I knit stuff.

So, I mentioned at the beginning of the year, that I was hoping to knit through 5 miles of yarn in 2011. By mid August, I had met that goal.

Obviously, I haven't posted many of the finished objects I've knit. That would be because I haven't photographed them. Two of those items are sweaters which, frankly, it's just too dang hot to be wearing long enough to get pictures of.

But I do have two items to share with you.

 The first of which is this adorable sweater vest which I knit for a colleague of my husband They just had their first little baby boy. And if we're being honest with each other, we can admit that there isn't anything cuter than a baby boy in a sweater vest. Right?

 And the back. It ALMOST makes me wish I had a teeny boy to wear it.

 As it is, Libby looked adorable in it. This was just so I could make sure of sizing. It's about 12 months.

The other project is probably the most favorite thing I've ever knit.

 This is the Clara Dress. Unfortunately, you can only get the pattern by purchasing it as a kit. But I was desperate. I had to knit this tiny dress.

I think you can see why.

 I only wish I'd have made it a couple inches longer. I was worried about running out of yarn, but I totally shouldn't have been. I could easily have knit another 2 inches and still had plenty left over.

But I actually adore the length. I just put a pair of frilly bloomers on her and we're good to go. And I think she can continue to wear it as a tunic type top for quite a while.

I'll be back with more knit items soon.

Read More

And Good Riddance.

Due to the nature of our incredibly long summer spent cooped up here at home, I was really about to lose it.

School couldn't have come soon enough. I'm not kidding. Not even a little.
Monday was the day.

 We all, the entire family, trekked on out to the bus stop.

 There was a great fanfare as Miles headed out to his first day of Kindergarten. You know, where he will probably be extremely bored. I was informed they are working on the letter C this week. Have I mentioned Miles reads on a 2nd grade + level?

 And ohmyword, I have a 4th grader. FOURTH. As in, old. As in, the originator of all that sass. Save me.

 And I also possess a 2nd grader. Everytime I look at her, I have the sneaking suspicion that in about 6 years, I'm going to be in a LOT of trouble. BOYS BE DAMNED!

And there they go! Buh and Bye. See you at 3:30. But I can't celebrate too much. I've still got these two waiting at home for me. 

 Herein he informs me that it is time for us to go buy HIM a Star Wars Tshirt. 

And my Libby Mae, who I'm fairly certain thinks Abbie is her mom. At least a little.

Read More

What I did last summer. A report.

As you probably know, on the Saturday before Memorial Day Matt decided to take Anna to a wall to wall trampoline facility. Fun times. Except the part where he shredded his patellar tendon. He had NON arthroscopic knee surgery on Memorial Day.

It would be 10 weeks before he could drive again. 10 weeks = our entire summer.

So, our summer. Yeah. Blown, mostly.

We did end up flying to a family reunion in Branson, MO. Our original plan had been to drive the 20 hours. Not really all that broken-hearted over that one.

But the truth is, having to load all five of your kids into the car and drive your husband the 20 minutes to work and then home and then turn around at 6pm and do the same thing, really wears one right out. So, we had an incredibly low key summer. With an enforced quiet time between 1-4pm. Yes, my children read a lot of books.

The last thing I wanted to do was any more driving. So we spent a long summer here at our house. Several times a week, it looked almost exactly like this:

 Bikes.

 The sprinkler.

 Playing in the gutter.

 The kiddie pool.

 Races.

And sass. So much sass.

Today is the first day of school. That's why I can post this.
Matt can drive. His knee bends again.
Here's to hoping I'm on the other side of this Bummer Summer.

Read More

Leave of Absence

I think it's obvious that my heart's just not in this right now.

So, for the time being I'm not going to worry about blogging.

Thanks.

Read More

Children.

I've got some.
An update for the Grandmas.

 My little mini-mom helper and the Bibs.

 Starts 4th grade in August. Kicked butt on the FCAT. Finished the year with straight As. Has been invited to join the gymnastics team. Amazing girl.

 Says "Thank you, Please, No, Yeah, Uh-oh, Wow, Dad, Mom" and a couple other words I can't remember.

 Is the light of our home.

 Finally becoming mildly manageable. And sweeter than pie. Sometimes.

 The husband likes to make fun of his Chiclet teeth.

 Just finished 1st grade. Pretends like she hates reading but has already buzzed through 8 books since school let out. Has also been invited to join the gymnastics team. Doesn't want to. It's just not in her personality. And that's fine by me.

The peacemaker of our home. Usually. Sometimes.

What? Don't pretend like I'm not missing pictures of Miles. He was with his dad when these pictures were taken.

Read More

Weekend Update

1. It's fitting that I use that title since I'm currently buzzing my way through Bossypants by Tina Fey. Hilariously good read. My husband even read it.

2. My husband had time to read it because he exploded his knee (ruptured his patellar tendon) on Saturday while on a Daddy/Daughter date to one of those wall-to-wall trampoline places. He had surgery earlier today and should be home tomorrow.

3. This throws a major wrench in our Summer plans. The first of which was to drive to a family reunion in Missouri. That now has a very real possibility of NOT happening since I'm not known for my long distance driving abilities, and the disploded knee was his driving leg.

4. It also ruins my plans of knitting all the way. This is more painful for me than having to drive... NOT getting to knit. Just cruel. I had several projects all planned out and I now stare disdainfully at the yarn I had selected. I'm blaming the yarn. It's easier that way.

5. My husband will be fine. He's currently enjoying a lovely cocktail of post-operative drugs. I wish I had some.

6. School is out on Wednesday. I will henceforth have a 4th and 2nd grader and a Kindergartener (why does this word always look wrong?... is that even the correct spelling?...blogspot says no, but they didn't like "disploded" either and that's OBVIOUSLY a real word.) My children really ought to either 1. Stop getting older. or 2. Get older much faster. It's painful like ripping off a band-aid super slowly. Either leave it alone or rip that bad boy off in one quick move.

7. I knit some stuff.

8. I finally picked up my camera last week for the first time since April. No lie. I'm contemplating challenging myself to take a picture a day during the summer. Which may also force me to actually do fun stuff with my kids during the summer so that I will have something to photograph. I even made a big old Pinterest board full of stuff my kids will enjoy doing. Find it here. (Are you on Pinterest? Let me know!)

9. Here's the stuff I knit.

A sweet little, slightly too big for Libby right now intentionally baby cardigan. Should fit her perfectly come the two weeks of so-called Winter we enjoy in January.


This is a neckerchief-ish shawl called Lacy Baktus. It started out really fun, then turned really boring, then turned positively excruciating as I just wanted it done already. Which is why I don't knit scarves, typically.

10. How bout that hair o mine? Crazy right? This is AFTER I had it severely thinned out.

11. Hope your weekend was much more injury free than ours.

Read More

Try To Contain Yourself.

Yes. I'm blogging.
No, I'm not going to try to tell you everything that happened on the rest of our Spring Break since that was over a month ago now. I AM LAME.

What I've been up to?
5 kids.
Why?
They insist on eating and being dressed, and of all things, making messes.
Why haven't I found time to blog?
Several reasons really.
1. Facebook
2. Knitting
3. Laziness
What am I talking about on Facebook?
1. Knitting
2. Laziness
An example of my most recent status updates?
1. A very large pot of oatmeal with apples, apricot, and craisins. Dinner.
2. Is starting a petition to move mornings to 11am. 
3. My children keep talking about transmogrifying. A sure sign they've been into the Calvin and Hobbes.
4. Wonders if I can get away with blaming my dirty house on the fact that my baby is terrified of the vacuum.
Yeah, you're not missing much.


I do, however, have a crap-ton of completed knitting projects to share. As soon as I photograph them since holding them up to the screen for you to feel doesn't seem to be working. 


Do I have any pictures to share with you?
Sure. 

Where is Abbie? 
I don't know! Probably too busy being embarrassed by me. Yeah, we're at that stage. 

Read More