Monday, March 31, 2008

Good times!

This weekend was nice. My Dad and step-Mom came into town and we had a nice time.
Here's some pics: My Dad and Sean, Joanne and Jake and Sean enjoying a chocolate bunny for the first time.


























For more pics of Sean's bunny-fest, click here.

I also managed to get some work done on my Mom's sweater (which I didnt take a current pic of) and Damarys' sock. I have almost finished the collar/buttonband on the sweater, which is cool. Then it will be back to the other pieces, and I'll take a pic of it tonight. Here's the sock:


Thursday, March 27, 2008

Done and begun

I finished my Dad's hat. Wanna see? Of course you do. Here's it on me!










Guess you really can't tell much from that - sorry. But it is really soft and pretty. And, I started Damarys' socks today at lunch. I was very worried since these are done toe up using the magic loop method. Never done that before, and although it did feel weird for the first round or two, it worked itself out nicely. My progress so far:









Yep, leaps and bounds I tell ya! You can see the whole sock here. I really like how these look, I just hope I can pull them off.

In other news, Cliffy will begin battling his cancer shortly. Please keep him and his doctors in your thoughts and prayers as they work through this challenge. And no, this wont get him his afghan any earlier!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

I hate it when that happens

I dropped a stitch in my Dad's hat. When did I notice it? Today at lunch (3 inches after it happened). Whoops! I had to frog the whole thing. That's OK, I didn't much like the 4x4 rib and have re-started it as a 2x2 rib instead. It will fit better I think, since the alpaca doesn't have any stretch to it.

I did manage to take pics this morning.
Me and Jake, then Sean wondering why he wasn't in the picture!


















I also got 2 new books!!

Houseworks
and Things I Learned From Knitting (Weather I wanted to or not!). I got the Houseworks book in yesterdays mail and I haven't gotten very far but I like it. Lots of great tips and they are helpful!

Not much else to talk about. Hopefully I will have more tomorrow.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Happy Birthday to my Daddy!

And since he doesnt read this, I am perfectly comfortable telling you that I started knitting him a birthday hat this morning. Yep, this morning. He will be in Florida tomorrow and I will see him on Friday, so I think it is perfectly acceptable to delay his birthday gifting until then, thus allowing me time to finish the hat.

So far, I have kitted (in k4p4 rib) about 1.5-2 inches and a few rounds of knit on 10.5 16" bamboo circ. I'm using (drumroll please) the alpaca from my last trip up home. It's black and soft and georgous, with a bit of hay stuck in, although I am trying to pick that out as I go. I'll keep on knitting, eventually decreasing until it fits a human head. Easy peasy.

So, how was your Easter? Ours was ok, the kids had fun, and when Travis got home from work at 6:30, we had a nice dinner at his parents' house. Sean thouroughly enjoyed trailing after Jak while he picked up eggs. He understands what egg means and it sounds like he's saying bock bock bock (what a chicken says). He's saying baby, kitty, puppy and thank you. And yesterday I noticed something a little too advanced. My FIL was playing with Sean on the floor, going around the coffee table and letting Sean "chase" him. He got a little quicker and once he got more than half-way away Sean did an about face and went to fetch him going the other way. Normally they will follow, around and around, until they catch up. I was pretty impressed and gave my MIL the "Uh oh, we're in trouble" look.

Well, that's really about it for now. Hopefully more tomorrow, with pictures!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Updates. And pictures!

Sean is doing ok, he is responding well to the antibiotics and it seems to be looking less ugly and red. Thank you for the well wishes. Wanna see what impetigo looks like? Course I couldnt get a pic of him actually looking at me! Funny how he makes being sick look cute.









Also wanted to share the last pic of mom's sweater before it starts going behind a cut. Not a lot to look at at this point:









We also itroduced Sean to the guinea pig. After this pic and we put Buddy away (-ish, since we were cleaning the plastic bottom of the cage and the pig was inside the cagey part on the floor) Sean went directly over to him and tried to pick him up, and when that failed tried to get INTO the cage with him. I failed to get that pic but was adorable!









And finally, I wanted you to see Sean's new word. Thank you. Apparently the video thingie isnt working and it will need to be on a seperate post. Some day I'll figure it out.

That's it from me. Have a great Easter, and I will try to get Jake to take a nice picture.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

What is it with this kid?

Sean is home sick. BIG surprise, right? I thought the problem was his breathing, which became labored last night and warranted a breathing treatment. Yes he had a thing on his nose (and by thing I mean what was once a hapless red dot is now a big-as-his-nose ugly sore) but I really took him to the doc about the breathing, all the while praying "Please don't send us to the hospital, please don't send us to the hospital". Yes they gave us a steroid for his breathing and the advice to keep up the breathing treatments, but they also gave us another diagnosis about his nose. Impetigo. Shocked! I have never seen such a thing and everyone I talked to (my MIL, an older co-worker) hadn't seen it in years! But that doesn't stop Sean at all!!
Anyway, No real post today, just that explanation as to why. Wordy, right? More tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Quiet evening

I dont really have anything to talk about - shocking I know. Last night I made chicken burgers and I thought they were pretty good. I got my Mom's advice on them since it was at her house that I had them the first time. Her suggestion - add BBQ sauce to the mixture and some breadcrumbs. No need for an egg. Here's what I did:
1 lb ground chicken
1/3 c Italian bread crumbs
2 Tbsp BBQ sauce
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp no-salt seasoning
1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Mix it all up and form it into 4 patties and on the George Foreman it went. Tasty yes, very burger-like especially when covered with a slice of cheese and ketsup and mustard. However, it got kinda burned on the bottom of the burgers but not the tops. I thought that was pretty odd and I have no explination. Thoughts?

I worked on Mom's sweater last night and during lunch today. I have about 2 inches done. Sweaters go REALLY slow in sock yarn. Just saying is all.

I am almost done getting my submission together for the seekrit jacket. I love it, and hopefully they will too. Wish me luck!

Travis got his schedule - Mon through Fri 9 - 5:30. That was his first choice. I am thrilled to pieces that we can be like a normal family again. Woo Hoo!!

I am planning on a yard sale Saturday 3/30. I already have a few boxes of stuff that I've been tucking away for this event, starting with Christmas. I've got Jake into the spirit by telling him that anything of his that he sells he gets to keep the money. Hopefully this will get him motivated to part with some of his 19 tons of stuff.

That's it for now, sorry I dont have more.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Finally some progress!

I guess it makes sense that if you knit/crochet on many different items that they never seem to get done. Well, this weekend I finished Mom's socks, finished the baby blanket and worked on Cliffy's afghan. Wanna see pics? Of course you do.

Mom's socks - they match even!!











Tami's baby blanket - sitting on my childhood rocking chair (which Jake promptly stole once I got it out for Sean even though it's been in Jake's room for EVER):














And Cliffy's blanket. It's currently about 2.5-3 ft square. I like how it's coming out, and even though it is very, uh, colorful, I think he will like it, for 2 reasons. First, he is at least partially to thank for th BIG bag of yarn that this is coming from and second I think he will be excited that I'm making something for him. He's funny like that.











And for those of you who are not here to see yarn:









Thursday, March 13, 2008

New stuff!

I have been really busy this morning, but it all started really simply. I wanted to share my Monkey & Yak scarf pattern. Well!! Not as easy as I thought. I created the pdf - I've done that before and it's easy peasy. I wanted to add it to Ravelry, but thats where the problems started. I needed a link to the pdf - and in order to do that I created a new website of sorts. I'm calling it My Design Spot, and it's just a place where I can put the projects that I've designed. Some free, some not available since I'm trying to whore them out to magazines. Probably ought not say that, huh? Whoops. Anyway, I've done it and it works - 4 hours later. I've added the link to the side over there -->. Or you can go to this link.

Boy that felt like work! I am almost done with Tami's babyghan (more done that this pic from a couple days ago):









I also started Mom's Christmas sweater. Have I told you how much I love that yarn? It's pretty good to work with too, but since it's fingering weight and a SWEATER I think it will take forFREAKINever! Good thing I have 9 months, right? Here's what it looks like so far and a better look at the yarn itself:




















Well, that's it for me. More tomorrow hopefully.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Fine thanks, and how was your weekend?

Lets see, what have I gotten accomplished?

I did:
finish up the seekrit jacket (Thanks to Cliffy for help with the snaps)
start on Tami's baby blanket (the star one, in purples)
find some patterns to put on here as freebie .pdf's (NTS - figure out how to do that)
go to Mom's and the Grandparent's on Sunday
take some cute pics of Sean
see the gray hair in Jake's head that my MIL found

I did not:
work on Cliffy's afghan
work on either pair of socks
work on the brown sweater for me
start Mom's Christmas sweater (though did put the supplies in a bag for when I do)(NO, that doesn't count)
go to Disney
take cute pics of Jake, because he hides






















Anyway, Travis had a grand time in MS, but, unfortunately, didn't win a million dollars at the casino. Oh well, maybe next time.

Here's a new recipe for you to try out. We had it last night, and I think it was pretty good. I served it with green beans and chicken flavor Lipton noodles:

Saucy Chicken - Serves 6
Total baking time 30 minutes.

1.5 lbs chicken cutlets or breast cut up
1/4 cup olive oil
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 onion sliced (I didn't add this cause we don't like onions, I added onion powder)
1.5 cups chicken stock (I was out so I used the bullion equivalent)
2 T lemon juice
2 T balsamic vinegar
4 T flour

Preheat oven to 450. In baking dish, combine olive oil, chicken, mushrooms and onions and mix to coat everything in oil. Bake 5 minutes. Turn chicken, stir around veggies, bake another 5 minutes. In separate bowl, whisk flour into chicken broth until dissolved. Add lemon juice and vinegar. Add broth mixture to chicken, cover with foil and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil, stir veggies, bake another 10 minutes.

This made a whole lot of gravy, which was tasty and I thought it would be nice over rice. Travis thought it was good but would be too sweet to put as gravy. Now I just need to see if I can either reduce or remove the olive oil. As it was, it was only 5 points a serving.

Well, that's it for now. Have a great night.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Progress.

Well, I've finished the seekrit jacket except for some snaps that I need to buy. Yay!!! It came out so cute, I really like it. Extreme closeup? Sure.











I also wanted to show you Mom's sweater as it is right now. The colors aren't really like that. I cant get my camera to capture it correctly.:












Travis is on his way back from a few days in MS with his Dad. I don't think he won a million dollars, but hey - you never know! Tomorrow we're going to Epcot (weather permitting), then Sunday I'll probably head to my Mom's - she's missed her time with the Dyson since I forgot it last weekend. Whoops! At some point I need to buy a size 6 24" circ and the snaps, as well as head to the grocery store. Busy busy.

I accidentally had a small falling down when it comes to sock yarn. I ordered 2 skeins from Yarn Discontinued one of these and one of these (only from the other place). I'm so excited. The turquoise ones are for Damarys for Christmas. That's her favorite color and I've decided to give her 1 more chance at owning hand-knits. The other skein will live in the stash for a while. I just couldn't pass it up since it was half of what I normally pay. Yay! Same with the Supersock, it's normally twice as much as it was there. AND they are giving away some samples of sock yarn for each purchase. How could I turn THAT down?


Thats it for now, have a great weekend.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Some quick pics

The new couch:










Mom's sweater yarn:










I've finished the seekrit jacket but I need to re-do the bottom because I dont like it. It really is as cute as it is in my head. Yay!

Thats it for now. Back to work.

Monday, March 03, 2008

The kids are cute.

This weekend was plenty o'fun. I'll start with video of the boys. To preface this, Sean was eating the little pasta pick-ups raviolis and was apparently done with them but still had one on his table. Also, he's recently learned to say Jakey.




Saturday went well, we bought a sofa set and I dyed Mom's Christmas sweater yarn. I forgot to take pics of both but I will tonight. Sunday we went to my Mom's, CLiff and Jake went to see Spiderwick while Mom helped me wind some yarn.

That's really it, more tomorrow.