Tuesday, April 22, 2008

When it hits the fan...it hits the fan!

Well, some things just keep getting better and better around here. My walls are painted (YIPPEEE!) and we are just waiting for the floors. Which should be in next week. While DH is gone. For work. Out of town. For the next 2 weeks. Isn't that going to be fun for me? Aren't you just so envious of me having to take care of the kids, move all the stuff (aka crap) back and forth, back and forth, then clean it up so that DH can come home to a "new" house. And youngest gets to start swimming lessons next week. 3 days a week. For 2 weeks. But that is OK. Both kids HAVE to learn how to swim without nose clip things so that we can get the pool in the back yard for the summer. That is the deal.

The zoo was wonderful yesterday. I so enjoyed being a chaperone to 3 kids (2 little boys and my youngest). We had the wagon loaded with water, juice, first aid kit, backpack, lunches, and the kids. Can you look up the word pack mule in Websters? See that picture there....it's ME! We saw all of 2 exhibits (the creepy crawlies and the Lorakeets-? spelling). Took 88 pictures. Fed a whole bunch of the birds-the kids loved it. Visited the gift shop (I bought the whole class pencils). And played on the absolutely awsome playground. Twice. Fixed one boo boo. Came home and took a nap till the kids got home. I am pathetic. They wore me out!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

The Dust Bunnies Have Attacked!

Well, we did it. The carpet came up. The dining room, the living room, and the hallway are now bare. And there was A LOT of dust/sand/dirt/gunk/ick/yuck/blechy stuff under there.


Now my poor house is a wreck. And I get to live in it. Yippee. But (hopefully) it won't take too long to get the walls painted and the floor put in. And it does give me a good chance to go through everything and destash and declutter. Here are some more views so you can be envious of me. Ha.



And this is a picture of absolute trust.

Friday, April 11, 2008

This week in my life

Well, first off, I would like to post pics of my children and my absolutely lovely niece and my nephew.




My oldest daughter, the Drama Princess.



My youngest daughter, the "What can I possibly be up to" Princess.



My beautiful niece, the (Soon to be Heartbreaker) Princess



And last but not least, my (Why do I have to put up with all these girls) nephew.

Obligatory showing off of my family done. For now.

Well, I am getting ready for chaperonage. Yep. I will be chaperoning (I have no idea how many) kindergarterners at the zoo. Woah. I am so looking forward to it! This will be my first field trip with my youngest and I can not wait! I get to pull a wagon with lots of water, juice, first aid kit, probably kids too. Keep track of them. Take pictures (lots of pictures according to my daughter). Play. Pull the wagon some more. Get lunches ready. Eat. Do bathroom duty. Do germ duty. Play some more. And basically get to be a mom. Woo Hoo!

We had some very nice gentlemen in the house today to paint. My DH (Dear Husband) had done some work for one of them, and as a trade off, he got to come in and paint my ceilings. He will be coming by some time this week to paint the walls. And DH decided tonight that "maybe I should just go ahead and pull up the carpet in the living room, dining room and hall to prepare for when we get new wood floors". Yeah. Right. I'm all for pulling up the carpet. You don't know how bad I have wanted to slash the carpet and stick the vacuum hose in the slit and get all the @#%@#$! dirt and dust out of there. Lord. The carpet has been there for (gasp) 16 years, so there is no telling what is under it. But it would also mean that I would be living with (ugly) flooring until we get the wood floors done. I opted for the bamboo I saw at Lowes the other night. It was absolutely gorgeous! But he is opting for "traditional" wood floors. Whatever. As long as I can put an area rug down, I don't care (really). Unlike the paint (see previous posts if you are a new reader).

Now, I am irritated. I am sitting at my computer desk and listening to the lovely sounds of my (inconsiderate) neighbors !@_#P${%*()@_#$%(@#$%(@#$_%()2[]5 hunting dogs barking. Now, I am an animal lover. I have a dog myself. I have a cat. I have a husband and 2 kids (yes, technically they ARE animals). But these (insert bad word/words of choice here) dogs bark all the time. In the morning. At night. They are hunting dogs and we live in the country. For city dwellers, that means that during the night there are various animals that walk/run/slither through our yard (deer, racoon, opossum, rabbits, geese, turkeys, etc.) and what do these (stupid) hunting dogs do? They bark. They are kept in cages. They are not let out. They are not played with. They just bark. And bark. And bark. I have seriously considered going over there in the middle of the night and opening the cages and letting them run loose. But the (stupid) dogs would probably be so grateful someone (anyone) was paying them attention that they would camp out on my patio and bark their everlasting devotion to me. Which at that point I would have to do something drastic. Like go buy bunnies for them to chase.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Eyelet Rib Lacy Baby Socks

Here is another free pattern for baby socks that I came up with. These are worked toe up, short row heel with heel flap. If you notice any errors, please let me know so I can correct them.



Fingering weight sock yarn (I used KPPPM)
Circular needles-US Size 0
Stitch Markers-3 Total

Techniques used: K (knit), P (purl), Inc (Increase), YO (Yarn over), SSK (slip the next 2 stitches as if to knit to the right needle then knit both stitches together through the back loop), W&T (wrap the yarn around the next stitch then turn your work)

Cast on 8 stitches on each needle using your favorite toe-up sock cast on method. I like Judy's Magic Cast On from http://www.knitty.com

Knit 1 round.

Row 1) K1 stitch, Inc 1 stitch (using your favorite method), K to last stitch, Inc 1 stitch , K1.

Row 2) Knit around wihtout increasing.

Repeat Row 1 & 2 until you have 20 stitches on each needle.

Eyelet Lace Rib Pattern
Row 1 and 3) *K2, P1; repeat from * to end, K2
Row 2) *K2, P1, YO, SSK, P1; repeat from * to end, K2
Row 4) *K2, P1, K2tog, YO, P1; repeat from * to end, K2

Top of foot begin Lace Rib pattern starting with Row 1, Bottom of foot work in plain stockinette stitch.

Work 4 repeats of pattern stitch on top of foot before beginning gusset increases on the bottom.

Work gusset increases as follows on every other row while continuing in the pattern stitch on the top of the foot.

1st row of gusset increases) K1, Place Marker, Increase 1 stitch, knit across row to last stitch, increase 1 stitch, place marker, knit last stitch. You should have 22 stitches on the heel side of the sock at this time. The marker will be kept to mark the 20 stitches of the heel. As you continue increasing to 10 gusset stitches on each side, keep the markers to mark the 20 stitches.

Knit the next row without increasing. You will only do gusset increases on every other row. When I did it, it coorosponded with working Rows 1 & 3 of the pattern stitch.

On the top of the sock, use the remaining stitch marker to mark the row you have just finished. For example, if you are knitting Row 1 of the pattern, knit 1 stitch, place marker, and finish the row per the pattern. If you are doing Row 2, then move the marker to between the second and third stitches, and so on for the 4 rows. This way if you set down your work and go to pick it up later you know what row to start on in the pattern stitch.

When I did my socks, I was at Row 1 of the pattern stitch when I began working on the heel.

Ok, to do the heel:
K 18 stitches, W&T
P 16 stitches, W&T
K 14 stitches, W&T
P 12 stitches, W&T
K 10 stitches, W&T
P 8 stitches, W&T
K 6 stitches, W&T

Purl across the heel stitches unwrapping and pearling wrap and stitch together as you go until you get to last stitch. Purl last stitch and 1st gusset stitch together. Turn.

Knit across row unwrapping and knitting wrap and stitch together as you go until you get to the last stitch. SSK. Turn.

#Slip 1st stitch as to purl then purl across row, purling the last stitch and the next gusset stitch together. Turn.

Slip 1 stitch as to purl, knit next stitch, repeat from * to last stitch. SSK last stitch of heel and next gusset stitch.

Repeat from # until all gusset stitches have been worked.

Resume working in the round and begin using the Rib pattern on the back of the sock as well (starting on the same row that you are on the top of the foot-ie: if you are ready to do a Row 2 on the top of the foot, do a Row 2 on the back of the leg).

Do 4 repeats of the Rib pattern, then work 4 rows of K2, P1 ribbing.

Bind off using a 1-2 Picot bind off-%Insert needle as if to knit the first stitch. Pull up loop. Place that loop on the left needle. Bind off 2 stitches. Place stitch on right needle back onto left needle and repeat from % to the end of the row. Weave in ends.

Taa Daa...1 baby sock done. Now do the other. :)