Thursday, November 29, 2007

Oh one more thing...

quickie baby hat, done with Blizzard Chunky, I think?

Size 9 DPNs

Knit 2x2 ribbing then worked till I deemed it was big enough for Robby's cranium then decreased then bound off. Only took a few days spread out over a month!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

'Ello

Wow, it's been really hard to find time to blog these days, but I've got lots of goodies to show you! First, I finished a sweater last night, I still need to block and weave in the ends, it's Wicked by the Zephyr gals. I started about two months ago, and it's a real quick knit, I used Classic Elite Inca Alpaca, on size 7's and switched to size 5's after the bust shaping.Please excuse the dirty mirror :P Next is the Gryffindor scarf for my nephew Ethan, I still have a few feet to go, but it's a pretty quick knit, I'm using size 9's and Plymouth Encore Worsted.I also finished a Koolhaas hat for my hubby, but I'll post pics later, it still needs blocking and ends woven in. And for the piece de resistance, here is one sleeve of the Autumn Rose, I finally settled on this color combo, what do you guys think?I had the yarn dominance reversed for the first medallion so it doesn't pop quite like it should, but I still love it! Check out Robby's blog too for some new pictures!

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Tomten-DONE!

I finished R's little tomten. It's big for him, but that's ok, I need to sew in a zipper eventually too.This was a relatively quick knit, I actually finished a few weeks ago, but it just now got cold enough where Robby could wear it. He always tries to pull the hood off. I love how it turned out, the modular construction kept the knitting interesting, and the Malabrigo was lovely to work with. The neon green border is actually a little brighter than it looked on the screen when I bought it online, but it works, I think. I will be able to see Robby in the dark!I'll post some of the pictures on Robby's special blog so you guys can get your daily dose of cuteness!...Oh wait, you guys are still here! I have another FO to show you! Remember that Rebecca sweater that I was having so much trouble with? After two years it's finally DONE. Thanks to some gentle prompting by Mrs. Knitsane, I got enough get up and go to finish seaming the sweater up. And despite my gauge issues and mistakes, I'm really happy with it. It's a perfect fall sweater and is very warm and comfortable. And because the yarn is a cotton/acrylic blend, it's easy to take care of...it's murder to knit, but I can just throw it in the wash!Hello. I have bad posture.While seaming and cursing this sweater, I thought, why didn't I just do it in the round? But thanks to Wry Punster's thoughtful blog entries on sweater construction, I realized, this heavy, heavy sweater, needed the rigid line of seams that go up the sides of the sweater to give it some stability, kind of like supporting beams in a house.Without the seams, the sweater would continue to sag and hang way too low. Since the yarn is very non-stretchy, the seams are very rigid, and they help the sweater keep it's shape. There is no real waste shaping, the 2x2 rib on the sides kind of act as waist shaping.

Now you guys know me too well, to know that when I finish one project I automatically MUST start another one. I'm continuing to work on Rob's Adult Tomten, I finished the short row sleeve cap shaping on it, and am going to work a few rows into the sleeve to decide whether it works or not. I took pretty good notes, so I'll try and explain what I did in a later post.

I've been obsessing over Eunny's Autumn Rose, and wanted to do it in green and purple hues. I ordered a buttload of Jamieson's Spindrift and have been experimenting with different colors. This is what I have so far, I'm going to rip out to the cuff and replace the white with dark gray and add in some blues.It's been fun, knitting with different color combos and seeing what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for reading and sticking with me thus far! If you want an invite to Robby's special blog, just e-mail me at robunderscorebeaatmsndotcom!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Most of

the time, knitting is very relaxing for me. Lace, garter stitch, cables, I love it all, and those nights where I got maybe 2 hours of sleep in a row, knitting socks kept me sane. I always feel a sense of accomplishment and not much makes me happier than giving my loved ones knitted gifts. NOT.THIS.WEEKEND. I guess this is what I get for rushing through things, knitting with one eye and the other eye on Robby, it was bound to happen, I've had many knitting successes, and it was payback time. I've been working on a Rebecca sweater for going on two years, I think she was mad at me because she was stuffed in various boxes and tupperware while I knitted bright, shiny, new things. After finally knitting the sleeves, I noticed on the front that sunlight had bleached a portion of the sweater (she sat in my car for a month). I was tempted to go over it with a black Sharpie, but I did the right thing and frogged it. When it came time to block the sweater, something terrible happened, I wet blocked it and like a good little knitter I started all my new balls of yarns on the ends so I could weave them up the sides. Well, I was in a rush, because Robby was in the bouncy chair, something got snagged, and a section on the side got pulled too tight and snapped. I managed to untangle this wet sogging mess and get the stitches on dpns so I could graft when everything was dry.See that little frayed tail? That's where it snapped, I could have unknitted further, but the idea of trying to graft and do a cable at the same time struck fear into my heart. So, once everything was mostly dry (and smelling kind of dank) I tied on a new piece of yarn to that little mangled tail, and said a prayer then I tried to graft the ribbing, then tried it again...and again..and finally I thought I got it right, then I looked at it today and it was still wrong, finally I got it to where it looks ok.It's not perfect, but after the 6th time of trying to graft, my yarn was getting all untwisted (I hate you GOA! You and your 10 little singles plied into one are the bane of my life!) and fraggly looking so I'm leaving it, at least it's on the side so it won't be noticeable. If that wasn't enough for ya, remember Robby's lil' Malabrigo Tomten I've been working on? Well, you know after you have knit 28 ridges on the fronts, and the back, you rejoin all the stitches to make the hood? Make sure you don't twist any of those panels, like this.I wasn't undoing the grafting on the hood and ripping it out, so I broke out the scissors and snipped, did I mention I had NO green Malabrigo left? So, I unknit one row and grafted from each side and had the two tails meet in the middle in the back.I did have a bit of success this weekend, I made some progress on one sleeve, and experimented with some short rows to get a little bit of shaping on the sleeve. It's not much, but I think it makes a nice transition from the shoulder to the arm, it has more of a ben d to it, I wanted to practice the technique for when I do the shoulders on Rob's Tomten. Speaking of, here it is 19" of garter stitch goodness,I'm ready to divide everything up for the fronts and back, I'm making the armholes much shallower, more like a regular sweater. More on that next time!

I've just posted to Robby's blog so go check it out too! If you want to get on the list, just leave me a comment, and I'll email you an invite.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Swallowtail

Finito!August Pictures 228August Pictures 229August Pictures 221

Specs:

Yarn: Fino Alpaca with a Twist
Needles: Size 4 Addi Lace
Started: Early June
Finished: Late August

I don't have much to say about this, except that I love lace, and that I'm rigging up some blocking wires for the next go-round! Oh, and Addi Turbos are awesome, and even though nupps are hard, they are so worth the effort.

Edited to add: I blocked the sh#! out of this shawl. Also, I wanted to say that there are a few people I know of in the knitting world who are suffering from multiple myeloma. Alot of people know of Gerry, Annie Modiesitt's husband, and I *kind of* personally know Betty. Julie is doing the York Beach Light the Night Walk to raise money for doing research to develop new treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Last year she raised $1216 dollars! Let's help her reach her goal of $1500, she's got some great prizes in the raffle, so go check it out!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Ch ch changes

You guys might have noticed that I took down all of Robby's pictures off of this blog, I'm hearing more and more stories of predators using pictures of kids on the internet for nefarious purposes, so I thought, hey, maybe I'll just make this blog about knitting! Hahaha! I will be setting up a private blog so I can keep friends and family updated on Mr. Robby's latest adventures, so if you would still like to see His Cuteness, just comment and let me know, and I can put you on the list! Who am I kidding, my knitted objects are so few and far between, Robby's the real star of the show these days anyway :) To appease you all, here are pictures of the Snug as a Bug Entrelac Blanket in all of it's blocked glory, right now, it's with it's new owners, keeping their little one...well..snug as a bug!
August Pictures 134
August Pictures 139
August Pictures 050
August Pictures 052
Specs:
Louet Opal Sport Weight - 2 skeins of each color
Post blocking size - almost 3'x4'
Used size 5 knitting needles
Pattern downloaded from Parikha's blog.
Start date: About 9 months ago :P

In our next installment: Completed Swallowtail!

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

And I thought last week was bad...

Well ya'll it's been a pretty bad week, I know I've done a lot of whining on this blog lately, it just seems like when it rains it pours! Sorry about that, blogging is my therapy :P Robby had a terrible day on Monday, even with me he was crying inconsolably, and my gut kept telling me that something besides the toofs were bothering him. Tuesday was better, but this morning I took him to the emergency room. I'll spare you guys the gory details, but you know those little foil wrappers on wine bottles? Robby had eaten one, probably picked it up off my not so clean kitchen floor, and he swallowed it, digested it, it went all the way through his tummy, intestines, and got stuck on the exit ramp if you guys know what I mean, I saw it this morning when I was changing his diaper. So, I rushed him on over to the emergency room, everything is ok, the blockage was extracted, and prescriptions were filled, there were some cuts, but the doctor said it's pretty normal, especially when kids get constipated, and these things heal pretty quickly. They did x-rays and there are no more bits of foil in his tummy, whew. Robby's with his Aunt Amanda now, but I'm counting the hours until I can see him again. I just feel SO bad. I'm sure it will be funny one of these days, but honestly, what the heck am I gonna do when he starts driving? It just scares the crap out of me sometimes! So if you guys could send Robby some get well vibes through the blogosphere, I know he doesn't know what's going on, he was back to his ol' self(except for the toofs), I'm sure he felt some relief, I just hope he heals up very quickly! I'll leave you guys with some of the latest pictures of His Chubbiness.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

A morning

alone! Rob took baby Robby on a walk to give me some much needed after yesterday, it was hellacious. Robby napped for 1.5 hours the whole day and was fussy, whiny, and cranky for 90 percent of the day, plus trying to get work done, sigh... I normally don't do this, but yesterday I was so overwhelmed, I let him cry in his bouncy chair for 5 minutes because I was so worn out. I'm guessing it's his top teeth coming in, it seems to be extra rough for him this go-round. This past month, I haven't been letting Robby nap in my lap, and it WAS working well, but this past week, he wakes up after 15-30 minutes and doesn't go back to sleep, so I'm torn between letting him stay in my lap so he can get some good naptime in, or just pressing through and continue to lay him in his crib when he's asleep. He hasn't been sleeping well at night, he's getting up 3-4 times a night, and I've read that if babies don't nap well during the day, they don't sleep well at night. Any ideas?

So, here I am, doing one of my favorite things, blogging, and after this uploading some projects into Ravelry :) I've made some progress on Robby's Tomten.I'm 1-2 rows away from splitting up into the arm holes. I think I'll do the armholes as specified in EZ's pattern, but do some mods when I start the sleeves. I'm also making pretty good progress on my MIL's Swallowtail.I'm on the third row of nupps, and it's moving along!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Ravelry

I'M IN! Turns out I got my email May 2nd, but it went to my junk mail, I found out when I submitted my email to see how far down the list I am. I've uploaded about half my stash, but haven't submitted any WIPS in. Being somewhat of a techno geek, and being married to a techno geek, I have to say, it's awesome. The interfaces are all very intuitive, everything has worked great so far, and I love it! It's totally Myspace for knitters/crocheters, etc., but way cooler! My username is bapple, so if you are on, and I haven't already bugged you, add me as a friend!

Saturday, July 14, 2007

The blanket

is done! I just have to weave in 40 ends, YUCK. Oh for other exciting news, I got namedby Jessie! Thanks Jessie! I feel honored to join the ranks of all you other bloggers, it is amazing how much happiness, fun, and friendship I have gotten in the past year! I couldn't even narrow down 5 bloggers to name as Rockin' Girl Blogger, I think you guys are all awesome! And Robby says thanks too. And just to show how we aren't all fun and games around here, here is a picture of Robby when he wakes up from a nap and realized he's not in my lap :PHe's even cute when he's bawling, the little toot, he is SO sad. I also realized this last week that he wakes up from naps because he has to go to the bathroom, so I tried taking him to the bathroom to potty and it works! Weird, huh? Robby gives the blanket his seal of approval.See those little shoes he's wearing? I got them from Johanna. Her daughter Kaya was born the same day as Robby and is EXTREMELY cute, maybe Robby's future girlfriend :) Johanna makes shoes to sell on her etsy shop. These shoes are awesome, they are very flexible, which is good for babies feet, and they don't come off. Robby is an extremely active baby, and while crawling, scooting, walking, kicking, they didn't slip off once! And only 13 dollars for a custom pair made for Robby's big ol' feet.Oh yeah, I better explain, see I was reading through my bloglines, and came across this. My husband saw it and told me this is the sweater that he's been wanting me to knit for him forever, so, I put in an order for some of the Beaverslide color cards. I'm a little nervous about all the mods Brooklyn Tweed did, the smaller hood, the short row shaping in the shoulders, etc., so I'm making a miniature version for Robby using the Malabrigo I got from Knitch. The yarn is a dream to knit up, so soft, and the chunky garter stitch is a nice departure from the entrelac done on sport weight, ugh, and the lace stuff I've been doing. I still love you Swallowtail, but Momma needs a break.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Gasp..Knitting Content!

A while back, when Nona was working on a blanket, she talked about "heft".It's the point in the blanket where you feel that you are on the other side of the hill and nearing completion.I think I've reached that point. It's not so much in the length of the blanket, but the width, and when I block it, it should grow considerably. I think I have maybe 6-8 more rows, and then BO, then sewing in off the ends. I have three weeks left till the recipient is born, wish me luck! Robby also turned seven months on July 4th, and of course I wouldn't want to let down all of his fans :) After all, after he was born, this blog went from blog to a blog about Robby with some knitting thrown in there :) Robby is getting SO big, 19 lbs, 29 inches long! This month has been a little rough with all the moving, and I've been trying to wean Robby off napping in my lap, I know, can you believe I'm still letting him do that :P Actually he's napping in my lap now, but I'm giving him a free pass because of his teething. I've been doing it gently, no crying, just waiting till he's asleep then setting him down in a playpen. If he cries, I pick him up and try again, and slowly but surely, he's starting to nap alone. When I get frustrated, I just try to remember that a month ago he wasn't doing it at all! I've been giving him solid food, twice a day, homemade rice cereal, butternut squash, avocado, but he hasn't shown interest in it, except for chewing on the spoon, and smearing it all over the place. I don't force the issue, I've read some babies don't like to eat and prefer to nurse when teething. I'm not in a rush, plus the 500 calories a day I'm burning nursing him don't hurt either! He's pulling himself up all the time, and now he'll crawl to me and want me to help him stand up on wobbly legs! Something about that really touches me, I guess maybe because it's the first time I've really seen him MOVE towards me and ask for my help, well he doesn't really ASK, but I know that's what he wants. He's thinking, "I want to stand, and Mommy will help me." He is starting to say "Mamamamamama", sometimes he just says "MOM", and sometimes he says "Ummah" which is the Korean word for mom. I don't know if he's just vocalizing or he's really calling me, but I like to think so, especially because I've invested so much time and energy into him so far! He's SO active, the only time he's still is when he's sleeping or nursing. He loves to pinch now and has a serious death grip. He's so happy and content most of the time and it's such a joy being his mom. Here is the obligatory bathtub shot that I will use to embarass him in front of his prom dates.Aren't those toofs cute?! He's been pretty cranky this past week, I think his top teeth are about to make their entrance.Here's the big hat shot.And here he is with his Aunt Kathy, everyone send out your good vibes, Auntie Kathy is in Costa Rica for a month having some fun in the sun, and I always worry about my little sister. She is an ESL teacher and is fluent in Spanish! Why she's still single, I don't know, she's been such a huge help to me, after Robby's birth she was over at our house every night after work, helping me do laundry, wash dishes and holding Robby if I needed a break! She's helped us pack, then unpack, and all she gets in return is some homemade Korean food made by me, and lots of slobber from Robby! We miss you Auntie Kathy, come back safe to us! We spent this 4th with our really good friends, who I'm making the entrelac blanket for, and had a great time. Robby spent some quality time with the COOLEST DOGS EVER, Barkley and Hobbes.They may look fierce, but they are the sweetest, gentlest dogs I've ever known. Barkley is the oldest, he is kind of a "low quality" Doberman, but he has the best temperment. Lately, as he gets older, he's become much less energetic, and prefers to hide out in the barn...until nighttime when he roams around our friends property doing whatever it is that dogs do at night, mostly killing small critters and protecting their owners. This is Robby and Hobbes. Hobbes is the younger one, only a few years old, and he LOVES people. From the time he was a puppy, he just loves to cuddle and be with you. His mom died when she had just birthed the puppies and the breeders bottlefed all the puppies and took care of them as well as their own mother would have, which explains a lot of his personality. He actually is a distant relative of Barkley if I remember correctly. Robby loves dogs, he squeals and laughs and always tries to pull their fur, the good thing about Barkley and Hobbes, is I know they would never try to bite him and their fur is short :)See how Hobbes's ears are laid back? That's because he knows he needs to be gentle with Robby. Here is Robby chilling with Barkley, Barkley actually wanted to do his own thing, but he obeyed my "stay" command so I could get some good pictures in.And, here is a random shot of our house, we finally moved in and slowly but surely are getting it comfortable to live in, our first real house ever! I'll post some more pictures once I find the before shots, and we get it all nice and purty.Sorry about such a long post! I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the hot hot weather!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I Miss You Robby

This is the only way I can get him really interested in food, if I let him "feed" himself.Ok, I know I just saw you at lunch, but you're so darn cute, I can't help it! No new knitting content, big surprise, huh? We've been so busy moving into our new house, I haven't had the git-er-done to get knitting done, just slogging away on my baby entrelac blanket for my good friend's baby, due in a little over a month, eeep! He's starting to pull himself up from a scooting position to standing. It's hard to say whether he's any good at just plain old sitting down, because he never wants to sit, it's either scooting or standing for him. Lord help me....

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Goodies!

Here are some pictures of the goodies I got at Knitch in Atlanta. Their customer service was great, they had a basket of toys and didn't bat an eye at Robby scooting all over the place polishing the floor with his drool. Since I have such a great LYS, I just bought stuff I haven't found there. I got this book,two skeins of Malabrigo,3 skeins of Cascade 220,and I can't find the 4th skein I bought of the Cascade 220 in a reddish purple. The Malabrigo is for the Baby Surprise Jacket, I've been inspired by Adrian's BSJ. I'm going to make the biggest size so Robby will fit into it this winter. Talk about soft, I've heard alot about Malabrigo on the blogs, it's a single ply and will probably pill quite a bit, but I don't care, it will make a beautiful jacket for The Turd, and did I mention it was soft? The Cascade is for a felted vest I want to make for my Aunt, inspired by this. I'll have to buy a copy of Felted Knits. Does anyone have this book? What do you think of it? Are their other good patterns besides the vest? The EZ book is awesome, I love how she writes, very inspiring, and I'm watching Jared and Adrian's progress on their Tomten's because I want to knit one for Rob one of these days.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

All I want for Christmas

is my two front teeth! Robby is 6 months old as of June 4th! During our trip to Atlanta, Robby has grown by leaps and bounds, after two incredibly fussy days, he sprouted one of his bottom teeth, and in the past few days, the second one has emerged. Now that his bottom teeth have almost come in, he's been such a happy baby, smiling at Wal-Mart cashiers and anyone else who catches his eye! When we were in Atlanta he also started scooting all over the place. He doesn't crawl, he pulls himself along the floor with his arms and uses his toes to push on the floor.He is definitely a baby on the move! My parents and halmoni were so impressed, they kept saying how fast he was for his age. We would all be sitting down to dinner and I would set Robby down on the floor so I could eat, next thing you know, Robby is scooting towards the table so he can join the party! My family said he is such an easy baby, they hardly ever heard him cry, and he played by himself really well. He didn't show too much stranger anxiety, and only cried when someone else tried to hold him a few times, he warmed up very quickly to my auntand uncleand seemed to instantly develop a connection with my halmoniand my uncle's oldest sister. He was fascinated with his cousin Christine, anytime she was around he would just stare at her and try to catch up to her!Despite all the fun, I could tell he missed being home. Robby is getting so big, he weighs almost 20 lbs! He spends less and less time in the sling, but when he's hurting or tired, he just wants to be snuggled. He loves taking baths, he's discovered the fun of water and likes to splash, but does it all with a very serious look on his face. Due to his new scooting abilities, I've found this kid is interested in ANYTHING that's not a baby toy, including: plastic bags (very dangerous), any kind of paper, dog cage, bed frame, suitcase wheel, laptop bag, electrical cords, tv stands, wood trim, door stopper thingys, chair legs, long pile carpet, tassels on rugs, this has made life more difficult, but it's kind of funny seeing what he will go for next! I haven't consistently fed him solids, a fingertip of plum and avocado last night, he liked it! I LOVE his personality, he's so happy generally, and has the BEST laugh. He loves to "walk" around the house and one of his new favorite activities is being "flown" around the house on his Aunt Olivia's shoulders. He still likes to nap in my lap, but he is starting to nap on his own in our bed once a day, I know I'm way behind on this aspect, but it's worked out ok for me. Anyway enough of my rambling, happy 6th month birthday Robby, we love you!

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Greetings from Ataranta

I'm posting from Atlanta this week, we've had lots of fun so far. Robby's been a hit so far. We tried feeding him a little rice cereal to see how he would doCheck out the crazy eyes in the first picture! He didn't take as well to it as I thought he would, I think he's more interested in the spoon, so I just give him a few tablespoons a day at most. I finished my shawl.Here is a picture of it warming the shoulders of my halmoni, it was 80 degrees in the house but she was happy to oblige, I hope it keeps her cozy when the weather gets cold this fall. It's been great being with my family, but I really wish my Korean was better, it's so hard to communicate with my halmoni, I wish I could understand more of her stories, she was born in 1916 and has so many interesting stories I wish I could hear.I'm already thinking of what I can make for my aunt for a present, a felted vest maybe....And speaking of presents, I started this for my mother in law, a belated birthday present, but heck, everything is belated these days!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Foiled again!

This is how much yarn I had with two rows left to go in the Swallowtail.Anyone know of a good use for almost 200 yards of KSH? So, I made an emergency trip to the yarn store. I'm not sure how it happened, but somewhow I walked out with some Addi Lace needles and this yarn,destined to be a gift for my mother in law. Check out the tip comparison between the Inox and the Addi,these are some seriously sharp tips people, I'm excited to try them out. These are a size 3 versus the size 4 Inox needles, but still, they have a very sharp tip.Here is Robby smiling at his mama!And here is a picture of him conversing with his friendly neighborhood Spiderman!

Meme!

I have achieved a milestone in my blogging, I got tagged for the 8 random things meme, AND by two people! From Rachel Ann, and from Beth! Ok, I've thought long and hard about this one.

The rules:

1: Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.

2: People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these
rules.

3: At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.

4: Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I am a one handed yoyo expert. Back in college, I worked at a yoyo store in Chattanooga, TN called Yo Mamma, (i'm serious), and at a yoyo/kite store on the Huntington Beach, CA pier. I can do all kinds of tricks, and even went to Hawaii with a group of kids from HB to the World Yoyo Championships. I totally choked in our group performance. No matter how awesome my Brain Twister or Atom Smasher is, the one trick I get the most requests for is Rock the Baby and Walk the Dog. I have a special yoyo case with a foam insert for about 15 yoyos, the holes are all filled up. One time, while I was yoyoing on the pier, it was getting dark, and while doing a Shoot the Moon, I smacked myself in the face, good thing the yoyo was rubber. Oh yeah, the Smothers Brother's? AWESOME.
2. I taught myself how to knit as a little girl living in the Bronx. I taught myself out of library books, and it took forever for me to understand how to do it. I just found out a few years ago, I was actually knitting through the back loops.
3. I have weird cravings for canned meat, SPAM, vienna sausages, corned beef hash, sardines. I don't often indulge in those cravings, because it's so bad for you, but every once in a while, I make me some SPAM fried rice.
4. I went to college and got a degree in electrical engineering, I didn't get very good grades, but I am working in my field doing 3D modeling on the compooter. I was inspired to get this degree by the light show at a U2 concert I went to my freshman year of college. Turns out, real engineering isn't quite that glamorous, sigh... It did pay off, I was able to wire every dang receptacle and light in our last house.
5. My favorite TV show of all time is I Love Lucy, I think I've seen every episode, and know all kinds of weird trivia about the show.
6. I LOVE garlic, raw, roasted, fried, baked, pickled, I love it. When my husband and I were dating I went home to visit my family and ate so much Korean food, when I came back, he said he could smell the gsrlic oozing from my pores. Good thing he likes garlic too.
7. I gained 50 lbs while pregnant with Robby. When Rob had to help me out of chairs, he had to plant his feet and get a goood grip. I have since lost the weight and can fit into my old jeans. Anybody know a cure for stretch marks?
8. I watched the Bachelor finale last night, this is the first Bachelor I've actually watched all the way through, I was rooting for Tessa. This is the most embarassing random fact I think.

I tag anyone who reads this blog and wants to participate!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Mother's Day Numero Uno

I had a great first Mother's Day. Robby got me this card and even signed it, with Daddy's help of course.The inside of the card says "Mommy, you do so much to make me feel loved. And guess what? I love you right back! Happy Mother's Day." Awwww. And here is a picture of Robby's signature.He's getting so big, and it gets more and more fun being his mom. He's not crawling yet, but will get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. He can sit up for several seconds if he supports himself with his hands. He already tries to get out of the car seat, the other day I put him in it and walked away for a second, and he had rolled over in the seat and was attempting to back out of the chair! The past two mornings, when he wakes up, he makes these funny noises, he will purse his lips and "bthhhhh" sounds. And he has become a lot more vocal lately, while on his belly chewing a teething ring, he will say, "Wowohh wowooooh." He is such a happy baby, he is warming up to all of his aunts, cousins, and grandparents. I'm excited to see how he does around my half of the family, only ten days till I get to see them, and stuff my face with Korean food! I've been zooming along on Swallowtail, I'm done with the nupps, yay!It's hard to get a good picture of the shawl, since I only have two hands, but I think these pictures show how drapey, light, and fluffy it is. I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far, and I have 10 days left to finish it.I think my grandma will love it. I've definitely caught the lace bug, I bought a copy of Lace Style, there are some amazing patterns in it. I definitely think I want to do another lace project for myself, maybe Eunny's Print O' The Wave stole? I think I have a sickness, I finish one project and start two more...sigh.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Goodies!

Look what I won from Francesca!She had a contest a few weeks ago, and Pipie picked my name out of the hat! I love the sock yarn, Regia is the first yarn I used to make socks, a LONG time ago. I love that you can get two socks out of one skein of yarn. I'm going to make these leg warmers for Robby. Now that he is scooting around all over the place and our house has wood floors, these will be great for keeping him warm, but will make diaper changes a breeze and keep his knees protected! I'm thinking I will do them in a 1x1 rib so they will be extra cushiony, and I may even double the yarn. These will be so cute :) Thanks Francesca!

Treeline Cardigan

I've been stalled on my Swallowtail because I left the pattern at my LYS when I went there last Saturday to knit for 5 WHOLE HOURS without ze bebe. Thanks Rob! I'm on the second border pattern, so I'm getting there. Soooo, this week, I've been working on the entrelac baby blanket, AND, last night, while getting caught up on some episodes of Lost, I started that Treeline cardigan. I'm thinking I will do the white and green together because the colors are kind of spring-y and a little more fun. Everything in my closet is some variation on black, gray, brown, or white, and it could use a little color, so I'm going to step out of my comfort zone. Like my yarn cakes? I bought the swift and ball winder last weekend, I can't believe I've waited so long, it saves me lots of time, which is very important when you have a baby, and my husband is free from yarn holding duty, so he was pretty excited about that. Like Adrian says, the combo of Kidsilk Haze, and wool (I'm using Cascade 220) is so soft. I got gauge first time, yay! I think I'll be working some mods, waist shaping, solid color ribbing on the front and neck, and I think, I'm going to beef up the shawl collar with short rows. Here is a another shot several rows in.The jog isn't totally jogless, but its symetrical, which is good, and is a nice detail, think. It took me several tries to get it right, this website has a very detailed tutorial, and I finally got it after seeing these instructions. Talk about knitting as therapy, the yarn is so soft, and working with worsted on size 8 needles is SO speedy compared to the socks, blanket, and shawl, I have been working on. Robby is helping me,he's become very grabby lately, and loves to grab on whatever yarn I'm working on, a future knitter maybe? He's not crawling yet, but scoots and shifts until he gets where he wants to be, and likes to grab onto anything that is NOT a baby toy and shake it or put it in his mouth. He actually got upset with me last night because I pulled some yarn out of his hand! We've both been feeling under the weather for the past two weeks, I can't shake a sore throat and sinus issues, and Robby's been super stuffy too, which means the booger sucker is being used a lot, and he's not too happy about that. Life is good, chaotic, but soon we will be moving into our new old house and we will finally be settled, I hope!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Almost!

Almost done with the Swallowtail, well, kind of. I've reached the border of the shawl, and am on my 3rd row of "nupps".They are a k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, then on the next row you purl into each of those, making 5 stitches, then on the next row, you PURL 5 together, yuck. I wouldn't even want to try these on the Addi Turbos, thank goodness, my Inox circulars came in just in time, and they are working great. The surface of the needle is just the right amount of stickiness without being so sticky that the stitches don't slide easily. Plus, the tips are nice and pointy, so I can do those purl 5 togethers without too much trouble. In Robby news, check out these action shots, sorry about the blurriness, but it's hard to get Robby still these days unless he's sleeping.This is my favorite picture,even though it's blurry, you can tell he's smiling, excited about being able to almost crawl, and smiling at me because I'm cheering him on. When he's trying to crawl, he gets frustrated sometimes, but when we get down on the floor with him and cheer him on, he always tries harder, it's so great. Can you believe he's almost crawling? He just rocks back and forth now, and has mastered the art of scooting backwards, but hasn't developed the coordination it takes to crawl. It was only a few weeks ago he was rolling over...sniff... I'll blink and he'll be a pimply 16 year old asking for the keys to my car, gosh it goes by fast.