Because the past few nights have been spent not sleeping well, I’m starting to think about a television and whether or not I need one of them in the room where I sleep. As anyone who knows me can tell you, I’m really great at falling asleep during television shows and movies. Something to consider.
Three months ago I would never peg myself as someone who would Google, “Talk to me about pergolas.” or “What’s that thing on top of a pergola called? Canopy? Awning?” or “Where can I get a pergola cover for ten bucks?” (There is no such pergola cover.) Also, “DIY pergola cover?!”
I finished my February Lady Sweater, and I finally blocked it on Friday. It’s still slightly wet, but I’m wearing it anyway.
I like the length, but I wish it was bigger around so I could wrap it a bit. BUT, I’m unwilling to compromise length for width, so it’ll do. (I’ve decided to NOT put buttons on the sweater because I sort of like how it looks without. SO, it will be a sweater with buttonholes, but nothing to fill them. It will be my metaphorical sweater.)
(For all of you knitters out there, my friends Tempe and Chrystal have started a video podcast. It’s called Lighthouse Buddies, and if you knit while you watch, it almost feels like you’re in the living room with them, although their living rooms are about 875 away from each other.)
I have registered to be a Girl Scout so that Harper and I can attend a troop meeting on Thursday evening. This will be Harper’s first run in the Girl Scout rodeo, and I’m not quite sure if I’ll laugh or cry when/if the word Camping is mentioned. (A friend of mine once gave me this luggage tag, and it really was the perfect gift.) I’ll keep you updated. ‘ ‘ ‘text/javascript’>
Gorgeous! Buttons are the bane of my knitting existence. Most of my sweaters that need them don’t have them; I keep buying them and they’re never right. So I keep them hoping they’ll be right for a project in the future. Meanwhile, I knit mostly socks, and the buttons go unloved. Although I fell in love with the Krydda cardigan from the new Knitty, enough that I have ordered yarn.
Pretty sweater, if you need to practice camping we have plenty of wild area up in back and you could spend time with the coyotes and deer and all the rest of the critters.
I have two camping stories that you will love. Remind me at lunch Wednesday.
God gave us trees….to make roofs.
Smores are just as good from the microwave.
Woodland fauna resents my presence as much in their home as I do their presence in mine.
Thank you for writing today and every time you post!
Beautiful sweater. You look really good in cardigans.
As for buttons, a zillion years ago I found someone’s old button collection in a large glass jar in an antique store and snapped it up. It was cheap because who wants a jar full of old buttons? Me. I spent an afternoon sorting them and stringing the ones that matched together, then putting them back in the jar. Most of them had six or eight or even more in a set, some had only four, there were a few odd lots of two or three.
I still have a lot of buttons in that jar, even though I’ve used them for so many things over the years. The latest use was a couple of unique and dazzling brass buttons with a lovely texture that I used for eyes on a toy rabbit I crocheted for my grandson. Everyone says they can’t stop looking at the bunny’s eyes. They are cheerfully alive.
Find yourself a jar of someone’s old buttons. You won’t be sorry.
I love camping. I would have just adored getting to go with the Scouts, but I was a Den Mother for Cub Scouts and we didn’t get to go on the outdoor adventures. You’re a good mom — you will actually like whatever you have to do for Harper’s scouting life. Part of it is Harper seeing her mother do brave things just for her. You knew that.
Next month on Oprah’s Book Club: My Metaphorical Sweater – One woman’s brave memoir on insomnia, girl scouts, and inexpensive nonexistent pergola covers.
My sons every year when school begins: Are we joining Boy Scouts?
Me every year when they ask: No.
There are several reasons, including time commitment, my hatred of camping and other more liberal reasons. My husband chastised me this year and I said, “You are welcome to take them to the meetings if you’d like.”
We are still not in Boy Scouts.
Good luck to you and Harper!
LOVE the sweater! My friend and I just got back from a trip to Paris. We had matching luggage tags just like yours. HAHAHAHA!
Bouganvillea is not a bad idea actually. Or Wisteria? There’s a plant called Trumpet Vine that grows well in MN – I can only imagine that it would grow as well or better in MO. Be careful though – it grew so much that I started calling it Audrey II, and then I became afraid that it would eat my children, and then we tore it out because we didn’t want it climbing onto our roof. Yeah – maybe not Trumpet Vine as I think about it. But vegetation is nice – gives shade, takes a bit to establish but is low cost after that!
You make me want to knit a February Lady Sweater RIGHT NOW, never mind the two scarves, a shawl, a pair of socks, and a sweater all currently OTN.
Annie did girl scouts for a year, and while I don’t love camping, I would have preferred it to the princess tea we ended the year with. Blech. No more girl scouts after that for us. I hope your experience is more what I expected from girl scouts: learning how to help others, tie knots, start a campfire, etc. On a side note, Annie is celebrating her birthday this weekend with a backyard camp-out with her friends for the second year in a row. Backyard camping is my thing (kids in tents, me on the couch with a close eye on the tents).
I’m totally with you on the boy scout/girl scout thing but if you get the right equipment and only go for one night, camping can be fun! Think of it as a lesson in humility and frugality for Harper- I think all kids get a good taste for how it would have been like to always live outside back in the Middle Ages and how good they have it when they go camping. No Xboxs in nature.
I never did Girl Scouts. I did a terrible, uber-evangelical Calvinist knock-off called (gulp) Calvinettes. We learned how to set a table, make candles, and find our colors (I’m a Summer). Charlotte is in Girl Scouts, and maybe it’s my particular troop and leaders, but I love it. Lots of focus on global thinking, local activism, seeing and embracing difference, etc. And for our troop at least, camping is optional.
I’m in love with your sweater! It wants me to think it’s floral but it isn’t. And it doesn’t have to be. I love it for trying to trick me.