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Month: October 2009

Dropping Stitches Scares Me

Drop Stitch Scarf

In my last post I asked for scarf pattern recommendations and Marilyn suggested that I get on Ravelry and look up the Drop Stitch Scarf pattern.  Since she’s all kinds of awesome, I took it to heart and jumped on Ravelry.  There were lots of scarf patterns listed under “Drop Stitch Scarf” but I’m pretty sure this is the one she meant in her suggestion.

I took a look at the pattern, decided I could handle it and cast on that night.  I cast on with size 9 circulars because apparently I don’t have any straight needles in that size, but it seems to be working out ok.  I will admit to having to rip out a couple rows due to accidentally dropping the wrong stitch and not noticing until I was a couple rows past it, but overall this is a fun pattern.  All of the yarn overs and stitch dropping can be a little scary at first but I think it will turn out great.

The only drawback is I think this one is going to require blocking when I’m all done and I’ve never blocked anything (Shhhh…don’t tell the knitters!)  I guess I’ll have something new to learn, eh?

Anyway, this is as far as I’ve gotten on it so far because I was busy making Halloween cookies last night but I plan on working on it some more tonight while I watch my shows.

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Halloween Fun in the Kitchen

I debated where to post this entry because it really could work as a recipe post or even a crafty post, but really it is just about me and my boy having fun in the kitchen so I’m posting it here.

Back in early September I was walking around Dollar Tree and spotted a bag of Halloween cookie cutters.  I couldn’t pass them up for the grand price of $1.00 so I bought them and stashed them away.  Well, apparently Halloween is coming up in a couple of days (whether I’m ready or not) so I told Zach that we could go ahead and make some cookies using them tonight.

(And when I say *make* cookies, I mean roll out the Pillsbury pre-made cookie dough, cut out the shapes, bake, and then decorate with pre-made icing.  One of these days I’ll do it from scratch but I’m just not there yet.)

Zach and Evie both helped with the cookie cutters while I rolled out the dough and placed each cutout on the cookie sheet for baking.  Evie got bored after the first few and went off with Daddy while Zach and I finished up. I was a little disappointed because for some reason I can never get sugar cookies to bake without spreading and flattening out so some of the shapes didn’t come out too well. Zach didn’t seem to mind though.

I had planned on baking the cookies tonight and then decorating tomorrow because I knew it would make for a late night but Zach was having so much fun I gave in and we started decorating.  I think he got about four cookies done before he was too “tired” to do any more.  He munched on a couple of cookies, then headed off to bed and left me to finish the rest.

Some of them came out nice, some didn’t. But, the important part is that we had fun together, right?

Here are Zach’s masterpieces:

A group shot:

And my very favorite one* that I love so much I won’t be able to stand to eat it:

*The idea for the spiderweb design came from another blog (I believe she used it on cupcakes?) that I read this week but I can’t for the life of me remember which one. If anyone knows, please tell me!

Also, sorry about the crappy photos but I was too lazy to go get a real camera and took these with my iphone!

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The Best of Friends

I knew it would happen one day, I just assumed it was still a ways off…a long ways off.  It happened without me even really noticing at first.  I had been working all day cleaning out my closet and dresser, doing laundry, and just general house cleaning type of stuff.  I finally decided I was done for the day and sat down in my comfy chair to relax for a bit.  There I was minding my own business when I realized there were no little people in the room, just me and Hubby.

It was so QUIET.

It was quiet in a way that seemed so wrong, yet so right at the same time. I heard some giggles coming from the back of the house, but that didn’t ruin my moment of pure bliss.  It was then that I realized my two kids were in the  bedroom playing together.  Evie, who is usually contained to the living room/playroom area by baby gates had escaped and gone back to watch TV with her brother.

They were playing and laughing and having the best time together. It’s not that they don’t play together, because they do all the time.  The difference was that there was no screaming or crying or fussing.  I didn’t have to jump up twenty times to see who was hurt or which one had stolen a toy from the other.  They were just having fun together.

I sat in the living room with Hubby just enjoying the sounds of my kids being not only brother and sister, but friends.  The fact that they were entertaining each other and not using me for a jungle gym or crying, “Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY!” was just icing on the cake.

It was one of those moments that reminds you just how worth it it all is.  All the day-to-day stuff just pushes itself away and isn’t so important.

Later that night, as I was putting Evie to bed,  Zach gave his sister a big hug and said, “Sissy, you’re my best friend!”  And my heart melted into a gigantic puddle of goo.

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Hats, Hats, and More Hats

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately knitting hats. The weather turned colder, the knitting needles came out, and I haven’t really stopped since. A while back I ran across a hat pattern called the “Holly Hat” over at A Suburban Hippie’s Knitting Blog. It’s a very basic knitted hat pattern with options for completing several different styles. If you want a basic hat pattern to go off of, this is it.  I saved it to my iPhone so that I always have it with me if the mood to knit strikes.

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My favorite is the rolled brim hat because it is super simple and quick to knit up.  Plus, it’s super cute (especially on little girls, which I happen to have one of!).  I’ve been knitting a ton of these lately – some for gifts and some specially requested by friends after seeing mine.

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Next up I have to find some sort of simple scarf pattern. I had a request for a matching hat/scarf set and I’m stumped on how to do the scarf. Simple stockinette won’t work as it rolls. I could do a k1, p1, ribbing, but that would get a little boring after a while. I need it to be a quick knit as I have a stack of Christmas gifts planned that I haven’t started on yet, but I don’t want it to be boring either. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d be happy to take it!

**If you’re reading through a feed reader, I’d love it if you’d click through and check out the new site layout! I finally switched Getting Crafty over to Thesis theme (one of the best WordPress themes in my opinion) and would love to hear what you think. There’s still a few quirky spacing issues I have to figure out in the sidebar and I may add a few more things there, but it’s mostly ready for viewing.

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I ♥ Faces – Halloween Dress Up

This week’s I ♥ Faces photo challenge theme it “Halloween Dress Up!”  I’ve been waiting anxiously for Halloween to get here.  I had a blast last year taking the kids out in their costumes for a photo shoot and couldn’t wait to do it again this year.  Since we haven’t had any nice sunny days lately (Boo to the dreary weather!) I decided to do them inside.  I’m not as thrilled with them as I was last year, but a few of them came out really cute.
My entry for the challenge this week is of Zach in his Sheriff Woody costume.  Instead of going for store bought this year I decided to put his costume together myself, which ended up being much more stressful.  I’m glad I did though because I was really happy with the outcome.  Plus, Zach loves it which makes it worth all the effort!

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There are some really cute entries over at  I ♥ Facesso make sure you take a few minutes to check them out! I’m already getting ideas for next year!

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Costume Preview

Once again I’m home with sick kids. I took both of them to the doctor yesterday morning. Evie tested positive for Strep and according to the doc probably has some variant of the Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus. Zach tested negative for Strep, but had a very red throat and the doc expected his culture to come back positive so she decided to put both of them on antibiotics just in case.

Since they have to be on the antibiotics and fever free for 24 hours before returning to day care, we had another day at home today. I decided to take advantage of the time at home and dress the kids up in their costumes for a little photo shoot.

Evie wasn’t exactly cooperative, but Zach got pretty into it. He had fun posing like Woody and even did a “rag doll” shot with his head hanging down. Unfortunately, my lighting wasn’t as good as it should have been and I forgot to change a couple of settings on my camera so there is some pretty heavy editing. I’m pretty happy with them overall and the session taught me a few things as well.

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