Miscellany

1. Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which makes me happier than you'd think, and I have no idea why. According to the Pirate Name Generator, my pirate name is Cap'n Shakira Dullblade. For staff meeting today, I made little signs for all the staff with their pirate names (shoutin' out to Fruity Lindsey Hornigold!). My husband, Ambiguous Edward Dregg, was not nearly as amused as I was. Somehow, that made it even more hilarious. But the best part of Talk Like a Pirate Day was that as I walked across the U-M campus, I actually saw a student dressed from head-to-toe like a pirate. Except for his backpack. I love Ann Arbor. ARRRRGH!

2. Every day I ask the boys what they want to be for Halloween, though they have no idea what Halloween is. Every day Tiny Dancer tells me, "a pig and a lion." I love this, because it is an unexpected answer and an incongruous pairing. He wants to be the pig and he wants Little Buddha to be the lion (which is what LB was last year). Today, Little Buddha said, "a pig and a giraffe." No way am I trying to put together a giraffe costume. So I've been trying to convince them to go for a pig and a cow, which would be a believable pairing, and not too hard for mommy to make. But neither wants to be the cow, or the giraffe, or the lion. They both want to be the pig. So I think we're going to have two pigs for Halloween. I think I'll get pink sweatsuits, try to sew little corkscrew tails on, and buy snouts. So all I have to figure out is the headpiece. I could just do a headband and make some ears to attach to it. Or I could try to sew a hood with ears on it. My latest thought is to knit the Kittyville hat from SnB but to knit it in pink so it would look like pig ears. Thoughts? Suggestions?

3. My new babysitter won't be here tomorrow because she's going to be on Oprah! It's a segment on motherhood, and she wrote a letter to the show and they liked it well enough to invite her. How cool is that?

4. I have a mental block on my lace inset cardigan. I've seamed the shoulders but have been hesitant to move forward with the collar. I'm daunted. So I've taken a tiny break and have started a scrunchable scarf (toddler size) in the Malabrigo Azul Profundo. I wish I had more than one skein of this colorway (an impulse buy at an LYS in Atlanta last spring). I looooove it. Of course when I showed it to LB and told him I was making it for him, his response was, "Red!"

5. I got my hair chopped off today. Well, chopped for me (about five inches).



It feels so fun to have short(er) hair! And I'm thrilled to finally find someone in A2 who can cut curly hair. [Please pretend like I'm not a total dork for standing by myself in my little bathroom doing a photo shoot of myself.]