Labor of Love

Lovebug

2012-02-14T15:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day from my little Lovebug!

Homemade Valentines

2012-02-13T17:44:00.001-05:00

The boys and I made some homemade Valentines this afternoon.

Can you tell which one I made?

Tooth Fairy Envelope Tutorial

2012-02-13T09:17:00.008-05:00

Earlier this month, J lost his first tooth. I knew it had been loose for about a week and I kept meaning to do something to prep for our first visit from the tooth fairy. But I never did. One night as I was reading him his bedtime stories, he just pulled it out. He was SO excited! He rushed downstairs to show B and immediately asked if he could keep it. So we scrounged around for something to put the tooth in (B found a plastic memory card case) and wrote a note to the tooth fairy asking if J could keep his tooth. The next morning J woke up to find a dollar squished into the case with his tooth. After he got over his disappointment over the fact the tooth fairy did not bring him a Lego set (I think he thought the tooth fairy was more like a female Santa Claus), he was excited.

Can you see the gap? It's down on the bottom and the new tooth is already poking up to fill it in.

Despite the fact that J was perfectly happy with his memory card case, I was not. So I bought some felt and went to work. I decided I wanted to make a tooth fairy envelope for J and my sister's two children. I wanted something that didn't take up too much room and something that wasn't too babyish since I know they will keep losing teeth until they are at least 10 or so.

First I enlarged a mini-envelope template and cut it out of paper. I traced it onto my three pieces of felt. For this black "snakeskin" felt I used for J's, a white crayon worked great.

Here is J's piece cut out along with the felt for my 6 year-old niece and 8 year-old nephew.

Next I drew a large tooth on a piece of paper, cut it out to make a template, and cut out three white felt teeth (one for each of the envelopes).

Next I pinned the tooth onto the middle of the front of the envelope. I found it easiest to fold the envelope up before pinning the tooth to better picture where it would go. The two smaller triangles are the side flaps, the large pointy corner is the bottom flap and the rounded corner is the top flap.

Next, I whip-stitched the tooth onto the envelope. I used bright contrasting colors for fun.

My nephew's envelope with his tooth all stitched on!

Next, I carefully folded down and pinned the side flaps.

And then carefully folded and pinned the bottom flap.

Then I whip-stitched the bottom flap onto the two sides. I started in the bottom right corner and worked my way around. I did decorative whip-stitch around the top corner of the flap because I thought it looked nicer than just carrying the thread across before heading down the other side. You could also, cut and tie the thread at the top of the right side and start a fresh thread on the left side if you don't want to do this.

Next I added the snaps. I did the top part of the snap first and then folded and pushed it down so it left an indentation where the bottom part of the snap needed to be attached.

The backs of the three envelopes.

The fronts of the three envelopes.

I really wanted to make something that would be convenient to use and, as I mentioned, not too babyish. I think these fit the bill. These envelopes are flat (so easy to put under pillows), but big enough (approximately 4" x 5.5") that they can hold notes, money, teeth and not get lost.

Here's a template I made if you want to use it. Just print it as a full page photo. Make sure your program doesn't try to fit it to the page and crop off the edges.

That's my little bit of craftiness to share. Sorry for the poor quality photographs. Happy Monday, everyone!

Finished: Rippled Cardigan for Cat

2012-02-01T11:19:00.003-05:00

I finished knitting, blocking and seaming my sister's Ripple Cardigan. I made myself this cardigan in orange a while ago and wear it often. It's great over simple dresses, tanks, t-shirts and even long sleeved-shirts. A few months ago my sister requested one in cream and here it is:

When I knit my Rippled Cardigan I had a lot of trouble with dropped stitches. Since that time I have knit with this type of yarn (laceweight Mohair blend) a lot and thus had very few dropped stitches this time around. This sweater knit up very quickly. The seaming seemed to take almost as long as the knitting, but was enjoyable in its own way.

One trick I used for seaming, was holding the sweater pieces together with carefully placed bits of yarn. I lined up two end points (for example, the top and bottom of a seam) and tied them together. Then I folded each piece in half and marked the center points and tied them together. Then I kept halving the distance between two tied together points until the ties were only around 2 inches apart.

My other tip for this sweater is to make sure you bind off VERY loosely--especially on the fronts. They are knit side to side and the back is knit top to bottom. Thus if you bind off the fronts too tightly, it will make the side seams bunch when you sew the fronts to the back.

This detail on the back of the neck is one of my favorite parts of the sweater:

Pattern: Ripple Cardigan by Coralie Meslin
Size: Smallest
Yarn: 4 skeins of Debbie Bliss (76% Super Kid Mohair/ 24% Silk/ 200m/ 25g/ laceweight)
Color: Cream (15006)
Mods: I changed the sleeves to elbow length bell shape sleeves. See my Ravelry page for more details.

100th Day!

2012-02-01T10:46:00.003-05:00

Today is J's 100th Day of Kindergarten. A very exciting milestone indeed.

He's been VERY excited about the 100th Day and all the fun events planned for it.

As part of the festivities, we were encouraged to create a 100th day shirt.

J and I decided to make a 100th Day tie dye.

It was really simple to make. We followed the directions that came with the tie dye kit. The only thing special we did was use exactly 100 rubber bands. J enjoyed counting them out in groups of 10.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty clever and turned out great--so I thought I'd share.

Happy 100th day, everyone!

At least it wasn't a shoe...

2012-01-24T11:37:00.001-05:00

Payton made quick work of her new Christmas clearance dog toy. At least it wasn't another shoe...

Growing Up

2012-01-23T10:54:00.002-05:00

More signs that my boys are growing...

J has his first loose tooth. He woke us up at 5:30AM yesterday to tell us.

N started writing his name on his artwork and it is actually recognizable as his name.

So excited to see them growing up, but a little bit sad too. Any other mothers feel that way?

Nourish

2012-01-17T19:41:00.002-05:00

I gave my boys this "Veggie" Mac n' Cheese tonight. I am desperate to get J to eat some veggies. So I thought I'd try it. 1/2 serving of vegetables is better than nothing right?

It smelled and tasted like broccoli to me (although it is actually made with cauliflower) and I was afraid they wouldn't eat it. However, they both ate it just fine. In fact, J had two large servings. Maybe if they keep eating this, they will develop a taste for broccoli and cauliflower. It's worth a try.

I'm tired of feeling guilty about my boys' picky/unhealthy eating habits. I dream of them eating lots of veggies and fruits. Someday...

For now, it's a start.

Did I mention that my "word" for 2012 is nourish. Trying to nourish my boys' bodies and spirits one day at a time.

Finished: Folded

2012-01-17T10:43:00.004-05:00

I finally finished Folded, a fun sweater pattern by Veera Valimaki, that I have been working on since the end of August! I can't believe it took me so long to knit this sweater. For the first few months (September and October) I had very little knitting time due to J's new school schedule and various Halloween-related crafts including making Halloween costumes for B and I.

Since then, I haven't had a good excuse. I had some real issues with the sleeves--but not all the sweater's fault. I knit my first sleeve 4 times. The first time, I misread the pattern and forgot to put in the increases. The second time, the sleeve just felt too tight. The third time, I changed the increase placement but still felt the sleeve was too tight. Finally, on my fourth try I moved up a needle size (to 4s for ribbing and 6s for stockinette) and did the increases earlier. Details on Ravelry.

Anyway, I finally finished knitting the sweater in December, but left it waiting to block and ends waiting to be woven in until after I finished knitting the pieces for my sister's Ripple Cardigan. I ended up blocking both at once and then finishing this one. I am still seaming the cardigan.

I wore my Folded sweater on Sunday and like it a lot. The fingering weight yarn makes it nice and lightweight. After blocking, it has a really nice drape to it. I like the simplicity of the stockinette stitch with the little bit of added interest the folds at the center above the bustline add.

Pattern: Folded by Veera Valimaki
Yarn: 3 skeins of Araucania Itata Solid (fingering weight, 70% super wash wool/ 15% silk/ 15% bamboo, 100g, 430 yd)
Needles: Size 3 body ribbing, Size 5 body stockinette, Size 4 sleeve ribbing, Size 6 sleeve stockinette
Size: xs, 32" bust
Mods: Changed increases for sleeves. Knit sleeves on larger needle. Made sleeves bracelet length. Added 3 rows of 2 x 2 ribbing around neckline to keep it from rolling.

A Little Doggie Cuteness

2012-01-13T09:38:00.001-05:00

Just had to share. Happy Friday, everyone!

The Best Christmas Present Ever

2012-01-02T08:55:00.003-05:00

N is 3 1/2 years old (actually 3 years and 7 months old). He's been wearing underwear since last February (before he turned 3 in May). After a few weeks into it, he did great. He's rarely had accidents. He was quickly great at going pee in the potty and keeping his underwear dry and clean. He only pooped in his underwear twice.

However, in those 10 months, N only pooped in the potty 6 times. The rest of the time he held it until bedtime or naptime and pooped in his diaper. If we pushed him to poop in the potty, he would just hold it for days at a time. This really stressed me out.

As the months went by with no progress, I started to despair that he would never decide to start pooping in the potty. I tried bribing him with toys and candy, but nothing worked. I kept telling N that all I wanted for Christmas was for him to poop in the potty, but he never responded and I assumed it was yet another thing that wouldn't make a difference.

But then a Christmas miracle occurred. On December 23rd, N pooped in the potty. AND he's been pooping in the potty ever since. Not a single poopy nighttime diaper. 100% of poops in the potty. It has finally happened. Everyone said it would, but I honestly didn't believe them.

This is most definitely the best Christmas present ever.

One word

2011-12-31T21:06:00.003-05:00

Last January, I was inspired by others in the blogiverse to choose one word to represent my goals for the year. I chose Create. This is what I wrote last January:

"Create: A word I love. Similar to grow, but even more proactive. I like this one. I will be creating a new home this year. Creating new friendships. Creating a stronger bond with my children. Creating stronger children. Creating a healthier lifestyle. Creating a better me. Creating a ton of fun handknits. Hee hee. Out of challenges, I need to create opportunities. I like create. It puts the power into my hands versus giving the power to something outside of my control. I like that."

At the time, I thought we were moving, but the move never happened. I focused on my word for a month and then kind of forgot about it. In fact, I hadn't thought of my word in at least 6 months until my friend Audra mentioned it the other day. Oops.

Despite my lack of focus, I think I did okay with "creating" in 2011, but not as well as I would like.

Despite my lack of follow through, I'm thinking of choosing a new word this year--just for fun.

Current thought: Nurture.

Will blog more about my thoughts on Nurture in 2012.

Happy New Year's, everyone! Off to enjoy some bubbly with B. See you next year!

A Knitter's Christmas

2011-12-28T15:28:00.004-05:00

Christmas was good to me this year!

I got four new knitting books.

Can't wait to start reading them and hopefully get inspired to design some new knits.

In the mean time, I also got lots of yummy yarn to knit with.

I got these four skeins of worsted weight yarn that I hope to knit into this lovely dolman sleeve pullover by Kirsten Johnstone. I really like this version that I saw on Ravelry.

I also got this yummy laceweight yarn that I hope to knit into this fun lace tunic by Melissa Wehrle.

Not sure what I'm going to knit with it, but I also got this delicious laceweight yarn from Sunrise Fiber Co. This is the same yarn, in a different colorway, that I used for my Lemongrass Island.

Other yarn waiting to be knit include my recent purchases.
To knit a sweater for N:

To knit a sweater for J:

For Paper Dolls or another colorwork pullover:
I'm currently knitting a Ripple Cardigan for my sister. It is a cream version of the one I knit during Ravelympics in 2010.

I have also mostly completed my Folded sweater which I have been slowly working on for the last several months. It's a little snug through the raglan and I am trying to decide if I need to frog and knit more or just block it hard. Will share once it is 100% complete.

So much knitting, so little time. The story of my life.

So did you have a good knitterly Christmas? What goodies did you get?

A new Christmas Eve tradition

2011-12-27T23:17:00.005-05:00

On Christmas Eve, we hung out with two families of close friends in our neighborhood. It was a really fun night. One of the highlights was helping the children make gingerbread houses.

N had been eyeing the gingerbread house kits at JoAnn's and Michael's this year, but I had never slowed down long enough to buy one. Then I saw this great post on Pinterest about making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and decided we had to make some. I bought and cut the graham crackers, bought chocolate bark, white icing and lots of candy. It is really easy to cut the graham crackers (see the link above to get the details). The other important tip I learned was to use melted chocolate bark to hold the houses together. It sets up in less than 10 minutes versus the 24 hours that some icings take.

As you can see, everyone had a lot of fun making their house unique.

J made his a "bird house"--thus all the toothpicks sticking out. Those are for the birds to sit on.

Anyway, if you are looking for a fun and easy way to make gingerbread houses, I highly recommend this tutorial.

I hope we will continue this new gingerbread house-making tradition for many Christmas Eve's to come.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2011-12-27T23:13:00.002-05:00

It's a little silly, but this was our Christmas card this year. The boys allowed me to take pictures of them for a total of about 5 minutes. These are the best from the bunch. One "Merry Christmas" picture with reindeer antlers, one "Happy New Year" picture with noisemakers, the girls, and one silly picture of the boys in their best super hero poses.

Hope your holidays were jolly (and a little silly)!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2011-12-27T13:32:00.002-05:00

Was going to upload a picture of our Christmas card, but I am out of free photo storage on Blogger/Google--so I just purchased some. However it takes 24 hours to activate so I will try to remember to fix this tomorrow. At least my free storage was enough for my first 660+ posts :). Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

More Christmas fun

2011-12-22T16:47:00.004-05:00

Reading Christmas stories:

Getting our Christmas tree at Lowe's (the boys loved watching the tree get trimmed and wrapped):

Driving home with our tree:
Our tree:
Riding the Christmas train with the boys while in Ohio:

Fun in the Snow

2011-12-22T16:33:00.004-05:00

While we were in Ohio for a pre-Christmas visit with B's parents (Grandma and Grandpa), we were lucky enough to get a few inches of snow. Lots of fun ensued including lots of snowballs thrown by J and a "dinosaur snowman" built by B.

Christmas Craftiness

2011-12-22T15:48:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Pinterest and all the lovely craftiness posted there, I have been in the crafty spirit this Christmas. I want to do more, but here are a few ornaments I've made this year.

I made a bunch of cookie cutter photo ornaments for my mom and my sister. This is a Martha Stewa rt craft that I've been doing for several years. They are so easy and so cute! Here are a few of the ones I made this year:I like to get the pictures printed in Sepia tone as they give it a warm antique look and can pull a variety of photos together into one unified bunch of ornaments. I use pretty scrapbook paper for the back and always make sure to note the year they were made.

Inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I made this felt bacon ornament for B:
This link will take you to a free tutorial, if you want your own bit of bacon-y awesomeness on your Christmas tree. I used the template there, but simplified mine a bit. I did not put the wire inside and feel that it looks plenty bacon-y without it.

I also got some Martha Stewart glitter (SO lovely) when it was half price at Michaels. This ornament for my godfather and a similar one for my godmother were made with the glitter. I put their names and their children's names and grandchildren's names on them.

Finally, I saw a pin with a little snowy scene inside a clear ornament--so I made this. It has a little Christmas tree and "snow" glitter inside and a cute little cardinal perched on the outside. I swirled the glitter around quite a bit so it looks like quite the little snowstorm in there.

And, of course, I wanted to let the boys do some crafting too. Another pin on Pinterest, inspired these:
The top one is one I helped N make. The bottom one is one that J made. As you can see, J got really into making the antlers. He also wrote 2011 and his name on the back which may be my favorite part :). I bought a dozen of these little balls at the dollar store. We gave a few of the finished ornaments to grandparents and kept the rest for our tree.

That's all the craftiness we've had time to complete, but we have lots more ideas so we may sneak in a little more before Christmas.

May your Christmas be crafty too!

Handmade Ryan Gosling

2011-12-19T09:10:00.003-05:00

Hilarious website for all crafty women. Check it out if you need a laugh:

Handmade Ryan Gosling

If I had a shiny, red nose like Rudolph...

2011-12-16T09:10:00.003-05:00

J's recent writing assignment from school:

It says "If I had a shiny, red nose like Rudolph, I would... I would have a shiny nose. It would be red. I would light the way for Santa Claus."

And here is the picture he drew to go with it:Merry Christmas, everyone!

Handmade Shopping: Etsy Supply Shop Contest Nominations

2011-12-04T13:18:00.000-05:00

Sunrise Fiber Co.

Thanksgiving Photos

2011-12-03T09:08:00.003-05:00

Some highlights from Thanksgiving in Virginia!

J and his cousin Lizzie:
My parents' five grandsons playing Legos:
Mealtime! Table one:
Table two:

Table three:
Table four:
Overflow one, the island:

Overflow two, the porch:
Overflow three, in front of the TV :):
The dogs, Pepper, Payton and Rosebud:
Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was WONDERFUL! Loved seeing so many of my family members.

Two Dogs in a Car

2011-12-03T08:43:00.005-05:00

For Thanksgiving, we drove 18 hours to spend the week with my family in Virgina. Pepper has always been horrible in the car--very nervous and unsettled and constantly climbing in your lap and panting. At forty pounds, she is too big to be in a lap. We had only had Payton for three weeks at that time so had no idea how she would do. Luckily, both dogs did great! We folded down and stowed one of the captain seats and put a dog bed there. We also put a pillow between the two front seats. Pepper still panted and Payton got a bit drooly, but they were pretty settled and generally happy. The two of them cracked us up with all the crazy positions they got in--so, of course, I had to share some pictures :).

Both dogs trying to be between the two front seats:

Payton got there first and laid down. Pepper just sat down anyway almost on her head. Butt to head:
Payton wasn't sure if she liked this position. Pepper sitting on Payton:
So Pepper weaseled her way into the spot and Payton half joined her. Head to head:
After I moved to the back to keep the boys company, the dogs decided to try out the dog bed. Side by side:

Next, Payton decided to see how this "sitting on your fellow dog" business worked. Payton sitting on Pepper:

Side by side looking like twins again:
Pepper makes a good pillow!:
Maybe head to tail is best:

The dogs weren't the only ones being silly:

A new Christmas tradition...

2011-12-02T19:47:00.005-05:00

A book advent calendar!

I saw this on Babble.com and then pinned it on Pinterest.com, but it's really from Babycinno Kids.
I wrapped up a bunch of our Christmas books into 24 packages (most have one book, but 4 or 5 have two books--mainly because I couldn't narrow it down any further). I alternated between three simple wrapping papers I found in the Target dollar bins and displayed the books on our mantel. Starting on December 1st, we open and read one package a day. I love that this cost me nothing (except the wrapping paper) and does not involve candy. I love that it forces us to sit down and enjoy a good book together every day through out the busy holiday season. I love that my boys love books so much that they are really excited about our new book Advent. And I love that it allows us to talk about so many aspects of Christmas including baby Jesus and the nativity as well as the spirit of giving. I will list the books we included once they all get unwrapped. I didn't think to write down the titles before I wrapped them.

Our first book was The Story of Christmas by Patricia Pingry--a great board book that tells the story of Baby Jesus in a way that is very understandable for young children. Our second book was Merry Christmas, Curious George by H. A. Rey. Curious George has recently regained popularity at our house and is a daily request from N.

Again, I am loving this new tradition and highly recommend it!

If you are a knitter...

2011-12-02T13:27:00.001-05:00

You must read this post by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and share it with those who love you (and Christmas shop for you). Enjoy!

Yarn Harlot: For the Others

Thankful...

2011-11-23T09:17:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for friends, new and old. I am thankful for my Lynchburg friends who knew me growing up and will always understand certain things about me because they know about growing up in our hometown. I am thankful for my William & Mary friends who knew me when I finally learned to let loose and learned to really enjoy life. I am thankful for my UVA friends, both classmates and neighbors, we had a wonderful year together in Charlottesville and I only wish we had longer to hang out. I am thankful for my Sylvan friends, the best work friends a girl could find. I still miss that job sometimes and love that we helped so many children and had fun doing it. I am thankful for good neighbors, both in Westlake and in Craig Ranch. I love having friends who are also neighbors. There are no pretensions. They know who you really are, how messy your house really is, how you look doing yardwork in your grubbiest of grubbies, and they still like you anyway. So thankful. I am thankful for my fellow mom friends, the ones who have helped me figure out motherhood and have been there for the triumphs and bumps along the way. I feel so blessed to have met so many wonderful friends through my children and I know that many of these friendships will be lifelong ones. I am thankful for my knitting and blogging friends who I have met simply through a shared love for this craft. I love sharing ideas with you and all the creativity you inspire in me. On this day where I get to see one of my best friends ever, I am so thankful for friends. So for all my friends, old and new, near and far, casual and best, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving Eve, safe travels and much happiness this holiday season.

Thankful...

2011-11-17T16:56:00.005-05:00

N had his Thanksgiving feast today at preschool. I am so thankful for the wonderful preschool that he attends. I am thankful for the loving and creative teachers. I am thankful for the community of parents and grandparents who came together for the feast today. I am thankful that B was able to take off work to be there with N and I. I am thankful for the fact that I was able to bring my grandmother's Pineapple Hotdish, a favorite family recipe that always reminds me of countless wonderful holidays spent with my grandmother and other extended family members. I am thankful that I am able to attend all of N and J's school events as I am blessed to be a stay-at-home mom.

I am thankful for these two funny, beautiful, loving little boys. I am thankful that most of the time they seem to really like and enjoy each other. I have hope that they will be lifelong friends. I am thankful that they are healthy and generally happy. I am thankful that we are able to provide them with a secure home, a loving family and three meals each day.

I am thankful for B and the man that he is. I am thankful that he takes the time to be with his sons and works to help them be the men we want them to be. I am thankful that he loves me even with my lackluster housekeeping skills and haphazard cooking skills. I am thankful that he puts up with, and sometimes even encourages, my knitting and other crafty ventures. I am thankful that he's been in my life for the last 16 years and can't wait to have him for many more.

I am thankful for these sweet baby girls. I am thankful that they were in need of rescuing when we were ready to bring them into our homes. I am thankful that they are already such close friends. I am thankful for their sloppy kisses, their wagging tails and their unconditional love.

I am thankful for good friends. I have such great ones in my life. I am thankful for old friends who will always be there even when we go years without seeing each other. I am thankful for all my "mom" friends who are there with me as I travel along the challenging path of motherhood. I am thankful for my good Texas friends who are already like family.

I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my sister who will always be my very best friend. I am thankful for my parents, my brother and all my wonderful nieces and nephews. I am thankful for the family I married into as well as the one I was born into. I am thankful to grow up with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. FAMILY is such a huge part of my life.

This post could keep going and going. I am thankful for all the wonderful blessings in my life. Thank you for sharing this adventure with me. I am thankful for you too. Thank you for giving me a place to voice my thoughts and opinions and stories. I really am thankful for the audience you are and the support and feedback you give.

Yarn Love

2011-11-11T16:37:00.000-05:00

Just read this essay and had to share. Click here and enjoy.

J's artwork

2011-11-05T16:38:00.002-04:00

J just brought me this picture he made. On the left is an eagle in North America and a shark below it in South America. To the right is J in Texas, a lion in Africa and a kangaroo in Australia. At the bottom of the page is a polar bear in the Arctic.

I thought the whole thing was really cool. Had to share.

Payton Update

2011-11-05T11:01:00.002-04:00

Well, Payton's name has stuck. She seems to respond to it and the boys like it--so Payton it is. As you can see, she and Pepper are still having a blast.

Payton is just enough bigger than Pepper that we've decided not to let her get on the sofa. But I felt bad for her sleeping on the floor, so I made her a dog bed. I just bought some really soft fabric and made a big pillowcase and then filled it with three pillows. It was really easy to make and I can just slip the pillows back out to wash it. And the fabric I picked matches Pepper and Payton perfectly :).

As you can see, Payton is enjoying her bed.

I made one for Pepper too. Hers is smaller (just two pillows inside).
But Pepper would rather just sleep on the sofa.

But N really likes her new dog bed.
These were so easy and inexpensive to make. The pillows were $2.50 each. I used a coupon to buy the 3 yards of fabric.

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

My Bucket List

2011-11-02T09:15:00.005-04:00

I decided to enter this contest and thus I am posting about things I want to do before I kick the bucket. These are not in order of importance, but in the order I thought of them today.

1. Go skydiving--hopefully with one of my boys when they are old enough.
2. Go to Germany with B and drink beer and eat chocolate.
3. Go para-sailing with my sister.
4. Get a knitting pattern published in a magazine (or e-magazine).
5. Have a girls weekend away with my sister and best friend.
6. Go on a family trip to Alaska, Australia or Africa. J would be SO thrilled.
7. Design a knitting pattern that other people actually knit (one more complex than the Purse Scarf and the One Skein Chunky Cowl.)
8. Help make the world a better place.
9. Raise my boys to be confident, caring individuals.
10. Celebrate my 60th (at least) wedding anniversary.
11. Use all the yarn in my stash :).
12. Learn how to do something athletic--play tennis, score a soccer goal, hit a baseball, throw and catch a football, throw a basketball into the basket, go snowboarding or surfing--something that teaches me new skills and that I can play with my boys.
13. Take dance lessons with B.
14. Meet my grandchildren.
15. Go whale watching.
16. Knit B a sweater that he LOVES.

This was fun. I'm sure I will think of more things. How many of these do you think I will actually do? I hope all of them.

This is my entry in the Just Ask Bucket List Getaway Giveaway. Just Ask offers a breast and ovarian cancer screening and is encouraging people to share 15 things that I want to enjoy in my lifetime as a reminder to be aware of my health. Want to enter? Head over to TodaysMama.com to get the details.

So what's on your bucket list?

Anyone seen my boys?

2011-11-01T21:00:00.001-04:00

They were just here. I took them out of the bath and then they disappeared. Hmm...

Round-Up of Halloween Photos

2011-11-01T11:42:00.007-04:00

Catching up on some Halloween blogging. Here's the fun in photos:

Our neighborhood Moms group Trunk or Treat:

J as Batman and N as Spiderman:
My Spiderman and his best friend:

J's Kindergarten trip to a pumpkin patch on a very foggy morning:

N before his preschool Halloween parade:

N's preschool class (minus one butterfly who felt too shy to be photographed):

Pumpkin Carving! I love N's expression in this one:
The finished pumpkins. J's is the tall one with a "shark mouth." N's is the "happy face."

The boys convinced me to put up some spider webs. They loved putting spiders in them.

Our sign and candy:

I didn't get a good picture of our boys on Halloween night as N refused to cooperate, but here's a good one of J and our zombie neighbor:

Hope you all had a happy Halloween!

Our new baby...or why I still haven't finished my sweater

2011-10-29T20:09:00.005-04:00

I recently "liked" the local animal shelter's page on Facebook and ever since I've been looking daily at the dogs up for adoption there. This shelter takes in all strays for our county as well as dogs and cats that have been surrendered by their owners. Last week I spotted a little cutie who looked a lot like our sweet Pepper--in fact, she looked like Pepper's long lost twin. We've been wanting to get Pepper a friend, but kept putting it off. When I saw this little cutie, I told B I thought it might be time. After several dogs got euthanized because the shelter was full, I decided I had to go save a dog. On Thursday, I went down to the shelter. I was introduced to Payton. She was such a sweetie, but bigger than expected. Only 48 pounds, but on a big frame. I was torn. That was more dog than I was expecting. But after spending some time with Payton, I couldn't leave her there. So here is our newest baby:

She came with the name Payton which B and I weren't crazy about, but we couldn't think of anything better and now Payton has stuck. So Payton it is. She is between 1 and 2 years old and is a "shepherd mix." We think of her as a bigger, goofier, floppier version of Pepper.

The girls have been getting along great! They love playing in the backyard.

They will even sit together and give me this sweet look.
Payton has blended wonderfully into our family. She appears to be house-trained (no accidents yet), knows "sit" and goes into her crate willingly when we have to leave her. She gives kisses whenever she gets a chance and follows me around like my shadow.

I feel so lucky to have found such a sweet addition to our family.

But unfortunately, both my hands have been busy petting dogs (Pepper on one side and Payton on the other) so I haven't done much knitting. One day I will finish that sweater I'm working on.

Until then I'll just keep enjoying my girls.

As you can see, N is enjoying them too.

Ysolda Teague

2011-10-21T20:12:00.005-04:00

This week Ysolda Teague came to Texas and taught four classes through my local yarn shop, the Woolie Ewe. This morning I was lucky enough to take a 3 hour "Perfect Sweater" class taught by Ysolda. It was my first ever knit class and it was awesome! I learned a lot. The info was all from her latest book Little Red in the City. It's a great book and I highly recommend it.

I wore my Summer tank that I designed and knit this summer to the class. It was chilly this morning so I wore it as a vest over a button up.

Anyway, I got to talk to Ysolda briefly about my sweater before she signed my copy of Little Red in the City. This is a close up of what she wrote:
Pretty awesome, huh?

Yes, today was a good day.

Partridge and a Pear Tree

2011-10-17T15:40:00.010-04:00

This year B and I got invited to an adults costume-required Halloween party. The theme for the party was Nightmare Before Christmas so we decided to go with Christmas themed costumes. B came up with the idea of a partridge in a pear tree and then I decided he could be the pear tree and I would be the partridge. My costume took me a few weeks to complete, but B's was quite quick and easy to make.
Getting ready to head out. As you can see, N was quite intrigued by my new shoes. He really wanted to wear them.

My partridge costume was inspired by this owl costume I found on Pinterest.

I took an old full slip and shortened it. Then I cut out lots of "feathers" from a faux silk material. I started with larger feathers and sewed them on in rows starting at the bottom hem of the slip. Once I reached the waist, I switched to much smaller "feathers." I continued in this fashion until the whole slip was covered in feathers. I added additional rows of feathers over the straps and the dress was complete. I used a bit of fabric glue to attach the sides of the feathers together to keep them from flapping too much and showing the white slip below.

For the wings, I used this tutorial that I found on Pinterest. I cut out two quarter circles for the wings and sewed the top edge of them to a long length of sheer silver ribbon. I made loops with the ribbon at the end of each wing to slip my hands through.
Inspired by a photograph of a partridge, I decide to do stacks of feathers (silver, white, dark brown, gold). Then I sewed them on in rows starting on the bottom edge of the wing. After I finished the rows of "feathers" I sewed over the feathers back along the top edge of the wings (where the ribbon was) to keep them from flopping down.
Finally I added two snaps to the ribbon where the wings rested over the straps of the dress. This way I could snap the wings to my dress to keep the top edge in place.

I also made some feather earrings and two feather hair clips. I ended up wearing one clip in my hair and one on my dress.

B's pear tree costume was fun and much easier to make.

I bought a green t-shirt at Old Navy ($5) and some fake pears (one bunch of 8 pears) and fake ficus branches at Michael's( I used 3 ficus branches at around $0.75 each). I attached the branches onto the t-shirt by tacking each branch on at various points. I used wire cutters to separate some of the branches into smaller parts as needed. Then I used the wire cutters to cut the pears off the branches they came on and sewed them onto the ficus branches. I used a bit of fabric glue on the thread to make sure the pears stayed secure.

For B's pants, I bought an inexpensive pair of khakis at Wal-mart ($10) and used acrylic paint to make them look like wood/tree trunk.

This is my favorite part.
As you can see below, we had fun wearing our costumes at the party.

So that's how I've been spending my crafty time. Now that the party is past, I can go back to knitting. Hope to share some of that soon.

State Fair! (Warning LOTS of photos)

2011-10-16T22:27:00.006-04:00

So we finally made it to the Texas State Fair. In fact, this was our first state fair experience. B's parents are in town and J had a free ticket so we decided now was a good of time as any.

We started by heading straight for the iconic Texas Ferris wheel.

J got distracted by the Alpine ride and decided to go on that instead. He loves anything that spins around--the faster the better. Here's a pic of J and B on the Alpine ride (from my view in line for the Ferris wheel).

N and I on the Ferris wheel.
Looking down at the ride J and B were on.

Next stop, the whale ride N spotted from the Ferris wheel. I love how happy my boys look hanging out together.

Next, J and B went on this roller coaster, the Zillerator. J LOVES roller coasters. N likes them too, but he was too short to go on this one.

After checking out the rest of the midway, J, N and I decided to ride the Sky Way to the food court. This was probably my favorite part of the day because I had my two boys all to myself. It was a fun, peaceful moment in the day and the boys loved seeing the fair from this aerial view.
The food court was my next stop where we enjoyed Belgian waffles, corndogs, gyros and fried beer. Yes, fried beer.
There is actually liquid beer inside this fried outer shell. Unfortunately, beer isn't really meant to be fried and it tasted a bit stale. But if you put enough cheese on them, they were kind of good.

Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed their whipped cream covered waffles.

Next we decided to check out some of the traditional fair venues including the Creative Arts building. Outside of the building, we saw this lovely crochet covered golf cart. LOVE it!
Inside we found this intricate butter sculpture.Yes, this is all carved out of BUTTER.
Some of the lovely, award-winning knit items on display:

Next, we had to check out some of the animals. My favorites were these adorable little piglets.

At this point, it was over 86 and around 2PM and the grounds were PACKED. So we went on one last ride before heading home. The boys loved lining up next to the Big Tex You-Must-Be-This-Tall signs.
LOVE those smiles!

Bye-bye, Big Tex! See you again next year.We'll need to head back. I didn't get to get any deep-fried cheesecake. :)

Creepy? I think so.

2011-10-16T22:04:00.003-04:00

So when we were on our trip to Portland, we stopped at a pumpkin patch on our way home from a yummy lunch at Full Sale brewery in Hood River. Anyway, the pumpkin patch had this whole display of pumpkin and gourd fairy tales. Check these out, this is just a small sampling of the fun.

The seven dwarfs:

Cinderella and Prince Charming with her two evil stepsisters.
Cinderella's carriage with mouse footmen:

Mary had a little lamb:

Humpty Dumpty:

Little Miss Muffett and the spider:

And Little Red Riding Hood and the super scary wolf:
I found the whole thing to be quite creepy? What do you think?

Trip to Portland: Lots of photos

2011-10-16T21:36:00.007-04:00

A week ago, we spent the weekend in Portland, Oregon visiting family. Here are some of my favorite pics from the trip.

My adorable niece Isla in the sweater I knit for her older brother when he was her age.

J, B, Isla, N, Oscar and Kristin (B's sister) at a fish hatchery.

At the pumpkin patch! Stripes!

Such lovely colors!

N and J posing. Luckily, J didn't realize his was a girl. :)

J found his pumpkin right away.

Love the gorgeous setting of this pumpkin patch. SO lovely!

Oscar and Isla.

Fun on wheels. N, Oscar and J.

Look at this tough looking group.

Silliness!

Heading home through the airport. Yes, N is in his pjs, but doesn't he look adorable pulling his own suitcase?

It was an exhausting weekend, but SO much fun. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Catch Up Post

2011-10-16T21:24:00.003-04:00

Can't believe it's been almost a month since I've blogged. Here a few pics showing what we've been up to...

Oktoberfest brought fun in downtown including barrel rolling for N...

and fun in our backyard with a giant beer for B.

We also had a visit from Mooma and Papa including an afternoon at the pool.

J started another session of soccer with the awesome Coach Ducky.
We've also had a weekend in Oregon with family, a visit from Grandma and Grandpa, a visit to the Texas State Fair and a Halloween party of B and me.

More pics and posts to come soon.

Playing with Fabric

2011-09-27T15:14:00.004-04:00

Inspired by this.

Inspired by this.

Crafty fabric fun. A few fun accessories I made to add a splash of color and a bit of fun pattern to my fall outfits.

Progress

2011-09-27T09:12:00.002-04:00

As some of you know, N has been in underwear for over 6 months. He's done great keeping his underwear dry and clean with only the occasional wet accident. Unfortunately, he does not want to poop in his potty--so he holds it until naptime or bedtime and poops in the diaper he sleeps in. I've tried a lot of different things to try and motivate him, but he just says he's scared and doesn't want to do it. After stressing to him that if he needed to poop while in bed, he HAD to get up and poop in the potty--he did! It was Sunday night and we were all so excited! Of course, he had already gone to bed so it was 8PM. I'd been promising him a Hershey's Cookies and Cream bar if he pooped on the potty so we went to CVS with N in his pjs to buy a candy bar after he pooped in the potty. I know chocolate after 8PM is a great parenting thing to do, but it was well worth it. We haven't had a repeat performance yet, but I am hopeful. Finally some sort of progress. Fingers crossed for more poops in the potty soon.

School

2011-09-22T21:03:00.003-04:00

Can't believe how long it has been since I have blogged. I've been busy. Who knew that having both boys in school would mean I would have so little time? N is in preschool three mornings a week. J is well into Kindergarten. I've been volunteering a lot at J's school and trying to exercise and keep my house somewhat clean. I've also been working on a Halloween costume (for me) and slowing knitting on my sweater. I haven't knit much as I've been heading to bed early and am often cutting out items for J's teacher in the evenings. Anyway, J brought home this great picture and writing that he did at school today. I was really impressed so I had to share.
I love how he labeled the items in his drawing--especially the ladder. He told me that the words said "Me in my bed and my polar bear. I have my lion." I was excited that I had "read" it correctly. Wow. So exciting to see my little guy writing!

My little men are growing up

2011-09-03T15:10:00.002-04:00

What a week. J finished week two of Kindergarten. He is still going without any protest or tears. He has a lot to say when he gets home so I think he likes it. I still give a huge sigh of relief each day when I drop him off happy. He's still exhausted (and emotional) after school, but I'm hoping that will get better as he adjusts to his new schedule.

This week the boys went to the dentist. No cavities :)! J has gotten 3 of his 6 year molars already and the 4th is on its way. The dentist told me that he should start losing baby teeth soon. That same night, J got his first homework packet from school. Wow! He is really growing up so quickly!

N is slowly adjusting to getting up earlier and losing half of his naptime. He's grumpy but good. Yesterday he told me that I was his best friend.

I am one lucky mama. Just had to share.

Juices are flowing

2011-08-31T10:26:00.003-04:00

All of a sudden my creative juices are flowing and I have more ideas than I have time. (Thanks Pinterest!) Had to get some out of my head so I'm posting here.

Wreath of fall colored fabric flowers.

Fabric covered beaded necklace.

Fabric flower accessories.

Halloween costume (already got invited to a party and I can't wait).

Knitted lace bib necklace. Have seen some cool crochet ones, but not really knit ones. Need to chart out some stitch patterns from my old Vogue Knitting Stitch dictionary and play on paper before I can even consider casting on.

Lightweight knit sweater for B--yes, I think I'm finally ready to tackle that one. If I can only find the right yarn and afford a B's sweater amount of it.

Knit lace cowl. A long skinny continuous circle made up of a variety of lace/textured stitches. Probably in fingering weight. Lots of planning before I can do anything about this one.

Doubleknit coasters. Need to find or create a pattern. Never done doubleknitting, but it sounds interesting and I think the double thickness would be good for a coaster. I just started using a gauge swatch as a coaster because it was handy, but I think one made for this purpose would be even better. Maybe in grellow (gray and yellow <3).

Still want to knit a striped pullover with yarn I bought almost a year ago. Still need to design it. Trying to decide on neckline shape and stripe pattern. Here's my inspiration.

Just cast on for Folded. This is the perfect mindless knit so I can think of all my other ideas while knitting it :).

Movie Monday: Zoo Babies!

2011-08-29T07:34:00.005-04:00

Apparently summer time is baby time at the zoo. We made a quick trip to the Dallas Zoo before the heat hit too badly yesterday and saw these little cuties.

Baby warthogs (Toby and Teddy) born June 13th:

Baby girl giraffe born in July:

She's five weeks old and already 6 feet tall.

Baby flamingo:
There are actually two baby flamingos (easily visible with their gray feathers).

Baby Colobus monkey born July 13th:

If you watch closely, you'll see the little white baby playing around the black and white adults.

Just had to share a little zoo baby cuteness this Monday morning. Happy Monday, everyone!

Boys will be boys

2011-08-27T12:10:00.002-04:00

My boys have two baby dolls. One was given to J by my mom on his first birthday. The other one J picked out at the dollar store when I was pregnant with N.

Every so often the boys will pull them out and play "baby." Since we don't have doll furniture, they have to be creative.

Here is the baby bed:

Here is the baby's hamper:

Got to love it!

Lemongrass Island: AFTER

2011-08-26T15:55:00.006-04:00

I took my Rock Island shawl and gave it bath in warm water and Eucalan (no rinse wool wash).

Rolled it in a towel to get out excess water. Stretched it out and pinned it in place with blocking wires and pins.
And now, in less than 24 hours, this:

Has become this:
But to really appreciate its beauty, you have to see the outside shots where you can really appreciate the pretty color of this yarn and the delicate nature of this shawl.

Pattern: Rock Island by Jared Flood
Yarn: less than one skein of Sunrise Fiber Co. Lace Silk Merino in Lemongrass (80% Merino/ 20% Silk/ 50g/ 656yds)
Needles: Size 7
Finished size: 48" (at widest point) by 22" (at deepest point) [relaxed after blocking]
Mods: I wanted a smaller shawl--so I might actually wear it. I only did 61 repeats of the lace edging and thus only had 248 YOs to create 251 stitches. Then I only did 4 sets of garter stitch decreases to get to 235 st to start the Rock Island lace chart. For the chart, I only did 14 repeats (instead of 17) of the six stitch repeat. After the Rock Island chart, I followed the pattern as written until I had 13 st. I then did this as my final decrease row: K2, K2tog, K1, SSK, K2, SSK, K2. This left me 10 stitches. I grafted them together (5 and 5) using the Kitchener st.
On Ravelry here.

2011-08-26T12:40:00.003-04:00

Well, I finally jumped on the bandwagon and joined Pinterest. For people who don't know about Pinterest, it is a place to create and save virtual pinboards. I have been avoiding it because I was scared of how much time I might spend on it, but I finally gave in. It's great. Now instead of bookmarking every knit pattern, inspiration piece, recipe or cool crafty idea, I can just "pin" them on one of my Pinterest boards. I love how easy it is to use. I love having access to the cool things I have found and the cool things others have found.

Anyway, being on Pinterest has made me want to do lots of crafty things. Two types of crafty things I've been seeing everywhere are felt and fabric flowers. I found and pinned a few tutorials and started playing. Here are the few I've done so far.

I found a really cool tutorial for felt flowers and made this one:
This flower was SO easy to make and I think it is quite cute.

The person who made the tutorial, also made a really cool wreath covered in these flowers. I was thinking it would be fun to make a fall wreath. Then I remembered some cool fabric orange and white fabric I have and thought the fabric would look cool on a fall wreath. So I tried to use this method to make a fabric rose. My first attempt was a total fail--the fabric was too thin and one-sided. Then I tried gluing two circles of fabric together and that worked a little better:

I'm still not 100% satisfied. I decided to try a different technique for making a fabric flower. I looked at this tutorial and this one. I didn't follow either of them exactly, but ended up with this on my first try:
Besides the fact that this fabric is boring (didn't want to use up any good fabric while I learned the ropes), I think this turned out pretty cute. Not sure if this method will really show off the cuteness of the fabric I wanted to use. Will have to play more with size of fabric strip I use (width and length). I also need to decide if I want to use the glue method or sewn together method. Mine right now are just folded together but not held together with anything. I did one last attempt with a more interesting fabric and here it is:

I only folded my fabric in half once because I like a little bit of the raw edge to show. I think it adds interest.

Anyway, that is my craftiness for now. If you are on Pinterest or decide to join, let me know so I can follow you and be inspired by what inspires you :). You can follow me too if you want.

Lemongrass Island: BEFORE

2011-08-25T12:59:00.003-04:00

Finished knitting my lace shawl! Here it is:

My Lemongrass Island!

Okay, so it doesn't look like much yet. But just wait to until I block it. Then the magic happens.

AFTER pictures coming soon.

WIP: Rock Island

2011-08-24T14:43:00.002-04:00

Although J's starting Kindergarten has been the focus of our household this week (and the last few to be honest), I am still knitting when I get a chance. I've been getting up early and thus heading to bed early so not doing as much knitting as I would like. However I am still making progress on my lace shawl, Rock Island, or as I've renamed mine Lemongrass Island.

This is where I am now.

I am making mine on Size 7 needles to meet gauge. But I wanted mine slightly smaller than the original pattern, so I did 61 instead of 71 repeats of the lace edging. Picking up stitches into YO loops took much longer than I expected. Some of my loops were obvious and some were not. Had 248 YOs [2 + 244 (61 x 4) + 2] and picked up 251 stitches (increasing 3 in middle 4 stitches as suggested). I realized that I needed to do just 4 sets of the two garter stitch rows (a total of 16 stitches decreased) to get the correct stitch count to start the Rock Island chart. After these rows I had 235 stitches to start Rock Island chart. I followed the chart as written except did the 6 stitch repeat 14 times (instead of 17). I messed up the Rock Island chart a few times early on and had to redo those rows. I then highlighted the SSKs and soon memorized the pattern. After that, it was smooth sailing. I have since finished the Rock Island chart and am slowly working my way through the garter stitch decrease rows. I have about 40 more rows to go. Can't wait to finish and block. This shawl is BEAUTIFUL after blocking.

Turtle

2011-08-24T14:34:00.003-04:00

N has decided that he is a turtle. Even with our 108+F days, he insists on sleeping totally encased in his quilt.

He gets so wrapped up in there that I worry he can't breath. He wakes up drenched in sweat. I have to wash his quilt about every three days (it's actually a bit gross). But he is a happy little turtle.

Since J started Kindergarten this week, we have all been getting up early. We have to leave the house at 7:30AM. I've had to wake N up over an hour before he usually wakes up on his own. Needless to say, he is a bit tired. Yesterday when I went to wake him up from his nap, I found encased in his quilt (see picture above).

I got him unwrapped (see picture below).

And he was STILL sound asleep. Oh, my little turtle is tried. Glad he's got two more weeks to adjust before he heads to preschool.

It's official

2011-08-22T22:13:00.003-04:00

J started Kindergarten today. I was not worried about him growing up or sad that my little guy was starting real school. I was just really anxious that he would cry or get upset, but he did great. No tears. No clinging. No begging me to stay. I was SO relieved.

Here are some pics on our way in school. The first one he is in mid-blink. The second one is blurry. I stopped after two because I didn't want to harass him before his first day of Kindergarten. I was very proud that I let him wear his new Lego Star Wars t-shirt and not the polo and plaid shorts I wanted him to wear.

After school, we met some friends at Sonic for milkshakes. One of my friends was kind of enough to take this sweaty pic.

All in all, a good day. Hope the rest of the week goes as well.

Oh yeah, and I joined the PTA. Wish me luck :).

Photo Highlights of a Fun Visit

2011-08-17T09:46:00.006-04:00

Just got back from another fun visit back to Ohio. Got to spend quality time with B's parents and brother and I got to go out with my good "mom friends" there. Didn't get to see extended family or old neighbors or co-workers as this was a short visit. Hope to catch up with them next time. Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip:

On the hammock with Grandpa.

At Memphis Kiddie Park, Grandma and N on the roller coaster.

J (with me) on the roller coaster.

A rainy day at the Cleveland Zoo.

Camel ride.

This koala was actually awake and moving around! Since they sleep 20 or more hours a day, this was pretty exciting to see.

Uncle Mike and J as meerkats.

Using our umbrellas at the zoo. The boys LOVED their new umbrellas.

At the Natural History museum. Dinosaurs!

The boys loved this "Little Builders" exhibit at the museum.

So much fun!

Then we came home and I got this:

From the best husband EVER! Yes, my husband made French Silk Pie--and didn't eat any until we got home.

Life is good.

Happy Anniversary, Love

2011-08-12T06:03:00.000-04:00

Today is my 11 year wedding anniversary.

One of the lines in a current favorite song is "you put your arms around me and I'm home."

Whenever I hear it, I think of B. I've been in his arms for the last 11 years and I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

Happy Anniversary, Love.

So I don't forget...

2011-08-11T18:00:00.003-04:00

B and J have been playing Indian Jones on the Wii recently (thanks to the lovely people who post videos of how to move to the next level on YouTube). Anyway, each time they play J insists that B be Indiana so he can be Jones. No matter how much we talk about it J can't be convinced that Indiana Jones is one person. Anyway, it cracks me up. Just had to post so I didn't forget.

Rock Island: Work in Progress

2011-08-11T15:54:00.003-04:00

I could not resist my new Sunshine Fiber Co. Lace Merino Silk. I'm already knitting with it.

I enjoy knitting lace, but I am not a person who wears shawls so I often pass on many of the "in" projects for lace knitters. But when I saw Rock Island by Jared Flood, I was tempted. It's a lace shawl, but it is so delicate and beautiful and modern that I was having trouble resisting. I was doing just fine until I realized my new yarn is just enough yardage for this project and then I caved.

I swatched on Tuesday night and although I had just bought lovely size 6 lace needles from my local yarn shop (the size recommended in the pattern)--it turns out I needed to move up to size 7 to get gauge--even after blocking. :(. I thought about using the size 6s anyway as I wouldn't mind a smaller shawl, but decided not to as the open, airy look of the shawl is part of what attracted me to it. I am sad to not get to use my new needles, but so far my old size 7 bamboo needles are working just fine.

Rock Island starts with 71 repeats of a 8 row lace edging. I have completed 14 repeats so far and am getting into a good rhythm. From everyone's comments on Ravelry, the edging is the hardest part. One thing I've done to help me are adding a "lifeline" at the end of each repeat (the purple yarn in the picture). This way if I make a mistake, I can just go back to the beginning of that 8 row repeat and know that all stitches are on the needle correctly. I made a few errors early on (a few forgotten yarn ons) and when I worked back, I felt undoing the SSKs was right fiddly--thus my addition of the lifeline. Hopefully I didn't mess anything up in those early repeats as I've now gone far enough that I don't want to go back. I am also using a magnetic board with magnets to hold my chart and isolate the row I am working on. I am also using a counter to keep track of how many repeats I've completed.

People were complaining about the difficulty of reading the chart and keeping K2tog and SSK straight. I've realized that all right side rows start with a YO and a K2tog. Then rows 1 and 3 switch to SSK. Rows 2 and 4 are all K2tog. Rows 5 and 7 are all K2tog. Rows 6 and 8 are all SSK. Because of the yarn overs at the beginning of each right side row (they make little loops that stick out), it is easy to tell if you are on the right side or wrong side.

Anyway, as in all lace, the pattern has some logic to it that helps make it easier to remember. This edging is done in garter stitch which is harder for me to read than stockinette lace so I'm glad to have my aids to keep it straight. Anyway, I am enjoying knitting this so far. Can't wait to see this lovely lace all blocked out. It is amazing what blocking does to lace!

Worthy

2011-08-08T18:58:00.003-04:00

Finally...

I have yarn worthy of photos and "stash"ing on Ravelry.This yummy yarn is Lace Silk Merino from Sunrise Fiber Co. I bought it with a Heartsy voucher (so I got this little lovely for only $8) and I am in love.

This colorway is Lemongrass. One skein of Lace Silk Merino (80% superfine merino/ 20% silk) is 655 yards of yummy lace weight yarn.

I plan to use it to make Jared Flood's Rock Island. Can't wait!

Just had to share.

Oh, just noticed Wren added this new colorway of Lace Silk Merino. Hmm... Must add that to my wish list.

Finished! My First Sweater Design

2011-08-08T13:28:00.010-04:00

I did it! I can't believe I actually did it! I knitted a sweater from a pattern I designed myself and I LOVE it! I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning!

A few months ago I saw a hat (Courtyard) on Ravelry that I just fell in love with. Well, not the hat exactly, but the stitch pattern. I loved the cool hourglass-shaped twisted stitch pattern. So I bought the pattern, knit the hat and decided that I needed to knit a sweater in this stitch pattern.

I've read a number of books on knitting and designing your own knits. All of which, I referred to during this process. My favorites are:
Knitwear design Workshop by Shirley Paden
Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard
Knitting from the Top by Barbara G. Walker

I love knitting in the round and top-down which is what both Wendy and Barbara teach. Shirley's designs all focus on knitting in pieces and usually bottom-up, but her attention to detail and using math really helped me a lot.

Anyway, I originally pictured a long-sleeve sweater in the same color scheme as my hat (golden yellow and white). However, I just couldn't figure out how to make this stitch pattern cooperate for a raglan and I just didn't feel like messing with set-in sleeves--so I decided to knit a boatneck tank. I also decided to knit in the round and from the bottom up. Although I often prefer top-down, bottom-up seemed to make more sense with this stitch pattern and style.

Next came the search for yarn. I just couldn't find yarn that I loved in the golden yellow and white (and suitable for a boatneck tank). Finally, as I perused my local yarn shop for the umpteenth time, I found the yarn: Sublime baby cashmere merino silk 4 ply. It is so soft (perfect for wearing next to bare skin) and lightweight (perfect for a summer tank). This was a step outside my comfort zone as I don't usually knit with anything quite this nice, but it worked out beautifully. I chose a white and a very pale greenish blue.

My next step was making a huge swatch (7 inches by 15 inches) knit in the round like my sweater.

Next, I looked through my shirts to find one with a fit I loved and that would work well for a model for my tank. I have a boatneck 3/4 sleeve shirt from Gap that I love and I decided to use it for measurements. I measured the shirt's width at the bottom hem and then continued measuring the width at one inch intervals until I reached the top of the shirt. I made note of armhole location as well. I kept these measurements with me throughout the process and they served as a sort of schematic for me.

Next, I did lots of math. I had already found my gauge from my giant swatch (8 st per inch and 10 rows per inch). I figured out how many stitches I needed to cast on (for the ribbing). I had decided to do a K2, P3 ribbing (instead of my original K2, P2 ribbing on my swatch) so that the bottom did not pull in. I figured out that I could simply decrease on the first row after ribbing to get everything to line up nicely from the ribbing to the twisted stitch pattern. After I figured out my cast on number and how to transition from the ribbing to the stitch pattern, I started working out where and how my decreases and increases would work. I even charted out the pattern to see how the decreases/increases would affect the flow of that part of the stitch pattern. I was lucky in that my stitch gauge was 8 stitches. Thus I had to decrease 4 stitches to decrease 1/2 inch or just 2 stitches to decrease 1/4 inch. My row gauge worked out to 10 rows per inch which was perfect as the stitch pattern was split into two 10 row repeats.

At this point, I just had to cast on and start knitting. So I knitted up to the armholes and then stopped to figure out the math for the armholes. I used Shirley Paden's Knitwear Desi gn Workshop to help me. I was really nervous about it, but finally just did it and it worked out great. At this point, I had to switch to knitting back and forth. I thought this was going to make me end up with lots of ends to weave in because the pattern alternates between using the blue yarn one row and then the white the next and then the blue again, etc. This is no biggie when working in the round, you just leave the yarn and then carry it up after the next row. But when knitting flat, suddenly the yarn is at the wrong end of the row when you need it. After cutting ends for a few rows, I suddenly realized that I could just knit back when the yarn was on the wrong end. So I would do two rows right to left and then two rows left to right and then repeat. Very exciting to not have all those ends to weave in!

Finally, I approached the finish line--the top neck! I knew that I wanted a little bit of shaping, but not too much. I decided to do short rows on the outside edges of the front to give a slight dip without changing the pattern too much. I made sure that I got to a point in the stitch pattern where things were worked even so I didn't have to work twisted stitches in my short rows. I did about one inch ribbing on the top to match the ribbing on the bottom. I increased before the ribbing to do K2, P3 again. Ribbing was done on a smaller needle as well. For the back, I knit as the front except that I knit 10 more rows in pattern and no short rows. This raised the back neck up enough that the front wasn't too high. If I knit this again, I might do 2-4 less rows in the back. I think it might be a tad high. Finally I did a three needle bind off to join the top at the shoulders and a regular bind off across the front and back necks.

Now I had unfinished armholes to deal with. The fabric was too flimsy (because of slipped stitches right at the very edge of the armhole) to pick up stitches evenly. I was at a lost at first because I had originally planned a row or two of ribbing or a single crochet stitch edging. But both looked too messy with the loose slipped stitch fabric. What I ended up doing was knitting a crochet chain directly onto the front surface of the armhole. I used the blue yarn doubled and a medium sized crochet hook. I put the crochet hook directly through the fabric at the edge of the armhole, picked up a loop of yarn and pulled it through. I did this all around the armhole and am happy with the results.

Pattern: My own!
Stitch pattern from: Courtyard by Melissa Thomson

Size: Mine! Approximately 31" bust
Yarn: Sublime baby cashmere merino silk 4 ply (50g/ 170m/ 184yds/ 75% extra fine merino/ 20% silk/ 5% cashmere) 2 skeins of white, 3.15 skeins of blue
Needles: Size 4 for body of sweater, Size 3 for ribbing, US G6/4.00mm crochet hook for armhole edging

Anyway, there is way too much information about how I designed and knit my first sweater. Now all I have to do is come up with a good name for it. Any suggestions?

I was originally calling it Courtyard Tank after my inspiration and source of stitch pattern. Then I thought of the oh-so-exciting Boatneck Tank. But I want something better. Maybe one catchy word that captures it's essence. Would LOVE some suggestions (hint, hint)...

And, of course, my boys decided to join the photo shoot. Got to love them!

A Fun Visit (and a Review of Legoland Discovery Center)

2011-08-05T10:19:00.005-04:00

My good friend Nicole just came for a weeklong visit with her 5 year-old son Will. Nicole and I have been friends since college and have gotten even closer after Will and J were born two weeks apart. Then I moved to Texas (Nicole lives in Austin) and our friendship grew even stronger.

J, Nicole and Will at the entrance to Legoland Discovery Center.

Anyway, Nicole and Will have come for several visits since we moved here and each one is great fun. This week our plans were slightly altered by the 108F and higher temps. The zoo was ruled out as too darn hot. We ended up heading to Legoland Discovery Center in Grapevine instead. Both J and Will are Lego fans and we had never been so we decided to check it out. We were a little nervous because the online tickets were sold out for the morning. (They sell discounted tickets online but only a limited number per hour). We got there right at ten and it was perfect. We only had to wait a few minutes before entering the fun.

After a short interactive tour of a Dr. Seuss-like miniature Lego factory where we learned how Legos are made, we got in line for the Kingdom Quest ride. This ride involves shooting Lego bad guys with your laser gun while trying to come to the princess's rescue. The only chance to ride it is right as you come in and in fact they syphon all guests through this ride before they enter the main area. It was dark and N thought it looked scary so just Nicole, Will and J rode it. After the ride and a chance to buy a keychain photo of ourselves on the ride (which we passed up), we entered the main play area. In the center of it is the Lego City Playland, a huge enclosed play structure--kind of like a Lego-themed McDonald's play structure on steroids. The boys played in it for a bit, but spent less time in the play area than I expected.

Our next stop was Miniland. This is really cool. It's a whole miniature city built from Legos--and, of course, this one was Dallas-themed complete with the Dallas skyline, airport, Cowboys' stadium, Rangers ballpark, Forth Worth Stockyards and even Southfork Ranch. Each area had a button you could push to make something move and come alive.

N especially loved the airport.

J and Will checked out the Dallas Cowboy Stadium.

I had heard that Miniland was more adult-oriented, but our boys really liked it a lot.

Our next stop was the Lego Racers: Build and Test Zone. They have lots of little building stations with buckets of wheels, axles and blocks for building cars. Then there are three steep ramps to race them down and another race ramp complete with start button and finish line.
Will was our most serious builder and spent a lot of time carefully building cars. N and J built quickly and raced over and over.

I had to lift N up to reach the ramp. J could just barely see over it. They both loved it even though their cars often fell apart during the "race."

Next we moved to the Duplo Village complete with a smaller play structure that looked like a barn complete with a spiral slide and large animals made out of Legos that resembled the Duplo zoo animals. Duplo Village is specifically for children age 2 to 5 years. N and J (especially N) had a lot of fun in the barn (climbing up and then sliding down the slide), but the biggest hit in this area for our boys were the giant Lego building blocks. They are soft and rubbery and the boys really enjoyed building with them.

N and J built a tower while Will worked on a giraffe.

At some point, we stopped and had a snack. We brought our own and this seemed to be pretty common. We didn't see anything posted about outside food, but we saw multiple people snacking on food that did not appear to be purchased at the Lego Cafe.

Our next adventure was the 4D Cinema. The Cinema was playing three movies that day in a constant rotation. As soon as one ended, they cleared the theater and started the next one. Each was about 15 minutes long and we watched two of the three. This was our first 4D experience and it was a fun one. When we got wet for the first time, it was a bit of a surprise. When it started snowing in the theater, the boys were really excited--a nice change from the 108F temps outside. J found the Spellbinder movie to be a little scary, but Chase Powers was a huge hit.

Right before the movie started. We were at the end of the line for this movie so we got front row seats.

The movies really were a lot of fun and it was nice that you could pop in line and see one whenever you felt the urge since they were playing constantly. There is a timer outside the theater displaying the name of the next movie and a countdown until the start of the next movie (always 15 minutes or less).

At some point during the day of fun, we attempted to ride the second ride at Legoland Discovery Place--Merlin's Apprentice. This wizard-themed ride looked fun, but the line was long and with only 12 people fitting on the ride per turn (6 groups of 2) it moved very slowly. Also part of the issue, children under 4 feet tall have to ride with an adult. We had three children and only two adults so it didn't really work out for us. I don't think our children cared too much. They were having too much fun in the rest of the place.

Another favorite stop for our boys was a building area that didn't even have a name. It had four building spaces where you could build a structure. Then you turned on the "earthquake" complete with controls to change its strength to see if your structure would stay or fall down. The boys LOVED it. First, they just did it to see things fall, but then they worked to try to build a strong building.

J is ready to see this structure shake and fall down.

N anxiously watching to see if his tower will withstand the shaking.

We were at Legoland Discovery Center until 1PM when we left to walk over to the mall food court for lunch (Legoland Discovery Center is inside Grapevine Mills mall and next to the new Sea Life aquarium). We didn't do everything at LDC (we skipped the Lego Girls Princess Palace and Merlin's Apprentice), but did do everything we wanted to do. We had time to return to things we liked and had a lot of fun. In general, although there were a lot of people there, we did not feel overcrowded or like we were stuck waiting for something. The ride had lines and sometimes the movie line was long, but other areas seemed good. When we left the mall at 2PM (after lunch and a quick visit to the Lego shop), the line to get into Lego Discovery Center was long. I am glad we came right at 10AM like we did.

Overall impression: Legoland Discovery Center is fun with a good amount to do. I feel there are a good variety of activities fit into a relatively small place. I also feel there is a good mix of things that a variety of ages would enjoy. However, it is pricey. It cost me over $50 for myself and my two boys. It was worth it to have this experience with our visiting friends, but we will not be able to make this a regular hangout. My advice: go early and plan to stay as long as you can to get your money's worth.

Sorry for the travelogue description. I just know I've been wondering about this place and found a similar blog description helpful in my choice to go.

Nicole and Will went home today after a wonderful week of fun. I miss them already! So glad we got to have this time together including a great trip to Legoland Discovery Center!

Digital Photo Painting

2011-07-27T14:04:00.006-04:00

My blogger friend Becky recently blogged about a digital painting that another blogger, Jane, did of her dog Liza Jane. It was a beautiful painting and I immediately wanted to send Jane pictures of my dogs. I didn't have a good picture of Pepper handy, but I found this one of my first girls Zoe and Pepper:

So I sent it on to Jane. And she created this:

Isn't it beautiful? I think she so perfectly captured my sweet girls. I immediately e-mailed Jane and asked her how she does it. Here is her reply:

I would call myself a digital photo painter, my focus being portraits--people and pets--and some landscapes. The photo is considered my sketch which I bring into digital editing program called Adobe Photoshop and then into Corel Painter which with a graphics tablet and stylus I paint stroke by stroke just as I would paint with real paint, a canvas and a paintbrush. I've been doing this for about a year and a half and I'm now starting to do commission work. The Pet Project started as a way to get my art out there, while also being able to earn a little money and be able to donate a little as well. My husband and I have now adopted two rescue pups, so I'm very fond of animal welfare organizations.

Anyway, if you want to see more of Jane's work, please check out her blog here. On her blog are links to the website where she sells her work. A portion of proceeds from the pet paintings (available as notecards too) will be donated to animal welfare organizations.

And, if you have some cute photos of your pets and would like to see them painted, please send them to Jane at janewoodenhorse@msn.com.

Crayons

2011-07-27T09:28:00.000-04:00

Opened up a brand new box of 64 Crayola crayons last night to color with my boys. It brought back so many memories. I love a new box of crayons. If only I could have found the box of 128.

Scooby and...

2011-07-26T15:52:00.002-04:00

Shaggy? Yep. That's what the boys were playing "Scooby and Shaggy." Shaggy was looking a little blue.

"Ruh roh, Shaggy. Ruh roh."

Sneak Peek

2011-07-25T12:38:00.002-04:00

Just couldn't wait any longer. This is a shot of my almost finished boatneck tank--designed and knit by me! More photos and details to come once it's 100% finished. Still need to finish the armholes and weave in ends.

So Worth the 20 hour drive

2011-07-19T16:04:00.007-04:00

Last week we drove 20 hours to Oak Island, NC to spend a wonderful week with my family. We had such a blast with my parents, my brother and sister and their spouses, and my six wonderful nieces and nephews. I tried to take a lot of pics, but most of them aren't great. Here are a few of my favorites:

The whole crew in front of our house:We are Stone 1. There are also four other houses of my relatives (Stone 2-5) within walking distance of our house.

My sister Cat and her family:

Our immediate family:

My brother John and his family:

My oldest nephew Michael and a jellyfish he caught in his net:
My dad and my niece Lizzie reading together:

My parents and all eight grandchildren:

Feeding the seagulls:

My niece Madeline just loved the seagulls:

We went to Jungle Golf. My nephew was on one hole and hit the ball so hard that it bounced to the next hole and went in. Hole in one!:

N had fun "golfing" too:

The rock band:
These giant shovels were the huge hit of the week.

N LOVED them:

B and J in the ocean:
I love the expression on J's face. He loved boogie boarding or as he called it "surfing."

The crab Michael found and later released:

N flying a kite on the beach:
SO high!

My boys heading out into the ocean:

My family has been going to this same beach for years (over 30) and I just love it. It feels like my home away from home and I love that my boys love it too. Can't wait to keep going back for years and years to come.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

2011-06-28T21:15:00.003-04:00

My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this weekend. Having parents that are still happily married seems like such a rarity these days. I feel so very blessed to have such loving parents and even more blessed that they love each other so much. Anyway, here is a picture of my parents from their wedding reception.

I love this picture. I love the way my mom and dad are looking at each other with such love and joy. I love that that they have their drinks in hand and are ready to party. This picture just captures the essence of my parents and that makes me happy.

My parents have taught me so much about life and how to live it. Many of those things are related to how to treat others and how to love and support someone.

B and I will celebrate our 11th anniversary this August. I feel so blessed to have him. I can't wait to celebrate 40 years with him. I'm hoping we'll get to celebrate 50 and 60 years too.

Anyway, thinking of my parents tonight just makes me feel very blessed. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for all that you do. Oh, and be ready to party in ten years because there will be a party to celebrate your 50th!

Movie Monday Redo: In case you were wanting more...

2011-06-27T21:46:00.003-04:00

More swimming movies. :)

J diving for rings:

He's gotten so confident with his diving skills!

J swimming:

Hasn't he improved a lot even since the last video? So proud of my J!

And, last, but not least, N and J swimming. Yes, N started swimming on his own yesterday.

It's just the early stages, but I am SO proud of my little 3 year-old.

And, now, I promise to not post anymore swimming videos--at least not for a week or so :).

Movie Monday: Swinging Edition

2011-06-27T09:59:00.003-04:00

A short movie of the boys enjoying our new swingset on Friday night. J has gotten to the point where he can sit down, start pumping his legs and get himself really high all on his own. He LOVES it. If you get N started, he can do some pumping and keep himself going. Life is good!

Meanwhile, I set my beer down to make the video and Pepper knocked it over and spilled it. Then she started rolling around in the spilled beer. I got a video of the end of her antics.

I love how she starts licking the beer spot in the end. Nice!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Bad Words

2011-06-23T08:53:00.002-04:00

J has recently gotten back into a PBS show called Wild Kratts--a pretty cool show as children's television goes. Two brothers go around learning about and rescuing wild animals. An amazing female inventor helps them by making creature power suits that help them use the same powers animals have. J's learned a lot about animals and loves to pretend to be Chris or Martin with "creature powers."

Anyway, he was doing this yesterday and decided he really needed some creature power disks. I looked on the Wild Kratts website, but couldn't find anything so I did what any smart mom does--I googled "Wild Kratts coloring pages." As I browsed through the results, I saw it--a Draco creature power disk. Perfect! I clicked on the image and all hell broke loose on my computer. Some program started running, messages with scary words appeared and my computer started scanning itself. The last virus we got that almost killed our whole computer pretended to be a program scanning for viruses so I freaked out and turned off the computer. When I went to start it back up (trying to find the "go back and boot up from previous date option"), my computer started scanning drives and I freaked out again and just turned it back off. Now I'm working from the laptop I bought B for Christmas when he switched jobs before the-move-that-never-was.

Anyway, so that's my excitement these days. Needless to say I wanted to say many bad words, but amazingly only said "crap" a number of times. I guess this whole motherhood thing is starting to help clean up my potty mouth ;).

I was going to blog about my twisted stitch boatneck tank I'm designing and knitting, but I won't be able to upload pics. I am knitting bottom up and have about 6 inches done so far. Not the fastest progress, but not bad either. Hope to get some pics up soon.

Hope your life is going a little more smoothly than mine these days. Take care and happy Thursday. TGIAF! (Thank Goodness It's Almost Friday!)

More Family Fun!

2011-06-19T19:51:00.010-04:00

Last weekend B's sister and her husband and children came to visit from Oregon. We had SO much fun! Here are some (a LOT) of pics.

My sweet niece Isla (who just turned 2) at our neighborhood splashpad:

My sweet nephew Oscar (almost 4) enjoying N's watering can:

Uncle Chris spraying N (sorry this one is blurry as Chris's expression is priceless):
My swimmer, J:

Isla LOVED the splashpad:

Walking home:

On Friday, we went to the Dallas Zoo.

Isla:

N checking out the Galapagos tortoises and a squirrel:
N picked out his own outfit today. He said he wanted to be a rainbow. :)

We checked out SOAR, the new bird show at the zoo. It was really fun.

Chris, Isla and N watching the penguins:

A hawk! One of the many birds who soared right over our heads:

Chris and Isla watching the children's favorite bird--the parrot who sang Old MacDonald:

We actually got a decent photo of all four children!:

Oscar and J outside of the African Savanna:

N checking out a lion outside of the Serengeti Grill:

Isla and the lions:

J pretending to be a lion:

Feeding the giraffes!:

Isla and a cheetah:

On Friday night, we went to Randy White's Barbecue (actually really good and very family friendly) and DQ for ice cream.

Isla:

N and J:
Oscar:

Can you tell that I am a little smitten with Isla? She was just so photogenic this weekend.

We are so thankful that our family ventured all this way just to spend a long weekend with us. SO MUCH FUN!

Movie Monday: Swim Lesson Edition

2011-06-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

Last week J and N were doing swim lessons. It is AMAZING how much progress they have made in one week. Just had to share some videos from their lesson on Friday.

and a bonus video of N jumping to B:

and I can't resist including this photo because it cracks me up:

Knitting Update

2011-06-08T09:13:00.004-04:00

I finished knitting my mother-in-law's Peacock Tail and Leaf scarf a few weeks ago. Blocked it about a week ago and wove in the ends today. This is the second time I knitted this pattern and it's a relatively simple one if you are comfortable with lace. This one went quickly with very few errors to correct along the way. There is something to be said for knitting a scarf you have already knit before.

Pattern: Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf by Nancy Bush
Yarn: 2 skeins of Schulana Kid-Seta in Color #13 (70% Kid-Mohair/30% Silk/ 25g/ 210m/ laceweight)
Needles: Size 3
Modifications: Added two repeats of middle lace pattern for a little additional length.

Then I decided to knit this hat.

The pattern is called Courtyard and I spotted it on Ravelry a while back and fell in love with the twisted stitch pattern. I want to make a boatneck shell featuring this stitch pattern and thought that knitting the hat would be good prep for that. I really wanted to do a bright marigold yellow and white (inspired by one of the hats on the Ravelry page). The only yarn I found that I liked in these colors was full o' sheep yarn by Stitch Nation. Although this yarn worked fine for the hat, it was too itchy for a shell. I like the way this yarn looks--and the colors are lovely--but I didn't really enjoy knitting with this yarn. Can't tell you exactly why.

Pattern: Courtyard by Melissa Thomson
Yarn: Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller Full o' Sheep (100% Peruvian Wool/ 100g/ 155yd/ 142m) One skein of Little Lamb (white) and one skein of Honeycomb (yellow). Had between 1/2 and 1/3 of each skein leftover.
Size: Larger size. Probably could have gotten away with smaller size for my pea head.
Needles: Size 6 for ribbing. Size 7 for rest of hat.
Modifications: None.

Since I didn't love the yarn I used for the hat, I went to my local yarn shop and looked through the tons and tons of yarn options. After much debate, I decided to go a different route. I chose a 4ply in a white and a pale blue. I think it will be a much subtler combination, but nice all the same. The yarn is very soft--baby cashmere merino silk--and will feel nice next to my skin. Here's a picture of my swatch.

It's a 14" circle that is about 4 inches tall. I knit it in the round since I plan to knit my boatneck shell in the round. This will be my first real design project so wish me luck. I'm going to try and work out the numbers tonight. Can't wait to cast on!

Best Visit EVER!

2011-06-07T14:56:00.004-04:00

Sorry for the blogging absence, but life has been too busy to blog. My sister and her two children and my mom just came for a week long visit and it was WONDERFUL! My sister and her children hadn't been here in two years and it was so exciting to have them back. We just had so much fun. Her son is 7 (almost 8) and her daughter just turned 6. The boys love hanging out with them. We spent lots of time at the pool, a morning at Build-a-Bear in honor of Lizzie's birthday and a day at the zoo. I didn't get a lot of pictures because I kept forgetting my camera--oh well. Trust me, we had a blast. To top off the awesomeness, I got to spend a decent amount of time knitting with both my sister and my mom. Can we say "little piece of heaven"? I think we can.

Here a few pictures to show off the adorable children.

Everyone coloring their Build-a-Bear "houses:"

Sorry I didn't take a picture of the actual animals. N built a Dalmatian complete with a button that played the Star Wars theme in his hand and a set of Cars 2-themed pajamas. He named him Spot. J built a panda bear with a button that played the Star Wars theme and a Darth Vader costume. He named him Pandy. Michael built a camouflage-colored bear that played the Star Wars theme and had a Jedi warrior costume. He named him Camo. Lizzie built a pink daisy print bunny with a button that said "I love you." She picked out a cute top and skirt, Hello Kitty underpants and pink jelly sandals for her bunny. She named her Daisy Bunny.

Mooma and four of her grandchildren at the pool:

J jumping in the water: He just decided yesterday that he liked jumping in on his own and did it over and over.

Michael jumping in the pool:
Love this photo and this little boy!

And a bonus photo:Cat and I knitting together. Heaven!

3!

2011-05-22T16:05:00.004-04:00

My littlest man is three! Can't believe he is three already. In fact, he turned 3 almost a week ago.

But with the craziness of having my in-laws in town and making cookies (M&M) for a school birthday party and cake (chocolate) for a home birthday celebration and the last week of school, I never blogged about N's birthday.

But despite my state of denial, my littlest man is three!

Happy Belated Birthday to my sweet little cinnabun. I love your infectious laugh and the fact that I can make you laugh so easily, Mr. Super Ticklish. Even though you are getting more opinionated and not so easy, you are still my laid back little man. I love the way you always want "little" hugs because you don't like to get squeezed too tight. I love how you are usually willing to try new foods and even request healthy things like carrots and salad. I love the way you get attached to your toys like your broom and your new rolling suitcase. The simple things make you happy and that makes me happy. I love the way you love the sweater I knit you and wear it all the time even when it is way too hot to be wearing a hooded sweater. I love the way you're not afraid to climb and jump on anything even though it may mean some trips to the ER in your future. I love how you try to keep up with J and his friends and how you think you're a big kid too. I love how you hug Pepper because it reminds me of me when I was your age. I love the way you remind me of my dad because he is one of my favorite people in the whole world. I love watching you crawl up in your daddy's lap and the way you settle in like he is the most comfortable seat in the house. I love how you love to count people's fingers right now because you are so proud of your discovery that everyone's hands count up to five. I love listening to you in the morning when you lay in bed and sing songs like the ABC song, Happy Birthday and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. I love how when people called you on your birthday, you told all of them "Happy Birthday." I love that you are my littlest man and I am so glad to have had you for three whole years. Can't wait to have many, many more!

Animal Photos

2011-05-18T09:54:00.006-04:00

A Trip to the Zoo

2011-05-17T17:50:00.006-04:00

My in-laws came in town to help celebrate B's birthday and N's birthday. On B's birthday, we went to the zoo.
While we were in the Giants of the Savanna section, we caught the end of the cheetah zookeeper talk. They told us that they had hidden meat throughout the cheetah enclosure and that they were going to let the three cheetahs go look for it. So we went next to the "safari jeep" and waited. We soon saw the cheetahs approaching.

Then they went to explore other parts so J and N took a break to pretend driving the jeep.

Then a cheetah jumped right up into the back of the jeep to eat a small morsel of meat. It was super cool!

Later in the day, the boys and I took a camel ride (the person working the membership booth had given the boys free ride passes in honor of N's birthday).

Towards the end of our visit, N asked to revisit the Reptile Building so he could hold a snake. So we did.

Oh, That's Clever!

2011-05-14T15:12:00.004-04:00

I recently received my copy of the Summer 2011 Interweave Knits magazine. I've been getting this magazine for a few years and I don't knit that many things out of it, but I find it fun to look through and I always learn something from it.

In this issue there is only one project that I immediately wanted to knit, The Swirl Skirt by Annelena Mattison:

I think it is so pretty. I love the diagonal lines (it is cast on waist to knee and knit on the bias) and the fun play of the cotton (for stability) background and the fun color-changing wool (for a little more elasticity) accent stripes. The short rows that add some flare at the bottom of the skirt seem nothing short of genius. So clever!

Anyway, as I ponder more and more the idea of designing my own knits, I am always on the look out for clever ideas in others' patterns. So I decided to read through the patterns to see how the different pieces are constructed--even though I didn't want to knit that particular piece. Here are some of the clever ideas I found:

In the Camp Smock, Mary Keenan added this nice pleat detail. The smock is knit from the bottom up. To create and hold the pleat in place, she does the clever "folds" where she places two sets of stitches on doublepoints and then knits them together (kind of like a 3 needle bindoff without the bindoff part). SO CLEVER!

In my other favorite clever find, Lisa Shroyer makes this lovely curved V-neck in her Banstead Pullover. To create this lovely v, she adds that simple column of slip stitches in the middle of the bust. That creates that lovely v shape without any decreases. How simple and how very CLEVER!

Sorry for the sideways photo, don't know why Blogger does that sometimes!

I found a few other little design ideas in the following projects. In Allyson Dykhuizen's Cumulus Tee, a decorative band is knit in a long strip, then joined and turned to make a neckband, then stitches are picked up and the tee is knit top down from there. Very clever.

In Alice Tang's Al Fresco Camisole, stitches are dropped and the resulting ladders are crocheted together (four at a time) to form the interesting vertical bands of large stitches.

In Stacey Gerbman's Lion Oh! Sweater, the decorative lion body shape is added by making a crochet chain (crocheted directly onto the finished sweater). I don't think I'll ever knit this sweater, but I might use that technique sometimes. Seems like a simple, but clever way to add some embellishment.

I am so impressed with people who can come up with such interesting knits. So what clever ideas have you seen lately?

A little boy and his broom

2011-05-14T14:56:00.003-04:00

N has always loved to play with cleaning tools--brooms, vacuums, feather dusters, mops. His birthday is next week and his grandparents (my in-laws) are in town for it. They took him to Toys R Us yesterday to pick out a toy. Of all the toys there, he choose this broom.

He LOVES it! He's taken it to bed with him for the last two nap times and last night for bed. Nothing cuter than a boy with his trusty broom tucked into bed next to him:).

This little boy just cracks me up.

A few of my favorite things...

2011-05-13T16:29:00.002-04:00

In a recent post, Nova talked about working to make her new house feel like a home. It made me think about my own goal to create a happy home for my family. After the move that never was, we finally got the motivation to paint our dining room. It was a chocolate brown before which was a perfectly fine color, but did nothing to show off the lovely mahogany antiques B & I found back in the days before children took up all our time and money.

So now it is this lovely greenish blue color. Very bright and colorful compared to the rest of my house and I love it. This is now one of my favorite rooms in the house. Thought I'd use this post to highlight a few of my favorite things about my dining room--the things that make this house feel like my home.
I love the furniture itself (well except those chairs, but that's another post). I especially love the corner china cabinet and the buffet (that Brian so painstakingly refinished).

I love the cool pulls on the buffet. They give it a little vintage funk that adds so much to the piece.
I love the lovely little runner I found at Target with it's fun textures and great pops of golden yellow and orange--a nice contrast to the blue green walls.

I love this print that my sister gave me my first Christmas in our first house. It goes with the larger one (in the first picture above) that B gave me for our first Christmas as husband and wife the year before. I love the colors and the romantic feel of it and I love that it reminds me of the people I love.

I love that I have this doll in my china cabinet. She was my grandmother's doll and I still remember my joy when my grandmother gave her to me.
So these are just a few of my favorite things. Thought I'd share. Happy Friday, everyone!

Thank you, Teachers!

2011-05-11T11:41:00.000-04:00

My boys are both in preschool this year and they both have wonderful teachers! As an end-of-the-school-year thank you gift, they decorated reusable water bottles and made snack mix for their teachers.

I didn't take any pics of the water bottle decorating, but here is a picture of the snack mix making:

Our snack mix was really simple. It includes Honey Nut Cheerios, Chickadees (cheesy bird-shaped crackers), Pretzel Goldfish and M&Ms.

We did equal parts Cheerios, Chickadees and goldfish. I did a smaller portion of M&Ms (about 3/4 the amount of the other ingredients).
Here's a copy of what I wrote on the note I made to go with the snack mix:

A special snack mix to thank you for all you do!
Cheerios to thank you for always cheering on my child.
A school of Goldfish to thank you for making school a place my child loves.
Chickadees to thank you for teaching my little chickadee so much.
M&Ms to thank you for your sweetness.

I really am so thankful for all that these teachers do.

WIP

2011-05-07T08:32:00.002-04:00

Another Peacock Tail and Leaf Scarf. This one is a gift. Am enjoying the interest of lace but also the mindlessness of repeating the same ten rows 32 times. 7 repeats down. 25 to go.

Baby Gifts

2011-05-03T19:04:00.004-04:00

This weekend I went to a baby shower for a good friend who is having her second little girl later this month. I decided to make her a few things for her new baby.

First, I made a little lovey blanket out of this fun pink fabric and backed with super soft pink minky. I also embroidered it with a fancy K (for baby Kenzie).

I also knit this sweet little short-sleeve sweater.

The pattern is a free one by Carole Barenys. It's a simple easy little baby sweater. My only complaint about the pattern is that there is no gauge and no length measurement so not sure what “size” I made.

I made a few mods. I moved up to a size 5 needle because I felt the fabric was too stiff on size 4 needles. I also moved the placement of the buttonholes. After the first one, I placed the buttonholes every 8 rows so all 5 buttons are at the top of the sweater. I also replaced the recommended buttonholes with a 2 row buttonhole. Cast off one stitch (3rd from end) in one row and add it back in on the next row with a Kfb (2nd st from beginning). I also did short sleeves. I picked up all stitches on hold (36) and then 7 additional stitches along underarm. I then knit 3 rows, then did a garter stitch border (P1 row, K1 row, P1 row, K1 row, P1 row, bind off in knit). I did not do any additional decorative rows on the sleeves or at the bottom of the sweater. Decided to keep it simple.

I did short sleeves since this is for a Texas baby and hopefully this will mean she can wear it more.

I followed the numbers for the smaller size in the pattern, but with size 5 instead of 4 needles. Chest circumference of about 21”. Length from neck to bottom of sweater of about 11”. I think this is a 6-9 month size.

Pattern: Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater by Carole Barenys

Yarn: About half of a skein of Bernat Baby Softee in White (120g/ 330yd/ DK/ 100% Acrylic)
Needles: Size 5
Gauge: Didn't measure
Mods: See notes above
On Ravelry, here.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:49:00.006-04:00

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter today!

We had a great one. Both boys were thrilled with their Easter baskets this morning.

J quickly got to work building a small Lego fire helicopter from his basket.

N was excited about the cat grooming toy he got.

But he was even more excited about the CHOCOLATE! He jumped into eating his candy right away.He has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of his chocolate. On Thursday when I went to preschool for the boys' Easter parties, N came running up to me and told me, "The rabbit is coming and we get CHOCOLATE!" It was pretty adorable.

We did not travel to see family, but got together with our good neighborhood friends instead. We like to think of them as our adopted family. We also invited our new next door neighbors who just moved here from Seattle. We had a wonderful meal and then a really fun Easter egg hunt. All seven children seemed to really enjoy themselves.

B, 3 years old

K, 5 years old

J, K and B

B, N and K

B, 11 years old (the lone older child and wonderfully patient with all the little ones)

Our new neighbors with their almost 4 year old and almost 2 year old

Opening eggs!

And inside some of those eggs were these little cuties.
A free pattern from Anna Hrachovec of Mochimochiland.
I used DK, Sport and Worsted weight yarn and size 2 doublepoints. I made ten between Friday night and Saturday night. I did a few extra rows of i-cord on the ears to make them a bit longer.
On Ravelry, here.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter day!

Finished: Mars

2011-04-15T16:15:00.004-04:00

Just in time for the first day of pool season, I finished my turtleneck sweater which my sister has helped me to name Mars. The lovely rust-colored yarn pooled in areas and it reminds us of the spots on Mars.

(blocking)

Anyway, this sweater took me WAY longer than it should mainly because I just haven't been knitting very much. This is my first pattern from Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits and I can tell you that I love her topdown, seamless approach to sweater knitting. I loved the technique for picking up sleeve stitches and using short rows to create the sleeve cap. It did take me a few tries to get the stitch ratio just right, but I feel like any future projects will be much faster because I have a better understanding of the technique now.

My only other roadblock was the turtleneck itself. First, I was doing knit 3, purl 1 for the ribbing for about an inch and a half before I realized that when I turned the turtleneck down the wrong side of the ribbing would be showing--so then I had to frog the turtleneck and redo it as purl 3, knit 1. Then I rushed to bindoff and just did a typical bindoff which was NOT stretchy and thus the turtleneck did not fit over my head. Finally, I didn't measure correctly and the turtleneck was too short so I had to add another inch before doing the final stretchy bindoff of *P2tog, put stitch back on left needle* and repeat.

I really like the simple shape of this sweater and think I will wear it a lot next winter.

(It's a little windy today. Thought I might just blow away.)

Pattern: Tang by Wendy Bernard
Yarn: 4 skeins of Araucania Nature Wool in Color 26 (100% Wool/ 100gr/ 220m/ 240.59 yd)--I was worried about this yarn being too stiff, but it softened up a lot with a quick Eucalan bath. Thanks, Jill at the Woolie Ewe!
Needles: Size 7 (for everything except second half of turtleneck); Size 8 (for second half of turtleneck)
Size: Smallest
Modifications: I adjusted the waist shaping slightly by doing one extra decrease and one extra increase. I also did both slightly closer together than called for in the pattern.

On Ravelry, here.

Royal Wedding Hoopla

2011-04-14T20:25:00.002-04:00

I can't say that I care all that much about the upcoming royal wedding, but I do find all the hoopla somewhat entertaining.

Today I saw this story about the royal wedding recreated in Legos. The detail is amazing. Click on the link and check it out. It even includes wedding guests like a very pregnant Victoria Beckham and Elton John with his husband and their new baby.

But my favorite is this book that someone in my local knitting group found and shared. It's called Knit Your Own Royal Wedding. Check out this article about it. It has great pictures of the dolls. I love that it includes extra patterns for you to knit yourself as a wedding guest. The corgis are adorable! LOVE it! Get your copy here.

I just hope that Kate Middleton and Prince William have a sense of humor about it all. And that they snap up some of these hilarious keepsakes to look back on fondly one day and laugh at all the craziness.

Create...An Obstacle Course

2011-04-13T21:57:00.006-04:00

This afternoon the boys helped me create an obstacle course in our backyard and we had tons of fun running through it and getting some good old-fashioned exercise/fun.

The first step was the boys' favorite, running through the hose (done boot-camp-tire-run style):

The next step was ten jumping jacks. I don't have any pictures of that because it is impossible to take someone's picture while you are doing a jumping jack.

Next was a run to the fence and back with someone pushing the play lawnmower:
Next, we dribbled a ball soccer-style longways across the yard.

When we got to the other side, we jumped side to side over these pool noodles:
Next, we had to hit a ball off the tee (and run and retrieve it):
In this pic, J also knocked the tee out of the shot :).

Finally, we had to kick/dribble the beach balls longways across the yard to the fence (and back if you were me and getting the course ready for another round).

N only completed the course once before he lost interest and began hitting things with his plastic bat. He did eventually return to do the hose portion a bunch of times.

J stuck with it and completed the course with me multiple times.

It was a lot of fun. We plan to do it again later this week and J promised to help me come up with some more obstacles.

Very fun! Yay! It was a happy mommy moment. Can't wait to repeat.

Create...a Healthier Family

2011-04-12T15:44:00.003-04:00

As part of my goal for myself to be a healthier person, I've been trying to work out more. In general, I am doing pretty good. I use the treadmill often and have also been enjoying doing Wii Fit activities like boxing and step aerobics and Wii Sport (mainly tennis). Currently, I do most of my working out when the boys are either at preschool or napping/having quiet time.

However, although it is nice to exercise without interruption, I've realized that there are two problems with working out only when the boys are not around. First, the time when the boys are not around is pretty limited and will only get more limited this summer--and I have a lot of other things I need to get done during the short time of N's nap time/J's quiet time. Second, the boys never see me working out and I think it's important that they see this part of my life--you know the whole showing by example thing.

Anyway, I am trying to think of new ways that I can get exercise with my boys. Then we can all be healthy and enjoy each other at the same time.

I know I could just chase them around the yard/park, but that's not all that enjoyable for me so I'm trying to think of other things to try. Here are my current thoughts:
playing soccer (want to get a little goal for our yard)
playing tennis (need to get some rackets and find a place to play)
rollerblading while they bike or ride scooters (need to get roller blades)
hiking (need to find some fun places to explore)
jogging (am considering seeing if J wants to start jogging around the block with me)

Anyway, I've never been a very athletic person but I want to be better. I want to do these things with my boys so we can all be healthier and have fun. Wish someone would teach a class for moms-of-boys like me who need to learn more about sports. Maybe a camp for moms and sons to attend together where we could both learn how to hit a baseball, throw a football, get a basketball in the basket and score a soccer goal. Anyone out there know of anything like that? It would be really beneficial and fun. If you decide to start such a camp, let me know. I'd love to attend!

So there's my rambling thoughts on working out and enjoying my family. I want a healthy happy family. Who doesn't?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Afraid

2011-04-12T15:28:00.002-04:00

J got invited to go home with a friend after school today, but he decided not to go because I wasn't going. He was afraid to go by himself. That makes me really sad.

J has never liked new situations. He's always been hesitant to go new places on his own. Except for preschool, he's never really gone anywhere without me around.

This has been done in part because of his preferences and in part due to mine. I never liked new situations as a child and so I instinctively avoid them for J because I assume he wouldn't like them. One of my many excuses for not working out is that J wouldn't like being dropped off at a gym daycare. Now that he is 5, there are lots of cool summer camps that J could attend, but I don't sign him up for them because I figure he wouldn't deal well with being dropped off in a new place with a bunch of children he doesn't know.

I'm afraid that I've projected some of my own issues onto J and have made his own inclination toward not wanting to go new places alone worse.

J is actually a very social child. He loves being around other children. He plays quite well with others. It just usually takes more time for him to assimilate to new surroundings and new people.

The play date was delayed until Thursday, but I'm still not sure if J will be willing to go without me. The little girl who invited him over is one that he's known since he was two, but we've never been to her house before.

I hate that J is afraid of the new and unknown. I hate that I've missed out on opportunities in my life due to my own reluctance to try new things and go to places unknown. I don't want my children to miss out.

I want to help us all step outside our comfort zone. I'm just not 100% sure the best way to do this.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Um, yeah

2011-04-11T11:40:00.003-04:00

Guess I should have realized that I needed a stretchy bindoff for the turtleneck. Wish I had thought of that before I wove in my end and cut my yarn.

Oh well. It's ALMOST finished.

Can't believe I just posted this oh-so-flattering picture of myself.

Happy laugh-filled Monday, everyone!

An Amazing Gift from my Amazing Sister

2011-04-06T22:59:00.005-04:00

My twin sister recently started knitting and it makes me SO happy. I LOVE talking knitting with her. I LOVE sitting and knitting with her (an extremely rare occurrence, but a wonderful one all the same). I LOVE receiving the beautiful gifts she knits for me.

The latest is this lovely bag that she made me for our birthday.

I am just so impressed. It's the Coney Island Bag by Eunny Jang. It's a free pattern on Knitting Daily.

My sister really hasn't been knitting that long and this bag is perfect! I love the bag pattern and the lovely colors she chose.
Unlike me, my sister is not afraid of sewing. She made a lovely fabric lining complete with pockets in coordinating fabrics.

She even made a lovely fabric covered button.

I LOVE this bag almost as much as I love the amazing person who made it for me.

Love you, Cat! Thanks for being SO good to me!

Family Photos from our Visit

2011-04-06T13:49:00.002-04:00

For everyone who knows my family, here are some pics from my trip home:

N:

My brother's oldest, Joe:

My sister's youngest, Lizzie:

J with my sister's oldest, Michael:

One of my brother's triplets, Mary:

My brother's other two triplets, Madeline and Reed (comparing boo boos):

My twin sister Cat and my mom who is handing out chocolate chess pies during our birthday celebration:
Fun in the leaves:

Michael with Rosebud:

Just love spending quality time with my family!

Puppy Love

2011-04-06T13:36:00.002-04:00

The boys and I just got back from a trip to Virginia to see my family. My parents just got a puppy two weeks ago. Rosebud, or Rosie, is now 10 weeks old and ADORABLE. She's a Boston Terrier mix from the Lynchburg Humane Society and quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Seriously, have you seen anything cuter?

Didn't get much knitting done during the visit, but did get lots of quality puppy time. It was WONDERFUL!

Photo Update

2011-03-28T21:30:00.003-04:00

I've blogged several times recently, but did not include photos so here is a quick photo update.

The cupcakes I made for J's 5th birthday party:

He asked for a "pajama party" so I thought they were appropriate. The blankets are made out of Starburst. The feet are jellybeans. The faces are mini Nilla wafers and the pillows and bodies are halved marshmallows.

J eating his cupcake at his party:

J with his Lego Police Mobile Unit (his gift from us):He built the whole 400+ piece set by himself. It took several hours over two days and I was really impressed.

Finally, here is a picture of my currently one-sleeved sweater.
Hope to finally start the second sleeve tonight.