Betty, please.

My family and I have been holding our closed fists to our mouths on and off for nearly 27 years saying, "Betty, please. Betty, pick up." Pretending to speak into a microphone the words from an episode of Laverne and Shirley that we'd only seen ONCE. In the many years that have gone by since watching that show, I've never spoken to one person outside of my immediate family who'd seen the Betty, please episode. I'd come to believe that we never actually saw it. Maybe we're all crazy and we made it up together in an attempt to entertain ourselves. Now I have the video evidence that proves we're not crazy. We're just wacky and silly. Last night was the night when everything came together at the right place, at the right time, and led me to the video clip I'd been thinking about and laughing about, for years and years. Thanks to the invention of You Tube and to a fan of old sit-coms, the all-time greatest episode of Laverne and Shirley (dang! You Tube removed it!) is on the screen in front of me. I snorted more than once as I laughed, which for me is the true measure of comedy. It makes me snort. (Please click on the link so that you can watch it and snort, too. I don't want you to feel left out.)

I immediately called my parents and both of my sisters to tell them of the great find, and I emailed the link so that each of them could watch it. I listened on the phone as one of my sisters watched it and laughed, bringing back the memories of our summer of 1981 car trip to Indiana. At every restaurant we visited on the way there and back, one of us would start with the "Betty, please" after a waitress would take our order. You would have thought we would quickly get sick of it, but we didn't. We'd laugh and laugh some more.

This Laverne and Shirley episode was first aired on May 6, 1980. (I didn't always know that fact. My googling turned that up last night.) Laverne and Shirley were working in a diner, with Laverne as the cook, and Shirley as the lone waitress. Rather than call for Shirley when an order is ready, Laverne thinks the name Betty is more dinery and calls, "Betty, please" into the microphone above the grill. It's so silly and hysterically funny. Another great quote from Laverne, after she pours way too much pancake batter onto the grill and it surrounds the other food that's cooking: "Attention. Attention. Lucky lucky! For the next 10 minutes everything comes with pancakes."

I wish I could have watched my father's face as he watched Laverne and Shirley come back to life on his computer screen. I'd love to hear him laugh and to see his face as he stretches out his face and curls his lips around his teeth to try to stop himself from laughing too hard. My mother gets the giggles. My other sister laughs so hard, she cries. Love when she does that.

So this silly episode of an old sit-com not only brings back the laughter brought on by a funny show, but it wakes up the love I have for my family and all of the snortin' good times we've spent together. I'm a lucky girl.

Now how about some knitting?

I finished 2 more of the MDK ballband dishcloths. Promise I'll stop showing these now. That's all. Unless there's a really good one . . .

Here's the first of my miters for the MDK mitered square blanket. Really simple to knit. The whole blanket looks intimidating, but when I read the pattern, I realized it's pretty easy. Now . . . 79 more miters to go. Ugh.

The Monet Bag

This is the bag that I wrote about in a previous post. It was knit with grab-bag wool that I bought at a craft show. The colors were beautiful - greens and pinks mixed with a little blue and yellow. I knit with 2 strand held together throughout and the colors blended in such a cool way. The greens and blues are mainly at the bottom of the bag, with the pinks and lighter shades at the top. It looks like one of Monet's gardens. I felted it just enough for it to tighten into a fabric, but left the knit stitches visible. My sister Kim loves this bag and she uses it all the time. I took the picture of it today at our Easter dinner.

My sister Kathy liked the blue/purple Mason Dixon dishcloth, but I could tell she was reluctant to use it. I told her that I wouldn't leave her house until she got it wet. Must. Use. The. Handknits. She finally soaked it and squeezed it out, and it still looks great. I'll bet she'll never wash a dish with it, but she'll keep it around the kitchen. I'm already working on my next one - solid yellow with pink, orange, and yellow ombre Sugar'n Cream. Pretty.

The First of Many

I finished the ballband dishcloth today. I did a few report cards, knit a few rows. Did a few more report cards, knit a few more rows. Finished the report cards, finished the dishcloth. Such a great feeling of accomplishment! Love it! It's the first dishcloth of many. It was quick, easy, and fun - my favorite kind of project. I'm already picking colors for the next one. I'll give this one to my sister Kathy tomorrow. Our Easter get-together is at her house. It's hard to give away the first, but I do love to give away the things I knit. I especially like when I see the recipient using and loving what I made for them.

Last year, I made a felted bag out of some beautiful hand-dyed wool that I had bought as a grab-bag at a craft show. There were two skeins of yarn with gorgeous shades of pinks and greens. I made up my own pattern, crocheting a circular bottom and knitting up the sides. I finished it with 8 holes and threaded a an i-cord strap through to cinch it closed. After I felted it, I couldn't believe how amazing the colors looked. The bag looked like a Monet painting. My sister Kim loved it, so as painful as it was for me to let it go, I gave it to her. She has used it nearly every day since. She replaced the felted i-cord strap with a leather strap from another purse, and it looks so good. It's her Monet bag and she loves it. I get the warm fuzzies every time I see her using it.

I've taken pictures of some of the other felted bags I've made, so I'll do a little show and tell soon. I'll have to take a picture of the Monet bag to show, too.

It's My Kind of Day

This is the kind of day I love. No school for me today. I love school holidays. Teachers like days off just as much as the kids do. I woke up at 8:15 AM, stayed in bed reading a good book, and woke up again at 11:35 AM. It's now 1:35 and I'm still in my bathrobe, having finished my 2nd cup of frothy coffee (frothee coffee?) - my favorite coffee made with frothed skim milk. I now have my knitting in my lap and my computer on the table in front of me.

I won't get to do this all day, because my son M. has grown out of all of his clothes and is in need of a trip to the mall. I'll have a few hours to relax like this before we go shopping and I come back home to dig in on the 19 report cards I have to do for my 3rd graders. I don't love report cards. I'd rather teach the kids and have fun with them than grade them and write about them, but it has to be done. I'll justify my procrastination by saying that knitting this dishcloth is relaxing and lets me gather my thoughts. Right?

This ballband dishcloth pattern is from Mason Dixon Knitting. It's easy and it's going pretty quickly. It might be an Easter hostess gift for my sister. The Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton colors are Easter-ish. This is my favorite yarn lately.

When I first started knitting, I used a lot of acrylic yarns because they're so inexpensive. Then I got into felting and use a lot of beautiful wool yarns from my LYS. Now, I'm loving cotton. The Sugar'n Cream is inexpensive and comes in such pretty colors. I've made a lot of baby things with it and now I'm trying the dishcloths. I've made many big knitting and crocheting projects in the past, but now I like the small projects where I can see instant results and finish up fast. I get bored and like to move on to the next good thing. Like a lot of other knitters I've read about, I usually have several different things on the needles so I can switch between them. I also like the portable projects. I'm trying to gear myself up to start the Mitered Square Blanket in the MDK book. Lots of ends to weave, though. We'll see.

Back to the ballband . . . That's fun to say.