sherriknits

We’re still alive and kicking here.  We had company all weekend, my in-laws came to see little miss Sweet Pea.  It’s been fun.  The parents are tired but happy. Tomorrow is the new mama’s birthday….their birthdays are one week apart!  August used to be our easy month but now we have the new fiance’s birthday, little Sweet Pea’s birthday, a wedding next summer and the new mama’s birthday.  July was already a mess!  No rest for this mom!

Here’s a little snapshot of the new little family…

Daddy loves her little fingers.

Here’s the new uncle taking a picture of me taking a picture of him…

When big brother came home from Mexico, he brought something fun for him, can you guess what it is?

Daily, I have to act surprised at Spiderman in the midst of our house!

I loved the sunset the other night!

We’ve had alternating days of sun and wild rain.  Yesterday we had deep water running through the streets on our way home from church.  It was dry when we went there and pouring buckets when we came out.

And I actually have some knitting content.

I’ve started a Baby Surprise Jacket 4 times now!

This is 2 of the starts.  Actually, I started one before baby came.  It was in generic colors.  As soon as she came, I started one in the same yarn as the hat a few days ago.  I loved it in the hat, hated it in the BSJ.  So I started one out of this yarn.  The first one I think the needle was just too small and the fabric felt so tight so I went up a few needle sizes and am much happier with it.  I am almost to the end of one skein and will knit from the tight one next.  I’m sure it will work fine and I’m too lazy to rewind it.  I have been enjoying the knitting, though.

Do you remember my mystery stole from last summer?  I had never blocked it.  I wasn’t too thrilled with it and it just meant a lot to me that I actually finished it.  The pattern itself I wasn’t too wild about.  Well, one of my friends was with me the other day as I pulled it out to show someone and then stuffed it back in the bag it has lived in for this past year.  She said she felt it had too much meaning to me to be stuffed away so she took it home and blocked it for me!

I have to admit it looks a lot nicer blocked, but it’s still a strange pattern.

Hmm, I should have checked to see if it was right side out….I’ll look tomorrow.

The significance of the whole thing to me is it marked the end of a long period of time that was very difficult for me emotionally and I was determined to stick with something and see it through to the end.  I did it even when I realized it wasn’t going to be something I liked and that has a lot of significance to me.  I am very grateful that my friend insisted on doing the last step! Thanks, Lauri!

As soon as I finish the BSJ, I’m going to make a few Saartje’s booties now that I have a little girl to knit for!  Oh, the endless possibilities now!!!!

It’s been so crazy busy here.  Here’s a long, picture-heavy update.

Last Saturday, the mama-to-be had a shower on the daddy’s side of the family.  I couldn’t go because I have been missing so much work and will miss more when baby comes.  Here she is with a gift from a knitting friend of mine that I gave her before the shower.

These are little leggings from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitters Almanac.  How cute are they!  They’re made from sock yarn.  What a treasure.

I’ve been trying to get myself prepared for that big trip to the hospital.  We got some snacks to leave in the car.  Now it looks like there will be more of us headed to the hospital than I thought.  #1 son is going on a mission trip next week and is really hoping baby makes it’s appearance before that.  He and his girlfriend want to be there even if it’s in the middle of the night.  I’m thinking we may fill the waiting room!

Things are definitely progressing…she went to the doctor today and she’s beginning to dilate and all those good things.  She continues to swell terribly but so far no sign of danger there.

She was horribly disappointed that she didn’t get to go to Stitch n Pitch this year but when the time actually came, she was happy her hubby said no….she can barely walk because of the swelling.

But….we all took off for a day of adventure. 

He’s ready.

We stopped to fill up….we actually got 30 cents off with our Safeway card.  Who’d ever think it would be exciting to pay only $3.89 for gas!

We got there early and got a great parking place a block from Safeco Field.

I always get excited walking up to the ballpark.

It was especially fun to see Shanda and Julie standing there in front.  Right after I snapped the picture, Shanda tried to call me not realizing we were waiting to cross the street.  Shanda managed to disappoint a little lady who was excitedly running around the stadium looking for the ballplayers who were signing autographs.  She told her they were Devil Rays, not Mariners.  lol  She wondered why the poor lady had walked right by the ballplayers a few minutes before and wasn’t interested then.  Methinks the Mariners wouldn’t be hanging around outside the stadium before the game.

We always end up waiting outside, the first ones to get through the doors.  It’s all because we don’t want to pay for parking.

On the first leg of the trip to the 3rd level…we found all the escalators, including the one that almost did me in.  It was 2 stories high and me with my fear of heights was getting pretty shaky by the end of it.

The family.

The first pitch was thrown by Larissa Brown, author of Knitalong.  She said she practiced a lot but was really nervous when she got out there.

I started the Houdini socks by Cat Bordhi…a great mindless project for the game.  I’m almost ready to close the heel.

Ichiro in his famous stance.

and Raul Ibanez, my favorite Mariner (who happened to win the game for us once again!)

We walked down and got our books signed by Larissa Brown.  Isn’t her pinwheel blanket beautiful?  She’s so sweet.

It was such a beautiful day and evening.

Here’s the little bride with her knitting….she’s making leg warmers.

I always love the people who come out and rake the dirt.  They didn’t dance for us this time, though.

It was pretty exciting when JJ Putz came out to pitch.

And then the best part of all….and unfortunately, my memory card filled up….but this is when Raul hit the homerun that won the game.

 I bought a new memory card tonight…this is so ridiculous how often my silly card is full.  I need to figure out how to auto-delete on this camera, I’ve only had it a year!  I had meant to buy a new card on the way to the game, though…and forgot every time we went into a store that would have them.

Today as the Olympics started, a group of us started our Olympic event.  We’re doing a relay, knitting squares for a blanket to be donated to a women’s shelter here in our community.  Each person gets a “training” square that could be started during the opening ceremonies.  (5 a.m. our time).  I know of at least one person who actually got up at 5 to start knitting.  Then they can start their “relay” block when they get the call from the person before them.  We had 2 very fast knitters in the front of the line.  I suspected I’d be getting the call sometime today because I was 3rd in line, but imagine my surprise when that call came at 12:30 this afternoon! 

I had such a crazy morning.  I went for to get my hair cut and foiled at 9 a.m. and got out of there at almost noon.  I wasn’t ready for work or anything so I was late getting there.  One friend was there working on her training block and when I got my call, I switched places with her.  In no time at all, she finished hers and I was back in the starting gate.  I’m afraid I have slowed up the progress…lol.  I feel for the person following me because I’ll call her in the morning and I’m sure she expected she’d be doing hers next week sometime!  I’m sure things will slow down at some point, but it’s so exciting to see the enthusiasm.  I was reading my Knitalong book while knitting this evening and I get to frog back a few rows as a result..but I’m really pondering her insight on knitting together.  Lovin’ it!

When we finish our relay block, we have our final event….our last block.  When we’re all done, we’ll get together at knit night and assemble the whole thing. 

And now, I must get this block done and get to bed so I don’t end up being a very tired Grandma when I get to meet my little sweet pea!

I spent my day running up and down stairs, dumping bowls from the little imp being sick, doing laundry, wiping  up floors….I am wiped out.  I’m glad I discovered tribbles…I’d have made more but I was just too tired.  I told hubby I feel like I am just going to start crying and not stop.  It’s all so one-sided when this kiddo is sick.  He won’t answer and it’s all a guessing game.  I knew he wasn’t bad sick but it’s still really hard to figure it out and I felt pretty comfortable letting him rest.

Tonight I’m washing all of our bedding because he was in our bed and he didn’t do too great at hitting the bucket. 

Anyway, tonight as I do laundry, I made 2 tribbles.  I used the one this afternoon to wash the kitchen counters and I really liked it.

It will be more fun when I have yarn here that I love.   I think they’ll be great gifts and way faster than a dish rag!

We got home about 4 last night.  That was perfect and we just had a nothing evening, which was fine.  I managed to find my missing camera charger and ordered a car charger and extra battery on eBay so when sweet pea comes, I won’t be caught without my camera.  I can’t imagine how awful that would be!  I’ve meant to get a back-up battery since I’ve had my camera.

This morning I got up and wondered what was on the stairs.  Didn’t take me long to realize the imp had gotten sick.  He’s funny.  He won’t answer questions, says he’s fine.  Mooooooooommmmmmm.  He answers in disgust when I ask him if he’s ok.  I think it’s a case of if he doesnt’ acknowledge it, it isn’t there.  He’s sleeping in our bed right now with his bowl by his side.

I sat down and made a tribble this morning rather than fret over him.  I found the pattern quite by accident this morning on Ravelry.

Loopy volunteered to hold it up so you could see.

And now I’m going to go use it!

It’s kind of a bummer to have a Wednesday birthday when the whole rest of the family has obligations.  The kids all had youth church so the big boy went to dinner with Dad and Mom.   He tends to get over stimulated so he wasn’t sure what to do, although he did enjoy the attention.

Tonight was knit night and my dear little friend came in with her sock almost ready to kitchener the toe closed.  I am so proud of her!  We may have started that sock last fall and sometime between then and now she was on the mission field for an extended stay.  She then spent some time in Canada with  the missionaries she worked with while they gave birth to their 3rd child.  When she picked her knitting back up, she was knitting pretty loose compared to what she was doing before so we had to work on that a little bit, but then she took off flying.  Just a few days ago, I helped her turn her heel and pick up the gusset.  Tonight we had to frog most of the toe because there was one loose little stitch hanging out loose in the beginning of the decreases.  She has a great attitude and wants it right.  Ahhhh, a knitter, she is!

In no time at all, it was time to close that toe.

the concentration..

and it’s done!

I’m almost done with my market bag, half a row to go and then binding off and figuring out what to do for handles.

The weather is beautiful, the little imp has already broken his “claw” but he doesn’t seem to care.  It would cost me more to drive back to return it than just cutting our losses.  Made him happy.

I was really looking forward to a 4-day weekend, but it ended up to be kind of a bust.

Hubby got a bad cold and coughed his head off for days.  I had a sleepless night and was worth nothing for a whole day.  We were just kind of bummed out that we didn’t do anything fun…but then, I guess there wasn’t much we could do about it.

We did have a fun 4th….the little imp for the first time in his life actually enjoyed the fireworks.  We went over to big sis’s house and played Wii for awhile.  They actually got me to drive race cars with them.  I used to be really good at video games but no more.  I came in last every time, but I had fun.

He’s actually pretty good!  He plays against the good competition and holds his own. 

They’ve been getting the baby room ready, I just love it.

And look what I saw on the changing table.

We actually could see the neighborhood fireworks better than the city ones because a hill is in the way, but we didn’t feel like going closer and getting caught in traffic, especially if the little imp can’t stand it, been there, done that.

The parents-to-be have a great deack overlooking everything so  we stood outside watching the whole city go nuts.

This picture cracks me up.  He’s talking to his brother-in-law….he drags his name waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy out when he talks to him and I caught him in the middle of it.

Even though he did better with the fireworks than he’s ever done, there came a point where he was DONE…so his BIL got him some headphones.

Have I said lately how great my son-in-law is?

I did get knitting done during the day of doing nothing but sitting on a chair after watching the sun come up once again.  I think I better not have any more of those Starbucks doubleshots even in late afternoon! 

Anyway, this is not for me.  I was going to make it all one color until I decided to do it for a gift. 

Today the new bride, the imp and I decided to go to the beach.  I wanted to play tourist like a friend of mine did.  I forgot to take any pictures but we had fun.  The little imp hates shopping but I got him a little present so he was a little happier.  I could just choke sometimes, though.  He showed me the “claw” and I told him if he’d be good, we could get it.  Well, he suddenly turned and ran away.  I chased after him and asked him where he was going because the deal was to stick with us.  “My phone, Mom!” he answers.  He’d left it laying on the display.  ugh.

We had ice cream before we drove home and then made a quick trip down onto the beach.

I’m not sure if they were feeding these seagulls or what, but they were flying in place when we drove by

I was excited when I got home that the flowers on my new rosebush had finally started to open, there are LOTS of them to come

it is exactly what I hoped it would be!

And now we know it is summer because the ice cream truck was driving around our neighborhood today!  Amazingly, it was not that obnoxious music it has been in years past.

Back to watching the Mariner’s, we’re actually on the board in the 2nd inning!  Things seem to be turning around for us.  I’m watching the game until hubby gets home and fixes the computer for me.  I had to bring my work computer home (from my real job) because our home computer quit…and now this one must not be hooked up right.  I discovered today that I must have overwritten some files and I am missing a week’s worth of bookkeeping.  Tonight I get to do it all over before I get the data to our programmer.  bummer.

It’s been really nice here.  Today after church, #1 son and his girlfriend had barbecue with us.  Afterward we sat around the patio table visiting and I knit a little on my 2nd byob bag.  I have frogged back the mesh twice now.  The first time I forgot to switch to the bigger needles and it just didn’t seem right.  For some reason now I can’t get 3 rows into the mesh without ending up in trouble with the pattern.  I did have to add a few stitches so the pattern would work out, but on the 2nd time around (twice) it gets off.  I don’t get it, but I decided today must not be the day for working on it (neither was Saturday).  After I frogged it, I left it on the table and I think we came inside to watch the Mariners, we actually won a few games! 

When it started getting breezy and clouding over, I thought I’d better get outside and get my knitting and I had to just stop and laugh at the sight.

My jumbled mess of yarn, my melted ice from my coffee and the birthday gift a friend gave me today at church…all exactly as I had left it.

I got the gift early because my friend is leaving this week for the east coast.  She wasn’t sure it was something I’d like but she kept getting drawn back to it.  She didn’t know about my “100 things about me” list, but one of the things was that I love to laugh but that I don’t do it enough.  What a great reminder.  I plan to put it where I’ll see it often!

Later both girls and their hubbies showed up.  #1 son-in-law bought cherries for me from the fruit stand and brought them over to share.  What a guy.  The newlyweds were out riding bikes and stopped in.  I love it.

The day was beautiful but this evening the fog rolled in and it got cold and windy.  We may get some thundershowers tonight and then another nice day tomorrow.  Hubby had to hurry out and put the roof up on the Jeep.

The dog thinks he was helping.

We were scheduled for the imp’s therapy session tomorrow but the OT is sick so the mama-to-be and the little imp and I are all headed out of town anyway to look at baby car seats.  We just won’t have a schedule to meet now.  We’ll meet back up with the OT probably in September because the only day she had open to re-schedule us was our anniversary…no can-do.

And now I am headed to Ravelry to figure out some baby knitting since I can’t get this bag right today.

I am almost feeling like I must be breaking my own record with posting so often.  I guess I’m not getting my words out these days so I have to finish up here to get them finished.

To start the day, I got a call from the new bride, she wanted to go for a walk.  It was pleasant…but she’s in better shape than I am.  I don’t think I held her back too much, though.

Hubby and I went to the funeral today.  I am most impressed with the legacy this lady left…she has a fine family following her and she was much loved and seemed to have great influence for the good on her family.  We got some of the fruit of that with our wonderful son-in-law.

On the way back to the shop, I had to make a little stop.

This could be called “I am bored at the stoplight that seems to be taking forever.”

People have asked how big this bag really is.  Instead of measuring, I’ll give you a visual.

It’s trying to hang off both ends.

That’s the last time you’ll see this bag here.

I had a great dinner date tonight.

We had his favorite, french toast.  He was good company, too.

Then flat loopy had to join us.

For those of you who don’t know about him, he came from Loopy Ewe and they want to see his summer ventures.  I really want to get one of the woolpet kits made exclusively for them.

I had a good friend stop over tonight with something fun.

Isn’t that cute?  The is the gift bag from Last Minute Gifts.  She figures it took about 6 hours to make by the time it was finished.  I love it!  I’ll take it to the shop for a sample, that’s why she did it.

And now that I have finished this post, hubby decides to go for a walk.  I’ve been talking to him and typing….now I am done, he is gone.  lol 

This has been an incredibly busy week.  I didn’t knit at all for several days.  Today I got ahold of the cotton-ease yarn I have been waiting for.  I have to confess, I never thought I’d use Lion Brand yarn, but this cotton is actually pretty nice.  I love how it looks and feels in the seed stitch.  I’m about 2/3 of the way done with the base right now…lots of seed stitch but it’s actually been quite relaxing to me tonight.

It’s quite a bit bigger than the picture (and greener), had to take the picture when it was still daylight.

I love that people are making bags and actually using them but I haven’t seen one that grabbed my attention like this one did.  If you haven’t seen it, go check out the new Knitty…. byob (bring your own bag). 

The little imp got to go to big sis’s this afternoon.  When I picked him up, he was playing some race car game on Wii.  Man, that kid can drive!  He does well against some of the older kids.  You know, he does think he is going to be driving a car at 16.  We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it in putting him off.  (heartbreak)  But on the Wii, evidently they earn their licenses so maybe that will count for something.  It’s awfully interesting raising a child who is many ages rolled into one in one body.  It was so sweet, though, when we left big sis asked him to come say goodbye to baby.  He gets embarrassed but he puts his hand on her tummy to feel the baby and then looks the other way and talks to it.  very sweet.

And now I want to head to bed.  I am so tired, saw daylight approaching before I fell asleep and did well all day until about 5.  I’d have gone to bed at 7 but it was only the imp and I home much of the evening.