September already?

Where does the time go? Well my yoga training went well. Evie was great for J and we all survived 2 full days of mommy being absent. It was good for all of us. J got to see what a day in the life of a mom is like, Evie got a chance to miss me and I got to remember that its ok to leave even if I don't want to. As I said it was a good experience.

Evie went on her first car trip home to Ohio. It was a long drive there and back. It was a quick trip to celebrate my cousins wedding. It was a lot of fun. Evie got to meet my mom's family, all of her aunts and uncles and she got to spend some time with her grandparents. Next time we get to Columbus it will be for her aunt Jenna's wedding. So that should be a lot of fun. She will be 5 months then. She is growing so fast. She rolled over from her back to her stomach on tuesday. She has been doing it at least once a day since then. I can't believe she did it. I am so excited to see her crawl or even army crawl. I'm not particular. Shes just amazing. Her next great feat will hopefully be sleeping through the night. She's only done it once and we have not had a repeat performance since, boo. Oh well everything in its time. Its easy to say, hard to live.

Anyway I am off to work on my Vivian cardigan while she naps. Plus at some point I have to go in search of Ziggy's collar. He came home without it this morning, sneaky little kitty.

Ah the good life...

Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen? Yeah I thought so, lol. I love my little girl and she is getting so big its crazy. I have to leave her for the first time for a whole day on Saturday and Sunday to go to a yoga training. I'm a little freaked out. I don't want to leave her. Not gonna lie I might cry. I'm sure J will be fine but its a whole new experience for all of us. So heres hoping it goes well. She turns 16 weeks on Saturday! eeek.

Ziggy got a kitty door about 2 weeks ago. He's still not sure about the whole thing. It's actually kind of funny to watch him stare at it, bat it and then finally go through it once he realizes we aren't going to open the door for him, lol. I hope he adjusts soon though.

This is my Icelandic Star cardigan. All it needs are a few buttons and a good washing and its done. It doesn't fit right now but once the baby weight is off and I am done breastfeeding it should all be good.

In other knitting news I am working on my Vivian cardigan. Hopefully I will send the other yarn back tomorrow. Its been a pain in the butt trying to remember to do what I need to, to ship the yarn back for a new color. I hope they still have the color I want so I don't have to choose a new one. Anyway the hubs is home and I am gonna go grab some food. More updates later, probably after this crazy weekend. :)

Is it fall yet?

I find myself impatiently asking this question during every unbearably hot day. Lately though the weather hasn't been too bad. A little warm but overall we have had several overcast days. I am just excited for the fall. All the warm clothes, the fires, camping and more reasons to knit, not that I need any. ;)

Evelyn is growing so much everyday its hard to believe. I love every crazy day with her. The teething sucks but she seems to be doing pretty well. I love her.

In knitting news. I got my yarn in for both of my new cardigans I would like to make. Unfortunately I don't really like one of the colors so I am going to send one cardigan worth of yarn back to switch it for another color. Oh well. I am almost done with the Icelandic Star cardigan. I just have to sew on the buttons and wash it once and its ready to wear. Too bad it doesn't fit around my chest right now. Oh well after I am done breastfeeding it shouldn't be a problem....I hope. Otherwise I will just find a new home for it. Its nice looking but I really liked the knitting part more so than the need to wear it. :) I'll post a picture later after I buy some buttons.

My car is a mess right now. It's not running and I am back to driving Betty again. J has been working on it for 2 nights now and has stayed up until midnight trying to figure out whats wrong with it. Boo. I hope he gets it running soon. We have so much traveling coming up and I figured we would take my car but its probably not going to work out that way.

Its been a busy day today. I went to my cycle class, grocery shopping. I have to teach tonight, go to a yoga meeting for this seminar and come home and crash. So I gotta get going because I need to leave for my class.

The Weekend....

It comes and goes but doesn't really seem all that different from the week days for me. Probably

because my full time job is raising Evie. Its still nice to have though because my husband is around and I love being able to spend time with him. So on to knitting content....

I finished the Sleepy Monkey Blanket for my friend who is having her baby later this month. :)

Evie modeled for me. :)

front

back

We went to a cookout tonight and had a good time eating and chatting. Evie did pretty well throughout up until the end when she was ready for bed as I am now. So I am headed to bed. :)

A break....

From the heat. Not from Evie, lol. Mother nature has finally decided to let up on this nasty heatwave we've been in. Its been cool or nice for at least 3 days now AND we've gotten some rain. We have really needed it too. My lawn is turning green again. It longer crunches when you walk on it. Going outside is no longer a horrible experience. Yay!

Today has been a pretty long day. As usual Evie needs to sleep and as usual she fights it. This has been the pattern all weekend and for the past 3 nights I have not slept well. I can't wait until she is 6 months and we are done breastfeeding and she is eating other things to keep her full. She needs to start sleeping through the night like yesterday. She also needs to be doing this in her own bed because I for one am sick of sharing. I don't sleep well and she does not share space well. Oh well its been 3 months so far so whats a few more right? What can I say I'm a sucker for that toothless grin. :)

I am suppose to pump everyday so I can save up a good supply for my weekend training at the end of the month. That way Justin can stay here and feed her while I'm gone. I have my fingers crossed that I will be able to meet this goal and that she continues to get a little easier everyday. Otherwise its going to be the longest weekend of J's life, lol.

As far as knitting goes I've done a couple rows on the baby blanket for baby bean. I am hoping that I get it done before he arrives. I'm pretty sure I will though. Unless she delivers way early I should be good.

I'm off we are going to Target and Starbucks. Maybe even the bookstore so I can get out of the house.

Wow its been a while....

So I had my baby girl, Evelyn Marie, on May 8th. She is beautiful and wonderful and also the main reason I haven't been on here in forever. I haven't accomplished as much knitting as I usually do since she's been born.

Currently I am finishing up a baby blanket for my friend who celebrated her baby shower yesterday. Yeah blanket not done but I have time, the baby hasn't arrived yet! ;) I am on the border so I am really close to finishing, yay! I love the way its coming out and will post pics as soon as she receives it because I don't want her to see it before it comes. :) I also have 3 pairs of lingering socks on the needles (yikes) and a sweater that I started way back when that really needs to be finished. Of course I have received the newest Interweave Knits in the mail and OF COURSE it would have a cardigan I REALLY want to make. I also have another cardigan from twist collective that I REALLY want to make. Alas they will have to wait as I practice self control so some other projects can get off the needles...like the cardigan I forgot to mention that I started last year....stupid startitis.... I'm afraid to look in my yarn basket I know there are other unfinished projects lingering...begging to be finished and in some cases even frogged....

Anyway aside from knitting or attempting too I am also getting back to my workout routine. Evie and I go to the gym everyday of the week. She hangs out with the child watch people and I workout trying to get back to my regular body. I think it would be going better if I could get my eating habits under control....lol. Oh well. I am hoping to at least be in better shape than I am for my level 3 yoga training at the end of august which is coming much faster than I anticipated. Oh well we will see what happens. Hopefully the training goes well and they let me pump while I'm there because I am still breastfeeding and hope to continue until she is 6 months. Its a lot of work but I think its worth it. I wouldn't trade that time for anything. :)

Wednesday we go to a dog training class. Bob is a good dog and listens pretty well but its always good to do something with him since we are so busy with the baby and its also good to keep training him. So Wednesday is the orientation where my friend Rick who runs the dog training place meets with the owners to see how they are (train the owners and then the dog, lol). Some of my yogi friends are going to be there so it will be lots of fun. So we are going to have our first baby sitter, our good friend Auntie Elyse is going to come and watch Evie. Depending on how it goes we may ask her to watch her for the duration of the class which I believe is 8 weeks. This will depend on Evie's cooperation. If Elyse is willing to keep watching her (ie. Evie didn't make her run screaming) it will make everything easier.

Well thats my boring update for now. Pictures to follow in my next blog. Knitting, baby etc. :)

Sock Madness Socks!

So I made it through round one of sock madness. We had to knit socks with an interesting construction. Pictured below the Simple Side to Side socks are knit flat and then grafted together. Then you need to pick up stitches for the cuff, heel and toe. The pattern was simple enough and created some really cool looking socks. The main issue is the lack of stretch. They will stretch in length but not in width. So of course they didn't work for my feet so my mother is acquiring a new pair of socks....again. If you hate grafting and picking up stitches these socks aren't for you. They are pretty fun to make if you have never knit socks in this style and they are great for all that wild yarn you have sitting in your stash though. The designer is working on updating the pattern to work with the fitting issues. So hopefully when its released to the general public people will have an easier time with fit. This is a competition though so socks aren't knit to necessarily fit everyone. I managed to make it to round 2 (at a much slower pace than I would have liked) but life gets in the way, travel, death and funerals. I'm just glad I finished them in time to move on.

Simple Side to Side Socks by Deborah Swift

Yarn: Yarn Love, Juliet in Robin Hood colorway

Needles: US Size 1 Circulars

This brings us to the round 2 socks which actually did fit. Cool Beans is a pretty colorwork pattern that drove everyone crazy, lol. I love how they look and I think its really cool we knit a pattern based on coffeebeans. The biggest complaint I heard was the gusset decrease went on forever, which I kind of agree but once I stopped looking at the gusset decreases and focused on the beans it went a lot faster, IMHO. It was a learning experience for most because many people had never done colorwork. I like colorwork, I haven't done many colorwork patterns but I do love colorwork. Once the errata came out for the heel and the toe problems were worked out it made the pattern a lot easier for people. Thankfully there were several finishers before me who figured out the pattern problems and posted fixes for them. I finished before the toe info came out but I'm sure its helped a lot of people. This pattern is the first time I have ever been asked to share my picture as one of the model pics for a pattern which is a huge honor, so thank you yarnyenta, you are awesome.

Pattern: Cool Beans By: Yarnyenta

Yarn: Knitpicks bare merino natural and zauberball (don't know the color)

Needles: US2 brittany dpns

I can't wait to see what they have in store for us for pattern three. I managed to make it to round three btw. So hopefully everyone knits their socks quickly so we can move on. I'm anxious to start especially with the baby's due date closing in. I want to see how far I can get. :)