I started something new again

I started the Broadripple socks last night. Since I've never actually started and finished any sock I decided to do one that had an interesting pattern to it so I wouldn't lose interest before it was done. I cast on using two circulars and it was fairly easy. I've gotten past the cuff and now I'm into the pattern rows. I really like how it is looking. The yarn is Socks that Rock in the Marble colorway. I can't remember if I got them off of eBay or not (I probably did since I couldn't find this colorway on their website). I really like the colors in this yarn, the yarn does rock, it is awesome.

My new favorite subject!!

Is our new niece, Lily. She was six days old when I took these portraits. I love how cute and small newborns are. In the photo with her eyes open I she really look alot like her old sister Madi did as a baby.

Here is my knitting journal that I made this afternoon. I got the blank journal at Target yesterday and covered with some of my scrapbook scraps and some small pieces of ribbon. It is really cute and now I have somewhere to make notes on what row I'm on without using the scrap of paper that I can find in my wallet. This cool book even comes with a pen attached.


Okay, this blog is supposed to be about all things crafty, I promise I have been working on them, just have taken pictures of them. I'm finishing up the August Mid-Month Dishcloth KAL (should have it done today), I'm almost done with the second sleeve of the IK wrap, still working away on the cabled sweater. I promise I'll take pictures of everything later today if the weather cooperates and the skies lighten up. It is super stormy here right now, started raining at 6am and it is still going strong. What was nice, Nathan slept through some of it (amazing as sensitive as he is with noise).

On the Jared allergy front, he had his allergist appointment yesterday morning and they did a small skin test (he hated it). So basically the kid is allergic to every tree and weed out there, plus dogs and cats, some molds, and of course the old time favorite, dust. We are going to try Nasonex as the main drug and add in Zyrtec when needed. Hopefully this will keep him from sneezing in the middle of the night. Otherwise he is 43 inches tall and 40 lbs.

take care

I love what I do

I had an early morning photo shoot with a repeat client. I love those people. They liked my pictures enough the first time to hire me again, in this case, this was my third shoot with them. I did their maternity photos, newborn photos and now one year photos. This little boy is such a ham. He has the same face as he did when he was three weeks old, I could tell it was him right off the bat (of course he had the same face), but as much as babies change the first year, it was amazing. He is a chunk, love the rolls on this kid. He was giggling and laughing at me the whole time. His mom scrapbooks also so she probably has him trained for the camera already.

Here are two of my favs:

New Little Niece in the house

Okay, not my house. My SIL Tanya had their little girl very early in the morning on Tuesday. I went to see her after work and get some photos for them. She is an absolute beauty. She hardly made a peep the whole time that I was there. She loved using her tongue to tell you it was time to eat (just like her big sister used to). Tanya and Tony should be home from the hospital right now, big sister can't wait to get everything back to normal (or whatever that will be with a new baby in the house). Madisson was so interested in seeing her little nose and mouth and toes. It was so cute, she wants to teach her how to walk already.

Picovoli is done, started something new

I can't believe that I actually got the Picovoli tank done. It seemed to have taken me forever, but it was put on the backburner a number of times for baby knitting that needed to get done. This is also one of the worst pictures that I have ever taken. The color is horrendous in the photo, I couldn't for the life of me figure out if this camera had a timer or not. It is the camera that we got for Jared when he turned three. I picked it basically because it had no features to confuse him with. He loves the camera. I should have had him take the picture, but it was past bedtime already.

I started working on the Not Your Standard Issue Sweatshirt, v2 (Yarn Girls Guide to Beyond the Basics) last week when I met Elisabet for coffee on Friday night. I have gotten through the second set of cables now, need to keep going for 13". With this yarn and needle size it shouldn't take too long. The yarn is Main Line from KnitPicks, in Red Velvet Cake. The color shows up very close in the pictures that I took, the color on the KnitPicks site doesn't do it justice. Very nice deep red.



I've been working on organizing some things in my life, I started with the five knitting totes that were strewn on the office floor. I have carefully labeled large ziploc baggies with the projects so that everything I need is in one place. Any project that I am not currently "really" working on is getting put away so I can focus better. I don't know how long this organization may last, but I can dream, can't I.

No Willpower whatsoever

I have none!!!! Absolutely zero. I'm a total sucker for buying something that someone has said is good. I listened to LimenViolet again yesterday and in the newest podcast one of them was talking about Mountain Colors sock yarn. So what do I do, go onto the website, find colors that I can't live without, find a company who sells it online and buy 3 skeins of Bearfoot. I got the Juniper, Bitterroot Rainbow and Goldrush colorways. Here is the thing about buying sock yarn, I have a bunch already and I still have yet to finish one damn sock.

On the other side of the willpower coin, we had to return a few purchases to ToysRus. Little Man takes it upon himself to take new toys through their paces. Little remote control cars seem to fare the worst. This time instead of just exchanging it for the third time, I bought Nathan the jumbo set of TinkerToys. Grandpa Nono had bought the kids some Tinkertoys knockoffs at Christmas time. The kids absolutely loved them, Jared was building all sorts of contraptions and Nathan was having a blast as well. I also had planned on getting them a new Geotrax piece for their set, today they got the tunnel. I know I should probably be holding off on any purchases until Hanukkah or Christmas, but sometimes I'm just bad. I don't buy much for myself (except for the aforementioned yarn fetish) or Nick. I did get him a pair of navy blue Crocs that he hasn't seen yet.

Tonight Jared has Parent's Night at his school. He gets to get reacquainted with his classmates and we get to meet his teacher for this year.

and I'll end with some random happy pictures of two boys playing in my bathroom.

Podcasts and the Gym

I went to the gym this morning, I was all ready to go, water bottle in hand, cell phone and a list for errands to run after the gym. Even got into the car and realized that I didn't have my iPod. I quickly plugged it in and got it updated. I had just downloaded some new tunes, nothing that hasn't been out for ages, just stuff that I used to have and realized that I wanted again. I had also downloaded the Lime and Violet podcast. I heard about it on the Cast-On podcast, sounded interesting.

Interesting it was, I was laughing my butt off while I was on the treadmill. I think the burly man running next to me must have thought I was a wacko. I didn't care, I was listening to two women basically carry on an hour long conversation. It was hilarious and very entertaining. It made the workout go so smoothly. They mentioned Stephanie's Spritely Goods website in the podcast. They loved the names of her colorways.

I'm off to work now, hopefully I'll still get to finish the Picovoli tonight or tomorrow. I've got a half ball of yarn left.

dishcloth all done

I can't believe this, but I actually can get a project finished. Okay, so it was only a dishcloth, but still, it counts for something. I am actually almost done with the Picovoli that I have been talking about so much lately. I thought I was done with the waist increases yesterday, but I tried it on this morning and if I want it to fit over my hips than I needed to do a few more. I just finished those extra increases this afternoon and I'll be working on the rest of the straight stuff until the ball of yarn is gone. I'll definitely be done by Tuesday night for SnB, but she may not be blocked. I work the next two days, but knitting not scrapbooking will be my priority.

Donna Downey does Rock

Not that I didn't believe Donna Downey when she said it, but I just got the Sept/Oct issue of Simple Scrapbooks and inside was a perfect gift idea for Madisson. Yes, I pretty much copied it, but that is what all good scrapbookers do, it is called Scraplifting.

Here are some other tidbits of our morning. My photographer son got a picture of his smiling stingy brother, something I was unable to do.

Jared also took a big of our crazy purple sage bush. It exploded overnight with color, seriously we were outside last night and there was not one flower on it. In contrast here are our other two sages that are mere feet from Mr. Explosion. Nature, crazy good things.

A Dishcloth obsession is starting

I'm not quite sure where I got the link from, but I happened upon the Monthly Dishcloth KAL on Yahoo.

I'm glad I started when I did because they send out the pattern on the 1st and 15th of the month. It is so cool and perfect for my short attention span, they only send out 10 rows at a time. It is just enough that I can get done in one sitting without getting annoyed by the Sugar n Creme cotton that I'm using. Although I'm very happy with my color choice, Hot Pink. I was on the phone with Elisabet when I was trying to decide and it was her suggestion.


Last night was knitting at Down Under Wines. Love it as usual, awesome group. I get off work at 5 on Tuesdays so I got to run some errands beforehand. I went to the Chandler Mall and got to walk around without kids, very nice. I also managed to get a last minute eyebrow waxing done at Dolce. Not that I was out of control or anything, but just tired of not having the right shape. Truthfully it doesn't look that much different, but all of the tiny blonde eyebrow hairs that would never really go away are gone now, hopefully for a while.