A simple bag of chips....

My husband teases me a lot about various things... my ability to leave everything I touch out and strewn about the house, my addiction to chocolate, my love of horrible television shows, my obsession with chips... just to name a few. But, I know he loves me.  He finds little ways to tell me that every day, without actually telling me (which he does quite a few times a day too...) like when I had a tough week, I found a twix bar in my truck when I was on my way to go teach knitting.

And last night he brought me home a bag of potato chips... yum. :) This may be a small thing, but he hates going to the grocery store, made an extra trip, and bought something he would never eat. All for me. Which was awesome. Because I know I will really appreciate them this weekend when Sawyer is being a pill and I'm home by myself (because he is camping until Monday). I can just take a break and eat some chips... and really, that will make my day a bit easier.

Because it is the little things.

Like, even though it drives me crazy that Sawyer wakes up at 5am, when he rolls over and smiles at me, I think, "Ok, fine... you are too cute... you win" and get up with him.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend.

Crazy Cake

So I did wind up making my Apprentice cake... it didn't have my prediction of the winner (but I was right), but it did have an abstract picture of the Trumpster on it...

Not bad for realizing at 6 o'clock that my cake wasn't frosted and having to make powdered sugar in my blender for the icing...

I had a pretty productive time while Sawyer was napping yesterday. I was able to make this pair of pants. 

They are going to be hanging in the shop for a while as a store display, so I made the 2T size, so when I get them back, they should still fit Sawyer. Aren't they adorable?!? I am going to make him a pair that will fit him now out of some dinosaur fabric I have. These were super easy to sew (6 steps!) and easy to customize. You can put the pockets on the side like I did, or on the butt like normal pants. There are also directions on how to make a ruffle instead of a cuff to make them for little girls. I'm thinking of making a jacket to match these pants with a coordinating fabric that has the dogs on it... cuteness overload!

Weston is going camping again this weekend... Hopefully Sawyer isn't too much of a pill. He has been demanding to sleep with me and eat every 1.5-2 hours. Maybe he is growing? Either way, today we are going to the book store to look for yet another sleeping book.... I am a sleep expert, but Sawyer is a tough student... I'm also going to look for some other baby food books as I really want to start making his baby food. I have everything I need (I think) so I might try and start that this weekend too. 

Alright, he is napping now, so I need to shower and perhaps lay down as well... have a happy Wednesday!

Weekend Blues

Weston went bike riding and camping this weekend. He left yesterday and won't be home until tomorrow. Leaving me home with a needy baby and two crazy dogs by myself for two and a half days. Not much fun. Sawyer had a ok night... woke up at 1:30 and demanded to sleep with me after that (this week, he has been getting up at 4 and sleeping with me until we get up at 6:30 which isn't too bad) It was kind of nice to have the whole bed to ourselves for that... today he has been kind of crazy. Hopefully tonight goes well and Weston gets home early-ish tomorrow.

In knitting news, his socks are DONE!! No pictures yet.... he wore them to work and showed them off and told me repeatedly how well they fit (which I told him, of course, I made them just for you!). I was glad that he liked them so much.

The mystery shawl has been a bit more trouble than I anticipated. I've had to start over once and today had to tink back quite a bit.... apparently counting is not my strong point. I think I'm on my way to success now... (of course, I'm only on row four... but there is a lifeline put in and I'm going for it!)

JB is back in town!!! I was very excited to see him yesterday and I went and saw his new place today (that has carpet, and I thought Sawyer was going to crawl... he is so close). It is so nice to have him home.

Tomorrow night is the finale of Celebrity Apprentice. I know, I can't believe I watch it either.... we have another couple who comes over every week for it and it is quite entertaining to watch together. I'm going to make a cake with my prediction of who is going to win on it... fun times!

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. I'm having an ok time. Just very happy that I'm not a single mom, because this gig is hard! Kudos to those who do it full time....

Start and Finish -itis

I am in a knitting zone right now. I am a mere two repeats away from finishing Weston's sock. The first chart of the mystery shawl I'm knitting has been released (a mere 12 rows... I can do that!) and I have volunteered to test knit a hat for a friend on Ravelry. I pulled some handspun for the hat and just need to wind it and knit a swatch... I think that will be a quick knit.

So, yes, I'm starting new things, but the finishing of the sock is on the horizon... and I think the hat will be such a quick knit that it doesn't really count. :)

I'm also very close to finishing Sawyer's train set that goes with his train quilt.  All of the houses and train cars are sewed flat (they had to be lined with fabric and batting) and now they just need to be sewn into their 3D shapes and stuffed. Which is kind of a pain, so I'm putting it off for a little bit....

Weston's birthday is tomorrow and Sawyer will be 7 months old on Friday. Oh my goodness, how time flies. He must be growing, because he has been taking unusually long naps in the morning. Like almost 3 hours long. Weirdo. He is pretty crazy with his sleep, it seems like he sleeps all the time or not at all... kind of like everything else he does... extreme.  I'm hoping he takes a good afternoon nap so I can get another good chunk of knitting done...

Sunday Surprises

I'm listening to the "Black Eyed Peas" station on Pandora and getting ready to wind a skein of yarn...

I'm going to be doing the mystery summer shawl designed by Wendy Knits. Details on her blog. It uses one skein of sock yarn, which I have plenty of (yeah for using my stash!) and it is worked from the bottom up, so every row gets shorter! This will be the first shawl I have worked like this, so I'm excited to get started.

The clue that was released today was the cast-on and set up rows. Two rows of knitting. I think I can handle that.

Maybe you will knit along with me?

Officially mobile

Sawyer has figured out his walker. He zooms around the house in a desperate attempt to get the dogs, or anything that is on the coffee table that he shouldn't have. Nothing is safe from his little baby hands how. He loves it though. He thinks it is so fun to see something he wants and be able to move towards it... it is really fun for us to watch him too.

And, yes, I'm sure you aren't "supposed" to have walkers for your kids now, or whatever, but I don't care. He is having fun, and that is good enough for me. :) Plus, I know my youngest brother had one, and he learned to walk, and can still walk, just fine. And we don't have any stairs, so there isn't that safety issue....

He is also really good at rolling over to get things that he wants. No longer can I leave him somewhere and trust he will be there when I get back. Luckily, he hasn't been pulling himself up onto things and climbing.... yet. Although he has learned to open drawers. So far he just opens them and then wheels away, he hasn't taken anything out yet... I'm sure the next few weeks are going to be fun!

Outlook

Weston cleaned my car as part of my mother's day present and he found 3 forks in it. He told me that it is crazy that I can't bring things back into the house and that there were not one, not two, but THREE forks in my car....

I said that I'm just glad they weren't missing. And that there was one in my purse.

I guess it's all in how you look at it.

Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day has been awesome. My husband is amazing (he kind of makes me feel like Mother's Day is every day, he takes such good care of me) and we have had a great weekend.  Yesterday we drove out to Talkeetna and walked around the town, had lunch, and then came back home.  It was beautiful and you could see Denali in all of its glory. On the way home we stopped at the yarn shop in Eagle River so I could pick up this....

Yes, I bought a loom.  I have wanted one for a while, and Weston was going to make me one, but this just seemed easier. :) My MIL had given me a gift certificate to the shop for my birthday, and I did mean just to buy a few skeins of yarn, but they didn't have the colors I wanted, so I decided to spring for this instead. I have been playing with it today and it is so cool and fun!!! I think I'm going to get some cotton and weave some dishcloths to practice.... we'll see though. I might just dive in after this practice piece I'm working on now and go for it.

Weston also got me flowers on Friday and a card and giant kit-kat today. My card included this little slip of paper, which cracked me up (it's a Seinfeld reference... my husband gets me).

Overall, it has been a great weekend. I just love having family time. Be on the lookout for weaving projects from me now.

Monitor

Anyone who has been to our house knows that it is small... less than 1,000 square feet. Two bedrooms. Small. So, I never had a baby monitor, as I could easily hear Sawyer when he woke up. (Seeing as how he hates sleeping, he makes it quite known when he is done) I decided that I would look for one at the big garage sale this weekend because it would be nice to be able to go outside and work on things while he was asleep. I mentioned this to my dad who promptly went out and bought us one...

And, I love it! I never realized how awesome it would be. I am able to go outside and work in the yard, or just knit. I'm also able to close the door and not worry about the volume of the tv or radio, because I have the monitor. It has been really nice.

I've been speeding along on my spinning. I have the first 4 oz done and I'm almost half way through the second 4 oz. I think my plan is to finish up the 2 oz I'm working on and then ply it so I will have one skein to start knitting with on Saturday at class. I think it will look really nice when it is done.

I've also been sewing a bit here and there. When I have a few mins, I have been sewing a small stack of blocks for my rag quilt. I would like to get that done, as I think it will be nice to cuddle with on the couch and also great for Sawyer to play on the floor with.

I start teaching knitting again tonight, which is how I will be spending my Wednesday nights for the summer. Tonight is beginning 101. A fun class to teach, as I love watching people when they realize they "get it". Off to go get all my stuff together for that....