I posted a photo of the kids' cardigan on FB/IG yesterday and my Aunt Arlene (who will be 93 in a few months) commented, "You knit just like your Grandma. Maybe more."

(I might have to print that quote and frame it!)

Here's Junah modeling said sweater. Lordy, it's going to be handed down to Ginny pretty quick, I think! The kids are all growing so fast.

And a better view of where I'm at. It's been super busy around here, but I managed to steam block the buttonhole band, collar, and pocket trim, and I got half a sleeve sewn in.

Ann & I shopped for buttons last week but the selection was not very plentiful nor inspiring, and I think the ones I settled for are too big, anyway. I'll be headed to BOSTON (Cambridge) with Annie next week for a long weekend -- some of it work-related for her, but all pleasure for me! It dawned on me this morning that there are probably some pretty nice shops there that have buttons. I've already added Gather Here and Mind's Eye Yarns to my list (both are within a few miles of our hotel) and would love to hear suggestions if anyone has any. Hopefully, I'll have made some progress with the sewing up by then!

We had a birthday celebration for Junah on Thursday at Ann's.

I just can't believe he's 9 already!

Yesterday, everyone came over to my house for another get together (do 'em while we can!).

It doesn't take long for the place to get trashed (in a good way) (and they clean up... eventually) and this was before Lincoln Logs were wedged in.

The girls have been finding their own spots -- Ginny favors the space under the stairs and Malina had herself pretty well set up in the cardboard playhouse.

The Garden Room was quiet enough for naptime. So sweet!

Creativity has been flowing, too.

Ann gave the girls some "crafty" gifts on Thursday and Malina sat right down to work on hers!

Ginny came in our back door yesterday, spotted something that she wanted to draw, and immediately got supplies together. She's kind of blowing us all away... she's only 6! My girls were always a bit advanced in the area of art -- IT'S IN THE BLOOD -- but this is beyond, and to that I give credit to the internet for all the amazing tutorials that are out there, and to the pandemic for super-sizing what's available.

Rusty & Addie are teaming up to build a Little Free Library to install at Ann's house! They drew up some designs, decided on a plan, and have been working on it for a couple of mornings, so far. Eventually, it'll be painted to match the house. It's going to be so cute!

I'm joining Kat & the Unravelers today for Unraveled Wednesday!

KNITTING:

Oh boy, it's getting exciting now!

The collar was knit with German Short Rows for shaping and it turned out great... after a couple of tries and a pause. I had to begin twice -- I was almost at the halfway point when I dropped a stitch (one of the GSRs) and couldn't recover. Fine & dandy, I was a lot more confident the second time and, of course, it knit up quicker. At the halfway mark, though, I struggled a bit with what I was reading in the pattern and how it would actually be done. I put it down and took a break -- two episodes of Ted Lasso (finally!) allowed my brain to calm down and I told myself what I always tell myself in these situations: "Just do what it says!" When I actually picked it up and DID it instead of just reading it... VOILA!

So it looks great and then the pattern said to graft the collar stitches to the picked up stitches. I went a tad further and picked up NEW stitches in the original stitches picked up for the collar because I thought it would be much easier to graft live stitches, and because I thought it would look neater... more finished. It was kinda fiddly but I did it.

I went with the flow and what felt/looked good, so there were about 9-10 fewer new stitches picked up -- the stitch markers are where I'm fudging an extra stitch so that it all evens out. 

I'm also grafting 1x1 ribbing to stockinette... and decided to do it in regular kitchener stitch (stockinette) and I think it's going to work out great! I did about 1/4 of the grafting this morning. I'm using the video from City Knitting in Grand Rapids that Kay posted the other day at Modern Daily Knitting. So smart!

READING:

I'm still reading The Miracle of the Bells, by Russell Janney, and listening to A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders. Actually, I haven't been listening much at all lately! With all the people in/out and car shuffling in the past month or so, I didn't even have my car for quite a while... and that's where I do the majority of my listening.

Hope you're having a great week! I'm off to pick up Ann and run a few errands.

I wish I could say we had a wonderful holiday & a great visit with Kate. It was an OK holiday, and Rusty & I are enjoying a visit with Kate... but those photos of the kids on Christmas Day? That's the only time since she arrived on Dec 11th that Kate's seen Ali & her family. Ali's household has been cycling through various illnesses since even before Kate's arrival, and by that weekend, we were making a grocery/meds delivery because Rod was so sick that Ali didn't feel she could leave him in charge!

They were all "good enough" that Christmas Day happened, and they even set some future Kate + Kiddo "dates," but Rusty was beginning to soothe a sore throat a few days prior, and over the last week he's felt a bit worse, and Kate started to not feel good, and Ali's clan relapsed -- same stuff, sore throat, then head & chest congestion, headache and fatigue.

Oh, and PINK EYE decided to drop by our house yesterday, because, y'know, WHY NOT??

I'm glad that Kate had a couple of "good" weeks -- she was able to make a quick business trip to Chicago & Madison, got together with some local friends -- so it wasn't a total bust. 

Somehow, miraculously, luckily, I AM STILL STANDING! I haven't had even a tickle in my throat. I don't know whether to be happy or afraid!

Anyway, we're all looking forward to summer and a big ol' DO OVER!!

Meanwhile, with the holiday, bad weather at Christmas, and others' scheduling needs, I've had a couple of nice, long, mostly relaxing weekends!

I got a fair bit of knitting done:

I knit both the button & buttonhole band, and pocket edgings. I wanted to block the button band before commencing with the other, to make sure it was the right number of stitches & to see how it shaped up... it's dreamy! That can be such a tricky bit, and I'm just thrilled. I had started the collar and was almost half-way when I had a little dilemma and ended up tearing it all out. I spent a couple of hours yesterday getting Annie's house ready for their return later today (mostly laundry, as usual) and got things back on track. I am truly at the half-way mark as of last night! I'm going to need to go hunting for buttons soon! So far, resulting from a query on FB/IG, I like the thought of navy, orange or "rusty-reddish... with a little touch of blue" buttons. I'll first be digging into my button stash, shopping only if I need to... I'm gonna need eight!

Kate & I ventured out to Rusty's studio yesterday and helped him remove this gigantic painting (25' long) from the wall! He's getting ready to ship it to Mexico, along with some of the supplies we'll need, because in just over a month we'll be heading down there for the install! The gallery will also be hosting an event for him, and I think he's also planning to do a demo/class. I'll be doing warm weather & sunshine!