Another one bites the dust

Can I just say how glad I am that Valentines day is over? A few years ago after getting into monster blow up fights we banned Valentines day from our house. Don't get me wrong, pink is still my favorite color and I'm a sucker for those little candy hearts. But the need to have a bouquet of flowers delivered along with a ginormous box of chocolates & attached teddy bear is no longer allowed. Because it grew to be expected. And when it didn't happen there was much arguing and hurt feelings. We learned the hard way that setting high expectations over silly things does not lead to a good outcome. Even if you get 12 dozen red roses delivered to your office you're still left looking for the box of chocolates.

We have had the best Valentines days ever since we banned it.

A few years ago we decided to rent a tandem bike and bike trailer and rode all around here. Not only were we met with smiles from all who saw us, we were also greeted with stopped traffic & people leaning out of their cars to point at us. You see, they decided to let us rent what I referred to as the Harley Davidson of tandem bikes. It was huge, had flames painted on the sides, and also happened to be bright banana yellow. In other words you could spot us from a mile away. Add to the fact we had a bike trailer strapped on the back and Mr. Drake had his hand poked out the hole waving to everyone and you had quite a scene. The hubby took the controls & manned the front spot most of the time, so I had every hair on his head memorized by the time we were done. It also meant I got to "pedal" quite a bit, meaning resting my feet on the pedals & letting him do all the work. He's twice my size, that means he should do twice the work, no?

About halfway through he offered to let me take control of the beast & sit in the front. What I failed to take into account is that while you might be sitting in the front, the bigger person still controls the bike. Whatever way they lean the bike leans. So while I was turning the handlebars AWAY from the ditch the hubby kept leaning TOWARDS the ditch and that is exactly where we ended up. In the ditch. And that was the last time he's ever offered to let me control any moving vehicle. Heh.

Best Valentines ever. No chocolates or flowers necessary.

So........you remember Chicago, the one out of Calmer mentioned a few posts ago? A little froggy visited my house and ripped her out. I wore it for exactly one day and hated it with a passion normally reserved for cleaning the toilet. Worse, I was embarrased to wear it. That just doesn't work with very expensive yarn. So I decided that anything made out of the yarn will remind me of that special time when I was in labor with Declan and I gave myself permission to rip. It has been reknit into the Phyllo Yoked Pullover from Knitting Nature. I made a few alterations, including knitting the body & sleves in the round rather than flat & then seaming. Knitting anything with a yoke just screams "Knit me in the round" so I listened. And I gave it a bit of waist shaping as I like to think I have one. The sleeves ended up a little shorter than I normally do, but I really like the outcome. A fun knit, and really quite easy.















Please forgive the morning "I haven't had a shower yet" hair. And bad picture.
















I've got a busy day ahead of me, which includes stocking up on all that V-day chocolates on clearance. Guess it's not so bad after all.