Aaaand were back!

The kids and I just got home from a week up on Orcas (almost a week anyway). We had a great time hanging out with Gramma Gramma and Grandpa Yogi. Jake got to pick berries and play at the bakery bench and Abby got to touch a live crab. She was mad that Grandpa wouldn't let her hold it all by herself. Jake on the otherhand did not want anything to do with it. My parents also got a golf cart for zipping around the property and the kids REALLY loved that. They spent some quality time with Uncle ZaZa on the porch swing and got to visit with Uncle Nate for a bit too.
I got a day without the kids on Saturday when I went to the San Juan County Fair to participate in the Sheep to Shawl demonostration. I had a ton of fun and think I may have lured welcomed a new spinner into the fold. Our team made a shawl in roughly 4 hours wich I think is pretty impressive - especially since our weaver was 15year old Liam Nutt who did not make any mistakes and has the honor of  being the first ever male weaver in the San Juan County Fair Sheep to Shawl. I managed not to buy even a half ounce of fiber too wich is pretty impressive for me.
One of the most exciting parts of the day was when I got back I discovered that I had TWO sales on my Etsy shop! One Spinable Smoothie and one Custom Bear.
On Sunday we got to go to my grandparents house where Granddad made doughnuts! I haven't had a hot Dick Doty doughnut in ages and it was a wonderful treat (I only ate two). We headed home to give the kids naps and get some cooking in and by the time they woke up it was time to go back to Grandma's for dinner. Dinner was pretty good and I got to have another doughnut too!
Monday we caught the red-eye and went to see my brother's new house that he is renting with his fiancee and have breakfast. Making multiple stops along the way we eventually made it home and had time to unload the car before we ran out and picked up dinner. Mom, Abby and I dropped Jake and Brian off at the tennis courts on our way, stopped a Walmart for a couple of things and Jo-ann so I could get the fabric for the custom bear. Then we got dinner, headed home and met the boys. After dinner it was bath and bed for pretty much everyone.
Yesterday I spent the day trying to tie up some loose ends with my Etsy stuff - basically I finally sat down and cruched the numbers to find out if I was giving away my time and materials or if I was actually making anything. While I am not making much of anything at all, I am covering my costs with a little left over. Brian was sure I was upsidedown and is happy to know that I am not even if the pay for my time is quite actually just enough to buy peanuts with.
I got nothing as far as housework done (it looks like a bomb went off in here), but I did get the bear all cut out and ready to sew. I hope to have most of the sewing done today, along with the dishes and laundry (damned laundry just won't go away). If I can get that far I hope to start measuring warp for a new project on the big loom. The last one I was so utterly unhappy with that I have finally cut it off of the loom. I think I am going try to do a 4 harness pattern this time.
Well, off to start those dishes.

Bears!

I finally got my bears up in my Etsy shop! Come and check it out at Grape Sheep!

Need a custom bear? Want one for a little one in your life, or just for fun? Let me know!

Good Food and Some Socks

Lately we have been eating well, thanks to my husband who is a wizard in the kitchen. First he found a recipe for leek and apple stuffing that he stuffed some pork chops with and it was incredible! I didn't take a picture since we devoured it so fast.
Next up are those peas that I planted, I am so giddy that they are alive and well and producing yummy peas!

The peas have been great snacks for me and the kids to munch on (not really enough for a meal coming off of the vine at one time).

About a week after the pork chops Brian decided he wanted to try the apple and leek stuffing as a dressing to be served with mashed potatoes, gravy and chicken, so he roasted some chicken breasts on the bone and used the drippings to make gravy. Now I must say that I am a fan of gravy, particularly gravy on mashed potatoes and I am pretty sure if I could choose only one food to ever eat again it would be mashed potatoes and gravy. I now know that it would be this gravy I would request. This has got to be the absolute best gravy I have ever had, hands down. The chicken was damned good too.

I don't even think he cooked this one with a recipe I think he just pulled it out of his head, it was spectacular.

Again I don't have a picture, but the meal we made with the rest of the chicken was chicken pot pies. I think that it was one of my better batches and I am getting a little better every time I make it (unlike Brian who seems to be able to hit it out of the park on the first try most of the time).

So, raise your glass to some good food!

Oh, and I finished my socks! I started these puppies in February but really took my time getting the second one done, but here they are:

Not much blogging - but there has been knitting!

I have been spending less time on the computer this last week or two and more time with the yarn and needles. I don't actually have any pictures to show y'all what I have been knitting on but I have indeed been knitting.

Mostly on 3 things. The first is that darned ol' black lace shawl that I started a year ago in May. I am determined to have it done before the end of the year. Also a beautiful knitted shirt that I can't wait to wear. It is found in the book French Girl Knits and is the pattern Anjou...I can't get a pic to upload so pop on over to Ravelry to check it out ifyou are so inclined.
The third thing (well set of things) is two teeny tiny hats and a pair of socks for my brand new nephew Mason Everett James Silvers. He came 10 weeks early on August 7th at 12: 57 am, as his mom was stricken with preeclampsia and had to be delivered but everyone is doing well. He weighs in at 2lbs 13oz and 15inches long.

I used one ball of Sublime baby chasmere merino silk and it was so deliciously soft! From an 11 dollar ball of yarn I was able to get two hats and a pair of socks that seemed impossibly small for a human being but I think will actually be to big for him for a little while (which is ok because I think that they have lines in his feet for now). The best part is that it is machine washable wich was awesome to find with someth that has cashmere in it.

I didn't have a chance to photograph them as I started knitting on them on Thursdsay and they went out the door the second they were off the needles on Friday afternoon so they could hitch a ride with Grandma and Papa to meet little Mason.