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!

What I've Been Up To

Usually I'm pretty good about updating, but truth be told I haven't been doing anything of interest lately. I've been busy. But I haven't been interesting. There is a difference.

About two weeks ago I stopped by the library to pick up my books on hold. These are just a few of what I checked out. The lady at the desk was pretty surprised. There are actually four books missing from this pile, though the other four weren't all craft related:

The sad part? I'm returning all of them without using them. I went through them. I perused the basics. I perused the patterns. I perused the techniques. Nothing I didn't already know. (Not to say that I'm a know-it-all.) But they aren't very useful to me. I will say that "Family Knits" and "Chic Knits for Stylish Babies" have some neat patterns, but I'm not interested in, (another), all cabled sweater or intarsia knits for a 12 month old. Too much work with too little wear in my opinion.

Though I haven't been using the books, I have actually been doing a bit of craft:

This is one of the needle cases I'm working on. I'm thinking of calling it, "Dog's Life". The wrong side is a dark brown corduroy. As you can see, the right side is a bunch of cute doggies. I still have the seaming and pockets to do though. I did finish the pink and brown one for one of my sock pals though and I'm quite pleased.

I've even been knitting, though when I timed myself to see how long it took to knit one row of the Tilted Duster skirt I was shocked to see it took 10 minutes! I still have another 53 rows to go, which means 530 minutes, which means approximately 8.8 hours of knitting - just the skirt!

There's something funky going on, on one of the increase sides. I'm hoping it will block out.

I've also started my Hogwarts Sock Swap socks. I started them two nights ago and worked quite a few rows watching "Vacancy" on DVD last night. I'm almost to the heel. Four more pattern rows and I should be there. They are awfully pretty and Shawn even said he wanted me to make him socks out of the yarn. Looks like I'll have to order more.

It's a pattern from "More Sensational Knitted Socks" by Charlene Schurch, though I don't think you can really see the pattern until it's on the foot. I have decided to make a fold over cuff with a picot edge. I think they will make a really cute pair of socks.

AJ's thoughts on:

cats: Pepper has disappeared. She's been missing since Wednesday. Dalton hasn't really gone out looking for her, so I can only take that as he's happy she's gone. (She really antagonizes him.) We've all gone out calling her name and looking for her, but to no avail. She's probably living it up at a neighbors, who don't have kids dressing her up or babies making her sticky. I hope she's alright.

rain: It, (finally), rained here in Southern California. And a lot. Oh it was nice. It started on Friday night. Shawn ended up falling asleep pretty early. So, Dalton and I kept each other company on the balcony watching the rain come done over the street lights and watching the short lived lightning. I love falling asleep to the rain. I'd really be ok with it raining on a daily basis. I love it! (Perfect hot chocolate and chili weather, which we did Friday.)

sewing machines: they suck! I snapped a needle the other night going over some corduroy. The good news was that when I went to JoAnn's to get new needles I learned that they offer sewing classes. They are $40 for four 1 hour classes and they work with you on the basics. Which I need. So I'm hoping to sign up in a week.

money: I never have enough! I blame the yarn stores, the bead shops, the miles of fabric...I blame artsy fartsy kind of stuff that I think I need to learn. I'm repainting the bedroom. Enough said.

Me and my damn ideas.

Busy As a Bee

I've had a few busy days this past week. And I admit, I really haven't been prioritizing very well lately. I think this is where I fluctuate and am on a high. I have too many creative ideas. There are too many things I aspire to do. I want to do it all. And I try!

It started with a trip to downtown LA, (which if you don't live here, you will know it's not really the place to go). But there was a very good reason for me to go down there, (and drag poor Shawn with me). She is the reason:

Yes, I had a chance to see the Yarn Harlot. It was so much fun and she's such a hoot. I would have stayed longer to meet her, but we had gotten to LA at 1 p.m. and went down to the Garment District, (which is basically blocks of stores that sell fabrics, sewing machines, notions...). And I think by the time we were done at the auditorium, (which was at about 3:45), Shawn was ready to go. (I should say neither of us had eaten yet that day, because we woke up late and rushed to get downtown.)

When I got home, my Sock It To Me Sock Swap Pal sent me a very lovely gift of socks, a handsewn bag, candies, yarn and Bath and Body Works yummy stuff:

Thanks Jennifer!

And I did manage to get some knitting time in to work on this:

It's the bodice for the Tilted Duster. Actually, I worked on this at the SnB at the LYS on Friday night. Plus I started my second Monkey sock there too. Sunday I had to go back to the LYS and get some help working the shoulder seams. I hate stair stepping edges. They look horrible. So I ended up taking them out and doing a three needle bind off and now my shoulder seams look wonderful. I prefer the three needle bind off to seaming any day!

So since I got those three pieces done, I decided to skip the sleeves for the moment and work on the ribbing for the skirt. I'm about 2 or 3 inches into the ribbing. I need 16. Maybe longer. It will depend on how I like the length when I try it on.

I've also been doing quite a bit of sewing. And quite a bit of spending. Why didn't those of you sew tell me how terribly addicting buying fabric is. I gave up scrapbooking because of this. And here I am, a knitter, a beader and a sewer. What next?

This needle case still needs pockets. I haven't decided if I am doing DPN's or circulars yet. But this is for my Sock It To Me Pal. She likes pink!

I am hoping to do a few this week and add to the shop soon. I am doing an update right now on stitch markers. I sold a few at the SnB and there are a few new ones leftover. Take a look!

And a bit of sunshine for those cloudy and dark days:

Nora, this picture goes out to you!

What I Might Be When I Grow Up

Silly as it sounds. The other night my mom and I were talking about what I would do when Scout is old enough to go to school. I said, "I'll home-school her", but I doubt that I would do it. My patience runs awfully thin. So I was thinking about what I would do, maybe use the Interpreting degree? Maybe? Or something else. All I've ever really done was work with animals, as a dog groomer and a Veterinary Assistant.

I could be a baker:

This my friend is a most delicious Buttermilk Frosting that goes on top of Buttermilk Brownies.

I could most definitely be a chef or baker with this:

My brand new GE stove. Oh it's delicious I tell you! They installed it today after we complained about our previous oven, (that must have been here since they built these complexes), wasn't working properly. (Gotta love having friends in management huh?)

Or maybe I'll be a seamstress:

My first sewing project since the 7th grade: A DPN Needle Case for my Monkey Sock Pal. I used the needle cases my grandmother made for me as a template and designed them for double pointed needles. (It is a sock swap you know.)

A close up of the lil monkeys.

And a picture of the backing which is a dark brown courdoroy, (sp?)

I'm happy to say that I am very happy with the needle case for a few reasons. One, my mom looked at the one my grandmother made, (mind you they have a very strained relationship), and all she could say was, "oh, she's gooood". My grandmother is a professional seamstress. She's been sewing since she was a little kid, of course she's good! Anyway, we finally figured out how to do it, and I was good. Cutting fabric, pinning fabric, cursing fabric, sewing fabric...

Needless to say I'm addicted to fabric already. I bought enough fabric to make three more cases when I bought monkey fabric. But then yesterday, I went back to JoAnn's because they'd give us oodles of 40% off coupons for fabrics, notions, containers and craft items. (Mind you, last week I went to Michael's and bought $30 worth of Halloween ornaments and paints, crayons, and other stuff for Jem.) Anyway, I left JoAnn's spending about $60!!! I bought more cord, some cool dog print fabric and a few yards of Pooh Bear baby blanket fabric for Scout's baby blanket. (My grandmother made me my baby blanket which I had until 7th grade when I lost it on Halloween night. My mom made Jem his baby blanket which he still uses, and she made me this really cool blanket too. One side was fuzzy Raggedy Ann and Andy prints and the other was a sheet that matched my bedset. My friend borrowed it and never gave it back and now my mom refuses to make me one. So I'll have to make Scout's and one for me!)

In other news, I got my sock project bag from Momma Monkey, in the mail yesterday and I totally ♥ it! I really wanted one with Siamese cats, but I know sometimes specific fabric is hard to come by. But these cats were just too cute to resist! So if you need a small sock bag, this is most definitely what you need to get:

Check out her Etsy shop!

And my Koigu Monkeys are coming along nicely:

I was worried they weren't going to fit, the stitches were a bit tighter than I'd like, because I used US 1's. But they fit comfortably, so onto Sock Two I am going.

I finished the back to the Tilted Duster, but it's awfully ugly just sitting there, (all the bind offs), so I'll wait til I get the fronts done before showing you a picture. The good news is that while the Peruvia is a bit fuzzy, it doesn't bother me as much as I'd thought.

And that's about it. I have a lot of blogs and groups and swaps I need to catch up on. So I'm off!

P.S.: I sold a number of stitch marker sets last week at the LYS and made a bunch more for the SnB tomorrow night. Whatever doesn't sell will be posted in the shop on Saturday. Be on the look out, there are some great new markers!