Big Boy Haircut

I held off for a long time (he's too little to get a haircut!), but I finally had to cave. His hair really was in his eyes most of the time.

Here he is before the big moment. Note suspicious presence of combover, and little flyaway wings over ears. Papa really hated those wings.



And now, in his hillbilly barber cape, with all the hair combed down for display. Yeah, it's probably time.



Hooray! Stylin' new big boy hair do, and no tears. At least from him.



Yes, I saved the hair, because I am a sentimental goob. I never used to be. What has happened to me?

Puppies and Beards and Hay Bales, Oh My!

The neighbors brought the new puppy over to say hello. His name is Hobo. He's just four weeks old (and shouldn't be away from his mama yet - he's a rescue). He is just adorable, and Levi loved meeting a puppy.



And ... there's a goofy bearded man in the house. ("Don't you mean," said my sister, "another goofy bearded man?")



It's always a good time when the big boys come around.



That's Matthew, Levi, Logan, and Orin.

New Babies

Ain't they cute? (Too bad they grow up to be chickens.)

Wedding Shawl

I kept promising pictures of the completed wedding shawl. (I'm sure you've been holding your breath.) Here you go.

Pinned and being blocked on the spare bed. If I knit anything much bigger than this, I'm going to need a better blocking system.



Closeup of the pattern after blocking.



I like this picture because the model is wearing black, which shows off how the pattern looks on an actual person.



Wedding day!



This doesn't have anything to do with the shawl, really, but isn't a cute picture of the bride and the baby?



I am proud to say that I finished the shawl a week before the wedding, giving me plenty of time for weaving in ends and blocking. The bride received it on Tuesday before a Saturday wedding. At no point did I have to pull an all-nighter. (Which is good, because in college I could bounce back from those pretty quickly. Not so much anymore.)

Special thanks to Gina and Mary Lou for extended knitting time provided by excellent babysitting services. It would not have happened without you.

Info for knitters who might want it: this is a Tuscany shawl from No Sheep For You - pattern by Amy Singer of knitty.com. Yarn is Luscious Silk in Narikama (part of the Spirits collection) from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, who hold the current honor of Biggest Single Threat to the Household Budget. Knit on Harmony wood needles from Knit Picks - part of the interchangeable circular set.

Happiness is ...

... a papa who shares his ice cream.

Twins!

One of our cows had twins yesterday. It's the first time since we've been married that we've had twins, so I'm a bit excited. The cow is mostly Black Angus, and she was bred by a Milking Devon bull. The babies reflect their parentage - one is black and one is red. The black calf is a bull calf, and the red one a heifer.

The video is 22 seconds long and zooms in for a better look at about 13 seconds. If you DO NOT want to see a very clear picture of bovine afterbirth, you should click "pause" at 17 seconds. (I don't have video editing software. Sorry.) If you have young boys, though, and want them to go EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW, watch on!