Misc Things and An Award!

I have so many things to update you on and no pictures:(

School started right after Labor day and my kiddos went off to 3rd and 1st grade. Getting back into the routine of school wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. 3rd grade is more homework and less free time for me than I thought. KD isn't into telling me much about what goes on at school. So that means I have to hound him about homework and reading assignments and all kinds of of forms ect to fill out. Yikes!

I feel like I am in school again sometimes.

Miss M loves school and is super smart so it isn't hard for her, unlike her brother who struggles a bit more. She has a harder time with the social aspects of it being a sweet sensitive soul who has her feelings hurt easily. We have had one call from the teacher already just to talk about a bad day. She was hit in the mouth accidentally and someone was messing with her water bottle on the same day. Bummer.

Nolan enjoys not having the older kids around and having Momma to himself:)

On the knitting front the Pimlico Shrug (ravelry link) coming along. Luckily it is knit on size 8 needles and has a eyelet pattern which is easy to memorize. I only have until Oct 11th so I am starting to feel the crunch.

Did I mention that I leave for a week in the Dominican Republic right after the wedding? No kids, no hubby just my mom, sister, and cousin. The reality of this trip is starting to sink in. But I think it will not feel real until I get on the plane. I haven't taken an airplane since KD was a baby so around 7 years ago. Yikes! Any tips about what can and can't get through security?

The best news of all is my recent yarn order from the LYS in Duluth. I will officially have my dyed yarns in her shop this week or next, depending on how quickly I can get the rest of the stuff dyed. Local knitters check me out at Yarn Harbor in the Woodland area. Hopefully this is the start of a regular thing for me since the Etsy orders and few and far between. I am happy to have any orders though. I started this blog on a whim and the Etsy shop was the same. Just dove in head first and d#*^ the consequences.

Last but not least:

I was honored with the Arte y Pico award by Guinifer of Halfway Down the Stairs. I don't know what is nicer her comment on my dyeing or my cute kids. Thank you Guinifer!

Here are the rules that I pasted from Guinifer's blog.

1.) Show the award. Link back to the blog that gave you the award.

2) Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award because of creativity, design, interesting material, and contributions to the blogger community, no matter of language, and link to them.

3) Leave comments on the blogs to let them know you've given them an award.

4) Show the link to the Arte y Pico blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5) Show these rules.

I decided to chose some local gals who I follow since there are many, many blogs I like.

Too Much Yarn is Christine who is the queen of many socks and has a serious sock yarn obsession.

One Knitter's Notebook Wendy knits great stuff for her kids and hubby, plus she is my first bloggy friend I met in real life.

Vegan Craftastic Kala just got married and knits all vegan fibers. Love her knits.

HollyKnitlightly Holly is really close to me and a Finn! Who doesn't love that? Plus she knits cute sweaters for herself.

Nova Made Ok Nova isn't local but she inspires me to try whatever craft I want because she does and makes coool stuff for her little boy.

Later Dudes!

He Makes Me Proud

I taught KD how to knit yesterday. He woke me up this morning to ask if he could knit. Ummm... Yeah!
He is head over heels in love with it!

Knitting progress here, my dad's sweater is coming along, I fixed the problem and am almost ready to divide it for armholes and the neck edge. I am starting to be done with this so I better get moving on it. Hopefully by Christmas I can give this to him:)

What are you all up to? Knitting on as usual.

Last Summer Fling (spoiler alert Woolgirl sock club at the bottom)

Our last hurrah and we just got back. B had some work to do in Brainerd, MN so we packed up the kids and went to the water park at the hotel there. If you want a fun place to stay try The Lodge. Woodsy themed hotel a little hokey but has a fun water park. The kids loved it.

Miss M would not let me take her picture, KD had a blast there and went down the tube slide many times all by himself. He was wearing a life jacket but he was still super proud.

I am feeling guilty that there is little knitting content to show here, but I do have yarn. My Woolgirl sock club package came this week and this is by far my favorite of the installments. Great package and good color, plus 2 patterns for socks! I can chose my favorite, awesome. Here's a picture.

I am plugging along on my dad's sweater and it is finally getting somewhere but I have hit a snag. There is a mistake in the pattern and I should just rip back but I have tried to knit back a couple times.

It. Is. Not. Working.

I will get up the nerve to just rip it back soon but I can't face it. I will probably start another pair of socks first. Gotta take the edge off you know?

Later Dudes.

PS. Go to Fibreholic for a fun blog contest.

Boundary Waters Bliss

In case you think I have given up knitting all together, here is a picture of my latest project. I am using the Yarn Harlot's sock recipe from one of her books. Webs was having a sale one a grab bag of Regia sock yarns, so Saunaknitter (Ravelry link) and I split the bag of 10. This is one of the colors I got.

This was the project I brought into the woods with me for last weekend's camping trip.


We go on this trip every year my girlfriends and I, it ranges from 2- 7 people each year but the core group has always stayed the same. I think this was the 8th year we have been doing this but I'm not sure. The first night there we were greeted by 2 deer, one was a buck with the velvet still on his antlers.

We enjoyed the best meal we can make in the BWCAW of steaks and mashed potatoes. Then went to bed late due to a malfunctioning bear rope, *#!&%*.The next day we were going to move camp but decided on a day trip to the back bay area nearby. Good thing we didn't move since at the end of the 2nd portage there was this.
A huge swamp of carpet-like floating grass and weeds interspersed with muck up to your thighs. We turned around and went back the way we came. We stopped at a sand beach for a little swimming instead.
It was heavenly. So was the sunset that night.
The hot bev's are always good too, I had to have a shot of ours waiting to be mixed up. Hot cocoa and tea were the most popular request.
Of course there were things to do like dishes and firewood getting, but it is all spread out through the days so it doesn't feel like you work all the time.
Every night we had a swim by of a beaver who's lodge was across the way from us. It was fun to watch them build their lodge and hear them "talk" to each other.
Our way out was easy going but a bit hot. The lake was like glass. It makes it hard to come home when it is like this.

Only one night of a quick rain and sunny warm days that weren't too hot. Good times were had by all.

Going Camping

I off to the BWCA for the annual "girls" camping trip. Bringing some socks to knit on, will update when I am back!

Finn Fest And Other Fun Stuff

2 Weekends to blog about.



The other weekend my little sis came to see me. She is knitting a sock here.


My folks came over to go the Finn Fest 2008 in Duluth. Here are the little boys with Papa.
Our first stop was in the flax spinning room. Very cool demo. This woman is cracking off the hulls for the finer fiber underneath.
These ladies are spinning the flax into linen.
We went down to the Marketplace and suddenly there was a bunch of Secret Service guys all over the place. The President of Finland was there! I didn't get close enough to shake her hand but here she is. She is the lady with the reddish hair to the right.

Obviously I am a Finn, so it was fun to go see the stuff and people watch. I never knew there were so many suomalianen in the area. I kept thinking I knew everyone because most everyone looked familiar.

Sunday we went out with the family on B's new boat to fish and swim. Noley was in seventh heaven. He loves fish and the water.

Here is a shot of KD before he was upset about not catching as many fish as the rest of us.Miss M caught this big Northern. She was so proud!

B went to the Quetico last week and here are a few of his pics. I love this picture.

My Brother with his big Northern.B is home again tired and grubby but he had fun camping.While he was gone I dyed these. I will get them in the shop soon.Plus I went and picked these!Happy knitting and enjoy the rest of the summer.

All Alone

My hubby and the kids are away. Hubby has the camera. What to do with myself? Hmmmm. Knit and sew and dye yarn of course! Updates when the camera comes back from its trip to the Quetico with B. Until then you'll find me enjoying the short lived silence. I'm only a little lonely...