Yarn Along & A New Arrival

Happy Halloween!!

Just enough time to pop in to share some news.... We very recently welcomed our new sweet baby girl!  Not the best picture of her, but it captured a hand-knit pumpkin I managed to get done before she was born.  I "mostly" followed The Sitting Tree's free pumpkin pattern, but I for some reason really liked the way it looked before turning it inside out, so I didn't.

We are all completely in love with our sweet girl, she has added so much joy to our family already in her short life!

Linked to Small Thing's Yarn Along

Yarn Along

Can you see me??

Most current WIP... my first lace project...

Oh, I'm much too shy to want to be in the picture Mommy

Shy.... right!

Socks for Pop (grandfather) and Alex's socks (my first socks!)... As well as my "reading" which consists of purging several years of parenting magazines that I never had a chance to read as they arrived...

My first extremely messed up attempt at socks.. "based" off the pattern my Kelly of Creating a Family Home Raindrop Toddler Socks

Word to the wise... when you're learning to knit socks and want to do the same sections at a time... and are using self striping or variegated yarn, do NOT work from the outside and inside of the same skein......

Infant sweaters for charity...

I played around with the pattern because the original pattern all in garter stitch was really boring for me... that may have been a mistake...

My first sweater for the charity collecting these sweaters... It seemed so boxy and came out unevenly, so I did all the rest in a mixture of stockinette and garter... hopefully they'll be good enough to use...

Another shot of the first sweater...  my seaming skills are lacking.. this was the first time I added sleeves to anything and it seems mattress stitch and I are not best of friends.... yet!

Scarves for a local winter clothing drive... I made several of them too wide... but I figure at least they can be doubled over or be pulled up around someone's ears...

Some of my knit squares for Knit A Square

New (to us) cloth diapers..... for a family with a potty trained little boy??  Hmmm..... :-)

I love my drying rack, but I really wish we had a yard and the ability to line dry...

I ... and apparently my son Alex are joining in with Ginny of Small Thing's Yarn Along again for the first time in a very long time! 

We've had several "WE'RE MOVING!" moments in the last few months... most recently last week... so please excuse the mess in the background of many of my photos.... We can just pretend that I live in a perfectly neat home on a normal basis!  Right? We are NOT moving from our apartment right now.  We came very, very close, but our realtor decided to lie to my (and my husband's) face on several occasions in trying to push us into a home... and I decided that among many other reasons I did not wish to work with her and we will not be going forward with purchasing a home until our lease is up in the late spring/early summer of 2013.  We have several... time constraints upcoming in our life in a very short amount of time, one of which you may have an inkling about....  Any ideas what it might be?  Those last two pictures plus my extended absence may just give you a hint. 

Reading: Right now I'm in the process of reading through some parenting magazines that have filled... well.. more than an entire shelf when all was said and done (I've cancelled all of my paid subscriptions.) I really don't know why I let myself even be talked into ordering the magazine in the first place... I guess as a first time parent I thought I was going to need tips and input... but to be honest, reading through them, there isn't much that I really find all that helpful... I tore out a few craft ideas and had some good laughs over the pages that had quotes of amusing things their children have said... but beyond that...  I realize how different I am from the parents that are being targeted in these magazines.  I don't like seeing all the "stuff" they advertize and try to convince you that you need for your child.  And of course there's just all the waste involved with receiving a paper magazine.  It looks like I will have at least 1 shopping bag full of magazines when I'm done reading through... I've made a few posts through my mom's group seeing if someone's school or scout group could use them for crafting, but so far no luck.  As much as I enjoy arts and crafts and I'm sure I could "eventually" use them all... we really need to clean them out.  I suppose at "worst" they'll go into the recycling bin... but I'd like for them to be re-purposed if possible.. I always worry they wont be able to be recycled due to the type of glossy paper they're printed on. 

Knitting: Well, obviously I haven't joined in on Yarn Along for quite some time... so there have been many, many projects.. especially in the winter when it wasn't so blistering hot.

I've picked up a market bag that I've attempted on many, many different occasions and have always had to rip out and start over.... It's my first ever lace project.. and I'm having such a difficult time dealing with those giant needles and keeping track of all the stitches (especially the looser yarn overs that when I'm trying to count hang funny and convince me they don't belong there.)  I'm following this pattern on Ravelry from Bernat.

I FINALLY after over a year finished Alex's Raindrop Socks from Kelly over at Creating a Family Home's blog...  I happen to know Kelly from my mom's group back in PA and can't begin to thank her enough for all the hand holding (via email) from her to get me through them.  I completely messed the pattern up.. but they came out sock shaped and usable, which is the most important thing.  Alex loves them and was SO excited to finally have them.  As I mentioned in the caption... if you're learning to knit socks and want to do a pair side by side... and they only require one skein of yarn.... if it's a variegated or self striping yarn... don't go from both the inside and outside of your skein if you want them to be striped/variegated in an even pattern! 

Onto my second pair of socks.. this time a giant pair of men's socks for my dad's birthday in October.  I'm using the Basic Ribbed Sock pattern by Kate Atherley.  I have to have my husband to try them on so I can guarentee they're close to the right size... and then I can move onto the toe portion!  I would be beyond thrilled if I could finish these socks by the end of the month and have them wrapped and ready for my dad's October birthday! 

I've also done quite a bit of charity knitting.. info on several of the projects are included in my photo captions.  If anyone has any questions about getting involved with any of the charity projects I'm working on I'd be happy to share any information with you, so don't hesitate to ask!  After my current wips are out of the way I'll probably have a few updates about each charity project individually, but my plans don't always go as ... well.... planned, so if you're interested in getting involved, just ask! 

Goals Update...

Well, I'm seriously failing at getting everything done I had planned on. 

Goals:

-Finish unpacking

-Fill etsy shop and get it really up and running

-Fill a few more boxes to donate/get rid of

-Take donations to donation centers/thrift stores

-Purge all of my papers

-Learn 3 new stitch patterns (knit or crochet)

-Finish making all my old t-shirts into t-shirt yarn and find a pattern for a rag rug that fits the space I want it for.

-Have that dreaded conversation about the future  (we still don't know what's going on for next year, much less the next 5 years)...

-Work to get myself out of this depression

-Participate in yarn along every week that we are home (and I have a knit/crocheted item to show.)

-Do some bread baking

To Do's by Month:

September (Dear Sept, How are you over already and how do I not have the most important things done??!)

-Decorate for Fall

-Make and send birthday gifts to my parents

-Make orthopedist appointment for Dec (now we may not be in PA for Dec, so I need to call and talk to them)

-Find a pediatric dentist and doctor and make dentist appointment for Oct and 3 year appointment for Nov

October

-Pumpkin picking!/Hayride

-Decorate a pumpkin (a first for Alex!)

-Halloween decorations

-Trick-or-Treating or small Halloween celebration (not sure what our new complex's/community's rules are for trick-or-treating

-Add making a birthday and Christmas gift for my husband

-Add October Event for my mom's group

-Add finding a doctor for myself and getting in for an appointment

November

-Birthday/Thanksgiving celebration

-Birthday trip (train ride and remaining day of hotel paid for and scheduled)

-Decorate for Christmas

-Finish making Christmas gifts

-Send birthday gift and card to FIL

-Add wrap gifts for the boys

-Add make a gift for Alex for Christmas

December

-Wrap Christmas gifts

-PA trip/Orthopedist appointment for Alex

-Make and take birthday gift to MIL
A bunch of my goals are somewhat in progress.... I've done a bit more unpacking, filled multiple boxes for donation (but I'm not done yet and the thrift store that would take our donations isn't close by), done plenty of knitting and crocheting, but only one yarn along, which I really miss doing.  Alex and I did make pita bread one day, but I want to make sourdough before the end of the year. I've definitely learned some new stitch patterns (cabling and chain/honeycomb stitch and I learned to crochet a round.)  I was sick for several weeks and need to get myself in to see a doctor also... I have trust issues with doctors and am having trouble choosing one for Alex.  I'm always seeing a ton of feedback for certain doctors in the area.. but unfortunately there's negatives for each one.  I think there's still plenty of time to get him in for all of his appointments... I just need to suck it up and choose one, knowing I can always change doctors again if we need to.

I also had to add a few things to my list of goals and I'm sure I'm forgetting things.  This does not bode well for my ability to get everything done. 

It has been awhile Yarn Along.

No, I haven't stopped knitting, are you crazy?!  I've just been... busy?  Well... that sort of covers it I guess..  My husband found an online work from home job for a few hours a week that I hope he is able to hang on to for a long time... He has heard that they just drop their sub contractors at the drop of a hat with no warning and for no reason...  He also has an early morning position (allowing him to go right to his classes afterwards) starting soon at a retail store... we had been hoping for somewhere with health insurance so we didn't have to continue paying out of pocket, but so far no luck.  Anyway, my husband's working on the computer when tasks become available (normally late at night or early in the morning) doesn't really allow me to do any blogging. ......and when I do I'm normally exhausted and not sure how much sense I'm actually making!

My reading time has been spent on homeschooling sites, reading through curriculum, saving interesting pages and coming up with new activities for my little boy.  I've started to feel so less passionate about my desire to homeschool, which scares me because it is something that I have always wanted to do.  I think all the negativity I get from family remembers and friends is getting to me.  There is a big homeschooling group here that I am working to become a part of for the fall, so I don't worry so much about socialization once we get involved with that group.  When it comes to the educational part of homeschooling.... how many 2 year olds do you know who know their alphabet, numbers and actually have any level of word recognition? I only know one, mine! (I'm sure there's many others, I just don't know any.)  I feel very passionately about teaching him and he loves to work with me, so while he's enjoying learning, making good progress and getting enough socialization, I don't see the problem.... it just gets tiring answering all the "why" questions and defending myself.  Hopefully once we're an active part of the homeschooling group around like minded families, I'll start feeling really excited about it again. 

On the knitting (and crocheting) front..  I've been knitting and crocheting up a storm.  Sorry if any of these are repeats... I can't recall exactly which pieces I've shown before, but I think most, if not all, are new.

tons of headbands in the light colored basket waiting for ribbon to secure the ends, cabled headbands, face scrubbies, tiny owls for barrettes...

Close up of some of  the many cabled headbands I've been making

More face scrubbies

I must have over 100 ends to weave in, which I'm not exactly excited about!  I also followed and completed (not shown) my first intermediate pattern for my dad's birthday.  It was a celtic cabled cloth that was meant to be a dish cloth but came out super thick so I told him to use it as a heat pad to cover up less pretty ones. Most of my pictures look the same as my old yarn along pictures, because I was using up scraps from other projects and trying to work through all my yarn (with both of us having been out of work for quite a while there's not really any leftover money for yarn)...... Then I went out and bought 6 or so skeins of cheap cotton one Sat afternoon because they were on sale for a little over a dollar a skein.... the next day I decided to just go walk around A.C.Moore because they have a nice train table for customer's children to play on (which my son ADORES) and I thought it would be a nice activity for my parents who were visiting and son.  I also knew that there was a drawing in each store for winning yarn... figuring I had no chance I was just browsing with my mom (and helping everyone in the yarn aisle who was trying to find something, I really should get a job there) while my dad played with my son at the train table... suddenly, my name was called over the loudspeaker.  Guess who won $100 worth of yarn?? ME!  (My mom is always winning things, I contribute some of my luck to her being there, I never win anything!) I had to buy it that day from what they had and of course I hadn't brought along my cell phone to call my husband and ask him to look up patterns and read them to me, nor did I bring any patterns with me!  So, I bought pretty yarn that was normally out of my price range.  I'll have to post a picture of it.. it's so pretty and makes me so happy!  Of course they were out of a lot since all the ladies in the area who love yarn were there hoping to win (yes, I did get some dirty looks) were there loading up their carts with yarn.  Anyway, I'm trying to use up the rest of my old yarn first and drooling over patterns trying to pick the perfect pattern that my new yarn will match up with. Part of my purchase from the winning was yarn for a scarf for my mom's Christmas gift, which will have to come before anything for us. 

Linking up to Small Thing's Yarn Along.

Goals...

My friend Amy over at Sew Adorable recently celebrated her birthday and made a list of goals that she hopes to reach before her next birthday (one for each year of her life so far.)  Since my birthday isn't even 5 months away... and because I'm headed into old age (just kidding) I wont be making a goal for each year I've lived, but I've been inspired to make a list of goals I hope to reach (as well as a bit of a to-do list) before the end of the year (my birthday is only days after that.) 

Goals:

-Finish unpacking

-Fill etsy shop and get it really up and running

-Fill a few more boxes to donate/get rid of (I did a huge chunk of this after getting interrupted while writing this post.  My closet is starting to look so much better!  Unfortunately it was several pairs of self destructed shoes that had to go into the trash and only a few good pairs for the donation pile and some purses.)

-Take donations to donation centers/thrift stores

-Purge all of my papers

-Learn 3 new stitch patterns (knit or crochet)

-Finish making all my old t-shirts into t-shirt yarn and find a pattern for a rag rug that fits the space I want it for.

-Have that dreaded conversation about the future (kids, me going back to work/or not, moving, money, etc.) with the hubby... After we get admission responses.... wait.. that one will probably not happen until next May (at which point our savings may be gone already...) giving us yet again only a few weeks to pack up and move.  Maybe I should add packing up in preparation to my list...

-Work to get myself out of this depression

-Participate in yarn along every week that we are home (and I have a knit/crocheted item to show.)

-Do some bread baking

*There isn't anything on this portion of the list that costs anything right?  Please tell me there's not*

To Do's by Month:

September

-Decorate for Fall

-Make and send birthday gifts to my parents

-Make orthopedist appointment for Dec

-Find a pediatric dentist and doctor and make dentist appointment for Oct and 3 year appointment for Nov

October

-Pumpkin picking!/Hayride

-Decorate a pumpkin (a first for Alex!)

-Halloween decorations

-Trick-or-Treating or small Halloween celebration (not sure what our new complex's/community's rules are for trick-or-treating

November

-Birthday/Thanksgiving celebration

-Birthday trip

-Decorate for Christmas

-Finish making Christmas gifts

-Send birthday gift and card to FIL

December

-Wrap Christmas gifts

-PA trip/Orthopedist appointment for Alex

-Make and take birthday gift to MIL

All in all it doesn't seem like that long or difficult of a list...the depression is kicking my butt though.  It's all I can do just to drag myself through my daily housework and taking care of my son most days.