bugs, berries, booties & boys

On Monday we went out to the Salmon River, where we saw trout. Just baby ones, though we brought a fishing rod just in case. It was Anaiah's inaugural excursion in the great outdoors, and she was a champ. Slept through most of it, she's good like that. I even got to pull ridiculous stunts like arrange her on giant mossy stumps to get pictures of some more of her handknit gifts (it being cool enough up there to warrant such things; it's catch as catch can for woolens around here during this season).



Baby Surprise jacket from Alex!
And Stay-On Booties from our dear friend Kat:



I even managed a few, ahem, shots of the both of us. Sort of.





My favorite part about those (besides that I finally caught one of her smiling!) is that we could be anywhere, except when you look at the reflections in our eyes you can just about make out our view:



There was a boy there, too, of course, more on that later. The berries part first, though. I had a bit of an incident earlier this year wherein I was a Wasn't Believed about something, which (as those who know me can attest) I can't stand. Namely, about the color of huckleberries. Apparently, most people think of them as a kind of miniature blueberry, with a hue to match, and these do indeed abound. But not in our mountains. The kind that you find merrily lining our trails, ripe for the grazing, are quite a different color altogether and the one that I associate with Oregon and huckleberries:



The Defense rests. Now the boy, and a cracker box, who had to change into his jeans after a thorough and accidental dousing in the fresh mountain runoff that calls itself a river. Such refreshing ablutions call for some soaking in the sun afterwards, and throwing rocks into the water and eating round crackers straight from the box.



And lastly, before I get my sorry behind in bed, where it should have been hours ago, the bug. Don't worry, it's a cute one.



And, of course, my lovely mum. A la prochaine, mes amis!

the bees' knees

Hold on to your jaws, folks, I actually have some wool to talk about.
A year ago I was here (psst, it's Australia):





Sigh. It was pretty great. And when I wasn't working or riding horses or eating ridiculously delicious (and expensive) food, I was also designing these for one of Twisted's clubs:





The honeycomb cables in these mittens were initially inspired by the Wheat Heather colorway of Imperial Stock Ranch's soft and sheepy Columbia yarn. Their name, Apis Mellifera, is the scientific moniker of the western honeybee. It is also the root of my mom's name, Melissa (honeybee). So these mittens are a tribute to one of my favorite yarns, my favorite month of the year (October, when I was born and when this pattern was originally published), and the woman who brought me into this world and taught me to love our honeybees.

These mitts have almost nothing to do with anything right now, other than that summer is a great time to knit the small accessories you will need to make it through the chillier months of the year, and I just realized I plumb forgot to share them here. Also, I dearly wanted to post about something other than my adorable children, just for a moment, for those of you who have been snoring in the wings all this time. If you want to check out this pattern for yourselves, you can head into Twisted, over to Ravelry, or just click right here:



Or just enjoy some pictures here for a minute of my sweet friend Star and one of her favorite color combinations -- gold and grey.

on brothers and other oddities

Now we are one month old (ancient baby!), the occasion must be marked, a little note made of the gobsmacking placidity of my days. I am so enthralled, life gallops forward in minutiae! This little girl is now almost a full pound heavier than when we started, and seems to have the trick of smiling in earnest. And I think yesterday she may even have had ... not quite a giggle, but perhaps the single-celled organism that is the primeval predecessor to a giggle.



I have been trying to explain time to my son, and these little quirks like one month nnnnn-sorta-almost equals four weeks is not helping clear things up any. I can't remember when things clicked into place for me, but then I already had a big brother to tell me how the world works, so I got a head start. Anatole is most eager to share his ample knowledge of The World with Anaiah, this must be one of the truest joys of siblingdom. But it behooves the wise to take older brothers with a grain of salt.

The Infamous Lies My Brother Told Me (and that I believed, to my lasting dismay):

• Native Americans are born white; they become brown from spending so much time in the sun.
• Bees won't go in the shade. If a bee is chasing you, run into the shade and you will be safe.
• There is a line in 'Chattanooga Choo-Choo' that goes like this: "Satin and lace / I used to cough on your face."
• A square knot is the strongest knot in the world. It can hold anything.
• Earwigs are for ears.

I can tell that my son will be a natural. He loves sharing truths, especially the ones he invents. I can't wait.