I’m still surprised that I pulled this one off. That I didn’t crash and burn into a big mess, the house is still livable and the health department isn’t knocking down my door. But as Carrie K. pointed out babies are small, and thats a good thing in so many ways!

I finished the T H I S Sunday sweater Saturday morning, sewed on the label and the buttons put it in the washer and dryer and wrapped it up Sunday morning. Just in time.

Pattern stats:
pattern found here
yarn:1.5 balls Lion Brand cotton ease in maize
size: about 6-12 months
needles: US 7
notions: 6 buttons (1 extra for the mom, just in case ; ) by Le Bouton #340 hook 320
started: June 25 2008
finished: June 28 2008
notes: The sweater was very well received. : ) Now, a few notes on the pattern. Its more of a guideline than a pattern. It does tell you how to knit the yoke but thats about it. I knit 4″ of the sleeves before the decreases. I wouldn’t say this is a beginner pattern, but that stitch pattern on the yoke is what drew me in!

Its nice to have the deadline knitting done when you have things to look forward to like a mother daughter softball game. Oyi. Lets just say I don’t suck horribly at sports, but I don’t exactly excel. Click on the photo below to watch a lovely video of me at bat on flickr.

Its a good thing Corra’s much better at softball than I am,

Tuesday night while I was at my parents house I realized that I have a baby shower to go to on Sunday.
T H I S Sunday. As in 3 days, T H I S Sunday. So when the kids and I got home Wednesday night I casted on the Seamless Yoke Sweater by Carole Barenys. I’m using Lionbrand cotton ease in Maize from the stash yarn (yay! Mike got this for me a year or so ago) and US size 7’s (4.5mm).

I need to finish the body tonight (about 16 more rows). Finish 2 sleeves by Friday night/Saturday. Finish the other sleeve, sew in a tag and buttons. Wash and dry it on Saturday. Wrap it Sunday just in time for the party.

Lets hope this works. I would rather be knitting my February Lady Sweater.

Really. Its quite nice having a teenager drive.

I say this like she was driving me everywhere. But really I just let her drive for a little bit on I-80. My niece Heather watched Allysa and Kailey while Corra and I went to GS camp (I’ll post more about that when I get home). I met my Mom half way on Wenesday and we brought Heather back home yesterday. We are spending a few days up here visiting my parents again. Anywho, I kinda did like Heather driving not only is she a pretty good driver, but I did get some knitting done.

This is the start of my february lady sweater, I’m using dream in color classy in the In vino veritas colorway on US size 8’s. Ravelry link here. So far its been a very satisfying knit and I’m loving the colors (even though they are extremely hard to capture).  I do however wish I had a chauffeur so I could knit while in the car more often!

its quite sad really, I found this sweater while cleaning up and realized all it needed was a button. I knit it ages ago, (2005) for my ex-sil’s baby.

But it didn’t quite make it to her. I couldn’t gift this sweater away, because at the time I finished it I wasn’t quite proud of my garment knitting skills and ended up buying her a store bought gift instead.

Its a little small on Kailey. But I’m going to pretend they’re quarter length sleeves. Maybe I’ll add some ribbon cuffs to add a bit of length.
But now daisy has a button and all’s good.

project stats:
pattern: Daisy by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee published in Knitty, Summer 2003
size: small? 0-3months maybe.
yarn: Reynolds Saucy color 308 (pink) about 1 I think. Purchased from Webs
random cotton used for the flower *ahem* embroidery (yeah, I’m going there. And I’m calling that crap embroidery.)
needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm
time: knit sometime in 2005, button added June 2008
ravled here

click here for more pictures on flickr.

As ya’ll are reading this I’m driving my way to Wilkes barre PA to meet my mom and my niece. So much for not driving a lot this summer.

This week is the epitome of crazy. Really, no kidding. I’ll spare you the page long story, ok? I’m just stoked cause I’m going to camp! Ok, Corra is going too. I’m talking about GS camp its only 2 days. But its long enough. I’m super excited even though its what is making my week crazy. But its ok, when I’m busy like this I don’t have time to think. And that’s ok right now. So since my brain feels like toast and I have a few FO’s that I haven’t even talked about started I’m going to throw them right at you and then hopefully catch up on some emails. (Ha. I hear you laughing!)

1. Yurdel *the* turtle

click here to see more photo’s on flickr
pattern: Sheldon by Ruth Homrighaus published in Knitty Winter 2006
yarn: light green: Red Heart acrylic in apple green?
dark green some unknown green acrylic
needles: US 3 (3.25mm) and US 4 (3.50mm)
extra’s? 2 safety eyes
time? uhhh.. I think I knit this in April… or May…
for? Mike’s cousin’s baby if I ever find a cute book for a 1 year old about turtles. (I realize that I also have to part with the cuteness that is this turtle.)
ravelry link here

Bauble

click here to see another photo on flickr
pattern: bauble by Rosemary Hill published in Knitty Spring 2007
materials: stretch magic cord. Seed beads, white and pink beads that I had and wanted to use up.
needles: US 6 (4.0mm)
time: I might have knit this in January… but I can’t remember!
for? A friend
ravlery link here

Marshmellow

click here to see more photo’s on flickr
pattern: marshmallow bonnet from itty bitty hats (ravelry link)
size: 6-12m
yarn: Jo-ann sensations bellezza collection tesoro (from the stash) 100% wool
MC 8000 (white) lot 99
CC 954 (pink) lot 56
needles: US 7 (4.50mm)
hook: H (for the loopies)
gauge: 5sts/inch
mods: I crocheted a chain of pink and weaved it in the turning row. Completely inspired by sunshineyarn’s bonnet.
notes: We accidentally left Kailey’s hat at Grandmie C’s house after Thanksgiving dinner. Her dog was a little hungry and chewed off the chin strap. Instead of dipping into another ball of white I used some leftover pink to repair the chin strap on 1/14/08.
Damned dog.
ravlery link here

4 more dishcloths

pattern: Abigail’s fabulous pinwheel dishcloth pattern (lookie in the sidebar)
yarn: Sugar n’ cream or peaches and cream…. (I’m hitting the pitches tonight aren’t I?)
needle: US 8
mods: I CO15 sts to make a smaller dishcloth that fits right into my hand. And by casting on 2 less sts you can get 2 cloths from 1 ball.

That’s it for tonight, I have to hurry up and pack for camp. And my brain is toast!

First I can’t thank you all enough. Really. All your comments both here and on ravelry, your emails and your pm’s on Rav have helped me more than I can ever express. I know I still owe lots of you guys emails, and I’m sorry. I will email you. I’m hanging in there. In time and with some work this will get better. This week has been crazy on top of crazy. Today was Allysa, Bryce and Corra last day of school, thankfully I got all the teacher’s gifts done! And now we are leaving on a jet plane… kinda… the way I drive the mini-van it can be a jet plane! ; ) My niece is graduating from high school tomorrow (yay Heathie!) so we are on our way there. It will be a nice trip. So this isn’t a picture-less post I’m sharing my current favorite picture that makes me giggle

gotta go catch that jet plane. ((hugs)) I love ya guys.

Its been a long time since I’ve posted, and so much has happened. And at times it is hard to find words to describe anything. Some good, some bad, I’m sorry this is so vague but I can’t get into it. I’m trying to be optimistic, and see the light at the end of the tunnel. But we all know that with life’s curve balls that can be hard. I wanted to share one of my FO’s from the month of May, my bittersweet shrug.

Sweet, because it looks beautiful with the green dress I found at the big W. Sweet, because it looks just like how I imagined it would in my head.

Sweet because the back lies flat when my arms are down and there are no bat wings.

Bitter because I finished it on May 3.

Project Stats:
pattern: Retro Redux Shrug by Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark published in Lace Style
size: 42″
yarn: 1.5 balls Lion brand Cotton ease in Almond
needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm US 9 / 5.5 mm US 10 / 6.0 mm US 10½ / 6.5 mm
time- April ?, 2008 - May 3, 2008
mods: I knit the ribbing in the round using dpns, and then knit flat when I reached the lace section.
ravelry link: here

It’s been absolutely crazy here at Chez Mistress Stash Enhancer, I’m having a hard time believing that its really May. A lot of it has to do with Allysa’s headstart graduation er, stepping up party tomorrow. I think Headstart is a wonderful program and I am super happy that I was able to at least get Allysa into the homebased program this year. I wanted to give back some, and am helping out with the graduation, sorry stepping up party. The teacher, another mother and I loved the idea of a carnival that a neighboring program had for their party. So we are doing an animal themed carnival party. (Everything is better with a theme right?) I saw this awesome picture on flickr after finding the purl frog from purl bee I knew I had to whip one up.

click here to see the inside of the bag and here to see another picture of the froggies and lily pads. I plan on giving the set to her teacher tomorrow. I used a small canvas bag from Jo-anns, felt for the numbers and lily pads. I used Heat and Bond ultra bond to adhere the numbers to the lily pads, and the lily pad to the bag.

We burned a bunch of pictures we all took of all the kids over the school year onto CD’s. I used card stock to make cases and hand stamped them using stamps from Stamping Up! I would have loved to make covers for the CD’s themselves but my printer is (hopefully) being fixed by HP.

I’ve also been busy this week making a wack of dishcloths

I used Abigail’s pinwheel dishcloth pattern. I CO 15 sts and used a 3 needle BO because I was too lazy to get up and find a piece of waste yarn… anyway it took half a ball to make one cloth. And they are just the right size! This has to be my favorite dishcloth pattern. I luve it!
I also sewed up a wack of pouches for her teachers too.

I was inspired by the pattern in bend the rules sewing. I put the lining in differently with these bags. I don’t like to hand sew. So I sewed the lining and the outside fabric to the zipper at the same time. (Like that makes any sense at all.) click here if you want to see individual photo’s of the pouches and their innerds.
I stamped up thank you cards to go with the pouches and washcloths today.

I used a brayer to apply ink from a rainbow ink pad onto white cardstock. Butterfly stamp is from Stamping Up! Thank you stamp is from Jo-ann’s or Michael’s I can’t remember! I stamped a butterfly on the corner of each of the envelopes as well.

After I had finished assembling everything I had Allysa pick out 1 pouch for each of her 5 teachers, a washcloth to go with it. , a handful of lifesavers picked out by Allysa, a penny (because you shouldn’t give a bag or purse with out a penny!) and a handstamped card.

Now they are all wrapped up and ready for tomorrow.

Now that I’m done babbling I’m ready for tomorrow too. I hope to get all caught up this week… we’ll see what really happens! Night!

Never mind that Earth Day was yesterday, but it really should be every day. We only have one Earth after all. Over here at Chez Mistress Stash Enhancer we are making small changes, but we all know how quickly small changes add up!

• I switched to Seventh Generation’s dish detergent and laundry soap. I’ve also started using vinegar when I wash my towels. (Now that I know you put it in the fabric softener compartment of the washing machine. I’m a bit slow sometimes!) I’ve been using Clorox greenworks multi-purpose spray, no other cleaner has made my stove sparkle. Once its all used up I’m planning on making my own cleaners from this site. If you guys have any good recipes for safe green cleaners let me know please!
• I’m in the process of making about 50 fabric napkins for my family to use instead of paper.

I can’t tell you how much they have cheered up the table! And my father pointed out that the napkins also make nice hats, bandanna’s and blindfolds. All during dinner. (I’m looking forward to picking out his retirement home. mahahhahah!!) I have a few more to make…now that I’ve realized I’m going to have to make around 80 to last us a week. Crappers!

• I’ve started brining my ownbags to the grocery store

I was thinking of making my own, but seriously that would take a few weeks before that would happen! So I bought a few more during my last visit to the grocery.

• We’ve been recycling for the past year… or has it been two years? Anyway two weeks ago I let the kids out of the van while I sorting the recyclables into the bins. They love it, and call it the “Recycling game”.

After they ran into each other, and me, a few times too many I had them line up. After they take a turn they move to the back. In our town you have to bring your recycling to the recycling center and sort it yourself. Its not very well advertised that our town even has this center I didn’t know about it until after I had been living here for 3 years!! . I can’t tell you how much of a shock it was when I moved to Pennsylvania after living in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts everyone recycles. Okay, maybe not *everyone* but mostly.

• I bring our used dead batteries into our local Walmart’s photo center for recycling. Walmart also excepts old glasses for the Lion’s club. (I know Walmart isn’t perfect and I’m in no way defending the big box store. But they have been making “green” choices for a number of years. The boxes they use for softlines are reused a number of times before recycling. Also all the cardboard is recycled. Those are just 2 of the things I picked up on when I worked there 6 years ago.)
• Slowly I’m switching the lightbulbs in the house over to the energy smart lightbulbs. Which did you know there are special ones for lights on a dimmer switch?
• I’m trying to drive less into “town” (where all the big stores are, its 22miles roundtrip). But every time I say I’m trying to drive into town 1 or 2 a week one of the kids ends up sick and I’m driving into town 3 or 4 times that week! I also carpool with families who are on my kids ball teams. We take turns taking each other’s kids to practice.
• Unplugging electronics that aren’t being used. This is especially hard for me, but I’m getting better! It still boggles my mind that the electronics are pulling power when they are off. I’m hoping to get some of these smart strips in the near future for the 2 tv’s, dvrs and Mike’s “Kingdom”.

Mike is going to be thrilled when he comes home, I want to change the shower head over to a water saving one, change the screen thingies on the facets over to ones that add more air into the water (like that made sense right?!) and I would really like to start a compost bin. I have to research more into the composting. I’m not all sure what all you add to it, and where I should put it on our property. Our property is mostly woods, with one side on the town’s line. Personally I don’t want critters to close to the house. (Ahem, Dad. Like the bear.)

Since every day should be Earth Day, what are you doing that’s green?

A loooong time ago Meg over at Knittens tagged me for a meme. Its been on the back of my mind since she tagged me back in February. (Wow.) I’m going to throw in some pictures to spice this post up. So here we go,
Here is what I have to do….List 7 Random Facts about Me
Here are the rules (and they must be posted to your blog).
Link to the person’s blog who tagged you (see above). List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog and also so they can look at your blog and not tag the same people all over again!

1. Every time I attempt to make bread using my bread machine it turns into what Bryce affectionately calls a bread rock. I think the yeast doesn’t have enough time to activate…

2. When I watch the Food network I want to scream “pull up your sleeves!” to the chef’s. It bothers me immensely when they are wearing long sleeve shirts and are handling meat. I don’t know why this bothers me so much its not like germs can jump!

3. I can’t seem to forget certain things. Like when Meg tagged me for this meme. I’ve been thinking about it since then! If someone asks me to do something I can’t forget it. But I loose my cell phone a lot and have to call it to find it.

4. Even though I’m done having kids. (Quit laughing, I can hear you!) I still have all their baby clothes in the attic. Ok, ok, not all, but most. Enough to fill a rubbermade tote for each size. Recently a friend of mine had a baby girl and needed clothes. I went through all the girls old clothes. It was incredibly had to part with most of it. Just call me sentimental.

5. We used to use paper napkins, and I have been on the hunt for some nice fabric ones for a while now. After getting fed up I decided to make my own. I think I’ll need to make around 50 to last my family a week of meals. I’ve made 24 so far.

6. There are 18 steps on our front steps and 14 on the back steps. I go up and down them at least 12 times a day. Mostly because I discover I forgot something and have to go back to get it!

7. You guys are going to laugh over this one! Sometimes when I’m reading a really good book and I can’t put it down I will read in the shower.

Even though I enjoy reading other people’s responses to meme’s, and I like doing them myself I can never bring myself to tag anyone with out feeling very guilty. Soo… to distract ya’ll from that here is a video of Kaily signing “more”

My parents are coming in sometime today, and I have to get the minnions off to school. Happy Friday all!