almost a month

It has almost been a month since I posted last... sorry for the neglect!

We've been really busy in the past few weeks, Chris has been finishing up his semester, that's usually a pretty busy week or so, and we've started some home improvement projects too, so we've been outside and running here or there and that leaves me with little time to blog or even create things to blog about. I haven't been knitting much of anything.... except for these:


This was the first one i knit knowing that i would use it as a drawstring pouch for a pretty bar of soap. This along with a CD was my gift to my mother on Mother's day. This pattern comes from MDK, I've knit a few already and love to use them as kitchen washcloths. They are a great size and are also entertaining to knit.

In other crafting news, I've purchased three new sewing books.... they are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping for some inspiration to fall out of those. I also purchased some fabric for new couch pillows. My current ones completely split at the seams..... not a good look... the pillow form is still in perfect shape though so i'll be sewing new covers. I also have plans to make this for myself OR something similar. I have a goal of sewing a skirt and at least three shirts/blouses for me to wear THIS summer. I need to get sewing!

baby kimono for petra

i knit my first sweater! and maybe it's doesn't quite count because it's a baby sweater and there is really not much in terms of shaping but i had to do increases and decreases and there is even an eyelet edge :) but i loved this little pattern and i completed it in record time :) i plan on making a few more for new babies on the horizon. i might even try to make one for andy, by increasing the size... however he's turning out to be quite a little porker so i'm not sure how large to make it...

this is the mama to be, she's due aug 10th. and i think she looks great! this past october, she married a good friend of ours, leo, who chris met a few weeks before he met me :) so i've known leo about as long as i've known chris. the three of us used to hang out pretty often and leo is like a brother to me. i've grown just as close to his wife now too and that's awesome :) they are planning on naming their little girl Petra.

here's a close up detail of the ribbons which couldn't have matched any better:
now i'm on the lookout for something new to knit...

knitting gifts given

ok, i can finally blog about some knitting that i was doing for a friend who is due about a week and one half after i am :)

i've known Valerie since sophomore year at slippery rock. her and her roommate, natalie and another friend, carrie, and i quickly became friends and the following year we all decided to move out of the dorms and live in a house together. out of the three of us, i still see Valerie the most. she's a great friend and i really value her friendship. we always seem to pick up right where we left off when we visit :) and that's awesome!

i'm going to retell this story, some of you know it, others don't but this is the story about the day that Val told me that her and Nathan were going to be parents.

chris, max and me had just returned home from the beach and it was a monday. chris was out of the house working on a project and i was home with max. i got an instant message from valerie asking if she could call me. i knew right away why she wanted to talk instead of IM.... so a few minutes later the phone rings, it's val, and my hunches were correct :) she was in fact expecting and due mid febuary according to her calculations. we chit chat, i'm excited as heck for the two of them :) and at that point i knew exactly what i was going to make for her. IN FACT, i really had that planned out for a while prior to her announcement, i was just waiting for the cue, her announcing that she was in fact expecting, to start said project. following our phone conversation her and i exchange some emails, i asked her for guidance in regards to color, she wanted something colorful but not too bright. i had found the perfect color combo and was soon on my way.

however the funny part of the story actually takes place the afternoon of the day she called me. it was lunch time, i was feeding maxwell a jar of baby food peaches and for those of you without jarred baby food experience, peaches are actually quite tasty. so i crack open the jar and the smell just about knocked me over. i KNEW at that moment that something was up... no the jar was not bad, the food was perfectly good.... it was me that had something else going on.... so after lunch, i packed max up and headed to the dollar store for a few pregnancy tests. i got home, peed in a cup and sure enough, a big old positive! OOPS! so chris gets home, i tell him, we're both pretty much in shock, max was only 10 months old at the time and frankly we really weren't ready to start trying just YET..... so that afternoon, i decide to call valerie back. the two of us had a pretty good laugh about it :) and i was super excited to get to be pregnant at the same time as one of my best friends :)

so onto the knitting portion of the post, i knew that valerie and nathan were trying to have a baby so i knew i had to have a project in mind for when i got the call. the project in mind was Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon Knitting. i just love the basic log cabin technique and really wanted to give this one a shot. it was on the smaller side as far as blankets go so i thought i would whip it up in no time and be done with pleanty of time to spare.... yea right... i picked out my yarn, Line Brand Homespun, a yarn that i don't see me using again anytime soon, it breaks and pulls and bunches while knitting and that's a pain. however the final product is very very soft and thick so i'm happy with the output just not with the enjoyment factor of knitting with it. needless to say, it turned out beautifully and i'm pretty sure that valerie is happy with it too. i'm also pretty certain that i somehow had a moment of clarity while choosing the colors because valerie and nathan went on to find bedding that has the same colors that i used in it. she had no idea what colors i had chosen or what i was even making.

Here's the finished blanket:


i also knit her a set of adorable booties, pattern can be found here at Saartje Knits they too were a big hit. i used the exact yarn that the pattern calls for, what a dream to work with :) and i'm making another pair for another friend who is due in march :)

here's a photo of the booties:

i plan to also make a pair of these for our new little one :) they whip up in a flash and are so adorable :)

for right now, i leave you with this, chris came to the shower and took a photo of the two of us. i'm 31 weeks and valerie is just about 30. it's funny to notice the difference in how you carry with it's your first vs. your 2nd :)

ballbands and cats

i completed what will be the first of many of these, i can just feel it.... the ballband dishcloth in Mason Dixon Knitting. this was such a fun item to knit and once i knit a few "bands" it became somewhat mindless but still a lot of fun and very enjoyable. i did make one mistake on this one and it was due to my inability to count correctly. there should be two more bands and i had such high hopes for those bands, there were to be bright pink. however in my wondrous counting ability i managed to miscount not once, not twice but yes three times... don't ask. anyways, i plan on giving this one to my mom, regardless of the missing bands, she'll love it!

so last night something really gross happened. but it was so funny that both chris and i thought that i needed to share this story. we were watching tv and i was knitting, another show was about to start and the two of us were chit chatting when all of a sudden morris, our indoor/outdoor kitty, came into the room jumped up on top of the tv, and started that noise... whech whech whech... and then out came his little tongue and then out came his dinner... all down the front of the tv, the tv stand, all the components, and then found it final resting place on the brand new carpet. it was so gross... yet so funny in the same breath. he just jumped up there and it was like he was announced, "hey guys, i'm going to be sick but instead of doing it upstairs in the dark where you will find it barefooted when you go to bed, i'll do it right here in front of you on this thing you're looking at so that you can clean it up right away!" this might be one of those things where the statement "you had to be there" applies, sorry if it is... we just both thought it was really funny. for those of you wondering if morris is ok, he's just fine, he sometimes eats too fast then looses his dinner, it seems to be normal for him to do this.

plans for today, shopping and a small meeting later this afternoon. then the rest of the weekend, i plan on sewing a few more curtains for the bedroom (photos of that project to follow soon) and then on sunday i'm hosting a small knit & stitch get together which should be enjoyable!

Absorba is finished

i finished it, it looks good, in my opinion. i'm not 100% happy with my color choices but they'll do. you also can't even notice where i changed my cast on method - which is great!

I ordered my double worsted from here. i chose white, ecru and light green as my colors. but in retrospect i should have used the peacock instead of the light green... oh well it still serves it purpose as a bathroom rug. maybe i'll just have to make another one sooner rather than later :)

here's a photo:

in other news, it's cold... it's looking like the weather should warm up a bit by the end of the week. but that's not soon enough.... as it NEVER should have dipped this low in the first place... all the pretty spring flowers died and look horrible now... those are important to help lift us out of the winter funk that i so suddenly sunk back into this week...

i also totally forgot that today was story time until seriously two minutes ago at 9:43 am... sorry annie and marcus!

i have to work out of the house tomorrow at a professional HR expo. hopefully i will meet someone or someone(S) there who will need our services and this won't be a complete waste of time... wish me luck, i'm a little nervous...

other than that.... i haven't cooked a damn thing that was actually worth blogging about in forever, i don't see it happening anytime soon. i need to clean my house up a bit and i'm still combating that damn mt. laundry... does it ever go away? can anyone tell me how to make it go away on its own? are cats trainable? i really really hate the thought of doing more laundry....

until next time

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: