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October 06, 2007

It's Saturday!

Saturday. And you know what that means?

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Sky, blue, beautiful, hot. Well, it was hot, then the wind picked up and cooled it down again.

It also means that the school holidays are half over. Yay! I love my kid, really, I do, but she drives me insane. And it's a mutual feeling.

She had her first date this week. Yes, all the dramas are coming to a head. The boy she has had a crush on has finally asked her out, and she's up there on Cloud 9. But I'm mean and nasty and overprotective, and ruining her life and so on and so forth.

So a compromise was reached. They went to the movies, during the daytime, with his little sister and two young cousins, and his mum took them and went shopping while all the kids watched the movie.

Emily called me to say they were done, but when I arrived to pick her up they decided to go for ice cream, leaving me to my own devices. At which point she bumped into Ailsa and family, fortunately (for me) finding me a coffee date to kill time and unfortunately (for herself) having to introduce her boyfriend. (Ailsa, you haven't scared him off. Thanks, anyway)

Poor kid then proceeded to run into my sister and niece and had to introduce him to them, too. I think she's learning that you can't hide around here! And no, they didn't scare him off either. I think he's pretty keen!

However, the date went well, and she's happy. (She wouldn't let me take a picture for the blog. And she calls me mean! ;)

I got to see Ailsa's test knit pattern in person, and it looks gorgeous! I missed out on seeing the nail file, though.

Time for knitting updates?
Hanging Garden. Still loving it.

Five repeats down. The pattern calls for fourteen repeats, but we'll see how we go. I may get bored before that.

The gloves.

Growing nicely. And it's a good thing, because I am getting somewhat bored with these.
And the Slinky Socks.

These are my problem child, knitwise. They just aren't playing nicely. I had a long train trip yesterday, so I took them along.
I got up to the afterthought heel bit, and had no waste yarn with me. So I had to use my keys to hack off a length of yarn from the start of the ball.
I'm liking the pattern though. It's like a horizontal rib. Here's how it looks all stretched out.

Clever, clever. I'm still using two circs, but I can't say I'm loving it. I will finish the sock to give the technique a fair go, but I think I'll be back to the dpns after that.
I'm a little worried about the afterthought heel. How do you decide when to start the toe if you can't try on the sock?

I'm caught up on my housework. Twinkie helped with the sweeping.

She hates to be brushed, but she loves the hand broom. Every time it comes out, she sits in the mess I'm trying to sweep until she gets swept too.
Look at that cute little mouth.

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Aawwww.
Anyway, the house is clean, I'm taking advantage and knitting.

Posted by Donna at October 6, 2007 07:55 PM

Comments

Mrs. Cooper loves to chase and eat our broom (it's straw). She also likes to chase and try to eat the vacuum cleaner. LOVE BUNNY MOUTHS!

Posted by: Marlena at October 6, 2007 09:30 PM

Poor Emily! You sure you didn't engineer all this running into your friend and your sister?! She's more strong minded than I was ... gave up mixing with the opposite sex till I was 18 and the parents were gone ;-)

Posted by: Marina at October 6, 2007 10:02 PM

The perfect first date in my opinion.

The shawl and gloves are coming along nicely. And, I admire the way you are sticking with the circulars. Maybe by the end you'll like them better. As for me, I'm sticking with dpns.

Posted by: Wool Winder at October 6, 2007 10:57 PM

awwww.... Does Twinkie live in doors with your family?
I'd love to have bunnies but am unsure of how to care for them.

Posted by: Bullmonty at October 6, 2007 11:26 PM

Love that extreme close up!! Cute Twinkie mouth!!

Love Em's date story! He must be keen - that's so cool!

Posted by: roseredshoes at October 6, 2007 11:32 PM

WoW... you seemed to handle the first date better than I will. At 16, my daughter has informed me she has a boyfriend. Our rule is we need to get to know him before we will let her in his car - alone - on a date - at night - in a car - alone - at NIGHT! So, we've tried to invite him over a couple of times but haven't yet found a time when we were all available. I'm not ready for this....

I think this first date of Emily's turned out perfectly :)

We are also mean, nasty, overprotective and ruining their lives :)

Posted by: Tonni at October 7, 2007 12:51 AM

WoW... you seemed to handle the first date better than I will. At 16, my daughter has informed me she has a boyfriend. Our rule is we need to get to know him before we will let her in his car - alone - on a date - at night - in a car - alone - at NIGHT! So, we've tried to invite him over a couple of times but haven't yet found a time when we were all available. I'm not ready for this....

I think this first date of Emily's turned out perfectly :)

We are also mean, nasty, overprotective and ruining their lives :)

Posted by: Tonni at October 7, 2007 12:51 AM

Hehe cute first date story! I couldn't stop giggling!

Cheering you on for Hanging Garden!

Posted by: Mira at October 7, 2007 12:52 AM

Hehe cute first date story! I couldn't stop giggling!

Cheering you on for Hanging Garden!

Posted by: Mira at October 7, 2007 12:53 AM

My Bitty went nuts over the pics of Twinkie. Thank you for sharing them.

(I'm not looking forward to the dating stage)

Posted by: Amanda at October 7, 2007 02:10 AM

You should send Twinkie's picture to cuteoverload.com - that mouth is definitely adorable! We don't often get to see her face full on. She looks so happy.

Posted by: Janet at October 7, 2007 03:46 AM

OMG, that shawl is gorgeous! I'll have to come out of lurkdom and comment on her blog. Hanging Garden is gorgeous too. I love the Ladyslipper color. Not sure I could go the full 14 repeats because I'd get bored. Hope you do though.

I can't believe Em wouldn't let you take a picture. How mean. Sneak one next time :)

The bunny mouth is so cute. Then again, what part of the bunny isn't cute!

Posted by: Restless Knitter at October 7, 2007 04:31 AM

Love the shawl and gloves. The sock is very interesting, looks like a fun knit. I may have to someday knit socks.

Twinkie looks adorable, as usual.

That test knit pattern is gorgeous.

Love the first date story. Sounds like it went just right. Hee, hee a reminder that you never know who you will see or who will see you when you are out and about.

Posted by: Suzanne at October 7, 2007 08:17 AM

Hey Donna, I'm just about to give 2 circs a go, but I'm really freaking out about it, so I'm glad to see that theres' some that prefer dpn's!
The shawl is beautiful, of course!

Posted by: Rachael at October 7, 2007 08:31 AM

Hey Donna, I'm just about to give 2 circs a go, but I'm really freaking out about it, so I'm glad to see that theres' some that prefer dpn's!
The shawl is beautiful, of course!

Posted by: Rachael at October 7, 2007 08:31 AM

Your daughter's first date brought back many memories of my first date with my husband. All of your WIPs look great, especially the gloves!! I've never knit gloves before... seems challenging.

Posted by: Diana at October 7, 2007 08:38 AM

I suppose for bunnies being brushed is like having a nice massage isnt it. Twinkie looks as though she is really enjoying it too. I love the gloves, is that Country Silk your using. The wrap/shawl looks beautiful too, and pink seems to be your favourite at the moment.

Posted by: Sue at October 7, 2007 11:34 AM

Sounds like a great date was had by all!!!!
Looove that shawl and I hav often thought of doing those socks too,might try now Ive seen yours!!!
Ah!!! Twinkie,cute as ever! Fluffa missed us while we were away even though he had a girlfriend to play with!!!!

Posted by: cathy at October 7, 2007 12:34 PM

I never made the connection till this post how HUGE Twinkle is. Makes me want one, except that nasty strata nazis probably won't like it.

Ahh.. first love - too cute for words!

Posted by: Lien at October 7, 2007 03:00 PM

Incredibly cute bunny there!

A first dates... terrible trauma for the parents ;) Glad Em hasn't *actually* died of embarrassment, although she probably felt like it! Very pleased it all went well - good idea to set limits / guidelines. We do the same with Dotter.

Posted by: Jejune at October 7, 2007 03:13 PM

So you finally gave in and the first date is history - glad it went well! I love all your WIPs but those gloves are perfect!

I second the Cute Overload submission for Twinkie!

Posted by: Debi at October 7, 2007 04:39 PM

LOve how Em's first date went along with some extra checks that were not previously arranged.

Twinkie is so cute and her mouth looks like she is trying to say a friendly hello.

Loving the hanging garden. I am even glad that some of us are anti circs as I prefer dpns for most things or straights cant ever feel comfortable with circs after my bad run in with the cable and my finger.

Posted by: metal and knit at October 7, 2007 11:28 PM

ahahaha. i so love the picture where the brush is on twinkie's head!! sooooo cute!!!

Posted by: Michelle at October 8, 2007 12:15 PM

That rabbit is too cute for its own good. :o) With the afterthought heel.... I'm working on a pattern at the moment that uses one and it suggests making the length of the foot 4" shorter (from the waste yarn line) than the required finished foot length as this allows room for toe and and heel insertions. I was skeptical. I needed a finished foot length of 7.5inches and so that meant I only need knit 3.5" of foot from the waste yarn. It didn't sound right to me, but I did it anyway, and darn if it didn't work out perfectly. As I've only used this method of calculating once, I won't stake my life on it, but it certainly worked for me this time!! Good luck.

Posted by: Terri at October 8, 2007 12:56 PM

Twink looks very kissable! Smooch!

All your knitting projects look soooo pretty. Esp. hanging garden.

I'm glad Em had a great first date. Maybe you can arrange for all those meetings on all of her other dates. :)

Posted by: monica at October 9, 2007 03:57 AM

I'm so there with you on the...oh no...she wants to DATE? Kiddo had her first couple of dates this summer. The first was in our family room while we were in other rooms. She had a gf over with her bf and they watched movies.

He was old enough to drive, but when they went to the movies - he agreed to allow her older sister to drive her and stay in the back of the theatre. So he was a real decent kid. But he's history.

Currently she has a mad (mutual) crush on a guy who lives about 3 hours away. She met him on her job this summer at an amusement park. Now PHONE dating I can handle - heh. So far she has passed up all offers and "important" dates like homecoming, etc. I'm sure we will be back on the dating scene sometime.

Promise to hold MY hand if I hold yours so we can get through this? Now I know where gray hair comes from - heh.

She has found out wherever she goes in the small towns surrounding, she runs into people who would tell if she was up to something - yay!

Twinkie you are so photogenic, even with a broom on your head.

Posted by: Bliss at October 9, 2007 07:56 AM

i see some pattern developing in your colour choices there donna, no wonder my berry stripeys appeal!! lovely work all of it, the hanging garden is gorgeous. i want to do sockcs on circs but someone told me magic loop is better than two circs so, given your experience, i think i will try that instead....

Posted by: kms at October 9, 2007 09:20 AM

The Slinky socks look interesting & I am sure it look great on the feet especially the cuff. Sorry, can't offer any advice on the heel as I knit all my socks toe-up.

Posted by: Ann at October 9, 2007 03:04 PM