Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day was quite nice…well except for the fact that the littlest person in this house apparently woke up on the wrong side of the toddler bed.  I tell ya that kid has worse mood swings than a 13 year old (can’t wait for THAT if this is any preview).  We started the day with heart shaped pancakes and exchanged small gifts.  A big box of chocolate for me (with most of it still left since I had the bright idea to give up chocolate for LENT – hey you want sacrifice, I’ll give you sacrifice) a home made CD for the husband with homemade fingerprint valentine….and a chef’s outfit for the monkey.  He’s been wanting one ever since he saw Ratatouille and since his Dad loves to cook he gladly obliged.  He insisted upon wearing his “cooker costume” with slipper “clogs” while he watched the movie for the 5 millionth time.  Later in the day my brother’s girlfriend and I made a Valentine’s Day feast – home made canneloni, with beet, walnut and goat cheese salad, and Linzer heart cookies for dessert.  YUM.  The pasta was fairly easy and fun to make – one of those things that you wonder why you dont try to make all the time (like bread, or ice cream).  So worth the effort!

Hope your day was happy.  Now I really need to take down the heart decoratons already.  Note to self – buy stuff with less glitter next time.

Dainty dress part deux

A funny monkey tidbit:  Yesterday my son was looking through a toy catalog at grandma’s house, when he came across a toy he got for Christmas.  A toy that we ultimately returned because it didn’t work well.  I guess my husband returned it discretely, as he didnt know what happened to it.  Not thinking first, I said “oh, Daddy returned it because it didn’t work”.  He scrunched up his face at me and said “To Santa?”   Stammering, I told him yes, Daddy sent it back to the North Pole.  Some day I’ll get used to having a toddler in the house….

So as you may know, along with the Olympics, we crazy knitters made up something called The Knitting Olympics (or the Ravelympics depending on where your allegiances lie).  Basically you commit to knit something that challenges you from opening ceremonies to closing.  I never partake in this event because I unwittingly set my self up for failure enough in my life, no need to do it knowingly.  So while I watched the opening ceremonies this year, I finished up this little baby instead:

Its another crocheted dress from the  ”Belle” series, for the new baby girl of another friend.  (There are girls being born all over the place, a knit group friend just had twins!)  Now I’ll start the third in the series just to see which I like tghe best.

Pattern:  Savannah Belle by Crochet Garden; size 6 months

Yarn:  Grace Patons in pink and white

Hook:  G

Mods:  None.  Although I am tempted to do the underlay in something lighter, the dress ends up to be a bit heavy for a sundress.  Oh well, they need to learn to sacrifice comfort for beauty at a young age.

Snow Day!

So we got dumped on pretty good yesterday -not sure exactly how much fell, but somewhere between a whole bunch and a shitload if I may use the technical terms.  I worked from home since the railroad put in a new rule that any snowfall over 10 inches will cause them to shut down completely.  Aint no way I was risking getting stuck in the city…as it turns out I guess it would have been okay.

We did manage to get out for a little bit to make this:

Looks like fun, huh?  Well turns out that with a three year old, snow is fun for about oh, five seconds after the snowman is finished.  Especially when they inform you that despite the forty thousand layers they have on, they need to go potty NOW MOMMY NOW MOMMY NOW MOMMY.  Which, I discovered, really means “I already went and my lower half is soaked to the bone”.  I sounded frighteningly similar to my own mother when I said “If we go in, we are NOT going back out again!”.  This was the reaction, even with a snow mickey to try and cheer him up.

On the bright side, I finished some yummy mittens:

Pattern:  Super Mittens from Weekend Knits; size Ladies Large (ravelry)

Yarn:  Bernat Roving in Plum; exactly one skein (that little bit there is all that was left, yes I panicked a little)

Needls:  10.5 circs (magic loop baby)

Mods:  Knit quite a few more rows of the hand then the pattern called for.  Super warm and cozy!

Dainty Dress

I’ve rediscovered my love for crochet.  I wanted to make a dress for Emma, a friend’s new baby girl, and there is nothing better than crochet to maximize the “frill factor”.  Looking for new inspired designs, I was referred by a Raveler to Crochet Garden.  I bought all three patterns in the “Belle” Series, but fell in love with “Savannah Belle” right away.  Emma’s parents invited us for the SuperBowl a week ago, so thats all the time I had to make this.  It was close – I was making the matching headband in the car on the way over (and that’s why its not pictured).  Emma’s mom swooned when she opened it.  I don’t blame her.

Pattern:  Savannah Belle by Crochet Garden in size 9 months. Ravelry deets here.

Yarn:  Size 3 crochet thread – 4 balls in lime.  Underlay was made with 2 balls of size 10 thread (held double).

Hook :  Size G

Mods:  Only mod was to make a long chain to thread through the eyelets instead of ribbon.  Also left off the butterflies.  If I had the time I would have made contrasting flowers for the bodice.

Winter Blues

My sad little watering can…waiting patiently for spring to arrive.

Hello, Dum Dum*

My young cousin recently had shoulder surgery, and I wanted to send her something to cheer her up.  And being who I am, plain old flowers and balloons just wouldn’t do.  I had the bright idea to send her a candy bouquet, but everything I found was either too cheesy or, well too cheesy AND too expensive.  Like this little number here – what is that like 15 pops for $38 including shipping?

So of course, I decided to make my own.  And here’s how I did it:

Materials – Bag of Dum Dum pops ($3), Container, stickers ($3), tissue paper ($3), scissors, ribbon ($1) and tape.

Decorate the container with the stickers.  Stuff the container with tissue, I used green.  You could also use styrofoam, but that wasn’t so cheap.

Layer three sheets of tissue paper and cut into 3″ squares.  I swapped layers around so I got different color flowers.

Fold diagonally and cut a very small slit in the center of each 3 layer bundle

Push the pop through the slit and rotate the layers around

Push up on the layers so they surround the top of the pop.  Secure with tape if you want (I didn’t)

I did this for all the pops in the bag – use your judgement on how many you need to fit your container.  I just shoved them all in tightly so they didn’t move.  I ended up using all but about 10 pops. Tie a ribbon around the bottom. (I saved the top of the container and placed it in the gift box so she could use the container for other things)

I added a beach themed bear and was done.  Recipient loved it!

* 10 points (and a bottle of geritol) if you know which cartoon character made this line famous

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the new public blog. A little background for those following along at home.

First, I’m a nerd. Well thats what my brother says anyway – but who really listens to little brothers, right? (you know you love me Mikey). I’m 40 now, and although I try my best to wrap my brain around that number, I mostly stay in a blissful state of denial. I am crafty – I knit, crochet and do a whole manner of crafty things because (a) I’m cheap and (b) I think I can do a better job than crappy storebought stuff anyway. I’ve recently been dabbling with photography – buying a Nikon D90 for my recent “milestone” birthday.

Oh yeah, and my kid’s adopted. From Colombia. There was a time in my life when that was a big deal, but now its not. He’s three now, so expect to see alot of pictures of him (and the husband) on here. I”ll try to keep the poop talk to a minimum.

Enjoy