Summer Flies

The July KAL for the Beginning Lace Knitters group on Ravelry was Summer Flies, a worsted weight shawlette. Given all the other knitting I have on my to-do list, I (as usual) wasn't going to participate this month. But, I couldn't resist. I have some Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere in my stash, and cast on on the way to Buffalo for the 4th of July. I worked on it again on the way home from Buffalo and started the bind off 2 days later. 2 days after that, I finished binding off. (Picot bind offs of 400 stitches take a long time.)

I blocked it last week, and finally got around to taking pictures the other days. What do you think?

(I have a better post-blocking picture, but blogger keeps turning it around).

Little girl was thrilled to model for me:

(And she just happened to be wearing her tank top made from the same yarn).

I really enjoyed knitting this. A number of people in the KAL have started a second one, but I'm fighting that urge. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy it as much the second time around, and my have-to list isn't getting any smaller.

This week, I'm working on a log cabin style pillow for a friend. She brought her mom some fabric to make her curtains, and her mom happened to have coordinating yarn in her stash. The yarn got brought to me, and I'll hoping to finish the pillow the first week of August. There will be no working on it next week, because we're going vacation!

On Saturday, we're driving to the Adirondacks to spend a week with my parents, do some hiking and canoeing, and start the kids on a long family tradition of visiting forts on vacation. (We'll be going to Fort Ticonderoga. We could also go to Fort William Henry, but I think that's too much fort for one week at this stage of their fort visiting career.)

Unfortunately, we have to take two cars because my husband has to work on Thursday night. That's about 10 hours (5 hours there and back) of knitting time lost to driving. :(

Happy knitting!

25 Things I've Learned As A Parent

I saw this on a blog I read, and thought I'd play along.

1. Lunch rarely gets more easy than PB&J.

2. Poop becomes far more important that one could ever dream.

3. Kids need WAY less stuff than the registry at Babies 'R Us would have you believe.

4. Kids accumulate stuff at an astounding rate.

5. Chores can be taught really early. If the kid can walk, he can throw away his own diaper.

6. Never underestimate the power of counting.

7. Most days may start off with the thought "How can I exhaust them so they'll take a nap?"

8. As much as I love them, God loves them even more.

9. Praying for their safety becomes as natural and often as breathing.

10. Eventually, listening to the baby say "Mama" becomes tiresome.

11. Nothing is better than the sweaty baby smell after a nap in warm weather.

12. Sometimes, the baby sleeps in your bed just because you want her there.

13. When it's 9 p.m., and you put your son to bed 2 hours ago, and he comes into the living room to tell you about the moon, you go out on the porch and look at the moon with him.

14. Caffeine can get you through a lot.

15. Sometimes, it's really hard to be patient.

16. It's healthy and normal to do things without your children attached to you.

17. A pedicure can go a long way in boosting morale.

18. You understand why your mom gave you two choices for dinner - Take it or leave it. And you give your kids the same choices.

19. Sometimes, it's okay to bribe your kids so you can do what you want to do (like browse in a yarn shop....)

20. Your spouse will never be able to keep up with all the nuances of your schedule with the kids.

21. The kids survive anyway.

22. Breakfast for dinner once in a while stretches the food budget.

23. Not all moms can leave their husbands to put the kids to bed. Try not to hold it against them.

24. I'm really blessed that my husband can be left at any time with the kids, and I hardly have to think about it.

25. There are never too many hugs and kisses.

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a VERY busy week and a half at the Mommy's house. In the beginning of July, we drove to Buffalo for the Fourth of July weekend. Although we always have fun on the 4th - swimming in my brother's pool, cooking out with the whole family, and relaxing - it's really July 3rd that we love! Every year, the Buffalo Bisons play a baseball game on the 3rd, followed by a performance by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by fireworks. And for our family, all of that is followed by an early breakfast. The kids love being able to stay up so late, and I love passing on family traditions.

I started a worsted weight lace project in the car on the way to my parents. I knit on it some more on the way home.

We got home on Monday night, after stopping for a nice sit down dinner. Tuesday, I did laundry, unpacked all our stuff, and tried to get organized. Tuesday night our Bible Study hosted good friends who are missionaries in Africa. It was great to hear all about the work our friends are doing to bring the message of Christ's love to another culture.

Wednesday morning, we packed up the car again and headed to Cape Cod to visit with my brother-in-law and his wife (her family owns a cottage on the Cape). What a great time for the all of us! The cottage is about a minute from a private beach. The beach has a dock out in the water, and on that dock is a diving board and water slide! Needless to say, the kids (and the adults too!) had a blast jumping, sliding, and swimming. We spent the night at the cottage, and my husband and I got up extra early to enjoy coffee on the beach (him) and go for an early swim (me). We brought the kids back to the beach after breakfast, and then headed home after lunch.

We spent the next three days trying to get extra naps and resting. We were exhausted!

I started to bind off the lace project on Wednesday night. I finished on Friday night. Those picot bind offs can take a lot of extra time! I still have to weave in the ends and block the project, and then I'll tell you all about it.

We have two weeks at home, and then we'll be off for our vacation in the Adirondacks.

Hopefully, August will be more relaxing. And hopefully, we're building great memories for our kids.

Resolution Check-In

1. Knit more for myself. I finished Gail and I love it. I'm hoping to knit at least one, if not two, pairs of socks for myself this summer.

2. Knit 4 baby sweaters. I finished the smooshy sweater last week, so I'm right on target here.

3. Knit more lace. The exact goal was to knit something for myself and finish the Celtic Knot Stole. I finished Gail, but I'm hoping to start back up on the Celtic Knot Stole very soon!

4. Knit 3 Squares for the Great American Afghan. I started one, but then got distracted by my new secret project. I have a feeling this goal is getting unofficially dropped from the list.

5. Assemble Lovefest Squares. I look at them. I admire them. I think about blocking them. Really, there's no excuse for not making progress on this goal.

The Difference Between 3 and 5

Our city has a pond with a beach. It's not the ocean - there's no salt water and no waves. Thus, it's the PERFECT place to take little kids.

We didn't make it to the pond at all last summer, so that last time we were there, Little Girl was 3 and Little Boy was 2. Let me tell you the difference two years can make. The kids are taller, and that means they can venture a little farther away from the sand. Also, they're smart enough to just stand up if they fall down and their heads go under water. When we went yesterday, Baby Girl stayed home with Daddy, and that meant that I got to do something I've never really done at the beach before.

I sat and knit.

I'm working on dress for Baby Girl using a yarn called Lyndon by Bristol Yarns. The yarn is a fingering weight blend of pima cotton and silk - perfect for knitting with at the beach. The picture does not do the color of the yarn justice. The blue really pops, and I know it's going to bring out Baby Girl's blue eyes.

Also, I've finished the first part of my top secret project. This is all you get to see for now, but I'll try to show you glimpses of more when I can.

Happy Knitting!

Knitting Actually Happens

It may seem like no knitting has been going on over in Mommy land, but it has actually happened.

I knit a dishcloth*
.and started another.

And I even finished a baby sweater for Fourth Trimester (although it still needs buttons).

The pattern is from the Sweater Wizard, and the yarn is Marble Chunky. The sweater was originally for Baby Girl, but I didn't finish it before it was too small. It's supposed to be sized for 9-12 months, but I think it's a little smaller than that. The sweater called for one ball of the yarn, and was knit on size 10 and 10.5 needles. Really, it's crazy that I took 8 months to finish it. There's something a little off about the collar - and I know it's my failure to grasp directions. I'm going to pretend it's a design element.

I've gotten some significant work done on Top Secret Project Part A, and hope to finish this part by Monday. I'm not so sure if/when I'll be able to share the Top Secret Project with you, but I'm pretty excited about it.

*Here is the dishcloth pattern, and I found it through this blog. I liked the title. I taught archery at summer camp, and was surprisingly good at it.

Happy knitting!

Trifecta

I had an amazing weekend. The kind of weekend that parents of four young kids should not rightfully have. I scored a trifecta - three nights out in a row, without the kids. Friday night, a friend watched the kids and the husband and I went to a local pizza place and had a meal uninterrupted by a constant stream of little kid chatter (Mama! Mama! Do I have to eat that? Daddy! No! He looked at me! She touched my plate! Mama! MAAAAAMAAA! Why are carrots orange? How many bites of this do I have to eat to get dessert?). We had hoped for a fancier meal to celebrate our birthdays, but various elements in the universe conspired against us. We settled for an hour at the pizza place (with REALLY good pizza!)

But, we still wanted to go somewhere kind of fancy for our birthdays. We looked at our schedule, we consulted with the babysitter, and she was free on Saturday, and so off to a fancy dinner we went. I got to wear a dress and everything! Dinner was delicious and slow, and it felt like a real live date!

Father's Day, we took the kids to the Boston Public Garden after church. We saw lots of pretty flowers.

We rode the Swan Boat.


And we even saw some real live swans.


The kids and the Dad had a great time. We stopped by my in-law's house for lunch, and then, my weekend went off the charts. My BIL is in the ticket business, and he had a pair of tickets to see James Taylor and Carole King that he couldn't get rid of, and he GAVE THEM TO ME!!!! DH was hiking today, and didn't want to be out late, so I called a friend and she came with me.

I SAW JAMES TAYLOR AND CAROLE KING IN CONCERT!!!!

The seats were great, the concert was amazing, and I can't remember the last time I went out three nights in a row.

I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen again for quite a long time. Trifectas are special because they're rare.