Birthday Time

<----Greeting cards are really tasty
They told me to just put my fingers in this cake...so I did.
YUM
A lucky boy gets three cakes for his first birthday.

Pelosi exercise video!

http://fxn.ws/b9OZc4

It's a birthday!

Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter. You can see her on the right side bar on this blog.
She is the one wearing the blazer.
Not telling her age. She might not want me to. (Hint: She was born in 1975)

Reclaiming Massachusetts!

I voted for Scott Brown today!

Little crafter

I began knitting at age 6, so she is certainly old enough to start her own obsession with yarn. LOL
She tried crafting to keep herself busy, while worrying about whether the Tooth Fairy would find her at Nana's house!









Yes, the Tooth Fairy did indeed find us even though she hasn't been to our house in years.

Boat-neck sweater

I used a pattern I found online as sort of a guide; but since I was using 3-ply yarn, which is thin, I had to adjust the directions to accommodate the size.
I used the general finished size that I wanted to decide how many stitches to cast on for the back, front and the sleeves.
I found these cute teddy bear buttons at the LYS. They have a great supply of buttons for every type of person!
I did both the back and front at the stame time on the same needle, which means that they are both finished at the same time. Somehow, that's easier to face than starting all over again for a duplicate piece.
Same with the sleeves; but I really had to increase my cast-ons once I found that the sleeve just seemed too narrow where it met the body. After all, babies don't like to struggle at all getting dressed. Although I didn't try it on my sleeping baby yet, I will post a pic when he is available.

UPDATE: Seems to fit perfectly!

Very interesting!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2E-IDIAGGo&feature=channel

Buttonholes on the left

I made most of this yesterday while snowed in watching Jennifer Aniston movies on Lifetime. I sewed the pieces together this morning.
I had a gift card from my LYS, so went shopping for yarn to make a sweater for a little boy who is almost 1.
<---I couldn't resist these little sheep buttons with dangly feet!
I am always searching the internet for free patterns and I wanted something that didn't have to be pulled over the head, as we all know how babies feel about that.
I got this one from the Lion Brand Yarn website, where there are plenty of free patterns available. What caught my eye on this one was that the model wearing it was a boy, and sure enough, after checking out the directions, the buttonholes were appropriately on the left.
Now, some knitters write things such as "It doesn't really matter to a baby." while others staunchly proclaim "Of course it matters -- boys' buttonholes are on the left, girls' are always on the right!" In any case, I went right along with this pattern without the extra bother of reversing the directions for the buttons and buttonholes.
The pattern featured organic cotton yarn, but I used Red Heart multi colored yarn called "Seagrass". It's a blend of blues, greens, and a neutral, which is what led me over to the button aisle where I found the neutral little sheep.
I like multicolored or varigated yarn for several reasons, as it can blend with many other clothes; but also I find that it can be "forgiving" when you are sewing the pieces together and small flaws are less noticeable.
In any case, I did modify the pattern slightly. I used US size 8 needles, rather than 9, and changed the yarn. I was careful to go by the gauge, which is the most important thing. The gauge here was 17 sts + 24 rows = 4 in.
This pattern is knit from the bottom up to the armholes, where you split up the stitches to finish the back, separate from the two front pieces. Later you just sew the shoulders.
I liked the idea that by casting on 102 stitches (for 18 month size), that covered the width of the back of the sweater and both front pieces. You separate and place the back and the fronts on holders as you are finishing up the last few inches on each. Then I made both sleeves at once on one needle, with separate skeins of yarn, which ensures that an equal amount of rows are used on both sleeves. (You know how yarn can stretch when measuring) The only sewing, besides a few inches across the shoulders, was to stitch up the underarm of the sleeves, then attach them to the shoulder and body of the sweater. I will post a pic after my little guy tries it on. Right now, we are separated by a snowstorm. :-)


Here we are with the update

A new year for my feral kitties

I already had the dog igloo as a shelter for some of my stray cats who visit me, but it needed some fresh hay this season.
We also purchased a small dog tent, which doesn't show up well in these photos; but it's spectacular!
It's an actual midget tent with a mesh floor and a zippered mesh door in it. It also has legs that keep it up off the ground a few inches. The igloo is placed on an old plastic outdoor table top, also off the ground a bit. Luckily we had some small, smooth boards in the garage, and I laid them down across the mesh flooring of the tent, as though I were laying laminate flooring. A perfect fit! I then loaded the tent up with hay as I did with the igloo hut; because hay allows animals to "nest" and retain their body heat.
I bought a new tarp and secured it to block out as much wetness and icy air as possible.

We set up the new shelter area the other day when it was clear and the next day it began snowing. When I cleared a path from my door to the shelter, I found that it was already occupied!
Smart cats.