Home!

Or , how about a few more pictures of the reason I haven't been knitting, or thinking about my knitting much, in the last couple of days? Is this the snuggliest little bundle you could ever want to hold? Grandma Leming thinks so!
Giving the world a kind of wondering look... William James wrote that, to a newborn, the world is like "one great blooming, buzzing confusion." It does look as if she's trying to make some sense of all this sensory overload, doesn't it?
So she's home:

and her closest cousin came to visit. Garrett wasn't too interested in her except to investigate a bit when she cried or made a noise. He really didn't mind when his mom held her new niece for a good long time, either--which is a good sign.

He's at that 17-month-old exploratory stage. Mr. Busy.

Stairs are a wonderful challenge--there are stairs at home, but he's kept gated away from them, so he takes every opportunity that's presented to explore them. Last time I was at his house, we made a couple of trips up and down. He'd have happily made more, but Memere's bum knee didn't want to. Here there are only 3 steps, so it's pretty do-able on his own; and yes, he had plenty of supervision!

Today is the new mom's birthday, which means I now officially have no more kids in their twenties. The milestone is that my oldest grandson will enter his come the end of January. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I guess it's not under my control, either. When Audrey turns 20, I think I'll be Officially Old, and I hope and pray that I'll be around to see that!

Now to go wrangle up some knitting. ET has been busy and there might be something to show you soon, plus there are a couple of projects that have a date with me and either completion or the Frog Pond. (Beginning with CPH and no, I'm not considering frogging THAT!)

Audrey Marie

Little sweetheart has her very own name now. It's quite suitable for the petite little lady she turned out to be! And Memere is in love. Totally, completely. Hmmm... last time I was this besotted, it was with a certain little darling boy (her cousin Garrett). Aww--I can get misty-eyed thinking of the cousins. One thing my kids never had!
Welcome to the world, Audrey! You have a big family and a big world to get to know! Luckily you have a great mom and dad to guide you through it--as well as a couple of grandmothers, a grandfather, a great-grandmother and 10 cousins!

Meet Sweet Pea

Age in these pictures: about 4 hours.
No name yet.
She's tiny (not that 6-10 is a low birth weight, but she's sooo little!) and has a great set of lungs.

We'll have better pictures soon, but in the meantime, here you go!

She's Here!

No pictures yet--but soon! Little Miss Leming arrived today at 3:54 pm, weighing in at 6 lbs 10 oz. Baby is beautiful and healthy, mom did really really well, dad was great--happy little family! Both grandmothers survived, too!

Baby Watch

So tonight is Sweet Pea's last chance to come out on her own--we'll see if she makes it! I do plan to go visit as soon as it's feasible, and I'll bring my laptop for quick blogging! Must remember to bring the camera cord as well as the laptop and the knitting. Is this the modern grandmother's new-baby kit?

Today was a knitty day, and a good time was had by all. I spent the time working on Lady E III, and didn't think it was particularly blogworthy. Madgik was going to help me with my Felted Clog sole, but I left the pattern at home. Dim Sum Mary was working on finishing her adorable grey booties by sewing on snaps. Let's just say that snaps are a royal pain and leave it at that. Patty had socks, and Barbara is almost done with a wonderful grey SWS scarf. I'll let them show the pictures, though!

We finished up with a trip out to Unraveled to check out their Malabrigo and other goodies--they are having a sale this weekend, so it was good to make a scouting trip. You might want to check them out if, of course, you are within driving distance of Monrovia!

I spent the evening watching Project Runway and Kitchen Nightmares (so good to know there are kitchens worse than mine!) and sorting magazines into bags. Got a whole lot more ready to move out, and while I will miss my old friends, I really do need the room. I've got a couple more "nests" to go through, and then I'll take a picture of the whole batch as they move on out.

I will leave you with this darling picture, which comes courtesy of Jigzone.com. They will even email you a new puzzle every day, or you can go to the website to work puzzles. I have to admit, I'm addicted. I keep trying to convince myself that they're good practice for keeping the ol' brain from turning into complete jelly--and much much easier to handle around cats! I do love doing jigsaw puzzles--and, I'm sure you'll be surprised to know, I have a great many of them--but there's something very frustrating about getting 1000 pieces laid out on the table all ready to go, and having a large fluffy dervish come up and roll around in them for attention! With the online ones, they do bat at the pieces but nothing happens!

Snow?

Not here! We're having a recrudescence of the devil winds--hot, dry, laden with dust and pollen--here, but apparently it's not that way in other parts of the country.

D1, aka Foosh, sent me photos of her girls enjoying their first snowfall. Apparently their new parkas and snow gear worked just fine!

If you hear about me moving to Denver, here's one illustration of why! Well, two or three really--family, and SNOW!!

Results

Oh, look! Shredding! At least this is the last of the big shreddy project, for a while.

Oh, that bag? The one hanging on the doorknob? Doesn't every knitter have a bag like this one--miscellaneous yarns and frogged projects and hopeful bits and pieces?
The bag is a tote from one of the Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar, 2002 I think. I like a clear tote--except that everyone can see what you're toting around!

This one has a little pocket and, as I recall, I had put a picture of Simon in it. We'd just gotten him. I guess that was his first turn as a cat avatar (catvatar?). That's some blue laceweight, and some light blue KSH, and some KnitPicks wool for a beanie for my son-in-law, and some pink and lavender laceweight that was frogged about four times.

On to more pleasant things! Even though there was no mail delivery today, UPS was busy. My Webs order came! I guess, since I love everything in it, I'll have to forgive ET. This time.

The mystery yarn is Queensland Rustic Wool in a pretty shaded-red combo. It's got a strong hint of rose, but then that's what happens when you add white to red! It's a good blue-red, no yellow undertones at all.

And, my Kathmandu Aran arrived too. I got the darkish Sea Green and it will make a lovely sweater.
I'm all about the tweed lately.

Got an email from my friend Gail today that I thought I would share with you, this being Veterans' Day and all:

Happy Veteran's Day to all the vets I know and the families and friends who support them. If you have a moment, go to the website Xerox is sponsoring and send a free postcard note to a member of our armed services. It's quick and free so come on now...get to it! The link to it is http://www.letssaythanks.com/ . The site isn't political...not about whether you are for the war or against the war, but about your support of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. Again, thanks to all who have served, who are serving, and the families and friends who support them, and a special thanks to Jon, Jessica and Joe...I love you all and I'm so proud of your service. Love, Gail/Mom

Thanks for sharing, Gail!

Veterans' Day

Back in the Dark Ages when I was growing up, this holiday was called Armistice Day. That was because the Armistice for WWI was signed on November 11--and that was called The War to End All Wars.

Ha.

So after WWII, and the Korean Conflict, the name was changed to honor all of the veterans of all of the services.

Today my son, my daughters-in-law, and the Conn. grandkids went up to visit my Dad (US Army, WWII) at the Soldiers' Home in Holyoke, where they honor our veterans every day of the year. My brother (Navy, Vietnam--he was a medic) and my son (Navy, 20 years in subs) are in my thoughts today too.

Someone sent me this idea, which I thought was great, so I'm passing it on. When you are making out your holiday card list this year,also include one for the following address:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001
If you approve of the idea, please pass it on. If you know of another address for recovering personnel, please let me know, and I'll put it out here. Regardless of how you feel about the war, or the current administration, our troops are doing the best they can for all of us, and they deserve to be remembered.

(Climbs down from the podium and shakes herself.)

So what, you may ask, did I do today, since I'm about 3000 miles from Holyoke?

I went to the Barbie Doll Show. I even took some pictures, so you could share the wonders.


Barbie has a great wardrobe, and there are seamstresses and stylists out there who love to design for her. There are people who collect only t he newest Barbies in their boxes, and keep them pristine; there are people who only collect vintage Barbies; and there is a whole range in between.

There is something for everyone at the show.

There's even good people-watching if, like me, you don't collect Barbies. (I bring a friend, who doesn't drive much, and wouldn't make it that far unless I drove.) The vendors are friendly and knowledgeable, and there are always the folks who like to dress (and style their hair and makeup) to look like Barbie. Yeah, me not so much.

PS: ET was trolling eBay--I keep telling her and telling her to avoid the occasions of sin, but she doesn't listen--and scored some Skye Tweed in Tapestry! Yeah, ummm, she also found some other goodies...but today all she got was the Skye Tweed.
Honest. Would ET lie to me?