On The Road Again...

Well, here it is. My final posting from California. I'm off to New Jersey in just two days! I spent Thursday at my sister's and got in one last visit with the kids. I got a chance to see T's new stylish haircut, the one she received AFTER she chopped the top off, because she "felt like it." Her only hint of regret was when told she would now need a haircut she asked if it would be "a boyish girlish" haircut, a style of short hair on girls that she detests. She lucked out. She got more of a Dorothy Hammil, just like her mother had as a little girl. Here she is modeling her two childHood sweaters I had knit her. Too bad the lighting wasn't so great.

with hood...


without hood...

They are still a little big so they should last through the winter.

Now the highlight of the day, or should I say purpose for our presence their, was to help with the kids while they had their portraits taken. My sister is very good about doing this about twice a year, whether the kids like it or not. So off to the mall we went and though they suffered through I did end up with some gorgeous individual shots (one of the guys was into the artsy, just my type!) And though none of the group shots were so great, we did manage to pick one. Of course with all the pre-photo Gymboree shopping, clothes changing, last minute realizations that there was no shirt for N, another quick run to the store to buy something, taking the pictures, reviewing them then waiting for them to be printed, there had to be a melt down. It occurred after the third go round on the carousel. T NEEDED to go into Build-A-Bear. Now this turned out to be a good thing because I had just finished a tooth fairy pillow for the kids. S has already lost two teeth. All the pillow needed was to be stuffed. So we asked the nice girl working there if we could have some stuffing and she gave us just enough to stuff the tooth and the ALMOST finished Kitty Kat! That'll be a nice little project for the plane. That and the socks I am going to start, again. My replacement needles showed up just in time!



The nose is a little pocket for the tooth and I added a pocket in the back for the kids to put a little note in and for the Tooth Fairy to leave a little something. I found the pattern here.

I have almost finished the back of Arietta. Just another 1/2" and then the shoulder shaping. I have been assured that this is the end of the long slog and that the fronts will go quite quickly. And with one sleeve almost finished I think I have passed the half way mark, at least as far as the knitting goes. Sewing this together will be a different story. I have yet to do a set in sleeve. So I will leave you with this shot of the back...
...and by the time I am up and running in NJ, I should be showing you some of the front.

And that's about all for now. Next week will be all about finding a place to live, doing the sightseeing thing with mom and then on to finding a job, and of course getting in as much knitting as possible. Yes, the vacation really is almost over.