Cousin Ella

First and foremost, Happy Valentine's Day! I went home during the week to visit my parents and to have my car repaired (FINALLY!). I was fiendishly working on this baby sweater...for no one in particular. This yarn started life as a felted purse kit and I've made a blue one of the same yarn, but I was so pleased and impressed with how soft and almost roving-like the yarn was. I had since bought this pink kit for a little girl I know, and I've made a number of baby sweaters from this pattern and couldn't help but think how well that yarn would work up. And I suppose the colors were festively appropriate! I like how the colors graduate but I must admit I was a bit nervous when I saw the red creeping out of my ball of yarn. I think the colors look ok though.

Meanwhile my mother mentioned she had some baby clothes and a baby book ready to be mailed to her cousin Freddy for their new baby girl and immediately I knew who would get the sweater! I wrote a card to Freddy and Shelly and told them about Ella's sweater and how to care for it. After I wrote it, I felt a bit sheepish because I'd written "Freddy" without even thinking! He will always be Freddy and not Fred to me because Fred is his dad. He is my mother's first cousin, so therefore my second cousin...and I don't know what that makes Baby Ella! I hope she likes her sweater.

I got to cook a little this weekend which is always fun. We enjoyed a corned beef brisket and New England boiled supper, and for Valentine's I got to fool around with my French lentils. I got them in Rochester and finally got to make French lentils in puff pastry. They were very good. I boiled them with bay leaf and then cooked them up with shallots/garlic/carrot/parsnip. I have a Thyme and Tarragon French lentil soup I'd like to try. I also made the compulsory caramel pots de creme for my mother :)

Happy Valentine's Day!