Life as it happens

I'm afraid I don't have much to report on right now. I'm in a bit of a funk and it's cold, really cold. Well, I guess it's warmer now, 12F according to the MSN toolbar I somehow acquired. I've been seeing little traffic on the congo and not sure what direction to go. I have a hat I'm knitting for a trade for some wetbags (yippee! no more plastic shopping bags for dirty diapers!) and doing a cat sweater for another customer. So I've got a few things in the gauntlet and I really need to get a few patterns written up. I'm surprisingly excited about the cat sweater. I'll post a picture of the hat I'm knitting too along with the grief it's giving me (well, it's just huge, that's all. I'm duplicating a picture with fair isle designs and either it was knit at a much smaller gauge or out of dk instead of worsted. It almost covers my eyes and I'm about to start decreasing for the crown.)

Speaking of patterns, I'm semi-in-love with this hat pattern I've been working on, "Intertwined". I charted it out months ago and just never got to the actual knitting part. Here it is mostly worked up:

However, it's much too small. Not sure what I was thinking, but I've got to rip it out and reknit on larger needles. Such is my life these days. Anyway, I'm excited about it. I just have to figure out how to get it charted so someone else can duplicate it without spending a fortune on charting software. I have found one free online charting program and once I get the crown figured out I'll probably give that a whirl.

I still need to get Tweets written up and name that other washcloth. You'd think the dead of winter would be wonderfully productive knitting and designing time, but unfortunately the cold and dark tends to also suck out motivation.

Why it Smells Like a Bonfire in My House

Finally, I fixed the pictures. I think. (2/16)

So here you go, my bonfire story:

We got home last night from my parents' house just before 10pm. I was working on winding down the kids and getting ready for bed when dh decided to start a fire in our fireplace. We have lived in this house since April 05 and have never had a fire. We have had two kids born here, one in the dead of winter, and we've never used the fireplace. It's not because I didn't want to, on the contrary, I would love to have a big fire burning and keeping us warm. But my darling husband has been holding out that someday we'll get a gas insert.

So needless to say, I was surprised when he cleared the candles out and started piling up kindling. He got a flame going and it looked like this:

He went outside and got some logs and it looked like this:

After 20 min or so, it looked like this:

Yes, that's snow. You see, it apparently isn't wanting to draft properly and my upstairs was looking a bit like this:

And these pictures are after I've already opened windows and let it ventilate for a bit. When I went up for these I could actually see without my eyes burning. He was so frustrated, he was snapping at the kids (it was after 10, they were tired and cranky... so was he) and immediately got online to find out what he could do to fix it. Keep in mind now, my husband is a firefighter. Wouldn't it have been nice if the neighbor's called the FD and said it looked like our house was on fire? Not so much.

We have decided to keep it wood burning, because I figure if the world all goes to crap at least we can chop down one of the trees in our yard and keep the kids warm.

So, it smells like a bonfire in here today. :)

Post Holiday Post

So a bit of an update...


Christmas was nice. I didn't even get close to finishing my projects, but that's okay. I got dh's family done and mine will have to wait. Let's see, I finished one pair of glittens, they turned out nicely.


I actually had to gift them before I got good pictures. I finished the second one up after we finished opening gifts so I don't have a photo of an actual pair. I got started on a second pair for my brother with some fair isle and didn't change the size from these ones, but because of the fair isle it was turning out way too small. So I ripped back to the cuff and have to redo the charts and haven't been motivated enough to do it. I really should though because my brother actually sounds excited to get them, and they don't take too long once you get going.


This is the scarf I made for my other brother, it's the Easiest Farrow Rib Scarf.



Turned out nicely too, I went down a needle size as it was just too loose to be a proper scarf with the yarn I was using, Cascade 220 doubled. The picture isn't that good, again it got gifted before proper photos were taken and I took this one at my mom's house yesterday with her iPhone. He likes it, and that's what matters.


We also had a stocking last Tuesday, which accounts for more of my time spent not blogging. I finished up a set of Tweets that are WAY cute if I do say so myself.



And a goldfish



I have some other things listed as well, including some baby leggings and a hat modeled here by my blue-eyed beauty (who is going to be 1 next week, I can't believe it!).



I have one more story for you, but my laptop is freezing up when I try to upload pictures, and it' just not the same without them.


To Be Continued...

Holy Hannah, Batman! Is that a Glitten?!

Yes indeed, Robin. It is in fact a glitten. You realize this can only mean one thing... I'm done with all my washcloths. Here's your proof:

And that's not even all of them. Yikes. I dropped the order off today and I'm done! I have to say I have this immense feeling of accomplishment and pride. I put together 44 facial care bags and 2 "For Him" bags and got them out the door today, without too much stress. There was the glitch of not having *nearly* enough rosewater, but that stress only lasted a day or so. Then I talked with the customer who was okay with getting her stuff a couple days later, and voila! I did have to knit 2 washcloths this morning to get it all ready, but pulled it off and left the house around noon. So I decided to reward myself by knitting some wool.

Here are pics of what the gift bags look like, now that I have changed my packaging procedures. Oh, and let me tell you the mess we had here Saturday night trying to fill those cold cream bottles. Pouring didn't work as it was too thick and the necks are too narrow. So I thought the jerky gun would work. Nope, nozzle not small enough. I finally settled on stuffing the cold cream in a plastic bag with the corner cut off and squeezing it into the bottles. Yes, I filled about 30 bottles this way. Then I decided to pour it before it gets that cool so it's still a little runny. That worked for the last few, but there's this *very* fine line between "cool enough it stays mixed" and "too cool that it doesn't pour". But I made it, they're out the door, and the customer is excited. What more could I ask for?

Oh, I wrote a new washcloth pattern too, but don't know what to name it. Any suggestions?

Almost Out of the Woods

I haven't updated in too long. I waited to put up the Cyber Monday items until they were listed since it was supposed to be kind of an exciting surprise. I will put some pics of those things up later when I don't have to worry about ds spraying vinegar and Windex all over the bathroom.

As for the large order I have going on here... I have enough washcloths to be done but I grossly miscalculated (well, I didn't calculate, and that's where the problem came in) the amount of rosewater I would need so I had to rush ship it from Utah. It should come tomorrow. I have all the cold cream done, packaged, and ready. I just need the rosewater to make the astringent and then I think I have to make a few more lip balms and I'm good to go. Who'd believe it? Other than the freakout of not having enough rosewater (I'm talking I was more than a gallon short. BIG deal), it has gone rather well. Who would've thought I could pull this off?

Finally Ready... I Think.

We are having a big stocking at Serenity Tree tomorrow for "Cyber Monday". We will be having random listings all day and are having a bit of a "Treasure Hunt" as well. It should be fun.

Anyway, my husband was working on the addition this weekend and installed a door so he had to move the phone line and we didn't have internet for a few days. It was fine, except for this big stocking tomorrow. So I have spent the last couple hours working, but I think I'm finally ready. I have a bunch of stuff up, and a couple I wish I would've had time to finish. But I figure I can use those for the next stocking in 2 weeks.

Included in my "not quite done" list are my Tweets. I will have to get some pictures uploaded tomorrow. I made a cardinal and it even has the crest on it's head. When I showed my husband he even said it was cute, which is saying a lot since I never get a reaction out of him on the things I make. So I'm pleased. I have to put the beak on the yellow bird as well so they're maybe not ready yet, but I was really hoping to get them listed tomorrow. Ah well.

Oh, but I did get my Midnight Sky Longies finished, they turned out really great, I'm really pleased.

I was also hoping to have a goldfish done, but that isn't going to happen either. I got a good part of the tail done and then decided to rip out and do it a little differently. So hopefully I should have a good start on the next stocking. If only my washcloths were done... :) Just 11 to go, minus any my sister completed for me. I *heart* my sister.

No Camera with Something to Share

My dear husband took the camera to work with him so I can't give you pictures today. Maybe I'll take some with my cell phone, I'm excited to put up what I made.

It's a birdie! A really quick little pattern I'm writing up and will be calling "Tweets". I am going to make a bluebird, cardinal, and canary. Not "officially" of course, but mostly the same bird in blue, red, and yellow. I am going to try to figure out if I can make the little crest thing the cardinals have. This one, the prototype, is a little big for kiddie fingers I think, but it is complete with belly button! My 3yo insisted I give it a belly button.

It's cuter in person, but there you go. And maybe cuter if I had a decent camera. Yeah, that would help.

I haven't made much progress since the weekend on dishcloths. I think I have 15 to go, which is managable at the 2 per day I had myself at, but I didn't finish any on Monday and only 1 yesterday. Yesterday's is pretty cute, it's based off the 2 row Noro scarf that's out there these days. Brooklyn Tweed first introduced me and the Yarn Harlot has made 3 recently. I knew I didn't have enough yellow to make a whole washcloth so I mixed it with white for a bit of a bumblebee effect. I like it.

I was inspired by Melanie to finally work on the pants I was going to sew for my little guy. I took a picture of them with my camera last night, it's hilarious. They don't fit. Not even close. I bought a McCall's pattern and some Thomas the Tank Engine fabric for him. I traced the XS size (3-4) onto some wax paper and got started. It didn't take too long, and probably could've been done in half the time if the baby had stayed asleep. I finished them up, put them on him... and they're HUGE! I'm talking way way too big. The waist goes almost to his nipples and the bottoms are inches too long. How depressing. And I skipped washcloth knitting time to make them! Ah well, I guess I'll have to get a different pattern for Mr. Skinny. I mean seriously, he's 3. He shouldn't be primarily in 24 mos pants...