Did you miss me?

Technically I'm not "back" yet. Something is wrong with my computer, again... ARGH! It just turned off one day and I wasn't able to turn is back on. So here I am posting from my parents computer, thanks mom and dad!

Good news is the world of taxes! We received our W2's yesterday and successfully e-filed them today. Actually I just finished a few minutes ago. It is such a relief to be able to pay off some debt. I love this time of year!

Work is going ok, waking up at 3 am isn't too bad. Really. I find myself doing more house work now just so I won't crash during the day. These last few weeks have been quite productive:o) Laundry is keeping up with itself and the house is fairly clean. Except for last week... You all know how Gabe was sick, well then Leah got it (in the middle of the night) and the next day Hubby had it until it finally landed on me. I hate the flu. It attacks whole households at a time. Having sick kids is no fun, especially when your sick too. But we are all better now and everything is back to normal.

I'm almost finished with a hat for Leah, and I cast on for a matching one for Gabe. He requested on just like hers:o) I'll show pictures when I have my computer back. Until then you'll have to suffer with a picture-less post. Sorry. Yarn has been ordered for a sweater I will be knitting soon, very soon. Again I'll tell you more when I have my computer back and I'll show you the book and pattern and all that jazz.

Ok so I should get going, Hopefully I'll be "back on" soon... Happy knitting!

Quick knit mitts

My class went very well last night! I'm relieved. She (one person didn't show) actually knew what she was doing and caught on to new things very quickly. She made my job easy peasy:o) We are doing a basic hat pattern with a 2x2 rib and then just St st. The only thing I don't like is that they are knitting it flat... I'm a in the round type of girl. Oh well. My first project was a hat knit flat... I guess we all need to start with the basics.

I started these last night and finished them this afternoon. I just knit them from my own design... They aren't anything special but they will keep my little girls fingers toasty warm! The yarn is cascade 220, gotta love that stuff. I think I'm going to make a matching hat with earflaps and pompoms hanging from an i-cord on them. Here are a few shots of Leah
trying on her new mitts! The fuzzy stuff was bought at a close out clearance sale... I Love sales!

Gabe is better today, thank goodness! Thank you all for your well-wishes and good lucks! I truly do appreciate all of you! You all rock!

I had the shop owner of my lys order some yarn for a sweater I'm going to be knitting as a sample... I'll post more about it when the time comes... I'm very excited about it this will be my first sweater for myself! So stay tuned!

Alright its is nearing dinner time, the kiddos are restless, gatta jet! Knit on!

Christmas hats

My little Gabe is sick today:( I hate it when the kids get sick. Poor little guy is just laying on the sofa watching TV. He has puked 4 times already and it isn't even 11:00a.m.

Now that the sad part of my post is over with I'd like to tell you all that my little girl took 4 steps on sat. She is getting more and more brave every day. She looks so cute when she is walking, so grown up. She isn't my little baby anymore:( This is my cutie pie with her first piggy tails, Hubby didn't like them too much. I thought she looked cute:) I do feel bad putting her hair up a lot though, I feel like its gotta hurt... So I don't do it that often.

I haven't been knitting much I have some other crafty things I've been up to. Tomorrow I start the 4 day spree of working again. Last week went ok, but this week I really need to go to bed at a reasonable time. I think it would help if Leah slept through the night. Her teeth have been bothering her so I think if it would just pop through already things would be better. She now has 3 teeth and we're waiting for the 2nd one on the top to come in... argh.

I realized that I never posted pictures of the hats I made for Christmas. The blue one was knit for my little bro Trevor. That's me wearing it. I never took a picture of him yet... Sorry for the bad lighting, it was late. The olive green is my oldest sisters, Dawn. Both were knit out of cascade 220 and of my own design. I used a tubular cast on and a 1x1 rib then changed to a k3 p1 rib. I don't know why but I just really like a 3x1 rib. On Dawn's I did cables on every other rib. I like them both. Oh yeah I had to rip out Trevors and make it a little shorter... What a nice sister I am:o)Here are my little sweeties (yesterday) before the little man was sick. I thought I'd leave you with that:o)

P.S. My class is tonight... Wish me luck!

Happy knitting to all!

happy 1 year blogiversary!

Can that be correct?! One whole year? Wow I can't believe its been that long. To celebrate this milestone I'm changing my text color. he he. No really I am......... :) See?!

When I started this blog I was pregnant and didn't have much knitting experiance. Now I feel that I've learned a whole bunch. I learned the magic of knittng in the round, felting, knitting socks, lace knitting.... And a whole bunch of techniques and information! That was a good year. I'm glad I made such good blogging pals like all of you too:)

I mentioned that i was pregnant to seguy into the fact that I joined the crafty losers group! I still weight the same amount that i did when i was prego, maybe even a few pounds heavier. argh. I'm sick of it and I'm going to do something about it. Eating healthier and exercising is my new modo. So look for updates now and then and help keep me motivated!

As for knitting... I frogged that baby hat i made.... it was just too small. I would have felt ashamed giving it to the shop... uh here is a hat I made, it will fit a premie... I don't think so. I re-started it and added 10 sts. I feel a lot better about it. I'm almost ready to dec.

I have my first ever knitting class next tuesday night at my lys! How exciting! I have to teach total strangers how to knit! Well actually its knitting 101, a refresher course, to get them off the scarf train. We will be knitting a hat.... flat and seaming it. It almost kills me to do that, but it's for the sake of learning.

A good friend of mine, one of my knitting buddies, has a sister who just had her first baby. She had him 3 weeks earily and it was a emergincy c-section... low heart rate. To top that off his lungs arn't fully developed and they had to take him an hour away to a better hospitial. Poor little baby, my heart goes out to him. Gabe and I pray for him(and his parents) every day, and I ask that you do the same. Oh yeah, the hospital won't let the parents stay with him, he will be there for 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. So (a.) they either pay and stay at a hotel or (b.) make the drive every day... I would be freaking out if I were in that situation.

Not having many friends who don't knit and are having babies, felt the need to knit them something. Whith my friend's permision, I knit a dino rattel for the little guy. I found this pattern a while ago and thought it would make a cute gift. All i did was shove a kitty toy(plastic ball with a ball inside itself) to make it a rattel. I hope she likes it...

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things doesn't belong... hehehe Alright enough of that. Oh my I almost forgot. I splurged and went high class for storage of my yarn. It was on sale and we already had a tall bookshlef that matches. I got the idea from Amy, thanks Amy! This is my knitting section of my house, I love it! Here is some yarn porn for ya *grin*

When organizing this knitting section of mine, I realized that I have a lot of yarn... I didn't know how much I had until I put it all in one place. That goes for books too. Organization is an amazing thing!

So I'm sure there is more I want to tell you but I'm dog tired and want to sneak a quick nap in before the kiddos wake up from thier nap and before hubby goes back to work.... till next time

Some eye candy

I feel so out of the loop.

There is so much to say and i don't have much time to post. I am now going to be working 4 days a week, wed to sat. I'll be starting at 4 am. I did a trail run of it last week and we decided that it was the best way to get ahead financially. This way I'm home before hubby has to leave for work and we don't need to pay a sitter to watch our kids. We also want to buy a van(used of course), and figured that now is as good a time as any. Why not start paying now, rather than later. It just means that we'll have it paid off sooner.

Ok, so today 3 of my closest friends and I got together and made egg rolls! I've never made them before and it was a bunch of fun! Add 8 kids to the mix and it gets even better;) It went a little past Gabes nap time so he was getting testy, but other than that I had a blast! At one point in time Leah fell asleep and i just laid her in the corner of the room for her nap! She'll sleep anywhere:) She just goes with the flo! (Here is a cute one of her... just had to add it to the post.) I love my friends their great! And of course they're all knitters. hehe

Ok so now its time for yarn pictures:)

yesterday was knitting night at the shop. I had Christmas money to spend! This is what I came home with. 3 skeins of cascade 220, for a purse that I'm designing. 2 skeins of a superfine merino wool that i just love making baby hats out of. I like getting different colors, not just the traditional blue and pink. And a pair of Addis to add to my collection. US # 13, to use for some felted clogs that I'm going to make for my IL's and my family. The yarn I have yet to buy but I'm thinking of ordering it from knitpicks... I still have some Christmas money left;)

They came home in skeins and are now balls of yarn! I love owning a swift and ball winder! Its awesome! I love not having to do that all at the shop.

This is my collection of yarn for baby hats... There are 309 yards to each skein, so they go a long way when you make stripes and two colored hats. I just love making hats!

Here is the progress on my kool-aid socks. I'm using the same leaf lace sock pattern that my SP6 sent me. Only this time I'm knitting them toe up. So the pattern is upside down. I'm still not sure if i like the colors yet... I guess I'll just have to see it complete. They're kinda growing on me:)

Yesterday I semi-organized out office/computer room and realized that I need to find a way to better organize my knitting stuff. Be it yarn and books and other knitting notions. Anyways I need to buy some shelves or plastic rubbermaid drawers or something. How is your stash organized? Any tips?

I think I'm going to join the crafty losers yahoo group. I really want to lose this stubborn baby fat, that has somehow increased since having Leah... Hmmm I wonder how that happened?! She is 9 months now and supposedly you should be back to your pre-baby weight. Ha ha. Anyways I'm finding it hard to fit exercise into the tight filled days of working, sleeping, knitting and caring for the kids... But I know it needs to be a priority. I'll update you all with more info as it comes. Then you all can help me be accountable;)

Happy knitting everyone! Its off to bed with me...