2 years ago today...

Here's what the first day of summer means at our house:

2005:
2006:

And now 2007:
We'll have a party on Saturday at Grammy and Boppa's house. But today's the big day...

Happy Birthday Catie!

Am I being fickle?

I have a new love interest. Yes...I'm contemplating cheating on knitting and spinning with a few hobby. Here's a hint:
Lately I've been enamored with sewing. Or at least the idea of sewing. Granted, I haven't actually SEWN anything yet, but I went shopping today. I went to the local quilt shop here in Caldwell. Cindy's Quilt Shop. What beautiful fabric and colors. I was overwhelmed. Kind of like the first time I went into a yarn store. I walked around for probably 30 minutes before I decided on these 2 fabrics.

I bought a yard of each fabric, and think I'll start with a tote bag. Way back in the day, I took home-ec in 4-H, and I had a brief stint with quilting a few years ago, but it's been awhile since I've even taken the sewing machine out of the case. I am on this kick where I want to make the kids' clothes. Yeah. Right between my 12 hour days and 14 hour call nights.

Basically, what this is coming down to is I think I want a lifestyle change. I love my job most days, but I would love being home with my kids more. I want to be home to fix them lunch and dinner and bake cookies with them. There's no way I could quit working, but I would love to scale back and be a "homemaker/mom" type. 8 or 10 years ago, I would have died if I could hear myself saying this. And now my priorities have shifted more than I ever though possible. Mommy guilt? Reminiscing for the the "good ol' days" when I was a kid? I don't know. I just know that I wish things could be different right now. Any advice from working moms out there?

Since I finished the socks last week, I didn't cast on anything for several days. I finally decided on one of the hand towels from Mason Dixon Knitting. It's in white Euroflax yarn. I'm a whopping 10 rows of so into it...not enough for a decent picture. It called for size 5 needles. I had some Addi Turbo Lace needles sitting around that I hadn't used yet. Dang, those things are sharp!! I definitely need to find a good lace project to put them to use.

I've been spinning more lately. I've been spinning up some Targhee wool that was dyed by Mountain Colors. I bought it last summer when we were in Montana. I've only had it on the wheel for 10 months. Sheesh. I'm horrible, aren't I?

And in kid news, Jack is now over 14 pounds. At 3 months old. He's 27 inches long. Well over the 100th percentile for length. The problem is that he's now over the recommended maximum length for our car seat. So we're gonna have to go fork out some bucks for a new convertible car seat. Check him out...doesn't he look so serious?










We went to a wedding Friday night. Here's the pair of them all dressed up and ready to go:


and here's Catie looking up the church steps. It's her movie star look, I think.




Doesn't it make you sick how crazy proud I am of my kids?

Belated yarn purchases

I think I go through blogging spurts. Obviously this is a spurt, as there's an unprecedented 2 posts in 2 days. I never got around to posting pics from vacation...So 6 weeks ago, right before I went back to work, we went to Portland and the Oregon Coast. We spent several days in Depoe Bay, a little town between Lincoln City and Newport. One day, we went shopping in Lincoln City. G went to the kite and toy shop, and I went to
Nestucca Bay Yarns across the street. When I'm on vacation, I try to buy stuff I can't find at home. So I bought several skeins of 2 ply from Imperial Stock Ranch, in Kingfisher Blue.

My plan is to make the Neck Down Jacket from Knitting Pure and Simple. Yes, yet another pattern from them. I swear I'm going to branch out, but I keep coming back to their patterns. Simple and easy to follow directions.

The same day, we also visited Yarn for all Seasons in Newport. There, I picked up a couple of skeins of Socks that Rock in Downpour.

Vacation was wonderful, and I hated to come home. My sister and her little boy came from Portland to spend a few days at the beach with us. Here are Catie and Danny enjoying the weather and the beach.
















Next trip, we're pondering it being a "grown-up only" trip, and leaving the kids at home to stay here. But which room to choose from??

Time flies. I think it hasn't been too long since I posted, and I look back and it's been 3 weeks. I just finished a week from hell. We rotate a week at a time working in the hospital, and it was my week. My first since coming back from maternity leave. Lots and lots of patients and admissions every day. I'd come home and my mind would be racing for a couple of hours. So I'd try and knit (when the kids cooperated), just to try and settle down.

Goldfinger was sheared this week. Unfortunately, I was at work, and so couldn't get any pictures during the process. But since it's over 90 degrees, this week, I'm sure he appreciates the haircut. I'll get some pictures of him with his new haircut soon.

But I DO have pictures to show. I actually finished something. For real!! There hasn't been a lot of serious knitting time since Jack came along. But here we have it:


Vital stats:
Pattern: Bed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Socks that Rock in Red Rock Canyon (lightweight)
Needles: Size 2

It was a fun and easy pattern, once I looked up a better way to knit 3 together. Trying to actually knit 3 together was killing my hands, and I seriously thought about giving up on the pattern. I googled "knit 3 together". I can't find the link now, but basically you knit two together, slip it back to the left needle, lift the 2nd stitch on the left needle over the one you just slid back, then slip the stitch back onto your right needle.

And in other news, Jack is getting more and more fun. The smiling and giggling and cooing is just too damn cute for words. Well, except maybe these words:

I found this shirt on etsy and HAD to buy it. I actually bought 2 of them...one black and one white. Makes me smile every time I see it on him. Both because it's funny and because I'm proud of nursing him into one chunky healthy boy.