Princess Tea Party and ‘blather’
April 2, 2009 at 9:30 pm | In Baby, family, gardening, knitting | Leave a CommentBug loves to dress up…
so when I saw a “princess” tea party advertised in Nana and Pappaw T.’s home town, I signed her up. Paducah has this thing called Paducah iList that is an email of all the happenings in Paducah each week. I wish we had one for Murfreesboro. Princess Bug went to the “Princess” tea party with her Nana T. We went to Paducah especially for it. It was a fundraiser for Easter Seals. Bug had a great time and wore herself out.
I’ve been trodging along working on bits and pieces of things. I finished the knitting part of the gradient scarf and just need to find the right masculine button for it (DH claimed it). I’m waiting to take pictures until it is done. The afgans are still in progress and being worked on, as well as the socks.
Spring and gardening are pulling at my mind.
I’ve been thinking of ordering a fig tree and some blueberry bushes for our yard. DH loves brown turkey figs and they will grow here. I signed us up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) at the Avalon Acres Farms. We will be getting a 1/2 share of veggies and a meat/eggs portion each Wednesday starting in May.
School is hectic with the last push of things (research posters and class research projects, etc) with which to deal. With the nice weather, I’ve been walking outside instead of going to the gym. Now, if it will only stop raining and flooding our yard….
Catching up
February 18, 2009 at 9:16 pm | In Baby, crochet, knitting | Leave a CommentI’ve been finishing up lots of things this past week.
The Lady Gray Scarf from the Luxury One skein wonders book
Yarn: ecolana from AslanTrends
Color: natural gray
Hook: G
Mods: did 10 repeats of the square because there wasn’t enough to do 11 repeats, crocheted the squares together using the chain stitch areas of the last rows of each square
Comments: nice yarn to work with, but a bit scratchy on my neck – nice and easy pattern
More fetching …
Yarn: Classic alpaca
color: black
Needles: US6
Mods: none this time, pattern is perfect as is…
Blue Beret (One day beret from Between the Loops)
Yarn: malabrigo
Color: agua
Mods: did a lot more stockinette and reduced 1+ more inches at ribbing and went down 2 US needle sizes for ribbing
Comments: wonderful yarn and easy pattern
Right now, I’m still working on the poinelle socks, MIL clogs. I’m also going to start a market bag in some yarn I won in a contest.
Other than that, we are still chugging along – waiting to hear about the next round of budget cuts. Bug is getting bigger by the minute… and loves to dress up.
Ambling along
January 22, 2009 at 9:14 pm | In Baby, family, food, knitting | 1 CommentSchool has started and the cold has let up a bit, but it supposed to be back tonight. I have had a fierce need to make stuff, WARM stuff…
KNITTING –
FO: Emerald Hug
A scarf for my Grandma (a knitted, fuzzy green hug)
Yarn: Riot eyelash from Yarn Bee, color seamist
Pattern: simple garter stitch, CO 15 with US 10
FO: The John Deere clogs for MY Dear Dad
pre-felt
post-felt
Yarn: Lopi Lite, every bit of 6 balls (4 green and 2 yellow) for Men’s medium
Pattern: the brilliant FiberTrends felted clogs!
WIP: Blue Beret
Yarn: malabrigo, mmmmm
Pattern: One Day Beret by Through the Loops
WIP: Pinkie Clogs for MIL
Yarn: Regular Lopi, pink and gray
Pattern: Yes, more clogs!
COOKING –
DH wants to eat more vegetarian dishes (not so much meat), so I am obliging. I used to eat very little meat – especially in graduate school. So, besides another batch of yummy biscotti (not as good with peanuts as pecans), I made onion soup this week from the Moosewood Cookbook – yum! We’re going to try a butternut squash/quinoa dish DH found, and perhaps a frittata or risotto (from the Splendid Table) this coming week.
ENJOYING –
I am also enjoying the flurry of podcasts that have picked up after the holiday breaks. I am especially enjoying Cogknitive, Stash and Burn, and StitchIt. I seem to be dealing a bit better with the winter blues so far this winter. I have been exercising more and that seems to help. However, I haven’t talked to my family much – I generally do that when I am starting to feel sad. So, I am looking forward to Dr. Gemma’s strategies (cogknitive) for fighting back those winter blahs/blues.
Little Bug has been behaving somewhat better these past few days, so I feel a bit more at ease.
Here are all of our “winter” flowers: Daisy, Iris, Lily and Bug (she has a flower name, too).
Happy New Year
January 5, 2009 at 9:15 pm | In Baby, bellydance, knitting | Leave a CommentIn keeping with last year, I wanted to reflect on the things I’ve done for the first time or learned this past year.
- After-thought heel on socks
- Started adding my own touches to patterns (horizontal Irish Hiking scarf and pointelle fetching) or making them up all together (NB mitts, lattice scarf, orange hunting socks, blaring pink mittens, and Charlie Brown socks)
- Crocheted a katamari
- Sewed a buttonhole on my sewing machine
- Won a contest (actually two- really a drawing, but….)
- knitted a pair of lacy socks
- ran a 5k
- visited 2 foreign countries (Argentina and Uruguay); yes, I bought yarn in Buenos Aires and kept it from you…
- knit a pair of adult socks in 2 weeks
- other people like the thrill of learning new things in their jobs and get bored when they aren’t . Luckily, I’m a college professor in a fast moving field (genetics), so my job is about learning new things all the time (tiring at times, but I get to change things up)
- re-learned that dancing is fun, especially with good friends
- but most of all, I’m still learning that parenting is the most difficult job I’ve ever had.
So much…
December 28, 2008 at 8:37 pm | In Baby, family, knitting | Leave a CommentWe’ve had a whirlwind of activity here…
Bug had a Christmas program at school.
We had a good Christmas and Bug got to spend lots of time with her Pappaw T.
I finished a few things (I’ll add details later):
a pair of fetching with an added ‘pointelle’ lace pattern from the vogue Stitchionary in silk/alpaca
and a pair of clogs for FIL
I’m glad to be back home – whew!
Finishing frenzy
November 23, 2008 at 9:32 pm | In Baby, family, knitting, whining, work | Leave a CommentThe big orange hunting socks are finally finished. These took quite a long time to knit compare to the others lately. First they are bigger socks and longer socks and the pattern repeats are on every round – whew!
First modeled by Miss Bug…
Then by DH. His father is the recipient.
Particulars…
Yarn: Trekking XXL, used most of one skein
Color: mostly orange
Needle: US 2 (knit picks, used magic loop, one at at time)
Pattern: Made it up
Inspiration: Hedgerow socks and fetching
Size: Men’s size 10-11 wide
I also knit up a pair of mittens for me!
Particulars:
Yarn: Manos de Uruguay, used about 2/3 of a skein
Needle: US 9, magic loop, ‘toe-up’
Pattern: plain, kind of made up, numbers based on Ann Budd’s book of patterns
I also sewed up my sister’s clogs (fiber-trends) and will felt them over Thanksgiving. She has tiny feet, so I wanted to do it when I have her foot around for measurement purposes. I also am working on a pair of fingerless mitts for my friend’s husband. I just taught her to knit yesterday. Pictures later…
Otherwise, things are ticking along here.
Bug had her Thanksgiving program at ’school’ in which the kids sang. She is wearing orange.
She was actually on good behavior this year – no crying like last year. And she even ate some of the lunch! Since Thanksgiving is so late this year and Bug is very much in the holiday spirit, we also made ornaments
and put up our Christmas tree this weekend.
We are hoping to avoid so much materialism with her. She seems to want everything she sees. So, we devised this plan – she gets to cut out pictures of things she wants and glue them to a special block of construction paper we keep on the freezer with Santa’s picture on it. Then Santa will choose one thing to bring her. We will get here something and her grandparents will too, but maybe it won’t be so overwhelming…?
I have only one more lecture and two more classes in this semester – one course was double the time each week (to allow for travel) and ended at mid-semester. However, there is ‘no rest for the wicked’ – as soon as classes are finished, I have to report for US district jury duty for the remainder of December… BIG FUN!
So much..
October 3, 2008 at 7:54 pm | In Baby, family, knitting | Leave a CommentMany adventures since the last post… A quick picture-filled post!
Socks based on a stitch pattern (Fancy pattern # 17 by Fitter Knitter) are done. The chevron pattern reminds me of Charlie Brown’s shirt (the zig-zag), so these are my “Charlie Brown” socks.
Particulars:
Knitpicks essential, 2 skeins (but not all)
Color: cocoa
US 2
This yarn is awesome. I hope it wears well.
We’ve been to the Brown County Fair to see the big pumpkins
The winner was a mere 150.5 pounds.
The big surprise vegetable was the cabbage that weighed 29.4 pounds!
Miss Bug rode the carousel after MUCH coaxing – then wanted to go again and again.
All in all a good time -
Blue tongue Bug and yarn-errific day
July 17, 2008 at 9:30 pm | In Baby, knitting | Leave a CommentFirst, thanks to Beth of the Knitter’ Wading Pool podcast for the lovely yarn and craft bag. I “won” her podcast contest over the weekend. There are 2 balls of Wool of the Andes (brown) and 2 balls of Shine sport (both Knit Picks), as well as a cute little craft bag. I enter contests sometimes, but have never won…. THANKS! I spent a little time on Ravelry looking at what others have done with this yarn. I wonder what the yarn wants to be? I think maybe the Shine would like to be a little crochet purse or bag, but the wool hasn’t spoken to me yet.
I finished the lotus socks (personal record of 2 weeks!) Usually I take months to finish a pair. Corn socks took from February to July, for example.
Yarn: Hill Country Sock Yarn (Instant Gratification)
Color: Russet
Needles: Knit picks options, US 4 (magic loop)
Pattern: Lotus blossom from the Hill Country Yarn Sock Club
Mods: magic toe-up cast on and the Queen Kahuna heel.
Thoughts: nice yarn, nice pattern, worked up SUPER-FAST, but color bled quite a bit
In other news -
Bug took her first ride/paddle (ha) in a kayak last weekend during Boat Day on the Stones River.
Then we went to Uncle Dave Macon Days (an old-time music and dance festival) and she had a blue raspberry sno-cone, where she turned into “Blue-tongued Bug.”
What do we do in June????
June 9, 2008 at 9:49 pm | In Baby, family | Leave a CommentFly a kite…
Walk the dog…
Take babies to “school” for circle time…
Check on peaches… and weed the garden…
check on blackberries… and weed the garden…
listen to music and eat sno-cones…
chill in the hammock
meet Mr. Poppin’ Fresh at the Doughboy challege (DH ran, not me, yet…)
Other things – diagnosed with eczema, ran 30 minutes straight on the treadmill (5mph) today for the first time since before Bug, bought some fabric to make some wrap skirts (or harem pants), continuing to slog along on the scarves and socks. Bug’s behavior is getting much better, at least for now since I am following McKenzie’s guidelines. I think I will buy my sister this book, too, since she said Z is beginning to behave like Bug.
Parenting woes and a Wind-ing day
June 5, 2008 at 9:06 pm | In Baby, family, whining | Leave a CommentNot much progress on crafting fronts because I’ve been pouring myself into reading a parenting book. Bug’s behavior had been getting the best of me. After a particularly trying evening, a friend mentioned the word ‘boundary’ to me and it got me thinking about them. As an older mom of an only child who nursed for nearly a year, I had gotten used to being completely at the beck and call of a certain little demanding girl. Combine that with a husband who essentially works 2 full time jobs and likes his peace and quiet, and you get me… He is much better at setting limits with her and ‘taking’ the crying. I know that he is and was right, but I just couldn’t fathom it until now. Well, now is the time for change. I have no skills in this area from my childhood (very compliant child easily disciplined by fear and guilt). I’ve looked around at different books on parenting ’strong-willed’ children and found this one by McKenzie. He makes a lot of sense and I’m trying to follow this. It seems to be working, but I’m having a difficult time trying to anticipate trouble spots and come up with consequences on the spur of the moment. Most of all, the book has given me back some control over my life, instead of dreading going out alone with her (which happens a lot).
I’d post some pictures of Bug and her flying a kite this morning (Look Mama, it is wind-ing outside so let’s fly the kite!) , but wordpress is balking at adding pictures at the moment.
Happy Thursday!
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