Saturday's progress on the shrug

this shrug pattern has been pretty easy, I have even been able to work on it while quasi watching the boys. I'm sitting in the playroom with them building legos and when they don't want my help, I'm knitting. This is what I got done yesterday.



I used the size 11's that I had on hand and they were 24" length. I'm quickly running out of room on the needles and I think I have a lot more increases to go. If you have something longer, use it. The bamboo needles have actually been really great for this project, no need to spend unnecessary $$$.

And just a cute picture of the boys reading together Sunday morning

Spring already and some new projects

I can't believe that some of our plants are already looking springish. I guess a few days of nice warm weather did the trick for them, but I don't think they understand it is only January and it could easily frost again and knock off whatever pretty blooms they have grown. Here they are though:

Can't remember the name of this one:


Statice:


Valentine Emu:



I was looking through my stash and remembered that I had two balls of Rowan Polar in a pretty silvery color. Illanna had some of this yarn as well and I don't know what she ended up making with it, but she made a shrug out of some awesome fun yarn from an idea she got on Craftster. I checked out the link again and the original pattern was one that was made with Polar. How in luck. I just cast on and did the neck line. It is a quick knit on size 11's.

Here is where I'm at with the Baby Bobbi Bear:

Just a few different things

I got the red scarf done last night with the help of Sarah. She was able to get the last 8 inches or so done in wayyyy less time than it would have taken me. I made a tag this morning (early, very early), just it attached and dropped off the scarf before work. It felt really good getting the scarf done and donated. This is the second item that I have donated and there will be many more to come.

After work today I stayed a bit late so I could work on a layout that has been in my "to do" bag for a while. I took this photo of Madisson back in July for her birthday pictures. Then I got a monthly kit from Scrapbook Lovers Dream with these papers and I knew they would go together great.


Here is layout that I did for Jared and his new bike that he got for Xmas/Hanukkah


Last night I got a good two inches done on the body of the Bobbi bear. I can't wait to get to the next section, that will probably happen tonight after I get home from Costco. We went yesterday but of course we forgot a few key items like hand soap and trash bags. I just hope I can get out of there without spending anything extra than what is planned.

1st haircut

The little one got his first haircut yesterday. We took him to SuperCuts, not just because it was close to the house but we knew I'd have to have him on my lap and those kids places couldn't accomodate that. Screamfest started almost right away but mainly because although I was holding him, he was facing out not facing me. He got over it pretty quickly and then was just really interested in what the lady was doing to him. He kept looking in the mirror. I can't get over how much hair got cut off. I didn't realize that it was really that long until you see the finished product. He looks like a boy now. No mistakes will be made anymore.



and his much happier brother

We have a blackjack dealer in the house

Nick passed his audition last night. He draws for his shift this Friday. We don't care what shift he gets or at what location. It is just a good thing that he gets to do something different at the casino after 10 years on the slot floor. The last 8 weeks of long days and nights were all worth it.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!

I've been tagged

I was tagged by Kent. This is the first time I've been tagged for something so I thought long and hard about my answers.

Four Jobs You Have Had In Your Life:
1.Stock Broker. This may sound like a fantastic glorified job, but really I was just a phone monkey or better yet an email monkey. I answered people’s questions that they emailed in. I did learn a lot about the market, but I’m a spender not a saver so it didn’t do me so much good.
2.Credit Analyst for Federated. This was a great job because Federated owns Macy’s, Bloomingdales and a ton of others, they discounts were to die for.
3.Returns desk at Home Depot. I know my way around every fix it project known to man. And I also don’t need to ever ask for anyone’s help locating an item in that store. I also know return policies like the back of my hand, I dealt with a lot of seedy individuals who returned items, this was a very negative job.
4.McDonald’s, I worked there in high school. The only reason why I liked this job is because I met Nick there (although we didn’t date each other until much later).

Four Movies You Would Watch Over and Over:
1. Usual Suspects
2. The Lost boys
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Gladiator

Four Places You Have Lived:
1. Mesa, AZ
2. Flagstaff, AZ
Haven’t been given that much incentive to move. I was born here, went to school at ASU and NAU and then we bought our houses here. I wouldn’t be opposed to moving some day

Four TV Shows You Like To Watch:
1. Alias (gonna have to find something new after this season)
2. Buffy (no longer on)
3. My name is Earl
4. ER-old ER, not much on the new stuff

Four Places You Have Been On Vacation:
1. Kauai, Poipu Beach
2. San Diego
3. Vancouver, BC
4. Haven’t gone anywhere in the last four years

Four Websites You Visit Daily:
1. Two Peas
2. ILP (I Love Photography, children’s portrait photogs)
3. knitty
4. friends, other scrapper’s and knitter’s blogs

Four Favorite Foods:
1. chicken parmiagna
2. anything with chocolate as an ingredient
3. cornbread muffins
4. apples

Four Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. on a beach on Kauai
2. at the gym losing some very particular inches
3. eating out-only because it is 8pm and I still haven’t eaten dinner
4. visiting Italy

Four blockers I am tagging
1.Elisabet

1st finished sweater

I finished seaming Nathan's sweater during his nap today. Okay, so my seaming skills suck, but I have to start somewhere. I did figure out mattress stitch, which worked out great for the sides, but it was attaching the sleeves where it didn't get too pretty. I also wish I would have made the body a bit longer because I extended the sleeves a bit, but only added a bit to the body. nathan will be wearing it a lot the next month or so because it won't fit him next year (like I had planned).

I also started working on a scarf for the Red Scarf Project. There is a drop off location at the Einsteins bagel shop that is in the same shopping center as Recollections. I'm working next Wed so I figure I can easily drop it off then. I picked out Woolease Thick and Quick and am just doing a K3,P3 ribbing. it is going so fast, I'm hoping to have 1/2 of it done tonight.

How cute

This is how cute all of them were today!! They were busy making Valentine cards for everyone while I was taking their pictures. Sorry, no pictures of the cards just in case someone reading this blog is a recipient. I'll post about knitting later on today, I'm going to be working on finishing Nathan's sweater as soon he is asleep for his nap.

Awesome mail day

I meant to check the mail yesterday, but for whatever reason the day got away from me and I didn't get to it. We have a community mailbox so I can't just walk outside the house, I have to actually put on shoes and gather the kids up so it isn't something I just willy nilly decide to do. for those of you who may not have to do this, you are really lucky. I guess the community and the Post office decides who gets a community mailbox and who gets individual ones. We didn't luck out.

So I go and open the mailbox today and I have two great packages. The first is from my Secret Pal, who goes by the initials TJ. She is so awesome. I got part scrapbooking, part knitting and some chocolate. Here is the picture of all of the goodies:


There are two balls of 100% cotton yarn (the colors are awesome and the yarn is really soft), Knit n'Style magazine(hopefully I'll get to open it tonight), stickers for the kids scrapbook pages, a Cadbury caramello and a Tootsie Roll lipbalm. I took the picture when the cadbury bar was still intact, this is no longer the case.

The second package contained two new Addi's in size 4 and 6 that I bought for my mom off of eBay. I go through the same guy each time, his eBay id is jeff_wonderland. He has awesome prices and ships pretty fast considering they are being sent from Hong Kong. She is going to knit me Mariposa. I got 10 balls of SWTC Optimum in DK weight, dark purple from the last warehouse sale and it will be perfect for this project.

Nathan's 18 month Check up

Nathan was so good at his check-up, only screamed when I tried to get him to stand up on the scale. He wouldn’t get out of my arms, no biggie, maybe he’ll do it when he’s two. He was 24.1 lbs and 32 ¾ inches tall. Just about 50th percentile for everything, including his noggin. Right on track for language and development. Jared and Madi were excellent in the office as well. They both just read books and sit pretty quietly while I spoke with Dr. Laks. This was a picture of the three of them sitting on the bench at the office watching a cartoon before we got called back.

Weekend

This weekend was really good. We started out on Saturday by heading up to my grandparents house in Scottsdale to visit with them and my great aunt Corinne, the boys great great aunt. She was visiting from Florida/New Jersey for the week. She is very active with her friends in the community and it shows, full of life. Awesome lady. We haven’t had any pictures with my brother for a while, so I took full advantage of it and got a great family picture. The neighbor across the street was working in her garage and she was so sweet and took a group photo for us.



We then went to Jessica Knits. The store is basically down the street from my grandparents house. Actually I was able to see the shopping center when I had to turn around in their cul-de-sac. I knew they would have the yarn that I wanted to give to my secret pal. I was also hoping that they had the Blue Sky cotton that I wanted to use for the teddy bear for our friends in California having twins. I lucked out, they had everything that I was looking for and a bit more. I could have spent half the day in that store shopping, but Nathan was getting ancy and so was Jared. Illanna was working so I got to chat with her a bit. Jessica even tried to entertain Jared which was awesome.



Malabrigo goes to secret pal, the two skeins of pink cotton are for the Bobbi Bear and the koigu will be for socks (once I find a pattern I want to use). The cashmerino was from a different trip to Fiber Factory and will be for baby booties for the same twins (due in april).

I then went to work and worked the crop. The ladies who were there Saturday night were so much fun, they were all working on the cutest pages.

Sunday was an easy day, nothing much interesting. I’ll show you knitting pics soon. I’m still working on the front of Nathan’s sweater, just a few more inches and then I’m done.

He did it

This has been the catch phrase for the day. Funny, Jared can't read yet, but this was the shirt I put on him today. I must have just known how the day was going to go. I got this shirt at Old Navy. We went to Costco today, which let me tell you is a heck of a lot of fun with three small children. I normally don't try to torture myself like this but we needed milk and ground turkey so off we headed.

During their naps (Madi's and Nathan's), I worked on Nathan's year in review page for the Big Picture Scrapbooking class from Donna Downey. Here it is:

I had a blast making this layout, it certainly does remind me of all of the times that he was small but isn't that way anymore. It also reminds me to back up my files at least once a week and to get prints made of my favorites. The computer snafu of 2005 will go down as the worst moment of the year. I lost everything on the crappy PC of a computer. Luckily I had printed most of my favorites, but I'm missing almost two months of pictures. I know that doesn't sound like much especially when you consider what everyone lost during the hurricanes and flooding. I shouldn't be complaining at all. Now I am thankful for my Apple Powerbook and MacMini. Nobody bothers to write nasty viruses for Apples and if they did, I'm thinking that Steve Jobs is on the ball and has written some awesome virus protection. I still have Anti-virus on the computer as well. I'm not taking any chances.

Hope everyone has a great day.

I needed this

I went to pick up some free prints at Walgreens and the lady at the counter had to ask me about these two pictures.

She asked me if these were professional. I said yes, I'm the professional. I haven't taken very many recent pics of Nathan that would be considered professional. He is a pistol and hard to capture. Every once and a while it happens.

Tuesday

It was just one of those days. It is Tuesday so Jared doesn’t have school today. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the bad days of the week. Not that Jared is home, because that isn’t it, just that there are three kids in the house. Jared and Madi usually get along pretty good, but it is hard on Nathan. He ends up a clingon those days. They take toys away from him and in turn he throws toys at them and then runs to me. Nothing I can do, this seems to happen every other day regardless of what I have planned for the day. We started the day off at the park to play in the leaves. That didn't last long, they were all fighting over the wagon and Nathan kept on trying to run out of the park and into the street. Then we came back home and we went outside in the backyard. That really seemed to work. I was able to leave all three out there and open the back door. They came in and out with no yelling screaming or crying. Nathan was a happy camper, which is the best part. Of course when they came back into the house for good, that is another story. The UPS man must have known I needed a bit of a pick me up. He delivered the motherload today. I got my order from Ceylan with Stampin’ Up. It was only last Thursday when she placed the order and it was on my doorstep Tuesday afternoon. I’ve only put together a few of the stamp sets, but I can’t wait to use them.

I also started on the ankle socks for my MIL. They aren’t looking so hot so I may be keeping this pair for myself and making her another pair. I’m figuring out the pattern, but obviously not too well because I have a bunch of extra stitches left over after the short rows. I’m just k2tog until I get back to the original number and hoping for the best. It will take me a little bit to get to the toe area and then I’ll have to short row again. Maybe by then I’ll know what I’m doing. One can hope, huh!!

SP7 questions

Here are my answers:
1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? I've had the opportunity to be a tad bit picky since I haven't knit that many items. I prefer to use cotton for stuff that I’m going to wear. Of course I use wool for felted projects, but it general, it makes me itch. I've used a few silk/wool blends that I like as long as they are nice and soft, anything goes.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? Used to crochet, but not much anymore and I’ve never spun (don’t need to get hooked on anything else right now)

3. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? Straight needles are in a glass jar, circulars are in a big Ziploc bag. I'm still on the lookout for the perfect circular needle case.

4. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I’ve been knitting about a year and a half. I’m probably an intermediate. I can read patterns pretty well.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Not yet, but I’ll make one, under michelle_fiori@hotmail.com

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) I like soft flowery ones, not overpowering, just simple.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? Heck yeah, anything with chocolate.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I scrapbook, my time is split pretty evenly on knitting and scrapbooking. I was even just part of a Knitting Circle Journal for scrapbooking, what a blast.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I just got an iPod, mainly a rock/alternative type of gal. Yes, my computer plays MP3's. I have No Doubt, Greenday, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Miles Davis and assorted others in there right now.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? Blues and purples, but I’ve been going for more pinks lately. Okay, so there really aren't any colors that I don't like.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? I have a wonderful hubby who has no idea how much yarn I have hidden, two boys, 1.5 and almost 4 years old. No pets. I have enough pee to clean up after.

12. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? It isn’t usually cold enough here to wear hats and mittens, but I would wear a poncho.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? Blue Sky cotton has been my favorite lately. I’ve also been making lots of things out of cashmerino (baby gifts). Also silk wool blends.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? Not fond of furry/fuzzy yarns

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s? I’ve been making teddy bears as gifts. For myself I’ve been trying some different sweaters.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? Something that is quick. I don’t have a lot of time to knit right now and I like to be able to see something finished.

17. What are you knitting right now? Baby Bobbi Bear, pair of bootie socks (for MIL) and I’m starting the sweater on the cover of IK Winter 2006 using Patagonia cotton in the orange/red/pink combo.

18. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Of course

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? circulars

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I really like Addi's, but I have have a mix of them and bamboo.

21. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? Yes, I have both. I seem to have a love of yarn that needs to be wound.

22. How did you learn to knit? Both of my grandmas, books and SnB group.

23. How old is your oldest UFO? Not that old since I haven’t been knitting that long. Tank top from last summer. I finished the front, just need to do the back.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
The Lorax from Dr. Seuss. I’m an environmentalist so it is in my nature to love the Lorax. I've had parrots in the past, but we currently don't have any for fear of a finger being nipped off.

25. What is your favorite holiday? Don’t really have a favorite. I’m Jewish so I guess I have to say Hanukkah, but mainly because I love the way my boys are getting involved.

26. Is there anything that you collect? You mean besides supplies for scrapbooking and knitting. Not really, the kids would destroy it.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? I just got a subscription for Interweave Knits and Knit Simple (formerly Family Circle Easy Knitting).

28. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? Anything fun and different, always on the lookout for a fun felted bag pattern or an intruiging sock pattern.

29. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I haven't tried Fair Isle.

30. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? Yes, I’m knitting my second pair right now. A cute little ankle sock. I still haven’t finished the first pair which is for my oldest boy. I wear a size 9 and I have a wide foot.

31. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) 3/27, I’ll be 31.

I know, I know

I already blew one of my intentions. I haven't blogged in days. It isn't for lack of trying, but Nathan has been a cling-on the last few days. I even make a motion to put him down and he screams. He is over the cold/flu that he had, so I'm not quite sure what is bringing on the clinginess. I wish he would just play with his brother for a few minutes. Nick has a day off today which is the only reason I can get on the computer.

I got together with Ceylan this morning to do some stamping. It is was so nice to get out and play with stamps again, for whatever reason I haven't been using them much these days. I was working on birthday cards. We have a ton of birthdays coming up so it seemed like a fitting thing to do. Ceylan is a consultant for Stampin' Up so of course I couldn't help myself and ordered a few "necessary" items. I got some really cute stamp sets and some inkpad colors that I'd like to use. I can't wait to get my goodies. Almost as much fun as getting yarn. Nothing can equate though, I love yarn in the mail. I still haven't decided if I'm going to go to Fiber Factory on Saturday for the sale or not. I can't really picture any projects that I'm going to be able to get done in the near future. I have so many baby gifts to make that they are going to take up any free time I have.

Here is the Simple Scrapbooks 2006 Planner/Calendar that I altered for Donna Downey's Big Picture Scrapbooking class.

2005 holiday cards and 3 sweater pieces done

Put to good use. I normally would save all of these cards never to really look at them again. I scraplifted this page from Ali Edwards. Scraplifting is where you borrow an idea or the whole page from someone else. It is completely accepted within the scrapbook community as long as you don't try to pawn off the idea as your own.


I also got the second sleeve done for Nathan's sweater. It is just an easy rollnect sweater and it shouldn't have taken me this long to finish it, but I kept getting sidetracker. Don't we all. I may have to add a few rows to the body part. I made the sleeves a bit longer, but I think I should have added a few inches to the body. The sweater looked plenty big a few months ago when I had finished the body part, but Nathan has sprouted in the last month or so.

1st day of 2006

I have a few intentions for 2006. I've had the day to think about some of these. These will be the things that I look forward to doing and things that make me happy this year.

1. Family - family makes me happy, every laugh, every scream, every cry. Family is what is important.

2. I intend to journal something every day. I don't care whether I only have the time for a few sentences, I want to put something into words every day. It may not be here on my blog, but as long as I can keep track of my thoughts, that will be what matters.

3. Take more photos. Practice every day. I love my Canon 20d. I know there is so much more to learn. I intend to improve my skills and truly determine what my style is and keep to it.

4. Gym - I intend to go to the gym as much as I can. There are a few areas that I would like to work on. I know I need to improve my cardio and I'd like to tone up a few trouble areas. You know what those are; arms, legs and my butt.

5. House- I intend to truly work on keeping the house more organized. I have been little by little cleaning up the piles that I have let accumulate throughout the house. My scrap area/desk is the culprit for most of the problems. When I don't know where something belongs, that is where it ends up.

6. Scrapbooking- I really don't have any intentions for scrapbooking. I want to scrapbook as much as I can. Whatever I get done I get done. I'm not worried about "finishing" an album. I just want to record as many memories as I can.

7. Knitting- I intend to learn as many new stitches and techniques as possible. I've only been knitting for the last year, but I've learned so much already. I can't wait to find out what I learn next year. I knit almost every night. It is what I do to wind down. I can't drag my scrapbook stuff into the bedroom to work on it, but I can always bring my knitting in there.

There they are, my intentions for 2006. I'll probably add more as the year goes on, that is okay, they are mine to change and add to.

Hope your intentions for the New Year make you happy!!!!