celebrating her birthday!!!!

that's right. I'm old. getting older. But now Mike and I are the same age - for at least another couple of months!

I'm getting ready to head to Louisiana to see my aunt/uncle and cousins (one of which happens to share my birthday as well!) and am trying to figure out what I need to do and bring before I leave. I am, of course, knitting her something, and have tried 3 different yarns to find the right one for the gift I'm making for her. (MB - if you read this - don't click the link!!). The first attempt was too manly, but I loved the stitch and am going to use it as a scarf. The second, is working, but rather bright, and may be used for a matching parent/sister gift - we'll see. The third I will cast on in the car once we're on our way in this yarn:



It's so soft and yummy! Considering how the yarn for the other two worked out, I may have to try a couple of needle sizes, but it should work out perfectly. I just love the stitch pattern, it's really easy and looks great. I think I'll be making quite a few of these (not that 3 isn't a few...) because I think I want one for myself!

In other news, the baptism went great, and the bonnet, although didn't match her dress at all (antique white vs. White-white) it looked cute for the 2 minutes it was on:


We got to see a lot of Mike's family and not only was there a baptism, but also a birthday for William! Go November Birthdays! and I took lots of cute pictures. I've put them up on my Kodak gallery, and will be sending out links to the family. William has a fascination with keys, and during the baptism, was fixated on opening up a side vestabul door with his parents car keys - it was super cute. I took a series of shots of him trying to unlock the door, as well as shots of the actual baptism that are gone off my camera! I have no idea where they went - but then Mike suggested that I may have been using someone elses camera. This is a possibility as there were a number of camera's being passed around, and I really hope I was - there were some cute pictures on there.

We went to a pot-luck dinner the other night thrown by students from Mike's school, and it was very nice. We brought homemade cranberry sauce that hadn't had time to cool/gel, but it still tasted pretty good and pumpkin tartlets that were a hit! I made another batch last night and have been trying not to eat the entire dish.

I still have not seamed the EZ Sweater, but I have finished knitting it:



It needs to be blocked, and I realized I got so far and then just kinda skipped/skimmed over the directions at the end - I didn't do any of the shaping at the bottom (there are supposed to be some decreases in there somewhere) and I think I was supposed to pick-up the armholes when I picked up the rest of the sweater. *shrug* that's the EZ way I suppose, and I'm happy with how it came out.

Now I'm off to get my hair cut, run some other errands and then it's off to Louisiana to give thanks for my wonderful family!!!

returning from Spartenburg

I just got back from a weekend with my in-laws for my niece's baptism, and one thing I realized, other than I have some beautiful beautiful nieces, is that the booties I made for our friends are going to be WAAAYYYY to big. I guess they'll be for when he gets a couple of years old eh? The baby bonnet look cute, but didn't stay on long. It was too off-white for her dress, but looked pretty.

It was a really nice weekend. We got to hang out with a bunch of his family members that we haven't seen in a while. His nieces and nephews are getting really big! And playing with his brother's dog just made us want one even more. In just a couple more weeks I'll get to see my family for the holidays. We're driving to Louisiana to see my aunts and cousins for Thanksgiving. I'm really excited to see them too since it's been even longer since we've seen them! Then for Christmas we'll head back to the 'ville to hang out with friends and family there too. I'm looking forward to the holidays, just not all the driving. I guess it's some good knitting time though.

I'm almost finished with the EZ sweater, it just needs to be seamed up and it looks great! I'm really proud of it. One of these days I'll be brave enough to make and adult sweater for myself. I've got a few favorites right now that I'm thinking of starting on. On is this one (on Ravelry here) called the Green Gable hoodie. I think part of the reason I like it is because it reminds me of the Central Park Hoodie. My second favorite is Riding to Avalon, (here for fellow Ravelers). I was thinking about making it without the hood - or maybe the hood as a flap in the back. My ultimate favorite I think I've mentioned before and is called Pakuna. I keep meaning to pick up the booklet for it, but I've decided to wait until I'm more ready to cast it on and then get the booklet.

Pictures will have to wait until I download them off my camera - maybe tonight if I'm lucky.

at then end of antother crazy week

It's been another busy week, but a quiet weekend, which is nice. It seems like so long ago now, but I did get out and vote on Tuesday. I think they only had one polling place for all of DI where I live, because I spent 3 hrs in line waiting to vote!! The first 1 and 1/2 was just waiting to sign in! This was due partly to my last name being in the middle of the alphabet, so our line was the longest. Then we had to get back at the end of another line that wrapped back and around the parking lot. It was really crazy. I did remember to bring my knitting along and Mike was with me, so I managed.

Then Thursday night was the Fete des Artisans at Mike's school - it was a lot of fun, and both Mike and I got all dolled up to go. Here we are in front of what they've been working on all semester:



Of course looking at it now, we're standing in front of half of their work so here it is as a more unobstructed view:



It was very nice and there was some good food and fun people. One of the ladies I met wowed me with her eyelashes - she had teeny-tiny beads on them!



Are they not great? I love them. I want some. Of course having blue eyes and long lashes in the first place can't hurt either, but I'm determined to find them and find a place to wear them and look just as fabulous!

Today while out shopping, I stopped into a boutique where jeans start at around $250, and was browsing around when I saw the adult version of the sweater I just finished for Crystal's baby on the rack for over $180! I was laughing when I saw it, but then thought - maybe there are a few fun and Christmas presents in it....I could definitely make it out of a better yarn than it was made out of. It still makes me giggle a bit. Well, we know Molly Mack will be fashionable this year! I really did enjoy making that sweater, and I think it's going to become a staple/favorite of mine. I'm going to try it in a few different types of yarn, and then perhaps the adult version is next. I need to see if Ravelry already has one on file to save me some math.

I also completed some knitting this week. The baby bonnet I've been working on is done and I've actually finished something early for a change! The christening is next weekend and I don't have to mail it, so I know it will be there on time and completed. I think this is a first. Of course, I now want to cast on something else either for William or another gift for Cindy. The EZ sweater is coming along, I have one sleeve done and it's going much quicker on the second, but I get distracted easily so I pick it up and put it down. But I've got the pattern down solid in my head so I know it'll go faster now. I should keep an eye out for good buttons. Any suggestions on colors?

2 things I didn't get to go to were my brother's Prive party that he had in Atlanta. They're an invitation only party, at an undisclosed location until the evening of. He's a chef who has a great Cooking/Party Company in San Francisco, and so normally I just hear about them. This time the party was in Atlanta GA, which is only a few hours away, but we weren't able to go because of Mike's schools fundraiser. I heard it went over well, and hope maybe next time he's on this side of the US we'll be able to make it.

Also my cousin Sabrina is receiving her Confirmation this weekend - I didn't realize how hard it can be to find a decent Confirmation - or Christening card these days. It took us three stores, with the last one being a Hallmark store before we found a nice selection. I know next time to hit up Hallmark first. I did not knit/crochet anything for her, but am sending some love along - late as usual. The nice thing about family is they know you, and love and forgive you anyway.

all dressed up for Halloween

This year for Halloween I didn't think I was going to need a costume. Mike and I were going to a party where, as far as I knew, costumes were not required. Then came the email that costumes were "strongly encourage" - 3 days before Halloween!! And then I started to get a bit worried.

I have a few staple costumes that have worked for me in years past, but none that I felt comfortable wearing this year, or I was just plain sick of them. Then while browsing some costumes on the 'net, I came upon one I thought would work - Velma from Scooby-Doo! Pretty easy - maroon skirt orange tights and turtleneck - I already had the glasses, how hard could it be? Well, even in a Clemson loving town, orange is not a color to be easily found. I came up with the idea Wed. and spent most of Thurs. night running from store to store, and finally at 10pm with no tights or turtleneck in sight, gave in to the realization that it was the night before and I had nothing.

I went to sleep hoping I'd dream up something amazing and easy, but nope. Woke up with Nada. So, while getting ready for work, I took one last peruse through my craft room in the hopes that something would inspire me - and realistically, to take note of where my old costumes were. At this point I figured it was going to be an old idea or nothing. As I sorted through the boxes of yarn and needles and fabric, I thought - if only I could do something with all this yarn - I have enough of it, but I don't have time to knit anything.. wouldn't it be great if I could just be .. !!
... but wait!!

what if I....

YES!

I have it!

And with a few tips from some friends at work, I was able to pull together my costume in a few hours when I got home and I went as....



A big ball of yarn!

I have to admit I was pretty proud of myself. It took me an hour or so of fiddling to get the base just right, and then I hand wound the yarn around it to give it the oh-so-real look just the way I envisioned it. Yeah for me!

Mike went as a wind-blown guy - another costume put together last-minute, and I think it turned out pretty well too:



And I quickly learned that when I get pregnant, I may have some maneuverability issues - but at least I won't have to worry about sticking anyone with pointy sticks! Here's me trying to sit in a chair without falling off...



At the party there was also one of my most coveted costumes - Wonder Woman! I've always wanted to dress up as her, but for some reason, never done it:



It was a good time. In what-I've-been-knitting news - I'm almost done with the baby bonnet, and was doing so well on the EZ baby sweater, that I knit about 2 inches too far in the pattern and had to rip back!
The EZ Sweater:



(It's really only coincidental that I've been knitting with so much orange)

Here's the baby bonnet for a certain niece who is about to be baptized:



I'll post more pictures of it once I kitchner the back of it.

I also decided to add a small flower to the sweater for Crystal's baby - she just had her on Wednesday and named her Molly - so here's the flower and sweater for Molly Mack which is on it's way to her now:





Once I get the EZ sweater and bonnet done, I think I'll be starting on some dishcloths and... I'm not sure what else. Perhaps a yoga bag or a sweater for myself. But I'm betting I'll end up working on a few Christmas ideas I've been working on in my head.. we'll see. I do need to plan out some projects and make sure I have the yarn and whatnot put together for the drive to Louisiana for Thanksgiving. Perhaps I need to peruse my que on Ravelry again.