enjoy a community of bloggers all talking about elements of their craft in their own unique way.

When is it happening?

The Knitting and Crochet Blog Week will run from Monday 26th April – 2nd May 2010. This will be the first Knitting and Crochet Blog Week – if it is a success and people enjoy it there will hopefully be more in the future.

How do I take part?

It’s quite simple. Every day between 26th April – 2nd May 2010 there will be a blogging topic (relating to knitting and crochet) asking for your experiences, opinions and hopes on various aspects of your hobby. One topic and a short explanation is provided for each day, plus a ‘wildcard’ topic in case you just don’t fancy one of the blogging topics for any particular day.


----------------------------------------------------------
Nifty, I'm in!

Local Win!

Happy Earth Day! It is a very appropriate day to share my recent local win.

The Painted Sheep (of Connecticut!) recently celebrated her blogiversary with a contest to guess how many blog posts she has written. I went with my birthday - 620 (June 20) - and I was spot on! Excellent. I won a gorgeous skein of her sock yarn, Painted Sock Too in the "Merlot" colorway. I also was given my choice of Knitspot patterns - I went with the "Merlot Vine Sock", but there are so many nice patterns, it was a tough choice! Check out her Etsy Shop and support a local (to me) CT yarnie!

I'm really looking forward to the CT Sheep and Wool festival this weekend. Hopefully the weather holds. Last year was a great time. I am trying to sort through my queue and stash to see what I might be looking for. I am in the market for buttons for my "Caitlin Cardi" test that is being seamed. Maybe I'll go the lace route? Maybe I'll just focus on one sweater? I'm still undecided, but between a rough week with the Lorax and waiting on hearing back on a few other things I know I'll be ready for some retail therapy.

I also need to figure out a project to bring with me for some knitting in public - all my current projects are either too big, at a point where I have to pay attention, or need to sit and measure. Might be time to start a new sock or shawl.

Misbehavin' Model.

I knit a hat and I was trying to take a good photo. I think I found a good combination of a particular wine bottle and an empty sugar bowl - together it fills out the hat and then gets it up off the table. Today, trying to take a photo of the hat and it kept swinging towards me, to almost a profile view. Now, all I can hear in my head is Wendy Williams' voice (How You Doin'?)...


Hat details (on Ravelry) - Cascade Cotton Rich Yarn in light pink and white, pattern is from TotToppers.com - the Checkered Square Cap. Cute cute cute, though the pom poms take some effort!

Tiny Shoes

Do babies really need shoes? Of course not. They are usually bundled up in footie pajamas or blankets or even if you do get the socks / shoes on, the smart little babes figure out how to kick them off real quick. That doesn't stop knitters from making them - little baby socks / shoes are a great shower-stopper, relatively quick gift, and a great way to use up bits of yarn. I recently knit up two pairs of Tiny Shoes, by Ysolda as samples for FiberTrades.


A tip towel rack makes a great display piece for these little shoes! They look so cute and elf-like! I had a tricky time getting a good photograph - the shoes here are not blocked or anything, since I would be packing them up to ship back to FiberTrades. The blue ones are knit in Plymouth Sockotta and the green ones are knit in a Frog Tree yarn. I LOVE that green yarn. So many shades of green!! It was great to knit with as well. While I was provided with the materials, I didn't have the ball bands, so I don't know which particular Frog Tree yarn it was!


The buttons are just adorable. Baseballs for the blue shoes and these Teddy Bears for the green - I think they are vintage buttons, they are metal, not plastic.


No babies in the house to model, but I do have baby socks and stuffing! I think it worked.

Speedy travels tiny little shoes! Be happy samples!

A Tale of Two Books.

Fair warning, there's no knitting in this post. It's about books I finished in the last month or so.
I recently came across an interesting website, BookSneeze.

Cute slogan. I signed up because even though most of my free time where I could be reading is usually spent knitting, I do enjoy new books and if Thomas Nelson is willing to provide me with a complimentary copy of this book, then so be it.

I selected "The Map: The Way of All Great Men" by David Murrow.

Here's the description from BookSneeze: A map, hidden in the gospel of Matthew, is the key to awakening the sleeping giant in the church—men.

Sounds like fiction, but it's true. The apostle Matthew embedded a map into his gospel. History's greatest men, including Christ himself, followed this map.

The Map begins as a fictional tale of murder, deception, and greed as three men fight to uncover the most important discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls. Then, using the tale as a parable, Murrow shows men what the map looks like, where it is found in the Bible, and how to walk its three ancient pathways today:

* Submission
* Strength
* Sacrifice

David Murrow stumbled across the map by accident in 2006. After three years of research and writing, he is ready to reveal it to the world.

So, the book starts out in an admittedly "DaVinci-code"-ish way - there is mystery about an ancient map that is hidden in the Bible text. That part was interesting - it kept my attention as I was curious as to what would happen next. But then, in the second part of the book you are let in on the secret, that the story in the beginning is all for show, but that there is a "map" in the Bible, right there in front of our noses and it is important for men to follow in order to feel more involved in Church and be more like Jesus. Jesus is presented as following a path of submission, strength and sacrifice. I found the discussion of the map and the path of the map interesting - it did bring together much of the Catholic education I received as a kid in a way that I hadn't considered before, yet makes complete sense. However, the second and third parts of the book lost me. This is where the book started to loose me and I started to skim the pages. Maybe because I am a woman. Maybe because my religious background is Catholic. Maybe because all I kept thinking of was mega-churches and evangelists (and honestly, I don't know much about them, maybe I've already got some prejudice there from the media). While skimming the last part of the book I felt I was being talked down to, not inspired, and I just wanted to give the book a big ol' eye roll. Yes, the author is clever in his presentation, but I think he's the only one who finds himself amusing. Point for the author: He's got a dachshund though according to the author information on the back cover.

If you're interested in this book I'm happy to pass it along, I'll be sticking with Eat, Pray, Love (which I absolutely adored!).

On a different book note, I borrowed a great book from my mom, Art of Racing in the Rain - I am talking this book up to everyone that I know. If you've ever had a dog (especially a "good dog") or known a good dog, you must read this book. Told entirely from the dog's point of view, this is a story of a dog and his devotion to his owner / family, and their life through the good and bad. I often stay up at night to read when Dan goes to sleep and so many points brought on such emotion I wanted to wake him up to discuss! But I didn't, instead I'm waiting for him to read this book. Enzo, the dog in the book, is truly deserving of a "Good Dog" title - he is thoughtful and eloquent and now I look at Jackson and wonder if he thinks in a similar fashion.

Ok, enough about the books for today. I do have knitting to finish up - hoping to post about that tomorrow!

Sew.

A few weeks back I broke out my sewing machine again, with this box bag tutorial by my side. I got such a thrill out of this little project - similar to when you are knitting a sock and you get to the weird part at the heel and then before you know it, POOF!, it's a sock! It's a bag! With a zipper that works!


I decided to make Theatreknitter one as well. The character of Little Red Riding Hood is quite special to Betsy so I went online and started searching. SewDeerlyLoved had just the right fabric (Japanese, but the shop is in the US) and I must say, I would love to shop there again. The fabric came in such a pretty little bundle!

It came out really cute, if I do say so myself!

In my fabric lusting searching, I also came across these great sites to share:
*Quick Piece Tiny Squares - I'm not a quilter (though I dream of it) and I don't think I'm going to cut up teeny tiny squares, but you never know. Cute!
*5-minute Hair-kercheif - so adorable. And the Lorax is sort-of into headbands... I've been avoiding getting my hair cut for a while now, so I am in need of a hair-taming strategy daily.
*Kiddie Present (doll & doll quilt) - Lorax isn't too into the baby dolls, she sticks with her puppy, but this is adorable.
*Make a quilted pendant - maybe starting small is the way to go.
*Fabricworm - fabric love.
*PicClick.com for etsy - love searching etsy this way.

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to post in the last post about how the Peep-Tini tasted - like candy! High sugar, sunny, sweet. All the things I love!

Peep-Tini

Betsy sent me a recipe that was posted on Ravelry for a "Peep-Tini".
1 oz limoncello
1 oz raspberry vodka
1 tsp frozen pink lemonade concentrate
1 pink peep
Mix the liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice, pour into a martini glass. Don’t forget to float the peep.

Fantastic, right? Except, I don't have any of those ingredients in my cupboards! So, I had sent a message to hubby just saying "I want one.". Figuring maybe this weekend or next weekend we could pick up the things and it would be good. Imagine my surprise when he came home with this:


Which later turned into this:

Awesome. Cheers!

Non Easter Sweater

I’m working on Caitlin’s Cardi, a test knit - and was making great progress. I thought for sure I would have a new sweater to wear on Easter (this coming weekend).


The body is done. Yay!


Sleeve #1 was going fine. Except.


I should have purled instead of knit when picking up those stitches, I have a ridge there. I figured I would live with it and position it so it would be on the back side of my sweater and I'll never see it. Mmm. Ok. Knit on.


I have now made mistakes in the rib pattern from the decreases. The pattern for the sweater is great. These goofs are all human. And I'm so annoyed. And sad. I was happily knitting along last night and before turning off the tv I took a look at my work and just let out a huge gasp that startled the dog and the husband. I'm considering ripping it all back (to fix both the rib mistakes and that pick up row) or just ripping back the rib mistakes (more likely). I'm bummed, but I'll figure it out, I really want to wear this sweater!

Feminist Blog Carnival

Are you looking for some interesting reads? Check out the Feminist Blog Carnival #16 hosted by Virginia at Beautyschooledproject.com.

I'm currently pondering this Play-Doh Manicure.


My mom showed her how to do that. Now when we play play-doh we have to do this. Hrm.

Why Didn't I Think of This Before?

Maybe it was one of those universe alignments, but today I decided to try a new activity with the Lorax. I originally tucked the idea away after reading the post on No Time For Flash Cards - I have yellow split peas left over from Thanksgiving and I even bought a bag of the green ones. Today, I poured the green ones into the container, added a few supermarket coins and random spoons / scoops / kitchen toys and let her at it.






Concentration from her, near bliss for mommy.

Near, because even though she got right into it and had a great time, I did hear the "ping" of the peas hitting the floor / heating grate under the table. Oh well, it's not a difficult mess to clean up and something Lorelai can (and should help).

Bliss, in that I heard her talking to her favorite stuffed animal about how she was stirring and pouring.

Bliss, in that once I thought of putting the bucket on a cookie sheet (hoping to catch runaway peas) she decided to move all the peas from the bucket to the tray, then started "writing letters" and then sang the ABC song all on her own. Wow.

Yep, and now she's crawling on the floor, smooching with Jackson and asking him if he wants to play.

This week started out really rough (terrible twos are truly terrible) but they seem to have settled down for now.

Guy Socks

Back in December I cast on a pair of socks for Dan. 3 months later, I have finished!

The pattern is Manhattan, by Lisa Dykstra, and is really fantastic in its simplicity. There is some stretch and it works well with the variegated yarn.


The yarn, by the way, is Intention Yarns in the "Simplicity" colorway, a club special. At first I was not into this colorway at all but Dan spotted it on the table and admired it, so, the guy gets his socks. I like it a lot better now that it has been knit up. I still have a little more than 15 grams left (I had made Dan a mini-sock ornament out of this yarn for Christmas), so I'm thinking about working on some "boy booties" for a friend who recently had a little boy.


Color goes nicely with our house dachshund, don't you think?

Color Pop

Betz White I am not. Though I love what she does. I am inspired - and I have a need for some new decor, but I really don't want to go out and spend a whole lot. So, a trip to the craft store, a little raiding of the Lorax's box of fuzzy pom-poms, I dug out my hot glue gun and VOILA!


I do wish that I had the smaller size of pom-poms - these were the smallest in a big mixed bag - but, I like the pop of color. It's subtle and just enough of a change.

I've got knitting to do and a bit of sewing, if fabric I ordered arrived in today's mail (I hope!). I don't know what has gotten into everyone, but it feels like a lot of my knitting friends have been digging out their sewing machines and playing with fabric!

What My Child Is Reading

I'm sitting next to another stack of books from the library. And what is my child reading? She's going back to the books that are ours, not on loan. Figures. :) I get a lot of ideas on what to try next from No Time For Flashcards and Totally Tots - so far many of the suggestions have been hits!



One Duck Stuck is a great counting book that starts out with one duck getting stuck in the muck, and an assortment of animal friends come to try and help the duck get unstuck. Cute, rhyming, great noise words. I like the variety of animals too. This is a fun read.

Itsy Bitsy Spider - one of the first song / finger-plays that Lorelai did on her own, this book goes further along - what else did that spider try? I picked up this book for Lorelai at Rhinebeck / NY Sheep and Wool last fall and met the author!

Night Cars - a gift from Daddy, he heard about it on NPR (I think) and we had to actually wait a while for it to arrive. Not a rhyming book per se, but told in a more poetic style. It has taken me a few reads to get used to that. It's a cute story about a dad and baby and ends with a "Coffee Break" - one of Lorelai's favorite things!

Tell Me the Time - a present from Aunt Betsy - this book takes the reader through each time of the day and each page ends with a question to the child. Lorelai has started getting very interactive with this book and I love hearing her answers to the questions - sometimes she just says what she sees on the page, sometimes she has something else to say!

The Very Busy Spider - in keeping with the spider theme, this is back in heavy rotation. Beautiful illustrations, excellent animals, and it's Eric Carle - what's not to love?

Look at what I've done!

I'm still a bit obsessed and scattered over the same projects as the last post, but I've got some photos and updates, yay!
First, those pretzels? A bit of work, but in the end, totally worth it.

To improve on them they need more salt - I salted them, but didn't press the salt down into the dough.

I can finally post a photo of my square contribution to the lap blanket our SnB made for a fellow member. Wife, Mom, Knitter has a great blog post that better describes the project.

I searched on Ravelry for "boobs dishcloth" and found the Nubbins for Ta Tas pattern, perfect!

I finished up a few baby gifts this week. Our friends who were married down in Virgin Gorda had a baby girl a few weeks ago. Seahorses were a theme at the parent's wedding, so that seemed like a good idea to work with for the baby.

Seahorse pattern by Hansi Singh - so cute! I used cotton so baby Calla can gum on it when she's ready. I also attached the tail to the back of the seahorse to make a little loop, but then I forgot about the back fin, so instead I put it on the head of the seahorse, like a crown.


I also whipped up a little Heart Hat using the same purple and pink yarn. I adore Susan B. Anderson's work - I have all of her books - but no surprise, this hat was also a little fiddly in the end to attach the heart. I hope it fits!



I've got a few more crafty plans to attack today. It's a grey, rainy day - good for new projects and knitting. I've got photos to frame, knitting, knitting, knitting, and I think I'll be attempting to sew and a Betz White project. Good stuff.

My mom brought the Lorax a new raincoat and pair of puddle boots - this morning she was very excited to try them out and it was hard to get her back in the house! There's rain forecast for the next few days, so I'm sure we'll be out there frequently.


My new favorite photo:

Obsessed and Scattered

I feel like lately my mind has been running a million miles a second - I've had so many brain flashes of ideas (that may or may not actually work) and trying to follow up on these ideas leads to more inspiration online. Which leads me to supply sources which brings more inspiration, and so on.

The current jumble of my thoughts is along these lines:
*I shredded chicken for chicken enchiladas tonight. This is something that for some unknown reason has scared me to no end. Today I jumped in and did it. I can't wait to eat dinner tonight. (Thank you to Tried & Trues and One Stop Cook)
*I watched the "Good Eats" Pretzel Episode last night, and currently have dough rising. I love the bread-y yeast-y smell. Good eats today, fingers crossed! And wouldn't you know it - I had bookmarked Amy's post on ReadyMade - You Should Make Soft Pretzels but didn't read though it until today. Yep, Alton Brown's recipe.
*Corey Haim died. An obsession of my past, I've adored him since I was 10 or so. So sad.
*I'm determined to crochet some potholders.
*I'm going to give quilting a try: bag, table runner, Flower table runner, Mini i-spy quilt
*I'm going to spend some time with my sewing machine: bowl wraps, napkins, Sandwich Wrap, make my own bias tape, origami drawstring bag...

Maybe it is due to these last few days of beautiful spring-like weather. It's time to refresh and renew and revive. Until the next three days when it is supposed to just rain. Then I'll hunker down with my wool again. No, I'll get to it today after I clean up the kitchen. My current projects are still in blob form and not all that interesting to show off - in another day or two we'll be there.

I finally have some pictures of me actually wearing my Central Park Hoodie - I love this sweater and wear it frequently. We went up to New York state to visit my brother and sister-in-law's new house, along with the rest of the family - it was a great day, good food, great location.

(The Lorax was startled that Daddy was taking the pictures, not mommy for once.)

What My Child Is Reading

I've been thinking I really should be better about keeping track of certain things - like how much time some of my knitting projects actually take me, the funny things Lorelai says now that she's starting to make full sentences and recall and expressions, and what she's reading. I loved to read as a kid, and I still do (Have I got a book for you, but that's another post). I've been adding books to Goodreads - I made a specific "Read-with-Lorelai" shelf and that seems to be a start. I am very excited that she seems to be really getting back into books - when we visit the library we are now taking out a huge stack at a time - like 12 - 15 books! Some are sought out, some are duds. I'm always on the lookout for new ones and new things to do with them. I'm looking forward to getting a lot out of Memetales and Mouse Grows Mouse Learns - maybe if you know a few kiddos you'll get some ideas as well.




In heavy rotation for the last week or so, we have the following.
Richard Scarry's Best First Book - I gave Lorelai a simple Richard Scarry book at Christmas and she kept talking about Huckle, the cat. I remember having one or two of these sorts of books - there are so many things to look at in the illustrations and I think it is good for word building (yes, I realize she can't read yet, but there's opportunity to practice our letter recognition. Pre-reading skills.)

Where is the Green Sheep? - we have read this enough times Lorelai can recite it on her own. It's a cute little rhyming story about the sheep doing all sorts of things (except that green sheep.)

A Pocket for Corduroy - I enjoy Corduroy, but not this particular tale. It's ok.

The Sleepy Little Alphabet - we bought our own copy of this after taking it out from the library - very cute story about the letters having to go to bed. Not annoying with the rhymes and the illustrations are fun. Two thumbs up!

Once Upon a Potty - another one Lorelai can recite. We're working on potty training and for a 2+ year old it's going ok. I'm getting tired of reading this one though. Need to find a new bathroom book.

Olivia - this one I like a lot, the story is simple (and non rhyming! That seems to be a novelty around here). I think the story is still over Lorelai's head for comprehension, but she has sat through it a few times.

Impact.

I almost don't have words for this. I think most people who read my blog already know this, but seeing as how my blog has become a fairly good record for the everyday happenings of my life, it makes sense to me to record this as well.

On Wednesday night, Dan went out to see some friends. On his way there (around 9:30), on a main road in the next town over, all of a sudden there was a car in his lane. He swerved to the left as it became clear the other car didn't see him or was going to move. They crashed - on the passenger side. Side air bags went off. He got out of the car and heard the people in the other car say something along the lines of "get rid of the alcohol". Everyone (dan + the 2 girls in the other car) was fine, just shook up - the other passenger had a bloody nose. When the police arrived, I guess they could smell the alcohol on the passenger and the driver said that she was distracted looking at her iPod. Dan heard the officers talking to each other about the girls and he mentioned that they were talking about getting rid of alcohol. So the officer went back over and went to the driver, gave her a field sobriety test and then she was arrested on the spot for DWI (or suspicion of, whatever it is called). Oh and get this - she's 20.



I guess the passenger had a suspended license (and she was drunk anyway), and the driver was going to pick her up - or that's what their story was. She's got to be in huge trouble. We figure that she's home on spring break from college. We looked her up on Facebook and found her and the last "status update" on her FB page (3 hours before the accident) is a reference to smoking a blunt.



So, the car is toast. The front passenger quarter panel is all smashed up / glass is shattered. And you can see looking at the car how it took the impact - there is evidence of like a ripple effect along the back side of the car. Scary, yes. Crazy, yes. It's just a car. But still. Dan is fine - he's a little bruised. But we are all shaken.

Can't help but think of the driver - she's got to be having a worse time of it. I can't find where to begin to imagine if Lorelai were to ever be in this sort of situation.

Please, buckle up. Drive safe. Pay attention out there.