Things I Like

Time for a things I like post!

Have you all heard about Spoonflower?



It is a website that will allow you to design and print your own fabric. Isn't that so freakin' cool! As you can see from their logo they are still in beta, which means that you still have to be invited to use the website. Get on the list here. In the mean time you can keep up with them via their blog. I've all ready designed and ordered my first fabric. I can't wait for it to get here!

Check out these darlings.


Aren't they adorable. They are hand knit in the Shetland Islands by Andrea Williamson. Her other things are really great too.

Lastly, I am belatedly joining the yo yo craze. I went looking on etsy for some inspiration. Who knew the simple yo yo could be so versatile.


Frame a few of them and you have instant art.


You can wear them.


In more than one way.


More than two ways, even. (Is this not amazing and a little bit strange at the same time.)


I love this guy.


Seriously! People are so very creative.

An Owl and a Cowl

I needed a break from socks. I also needed a break from thinking about my knitting. It is rare that I knit a pattern just as it is written, but this is just what I was looking for. I had some lovely Malabrigo Worsted that had been marinating for quite some time now. I saw Melissa's lovely cowls and was inspired. I knew what I had to do!



It took just one skien, just as the pattern (Thanks Nova!) promises. I have another skien left over that I will use to knit a matching hat. Oh, and if you think it is strange that I am happily knitting a cowl and a hat in June, you should check out our less than summery weather.

Next, I want to warn you to be on the look out for flying pigs and snowballs in hell. I have completed a project done entirely in crochet.



When The Queen was staying with us when Little Sir was first born, she bestowed the nickname of "Owlet" on him. This is because when you would go to check on him in his crib he would be laying there, still as can be, peering out of the darkness with huge, unblinking eyes. He also would pucker his lips as if he were about to say "Whooooo." (Oh, remembering the cuteness just kills me!) Well he doesn't 'silently' whoo whoo anymore, but we still marvel that he blinks less often than seems possible.

Any-whoooooo (he he) he clearly needed a toy owl. Much thanks to RoxyCraft for the adorable pattern. (Even if I did have to crochet!)



Whooooo Whooooo!

Birds of Flight

Ok, I am not a proponent of any lottery, but have you all seen this commercial? Well, probably most of you haven't because many of you don't live in Washington so let me help you out. It is hysterical! I love it.



Doesn't that penguin look like he is really enjoying himself?

As Promised

A little knitting, and little spinning, and a little more spinning.


This little bit of knitting that will become a little purse for someone.


It's difficult to see in 2-D but it's a really neat stitch knit from some of my hand spun.


This is the rest of the Optium, Navajo plyed just like the first batch.


There is only one problem. I bought a new flyer. I like the new flyer. It goes faster than my last flyer. I also spun the last batch on my old flyer. I spun this on the new flyer, at the same pace. Um- OVER SPUN! Ah well, it's still lovely. We'll see how it knits up.


A bit more knitting.


Behold! My first hand knit socks from my own hand spun yarn.


Check out those perfectly mismatched stripes.


One more just to let you know how much I like them.


I've also been a good little knitter. I am ready to turn the heel on the second Kaffe Fassett sock.

if I ran the zoo. . .

I know, I know, this is supposedly a knitting and other fiber related adventures blog.

There is knitting, spinning, and even some more knitting coming soon.

In the mean time, you will just have to be satisfied with more pictures of my cute baby and the places I drag him too.

Today it was Woodland Park Zoo. BTW- their url is www.zoo.org. How did they swing that?

Anywho- Sarah, Baby E., Little Sir, and I spent a couple of leisurely hours at the zoo. I bought a yearly pass and it is the greatest thing ever. We didn't feel like we had to go all day, we didn't feel rushed, and we only saw a small part of the zoo, which was fine because we can go back as often as we want!

It was a very zenish sort of trip. . . here, you'll see.

We paid a visit to the wise wise goat.



We looked in on flamingos practicing yoga.


Then we attended a workshop on anger management. This guy was the poster boy.

He doesn't look angry here, but you should have heard him cussing when someone decided he needed to move. We had to cover the babies' ears!


Of course, the cutest animals in the whole zoo were these two monkeys who all-in-all were very happy and good.

Let's Party!

We were happy to be in Utah for my oldest nephew's 7th birthday.

Kids, presents, food, candy, and. . . a new trampoline. Oh yeah, he's the new favorite kid on the block.

Princess P. loves parties more than anyone I know.

And it appears her son inherited the party gene.

It's a good thing I got the whole family blogging. Now I'm not the only crazy one running around with camera in front of my face the whole time.


There were other reasons to celebrate as well (or at least we were going to have a party anyway, so any excuse would do.) Little Sir figured out that he has stomach muscles and that he can use them to keep from falling over backwards. YEAH!


Here is Aunt R. (have we given her a blogging name? She should be the Countess or something, shouldn't she?) giving Little Sir a break from his ab workout.


And what do you do when the party animal gets a little out of control? Throw him in a basket of course!

And that concludes the trip to Utah.

Fond Memories

Little Sir and I stayed with my grandparents while we were in Utah. They live, conveniently, next door to my parents. It was wonderful for all of us. Each morning Little Sir and I would rise at our usual un-earthly hour of around 7:30. My parents, from whom I got my night owl tendencies, were still fast asleep. My grandparents, however, consider this a perfectly acceptable time of day to be awake. This worked out great. For the hour between waking and our first nap of day Little Sir would charm the three of us over breakfast and lovely conversation.




One of my fondest memories of growing up was the "bear skin" rug at my grandma and grandpa's house. (I'm not sure what kind of animal it was, but we always called it a bear skin.) I loved to lay on that rug. It was so much fun to see my own son react to an experience that I remember vividly from my own childhood. I know he won't be able to remember this exact experience, but I certainly will. It was so sweet. As you can see he was very comfortable, as well as curious as to what animal he had been surrendered too. He loved pulling on the soft fur.

The Photo Shoot

Of course one of the highest priorities when we get "W" and Little Sir together is a photo shoot. Have you ever seen such darlings?


Hey cuz, have you tasted the bucket yet? It's pretty good!

What is that big bright thing in the. sky? We don't have that where I live

Hey, stop starin' at the sun and help me escape would ya.

Mom! Not in the flowers! Flowers are for GIRLS!


Yeah, I'm cool.


But, um, you're still going to pick me up, right?


What's the idea? Are we gonna have a bath or not?


Mama, there is so much new to see here!


Yep, we got all sorts of important things here, JH. We have a lot to get done, we better get going!

Um, excuse me. . .

I know I left my baby HERE playing with HIS toys.


But when I looked up I found him THERE playing with the DOGS' toys.


"What mom? The dogs shouldn't get all the cool toys!" "Right."


That's a pretty good distance for someone who can't even crawl.

Determined little bugger isn't he?

Photographic evidence of our trip to the dessert to follow.

For those concerned among you. . .

I am in Utah

I flew here to surprise my Mom for Mother's Day.

It was a surprise despite my busy body Mother.

There will be further remote blogging to come.

In the mean time, here is a picture of the Princess and I on our first Mother's Day with babies "on the outside."



Hope all of you Mothers had a lovely day.

Tragedy

It is a sad sad sad day


When a hand knit baby sweater accidentally gets thrown in with the wash.

and FELTS!!!

And then, if that weren't bad enough, the Duke picks it up and mocks me about it. He wouldn't even let me take a picture of him pretending to cry over the mini felted sweater. (You will just have to create a mental picture.) He has no knitting empathy.

The only silver lining is that I have enough of this same yarn to knit the same sweater again if I want, and, it was only going to fit for another month or so. I will just have to knit a bigger one.


In other news, I have been doing a little bit of quilting. I saw this fabric at Esther's and I HAD to make Little Sir (our little owlet) a quilt out of it. I have the square pieced together. The sashing and the back will be out of the green dots and the binding out of the brown stripes, cut on the bias.

Don't worry, I'm not picking up a new hobby. I have no intention of even quilting it. As soon as I have the sashing sewn on it will go in the mail to The Queen and she is going to take it to her local quilting shop to have it quilted.

But really, isn't it adorable? It helps to make me feel a bit better about the sad felted sweater.