My boss had knee surgery last Friday, so I am running the show this week. Hence, not a lot of extra time or energy in the evenings.

We’re planning to take the small one to a Renaissance event this Sunday, and we’re intending to rent costumes for the afternoon. It will be a surprise, not for any particular reason–it’s just that at his age, he has no idea that such things exist. He’s always loved pretend play and dressing up, so I’m excited to introduce him to an environment where that’s the norm. The talking and imagination get him into trouble at school (sigh), and I want him to know that there’s more to life than getting your damn folder out of your backpack at the precisely choreographed moment…

And I mean that in the conventional sense. My Knits back issues from Woodland Woolworks arrived. The group of five were missing from my collection (still need Spring & Summer 2000, then I’ve got everything I want, I think), and the other two were accidental duplications of issues I already have. If you’d like them, drop me a line at ann (at) muchadoaboutknitting (dot) net. They are Spring and Fall 1999–the Spring has a bunch of good information about embroidering onto knits, and the Fall issue has a nice Bavarian twisted stitch cardi from Meg Swansen, Nancy Bush’s Ute socks, and the Irish Diamonds shawl by Cheryl Oberle. Also, they are priceless–literally.

I also received my copy of Mason Dixon Knitting, which I sat down and read straight through. Including the Acknowledgements and the appendices. I expected to like it; I didn’t know I was going to like it that much. Publishers, take note, please. Good writing; funny as hell; adventurous knitting; clear, gorgeous photography. It also makes me really happy to buy books from Powell’s–I paid a few dollars more than I would have at Amazon, but they have a 100% rating from Buy Blue, and the big store in Portland is high on my list of Favorite Places Ever.

At the moment, I’m working on a hat for Dulaan, using a twined knitting pattern from Homespun Handknits. The using two ends doubles the thickness of the fabric, so more warmer, more better. It’s on the small side, but it should fit someone.

As for the top secret project, the rows now are long; the going is slow. But it’s still purty.

I was playing catch (or more aptly, throw) with the kid tonight, and I could hear the phone in DH’s studio ringing. He answered it in the house, and came out to tell me that somebody from GoDaddy was on the line. I took the phone, and brightly said, “Hi! Is this a sales call?” Guy says, “Well, sort of…” and I said, “Because I’m playing baseball with my kid right now!” So Guy promised to be really fast, and basically said that I could have more space for less money because they revised their hosting plans, and did I want to switch?

I passed out then, because, um, Guy? You’re calling to make my hosting plan cheaper?

So I said sure, and he said have fun, and everything was super except just now I got a scary looking email telling me that I may have to upload my whole damn site to the new IP address, which would blow. Serves me right for making him skip the fine print.

So I’m posting this to see if it will post.

The end.

We did a bunch of errands yesterday afternoon, and took the Canyon Road home.

The day was not all sunshine and roses, however, because I was goaded into buying something much like this, purchase of which I so totally did not approve, but really, you have to pick your battles, and at least it has an air compressor for the bike tires. I bought the damn thing, but I pouted, to be sure.

Additionally, I attempted to buy a copy of Mason Dixon Knitting, both at the Mega Bookstore and the independent bookstore, but, as you might guess from my use of the word “attempted,” neither had a copy. I came home and ordered it from Powell’s, which should delay my gratification by only a few days, but bleagh. Wanted. it. NOW.

In any case, it’s been near seventy with blue blue skies for the past couple of days, so at least it’s hard to stay mad.

Oh, and there’s a kid around here who keeps me cracked up with lines like these:

DH: So tomorrow, we’re going to hear a talk by a man who used to be a rancher, and now he’s a vegetarian.

Kid, perfectly earnest: What’s a rancher?

One last thing: I’m hesitant to jinx myself until my order is really, truly confirmed (i.e. not just shopping cart robot confirmed), or possibly until the order arrives, but Woodland Woolworks is having a sale on magazine back issues. (See page 9.) This takes the edge off losing SEVEN eBay auctions for IK back issues on Saturday morning. In fact, if my order is filled, I will be downright giddy.

P.S. Someday I will learn how to break a post properly, so that the proper photos appear with the proper entries….

P.P.S. All photos taken with my Nokia 6230 camera phone.

P.P.P.S. But if you add enough postscripts, it works itself out.

In these photos, they were sitting about five feet apart, with Freddie periodically making his signature “Leave me alone, DOG; I don’t want to play!” noises. Poor Kona.

I was at work this morning, when I heard a great ruckus outside. I stepped from the workroom out into the lobby to get a view of the action. It was a funeral procession, headed toward the graveyard, and it was amazing. The hearse was followed by the fire trucks; about fifteen or twenty logging rigs; then a dozen or so classic cars; and last a long line of regular folks, dressed in shirt sleeves, many driving pickups. The loggers were all sounding their airhorns in a woeful chorus. Later, everyone met up at the Eagles.

And that was just another Saturday morning in a small town in the woods of the Northwest.

Free range daffodils, holding up well. DH took the kid to school the other day, after missing the bus, and ran into Kid’s teacher in the hallway.

Teach: There’s my little flower boy! (To DH) He’s going to make some woman really happy some day.

Kid: I already do!

Teach: Oh, really??

Kid: Yeah. My mom!

This arrived today. Having knit the Retro Prep in Elann’s Highland Wool, and having liked it quite a lot, I decided to order the color cards. I groused a little mentally, because–$10 for yarn tails! Plus shipping! Obviously this was not enough to prevent me from ordering, and I stand utterly corrected as to their value. For instance, Antique Rose and Raspberry are both shades of one of my favorite reds, but I’d have been unlikely to detect that based on my monitor’s rendition of the colors, or from the color names.

Last, these. I was briefly diverted from the beautiful fluff by a pair of Fuzzy Feet, knit in the original yarn and color, no less. (This was a fluke–I had a couple of partial skeins left over from making the Chinese Sweater.) We’re invited to a birthday party early next month. We don’t know the birthday girl terribly well, but I think she will like these. What’s not to like about hand-knit felted elf shoes?

The little boy with the big heart has recently been reveling in the appearance of spring flowers, hunting diligently for those that are okay to pick and bring home to me. He returned from the bus with a daffodil today, but assured me that he had secured permission before plucking it.

Tonight, he asked if we could get my garden in the back yard going again this year. I explained that the spot we’d gardened in before was less suitable, since Miss Kona regularly traipses through it, but told him that I’d been thinking of turning the small patch of grass in front of our porch into a flower garden.

So for Mother’s Day, he and I are going to have a nursery visit, to start on the project. And perhaps tomorrow, I’ll tidy up the existing plot at the front of the house–it’s supposed to be near 70F in the afternoon.