A cozy, of the most lovable kind

As the only girl around here, I try to temper the sports, truck crashes, sword fights, and wrestling matches with the softer, kinder, and gentler things whenever I can. One of the things my boys like is having their "friends" close by. Kidster #1 's friends all stay on his bed, and he will choose one to sleep with depending on the day.

Kidster #2 has a few friends on his bed too, but Baby Bear is his love and will sometimes come along with him for the first hour of the day, or make an appearance before bed during our book time.

And then there's Snoopy.

As the youngest of seven children, Hubster was very attached to his Snoopy and treated him very much like how Baby Bear is treated today. He has been through his fair share of tug of wars and even had his arm torn off. Once we had kids, Snoopy reappeared from Grandma's basement and has been enjoying a (slightly) less stressful life here with the boys. However, being 40 years old he is not without some medical conditions.Every time I would try to patch a hole to keep the stuffing from falling out, a new hole would be created. The fabric just wasn't holding anymore. Faced with the possibility of putting Snoops out of reach on a shelf, Hubster asked me to save him. And since Hubster never asks for anything, I knew I had to at least try.

For details on how I did it, see Snoopy's Ravelry page!

It's quiet, mostly

I am sitting here reading blogs. The kids are in bed. Hubster popped over to his brother's house for a few minutes. Through the monitor I can hear Kidster #2 softly snoring. Then I realized that he's probably peeling paint in there since I have the monitor turned most of the way down! Ahh, the great thing about having a pool in your backyard on a hot summer day is that you never have to worry about your kids having trouble getting to sleep!

Summertime is the best time for...

new cool haircuts...

vacation... (yes, that is my MIL and no, there's not a Freudian message here. The kids? Well that depends on the day.)

trying something new...(tons of fun, btw)

A 4th of July parade that was just too hot to be any fun...

well, for the grownups...

a birthday complete with a trash truck cake and lots of garbage bags...

plenty of pool time...

And I'm right in the middle of a very serious project, more to come on that.

So can you see why I haven't been able to keep up lately?

Underwater on a rainy day

The Under the Sea birthday party was a success. Well, as much of a success as having 14 kids between the ages of 4-6 stuck inside on a rainy day can be!

Luckily I had spent some time decorating our family room. I just didn't trust the weather folk who kept telling us it would clear (which it did, 20 minutes after everyone left). The bottom half of the walls were covered in craft paper so the kids could draw fishy things and sign their names.With kids everywhere, getting a good picture was hard. And since I didn't get parental permissions to plaster their kids' faces all over the internet, you'll have to make do with backside shots and the occasional mug from kidster #1, the birthday boy.

We made fishing poles out of shovels, went fishing, and used the fish we caught to "stick the fish in the ocean".

I made flippers for each of them (how do you like the fish on my head? Ha!)and then goggles and snorkels rounded out the attire. It was supposed to be a scavenger hunt, but I didn't want kids all over the house so I sort of just handed everything out. (Bummer.) We swam like our favorite fish and had a few other swimmingly fun games before cake and presents.

The birthday boy was happy and that made me happy.

Another cat in the house

This little guy is the latest off my needles. I needed something small and portable to take with me on my trip to Ohio. It had just so happened that my friend Anita, of The Pattern Box, was asking for test knitters for her two new designs in our Ravelry group. I knew the cat would be perfect since I did owe kidster #2 a knitted toy. Back when his brother got the ninja turtle I had asked him what he would like and he said a cat. I searched around but never settled on a pattern that I liked. In fact, the only pattern that I even considered was another of Anita's, the Scaredy Cat.


I made this one black to resemble our big black cat Zoey. I didn't do a face...and I probably wont. I like that our Mini Zoey can feel however Kidster wants him to (that, and I'm not good at embroidering)!


I'll let you all know when Anita releases the pattern! In the meantime, here's my Ravelry project page.

We survived it.

Since my last post, we had the flood of the century. For those of you in the states, you may have seen the news coverage of Rhode Island under water. The town I live in borders RI. We received 8+ inches of rain in one day. Everyone on our street had water in their basements, and most had sump pump failures because the water was coming in so much faster than the pumps could get it out. One neighbor had to move into a hotel so they could work on ripping out all their damaged walls and floors. A road nearby got washed out completely. On our street, the far end has a pond that flooded and completely covered the road. Our end looked like this:

I took the kids out so they could see some of what was happening around them. Don't ask me why they have shovels! Our house is just behind that gray one in the background. We were lucky. I guess there is one good thing about a 1970's curb-appeal-challenged raised ranch. No basement. I have a new found love for my ugly house.

Life sorted out

I've been gone for a few weeks, I know. First it was school vacation week with everyone home all the time. There was no time to sneak away and get lost at the computer! Then both kidsters and Hubster had a turn playing with Norovirus. It even managed to work its way through the grandparents but for some reason I was spared. And I was very worried. There is only so much you can avoid when you are cleaning up every half hour and your three year old needs you to be his pillow for 10 hours straight. I think it was Mother Nature's way of making sure everyone else was going to be taken care of!

On the knitting front I do have a few things to report. My socks are done. They fit ok, but I've learned how to make them fit better for the next time. I finished my sweater also, but don't have a good modeled shot of it to show you, so that will have to be another post. I only managed to make one more heart. Valentines Day came and went, so the desire to make more has faded. But I love this pattern and I'll be making more for next year. I officially frogged the Auntie Mitts. That left me with an empty knitting bag. Instead of casting on something new (gasp) I needed to clear out the spare room. I have made it through most of the Aunt Rita yarn and have quite a bit to find a new home for. I have two more big bins to go through so I am sure this pile will only grow!

A new hat

Last month I made Kidster #2 a new hat. There's just something about being a knitter and seeing your child in a hat that doesn't match their coat that makes you want to stop everything and "whip up" a new hat. (Or maybe that's just me.)

I wanted an earflap hat that would be warm on his neck too. So I just made one long neckflap then started the hat. It's ok. Yes, it's a little too big. But, it's not bad for no pattern and a first attempt. If I shorten the neckflap and go down a needle size it should be perfect!

Merry Christmas!

If they would only do a little more of that. Sigh.

Keeping up with the season

It snowed for the first time. Not too much, but enough to have some frosty fun.

When we came in, I made hot chocolate and put the guys to work. We made our traditional Cranberry Bread. And we've been trying to get the "perfect shot" for our Christmas Cards. How do you think that's going?I guess I don't have to tell you which of the kidsters likes to ham it up for the camera.

The "way huger than that" bag was gifted this weekend and I'm happy to report that the recipient loved it. She's even texted me since about it, so I know it was a hit.

And I finished up another pair of slippers for my sister-in-law's gift. I hope to felt them later today and get pictures soon!

Better late than never!

Hi Friends! I am here. I can hardly believe it's been three weeks since my last post! Thanks to antibiotics, everyone in this house has recovered. We had a pair of sinus infections and a pneumonia. Kidster #2 managed to squeak by with "just a cold", but boy did it take him forever to kick it. Then Papa had a little stomach problem, and now Grandma is sick. Yikes! When will it end? My crazy schedule has finally caught up to me. But I have a bunch of projects that I have finished or am working on, so I promise no more posting vacations!

I did this turkey as part of a Spud and Chloe KAL. Susan B. Anderson released the pattern in pieces, as she knit them. In the beginning I was keeping up with it. Well, the head and the body anyway. I got a little behind after that, for reasons that will be discussed later. The whole pattern can be found on her blog or here on Ravelry.

Yes, he might be a day late, but he is finished. He missed the feast and festivities but is still very much loved by little hands.

Happy Halloween

The other day (you know, the one where I was sick?) I took advantage of a few free minutes to finish up a little project. Kidster #1 wanted a ninja mask for his costume. I had made one for him a while back when we inherited the costume from his cousin but it was red. It was the only fabric in a TMNT color that I had on hand at the time, and I only cut it out and never stitched it. It actually fits him perfectly, but he would rather not be Raphael. See, he has a thing for Purple. It's his favorite color. And since Donatello is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle with the purple mask, it only makes sense that it's his favorite guy and that's who he wants to be.

The purple one is a new and improved model. I made the front out of felt (because I was dead sick and didn't feel like sewing around those eye holes). I made the back ties nice and long, and I even attached an elastic band to keep everything nice and snug. That way we don't have to rely on the ties to hold it in place. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good work from someone who was half dead.

I'm not worried about the red one. It has already found someone to love, and now they play together (sort of).

Special thanks to Charlie Brown for modeling today. Hope you get more than rocks this Halloween, Chuck! Oh yeah, and never jump in a pile of leaves with a wet sucker.

Even superheroes need lace!

What do superheroes and lace have in common? Apparently a lot, since I've already been commissioned to make a small one in white and a huge one in green.

The lace pattern is from Water Web. Kidster #1 and I thought it would make a perfect net for catching those bad guys. Besides being a chance to practice all those yarn overs it was a good car project, since a few "five minutes at a time" seems to be about all the knitting I can get in these days. But an FO is an FO so I'm not going to complain, even if the rest of you could have done ten of these by now!

Fashionable, cheap.

Spending time with the kidsters is great, terrifically funny, and very rewarding (see, I'm grinning, really I am). But one thing it is not is fashionable. The cooler weather has meant transitioning from shorts to jeans, but the t-shirts and sweatshirts remain. It's all about easy, comfortable, and cleanable! I've always wanted a winter wardrobe full of handmade sweaters but let's face it...it's not going to happen with an hour of knitting time a day.

This morning I happened to stumble upon a 50% off sale at the local thrift store. I check in every now and then for pants for the kidsters, to replace the blown-out knees that we have or are about to have. (I take advantage of it while they are too young to care. Once they want to have Abercrombie they can get a job and pay for it themselves!) And since I was there, and since I had time, and since it was a sale, I looked around. I was specifically looking for a large stockpot to start experimenting with dying yarn. Didn't find one. But I did find some very nice sweaters. Right up my alley in terms of simple comfort but with some real style. And in my favorite earthy neutral colors! Here's my take, for about $20.The brown one is very soft cotton and the ivory one is linen and gorgeous. Both are new with tags! How great is that? I can see myself wearing the black t-shirt sweater all the time. I'm a sucker for a v-neck. The green one caught my eye because it is a hoodie (love it) and it has those mini cables that are quite popular this fall. But my favorite is the gray cabled shawl collar sweater. I wish it was colder out today so I could wear it right now! My winter wardrobe is complete.

Maybe now I can be comfortable and fashionable!

How to make a Ninja Turtle weapon!

Donatello, the first of my knit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is complete. I say first because kidster has already asked for the other three guys. I can understand. They are a team. A matched set. Like socks. You wouldn't make just one of those would you (at least not on purpose!)? I told him that I had other knitting to do first. Which I do. But I'm going to try to get the other three guys done and surprise him.

His other request was that Donny have his weapon. What good is a mutated superhero turtle without his weapon anyway? I didn't want anything hard that could cause bodily injury (to his brother, for instance) but wanted it to look like a pole and not a piece of spaghetti. I thought a bit and came up with this solution. I'm already noodling how to make nunchucks, a long sword, and battle forks. Battle forks? Yup. Not sure what the technical term for them is, that's just what we call them.

So if you are making or have a Donatello and want a weapon to go with him here's what you do:

Pierce the end of one arm with your knitting needle. This makes a little hole through the yarn and stuffing. Take a drinking straw and cut off the bendy top portion. If you don't have a bendy straw, just cut down a regular one to about 6 inches. Fold the end a little and insert it into the hole you made. You will just get it through and need to pull from the other side. Straighten out the folded over part. Position the pole how you like. With the needles you used for the turtle (I used 5's) and the dark green yarn for the shell, cast on 5 stitches. Make a 5 stitch I-cord as long as the part of the straw that is below Donny's arm. Cast off and fasten end closed. Set aside. Make another I-cord as long as you need it for the top portion of the pole. Stick each end of the straw into an I-cord. Attach the cast on edges to Donny's arm using the cast on tails.

Viola! A Turtle and his weapon!