How to get your child to model his handknit sweater in July...

Take him ice skating.

I think it's a perfect fit!

I do knit... I do knit!

It's been a while since I blogged about it, but I do still knit.

Last night, in fact, I finished knitting N's Wonderful Wallaby. His first one was actually a hand-me-down from J and he wore it all the time. But it had gotten too short in the body and sleeves so I decided to make him a new one.


The yarn is from my stash. I bought it on my first trip to the LYS in Texas. It was on the clearance table for $1 per skein and I bought it intending to make N a Wonderful Wallaby. Funny how it worked out that I finally did it two years later. But since he had a perfectly good hand-me-down Wallaby from his brother I decided the wait was good.

Anyway, this is my sixth Wallaby I've knitted and I still love the simplicity of this pattern and the little clever touches like the construction of the pocket and the simple Kitchener seam on the hood. I did my usual modifications: seed stitch in place of ribbing and garter stitch.


I started the Wallaby after I finished my Minimalist Cardigan. I had other projects in line, but at that point B was on week 4 or so of 6 weeks out of town and I was feeling a little tired and stressed. The Wallaby with it's stockinette in the round and familiar pattern was just what my brain needed at the time.

I worked on it on our rides to and from the beach. At one point on the way down, about 4 hours in, when I finished the body up to the armpits, I thought maybe I had not packed enough knitting for the 40 or so hours we'd be in the car. However, I quickly realized I was in dreamland and that the boys would keep me plenty busy and that knitting would be only done in short stunts. All in all, when we got home, I had only gotten one and a half sleeves done. Oh well. It is finished now.

Pattern: Wonderful Wallaby by Cottage Creations
Yarn: 6 or 7 skeins of Phildar Falaise (50g/ 82 yd/ 48% Cotton/ 39% Acrylic/ 13% Viscose)


Size: 3ish (I made up my own numbers between the size 2 and size 4)
Modifications: Changed numbers to suit my size. Changed ribbing and garter stitch to seed stitch. Three needle bind off for armpits (instead of Kitchener).



Sorry for the lack of modeled shots. For some reason, N did not want to model his new sweater on a hot July day in Texas.


Next, I'm going to make my self a Circle Textured Shrug like the one I made my sister. This is the yarn I'm using.
Guess, I should have had them wind it a the yarn shop. Oh well.

When the boys get older...

Today as we walked into the house (though the garage and past all the lawn equipment), J informed me that when he and N get older they are going to "help Daddy cut the grass while Daddy sits in the house and drinks beer." I could tell immediately that B has been talking to the boys about their future duties and knew that B would be happy to know that J was listening and excited. J then informed me that when he and N get even older they are going to "drink all the beer in the house themselves." I don't think B will be very happy about that at all.

Well, honey, if you're ready this...consider yourself warned.

It's Official!

The boys helped B take apart N's crib. After two naps and one night in his new bed, N is officially out of his crib.

My Littlest Man is Growing Up!

My littlest man is sleeping in his big boy bed tonight!

We've had the bed (part of a twin bed set) since before the boys were born. B and I bought them at an antique store. J sleeps in the other one.

B set up N's bed this morning after one of his coworkers was kind enough to give us a set of mattresses he didn't need any more.

N was so excited. He tried to put himself down for a nap about an hour early. When naptime actually arrived, N did his usual fighting his nap for about 10 minutes, but then settled on down and took a great nap.

It took him a little bit to settle in tonight, but then N went to sleep just fine. Let's hope there are no thumps or bumps in the night. So excited for my little man in his big boy bed!

B, N and J doing bedtime stories in N's new bed.

Top Ten Tuesday: Car Trip Edition

I used to do Top Ten Tuesday posts all the time, but then I had N and I didn't get around to them much anymore. Anyway, I had lots of little tidbits to share from our approximately forty hours of car time from our beach vacation so I thought I'd put them into a few Top Ten Tuesday Lists.

Top Ten Things N Said in the Car

10. Car

9. Truck

8. Aunt Cat

7. Papa

6. Mooma. Mooma. Mooma.

5. Car wash (Every time it rained)

4. Pee potty. (My response: "We just stopped. Pee in your diaper." Nice, huh?)

3. Beach house

2. Chocolate Milk

1. Shoe hand!



Top Ten Things J Said in the Car

10. Are we there yet?

9. Are we there yet?

8. N's poopy. (After passing a livestock filled area that smelled like manure.)

7. Are we there yet?

6. Are we there yet?

5. Are we there yet?

4. I need to pee.

3. Are we there yet?

2. Are we there yet?

1. Are we there yet?



Top Ten Funny (Ha Ha and Strange) Things We Saw on our Car Trip

10. Street Name: Mosquito Branch

9: Gas Station in Louisiana: Get & Geaux

8: City: Mound, Louisiana (Made me giggle. I've been reading way too many Romance novels.)

7: Store: St. Nick Nacks

6: Sighting: Six leather clad bikers in US Military Vet vests--one with a toy puppy strapped to the back of his bike.

5: Sighting: Three "Statue of Liberty"s (on the capital building in Atlanta, the Boy Scouts of America building in Birmingham and somewhere in Louisiana)

4: City: Tallapoosa, Mississippi

3: Sighting: So many Waffle Houses that we invented a new game: Punchbuggy Waffle House.

2: City: Chunky, Mississippi

1: Sighting: A guy in a brown monk garment pulling a cross on wheels down the side of the highway.


Happy Tuesday, everyone! Hope you have a great one!

Tons and Tons of Beach Pictures

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the over 300 that I took on our family beach trip.

N hugging my mom. He LOVES his Mooma. "Mooma. Mooma. Mooma." That's all we hear around here these days.


N and my dad. I see so much of my dad in N and I love it.



N, Buckethead.


My nephew Michael with his first sandfiddler. It was so much fun to see the children get as excited about sandfiddlers as we did as children.



J with his cousins Joe and Lizzie.



My nephew Joe.



J laughing :).



Michael and J. They had SO much fun together.



My nephew Reed.



J, Joe and Lizzie playing the "sink" game. This happened at least once a day.



B and N in the ocean. N LOVED the ocean. As my sister put it, he's a wave junkie. He'd get smacked in the face by a wave and say "more!"



N enjoying the ocean.



My nieces Madeline and Mary.



Silliness. Lizzie, J and Michael in pipe cleaner glasses. N joined in for the photo.



B with N's "boogie board." It's just his size.



My little surfer boy.



J and Michael having a blast. I was so excited to see J finally enjoy the ocean for the first time this year. He didn't like going really deep but he loved the shallows and riding the waves on his boogie board.



Look at that face! This made my heart SO happy.



Madeline was also a wave junkie and looked like a little surfer girl on her boogie board.



J. He looks so grown up sometimes!



My niece Lizzie. Another ocean junkie and one tough cookie.




J loves to have B swing him around like this.



N spent a LOT of time with Aunt Cat. She was kind enough to feed his wave habit often :).



N playing his favorite car game: shoe hand.


I don't think the pictures do it justice, but they show some of our fun and the adorableness of all the children in my family. I just feel so blessed! Can't wait until next year!

Home Again

Sorry for the huge break in posting. We got home this afternoon from our yearly trip to the beach with my family. It was a blast, but exhausting.

We decided to drive this year (about 1200 miles each way). So I freaked out and spent the whole week before we left working on things to entertain the boys on the drive. We left at 5:00AM last Friday and took two days to get to our vacation in Oak Island, NC. We had a wonderful week in a house with my husband, my boys, my parents, my sister and her husband, my brother and his wife and six nieces and nephews (ranging in age from almost 3 years to almost 7 years old). Within a few blocks were five other houses of extended relatives. A fun, fun week at the beach! We left the beach yesterday morning and arrived home today around 3PM.

We're all exhausted and glad to be home in our own beds (especially after the four of us shared a room for the last week and a car for many many hours). However, I'm already missing everyone terribly. It was SO much fun, but a week is never long enough.

I promise I will post pics and funny stories soon. For now, I'm off to enjoy my bed (and the peace and quiet of my house).