My brother, Eric, has his birthday on July 7. So does my friend April. It’s a wonderful day, if you ask me. Two of the most important people in my life share a birthday. (It’s also Ringo Starr’s birthday for those who collect that sort of trivia.)

Eric is out of town, so I called his answering machine and sang Happy Birthday. Our family does this regularly. Sometimes I will come home on my birthday to have messages from Mom, Eric and Goddaughter, Sara, all singing me a song. It’s a fun thing to do.

I made April a cake that even I could eat, and we had a small gathering at April’s house after I got out of work. Four grownups, a toddler and a large dog; cake and ice cream and root beer, and a good number of laughs. This is the stuff life is made of.

Big, huge happiness to both of you! I feel rich with loved ones like you in my life!

Photos: April and daughter Isabel in October, 2004 (now the sweet daughter is 4 years old); Eric on his last day of a job, wearing goodbye spiked hairdo and braids in his beard. Oh, and that famous twinkle in the eye, of course!

I get adult students at knitting shops, who are learning from scratch. Sometimes they have a particular project they want, sometimes they are not sure. I have a new favorite project for those who need me to help them pick. It’s Knitting at Knoon‘s Wee Welcome Set.

I talked to Chris who designed this project… and she designed it to teach with. It’s really a wonderful teaching project. There is a hat consisting of garter fabric, ribbing and stockinette. Then there are booties with the same 3 fabric types plus increases and decreases. then there is the baby sweater including even more types of increases.

When you are done, you understand a lot about making fabric and stitches, and have a lot of skills under your belt. Very nice. Never mind you have a project done as well!

I taught one student at Rae’s with this project. She used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, in two colors. In 3 weeks she had booties and a hat for a shower. Cool.

I also taught one student from Yarn Garden/Charlotte (Becky). She had a family member expecting a baby, and made the one I picture here. It uses one skein of Cherry Tree Hill handpaint and Berocco Comfort for the solid trim. Very nice combination, perfect for kids.

Now I have a woman at Threadbear who is expecting her own child, working away on the hat and booties at this point. I hope she will start in on the sweater tomorrow. She’s using a wonderful hot pink yarn, I think it’s Feza brand. It is a color I would wear proudly myself. Nice.

This is a great learning project for relatively new (or totally new) knitters. Just for the record…