Endless repetition...

This is the start of my Queen Silvia shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia. I started this with the intent of working on it while on vacation. hahahahahaha! That never happened. I knit 5 repeats before we left. I managed to knit 1.5 repeats at my parents' house. Right now, I'm up to 9 repeats complete....out of 20! At this rate, it will be a while before I get to the border. I changed the nupps and made them 7 stitches instead of 5. I guess I like how they're bolder and stand out more when they're made of more stitches.

While I'm still recovering from the flu, I just haven't been up to working on lace. Instead, I'm knitting the self striping stockinette socks that I started on vacation. I did manage to do a short row heel on the short 9" needles without needing another needle. I can't knit very long on those short needles, so I'm also working on the two-at-a-time pair. Those are ready for their heels.

D had a birthday. He's 5 now and says he's not my "little guy" anymore. He's my "big guy." ;-) Either way, he's still cute. He wanted to go to the "peanut restaurant" for his birthday. That's what he calls Logan's. Here he is with his dessert. It was a tiny bucket with brownie and ice cream in it. He received another Transformer for his birthday. He says that he's collecting them. He has quite a collection going that sits on our (unused) fireplace.

As I look at him, it's hard to believe that he's not a little baby or a little boy anymore. It's hard to see that part of him when he goes around using words like "fascinating" and "stabilize." He seems to pick up those big words easily from us and understands how to use them correctly. He's still my very sensitive guy that gets his feelings hurt easily, but he also freely gives hugs and kisses to me. He's so good at puzzles and did figure out how to use the computer at my parent's house. He knew where to find the games.

The weather has been up and down since we got back. We've had warm days and cold snowy days mixed together in the same week. The wood stove has been going steady. It's in the basement, so I'm getting extra exercise going up and down the stairs all day. I check the fire and load more wood into it about every 1-2 hours depending on the size of the logs. Thankfully, Dwight brings a wheel barrow full of wood closer to the house and I don't have to go all the way to the wood pile.