Alaska Bears

It's been a while since I posted. Sorry.... I have been busy. Cleaning my house, going to weddings, playing with Sawyer, knitting, etc.

I had fun at the Solstice Sale!! It was a blast. I wound up getting yarn for three bears that I want to knit for Sawyer. My original plan was to knit one, but they didn't have the yarn I wanted, so I was looking at bulkier yarn. Then I had the idea to knit a small, medium, and large bear. THEN I had the idea to make them brown, black, and white like the bears of Alaska. Which seems like an amazing idea. Especially when it is after 10 and you are buying yarn on sale. :) So here is the pattern I am planning on knitting. I think it is ADORABLE! I can't wait for Sawyer to have his bears.... (but first I have to knit my class samples for next quarter, a scarf, an afghan square, and a felted clog)

Sawyer has officially moved into his own room! He slept in there the past two nights, and while it isn't completely put together the way I would like, it is a step in the right direction.  He even slept in his new crib last night! He did well, minus the fact that he woke up at 4:45 this morning.

We went to a wedding this past weekend out past Sutton, which was beautiful.  We met some fun new people and had a lot of fun until it was time to go home.  It was a long drive out there, and we had planned on camping, but then I decided that we should head home because I was worried that if Sawyer slept with me, he would not be able to sleep in his bed the next night... so we drove home and Sawyer was unhappy for pretty much the whole ride. BUT, he slept in his bed, and I didn't have to worry about it.

I hope everyone had a great week.... anyone have fun 4th of July plans??

Eating Local

As I have mentioned before, I really do my best to shop local.  I am also trying to eat local. When I eat out (which isn't too often) I try to avoid chain restaurants... why give my money to a corporation when I can give my money to a small business?  I have also started to frequent the farmer's markets, and trade friends for things.  We have a few friends who hunt and fish, so we trade them for things we may have.  This gives us fresh food that we don't have to worry about.... we have been enjoying deer tacos the past month.  They were delicious. And today I made chili with some meat that I bought from the farmer's market that was grown in the valley.

I really enjoyed cooking the beef. I normally don't like cooking meat (one of the various reasons we don't eat it that often)... but this meat had very little fat, and didn't smell like meat as it was cooking. It was easy. So hopefully the chili is yummy and I will be motivated to get meat again at the market.

Tonight I am going to a yarn sale at Far North. It is a Solstice Sale.... (yes, it is summer solstice.... sadly, the last day we will be gaining daylight) and I am going with a few projects in mind. I might also bring some yarn there to go into their donation bin so that maybe my stash will stay the same size. :)

Alright, off to try and finish two seams on a baby jacket before afternoon nap time. Happy Solstice.

A few FOs

I have been slowly plugging along at my to do list. I have finished some monsters for a trade (pictures of those later, as I want them to be a surprise for the recipient), pillowcases for Father's Day, the yarn I was spinning (well almost, it is still on the wheel, but it is finished), and I am half way through a baby jacket. So, getting there, slowly but surely. Here are some pictures of things that have gotten done....

The mud pie baby blanket I started when I was pregnant. All finished! Blocked, ends woven in... and is now in a box for future babies. 

Weston's pillowcase. He loves prairie points (the little orange triangles), they are all supposed to point one direction, but I don't iron my pillowcases, so they do what they want after coming out of the wash!

Hopefully more pics to come soon!!

Full Plate

I may have taken on a bit too much. I have a lot to do, it seems.  Luckily, most of the "need" to get done stuff is sewing, so it doesn't take as long as knitting, but I made a list the other night before falling asleep and it was a bit daunting. It doesn't help that Sawyer has been napping with me (or rather, I have been napping with Sawyer...) so the 3 hours a day that I am normal in super production mode are gone. (Not that I am complaining. I will never get this time back with my son, and one day, sadly, he will not want to cuddle with me anymore. So, I am cherishing nap time until he is ready to nap on his own again) I'm trying to squeeze in things here and there.  And, I'm also trying to really utilize the time after Sawyer goes to bed.

Anyway, I should have quite a few FOs to show you soon if I can keep my act together and not go insane. :)

In other news, Sawyer is busy growing like a weed.  He is now wearing 12 month clothes. He also is eating more and different foods. He still doesn't have teeth, but enjoys really small pieces of bread and bananas when I am eating. He also loves to get his hands on things he isn't supposed to have (cords and remotes seem to be his favorite) which I think is pretty typical of a baby. He is still adorable and full of love.

In my knitting world, I have been working on a kids sweater that I pulled out of hibernation. I also am working on a colorwork hat for Sawyer. I need to knit my class samples for next quarter, but they all require me to purchase yarn (oh, boo) and I'm having a hard time making decisions about that, as well as actually breaking down and doing it....

Alright, I need to get to work, Sawyer is happily zooming around the house and I'm sure he would like to run into my feet repeatedly...

Big Book of Knitted Monsters

As promised, here is a book review! First up, Rebecca Danger's Big Book of Knitted Monsters.

I love this book! It is so cute.  Sawyer has one monster knitted (so far!) and I hope to add more to his collection soon.  If you have seen her other patterns on Ravelry, these are very similar. (In fact, I think some of them are a lot alike... but they are all cute) The book is a great deal though because there are 20 different patterns, and even at full price the book retails for $18.99, making it less than $1 a pattern. 

The book has great directions, and great pictures of how to do the different techniques.  It made me almost want to try magic loop again, as Rebecca hypes it up pretty good.  I decided to just use two circular needles though, as I really am not a big fan of magic loop.  I would say that if you wanted to try the technique, this book does have great directions, and the monsters are simple enough that it would be a good first project. 

I think the book is great. If you want knitted monsters, I think this book is the way to go! You can knit them out of any yarn (bigger yarn=bigger monster) and they all turn out so stinkin' cute! So grab your needles and start knitting!

The Other Side

Sawyer is now sleeping on his own in his crib (well, the pack-n-play that we use as his crib).  He has good nights and ok nights. Saturday was a great night, I heard him stir at 8:30 and then not again until 5:30. Last night was ok. He woke up twice and Weston had to go in and remind him it was still bed time.  We have been sleeping in the living room for fear that if he sees us in our bed when he wakes up in the middle of the night he won't go back to sleep.  We are hoping to move him into the other bedroom (aka my craft room) this weekend. We might be attempting to sleep in our own bed tonight.

In knitting news, I have been trying to finish up lingering WIPs. I pulled out the Mud Pie baby blanket that I started when I was pregnant and was able to finish that up this weekend. That made me very happy. I will be storing that for future baby as Sawyer has his Thin Mint blanket and I don't think he needs two knitted blankets that are the same size. I'm thinking of pulling out the hooded baby blanket that just needs a button band and finishing that up too. Maybe I will even bind a quilt this week. Who knows.

Other than that, not too much going on.  There may be a bit more destashing happening as my crafting space is going to move from being a whole room to being a small part of our master bedroom. We'll see what I wind up doing....

Day One and Thanks!

Thank you to everyone who posted comments here (and on Rav, and my mom who called me because she doesn't post comments...) about my being a good mom. It really means a lot. And I would say that 90% of the time, I feel like a good mom. BUT, as anyone who is a parent knows, it is easy to second guess yourself and think you are crazy... especially when things aren't going so peachy.

We accidentally started sleep training last night. I teach knitting on Wednesday nights, so Weston puts Sawyer to bed on his own.  Normally, I am home before he wakes for the first time, and that is when he comes to bed for milk and cuddles the rest of the night.  However, last night, I was goofing off chatting with the ladies at work, and Sawyer woke up before I made it home. So Weston put him back down. And from there we decided that we were just going to go with it, and I was not allowed to go into the room... Weston was going to deal with him all night. We slept in the living room... Sawyer woke up 4-5 times, crying/fussing (pretty mild stuff really, compared to what I was prepared for) for between 10-30 mins each time.  Weston would go in and remind him that it was still bedtime, and he was safe, and we love him, and then leave him alone. The hardest wake up was at 5:30, because I knew he was probably hungry by now, but I wasn't going to get him up until at least 6:15. (My goal is to have him sleep until 7am, but I figure if I can get him to sleep until Weston wakes up, that is a good start). He was extra fussy then and finally fell asleep right before six only to wake up 10 mins later. Then I went in and got him. And he was in a pretty good mood, actually! He still wanted to cuddle with me. He didn't hate dad. It was a nice morning. He is a bit more tired than usual today, but I think that will pass. Hopefully tonight goes better, but just in case, I am preparing mentally for it to be worse.

In other yarn-y news, this showed up in my mailbox yesterday.... a GORGEOUS skein of handspun from a friend on Ravelry (thanks Sara!!). It was quite the surprise.

This was my yarn smile after opening the package. 

I'm not sure what I am going to knit with it, but I have been petting it and loving just staring at it.  Sara spins amazing yarns and this one is just beautiful! LOVE it. (For those curious, the fiber is Faulkland from KnittinK and the colorway is Superhero laundry day. 

And here is a picture of Sawyer's handspun hat. I knit it out of yarn I spun with fiber from Storied Yarns, which is run by another Rav friend of mine (hi Jess!). Her stuff is amazing. Her ability to interpret books and characters into yarn in fiber is really cool.  I did the Dr. Seuss club with her.... still need to spin all of that .... 

I have pictures of Sawyer in his hat (for a precious few moments before he ripped it off of his head) on his blog. 

The other thing I want to mention is that I will be reviewing a few books soon... I've decided that I should/could do that since I own a ton of knitting (and sewing!) books, many of which are new, and I like to support independent designers (which I can do by reviewing their books!). So be on the lookout for that in the coming weeks.  And if you have a knitting or sewing books that you might like to see reviewed, let me know. I might already own it (!) or I might be looking into getting it anyway. 

I hope everyone has a great Thursday afternoon!

Failure and Mom Guilt

Tomorrow we start sleep training with Sawyer. We are going to have to let him cry it out. I am posting this because I might be absent for a while.... I have a feeling I'm not going to get much sleep for a few days at least. It is supposed to take 3 nights, but Sawyer is stubborn and I'm anticipating 5. I'm not happy about having to do this. I have tried so many other things. We have been struggling with his sleep for three long months now, and I am at a loss for what to do. This is a last resort. I feel like I have failed him and myself, and this is the hardest thing I have had to do. BUT, it will be better in the long run. He won't need me to nurse to sleep, he will be able to lay down and go to sleep for other people, he will learn to sleep on his own, etc... I just have to keep telling myself that.

(And please don't tell me how I'm making a terrible choice and it is unnatural to let my baby cry. You don't know my child, I really have tried everything I have read and thought of. And not for a few days, for weeks I would try new things and still nothing. I have been giving this my all and I am at the end of my rope. We all need more sleep, including him.)


So, that is my mom guilt of the century. Maybe the next kiddo will be a better sleeper. Or maybe Sawyer will drive me so insane he will be an only child. Who knows. 


On a happier note, Weston and I went to the movies last night. I think it may have been my first trip to the movies since before Sawyer was born! We saw the Hangover 2. Meh. I would wait for the video. I didn't think it was that funny. But, I still had a good time going out with Weston and enjoying some adult time. 


I also finished a new hat for Sawyer. Pictures have been taken, and will be posted soon. He rips it off as soon as I put it on him, so I think that means it is a success. :) 


Alright, off to shower and tackle this rainy day. And keep your fingers crossed that Sawyer will surprise his parents and not be a terror for the next few nights...