TGFIL (Thank God For In-Laws)

This is a really old picture (as you can tell from how small Owen is), but it's the most recent one I have of my lovely parents-in-law and their grandchildren. Just to give you a little background, my husband and I met on a blind date set up by none other than our mothers, who were friends. We got married five years ago, and have been serial movers ever since. We started out in Minnesota (where we're from), moved to Atlanta for a year, then to LA for a couple of years. We went through four houses (purchased), two rentals and several residence hotels (while waiting for various closings). Meanwhile, Bill and Sue were happily living in Eugene, OR. Finally, when I was pregnant with Owen, we decided that Southern CA was not for us now that we weren't swinging DINKs anymore (as in, Dual Income No Kids). My mom begged us to come back to MN while Bill & Sue bit their lips and silently hoped we would settle in Oregon. We decided that we just couldn't hack midwestern winters (or mosquito-filled summers) anymore and made the move to Portland. Shortly after we got here, B&S started looking for houses in the Portland suburbs to be closer to us (my brother-in-law Chris and his wife Katie also live in PDX). As fate would have it, they found a decent little house with a humongous yard that is only 2.5 miles from us (and seven blocks from Chris & Katie).

So, to make a long story a little less long, we LOVE Portland. It is a truly rockin' city and is just crawling with knitters and cool LYSs like Mabel's and The Yarn Garden. Plus, with the grandparents' house so close, we actually have easy-access babysitting on the rare occasion that we have a date night or I have a place to go when the kids are driving me crazy and I need someone else for them to pester before I strangle them both. Sue is a great cook, an avid gardener and an amazing quilter. Bill is a former national park ranger and an authority on all things nature, hiking, and (of course) national parks. I just adore them both! (And to help explain any confusion in past/future posts, my hubby's name is also Bill.)

Okay, now that I am done gushing about the in-laws (the kids and I spent about five hours there yesterday being entertained and pampered), on to some knitting:


Here is another project that I knitted while on vacation in MN - a soon-to-be-felted bag. This is another Knitty Gritty project and knitted up super fast on size 11 needles with bulky Baabajoes Woolpak yarn. It kinda looks like a cute little halter top, too, doesn't it? That might be a project idea for next summer, assuming I'm not still married to my nursing bra...

I'm hoping to get the thing felted on Sunday - I will keep you posted on the progress. Then the fun begins - needle felting a cute little flower motif on the front. I've never needle felted, but it sounds dangerous and pretty fun. The needles sure are vicious looking - kind of like teeny little whale harpoons.

Also, I will be updating my previous posts w/ some links, so if you want some awesome free patterns, check them out.