Hang Ups

We all have our own little quirks and whatnots. I have finally figured out one of my hang ups. For some reason I can't get it out of my head that I can't blog unless I have pictures to post. Now I realize that this is ridiculous but for some reason that has been why I have been putting off posting.

So I am trying to get over it. I'll post pics when I have them and not worry about it in the meantime.

Projects I am working on:

The pukish/black colored socks for Andrew. Trust me the colors are totally him. I will be glad to be done with them because I feel like they are taking forever and I am getting tired of looking at them. He does have some pretty big feet though, so maybe that is why it feels like they are taking so long. Actually, I think I may have a pic of the first one finished...

Just a size refrence in the above photo the foot is 12" from heel to toe. This is not a HUGE foot, but since the only other socks I have made are for newborns and myself it is quite a departure size-wise.Everyone thank the reluctant foot model, my Husband, for posing in socks that make his teeth itch (Don't worry, he isn't the sort to wear handmade socks, or wool at all for that matter, the intended recipient however, is and will love them).

I am also working on a pair of Corsett gloves for Amber for Christmas...pics to come later.

The only other thing I have currently in the works is some handspun yarn...I am proud to say I have finished my first bit of spinning with a drop-spindle. I really really love it. The yarn came out to be about worsted weight, maybe slightly bulkier, is of course a single ply and sort-of a novelty yarn as it goes from thick to thin to thick, etc. (common for beggining spinners). I have hanked, washed and set the twist, now I just need to ball it up for use... Not sure what it will become yet, probably a scarf and/or hat. 120yds was the yield so I am not exactly sure what I can get out of that much yarn...at least a scarf though. I am also working on making some teddy bears...Here is a pic of the first one I made...since then I have gotten some much neater fabric to use: No eyes you say? I want them to be completely infant friendly so no buttons, etc. to be chewed on.

I have recently finished a hat to match the sweater for Abby,
And a pair of newborn sized socks for my neighbor's brand new baby:
Some other things...I am finishing off the roving I used for the blue yarn in a finer thread so I can attempt to teach myself plying and possibly get a pair of socks out of it (we'll see if I have enough...I have tiny feet...it helps).
Also I made a drop-spindle just to see if I could make one that functions and I want a lighter weight spindle for finer yarns:
Ta-Da! It works but the whorl needs to be heavier (stops spinning too soon and rather rapidly reverses direction)...I'll look to see what I can find at the store today that might do the trick, not sure if I'll be able to find what I am looking for as I had a hard enough time as it was finding the one I did (a toy car wheel purchased at a large chain craft store). The construction was easy...drill tiny hole in dowel end, insert tea-cup hook, slide dowel through wheel (the dowel and wheel are a perfect tight fit so there is none of that whorl sliding down business and no glue, etc. involved). Total cost was about $0.80.

In other construction news...I decided that instead of spending $17.00 on a niddy-noddy (for hanking yarn) I would make one:
That's nothin' but pvc pipe folks...5 lengths, two 't-joints' and 4 end-caps. Total cost: about $5.00. The beauty of having one of pvc is that I can set the twist without having to move the yarn off of the niddy noddy. My Darling can not escape the Engineer inside and has already brainstormed a way to put it on a stand so it will spin around as I wrap the yarn (similar to a swift).

Oh and I got some goodies too!

At the fair I got some of this beautiful roving. It is very pretty I think. I am eager to see how it spins up. I don't know enough yet about fiber to tell you anything more than it is wool and I think alpaca.
The other goody I got is some of this beautiful roving that is silk and something I can't remember. I got it at my LYS.That's about it for right now.

Back in action

Just went and spent a week with my parents on Orcas Island in the San Juans and had a great time. Jake got to discover a lot of things he has never seen before, like going for a canoe ride with Granddad and eating blackberries off the vine, dragonflies, ants, blueberries, a riding lawnmower and lots more.
I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow, but I must, I must do laundry now...

The sweater is finished!

After much searching Brian found some really nice grey buttons that compliment the two pinks to complete the sweater for Abby. I like the way it turned out. Now I just need to put it in a safe place that doesn't involve me forgetting where that safe place is once I want to put it on her a year from now.

While finishing the sweater I had a little too much 'help' from Jake...So I gave him a set of (dull, don't worry) circulars and the other sweater I had finished so he could 'knit too.' Maybe I have a future knitter...
And also...what is on the needles now...I am trying the 2-socks-at-once method on circular 'magic loop' needles...we'll see how it goes...this is the current mess I am wading through:

I am a firm believer in just following the directions/pattern and it will all eventually make sense (barring any errors in the pattern of course). I have cast these on 3 times and I think the third time really is the charm...

Toddler Olympics

In the spirit of the Olympic games going on right now I bring you a brief list of events in which my son and I have competed in the last few days:

The 100m Diaper Dash - in which toddler tells mom 'poop' while pointing at diaper (style points awarded for creativity) and then runs away as soon as a fresh diaper is in view. Again, style points for creativity such as running under the kitchen table or making it to the stairs.

Fingernail Fencing - in which mom tries to cut the long, scratchy fingernails of a squirming 19 month old. (rules clarification - if you must use distraction technique like cartoons, points are deducted from overall score).

Hammer Throw - how many toys can we get taken away in a single day for hitting with/throwning them? The bigger the tantrum, the better your score.

Dancing with Mom Decathalon - Dance with your mommy. Hold her hand. Show her how to stop your foot and swing your hips. Spin all around, make her pick you up for a slow song. Better scores are generally awarded to those who can get Daddy involved too.

Yogurt Wrestling - Freestyle - Eat your yogurt. Ask for more. Eat half of it - spread the other half about yourself and your surroudings in the most creative messy way possible. Extra points awarded if mom has to lift you straight into the bathtub from high chair.

Toy Box Relay - Help mom pick up toys and get them into the toybox. Better scores awarded to teams in which the toddler is the one to do the most bending over.

Thwart the Clean Floor Exercises - As mom tries to sweep the floor, take your broom or the dust pan broom and systematically sweep moms pile around the room - winner is the one that makes mom give up and wait until nap time to finish sweeping.

Highchair High Jump - See if you can escape from apparatus while mom is getting the rag to wipe you down. Higher difficulty points if you are a)properly strapped in and b)if you can do it without hurting yourself or any household pets.

And now some photo highlights of these games:

Here is our athlete giving his best pout/tantrum face during the Hammer Throw:

Here we are enjoying Yogurt Wrestling Freestyle - this athlete was awarded 'straight to the tub' points:

Dancing with mom Decathalon - both of our athletes are looking pretty tired, but never the less have put on a stunning performance in front of Dad.

Last but not least after our Little Olympian went to bed I made progress on the sweater. I would have finished but it was just to damn hot to knit last night (crazy I know, but even the smallest amount of wool in my lap made my brain itch).

Domesticity

Yesterday was pretty much 'do all the housework day.' Nothing exciting unless you find dishes and the vacuum exciting (I don't want to know if you do).

I finished the body and neckband of the sweater. Just arms and button bands to go...I may finish tonight or tomorrow. Then I can get back to the socks. Or maybe something different alltogether, like another scrapbook page or finishing that quilt that I started (which one you ask? ha! I'll never tell - we all know I have at least a dozen unfinished projects hiding in my sewing room.

Anyway, here is the sweater:

Starting to look like a sweater

See I told ya. It's for the little person growing in here:
Looks a little big for her at this point...It probably won't even fit her for another year but it's still looking pretty cute don'tcha think? Brian picked the colors...I think he did an awesome job too. So hopefully I will have the body finished, a neck and perhaps an arm by the end of the day (assuming there are no more attempts on the lives of the fish that is).

Little Progress

Ever have one of those days where it feels like you have been busy all day but gotten absolutally nothing done? That was yesterday for me...

I managed to get some laundry done (thrilling, no?) and dishes (woo hoo) but that's about it. I made a few more rows on the sweater but that's about it.

My biggest challenge yesterday was not killing the cat...I was up here reading the Yarn Harlot when I heard a lovely sound...I ran down the stairs (ran...ha ha that's funny...I am 7 months pregnant...running is relative) to discover the cat had tried to get the lid off the Betta bowl and since I had taped the darn thing down she couldn't...so she knocked it onto the floor cracking the stupid thing...

I managed to swipe up the floppy little fish and get them into some water before they suffocated...as I am dealing with keeping the fish alive I hear water trickling...I discover the water from there bowl has run along the floor (my floors are no where near level) down into the air return duct for the furnace. Joy. Needless to say I spent the afternoon mopping up fish-water and shopping for a new (heavier) bowl for the poor boys.

Got home, made dinner, yada yada...

Here is the little progress I made on the sweater (at least I made it to the sleeve divide).

Knitting fever

Well I have been doing several things over the last few days. Mostly knitting and cleaning the house. By cleaning the house I mean the crap that no one ever wants to do like wiping the cabinet faces and washing windows...stuff you never really notice until you do it how much of a difference it makes in how clean things look.

Anyways the fun stuff...the knitting...here is what I have been doing:

Started a pair of socks for a friend...Then stopped when the Olympic torch was lit so I could begin my projects for the Ravelympics...
Then started to finish this:

Yay the sweater is done! Then I cast this on:

Yup, yet another sweater...but this one is for my daughter so I have a little more motivation...then again these sweaters do come together pretty quickly...anyway I'll keep the progress coming...back to knitting...

Nothing new really

I have been keeping up with the housework (if you know me, then you know this is no small feat). Oh and I was going to show off the yarn I dyed with kool-aid...
It was a ton of fun to do and came out better than I expected and it smells kinda fruity too.

Oh yea I made bread yesterday (I have decided that Monday's are for laundry and Tuesday's are for baking - we'll see how long I can keep it up). Today is Wednesday and I was planning on scrubbing the tub today...I think I'll find something to knit instead...cuz cleaning sounds really sorta lame right now.
Oh and here is a fairly recent (not quite a month ago) pic of me as I begin to enter the 'house' size stage of pregnancy (ok so I am at cottage right now...but soon I fear I will be much larger).

Some stuff I've been doing

Mostly just cleaning the house because we are trying to sell it...

However since 'my room' (sewing/crafting space) is now clean I have been more motivated to do things. I also have been knitting like a mad woman cuz I think I love it and I think I am ready to try to draft a pattern (we'll see how well that goes).

So...here are a few pics of what I have been up to:

These are the socks I made for our daughter to be. Brian asked me to make them for him so he could have something for his wall at work. He even picked out the yarn.

Here we have the sweater I made for Jake. I loved making it and he seems to love wearing it. Yay!

These are the socks that I made for my Aunt Patty for Christmas. I improvised a pattern I found in a magazine. I hope she likes wearing them.

These are the socks I made for me. I love them so much. I think they are by far the prettiest socks I have ever owned and certainly the most comfortable (made just for my foot, go figure).

This is a sweater I was actually paid to make (cool huh?). It's just like Jake's only with a hood and I learned how to get the button holes even n this one too. Look at that model, ain't he cute?

I have a few more things in the works but I am out of time for posting as said model is awake and hungry (and probably needs a clean diaper from the smell of things).

Not Dead

Wow! I knew it had been a while since I posted but I hadn't realized it had been more than a year!

I have decided it would be fun to try to do the blog thing again and so here I am. I am pretty sure I am typing to myself at this point and that really is just fine with me.

I really hope to post more about the crafts and things that I am playing with and keep updated with the cute things Jake does (not that anyone save myself and DH really care about all of the little things but you know, there might be a grandparent or two out there that I might point in this direction - hmmm...I guess I'll have to keep it clean then...)

Sooo...since it's been a while here's a couple of fairly recent pics:

Well, that's it for now since little man is up from his nap...

Yes we are still alive

...Not that one could tell by reading my blog....but Jacob and I have settled into a routine and now I can get some computer time in so hopefully I won't be such a stranger to the internet anymore. We'll see if this holds once he starts to be mobile...

Life has been good - We all went on a camping trip in June and that was fun except Jake's first tooth started to come in while we were there so we had a few tough times. Other than that things have been pretty much the same day to day. Jake has started eating 'solid' foods and really really loves it!

Anyway here are a few pictures:

Surgery really sucks, but the nurses are great!

Well here is the scoop on the most recent drama...A few weeks ago Jake started puking - at first it was only once or twice a day but it gradually started to escalate until he was not keeping anything at all down. We took him to see the peditrician on Monday, Feburary 19 and they were going to have us go do an ultrasound asap the next day to check for a condition called Pyloric Stenosis (the pyloric valve at the bottom of the stomach becomes overdeveloped and doesn't open anymore to let food pass into the small intestine). By 4am the next morning we decided not to wait any longer so we took him to the ER at Mary Bridge - we knew that no matter what his conditon was he was starting to get dehydrated and we needed to deal with that ASAP. They got us in and we had the Ultrasound at about 7:30am. Within a short time it was determined that Jake indeed had Pyloric Stenosis and would need surgery VERY soon. The surgeon told us that they had an available O.R. at 4pm. Jake was given an IV and admitted - we got a room and the poor kid got an N.G. tube put in - he really hated that (and so did mom and dad). Because we caught the dehydration issue so quickly Jake did not have to undergo the 24hrs of rehydration before surgey and by 2:30pm his was in the O.R. It was very nerve racking for Mom and Dad but Jake did great and by the next day he was back to his usual good humored self. He did a wonderful job of eating properly and keeping everything down after the surgery so we were able to go home that evening (around 10pm). Oh and the nurses took such wonderful care of everything - I don't know what we would have done without them. Yay for nurses - they are the best!

Jake is 2 Months old today - here are a few pics:

Our favorite face to make: the half smile :)

Adorable, even in our hospital gown:
An hommage to Stewie: Victory is mine!

Growing so fast

Well, Jake is only a month old but it seems like he has gotten so much bigger already. His one month check up was on the 12th and he weighed in at 9lbs...Here are a few new pics:

Jake is Here!!!!

After 12 hours of labor Jacob Andrew Labrecque has arrived.

He was born on January 11th at 10:18pm. He was 7lbs 2.2oz, 19inches long with a 14in crown.

He is a complete joy! Here are some pics:

Quilt and Nursery Pics

Ok here is what the nursery looks like...

And here are a few pics of Jake's Quilt. I got the pattern from and episode of Simply Quilts. The first is an overall then a coule of close ups of the quilting - the quilting in the star was intended to look like flames radiating from the center:

Still Pregnant

Well I am way past due for an update with some photo's and what not...so here we go. Beware the carnage...
First is a side view of me last week in my cute little Seahawks jersey on Christmas Eve (GO HAWKS!!!)

Then we have one from today...here is where it starts to get a little ugly...

And just to underline the pain I am in right now here is one of the stretch marks - some of which have split a second time...

So there you have it. I am stretched to my max and ready for the boy to be out...I'll be back to post some pics of the nursery and Jake's quilt...

I kinda look like a couch at this point...

For those of you wanting a more recent picture of me...here is one of my Dad and me on or around Thanksgiving. I am 32 Weeks (8 months) pregnant in this pic. We are looking at a photo album of my baby picutres...it was a lot of fun.

We had an appt. with our midwife yesterday and all is well. We are still probably going to induce around 38 weeks if this little guy stays on track with his size. I am also very excited that my last day at work will be in two weeks - Dec. 15th. :) Yee Haw! That will give me one week to prepare my house & myself. Then it's Christmas wich will be a pretty darn busy week and the following week will probably be the week we induce. That is only 5 weeks away!