Wedding Wrap as Baby Blanket

Jena posted this picture on Facebook today. Raelyn Ross is almost a week old. Is she cute, or what?!

The 2014 Wedding Wraps

About a year ago, when I first learned that Carina, -- who I helped RAISE --, had set a wedding date, I decided I just had to knit shawls for her, her sisters, her mother, and I graciously included his mother so she wouldn't feel like an outsider among this united Bitticks-Alston sisterhood. I was not thinking of these to be worn IN the wedding, but just to have for whatever they doing around that time. The wedding will be in NC in October and the wedding colors are navy and cream. Most of these pics are "in progress" but here's what I came up with. . .

This one is for Alyce, mother of the bride, good friend for nearly 30 years. It is always good to have friends who are professional counselors. Saves you lots of grief -- and $$ over the years. I owe Alyce big-time.

This one is for the groom's mother. Same yarn as Alyce's but a different pattern. This one came out to be rather small -- a shawlette for just around the shoulders. Pictures I've seen made me think this would do for Josh's mom. . .

This one is for the middle sister. She is tiny and this is big chunky yarn. To be honest, I did this one last, and I'm ashamed to say, I was getting weary. I found the chunky yarn on the shelf, and dug around for a pattern. This one knitted up in about 2 days. Voila!

This one is for the youngest sister. By the time the wedding takes place, she will have a baby and I figured she could wrap herself and the little one in this together. I ended up adding fringe made of yarn and ribbon. I don't know if these outter edges will ever hold that scallop shape and not roll and that is one of my favorite parts of this one.

And this one for the bride. The commercial name for this pattern is "Lagoon Pond" which doesn't sound very pretty to me, so I've been calling it "Marital Bliss". I did not add fringe and there is no glitter or sparkle -- an exercise in restraint.

It was fun to do -- gave me lots of time to enjoy memories of good times together when the girls were little. Lots of babysitting, lots of birthday parties, lots of snow days, nice holiday memories . . .  And though none of these shawls is without mistakes, making them has made me a more confident knitter.

Jena's baby came yesterday. All is well.

Wisdom from Facebook

This is my current favorite bit of Facebook wisdom. . .

I have nothing to add.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Spring is morphing into Summer in a nice way this year. We've had some nice, not hot or humid, weeks in our lead-up to June.

Last week I spent some great time with Mom, first in Cary, then here in Charleston. I was very happy that she was pleased with the SummerFlies Again shawl I knitted for her. We picked out the yarn and the pattern at a knitting shop in Cary last fall so it wasn't a surprise, but neither of us knew how my rendition of the pattern would turn out. I think we were both pretty pleased.

Completed and ready to block in about 6 weeks.

This yarn, made of bamboo, is a good weight and very sweet to knit.

While we were in Cary we went downtown to the new NC Museum of Natural Sciences. We were very impressed with what a good museum this is  -- very interactive, very tech driven -- it reminded me of a long-ago visit to Epcot. Our very favorite thing was a Butterfly Room -- fairly small, but outfitted as a rainforest and full of butterflies imported as chrysalis from Costa Rica.

My favorite, which we got to see very close-up, was this Owl Butterfly -- it is about the size of the palm of your hand -- and the inside wings are this brilliant blue.

The outside wings of the Owl Butterfly show where he got his Owl name -- these markings remind me of Victorian lace patterns.

Mom came back to Charleston with me on Memorial Day and we did a couple of Piccolo/Spoleto things -- one at the church where we went to open and close the church for a Roads Scholar program featuring Gullah singers from Georgia. (Road Scholar programs, much like Elderhostels, have a whole catalog of educational/cultural 'vacations' we probably should look at more closely.)

We also saw A Midsummer Night's Dream by the Columbia City Ballet -- and that was a real treat.

Neither of us had seen a ballet for a really long time -- and this one was light and beautiful. Puck was adorable and enchanted Bottom was ridiculous.

I love this poster from a different production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Looking through images related to A Midsummer Night's Dream I realized that many productions go back to our butterfly theme for sets and costumes. This production leaned more on flora/fauna and lights to create the forest of the fairies. Puck's costume was mostly glitter.

Mom has returned home now. Duncan and I have a busy week ahead doing our volunteer duties as ushers for Spoleto performances. Tonight we hear Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn (I have never heard Bela Fleck and always wanted to, so I'm happy this worked out.) Wednesday night we usher for Lucinda Williams (another one I've wanted to see) and Friday we are at a Daphne du Maurier play, My Cousin Rachel.

Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn

Lucinda Williams

Saturday night, unrelated to Spoleto, Art Garfunkle will perform in the sanctuary of Circular Church, and Duncan, Sandy Witman and I will "work" that event.

And, our 8th anniversary is Tuesday. Should be a good week.

Love This

a ballet skirt AND red shoes. You GO, Girl!

Come Alive!

I spotted this stairwell through a door off of King St. today.

It says: Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and do it because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

Lady Claire

Now this is what I had in mind when I moved to Charleston. . .

oh, yeah.

Trying to Ignore It's February

We've had two ice and snow "events" this year. Unheard of in these parts. Personally we experienced mostly cold rains, but all around us was winter wonderland mayhem. They have discovered that when ice starts to melt from the upper reaches of the Ravelnel Bridge, ice cycles drop like daggers onto cars below -- so the bridge was closed for days waiting for all the ice to melt.  That major artery closed meant huge traffic back-ups on all the alternate routes between Mount Pleasant and Charleston, so basically things were closed for business even though temperatures were in the 40s. Lord have mercy.

Winter Olympics are one time when I really miss having TV.  I got to watch a bit of women's downhill skiing and men's speed skating Wednesday night. I do like the way the world community is finding humorous ways to spank Russia for its hard line on gay and lesbian people. I have to think it will fuel the groundswell of acceptance here. Maybe not in South Carolina, but in the rest of the United States. I mean, come'on, don't we all have enough to worry about??

Meanwhile, knitting while watching House of Cards will get me through the rest of February.

Sweater for P. Murr, age 4. I hope he hasn't outgrown it. Adding a zipper was trickier than I would have thought.

Claire, who last season was dealing with her hot flashes by standing  with the refrigerator door open, now apparently wants very much to have a baby. Plus, she's being sued by someone claiming she was fired because she was pregnant. And that's not even the half of it.

Oh yeah, and at night I'm fighting the war in Viet Nam and WWI -- reading first, Rick Atkinson's The Long Gray Line following West Point's class of 1966, and now his Liberation Trilogy about the war in Africa, then Italy, then Western Europe. He's such a good writer. These non-fiction books feel like novels.

Girlfriends' Weekend

2011 at Lake Gaston. That's Lucy in the back seat.

 Kathy and Lee are coming to Charleston this weekend. Yea!

Might I have a Word?

I'm falling behind on my New Year's resolution already.

Here's what I'm loving this week: --

We got Season 3 from the library. So if you must call, just leave a message, because I must finish these episodes before they are due back on Friday.

Today's Horoscope

For Capricorn, Dec. 22 - Jan. 19

"Try to get rid of anything that is not useful or making life better for you. Things are complex enough without a lot of clutter making life harder. Be as ruthless as you can be today."

OK, OK, I'm trying.

We Finally have a Winter Day

Christmas Cards

Unintended consequence of Facebook going mainstream is that people aren't sending Christmas cards like they used to. And neither did I. But I enjoyed the cards we got alot.

Happy New Year!

A favorite Christmas present this year is a calendar by Leigh Standley who has a very whimsical style -- something wise and  cute coming up to look forward to all year.

My resolution is to post something here at least 2ce a week that is something I'm grateful for, a favorite thing or something that just makes me happy.

See you soon!