A whole lot of stuff

1. Here's the latest on the switcheroo - the lights from Ikea are hung and so are the bunting. La seems to really like it. I think the next things are: put the baseboards back in, get the girls book shelf into their room, find something to do with the pretend food until the little kid is out of the crib, and get rid of stuff we don't need anymore.



2. We've been putting the new quilt my Aunt Suzy made for El to good use:



Click the photos to go to the flicker page and see the whole quilt and the back. The back is this fleecy stuff with whales. Very cute and soft.

3. I've made some progress on the sweater for DH. It turns out the 7 year anniversary gift is Wool or Copper. Who knew? This is the body, using 2 hanks of the wool. I've started the first sleeve. It's still lots of fun (in a mindless way). It's Cascade 128, and I'm making the Elizabeth Zimmermann Seamless Saddle Shoulder Pullover (as described in Knitting without Tears).



4. No picture for this, but the Monkey is back from Boy Scout camp. Slightly injured in a mountain biking accident. But none the worse for wear. All the boys seemed taller and bigger and stronger as they climbed off the charter bus. Not sure how that works excatly, but I guess it's OK.

Knitting and Sewing - Oh My!

1. I made good on the doll quilt for La. I ran out of white squares that were leftover from Valerie's doll quilt - which explains the middle block. I used some leftover flannel for the back. I think it's probably left over from recieving blankets.



2. I've gone past the pits on the sweater for El. I really like it. And it's worth the purling back to have such nice stockinette. It's wonderful and squooshy and soft and such a rich red. This picture really does not do it justice.



3. Over Memorial Day, the kids got curtains hung up in their rooms.

New curtains for the boy.


Old curtains for the girls.

Switcheroo Update

(Hopefully) I recently discovered how to schedule posts. Or you're getting an onslaught of posts. Who knows.

El and La were sick this week. During the 2 hours of torture where I made La go without TV (and El was snoozing), we did some work in her room.

1. We made some room at the foot of her bed. Now you can safely reach the hamper. The "treasure box" (from Ikea) has the dress up clothes. Is it wrong to love the dichotomy of Hannah Montana and the Space Shuttle?


2. We made use of the top shelf of the closet. La got to pick out what stuffed animals to keep. Frankly, she didn't remember that she had lots of them. And we hung up the fairy pictures from her old room.


3. We started to clear out a place for her bookshelf. It'll go in the half of the closet that is behind the crib. The long blue dress you see is an Ao Dai that belonged to their Grandma Ngo (Each of the granddaughters got one). We're going to have to find a new spot for the pretend stove and pretend sink (that my dad built for my sister and I when we were La's age.)

Making stuff for El.

1. A sock. that means I'm committed to making the second sock pretty soon. She's a moving target, you know.



2. A hat! Another Florida hat. She doesn't seem to mind hats, which is good because she doesn't have much hair yet. This was pretty easy to sew up (the bunny was good practice) and looks cute on her. The view I used is the blue hat on the bottom right of the pattern.



3. A crib! This is my nephews' crib. We're very thankful that my sister was ready to part with it. (Talk about perfectly spaced cousins!) It is beautiful and El is right at home in it already.



Once I'm done with the baby sock, I think I'm going to start a sweater for La.

Ketchup!

OK. In no particular order.

I. Things are trucking on the switcheroo. DH and my dad built the loft bed from Ikea. We may need to shorten it a smidge. Here are some photos to catch you up with where we are. First the boy's room, then the girls'.

A. BOY:

1. The finished Floor.


2. It's curtains for you.


3. FLOR samples. Fedora and House Pet. He likes the red on the top right.
4. The newly assembled loft bed.


B. GIRL:

1. Area rug made of FLOR tiles. The airplanes were on clearance.


2. Trying out the garland (pennant. Bunting. Used Car Lot flags? Streamers? Prayer Flags? Triangles suspended from Bias Tape? Whatever.)


II. Knitting
A. Finished the blankey for El. I'm not sure how I feel about the colors still, but DH really likes it. Hopefully Ellie will too.



B. Baby Socks for El. The Mim Knits pattern again. Leftover Lorna's Laces (Icehouse?) From the Jaywalkers I made for my sister.


C. When I went from working on the blanket to the socks, there was quite a chorus of "You never knit anything for me" from La. So, I went back to working on the couch blanket, which is a project she dreamed up. No new photo, though. It was a hassle and a half to get it back on the needles.

III. Sewing
Been doing a lot of clean up work with sewing. Finished a pair of languishing shorts for La - only needed elastic. Finished the doll quilt for La (haven't photographed it yet). Made the curtains and finished the garland. Bound the watercolor quilt. Now it just needs to be dropped off at the LQS. Not sure what's next on the agenda - more pants and shorts for the girls? A dress for me? Finishing the two Linus quilts that I started on Maternity leave (they need to be sandwiched and quilted)? Hopefully soon I'll be able to finish El and the Monkey's quilts.

Table Scraps

I totally meant to blog this sooner, but you know....

One evening, when I should probably have been doing something else, I made this:


I had read about crumb piecing and really wanted to try it. I think it's probably about 18x18" and will become a doll quilt for La. It literally was made of "table scraps" - the blue fish and blue circles were leftover from shorts for La, the fruit salad from the cloth shoes for El, and the blue calico and the blue-blue bubbles were from the Wee Bunnies that I made for the girls' Easter baskets, and they were all sitting on the dining room table next to my sewing machine. I think I'll add a border in the wiggly stripes that were the outside of the cloth shoes.

Here are the bunnies for the girls:
The pattern was simple, concpetually. However, more precise sewing skills would have made them a little less eccentric.

Let's see....what else have we been up to?

Working on the switcheroo still. We've (and by WE, I mean DH) got the floor done in the monkey's room. His dresser is moved in and it's already kind of a mess. In the girls' room, we have the unassembled crib. Yesterday I put together the pack and play and El spent her first night "away from home". Her bassinet is still in our room and it's weird to walk by it when we know she's sleeping and not see her there. DH got home from a quick trip to the office yesterday, told him that El was sleeping. He walked into our room and called out, "Where's the baby?" It's sort of making me sad in a last baby milestone sort of way. Since the photos were taken, I've sewn a string of pennant for La and El's room and the curtains for the boy's. The still need to be hung up. Oh, and La and El have a Flor area rug. And the boy has some samples from Flor to consider for his. Next Sunday? A trip to Ikea to pick up a loft bed for him.

(L to R: Hers, His)

Oh, and did you come here for Knitting? pshaw. Well, I did finish a baby hat for our old neighbor who is having a little girl this summer.

It's based on a pattern from Itty Bitty Hats, made from that Elann yarn that is cotton with elastic. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's sort of wonky, but I like the old-fashionedness about it.

Also, hopefully soon I'll be done with El's knit blankie.

In the sick house

Some kind of cold is running through the house. The Monkey was home last Friday. DH was home last Monday. El has been having sniffles but no major fever,etc. La came home sick from school today, poor thing. And I've been moving like molasses in January, with a sore throat that finally turned into a runny nose.

So, I've been remiss about the blogging. That's not to say nothing has been happening, but I don't really have an pictures. I have a good dent in the grocery bags. I need to cut out some more insides.

Did I tell you about the pennant/bunting that I'm making for the girls' room? I'm using this batch of fats to make it.

It will be fierce.

I dug through the treasure box (of scrap fabrics) to find material to try making these cloth shoes for El. Those baby socks. Knitting them seems like it would take too long. Store bought ones somehow don't get lost at school, but they seem to get lost in the wash. I was thinking about using flannel inside and regular cotton on the outside.

Last Friday I went to a spring training game - Braves vs. Dodgers at Disney's stadium. Lots of fun. I brought my "work sock", which is currently at the heel flap stage. Braves won handily. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Life's A Beach. For a while it just looked like tarnish to me, but it's growing on me (like tarnish).

Make Hay While the Baby Sleeps

Isn't that how it goes? Hope you all are having a nice holiday. Lots of family here. Kind of whirlwindish for not doing very much.

Starting to feel like myself again. Here's how:

1. I'm halfway through the heel flap on the "Eleanor" sock. (it's not very tall, and it's on 2.75mm needles and just regular stockinette. But lots of fun.)

2. I'm considering what I can make for the Afghans for Afghans Newborn Campaign. Probably baby hats.

3. I'd also like to make a few hats to give back to the hospital where El was born.

4. A little friend turns 1 the week after new years. She got a pretend kitchen for Christmas (to share with her big brother). I'm thinking about making her an apron and some cloth food. (I've seen this on a blog somewhere, but Google is not helping me right now.) Or making her a softie might be good too (like the pointy kitty or the Wee Bunny.)

5. I do still have one batch of Christmas presents to send out yet. But, I think, otherwise everything made it to where it was supposed to go in a timely manner.

6. The Switcheroo is coming along. We're at the point where we need to commit to trading the rooms. The first needs the trim to be reinstalled. The second needs to be emptied and painted and we'll be off to the races.

7. Not to mention that I'd like to get El's and the Monkey's quilts finished so I can start on a quilt for me and a quilt for Project Linus.

Nearing Commencement

OK. Sort of a random update today:

1. I have an induction scheduled for 12/13, if I need it.

2. Almost no knitting has been going on. I have ambitions, and at the same time doldrums. I would love to make a pair or two of mittens for Soaring Eagles, but I just can't seem to cast on. The last thing I've been knitting was the sleeve for DH's sweater.

3. That fleece quilt project is finished - I found a piece that was just the right size in my stash and lined the back. It's a very popular blanket for couch loungers.



4. The other fleece project (for Christmas gifts) is winging it's way to upstate NY (Schaghticoke and Deansboro). Hopefully it's not tropical weight fleece or something dorky like that. My Grandma Mercier was always skeptical of any wool/winter coats sold in Florida and I can't help being suspicious of the fleece I used. My mother told of her adventures of outfitting my other Grandma with a winter coat, talking about a "stadium length" coat. Had to remind her that I grew up in Florida and had no idea what stadium length is (apparently, it covers your fanny.)

5. There is some sort of Pack and Play fairy out there. One evening, I came home and the monkey had come across the pack and play that we registered for on the front porch along with a box of aluminum cans from two houses down. (He brings them to the aluminum place and makes money off of it.) The neighbors who brought the cans denied knowledge. The other neighbors (in between us and the can-givers) denied knowledge. Our old neighbors who moved around the corner denied knowledge. Our friends who have a boy the same age as the monkey and who live in the neighborhood across the way deny knowing about it. So, we're still on the quest for the pack and play fairy. We haven't asked DH's little sister if she knows about it, but we saw her last night and she didn't mention it. There was no label - to/from, receipt, nothing.

6. La is having her birthday party at Monkey Joe's Sunday afternoon. We are officially out of the "convenient" window for having the baby, until after the party, at least, prefereably until after her real birthday, early next week.

7. I decided since the baby will be born by Dec 13, we could wait and have picture cards made. I found at least 7 boxes (some full, some partial) of Christmas cards in my desk this week and was tempted to send some of those out, but we'll just send out late cards with 3 kids.

8. On the room swap front, the first room is painted, the carpet is out and the slab is partially "evened out" (using some kind of scraper to get rid of high spots.) It's hard to take a picture of it right now.

What I did on my Thanksgiving vacation

1. All that fleece? I finished the actual Christmas projects (and am now well into the self-doubt phase holiday crafting) and made this for us:



It's pretty wild and crazy but should be nice and comfy. DH did the stripe design in the middle. I'm going to put more fleece on the back. Have to measure it yet and figure out if I'm going to piece a back or just get a whole plain piece from the store. I had been thinking about making this from the scraps since the first batch of unmentionables and couldn't wait to get through the second batch so I could figure this little beauty out. Very quick to put together and really satisfying. And, I'm pleased to report that the stretch all runs in the same direction.

2. In other news, we began the big switcheroo. The monkey's room is "empty" (in a good enough for government work sense of the word) and I think it's all painted now. DH has started ripping up the carpet and tack strips and the Pergo is waiting in the hallway. Need to take another progress shot tonight.

We've been calling it "Miami Dolphins Teal". It's quite a statement.