Back in the Saddle

I have a few character traits that sometimes undermine my creative endeavors (impatient, overzealous, perfectionist come to mind) and others that only fan the flames (stubborn, hard-working, short memory of failure). Simply put, I refused to be bullied by the ghost of failed attempts so I went to it again dying yarn after I put Emma down for her nap.


"MMmm Ma, what's for lunch?"

This time? Success for the most part. I spend about an hour and a half washing, rinsing, dying, rinsing, washing and hanging three skeins of yarn. I'm super excited about the green, thought the yellow would be brighter and I'm starting to see some lighter patches in the purple. All in all not too bad and at least I didn't felt any of them within an inch of their lives. Of course, this time I put on some relaxing music, didn't have people yammering at me and I did my best to be very patient and not play with the yarn so much. *phew*



What do y'all think?

Ugh!

Last night I decided to do a bit more practice dying with some lace-weight yarn in the microwave (I have done it once before and it turned out fine, thankyouverymuch) since I can't dye the sock yarn yet. As you can guess, it turned out badly. I didn't let the yarn cool enough before I started to rinse it and then I played with it too much while I handled it. Result: yucky mass of felted wool in a very pretty color that reminded me of dusty antique roses. I know, I should chalk it up to practice and do better next time and blah blah blah but it broke my little heart to see it like that. Part of me doesn't want to dye anymore of the yarn because now I'm afraid I'll ruin it. Ugh.

Rest in peace sweet yarn.

It's Here!

Yay! My yarn is here and ready to dye...almost.


First I had to figure out how I want my pattern to look and how much yarn it would take for a repeat, yadda yadda yadda. Next I had to make it into really long loops so the pattern could repeat the way I want it to. And when I say really long, I do mean reaaaallly long. Seventy feet to be exact. But how in the heck do you make a 70 ft loop of yarn? By wrapping it around dowels attached to the railing of your very large deck. Or that's my method so far. The only snag (!) I've run into is that I tangled the yarn while running in circles around my deck and now I must wait for the Master Untangler himself to come home and rescue me.



It's not that I'm totally helpless, I just don't have the patience to stand in 97 degree heat and untangle wool under the beating sun. I'm sure it will be cooler tonight, I just have to finish before the moths come out!!! Yikes! I'd better stop blogging and get winding. More later....

Oh, and I finished a sock for Emma that I knit while waiting for the new yarn to come. I know you're disappointed in me, Annie.

little sleep + bad things = drama

She doesn't sleep. Why doesn't Emma sleep well and why not last night? Who knows. In my dreams this morning (fragmented as they were by wailing toddler) I remember thinking Emma couldn't calm down and sleep because she missed her Grandpa Dave. In reality, that might be a good excuse for me but not likely for her. Anyway. Little sleep was had in our house last night. By all of us.

Enter a day of delayed napping because even though I laid her down three times she did not want to rest. Next we add some mix-ups: Emma stepped in doggie poo which makes her hysterical and the bookshelf I bought last week to match the one I already have was the wrong finish. I told them the correct finish, oak, but they brought me alder instead. I didn't notice until I was trying to assemble it and noticed, "Hey, this is a lighter color than my other one!" Not good. Add a bit of collateral damage and the day was perfect. Emma broke my sewing machine. More specifically, the part that holds the spool of thread on top of the machine. Enter the drama. I was tired and frustrated and I have to admit I almost started crying. I love this machine, as much as one should be able to love objects that cannot (and stubbornly refuses to on many occasions) love you back. The bad news: the part is discontinued since the sewing machine was made in the 1970s. The good news: I found a store in Salt Lake City that has it and it's cheap.

Thankfully I do have a few friends and today Brittany came to my rescue. She came bearing hazelnut latte and offers to get the new part for me from Salt Lake City since she was going through tonight anyway. Thank heavens for friends. Now if I can just make dinner and not set myself on fire today will not be a total mess. *deep breath* Off I go!

sleepyhead

Morgan and I have been wiped out lately. The kind of tired where you wake up and pray that coffee could levitate to your bed so you could sip it without having to make it. The "let's-go-back-to-bed-for-another-three-hours" tired. When he complained that we don't make it to bed early enough anymore I had to ask him where his dentures and cane were. "Old man," said I. Last night we discovered the problem. It was 9:45 and looked like dusk and on the down-side the sun comes up earlier in the summer so there was less sleeping time. No wonder we'd been getting to bed so late and feeling so tired at sun-up. And yes, we do have to get up at sun-up because that is when little Miss Emma wakes up. I swear that kid is solar powered.

So, Morgan has just left to go to work and Emma decides I've slept long enough. She wails. The time is now 6:23 am. Just shoot me. I let her out of her room and put her in bed with me. She looks at me and briefly imitates lying down and resting. Then she pops up and begins yammering nonsense and doesn't stop until 7:00 am. Why is little one still alive? Because at one point I open one eye to peer at her and she is looking straight at me with this huge "I love you more than sunshine" smile.

Now how can I be upset with that? Pass the coffee, please.

Some People (rant rant)

Okay, we all love a challenge but it really irritates me when I get that "oh little girl, you don't know what you're getting into and how hard this is" attitude. I'm not sure if it's a female thing, if I go about it all wrong, if it's because I look (and am) young or what. It just burns my biscuits to be treated with that patronizing manner that belittles me, my skills and my efforts.

Like when I was in high school and a younger boy told me I shouldn't be the sports editor of our school newspaper because I'm female. Or when I wanted to take Calculus in college and the secretary of the math department told me I couldn't take the class even though I had all the prerequisites. "You're just not ready," she told me. How would she know!?!?! (P.S. I passed Calc I and II with A's) And last summer when I went into a yarn store to buy fuzzies for a new hat and the owner told me that it was just sooo hard and beginners tend to do all these things wrong and I really needed to take a class from her. Excuse me, but I taught myself to knit from books and so far I think I'm doing pretty dang well. Classes are cool, support is welcome and criticism can be building but I really don't like people treating me as if I'm stupid or I'm just not up to the challenge.

When people come to me with a new idea and they're excited I would hope my reaction would be, "Go for it!" or "Sounds like fun." Maybe, "This was a really awesome resource for me when I started" or perhaps "If you need a hand let me know and I'd be happy to see if I can help."

*sigh* Why are some people just so down?

Are you still reading this? Really? I promise to stop ranting now and we can all go on our merry little ways.

Cool Enough?

Annie raised a good point. Why would someone buy my yarn instead of buying yarn from a shop? I was up last night thinking about this (I think a lot when I'm supposed to be sleeping) and I've got some really neat ideas in the works. I won't spill the beans and spoil the fun to come so just know I have tricks up my sleeve.

The other thing is I was inspired to do this because I saw a shop on etsy.com selling Harry Potter House colors sock kits. I just want one skein of Gryffindor colors to make my brother some socks for fun but she has so much demand for them she's only selling these kits. I said to myself, "Self, we could dye our own Gryffindor socks." And why can't I? I have this deeply ingrained belief that I can do anything I want to do if I apply myself and dying yarn most definitely falls into this category. I ordered yarn yesterday and I can't wait to get started. Wish me luck!

Oh, and I finished another dress but I haven't had time for a photo shoot yet so I can't properly show it off. It's coming, I promise.

I wonder...

So I have been struck with a new crafty idea. What if I hand-dyed yarn to sell? Now bear with me. I could set-up an internet shop (like on etsy.com or e-bay) and sell yarn I dyed in my free time (aka nap time or evenings). I can buy undyed yarn and either do kool-aid or acid dye.

Does this sound totally crazy? Anybody? Anybody? Buller?

Family Time

Our trip to visit my side of the family was great! I'm so glad we got the chance for my husband to meet all the wonderful people that are now his family, too. In the five years we've been together he hadn't before met my extended family from Wisconsin so this really was a big deal.

First we went to my cousin Andrew's graduation picnic (Congrats Andrew! Enjoy college!) and were able to see everyone. All at once. To let you understand what that means I think you need some background here. My father was the oldest of six kids. I am one of seventeen cousins on my Dad's side. Most of them are married and have 2 or 3 kids each. Translation: In less than six hours my husband met about 45 of my relatives. When I said I had a big family I wasn't kidding but I don't think he really knew how big. And wonderful. Ah, I love them all. If I'm lucky I might even get to see one of my cousins again next week as she passes through Utah.

Below we have a group picture of the cousins who could make it (we're missing five) with our kids. Big smiles!


And next we have a picture of my grandparents with half of their great-grandkids. There are fifteen total. Think about that for a second. To live to enjoy your family and fifteen great-grandchildren. The very meaning of blessings.

the aftermath

I'm two weeks into knitting the Central Park Hoodie. Things are moving along well and I'm impressed with how quickly it's going. I'm still tempted to work on other projects but for now I've been faithful. :)

How was the party? Great and terrible. The first half was awesome and the second half was from hell. The food was excellent, Sam outdid himself with the ribs, shishkabobs and steaks on the grill and I adore ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. From there we enjoyed adult beverages, cigars and lots of laughs. I wish the night had ended there but a couple ended up in the middle of a huge fight at the party and I don't even want to rehash how terrible it became. I finally went to bed at 1:00 am and Morgan came to bed at 3:00 am. We're both a bit shook up at what all happened and safe to say no one was too badly hurt or arrested. Lucky there.

Ugh, I'm going to try to have a much better and quieter day today. Morgan wants to go to a junkyard in Salt Lake City to look for some auto parts and there's a quilt and yarn store not too far away that I'd like to visit. After Emma wakes up from her nap we're heading up there for a bit of quiet fun and time together.

Super Secret Squirrel

So this isn't necessarily a post about my life, but in an indirect way my husband's co-worker's early surprise birthday party is driving me crazy.

Come again? Yes, we have poker night friends that my husband works with and we've become friends with one couple in particular. He, Phil, works with Morgan and Phil's fiance, Brittany, is a doll. They just got engaged and she wants to throw him a surprise birthday party (about a week early since we'll be out of town) tonight. The only problem is they have a little apartment and the weather's been iffy this week so outdoors is not a good idea. She asked if we could have the party at our house pretending it's a usual poker night thing and I agreed. We've been doing super-secret squirrel work all week to get the meat for the BBQ, figure out who is making what, when and where. *phew* We've been working our secret squirrel rumps trying to make this work and still keep in on the hush-hush. Basically, everyone Phil works with knows this is a surprise birthday party and he still has no idea. hehehehehhe

From here it gets more complicated. Phil has figured out with his spidey sense that Brittany is up to something, he just has no idea what so he's being a bit skittish. She is also supposedly going out of town this weekend and he doesn't know she'll be hiding here to surprise him when he shows up thinking it's a usual Friday night poker thing. Well, since he has no idea we have big plans for him tonight he thinks he should be late tonight because donating blood on a Friday evening sounds like a good idea to him. Bless his bleeding heart, but I'm about to go over there and kick his little hiney for making my life more interesting with espionage-like secret conversations than it really needs to be. I mean come on, it's FRIDAY!?!

Right now we are doing secret calls and text messages trying to figure out how to get the birthday boy here on time with all of his blood in his body. Me? I vote for throwing him in the trunk.

Happy (Early) Birthday, Phil!

Jitters

I think I'm about to be sick. I just put in an application for a job.

And don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want to work but I'm so nervous I think I could rauf. Utah Valley State College has an open recruitment for a part-time faculty in Economics and it's pretty much my dream job for this stage of my life. I've been putting off applying for it because I hate the idea of leaving Emma in someone else's care for so long (or at all!) but she's getting bigger and really seems to love playing or at least seeing other kids her age. That and if I work at all I think part-time is about all I can take being away from her. So I'm feeling pretty conflicted (not wanting to let her be in daycare) and still wanting to use the degree I worked so hard to obtain. I always said I'd look for a job when it felt right but I could find reasons to never apply so here goes. I'm only minimally qualified but let's hope they're desperate or I'm lucky or whatnot. I don't even know why I'm so freaked out, either way will not be earth shattering. *gulp*

I need to go for a walk.

A week and a day

In the last week I've made a lot of progress on my Central Park Hoodie and I'm still going strong. The only question is do I take a quick detour to make a little knitted duck for Emma for her half birthday and maybe whip up a knitting bag to take my stuff with me to Wisconsin in a few weeks or stay with the current project? I'm afraid that if I put it down I might break the spell and never get going on the hoodie again. Choices choices.

Today Morgan and I worked on our (read: my projects I sucked him into for heavy labor) various gardening endeavors and made so much progress. What you see is one of six flower boxes now filled with perennial ground cover and my garden plot that already has one row of rhubarb and one row of beans planted. All that's left to do is put the rest of the seeds into my garden. I know I'm making a late start of it this year but something tells me we're going to be having a long, hot summer. Today it's 89 degrees in the shade and I felt like I was about to have a stroke pulling all the weeds out of those flower beds. *phew*

Also, for your viewing pleasure, a pretty little green cricket decided to hang out in one of my roses out front. Lovely. :) We're having friends over for dinner and I have this new (from a garage sale) castle-like cake pan I want to try out so it's off to the kitchen. If it works out I'll post some pictures. Ta-ta!

Treasures!

A few weekends ago we went out garage saleing and I get an unnatural pleasure from finding little treasures - especially when they're inexpensive. What treasures did I find?

First, a hardbound copy of The Joy of Cooking for $1. I was so happy for this and even though Morgan had to point out, "You already have a million cookbooks" I had to state the obvious and tell him, "Now I'll have 1,000,001 cookbooks." Actually, the cookbook count will decrease with this purchase because I previously had The Joy of Cooking given to me by my father in a paperback version. Nice of him, but a little unsatisfying because the print was so small and they had to break it up into two volumes for it to be a little paperback book. Anyway, we're very happy with this find. :)

Secondly, I found a whole box of vintage sewing patterns and knitting books for $3. And by vintage I mean 1957 was the year this lady had gone pattern shopping. In all reality these patterns are worth $5 - $20 if I sold them individually on e-bay (which I have no intention of doing) because they are cute, in great condition and uncut. The real kicker is that they're almost all my size. This really is a shocker because if you think about it most women 50 years ago were tiny compared to today's woman. About half of the patterns were for men's ware and I just have no intention of sewing (or knitting for that matter) anything for Morgan. He's glad I have hobbies but he really doesn't want any of my wares. Oh well. Now I have all these lovely patterns but there never seems to be enough time in a day to do all the fun little projects I want. Oh well, I think the park is calling Emma and me so off we go!

The Bad and The Ugly

So you've seen the good. Now comes the rest.

First, The Bad. This necklace is not bad, I actually really love it and Emma is fascinated by it. I'm the one who was bad because this beauty was made by my brother and gifted to me when I graduated. I've never worn it before because it had a clear square pendant that just never sat well with me. Firstly, the pendant was drilled incorrectly so there was this ugly misdrilled and then re-drilled channel running down the middle of the square crystal bead. Secondly, the clear bead was too light to be the focus of the necklace. About two weeks ago I just got a wild hair and changed out the pendant to what you see in the picture. I've since worn it at least three days. That says volumes since it previously sat in my jewelry box for years...literally. I think this necklace may actually have super powers. Worn with a plain jersey knit dress it makes the whole get-up go from blah to wow. :) I even tried the thing where you take it off and then put it back on and the difference was night and day. I think this alone may justify the blasphemy of messing with the crafting of someone else.

And now we come to The Ugly. This dress is a casualty in so many ways. I decided to be a bit wild with the fabric and I like it up close but from a reasonable distance it looks like...pea soup. Yuck. To add insult to injury the pattern is messed up. Yes, I again blame the freakin' pattern and the horse it rode in on. I measured three times and compared with the pattern picture but somehow there is too much fabric being bunched by the elastic so it poufs right at the waistline. Talk about unflattering. As my friend put it this morning, "Wow, it makes you look pregnant." Not something the girl who is going to the gym 5 times a week wants to hear.

Now you have seen my shame but have no fear. Better times lie ahead. I mean, it can only get better from here.

The Cherry on Top

I know you all get sick hearing this so often but hey, it's my blog so nah.

I live in the best of all worlds. I mean that in a very personal sense of home life because yes, there are still lots terrible things in the world but I have this wonderful little place called home. I have a sweet, smart and lovely little girl. She was frolicing in the front yard this afternoon and it was too cute to miss. I have the wonderful and awesome husband who is off taking care of stuff today and will be home tomorrow. And in the meantime, I have roses and mint (cat optional) in my front garden. I mean really, does life get better? I think not.

The Good

The knitting has been going well and more is underway.

In the department of finished projects I have this cute little toy ball (it rattles!) I knit for Emma and she loves it. This girl has an unnatural love of spherical toys and every time she spots one anywhere she exclaims, "Ball!" They are by far her favorite. :)

Details
Pattern: Toy Ball from Knitted Toys
Yarn: Red Heart Sport weight (nothing special here)
Time: about 2 days to knit and sew it up

For those works in progress: I'm about 65% done with the Equestrian Blazer and I've just finished the back of a sweater I'm making for Emma. With that much progress you'd think I'd be crunching to finish them first but that would be the sensible thing to do. Instead I've just cast on to make the Central Park Hoodie. Now, hear me out. I've booked a flight to Anchorage in August to visit some friends up north and I think the hoodie would be so perfect for fall weather in the Arctic. Given that, I'm going to do my best to finish this hoodie up so it can make the trip with me. "Does it really take you 2 1/2 months to make a sweater?!!?," you ask. The answer is I have no idea so I'd better just start now. The picture of the purple-ish yarn is what I'm making the CPH out of. :)

Stay tuned. Next we will have postings of the ugly sewing project.

new words and trips

Emma's vocabulary is increasing so quickly this week. She's had a new word for almost every day.
Saturday: lots of "wow"s as we hiked up Rock Canyon
Sunday: "baby"
Monday: "hello"
Tuesday: "cheese"
Thursday: "bye"

We've been getting a kick out of every new word she comes up with and she's showing some very definite likes and dislikes. We have this awesome stroller and backpacking carrier (courtesy of my very generous brother) that Emma loves. I mean every time she gets into the garage and sees her stroller (or her backpack carrier) she climbs into it and cries if you take her out. Oh well, the exercise is good for me. :) The picture was taken last Saturday when we went hiking up Rock Canyon.

I've also finished a couple of projects and I'll post the good, the bad, and the ugly next.

Paintin' on her toes

One of my great coping tools in life is having painted toenails. Don't ask why because I don't have an answer, all I know is that when there are no pretty toes there is not a happy Lisa. When I was super pregnant and had not seen my own toes in weeks Morgan painted my toenails for me to make me feel less whale-ish. He figured if he could paint a car he could paint my toes...and he put racing stripes on me. I kid you not.

Now that I have Emma it's hard to find precious alone time to do my toesies so she often sees me in the process of painting the toes. I never realized how much children mimic until Emma and it cracks me up that a 17 month old girl wants her Mommy to paint her toes. The really crazy part is that she sits still long enough for me to paint them and lets them dry. Nuts. I can only assume it must be genetic. :) Hence the matchy-matchy cute toes picture.

As this post indicates, I'm going to keep the blog the way it is. Much has been going on in the last few weeks so stay tuned! :)

Should I delete this blog?

Hi Everyone!

I have no way of tracking how many people or who exactly visits this website. I'm not sure if anyone reads this site or if people I don't want to know my personal life are reading it (and you know who you are). I am contemplating a few courses of action.

1. Restrict this blog so you need to log-in to read it
2. Delete this blog
3. Leave it as is

Please leave a comment for me about what you think. If no one leaves a comment or no one really seems to care about the fate of this blog I might just delete it. I mean, why put the time and energy into blogging for nothing? Oh, and sign your name to your post because I have no idea who "anonymous" is.

Many Thanks!
Lisa

love is a place

love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all places

yes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worlds

-E. E. Cummings

Matt - DO NOT READ!!

Here are my finished knitted pretties for the month of April. Here we have a lovely summer wrap from Vogue Knitting Summer 2006 knit with Jager Trinity (a cotton/silk/poly blend). I have to admit I had my doubts along the way but I think it turned out nicely. :)

Next we have my Cowgirl Slippers from Interweave Knits Winter 2006 done in Cascade 220 (wool) and sorry for the icky picture. It's 6:30 am here and I'm on my first cup of tea. (Fact of the day: one cup of black tea has about half the caffine as one cup of coffee. Drink up!)

And lastly, the gem of this batch, Cabled Footies from One Skien in Cascade 220 for my brother, Matt's, birthday! I love this pattern so much that I have a pair for me planned soon but more importantly, these footies are made to match the Pendleton sweater that used to be our father's. My brother's birthday gift is our father's sweater (that we fought over for many years hehehe) and a pair of matching slipper socks knit by me. :) I thought it was pretty cool but I was so impressed with how pretty they came out. I may actually be the most proud of them than anything else I've knit. Oh, and for giggles I put his inital into the gusset of one slipper. :)

Hope you enjoyed! I know I did.

In readiness

On Saturday we have our big housewarming BBQ and I'm really excited and really exhausted. I've been busting tush for the past two weeks trying to make this house into a home while keeping up with the normal flow of laundry, dishes, toy clean-up and cooking. Let me say that the painting, gardening, unpacking, hanging of pictures, curtians and blinds, deep cleaning and general fix-it stuff you do when you move in have kept us all busy. Now if only we could kill all the wasps and garter snakes I could sleep well at night. *sigh* More whining, blah blah blah, whine whine, blah blah.

Oh, what was that? Snakes and bees you say? Why yes, it seems this house is a favorite nesting ground of wasps/yellow jackets/definetly-not-honeybees buzzy things. Which as it ranks is number two on my list of very bad things in your house. (Number one being black widow spiders, of course.) I counted no less than 8 wasp nests in progress when my father-in-law was here last week and thankfully he sprayed. Bad news: I think they're coming back. This may require professional help.

And the snakes? (oh my!) They've been sighted in the corner garden (one longer one and one shorter) so we knew there were at least two and when I was hoeing the garden to get it ready for planting I accidently killed one. Good news: it's a gater snake and they're not really agressive or poisionous (to my knowledge). Bad news: I killed the mommy snake because I saw a little baby snake haul tail out of there while I was trying to put the mommy out of it's pain and misery. Now I have no personal fear issues with snakes (unlike bees) but that fact that I have a toddler who loves to run free in the backyard makes me pretty nervous. I actually had nightmares about it that same night. But what do you do about snakes?

Anyway, I really should get working on this house and try to make it look a little more settled but maybe I'll just have a cup of tea and knit for a bit. I'm almost done with the back of a sweater for me. So far the yarn diet goes well and I haven't bought any new yarn except to finish projects already on the needles. Of course, now is when my dear Unraveled Sheep Yarn Shop is having it's spring sale. *sigh* Diets are never fun. I just finished a few knitting projects and I'll be posting them soon. :)

We have arrived

After much panic, lugging of boxes and straining of backs we are moved. Yay!! I love our new house and Morgan and Emma seem equally happy. This place is downright huge! Especially since we've been squished into a 900 sq ft apartment for the last 10 months. :) We are thrilled, to say the least. The most interesting challenge has been the window coverings. The house had no blinds or curtains or rods when we moved in and it's been interesting to figure out what goes where. I think by Monday we should have the last of the blinds and curtains up so we can stop scaring the neighbors. (hehehehehe now they know for sure we're not Mormonish) Morgan's garage is still full of boxes and much remains to be done so I bid you all adieu. I'll post more later (with pictures!). :)

Movin Movin Movin

So tomorrow is the day that we pack up our stuff and move our little selves with the help of friends. That means the computer comes unplugged and no more e-mail or blog until they set us back up - hopefully on the 11th. Hang in there and give us a call if you want to get ahold of us. Wish us luck!

Haircuts Galore!

It must be the warmer weather because we all got haircuts! Emma got her very first haircut and looks smashing if I may say so. :) I also had my hair cut (and highlighted! lordy!) while we were in Colorado and I love it (Thanks Evette!!). A few weeks ago Morgan shaved his beard off and during our absence Lucy had her "summer cut." *phew!* The fur is a-flyin' around here. :)

ADD in a knitter

So, many years of school and a couple of degrees later I have run into a problem I never knew I might have. I swear I must have the knitter's version of Attention Deficit Disorder. To my shame, I began a new sweater for Emma yesterday. "But, Lisa, why is that a shame?" you ask. Because I already have one sweater, a summer wrap, a knitted toy, a pair of cotton slippers and a pair of fingerless mitts already on the needles. Now really, that's a bit ridiculous.

At the same time, I have no will power when it comes to yarn. Emma and I went to the local yarn shop to visit a bit and kind of say good-bye since we close on our new house right after we get back from our trek to Colorado and won't be stopping by again (unless I choose to make the 80-mile round trip drive to visit...which I might on rare occasions). I bought more yarn for more projects. In my defense, it was Cascade 220 and therefore relatively inexpensive for 100% wool. Oh, and I bought a mondo-skein of cheap-but-oh-so-soft-and-cute yarn to make Emma's new sweater from when I stopped by JoAnn's earlier that morning. See? No will power at all.

So, I'm off to do lots of laundry, pack our bags and run away to Colorado to visit family for a week. See you on the other side!

Zoo-time!

In this week's flurry of dress-making havoc I totally forgot to post about our visit to Hogle Zoo on Sunday! We had a great time and there's just something so fun about going to the zoo. Emma loved the monkeys and the elephants, but the peacock's call scared her. I forgot how loud those little guys are. Wow! We also rode the little adventure train and I must say it was a bit lousy for the grown-up crowd, but Emma liked just riding on the train. Enjoy!

Done!

I finished the evil dress! Something that was supposed to be so simple was actually pure evil in the form of a dress. I measured myself (three times to be sure) and selected my size. I have to admit I was a bit sad about having to cut out the largest size of the pattern but resolved myself to it. But what have we here? After I sewed the major seams and I tried the dress on it fit me like a paper bag!!! WTH?!?! After much himming and hawwing and consulting with the Mother-in-law that is so much smarter than I am three separate times, I took the dress in about three inches around the body. Three inches people! And they call themselves pattern makers. Ha! (Note: the top corner of the pattern says "easy" what a bunch of liars.)

Long story and much agony shortened: I finished it tonight then went out to get another Mommy's opinion. It passes muster, says Erin. Now I only have one more dress to sew this week and I can lay off it for a while. :)

Doomed and other fun stuff

Have you ever felt that a project might be doomed from the start? I pick a nice and easy dress pattern to make my first summer dress from. Should be simple. Only four pieces to the entire dress, no darts, no zippers because it's made with stretch knits (like what your sweatshirts are made from, minus the fuzzy). That was my first mistake. What an amazing pain in the tush to pin, cut and sew. Not to mention when you screw up the most visible seam it's a massive pain to tear that seam out because you don't want to snag a single thread, or else you could end up with a massive run right down the front of your dress. *sigh* This dress might be doomed. Cross your fingers for me and hope Emma takes a nap today (unlike her screaming fits of yesterday) so I can work on it more.

Alas, there is some light. I finished a couple of knitting projects in Feburary and March that I never posted. For your viewing pleasure we have the Math Geek Scarf from Alchemy Yarns done in Cascade 220 for my friend Sally. I haven't taken pictures of the other ones yet but someday I might. :) Have a great Tuesday!

Spring Dress!

Emma and I happily declare that spring is here! I decided to act on my sewing bug and made her a new spring dress. Yesterday evening I dug through my sewing box(es) and found this pattern I bought earlier when they were on sale for $1 and used the fabric from her baby sling. It's a bit big because my choices were size 1 or 2 and I figured she can grow into it if it's a big roomy. After all, we have all summer ahead of us!

Pattern: Simplicity 4203
Fabric: Batik from a quilting store

I'm actually planning on making her another dress in the size 1 with no ruffles or tiers in the skirt with some calico I have laying around. Maybe I'll finish that one in a day, too and post it tomorrow. Hehehehe!

maybe I'm not crazy

As I was thinking about my summer sewing endavors that lie ahead I remembered that I have some planned for Emma, too. Then I thought of the dress set I made for her last summer that was waaaayy too big and thought I should try it on her. It's so cute!!! I can't wait until I have the space to work on her new summer clothes and mine and I'm already itching to start. Spring has offically come and knitting just seems too warm of a pastime now. Plus, I have a hatred of shorts and capris only keep you so cool and the light dresses will be so nice in the heat.

In which our lady discovers she is a featherhead

So, I think I've come to the point of...something.

Background: Yesterday Morgan calls me to tell me he has a big surprise for me. Mostly he just enjoys taunting me, but he also can't keep a secret a secret (but neither can I so it's okay). He comes home and tells me I just won the lottery because I get a tidy little sum of fun money. "Yay," says I. I continue in my excitement with, "That's awesome because I wanted to buy some fabric to make myself some new summer dresses!"

.......

Let's think on this, shall we. It took me a full three hours to realize that I could actually just go buys some new summer dresses instead of buy fabric to make them. That sound you hear is me smacking myself on the forehead. I really am a featherhead. I have come to the realization that there is something very different about me. I know, you're all wondering what took me 25 years to figure this out. But really, maybe it's just this strange obsession I have with making myself (and those I love) things. Morgan thinks it's a hobby, but it might actually be a mental illness of some sort. Because, in all likelihood I am just going to go buy fabric and make dresses (I already have the pattern!!!) instead of buy the actual dresses. You can all say it now: "Featherhead!"

Gush Gush

I have the best baby (toddler) EVER. I know I whine about her when she's a pain, but that's only because they're so rare that those times stick out in my mind and drive me bonkers. Emma is so lovely, sweet, friendly and well-behaved. We went to the yarn shop this morning for 2 hours. Two! Count them, that's 120 minutes of well-behaved, curious but distractable toddler that picked up the crackers she sprinkled on the floor, gave back the knitting needles she tried to steal and danced like a cute little girl after she monkeyed with the radio (making it a totally forgivable transgression by all in the shop). The owner loves to see us when we come in (and trust me, it's not for how much money I spend there because I'm kinda cheap, as we all know) and remembers Emma's name every time. Plus, she's really quiet when we're there. I think it's because she's too busy checking everything out and trying to decide which yarn she wants me to knit her next sweater in, but let them think it's because she's so well brought up. *wink*

Anyway, angel is sleeping right now because all that yarn just wore her out. If the sunshine keeps up I think we'll make our daily trip to the playground and mailbox and snack on some chicken nuggets. Man, life is soooo rough around here.

P.S. I got kisses during breakfast this morning.