A treat for you!

I have a finished project, but I'm putting it off for today because I don't feel like posting something complicated. Instead I have a treat for you! Yay! Say hello to Gus with his green bone. I think he gets embarrassed toward the end. Enjoy!

A sneak peak

I am just a few minutes away from finishing my latest project for Chris. Thankfully in a plum colored wool with lavender silk flecks. REAL yarn. Wool and Silk. Yum....

I realized it was actually getting dark out and that maybe I should take a shot before all the light was gone and you get only dogs again.

Speaking of dogs. Gus has a new bed. Chris ordered a large green screen for easier substituting in photos and it came in a big big box. Just the right size for a cushion to go on. Gus is in heaven. A BOX!!!! He couldn't be happier.

Well ignore that "Mom, stop!! I want to go back to sleep..." He looks more like this about it.

I have one thing about this new camera that I really hate. If you rotate so you are taking a vertical rather then horizontal picture it only registers that it is vertical when I hold it in with a certain end to the top. Its extremely awkward and forced to move my right arm that way. Not to mention that I feel as though I am going to drop the camera (not something I want to do at all). Also ALL the images taken that way are blurry.

Please note the difference between the first image of Gus and this image of Chris. Gus was taken with the wrong end of the up and I had to rotate the image in iphoto and in flickr. Chris was taken with the correct end of the camera up and is blurry like all my photos taken with that end up, but I didn't have to deal with rotating him. Its going to be extremely annoying to have to rotate everything twice. Once for iphoto so I don't have to remember later that it needs rotating to have the focus appear correctly and once for flickr because it doesn't remember the rotation when it loads stuff.

And no I can't get Chris to behave for the camera no matter what I do. I rarely get a decent photo of him. Its why I'm happy I already have a couple in my office. Gus at least loves to pose.

Vampire...I'm convinced they exist...

I so wish I had a picture of this to prove it, but alas it was just barely caught out of the corner of my eye and I turned just in time to see it.

I have a black cat named Ozzy. You might remember him? He looks like this. Regal. Solid black. Serious. Luminous yellow eyes. Standard halloween cat. I should have bad luck forever because he daily crosses my path. Etc...

Anyway, said black cat was sitting just about 4 feet or so from the bottom of the stairs. He yawns and the long pointy teeth come out. Just as he is starting to close his mouth Penny bounds down the stairs and slides to a stop just in front of him and he leans in and bites her neck.

See!!!?? Vampire. He is totally a vampire. I'm going to start calling him that now. This is the third time I've caught him!

Ok now for socks. I've knit almost NOTHING in the last three days. Suddenly very very busy.

No third repeat for me, I did cast on too tight, and just the heel flap done from where I finished on Monday. I'll get to it this weekend some more. Maybe get to knock out this first sock. I'm not even to the halfway point though!

Its another dog day of very early summer

Um. How did it get to be 930PM already? I have a few packages to wrap and then its off to bed. Geez...where did the day go?

Good thing these guys are cute.

I love this tremulous smile.

Can we go play soccer again?? Please, please, please. I'll let you and Gus win. ha ha ha. Might even let you kick the ball across the yard!

I need to make a couple of baby dresses this weekend I think. I haven't made "clothing" before and here I am making baby clothes and doll clothes. Any good free sewing patterns for baby girl clothes that you know of?

my dogs want to say hi

Also known as knitting night. Sock is done. Next thing cast on. Need to go do up some packages to send out.

We all got together in the backyard to play with a new favorite toy.

We love a good frozen water bottle. (This is how we flatten bottles for recycling!)

Yeah, you just can't go wrong with a yummy block of frozen water.

Notice how he tries to eat it all in one go? Yeah Gus doesn't play around with ice.

Old Shale

Just a word of warning. I seem to have a lot to say the last couple of days so long long post coming!

So there was this tractor outside mowing the fields across the street. It was making Abby crazy. She wanted to go see it so so much.

So I put both their leashes on and we walk out the door. Just as I close the door the tractor starts heading in our direction. Abby FREAKS. I knew she would. She hates really loud noise unless it is music or movie. It just doesn't make her ears feel good I think. Anyway she bolted for the door and smashed right into it. Meantime Gus has decided to get a closer look. I opt to drop his leash and call him to chill rather then get torn in two as Abby is dragging me back to the door in her panic. Gus gets to about the middle of the driveway and stands there watching and wiggling. Boys like tractors. I let Abby back in the house and off the leash. When Gus and I head inside she lets her head poke out of the door and just stares. Butt wiggling, tongue hanging out. You'd think she was having a good time. She's cool as it gets further and further away, but the second it starts coming closer she freaks again. Did I mention how this was all her idea? Silly dog. My baby girl is not a farm dog.

OLD SHALE

Pattern: Old Shale Scarf by Tienne. Ravelry link and my ravelry project. (By the way if you don't know Tienne, go check out her blog she knits absolutely gorgeous things! Its very inspiring!)
Materials: One skein of Knit it Up! Squishy Sock yarn in the colorway peach cobbler. I used almost all of it.
Needle: US#6 Addi Turbo 24"
Start Date: 8 May 2008
Completion Date: 29 May 2008
Size: 8 inches by 90 inches
Project Spectrum 3: Earth (green, brown, metalics)

Notes: Literally I used all but 7 inches. The small piece in this picture is after weaving in on the cast off edge (I wove in about 4 inches). The large piece is from the cast on edge and is the remains of my long tail cast on (I again wove in about 4 inches). Love that I really truly got to enjoy almost every inch of this yarn. Gorgeous color and super soft.

There is nothing I don't like about feather and fan (Old Shale) stitch. If I had 500 more yards of this yarn I would have been happy to keep going. Though if that was the case I probably would have made it twice as wide and gotten a stole from it! I really love the texture and wavy-ness. It reminds me of a lazy river just moseying along. Albeit a muddy one in this case.

Old Shale as a name is so appropriate as this is what old shale (the rock-that link is for wikipedia) really looks like when you see it in the ground. Piles of curved, compressed, rock, just smashed into one another. (Usually it is a bit more gray in color and less variegated!) Sometimes full of fissures and holes (where natural gas lives until it is pulled out of the ground). Its really incredibly beautiful. Nature is simply amazing I think.

Also, I almost forgot this, but I live on the outskirts of a geological formation called the Barnett Shale, which is considered to bet the largest natural gas field in the entire US. This is also one of the formations that I work with in my everyday job. So Old Shale is so appropriate with that too! I think I was destined to knit this scarf!

I followed Tienne's directions exactly except that I simply bound off when there wasn't any more yarn to knit with rather then when I got to a certain length. I'm really pleased with this. I can't wait to wear it. Its so light weight I think it will be very appropriate for the not so cold, but somewhat windy chilly, winter days here in Texas. Plus it is so so pretty and I think it will be really good with a lot of my winter clothes.

I took so many photos of this and I love them all and its so pretty to look at I'm having trouble deciding which to post! Do you ever that problem where you just can't make up your mind? This is the last one! I promise.

Oh and Gus! He was sleeping on my foot as I was trying to take photos with that horse sculpture.

In the spirit

In the spirit of getting the scarf finished I was going to do a meme from Amy at KnitandFallBackInIt.

The deal is that you have to answer with only pictures and no words what so ever. I'm finding it incredibly hard to do, plus there are no answers to three of the questions. So I think I am going to have to skip this one. Sorry Amy!!

Here is a dog instead and a cat hiding under a table. (This is the house we owned before moving here.)

One

Dallas, Texas - Augustus Von Widderhausen, Chairman and CEO of BullyMade Industries celebrates his first year today. Inside sources tell us a big deal is being made. As we understand it boxes of peanut butter ice cream, bones, and slurpees have been brought in. Celebrations include just a bit of roughhousing and a nap or seven. They were vague about plans for fireworks over the lake? Or is that tomorrow?

As usual, he wholeheartedly agreed to follow me around the yard. With many stops to sniff and point out interesting bits of grass, bugs, or twigs. However, when the time came, he seemed a bit timid about today's photo shoot. Preferring to hide behind his tongue.

Make faces at the camera with the COO (Instigator Extraordinare) of BullyMade, makers of fine noises, smells, cuteness, and footgear (ever worn a bulldog as a shoe?).

I proceeded to bribe him to win favor and he was quick to pay attention when the treats came out. He opened up for the camera. He noted with his pleading eyes that it was difficult to catch a treat with the sun in your eyes and that it seemed to bounce off of his nose more often then not. Abigail was a hog so Augustus did not get as many treats as she did. However, he was a good sport and only pouted a little. (That situation has been remedied.)

Then, in the blink of an eye, he was back to being timid and just a bit shy. The public figurehead requirements are the only part of his leadership of the company that seem to make him uncomfortable. He worries about that needlessly. He is effortless in his cuteness (noises and smells too!). A true leader.

He let me know when it was time to get back to work. (There are bones to steal and chew. Much napping to be done!) Showed me his grumpy old man face then took off for the door. It was hot outside so maybe not so surprising. Air conditioners are nice after all!

Happy Birthday Augustus!

So far its been wild and crazy and whole heap of fun! He is so serious and calm. Its quite different after Abby. They make a powerful pair.

(PS. He is hoping to get more birthday greetings then Abby because he is the Chairman after all!)

Postage

I've spent quite a bit of this evening getting stuff ready to go out tomorrow. Knowing I actually need to walk into a post office (customs forms can't be filled out online!) makes me want to have it all ready before I leave for the office tomorrow so I can do it on the way home before it gets busy.

There are 8 packages. Some shop sales. A swap package for Carla (sorry I am so much later then I said!!! I hope you like it!!!). A calorimetry winner's package. And some pay it forward. Other pay it forward went out on Tuesday.

So who won the Calorimetry. Was it Gus??

No sadly knitwear makes him hot. Especially as the weather is heating up. (To answer a comment question, this is why Gus doesn't get one!)

No our winner was Robyn, of Robyn's Nest (nice shop!) and Knit & Purl Mama. Robyn I hope you like it!

Two

Happy Birthday to you...
Happy Birthday to you...
Happy birthday my girlie....
Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!!

My Abigail is two today. I can't believe that she's been in the family for nearly two years. Just 7 short weeks from now that happens.

When I got home from work today she wanted to go play soccer. Here she is ready to attack the ball (and my foot). She's always been the sporty one.

She's my sweetheart. A crazy soul. A group hugger (runner over). Never shy. Rarely afraid. Always looking for action. She's a happy-go-lucky, go-with-the-flow, everything is a good time, type girlie. She stole our hearts at first sight, even before we "met" her and once we had met we couldn't let her go and we big time rearranged our lives (mostly mine as Chris was working quite far away) so that we could bring her home. She is stubborn, eccentric, loving, and over-the-top. She is a BIG personality in a compact body. She is the embodiment of love. I think a dog is always in investment in love. (Cats too!) No matter what you paid/donated they are always worth more. And always bring you so much more.

For Abby's birthday she wanted to give you a gift. I've knit two Calorimetry head wraps in the last week. I didn't have enough of this yarn for a zeebee (Schmeebot if you don't do ravelry.) like I planned and I didn't think I had enough for a long enough hat either, but I did for two calorimetry. One for me and, instead of giving the second to Abby like I might have, I've knit one for you! (Don't worry Abby will steal mine. She won't go without.)

These both need blocking but I'm calling them finished or I'll just put off this post (can anyone say Lizard Ridge finished project??) They've also already been Gus approved as he tried to eat mine.

Pattern: Calorimetry from Knitty (my ravelry project)
Materials: Each one took exactly half a skein of handspun yarn. The batt was from Loop yarns and it was spun by StonyCreek. I traded one skien of Sundara Sock in Rust over Chestnut for this skein of yarn through Ravelry. This yarn was very rope like to knit with but in the skein, the ball, and in the finished project its soft, comfy and oh so pretty. Its a brighter green then the photo here. Think more Kermit and less lettuce.
Needle: US7 Addi Turbo Circular 32"
Start Date: 9 May 2008
Completion Date: 12 May 2008
Size: Smaller then the pattern. I only cast on 88 and its plenty big enough. Also on the one I am giving away I've knit some cables on one side so it is reversible. They are random cables. Whenever I felt like making one I did. So there isn't a pattern to them and they don't occur even in every knit rib.
Project Spectrum 3: Earth (green, brown, metalics)

All the second one needs is a bind off, weaving in and a set of buttons (needs two since it is reversible!) This won't have the leaf button because it wouldn't feel good against your head when you reverse this and its not openable with the awkward button. I've permanently sealed mine, but then mine also isn't reversible.

Are you interested in a handknit head wrap you can't use for another few months (most likely)? If so leave a comment before Thursday night 6PM Central (15 May) and I will draw a name for the recipient. If no one wants it I will give it to Abby, since it is a little silly for me to have two as I only have one head.

bunny, bag, scarf and hat

Ever have one of those days where everything seems random even when it all fits together properly and is related and aligned? Yesterday felt random. Today is very very random. For instance, Chris is in the kitchen making cupcakes right now. Not his usual to make them without asking if I will do them first. But there he is beating away at the batter. Its a weird day for sure.

Apparently this post is about working on stuff on Thursday though it would be better to say working on stuff on Wednesday or something because the matching Ws. Well we all know Wednesday post wasn't much of a knitting post. So now its Thursday and here is what I am working on.

Bunny and Bag. Real details will happen in the finished project post since that will most likely be just a day or two.

These two are ready for felting. I have enough of that Malabrigo which wasn't a whole skein to begin with to possibly make another Bunny. It looks like a bunny right?

Here is a better shot of the bag. Its Manos in a very Autumn color on the bottom and Malabrigo in a light tan on the top. It looks really good in person. Not so white for the tan color.

Scarf. All of one repeat in. I'll pass on details when I am a bit further in. If I talk about it all right now what will I say when this thing is still going on for 10 or 12 posts? I just started this on the way home today. So not much done. Not even enough to see the pattern...so this is a real teaser.

Swatched at lunchtime. Hat. I'll tell you about this one since I've kept mute on the others. I have to give you something right? I am going to do one of those garter stitch hats. The ZeeBee (Ravelry Link). I originally swatched for this one with the yellow and purple yarn. Thinking I could make a vertical stripe ZeeBee. But I think this will be really good combo. This is that pickle colored yarn I traded the Sundara yarn for. We're going to test and see if there is enough yarn to actually finish the hat. This involves actually knitting it and hoping that I won't run out. Very scientific. This yarn is really interesting. The yarn feels a bit like rope as you are knitting it but the ball and the fabric created is acutally soft. Product of the bamboo maybe??

Finally the dog over my shoulder says hi. He's had a busy afternoon and is ready for a good rest.

Blogging

I really want to go knit and don't want to sit here and blog. Think bunny, bag, scarf, and hat. See what you can do with that information. I will clarify tomorrow (with pictures) when I feel like blogging again.

So we'll switch it up and I'll offer a dog story (because you rarely get to see my dogs!).

Hmmm...wonder what's going on out dere. Too bad I so short.

I get up dere and see.

Just birds. Dey leave when I go see dem. I get boring here.

I no like stand like that. I get down now, way from boring birds...

Come on Mom and Penny...we go play now. Andiamo*!! Andiamo!! We go play!!

What's that silly dog talking about? I don't PLAY. ugh...

* This is literally "we go" in Italian. Its the words that they know to mean "walk" or "forward" when we are out for a walk. This way if someone else (with other dogs) calls walk they don't get confused. Abby also gets sinestra (left) and destra (right) as in "giriamo a sinestra" or "we turn left". Gus doesn't get it yet, but Abby is really good even when she is doing focused walking. Penny prefers to look at me like I'm a moron.

ETA Oh yeah and for some reason we have associated the word "elephant" with come. I can't drum "come" or "venite" into her head to change her mind. So anytime elephant comes up in conversation she glues herself to my side. Go figure. At least it explains why she always looked at me blankly whenever I said come. I was always saying the wrong word!

running out of yarn...

For some unknown, insane, out-of-character reason, I talked myself out of bringing an extra skein of yarn to work with me today.

I've been working on that bag and I only had one skein of the Manos left so I was going to use leftover Malabrigo to make a stripe at the top. Last night for unknown reasons I opted not to put that skein in my bag. It was in my hands and I didn't do it!

At lunch today with 20 minutes left for knitting, I RAN OUT OF YARN...

I usually have a backup of sock yarn or something in my bag, but since I opted out of sock knitting this month those green socks had been relocated and I wasn't planning to knit the second purple/yellow sock until the next project spectrum set so it had long since been put away.

I had NO KNITTING!

This was on a day that I could maybe have snuck a little in during run times in the afternoon. So instead I jotted down some notes for future blog posts.

Anyway, no knitting to show, but here is a dog. Miss Abby think she's going to get some cheese.

Here is a nice blurry dog. That is a Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese container. He loves plastic bottles and containers. Our recycling is always quite flat because he chews them flat. He was running around last night with this in his mouth trying in vain to find an Abby free zone where he could just lie down and flatten this one too! Sadly he didn't get to keep it much longer because it was already cracked at this point. Cracked means parts can break off and get in the back of his mouth (hard to get out) or get eaten by the other dog. (If Abby gets it it goes automatically in the bin becasue she will devour it rather then just chew it. She can usually begin to devour in the amount of time between her getting it and us reaching her 5 seconds later.)

Stipey Socks Make me Oh So Very Very Happy

I've got some bad sock pictures for you. I still love these socks so so much. I didn't get much knitting done on them this weekend but I finished the heel and just barely started up the leg today.

I love the striping on the heel particularly a lot. I rotated it around on the sock blocker a lot so that you could really see it. So pretty.

I had just one row of yellow in the front before the heel started. So I had to do a tiny bit of fiddling when I got to the end of the heel so that a yellow stripe will show up on the front. I basically had to skip a whole purple repeat. It looks really so much better then it would have because I skipped that bit of yarn.

Today is Tuesday so its a short post day. But I saw this photo of Gus (that I am sure I posted before) that makes me giggle so much. He is such a grumpy old man.

In desperate need of a nap

That said. Stupid benedryl. Here is a set of pictures. My Sunday post is going to be sparse.

Cat dishes....

Waiting for an eater.

Sneak in for a quick bite.

Grab a drink.

Oh you're still here?

Shop Update

I've done a small bit of knitting. I went for a nice long walk and lifted some weights. I've hung out with Chris.

But my main accomplishment for the afternoon is loading some things into the shop.

I've loaded a couple of new yarns. Including this one and a sky blue one.

I've loaded some new bags. Chili peppers. Brown and Yellow Circles. Blue Plaid. And some Apples.

I've also loaded the Ordinary Bird Choir into the shop. They are actually loaded as pieces and not as a whole. I only really realized they looked like a choir after I meant to load them here. These birds are cut freehand when I am ready to sew them. No pattern so they are totally unique in size and shape. I love them.

What have the dogs been doing while I was doing all of this stuff this afternoon? What they do best of course. BE LAZY.

Off to go fix dinner since we may or may not have intentionally skipped lunch due to doing stuff.

Its knitting night....

So you know what that means. Here are some old animal images... All of these were taken in March 2007. Its interesting but I have very few "old" images of Gus. He's grown up on the blog. I have stuff I haven't posted, but really his life is mostly already here.

Penny asleep on Abby's mat with Abby's toy. This always leads to trouble.

Penny asleep on the kitchen chairs. Pink claw caps! Yay for making things girly. Ozzy used to have orange. I need to order some more of the colors. We can't buy them in the store. (She sleeps a lot by the way.)

Abby chilling on the stairs. She wouldn't come down until I said the magic word. WALK.

Ready to get going (same day).

This is about 4 months after we started meds. He has a very light layer of peach fuzz on his belly. The kink in the end of his tail is because it was broken when he was a little little baby and it fused back that way.

The meds also helped him put on weight again. You can see how very skinny he was.

Well its just about nearly bedtime. So we are going to say see you later...

a rare appearance

Business first. I've gotten a new email. I've answered some mail and some people have gotten the notice already, but I haven't made it through the whole inbox yet so I'm going to announce it on here so you can change your address book if need be. I am now found at yarnpig [AT] gmail [DOT] com. Love this new email! Its YARNPIG. YAY!

And now... making a rare public appearance...

Ozzy - Prince of Darkness....

Some of you who are new around here don't know Ozzy just yet. He doesn't like to have his picture taken and is very hard to photograph. He is our shy quiet one (Gus qualifies for shy and quiet too). He doesn't like to be approached. It scares him off. You have to wait until he decides that he wants affection from you. The only time we make him take any is when he gets his shot every three weeks. (allergies, without the shots he would be completely bald) I give him a good 10 minutes of rubbing and scratching at least. He's purring his head off as soon as I touch him even though I had to corner him to get him in the first place. He's a Maine Coon (mostly) and a chirper a lot of the time. He loves balls, dolls (small ones he can bat around), mice, and Penny (he terrorizes her). He's a handful and a sweetheart. He'll steal your heart as easily as any of them.

I was shocked he let me get this close to him yesterday. When we adopted him he'd been Penny's friend at the rescue. They were "running" buddies. We got her mid February and then a couple of weeks later we got him so they could keep being friends. Both were bottle babies found alongside their dead mothers/siblings. Both have September or October birthdays. So just about the same age and basically they've been together their whole lives. He'd gone to live somewhere else just as we adopted her. But they returned him. Couldn't deal with him. I think they might have been mean as well. When he got here Penny rejected him at first. Even though she'd been carrying around a fuzzy black spider as his replacement for the two weeks she'd been here, once he got here she put down the spider and rarely plays with it though its still around. I think she rejected him mostly because she'd gotten used to having all the attention in that two weeks. He took it very personally. He also was very very very unsure of us. He spent a lot of time under the living room couch in a two inch tall space just observing us. Think of this as about 6 months. He started to venture out after about 3 months (very attracted to yarn and sewing thread) but wouldn't really come near us other then to accept an occasional bowl of tuna or a salmon treat. After about 5 or 6 months he'd let us pick him up for a second or two. Or better yet just let us reach over the side of the couch or chair and scratch his head. Always hiding. Its how he earned his prince of darkness name. He came to us as Oscar. It suits him but he's really Ozzy in the end. His chirp makes his "speaking" very dissimilar to a cats so between that and the hiding, prince of darkness.

I'm glad in the three years that they've been with us he's finally starting to see us as his family and lets us be affectionate and loving more and more often. He rarely hides under the furniture anymore. Preferring to sit on the dog mats or the windowsills and observe us more comfortably. He usually wants to be in the same room with us and we try to make him comfortable and safe feeling so he feels like he can stay. He's very much loved around here and I'm glad to have the opportunity to introduce him to all my newish readers finally.

Hello my name Abby...

Hello my name Abby and I has eating problem. There good English in my post!

I eat everything I shouldn't (like yummy tennis balls and sticks from the backyard) and nothing that I should (like gross doggy food). And yet my doctor told me today that I fat. I need to loose lots weight. Very heavy. Bad doggy.

He also look confused when mom said that I not taking my prednisone for the last 5 weeks. It almost like he forgot he was treats my mouth with something that makes you fat! I loose 5 pounds in the last few months. Mom says this is good work. Good doggy. Doctor does not know because he is not record my weight, even though I had get on that icky cold scale thing, every times I been there. I have another 10 or so to go before she thinks I be just right but that will still be 15 pounds over "normal" bulldog weight! She is not want me to be skin and bones because she says that would make me very sick and I already VERY skinny dog if I loose another 10 pounds. She isn't happy with vet man because he didn't bother to read my history today. I have a very thick file. You think they would remember me??? I so cute.

We is hiding in closet under stairs. Mom and Dad not let us do that normally. We have tornado siren she say, whatever that is. We bored. Gus and I take nap now.

Byes.

making it legal.

Chris and I have thought about getting married for last several years but for several very legitimate reasons we've made the decision in the past not to. I won't go into those because they are private and personal and solely our reasons. It's been the right decision for us, however, in the last year or so we've seriously started talking about getting married but never set any plans.

We've thought of ourselves as married from nearly the beginning and have introduced or mentioned each other as husband or wife for several years. His family has thought of us as married (in spirit) for at least as long. In fact my mother-in-law started calling me her daughter-in-law just a few weeks after I met her which was only a couple of months after meeting Chris. I'm not sure about my family as I've never asked, but I suspect if they thought about it they would be of the same opinion. In Texas, as a common law state, we could consider ourselves already married. There are only three requirements and we meet them all easily. Truthfully we really really do want a traditional marriage, not a common law one. So we've decided to make things legal. We think we've even picked a date...

So on my birthday, while I was out getting my nails done, Chris called my Dad for his blessing (see traditional). The important part of the conversation went something like this....

Chris (insert southern accent here - not a big one just a little because he is from Alabama): well, sir, I know you don't like to talk on the phone, so I'll get right to it, I want to ask Rebecca to marry me.

Dad: Wait. Hold on! Hold that thought!

Dad (holding the receiver away from his mouth): DENISE!! Dee, hurry, get on the other phone...

Mom: What's going on??

Dad (very excited): Ok, ok, now ask me what you wanted to ask me again Chris...

Obviously he gave his blessing. He's been waiting for this moment for years.

Chris wanted to do this whole thing right and traditionally. So he called my Dad and got his blessing and then asked me my plans for the afternoon. Even though I hadn't ever thought of things like rings (I don't wear them after all), Chris had decided that we needed to go buy a ring (or a bauble or something special to mark the occasion). He wanted me to be involved because I would be the one wearing it and showing it off and seeing it more then anyone else.

So rather then spend my birthday afternoon at the fiber festival (which I had been considering) we went and picked out a diamond. It was extremely fun to get to sit in front of a pile of loose stones and pick (PICK!) which I liked best. They let you hold two up (with locking tweezers, loose diamonds are very very fragile) and you pick between those two. Then the next two. And the next two and so on. We kept going back to the same stone over and over. (Even though she had scrambled them so we couldn't just keep picking this or that one.) This means I got to pick the most sparkly and shiny and pretty and I was not all about carat or color or clarity. The diamond people deal with that data and Chris would have let me go bigger if I had wanted. All my choice he said. THEN after picking through diamonds I got to design the exact ring I wanted around that stone! I surprised myself by being very very certain what I wanted. I am not frilly and girly and don't care for a lot of embellishment. And I am actually apparently VERY traditional in what I want in an engagement ring. It took very little time to find the perfect setting.

So this is a picture of the present I got for myself (two dogs from LucyKateCrafts on Etsy...so so so cute!) and underneath you'll find a picture of the present Chris purchased for me. We picked it up yesterday afternoon! Some details (sorry no specifics obviously, its not that I don't trust you guys but this is the internet afterall) can be found in the flickr description. He only just barely let me have this photo. He wasn't terribly happy with the ones he took of it because he forgot to polish the ring before shooting, so there are fingerprints on the photos. Plus this doesn't show off the sparkly and shiny the way he'd (or I'd) like. (He's a photographer, getting him to give me a completely "unfinished" image is a hard thing to do. But I wanted to announce this NOW not wait until he had perfect photos!! I'll try to post some others later after he's gotten fingerprints off and had his fun shooting it and finishing the images. Mom will of course want to see all the details. Since she won't see it in person for a bit yet.) [You have to be my friend in flickr and I have to mark you as friend and not just contact or the link won't work!]