Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Buzz Cut


Done by Dada over the weekend. I'm still in shock. He looks a lot older (and a lot more like Chris)!


Still has those eyes though.


Taken by a girlfriend at the Botanical Gardens today. They have an awesome children's garden and JCC and his friend had a great time splashing in the fountains and digging in the sand. Notice the green boots on the ground. Mommom bought these and they are a hit! He wears them everywhere. Today we went out and he had on his matching frog gloves and a red fleece shirt. (It was 85 degrees.) He got a lot of smiles.

No fiber related pics (too boring) but I have been doing lots of fiber work. I have been spinning every night and am getting pretty decent at it. I spun up some dark brown wool roving I bought at FiberFest and after I set the twist I think I'm going to knit up a hat to match my cape. I've also been working on my sweater and the ever present washcloth. I received a call today that my Tunis is finished being cleaned. I should have all 4 lbs of it next week. :)

I should have garden pics soon -- my very lovely mother has weeded almost the whole thing (I did one wee bit while the baby girl was asleep the other day.) It looks a lot more presentable. Tomorrow we are going to move around some plants I want to relocate and start sewing on some skirts. A few years ago after I lost my baby weight from JCC I hit a clearance sale at Ann Taylor Loft and bought a few a-line skirts in very graphic prints. Now that I can wear them again I would love to have more but don't have the time or extra cash to shop. Enter my mama and Joann's. :) We bought some fabric and a pattern. It is all washed and pressed. Hopefully I'll have pics soon.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

SP Questions

1. What is your favorite season of the year and why?
Spring is my favorite as I get to work in my garden and get outside again without freezing.

2. Summer is hot. What do you knit in the summer?
Sweaters for winter! I also have an ongoing dishrag for car knitting as well as various smaller one skein type of projects.

3. If money was no object.....what would you buy at the LYS?
New needles! I have a lace project I want to tackle and my Denise set just isn't cutting it. I would also buy a bunch of different roving to practice spinning.

4. What are some activities that have become family traditions for your family?
We go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings, and have brunch Sunday mornings at a local veggie restaurant.

5. What is the weather right now?
Warm and rainy. I think the clouds are going to clear and we'll be able to pull weeds.

:)

Monday, July 17, 2006

A Crafty Day

It was blazing hot here (ok, 91 is not blazing but playing outside with a child who finds 25 F to be the perfect temp is not fun when it's over 85) so we drove to the library (we usually walk/ride bikes -- see above) and then JCC watched videos and played with blocks. I did the following while wee girl napped.

My $2 market bag in pictures:


Thursday -- visit friend who's street is having garage sale day. Buy J. Crew Men's sweater for $2.


Felt sweater.


Chop into bits.


Spend naptime fussing with sewing machine. Assemble bag.

It is horribly wonky and poorly sewn, but as it's my first sewing project on my own I'm pleased. I'm hoping it will stay together well enough to serve as a bag for the grocery store. I only have 3 canvas bags and that's not enough for a week's worth of groceries and I'm tired of tending to plastic bags that need to be carted back to the store to be recycled.



As I love kids in tie-dye and really enjoyed making JCC's shirts last year, I started pondering a co-op purchase of dyes and chemicals and then having a big crafty party to group tie-dye. I even got the email composed and all of my mama friends in the to field before I decided that this was way more work than I wanted and that it would probably be cheaper to just buy a tie-dye from a lovely lady at the Farmer's Market.


Chris calls this "Yarn Cheese":


It took me three attempts to get a square about the right size. It's from scrap yarn from my lovely sweater. Still a sleeve to go on that.



Lastly, I received a wonderful package from my SP 8. It included the aloo yarn to make the bath puffy and mit from One Skein (I really wanted to make this the first time I saw the book so this is very cool! Now I need to learn Tunisian Crochet.), a very cute book for JCC (not in pic as he made off with it), orange citrus tea candles, a cute notepad and some sleepytime bath supplies and a beautiful card. It made my day! Thank you very much. :)

Off to take a bath.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Pics

It's been a rough day after a busy week, but I wanted to get some photos up. First some of my garden and then a bunch that Little Man took today. They are really funny -- life from an almost 4 year old's perspective. There are pics of my backside cooking (not included), Dada exercising, Bob the Builder on TV, Thor, and a ton of Wee Girl. In fact, there is a full analysis of Wee Girl going from sitting on the floor laughing to face down on the floor to me picking her up to her sitting happy again. He is too funny.

On the knitting front I CO for my Morehouse shawl but it's just not working with my Denise needles -- I'm going to have to get some metal ones. I have finished the first sleeve on my sweater. Just another sleeve and then the finishing. That means at least 2 months at my sweater pace.

We are also now going to Chicago next month! I love Chicago. :) We're going to go for the Stitches convention. I'm not going to take any classes as Wee Girl does not take a bottle and it's stressful for everyone when I'm gone and she's hungry and tired. Maybe I'll go to Baltimore in November for the East Coast version and take classes then.


Driveway Bed


Daylilly Close-up 1


Daylilly Close-up 2


Kousa


Psuedo-Japanese Bed


Back bed -- dogwood was Chris's father's day gift


Thor


Fridge Art


Happy Girl 1


Happy Girl 2


The Artist

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Thank You One Skein SP!



On Monday I received a package from my One Skein SP -- it was two balls of Sugar 'n Cream in a blue ombre colorway, 2 books of knit & crochet kitchen patterns, more magnets(!!), and a lovely note. Thank you! I have already started on another washcloth.

We have had a super busy week. Today will be recovery day after spending yesterday playing at the beach, kite flying, fireworks watching and unintended inebriation. :) It was a good day. I've been knitting on the washcloths as we drove around town and crocheting the one skein scarf from SnB Crochet. Fun. I'm making it out of the blue cascade that my ON SP gave me last month. I love the color!





Ornery boy.


His artwork.


One of his photographs.