Chair Share

Seriously, I have never seen a cuter set of siblings together. They can be so sweet to each other (usually....), and are positively lost when the other isn't around. (Of course, this drives me batty when one is sleeping, and the other wakes the sleeper up, just so the awake one isn't lonely.... Yeah.... that's a blast.)

Happy Feet!

So, who cares that it's a hot Utah summer? I wanted to make hand-knitted socks for my kids. Not one to go with the flow, and knit them socks for warm feet for the winter, I decided to make them wear their new socks on a 90 degree day, just because. Actually, it was night, by the time I finished the last one, and I only made them wear them for pictures, and they were QUITE thrilled to put them on. There was quite the dancing fest that ensued after the picture session. And they both fell asleep wearing them! :cheerful:

Both pairs of socks are in Lion Brand's Magic Stripes. Noah's socks are in Denim stripe. Catie's are the Bright Spring pattern. Both were made on size 3 dpns. Noah's have a 3k,2p rib with 50 stitches, and Catie's have a 1k,1p rib with 36 stitches.

Out of town

I'm horrible at picking times to start blogs. I seem to try to do it when I have quite enough going on, thankyouverymuch. So, a week after starting this one, I took off for a 6 week leave-of-absence to Utah. I would say "vacation", but, well, it's not. My MIL is a bit of a clean freak. Okay, so she's actually probably just normal for Utah, but Utah moms are a step closer to Stepford than the rest of the country. And, well, I've just never fit in. I mean, I don't live in squalor or anything, but I'm a-okay with stepping around toys and books to get to the kitchen, instead of cleaning up the toys all time.

So, anyway, I'm on non-vacation, since I don't get to forget about cleaning and laundry, but I'm trying to take as much time as possible to knit. That's not nearly as much as I'd like because every time I sit down with the needles, a Catie mysteriously appears in my lap. Apparently, she wants to knit. Today, I got some Foamie beads for the kids, and gave them yarn with plastic needles. Noah took it very seriously, but Catie got bored quickly, and began chewing the beads like gum..... Whatever. I got to knit for 42 minutes.

And in other news.....

I finally have a job description for what I do. I tried to help Noah get dressed. "MINE!", he shouted as he clutched his Thomas underwear. Right, 'cause I wanted to wear it today.... So I left him to duke it out with the tighty whities while I changed Catie-the-Unchangeable. As I wedged a foot under each armpit to keep her from flopping over while I tried to change her diaper from under my own knees, Noah started demanding help with the underwear. I can see why. To be fair, it was winning.... I told him, "You had your chance to have Mommy help a minute ago. Now Mommy's taking care of Catie. Of course when I finish with her, I'll help you. It's what I do." Then, in the form of prattling all moms use to drive home points and develop young children's minds, I asked, "What does Mommy do all day, every day?"

Noah bit his lip, a sure sign of deep thought. Or pooping. Fortunately, it was the former. "Mommy he'p Cay-cay. Mommy he'p No-o too. 'Hank, Mom!" Well, it just don't get better than that, does it? And true to form, and my new job description, I did in fact help him get his underwear on. And he even let me he'p, this time.

Yarn Love

I've always loved yarn. The softer, the better. I love to pace the yarn aisles at the craft store, savoring the feels of the different fibers, anticipating which will make the softest socks, sweater, etc. But I'm relatively new to the world of knitting. I taught myself a few years ago, from one of those $2 leaflets from Wal-Mart, and extensive use of Google. I made a multitude of projects in the cheapest yarn I could find, with free online patterns. And throughout, I've developed a way of knitting that I'm comfortable and happy with, a nice even stitch, and a beautiful finished product. So now, I'm ready to move on.

I recently joined a knitting circle that meets locally at a bookstore, and fell in love with some of the beautiful colors the ladies were using, the incredible finished products. "What? That pattern is only in a book? Not free online?" "How's that? You dyed that yarn yourself, so I can't just go buy it somewhere?" A whole new world has opened in front of me, and that world contains the "MD Sheep and Wool Festival".

I first heard about this phenomenon from the aforementioned knitting circle. The first mention didn't do much to catch my interest. What can I say? Up until now, when I wanted nice yarn, I went to Michaels instead of Wal-Mart. Like I said, I'm new to all this. And then, a friend showed me a bizarre compilation of yarn, still on the needle, with this funky wave to it.

"What is that?" I innocently ask.
The friend replied, "A baby surprise."
"I'm sure he'll be surprised. I won't tell him. But can you tell me what it is?"
"It's a baby sweater."
"Oh cool! So what's the pattern you're using?"
"It's a baby surprise."
"Okay! I swear I won't tell him! What's the pattern?"
"It's a baby surprise sweater."
"Who's on first?"

Okay, really, we got it figured out after that. Then I asked her for the pattern. She told me the book she got it from, Elizabeth Zimmerman's The Opinionated Knitter. The pattern is the Baby Surprise Jacket, and boy, was it. I ordered it on Sat. night, received it on Tuesday, and had a finished blob of my very own by the next Sunday. But wouldn't you know it, that blob did indeed become a jacket, and I am officially hooked.

I have several more in mind, with various striping patterns, as experiments. And thus was born a renewed desire to blog. I had to share my magical blob! Surprise!


Pattern: EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket
Materials: Size 6 circ. needles; Bernat Sweet Stripes in Splash, border in Bernat Baby Coordinates in Sky.
Started: May 1, 2007
Finished: May 7, 2007 (except for buttons)
Recipient: It's a surprise! (no, really, I don't want to put it here until it's been given, but I do have an intended for it!)

In other news, the Sheep and Yarn Festival. Well, the ladies talked me into wanting to go. Brandon, Mom, and the kids had other plans for Sunday, but they fell through, so I had company for the festival! I don't think the kids had a thrilling time, but they liked seeing the sheep, alpacas, llamas, and bunnies. Brandon was way more interested in the spinning than I thought he'd be (or maybe he was just faking it for my enjoyment.... ;) ). I wasn't as tempted as I thought I'd be. While the handspun, hand-dyed yarns were striking, I'm a softie, and insist that my yarn is, also. Many of the handspuns were too rough for my taste, and I wasn't even tempted. I knew I wanted to get a special yarn for Catie, to make her a sweater, though, and I did find just the thing.

I went into analysis paralysis, though. There were gorgeous soft yarns of every imaginable hand-dyed color at Tess' Designer Yarns. I am still quite budgeted, so I couldn't buy everything I wanted, but I refused to leave empty handed -- I would have regretted it forever. So I settled on Superwash Merino in a brilliant purple and turquoise. There were softer yarns available, but they were out of my price range. This was wonderfully soft, though, and I feel that all the yarns were a marvelous quality -- this is just what I could afford! I plan to go back to her for more, though, when I can. I fell in love!



Now, I just have to figure out how to get these monstrous 570 yd. hanks under control. It's so luscious, I'm sure I'll have a great time playing with it!

What am I doing?!?

Okay, I've attempted this blogging thing before. It never quite sticks for me. Possibly because I'm busy. What?, you say. We're all busy!

Well, sure. But *you* being busy affects me not-in-the-least. My being busy means I lose interest in projects easily. But I have lots that I'd like to write about, just for me to look back on in future years. Things I make and do that I'd like to record in words and photos. So, I guess, we're off!

Here's me:


I look like I'm concentrating really hard on something. That something is taking a photo of myself without it being incredibly obvious. And here, you learn my main gripe about life, the universe, and everything. I hate my hair. Really incredibly hate it. Except on the days it behaves. Then, I just harbor a mild dislike of it. But since that is maybe 6 days a year, it's safe to say I hate it. I like it better shorter, but I'm making myself grow it long enough to get it into a nice ponytail. If I can pull it back quickly and easily, and I still hate it, it gets cut again.

Now, my non-gripes. Everything else about my life pretty much rocks, except the stuff that doesn't. I am a stay-at-home wife and mom. It's not enough for me to say I'm a SAH mom because I try to stay my husband's girlfriend, and try to find fun ways in every day life to *trampishly throw myself at him. Hush. He likes it. A lot. Brandon works from home, so we have a lot of together time. That can get difficult for making life fun, sometimes, when the kids are annoying, and we're constantly stepping on each other's toes. Fortunately, we seem to not get to that point often. And when we do, I (return to *).

We are house-sharing with my mom right now. My parents are still together, but my dad is living in a different house, trying to fix it up right now, and just comes out for regular visits every 2 months or so, when he stays for a few weeks. So, usually it's just my mom. We have a top half and a bottom half to the house, and my family has the run of the top half. Mom has the run of the bottom half, and we share the kitchen and laundry room. It actually works pretty well. I'm too paranoid to leave my kids with a sitter, so now we have a built-in one who knows all our routines, can put the kids in their own beds, and go to sleep herself.

And that brings us to the wee ones. Who are not quite so wee anymore. Noah is going to be three in July. He is speaking quite a bit now, as opposed to signing, which he used to use exclusively. He topped out at about 100 signs, and still uses them sometimes, as we also sign with his sister, Catie. Catie is speaking quite a bit already, though. She'll be 18 months at the end of June. (They're 17 months apart. It was crazy back in the beginning, but now that they can both walk, talk, and play together, it's absolute insanity!)