Ballet Sweater number 1 ...

Finally: a finished sweater AND a cute model =)




Side view

Okay, I have to admit, it's not perfect at all. But you know what, I don't care! This sweater was made with love for my daughter. To me all the love is far better than it being perfect. She also said she LOVED it, and she was the only person I was trying to impress! She's happy, I'm happy, it's good all around! =)

P

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Originally uploaded by brandie160.

P is for purple blanket (as seen wrapped up with my babyboy).
This is by far my most favoritist blanket ever. It would not be uncommon to find me curled up with this blanket. I am just in love with it.
It is made with wonderfully soft and comfortable fleece.
We purchased it in New Hampshire from a store called Chuck Roast while we were on vacation. When I saw it, I knew it was coming home with me.
I just love my purple blanket ... and even though it's hard, as you can tell, I do share it with others, at least sometimes!

O

Outdoor education ....
we sometimes school outside if the weather is good enough and the fancy strikes us. We mostly do this, well, simply because we can =)

Blogrolling ...

You might notice a new "Blogs I read section" over on the side there.
I finally had a chance to update all the blogs I read! The links I had before were just a small sampling of journals I read ... today I put in 48 links to my blogrolling account!
The sad thing is these are merely the knitting/crafting journals I read! I didn't add the other 30-some misc. journals I read ... that will be for another day!
At this point, I have it set up to just show 20 random blogs from the list when you come here. I think I'll keep it that way instead of the complete list showing all the time.
Speaking of other blogs I read ... I try very hard to leave comments for others. I admit, I am feeling left out with lack of comments on my blog. So if you are out there reading this (and supposedly I have a few people here each day) feel free to leave even just a hi!

Joined ...

the sweater for my 4 year old has all been joined together. This is the first time I have joined anything together ... I'm so proud =)
I think it looks okay ... it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but yet, there are a few spots where you can tell, well, I still need more practice!
I won't take any pictures until it's finished completely though and I can put it on her!

Now, I got all the pieces joined, and then went to pick up the stitches for the band. Well, that didn't go quite so well ... I was supposed to get 255 stitches. Now, I just picked up the stitches and didn't really count ... I know it's terrible, but I thought maybe I'll just end up with 250 or 260 and I won't sweat it and just run with it ...
So I picked up and picked up and ended up with a whopping 179 stitches. Yeah, so I pulled them all out and I will retackle it tomorrow. I suppose I should keep a bit more track of what I'm picking up and kind of figure out the 1/4, 1/2, 3/4ths of the length and use that to my advantage since my just-kind-of-hoping-to-get-lucky method didn't work.

For now I'm off to work on cutting out some Halloween costume pieces ... all children are asleep and I can't really work on it when babyboy is awake (I have to cut on the floor and he assumes that anything on the floor was put there simply for him to play with, touch, try to eat, etc and pins and scissors are not really good for a 9 month old to play with!)

Pictures

One basket down and ready to go ...




Close-up of the embroidery (the dove is extremely similar to the one on the ring bearer's pillow)




inside of basket (the ribbon is in case I need to pop out the bottom before it's used!)

In knitting news ...




baby bunting blocking! Finally almost done!
Just need to join pieces and add hood to it! Yeah!




Close-up of the pattern. Let me tell you something ... I HATE bobbles. After the hood is done, I will try to avoid ever making another bobble in my life. LOL

And I just started piecing together ballet sweater for my dd. I can't wait to give it to her! And I did one side of the sleeve last night ... my first time ever. Doens't look to shabby if I do say so myself ;-)

Wedding items ...

two pillows ... finished!


So glad they are done, and I think they look pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

The baskets are 85% done as well ... the handles are currently in the process of being attatched, but after the glue is dry, I basically need to secure the inside fabric at the bottom and then push down the satin covered bottom.

So glad, the wedding is 13 days from now! So not a minute too late on them being finished!

Big Sale ....

A Jo-Ann store near me is closing down. So of course, everything in the store is on-sale. I bought several fabrics at 70% off today, and some other items at 40-60% off. I bought several patterns at 1.99 each - which is what they go on sale for like twice a year.
I feel very good about my sale purchases!
The official closing date is October 15. I plan on returning next weekend to see if I can get any more items even more on-sale! I know, I'm completely crazy, but a ton of things there today were only 30%. I get coupons for them for 40% off items so I decided to wait and see. It's not like I need any of these things, I just like them and it would be nice to have them.
Anyway, I spent quite some time there - picking things out, having my fabric cut, and then waiting in line to pay again! But it was a) nice to get things on sale and b) nice to be out alone for a while today!

Now I am working on a few of my projects. I am hoping to get the ring bearers pillows done tonight and to finish the baskets tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll have all the wedding things done! Yeah! So check back soon for pictures =)

Never enough time ....

these days to work on anything anymore!
I have a curious baby. A baby who wants to be in everything that babies shouldn't be into.
And so I am now a mom who chases the baby, moves the baby, moves things out of reach of the baby. I wish I could be a mom who permanently moves things and puts up gates, but that is currently not an option and it's all my dh's fault and yes, I do indeed remind him of it often.
It's okay. This too shall pass ... and I will have more time to do things.
But I have several projects with deadlines that are looking at me from where they have been set down half finished ... wondering when I will come and complete them.
Soon! I hope! Have no fear unfinished projects ... soon you too will have the title of finished!

So close ...

I made so much progress on the baby bunting this week. I was so close to finishing ... might have even finished.
But Friday my dad was admitted to the hospital with a blood clot in his lungs. And well, I'll admit I was a mess. I'm still feeling very uneasy about this whole thing.
My dad does not get sick. Ever. He does not go to the doctor. So, for him to go to the ER, well, you had to know it was major.
I'm glad he did go, and I'm glad they found the clot (granted, it was the second trip to the ER when they discovered it but they did find it).
But obviously, in the grand scheme of things, the baby bunting was not top priority. We went and saw the little darling who will eventually get it (hopefully within 2 weeks time).
For now, I'm just glad my dad is getting better and hopefully when I finish the bunting, dad will be back at home feeling tons better!

Sooooo slow ....

No matter how much I seem to try to knit the baby bunting, it's not going anywhere. I'm still only on the back @@ And I'm supposed to have it done for Saturday? probably won't happen. I think I should give up and move on to another project. I can do some nice embroidery things for them and those can be whipped up generally pretty quickly. I'll give it until tomorrow night and see how far I get. I think I can pretty much knit a ton tomorrow, but we'll see ....
In other news, yesterday I finished only one project. Had planned to get a few more done ... but did make good dent on the wedding items I need to have done. I'm shooting to have those done by next weekend. I think it shouldn't be a problem unless I majorly screw them up, which so far, I have 2 of the 4 items embroidered! Yeah =)
All that said ... I'm off to knit now ... wish me luck in finishing! LOL!

Shopping!

Today I went shopping. I bought supplies to make Halloween costumes for the girls. They will be fairies - one is a winter fairy and one will be a summer fairy.
Now I just have to finish the 387,234,457,235,109,345,092 things I have started but not yet finished.

Tomorrow should be a big work day for me tomorrow on said projects. With luck I will finish at least 3 of them and make good progress on a fourth. That will be good. Dh will be home to help me out. Which is good, because tomorrow is about the last day until November that dh will be home and not have to work or already have other plans going on. ::sigh:: It's going to be a long time between now and November. I am already dreading it a lot!

But tomorrow, I will appreciate having him around and use it to the best of my ability to get some things completed!