Well, here’s something you don’t see every day here at Chappysmom–new yarn!

Yep. Today, I bought new yarn at Modern Yarn today. Louet Riverstone, in 6 skeins of “Blue Mirage,” and 1 skein of “Sandalwood.” The plan is to make Ingenue from Custom Knits. I’m going to do the neckband in the brown, and the rest of the sweater in this powdery, french blue. This, of course, is one of my very favorite color combinations–that gorgeous medium blue paired with a golden brown… yum!

And, except for those two skeins of MV Fiber Farm yarn in April, this is the first yarn I’ve bought since I got the wool for Autumn Rose last August. Oh, except for a few skeins of yarn for some string bags. I’d forgotten how much fun yarn shops can be. And, I finally got to see the new location for Stix-n-Stitches in Montclair, too. They moved across the street something like a year ago and this was my first chance to see the new digs.

Ooh! Speaking of the Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm (which, really, I do so often, I should create it its own category)–Susan and Patrick just signed a book deal! And, not only that, but they’re having a contest for the best title–go check it out! The prizes sound just fantastic, and they’re having a contest for a new knitting pattern, too.

Chappy’s been having a good day–he LOVES when my niece is visiting! (Here, he’s wrapped around his toy in the hallway outside my room–just being cute.) Of course, he wasn’t happy when Mom, my niece, and I all in the car and drove away after lunch. As a rule, when we DO go out without him on weekends, we go out in the morning, so an afternoon departure? That, according to him, was just mean.

He was fidgety all night tonight, too, which was unusual. Even though we were all in our “correct” spots by 8:00, he spent a lot of the night sitting by the front windows, keeping an eye on things instead of getting in his pre-bedtime nap.

I came upstairs at 10:00 on my own, and when he didn’t follow, I assumed that he wanted to stay down with Mom and Tiffany a little longer, but they came up at 10:20 … with no Chappy. Where was he?

All three of us headed back downstairs to look for him. This so wasn’t like him, to not be with one of us, especially at bedtime. We checked outside in his bathroom, checked the dining room chair, looked in the corners … starting to get worried by now. There was one day, years ago, when our elderly dachshund Jilly got lost and confused in a corner behind the desk in the office and it took us over half an hour to find her, and this was bringing back those scary memories–especially since Chappy hadn’t been his usual self tonight.

…Until I thought of something. I checked the downstairs bathroom … Yes, the door was closed. I pushed it open and … there was Chappy! He’d wandered in there and the door had closed behind him. But he didn’t complain or whimper or make a fuss. No, he just sat there patiently and waited for me to come find him. Poor, sweet little boy! No howls of abandonment, not even a scratch at the door while we were all wandering around, calling his name. Just patient belief that I would find him.

And, yes, he got LOTS of love and attention when he came out of there!

Did you ever see the movie The Secret Garden? The absolutely stunning 1993 version with Kate Maberly? (If not, you should, it’s wonderful.) Well, there’s a scene in there where Mary is having a nightmare of being a very little girl, crying for her mother, lost in a garden, and every time I see it, I just hope that somebody just RAN to that little actress and gave her a huge hug as soon as the director yelled, “Cut!” because she just looks totally bereft and so, so sad in that scene–and much too young a child to really be acting–she had to have felt abandoned to have cried like that. Well, I just hope Chappy didn’t feel like that …

Switching directions …

There’s a cake decorating company downtown that does phenomenal cakes, and they have a blog with pictures of recent, mouthwatering, breathtaking cakes, which are always stunning. But, when I saw this one the other day–the Cake Disguised as Tom Jones–I just laughed out loud. What a fanTAStic cake! (The sheep on top of this one is adorable, too, even if he does look like he’s wearing ropes of pearls.)

Oh, and, thanks Kim!

• Tags: Chappy, General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:What’s That? //