Owen is getting so big! + FO

My nephew, Owen, is getting so big.  I can't get over it!

I had a chance to babysit him in August and he was just adorable!

The dog, Dakota, was on clean up duty of Cheerios.

Owen loves to get kisses from the dog.

Owen had an ear infection so he wasn't feeling well later, but he liked to snuggle and watch baby einsteins.

My sister had some great photos for when he was 11 months in September!

I love this next one, I think he's adorable when he's crying.

There were also some great photos from August for when he was 10 months.

See the blanket? huh huh huh?  :-)  I love that blanket!

I can't believe he's going to be 1 year old in 6 days!  For his birthday, Aunt Sam made him a jacket.

You remember the Owen Hoodie I showed you last WIP Wednesday.  I finished it!

Putting in the zipper was fiddly, but actually not that bad.  I'd do it again.

Details:
Pattern: R&R Hoodie
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in color Autumn Red
Needles:  US 4 - 3.5mm and US 5 - 3.75mm
Time: 2.5 months (I stopped working on it to make Baby Boy Stripes)
Ravelry:  R&R Hoodie for Owen

As soon as I can, I'll post a photo of Owen wearing his hoodie.  My sister actually just sent me a photo of Owen wearing the sweater I made him for his baptism.

He should be able to wear it all winter because it is still a little big on him!

Sam <3



FO Friday

I actually have a couple of finished objects, but I think I'll show them to you one at a time.

I showed you the baby blanket I had started for my new work friend Becky in August, during my last WIP Wednesday post.  The blanket only took me 2 1/2 weeks!  I was a machine with this blanket.  I was just so excited about it.

I think it turned out great!

I'm really contemplating making another blanket with this yarn, maybe held double or triple for extra squishiness, for my living room.  It just matches my furniture so well!

I did a double think border and it helped me make the back just as pretty as the front.  It hid all of those ends!

I really love how this blanket turned out.  I can't say it enough.

Details:
Pattern:  No pattern really, I was inspired by this project, Noah's Blanket, who was inspired by this blanket, Hoodie Baby Blanket.  For the border, I used the border from Coastal Hoodie.
Yarn: Vanna's Choice in colors Dusty Green, Linen, Silver Blue, Taupe, White, and Dusty Blue (border)
Needle: US 8 - 5.00mm
Size: 33"x35" - I always worry that baby blankets are going to be too small and then end up bigger than I anticipate.
Time: 2.5 weeks!
Ravelry: Baby Boy Stripes


I gave the blanket to Becky last week and she loved it!  She keeps raving about it and how her mother loves it, so I'd say she is very knitworthy.  She kept saying, "You spent so much time on me!"  I think I binge watched 3 seasons of Lost Girl while I mader her blanket.  She laughed that I measured it in TV seasons.  I heard that is how some famous knitting guy measures how much time he puts into projects.  I think it fits!


Sam :-D

You Gotta Keep Your Head Up....

Ooooooh, and you can let your hair down, ehh!!   Andy Grammer anyone?  I've been watching the movie Pitch Perfect a TON lately.  I just got HBO (it ended up making my cable bill cheaper?! not sure, but I'll take it!) and Pitch Perfect is only on there until FRIDAY!!  I have to get all of my acca-scuse me's in NOW, STAT!

I haven't updated here in months again....I will get into a groove again with this.  I keep telling myself that.  I last posted here in February.  Again, a lot has happened since then good and bad.  One of the bad was that my grandmother passed away a couple of weeks after my last post, February 20th to be exact.  Her and I did not have a perfect relationship.  She was who I crafted with, she sewed my whole life, but I taught her how to crochet.  There was a period of time a couple of years ago where I was with her every Saturday morning.  There were things that we most definitely did not agree on, its family drama and I won't go into it, but I managed to have a relationship with her anyway.  I somehow compartmentalized and savored what we did have in common.  So now that she is gone there are so many conflicting emotions.

Right away my family gave me her yarn.  I helped sort it with what I wanted to keep and what should go to Project Linus (she worked with them).  It is a lot.  I bought a bunch of it for her.  It is mainly Stylecraft.  I know eventually I want to make a blanket out of some of it.  I actually have a half made blanket that she started that I want to finish.

I'm not going to do it just yet, but I will finish it some day.  She loved seeing everything I made and I encouraged her to try new patterns and techniques.

I changed my hair big time the day my Gram passed.  My mom was telling me all of the errands she had to run and getting her hair cut was one.  I managed to fit in an appointment.

I went from:



To this new style:

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my curls, but it was nice to do something different for a little while.  I had people walk right past me and not recognize me.  It was actually kind of cool.

Craft-wise, in February I decided I was going to make a baby blanket for Rayna.  She's the daughter of Lauren, my best friend growing up.  I'm not close to Lauren right now, but there was never anyone as deserving for something handmade and pretty.  She's had to deal with so much with Rayna.  Rayna's had all sorts of eating issues and allergies.  I just wanted Lauren to know I was thinking of her.

These were the colors I started with:

I really wanted to try something different and when I saw this pattern, Harlequin by Ingrid Jansen, I knew it was the one.

I had to add more colors to get the number of diamonds I needed.

It ended up being a lot bigger than I anticipated.  Somehow my math was way off.  I didn't take into account the joins and the spacing needed.  It ended up being 35" x 44" and I have made my previous baby blankets around 28" x 33".  It's fine, it is a Mommy and Me blanket!

I love how this blanket turned out.  Lauren likes it, so I was super pumped.  My ravelry page for it is here.

I actually wrote this post 2 weeks ago!  I forgot to post it.  So, maybe I'll get out a WIP post later today or tomorrow!!

Sam <3

Another Unexpected Hiatus

I didn't mean to have another hiatus.  I really didn't mean to.  I just checked and my last post was in September!  Again my dad is the one that has been hounding me to update here.  He likes to see it.  He claims I have "readers."  I give him a look and say, "really?......really?"

I guess the best I can do is try to go in order.

The last you saw our new puppy, Jimmy, he was really little.  Here's both of the pups in their bicycle baskets in August.

Jimmy was still very little in September and just being so cute.

Both my boys are adorable. (October)

Look how big Jimmy is now!  At times I think he is bigger than Toby.  Most people can't tell them apart anymore.

Anyhow, back to my timeline.  I'm in a group on Ravelry.com called The Chittery Chattery Swappery Swappers Group.  Essentially a ton of nice women (a few guys) who love to swap.  I decided to take part in a partner swap.  As soon as I got the name of the person I was sending a package to, MissMatheMagic, I looked at her questionnaire and I zeroed in on the words "fingerless mitts."  I immediately cast on Podster Gloves.  Once I had the cuffs done, I was reading through posts and I suddenly realized she lives in Arizona!  She didn't need the mitten portion of the Podsters.

So I finished these mitts sitting in the hospital, while my sister was giving birth to my nephew.

They turned out a little big, but you'll see in a second that it actually worked out.  The yarn used was Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce in color Forest Green.  I used less than half of the skein.

I then wanted to cast on a pair that were a little bit more girly.  I posted a question in the swap group of which yarn to use, so MissMatheMagic picked out the yarn for her mitts without her knowing they were for her.  The result was a set of Zig Zag Lace Fingerless Mitts in Dream in Color Smooshy in color Raspberry Blaze.

Genevieve (MissMatheMagic), loved what I sent her.  The Podster mitts ended up fitting her husband perfectly.

She loved and told me she uses her zig zag mitts.

If you noticed above, I said that I finished the podsters while my sister was giving birth.  My nephew, Owen, was born October 9th.  

They used my blanket for the hospital photos!!

He is just so stinking cute!  Here he is with my dad, who is an elated first time grandfather, and a certified baby hog.

In November, Dave wasn't feeling well and he ended up back in the hospital.  We found out that his cancer had returned and it was aggressive.  I worked on a shawl while sitting in hospital rooms that was for a coworker of my dad.  She was going through breast cancer treatment.  I thought maybe a shawl hug might make her smile.

I made The Lonely Winter Tree Shawl using Berroco Vintage™ Chunky in the color Mochi.  I love how it came out and I really enjoyed this pattern.

While he was in the hospital, Dave decided he didn't want to wait any longer.  He proposed!

We went down to the family waiting area.  I knew something was up because he was acting strange.  Amazingly, this is the view from that particular waiting room.

I know what you are thinking....SHOW THE RING ALREADY!  Here is a photo from right after.  You can see the wheels of his IV pole in the photo.

Here's a photo I took a few days later.  I was trying to show how sparkly it really is.

The center stone is a blue diamond.  I didn't even know diamonds could come in blue.  I love it and it is very ME.  After he asked and we got back to his room, his mom was just sitting there with a grin.  She flew up from Florida to be with us throughout the week.  We heard a lot of scary information and I'm so glad she was there.  She actually had to sneak into my and Dave's room at the house to get the ring and bring it to the hospital.  She said it made her so nervous!  By the time Dave proposed, he had been in the hospital for over a week.  All of his nurses were coming in asking to see the ring.  The doctors knew about it.  The whole floor knew before me!  Everyone on that floor was amazing.  We couldn't have asked for better teams to help us through all the information they were telling us.

My friend Dianne made a hat for Dave.  He wore it to his first new chemo treatment.

Dave's family came to stay with us for most of December.  This is what I got to come home to.  Puppies not in their crates.

This is the first Christmas in our new house.  We got a tree that was almost 8 feet tall!

I made mitten ornaments for my and family members trees.

I took both puppies to see Santa, same place I took Toby last year.

My sister had some family photos taken for the holidays.  Owen was just too cute!  This time they used my navy Pine Forest Blanket that I made him.

My sister is so unbelievably photogenic, its not even funny.  Look at the hat they had on Owen!  Both hats!

I can't get over him, too cute!

Later in December, right before Christmas, it was decided that they were going to do surgery for Dave's cancer.  He wasn't handling the chemo treatments well at all.  They were sending him to the hospital.  So on January 3rd he had his 3rd cancer surgery.  This one was the biggest yet.  It was an almost 12 hr surgery.  He was in the hospital for 2 weeks.  He has 48 staples.  The nurse counted when she removed them.  My comment for 2 more for an even 50 was met with the stink eye and a "very funny."

Throughout that hospital stay, I worked on a scarf for my mom.  It is the pattern Shallows using Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere in color Electric Mauve.  I used every last bit of that skein.

Owen's baptism was two Sundays ago.  I am his Godmother.  He was adorable in his white suit.

I finished a sweater that I started in November and gave that to him then.  The pattern is Greyson and I used Berroco Vintage™ DK in the very descriptive colors of 2117 (green) and 2105 (khaki).

Dave is back on the hospital.  He essentially got really dehydrated.  During this current stay, I made a had for myself.  It is the Wurm pattern.  I used two colors of Dutch Girl Yarns.  I had to make some changes since I was using worsted weight yarn instead of sport.  The photos were taken in Dave's hospital room and my hair had been in a pony tail all day, so sorry for the icky photos.

I love my hat.  I've been wearing it for 3 days straight it seems.

And that ladies and gentlemen is what I would call an up to date blog.  Do you hear that dad?  It's up to date!  I had to write a book, but its up to date!

I'll leave you with a photo of Owen that my sister sent me a couple of days ago.

SO STINKIN' CUTE!  

I'm going to try and at least post on Wednesdays and Fridays.  We'll see how it goes!

Sam <3