Annual Camping Trip

Our yearly trip camping was last weekend. We chose to go to Northern Minnesota just south of the BWCAW.

The scenery is gorgeous.

Lots of wildlife to be seen, this is a turkey vulture.

The lakes are like nowhere else on Earth.

Kids enjoy the touristy things like taking pictures.

We had art class one day and make tie dyed shirts.

Our campground on Crescent Lake was pretty nice but super buggy!
Just a bad time of the year to camp because of the bugs. Good thing I brought other things to do, Miss M and I painted our nails one evening while the guys fished.

Noley shot things with his sticks.

Our highlight was a Momma Moose and her 2 babies eating at a lake. We stopped and watched them 3 times this day. They had lots of viewers and didn't seem to think much of the fuss.

Very little knitting was done but that is alright, sometimes you gotta take some time off. Hope your summers are getting off to a good start.

So sorry for disappearing on you all. We had a busy week last week and it ended yesterday with Miss M's 7th Birthday. I can't believe I am old enough to have a 7 year old child but she doesn't lie and she definitely knows how old she is. I am very proud her in every way and think she is the most beautiful child anyone could have. But I am her mother and that goes without saying. She is smart, sweet, sensitive, moody, loving, quick tempered (um I think that comes from me) and growing too fast for her momma. I am blessed in so many ways but this child has always challenged and taught me so much. I love you sweetie I hope your birthday was a good one.

I won't bore you with all the craziness around here with work stuff and trips out of town but want to tell you about knitting progress and plans for good crafty things to come.

Today is clean house day along with dye yarn day. I am woefully behind on an order for Yarn Harbor and must work on that today, also the Etsy shop has been neglected lately. I need to play with colors and come up with some new colorways. I am bringing back the DK weight Peace Fleece because I feel the Worsted is sometimes a bit bulky for some projects. So I should get some of that dyed as well. This means I better get off here and get working.

Noley is coughing up a storm today and has a slight fever so I will juggle keeping him in the house and occupied with all that. Plus the drapes have had no work done lately since I packed it all away for a Pampered Chef party the other week and haven't pulled it out again. So my week off of work sounds like it has its work cut out for it already. Off to get it all done!

Late Post of the Holiday Break

Our Holidays were a mix of work (me), driving to see family, lazy days at home, quiet family time and fun.

I had to work Christmas this year which means we spend our holiday home with our kids then go to see B's family after. Our home celebration is very quiet even with 3 kids. I need to think up some more traditions for us that works into me being gone part of the time.

The kids spent their time off of school playing outside in the snow. I heard that we have gotten a record amount of snow for this time of year here.

Miss M helping Noley.

KD sitting in a nest of snow.

Of course when home and bored with everything there is the requisite fort building out of couch cushions. Miss M took this pic of the boys.

I have been doing some yarn dyeing and knitting. There are lots of new yarns in the shop. I updated it yesterday. I am knitting a sweater out of a Rebecca magazine I think it is the fall 2005 issue. It will be a long jacket like sweater. I really like how it is turning out and it feels like it is going really fast. Bulky yarn will do that to a person.

So I am back on the blogging, sorry it took so long to get this posted. I must have been enjoying my holiday break too much:)

A Handmade Christmas

This is the pile of stuff my son had packed to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Do you see what I see? We had a great Holiday weekend with Thanksgiving on Thursday, Christmas on Friday and a Birthday party on Saturday. I am with my little sister when she suggested we do Christmas in January next time we are together on Thanksgiving only.

My sister loved her new hat. See this posting about it. .


My dad's vest is finally done! It fits and he loved it.

When I look at these pictures the song, "I'm too Sexy" runs through my head:)

In case you want details here they are: Pattern is mine made up as I went. Yarn is Cascade 220 in Midnight heather used I think about 4 skeins, needles sixe 7 US circular. Size about 36 inch chest.


I made most of the gifts this year, these aprons were for my nieces. They also got baking related items. Cookie mix, cake mix, wooden spoons, you get the picture.
These 2 are for my nephews W and T:)

My little sis also made a bunch of stuff. Noley got a "guy". He has been sleeping with it which is always the true gauge of whether a kid likes something or not. If they can't go the night without it near them they love it.
T got one of these for his birthday because it is so darn cute! I got an order from my nieces for one each once they saw this:)
The Birthday party was for the 2 boys who are 3 weeks apart. We went the easy way out with a DQ cake and a pool party. Here they are with their helicopters from Auntie B.

Noley is a little fish and loved the water.


T is a daredevil and went down this slide over and over again face first then backwards. No Fear!

All in all it was a good time if a little hectic. Looking forward to a quieter Christmas at home and a visit to the other Grandma and Grandpa right after.

In case you need a last minute gift for a fellow knitter or someone just learning, I have these knitting kits in my shop. Maybe some of you would like to check them out.

Here is hoping you all had the best holiday weekend too! And a low stress, happy, fun Christmas to come.

And Done.

I am officially out of time to pack for the trip. I leave to the Cities tomorrow for my BIL's wedding on Saturday. My shrug is still on the needles but I have less than 2 inches left of the ribbing around the collar so I think I can finish. There are 504 stitches in each round though. The potential to not finish is there but I plan on wearing it on Saturday and have no backup. It Will Be Done.



In the last two weeks I worked 24 hours, went to a class to get CEU's for my license, did a lot of laundry, ran kids to the dentist, bought a gift for the wedding, packed myself for the big trip and still have to pack my kiddo's. Yikes! I have a pedicure appt tonight and I think it is well deserved. Plus it is a gift certificate from the hubby for Valentines day. I know that is in February, I needed to find just the right time to go:)



Fall is here and our leaves have peaked already but it is my favorite season. I hope your Fall is going well. I'll leave you with a picture of my kidlets enjoying a fall hike since neither I or my house is fit to be seen right now.



The Pimlico shrug will have a photo shoot when I get 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.

Finally Summer!

May is a big birthday month for us. So the little bit of blogging will get blamed on doing stuff for that. Here is Miss M's big day. KD's party.
Yesterday was finally a nice day and we had a sleep over for KD's Bday. Somehow that turned into this.
The kids had a super great time!

I tried my hand at crock pot dyeing too. That was pretty fun but I will have to go for some other colors, these are not my personal favorites.
I am trying to get some spring cleaning and a few stash busting projects done so hopefully I will have some knitting to post soon. Get out and enjoy the warm weather if you have some! Maybe take a drive.

Uninspired

OK I realize somehow the month got away from me and there is no blogging. This post is simply an attempt to get myself back on that horse, so to speak. I've been working on another soaker for Noley and a scarf for my grandma. I kind of made up the pattern so if it is cute enough I will make it available here. I think there has just been too many nice days lately to want to sit and write about stuff.

We have big plans for the weekend squashed between my working Sat and Sun. Maybe I'll find some good blog fodder then. Until next time, Knit on!

Scatterbrain

Oops! Got busy and now I have tons of things to update on. This post seems a little scattered but here goes.


I managed to get KD to pose with his hat on. He will wear it at home but not to school. Already I have kids that are embarressed of me. I think it looks really cute on him, and he says its nice and warm.

I had a visitor the other day. This Piliated Woodpecker hangs around our house year round, but with the cold weather I haven't seen him in a while. Not the greatest picture but you can see how big he really is.
I love these kinds of things in my yard, handmade kid stuff! KD made this one warm day last week.

I joined Rani's, Year of Socks. Crazy I know. I really have to get going on Febuary's sock. I am planning to make these. The Azure socks are just the thing.

Rani nominated me for a "You Make My Day" award. She also is having a little contest so go see what she's up to.

So to spread the love, check out these blogs.

I have to return the favor to Rani, I check her blog out often.

A Few Things To Say - she's back from Hiatus! and quilting!

A Friend To Knit With

Probably a ton of people nominated the Yarn Harlot, but I do love her writing and she's wicked funny.

Christine at Too Much Yarn is a super fast sock knitter too. (Oh she nominated me too! Gotta keep up with the blogs more.)

Yarn Hog gets a mention too, she knits stuff I love at a hugely fast pace. We are knitting a sweater in the same yarn and color right now.

Oh there are just too many to name! If I didn't mention you consider yourself mentioned. I love you all.

Last on the blog front I just have to say Thank You to all who have ordered my yarns or have even checked them out. I am so happy to be doing the dyeing on the side and it means so much that you like the yarns. More is coming, I am putting in orders today for more stock. Watch the Etsy shop for updates or check back here, I'll put a note in when I add to the store. Thank You again!

On my needles:

Assymetrical Cardigan

Hat in Malabrigo of my own design

Azure socks

Baby socks

Better get to work! Knit On!