Homemade Friday: Rosemary’s Shawl

My friend Rosemary is undoubtedly one of the most genuine people I know, and that’s saying something because I know a lot of really fantastic people.

Pre-blocking

She will do anything for you and always, always makes your day brighter just by being in her presence.  She just seems so incredibly peaceful and nice. 

Now, unfortunately I haven’t seen Rosemary in years.  Years.  And that makes me sad.  But I feel like, even though we may not visit more than once every five years or so, I still will always love her and gravitate toward this amazing, sweet person. 

Blocking ...

Rosemary got married recently and Chris and I weren’t able to make it to the ‘hitchin’ party’ as they called it.  But I’d started a shawl for her because I knew it was something she would appreciate, and I wanted a way to tell her how much I appreciate her.

I created the pattern for the shawl myself, using a lace chart I’d found that went to a sweater pattern.  I mailed it a month and a half late because getting to the post office is a difficult task these days.  But I don’t think she minded.  I received a lovely thank you note from her saying that the shawl was like a hug in the mail.  And that is the ultimate compliment.  Especially since I miss her hugs so much.

Blocking ...

I do not have a good picture of the whole shawl because I forgot to take one before I mailed it.  Woops.

Conversations with Sebastian

I wanna play with the small little fishes.  They’re not sharks.

No, baby, those are Daddy’s for when he goes fishing.  They have hooks on them.  They’re sharp.

They’re NOT SHARKS!  They’re just little fishes.  I wanna play with them.  I want to go fishing with them.  They’re just little fishes, they’re not sharks! What’s that?  Is that mine? Is that my lunch? That’s yuck.

No, it’s my lunch.  Do you want some?

No!  Yuck! I’ll be a man soon. I’ll be bigger. I’ll be big as you.  Bigger than you.

You will.  But not just yet.

I’ll be a man when I’m bigger.  When I’m a man I’ll go fishing.  Where’s Santa?

Where is he?

He’s at the North Hole.  It’s cold there.  Where is his sleigh?  Is it cold? I’m gonna be a good boy.  He’s at the North Hole.  He’s gonna bring me presents. It’s almost Christmas.  Merry Christmas, Mommy. Is that my lunch?

No, it’s mine.

It’s yuck. I wanna play with the little fishes.  They’re not sharks. Merry Christmas, Mommy.  I’ll be a man soon.

I'm more amazing just by looking at it

You guys!  YOU GUYS!  I've got my first gift from a fan!

Okay, maybe it's just a picture from my neighbor who got it from her husband's grandmother because she knew I'd love it and find it stupendously awesome, BUT STILL. 

FAN PRESENTS!  (Except not really.)

And just look:

It was taped to our door when we got back from our Thomas Family Thanksgiving of 1000 Desserts.

If you can't crack a smile and possibly gain 13 pounds of man-muscle just by looking at it, well, that's probably the definition of being un-American.

And you're probably a terrorist.

I love my neighbors.

I'm kind of not smart sometimes

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Chris' family on Sunday.  His mom is nice enough to give our stomachs a break and have the holiday on a day other than the actual Thanksgiving holiday since we all have other places we're expected to show up at, too.  Plus it gives us plenty of time to visit without having to rush off somewhere else.

My job was to make pie and rolls.  I took that to mean I need to bake every single pie in the history of pies ever in the world.  And rolls.

Now to be fair to myself I did ask what particular pie was needed or requested but never got an answer so I decided to make pumpkin, pecan and apple.

Three different types of pies for eight people, including two small children.  And I decided to do this after I was told that since it was my brother-in-law Ian's birthday my mother-in-law would be making his favorite cake for him.

And then my future sister-in-law Ashley brought a super-delicious twinkie cake she'd made for a party they'd had for Ian.

If you're following along that now brings the total to three pies and two cakes for eight people, including two small children.

We didn't even cut into the pecan.

I was stuffed (like a Thanksgiving turkey!) before we even brought out coffee and dessert because everything was so, so delicious.  But I still managed to try most of everything.

I may never eat again.

That's a lie.  In fact, it's probably about time to try the pecan.  Or maybe another piece of apple.  It was pretty good.