Celebrate Good Times, come on!

To kick off the celebration of my favorite guy's birthday (which is today) I met friends at Cedar Point yesterday and let him have some time to himself! (Fair warning to future friends: If you leave early, you will be photoshopped in...perhaps poorly...and it will be hilarious!)

That's right, Sweetie was not there. He's not a big Cedar Point fan, so his gift was that I did not invite him. Because yesterday was his birthday eve, I did kindof ask if he minded that I go right after work. I don't remember his answer, but I wore jeans, good walking shoes, and my fanny pack (with glasses strap inside) ya know, just in case. When Amanda texted that a bunch of friends were going, I was powerless to resist!

I didn't ride much, and took fewer pictures. I'm kindof smacking myself for not taking any night photos, since we closed down the park waiting in line for TT2! But I did take pics in line, 

and I pilferred photos of funpix...

Gosh! My friends are way cooler in these photos than I am...I've got my hands in the air and a full, toothy grin the whole time. I love being on roller coasters!

Oh, and Amanda got this video of that last ride, at 10:37pm! You can't really see us, but it's a pretty cool 11 seconds either way! 

Psst...don't tell my family. I'm not sure they support my coaster habit...but the doc said no restrictions after 3 months, and it's been nearly 6...and I've been doing a little at a time, adding in coasters that don't seem too intense, and staying away from the ones that are most likely to dislodge something...I'm looking at you Blue Streak and Steve! Millie's pretty gentle though...and last week, I didn't ride any coasters at all, but I still had a ton of fun with some of my favorite riders and smilers!

Today has already been a little lower key, spending time with the birthday boy, finally moving my daffodils to their proper place...which you can't see, because the bushes are too big with their summer growth...lol!

Knitting on my next pair of socks and summer decor for my office...

and our grandson's baseball game this afternoon! Is there anything as entertaining as first and second graders playing baseball? 

Photo Cred: Tom Apathy Photography (aka Pappy)

Later, we may head to one of our favorite, not Cedar Point, parks for a walk. Last week, we saw a great blue heron,

tons of tiny toadlets,

a pretty good sized snapping turtle,

and dozens of ducklings and other birds of many varieties!

I wonder how many of them would have enjoyed this worm for their dinner?

Summer is really shaping up here, and we are certainly celebrating these good times! I hope you are as well.

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Following Directions?

When you have a thing that needs to be put together, are you more likely to look at the directions or just try to wing it? It probably won't surprise you to learn that I like to read - and follow - the directions...most of the time anyway! With knitting, well...sometimes I get a little cocky with knitting. 

Recently, I picked up a pattern for a toy that was knit flat and seamed, but my plan was to knit "in the round," avoiding the need to sew all of the pieces together in the end. Having done this many times before, I felt fairly confident, until I stuffed this blob (that looks NOTHING at all like a parrot), and set it down to figure out what I had done wrong. 

This pattern, as many before it, starts with "make two" in the instructions for the head and body. In error, I assumed this meant that the two pieces would be stitched together in the end, so I cast on double the stitches, joined to work in the round, and worked every row of directions twice. This is standard operating procedure in the world of toy knitting, but it was not giving me anything remotely resembling the pic in the pattern!

I was making a parrot, not a chubby chick! Did I possibly only need to make one? Ding! Ding! Ding! Yes, as it turns out, this pattern pictured two parrots (same bird, different main colors), and it was telling you to make double the pieces at every step. If I had knitted the pieces flat, at the end, I would have had enough parts to piece together a pair of parrots. So I ripped out the round one, and started over. By the time I knit only one beak and sewed it on, my knitting was was starting to look like the photo!

I was a little sad that I had lost so much time in my misinterpretation of the instructions, but I was also well on my way to one lovely bird! As I added crest feathers, claws and the whites of the eyes (don't shoot!), I was eager to move onto the wing feathers...and today, I have that bird finished! I would have finished it yesterday, but I have a stupid job...

For the record, I love my job. I have been created for the type of job I have, and I don't know what I would do if I did not work in an office someday...but some days, I'd still rather knit. Luckily, yesterday was Friday, and since then, I have finished a flock of feathers...

He seemed very curious about the feathers and appeared to be looking in their direction, but without pupils...well, I'm not sure what he thought about that development...lol!

Triumphantly, before blogging today, I did manage to whip together wings and lace some lashes onto that bird, and now he is complete! A Parrot Pal (singular) to be loved by a boy whose favorite animal is a...mongoose! 

No! His favorite animal is a parrot, Sillies! It's a parrot for a parrot-loving boy! I'll post pictures when they are together at last (his birthday is next month). Just for kicks, I've also made him a parrot hoodie...isn't that fun?

For what it's worth, I didn't exactly follow the directions on that either, but I was probably closer than the parrot! And how cute is this little guy on the shoulder?

Oh, I am looking forward to this birthday, and to the next couple also! So many directions to follow, but I think I can...I think I can...I think I can... 

How are you at following directions? Would you rather improvise? Whatever your answer, I hope you have what you need by the end of the project!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!