I Made My Grandmother Cry

About two and a half weeks before Christmas, my mom mentioned that my grandmother would really like a black hand-knit scarf by moi. Did I mention that it was two and a half weeks before Christmas?

But my grandmother is the best. She's generous to a fault - generous with her time, love, assets. I've only knitted dishcloths for her before this (in my defense, she LOVES hand-knit dishcloths). I had to knit her a scarf.

So I went surfing through Ravelry and picked out the Dagger Lace Scarf from an issue of Knitscene. I figured out that if I did 5 1/2 inches every day I could have it finished by the time she came to visit after Christmas. I knitted on the couch; I knitted in the car; I knitted at my in-law's; I knitted everywhere and all the time. The day before Gram arrived, I had one more lace repeat. Ray occupied the children, and I FINISHED! Blocked it that night, and I finished wrapping it just as she pulled into the driveway.

Then came the suspense: would she like it? Dear Reader, she loved it. She cried. I made my grandmother cry, and it was one of the best moments ever.

It's Been Awhile

Today is Jack's nine-month birthday, and we're coming up on our eight-month anniversary living here in Auburn. I feel like we're already so much more a part of the community than when we were in Louisiana, even though we lived there for more than 10 years. I feel more beholden to the community, a greater responsibility. Maybe having kids and knowing that they'll be growing up here makes me feel that way, or maybe it just feels good to be back home in Alabama.

The mittens for the Afghans for Afghans youth campaign are coming along in spite of my slowness working with the DPNs. I hope they're not too small, but I'm sure they will keep some little hands warm. Amelia was hoping they were for her, so that launched an overly complex discussion about where Afghanistan is and why the children there need mittens. She might not have understood everything, but at least she's getting the idea that there are children who have so little compared to the luxuries she has.

In the spirit of Meg's Fun for Nothing challenge, we made a house out of Jack's old diaper box for Baby Jaguar. It was so much fun! I promise to post pictures soon. Amelia cut out a giant heart and drew a map for the walls. The map featured North America, South America and Auburn all right next to each other. At first I was stumped when she asked me who we knew in South America. Then I remembered Diego! Yeah, he's a cartoon character, but to Amelia he's as real as the boy next door. We cut out windows, a door and made one end a garage door, which was good because Baby Jaguar is too big for the regular door. Then she salvaged the veil from her Barbie's wedding dress and made that into curtains. We had the best time, and best of all, she didn't want to watch TV!

To mark his nine-month birthday, Jack waved to his daddy this morning. It was so cute, so of course, we tried to get him to do it again and again. It's a good thing Jack doesn't know about the actors' union or he'd be drawing a paycheck for all the performing we make him do.