Sorry. Not Sorry

Gather up the heart medications folks because I am blogging.

So, it would seem that I took 6 months off from blogging. It wasn't really a conscious decision on my part. It was just that life. Oh life you crazy person. Is anyone even here anymore? Perhaps we will just take this as a reboot. StopHerKnitting 2.0 as it were. Yes, I think that is what we will do. That way I can tell you what has been going on around Chez Knit and it will be like we are old friends who haven't seen each other for an age. And I will attempt not to drop off the face of the earth.....again.

Really, I have thought about all of you (all 10 of you I would now guess) ALL the time in the past 6 months. I have thought, "Oh! I have to tell them about that." and then it never happened. Bad Deb. BadBadBad. The excuse that I am going with is that the fact that I currently have 4 jobs, three of which I can tell you about at the moment and one that I will tell you about later on, keep me pretty busy. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. I continue to work part time for HHBL. Good thing that we like each other because we spend 5 out of 7 days in each other's company. There is a blog post in there somewhere about the work/life balance when you work for your husband. 

Then there might still be the whole wedding coordinator thing going on. 

Currently there are 6 weddings on the books for 2018 so the next few months will be busy. I always end up adding more as the time goes on. I do love weddings.

And now.........

We have added.........

A.........

GRANDBABY!!!

I will tell you all about that in just a hot second. OK, I will tell you now. Really, we knew about her "existence" when last I was here but there has been a total and complete media blackout on the whole thing. And I will not be sharing a boat load of pictures here because, well TMO and TSiL have asked me not to and I can completely respect that. But......

I am sharing just ONE picture because, oh guys, she is the cutest thing in the world. Cuter than bugs ears as Grandpa Pringle would say if he were here. It also begs the question as to whether bugs actually have ears. I will be off to the Googles later to check that out. Is there ANYTHING better than new baby smell.

Of course, within 12 hours of meeting her Pops she loaded the old diaper while sitting in his lap. Get a load (HAHAHAHAHA!) of that look of holy concentration on her face. She is DEFINITELY going to fit right in with the family.

That was two pictures. Sorry.....not sorry.

The other big news is that we have added another Son-in-law. Yes, Cartoon Girl and That New York Guy (TNYG) tied the knot last weekend in NYC. A good time was had by all, or at least by me. The setting was fabulous, The Museum of the Moving Image, which TOTALLY suits CG and TNYG. 

Doesn't everyone Facetime the baby when getting ready? Does that count as another baby picture? Sorry....not sorry.

The DRESS!!! Oh the dress. CG has a very vintage style and that meant a vintage dress. I would give a good skein of Pagewood Farms yarn (ask a knitter, they will understand) to know the story of this dress. It was made, we believe, in the 1930's and originally had a train, which was removed to make the dress more her style. The turban was made from the train fabric. The owner of the vintage shop that she loves pulled the dress, all wrinkled and unloved, out of a plastic bin in the back. There was no going back after that.

Sorry....not sorry. It isn't a Quigg wedding without a Star Wars reference.

"Her mother....and I"

HHBL has his line down pat after this. But now we don't have any more daughters to marry off. Oh well.

TNYG started to cry when doing his vows. And then CG was crying. And the Elisha (the fabulously marvelous friend/officiant) was crying. And then we all were crying.

Weddings are for crying right?

And then it was all done and we went on to party the night away.

This is Elisha, the friend/officiant. She is mine now. I love her and I am keeping her. Please excuse my overly generous armage. I am a grandma now and that is a required thing. Also, wearing pearls is a grandma thing too. Perhaps I should also start smelling like talcum powder. Or am I taking this too far?

OK, this has gone on longer than I expected. It is Saturday and I have things to do, like finish another baby blanket, but not for The First Grand baby. We seem to have a bunch of family babies making an appearance in the next few months. SO fecund we are. Look it up. I also have a bit of lace knitting to finish because, guys........

I am going to MARYLAND SHEEP AND WOOL FESTIVAL in May (ask a knitter, they will explain it to you). I used all caps there so you can hear me shouting my excitement. It helps to have friends who are knit designers because Michelle of Crafty Flutterby Creations has asked me to go and help in her booth. This has been on the calendar for almost a year. I am so excited. I promise there will be pictures after the fact.

This blog post has taken me FOREVER. But there are just a lot of words that want to come out. I will be back.....I promise.

I Have No Earthly Idea

Yes, my progeny. Always serious. Always willing to pose for just the right picture.

Knowing that I am going to put this on the blog just because I can.

I have no EARTHLY idea how they got this way. It is a mystery.

The Noodle is 23

A gigantic…..

Huge…..

Enormous……

Pickle, cheese and turkey filled……

HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY

to……

my youngest progeny

Bethany Benny Noodle Bug

Too cool for school even at the age or four years old.

Another LAMMA Wedding

Folks it has been that kind of day. I will tell you about it sometime.

I really need to think happy thoughts at the moment. So lets talk WEDDING! Weddings are happy things.

And I love weddings where someone has thought outside the box so to speak. That was yesterday when Lyn and Russ got married at the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

I realize that you may not care two hoots and holler about the next bazillion pictures and explanation.

But….yeah, you know I am going to write the blog post anyway.

The wedding was in the middle of the afternoon on a TUESDAY. Needless to say, HHBL could not attend. This is my “date”. She happens to be the momma of TMO’s BFF who is pictured below practicing for her musical part in the wedding.

I think I have told you before that Al and TMO took one look at each other across a crowded 1st grade room and decided to be BFFs. And then they went home and told their moms that they had to be BFFs too.

And we are.

And that was ENTIRELY too many acronyms in one paragraph. I apologize but YOLO.

Can I just say total and complete lens envy. She had superior camera bodies which doesn’t bother me as I am completely in love with my 7D. But I might perhaps have thought of mugging her in the parking lot for the lenses. I restrained myself because she was very nice…but it was a near thing.

TMO and Al breaking the tension of the moments before the bride appears.

So typically Lyn. A BEAUTIFUL dress, no veil and her bouquet! Guys, her bouquet was made out of succulents!!

So unusual, which would then be so Lyn.

And the BACK of the dress! The number of wedding attendees was small but you should have heard the OOOOOOs and AAAAAAAAHs from all the women when they got a good look at the lace and buttons in the back.

Russ had eyes ONLY for Lyn. He looked like someone had koshed him over the head when she walked in the door. I am going to assume that he never looks that way when he flies a plane, just when he gets married.

 

Now lets EAT!

And may I say that……

A wedding reception that serves me Cold Beet Salad, Grilled Asparagus, Profiteroles stuffed with goat cheese and drizzled with honey, Gelato, cupcakes and all other manner of yummy delicacies is a wedding reception that is well done in my humble opinion.

They had me at Cold Beet Salad.

Of course we had to take a picture or ten of LAMMA. You know…..

Lyn
Ashley
Meghan
Molly
Alison

TMO’s wedding.

Al’s wedding

And then all the LAMMA mommas. Dang I love these girls.

As a final we had to have the leaping up in the air photo that LAMMA ALWAYS seems to need to do. The official photographer got the better picture, but she acknowledged that it was my idea and that she hadn’t ever even thought of it but would employ it from now on.

I can live with that.

And then I went home and had a glass of wine to recover.

Shoe Queen and Slim Jim Get Married

Oh goodness, I meant to write this earlier in life. But then that pesky move got in the way. But it is now almost three weeks post celebration orgy and I think I had better let all of you see what an absolute blast we had that day.

We worried a bit about the weather. You see, the wedding ceremony was scheduled to be outside. I KNOW!! We are wild and crazy people who raise our fists at the sky and exclaim…

DO YOUR WORST! It’s August and there won’t be any rain.

{{{Insert Dope Slap Here}}}

And for a time I thought that the sky and the weather might actually win. It rained on Wednesday. It rained, a lot, on Thursday. The ground where chairs were going to be set up and where the bridal party would need to stand was, shall we say, damp. And when I say damp what I really mean was that when you stepped on it the water welled up around your shoes like the crude that Jed Clampett found in the Beverly Hillbillies. We were worried. And even on the morning of the big day, when we had to go over to the venue early in the day to drop things off and set up some flowers….it was misting. But Ken, the owner of the venue, assured me that if we could get a bit of sun then the ground would dry and all would be well.

By noon the sun was out and the grass was drying off and we were on countdown for a 6p ceremony. Well, almost.  There were some minor glitches. When the DJ’s came to set up at 3:30p they couldn’t get into the venue even though I had been told (by the owner) that they could. And we couldn’t get in either to do some last minute set up. But Rebecca, my “worry woman” (wedding coordinator) took control of all of that and I didn’t have to worry and Shoe Queen didn’t have to worry. There was supposed to be electricity at the gazebo where the DJ’s needed to set up for ceremony music….but it wasn’t working. So Dan and Tony (our AMAZING DJ’s) improvised with strung together extension cords…which at least one bridesmaid tripped over.

Sigh.

Can I just say, as an aside, that one of the BEST BEST BEST BEST things that we did was to hire a day coordinator for the wedding.

BEST.

Becca’s mom is an old and very dear friend who for many years was a wedding coordinator so I knew that Becca would know her stuff. And she did. If it was a problem that needed to be handled on that day or something that needed to be done I handed it to her.

You know what. I am just going to show you pictures. And for the most part I didn’t take ANY of these. Photos started showing up in my email about 8 hours after the ceremony. And in recent days Photographer Erica (from Three Knit Sibs Photography) has been teasing me with photos.

OK, I made up that name but really that is what we are, Three Knit Sibs Photography.

Back on track Deb.

Here is what we did that day.

I got to spend some time with someone of my favorite daughters. I miss seeing them. Please ignore my ever present double chin.

The MOB and MOG were equally smart on this occasion and wore comfortable footwear. In other respects I suspect she is smart than I as she has a Master’s degree and a Doctorate, is going for another Master’s degree and is a college professor.

And we all know what I am….I think.

TNG came out from NYC to meet all of us and hang around with Cartoon Girl. Aren’t they cute!!

Everyone stood around at a distance and watched “The Big Reveal”. I can hardly wait to see those pictures!!

There was some last minute hanging around and waiting. A time of prayer. And then it was ON!

You can be assured that we danced the night away. The wedding was a reflection of Shoe Queen and Slim Jim. Simple, full of humor, perfect.

And you can also be assured that when the pictures from Three Knit Sibs are ready then I will do another post. I can hardly wait to see the photos.