Christening

It took me until 1:30 a.m., but Leanne's dress and booties were ready for her christening today. I'm really pleased with how both turned out, but especially the booties. Every girl needs a pair of MaryJane's, right?
The christening was scheduled - we thought - for 2 pm but wires got crossed somewhere. We were all there, including Scott's entire extended family, but no priest. Scott's sister finally tracked one down and the ceremony got under way only 45 minutes late. (The problem was either: a) the ceremony was on the schedule for 3, rather than 2, or b) it was calendared for July 17 rather than today.)

Leanne was a doll throughout the wait and the ceremony. She watched everyone with her big eyes, smiled during lengthy games of 'pass the baby', and took having cold water poured on her head with good grace.

This is the same pattern I used for Addison's christening in 2007. I changed out the booties and forgot about the bonnet altogether; Leanne hates hats. Wonder how long it will be before I make this for another grand baby.

Flower Princess

Matt took these while Leia, Naia and I were doing yard work this afternoon. I was cutting off dead flowers and laying them on the sidewalk. Leia's job - which she loved - was to pick them up and put them in a trash bag. Perfect division of labor. Which came to a screeching halt when she found this bloom among the fallen. It was love at first sniff.

Guppy Girl

No surprise that Leia was promoted to the next level - the Guppies - in her swim class. She loves the water and is totally fearless. We had to keep a sharp eye on her as she tended to go exploring into other class areas every chance she got. Leia and Callie were the only two in today's make-up class and they loved the almost one-on-one attention. Robert had them kicking, floating, fishing rings off the bottom of the pool, and jumping off the side. And the whole fearless thing? Callie has that nailed.

Tour de Fleece

Want to see why I'm doing Tour de Fleece this year? 13 pounds of roving and a gorgeous 4.5 pound fleece that I didn't have the heart to send to the processor. (Planning to spin it lock by lock.)

Grover; 6.75 pound Lincoln-Columbia cross

This is just what I sent to Aunt Janet's Fiber Mill a few months ago but I think it's all of the raw fleece I had stored in the house.

2.44 pound black and silver Karakul

I love the smell and feel of unwashed fleece;

2.88 pound white Karakul

once I see it, I can't stop touching it - and that's just a short hop away from it needing to come home with me.

.94 pound Jacob (I think)

So I've made a deal with myself - no more fleece until all this is used up.

4.5 pound Karakul fleece

Any bets on whether I can keep that bargain?

Progress

Last 30 minutes of the Suits pilot episode, plus two hours of Glee, Season 1, equals six rows of christening dress. And no feeling left in my fingers. Time to stop for the day.

Potato Chips

These things are like potato chips - you can't make just one. Or at least I couldn't. So much fun to make and all of them are from supplies I already had on hand. (hee) Having a stash is a wonderful thing when you get the craft equivalent of the muchies. Looking forward to sharing them at Guild in the morning. And the purple and gold ring that started it all? Remade it. That gold just had to go.

Great-Grands

We took the two little girls out to visit hubby's mother today, while Naia was in summer school. Hubby had wanted to go on Monday - by himself with the two girls - but Marie and I managed to convince him of just how crazy he must be to wait another few days.

Great Grandma was thrilled to have the girls there.

Checking each other out - Leanne is fascinated

On the way to Llano (out beyond beyond) we taught Leia to say "Grandma Poco", which is what our kids always called their paternal grandmother. Leia made major points by saying it, loud and clear, with only one prompt from PopPop. She also entertained with dances, animal noises, songs and other general silliness. Not sure how much hubby's mom could actually hear, but she and Leia both seemed to enjoy themselves.

And what were hubby and Leanne doing a lot of this? Hubby swears Leanne went to sleep first. Uh,huh.

Ruffles

Sometime you just gotta go with the silly.

Not deliberately Lakers colors; I just like purple and gold.

I saw this ring on Ravelry and HAD to have it. Took me about an hour, a little bit of size 10 thread and an owww-my-hands-ache tiny hook. Love. It.

And yes, I've already started a second one - with plans to add beads to the third. I think I'm hooked.

New Pattern

**Just posted a new, free Tunisian pattern on Ravelry (here). I love this ripple scarf. Just two stitches - well, three if you count "Make 1" - and an ability to count to 5 3. Which can occasionally be a problem for me. Yarn is yummy Manos del Uruguay 'Silk Blend' but any DK-weight yarn will work - or any other size yarn, for that matter. Just adjust your hook size accordingly. Enjoy!

**Oopsie - I found a mistake in the original version of the pattern. Guess I was in too big a hurry last night to get this posted and get to bed. The new, error-free version (fingers crossed!) is now live at the link below. Sorry! Hope you enjoy the pattern.
download now

Daddy's Got A Brand New Bag

Well, a new hobby anyway. That song's been running through my head all afternoon, ever since hubby and I took a drive to Carpinteria to visit the orchid farms. Hubby's decided to try his hand at growing orchids - and I'm strongly encouraging him. I get orchids all around me and don't have to remember to water them (or not water - I'm big on over-watering too). All win for me! He's purchased a couple of plants locally but we wanted to see what was available on a larger scale.

Boy oh boy, does Carpinteria have orchids! Huge greenhouses; acres of orchid beauty. It's the end of the flowering season, so the stock was pretty picked over at the two nurseries we visited, but we still had plenty of choices. We got three cymbidiums for outdoors - hubby's not crazy about this brown one, but he humored me; I think it's gorgeous! - and one indoor dendrobium to go with the phalaenopsis he already had. Now we HE just has to figure out how to keep these alive. And maybe get them to flower again next year.