Ryans' Drop-In and My Addiction

Yesterday when I got home from a late morning with the Khoreys (they had a 2-hour delay due to the freezing rain that paved the roads and sidewalks in a sheet of slick ice. Walking to and from their house with Olive in the Ergo proved treacherous and slow) I got a call from ma sis, who was in the area and wanted to stop by. How I love living close enough where quick pop-ins of this sort are a semi-regular occurrence! We so rarely get over to their end of town, though it's only twenty-four minutes away; luckily Kellie and the gang usually find themselves over here on the east side fairly often and Olive is always thrilled to play hostess to her aunt and cousins. They only stayed for a bit since several of the kids were due for their naps, but it was delightful, as usual. Jack regaled us with news about his cat named "Kitten" and how it's on a special diet to make it smaller. Jackie Boy is nobody's fool - who doesn't want a cat to get smaller and stay small? Nobody.

I never liked being the absentee aunt living all the way up in Maine. This arrangement suits us all far better. Kellie, being a dear, loaned me her copy of Claire Montgomerie's Easy Baby Knits, and I couldn't dive into the Wrap Top sweater quickly enough. It's a simple design and didn't require of me anything I didn't already have on hand. I was still knitting when Rob retired with a bird book he's reading on loan from the aviary, and I spent the better part of two hours obsessively untangling the mass of yarn and rolling it into a neat ball. I've gotta say, there is something so therapeutic about meticulously picking your way through a maze of snarls and setting free every last strand. Voila - my candy yarn ball!

I may've gotten only four hours of sleep as a result, but it was so worth it. I've got several other projects on my plate at the moment (finishing the pencil portrait of the Khoreys to give to Lisa and Doug for Christmas. More like Valentine's Day..., banging out the last 8-10 illustrations for Sage, the Sea Lion Who Lost Her Roar, a wedding portrait requested by a friend of a friend, and a hand project for someone here in Pittsburgh who found an ad of mine on craigslist), but nothing's getting done till this ball has been transferred to the needles. I need it gone. At least it's a productive addiction - with so many vices there's nothing to show for it but a hole in the wallet, lung, liver, or what have you. It's great, too, do develop this creative side that also has practical application. I love to draw and paint, but I struggle with the utilitarian end of it - what're you gonna do with that painting besides hang it on the wall and look at it? Probably not a durn thing. So I'm making this here sweater for my Goon, and I'm making it on the large side so she can wear it next winter, too. In fact, I'm so keen on this yarn that I may have to unravel it once she's outgrown it and turn it into something equally useful. If I have anything to say about it, Olive's going to be wearing this ball o' yarn for the next thirty years.

Oh, that Dollbear Iris. Always dealing out the smiles. Such a sweetiedoll. She and Olive are going to have loads of fun...
Olive can appreciate a good noggin.