Munchkin Mania - Savoring Life

As most of you know Saturday was my 7th wedding anniversary. The saying is true that day to day it seems as though nothing changes yet when we look back everything is different.

With that behind us, we now look forward to the 29th when two of our little ones were born. This is another day of inevitable reflection. I love to look at pictures and remember when each of them came into the world once again changing my world forever. It's hard to believe that just two short years ago this little ball of energy, this spunky little darling I call Scooter wasn't even here yet. They grow so fast.

Case in point: Miss Josephine. Yesterday she had her awakening. I mean she noticably became aware of her world and herself. I never had the pleasure witnessing this distinct moment with any of my other children. She plays and "talks" and coos and has become curious and friendly all in an instant. I'm in awe and in love!

Then I think about Adam, on the verge of 9 years old, I feel as though I've always known him even though I'm still discovering him daily. He's growing in good looks and in personality and I'm so proud... It just doesn't get any better than this...

Off The Hook - Operation Clear The Plate...

...has failed! LOL I can't help it! I'm always finding stuff I want to try and there's always stuff I *need* to do... I started my stroll jacket! I'm so glad I'm on Ravelry the ladies there have been so helpful. I learned a new technique! The chainless single crochet foundation. The ladies in my crochet along suggested it and I learned how to do it by watching a video Teresa, a fellow raveler, has on her blog! I will never use a regular starting chain again...

I also started fooling around with some scarf ideas to use up all the random yarn I've collected..ok not *all* of it! The legwarmers are started...I messed up, and may need to start over..UGH! But we'll see...I still need to make pajamas out of my mountain of flannel...but I guess it keeps me out of trouble! I was talking to my husband earlier about a large purchase I'm anxious to make (my cell phone upgrade) and he said to be patient and be a good girl (translation: don't buy anything over the internet until I say so) then said "go play with your yarn"...yes dear! LOL

So for the moment I bring you the beginning of my stroll jacket I have lovingly dubbed "Rae's Red Riding Hood" I'm loving my tomato colored yarn! The main stitch is the marguerite stitch, or star stitch, and being as it is a decorative stitch it doesn't work up too quickly...there's 5 rows in the picture (11 at the moment)...slow and steady wins the race!

Off The Hook - Operation Clear The Plate!

You heard right! I'm clearing my plate... I'm finishing up all of my loose little projects and then I'm going to work on my circle jacket until I run out of yarn (I'm using no dye lot yarn, more coming in the mail from Caron) so that I can have something to show for my work. You see my DH doesn't like to see me with scads of UFOs popping out of my yarn basket scattered around my rocking chair and a pile of them next to (ok almost covering) the sewing machine. He doesn't understand that this is a sign of a brilliant crafter at work!

But he does have a point...I would like to feel as though I've acomplished something. Not to mention that some of my projects are actually needed, i.e. the sack of flannel the size of Scooter that has yet to become pajamas for the kids. Also on Thursday my yarn will arrive from joann.com for my stroll jacket and pointework legwarmers, so starting this weekend I'd like those to be my only yarn projects. I'm going to try to eliminate a good bit of sewing work so that my only UFO in that department is Adam's quilt. We shall see...

In any case the point in me saying all of this is that yesterday I finally finished Gab's Head Hugger! I started it November 1st or so and I've frogged and redone it 3 times until it became what it is today. It's wearable and she loves it. Mission accomplished!

My pom pom maker is NOT big enough to make a pom pom the size of this one. To make it I followed the directions at Nancy's Pom Pom Palace. The only part of this hat from a pattern is the head hugging part! I was trying to make Dr. Mom's Head Hugger but it was making me sad so I decided to finish it my own way...I actually had crocheted an entire newsboy cap that ended up looking awful so I frogged it and crocheted as I went to make the head hugger hat. The brim ended up being too tight blah, blah, blah...so I ripped back three rows and added my own ear flaps and edging etc. I also tweaked Ben's beanie hat and finished it with my new earflap design...Yay me!

Munchkin Mania - Passing Along The Gift

I decided that one of the best things I could do for my kids, especially in this ecomony and with uncertain times ahead, was to pass along to them the gift my mother passed to me, that her grandmother passed to her etc.. It's the one thing, upon reflection, that I got from my mother that really makes me proud. The ability to create. Not just create, but invent and provide.

I've already been hard at work teaching the kids how to cook. I'm never alone in the kitchen. I can tell Adam or Joel to bake (add any baked good) and they will get the recipe and after the designated time passes produce a decent, and sometimes a terrific, item fit to be eaten.

I've shown Gabbie how to quilt. She cut her own squares (at least we'll call them squares), sewed them all together on the machine and is now trying to hand quilt her mini masterpiece. She can do a backstitch for hand emroidered letters too.

So naturally as I am falling  in love with yarn I'm teaching the kids the tricks of the trade. I sat them down and cast on 32 stitches in 3 different colors on 3 different sets of needles and showed them the knit stitch. Gab has some experience with it already (she can also crochet a chain and a circle) so I figured I needed to catch the boys up. Yarn isn't just for girls after all! Looking at the pictures I realize I probably should have given Adam the size 6 needles and Joel the larger size 8s but I wasn't thinking about his vision I was thinking about their fine motor abilities! LOL Anywho everyone is 3 rows into a scarf in garter stitch and so far so good! They still like it and didn't drive me too batty.... Here's the pics for your enjoyment!

Public Announcement

I wanted to let everyone know that I will no longer be having my blog posts sent out via e-mail. I will still be allowing my blog to feed into my facebook "notes" for a little while but after a while I'd like to eliminate that as well. I'll add a link to my blog before I discontinue the feed. It just makes things easier technically. Anywho, so please note the link to my blog http://www.raesofsunshyne.blogspot.com/
and bookmark it or favorite it or whatever you do so you can visit regularly and keep up with what's going on in my little slice of heaven!

On a side note: Scooter now says "what", "mine", "choo-choo", and makes a "woo-woo" sound for his train! So he's getting there! Pretty soon he'll be chatting it up with the rest of them... and Miss Josephine is almost ready to roll over! Any day now...

Knitty Gritty - Carry Around Project

In other news, the legwarmers I was knitting for Gab have been frogged and some creme de la creme ordered to make her the "Pointwork Legwarmers" by Reka Knits. I'm doing them in pale pink in the round on size 3 DPNs...very excited to have this as a carry around project! Wish me luck! For now, I'm off to try and finish the Circle Jacket before I jump into the CAL!

Off The Hook - Stroll Jacket

Alrighty! I have gotten help with my Stroll Jacket pattern and on the advice of the designer herself I have decided NOT to use the Lion Brand Pound of Love...it's too bulky and the jacket would turn out stiff. So! I'm ordering some Bernat Satin Sport in "Tomato" cuz I'm feeling like I need some color in my liferight now! LOL As soon as it arrives I will begin work on this project, putting the circle jacket into hibernation if need be. I'll be crocheting it along with some wonderful ladies from the UK on Ravelry. The CAL starts this weekend so I may end up trailing the pack due to the wait for my new yarn. But at least all the beginning kinks will have been worked out! *wink*