This week has been a bit of a blur for me. Julie is working on teeth again, and has been crabby and avoiding naps. It makes for some long days. And we haven’t seen our little playgroup buddies much this week for various reasons. Which makes the days even longer. Even a bad week as a stay at home mom is still a pretty great week, though. I got to watch her get better and better at walking all week long. She stands up and walks without thinking about it now. And it is so freaking cute!
I’ve been spending my evenings knitting up a new sweater for myself out of Noro Silk Garden, this wonderfully hand dyed silk/mohair/wool yarn from Japan. I’m using my very simple knitting machine, and this is my first time knitting a sweater on it. I was shocked by how fast the pieces knit up. The downside is that it’s all knit flat and seamed together, which means lots of seam-sewing and a slightly less elegant finish than a garment knit in the round. Plus, my machine doesn’t do ribbing, so I have to knit all the cuffs by hand. Still, I’ll be wearing my new sweater in another week or two versus spending three months or more knitting the whole thing.
Tomorrow is the first of Julie’s two birthday parties. Her birthday isn’t till next week, but MIL wanted to have her party early so that MIL and FIL could head off to Korea to see BIL. I spent all day today making three cakes. One is a tiny wheat-free carrot cake just for Julie. The rest of that batter got nuts and coconut added and is the second cake. The other is a chocolate cake because I love chocolate. And there are going to be around 20 people there. I’m making a big fruit salad too and had to cut up and de-seed a watermelon and a pineapple.
I’m actually really excited about it. We’re going to wear our han-boks for the first time since our wedding day, and Julie has a super-cute little han-bok that Dave sent from Seoul for her. I’m a photo nut, and this is going to be a great photo op.
Here’s a picture of Joe and I at our wedding in the han-boks we’ll be wearing:
And here’s a picture with me in a han-bok very similar to the one Julie will be wearing:
Can you just imagine the cuteness of this little kid running around in a dress like that? She won’t have the stickers on her face, and the head-dress is much less fancy and kid-friendly, and no big white scarf for her to carry – that’s for weddings only. And I think all the other korean women – at least Joe’s mom – will have theirs on too. I love getting to be a part of these traditions!