Special Julies

I have two special "Julies" in blogdom. The first "Julie's" blog is JewelTomes. I discovered her one time when I was just browsing, and she had this funny post about teenagers. I can't really remember the exact content, but I think it had a picture of a crushed bumper and a caveat to parents of girls that the drivers who are usually responsible for doing this to cars are teenage boys. We have an almost unbelieveable connection, beyond the knitting. We both love literature. Julie has a Master's degree in Humanities, just like I do. She's one of about five people, including the three professors on my review committee, who have read my thesis. We've both run long distances although I think that Julie may have run a marathon, and I've "only" run in half-marathons. We both spend a lot of time with our kids and are known to knit at our kids' swim meets. We're about the same age, so Julie is always making great musical and movie allusions from the 70s and 80s. She seems to be a little more even-tempered than I am, but we're both somewhat feisty but enjoy a good joke, even if it's on us. Oh,,, and we both have been married for a long time, and still like our husbands, but don't mention them in our blogs very often (LOL)

A couple of weeks ago, Julie sent me two books. I have to admit that I havent started them yet because I've been kind overwhelmed by school work and I had to finish my book club's book for our meeting next week. I'm planning to start Eggs in Purgatory this afternoon if I get all of my grading done though. It's not a knitting novel, but has another theme Julie knows I love--food.. Anyway, I enjoy Julie's friendship, and I hope we can meet in real life someday.

I don't know the other Julie other than what I read on her blog. She's incredibly creative and produces beautiful handknit toys.. She blogs at Little Cotton Rabbits, and I've practically been obsessed with her little knitted bunnies,shamelessly trying to copy them. I 've pretty much given on on ever purchasing one of her toys because they sell out in seconds when they come up for sale. I am not exaggerating. She's recently, however, made several of her patterns available. I bought her egg cozy pattern last night and had to give it a try right away. It was only $3.50, but I would have happily spend twice that to get my hands on this pattern. What did I discover when I finished? What I already knew...that she's an artist, and I'm not. It's a cute enough bunny, but it looks like the ones I already have been knitting on my own. There's just something that she does to hers that raises the cute factor. Oh well, I'll try again.

In other knitting news, I've knit a felted bowl. I used the pattern from Knit Noel. I'm planning to fill it with Mrs. Meyer's baby products and some handknit washclothes. You would think that I'd be doing this in anticipation of a baby coming, Actually, the anticipation is over. My sister had a baby last week. For some reason, I thought her due date was in April. I guess that's what happens when you don't talk to each other very often. Anyway, she had a little boy, and we're excited to get to cuddle a little baby this summer when we see them. For those of you who know my sister, yes, she is forty-two and that does make five, and yes, I do think five is a bit superfluous. (LOL) We're happy for them though...as long as the economy doesn't get so bad that her husband loses his job and they all have to move in with us. Just kidding, they'd be welcome.