Festive Fourth

Not a whole lot to say today, as it's been pretty hot and I haven't done much. Yesterday was the Fourth of July and a holiday here in the USA, celebrated in my family's case by gathering together, eating and watching fireworks. D5 lives not too far from the LA County Fairgrounds (now known for some pseudo-hip reason as Fairplex) and they do a short but pretty display. So she and hubby hosted the party, and a good time was had by all.
Here's some of the food--the nibbles were already put away, and the desserts weren't out yet. But here you can see D4's yummy potato salad, the fabulous fruit salad, Anna's macaroni salad, plus there were burgers, dogs, veggies... Mmm!

The grandcarrot was dressed for the occasion:

The deelybobbers were obviously not his idea!




But he and Mommy and Daddy looked so cute in their matching shirts!


Remove the offending headgear, and he becomes a much happier little guy.

He loved the fireworks! Auntie Megi (aka D4) had burned a CD of patriotic music, so there was a suitable accompaniment--John Philip Sousa, Lee Greenwood, Bruce Springsteen--just right for watching explosions in the sky. Garrett also loves music, and he wanted to dance to every song.

What a change from last year, when he slept through the whole thing! Of course, he was only a month old and slept most of the time anyway. Now, at 13 months, he's learning new things every day. Oh, and walking. He especially loved that Auntie D5 has stairs that he's allowed to climb, since the ones at his house are off limits.

Knitting happened, but nothing I worked on looks any different than in the last post. My MS3 has been in time out, since I dropped a couple of stitches--Padua was wiping his mouth on my ball of yarn, and when I brushed him away, a couple of stitches slipped and promptly ran down. Now I have to gear myself up to check it to see if I did an ok job of picking them up, or if I need to rip back down (sigh) to "really" fix it.
News at 11!

Madge Made Me Meme Myself

So Madgik swiped this from La, and I swiped it from her, because it's just too blasted hot to think of anything else to do! Besides, the challenge will be to find different M-words!

Time for SCATTERGORIES, mes amies.

Here are the rules:
Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following.
They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up.
If you can’t think of anything, skip it.
Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same first initial.
You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
Have fun!
My name: Marie
1. Famous singer/band: McLachlan (Sarah)
2. Four letter word: Meme
3. Street name: Muscatel Avenue
4. Color: Moss
5. Gifts/Presents: More yarn
6. Vehicle: Moving van
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Miniatures
8. Boy Name: Matthew (held on to that one through two pregnancies, both girl babies)
9. Girl Name: Marisa
10. Movie Title: M*A*S*H
11. Drink: Margarita
12. Occupation: Milliner
13. Celebrity: Mary Martin
14. Magazine: Martha Stewart Living
15. US City: Medford, MA
16. Pro Sports Team: Mudlarks (I know they're imaginary; see #10)
17. Reason for Being Late for Work: Might Make Mistakes
18. Something You Throw Away: Mucky stuff
19. Things You Shout: Merde!
20. Cartoon Character: Mickey, Mighty, and Mortimer Mouses

Hope you had a fun, festive Fourth!

ASK and ye shall receive!

One thing about those ASK people--if you say "yarn swap" they take it seriously!
Look at this tableful of loot:

Pretties, right? I mean, this is the good stuff! Malabrigo, Fiesta, Colinette, Noro...
merino wool for dyeing, raw silk for ditto.
Plus the obligatory stuff with labels like, "Mystery Yarn" and "Muppet Pelt."
So we picked. We chose, and we encourated each other.
After all, it was La's first day off her yarn fast, aka Knit From Your Stash. Kudos to her for sticking to it for the full six months!
No comment on what she took home. Let's just say, it's "seed yarn" for a new project. She will tell you about it when the time is right!


What came home with me? Well, this pretty Malabrigo did, and some fraternal-twin Compatto yarn that might make a cute baby sweater since there is a new granddaughter coming. At least, we've been told granddaughter. (Don't tell, but I might tackle the Baby Surprise Jacket.)

Some Noro Cash Iroha in a dark burgundy that, even in natural light, refuses to show its true color.




Some of La's first hand-dyed fabric, mohair in a color she calls "Algae." I do believe she blogged about this when she was dyeing it. I think it's pretty, and I think it can become something wonderful.

Sunshine Yarns sock-weight in a nice mix of browns and creams with a touch of pale yellow.

Baby bootees, maybe?
I loved what Wendy said: sometimes you get yarn, and you take it home, and you find out that it isn't really "your" yarn. Seemed to me that we all had some of that, and it was nice to find it all new homes.
The leftover yarns that we all felt too enriched to claim will be heading for Stitches from the Heart in Santa Monica, courtesy of Ellen.
Speaking of whom, she makes the meanest mac n' cheese in LA. All of the food was wonderful, including Madgik's noodle salad, La's lemon cake, the sandwich roll (was that Zoe or La? My bad!) and the sangria... I didn't get food pics this time, but if you check the other folks' blogs, I think the food will show up. (Note: Zoe brought the yummy tapenade and home-grown tomatoes and the sandwich rolls and Sangria were Wendy's. MMM!!)


Now, here's some stuff that has arrived in my mailbox. This is NOT from the yarn swap! This month's STR Club yarn, in a yummy hot hot hot red and orange blend; and my latest score from Melanie at Lotus Yarns:


My progress on the Mystery Stole 3: Chart A done! (We won't mention how many times.)

The Paris scarf, in its languid "Parisienne" mood, sunning itself on the back of the new sofa, and then "ready for my close-up, Mr. De Mille!"



Progress is being made on the Rose Garden Shawl as well as on the Noro chevron scarf.
Knitting has been happening.
Yay!