cousin catch up and mt. bike national championships

I am woefully behind on blogging. I’ve been busy muddling through school days and blogging usually falls by the way side. I have been super consistent with my morning scripture reading and evening yoga, so I’m feeling good– just haven’t been very good at documenting anything here.

I’ve got a few things off my knitting needles over the past few weeks that I want to post but I realized I hadn’t blogged about this adorable hat I made for my sweet nephew while we were on our trip way back in September.

It’s the same pattern I used for Eva’s hat, just with a little fatter yarn and bigger needles. (If you’re interested in the details they’re here on ravelry.) I cannot think of anything cuter than chubby baby cheeks framed in a pilot cap. This little guy’s ears will be warm all winter and he will be completely irresistible.

The day I gave little V his fresh new hat was pretty memorable. As my kids and I went around the block to visit my sister in-law Hunter was pretty tired an whiny. I had actually woken him up from a nap on my parents nice living room couch to go. Then I was sitting at the bar in my sister in-law’s kitchen chatting when Hunter came in saying he thought he was hungry, his throat felt weird, and then out it came. He threw up all over her kitchen floor. Then he did it a few more times. It was disgusting, but so much better there than on my parents couch and carpet!

I was determined to have some kind of photographic record that the kids were all together, so after the mess was all cleaned up and Hunter was bathed and in borrowed clothes we hurried the kids out back to snap a few pictures.

Quite a crew, huh? Poor Hunter did not want to have anything to do with this.

About an hour after this photo was taken we were back at my parents house where Ian threw up at the dinner table. Shortly after that Logan joined in the puking. Around 11 pm I picked Barry up from the airport and once we got back to my parents house Jonah and Brenna were huddling over bowls too. I don’t think either Barry or I got more than 20 minutes of sleep at a time amid all the trauma and bowl emptying and Pull-Up changing. By 7:00 the next morning I was miserably nauseous too.

Finally at 12:00 I threw up and hopped in the van with Barry to travel to Bend, Oregon to watch him race in Mountain Bike National Championships. We left my poor parents with 6 children, 5 of whom had been throwing up the entire night before. (Thank you, Mom. I don’t even know what would be the adequate words to say to thank you for that.)

Barry did the marathon race– which was 54 miles.

I parked my chair, knitting in hand at the feed stations and waited to see him. He had a lot of fun for the first 48 miles or so.

Then he got to the last climb. It was longer than he thought, so even though he passed some guys as the trail started up hill his body revolted. He finished the race looking like this:

Still, 7th place is pretty amazing if you ask me. (If you’re dying to know every single detail of his race check out his race report.)

I felt a lot better this day, but the sickness stilled lingered for days after we got back to Colorado. Thankfully Barry didn’t get it until a few days after his big race was over.

Pintuck tee for me

Hi. It’s been awhile. We got back Wednesday from an epic road trip through Utah and Idaho. I did have every intention of blogging through my trip, but obviously I didn’t. It is much trickier to blog from my iPad than I thought it would be. This post has been in my draft box since the beginning of our trip in early September, but never got finished because I’m such a creature of habit I couldn’t get my photos to be the size I wanted until I got home to my own computer. So, here’s my post about the sweater I finished BEFORE we even left– and the words I wrote then too. I promise I’ll fill you all in on my trip as the week goes on because naturally you are dying to know all about my exotic adventures driving through lots and lots of sagebrush.

I’ve had my summer sweater on my needles all summer, and now that summer is coming to a close it’s finally done! We had planned on driving to Boise over the Labor Day weekend, but we had sick littles and a whooping cough scare, so we decided to lay low and stay home (*edited* Our departure just got a bit postponed and rearranged). The thing I was really bummed about was missing the dedicated knitting time that long road trips are for me, but Barry gave me ample time to knit anyway. After a trip to the Fancy Tiger for buttons and learning to crochet from you tube I put the finishing touches on Monday. I’ve worn it a lot this week.

Details:

The pattern is the pintuck tee by Lien Ngo.

The yarn is Elsbeth Lovold Hempathy in pale silver.

This is the trickiest thing I’ve ever knit on the smallest needles (size 4 ) with the most shaping. That actually made it really fun and not too monotonous. I wish I had made it an inch or 2 longer and I’m not crazy about the sleeves, but other than that it fits great. I’m too lazy to do anything about the sleeves now so it just is what it is. The yarn washes great in the washing machine, and I’ve read that it is machine dryable too, but I’m too chicken to put it in the dryer. It definitely got softer when I put it through the washer and then laid it flat to block it.

My next project is something simple. Legwarmers!

new knitting bag

Each April my friend April spends her birthday month making things to give away. How wonderful is that? I was surprised with this beautiful bag in my mailbox the other day.

I do love it because it is gorgeous Amy Butler fabric, but I love it most because it is from April. I miss her so. It almost makes me cry as I write this. She was my knitting, learning to spin yarn, koolaid dyeing, craft show stocking, homeschooling, bike riding, long walks partner. I haven’t found another quite like her yet.

So I knew just what to do with the sweet gift for HER birthday–

I filled it with knitting. I’ve got a cowl (neck thing), a pilot cap for a fresh new nephew, a t-shirtish sweater for me, and a jacket for Eva all in the works.

now she’s 6 months and has a new sweater

Here she is, a big 6 month old wearing her new sweater. The pattern is Camilla Babe from Quince and Co., but I used a cotton blend yarn by Berocco called Weekend. (Brenna’s was Weekend Chunky.)

I love knitting wool yarn. I love the thought of wearing sweaters knit with wool. I, however, do not really like wearing wool in real life. It itches. Alpaca, cashmere, mohair, angora, sheep’s wool– they all make my skin crawl even if I have a turtle neck underneath. I can stand super wash merino, but it gets so pilly and fuzzy. Does that make me a bad knitter? The purist in me says yes, it does. Only wool yarn is REAL. I almost feel like it is akin to my feelings about whipped topping. Cool Whip is not real food and will never enter my lips. It’s real cream for me or nothing. I really feel so torn about the real yarn thing. Part of me feels like if it is part plastic or acrylic or whatever you want to call it, it is not real yarn and should not be knit. BUT I do not like to itch and I do not like my children to make me itch. So, I am trying to come to terms with my notions of REAL knitting and loving and wearing the things I knit. I’m trying to embrace a little acrylic in my yarn because it is soft and doesn’t torture my nose hairs.

Now, back to this cute baby of mine. She can sit up! I weighed myself holding her yesterday and she’s about 20 pounds. I think that means that tomorrow I will be pulling out the 9-12 month clothes. Geesh.

I knit the 6 month size of sweater and it will fit her for a good long while, which is fantastic at the rate she is growing. The neck is a bit bigger than I would like, so I’m waffling about ripping the last fan repeat at the neck back and adding in more decrease rows.

The color is super cute on her, but then again, she is just super cute. All. the. time.

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Category Archives: knitting

cousin catch up and mt. bike national championships

Pintuck tee for me

new knitting bag

now she’s 6 months and has a new sweater