Archive for the 'just chit chat' Category
I’m officially on Maternity Leave!
Monday, February 8th, 2010
Well, as much on leave as one can be while working from home, any way! I’ve just finished teaching two online classes to two wonderful groups of people. The Shawl Designers are finishing up their projects and getting patterns written and edited, and the “Fit your Knits” students are transforming any pattern you can think of into custom-fit knits! It was a really great month, thank you to all of my awesome students!
I’ll be posting the new spring schedule of classes in a couple of weeks. I want to make sure that we all settle back into daily life smoothly once Olive comes home from the hospital before setting all of the class dates. In the meantime, I’ve got two ongoing self-guided classes (UPcycled Tshirt Yarn Class and Fitted Raglan Shawl Class) that you can sign up for at any time.
Our new baby (who we have named Olive Beatrice) will be delivered on the 15th! SO we have exactly a week to nest and get everything all ready for her.
Here’s a little peek at some of what I’ve been working on:
I finished the Black and White quilt top:
…and I”ve been making a few “Sisters” projects, too. Here are two little sweaters. I made the tiny one a few weeks ago, and recently finished a Big Sister one for Mazie. I love that the sweaters are similar but not identical…they share some traits but not all. And neither is overly saccharine / girly. I’d wear eitherone of these if it was in my size. (I contemplated making a Mom version, but would that be too much?)
Both are Lorna’s Laces Swirl, one is Chunky and one is DK. Both are from Jimmy Beans .
I also made the girls matching tees:
And even Daddy is doing a little last-minute nesting:
…there are still some rooms that we’d meant to paint when we moved in, and that we KNOW we won’t get to for several months if we wait to do it. SO…he’s painting realllyquick this week.
Posted in just chit chat, baby, Online classes | 10 Comments »
Mazie and I were in a car accident on Friday…
Monday, December 7th, 2009
On Friday, Mazie and I were out doing some errands and were rear-ended at a stoplight.
I started going into premature labor (at only 28 weeks of pregnancy) and was admitted to the hospital. Mazie was also admitted for observation. Mazie was released later Friday evening, and I was kept until very late Friday night.
I did go into labor, with contractions every 2 minutes. They were able to stop the contractions with a shot (I didn’t make note of WHAT) at about 9pm, and I stayed for a few more hours for observation / fetal monitoring.
I’m happy to report that we are all ok.
This accident really made me think about how all of our lives could be changed in a second.
We are VERY lucky.
Posted in Uncategorized, just chit chat | 24 Comments »
We survived Thanks-Mas Week, did you?
Monday, November 30th, 2009
My sister was in town last week to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now that we’re all grown up, it’s hard to see all of our family on all of the “real” holiday dates, so we smushed the two together this year. It can be a little bit intense, having so much celebration in one week, but everyone did ok this year! Mazie and I decorated a little bit early (Monday):
We hosted a dinner at our house on Wednesday night…
Complete with lace tablecloths and extra seating:
(Looking at these pictures reminds me that we need to hang some art on our walls. It’s hard, after all that painting!)
Then on Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner and opened presents at my parents’. Friday, we all lounged around, and then Saturday, Tonya and I took pics of some of her Etsy shop stuff. All in all a really nice week!
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How much relaxing can I cram into one weekend?
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
Here’s me on the couch on Friday afternoon. I finished my book on Thursday afternoon, then on Friday we had an ultrasound that somehow took all day. I was so exhausted from both the book-finishing and the emotional stress of the ultrasound that I just felt the sofa and bad TV calling me. SO…late in the afternoon, I just sat around….knitting.
Last week I got the sweetest package in the mail. One of my students, Tonia, sent me a skein of Wollmeise in my favorite blues, along with a few other cool things:
Like a row counter bracelet from Pancake and LuLu that I will actually USE. This one is much less confusing than some I’ve seen, and the beads are pretty glass. It actually looks like jewelry. I also love the magnetic bookmark, I’m already using it to knit my Aestlight shawl.
Yahaira knit an Aestlight, so I’m knitting one. When I decide to make a project for fun, I pretty much copy whatever Yahaira does. It’s great to have a friend with such a great sense of style. I get so wrapped up in a project (whatever’s in the works) that when I pop up for air I just look at her blog and go, “Ok, I’ll make that, too.” (Our Coin Quilts are an example…hers / mine.) See, I don’t make the EXACT same thing, but she picks great projects. It’s fun to have someone to make things with, even though we don’t live near each other.
Yesterday, our little family pretty much just hung out at home. My friend Cindy and I went out to lunch, then she came over for a while to knit. When se left, we did some house stuff (there’s always house stuff) and hung out around the fireplace. Today, we took a family trip to White Sands national monument in search of snow-like scenery. One of the Star Wars movies was filmed there to fake a snow scene, so we thought it would work for us…
So now, it’s time to start a fire int he fireplace, contemplate dinner, and get ready for the week. Another session of both UPcycled Tshirt Yarn class and Fitted Raglan Shawl class start tomorrow! I’m also going to be going through book edits. SO, a busy day, but good-busy!
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Feeling a little bit match-matchy…
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
My bathroom wall matches my TOPSECRETPROJECT matches my Soak wash.
While I was in the bathroom photo-ing the above knitting geekery, I caught a glimpse of my belly in the mirror:
Do I look stunned? I am HUGE. Some days I walk around wondering, can anyone even tell I’m pregnant!? And then there are days like today…when I am officially HUGE. 24 weeks as of yesterday.
(I am also full-on into the stage where my hair’s growing too fast to keep up with a cut so I wear it up ALL the time.)
AND…the sweater is this one that I started almost exactly two years ago while pregnant with Mazie!! Weird.
Posted in just chit chat | 4 Comments »
It’s a busy time of year!
Friday, November 6th, 2009
First fire in our new house!
Whew! I just took a minute to really think about everything that’s going on around here, just in daily life, and it’s a LOT.
We moved into our new house on October 1, and have been doing lots of fix-er-up projects like painting, redoing the kitchen cabinets, and getting the yard in order. We also had to quickly learn how to winterize a Southwestern home. It’s different than the homes we grew up and saw our parents getting ready for winter! We have 2 swamp coolers that have to be drained, cleaned, and wrapped…and instead of one big furnace, we have several little gas wall furnaces to be cleaned and lit. We also have a fireplace…so had to call a chimney sweep and order wood. It’s been a LOT of STUFF!
I’m also waaaay into my online classes (in case you hadn’t guessed from my posts lately). It’s been such a WONDERFUL adventure! I’ve met so many great people and have really felt encouraged to get back into designing. Since starting the classes, I’ve self-published SIX new patterns. I think it’s just what I needed. It’s easy to feel isolated and out of the loop, living in a warm climate and not near a big city! It’s great to have the students to give me that energy boost every day! 
Last night, I got to talk to Marly of the Yarn Thing Podcast about the site and the classes. It’s always great to talk to Marly, she’s so energetic and fun. You can listen to the interview here.
In addition to that, the final, final deadline for my next book is next Friday.
AND…we’re having a BABY. I’m so excited. I keep looking at the ultrasound images and trying to imagine what she’ll look like. She has a perfectly round head and big cheeks (already, at 24 weeks!) just like Mazie did! I sold our guest room mattress set on CraigsList (I LOVE CragisList) so now I can fully turn that room into the nursery! Mazie has already been putting her toys in there and she LOVES having that whole room just to play in.
I’m also SO full of ideas for kids’ knits! I really can’t believe that I didn’t do more patterns as Mazie grew, but I guess I was stuck in a rut then. And now … I’m not!
Mazie and I get so worn out by the end of the day that we sometimes even fall asleep sideways and with our glasses on.
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Fall Family Fun
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
We took a break yesterday from working on the house to go to the local pick your own pumpkin patch. The family who owns it has built up a lot of little attractions for kids. This was kind of expensive ($9 per adult) but was actually a pretty good way to spend a couple of hours on a pretty fall day. Nathan and I both grew up in Iowa, so we grew up with lots of fall activities. Camping, woodfires, raking leaves, CORN…so it was nice to share that with Mazie a little bit.
Mazie climbed a tower or tractor tires:
Then…took a loooooong nap.
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My Princess
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Isn’t she sweet? On this day, she had a cold and a runny nose, and she thought it would feel good to dump out the toy box and relax in a sea of toys.
Her speech is really blossoming!
The other day she put on her pink frilly skirt and said, “Tutu!” And while we were shopping for some new fall shoes, she said, “Mazie’s shoesies.”
In five short months, I’m going to have not one but TWO amazing kids. I’m so lucky. Every single day.
(No matter what state of torn-up the new house is in while we redo the cabinets. No matter how much junk there still is to pack and move.)
Mantra: I’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m luckyI’m lucky!!
Ok, I belive it now. Thanks for the interlude.
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Spotlight on Choo Choo Knits!
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
It’s been a while since I’ve done a “Spotlight” post, and it’s about time!
In today’s spotlight is Karen of ChooChooKnits (and 365 / Knitterly and Crafty Folks, and Ravelry, and every cool knitting place on the internet.)
I first met Karen at the Knit-a-GoGo knitting workshop that I taught in Alexandria, VA last fall. Karen drove down to the DC area from New jersey to attend the workshop. I could tell right away that we’d get along well. Karen is one of those students that I love to have in class. She was already modifying patterns to the extent that she was really re-designing them, she was happy to be there, understood the concepts, and was helpful to the other students. I don’t mean to sound like a 3rd grade teacher, so I’ll just say this, Karen is a facilitator.
Karen is also one of those knitters who makes designers look good.
When I click on my linkbacks and see that Karen’s knit one of my designs, I go, “YAY!” because I know there will be a beautiful FO pic on Ravelry, and helpful advice for anyone in the JapelKnits group who’s struggling.
Here are some of my favorite of Karen’s interpretations of my patterns:
1. cathode october 2008 011, 2. Cable Down Raglan (finished), 3. therapi sweater for nana december 2008 015, 4. Mommy and Ramona at Alexa’s party
AND…HERE is the sweater that Karen designed at the workshop that I taught in VA!
It’s so awesome!!
Karen is also knitting TWO sample sweaters for new fall patterns!!
I’m so excited. She sent preview photos yesterday and they look SO GOOD.
THANK YOU KAREN, FOR ALL THAT YOU DO!
Posted in just chit chat | 5 Comments »
It’s a fixer - upper… but it’s OURS!
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
It’s a little bit of a fixer-upper, but you know, with a little elbow grease it’ll be great!