Sunday, January 24, 2010

half a year in four days




it's crazy that layla was crawling at this age... i'm so glad that eislee is not. she's taking her time and i couldn't be happier about that!

cardboard castle fun


knight maiko had a brilliant idea yesterday morning to make a castle out of a cardboard box. he gathered all the materials scissors, crayons, and a big cardboard box. he started to try and cut the box with his kid safety scissors and after about thirty seconds stopped and asked me to help :) so using some adult scissors i cut the top of the castle (see above). it's amazing how that little bit of simple cutting already made it look so much like a castle. then i took an exacto knife and cut out the drawbridge and we used a hole punch to put some holes for tying the yarn (so the drawbridge can be pulled up and down). then we colored it with some crayons, which is really hard to see in the dark picture. this simple little castle has been the subject of hours and hours of play though. i recommend making one for your children or grandchildren, so fun (and so easy)!

sick day


amber gave me these beautiful fabric pieces for christmas, and as soon as i saw them i knew i wanted to make one of these pillows with them. so when me and eislee got sick and matt took maiko and layla to visit his mom for the day, i figured it was the perfect time to do nothing but cut fabric and sew. this was an easy project, finished in one day while taking care of a sick baby. i had five fat quarters of fabric and cut them into 5 by 5 squares and then layed them out randomly 5 squares across and 5 squares down (i did both sides of the pillow this way). then i sewed them together using quarter inch seam allowances and then sewed the front and back together leaving a little space open at the bottom for stuffing then closed up the bottom with some tiny hand stitches. like i said a super easy project and so quick. i love how the random layout looks too, now i want to make a quilt this way. happy sewing :)

Friday, January 15, 2010

the funniest thing


so we have this collection of letters on the bulletin board that maiko made in his kindergarten class, and i often use them to quiz the kids on their letters (maiko has a lot of trouble with letters) and sometimes i offer a treat if maiko can tell me all the letters.... well.... he came up with a plan, you see layla knows the letters (she is the opposite and really good with letters)

so... maiko being the creative thinker he is, hid layla under the easel conveniently located next to the bulletin board and came and got me to "read" me the letters... his plan was for layla to read the letters quietly and he would repeat them to me, well, didn't quite work out that way... layla was a little confused and kept repeating maiko and reading the letters wrong (since she couldn't see properly) and the whole thing had us all cracking up uncontrollably. what wonderful, creative, and flat out hilarious children i have!

the never ending project


well.... never ending for me anyway, i'm sure there are plenty of you out there that could whip this baby blanket out in a month (or maybe sooner?) but i've been working on this thing for about a year! last winter i started on three projects for the new baby: the quilt pictured, the hat she always wears, and this knitted baby blanket. the first half went pretty fast then i had the baby and well... it's been at a stand still ever since. and now the time has come for me to finish what i started (i've got other projects i want to start and if i don't finish it soon she will never get to use it!), anyways enough about that, i want to share the pattern with you... i designed it to be really easy (especially for putting down and coming back to a month or two later). i adapted it from a pattern in the book "stitch n' bitch." here goes...

the border around the outside of the blanket is seed sticth and the inside is made up of alternating boxes of knits and purls (making it identical on the other side).

materials: size 8 5.0 mm 29 in circular knitting needles, stitch markers, and a row counter (too make it easy) i used a recycled cotton yarn and i think the color is linen? sorry don't remember. i don't know anything about measuring a gauge either but i don't really think it's important for a baby blanket...

cast on 120 stitches, do not connect just turn and knit back the other way
knit 20 rows in seed stitch, k p k p (i use the row counter and if i'm on an odd row i know i need to start with a knit stitch and if i'm on an even row i need to start with a purl stitch

rows 21-50, 16 seed stitch, put marker, knit 22, pm, purl 22, pm, knit 22, pm, purt 22, pm, 16 seed stitch (the nice thing about the markers is it makes it easy you don't have to count your stitches, when you get to a marker you know to change your stitch, then with the row counter you know whether to start your seed stitch with a knit or a purl.

rows 51-80, 16 seed st, purt 22, knit 22, purl 22, knit 22, 16 seed st

rows 81-200, repeat what you did from row 21-80

rows 201-220, seed stitch

and that's it hope i didn't confuse you too much :) hopefully the pictures help, you can see in the one above the way the seed stitch wraps around and the way the boxes work in the middle (the picture has about half the blanket finished) and in the picture below you can see how i placed the markers in between the boxes. happy knitting to you!


Monday, January 11, 2010

this "little" baby is getting so big!


five months old now... two teeth... started sitting up a little bit a couple weeks ago and now she's a pro :) also, we've been hearing some "a ma ma ma" and "a da da da" coming out of that sweet little mouth and i must say at first i thought it was just a coincidence that she mumbled those sounds, but she has convinced me now! when she wakes up from a nap she will always "a da da da" in the other room and i swear if matt's holding her and she wants me i hear "a ma ma ma" :) don't think she'll be crawling by six months like her sister, but that's just fine by me! i keep telling her to take her time... there is no rush... besides, once she starts crawling there will be no rest for me (not that i get much rest now) :)

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

i find her like this all the time....


fast asleep in daddy's arms.... they really have a special bond.... and it's makes me love them even more.

Monday, January 4, 2010

the last pajama day


a day well spent... sleeping in... not going anywhere... not even getting dressed.... won't have one of these for awhile... christmas vacation is officially over!

Friday, January 1, 2010

new year, new start



after spending the last two weeks of 2009 in total chaos, i think we started the year out right.... nice and mellow.... i like the idea of starting the new year out slow, because we all know how fast they go.