the parade of doll clothes

DD's AG Elizabeth will be busy modelling over the next few days. Now that I've found the card reader for the camera, I can take some shots other than with my phone.
This one is from the phone though.


Summer Fun Ensemble by Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer
Yarn: Top and pants Paton's Grace shoes-some remnant
Color: Sky teal
Needle: US3 US8
Recipient: Daughter
I didn't do the ribbon on the pants and I put my own belt from yarn in until I could go out and find ribbon to fit through the loops. I'll replace it though I'm sure.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the slippers... handfulled them in the kitchen sink... but they are so darn cute!

There are more clothes to come!

We went to Mama Nina's for her birthday dinner yesterday... I was stuffed and brought enough home for 2 more meals...

I can't believe she's 11. I really like the young woman she is becoming. So proud of her!! I love you sweetie

happy birthday pablo

My baby turned 6 today at 12:16 PM.... it seems like yesterday that he was born!

He wanted THIS cake... told me exactly how to make it... so I had to oblige.
It was the perfect day for comfort food... after all the appetizers... veggie chili, cornbread casserole and mac and cheese... yum

off to do some school work. Yes that's where I've been... I' still alive, just no time for anything but work ... so sad!

wow

DH knows how to treat a girl on her 50th birthday!

The kids woke me up with 3 gifts...
a charm for my troll bracelet
House season 5
a beautiful scarf with african design
dinner with the family at my local favorite italian restaurant
purple irises
chocolate cake
the Beatles remastered in stereo
Bose on ear headphones
Bose wavelink sound system
Bose iPod kit


He checked my wish list from December... told me he couldn't afford the car.... we got our iPhones a few days ago... so I should be set for quite some time! I think he went a little overboard!

"fall"-ing behind

With the beginning of school for me, DH and the kids, I've fallen far behind on blogging and setting up the etsy store.... There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day!

My weight has plateaued since June.... but my clothing is fitting differently... and I've needed to buy some smaller sizes :-) and have revisited pre-kid clothing, so I guess it's all good.... I'd still like to drop another 10 though.

The Way wedding afghan is complete! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Pattern: a compilation from Barbara Walker's Learn to Knit Afghan squares 4, 5(2 so leaning 2 ways), 6, 7, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 46, 48
Knitting Simple's Carla's Blanket squares 4 & 26
Square of the month
Hugs and Kisses
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease approx. 30 skeins
Color: 99 FIsherman
Needle Size: US8
Recipient: Jesse and Christina Way

I decided on an attached i-cord border to make things look a bit more finished. Happy to report it only used half a skein... was expecting to need more.

DS, the younger, had a birthday on Friday. He took cupcakes to daycare... and after we were all home from our running Friday night we had cake. All of us were so tired that we were asleep by 9 PM.....



Sat we went pumpkin picking...... unfortunately we got there not too soon before they closed....I'll post pictures of the decorated pumpkins later.

If anyone has a secret to an energy boost.... please give it in the comments... I need one badly.

happy birthday DD

You are an incredible young lady. I can't believe how you've grown since that day 9 years ago when you came home from the hospital. Where did the time go?
Papi and I are so very proud of you. You're smart, thoughtful, helpful, beautiful, great sense of humor and fairness. We are so blessed to call you our daughter.

So even though there will be times when our decisions seem unfair, please remember that we're trying our best and we've never done this before. You're our first and only princess... and we love you more than you can know.

Happy birthday darlin' Hope the new year treats you stupendously!

love
mom and dad

happy birthday baby boy

I can't believe you're 4 years old today. Where did the time go? I'd put a picture on here of him as a baby, but they're on the other computer... I really need to spend the time to organize them all.


Here's his cake for the day


His family party will be next weekend. my baby boy is growing up!

another year older and no smarter

the half century mark is approaching more and more quickly. I was so glib to tease my brothers when they turned 50, I'm sure it will come back to bite me in the behind when the day comes.

DH was so generous to me... I'll post pictures soon, but right now isn't the time. I can say he bought me almost all things wool but nothing for me to make. In other words, no yarn, already FOs... from Donegal Square (one of my favorite stores downtown) and a beautiful necklace from the same place.

We went out and got the 2 oldest kids new mattresses. Ready to be picked up Thursday.

It's snowing now.. I can pray for a snow day tmrw. Half of me wants it and the other half dreads it.... never make this old woman happy!

I worked on mom's shawl this weekend. Was knitting on the way to church (a long commute) and noticed a dropped stitch before the last lace section... so I'm frogging back to the stockinette section. I was so hoping to finish it today, but I'm afraid that won't be happening.

We went to see the folks today. My younger older brother brought dad from rehab to the apartment both yesterday and today so that he and mom could spend some quality time together (and to get him out of that place) so we all had lunch together. The kids were pretty well behaved but 3 hours of being in the 'village' was about all they could handle. Next week I'll go alone and try to get something accomplished for them. I know the visit with the grandkids was good mental health for mom. Dad gets annoyed with them behaving like little kids (which of course they are.. he'd reather have grandchildren that were 3 5 and 7 that behaved as if they were 18 and older) He's back to his old self again... but he's looking worn. I hope he gets to move in the apartment soon. He needs that.

Happy crafting!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Well ok he's not a baby he's 3 today... and I can't believe it. The little boy who was infamous at the hospital for his quick delivery. We arrived at 12:02 PM and he was born at 12:16 PM Easiest pregnancy and delivery of all 3 of my babies... The delivery that I wanted for each, I finally got with our surprise present! Happy, happy day Pablito.....
















Happy day for me today to.. Actually yesterday was opening day for the Love2Knit Dishcloth fall/food exchange, but I forgot so this morning at about 5:30 I tore into the package (yes I was up long before that time, but we won't go into those details) My initial (and repeated) response was WOW!!!!! The great aroma that met my nose as I opened the package and the haul inside was overwhelming. The thing that is missing from the picture is the tea... I've already had a cup... mmmm mmmmm! Thank you so much Cindy... I am such a lucky girl!

This is the beautiful cloth made from my favorite cotton yarn Plymouth Fantasy Naturale.. love the colors, love the pattern and really love how silky smooth it feels...

This pumpkin is from the knitty pattern. I love the curly tendrils... I've been wanting to make this for some time now... :-)


And the pie made from the pumpkin... Cindy designed this herself... how did she get the crust so perfect??



Then the little pumpkin scrubber and wonderful scented candles. it's the motherlode I tell you.



And if that's not enough a ball of Sugar 'n Cream in a colorway that is NOT in my stash (that alone is amazing)




And here's what I sent her (i'm ashamed that it's so pitiful) The cloth is the one that I designed as I knit. And it will remain one of a kind, because I never did write the pattern down.

The little pumpkin is based on the pattern by Marni of Curly Purly fame. Funny how we both chose pumpkins as our theme. I followed the pattern to the T picking up stitches at the top to close up the hole and knit the stem with an i-cord that decreased from 7 to 3 stitches.


Wish I had more to say, but I'm very tired... and jope that DS2 will have a good night's rest tonight (he was barking like a seal last night, poor guy!)

happy crafting

Do I need more WIPs?

I guess the answer to that is YES, since I have more....No, I didn't find my dpns. Instead, I won an auction on ebay for 11 pair of 5" bamboo dpns (new) and paid less than I would have for 2 sets. I was certain that after I started the second sock on these new needles, I'd find the missing ones. But they're still AWOL. And we had a party yesterday at the house (more on that later) so if they were going to show up, they would have for sure... I guess the Borrower's really do live at my house!

This is the start of the Lucy bag. I only have about 12 rows of the straight section finished (there are 120 rows in this section) If I do the math correctly 120 rows of 120 stitches is 14400 stitches... youch! Then there is the handle after that...It's such a cute bag though. I love the way the handles are the purse closure. This picture doesn't do the color justice. It's called Petunia but is a really lovely blend of lavender and blue more lavender than my dye of blurple... I guess this would be lavendue.

And the last new WIP is the monthly dishcloth KAL that started today. I have a sneaking suspicion what it is! How can I tell? Well I can't from the pattern, just a guess. I'll keep it to myself. I'll gift this one to my friend whose fav color is yellow and who will be celebrating a b'day in August. I think for her special day I'll make her a bunch of them... not the same pattern but I have my patterns chosen for her already!

Back to the party. We had the 'family' party for L's birthday. Had to get it in before the last day of June or I couldn't very well call it a birthday party. The theme was going to be monster trucks, but they had no monster truck plates etc at Party City, so he settled on Power Rangers (which he is nuts about anyway) This is his cake... (my great picture taking skills chopped off the Red Ranger's head) I had also gotten a number 5 candle, but do you think I could find it when it was time to put it on the cake? In fairness to me, that was on Tuesday right before I went to help teach spinning, and I didn't put the groceries away. I'm sure that will turn up with my knitting needles. LOL As you can see DH was having a good time once the pinata was empty. Good thing the batting was finished, no? The kids at this house were exhausted by the time all the guests left. L has been so excited about this party all week... he's so cute sometimes I can't stand it.

On the fiber front, one of DDs friends was at the beach last week. The mom (who is a friend of mine too) called today and when we were chatting mentioned that one of the days they went to an alpaca farm and the owner was doing some spinning too. Her daughter is in DDs class and remarked to her mom that I also spin and they should get me some alpaca so I can make DD some mittens. How sweet is that? So they bought a half pound of alpaca fiber for me to spin. I'm so excited because I've never spun alpaca before. I don't know if it's raw or ready to spin... guess I'll find out later and report on it :-)

OK... off to knit and tidy up the family room some more... it was, let's say, well used at the party yesterday. I already spent over an hour cleaning it up today, and there's still more mess.

Happy Birthday L!

We were at the beach for a few days. I wanted to post before we left but ran out of time! So much to put in one post now! Today is DS1's b'day. He's 5, but according to him. "not until I get my cake and open my presents" Where did the time go??? He has gymnastic camp at Parkettes in the mornings this week, so I guess we'll celebrate at dinnertime.

DD is at morning art camp at the Crayola factory. She loves it. You'd think that with 2 out of the house for he morning, we'd get something done, but at least one hour of the time they're gone is spent commuting back from the camps and running little errands.

So today I stopped (OK, 'twas a bit of a detour) at Kraemer's yarn store. They're having a sale. At least 25% off patterns and yarn that isn't made by them. Some yarn is even discounted deeper! It was definately a S.E.X. for me! I got 19 skeins of Plymouth Fantasy (pics at a later date) for $3 each, 5 skeins of Noro Kureyon for 6.37 each (to start Knitty's Lizard Ridge) one skein of Cherry Tree Hill and one skein of Plymouth Sockotta and lastly a skein of Mauch Chunky, to ensure that there will be enough to complete the Lucy Bag. I'll post more pics later... kind of spread them out, so to speak.












While at the shore, I stopped at Island Knits, LBI NJ and bought this:

Well it wasn't in this state when purchased. But I did buy the yarn and needles there! I took with me to the shore: 2 drop spindles, some roving (ashland bay merino, rambouillet, and stuff I made at the Mannings), King Tut cotton, Mauch Chunky, my KP Options set, Bamboo dpns in sizes 8, 9 and 10, Knitting Rules (by the yarn Harlot) and Magical Knitting vol 1 by Cat Bordhi, and the pattern for the Lucy Bag. I didn't have the right size needles to start the Lucy Bag (needed 10.5 dpns to start) and didn't get the Möbius CO... so knitting was out. Finally, on our last day of the trip, I convinced DH to let me pop into the yarn store while the kids were asleep in the van. I came out with this and proceeded to swatch and make Stephanie's socks from her book, well start them. This is the first one...not yet finished. That was after I spun all of the Rambouillet on my Greensleeves drop spindle and wrapped it on the niddy noddy I had in my bag. Here it is in a mini skein approx. 250 yard fingering weight.

The weather at the beach was COLD. Most of the time we spent in sweatshirts, except DS1 of course. He was in the surf as much as possible. We went miniature golfing, rode one of those quadcycles with 2 bench seats and a baby basket in the front. Looked like a surry without the fringe on top! Sat. night we went to Fantasy Island. The kids loved that. Both DD and DS1 as well as DH helped out the magician in his show. We'll go back later in the summer when hopefully the weather will be warm enough to lounge on the beach in a proper bathing suit instead of jeans and a sweatshirt!

Some FOs to share:
Dad's LTK felted moccasins

Pattern: Little Turtle Knits Felted Moccasins
Yarn: Paton's Classic Merino
Color: Denim Marl and Blue Storm
Needle: Size 10.5 KPO
Modifications: I had to make the slipper longer than the largest ssize on the pattern, so I knit a 4"x4" swatch, felted it and did the math to fit dad's feet. Happy to say that they do!

Mrs. Reynold's change purse

Pattern: Jean's Felted Coin Purse
Yarn: Peace Fleece
Color: Blueberry Borscht
Button: From stash (dd's choice)
Needle: Size 10 KPO
Modifications: I didn't felt as much as I normally would. We wanted to fit the packaging for the Barnes and Noble gift card inside the little purse.

And the remaining chakalaka baskets. I can honestly say that I'm happy to be finished with these for a bit! The one on the left is the S&C colorway called Sun Kissed... I love it! On the right we have P&C Butter cream (I think? It was one of the cones on special - probably still is LOL)

DSes gave their daycare workers a big basket filled with LOTS of different candy bars, peanuts, sesame seeds, snack crackers. All tied up in cellophane with curled ribbons. Hope they enjoy eating it all!