Should Have Been A Tulip

Okay, so it's a tulip. (No prizes on this one, Joyer.) But how come its petals are all pointy, when all of the other tulips in the bed look like this:
I'm just curious. I think the one I posted yesterday looks like a star, and it makes me happy. I guess I could just look on the front of the seed packets or bulb packages to know what I'm getting if I ever had some place to plant them.

So what do you do when you have a night to yourself and you find a new, fancy lace stitch pattern in your Knitting-Pattern-a-Day Calendar? You cast on a new project, of course! The stitch pattern is called Arches and Pillars, and the yarn is Catania Color in purples, greens, and white. (I'm going to need to take more pictures in better light. This one doesn't do it justice.) I love it. I'm calling the sweater "Lilac Garden." The pattern is my favorite pullover baby sweater from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. It's typically knit all in one piece, but since the lace is clearly one-directional, I'm going to knit the front and the back separately. I even started off with a great picot edge! I love it so far. I may have to add this one to the hope chest of stuff for my babies, if I ever have some.

Sorry Brenda, these baby socks are intended for my nephew, who has already grown out of his Valentine's socks. However, if he grows out of these before I get the other one finished, you've got first dibs. It seemed only fitting to photograph the first sock with the Yarn Harlot's new book, since I finished the sock in her presence.


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Yesterday I considered looking up the Pro Football Hall of Fame so that I could link to it, but decided against it because I was feeling lazy. Perhaps if I had, I would have remembered that it's located in Canton, Ohio, not Akron. Thanks, Sean. (Nice new layout, btw. You're going to need to teach me some of these things.)

Today's memory is brought to you by the Toby Keith song "Should Have Been a Cowboy."

I should've been a cowboy
I should've learned to rope and ride
Wearing my six-shooter riding my pony on a cattle drive
Stealing the young girl's hearts
Just like Gene and Roy
Singing those campfire songs
Oh I should've been a cowboy

I'm fairly certain that it was the end of my brother's freshman year in college (I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong) at Milligan College (Go Buffs!), when my dad and I spent a day in the van to go pick up Sean and all of his belongings and bring them home for the summer. It was approximately 8 hours one way, and we managed the whole trip, there and back, in one day. My dad listened to country music constantly, so we likely would have spent the entire 16 hours listening to country music if not for the hours between 4 and 6am, when we had the pleasure of listening to the farm report.

If any of you have ever been on a car trip through multiple states while trying to listen to the radio, you know that you have to change the station every once in a while to avoid static and try to get a good signal. (This was before satellite radio.) Radio stations have limited playlists anyway, and when you're switching stations every hour or two, you really only get to listen to about six songs, over and over again. (This is especially true when you are driving southward and listening to country music.) (This is even more true when you are a teenage girl who absolutely despises country music.)

My dad's favorite song during that time period was the then-new, above-mentioned song, "Should Have Been A Cowboy." I don't even want to think about how many times we must have heard it that day.

This was also the trip where, on the way back as it was getting dark, we heard my dad say, "I can't see that guy! He doesn't have his lights on!"