Coming Soon to a Neck Near You...

I made this.


I have forewarned my husband that it is time for me to move out of FL (as I type this, I'm sweating... our windows are open and the fans are going... it's too hot). I need seasons.

I need a reason to keep this for myself!

Grubby Mitts

Ok, not grubby. But I love using those two words together. About a billion (not an exaggeration, I swear) years ago, I finished these mitts.


These were the most fun thing to knit.  I learned how to do stranded colorwork (fair isle) and I'm hooked. I've been eyeing up a set like this. Tell me it wouldn't make you just thrilled to wrap that around you and head out into the cold...
But alas. We have no cold.
So, instead someone else will be enjoying these. I bet you wish it was you.



I think I need to make another pair for the 4 days it gets cold enough... what colors would you suggest?

Extra! Extra!

Woman neglects her blog in favor of peace and quiet. Given that she's got five children, her pursuit for peace & quiet is fruitless.

Because it's finally October, the weather has started to cool to manageable temperatures. This means we can go out of our house for longer than the time it takes to get into our cars. Huzzah!

We have one particular tradition in our house that is highly protected. The post-church Sunday afternoon nap. If I don't get one, you really don't want to be around me on Sunday evening. On this past Sunday, I managed to get a decently long nap (longer than 20 minutes) and woke to the sounds of my children playing happily on the patio outside our bedroom. I wandered out there to check on them to find this:

 Libby, who was napping, but woke up, was gotten out of bed by her big sisters and strapped into this thing. When I found her she was just rocking back and forth and happy as can be. That is, until she saw me.

Breaks a momma's heart. And makes me giggle my fool head off.

 There... now that's more like it. Smiley girl. 7 months old now!
We took a walk as a family since the weather was so darned agreeable.

 Guess who potty trained this week?!?!?!!!!

 Love these little people.

Especially when they're full of happy noises.

Spinning.

As I mentioned before, I ordered a spinning wheel for myself for my 31st birthday. I spent the first 2 hours swearing.... and suddenly it clicked.

I've been having a blast. Someday I'll take pictures of my wheel, but for now, you get pictures of the yarn I've spun.

 This was my first attempts at spinning.  It wound up being 28 yards of horribly over/under spun and awfully plied yarn. I'll keep it for fun, but it's not likely to be made into anything.

 So, I tried again. This produced a "much closer to yarn" product. 216 yards of it!  I still struggle with overspinning but I'm doing better. This particular fiber is Corriedale (the variety of sheep it came from). It's sheep colored. I could overdye this if I'd like and even ordered the acid dyes necessary to do so... We shall see.

 For my birthday, my mom sent me a beautiful braid of fiber. It's a Superwash Merino Tencel blend. 253 yards of light fingering weight. I love it and have a project planned for it!

 For kicks, I attended a Fiber Conference/Convention (way nerdy, eh?). While I was there, I purchased a couple of braids of fiber. One being what you see below. Ashland Bay Colonial Teal Multi. Whatever that means. This yarn is 166 yards of worsted weight. The perfect amount for a hat or possibly some mittens.

So.... uh, that's the yarn. I made it. Yes, I'm doing a little "I am so totally awesome dance."

Miles is 5!

Friday was the 5th birthday of my oldest son.

As some of my friends would like me to remember, it was a mildly traumatic birth in that, he was nearly born at home, the car, the parking lot of the hospital and finally, the elevator. My labor was a mere hour and a half (which I went on to beat! Thank you Libby!) and he was born a quick and scary 12 minutes after arriving at the hospital.

Worth it? Sure.

A couple of months ago, we decided to sign him up for Soccer through the YMCA this fall.  It was a weird choice to have to make. Sign him up to play with the 3-4 team or send him off to fend for himself with the 5-6s. We opted to go with the 3-4s.

When you're talking about 3-4 soccer it's like the punchline to an untold joke.  You expect flower picking and bird watching and very little actual soccer playing. So, you can imagine that we were pleasantly surprised at the amount of soccer played and the fact that Miles, who is a total spazz, did quite well.

 Miles's team is in the red. They call themselves the Fireballs.

 Miles scored 3 goals that day.

 And got really really sweaty. We're super proud of our spazz.

And as mentioned, he had a birthday. Happy 5 years of living on this Earth, Miles!