is it just me?

i have my photo size set to medium... is it annoying to look at. i think it might be... i was using the small option but that looked TOO small. should i go back to the small option?

current project

absorba, again from mdk... i started it, then put it down because it was drying my hands out. now that the weather has warmed up and the air is not so dry... i've picked it back up again... AND... i learned that i was picking up stitches in an alternative method.... i was doing it so that it was sorta twisting the loop that i was picking up from... if that makes sense. so it was damn near impossible to get the three strands of yarn through without breaking my fingers.... needless to say, i changed my method and to the non-knitter, it's not noticeable that i was doing something wrong. i can tell, but i'm not that anal so i'm just going to keep going.... i do like how the new way of picking up stitches looks as opposed to how the old version looks....

let's see if YOU can pick out where the change is.... because i did end up changing my method 1/2 way through a row of pick ups....















here's a close up of the colors used, white, light tan and light green:





my next project is hinging on whether or when my good friend Valerie, (blogless) gets a good reading on a test :) chris seems to be getting some positive vibes that she'll be passing that test soon (he's been known to be a little clairvoyant at times) so we'll see - let's wish her good luck!

bibs o' love

FINALLY! these are finished and embellished and will be put into the mail on monday. the basic bib design is the Baby Bib O' Love from Mason Dixon Knitting, i just embellished them a bit for a brand new set of twins that belong to a college roommate of mine.

i'm not sure what took me so long... they are a breeze to knit. i think the past few weeks have just not been very knitting friendly. max is about to crawl, and i've been spending a lot of time on the floor with him thus, needles in hand and a baby trying to crawl/stand are not a safe combo at the moment...

here is the pink detail, they are french knots:















here is the green detail, a knit flower:

a maximum milestone

at 6 1/2 months old, max has a tooth. a teeny tiny little bit of a tooth showing. this all occurred with little to no fanfare! i'm amazed. yesterday we were at my brother's apartment and my mom stuck her finger in there to find or feel max's first tooth. we were all excited and subsequently all continued to stick our fingers in his mouth to feel it for ourselves. i swear to you, yesterday morning there was no such tooth. then as we were getting ready to leave the house, i was changing max and he just started to scream as if i were pinching him really really hard. i think that might have been when it broke skin. he also was a little stuffy in the mornings for a couple of days preceding this little tooth's appearance. other than that, no issues! how easy!!!

ok, knitting, i'm about to go pick up that darn bib so that i can finish it. i'm almost there. just need to finish up the straps and embellish. photos soon. then i'm going to pick up Absorba again. chris needs to have warm feet in the mornings while getting ready...

spring cleaning

it's monday, we changed the clocks forward two nights ago. yesterday, FLEW by... today, i'm a little groggy and so is maxwell but it's not too bad, i'm actually motivated more than anything. the cats don't seem to notice though....

yesterday chris and i spent most of the day spring cleaning the office. my desk is (for the first time) totally clear of clutter! no magazines, no papers, no random items that belong elsewhere in the house. i threw out, i reorganized, and i cleaned. the only thing left to do is vacuum which we couldn't do at 11 pm last night because max was asleep... and i didn't want to chance it. on a whim the other day, i bought some of those little magazine organizers at IKEA. we have a lot of magazines, they are mostly photography related and need to be kept. i also don't want to get rid of my Real Simple magazines because they have so many great recipes in them that i've never ever made... my thoughts are that if i know where they all are, then i'll reference them more often. wish me luck :)

i also made a list of "to do's". it's not an unattainable list but a reminder sort of list. i always say, OOh, i'm going to make this or do this or that... then i promptly forget... until the next time i'm motivated and think, oh yeah, i was going to do this last year.... i'm going to do this NOW... and then promptly forget... this list will help me stay on track. one of the first items on the list was to clean and reorganize the office AND set up a sewing station for me. i had been "storing" my machine in the dining room on the floor next to the buffet. that's not acceptable. i would then have to set it up at the dining room table when i was working on a project. that takes up the entire table and i am sick of that... so we moved it upstairs. and put it on our old kitchen table that had been up there and was just a resting place for items that didn't have a proper home. now those items do have homes and so does my machine! (i even cleaned it!) i have a few items that i need to get to further organize that space but for the most part, i'm on my way to having a crafting corner :) yay!

I made this last week:
it's my first attempt at a tote bag. see, i had this diaper bag but i have since grown out of it. since i now have to bring food items with us everywhere we go, this small bag just doesn't work well.... we were bursting at the seams and i needed a little more space. so i created this cute bag. it's perfect! fits everything we need to have with us and has a little extra room for whatever else might need to come along as well :) here are more photos. i didn't use a pattern, i simply bought a yard of fabric that i liked, cut it in half, did some trimming and basically put a bag inside a bag, it's lined, has a small inside pocket for keys and my phone and has a magnetic closure to keep all of it's items inside... there's even room for a small knitting project if need be :) spectacular!

i'm almost finished with the knitted bibs... i didn't get much knitting time last week since chris was out of town. but i'm planning on finishing the 2nd one in the next few days so that i can get them in the mail. photos of those to come soon.

other than that, spring/summer is on it's way! chris and i sat down yesterday and went over our weekend schedules for the next few weeks and we realized that we've got 6 weekends go go until he's finished with the semester. then we'll be able to kick off our summer with a PROPER trip to NYC. and have the rest of the summer to be pretty much carefree (for the most part) we're so excited to spend time with max as he is starting to so much more aware of his surroundings... he's standing (while holding on of course) like a champ. we both think he's going to bypass crawling. i'm also convinced that he said his first word the other day, it was "hh" which is "hi" he is waving too - it's adorable.

ok, i'm off to conquer mt. laundry - it's a very steep peek!