FINISHED

I finally finished my first clapotis. I participated in the Second Wave Clapotis KAL. I casted on the first day of fall.... and I just finished this on Saturday. It did take me forever, but I really loved knitting this. It's a fun pattern.... brilliant actually. I don't "get" how it works, but it does. I added extra repeats in the straight section.... Man it is L O N G! I can really wrap it around and around me! I worked a TON last week to get it done so that I could wear it to hubby's work Christmas party.

Here it is...

(Some is actually hanging off the back of the couch)


close up


As for Will..... he had his first babysitters! I was a nervous wreck! I thought for sure he'd scream, be fussy and give them a hard time. They assured me that he was happy and did not cry at all. No problems getting him to sleep, he ate all his dinner...all in all a really good night. I was SO relieved to hear this. It was so weird to be out and know that our son was home with sitters. It was yet another "first" in our parenthood.

Will is walking like crazy. He seems so big to me when he's walking! He barely crawls anymore. My baby is growing up!

Hope you have a great week! Get lots done, and try to enjoy the Holidays!! :)

What a month!

We had a crazy past few weeks. We travelled to Illinois for the Thanksgiving holiday. Will did really well on the plane...even with all the delays! One thing that absolutely FLOORED me about American Airlines.... they do not have milk on the flights unless it is breakfast time?! What?! So... needless to say...we had NO MILK to feed our son during our 4 + hour flight (which had been delayed by 2 hours)! Even with w-a-y watered down formula, Will was a little trooper!

On my last post, I commented that I'd be getting alot of knitting done during my travel to IL. OK... I'm not sure what delusions I was having, but I did not get one stitch done. Not one!

It was a wonderful trip for our son! He got to meet 2 sets of Aunts and Uncles, meet 3 cousins, and see his Grandma and Grandpa again! He saw his first snowflakes, celebrated his first American Thanksgiving, and...

climbed on the tractors at the John Deere Pavilion! (Please notice the handknit hat I made him especially for this trip!)


The night we arrived back home, he got sick. It was not horrible, but he definitely was not himself for a good week! Then I got sick...whatever he had. Yuk. Thankfully we both seem to be on the mend.


On a much more sad note... we had to say goodbye to our sweet Smokers! :( My heart is broken. He was the most wonderful cat! He was loving, sweet, gentle, loyal, and he loved to cuddle. But, he had been sick for awhile with renal failure. When we took him in to board for our trip, we knew he was not feeling well. I thought his kidney disease had progressed a bit, and all we'd have to do was add some medicine or something. Within 2 days he had a clot in a major artery and they did not know why--apparently not related to the renal failure. We had to make the decision to let him go while we were in IL. We could not even be with him. In some ways, maybe this was a blessing. I did not have to see him in such a state of pain and suffering. Anyway you cut it... it really sucked.

I miss him terribly.


That is what has been happening here. Now I'm just trying to get geared up for Christmas. My list of to-dos is crazy--just like everyone else! Here's hoping that you all had a nice Thanksgiving and that you can keep the spirit of Christmas in your heart during this busy month of December!

Before & After, Dipsy, and FO's....

Been awhile since I updated... so here we go. Life has been busy, but good. We are getting ready to head back to Illinois for the holidays. I'm a bit nervous for the trip... hoping Will handles it all ok. I'm sure he will, he's so dang laid back. I'm so excited to go and see family, but man oh man, I'd love to have a week home with just Will, Chris and I.

Will's transition to our family continues to progress wonderfully! Can't believe that he has been home over 3 months! Will turned a year, and we had a very low keyed celebration with just the 3 of us (and everyone else who happened to be having dinner at Chilli's that night.) His bday was the week after the fire, and he was still a bit overwhelmed from the whole experience.

Here is Will before his very first ever haircut. Can't believe how shaggy he looked!


And TA DA.... after his cut. Doesn't he look so clean cut and a bit geeky?? LOVE IT


Bet you can never guess who Will was for Halloween?! Obviously he did not 'get' it this year. It still was fun for us to dress him all up.


And finally I have some FO's. This is a little capelet that knit up Uberfast! It is too little for me I'm thinking... Perhaps I'll give it to my tiny sister Amy.


And a hat for Will's first trip to COLD Illinois. It's the confetti cap from Debby Ware... but I did not do the confetti on it. Will keeps it on for all of 30 seconds. I just basically weaved in all ends and did the little twirls on top and called it finished. I'd rather spend time trying to finish my clapotis for myself. (Not looking like I'll finish before we leave... but can definitely finish while I'm there)


So, that is our life in a nutshell. Boring.. and I'm liking it that way! Happy Turkeyday all!

Money Can't Buy Happiness.....

....but a little retail therapy sure helps!

After the week from hell, (it looked and smelled like we were in hell) a couple of friends and I had a lovely day in La Jolla! We were able to spend quite a bit of time (and money) at Knitting in La Jolla. Had a bite to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Tons of chit chat and girl time.... Just what the doctor ordered.

I was able to find quite a few treasures that HAD to come home with me!


Polka dot bag is a KnitPickers bag. Had a coupon and got it for half price! (From Michael's)
Striped bag is OffHand Designs.. I think it's the Zelda bag. Had a 20 % coupon for this one!


Strickmuse merging color shawl kit. Again had a 20% off coupon for this


Jolie... angora and merino I think. Yep 20% off too

I also scored a few books. 2 pattern books for babies/toddlers, and EZ's Knitting Workshop.

All in all it was a truly fabulous day!

The REAL reason we got together was to go to Knitting in La Jolla to buy a gift certificate for our friend. She lost her home in the fires... and she is the one who taught us all to knit. She was able to get some of her things out...but not enough. My heart is just sick for her. She's doing well and taking care of the logistics of trying to get back on her feet. I truly cannot imagine losing your home. Such a sobering thought.

There's no place like home!

What a horrible and tragic week it has been for San Diegans. These fires are causing such devastation...it is just unbelievable to me. We left our home Monday morning. We were so lucky to find a pet friendly hotel downtown. We stayed until the evacuation order was lifted on Wednesday afternoon. I have never been so thankful to come home!

When we came home, here is what we saw....


...taken from my backyard looking toward the house...



...one of the multiples piles of ash...



...our pool...

In all the rush of leaving... I only brought one knitting project with me... a pr of socks. I had no time to knit... wish I could have, it would have brought me comfort.

All I can say is that I am so thankful for my home, my family's safety, and all the firefighters who have been working day and night to stop this horrific fire. It takes a tragedy like this to really put your life in perspective! Tonight I hope you can take a moment to look around your home... and think about how truly blessed your are!

Progress on the clap

Here is the progress I have made on my clappy. I am REALLY enjoying this knit. It's fun for me and not too much to think about. The yarn is pretty good to work with too. It splits a bit if I'm not careful. Once I switched from metal circs to my new Harmony wood Knitpics needles... things started going much quicker. I'm LOVIN these needles. Beautiful and great to work with. All in all I'm having a fab experience with the Clap! I'm going to make it longer... I have plenty of yarn. It will be a Gorgeous wrap!

GO!

Casted on my first Clapotis on Sunday. Knit on it as much as I could on Sunday, a little on Monday and not a bit today. :( I'm on the 4th-ish set of increases on section 2. I'm REALLY enjoying this pattern... and REALLY REALLY enjoying my yarn choice. My needles suck... I'm using an old pair of #9 metal circs... the cable is all bent, and it is making it hard for me to work. Plus the yarn is slippery and metal is probably not the best choice. Good thing I ordered the new Knit Picks Options Harmony Wood Interchangeable needle set today. Man are they beautiful needles, and I can't wait to try them. They won't be here for awhile, but still... can't wait.

I had a bit of a shopping slip up these past few days. Last Thursday I ordered from The Loopy Ewe. I ordered 3 balls of Crystal Palace CP5 in the Green Canopy colorway. THEN yesterday there was a sneak up at TLE, so I placed another order. I scored Yarntini (lime twist) Yarn Pirate (lemonade stand) and some cute little knit labels. So... if I am keeping correct count, I just placed my 6th order which means I'm now a loopy groopie. DYING to get my shipments!The Thurs. order shipped on Monday and Yesterday's order shipped today. WOO HOO....... If that was not enough, I placed a big ol' order with Patternworks today too. I went HOG WILD. I got the Bloom Bracelet kit in natural, Inca Marl yarn (alpaca--on sale) in the jaspe colorway, Farmhouse silk blend in sedona colorway, my first Malabrigo in Emerald , Aloo yarn, Royal Llama silk in emerald, and this cute trinket bag kit (on sale) in gloxinia colorway. This was just the yarn... I also got a couple accessory type things too. THEN as listed above I got the needle kit from Knit Picks, and I threw in 2 skeins of Panache (on sale) in the dusk colorway for good measure... this yarn is alpaca, cashmere, silk and merino.... how could I not buy it???? Plus there was a FREE pattern especially for this yarn right on the knit picks website!

So.... Yikes.. that is all for me now. Once I get to the part in the Clappy when I can drop stitches, I'll post a pic. Happy day all! :)