Pictures Galore!

Pictures from the drive home from the quilt retreat. It was so beautiful! I love Alaska, and this is one of the many reasons why...

The apron I made my MIL. She loved it. I plan on making a few for myself to just wear all the time because the pattern is so cute. I have some cow fabric that I want to use and put a pink ruffle... 

The bag I made my mom. She hasn't seen it yet, but I'm pretty sure she will enjoy it!

Weston's quilt. I am really proud of this quilt. I started it 5 years ago (it was the 3rd quilt I started I think...) before I knew what I was getting myself into. And now that it is done, I love it. He does too. :)

And the next pictures are the loads of fiber I received from Desert Garden. And before you think, "but wait, Sally, you haven't spun 10 yarns... how could you buy more fiber", well, I bought this a long time before the challenge started.  Jen saves my stuff until all of it is done and then mails one big box of awesome. So THAT'S why I don't feel bad... :) And it is so beautiful, it is hard to feel bad. But, it needs to be spun, because there is no place for it! ACK!

6 oz of peaches... yum!

4 oz for the Murder Mystery SAL. My character is the one who was murdered... hahahaha...

4 oz of surprise fiber. Jen has a frequent buyer program, and I earned enough "green stamps" to get a snack and spin package... homemade jelly, 4 oz of fiber, tea, and other goodies!

4 oz tigers. I want to spin this is into something for baby... seeing as how s/he is due around Halloween, I couldn't resist!

4 oz zebras. I have 4 oz of Clifford the big red dog batts from craftypuppylover and I plan on plying those with this fiber for a fun red/white/black yarn... yea!

Alright. Now that I have bombarded you with pictures, I have to walk the dogs. They are seriously whining. Enjoy your Wednesday!

Still kicking

Don't worry, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... I was at a quilt retreat. I left on Thursday and came back yesterday. It was amazing. I got a lot done and had a TON of fun. Pictures later. I'm still knitting my gift wrap romper. I'm stuck on the short rows because I'm not sure of the directions... I need to ask a another knitter how they interpret it. After I get past that, it should be smooth sailing....

W put up the fence while I was gone. He is amazing. The fence is wonderful. I no longer have to worry about the pups breaking the weak fence that was there (they still can't stay outside, there is a small section on the other side we need to put up which he will work on this week) and our yard looks like a big fortress. It is amazing.

Alright, I have to walk the pups and head to work. I will post pictures of all that I got done later. Hope everyone had a great weekend and a Happy Mother's Day!

Knitting, but no pictures

I finished my shawl. It is amazing. Seriously, I am incredibly impressed with myself... not only did I challenge myself to do something out of my comfort zone (lace) but I FINISHED it, and in only 2 weeks! I think I deserve a prize... maybe some home made ice cream is in my future. I am borrowing blocking wires from a friend tomorrow and then it should be blocked and ready for its photo shoot. I'm in love with it and if I didn't have some other things that I REALLY wanted to get knitted soon, I would probably start another shawl...

The next thing that I am knitting is the gift wrap romper (Rav link). I swatched for it today while at work and I'm going to cast on as soon as I finish this post.  The yarn is a lovely shade of yellow, which is variegated, from Desert Garden Farms. It is very similar to the yarn my baby blanket was done in, except yellow. I'm am loving the way it is knitting up and I think this will be a quick knit.

The other exciting thing going on this week is that this Thursday I am going to my first ever quilt retreat! I was invited to go by some ladies at work and I am super excited. It is down on the Kenai and it sounds like it is going to be a blast. I'm heading down Thursday afternoon and coming home Sunday. I am taking a few sewing projects (two Mother's Day presents, two quilt tops that are almost done, Weston's quilt, and maybe the toy train) and plan to get some serious sewing done.

OH! I forgot to mention this. The other morning when we woke up our mailbox was in the middle of our front yard. (As a reference, it is normally at the end of the driveway... on a post... ) The post was broken in half and the mailbox had been thrown probably 15 feet into the yard. Crazy! W did some CSI detective work and determined that someone must have backed into it in the middle of the night (or drove right into it, drunk... who knows). But, they must have been going fast because it was on a 4x4 post. We didn't hear anything, and neither did the neighbors, which is weird... So, because we had to mail something, W stuck the half of the post with the mailbox back into the ground... it was like 2.5 feet off of the ground! I was surprised they delivered our mail. All is fixed now, thanks to my handy husband, but it was still pretty funny. W also built my raised bed today and we are planning on getting the soil sometime this week. My plants are going crazy in the house. I'm worried I won't be able to plant them outside soon enough....

Alright, I really want to go knit. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

T-minus 15 months and counting...

The dates for Sock Summit 2011 were announced .... July 28-31, 2011. I will be there. I can NOT wait! I'm already starting to look at my $$ and save up as much as possible so I can go CRAZY in the marketplace again. And, rumor has it the same weekend in Portland, OR is a brewing festival, so Weston might come along to have some fun as well. Oh, and he's in charge of the kiddo. This was decided before we even knew we were having kids... I told him that no matter what was going on in our lives, I was going to make it to SS11 and that was that. :) He agreed that I should go and that he would take care of everything else. He is amazing.

I'm almost done with my shawl! I think I have about 20 rows left on the last chart and then it will be cast off time. I was hoping to have it done by the end of the week, but I'm not sure that is going to happen. After I knit the shawl, my plan is to knit a romper for the baby to come home in and then knit myself some mittens... probably the squirrel sampler mittens (Rav link), but I haven't decided quite yet. I need mittens for the fall and break up seasons as my winter mittens are just too hot to wear while dog walking. So I figure that will be my summer project. Then I should probably knit something for Weston. We were at pub quiz last night and one of our friends asked if I knit him anything (because I was knitting) and Weston threw a little fit about how NOOOO, Josh has a hat and socks, but he doesn't have anything. So I should probably remedy that. :)

Friday I am going garage sale-ing. The neighborhood my in-laws live in has a huge neighborhood wide garage sale every year, so I am looking forward to getting some baby stuff. Then I think Weston is going to build my raised bed in the front yard for my plants. They are growing like CRAZY! I think some of them might survive. :)

I hope everyone had/is having a nice week! It was like a summer day here yesterday.... all the snow in my yard is gone.... pretty excited!

Best Thursday Ever?!?

Thursday has been my favorite day of the week for a loooooong time. It is so full of hope and promise of the weekend. You can still make plans... only one more day left of work (if you have a normal job, not a crazy weekend one like me)... etc. etc. Plus, it is the one night that I actually watch TV. So what makes this Thursday so special? Well, for one, it is the first one in three weeks that has new comedy on. Awesome. Also, I don't have to cook tonight! Why? Well, because JOSH is back home(!!!) and he has offered to cook for me!!!

That's right. JB back in town! We picked him up at the airport last night and then went to Spenard Roadhouse for dinner. It was amazing. The bacon of the month is bacon mozzarella sticks and they are to DIE for! Sooooo yummy! We also had the super tots, which are my fav. And, of course, great conversation with Josh! I don't know how long he is going to be here, but I am going to enjoy every bit of it...

In knitting news, I am almost done with the first repeat of the second chart on my shawl. I would show you a picture, but lace doesn't really look like much until it's done and blocked... oh, and I'm lazy. But trust me when I say, it is awesome. I will have to take a picture of my stitch markers. They are from the Etsy shop Wee Ones and they are incredible. They are puffins, and the detail is just mind boggling. I kind of want some of every animal from the shop now! They are just so cute, like little jewelry for my knitting....

The one other thing I accomplished this week is starting some seeds for my veggie garden.  It is probably a little late, but I'm going to try anyway!! I'm going to try and grow a whole bunch of different stuff... peas, spinach, green onions, broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots... it should be pretty amazing. If the summer is anything like it was last year, I think I might actually get some veggies to eat! *Fingers crossed*

I hope everyone has a nice weekend! And, if you live in Anchorage, Saturday is SALE day at Quilt Tree! All class fees, quilting supplies, and fabric are 20% off! I'll be there.... :)

Sunday Indulgences

I love Sundays. Next to Thursday, it is probably my favorite day of the week. It is almost always just a lazy, be around the house type of day. Today was not too much different... we slept in, ate breakfast, then I took Snickers out for a walk.  W and Frito went for a hike. Snickers gets a bit too excited and tends to run off too far when he isn't on a least. W is going to start taking him on small hikes after work when there are fewer people out to try and train him how to go dog hiking. Then I had to go teach my last sock class of the quarter. When I got home, I found that Snickers had decided to eat the blinds in the bedroom. He doesn't deal well with being left home alone (without Frito), but it hadn't been a problem for a while, so I was surprised.

In other news, I started knitting a shawl! (Ravelry link to the pattern) I am almost done with the first chart and I am LOVING it! I'm mostly just really proud of myself for only making one mistake so far (and I was able to improvise and fix it...). My last foray into lace wasn't so successful. I'm using a skein of yarn that a friend gave me for Christmas. It is a blend of wool, bamboo, and silk and the prettiest shade of pink and orange.... like a sunset. I think it will turn out wonderful, and I'm really enjoying knitting it, so it might go pretty quickly!

Oh, but back to the title... here are some things I've indulged in today. W brought home donuts from Golden Donuts... oh man... AND, we are right now watching celebrity apprentice. It is a great show to make fun of together on the couch. Back to that and my shawl now...

News and a Rant

Alright, so I guess I haven't told everyone here yet, but I am expecting a baby. It's growing and supposedly this week developed reflexes, which is pretty amazing. Here is a run down of the typical things I'm getting asked:
* I'm due at the end of October (which is perfect, as Halloween is a big deal for our family)
* I'm NOT finding out the sex of the baby
* I'm planning on breast feeding and cloth diapering my child (because I am super hippy like that... and because I am also super frugal... I don't think I could afford to NOT do this)
* No, I don't think washing diapers will be gross. And, no, I'm not getting a separate washer for them. (Have you seen my house, where would it go? The baby is living in the corner of my room for goodness sakes!)
* I'm not painting any portion of my house for the baby. I hate painting. I also don't really get into "themes" for babies... my theme is handmade. :)
* I'm having my baby at a birthing center (if all goes well, and I really hope it does because I went on the tour the other day and it was AMAZING!) which means no drugs...
* No, I'm not concerned that a doctor will not be there... I actually kind of like that.

So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

On to one of my rants... both are pretty short. I get weekly emails from babycenter.com about how my baby is growing and how I can prepare, etc... this week one of the emails talked about the 7 things that cost the most $$ with a baby and how to combat that. One of the 7 in the list was diapers... and the line said something to the effect of "besides cloth diapering.... you can buy diapers at Costco" BESIDES cloth diapering?!? Like it is the worst thing in the world. It's like they said "besides stabbing yourself in the eye...." I'm sure it wasn't meant in this manner, and I'm just being overly sensitive, but I think that people should really be more open to the idea... you don't wear paper underwear, that would be uncomfortable, so why should your baby? And there are a lot of pros (besides $$) to cloth diapering... but I won't get into that now. I'm sure I'll do a whole post on why I think it is a great idea later when I order my diapers.

The other one has to do with the way my city chooses to spend $$. If you are in debt, do you think you should spend $$ to find out why you are in debt? Or just look at how much money you have to spend, and make sure you only spend that much?? Hopefully, you picked the second option, because that is the one that makes sense. Maybe the Anchorage Assembly should take note....

I'm almost done knitting my felted bag. I should probably have it done by tonight. Just have to do the handles. :) I love a quick knit. Next up, a shawl for myself. I haven't decided on the pattern quite yet, but I have plenty of yarn to choose from...