What I've been up to.......

As you can see, I've been editing, pretty unsuccessfully, the sidebar for my WIPs. Please bear with me. I am wanting to use those cute little icons of objects instead of rectangular progress bars. Always have, but this week when adding something to my older progress bars, I inadvertantly changed some of the html. I'd fix it, but I don't know what I deleted... (oops) so, I've spent some time working on it, to no avail. At any rate, if anybody can help me out, I'd appreciate it. I have the little gifs of the cute icons in my photobucket account under the BlogItems folder.

On to other happier events. This afternoon all 5 of us went to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium rated G for general audiences and F for my father (meaning it's worthy of him seeing) It's a great movie but hit a little close to home as I'mdealing with my dad's seemingly fleeting time left with us. DS2, much to my husband's chagrin, is still not movie going ready yet... Shame too cuz I'm tired of missing all the fun kid movies. That was the first I had been to since the re-release of the Shaggy D.A. with Tim Allen.

In the morning, DD and I went to Joann's fabrics to search for fabric to reupholster the desk chair to the new to her This End Up bedroom furniture we've acquired from a purchase through craigslist. It's former owner was of the male gender and the upholstery on the seat and back of the chair is blue... won't do for a 7 (almost 8) year old with a soon to be pink room. So we bought these fabrics to cover the chair, make valences and some pillows for her bed.







I also bought some Christmas fabrics to wrap gifts in. I had read about tsutsumi or furoshiki on this great blog tip nut (you can get a daily newsletter if you don't want to miss a tip) I'm going to make my own reversible cloths and hopefully if the recipient won'tpay them ahead, I'll take the wrapping back and reuse it myself!





We also bought these cute buttons. At 50% off, I couldn't resist. I'll find a use for them I'm sure.





On the knitting front, I cast on Amanda's Squatty Sidekick after dinner on Thanksgiving and cast off just a bit ago. Here it is in it's pre-felted state. While at Joann's, I wanted to get fabric to line it. Of course I forgot to pick it out before I had all the previous fabric cut. The line for the cutting table was too long to get in it again, so I looked at the fat quarters and found these. The pattern is for the lining and the solid for a pocket in the lining. While we were looking at buttons, I found these for the purse.I bought some buttons for some fingerless mitts as well, but I'll save those to post with the mitts.

In the mail today came 7 skeins of Peace Fleece in soyuz apollo teal... I got it off ebay (oops.. slid off the wagon, sorry honey). Yesterday my folks decided after much discussion with myself and my siblings that their best choice of living accommodations would be Wood River. I'm very happy about that. I think it's a great choice.

Up for today, decorate the gingerbread houses make the marble magnets for the special area teachers and maybe clean up the yarn and get out the Christmas decorations??? Sound like enough to do? Well the kids are all awake, so I better feed them and get them busy doing something that keeps them away from their father.

nature discovered

I cut some Queen Anne's before DH mowed the yard the other day. I wanted to put it in some colored water for the flowers to take up the dye. I have some now that are pink and some that are light blue. I was checking on the flowers last night when low and behold I found a caterpillar on the stem of one of the flowers. I hadn't even noticed it when I cut them. I googled caterpillar to find out what kind it is and discovered that it's a Black Swallowtail. Since I have a friend who is known in the area as the 'butterfly lady', I wrote to her to ask her what to do so that the kids might watch the metamorphosis process. She told me how to make a bug box from a cereal box and what to do with it to make a cozy environment for the 'cat'. They like to eat leaves of plants in the parsley family (Apiaceae) including, carrot, celery and dill and ..... Queen Anne's lace flowers. This morning DD and I went on a hunt for flowers to keep this guy munching away happily. We hit the motherlode down along the canal towpath and as I type, our newest member of the family is filling its belly on the scrumptious buds! The DC who seems most interested is my 2 almost 3 YO DS He's thrilled just to watch it move. I'm thrilled to turn my kids on to God's beautiful creation! I hope we can successfully help it become a butterfly

Some FO's to post:

TriOminoes Bag
Pattern: See Below
Yarn: Sugar and Cream
Color: Beige
Needle Size: 7

TriOminoes Bag:

Materials needed: Worsted Weight yarn
Size 7 DPNS (set of 5) or long circular if using magic loop
• cast on 60 stitches
• join in the round being careful not to twist stitches, placing marker
•knit 2 rounds.
• *K1, YO, repeat from * until end of round
• *KI, drop YO, repeat from * until end of round
• knit 2 more rounds

Now begins the stitch pattern based on Tweed Mock Rib from 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar February 21

•Odd Rows: K1, *sl 1 purlwise, K1, YO, psso the K1 and YO repeat from *

•Even Rows: Knit

Repeat these two rows until you reach desired length
I added a couple of knit rows at the end to make it easier for me to kitchner.

•Divide the stitches in half, place each on it's on DPN and kitchner.

For drawstring, either knit an i-cord or more easily take 3 lengths of cotton yarn about a yard each. Tied them in a little knot and braid them until reaching the ends.Thread darning needle with these and pull the drawstring through the holes made for them from dropped YOs. Put a knot in the unknotted end when finished, pull and tie a bow!


Fill with your choice of goodies and enjoy!

This is free for your use only. If you want to share this pattern, please link to this page. Remember copying and pasting is stealing.
Thanks so much :-)


Pattern: The Lucy Bag
Yarn: Mauch Chunky by Kraemer Yarns
Color: Petunia
Needle Size: 10.5

I didn't use the yarn the pattern calls for, but my substitute met gauge. Having said that, I didn't use as many rows for the bag, or it would have been ginormous. It's bigger than I wanted but good for taking along an extra set of clothing for DS2 should he have a potty accident plus my wallet, glasses and a knitting project. I think I'll make the small ball later. I forgot to take a picture before felting, but DS2 could easily stand inside the bag and it came up to his chest..... really big!


Pattern: Lucky Warm Fuzzies
Yarn: Red Heart MacIntosh 50g skein 122 yards
70 Acrylic/30 Wool
Color: 1377 Dublin
Needle: Size 5 dpns

Once again I failed to use the yarn the pattern was written for. The woman I made these for works as a secretary at my school and she is ALWAYS cold.I promised them to her at the end of the year, but my dad took precedence with his felted slipper request. She wanted something machine washable, so I chose this yarn at ACMoore on sale for $1.50 per skein. It took less than one skein and I bought 3, so I think I'll be making some for teachers gifts! They are soft and cozy warm. I'll put buttons on them if I can find ones I like. Need. to. check. button. stash. Hope S likes them! BTW... there are other great patterns on this site, great knit fiction, wonderful charity knitting and firefly's blog is superbly written...


I found my long lost sock needles. They were hiding in my chair. I had looked there at first, but I think they were stuck way down deep. We had to move the furniture to the center of the room when the new windows were installed, so in moving it all back and cleaning, the lost 'lambs' returned. So of course, they were begging to be used. I've cast on another pair of socks. This time I'm using 2x2 ribbing the whole way and Sockotta yarn in black, white, blue and purple. I'm making it up as I go!

I also joined the Love2Knit dishcloth fall exchange. We send a dishcloth and an item of knitted food. I have no clue what to make my pal... couldn't tell here anyway ;-) I'll post a picture after I finish and mail it!

The boys' room is all painted Tango Blue (Valspar brand) with white trim. We're looking for a bed as I think IKEA discontinued the one I had posted about before. We're thinking L shaped bunks that have a dresser under them. Perhaps we'll go for this one but in the light maple finish. I saw it IRL and DS2 was with me and loved it! We're talking about refinishing their floor first though. The poor kids won't make it in there before school starts in 10 days!

DD's room is getting a makeover as well, from yellow to pink and we will most likely buy her a new bed too... downsize to a twin so mom can't sleep there ;-) the only problem is HOW to arrange what furniture would be there. It's a small room. We're thinking Captain's bed to save some room... she's growing up so fast!

School starts next Wednesday for my DC and myself.. I'm trying to get permission to come in late and stay late so I can put DD and DS1 on the bus. It's his first day of KDG after all! He's so ready... and excited. And we found out he'll have the same teacher DD had last year (they cycle with the same teacher for 2 years)

Well I have much to do and little time... I don't even want to think about how far behind I am on Christmas gifts!!!