Monday, April 2, 2012

Jack and Jill Fell Down the Hill

We live on a hill. I was worried about the hill in WA, but this one is way bigger. Dale taught the kids to push their little scooters (what are these toys called?!) up the hill and go down. I've since had nightmares about the kids falling and busting their crowns, and so they aren't allowed on a bike without a helmet now. I'm probably a bad parent since they didn't have them before we moved here, but they have them now, and that's all that matters, right?
 
It kinda looks like WA huh? I think this may have been the day that it rained on and off, and then all night. See, we get rain too...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Oh yeah, she's getting too brave.
 

And that, besides the park and story time at the library, is what we've been up to. Trying to enjoy the outdoors until it's too hot and we'll have to play inside.
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Knitting Projects

I've been really bad about sharing my knitting projects, huh? That's mostly what I've been up to since the sewing stuff was in several boxes and completely disorganized. Plus, I can bring it anywhere with me, unlike sewing projects...

So Megan was wonderful and put up with teaching me the basics late last year and this was my first project: a Honey Cowl. It took me WAY longer than it should have, but I kept messing up and didn't really know how to fix it, so I would rip it all out and start completely over. Insane, I know. I've since learned how knitting works and I can fix those little things : )
As a going away gift, Megan gave me some orange yarn (because I'm a timid yarn buyer and only go for grays...) and a baby hat pattern. Mason has claimed it for himself- his favorite color is orange.
I really like how this hat comes together at the top with a kinda swirl/star look. And I went with the knotted option rather than the plain beanie look. I don't know where the pattern is from, so if you want it, let me know and I'll ask her!
Before leaving WA I started making some finger-less gloves. I DID wear them once before it got too warm here : )
They are a good green color (I branched out!) and have a cute little cable pattern. I just love that there are only two stitches in knitting but that you just manipulate those two to create amazing looks! Even Dale thought these turned out pretty cool.
My sister said she wasn't impressed because they didn't have fingers (She was being sarcastic of course). To those who may have wanted to try projects where you use more than two needles: do it! There's nothing to be intimidated about; you still only use two needles at a time. Maybe other projects are hard- but these were way easy! If you want this pattern, let me know, and I'll send you a copy. Again, it was from Megan and I don't know where she got it. : )
And my boot toppers. These are wool, so I haven't worn them too much lately, but I DID wear them when I first got to AZ with my boots. I still kinda refuse to let winter go.
The point of this project was to learn to do cables so I picked out a simple looking cable from a cable book and repeated it in the round, adding ribbing on the top and the bottom. I did a thicker rib on one side and a thinner one on the other, depending on how I want it to look.
I don't have any boots that I could fold them over to show that look, but I do like how the cables look with these boots!
And here's the latest project that I just finished up this weekend.
The pattern was really easy and I liked how it turned out. I used a cotton yarn so I wouldn't get too hot wearing it here.
At first I followed all the instructions, but then I decided the hat was WAY too floppy and big for my tastes, so I ended up only doing 3 lace pattern repeats rather than 5. You can see, it's still a really floppy hat.
Maybe if I had more hair?


And there you have it. B has requested a hat like Mason's and she picked out a pretty blue yarn. Once I have that one done I'll share it too. What should be my next project after that? Any ideas?