I soooo  want to be knitting the Mystery shawl, but fun things keep getting in the way! Yesterday Mike and I took Emmet into Boston. The weather was gorgeous and we were itchin’ to do something we don’t normally do. We started out the trip by sitting in a really cool chair at Evan and Melissa’s house:

Then we went into Boston Common and enjoyed the park. Evan and Emmet found a really different tree.

I don’t know what kind of tree it is but I want one at my house.

We watched the Swan boats and Emmet threw some popcorn he found on the ground to the ducks.

We saw some American flags for Memorial day. Lots of them.

And we took a ride on a carousel!

Take a look at the name of the pub!

Emmet was very excited to see his name on the building.

And all this excitement made for one VERY tired little boy. A little boy who had skipped his nap that day.

And could no longer stay awake, not one more moment. Emmet loves this stroller and stopped me from selling it at a garage sale a few weeks ago. Good thing!

Today there will be a cookout, and then HOPEFULLY some serious shawl knitting when I get home tonight.

I befriended Better Save Than Sorry on Facebook. She finds deals all over the place and posts them for everyone to take advantage of. She also has her own blog. Well, on May 19th she posted a great deal on Heartsy for The Sunrise Fiber Co. I took advantage of the deal, bought a $20 voucher on Heartsy for $8, and got another $5 off for going through Better Save Than Sorry’s FB page. Withing minutes of receiving the voucher, I had picked out my yarn on Sunrise’s Etsy shop. I picked this:

That’s right people, a $20 skein of yarn for just $3….and free shipping!! Sunrise wasted no time getting it out to me and it’s so pretty! And super soft. Now I just have to decide what to make with it.

As I mentioned before, I have jumped on the KAL bandwagon and started the Mystery Shawlette by WendyKnits. So far, it is one of the most fun things I have knitted! There’s just something about knitting something that’s a mystery. She only gives pieces of the pattern every week, and you have no idea what the finished product will really look like until you’re done and it’s blocked. It’s like putting together a puzzle, but without the box to look at the picture.

Here’s what I had at the end of the first chart:

Mike was kind enough to hold it down so you could get an idea of what I have so far. i’m loving the yarn; it’s Araucania Ranco Multy. Wendy suggested not using something too variegated, so that the pattern would be easier to see, but I don’t think this will be too bad. The yarn is a pleasure to knit with, and the pattern is easy and knits up super fast. And the coolest thing is that there are a bunch of knitters knitting this same thing right now along with me, my sister included! So when you have questions or just want to see what other people are saying about it, you can go to Ravelry and look at the worldwide conversation going on, and feel like you’re knitting with friends. I think I might have to find more Mystery Knit ALongs after I finish this one.

I’m almost done with Part 2, so I’ll be posting that as soon as I finish!

Emmet’s birthday was a success. The house got cleaned, the yard was mowed, the rain held off and lots of Emmet’s friends were able to come. It seemed like everyone had a good time.

There was ice cream cake~

And there was an extra special present that all the other kids seemed to like more than Emmet~

And just good times seeing his best buddy again~

Then the next day we woke up bright and early and went to another friend’s birthday party. This one was at a wildlife reserve.

The kids were educated about the smaller wildlife (bugs and frogs and turtles) ~

and they got to muck around in the water catching bugs with strainers~

It was a great time had by all, and the rain held off the entire time! Back at the main house, we had pizza and cake for the birthday boy, Cooper~

THEN…..I raced Emmet home, gave him a bath and we both got very dressed up and ready to go meet Daddy over at cousin William’s christening party~

How gorgeous is this child?? And Emmet got to play a cut throat game of musical chairs~

Do you see the money all over the floor? Yep, it was a Greek celebration with lots of people dancing around in a circle and throwing money around. The food was fabulous!

So now you see, my friends, why not a lot of knitting has been going on. But I think I’m back on track now. I just started a Mystery Shawl from WendyKnits. It’s my very first Knit Along. My sister is also making the shawl. We thought it would be fun to do together!  I’ll take pictures soon and post them when I’m done with the first chart. Right now it doesn’t look like much.