Craftylilly

Where, oh where are the lazy days of summer?

Every morning I sit down and think about blogging, and then get caught up in the rush of the family summer schedule.  Both kids are in different summer schools, both are in different soccer classes, and then there's visits to the pool, play dates, and other appointments.  At this rate the summer is just going to fly by.  The good thing is that the kids and I are enjoying it.  RM and I have been teaching the kids how to play various card games like Old Maid, Go Fish, War, and the like in the evenings.  It's a good time! 

I have been crafting a bit when I can.  I have friends' who are expecting their third child, and so I knit a bunny blanket (Rav link) for the coming child.  I used Lionbrand Homespun which isn't my favorite yarn to use.  There's really no give, and I find it easy to get caught up in the boucle, but I think the bunny turned out very cute, and the Homespun is very soft and machine washable, a must for a baby knit.  I'm especially pleased with the face that I embroidered.  I used regular embroidery floss in a dark brown color.  I think the face is cute and friendly.  After I made this little blankie, I did a ravelry search of the pattern, and think I did the head wrong.  I think my version came out cute anyway. 

I also spun up 4 ounces of superwash merino recently.  I have been missing spending time with my wheel and the cheerful colors of the Sakina Needles roving were begging to be worked with.  The colorway is called Gingerbread, but I think it looks more like spring sunset colors.  I ended up with about 360 yards of heavy fingering weight.  I have no plans for it yet (do I ever for my handspun?).

I've spent a little time setting up my loom too.  I've already made a couple of mistakes preparing the warp, so I'm going to try again this weekend.  I think once the warp is prepared and organized well, the rest will fall into place.  It's a process as Margene says, and it's really true.  One thing I've learned from my many years of crafting is that many times making mistakes is the best way to learn how to do something.  I don't get as bothered with my crafting mistakes as I used to. 

The last bit of news is that RM and I have been watching a lot of TV shows on DVD lately.  Right now we're watching HBO's John Adams which we are enjoying.  We did just finish watching Season 1 of Burn Notice and absolutely loved it.  The story is good, and the characters are interesting, but a big draw are two of the main actors, Bruce Campbell, and Jeffrey Donovan.  We're big Bruce Campbell fans here, after all we named our first cat that we adopted together, Ash from the Evil Dead movies.  As for Donovan, he starred in a semi-supernatural cop show called Touching Evil that we both liked but was canceled. Now, we hardly even watch a show when it's actually on TV.  We do DVR two shows, Heroes, and Project Runway.  We're now DVR'ing Season 2 of Burn Notice.  Season 2 starts on Thursday!

Lastly, I just joined up with plurk.  Anyone else plurking?    

What happens in Vegas... ends up on the blog

RM and I got back from our weekend in Las Vegas on Monday, but we've been so busy with kids stuff, house stuff, and car stuff that I'm finally getting a report to you today. 

We flew down on Saturday and arrived to 110 temperatures.  Wowza, that's hot, is all I've got to say.  We stayed at the Palazzo which is a lovely hotel.  It's actually connected to/part of the Venetian which is a gorgeous place.  I loved looking at all the paintings, and replicas of marble statues and the like while we were there.  The Venetian and the Palazzo are also home to a rather fancy mall as well.  Everything was well beyond our price range, but we did enjoy the window shopping.  The Venetian is also home to gondola rides that go inside and outside the hotel.  We didn't get to take a ride, but enjoyed watching those who did.

The highlights of the trip were visiting with our friends who had driven out from San Diego to meet us.  We went to the show Spamalot on Sunday night, and absolutely had a blast!  What a great show.  John O'Hurley (Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld) played King Arthur.  He was really good.  Also, Erica Ash, the actress who played Nala for the Broadway show The Lion King also starred at the Lady of the Lake.  What an incredible voice!  Another highlight was some of the food we got to eat.  I was a little worried before we got out there that I'd have a little trouble finding food to eat.  RM and I have diets rather low in fat and in meat.  I was pleasantly surprised though.  The best meal we had was lunch at a modern take on a Asian noodle shop called Mainland.  I had a vegetable dumpling soup that had fresh carrots, ginger, baby bok choy, button mushrooms, scallions, a savory vegetable stock, and the yummiest veggie dumplings I've ever had.  Delicious!

I didn't gamble at all, but rather watched RM play mini-pai gow poker and my friend's husband play black jack.  And no, we didn't win anything.  I mostly spent a lot of time just reading, strolling around, and relaxing.  It was glorious.  We did see a celebrity.  Those of you who've seen HBO's Carnivale, or the first season of Heroes will recognize the name Clea Duvall.  She was shopping at a Vegas souvenir store in the Venetian Grand Canal Shoppes.  As with the few celebrity sightings that I've had, I'm always reminded, and encouraged by the fact that actors in real life look normal and like everyone else.

I'm glad to be home and back with the kidlets, but it was nice not to have to cook, clean, feed children, or do business stuff.  All in all it was a very fun and relaxing anniversary trip. 

In crafting news, I'm almost done with my Celebration shawl.  I hope to have it off the needles, and blocking tomorrow!  Pictures soon. 

It's been a decade

Since RM and I said "I do."  We still love each other as much and even more than that June day.  We're off to Las Vegas to celebrate!  Have a good weekend everyone.

The summer break begins...

RR got out of school last Wednesday, and PQL the Friday before that.  While I have been enjoying a slower morning, we've been so busy.  Swim lessons started on Monday, and we've had various other commitments that have kept us out and about every day.  I'm thankful for the busyness though, as my kids get cabin fever very quickly. 

What that means in terms of crafting time, is that I haven't had very much of it.  I've been getting up a bit early to work madly on my Celebration stole, as it needs to be done and posted on the Sockmania blog by the end of the month.  I've got about a repeat and a half to do, plus the grafting, and blocking.  I think I can get it done.  No pictures I'm afraid as it looks like a pile of nothing right now.

For my birthday, I got a new crafting toy...  I'm not sure if I'm going to get a chance to fiddle around with it for another week or two.  I'm going to have to wait until the kids are both in summer school to have the time to experiment.  Any guesses as to what it is?

 

A hat for Father's Day

In the midst of end of the school year events, and gobs of birthday celebrations, I was able to knit up a hat for my dad.  My father travels a lot for business, so I thought he could use a nice warm hat that he could throw in his luggage.  We may live in California, but last winter he saw a lot of snow in his travels. 

Project Specs:

Pattern:  The Boy Hat Pattern by Elizabeth Heath-Heckman (Rav link)

Yarn:  Rowan All Seasons Cotton in Military

Needles:  Size 7 circs and DPN's

Mods:  I knit this hat a little longer than called for.  I wanted to make sure that there is adequate ear coverage. 

Thoughts:  I used cotton yarn as my dad is sensitive to wool, but I think that this hat will be warm enough.  This is a very straightforward and quick knit.  The ASC is one of my favorite cotton yarns, and this pattern does make an interesting top which adds interest to an otherwise simple hat.  The pattern calls for Malabrigo, and I'm thinking that this would be a good pattern to remember for quick gifts in the future.

I'm glad I was able to complete this hat in time for Father's day this weekend.  We've been absolutely slammed by the Celebration death march this year.  Turns out that several of my kidlet's best buds have June birthdays as well.  Sheesh.  Speaking of birthdays, my birthday is on Friday.  I plan on hiding out at home, eating Baskin Robbins ice cream cake.  Maybe on Saturday, I'll head out to my LYS for KIP day.  That would be a good way to celebrate the old birthday, no? 

Happy Birthday to my RM

Today is RM's birthday.  We are going to formally celebrate this Saturday.  So until then:  Happy Birthday to our Oakland Raiders loving, X-box addicted, Fantasy Football playing, T-ball coaching, odd-job doing, BBQ rib gourmet grilling, Lincoln Log building, foam sword swashbuckling, movie loving, computer/tech loving, best daddy, best friend, and best husband ever!  Love Craftylilly, Red Ranger, and Princess of Quite a Lot.  How does leftover homemade chicken soup, and Baskin Robbins Mint Chip Ice Cream cake sound, 'cause that's what's for dinner.  Love you!

The Red Ranger is 6!

I can't believe it.  My eldest baby is 6 years old.  I love my son.  He's such a sweet boy, and has such a wonderful imagination.  He's also a budding photographer.  He's the one who has taken the most recent shots of me wearing the latest FO's.  It's hilarious.  When I asked him to take a picture of me wearing the Sloane Vest he said, "So Mommy, do you want a picture with the shirt and your face, or just the shirt.  Maybe I should do both..." 

Happy Birthday, little man.  Your family loves you, and you're Mama's favorite photographer. 

If you're a spider, be afraid!

I declared war on the cobwebs setting up shop in my house.  It would probably be more accurate to call them "cobcities."  I swear to you that these cobwebs had skyscraper webs, and a light rail system.  Why did they get so out of control?  Well, since we've moved to this house, 3 1/2 years ago, I've been a bit intimidated by the vaulted ceilings.  I must live in one of the tallest and steepest houses.  All the ceilings are high in the house.  The staircase is insanely steep.  When we first saw this house, I was a bit shocked by the steepness of the staircase.  So, the spiders have pretty much had their way with the ceilings.  I've been able to battle them enough to make it presentable, bit today I decided that the cobcities were going to experience armageddon.  Spiders everywhere felt a disturbance in the force with the power of a very long broom, chairs, and a taller husband to get all the cobwebs.  I now have web free corners. 

Perhaps all this zeal had to do with the theme of the Red Ranger's birthday party tomorrow.  We're holding it at a local wildlife museum.  RR picked a "Creepy-Crawly" party.  The party coordinator called the other day and told me that the party guests will have a chance to see a tarantula, black widow spider, and cockroaches.  I'm itching all over just thinking about it, and so the cobwebs had to go.

And the pictures?  Well, I thought pictures of cobweb destruction would be a bit too violent for this blog, so I thought I'd share two recent FO's.  I whipped up a lace bookmark from the the One Skein Wonders book that I sent off to my words and bookmark swap partner.  I also sent the Virginia Woolf book too.  The second picture is of a Lauryn Wrap which was the free gift for renewing my Rowan International subscription.  I used the Rowan All Seasons Cotton which I love, and modified the wrap by casting on 55 stitches instead of 85 to get a longer nicer wrap.  It's for a friend of mine, and I hope she will like it.

 

Still here, taking a breather between shindigs

I'm still here, just enjoying the short break before the celebrations continue with RR's birthday this coming weekend.  I've got nothing of note to share other than mother's day was nice, and the weather is warming up nicely. 

A small film digression, RM and I just saw Into the Wild, the Sean Penn movie based on the book written by Jon Krakauer which chronicles the true story of a young idealistic young man whose journey lead him to Alaska where he loses his life.  I read the book last year and really liked it.  I didn't think the movie is as good as the book, but I did enjoy it.  The movie seemed to focus more on how the people who met Chris McCandless were affected by him, whereas the book wrestles with what he was trying to find out in the wild.   I will say that the soundtrack and Eddie Vedder's music is amazing.  So, I thought I'd share this video.  You can get a preview of the movie, and listen to one of Vedder's fantastic songs. 

The Celebration Death March Begins

With the turn of the calendar, the Craftylilly family begins to put on our celebration caps for a very long two months.  This year it started a bit early with PQL's preschool auction.  I put a lot of work into working on the raffle piece of the auction and am very pleased that the event went well, and a good amount of money was made for the school.  Today is my parents' anniversary.  Happy Anniversary, you two!  Then we've got Mother's Day, RR's 6th birthday, my dad's birthday, RM's birthday, my birthday, Father's Day, and RM and my 10th anniversary.  You'll find me at the end of June, passed out on the couch, with a noisemaker clasped between clenched teeth, a lampshade on my head, and only the vaguest idea of what hit me. 

Due to all the celebraton prep, I haven't had much time to take pictures and share some odds and ends I'm working on.  I have been working on some things though.  I've got a wrap started for a friend of mine.  Her birthday is coming up, and I decided to knit a Lauryn wrap from the pattern and yarn that Rowan international sent me for renewing my subscription.  It's a nice knit; the dropped stitches provide some interest, but the knitting is easy.  I'm quite a bit further along than this picture shows.  I modified the pattern a bit after reading about other knitter's experiences knitting it.  I'm making it not as wide so it will be longer. 

I'm also still dabbling with chainmaille.  I just completed this little bracelet.  I took an orphan art bead, and then paired it with a "Lacey Chain" chainmaille pattern that I got from a wonderful book called Chains by Becky.  The pictures and instructions on how to work the chains are excellent.  I'm thinking of trying my hand at some other chains as outlined by this book.  Now to just find a spare moment.  *cue ironic cackle here.*