Dave's Falls

Yesterday, before the storms came and ripped apart my 2 tulips (I am tulip deficient.  The bunnies usually eat them, so I boycotted tulips for a long time.  I just bought some on clearance at Lowe's for .99 a piece...and now they are both done for this year) we took a drive up to Crivitz and Amberg, and stopped at Dave's Falls County Park.  It really is a beautiful place, and the kids had a great time climbing around.  We would have walked more, but Emily was in flipflops (as was my Mother-in-Law...) and the mosquitoes up there are quite large and quite bitey.

Looks like the woodpeckers are bigger in the North Woods too.

 On the way there and the way back (and at home.  And every free moment) I worked on the Weekend Shawl.  One of the lines on the pattern is: "Isn't it nice to know you can finish a shawl in 2 days if you have to?".  Let's just say, it would be good information--if it was possible for me to finish it in 2 days.

Emily asked me to knit her a pair of socks today.  Obviously she doesn't have a clue how long it takes me to knit anything.  How about I START a pair of socks for you today.

In other news:  We went to look at a rental house near Pierce Park.  Small yard, small garage, small bedrooms, small bathrooms, lots of money, so it's a no go.  It is also very hard for me to think about going from our landlord, who says, "Sure!  Go ahead paint/change the floor/plant flowers/etc" to "Well, if you want to put in a garden, I will need to see sketches of what you plan to do and approve it."  Huh?

I miss being a homeowner.  :(

So A Little Bit Different Look...

Let me know what you think!  The new Blogger settings pretty much make it easy for any idiot to set up a nice blog, but it was nice to have basic html skills  to do things like color and paragraph breaks, etc.

Please excuse the risky photo *cough* of me in the corner.  I really thought I'd be further along on that sweater!  And I don't usually wear my heels when knitting.

I like it, but you know how I love green!  It was time for a change a while ago, and I just kept putting it off, mostly fearing the tedium of finding a template, then adding the html to get it how I want it.  I also had doubts about "new" Blogger.  But as you can see--any idiot can do it.

So for now--working on a present for my PB&J Bestie! (which, of course, is late!)  Hope she forgives me when she sees it.

Time for a catch up post

I've thought about blogging a lot, really. But that requires getting the pictures off of my phone and 2 cameras, and that was just too much work. Fortunately, I took them off, so I can catch up!

Lots has happened since my last post. We went to visit my friend Jessica and her family in Iowa. Her kids LOVED my knitted gifts (way more than my kids ever do) so they will have more knitting in their future.

In addition to going to Iowa, we went to De Smet, SD to go to the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites there.

On our way home, we were lucky enough to stop at the Spam museum. Jess is still jealous about this one.

Who knew Brett Favre liked Spam?

We also saw the Jolly Green Giant. I was so excited in the car: "I see him! I see him!!" Brian thought I was crazy.

I knit a pair of socks. Actually did them on dpn's one at a time. I hadn't made socks in so long I figured I'd better go "old school" and not have to whip out the 2-at-a-time sock book to figure out how to make those again. Having joined the Sock Yarnista club at Three Irish Girls, I am currently sock yarn rich, so I'd better get going.


Emily had Little Fairyfest this past Saturday. I made her outfit, and was pleasantly surprised that it turned out (after not being able to finish her dress for Easter.

Speaking of Easter, the kids looked nice. Just getting this picture took about 80 tries:
I think that's all the news for now. I'll be starting a new knitting project soon, and I am making a little dolly for Lane, so I want to finish that up too. Oh yeah and cleaning and laundry and trying to find a new place to live--the fun never ends here.

Playing Catch Up

So, we got more snow this past week. Why wouldn't we? But it was packy snow, so Emily made a snowman:

I finally finished the Mario hat for Gabe. I've decided when I make Nicholas' that I will just use intarsia instead of duplicate stitching. I can say I did it, but it's a time consuming pain.
I also got a bunch of really pretty yarn. I am in the Sock Yarnista club for Three Irish Girls, and here is the goodness I got from there:

I am going to use it for the Sock Knitters Anonymous March sock--the mystery sock with lace.

I got some plain white yarn from Elann for Emily's Easter sweater (I didn't post it. It is plain white yarn), and then I picked up some Cascade 220 from IRIS Fine Yarns to knit mittens for my friend's son. I am hoping to get those done tomorrow and in the mail so he can wear them this year (hopefully for not too much longer!)
And I must say I love my LYS--Phyllis is amazing, knowledgeable and kind, and fixed me coffee with chocolates the last time I was there. Love!

So while I was doing those, I thought I would try to whip up some slippers for Emily to wear in between her dance numbers. I whipped them up--and the pattern is not accurate on size. Even with the crocheted top, they won't fit. :( And I was right on gauge. Just a disappointing pattern.
And one more...I really am putting myself on a yarn diet, but I couldn't pass up this gorgeous gorgeous yarn from Loopy Ewe:

Today on the agenda: Emily's LAST dance recital--thank goodness--and I am in the back as a "Classy Mom". They don't know me very well....

I Love My Husband...(and other stuff I keep telling myself)

I really do love my husband. He's a great guy. Today--my frustration level is high.

I woke up this morning to, "What's on your agenda for today?" I told him--work. Pick up the kids from school. Take Emily to dance class. Come home. Make dinner.

To this I got: "Well, the pack meeting for Cub Scouts is tonight".

Now, it's not just any pack meeting. It's the Blue and Gold dinner. A pot luck. Which requires--a dish.

That's not bad enough--worse yet is that last Saturday Brian finally bought his leader shirt. With all the unsewn patches that need to be sewn on by tonight.

So I am frustrated, and I tell him he shouldn't spring this on me the ONE DAY OF THE WEEK that I work. Thursday is my "busy" day. And I think to myself, "You can iron them on! Just like Emily's daisy uniform."

So I get up. Make sure the kids are getting ready for school. Locate the shirt. Look everywhere for the bag of patches and finally find them in another bag in our bedroom. Look at the back of the patches, that all appear to be iron-on-able except one. Alright, things are looking up.

I haul out the iron. Our ironing board broke, so I am using a towel on the kitchen table. And I follow all the directions to iron on the patches. The same way I did with the girl scout patches. Only these--don't stick.

Nope. Nada. Not sticking. And I can't have them fall off. The damn numbers cost $1.25 EACH and there are 4 of them, and I'm not rebuying them. So I go haul out...my sewing machine. "Alright", I tell myself, "This will take a little longer, but still not bad." Brian, in the meantime, has graciously agreed to run the kids to school (seeing as it is -12 outside).

I get the sewing machine in position, plugged in, turned on. I locate my thread caboodle and see that there is indeed red and blue, and already bobbins to match, so I am in good shape. I go to thread my machine....
*sigh*

The arm that holds the thread on the machine is broken and missing. It broke off about...8 years ago maybe? I super glued it. It wasn't great, but it worked. Now it is missing. So I look in the closet where the sewing machine was, and can't locate it. Great.

I go through my sewing box trying to locate a hand sewing needle, and can't. I just don't have any. Then I remember the sewing kit in my purse...where down the bottom of one of the pockets where the kit is, there is ONE needle.

So I have just taken 10 minutes to write this blog. Now I need to wash my hair, get dressed for work, locate a recipe for this pot luck and then work. On the way home hopefully stop at the grocery store to do the fastest run through yet to grab whatever it is I might need to make this recipe I haven't found yet. Come home (where I am sure my mother will be waiting), go pick the kids up (as it should have warmed up to -1 by then, but they will dawdle on the way home and Emily will be late for ballet). Go to ballet--where I will bring the shirt and hopefully have some time to hand sew on a patch or two. Then come home, make the dish to pass, make dinner for everyone else, finish sewing on the patches and go cry in the corner until bedtime.

Oh and I almost forgot! To make this scenario complete, my dad is fixing Brian's car. So at some point I will have to pick Brian up from work. And pick up his car tonight after the pack meeting.

It's going to be one of those days....

Red Heart Red

There is NO WAY I can not have a skein of Red Heart Red around here. I am making the coolest hat for my friend's son (and then one for Nicholas the way it looks), and I've found nearly all the colors I need but no red in my entire house? That can't be right!

So I'm ready to start my first duplicate stitching attempt. After this I can officially say I tried something new. I just hope it doesn't look like complete crap, because then I have to remake the hat using intarsia (which I might try for Nicholas' hat). I've seen lots of people's projects that are duplicate stitched, and they look great, so there is hope.

Next up is Miss Dashwood from Knitty for Miss Lanie, then some super warm mittens for Mister Alex. It feels good to be knitting and reading so much!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

...And Felted

I felted the girls' mittens this afternoon, and they turned out beautifully, and perfectly sized. Which is good, because I got distracted while they were in the washing machine and forgot about them. Fortunately they felted down to the perfect size in one cycle!


I have to say, the Cascade 220 felted much better than the Lamb's Pride. The Lamb's Pride took 3 times to felt down--the Cascade did it in one, and you can hardly see that there was ever any stitching.

I'm also happy to report the girls love them ;)