Here all of the pieces for the bag. I lightened the pic, but still haven't gotten a good shot of the actual colors. 

It's a finished i-cord! 

Still plugging away

at the i-cord for the felted little girl bag. It's been tricky getting used to smaller needles, I haven't even used small crochet hooks for awhile. It is much easier to make an i-cord than I expected, thank goodness.

This week has been crazy with Drew finishing up preschool on Wednesday, and Abbie & Arenne finishing next week. All sorts of end of school things happening. Drew had his last day of school picnic on Wed., we had such a good time. Sack lunches, playground, and lots of games. He and I did the sack race together, and I won the moms sack race-who would've thought? lol Summer is coming fast, this school year just flew by! Abs and Ari will meet their first grade teachers next week-FIRST GRADE! *faints* This is the first time they will be in separate classes. So far they seem okay with this, I hope it stays that way. I picked up some workbooks for the kids to do over the summer, and some refills for our craft closet, thanks to our brand new Dollar General store here. Movin' on up baby. ;)

Yes, it really is an i-cord, at least the beginning of one! 

Here are the pieces for the little girl felted purse. I need to finish the bottom piece, then do a flap and i-cord handle. :) 

Ah knitting

It's funny how relaxing knitting is, as I have just learned it and am not that proficient yet. You'd think I'd be more frustrated. I am working on a felted bag for a little girl, another auction item and was trying to do a stockinette stitch for it. Then I realized I probably needed to get it done sometime this year so I frogged it and went to straight knitting. It is progressing much more quickly now. I am basically doing it in parts, 2 pieces for the front and the back, 1 for a flap, 2 for the sides, 1 for the bottom, and then a handle. I'll either sew it or crochet it together. The colors are very pretty, I will get a pic up soon.

On the very excited soon to be aunt front my sister has called me a few times lately with pregnancy questions. From the sounds of it, the little man nephew has dropped and is moving down WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO! She will be 37 weeks on Fri and is good to go after that, hopefully he will hold out for her. I am so very excited and a little sad that I am not with her for all of this, I always thought I would be, especially since I am the geekiest of us three sisters about these sorts of things. I cannot wait to see the little guy.

This also means I need to seriously get cracking on his blanket and little sweater/cardigan. And go through my boys clothes to send out to my sis. I am doing much better at organizing my days and getting things done lately, hopefully I can keep up with it . Summer is coming and I need to find us a daily routine. Drew graduated preschool yesterday, he has a picnic tomorrow and that is the end of his preschool year! Hard to believe. Abbie & Arenne have their last day of kindergarten next week. My kiddos are growing up very fast.

Finally, a new picture! Here are the auction cloches, whew. Now I just need to get to the post office.  

A purling we will go...

I've learned to purl! It's true! Thanks to Stitch & Bitch and my God-given natural talent(snicker) I am now able to do a stockinette stitch! Wheee!

My purling, however, is so painstakingly slow it makes my knitting looks super fast. I guess that's a bonus, right?

The Auction Cloches are finished!

Whew. I will have to take pics tomorrow as the camera needs charging. I still need to do a couple for my girls, and for my good friend V and her daughter, but first I need to make a felted purse and then I am all done with my auction items. I had to order some more yarn for it so now I can finally get started.

Lots of cleaning today, what fun! Yeehaw!

Changes

While I am a big fan of the color blue, the old blog was seeming dark to me, especially with spring struggling to hit the midwest. I am not all that web design savvy and got completely overwhelmed looking at outside templates, so back to this one I went. Someday I will also get some new pictures up, I know they are much more exciting than this.

The cloches continue. I am almost finished-you can expect a picture of these. I did a baby size one and it seems incredibly tiny to me-AWWW! I am trying not to be distracted by any new projects. MUST stay on task!

Mr. Blue and I are trying to escape tonight, although with four children this is usually better accomplished with early planning. Since we are last minute we're running into some snags. The current plan is to take the whole family out to dinner and then the kids over to Mr. Blue's brother's for a sleepover. The added benefit of this is an ENTIRE MORNING TO OURSELVES! Please, don't faint, I'm out of smelling salts. I am so excited by the prospect of sleeping in that I will probably wake up at the crack of dawn for absolutely no reason at all. Yippee! We had wanted to go see Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but it may not happen with the current plan. (I've just now realized I haven't even checked to see if it is showing anywhere here or when, that could be useful.)

We've had three rainy, thunderstormy days here, and while I really do enjoy the grey days, I am ready for some sun. It's trying to peek through right now, but the thunderclouds are close behind.

Last night I got to try a Belgian beer, Delirium Nocturnum. (I really should find a link for you, but I am too lazy.) It was FABULOUS! It should be, as it sells for about $5 a bottle. With an alcohol content of 8.5% it kind of evens itself out though. We are fortunate to have a friend opening a liquor store, so we benefit by getting to try new beers and wines with him. If he tried them all he'd be too drunk to open said store. We also have a massive bottle of another type of beer from the same company/brewery?. It's packaged in a bottle similar to a wine bottle, which had me all sorts of confused. I kept asking, well is it wine? It's beer? Well, it looks like wine, oohhhh so it's like a Belgian forty? Poor Mr. Blue, saddled with such an uncultured girl. And really, forty? I live in Iowa for crying out loud.

Juice Box Love

Most kids love juice boxes. Who wouldn't? All that sweet, sugary goodness contained in a little box complete with fun straw. My two year old is absolutely in love. If he had the concentration to sit down and figure out a good wish, it would more than likely be an unlimited supply of them AND a mom who would let him have as many as wanted, whenever he wanted.

Mr. C gets a lot more at his age than my others did, but let's face it, I am totally outnumbered and now the "choose your battles" thing has been taken to a whole new level. So, he gets more juice boxes than the others did when they were two, but I'll try to make it up to the older kids...somehow.

It's one thing that I've had to hide them or he will sneak them out of the fridge and stash them around the house, it's completely another now that he has discovered the joy of SQUEEZING that little box. Oh the joy, the laughter when that sticky, smelly juice squirts out of the straw. It's better than jumping off the furniture for him. (Although, once the juice is gone, this is usually what he tries to do next.)

Now I've broken his poor, little heart by taking them away from him. How was he supposed to know it's not okay to spill juice all over the carpet?

Sigh

Having a flare right now, but hopefully on the end of it. I've been in a lot of pain and not getting much done, including crocheting or blogging, and those are the fun things! I have been working on the cloches, and finished the second little man set, it turned out very cute. The cloches work up quickly, but it's been tough finding time to work on them when my hands are actually working.

My plan for this evening was to get my kids to bed early-oh yes, laugh away, it went as you'd expect, the youngest is still awake on my lap and his sisters think I don't know they are still awake-and get some crocheting done. Mr. Blue is off helping out a friend and tonight would be perfect to have a nice, quiet night with my yarn. Apparently the kids had other plans.

I can't wait to get started on my nephew projects-the sweater and star blankie-especially since his birth is impending! After the next two weeks she's been given the go. I am so excited, but also a little sad that I am here in Iowa and she is out in California.

I had forgotten to post about the Mother's Day shock I got. Mr. Blue is notoriously terrible with gifts. For years he would get so worried about it he would end up getting nothing and then feeling bad about it, in spite of my assurances that I don't NEED gifts. (Don't get me wrong, gifts are great, but I'd rather have a happy husband than a miserable one.) He finally understood that I was serious when I said it's the thought that counts and began making cakes, favorite dinners, etc. He is also horrible with surprises, he gets so excited he ends up saying too much and giving them away. So, for Mother's Day he said he had a plan for what to get me and proceeded to spill many details. I was convinced I was getting a Dyson vacuum, we'd talked about getting one. I was happy about this because I have four children and a bling vacuum would rock my socks off.

Imagine my amazement when Mr. Blue and the children presented me with an IPOD MINI! *faints for the gazillionth time* I had mentioned wanting an mp3 player, and this is what the man came up with. Holy Moly. It seems like way too much of a gift, but he was so excited about it and it really is way cool.

The point to that long-ass story is that I can now attempt to make one of those fun little Ipod Cozies! Oh, and that Mr. Blue appears to be no longer notoriously horrible with gifts. Well then!

Sick Kids and Lots To Do

And I haven't felt that creative. I am working on lots of cloches, the baby set, and getting ready to start on a blanket for the nephew. I also would like to do some more knitting, but I can't until I get some of this crocheting done, especially my auction stuff.

Happy Belated Mothers Day to all of you out there, mine was a lot of fun, a great day all around. :D

Nail polish, clutter, and yarn yearnings.

I am holding Big C as he conks out for his afternoon nap and realize that on one foot his toes are painted. In little girl sparkly pink nailpolish. Apparently yesterday when Arenne was told NOT to even think about painting his nails she already had. Instead of heading it off, I merely interrupted it. Before you go thinking that the six year olds are allowed free access to nail polish, realize this was a once in a long time deal where I actually allowed them to paint their own nails. There goes that one for awhile again.

We are settling in nicely post-vacation. Abs had a sick day yesterday, she threw up the night before, but was feeling better by the afternoon. Her illness mysteriously reappeared last night when it was time to clean up the toys. It's almost scary how much that kid is like me as a child. I am trying to find a new routine, amid all the catching up and Mr. Blue's shift change. Today is supposed to be a laundry/clean up the living room day(wow that sounds organized) and I was really on a roll, but now all I can think about is taking a nap. Coffee keep me going. I have so much crap to go through, and I really should do it while my hoarding self is in the mood to throw things away.

I started another baby toque today, for the Sybermoms Strollers auction. This is the first thing I have crocheted for THREE WHOLE DAYS. THREE WHOLE DAYS! Can you believe that? It's shocking. I was finding myself lovingly stroking my different yarns, gazing at them wistfully while a quiet tear slowly slid down my face. Sad, really.

The Pink Cloche I am donating to the Sybermoms auction, complete with flower! I LOVE LOVE LOVE beppycat's pattern, especially using sugar 'n cream, very nice summer hats. I finally added flowers to the two for myself as well.  

Home again, home again, jiggedy jig!

Sigh, we are home. The bittersweetness of the comfortableness of home, and of leaving family and the freedom of vacation. We had an absolute blast. My eye came open again, but I still had fun, so there.

When we left CA it was hot. Here in Iowa, it is chilly. Welcome home to us!

On my vacation I got to go to my VERY FIRST REAL YARN STORE! It was lovely, heaven. I walked through all those yarns and things and was just happy. AAAAAAH. Everyone in my family could not understand my excitement, but you yarn lovers can, I just know it. I bought 3 skeins of Debbie Bliss alpaca silk, mmmmm. And I got to actually touch it before I bought it! Now I just need to find a good pattern, or, knowing me, and idea for what to make with it.

Ah Vacation

I am incredibly excited for our vacation, we leave in the morning. An entire week out in California with family. It is going to be fantastic.

The only problem is...
PACKING. It drives me mad. Packing for myself is bad enough. Packing for myself and 4 children, well, I have no words. Endless laundry, endless folding, and STILL things I have forgotten. Sigh. It'll be a late night and an early morning.

Tomorrow is filled with driving, flying, more flying, and more driving. But at the end, MY SISTERS! AND MY GRANDPARENTS! AND MY AUNTS AND UNCLES AND COUSINS! WOOHOOO! The week should be an absolute blast, I am so excited. I even finished my poncho in time to wear it traveling, and now I will be crocheting like mad to finish the flip flops. I had wanted to get a pic of all of them finished, but I'm guessing that's not going to happen.

So, tomorrow we are off, and the blog will more than likely become stagnant, but I'll see what I can do. (Who am I kidding, like I have a lot of people reading.)

Blech to packing, yay to vacation, and then I come home and get to...

yep, unpack.

The Poncho is Done!

Here is the finished poncho. It is VERY soft, and I love the colors, but I accidently made it a bit short in the width, so it doesn't cover my arms as much as I would like. I still like it though. ;) Took this shot myself, the girls helped out too.

Ari's picture of the poncho. You can see that it isn't very long over my one arm.

Ab's picture of it. :) Ignore the ugly shorts lol.

The Little Man Nephew Set is finished! WOOHOO! Here is the toque and booties. I may end up making a sweater as well, we'll see. These booties also seem pretty big, so I am thinking of making a little pair of socks. Maybe. ;) 

The cute little toque, the pattern calls for contrasting yarn, but I used all of one kind. I'm thinking the little man will probably get another of these. 

Ahh, another cloche finished, this one is also Sugar 'n Cream, a bright one. The purple part is actually pink though. 

The Pink Cloche!

Here is the pink cloche, being modeled by Drew-please ignore the powdered donut residue. ;) I used BeppyCat's pattern, found on crafster. I used a size 7.5MM hook and Sugar n Cream. It worked up really well, and is fast and easy! I still need to add the flower. I actually made two, the first I made a little mistake on joining one of the rows, but instead of frogging I decided to keep it for myself. I am also in the process of making another in a different color, I think I am addicted.

Cloche Modeling continued

Colin modeling the cloche.

TA-DAAAA!

It's done! I sewed the pocket together on Saturday and gave it to my mom, she loves it. :) It turned out really well.

The toy pile is calling my name.

I am trying to ignore it, but it's sheer size is making that difficult.

It is an absolutely GORGEOUS day here today, a few in between thunderstorms and rain-even if I am rather partial to those grey days. I succumbed to the yarn addiction again, and ordered some baby silk from elann. This seriously has to stop, holy moly. The yarn stash is beginning to rival the living room toy pile and that is really scary. I do have more fun with the yarn than the hot wheels though. Mostly.

My three big kids are across the street playing with my cousin's daughter and little man C is in helping me. I worked on the poncho a bit, trimmed some of the fuzzies off the mom bag, and am finishing off a big huge Turtle Mocha coffee. So far I've not felt the effects of the caffeine, so maybe it will come in a big burst. Then I could whip right through that toy pile. Sigh.

Aside from the Big Spring Clean, yesterday I felted the bag for my mom. It shrunk a lot more than I had thought it would, but this was my first time working with the Peruvian Highland wool and my second time felting. As you can see, the flap did not shrink up as much as I had thought. 

Here it is blocked, and drying. I am going to flip up the extra on the flap and sew it into a pocket. It is hard to see, but it is flipped up here. Please also ignore the burns on my ironing board lol. 

What a tremendous gift. My grandma (my mom's mom) had told me she had some knitting stuff she wanted to give me, as she doesn't knit anymore due to arthritis. I had no idea how emotional this would get!

First was the set-the green case-of knitting needles & dpns given to her by grandpa-more explanation below with the close-up. Then the tote, which came from the dry goods business my other grandpa (my dad's dad) used to own. My dad also worked for him for years, as I did, and they finally went out of business when I was in junior high. My dream as a kid was to someday inherit the business.

Then, the needles, of which I had no clue of the sheer volume she had lol. I found out the ones in packages were given to my grandma by my aunt, who recently passed away. She was a huge packrat like myself and had worked for the dry good's when they went out of business. It is still really hard to believe she is gone, and it is unbelievable how much it means to me to have these from her.

Getting emotional now, but this is just too much, and I am so thankful for my Grandma and my family, and this great gift I got today.

Here is the close-up of the set given to my grandma from grandpa for her first Mother's Day from my Uncle Larry. My grandpa and Uncle have both passed away. The needles are BEAUTIFUL and it is just way too cool.

A close-up of the tote and the yarn and needles that were inside of it. 

Knitting books from the 80's baby! 

April is such a crazy, busy month for us

I am not having NEARLY enough time to knit or crochet. Sigh. Mostly it's been confined to the school runs and picking up Mr. Blue from work, about the only times I get to sit still.

We had the girls' birthday, my brother's birthday, and Mr. Blue turns 31 tomorrow. My parents anniversary is coming up soon, AND we have our big trip to California at the end of the month. All of that along with me trying to get the house all organized is sending me over the edge after the edge I've already gone over.

Mr. Blue has requested a clean house for his birthday gift-if you saw the toy pile in the living room you would know this is more valuable than gold-so today is cleaning day, along with errand running day as mil will have the boys for me. AND I have a rheumatologist appt this afternoon. Of course it is a lovely, grey, rainy day that would be just perfect for getting cozy and knitting and reading the day away. Responsibilty calls though.

Progress is being made, slowly but surely! Up until the second blue strip is halfway, I believe. I CANNOT wait to get this finished, even if my hands and arms hurt. 

YAY!

Venus finished her poncho! Our knit-along is finished! It is GORGEOUS, and Teag is adorable.

V did hers in two colors and I love the way it turned out, in fact I am pretty jealous, wish I had thought of it.

You can see her work here.

Well done Michelle!!!

Ah Saturday

I had hoped the kids might surprise me and sleep in, but no such luck. They are all so excited about our day that every.single.one.of.them was up by 7am. For the boys, it's off to grandma's for a sleepover complete with GOLF! For the girls and Mr. Blue and I, it's off to Omaha for a fun-filled birthday present day of Build a Bear, eating out, and probably a few other fun things.

I have been harboring a secret hope I could visit an actual LYS while there, but I don't know if Mr. Blue will be able to handle it, especially after we go dressing up bears. I could coerce the girls and we could vote and outnumber him, but that wouldn't be very nice. Sigh.

I finished a dishcloth last night, they are my handy little in between projects, for when I am needing a break from the current ones. I love my poncho, and cannot wait to finish it, but WOW are my forearms and hands tired. Hoping to get a lot done on the drive today.

And yet another project! Here is the yarn for a cloche I am doing for a friend of my sister's. She really LOVES pink, and I thought this would cover the bases. 

Progress on the poncho for me! Wheeee. I absolutely love the softness of this, and the colors. I've made a few mistakes here and there, but not too awful bad for the third thing I've knitted. 

The finished baby booties! Not bad for my first try, I just hope they are manly enough for the nephew!