Pink and Grey colors today...

This past week was crazy busy, catching up on the things I had not accomplished in the previous few weeks due to our being sick. And then of course diving head first into more chaos, like signing up to be a Volunteer Softball coach for Alexis this season. As well as signing the boys up for baseball. I have no clue how I am going to pull it off especially with Scott being gone 50% of the time but hopefully it works out somehow someway...


Although lately I have been doing mostly sewing and baking to keep my creative juices flowing. I have also been trucking along on a little knitting project that I finally finished and wanted to share with you all...Like most things I make lately, I was horrible at following the pattern but I did start off with good intentions..I am just glad it turned out cute because my knitting skills are still on the basic side.   The "real" pattern can be found on Ravelry if you want to have a go...

 

And to prove that she does wear her little outfits that I make out in public here she is napping on her Great Grandpa at a family BBQ we had yesterday at my cousin's house..

Isn't she huge???? She weighed in at 28lbs and 31 1/2 inches a few weeks ago.

That puts her in the 90th percentile for both..

Wish her hair would grow that fast, haha :)

Hope you are all having a lovely start to the new week.

Hoping to find time this week to pop in and say hi around these parts :)



I've got more...

So I am dealing with sick kiddos on a 4 day weekend and no hubby til Friday...Ummm yay me???

I"m doing all that I can to stay healthy but I definitely feel it creeping in.

It has been over a year since our last family flu so I guess it's that time..

Of course that doesn't make it any easier to deal with but we'll get through it.

On a happier note I did another bit of refashioning out of another rarely worn shirt of mine.

I love stripes but I hardly possess the body to wear them so they are moving on down the line.

Before...

After....

And in true Sophie fashion these days she flat out refused to wear the hat. The "play with mommy's phone" trick only worked for a minute.  Then the fits started and snot started to run so we were done.

Back on the sick kick, if anyone has any good remedies for coughs or breaking up congestion I would love to hear it. I am using a bit of Vicks vapo rub and some good old shower steam.

TIA...

To sew a little

Can mean a lot.....

And lead to this simple little knit dress repurposed from a turtle neck I never wore.

I also used the bottom leftover strip to make a little hood/scarf.

The best part is it's so light weight she didn't even once try to pull it off, it is sure to be worn a ton this summer.

I am just surprised that this is the first time I have pulled out the sewing machine this year. I have already yanked a couple more shirts out of the closet for more repurpose fun....

Color of the day crochet...

Sophie is sporting some purple today. I got this little jumper for her last week at Old Navy and I am keeping my fingers crossed they have a bigger size the next time I go because apparently she is outgrowing 18-24 months already..grrr...Since it is rather simple I decided some accessories were in order.

Crochet bow head band, yes I winged it yet again, and a pair of my old knee highs cut to size...She is not a fan of either, keeps pulling them off, I fear I have another perpetually naked child on my hands like her older brother.

I will fight her tooth and nail though. Because playing dress up is way too much fun..

We are headed off to my sister's for the weekend. Scott is starting his 2 week rotation tomorrow so me and the kids are going to go have some fun in the beachy sun.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend

Sophie says we're out....

Seems I am stuck...

Apparently my hat creations come in bursts...I haven't been able to get them out of my mind the past few days. And I am seriously going to have to start selling or giving them away because I don't think Sophie needs one more hat. But then again she does look so cute in them so maybe I am over compensating since she refuses to wear shoes..haha...

We had yet another beautiful day here today and to be honest I am beginning to feel a bit guilty about it considering all the snow that's going on in other states. I don't want to lose it but I wouldn't mind sharing a few rays 

I also wanted to say thanks for all the nice comments about my photography. It is really becoming a passion for me. And I think with my recent progress/addiction I have convinced hubby to allow a camera upgrade sometime soon. With the promise that I would start venturing out of our little bubble at home and make some money off of this whole photography thing. I definitely have a long way to go but you gotta start somewhere.

I also wanted to add for those who are curious, I use a basic Nikon D40x with a 50mm 1.8,pretty much my constant lens. The other two I have are kit lenses, not bad but once you use a 50mm it's hard to go back to them haha...

As far as software I use photoshop elements, I really don't do anything crazy fancy, it's mostly colors/contrast etc. I am still pretty clueless when it comes to the fancy stuff elements has to offer. But I have been learning much from blogs like Texas Chicks tons of info there about it and then some.

And of course I can't forget about Picnik, when all else fails I pop over there and play with my photos. I'd say it's the perfect place to get awesome processing with little effort. If you haven't checked it out yet, I highly recommend :)

Oh and I definitely plan on selling this pattern so when I get the sizing thing down I will be on the look out for a few testers so keep an eye out for that request... And with that, I think I am done here :)

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!!!



Mellow Yellow

I have been doing so good, waking up early to run on the treadmill. Trying my darndest to get to my weightloss goal by my birthday. And wouldn't you know the one thing that sways me is another dang hat. I couldn't sleep anymore so I was up at 6:00 working on the hat instead of running. I know work before play, I guess not today....

Yesterday I found a cute little sweater for Sophie on clearance for 2 bucks. And I knew I had some yarn that would match well with it. So of course once I picked up the hook I couldn't really think about anything else until I solved another hat puzzle.

        

So this is the outfit for the day, shoeless and all, she refuses to wear them. I am on the lookout for some cute boots though.Something she can't just kick off.

It never ceases to amaze at how different all my kids are. It's such a wonderful and trying thing to discover...

She's 1

Despite my attempts to hold it off, Sophie's birthday was yesterday Jan 17th

and she is now officially the big 1

Just wanted to share a few pics of her enjoying her first birthday cake..

We just hung out at home, enjoyed the day and played with Sophie's birthday gift from my sister.

Little Diego

Next weekend we will head into town for Andrew's basketball tournament and afterward have a bigger celebration with family at Chuck E.Cheese. But for the big day, I couldn't have asked for anything sweeter :)

The Colors fabulous...

What do you do for a certain someone who just got more then enough toys for Christmas and is having her very first birthday tomorrow??

You make up a beautiful pattern with a beautiful yarn for a beautiful finished project.

And yes I am trying to distract myself from the fact that my baby is turning one tomorrow. So let's just focus on that pretty little vest ok?

This is my second Milo the first for the boy of course. I skipped the cables cause, well I didn't need anything to distract from all those pretty colors...

I wish I could afford tons more of this stuff I would make one for the big girl too.

One day....

For now this one gets a thumbs up!!

A little Granny Poncho

            Love how this little poncho turned out, perfect project to get me back in the swing of things. And a perfect blue sky day to snap a few pics of it too.

                                                     

The biggest bow...

Nothing like a quick project to make you feel like your in the swing of things again. And believe me I have been feeling so out of sorts it was necessary.

So today I made this bow and thought a little accessorizing would be fun...

I think the possibilities for cutesy photo shoots are endless with this thing.

But the only place I could get Sophie to leave it alone was right on her cute little tush, so there it stayed.

As I chased her through the house and up the stairs. She refused to sit still, it's almost like the sound of the shutter gives her crazy energy. So much so you would have thought she was on a sugar high.

But I eeked out a few cute shots and she remained happy so I can't complain.

These darn things are so cute and easy so if you want to make one this is what I did..

With worsted yarn and J/6mm hook

Ch 60 join to first chain ch2

DC for 7 rows

Flatten with working yarn in middle and wrap around evenly

Fasten off..

I took chunky yarn braided it and pulled through the wrapped yarn to tie around her waist but you could do anything with this concept and make it your  own.

Stash busting

I have been trying my darnedest to use up all my excess yarn before I even think about buying more.

It gets tough when you get to those bulky ones that you don't have enough to do much with or you can't remember what the heck you ever bought it for in the first place.

            Enter, bright green bulky stuff. Decided I would make another hat. Didn't have enough to really do anything for Shay so I made a little "fold in half" bonnet for Sophie. A bit surprised actually that she does happen to have 3 or 4 outfits that have this color in them..

I cast on 34 with size 13 circs

 (when I make again I will add 4 more I think or crochet a bottom border.)

When it fit over her head "the main reason I used circs" I just folded it in half and kitchenered the back closed. Then of course added the braids with three strands pulled through in the front. I like the curl so I counted back a few stitches when doing this.

 Edit to add a little more clarification.... you are working on the long side with the starting point being the very front of the hat and working back. You fold it in half with half stitches on one need and half on the other, then sew it closed however you want. 3 needle bind off is probably easier then Kitchener just depends on what type of seem you want.

I have seen a few of these around ravelry and blogland and always thought they were too cute so

had to give it a go. It's one of those, under an hour projects that do the trick.

Don't ya think?

Little Ripple Cardi

Here is the project I have been working on the past few days.

For such a little thing it has driven me up a wall trying to crack the code.

I have made it too big, uneven, and who knows how many times I have ripped out a row here and there because of miss counting. And although I think it's adorable it's still not quite right.       

THIS is the pattern I am basing it off of. If you want to have a go.

 

But that's life in the creative lane right??

At least I finished this version just before the sun went down to snap a few fun pics..

I think I will step away for a few days and regain some love for the dang thing...

Hope your creative endeavors are far less frustrating this week.