Birthday Loot

Theron and Nolan's Birthday cake from last weekend. We had a joint party for them since they are only 3 weeks apart in age.

The 2 year old's eating cake, it was hard to get them in focus because they were so intent on getting to the cake. Nolan had blown out his candles before we even sang.

Me blowing out my candles. Jess made my cake. See the knitting needles? Its supposed to look like a ball of yarn with needles stuck into it. It was cute and super yummy. (The picture is blurry on purpose)
This is my loot:) My present from Brent and the kids is awesome! I can't wait to get this figured out and working.

The picture on the screen is real. Its better than my TV picture at home. I can't imagine how Christmas presents could get better than this.

Well unless it was all knitting related:)

In the last 10 days

I have been busy and not feeling much like blogging (obviously). Here's a little of what I have been up to.


We dug ourselves out of some more snow.
I tried to get a good picture of the kids for a Christmas Picture.




These are not the one good picture I got.

Helped get this monster tree in the house. (BDiddy picked it out not me.) When he brought it home the conversation went something like this.
Me: What were you thinking that is Huge!
BDiddy: I didn't think it was that big.
Me: It's like 4 feet taller than you are.
BDiddy: It'll be fine.

I won't even tell you what we had to do to get it in the house. Seriously, why do we need such a big tree?

Helped the kids decorate it.




Finally got my Embossed Leaves Socks started the way I like them. I'm using some needles that my grandma gave me. I think they're steel size 1 (2.0mm) DPN's.

Finished My So Called Scarf.
Went to the local Christmas light extravaganza. Check it out here.
Saw Santa. Noley didn't like him up close.
Miss M didn't mind telling him just what she wanted. A Barbie makeover kit.

Working, planning a Birthday party for Noley, shopping for the rest of the gifts I needed and drowning myself in the craziness that is the Christmas season.

Oh and I won Kristin's blog contest so I have yummy new yarn coming my way!

Thanks Kristin! Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season.

Winter is here! (and finished objects)

This morning I was greeted with this gorgeous sunrise from my kitchen windows.
Here's a good shot of how much snow we got this weekend. The play center is covered with snow but I bet when the kiddos get home today they will be all over this.

I decided to post my SIL's hat because I think she doesn't lurk here. Hopefully not otherwise surprise Andrea! I used Patons Soy Wool Stripes for this in Nature Garden. The colors are not great in this picture, I could not get a good picture of the real colors for the life of me. I used a hat pattern out of Rebecca Fall 2005 which I picked up on clearance at a LYS in the Twin Cities.

This is a little better picture of the true colors. It also shows the decreases I used to change the top of this hat.

I caved and gave this to BDiddy when it got cold. I really like how this turned out and the manly colors were nice too. This is in Noro Kureyon, I forgot which colorway though. Lost the tag. Used the same pattern as the SIL hat, but could not figure out the bind off in the pattern so this is improvised. I think it is close to what I was supposed to do.
Last but not least my selfish post Christmas knitting. The Bee Fields Triangle Shawl from Knitspot.

The yarn is from White Willow on Etsy. I think I'm gonna love it!

Snow Day!

We have a big snow storm coming our way today. They are predicting 8-16 inches of snow here before the weekend is over. The perfect kind of day to stay home, make brownies, coffee and knit on some lace. I started the Bee Fields Shawl last night. I'm excited. It is so nice to be working on something that has no deadline and is just for me. Selfish isn't it? Sometimes you need to be a little selfish to keep your sanity right? Here's to a little selfishness this holiday to keep the sanity at your house:)


BDiddy took the camera to take pictures of the kids ice fishing so I'll have to post pictures later. I have all my Christmas knitted gifts done! But sadly not all my other gifts bought. Next week I will have to brave the stores for the rest.

We went out to the kids school for a breakfast with Santa and then the kids could go shop with "elves" to get gifts on their own. It is a really cool idea and they loved going and getting their own gifts without our help. They even wrap them so no chance of seeing it accidently, but you have to tell the kids not to give it away. The other nice thing is most of the gifts were around 2-3 dollars and nothing was over $10.

In January Jess and I are going to start sweaters for ourselves. We have been talking about it for at least 2 years and decided once the holidays are over we'll get going on that. Anyone care to join us? I should think up some name for it and we could have a KAL. No certian pattern just one you like for yourself. Comment if you're in!

Updates from my life

Today the headache is finally gone. After working since last Wednesday this is my first day off. Friday doesn't count I was sleeping most of it. I am taking today to snuggle with Noley. He is growing up so fast and I miss the little baby stage sometimes so much. Everyday is an adventure with him, he is such an easy boy and happy. His language skills have taken off recently so we are now listening to him yell, "Fruuuck!" (for truck). And he was playing with his toy phone," Hi, Whatcha doing?" His dad does that all the time.

The last Christmas gift is halfway done and I am loving this yarn! I am using Patons Soy Wool Stripes in Natural Garden. It has a beautiful sheen and the colors and very pretty. I hope Andrea likes it.

I have been wanting to start a new project but am holding myself back until all my obligations are finished. Well if we're being truthful I did start some socks but I have to rip them out and use smaller needles so they don't count.

Since I didn't have a Thanksgiving this year I'm looking forward to Christmas. Except for not having gifts for anyone yet! Yikes I gotta get on the ball! So just a couple more minutes on the couch snuggling Noley and I better go to town. Knit On!

Gifts, Crafts and Headaches

The before and after of my nephew's slippers. He is 2 so I hope these will fit him OK.
I made this hat to sell at a craft sale and another one that I didn't take a picture of.

Yup that's me modeling it. I used some yarn my mom spun a long time ago, I think it turned out cute. Hopefully someone will like it and buy it.

I also made some jewelry. I am working on the SIL's Xmas gift and then I'm done with gifts. I think I will move on to socks and the shawl pattern I just got.

Today was a bad day, I worked with a migraine and still have a little residual headache hanging on. There is nothing fun about wearing sunglasses while I take care of a laboring mom. Thank goodness they were a good sport about it. I'm sure if nothing else they will remember me! Wish I could be wittier about this because it seems like it would be funny, but my brain is not working well. Knit on! Later.

Trip to Grandma's

We went to visit my family this weekend after a very busy week for me of work, kids, house and so on. This guy is the reason for the family gathering. My nephew "Little" Tony (called that now only because his dad is "Big" Tony) is back safe from Iraq. He is a Marine and was doing patrolling near Falluja. Dangerous stuff.
We are all glad he is home safe. He was heading back to his home base soon so thus the trip to Mom and Dad's.

These days it's not a little gathering anymore. With each of us siblings having kids of our own its a little like being inside a zoo of kids full of sugar. The highlight for them is the hot tub.

The big boys played and played, here they are checking out the Lego site.
There are crazy jumping girls, and a fort was made in the kitchen with chairs.
There are babies who are soon 2 years old and probably shouldn't be called babies anymore. These two are 3 weeks apart, Theron on the right is older and my sisters boy.

At the end of the weekend, Noley was exhausted:) So was I!And I did a little bit of knitting too, mostly in the car. The slippers are waiting to be felted today, and the dishcloth is just because I needed a few more. One more Christmas gift to go!

Over the River...

And through the woods. To Grandmother's house we go!

Details tomorrow.

Save me from myself!

I must not buy more yarn.

I have been surfing for new yarn all over the Internet this week. No matter if I have money or not I still want the yarn. I could ask for some of this stuff for Christmas but there is that issue of, how does my family find the stuff I want? Plus there's all the yarn hiding in the stash. I think I will have to knit up some of it so that I can buy more. It is my birthday in December too so I could justify some of it for a birthday present right? OK OK. I will hold back and cast on for some socks or something. I am feeling squirrely with the Christmas presents and am now over half done with what I was planning on making. Funny how putting any kind of deadline on my knitting makes me feel so hemmed in.

I love the ability to search for patterns on Ravelry except for the fact that I have like 14 projects on my list. Besides socks I've been thinking about finding a shawl pattern to make myself. My plan is to get pretty good at lace knitting and make Miss M a wedding shawl someday. So I have to practice. I ordered a pattern today called Bee Fields Triangular Shawl, you can find it here.

I love, love, love that pattern. I have one problem. There's some really pretty yarn in my stash that I bought for the MS3 project which I never knit. I am just not sure I would like this shawl knit in this yarn. What do you think?

One down...

Before felting...

They fit me.

After felting...
They fit Taylor:) One Christmas gift down and another half done. 2 1/2 left to go.

Noley has discovered Dora the Explorer. His favorite thing to do is to show me a Swiper toy and say "Oh Man!"

Fall activities

I went to a Stitch N Bitch to meet some of the Northern MN Ravelry knitters this week. There were only 3 of us there but it was fun to meet someone new. We'll have to try to do it again and see if more people can make it. This was my coffee drink. Doesn't it look yummy? It was! I think it was called a Cara Miel Cardamom. MMMMM! The coffee shop closed early so then Jess and I went to a different place and had tea.
I took the kids to the gravel pit to look for agates the other day. KD had been bugging me to take him. We were there about 30-45 mins and this is our loot.
They're not huge but the kids really liked to look for them it was like finding treasure.

Halloween pictures: Noley as a chicken.
KD as a Lego guy (a guard for a castle, his idea), Miss M as a bat princess:)

OK obligatory costume pics out of the way, on to the knitting!

I have made progress on the felted children's slippers. One pair is done but needs to be felted. I started BDiddy's gift and I really like how it looks. Sadly I can't show you it or it won't be a surprise. I may use the pattern for the other Christmas gift though it is really cute and would look good for a guy or a girl. One more pair of slippers to knit and then I may add to the Christmas list. The slippers went way faster than I remember.

I have a butt load of cleaning to do today as my Aunt and Uncle are coming for a visit this weekend and I have to plan a meal for Saturday night that is a bit fancier than our usual taco's. So probably won't have a bunch of time to get much knitting done this weekend.

Oh and I am loving Ravelry! If you haven't signed up you should get on the waiting list! Knit on!

Finished socks!

Ok so these are done! For my first socks I think they turned out alright. BDiddy did say they are almost too comfortable. I think that means he likes them. Next time I will have to pay more attention to gauge because they are a little looser than I want them to be. I also need to brush up on finishing techniques as the toes are little wonky. Oh Well! Nothing is perfect. Pattern: Ribbed Socks from Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles
Yarn: Bearfoot by Mountain Colors in Northern Lights-1 skein
Needles: size 3 and 2
Size: Men's

I started the Felted Clog's for Children by Fiber Trends for Christmas gifts. I'm making 2 pairs.

I have made these before and don't have a circular needle but there are directions to make them on straights. The yarn is Fisherman Wool by Lion Brand which I dyed with Kool Aid a while back with Jess. That was a fun project but I have been hanging on to this yarn with no idea what to do with it. Perfect colors for a little girl right?

I love that these are so fast! What are you knitting for Christmas?

Updating

My ribbed socks are almost done! It seems like once I picked them up again they went really fast. Maybe coming off the bunting, it looks like so little left to knit compared to the vast amount of stocking stitch on the bunting. So my mind of course turns to the next projects:)

First there is Christmas coming up. I have tried to not overwhelm myself with too much to do this year. That said, I tend to add things on as I go. I am planning to make only 4 things right now.

• A present for my sister-in-law since I drew her name this year. I know just what to make but she might lurk here so no hints!
• Felted slippers for my niece and nephew. These have to be done around Thanksgiving so they're next on the list
• Felted slippers for my niece and nephew. (These count as 2 things because I have to make 2 pairs)
• A little thing for BDiddy ( I know he lurks here so I can't tell you what it is) I can say that I'm using Noro Kureyon for this because I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what that is.

That isn't bad. I forgot that I have to make a craft for our girls gift exchange we do every year. But we often get together after Christmas to do this as it involves going out for dinner without kids. Lots of thing to coordinate for that to happen. This year we added a few new people to our group to do this so I think we are up to 7. Its a fun way to show your friends you care without having to make everyone a gift.

I got my Ravelry invite!! I can't believe I haven't posted this sooner. My user name is Imagine Knit. Check me out! I'm considering changing the blog name to this too. I know more changes but I like that better. I better do a blog search first. edited to add: obviously I changed it after writing this:)

Not much going on with the family except, BDiddy got a new boat. He's had the old one for almost 8 years and its little. The new one is a 18 foot fishing boat with lots of seating for kids and friends, a live well, a bigger motor, sun shade ect. He is so excited. It's funny to hear him talk about it and he asked me like 5 times last night if I like it. The answer is yes I do but it's really his deal. I'm just along for the ride.

I'm off to finish those socks! Knit on!

We interrupt this blog...

We interrupt this neglected blog... to inform you that Senja of Imagine Knit has gone missing. Family members were not available for comment although one BDiddy was overhead mumbling something about knitting and a"freaking scarf". Her last known whereabouts include, work and the couch in front of the TV. She was spotted knitting on a striped scarf made of Noro yarn. Some say her obsession with the color changes may have precluded her disappearance from the blogging world.

*******************************These suspects have been questioned frequently about said blogger. Here you can see their callous disregard for Senja's representatives as they are (gasp!) Scooping out their insides!!

They then lit them on fire from the inside and took pictures. The 3 suspects are at large and considered armed (with spoons) and dangerous. One was overheard squealing and seen throwing the innards around.

**************************Her representatives have "no comment" but were sporting a gorgeous striped scarf which looked suspiciously like the one Senja was last seen knitting. Any information about her whereabouts should be referred to this blog under comments.