getting spoiled

I mentioned a couple of posts back that signing up for more than one secret pal exchange is foolhardy, particularly for the more easily confused among us (read:me). The plus side is that one receives wonderful surprises from two different people, so it's like birthday and Christmas much of the time.

In today's mail, from my One Skein secret pal:

And Ben, my youngest, was thrilled to see that it came from Edmonton, Alberta, home of his favourite hockey team - so, really, everybody's happy! The yarn is just gorgeous - thank you so much! I have it out in the middle of our big table, and every time I pass by I fondle it and ponder what it wants to be... and the teas are in flavours I have never even contemplated (orange chocolate chip!!!), and I cannot wait to taste them -

so a big thank you to my Pal, who, as I understand it, had a baby just before the exchange started, and so already has her hands more than full - so thoughtful!

addendum again

As per my previous post, the teacher gift socks, which, incidentally, are now done...

and the Diagonal Tank, which will be my next push to complete -

I spent this morning participating in, and, okay, I'll admit it, weeping at, my older son's grade 6 graduation ceremony. I have always prided myself on being tough, on not crying easily, on being strong and able to handle things. Allow me to dispell the myth - I am a #1 Class 'A' weenie -

I would like to think that not many people know this about me, but my hunch is I'm wrong. The ceremony included a slide show of pictures provided by parents of all the kids since kindergarten. I have always been an active school volunteer, so I have worked with most of these kids for 7 years now, and have watch them move from toothlessness and pixie haircuts to hairy legs and cleavage - not necessarily on the same kids, either. The teacher who had put the show together kept telling me that her goal was to make me cry, which, really, takes next to nothing. I well up at commercials, for Pete's sake.

So in the middle of the show was a shot of my son at his kindergarten graduation, a shot which I provided myself - I dissolved, bit my lips raw to keep from openly crying, and did my best to keep the tears from seeping out noticeably behind my glasses. I failed miserably. I am not sure why I am so embarassed about this - upbringing, probably - but I wanted so much for no one to notice I was crying.

Fortunately, LOTS of other parents were the same, so I was fine - fit right in - I blended... but for the rest of the day, I have been just drained, exhausted - this emotional stuff is way over-rated, I think...

hope I can handle the last day of school... and Elaine? Mission accomplished...

molasses in june

a pretty accurate description of my knitterly activities right now - I'm knitting, whenever I get the chance, and yet things do not seem to be moving along very quickly -

must be summer fever or something - lazy, hazy days of summer?

Teacher gift socks are almost done - ribbing should be finished tonight, tomorrow at the latest -

I have my Diagonal Tank Top done to the neckline on the front - remember, this is still only the front! - and should be able to make progress on that this weekend -

for some reason I am unable to post pics, so will try again later...

I cannot figure out what has me slowed down - maybe the end-of-school-year crunch which has included a medieval festival for my youngest son, grade 6 graduation for the older one - he goes over to the "HIGH SCHOOL" next year for grade 7, and frankly, the thought of sending him into this place of high cut tops, low rise pants, short shorts, tattoos and smokers scares the bejeebers out of me -

and you know, I was the ONLY PARENT who volunteered to help with the grad on Monday - sure, it's not as big a deal as high school graduation, and no, I'm not looking for any pats on the back, but it's a milestone and deserves to be recognized. So here I am, painting banners, decorating gymnasiums, baking cookies - a few more folks have been grudgingly recruited in the past couple of days, but really... how disappointing.

So, maybe I am a little, um, preoccupied, and maybe, just maybe, that's affecting my knitting - well, only 4 more days and summer vacation, which is truly my favourite time of the year, will be upon us.

No lunches to pack, no pressure to be up too early, jammy days, a slightly more leisurely pace - ahhh, I can taste the grapefruit coolers now (which, I have decided, are actually good for me because they contain not only vodka, but real grapefruit juice, thereby satisfying one of my daily fruit/veggie requirements)...

Catch-up

Feels like ages since I posted - a whole week! No real reason, just life getting in the way of other priorities. In the past week, I have finished the Socks that Rock socks - yay!

Just lovely yarn - soft, colours are beautiful - and I have a new skein for ME, in the totally edible colourway 'Fairgrounds -

My youngest son asked me to make his teacher a pair of socks for her end-of-year gift - he was allowed into the mess-that-is-my-craft-room, and chose yarn that he thought she'd like - not colours I would have chosen, but as I have been knitting them up, I am figuring out that the colours kind of represent a spring garden - taupe for soil, green for leaves, purple and yellow for flowers - he has much more foresight than I give him credit for. And yes, it's in writing! I am knitting them toe-up at the same time on two circs, which is my favourite way to crank out a pair - wow, sounds like I'm enjoying my hobby, doesn't it?

In response to Monika, I am working away on the P90 - it's my evening knitting, because I am afraid to bring the silk outside to work on and have a dog nibble on it or a bird drop on it - trust me, it could happen! I am coming up to the end of the front - it's moving along more slowly than I expected, but I am planning to work on it during the hockey game tonight and hoping that the excitement will get those needles moving (GO OILERS!). I just love the yarn, and even though my children may be subsisting on roots and berries while I pay it off, at least I will look damn good. And really, that's what matters. I'll post a pic later, when there's a little more to show.

Have sent packages off to secret pals, and am just excited to bits - word to the wise - do only one exchange at a time. Any more than one and you may become confused. Not that I am, of course, but it's good to know.

Another valuable life lesson? Be careful how your body is positioned while using large clippers. It is possible, I think, to pop one's boobs while squeezing the clipper handles together, depending on one's position.

Addendum: have smaller t-shirts available to accomodate your new, smaller chest.

And to close for today: totally gratuitous picture of Maggie, looking much like a fuzzy golden garden gnome, and out of trouble for the moment.

happy un-birthday!

Just received a most wonderful assortment of wonderful goodies from my wonderful Secret Pal (SP8) - such fun, and such phenomenally fast service - mailed from the West Coast on Saturday, in my hot little hands this morning - amazing!

Just look at it!!

Much fun to be had here - seeds for my garden for plants that I don't know about, which totally excites me, cool yarn, an art card game, a delicious candle, silky papers and edibles, too - the boys have each claimed one of the chocolate treats, and are so impressed that my pal knew what they liked, too!

So a huge thank you and a cyber hug, Shug - absolutely made my day/week/month! I am off to babysit my 3 year old nephew - we have a huge mutual crush, so it's such a treat to hang with him - and hopefully later I can provide details on Martin Short and the circus to which we took the boys' dad yesterday - ah, yes, the fun never stops...

Deep thought of the day:

Some days you're the pigeon; some days you're the statue.

Pic of my completed Shapely T (still unblocked, although it has been waiting by the washing machine for a few days now - the problem is, I have not been there for a few days, as the life-sized piles of laundry will attest...) - actually, I think the problem may be the shape in the t, not of it...

Kind of cool and blah today, which is perfect for gameboy-ing, and bunny hopping -

this picture of my sons is one to preserve and throw at them the next time they tell me how much they hate each other - these really are the moments that save them...

and tonight, I am off with a friend to Toronto to see Martin Short in his near-Broadway production - can't wait!

Addendum

So immediately after posting, I realized that I had made a major error in my tank top, so I have now ripped out more than half, and will hopefully pay better attention from here on in...

then the mailman came bearing gifts from one of my best friends, Kelly:
could there be a more perfect sentiment right now, or a better source? Note that she doesn't say "Knit on correctly"...

Reminds me of a visit to Kelly in Wisconsin a few years ago - we actually made the pilgrimage to Schoolhouse Press - I have pictures somewhere - and as I poked in the overfilled little shop area, Kelly wandered past the shop and into - horrors! - Meg Swansen's HOME! And there she was, knitting away on her couch - correct me if I'm remembering this wrong, Kel -

Kelly was all set to walk right in and say hi, but I was overwhelmed with - what? - shyness? I felt the same as I did many more years ago, when I had a chance to have a picture taken with one of my major childhood crushes, Yvan Cournoyer (Montreal Canadiens hockey player), and froze - couldn't do it - same thing - some sort of socially retarded reaction to those whom I idolize...

but really, just having been there is enough for me (gosh, that sounds about as sincere as an Academy Award candidate who is just happy to be nominated!) - Kelly, on the other hand, won't ever let me forget...

so now I shall spend the afternoon with my youngest son, home with a fever, and my knitting - possible thunderstorms on the way, looking forward to getting my eldest from school and hunkering down...

sometimes life gets in the way...

Long time between posts - we received some very upsetting news about my brother two weeks ago, and I have been in a tailspin since... the one constant has been knitting, which inevitably calms, soothes and brings order to things chaotic.

Good news on several fronts:
* my brother is recuperating nicely from surgery, and has an excellent prognosis - major WHEW!

* I finished my Shapely T last week - don't like the look of it on me, but am hoping that blocking will help.

* I started the Diagonal Tank from ArtYarns - am following the directions blindly, and can't for the life of me see how the hell it will work, but it's SILK, and it's orange, so who cares?

Okay, so now that I've posted the picture, I almost can see how it might work...

In other news, Maggie, our squirrel catcher extraordinare, actually cornered one last Sunday. I called the dogs in, after their morning ablutions, to find both of them running after a poor, slow, old-looking squirrel, and licking it every time they got close - blech - the poor thing's fur was soaked!

The dogs turned to see who was so rude as to interrupt their little lovefest, and Maggie's snout was literally dripping blood! I choked back my screams of revulsion - it was 6:30 in the morning and I hadn't had a coffee yet - and scoured the yard looking for a dismembered critter. Found none, and when I cleaned her off found a little tiny nick on her nose. She has been disinfected within an inch of her life, and I think we have all learned something:

* squirrels might not like being licked;

* the smallest injuries can lead to deceptively copious quantites of blood;

* coffee before all else;

* it's really never too early for a shot of vodka - purely medicinal, of course...

The long weekend that was...

This weekend I took my guys out to the garden centre, as is our tradition, this being the May 24th long weekend (even though the 24th isn't always on that weekend, we call it that for some reason), the weekend where we Canadians start our planting season, the assumption being that fear of frost has passed and our babies will be safe outside.

We left the centre in a wind so strong that plants and seed packets blew out of our cart, my sons wildly chasing after them through the parking lot. And then, there was hail. Big, pinging-off-the-windshield, stinging-on-your-skin-hail. So we were glad to make our way home, cuddle up inside and re-examine our treasures. So much potential in a packet of seeds...

This summer, Tanner is going to try to grow sunflowers - two varieties - and watermelon. Ben is planning to grow pumpkins and peanuts. I am excited for them because these are all things I tried to grow when I was young and had an indulgent mother, and they chose them with no prompting from me. This week's task will be to actually find a sunny spot where all this growing can take place. Oh, and space. Lots of space. Lots of sunny, dog-protected space. The challenge is on...

They also planted their pots - yes, in the cold and wind (the hail stopped by the time we got home), and I love the differences in style and colour. Every year it's a crapshoot, and they always turn out wonderfully.

So, each boy selected a flat of various annuals, selected mostly for colour, and then planted according to whatever whim runs their imagination...

Tanner's planters range from minimalist to wildly packed:

and Ben's have a common colour theme:

orange and yellow, with some ringers thrown in -

And yes, I bought some stuff for my planters, too, but somehow I find the choices of my children far more interesting - they are spontaneous and impulsive, and always, within a month or so, are the most gorgeous assortment of flowers going..

Knitting-wise, I am putting the sleeves in my violet t-shirt today, and will then WIND THE SILK - am I excited? I chipped away at the t-shirt throughout the weekend, and now find that, in spite of counting and measuring and laying the front on top of the back repeatedly, there seems to be a slight difference in size. Not major, but enough that I had to fudge a little on the side seams to align them. I am hopeful that I can block it senseless and it will hang properly, but a little niggle in my brain isn't so sure -

the other little niggle in my brain doesn't care, because I am already knitting up the multidirectional tank in my mind - I read the pattern in bed last night, slept with a skein on my night table - obsessive? Moi?!

I KNOW I can...

I have decided that this weekend I will finish my t-shirt - particularly since it's a long weekend for us, and today looks to be the only decent day for playing in the dirt -

in the words of Yul Brynner (Ten Commandments) -

"So let it be written, so let it be done" (the quote may not be 100% accurate, but you know what I mean..)

I think I can...

This is what I'm working on:

(conch shell courtesy of my sons, who spent last week in Mexico with their father while I prepped for, and then thoroughly enjoyed, a gastroscopy/colonoscopy - well, I got a shell, didn't I??)

This is what I'd like to be working on (lazing about in my stash since 2000 - I think it's aged just right):

Or this (it's hemp - how cool!):

Or especially this (soft-as-air silk, and the colours make me drool):

Don't misunderstand, I love the colour of my t-shirt, like the fittings worked into the pattern, which is by White Lies Designs, like the cotton/linen fabric, and think it will be lovely - but it makes for slow knitting once the front is done and all its intricacies have been revealed -

however, I am excited about my Secret Pal - hi there, and thanks for your note - you just made my day! Sounds like we have a lot in common, right down to the obsessive dogs! Can't wait to find out more about you - such fun!

So the lesson here, I guess, is all things in good time, finish what you start, um, I'm stretching here - I'll get to it when I get to it... and I will get to it...

Secret Pal 8

I have never done a secret pal exchange before, and the prospect of sending little gifts to people is terribly exciting to me - like Christmas all summer long!

So, onto the questionnaire...

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I love unusual, exotic fibres (quiviut, silk, bamboo, hemp, linen) in addition to wool, and am tending towards natural fibre most of the time - I am not a fan of 100% acrylic, although I am okay with wool/acrylic blends.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I use a wonderful bag that my mother made for me, without a pattern save the vision in her mind, from fabric woven by one my favourite uncles, which has a myriad of storage pouches and holders - I will post a pic of it in a future entry.

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting for about 37 of my 45 years, and would put myself at the advanced level, I think.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No, but what a cool idea!

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I like clean, fresh laundry, soapy smells - also lily of the valley and light florals along those lines.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I wonder if anyone will answer 'no' to this one? Favourite sweet is/are chocolate covered almonds, but my real weakness is salt, especially chips and french fries.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I crochet, have done weaving and pottery, love crafts with my kids, am always do-it-myselfing around the house. I do not spin well, but I love it and am determined to get it.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I will listen to almost anything but loud, harsh, discordant sounds or rap- love old blues, old jazz, 50's rock 'n roll, classical, and then stuff like Green Day, the Ramones - I'm all over the place. And yes, MP3's are my friend.

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
Fave is Orange - also like blue, yellow, red - have almost no green to my name, but I don't dislike it - also like white.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I live with my two sons, ages 10 and 11, two big dogs, a rabbit, a rat, and several dust dinosaurs that rear their ugly heads from time to time.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Like scarves and mittens, want to wear a poncho very much but haven't been able to picture myself in one yet...

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I ALWAYS have socks on the go, and like to make sweaters - my favourite type of knitting is anything cabled and complicated.

13. What are you knitting right now?
Right now I am working on a t-shirt for me in periwinkle blue cotton/linen, and a pair of socks. I am not allowing myself to start the other luscious projects staring me in the face until at least one of these is done.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Absolutely my favourite type of gift...

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
All I use these days are circular Addis, and occasionally tiny bamboo double points for socks. Interestingly, I was internet searching for rosewood circulars just today, to use with slippery yarns.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I have both a winder and a swift.

17. How did you learn to knit?
My grandmother taught me during one summer visit to her home in Quebec - she had seemingly endess supplies of the ugliest burnt orange acrylic yarn, and wouldn't teach me to cast off, so by summer's end I had a long strip of orange that wound all through the house.

18. How old is your oldest UFO?
I found a couple recently that are maybe 3 - 4 years old? Misplaced during a move, you know how it is...

19. What is your favorite holiday?
If summer vacation counts, that's the one...

20. Is there anything that you collect?
Yarn, mostly, although I have recently started appreciating some of the outrageous labels on bottles of hot sauce - I may start gathering some of the more memorable ones.

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Any hand-dyed yarns; Mason-Dixon Knitting; rosewood circ's or small (5") dpns. I subscribe to Knitters' and Interweave Knits.

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I would love to perfect, or at least be half-decent at, spinning, and am always looking for new ways to do anything knitting.

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Oh, yeah, baby, hardcore sock knitter. I wear a size 10 shoe, and make my socks about 9" long from base of heel to start of toe, like them a little longer on the calf.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
Just tried to avoid it - April 22

need focus

I am so-o-o-o scattered, starting projects I don't really want to make, not sure what I want to make - it's the time of year, I think - I hate all my clothes, nothing fits properly, I can't find anything good to read -

sigh

this is the kind of focus I need:

our second dog, Maggie, after 12 minutes of unbroken staring at a squirrel, who was equally focused in staring her down (and yes, I timed them).

If I could get a little of that - well, I would finish the socks I'm working on, I would plow through the Shapely T-Shirt by White Lies Designs that I like, but can't seem to throw myself into - I need wild abandon, that's it -

next post, when my digital camera is operational? I'll show you what I'm dithering through -

and maybe then, like my camera, like my dog, I'll get some focus.

oh, the cleverness of me...

So, for my birthday, my mom gave me jewelled ring markers, which are just lovely to behold, and these:

Knit Klips, which you use instead of pins to hold your knitting together while you seam it. I cannot believe how well they work - very cleverly designed!

And speaking of clever, I found myself at a loss as to what button to use on this multicoloured jacket - so hard to find something... so, in a fit of inspiration, I went to my nearby Michael's and bought FIMO - shape and bake clay - in an absolutely perfect shade of violet blue, rolled it into a triangle-shaped log, and proceeded to slice and bake -

looky, fresh from the oven!

Yup, real buttons, holes and everything - and I am so excited that I made them myself - I am obviously seriously in need of a real life, but in the meantime, this will do nicely...

What's better than "They're done!"?

THEY FIT!!

And as if that in itself is not enough to melt one's butter, the boys seem to like them, and don't want to take them off! Except for my youngest son, in the orange, who did take it off to play road hockey yesterday, just in case he fell and ripped it or something.
He's worth every stretch mark...

And now that those albatrosses are off my neck - um, I mean - sweaters are done, I have moved into spring cleaning mode -

discovered languishing in a bin:
all the pieces for this Classic Elite 'Weekend Cotton' jacket are here and done, but not sewn together. In spite of my deeply ingrained dislike for finishing, even I would not have shelved an- almost-done-sweater without a really good reason - no idea...

waiting patiently for one more ball, which just arrived:
one sleeve to finish, then I have a beautiful Colinette 'Mercury' twinset - the weight of this fabric is just wonderful - very slinky - just need a place to wear it. The gal in the pattern is wearing it with jeans, and has it hanging slightly off one shoulder, very come-hither - wonder how that would go over in the schoolyard...

And my excitement continues at the thought of what I can do when these are done - oooh, such possibilities -

if only I could extend my spring cleaning enthusiasm to other areas of my life - like my house...

Happy Birthday / Earth Day

This is Charlie:

Charlie is 5 years old today. Doesn't he look excited?

Today is also my birthday, and for my 45th birthday, I thought I would finish up some stuff. So, Wallaby #1:
DONE! Except for blocking, which doesn't really count, so technically in my book it's done like dinner, baby.
Wallaby #2:
Done but for the ribbing. So, with scissors in hand, I snipped a stitch above the row I want to knit down from, and have started unknitting the row while picking up the stitches. This may not be done today, but it will be done by tomorrow night.

Socks that Rock:

This is the nicest sock yarn, just gorgeous, and I love the way it works with the Jaywalker pattern. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit me because I thought that the bigger size was for bigger feet, temporarily ignoring the fact that my size 10's are, in fact, bigger feet - honkin', in fact.
Fortunately, as the colours became clearer I realized that they would be much better suited to some other feet that I know, so all is good.

So, a wonderful birthday overall - spent the day hanging out with my kids, a nice dinner that I didn't have to cook or clean up, thoughtful gifts - maybe this aging stuff isn't so bad after all...

happy easter bunny...

I finally got the hang of the sock pattern, and you know, I like it...
Just a gorgeous Easter morning - up till 1am writing little poems for the boys' egg hunt this morning, and was feeling oh, so pleased with myself - all my poems rhymed, none too badly, and I was able to place the clues in order without confusing myself...
This morning, as they dozed off the effects of a big family get-together yesterday, I decided to make cinnamon buns and started warming up the oven. After, oh, 15 minutes, I could smell the buns baking and was truly impressed with my own culinary skills, as I had not yet put them in the oven -

One melted bunny and crispy clue later, I remembered where one of the big-ticket items had been hidden...

And now, the brunch dishes are washed, my children are outside doing what all children should be doing,and I just need to decide if I will do what I should do (rake my poor neglected lawn), or what I want to do (curl up in the sunshine and knit), or just wait for the boys to get bored and take them for a hike on the beach...

decisions should always be so difficult...

just don't get it...

1. Why, after making a perfect little centre-pull ball of yarn on my ball winder, does it turn into this when I start knitting with it?

It's no longer a centre-pull ball, it's a pull-in-every-direction-all-the-time-while-simaltaneously-untwisting-tangled-strands ball, and frankly, it's irritating me...

2. Why am I having so much trouble with the Jaywalker sock pattern? This is my third attempt, and I realized last night - late last night - that all my little lines and angles are great except for this one:

around which I kept blithely knitting, assuming that someone somewhere would make sure that it eventually straightened itself out.

It didn't.

I eventually figured out that I had cast on the stitches called for for the larger size, but I was following the pattern for the smaller size - yet another major 'duh' in what seems to be a decade of 'duhs'.

It's my birthday next week, so I am attributing this, and all future episodes of 'duh'-ness, to my advancing years, and changing hormones.

Wanna make something of it?

guilt assauged

The perfect antidote to buying this:

which is springy and bright and, well, irresistable,
is selling some of this:
which has been lingering in various bins and sewingknitting room incarnations for years -

one totally cancels out the other - like eating chips standing up while drinking diet soda - cancels the calories, right?

In other news, we are fast approaching completion of the Wonderful Wallabies - hoods are nearing the end, then a little kitchenering under the arms and they'll be done! What's more, the boys may be able to wear them in appropriate weather, PLUS they will still fit, at least for this season, so all is good...

goal revisions

These are done, were done, in fact, on Monday night (Fortissima Colori, col#4009) - they fit my now-10-year-old (!!!!) son perfectly, and he was completely surprised, in spite of the fact that I was knitting them right in front of him as my deadline loomed -

big YAY!

The last two days were spent doing fun but exhausting things - Monday was a school field trip to the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, and I learned a couple of valuable lessons:

* always take more one more Advil than the label recommends before boarding a bus of 30-odd 9-10 year olds
* do not assume that knitting on the bus will be a good thing; it may, in fact, incite small riots in said 9-10 year olds, all of whom will want to see - and touch - what is on the needles
* take full advantage of any Starbucks seen while touring, because there won't always be another one

Yesterday, as is our tradition, we all took the day off from work/school to celebrate my son's birthday, and at his request, went to the Hockey Hall of Fame and had dinner at Wayne Gretzky's, both again in Toronto. We had a wonderful day, and I was absolutely THRILLED to have a picture taken with the Stanley Cup - I TOUCHED IT! which may seem like nothing big, but really, when you think of the amazing people who have also touched this thing (and not being a germophobe, I am totally cool with the thought) like Maurice Richard, Yvan Cournyer (be still my heart), Wayne Gretzky - oh, I could go on...

and I am not really a hockey fan...

so great couple of days, but totally tiring, and not a lot of knitting done...

The boys' Wallaby's are next on the "must finish" list - shall I suggest a deadline? Perhaps beginning of next week? Let's make it tentative - a little less pressure...

My nieces are turning 14 in a week and a half, and I am at a loss for gift ideas - they don't seem to want anything - so I told their mom, my SIL, that I would take them each to their local yarn shop, in Georgetown, and let them pick out yarn for me to make them sweaters of their choosing - they like - wait for it - Wonderful Wallabies - and there are two of them - more deja vu than a gal can handle...

sigh