Notes From a Mother’s Day Weekend

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend. A nice mix of socializing and rest.

Saturday was quite busy. First, we had friends over for a picnic lunch. Then we all went to Girlfriend’s Spring violin concert. It was amazing that Girlfriend was actually able to do the concert, given how ill she’s been over the past couple of weeks. First she was sick with a bad cold. This turned in a double ear infection that was not responsive to the normal antibiotics. So, we had to switch her to the big guns. Scary. So, for most of last week she couldn’t hear due to the liquid in her ears. She was also in a great deal of pain. Not fun.

But, she rallied, and she was ready for Saturday. She looked beautiful in her purple “fancy dress”:

Also in the picture is a pal whose brother was also in the concert. I learned a terrible thing about myself at the concert: I am a stage mother like you wouldn’t believe

The way the concert worked was that they started with the most difficult pieces and worked their way to the easier pieces. So, as each group of pieces was played, new players would join the others on the stage. You were supposed to join by books, e.g., Book 5, Book 4, Book 3, etc.

Girlfriend joined at Book 1. She played all versions of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Lightly Row.” They are the Suzuki method‘s beginning pieces, which meant that she had to wait through several other pieces before she could play. She was was placed right in front. She got a bit of stage fright and forgot to hold her violin and bow in “resting position.” Of course, I was in the audience, in the back, and I spent a fair amount of time trying to get her attention. When I did, I tried to mimic “resting position.” Of course, she had no idea what I was doing and kept mouthing, “What?!” while the other players were performing. Finally, she walked down the front steps of the stage and came to me to ask what I was doing. I was mortified, but I told her what she needed to do and sent her back on stage. Of course, the others were playing the whole time this happening. Sigh. Anyway, she played her pieces and everyone got a standing ovation!

Then we went to a party in honor of International Migratory Bird Day. No, these weren’t intense birders. I think the hosts just found an event that happened on the day of their party do they could have a theme. Regardless, we had a really great time.

Sunday started with the delivery of flowers for me. It was a beautiful bouquet, but it was the bouquet of death for me and my extremely allergic family. It had lilies and flowering grass and some sort of drapey thing that hung on it that was full of pollen. I did something I would never have thought I would do–I asked my husband to return it for a different one. He agreed and went of to do that. He came home with this stunning bouquet:

It has all my favorite spring flowers: roses, lilacs, peonies and tulips. They even included some hydrangea. So pretty. To the left of the bouquet is a pretty little glass votive holder that was my other Mother’s Day gift. Just perfect–flowers and candlelight.

I actually spent the whole day in bed–I am still a little sick and I was exhausted. So, I read and knitted and dozed. I can’t tell you how nice it was.

I have one FO to show you–the Inside Out Socks:

Pattern: Inside Out socks from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Club
Yarn:L Socks That Rock, medium weight, Monsoon color (this is just available to sock club members at the moment)

So, I enjoyed knitting these socks, but they required too much fussiness for me to be completely happy with the pattern. It needs a provisional cast on, and then three needle sizes: 2.25 for the toe, 2.0 for the foot, and 2.5 for the leg. I have to say, I usually knit socks as my fast purse knitting. Having to constantly change needles and use a crochet hook and waste yarn made it a “fussy” pattern in my book.

I have also started the Forest Path Stole, from the Summer 2003 Interweave Knits. It’s an entrelac lace pattern. It looks ridiculously hard, but I’m finding it to be fairly straightforward. It took awhile to get things set up, but now it’s a fairly easy knit. The hardest part so far is that I am working with Zephyr yarn, which is 50-50 wool/silk, and it has no stretch whatsoever. This makes it hard to do the p5tog for the Lily of the Valley sections: