A very good football day

Ohio State - 52
Minnesota - 10

Syracuse - 31
Cincinnati - 7

Michigan State - 6
Iowa - 37

Michigan - 31
Penn State - 41

As Aidan said. "Every team we like won and every team we don't like lost!"

Award

Aidan was very excited when he came home from school on Tuesday because he had won the Principal's Council award. When I asked why he had won it, he did not know...further questioning revealed that he was not paying attention during the morning meeting and simply heard his name being announced!

The mystery was solved yesterday. I had a meeting with the principal to discuss the winter reading program that I am leading, and asked him about the award. He said that each teacher nominates a student for just about any kind of special recognition the teacher chooses, and they receive a certificate and have pizza with the principal. The principal was going to meet with the students after our meeting, so I knew Aidan would come home with his certificate.


I know that it is hard to read, so here is the full text: "Aidan tries his very best everyday. He cooperates in class, and always offers to help. Aidan is a responsible student who gets his work done to the very best of his ability. I am proud of his integrity and drive to do the right thing."

We had a true parental pride moment as we read the nice words on the certificate and Aidan was beaming. Whether the award is truly a recognition of his behavior or an incentive to encourage certain behavior, I don't know. But whichever it is, it made our little boy feel very proud and important.

(Note: last names have been obliterated from the image)

P.S.

When my friend Laura read in my Rhinebeck post that I did not have a photo of the meetup with her, she graciously shared this photo:


From left to right: Me, Laura, Jennifer, Noelle, and Andrea (and baby).

Thank you, Laura!

Rhinebeck

Not long after I began knitting in January 2008 and joined Ravelry soon thereafter, I started reading references to something called Rhinebeck. I soon learned that Rhinebeck is shorthand for The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, which is held at the Duchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, NY. When we decided to move to New York, one of my first thoughts was that I would be able to attend this mecca for all things fiber-related. Yay!

This past weekend was the glorious event and my friend Jennifer, who lives near Albany, graciously offered to let me and our friend Noelle (who flew in from Chicago) stay with her. On Friday night, Jennifer's daughter and Noelle's daughter decided to give me a new hairdo:


Am I stunning or what? Who knew that many hair clips could fit into one head of short hair. If you look carefully, you can see Jennifer's dog Pippin in the background - I think he might have been thinking "better her than me!" The two girls were very sweet and I enjoyed having them style my hair.

We arrived at the fairgrounds about thirty minutes after the gates opened on Saturday morning. Although I thought I was prepared for what I would see, I was wrong. I think I must have said "wow" over and over. Days later, I am still dazzled by the amazing displays of yarn, both in quantity and in quality. Everywhere I looked there was gorgeous yarn and it was difficult to process it all. It was even more difficult to process that there were thousands of people there, many wearing their hand knit or crochet creations.

The best part of the day was meeting up with friends. I had lunch - delicous lamb chili - with my dear friend Geri, and we wandered around together for a while:


Then we headed over to the Ravelry meetup where I had the pleasure of meeting Andrea in person for the first time:


Attending with Andrea was her youngest, who is a darling and patient little baby boy:


That is the Bobhead on the little tyke's stroller; Bob is the mascot of Ravelry and the furbaby of Ravelry's founders.

We also met up with Jacqui, who was wearing her awesome knitted Viking hat, complete with blond braids. From left to right is Andrea, Noelle, Jennifer, Jacqui and me, acting like the nutjob that I am:


Later on, I met my friend Laura for the first time in person, but for some reason I don't have a photo of that meetup. Laura is the talented fiberista who spoiled me during the last Motherhood Later swap, and she is as warm and beautiful in person as she is in the ML group.

In one of the buildings, I was able to meet a friend from the Over 40 knitting group on Ravelry, Ellen:


In between the yummy yarn and yummy food, we also saw lots of great animals. I saw...

Llamas:


Alpacas:


And goats:


What a day. Although I bought very little - a hank of 50% silk/50% superfine merino yarn from Steam Valley Fiber Farm and a hank of Brooks Farm Duet in a deep rich purple colorway - I had a great time and am very pleased with my purchases.

Only 361 days until next year's event! Not that I am counting or anything...

They are not just for building anymore

One of the qualities I most admire in Aidan is his creativity; in particular, he does not let the stated function of an item always define how he uses it. Case in point: Legos. Yesterday he was playing with his Legos and decided to use them to build a piece of art:

LaFayette Apple Festival

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were absolutely gorgeous - deep blue skies, bright sunshine, just right temperatures - and perfect weather for the LaFayette Apple Festival. When we arrived yesterday morning at the opening time of 9 am, the line of cars waiting to park already stretched out to Route 20. We were hungry, so we first found some breakfast. Unfortunately the vendor was already out of apple pancakes, so we settled for apple donuts and sausage:


James and I enjoyed browsing the many arts and crafts vendors - some good, some not so good - but Aidan was all about the tractors on display. He was thrilled that he could climb up in the cab of a huge John Deere:


The back tires of the tractor were taller than Aidan:


Speaking of large, there was a display of gargantuan pumpkins. This one, at 750 pounds, was not nearly the largest one:


Can you imagine the number of pies or toasted pumpkins seeds it would yield?

We rode in a cart pulled by these two gorgeous Percheron horses:


I liked the display of scarecrows and while I have no idea which one won, this Medusa was my favorite; I am quite sure that is what I look like before my first cup of coffee in the morning:


We left the festival and drove by Beak and Skiff to pick apples:


We picked Jonagolds and Empire apples, both of which are very tasty. The drive home was beautiful and just outside of B'ville, we stopped at a farm to pick up some pumpkins. I don't know if they will last until carving time but in the meantime, they look pretty and festive sitting on the front porch.

A good day

A gloriously beautiful day here today. I attended the Twisted Stitches knitting guild meeting this morning for the first time in months, and enjoyed knitting with Ross and Jocelyn.

Then...Ohio State won, Syracuse won, Michigan lost (albeit to Michigan State), and Alabama lost - to the University of South Carolina, of all teams.

Yup, a good day.

Autumn knits

When Aidan and I visited Mom in Knoxville, we had the pleasure of visiting The Yarn Haven. Not only is it a beautiful store with lots of yummy yarn, there are friendly and knowledgeable people to help and answer questions. I bought a hank of Malabrigo Twist, which is bulky weight 100% baby merino, in the Caribeno colorway. It is beautiful both to see and touch, and the store used the Malabrigo Twist for a store sample of the very pattern I had in mind, The Amanda Hat. The yarn and the pattern go together very nicely, and it was fun to knit.

I don't like to wear hats but recognize that with our winter weather, I need to wear them from time to time. My version of The Amanda Hat is gorgeous and I don't think I will mind wearing it one bit:


While at The Yarn Haven, Mom picked out some yarn for me to knit her a scarf. She bought a cute leopard print fleece jacket for fall and wanted a scarf to wear with it. Despite her usual objection to wearing orange, the colors of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, she picked out Jil Eaton Minnow Merino in a burnt orange colorway called Orangini. Before she came to visit us last month, I knit several inches of two different patterns and let her decide if she liked one of them. She chose The Morning Snack Scarf, which is an easy but pretty pattern. It knit up quickly and, if it ever stops raining, I will block it and send to her:


While looking through one of my yarn bins, I came across the yarn I used to knit candy corn hats last year. I decided that I needed to make another one for my young friend Julien, who lives around the corner from us. As always, the hat is cute but the recipient is even cuter: