I’ve got many friends out there having little ones suddenly.  Evelyn came into the world in early June followed by Thomas in early July and Anna just last week.  There’s two more due next month!  So I’ve been busy (in between Detonators for the Sock Wars) making wee things.  I’ve decided to branch out a bit, so after finishing Evie’s Vine Lace Baby Hat I made a couple of animals and a sweater.  Still have some ideas in the works, but I have to show my FO’s while they’re fresh!  Here’s the specs on the ones I’ve done so far:

Kate the cat (renamed Annie by the recipient) from Knitty.com and Doggy from Soft and Simple Knits for Little Ones.  I got the book from the library and am tempted to go get my own copy.  There’s some cute things in there!  Kate is made from leftover Lamb’s Pride (Aubergine), Sugar n Cream Solid (Hot Pink) and Wool-Ease (Camel) while Doggy is Caron Perfect Match (Espresso) and TLC Essentials Solid (Steel Blue).  They worked up pretty quickly and with great results!

Child’s Placket-Neck Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (make sure to look for errata on line- there was a bunch of errors in the book).  I did love the way it knitted up.  I used just over two skeins of elle ELITE DK in colorwat 37- Tusk, I think- for the 6-12 month size.  It’s a cotton/wool blend I’d not tried before.  Nice drape, overall, and great colors.  I used size 7 needles and lengthened it a bit for the 23 inch baby!!

Next up- wee socks? more hats? something for my kids?  Truly so little time…

Yeah, I know, I’ve really not been around lately.  You’d think I’d be able to find a few minutes each day to sit and type, but you’d be surprised.  :)  There have been many interesting things happening around here, though.  You never know when you’ll round a corner and find this:

Or this:

Yeah.  Interesting stuff.

Actually, we’ve been continuing to work on the garden many days.  It is growing, although some friendly neighborhood rabbits ate our broccoli and peas.  We took a trip to the Erie Art Museum (the When Trees Dream exhibit was especially nice) and to Chautauqua Institution for their opening evening music service.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it!  And we’ve been playing lots of music getting ready for the churches Songs of Summer service.  I went to a MOPS retreat, too.  I’m the publicity coordinator for the next year.  Should be an interesting step up!

We had a cat for a few days:

She was found in our garden behind the kitchen.  We think she might have been the offspring of a stray- no body claimed her anywhere on our street.  I got to meet some interesting neighbors in my search…  Apparently not everyone gets along around here.  Luckily, she did not have to go to the shelter.  A friend of a friend took her and she’s doing well.

Here’s what happens when you let your children dress themselves:

And when you let your four-year-old feed the baby:

Nice BIG bite!

The kids got a new play ground up at the camp and have been LOVING it!

And they’ve been practicing their drawing (click for details):

The first is K’s first face!  There are tiny eyes there…  And then there’s M’s picture of Gaga.

And B got his first teeth.  Yay!!!

So, yeah.  We’ve been busy.  I’ll post more craftiness soon. 

Hope you had a fun 4th!

In hopes of just getting SOMETHING up here while I work on projects and figure out this crazy Sock War thing I’m posting another meme of sorts from Pam.  This one looks cool, though!  Here’s the rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Here’s my mosaic!

The only one I couldn’t do is #5.  Just couldn’t think of a celebrity crush.  Guess my husband is enough for me. 

Can you guess what they all are?  Can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

I’m still waiting for my next socks to arrive (and apparently I have a lot of work to do on them as my last target said she’s still on the first one).  So Fran (who commented down below), you will be waiting atleast another week.  Get crackin’ on your knitting!!! 

In the meantime I’ve been working on some stealth knitting for Christmas (yes, thinking about that already!), making a Ballet Camisole with recycled yarn from an old tank and drooling over Unwrapped.  I have been searching for the right yarn and if I can convince Nate it’s a good purchase, I think I’m going to order some KnitPicks CotLin.  Perhaps the yellow color.

And, because I know my readers can’t get enough of memes, here’s another one for you.  Consider yourself tagged!!

1. What I was doing 10 years ago?
I was working as an SLP up in Watertown, NY.  Going out too much and spending too much money because I had nothing better to do.  I had two dogs to keep me company and a great big victorian apartment, which I loved, but landlords that were awful.  I drove a Honda Accord and spent two vacations in Texas.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today? (not in any particular order)

• Clean the kitchen and run the dishwasher
• Fold laundry
• Go watch a house be torn down
• Knit
• Play with the kiddos

3. Snacks I enjoy

• Bread products
• Candy
• Nuts

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire

• Travel
• Go Green
• Give to the church

I gotta think about this one some more…

5. Places I have lived

• New York (5 different cities, not counting externships)
• Texas
• Georgia
• Pennsylvania

I’ve sent out my second pair of Detinators.  Whew!!  Some poor girl in Washington state is out of the game as of Friday.  I did get a break on this one- I received the pair with one sock done.  Here is the finished pair, in it’s full glory!  I think our guage is slightly different, despite following the directions as stated.  I hope these are as appreciated as the previous pair!

Project specs:  Detinators for Sock Wars 3.  Again, the pattern is custom made for the contest.  We (Rootsock and I) used Panda Silk from Crystal Palace yarns (Bamboo, Merino and Silk!) in a colorway 4003.  I enjoyed trying this yarn.  I’ve never used it before.  My only complaint in the varigation is that there is a square of light pink on the ankle of each sock.  Otherwise, I loved the colors and the feel of the yarn.  I may have to try it again!  I used size 2 metal DPN’s to get gauge.  I completed the single sock in 5 days- working maybe 2 hours a day.  It’s tough waging war over a holiday weekend!

BTW- Happy Belated Memorial Day to all you veterans out there!  Dasches- we had a GREAT time picnicing with you!!

I’ve sent my first sock wars socks!  Actually, I sent them a week ago, they’ve been received and the pair I have to complete has arrived at my house already.  I’m a bit late in posting.  It’s pretty exciting, overall.  As of yesterday, over 400 people have been eliminated from the contest, and I am still in.  I am hoping to get this next sock done (I had to do the complete second sock and am 3/4 thru) today and get it out tomorrow.  Unfortunately, this contest has little to do with skill or speed.  More luck than anything.  The girl who is making socks for me is in South Korea and she has not indicated if she is alive or dead on the roster, so I am in a bit of limbo.  I’m sure it will take a long time for a shipment to get here from SK, and our mail man is not the most reliable guy, so who knows if my socks are on the way.  Well, I’ll get a new pair of socks however it works out.  I think most people think I’m a bit loopy for taking this contest so seriously.  I’m enjoying working with new yarns most of all. 

So here’s my first pair of Detinators.

Project specs:  Detinator socks from Sock Wars 3.  The pattern is custom made for the contest.  I used Fyberspates yarn in a colorway that appears to be unavailable.  My “victim” loved them since they are one of a kind!  I used size 2 metal DPN’s to get gauge.  This is my fastest sock knit to date- one week from start to finish!

Here’s another cute FO.  It’s a design based on the Crankypants “Monster Booty” using a variation on Alison Hansel’s baby bell bottoms.  Though it’s not an exact match, I think they turned out really cute!

Project Specs:  Baby Bell Bottoms with out the bells (I started the leg with the number of stitches required after the decrease) using size 7 DPN’s .  I used duplicate stitch for the face.  The yarn was Plymouth Encore DK in khaki and red.  I made the 12 month size.  The length will be great to fit next fall, but I would have made the torso a bit longer.  Next time.

We’re famous!  Well, Nate is.  Well, maybe not famous, but he’s been written up on a subsidiary blog contributed to by the author of Z Recommends, a kid blog I read.  How exciting!  Follow the links to Nate’s blog and then to Gardenaut.  Yay- Nate!  How reaffirming!

Yowee, wowee!  The Sock War starts today!!  I think I am ready, with all but uninterrupted knitting time.  The pattern is supposed to be released any time now, so when the kids go to sleep, I’m casting on!  I’m hoping to have these done in a week or so, and to at least make it through the first round of eliminations, but you never know.  I’ll try to post my progress, but I might not be able to take the time to be online while trying to survive…  I only know of one other local person participating out of the 1200+ people signed up.  This is crazy!!  Who would have ever thought knitting would be such a big deal?  Wish me luck!!

Oh, and if I don’t post on Sunday, Happy Mother’s Day to all you courageous ladies out there  who have someone to call you Mom.  It’s so worth it!

We’ve had some funny surprises out here lately.  We’ve been spending lots of time outside gardening, cleaning up, enjoying the sun and birdwatching.  So far we’ve seen blue (jays and indigo buntings), yellow (finches), orange (orioles), red (cardinals, grosbeaks, woodpeckers and robins), gray (titmouse) and lots of brown (sparrows, etc).  We have been trying to find their nests so we can watch for babies.  We came home from breakfast the other day to find a particularly industrious robin building away…

…on our wheel!  The second picture is what is left of the nest that was being built on the wheel of the car we took to breakfast.  We’ve been watching for mama robin to try again, but she seems to have found a more suitable place to rebuild.

That evening we drove home through swarms of what we thought were gnats.  Turns out the mayflies have matured (it happens all at once each year) and there are what seems like millions of the buggers swarming around any land within a half mile of the river.

The black specks aren’t dirt or ash, but mayflies.  They don’t bite, and they only live a few days, so it was interesting to see them.  Apparently they are very pollution-sensitive, so our water must be clean (good to know since we drink from a well!).   There are still a bunch outside today, but nothing like the pictures show.  Julie D, aren’t you proud of me for not being freaked out like it’s a plague?

Speaking of plagues (just to make you laugh a bit)- M and I have been reading her children’s Bible lately and just read about Moses and the plagues in Egypt.  You probably all remember how the male children were “taken” in the final plague.  The picture in our book showed a very sad Pharaoh and I tried to explain that he was sad about his son leaving.  M asked me if Pharaoh had brothers or sisters.  I said probably, but I didn’t know where they were and she said, “Probably in Canada.  Shopping for food.”  Such an imagination on that child.