Baby Showers and Bread

This past weekend I attended a double baby shower. I was planning to make each of these mothers something, but plans, as I said in my last post, got moved up a little bit (They are both due in the early-middle of november) when I heard when the shower was scheduled for.

One family is have another baby boy, and since it is their fourth child I changed things up a bit and chatted with her ahead of time. All set on making a sweater and hat I went to the store and chose some shades of brown.


I decided to go with my wonderful wallaby sweater pattern (which, in one booklet has sizes 2-48") and I actually dropped and did a size smaller than it had, which involved some math, but thankfully not too much.

I wanted to try out a new hat though, so I looked on Ravelry and chose what I hoped would turn out to be a neat baby hat.



Since I didn't get their gauge I did the largest (three month) size and hoped for the best. This is what the hat looks like when it's worn as the largest it can be.

And this is what it looks like when you take it off:


Hopefully, with that range of sizes, it will fit the new baby this winter!


The other family that this baby shower was for is having a little girl. They seemed like people who could take some color, especially as we enter winter, and so, not finding a pink I liked, I made this blanket:


Bright, eh?

I also made them my more traditional baby shower gift of a bear...


It was a fun time, aside from an unexpected allergy attack earlier that evening....


I have gotten many comments, and questions, about the bread I mentioned in my last post. It was this book which I think is well worth the price, or a trip to your library. It really is the best bread I've found for pasta and soups. Anyone who wants to try just the basic dough, let me know and I'll give you that one recipe (I tried it off of a website review of the book several years ago before I bought the book) or I can lend you my book for a couple of days if you are local. They also have a healthier breads version of it that I haven't looked at yet.


I also spun a little bit today (while I should have been starting to sauce my apples....)

One of my friends is making a secret project and needed just a bit of red/orange yarn. I found this small amount of fiber and now it's ready to go to her!

I'm still plugging along on a couple of the other projects - it was nice to get back to them after finishing the shower gifts. I'm at the point in several of my projects where they are almost done, all the fun stuff is over and I just need to put in the time to finish them - which is a lot less exciting then starting something shiny and new, but I will do my best to finish at least something soon!

August and September

So, last we left our crafty tale spinning had been going on a little bit every day and progress was being made...


Fiber was being made into yarn and much fun was being had by all...



...and then came the day I didn't feel so good, so I spun on and off most of the day and then played some starcraft that evening without setting up a good place for the computer mouse. I felt a lot better by the end of the day. Mental Health wise it was exactly what I needed, however, the next day or two I noticed that my wrist was really sore. So after those last two yarns I started another batch but stopped. I spent a couple of days resting it and then slowly, over a week or two, started using it more each day and it's fine again now, but I'm again out of practice with the spinning.

During this time my husband finished a pair of socks for me.

Since he's (mostly) stopped blogging I figured I would show them off here.

I've worn them once since they were finished and now that it's getting cooler I look forward to wearing them some more (along with all of my other knitted socks)


We also have spent some time at local parks (both biking to them and driving on occasion).

This was a day that we biked, fed the ducks, played on the playground, and everyone got to take pictures. Little Tomato took a picture of his pants (and the corner of mommy's sweater)



We have been harvesting and making yummy food. One of the biggest hits was this pot of spaghetti sauce (made mostly from garden tomatoes, supplemented by canned) with meatballs (made from local grass fed beef purchased at our farmers market).


That same night we had a fun artisan bread. I have loved the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes book, but I normally make the same two recipes over and over again. That morning, as I was flipping through the book I came across Spinach Feta Bread.

Yum Yum.

It seriously took about 10 minutes to stir together, left it on the counter for a couple of hours and then 5 minutes to make the loaves and about an hour or so later I shoved them in the oven for 30 minutes - so less than 20 minutes of my time and we had yummy bread.

Along with several other things we grow in our garden every year (cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, chard, eggplant, peppers, etc) we always try to grow squash. The butt of all gardening jokes just won't grow for us, but we did get a couple small cute butternuts this year for the first time.

(measuring cup for scale)

Back in June Curly was given an interesting birthday present.

She got to name and take care of a chicken for a week or two. We were given instructions and enough food for the time and she had a blast. Mommy and Daddy, however, were having more than a blast I guess... we got a little bit attached. So we got permission to keep Sam (Samuel or Samantha) and watched it grow.

and grow....



and grow...

until the past couple of weeks when we started to hear Sam every morning.

The thing is, Sam was spending the nights in a cardboard box just inside the kitchen door, so the crowing in the morning was actually kindof cool (plus, you know you are not morning people when the rooster crows around 8 every morning - and sometimes wakes the kids up).

But then he started to crow outside randomly during the day also, and as much as our neighbors like us, I didn't want to see how much they like us, so sooner or later we knew Sam would be dinner. So last week someone came over and taught us how to take care of a rooster in the city. We did cook up a lovely meal (including those cute butternuts) and talked about the circle of life.... and we look forward to raising some more chickens again in the spring.

back to crafts....

Current Project Round-up:
Back when my wrist was recovering I figured I'd move it in a different direction for a while, so I started a project I've planned for a long time...

I started a granny afghan. I'm using my sock yarn scraps (obviously some scraps are longer than others) and planning to just keep going around the one square until it's as large as I want it to be, so this project might take a while.

I started a tunic cap-sleeve cardigan for my girls to share (yes, two years and one inch apart they are sharing clothes already).

I attended a conference where I had several hours available to knit while listening, so I get it almost done, and then discovered it wasn't nearly long enough for these long-torso girls, so I bought another skein and I need to just keep working and finish it off. It's going on hold for a week or two though, as I have some baby showers coming up....

...and here's a sneak peak at one of those projects!

Drive by Blogging

I was just reading a blog in my google reader (anyone who reads any blogs should take the time to set a reader up!) and wanted to share a quote that hit me.

The blog is Unclutterer by Erin Doland, the post is here.

And she said...

All while I was reading Chris Guillebeau’s book, a quote from Orison Swett Marden kept running through my mind:

The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment, it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.

I love that.

The whole post is worth a read, and for that matter, I really enjoy this blog.... but I just love that quote and reminder.

I'll be back with more spun yarn and knitting and crocheting and such soon...

Six Weeks of Spinning

Well, as the title would suggest, after months of not touching the wheel, I've been spinning for about 6 weeks straight now, trying to get in a little time almost every day (only missing one or two days before vacation week where i managed to spin about half the days)

So.... here's what about 4 1/2 weeks of spinning looks like:



...and the other 1 1/2 weeks are these three yarns:


A lot of these were either given to me for my birthday or were purchased at MA sheep and wool. All were just bags or braids of fiber at the beginning of the 6 weeks and all are now washed, dried and ready to craft with now. All are different blends and came out different weights of yarn, if you are curious about any you can ask or check out my stash on ravelry. I'm still spinning and trying to do a bit every day, as I can see the outcome of just a bit of effort daily and want to work through more of my fiber stash - it is so nice to knit with handspun! :)


I also, in the middle of that, went shopping and got a shirt to wear with a sweater I had finished... and managed to get a picture taken:



The sweater isn't quite as flattering as I was hoping for, but it does look good and I'll feel fine wearing it, after it cools down a bit more of course! I've had the yarn and pattern for it for a long time and I'm glad I finally got it made and done.

I also finished socks for my sweet husband.



He had bought this yarn and tried to use it in a different pattern for him, and although that pattern wasn't working with it he loved the colors, so he handed it over to me and I turned it into plain ribbed socks - very easy to work on while trying to multitask and fit him pretty well.

I'm now working on a not so plain sock... well, every other row is plain knitting, but every other row is a lace pattern that hasn't been memorized yet (and I'm almost 3/4 done with the first sock)


I do like how the pattern and yarn are working together though (yes, this picture is a couple of weeks old, the first sock is now through the heel and working up the leg)

So I'll keep working on the sock, I'm currently spinning some bright soysilk that I bought in Cummington, and I'm starting to look for some commercial yarn to pair with one of those spun yarns above... I'm thinking a vest of my now two-year old Tomato boy sometime this fall....

Finally a picture!

Finally, a picture of a finished sweater on me. I took this right before the heat wave started, so I don't think I'll be wearing it again until fall.




I should have a picture of me wearing the blue sweater soon also, just need to wait for it to dry again.

I'm almost done (about to bind off) with the first sock in the current pair for my husband - so I'll be casting on and starting the second sock maybe tonight. I also have kept up the spinning (or plying) every day so far since my last post... I'm on my second lot of fiber, and I'll soon be plying that and starting a third something or other!

...but first, laundry is waiting for me to fold, and mending will get done too hopefully - then off to bind off the sock and spin some more.