Celebrate!

I apologize for the lack of posts, though I doubt anyone out there is missing my posts all that much. With that said, this will be a picture heavy post of a whole lot of non knitting related stuff. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Friday, December 21st was my little baby's very first birthday! We had such a great day! Shawn and I reminisced about going to the hospital and thinking I'd be sent home rather than deliver. I honestly can't believe it's been that long. Of course, all moms say that. But I really mean it. It doesn't seem like I've changed diapers 365 days a year, or made 6 bottles a day for 365 days, or waken up to her happy smile:

Yup, that's what I get to wake up to! We started off the morning with Mickey Mouse pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Then we did some retail shopping at Beverly's, (Scout needed fabric), and then had lunch at home with Grandma.

That's when the real fun started, opening presents and eating cake:

She played with the boxes and packages more than anything. But the V Tech V Smile laptop was a hit. She loves the music and that it interacts with her.

This is from when we stopped by Shawn's grandmother house, both wearing sweaters I made them. (It's actually been "sweater weather" the past week or so.)

And let us eat cake! I stopped by a bakery on Thursday after my Dr. appointment to get my favorite chocolate chip Delcos. And since it's my favorite bakery I decided I'd rather pay for a great cake, rather than a good cake. And great it was. (We finished it off last night, Shawn and I.)

It started off with one finger.

Then she switched hands.

Then she became ambidexterous.

And then she just started shoveling it in at top speed.

She was a mess, but she loved the cake and we loved watching her.

Happy Birthday boo boo!

I've been staying quite busy with Christmas too. I'm glad I was into it more this year. Last year was just a drag. I was just too tired to do anything. But this year I've been rocking the Jingle Bell Rock. I did a little "extra" shopping for Shawn today. But I wanted to have one really special gift for him from all of us, so I bought a canvas and got to work:

It's a compilation of Jem's and my hands with Scout's little feet walking across.

At the bottom I painted, "We Will Always Hold Your Hand". I know he will love it. And I think it will look great in the bedroom.

I did, eventually, get my sewing machine back. $128.50 to fix the drive shaft and the timing. He also did a quick cleaning. All the same, what a way to start me sewing career. I started making a Wee Ones Peanut the Elephant from "Last Minute Patchwork", (which by the way, I love this book). I started off with some Quilter's Cotton fabric, in pinks and browns.

Here she is so far:

But that's the end of the good, because this fabric is so damn thin that it's actually fraying even though I was sewing on the 1/4" seam allowance. It still did me no good:

That there you see is the undertrunk where the arms meet up.

And this is the underbelly.

I'm really disappointed because I totally began to understand the construction and I was so excited to see it all sewn together. But the fabric was way too thin. I asked a lady at Beverly's why and she told me it was because JoAnn's doesn't always use high quality products, that's why sometimes they don't have the manufacturing labels on their bolts. All the fabrics I have, (of cotton), from Beverly's are way more sturdy and thick than the one's from JoAnn's. That disappoints me as well because I really prefer JoAnn's printed fabrics to Beverly's, (though I do like them, they just don't have as much of a selection).

Needless to say, I'm not giving up. I am going to try the elephant in a different fabric, (bought from Beverly's), and see what happens. And anyway, I feel successful in having worked this one out. Even if the fabric was crappy, I did good.

So that's what I've been doing. Among other things. I did meet with Jem's school staff regarding his IEP/504 and we did work a few things out and made modiciations in the class room. I'm happy about that. I'm also happy that he's washing my kitchen floor right now. I suppose I did something right!

That's all. Really. Knitting has been quite sparse. I had to restart the left front on my Bed Jacket because I increased in the wrong rows a couple of times, (my numbers were off). I picked up my Chevron Scarf at the Drs. office, but I admit I didn't get much done. Bandit ate the sleeve I was working on for Shawn's Cobblestone and proceeded to eat three Crystal Palace DPN's! You can't even imagine how irritated I was. Especially because this is the second time he's gotten into my knitting bag and tried to eat wool. The dog just might become sheep food!

I am here, I am alive

You'd be amazed at what all can happen in two weeks time. And almost every day in those two weeks I've wanted to update. I've wanted to read everyone's blogs. I've wanted to participate in the worst way. But it just hasn't happened. There's been so much to do. Thanksgiving weekend is one of those weekends when there is too much happening. I did all the cooking this year. Dinner was delicious, but tiring. It's hard to believe that so many people, (myself included), spend the entire day cooking to have this one great meal and then when it comes down to it, you really can't eat all that more in that one sitting. Believe me, I tried!

Tuesday, the 27th, was my "golden" birthday. (For those of you who have never heard of a "golden" birthday, it's the age you turn that is the same as the day you were born on. For me, I turned 27 on the 27th...get it?) I won't really get into it, but my birthday was pretty rotten this year. That's all I will say about that.

The rest of the week included:

• crocheting with Jody
• Open House at Simply Knitting last Friday
• dinner at Los Toros on Saturday night, (my birthday dinner)
• painting the bedroom, (again), this time in an Aqua and Chocolate combination
• buying all our Christmas presents, (well most of them)
• a trip to the Bead shop

Of course, there was a whole lot more in between these things. But I guess those were the most important of them all. I haven't had much knitting time lately. I have gone to the LYS, but you know how that goes. You talk a whole lot more than you stitch. All the same, I picked up the yarn I'm going to use for the Bed Jacket in "Knitting Lingerie Style". The pattern calls for Cascade Sierra, but I really didn't like the feel of it. So I chose Cascade Venezia and am totally in love! I love the dark brown. It will make a great jacket!

Jody also helped me to start my Tiramisu by Alicia Paulson. I have a confession to make. I love Alicia. If I could live her picture perfect life, I would. Everything is so quaint and cute on her website. The items she makes are to die for. She inspires me constantly. I can't wait to see what for her book.

Her Tiramisu baby blanket is simple enough, (I had thought it would be harder when I first looked at). I had a few issues with my edging. My numbers aren't right, but since this is all mainly single crochet for the time being, I'm ok with that. I'll have to go back to do the ruffle, but all the same I'm happy that I've gotten as much done because I really am not a crocheter. (Doing one blanket does not classify me as a "novice" even.)

I had to go up two hook sizes, from I to K. The yarn I'm using is Vanna's Choice, by Lion Brand. I wanted to try their new acrylic. And come on, how can you not trust Vanna White? (smile) This color is called Dusty Blue. I'm hoping to have this done in time for Christmas. I'm 9" into it, I need another 27". I can do this!

And beading, oh the beads! I just happened to go to the bead shop when they were having a 20% off sale. Am I lucky or what? (I seriously didn't know they were having a sale.) They helped me pick out some crystals for a design that I saw in Fire Mountain Gems catalogue. It was cheaper going to the local bead shop.

This will eventually turn into a 3 stranded Swarovski Crystal necklace:

There's a mix of 6mm and 8mm Bicones, 6mm Round, and drop Crystals. There are four blues and clear crystals in this version. Plus a lot of sterling silver. I would totally make something like this for my Etsy shop, but do you know how much this cost me? $74 with the discount! That doesn't include the fact that I already had the AccuFlex wire, silver spacers and crimps. But it's customized and it's made by me. So I'm ok with it. Maybe I'll be able to do some bracelets. They certainly are worth it.

I've even gotten a little "scrapbooking" done, though it really isn't scrapbooking per se. About two weeks ago, Jem and I painted a few wooden ornaments I bought from Michael's. Somehow the dog ate mine. My poor snowman. Anyway, I had a great idea to make some Christmasy type crafts. I'm making a little J-O-Y sign out of Basic Grey patterned paper I had bought last year for Christmas cards and some other scrapbook supplies. I've actually had a lot of fun with the altered artwork. I'm a bit disappointed though since I sold all my supplies. Then again, I'm not. Because I don't need yet another hobby right now. I just can't keep up.


And because Nora always says my posts aren't really complete without a shot of Scout:

There's my smiley girl. Can you believe she's almost a year old? 18 more days! She is walking like there's no tomorrow. In a way it makes me sad. This is the time when she will start getting a little more independent and then she won't need me. And I need her! We are calling her our "little walkie talkie". She says "hi" now, (mainly in the morning). And she can say "momma" and "daddy".

So that's my story. The. End.