He's a maniac, maniac...

I just couldn't resist posting this pic! The boys have been wanting me to knit them sweatbands for a while now. So, we went to the yarn store and picked out some yarn and I finally knit them up on Saturday night.
I guess I could have knit a few more rows to make the bands wider. I'm not sure if it's the color or the narrowness of the sweatbands that make me think Flashdance! (Ronan on left and Seamus on right)

Bat-MAN!

This was the overwhelming theme of this year's birthday celebrations. Ronan & Seamus turned four years old today. Can you believe it? Their birthday cakes, decorations, and toys all reiterated their current enthusiasm...Batman. There was a family birthday party on Sunday and today was the birthday party that consisted mostly of our friends and their kids at The Hop.

Their birthday is always bittersweet for me. For those of you that don't know, all three of us almost died on their birthday. So it is on their birthday that I always feel especially grateful for my family and our good health. I leave you with the last picture of them on their birthday before bed.

Struttin' his stuff

We have family in town from Minnesota. The boys have been really looking forward to this visit because their cousin Haley, whom they have not seen since July 2007, is one of the visitors. We went to the Denver Zoo today. We were treated to quite a display by the male peacocks. There were four males vying for the affection of two females. Beautiful...

Super Seamy...

...to the RESCUE!

(pronounced Shamey)
...a couple more pics here

My First

B.O.B - Button on Sweater by Jackie Pawlowski

My first real sweater, and knit for me, to boot! I'm so in love with it. :-) I'm really proud of it because...it's practical, it's attractive, and it fits! The pattern is very easy to follow and the knitting grew fast with chunky yarn. Picking up stitches (for the button band) on size 10.5 US needles is SO MUCH faster and easier than with sock yarn on size 1.5 US needles! There's nothing about this sweater that I wish I had changed. It fits around the waist and chest just fine without adding too much pressure on the buttons and the sleeve length is perfect. I love the high collar that keeps the breeze off my neck and the cables that follow it all the way up. I did add quite a bit of length to the arms and body in addition to spreading out the decreases for the raglan arm shaping to give more room at the armpits. (The raglan shaping was a challenge that my friend Emily helped me hurdle. Emily - you're so smart!) The only part of this sweater that I didn't like doing was sewing on the buttons - all EIGHT of them. I guess it was well worth it. The yarn that I knit this in has to be the softest wool I have ever touched and felt against my skin - Malabrigo Chunky. Even the Malabrigo Worsted is not as soft as this!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

So we went camping this past weekend at Hermit Park! It was fun. Lynn said that she and her family were thinking of going and I invited myself (and my family) along. What? Camping in March? Well... cabin camping. The cabins were really nice but still lacked running water and electricity. Thank goodness it had heat and a propane stove. Even the port-o-potty was decent! There were 2 bunk beds but each bunk had 2 twin mattresses so the cabin could sleep a total of 8 adults (or many more kids). Seamus was doing a good job of pulling his own weight.
This is Seamus climbing up the ladder of the bunk beds with his sleeping bag and tent on his back.When we were pulling out of the driveway, Tim looked at me and said, "Look at how much crap we have for one night!" True, true, but most of it was needed regardless of how many nights we stayed. The boys wanted to sleep on the top bunks so Tim and I slept on the outside with one of the boys on the inside. It got soooo hot! Poor Seamus ended up moving down to the bottom bunk in the middle of the night because he just couldn't stand it. The weather was decent but it was windy at night so campfires weren't much fun. But all in all, a good time was had by all. One more pic to end it on. This is of all the kids hunkered down to watch Max & Ruby on portable DVD players (my kind of camping). ;-)


more pics of our camping trip here...

Pretty, Shiny, Lovely

Look at these! Aren't they wonderful? These stich markers were a birthday gift from my friend, Lynn. I just love handmade gifts. I love the variety of the beads and the colors!

In addition to the stitch markers, Lynn gave me a skein of Araucania - Azapa. It's so soft and silky to the touch. The silk gives this yarn such a great sheen. I've already started a shawl. I just hope it's enough. I'm also using the stitch markers for this (since I need so many!). And the markers are so nice. The weight of them keeps them out of the way and the jump rings are nice and big which makes the transfer from needle to needle easy.

Another green Christine

And this one's for me!

So about a month ago Michaels was having a sale on Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick - normally over $6.50 a skein and - on sale for $5 a skein. I had some projects in the queue that called for super chunky weight yarn so I stocked up! I bought over 10 balls of this stuff! I am kind of a yarn snob but I really like this yarn. For a super chunky yarn, this yarn is soft, affordable, comes in a good variety of colors, and has good yardage per skein. If you look at my Ravelry projects, I have knit over five of my last ten finished projects with this yarn. Actually, now that I think about it, I may have blown through the whole wad! Wow!

Ok - on topic. From this yarn I knitted up two Christine Bags, one for me and one for my friend's birthday gift - same color - different lining. Why does lining handbags prove to be such a feat for me? I have yet to just whip one out! In fact, I still have not finished another gift because of the lining. And yet, I still continue to choose projects that require a lining...but I digress. My friend, Bridgett, has knit about ten of these bags and raves about what a cinch this bag is to put together. I think my next one will be. Oh! Note - when you purchase your purse handles, make sure they are symmetrical. The handles I used for my bag were not - it looks a bit wonky but still works.

This is Frankie's Christine Bag...

He's not a girl...

...but he still looks darn cute in it. This is the Baby Girl Brimmed Hat modified to fit a 4 year old girl. Generally speaking, I'm not a big fan of crochet (1) because I don't know how and (2) it's just so nubby. But sometimes I do like it and wish I could do it (like amigurumi - so cute!). That's what I love about this hat - though it's knit, it looks like crochet! I gifted the hat on Sunday and saw Francess wearing it to school today. Ugh! The flower looked aweful! I secured the petals with the same yarn that the flower was knit out of and it just pulled at the stitches. I asked if I could take the hat back and fix the flower. So...pictures of Francess in the hat are pre-mending and pictures with Seamus in the hat are post-mending. (Umm - how long do you think he'll keep trying on my hand knits for M&Ms?)

Cute as an Eskimo

This poncho pattern, Eskimo Poncho w/ Hood, was one of the easiest kid knits ever. The only seaming involved was for the hood which took less than ten minutes. This pattern is also easily modified by just adding on more repeats to make it longer and wider. The Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick made the ponchos quite substantial and I was able to knit two in less than two weeks. The ponchos were well received and I hear they're getting well used already. AND...they look adorable on Sylvia & Natalie!

Poncho & Mikey

From the loving hands and needles of a dear friend, Lynn.Ronan loves his Mikey and Seamus loves his Poncho.

mad-faced mikey

Isn't she lovely...

...isn't she wonderful...isn't she precious... Cabled Baby Hat

Almost done!

Well the holidays are almost done and over. Tim, Ronan, Seamus and I spent the Christmas holiday visting my side of the family in Las Vegas. My brother, Dwight Jr. and his family, drove up from Barstow, CA. There was quite a household of people and animals - Nancy (my dad's wife - aka - step mom) had some of her family up at the house. So...there were TEN of us staying at my dad's with their 2 yellow labs, my brother's 3 long haired weiner dogs, and Nancy's sister's 2 mini Dobermans! Ugh! Though it was crowded and overwhelming for Ronan and Seamus, it was fun to be around the chaos - and now - nice to be home. So, Tim and I did Christmas with the boys the second we walked in the door from Vegas - because Santa had come while we were in Vegas (wink, wink) and we will be doing (another) Christmas with Tim's family tomorrow night! It really is so much harder when you have children and have to spread it out. So while in Vegas, we had breakfast at a lodge at Mount Charleston. I was quite surprised at the amount of snow that was up there and the elevation. The lodge we were eating at was at a little over 7k feet but Mount Charleston reaches almost 12k feet. Who knew? After Mount Charleston we drove to Red Rocks Canyon. I wanted to visit the site where Tim and I had gotten married back in May 2001. We couldn't actually get to the site because the meadow we were married in is now a preserve but it meant a lot to me to be able to be there with the boys. Tim and I argued about the actual location of the ceremony. We took pictures of the area and then compared the pics to our wedding photos last night...sure enough - he was right! :-)

Mount Charleston

Red Rocks Canyon, Las Vegas, Nevada

...and look at this one...I couldn't resist posting this...Seamus Patrick

And at the end of it all - I was able to finally get pictures of some of the gifts I made with their recipients. Both hats were very well recieved. Success!

Stella Cloche

Cowboy Hat

Kelly, Kelly...Stella

I've been on a felting kick lately - four out of the last ten projects I've finished have been felted. I'm especially excited about the Kelly bags I knit! I initially chose this project for my book club gift exchange. After finishing, I agonized over the decision to keep it or stick with the plan and gift it. Well - the end decision, I knit another one for myself! So I have two to show off today. :-) I knit the the first Kelly bag as written in the pattern. I knit Kelly Bag II with some modifications. I made the bag shorter in width, the flap longer, and tried to add a ruffle (but that didn't turn out so great). I just love the lining I found for both the bags - so cute!

The Kelly Bag I

The Kelly Bag II

Ok - now for Stella. I knitted a cloche hat - all the rage now :-) - for my Dad's wife as her Christmas gift. It turned out cute. I have not yet added the embellishments and haven't decided what I'm going to do either. But here's a picture for now. I still need to shave it. The old sweater shaver I bought from Fingerhut fifteen years ago isn't quite cutting it on this yarn.

Stella Cloche

more pics here

Ummm -what other things do I have to share? I'm going to try and make a felted cowboy hat for my neice to go with the cowboy boots that I got her for Christmas. Oh - I'm also going to give my dad's wife two dish towels that I knit towel toppers on - you know the kind - the kind you see at grandma's house - yes, those are the ones. I think that's it for my Christmas list knitting.

Ava Tee

Ah, par for the course, another belated birthday gift. This is for my friend's daughter, Ava. This was a super quick knit and easy as pie. I even modified some - details on my Ravelry project page. I wasn't able to get the best picture because it was windy and the hanger kept moving (and it was freezing out!). This Girl's cap sleeve spring top pattern was well written and easy to read.