Blue

This is, as far as I know, the last photo taken of my brother and me.
The babies are my nephew, Antwyon Jr., and my niece Yana (they are now 19 and 17, respectively, so that tells you how long ago this was taken).

Today would have been Antwyon's 39th birthday.

There aren't enough words in the world to express how hard it is to know that I can't call and wish him a happy birthday, that I won't ever again hear his booming, raucous, infectious laugh, or the almost angry tone in his voice when he'd say "you know, Cherton, I do love you" as if someone somewhere had told him different.

I will just say that I miss him, so intensely and in so many ways it's difficult sometimes to breathe.

And I'll say this: don't wait. Don't assume that you'll always have time to tell the people you love how you feel. Or that they've always been your hero. Or simply, "Hey. I was thinking about you."

Gone

Oh, God.
I don't even know how I can write these words.
My brother passed away suddenly.
I will be absent from the blog for a while.
As always, if you pray, please say one for us as we try to cope.

509,687 Tries Later...

Houston, we have pooling...

(Whoo!)

Diving into the Pool

So, having broken the fast with an order from Ozeyarn (it arrived today! Whee!), the gloves are so off. Making the most of a free afternoon, I visited one of my LYSs (ostensibly, to claim the booty from my filled-up discount card ($20 of regular-price merch, free. Of course, this means you spent the immense amount of $ to fill up said discount card, but what the hey).

Showing a tiny bit of restraint, I only picked up two Interweave mags (last year's crochet issue and the Winter issue of Knits), a skein of Lily's new Chelsea yarn and this:



This, my dears, is Schaefer Yarns' Anne. Isn't she pretty? IRL the colors are a bit more complex and rich, but you'll have to take my word for it. I'm a crap photog and the boy was in the shower.

Besides, soon after that shot it looked like this:



And then this:



Hopefully soon, it will look like this:



Lest you think me a complete harlot, the boy's hat is nearly done; crown decreases are all that's left, as I've been either too busy or too sick to concentrate on those. Pics of that soon.