Progress, of a sort.

It's time to out myself as a chronic project starter. I am going to list the things that I am currently carrying around in my knitting bag. Even carrying back and forth to and from work!
Below is the start of the Side Slip Cloche. I now have to join this and pick up around the top to form the hat. I was all fired up about this project and now it hasn't been touched for a month I'm sure.
Nolan's sweater, finally picked back up and sleeves started. Still not very far on those:(


Socks that were to be for KD now for Noley. Too small for KD unless I decide to rip them out and restart. Not decided on that yet.


Sweater for Miss M, just need to start sleeves and begin the raglan decreases.
These are not all the projects I have started and are hiding in my house either, just the ones I am hauling around with me. It's a sickness I know.

I decided all this confessing means you all should confess too! So in order for good participation a contest is in order.

Here's the contest for you all. How many projects do you have started and in progress right now? Including those tucked away somewhere in your house that you mean to pick up again. What is the easiest thing for you to knit and the hardest? The person who has the best answer as decided by my DH will get this lovely project bag, made by me. If a skein of yarn or some other goody happens to fall into the bag don't be surprised! Batman is running loose in my house and he might find something for me to pass along to the lucky winner.

Good Luck!
Contest will end Tuesday October 20th.

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:)

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!

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!

End of summer fun

Some knitting progress (finally!).

It's time to unveil Jess's baby gift. She knows about it now since I gave in and showed her it after the baby shower. So time for you all to see it too. I am using the fisherman's baby bunting from here.I changed how it's made to knit the body on circulars and added the seat belt holes as well. Also I'm using a light worsted weight yarn instead of the sport weight to make the size slightly larger. In that,is my current block. I have knit 4 sleeves for this bleeping thing already and each one has its own problem.
The first one wasn't big enough to stitch to the arm opening, the second was going to be as long as a monkey's arm. The third I'm not even going to talk about and the last one was just plain laughable. I think I've got the problem licked though. Tonight I will cast on yet again to fix that. Then just one more sleeve,hood and pick around some edges. I really like how this yarn is knitting up. It is Araucania Nature Wool a beautiful kettle dyed yarn distributed by Knitting Fever made in Chile. I bought it from the LYS in Superior, WI.

I love to put stuff in the county fair, it is really fun to do and gratifying to win something for my obessed habits:)

Here are my county fair entries, the purple shawl of past post.

The mittens are felted with Lamb's Pride Worsted, I forget the color name.
I made a quick trip to the Cities and visited my sister and her boys. Isn't she a cutie? Theron is too.

We have had lots of fun lately with the kids, just in time for school to start.

Last weekend found us trekking to Jellystone Park in Warrens, WI. We went with some friends we haven't seen in a while. They were our best pals when we lived in the Cities (That's the Twin Cities for those of you not from Minnesota). It was nice to know they're still our best pals. It was a fun trip for the kids especially, we adults would occasionally stagger back to our place and collapse on the couch for a bit. The kids just swam and swam and swam.

Here they met Yogi and Ranger, a highlight for them:)

There was mini golf.

And of course swimming.

On our way home we decided to go a different way and stumbled across an apple orchard. Check it out here. It was fun to do with the kids but it took a little longer to get home.

Back to the old grindstone. School starts next week! Yay!

Anniversary Surprise

Gotcha!

Thursday was our 10 year wedding anniversary. Hard to believe we aren't those young kids anymore. Knowing BDiddy like I do, I figured if I left it up to him we would spend it like any other day working on projects in the house and maybe we would go out for dinner that night. So I planned a big surprise for him. I was trying to pick him up from work but he came home early and we met on the road as I was leaving to go get him. He looked a little like, "What the heck?" My mom came and watched the munchkins and I had asked his boss to schedule a fake meeting the next day. We were off the the Olcott House Bed and Breakfast in Duluth. He was so so so surprised!

This is the outside of the place isn't it beautiful?

The drawing room, where guests were received in the old days.

Our room had a distant view of the lift bridge.

We had dinner at a local restaurant in Superior, WI just over the bridge and stopped for a coffee on the way back to the B&B. Ahhhh... Relaxing!

I am feeling pretty smug about this one as BDiddy had no idea and it took some convincing for him to believe that he really had today off. In fact we had to go to his work to find some proof that he wasn't working today.

The best part about this was having some time to really enjoy each others company. Our marriage has changed throughout the years, sometimes its been really hard to see what to love about the other person but we have hung on and continued to stay committed to each other and the family we have made together. I love him more now than when we were first married, for the man he has become and the father he is to our children.

PS. I got a new camera! It took these pictures, I love it!