Happy Easter!

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

On My Needles

I can finally talk about what's been on my needles lately - birthday socks for my husband. He likes to cycle so I thought it would be fun to make him socks that match a couple of his riding jerseys. I found a great yarn through Yarns to Inspire on Etsy called Holidaze. I used my usual sock method - cuff down and heel flap - but I cast on 72 stitches instead of 64. I also did just five inches for the cuff because E doesn't like socks that are too tall. The pooling on this yarn is really cool, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Unfortunately I only got one of the two socks done before E's birthday. I think I forgot to take into account how much bigger the sock is than mine, just by adding eight stitches to each row and a somewhat longer foot. Plus only being able to knit later at night when he was asleep. Oh well, at least I was able to give him one with an IOU for the other!

 

Update - I finished them, just a couple weeks after his birthday. He liked them

Another pair of socks

Recently I finished a new pair of socks. This pair was my "I need a small project; I want to work on something for me; I have nothing else to work on; my feet are cold" socks. In other words I picked them up and put them down repeatedly over the last six months until I really felt compelled to actually make an effort to finish them.

This pair has actually traveled farther than my other three pairs. I started them on a plane ride to Denver, when I didn't want to bring the boys' Christmas sweater projects with me because of the size it would have taken in my carryon and I was procrastinating on the washcloths I did for Christmas. Socks seemed like a good solution.

The yarn is Candy Skein's in the Blue Hawaiian colorway. This was the August 2013 color of the month. What a great yarn to knit with! The socks are super comfy and the colors just came alive before my eyes. It's amazing to see that the yarn started out as the yarn in the middle of this group.

The pattern was my usual top down, heel flap pattern that I like so much. And with that I'm one third of the way to my goal of making at least three pairs this year.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

Totally turtle time

I knitted another Sheldon - we're having a baby shower for a coworker this week at work. She's having a girl so I thought it would be fun to use pink for the shell. Otherwise I did it pretty much the same as my last Sheldon. I did find the crocheting much easier than the last one but man, the icord border is still super tricky and time consuming. It looks great though so I think it's worth it.

I plan on pairing it with a book (probably Fifteen Animals by Sandra Boynton). A few of my coworkers and I are putting together a basket of stuff so these will go with some diapers, receiving blankets and the like. Should be cute when it's done!

 

Goodbye grandma

Yesterday my family had to say goodbye to a kind, beautiful, funny woman. My grandma passed away early last week and we had her memorial yesterday. So many great stories were shared and we all smiled and laughed at the memories. Goodbye Grandma, you will forever be in my heart.

 

2014 Recap and 2015 Resolutions

2014 was an interesting year to say the least. Lots of changes and quite a few rough patches. Towards the beginning of the year I started a new job after twelve years at my old one. That was definitely one of the high points of the year - I'm very happy with the change I made. Unfortunately I lost my grandpa this year and we had to put down our (almost) 14 year old dog. J broke his arm, I dealt with a bad staph infection, and C had to have oral surgery to remove an extra tooth in his palate. I'm hoping 2015 is a healthier year.

C turned 7 this year. (I can't believe I have a second grader. I remember being a second grader!) J turned five. E and I celebrated our lucky number 13 anniversary. We were fortunate enough to vacation with E's family in San Diego for a week this summer. The boys got to experience Legoland for the first time and we had lots of beach time. I also got to travel some for work this year, going to San Diego, Denver and Seattle. I've only been through Denver, not staying there (for example we ate at Casa Bonita on the way back from Iowa last summer) so it was nice to spend some time there, even if I was pretty busy. I did manage to find time one evening to have dinner with a friend too! Seattle was great too - again really busy but I'd never been there before. Very different than Arizona.

We were also hit with an epic rainstorm here. Our area went one of the longest times without rain but later in the year we had a 100 year storm come through. It literally flooded out most of the freeways. I'd never seen anything like it.

And now onto my 2014 resolution list. Like most of the past few years, I got through 40% of my list. First the hits.

• Read five books - yep, in fact I read at least seven. A couple of reasons, one I put more effort into it; two with the new job I was traveling more. More time in airports and on planes led to a lot more reading time.
• Organizing the pantry - I knocked this out early in the year and kept it more or less fixed the whole year.
• Make a crochet project - I made washcloths to go along with my homemade vanilla extract and one was crocheted. It finally seemed to click with me.
• Sew a needle holder - It was a little wonky - one piece was sewn in the wrong order so a seam shows on the outside. But it works wonderfully and I use it all the time.
• Frosting piping practice - Decorated my son's birthday cupcakes in a Minecraft theme.
• Blog at least three times a month - I'm going to fudge and say yes. Some months I didn't hit at least three times but I did get over 36 posts total for the year and wrote at least once every month.

And now the misses. Make bread, make truffles, make caramels. Nope, still on the baking bucket list. Although I have yeast in the pantry, ready to go... Learn to play guitar - never made it a priority. Learn entrelac, learn a new cast on or off - I really tried a new cast on, I just can't seem to wrap my head around it. Garden - I have such a black thumb! Lose 23 pounds - epic fail, I actually put a little weight back on.

So the list for 2015 will have some repeats on it. But I've got a few new things too:

• Blog three times a month (36 for the year)
• Make stockings by Christmas for each member of the family
• Knit at least three pairs of socks (2/27/15, 4/14/15; 12/23/15)
• Make a shawl/stole
• Sew an item of clothing (5/3/15)
• Make bread
• Make caramels
• Make truffles
• Lose 10 pounds
• Read at least seven books (40 Love - 2/11/15; Sleeping Arrangements - 2/22/15; Baby Proof - 5/18/15; Fishbowl - 5/23/15; The Good Daughters - 6/181/15; Inside the O'Briens - 7/29/15; Funny Girl - 8/3/15; The Help - 9/18/15; Fall of Marigolds - 9/29/15; The One and Only - 10/29/15; Still Alice - 11/1/115; Shopaholic to the Rescue - 12/29/15)
• Learn to play guitar
• Learn a new cast on/cast off
• Finish office/craft room organization

Hopefully I finish above 40% this year! Here's to a great 2015!