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Birthday!

Last week was my birthday and it has now launched me into my
26th year… that is, I’ve completed 25 years of my life.

My sister Rosemary called on the morning of my birthday to
wish me a happy day.  In the course of
our conversation she pointed out to me that I’ve lived a quarter of a
century.  “You know, you’re old,” she
told me from her vantage point of 17 years of age.  “And if you are really unlucky, you’ve now
lived about half of your life.”
“Thanks,” I told her. 
One of the lovely things about being the oldest is my three younger
siblings.  They just love telling me how
old I am.
Later, I went to work at the Yarn Spot, where I got wished
happy birthday again.  There, everyone in
the store was telling me how young I was, “a practical baby.”  It’s amazing the range of reactions turning
25 gets.
I guess I expected 25 to come through with more of a flair,
but I feel like 24 was actually a bigger birthday, in some ways for me.  More was starting or beginning a year ago,
now I’m in a rythmn, and 25 just represents another year turning, a
continuation of the story instead of a new book or new chapter.  This is not a bad thing, as beginning over
and over again can be exhausting.  That
re-forming and re-defining of yourself and your surroundings is tiring.
The weekend following Michael and I had a small birthday
party.  It was supposed to be bigger, but
many people had to step out at the last moment. 
Ellie made me a lovely rainbow confection again, this time a cake
instead of cupcakes.  Any more of this
and it will start becoming a tradition. 
It was delicious, and Michael and I were eating the leftovers several
days afterward.
My friends at the Yarn Spot got me some lovely yarn they
know I have been eyeing.  Bobbi acquired
a really neat puzzle from Interweave that I’m looking forward to putting
together.  My family also showered me
with cards and love.
How do you celebrate birthdays?  Do you make a big deal about it?  What was your 25th birthday like
(if you’ve had it), or what do you imagine it being like if you haven’t?  I’d like to know.
PS: Also, I called my mother on my birthday and thanked her
for birthing me.  I suggest that you do
that for your mother too.  And as my
mother said this year when I thanked her, she laughed and said “Oh, I remember that like it was
yesterday.”  I don’t think she was
talking about the joyfulness of the occasion.

An Interview with Ellie

So Ellie, we’re both sitting here and I think you should let me interview you.

Ellie:  Okay.  You can write I’m fascinating if you like.  Let them know that I”m not a concieted ***hole…. don’t write ***hole.

Jen: Okay.  I can do that.  All right, most important question:  The first five cookies you think are the best.  The true cookies, if you may.

E: Let’s see… like, brand name cookies, or cookies I make?

J: Cookies, you make.

E: You really are transcribing everything?

J: Yes, I type fast enough.

E: Peanut butter cookies.  How vulgar can I be?  Do people with children read this?

J: Probably not now.

E: Okay.  *laughs*  I sorta think peanut butter cookies are right next to orgasm.  Umm… please don’t type  my umms.

J: Okay.  I can do that.

E: Lemon cookies.

J: What?

E: You don’t eat lemon cookies?  I made them for you once for your birthday.

J: Oh, those.  They were delicious.

E: Chocolate chip cookies.

J: Naturally

E: Grasshopper cookies.

J: Grasshopper?

E: They’re made with mint choclate.  Though I’d probably eat cookies with grasshoppers in them also.

J: I would too.

E: Oatmeal… not with raisins though.  Raisins are the boogers of the fruit world.

J: Really?

E: When I was a little kid, I’d used to call them weewees.  And one thime my mom got me a cinamon rasins buns with the frosting on top and I said to her, mommy there are weewees sleeping in my cake.  And refused to eat it.

J: I would too.  Though I like raisins, weewees would be just unnerving in cake.  I assume that means you don’t like rum cake with rasins in them, right?

E: By the time you put enough rum in it, you don’t notice the raisins.

J: I love you.

E: *Laughter.*  I love you too.

J: And that’s why I love Ellie.

Photographs from the farm, and the rare bit of snow we’ve gotten this year:

My darling fiancee Michael’s family owns a farm in rural VA that they use as a retrat.  Being within a few hours drive from DC, we are sometimes get to use the farm as a getaway from our own busy lives in the city.  It’s refreshing for Michael and I, for different reasons.  While I am pretty much happy living wherever, Darling Michael is a country boy at heart, and happiest in a place where you can’t see your next door neighbor, and it takes a car to get anywhere.

We went to the farm with a couple of friends, and it managed to snow that afternoon.
Naturally we had to play in the snow.

Because Ellie and Rob were with us, we had to make a snowasaurous. (pictured in the back).  Rob decided to make his own dinosaur (pictured in the mid-ground).  I was having so much fun rolling snowballs (which were being used for the two dinnosaurs) that after they said they didn’t need any more snowballs, I continued to roll balls for my own amusement.

I got rather tired.

But I had a lot of snowballs.

Last count I rolled upwards of 22 snowballs.  Some with a little help.

One of the more interesting aspects of the farm is the old equipment dragged into the woods to die.

It is affectionately known as farm art.

Michael took a walk with me in the snow, a grand tradition we try to honor as much as possible.  There he is in his trenchcoat, and one of the myriad of farm hats to wear at the farm.  This is one of his many glares (sometime I’ll do a post about how Michael really only has three expressions, and all expressions are variations of those three).

This is a hurry up and stop taking my picture look, under-laid with an I’m amused but not trying to show it look.

I found a Whoville tree.

Yellowfarm Cowl

Hot off the press, a cowl design for Yellowfarm.

Yellowfarm is a small but vibrant farm and yarn business back from my hometown Guilderland, NY (technically, they’re from Altamont, but Guilderland and Altamont are practically the same place).  They grow Wensleydale and American Teeswater long wool sheep.  Both breeds are know for their beautiful silky lock structure, which simply can’t be ignored.

Yellowfarm will be featuring this cowl design when they head to Vogue Knitting in NY, NY, and I will be releasing the pattern sometime this spring.

This versatile cowl can be used as both a button-up scarflet or a cowl, and uses thrumming and entrelac.  But instead of thrumming to the inside of your piece (which creates some of the warmest mittens you have ever seen), the thrums go to the outside of the work, creating a distinctive pattern.

Working with Yellowfarm was truely a pleasure, and I hope to do it again in the future.  Thanks guys for letting me work with your beautiful wool!  Good luck at Vogue!

PS: Recognize the model?  It’s Ellie again, being a great trooper as I pushed her around on a cold winter day.

Engagement photos

Last weekend after I ran Rosemary home after her visit (YEY sister visiting, but boo her leaving) I got together will Ellie and Rob, possibly my best friends from around the area.
On a side note, proving that the world is truly a small place, I met Ellie at the Yarn Spot about a year ago.  After talking to her for about an hour, I pulled a “friend pick-up” maneuver, got her number, and told her we needed to hang out.  You know how you sometimes meet people and you just know you’ll get along?  She was one of them.  Later we found out that we were born in the same small hospital in Vermont, and most likely was in the same playgroup when we were two.
We ventured out onto Sligo Creek, to the same park where I had my birthday.  We were on a mission.  You see, we needed some engagement and save the date photos for Ellie and Rob.  We were going to do some traditional ones, and then we were going to do some fun ones, involving dinosaurs.
Now, I try to work on my photography all the time, taking pictures mostly outside of my two favorite little girls (Anna Elliot‘s little girls, Bella and Vivi).  I’ve gotten pretty decent, and I try to work on this a lot because photography is a really important part of blogging, and selling patterns when you are doing it online or in magazines.  Hey, and it can’t hurt.
So I thought I’d share some of the pictures from our shoot, and give you a glimpse of two of the best people in the world to have as friends.
November 005
Cookies and engagement rings make the best combination, I think.
November 014
I was using Ellie and her dog, JoJo to take some test shots.  They turned out remarkably well.
November 026
Interestingly, it takes a longer time for adults to relax in front of a camera than children.  It took Rob accidentally shoving a cookie in Ellie’s mouth to make them stiff.
November 042
Hey, I got to also play around and take some more artistic shots.  It was a win-win.
November 052
Rob threatening the to-be-photoshopped in dinosaur.
November 056
Running from a dinosaur.  Not a t-rex, but perhaps some other type of theropod.  I was informed that the dinosaur we see most often portrayed as a T-rex is often another type of theropd.  I’m sure I’m spelling theropod wrong.
November 113
Another lesson learned, if I change my settings, change them back.  But not before this happy accidental shot happens.
November 111
Ahhhhh!  Theropod!
November 128  Things learned from this photoshoot:  Happy accidents happen.  Get people to do silly things. Get people to relax.  Adults may perhaps he harder than children to work with. Ellie and Rob are really cute together.
Cuteness.

Apparently I don’t do lists right

When I went with my grandmother on a cruise about a month ago, I created a list of things to do for Michael (now my fiancee!).  It went a little like this (edited for brevity):

  • Use up the bananas in the fridge
  • Create delicious spice mixes for me to use
  • Miss Jen
  • Get together with Rob and Ellie (of Ellie Makes Cakes note: Ellie doesn’t update much, but her cakes are really pretty)
  • Miss Jen
  • Clean Room
  • Do Laundry
  • Finish all the things in your online course
  • Miss Jen. Take a picture of your sad face
  • Find the notes hidden around the house

Michael immidately looked at it and asked if it was an ordered list… ie, did you have to do one thing before you went on to the other.  He then made note that some of the things were contingent upon other, while others were not.  Could he race through the list and get everything done right away?  And on and on.  Clearly I needed to take a programing class so I knew how to make lists correctly. *rolls eyes*  Apparently an “amalgamation of thoughts” is not a list.

So, this is a non-ordered list, with things not contingent upon previous things getting done. Instead, it is a list of thoughts for today.

  • I really dislike weaving in ends.  Unlike most activities, some of which I dislike (like dish-washing), which I won’t mind as long as I’m entertained, weaving in ends is really tedious.
  • However, this design is going to rock when it is done, even if there are a boatload of ends to weave in.  Why? Because it has beads.  I think the beads are really great.
  • The apple tree is dying.
    • Now, I know, I’ve never claimed to have a really green thumb, but I thought the apple tree was going to pull through.  It survived the cat nibbling on it, only to not get watered after I came home from the cruise.  I noticed it was getting a little interesting today, and the leaves are getting rather crispy.  I’m hoping it’s just transitioning to fall and not just dried up dead.  We’ll see.
  • The avocado trees are doing well, and one more seed is getting ready to be planted.  Dunno where I’m going to put it.  Calabash trees are happy too, and the pineapple plant is doing all right also.
  • Pictures from Rob and Ellie’s Engagement photos came out really well.  I really want a new camera.
  • I should write up a christmas wishlist.
  • I really should be working on e-mails.  Ah well.

So what are ya’ll up to today?  Got any thoughts to put out there?

Ellie Made Me Cupcakes

Cupcakes.  Ellie made them for me, which makes them Amazing.

 Yesterday was my birthday party, and a bunch of people I love got together to help me celebrate it.  I will now show you some pictures, because it was amazing.

Even better, she made a cupcake for Michael, which had the most frosting on it of all the cupcakes.  This was a great gift, because if it makes Michael happy, it makes me happy.

There’s a rule at Michael’s and my parties, that you need to wear a silly hat.  My silly hat, and my rainbow cupcakes.  Yes, I really am that happy.  Who wouldn’t be?  They’re RAINBOW CUPCAKES.

Michael, with his cupcakes, which as more frosting on it than cake.

See?  Rainbows.  Amazing.