Try, Try Again

Well I should give this blogging thing a shot again.  Life gets busy and my new home has limited options for internet.  Apparently I moved into the country where high speed internet is just a myth.  I do miss the writing up of knitting accomplishments and celebrating my kids.  Looking forward to hearing from some old internet friends as well!

What do you do during a Blizzard?

You rescue Fluffy from the wind and snow.

You make your kids take pictures of your knitting:)

Pattern is the Undercut Legwarmers from splityarn.com, free pattern!

Yarn is of course mine, Knit Me Now Sock Love in glacier.  It was a skein that was short yardage wise so I had to keep it for myself.  One  more of these to knit but I couldn’t wait to share them.  The shoes are from DSW and are Nine West.  The sexiest shoes in my closet right now:)

 

You draw pictures, watch movies, bake bread and try to fend off the whining. 

 

The next day you go out and play!

 

 

 

Blizzard

Minnesota weather has been odd this year, on course with the rest of the US I suppose.  Why should we be different?  We were home yesterday stranded in a blizzard.  I often hesitate to call our weather something so drastic but I could not argue that what was going on yesterday fell into that catagory.  High howling winds and blowing, drifting snow all day yesterday makes today feel very quiet around here.  Plus the kids went to school today despite KD’s strong hopes to the contrary.  Our school district is having school but Duluth is still closed due to unplowed roads.  Our actual snowfall isn’t so much but we do finally have some at least. 

 

Been feeling rather melancholoy lately probably the time of year.  Not much to look forward to for a bit yet.  Trying to rev up some excitement around here is tough.  We need a mini vacation of some kind.  I am going to be looking into it today because I am having late winter heebie jeebies.  Yes a technical term to describe the need to get the heck out of here before I lose my ever loving mind!

Another hat for our snowless winter

Here is Miss M’s hat. I made the Leef hat which you can find on Ravelry for free. I knit the earflaps with doubled yarn because the last one I thought was kind of flimsy in this area. Also I added stitches to the whole hat because of the fiasco with KD’s hat. Miss M asked for the poms on the end of the string. Very specific about what she likes that girl. The yarn is Cascade 220 which I picked up when one of my local stores was closing. I absolutely love Cascade 220. Such great colors and the perfect weight for these kinds of projects.

We are off on a kid free weekend cross country ski trip Friday. I can’t wait! Now what to bring to knit???

KD’s new hat

KD wanted a hat. We picked out yarn, we picked out a pattern. I knit the hat…

It’s too small.

Noley has a new hat.

Tea Leaves for Miss M

Before the holiday’s I was thinking a lot about this sweater which is Madelinetosh’s Tiny Tea Leaves pattern.  Miss M was having a tough day and complaining about how I only “care about the boys”  Yes we are getting to the pre-teen stage here why do you ask?  So Miss M and I went up to the stash and picked out this yarn and she approved the pattern.  I am so pleased about how this turned out.  She loves it and has worn it out of the house!  The yarn is British Mohair that I bought on the DBNY.com site a long time ago.  I had 4 skeins but this only needed 3.  The color is called Moon Struck and it is a bit darker in person than these pictures.  I seriously need some kind of class on how to properly use my camera.  I’ve fiddled with it and can’t get it to look right no matter how I change the settings.  Miss M is in the stage where she doesn’t like her picture taken so I also gave up on getting one of her wearing it. 

 

I made a size 10 so there will be plenty of time for her to wear it.  I also did short sleeves because that is what Miss M requested.   I did have to redo the length once as she wanted it to be longer.  Picky does not even begin to cover her lately.  I am currently in the throes of the Leef hat.  One is made and one is in progress.  I will save them for the next posting. 

On another note,  we are going cross-country skiing in a few weeks with friends, I am excited to get together with them and both gals coming along  knit as much as I do!  So much to look forward too, now to get through my next stretch of nights. 

I leave you with a picture my Noley took of our sunset the other evening.  Pretty huh?  Maybe he will be a photographer when he grows up.

Christmas Conquered

Ok so its late to post about Christmas I know.  We had a whirlwind year here and I did manage to get it all done.  Then I had a long break from work to stay home and enjoy a little R&R for myself. 

Back to work now and loving it again.  So glad that taking a break from work is all I needed to stay in my job.  I was feeling very unhappy with it for a little while and hoped that my vacation would take care of the discontent I was feeling.  So far so good, 

Here is our little elf making toys to put under the tree.  Noley really loved Christmas this year and I loved it more because I still get to see it through his eye as the wonderful, magical time it really is. 

 

 

The week after we flew kites here.  This is really not typical Minnesota weather.  We have almost no snow and the termperatures are in the 30-40’s F most days.  Very unusual.  We are trying to make the best of it since its bound to snow at some point and the warm weather probably won’t hold out forever. 

Is it just me or are these the most beautiful kids around?  Showing off some gifts.  I will try to get Miss M to do a photo shoot with me soon as I have finished her Tiny Tea Leaves sweater and it is awesome! (if I do say so myself)  It turned out just as I hoped. 

In The Long Run

So with Christmas coming up my thoughts are always so scattered.  Presents, family gathering and making the “perfect” moments with your kids are never actually attainable.  With 2 birthdays this month, a family Christmas planned at my new home, work schedule issues and holiday programs at the kids school, I am super stressed out!  It is already December and I have done no shopping for presents, I need to plan meals for the Christmas gathering at my house, there is an elf costume I need to make, my kids have dentist appointments and doctor appointments coming up……   Really?

All I want to do is curl up in front of my fireplace and knit up some pretty yarn in to some spectacular item I can wear and look fabulous in. 

I am dreaming of a Tiny Tea Leaves for my daughter, a Pikkuveli for the boys, a Snowbird for me and maybe a Ranger for my hubby.  As it is none of these things are started and I am ignoring all of my duties to talk on the phone with my sister.  We must be missing each other I have never spent an hour on the phone with her and we have done it twice in the last few days. 

There was a shop update recently as well. I have jumped back into the yarn dyeing with some hope that I will be welcomed back to it.  I still really enjoy it and if people still want to knit with my yarn that would be great.  No pressure:)  Here is a little eye candy for you. 

In the long run none of the stress I am feeling matters.  I have all that I need in life.  I have a beautiful family, my home, my career and an outlet for my need to create things.  It will all get done. 

I will just make some serious lists.  Serious.  Watch out Christmas I’m going to conquer you!

Camping with the kids

Our first trip to the BWCA with the kids was about a week and a half ago.  I was really undecided for a long time about going.  This resulted in our packing up last-minute on a Friday and getting on the portage about 9:30pm.  Luckily there was a full moon and the weather held. 

We hadn’t taken all 3 kids there before so it was a short trip to see how everyone liked it.  KD loved it but he went a few years ago with hubby and grandpa. 

The other 2 kids loved it too! I was a little worried about Miss M since she isn’t as much as an outdoorsy kid as the boys but she loved the paddling and seemed to enjoy the campsite also.

The kids swam on the SS Log dubbed so by KD.

There was fishing of course.

Some time just hanging out by the lake.

Miss M and I played games.

I wish every day was this simple, paddling on glass, meals, shelter and family fun!

Just Go With The Obsession

Baktus, a set on Flickr.

I have been loving the Baktus Pattern. I made a Baktus for a lady I work with recently. She gave us a bunny cage for Miss M’s jersey wooly bunny. She didn’t want to be paid so I made her something.

I loved how it turned out but I wanted one for myself that was a little longer. Char’s turned out a little short for me. So I dug through the stash to find something suitable. I came across 2 skeins of Cherry Tree Hill Silk & Merino DK.

I started it with one skein and didn’t like it, I started it with the other skein and didn’t like it…

I combined the two and love it!

I like the pattern because it is easy and there is very little to think about while knitting it. Since my house is still in the works and it is now Baseball season, this is good. I can’t concentrate on much more right now anyway. Looking forward to watching all 3 of the kiddo’s playing this sport. Although you have to call it Softball to Miss M or she gets a little owlie. The only real trouble is I am balancing 3 different kids practices and games.

Why no I’m not crazy, Why do you ask?