As I look at the calendar, I am wondering where 2011 went. It seems that the older I get, the faster time goes. I remember being a little kid, sitting in school and thinking how slowly time went and wanting it to go faster so I could get to be grown up and do all sorts of things. Not sure it is as glamorous as I thought it was :)

The first ten months of 2011 are a blur of nausea, fatigue, doctor's appointments and newborn days. So exhausting.

Totally worth it.

George is pretty awesome. He was sooooo intense at first, I was a little concerned that I couldn't keep up that kind of pace and not go crazy. But he is kind of pure joy now, for the most part. When he is awake, he is pretty easygoing. He likes to be held, but he also really likes to sit across from you and talk and coo and make eye contact. He has this really goofy little laugh if you tickle his cheek or rub your fingers on his belly. He likes his siblings over the top crazy attempts to make him laugh. He usually ends up taking a pretty good nap in the swing most days, which has been really nice.

He's still a big boy. Every so often, I pick him up and it seems like he gained weight from the last time I put him down (which is never more a couple of hours). We will have to do a weigh in soon- I would be interested to see where he is at at almost three months. He is now filling out 6-9 month clothes. After having my little peanut Adelle, it is nice not to have to worry about weight gain.

I have no idea if he will continue to be easygoing or how things will progress over the next few months. It has been my experience that you just never can tell with babies. Easy babies can be challenging toddlers. High maintenance babies can be easy toddlers. And they are all kind of tricky when they are three ;) I will just be thankful for this mellow time right now.

In crafting news- instead of trying to find tapers that will inevitably not fit in my Advent wreath, I decided to make another Advent wreath. In fairness, many of the baubles were falling off my wreath since I have had it a number of years and the kids tend to mess with things. I used this idea from Catholic Icing: Making your own pink and purple Advent candles. Per the suggestion, I got all my materials from the Dollar Tree and was able to do it super cheap. Which makes the frugal part of me very happy.

I even got the ribbon at Dollar Tree. Who knew you could get ribbon so cheap? Since I could only find purple little decorations, I used some spray adhesive to glue loose pink colored glitter onto the silver ribbon to incorporate the rose color.

George took an excellent nap on Saturday afternoon, so I was able to make his Curious George blanket. I ended up cutting it down to the flannel size, for a very warm blanket. Then I put blanket binding around the edges and I loooooove it. So much. I want to look at it all the time. My corners are not perfect (to say the least) but they are passable.

Even he likes it

I knit this hat last spring, my sister Michelle knit the earflaps on for me a month ago and I finished the pom pon the other day. Like.

The sweater is coming along. I finished the first sleeve yesterday and it is on the needle with the body. Knitting second sleeve. I might actually get it finished (assuming it ends up fitting well, also)

Picot edge. This pattern actually calls for a straight edge at the bottom, neck and sleeves. But I like the picot edgy for a slightly "dressier" look, so I am just doing the straight edge at the bottom and the picot on the sleeves and neck.

The craftiness is back.

When I was pregnant, I pretty much went into survival mode. I didn't want to bake, didn't particularly want to knit, didn't want to read books or sew. I fed the littles, taught them what they needed to learn, took them swimming and just made it until my next doctor's appointment.

As I was looking at my likes/dislikes post, I realized that since I have had him, it's like I have woken up. I want to knit, bake, sew, read, teach the kids all sorts of exciting stuff, cook adventurous meals. Pretty much everything except for clean the toilets and fold laundry ;) I feel like I have come out on the other side of gestation. It is wonderful. Now I just have to pace myself.

Here are some projects I am working on currently. I have conundrums with the first couple. I am a very indecisive person so I need all of you crafty friends to tell me what to do.
Pretty excited about this one, actually. This is going to be a blanket for George (obviously). The Curious George fabric is fleece and the blue fabric is flannel because I wanted to back it. But we have indoor pets and fleece attracts fur, so I got flannel. I prewashed it because I anticipated that the flannel would shrink. It shrank. A lot. Enough that I will have to cut a considerable amount of the CG fabric. I think I have two yards, so it will still be a big blanket. But still.

So tell me, crafty friends, what to do? Go ahead and cut the CG fabric down to flannel fabric size and bind it together? Or just put the blanket binding around the CG fabric and have it be one layer. I think it will look good either way. The flannel combo will just give me a thicker blanket, though smaller.

Blurg. This one is ridiculous. George is growing extremely fast, so I need to make him so new fitted diapers. So I bought this flannel. Cute, right? Well, one evening, he was actually being pretty mellow so I went ahead and cut the fabric.

Um, yeah. I hadn't prewashed or dried it. So now I am not sure what to do. Should I sew around the edge so it doesn't fray and then wash and dry it before putting it together? Or should I just put one together, wash and dry it and see how it ends up?

Oh, the dangers of looking before you leap.

This is going well, though. I am making the Hourglass Sweater from the book Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I got the yarn before I left Idaho. It is gorgeous and soft, though I hear it isn't tough and pills like mad. Oh, well. It is going to be my Christmas sweater, as long as I can finish it in time. I just finished up to the sleeves yesterday, so I just have the sleeves and yoke to knit in the next few weeks. Doable, right?

I also sewed a flag for Isaac's Tiger Cub troop, I'll have to take a picture of that soon. And there is a baby sweater that needs seaming, though I am not sure it'll fit anyone.

And more crafting on the horizon. Not enough hours in the day!

Hats and pants and messed up soakers, oh my!

A hat knit for Isaac in December. Clementine ate his hat last year. Simple and handsome.

I actually knit two identical ones for my friend and my sister-in-law who had baby girls in October and January, respectively. Some handsome little longies knit up for a friend who just had a baby last month. Some Manos I bought at the yarn store in Jackson when we first moved a couple years ago. The yarn is so beautiful!

Stupid soaker, lol. I knit it in August, in one day working at the yarn store. Took me forever to do one cuff. Forever and a day to do the second cuff. Right after I finished the second cuff, I realized that I did it in the wrong needle size (about 4 sizes too big, to be precise) and I just haven't ripped it out and did it all over again. Seriously, it would take me about 45 minutes tops. Sometimes my ridiculousness about things astounds even me.

Sweater progress

Last week, upon my return to the yarn store, I started Wicked by Zephyr Style, as mentioned in my last post. It is relatively uncomplicated thus far, so I have been working diligently (well, as much as one *can* knit while taking care of a house, husband and four kids) I am loving it! I also finished a soaker for Adelle because she is outgrowing her newborn ones, and have started a pair of longies for her, since the ones she got handed down aren't going to fit her right away. I am making a grand knitting comeback!

Last week (blame my younger son for the dirty mirror)

Currently

Upcoming projects and some knitting

We went to town today so that the kids could use the gift certificates that their Grandpa got them for Christmas. While we were there I picked up some goodies for future crafting.

Some simple, cheap onesies for Adelle. I am going to find a yarn that compliments all three of them (I am thinking a light green or light pink) and knit some little newborn shorties for her this summer. It is really hard to find just plain t-shirts for newborns (as opposed to the onesies with the snaps) so I will just cut off the bottom of the onesie and hem in up into a shirt so she can wear with with her wool. Sweet and a relatively easy project.
I had to buy some girlie flannel for diapers. I have the Very Baby pattern to make some fitteds, though I might try another pattern too. Issy and Isaac helped me pick out the fabric, I think they did good!


The finished Curly Purly kimono. I bought this yarn on sale at the LYS shortly after we moved here, it is Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb (wool/silk) It is gorgeous, vibrant colors and soft and wonderful to work with. I started this kimono pattern because I really love way it looks finished. Unfortunately, there is an obscene amount of seaming, so I put it away for a year and a half because I didn't really have anyone to give it to anyways, and therefore not a ton of motivation to seam it (because I really loathe seaming). But I was looking through my unfinished projects last week and decided to revive it for Adelle. Good for evenings in the mountains. I loooove the way it turned out!
And a picture sock update! I had finished the cuff last night and then today at the yarn shop I did the heel flap and turned the heel, and started the gusset at the ankle. I am in the home stretch!

One down....

I have had some knitting time in the last few day because a) Liam had the stomach flu on Friday so we spent the day on the couch watching Dora and trying to convince him he didn't want to eat/drink because he was just going to get sick again. Good times. and b) I was at the yarn shop on Saturday. So I got to complete the first of my lacy, beautiful, springy (as in springtime, not bouncy) socks. This first pose, let me say, not terribly easy to take a picture of your own leg like that. Maybe even moreso during gestation. But I made the commitment to contort myself because I thought it was a nice way to show off the sock.


So now you all know that one entire sock is completed. So that we don't have a fiasco like the one mentioned in the previous post, where beautiful socks were put down for over a year, I need to ask a favor. Please harass me about working on the second sock. I might not get to it until this weekend, because you know, I have to take care of the kids and clean and make food and stuff. Just periodically ask me how it is going. Accountability.

Cause i know you have been holding your breath

I know you all have been eagerly awaiting a knitting update, so here it is. These top two are my unfinished objects that i am posting for accountability or i might never finish them. The top one is a sweater for an old co-worker of Joe's that he still chats with that had a baby in May. I have been done with it for a month, i just need to finish seaming the arms and armpits. And the bottom one is a Curly Purly soaker for Liam, which obviously just needs another leg cuff. My goal is to have them done in a week.

These two soakers i made for a friend of mine who is starting to cloth diaper. The top one was way too big, so i think i will sell it. The bottom one looks just right.

This is a Booga Bag, made with three skeins of Noro Kureyon yarn. It is knit and then felted. The bottom two are in progress and the top one is all felted and finished. I love it! The colors are beautiful.

Three Irish Girls yarn and a sock

Michelle and i joined a co-op for Three Irish Girls hand-painted yarn. Here it is in the Elsbeth, Nolan and Reilly colorways with a coordinating trim for each. Michelle, i was going to only put up a picture of mine so it would be a surprise, but i decided i couldn't tease you like that :)

I have been holding onto this sock yarn for several months now, i got it on discount at Knitpicks because they discontinued this line. But i thought it would make a really lovely pair of winter socks. I am used the RPM pattern from Knitty.com I really love the way that it turned out. It is hard to see, but it has a spiral that goes down the ankle part and across the top of the foot. The pattern was really simple, but fun.

Finished Mitten/Gloves and First Felted Object

So i decided yesterday that i was going to try my hand at felting. So i knit this moc and then felted it last night. It was a really quick knit and it is really cute. I need to knit the other one for Isaac tonight. I used some Lion Wool that i kool-aid dyed last spring.

The finished mitten/gloves. I love them! Now i just need to figure out how to convert the pattern into the round because seaming just about drove me crazy!

Snowy Saturday and teaching Issy to knit

They played outside in the snow on Saturday. It was snowing when they got up and stopped late morning. They went outside after naptime and it started snowing again. They must've have had a good time because they stayed out there for 45 minutes before i told them it was time to come in. It is significant for me to note that we have already received near the amount of snow that we probably got all winter in Wichita last year. Yipes! I am glad my kids like snow (and that i'll be spending a couple of weeks in Kansas in the spring!)

We decided it was time to learn to knit for real. So i took her to the yarn store on Saturday morning and let her pick out her own (big) yarn and (big) needles. She is actually quite good. She is going to make a purse :)

Issy eyes and Knitting stuff

Here is my Issy taking pictures again. I am not quite sure why, but it cracks me up. In this edition of "Issy eyes" we have a picture she took of herself and Liam, me talking on the phone (probably to Michelle), the contents of the toybox, and her foot. There were a lot of other artful shots too :D

My pretty needle organizer that Michelle got me for my birthday. Bee-u-t-full!

My fingerless glove with a mitten flap. Figured it would be good to have my fingers available for zipping coats and doing carseat buckles and then i can keep them all toasty warm during what promises to be a cold cold winter with the mitten flap