Because I didn't want to.

I didn't post yesterday even though I had plenty of fodder, because I didn't want to. I just didn't like the thought of talking about anything happy, because I still feel weird about all the unhappiness that surrounds 9/11. It was the saddest day in history, it was the saddest day in my life, a sadness that fell over us all for weeks and months. There isn't a way to commemorate it properly, and I won't try.

Saturday, I tried to make a compromise with my fishing-obsessed husband. I said "Let's hike into a fishing place, then you can fish with the boys, and we can all hang out as a family, doing something outside. You fish, we hike, everyone wins. " Uh, we may have forgotten that we have a quarter of a dozen kids. (3, if you're math challenged), we also may have forgotten that two of the three kids have legs that are grossly shorter than our own, meaning that we would have to carry them. We also may have forgotten that we are not entirely used to hiking at 9,5000 feet...We are a forgetful couple. It also seemed to slip my mind that I had a cold. But, we actually hiked for (I think) about five miles. Jack galley-lagged until J finally picked him up. I carried Mimi on my back or front the whole way, and B, made me carry his water and hip pack so he could carry a rock to throw in the stream. We never made it to the stream, the park closed at four and we had to get back to the car before they locked the gates, but we did have a good time and were all sufficiently worn out. Next time, I think we will have to look more closely at the map and pick a more kid-friendly trail. I love hiking and it was fun to get out of the house and see something new.

In knitting news: My friend finally had her baby, after many, many hours of labor. I am pretty sure that the baby was waiting until I got the package in the mail before she made her appearance. I finished the it Monday night, but needed to get a ribbon to call it 100% done. Last night I got a call that she was in labor and they were expecting the baby before midnight. At nine this morning I got another call saying that she was not progressing quickly, but they expected a baby before noon. I ran out and picked up some ribbon. 2:00 came, and still no baby. I walked to the post office at about 3:00 and mailed all three hats and came home. It turns out that she had the baby at 4:30 this afternoon. Ugh, what a labor. I just hope that the smallest hat fits her! She was bigger than they expected. Well, here the third and final instalment of the hat trio:

Stats on all hats:

Upside down daisy hat from Itty Bitty Hats. I used size threes on a cotton yarn that my mom got me when I was pregnant with Mimi. I have no idea what the name or size of it is. I can tell you that it was bright and had a beautiful color, and that it knit up wonderfully with a sort of light catching sheen. The white came in the same batch of unknown origin. The pale pink was my own desperate attempt at hand dying. I used red food color and rinsed, and rinsed and rinsed to make sure it would hold. I tried the same hand dying technique for the stem, but apparently yellow and blue food dye is a different chemical configuration and refused to stay in the yarn. I got extremely creative and tried microwaving it with a salt bath (like Rit dye) but no go. So, I used the Cascade Fixation and it worked beautifully.

The little green hat is a knock off of one that was made when Mimi was born. I stole her basic format. I used my own creative license on parts, but basically it is Sadie's. The flower is from Stitch and Bitch Nation. The yarn is some 100% acrylic Caron or Red heart. (In case you haven't noticed, I can't keep a ball band around here to save my life, the kids seem to think that they are meant to be ripped off and shredded.) I used size three for it too.

The purple creation is all of my own. I used size three needles for the brim, and after several rows, I reduced enough stitches to take an inch out ( eight stitches over all) and then switched to size twos (removed from a work in "progress"). The yarn was a sock weight cotton. I don't really know where it came from. Probably from the same batch that I used for the daisy hat. It turned out just how I hoped it would, though it may have to be blocked every time the little dear wears it. But it is so cute and I am pleased at the way that I was actually able to execute a creation from my own vision. Let's see it one more time since it's so cute.

By the way, those are my tomato plants growing there, bearing fruit. Yay! I can't wait, there are some that are actually almost ready.