6 for Me (in 4’s)!

SIX Things About Me (originally tagged by Pam)

1) FOUR PLACES I GO OVER AND OVER: preschool, the cupboard, W*l-Mart, my nursing chair

2) FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME: Nate, Mom, Pam, Small Group

3) FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS: Pizza, bagels, cereal, apples

4) FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW: Sorry- not sure there are four places better than here.

5) FOUR PEOPLE I THINK WILL RESPOND: Mom, whoever might read this?

6) FOUR MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER: When Harry Met Sally, The Wallace and Gromit series, It’s A Wonderful Life, Anything by Pixar

I’m not very specific, but that will give you the big picture! Consider yourself tagged and happy Cinco de Mayo!

Present Day, In a Galaxy Near You…

No, not in theaters near you, but definitely in your county, if not your own town…

SOCK WARS III

I read about this last year- just caught the tail end and figured I’d never be able to play, but I have just signed up for the “bloodiest” knitting contest ever. The motto is “Kill or be Killed.”

So what is this, you may ask? Sword fighting with pointy sticks? Noose making with yarn? No, much more harmless than that. You are to fight to the “death” by making socks as quickly as you can, or atleast before your “assassin” finishes the pair being made for you. Best case scenario? Lots of free yarn and new socks. Worst case? New socks and the chance to compete with thousands of knitters from all over the world. Last year’s war was actually written up in the Wall Street Journal. Funny how a homely craft can gain such stature!

I signed up on Wednesday. I don’t expect to make it past the first round or so, since I do have lots of other things to do with my time than knit socks, but it will be fun, nevertheless. Sign ups close tomorrow and the war begins next Friday. Watch for updates- I’m planning on posting my progress on this completely new, original sock pattern. Wish me luck!

I’m on a Roll!

I’ve got more FO’s!! I’m just so efficient… Must be because I’ve stopped doing large, complex projects. Guess I gotta pick those up again soon. Anyway, I finally finished Nate’s Christmas socks! Finally. I’d been slacking on them, but I grafted the toe last Monday night. We were worried that the colorway would be too feminine, but the brown stripe really helped and they are a great fit (picture is on my foot- ignore the baggy toes)! I liked the pattern, but I’ve started feeling like I need more variety than some varigated ribbing.

Project Specs: Random Rib socks found online. I made the men’s medium size and had plenty of yarn leftover from two skeins of Regia Canyon Color (bought at Webs). The colorway is Mineral. I used size 2 bamboo DPN’s.

I’ve been messing around with some patterns from Cat Bordhi’s book New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One. It’s got some really interesting ideas for how to put together a funky looking sock. I’ve completed the tutorial socks for B and am hoping to have a few adults sizes done soon! I do like the fun ways Cat constructs the socks. I made Little Sky Socks (not pictured in brown Bernat Cashmere) and Little Coriolis (in leftover yarn from M’s baby sweater- the ball band has been long lost).

See how the increases swirl around the front instead of by the arch? Neat design.

And, I’ve started on B’s baby bell bottoms. I’m about to finish up the body- just need to make the waist and duplicate stitch a design. So far they are really cute, too!

Happy Belated 4!

OK, OK- on popular request, I’m finally able to get on here and show you all some of the fun we had celebrating M’s fourth birthday. The official day was the 22nd, but we had about a week of festivities. I’ll let the pix speak for themselves starting with the “Blue’s Clues” party for a few friends.

It was a beautiful day and fun was had by all! The kids figured out Blue’s Clues, played pin-the-paw, went on a bug hunt, decorated notebooks, did their nails (well, the girls did, anyway) and ate a ton of sugar. Definitely fun.

M got a number of nice presents, including a big-girl bike and pads. Here she is all ready to go:

She did a great job riding- with training wheels.

Then, on the day after her actual birthday, we went out to JCC for Earthfest. All the kids had fun, especially at the petting zoo.

I’m glad my girl got to enjoy her days in so many ways! Happy Birthday, my big girl.

And Her Name Was Aiken Drum

Anyone familiar with the aforementioned song should know exactly what Aiken Drum was made of. For those of you who don’t know him, it’s a kids song about a man who lived in the moon (although the wikipedia entry I’ve linked to indicates some more ghastly roots to the song). His hair was made of spaghetti, his eyes were meatballs, his nose was cheese, his mouth was pizza and he played upon a ladle. I personally think the version we know is really catchy and my kids love it.

This morning M told me that in the sun, my hair looks like hot spaghetti.

Just call me Aiken Drum.

Movie Stars, Supermodels and General Cuteness

Here you see my movie star and my supermodel. They were testing the mics at a coffee house our church put on last week. M was really belting out the words! Professionals, already!

Further movie star photo ops. This was backwards day at school. She really enjoyed being backwards until she had a wardrobe malfunction and had to turn the pants back around .

And the general cuteness, of course.

Now get out there and enjoy the warmth!

Spectrum Friday

Fire is officially over.  I have to say that I really didn’t get as much done in this element as I thought.  I’m still working on the second bobbin of fiery wool since I got sidetracked with wee hats and socks.  I’ll finish it eventually, but not in a timely fashion for the Project.  And so we’re on to Earth.  I do have plenty of earthy shades to work with.  In fact, the turtle sweater will fit right in, with it’s green and brown (and organic) theme!  I’m scrapping my white sock (yeah, no fire there, either) for March’s sock addiction entry (on Ravelry), so perhaps for April I can start with a brown or green sock.  BTW- Happy Earth Month to all you eco-conscious folks!

Things I haven’t told you

Nothing bad, promise!

Just that my wee boy is eating cereal…

  

…and loving it!  He is thrilled when I make him a bowl and will down it in seconds flat.  I don’t think he even fully swallows a bite before his mouth is open and he’s grabbing my hand to get the spoon in his mouth.  He’s only had rice cereal so far, but I think I see some peas in his future.  Can’t believe he’s almost 6 months already!

So, I guess it’s about time that I showed you pictures of his newborn sweater.  Remember I talked about making the Harvard Square sweater back last June?  You don’t?  Can’t imagine why…  Well, I did finish the sweater long before B arrived, with the exception of buttons that I thought I would choose based on the gender of the child.  You’ll notice here that there are no buttons on this sweater.

Guess I got a little busy after he was born…  Unfortunately, the sweater felted a bit and it only fit for the first three months (barely), so it will be buttonless forever.  I do think it turned out very cute, though and I would recommend it for those looking for wee sweaters.

I did just read that Knitting for Baby is coming out in paperback, hopefully with updates to the yarn selections, since the original yarn this sweater called for has been discontinued and it was a bear finding bold, solid, coordinating yarns in sport weight.  I ended up buying my yarn at Calico Cat Yarns after much searching. The green and yellow yarns were merino, and they were the ones that felted.  I used the green

on the turtle sweater, too, but I used duplicate stitch versus intarsia, so a little felting shouldn’t make much of a difference there.

Project specs:  Harvard Square from Knitting for Baby by Kristin Nicholas and Melanie Falick.  I followed the pattern exactly for the 0-3 month size, substituting yarns, including Nature Spun sport weight (Scarlet) and Wildfoote sock yarn (Dark Carmel).  I’ve lost the ball bands for the yellow, blue and green.  I loved the Wildfoote- I’ll have to use more of that in the future.

I also finished a suprise for M’s birthday- Skirtsicle!

I’ll have her model it in a few weeks.  Nice, easy knit although cotton yarn always seems stiff to me.  I used Fantasy Naturale (color 970 and the pattern from MagKnits.  I went up a needle size to make guage and knitted size 6, in case of shrinkage.  Check out the close up for details!

Easter Update

Sorry- not much posting, but we had a nice holiday.  We spent the day at church and with family, which is about as good as it gets.  The girls are beginning to understand the true story behind Easter and we’ve been using this book to give some meaning to the treats, so it was much more meaningful this year.  We, of course, colored eggs and had baskets, too.

    

They were so intent on making something beautiful!

M has had crazy days at preschool- raising money for the leukemia society.  She wore her jammies last week and the week before wore 4 ponytails.  That was a real stretch for my little Mama.  Gotta play by the rules in her mind!  Cute, though.  The kids had to pay a quarter to participate in the dress up.  She was very excited to give her money.  Let’s hope that continues!

If you notice, our snow is finally melting.  Let’s hope Spring has truely sprung!  I can’t wait for a little fresh air and flowers.  We’ll get out in the garden and DIG!!

Turtle Time

Ahhh, another FO.  And I looove it!  I started this sweater before B was born, thinking it would be a cute, easy project.  I didn’t love the yarn.  I didn’t love the pattern.  BUT, since I’d bought it (and only enough for the 0-3 and 3-6 month sizes), I started again with much more success.  The yarn (Bernat Organic Cotton) softened up in my hands and made quite a nice piece of fabric.  I added a little green turtle in duplicate(my own design) to the front for interest.  I’ve given up on intarsia for now.  Just can’t keep that guage right…   And then I decided to make matching socks.  I had to make three (actually, one was knit up twice) since I ran out of the natural yarn and had to add green toes and heels.  My original plan was to duplicate stitch “footprints” to the bottom of the socks.  Maybe next time.

  

Over all, I am very pleased with the project.  It fits B great, too!!

Project specs:  Baby’s Pullover from Bernat’s Organic Cotton Mommy and Me book.  I used Bernat Organic Cotton in Hemp.  I used size 7 and 8 (English sizing) needles instead of US 6 and 7.  The accent green was leftover from the Harvard Square sweater I made for B’s birth (unpictured or blogged as of yet).  I used exactly 3 skeins of the OC for the sweater and socks in the 3-6 month size.  The socks were from Debbie Bliss’ Baby Knits for Beginners (Two-Needle Socks).   I used size 3 DPN’s.  It was a quick, easy project.

And just so cute!!!