What a silent blog this has been – not at all what I intended for the summer. Since the last post, I’ve been in New York – Connecticut – New York – Connecticut – Massachusetts – Connecticut – New York… all in five days. Whew. But it was lovely to see all my mother’s family for a beautiful memorial service for Gram, and to tromp around the family homeland in NW Connecticut. Although I’ve never lived there, I do feel a connection to those verdant hills nestled like eggs in a basket, with their gurgling brooks and hard-won fields and white-steepled churches snug in the hollows. On Saturday we ventured north to Lenox, Mass for the wedding of college friends, then spent the night with my dear friend Lucia in her little old cottage. Sunday morning was our only spell of pure relaxation, reading the Sunday Times on her porch and watching the bees at work in the garden. I read the article about the hidden gardens of Paris and wished like mad to go traveling abroad. For now, the occasional family reunion will have to suffice, although Marika and I dreamed up plenty of trips to France and Hawai’i!

Notable now when the family gathers are the little members of the next generation. As my brother and I are the youngest on both sides, we’ve now got quite a number of first-cousins-once-removed. And they’re hilarious. I give you the following anecdotes as proof.

Avery (4) to Marika: “Now that you’re married, are you going to get a baby?”
Marika: “Oh, I hope so!” (Marika wants babies as emphatically as most people want ice cream and a new president.)
Avery: “Well, you can always just ask Santa Claus.”

My cousin Rachel’s children weren’t at the memorial, but she told us an excellent story about her daughter (also 4). They went to a Lakers game, where Lulu approached a very tall man and said to him, “You’re almost as tall as my cousin Saxton!” The very tall man was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

So naturally I’m thrilled that we’ve got even more cousin-sprogs on the way, and I’m knitting and quilting for them with great dedication. I love how many knitters can spot a Baby Surprise Jacket at a hundred paces, even when you only show them a corner of it.

This little number will go to one of the two cousinlets postmarked Boston for August delivery. The yarn is Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop in two colors: I’ve Got You, Babe and an unnamed mostly green skein. I couldn’t stop knitting with this stuff. First I added a hood to use up more of the green, and then I decided I’d add some cuffs – in the end, I had only a yard or two left. I used US #4 needles, and unless the recipient is very large or very small, I anticipate s/he will be able to wear it through most of the fall and winter. I guessed about the hood size and construction, having no small babies on hand to measure. But I’ll post the directions and you can modify at will, because I think this little jacket is even more charming with a hood.

One way to add a hood to Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Baby Surprise Jacket

Row 1: Pick up 62 sts along the whole neck edge of the finished jacket.
Row 2: Sl 1 p-wise, k back across on the WS. On the RS, mark the st at the shoulder seam on each side.
Row 3 and following 7 RS rows: Sl 1 p-wise, k to marked st, *m1, k marked st, m1,* k to next marked st and repeat * to *, k to end.
Row 4 and following 7 WS rows: Sl 1 p-wise, k. 94 sts.
Rows 17-28: Sl 1 p-wise, k.
Row 29 and following 7 RS rows: Sl 1 p-wise, k to marked st, ssk, k to st before next marked st, k2tog, k to end.
Row 30 and following 6 WS rows: Sl 1 p-wise, k across, but p marked sts. 78 sts.

Work short rows to shape top of hood:
Row 44a (WS): Sl 1 p-wise, k to 4 sts before marked st, *yfwd as if to p, sl next st, yarn back as if to knit, return slipped st to left needle, turn work and K back to front edge on RS.* You have “wrapped” one st and worked a short row.
Row 44b (WS): Sl 1 p-wise, k to 4 sts before wrapped st and repeat * to *.
Row 44c (WS): Sl 1 p-wise, k across, but p marked sts. When you meet the wrapped sts, use the left needle tip to lift the rear strand of the wrap, then k tog the st and its wrap.
Row 45a (RS): Sl 1 p-wise, k across, but p marked sts to 4 sts before marked st, *yfwd as if to p, sl next st, yarn back as if to knit, return the slipped st to left needle, turn work and K back to front edge on WS.*
Row 45b (RS): Sl 1 p-wise, k across, but p marked sts to 4 sts before wrapped st and repeat * to *.
Row 45c (RS): Sl 1 p-wise, k across, but p marked sts, working wraps tog with their sts as in 44c, to second marked st, k2tog tbl, turn.
Row 46: Sl 1 p-wise with yarn in front, k to marked st, p2tog, turn.
Row 47: Sl 1 p-wise with yarn in back, k to marked st, k2tog tbl, turn.
Row 48: As Row 46.

Now you are closing up the top of the hood by working only on the central sts and joining them to the side sts at the end of each short row. Continue to work as established: the side sts will gradually be consumed; the number of central sts will remain unchanged as the fabric grows toward the front of the hood.

When 3 sts remain unworked at either side, work a yo for a buttonhole in the middle of the central section so you can fold the hood brim back and secure it on top of the baby’s wee noggin. Work the last 3 ridges and BO, slipping the remaining side st to begin and purling tog the last 2 sts at the end for a smooth edge.

Secure ends, sew a button to the top of the hood, and there you have it! Add little matching split cuffs to the sleeves as a point of style if you wish.

Thank you, each and every one of you, for your comforting words about Selkie. It’s so hard to believe she’s gone when I’m still vacuuming her fur out from under the table. My parents brought her down for a visit just a week ago when they came to collect another truckload of my grandmother’s furniture from my garage. I’m glad I got to see her so recently, to give her love and pats and praise.

During the effort to move the furniture, my father spent hours breaking down the excess packaging, and the wind blew some heavy cardboard over to squash the tender young lupines I planted in the patch of soil by the garage. I put them out in homage to a favorite book from my childhood, Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius. (I loved saying Rumphius. What a name. Someday I’m going to design a comfy cardigan and call it after that character. I just had the thought that if the book were coming to print today, surely the marketing department would insist on a different title – The Lupine Lady, perhaps. Miss Rumphius isn’t a very enticing and obvious sell to grown-ups.) Anyway, the foliage on one side was all busted, but the main stalk seemed to be bent rather than broken, so we propped it up with a sturdy stick and hoped for the best. Here’s the same plant, ten days later:

Isn’t it marvelous how things grow back?

In an effort to jolly myself out of the glummery of the past week, I finished cutting my Leafy Snowball fabric and laid it all out.

Never mind the little seafoam-green squares; they’re not staying. I’ll find either a more olive-ish green or a grey-blue of similar value. But here’s the thing: I have LOTS of squares left over. I could make this quilt twice as big, and I just might. I’ll need more of the border fabric, which I think I can get; the calico for the back I think is all gone at the store, but I might be able to hunt it down somewhere else. Or I could just have the back be half something else. Here’s a medium-large cat for scale:

You’ll be glad to know I didn’t think about the layout for this quilt for more than the three minutes it took me to crawl around setting down squares willy-nilly. I wish it had more large-print fabrics, but I’m not going to worry about it too much. It seems I’m helpless before an array of beautiful calicoes, so that’s what’s here.

Oh, and lest you should think I’ve stopped knitting entirely:

Ah, the summer cold. Living, viral proof that life is neither fair nor dignified. I’ve managed to succumb to it on the last day of school two years running, thereby wimping out on the nocturnal faculty revelries that traditionally follow graduation. Since I don’t feel much like getting out and doing things, it’s fortunate that I’ve got endless table-top entertainment in the form of my mother-in-law’s rotary cutter and a big stack of newly washed fabric:

I’ve been merrily pizza-cutting squares for the Leafy Snowball quilt: the genius of the Leafy Snowball quilt is that it’s all squares, but ends up looking like circles – perfect for a beginner like me. I made one last run to Mill End, and now I think I have all the colors I need, save for a few more solids to form the diamond shapes in between the “circles.” I still need to sew the binding onto the Lap Quilt before I’ll let myself start playing with the arrangement for the Leafy Snowballs in earnest, but since the rotary cutter is on loan for a finite period, I feel justified in forging ahead with the cutting. Besides, my parents were here to visit over the weekend (Happy Birthday again, Mom!), and my mother was riveted by the rotary cutting action. Both my craftsperson parents like to see a particularly useful tool doing its bit. And while I made a few wobbly cuts at the beginning, I’m wielding the thing with confidence now. I may need to get my mother-in-law a new blade before I give it back.

Speaking of sewing, I finally got a picture of the Bend-the-Rules Denyse Schmidt (good catch, Véronique!) oven mitt in situ:

But any cleverness I might have been feeling about this has now been erased by the fact that the Charming Handbag Knitting Bag I just made from Bend-the-Rules Sewing has now flown out the door to be Katrin’s birthday present without posing for a single picture, in progress or finished. One big forehead smack for me coming right up. Go say Happy Birthday to Katrin – you should see her spanking new blue elephant ink! (Well, maybe in a week or so when it’s all healed. In the meantime, take my word that it’s really cute – I mean tough – and that the girl is a rockstar and barely flinched even for the ouchy over-the-tailbone parts.)

And now I’m off to down another mug of tea and summon the energy to go frisbee the dog.