Craft meets Tech…

I pinned this craft a while ago when the whole chevron thing was just getting big.  (Did I just make a hipster-ish statement?)

Image courtesy of http://forchicsake.com/

Super-simple instructions and adorable color combinations.  Since my daughter got her first iPod today for her birthday I decided to dress up her charger and get her a cute case.  And of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone.

The Yarn-eating, Xray-protection, 200-dollar, repetitive-motion-injury Blanket…

I started something very ambitious.

Try not to roll your eyes.

This gorgeous Blackberry Salad blanket has been in my Ravelry queue for ever but I never took it on because of the sheer amount of yarn I would need.  It’s pretty, no?

Photo courtesy of MooglyBlog.com

I started it about 2 weeks ago and it’s very slow going.  And it’s using a metric shit ton of yarn.  Chunky yarn.  Eight-dollars-a-skein yarn.

Crap.

And this mofo is heavy.  We’re talking dentist-office-when-you’re-getting-an-xray heavy.  And hot.  So very hot.  But it will be great at our cottage in the winter.  Which is good because that’s probably how long it will take me to make it.  Hopefully by Thanksgiving of this year…

Ramblings…

As it turns out, I was prematurely mourning my dear Nikon D40.  It was actually my lens that shit the bed.  Instead of replacing the kit lens, I bought a refurb 55-200mm lens and I LOVE it!  Adorama.com had great customer service, the lens arrived fairly quickly, and was packaged very well.  No complaints there!

Image courtesy of Adorama

So happy 11th anniversary to me!!  (Yes, it will be ELEVEN years in a couple of weeks.  How did I get so lucky?  No idea.)

A cropped pic I took, using the “auto” setting. Not bad!!

 

Check out my handsome hubby and my firstborn!

 

As we grow a little older together, we are working on our health.  No, mid-thirties are not old, per se.  But there is the undeniable fact that things are not in places they used to be…and we’re taking longer to recover from silly things like big drinking/eating weekends, Easter candy, etc…

Enter the documentary that made us perk up our ears and take notice:  Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.   It’s pretty popular right now, as is juicing, so I’m sure we’re jumping on some bandwagon or other.  But if it makes us healthy, I am all about it.  So we purchased a juicer, it arrived last week, and we’ve juiced our way through many pounds of produce already.  I’m not going all out yet (total juice fast), rather I’m sampling recipes here and there.  I’ve decided I despise Mean Green.

Do you have any juice recipes I can try that don’t involve celery?

 

RIP, dear camera

My trusty, second-hand NikonD40 died a few weeks ago. I’m in the market for a new Nikon and I think I’m leaning toward the D3100.

Nice and simple, no bells and whistles. I’d even go for used! After all, photography is just a hobby for me.

I’ve been knitting more socks for myself, this time using a pattern that has become my “go to” for basic socks.

So…hopefully more decent pics will be coming along once I have something better than the iPhone 🙂

Socks…

I finished a pair of socks the other night. (Will wonders never cease?

!?!)

They are a lovely mix of browns and tans. Almost like a decadent caramel mocha way-too-many-calorie-laden drink from Starbucks. I’m not in love with the finished product, but it’s 100% due to my shortcomings in the sock-making department. Things I need to remember for next time:

• Top down sucks. Toe-up, all the way.
• Too-big is better than too-small.
• Two at a time knitting is fiddly. But it helps me avoid the dreaded One Sock Syndrome.
• Measure twice, knit once. Or rather, knit a sock that will fit an adult.

I loved the yarn I used. A self striping yarn from Twill, my new favorite store!

 

 

Thirty-One Sewing

I’m dusting off my sewing machine and working on a skirt for my new purse.

Say WHAT?

I just recently hosted a Thirty-One Gifts party and was lucky enough to have $100.00 to spend on stuff for myself.  I knocked a few gifts off my Christmas List and bought some stuff I didn’t really need for myself.  (This is one of those times I’m pleased my husband does not indulge in reading blogs).  The skirt purse is basically a simple black (or brown, your choice) purse with a very basic shape.  The premise is that you can change your look fairly often by simply sliding a cover over the bag.  So I’m doing just that.  Sewing a skirt for my new purse.  My Google-fu needed not be that advanced and it was pretty easy to find this lovely lady who posted a free tutorial.  I am itching for my order to come in and make one or more!  I’ve seen a bunch for sale on Etsy and my wheels are turning…

What are you sewing these days?

Fall is here…

This truly is a wonderful time of year. Leaves are crunchy, nights are chilly, and pumpkin flavored everything abounds! I’m loving the sweater weather and the inaugural wearing of my beloved Uggs.

I’m in a serious style rut though. I need a makeover. I need to not look like a tired mom of three. But I need to be practical. I don’t have time for crazy makeup in the morning. Basically if it can’t be applied in my car at kindergarten drop off, I’m not doing it. If my outfit can’t be washed in the machine, I won’t buy it. I am low maintenance, I like comfy clothes, and easy style.

I adore Athleta clothing but I feel like a huge imposter when I wear them. I mean, I don’t do yoga, I don’t run, and aside from Zumba, I HATE exercising. Don’t get me wrong, I want to like those things. But I can think of about 14 things I’d rather do than run.

Any suggestions?

Swap-Its

My Brownie troop is working on their Making Friends badge.

One of the things they are doing to earn this badge is meeting up with another local troop and trading Swap-Its. Swap-its are little handmade trinkets that the girls trade with each other, usually attached to a vest with a pin or to a wall hanging for display. My daughter loved hers last year from Camporee so much, she would take them out periodically, spreading them out on her bed and poring over each one.

Ours have a Halloween theme for this particular swap.

They are made of 2 cotton balls, a googly eye, a jewelry pouch, safety pin, and a printout that I created in PhotoShop and punched out with a square punch. If you want the printout, I’m happy to email you a PDF. (Without our troop #, obviously!)

What kind of swap-its does your troop do?

More Health Issues

EDIT:  This post was written a few days ago and I’ve debated actually posting it because it sounds like I’m whining.  But the point I really wanted to make is that parents need to trust their instincts.  Pediatricians don’t know everything.  No one does.

I really thought our journey with doctors and hospitals was over.  I knew that Little One was slower to walk and talk, and recently I enlisted the services of Early Intervention in our area.  We have Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Eating/Feeding/Swallowing services on deck.  However, the Failure to Thrive diagnosis has been eating at me.  LO’s growth chart is starting to show a disturbing plateau as far as weight goes.  He was the 5th percentile for the first few months and at 9 months old, fell off the chart.  And every appointment he is farther (or is it further?) away from the normal 50th percentile.

AGAIN, my ped said “don’t worry, let’s see what happens”.  AGAIN, I trusted my mommy instincts and made an appointment with a pediatric GI doctor.  Our appointment was two weeks ago.  And AGAIN, I am thrilled I went with my gut. (And I broke up with my pediatrician…but that’s another story for another post)

Dr. R looked at LO and his chart and point-blank, told me that if he keeps on this course, he would be on a feeding tube within a year.  Scary, no-bullshit, in-your-face words.  Words I needed to hear.  I had been working with a nutritionist for a few months now and she had me get high-calorie and high-fat foods into LO.  Whole foods.  Grains, legumes, cheese, cream, protein.  Adding cream to his milk.  Adding oil to his smoothies.  No more on-the-go pouches, no Pediasure, no crap food.  Until yesterday, when I saw Dr. R.

I was told to get the calories into LO any way I could.  Pediasure 3x a day or Carnation Instant Breakfast.  Ice cream.  Milkshakes.  Full-fat anything, and screw the “healthiness” aspect.  Just get the CALORIES IN HIS BODY.  Now he’s not a picky eater but he’s certainly not a voracious eater either.  So to have carte blanche to feed him ANYTHING was a God-send.  We put him on an appetite stimulant 2x a day, to weeks on and two weeks off.

OT saw him recently and recommended we see an ENT for his tongue.  It’s too high, doesn’t have a dip in the middle like it should.  My head is spinning.

More tests…to rule out cystic fibrosis…celiac disease…

Did I mention my head was spinning?

ANOTHER EDIT:  Cystic Fibrosis test was negative!

Crochet

I’ve been crocheting a lot late at night lately…and giving away FO’s before I’ve photographed them. So you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I’m learning that gauge swatching is tantamount to success in a garment. I crocheted a really cute cardigan in about 3 nights (a super quick pattern that is actually very enjoyable despite the repetitive stitches) and even though I knew it was going to be too small, I soldiered on. I don’t know if maybe I thought my bone structure was going to shrink in a matter of days down to an XS or maybe I’d get infected with a parasite that would cause 30 pounds to melt off my body and allow me to fit into this sweater. But I went on to almost finish it and then admitted defeat.

Now I am coming to my senses and slowly frogging the damn thing and creating another top. Its more my speed; a measure-as-you-go type pattern. And I still haven’t done a gauge swatch.

Has anyone local been to the Yarn and Fiber Company in Derry? I’m hoping to check it out this weekend, an it’s the closest LYS to me since the shop in Nashua closed. I also want to go to a LYS in North Conway during our annual weekend trip in September. Any recommendations? Looks like Close Knit Sisters is right near where we’ll be staying…

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