Friday, August 26, 2011

Photo Phriday


ay! nothing cuter than baby butts!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Finishitis

I've been very busy finishing stuff up. I finally got to the point where there were just too many unfinished things going on so I had a case of finishitis which is uncommon but definitely appreciated. I had started the Who? hat way back in June as I wanted to see if it would be a good car project. We drove to Lancaster, PA (in the beginning of July) and back so there was a good amount of knitting time there...well, it was a quick project and was done well before we even left... except for the button eyes!
which you can see, there are 10 owls (note for a long long time.... until I was actually sewing them on I thought there were 11... and so I had 11 sets of buttons which because they are so small was no easy feat to find!)

and, then ultimately after nixing one set of "repeats" I thought I was good to go with my 10, but you will see one owl sleeping... I am not sure I will be putting on the last set of buttons. We'll see. I am kind of liking the sleeping owl. That and the last set were actually beads and I had trouble getting my needle through them... but I coulda' kept that a secret and you'd be none the wiser... and, of course, you need the modeled shot.


Then, there's the needle roll I made for someone on Ravelry as a Random Act of Kindness (RAK). I have been practicing a bunch of stuff on my sewing machine. I had a great idea for a DPN needle roll, but felt I needed to do a "normal" one first, so this fit the bill!


it was a lot of fun to make and I think it was well-received by it's recipient.

Then.. there was the project that I have been working on for a long long time... a vest for Smush. See, I found the perfect pattern (but didn't look at yarn type) then, was at a LYS closing w/ Smush and let her pick out her favorite color to make it with... or maybe I had her pick out the yarn and looked for the pattern after... doesn't matter - the project called for fingering weight yarn and was for an infant. I figured oh, to make it fit Smush I will just use worsted and make the largest size on the pattern... well, I had bought 2 skeins of Cascade 220 Washable Wool for this. I figured, 5T = 2 skeins no problem... Luckily Ravelry has a function that enables you to look for a yarn that someone else might have bought and luckily someone posted the dye lot and luckily that someone was willing to sell it to me for this, because even though I made the piece with 3 skeins, well, lets just say it was a great experience with learning about gauge and swatching and sizing because this thing is big enough for her to wear probably when she's in high school - it fits me! And, it could be a little longer, but there was no way I was going looking for another skein!



But, wait, there's more... like I mentioned earlier I have been sewing a bit. Last night I finished this off - it was mostly done, just the buttonhole needed to be sewn, and the buttons sewn on. Well, I had a buttonhole lesson yesterday and last night... DONE!
voila! finished Phoebe bag! It came out a little smaller than I had anticipated so I have already got the next bag project lined up and sitting on my desk waiting to be cut and sewn. I had made this for a specific purpose but ultimately it's too small so I just get the chance to make a new bag... Not such a hardship since I am loving both this fabric as well as the fabric I got for the new one!

And, there are a couple more things getting finished, so stay tuned!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Photo Phriday


and, here we are again... Photo Phriday...

My darling husband chose this one for your viewing pleasure!

Photo Phriday

well... I have been trying to add last Friday's photo since, well, last Friday and for some reason each time I try to upload a picture to the blog it crashes my application so I am going to have to figure this one out... will keep you... well... posted!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Photo Phriday


This is the product of giving an inexpensive child branded digital camera to a 3 year old. Smush took this with her very own camera. I think she might have even taken the picture of Squiggly in the previous post as it came out the folder that I think is her pictures. Pretty good for a little one, no?

Thursday, August 4, 2011

There was something...

that I really wanted to blog about. Yesterday. And, of course, there wasn't time, so I thought for sure that I would have no problem remembering whatever it was. Yeah. Right. So, instead I give you this:
contemplation.

In case you don't know us IRL you may not realize or know that Squiggly gets into everything. I don't think I have really blogged about this too much, but here is what I can tell you. I have the latest in designer kitchens... holding my two ovens shut I have a ratchet strap. On my dishwashers I have clip locks that go onto my countertop. On many of our light switches we have lovely red covers that lock with the light in either the on or off position, whichever you choose. And, not to be left out, I have an industrial looking locked box around our thermostat. You know, the kind that they put in office buildings so that random people can't change the programmed settings of the building. Yeah. One of those. It matches my living room decor perfectly. I'd post pictures of all these baby proofing things, but it might make me cry.

On another note altogether....I will be trying out something new... Photo Phridays... so... check back tomorrow!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Better Living Through Pharmaceudicals...

so... it's been awhile again... actually this time it's not really been my fault. well, of course it's been my fault, but not really my fault. See... after Smush was born I had some issues with my thyroid and ended up being hypothyroid, which basically means that my body wasn't making enough thyroid hormone and the result is a totally non-functioning, sluggish, unable to concentrate person. Luckily I have an AWESOME endocrinologist who not only got me back on my feet, but also managed my thyroid throughout my pregnancy with Squiggly which is quite important. Now that Squiggly is 2, well, actually since we weren't getting pregnant right away we (my Dr. and I) decided to try to wean me off of the synthroid to see if we could "jump-start" my body into manufacturing enough to enable me to go off the medication.

We started by slowly cutting my dosage until I was on the lowest that she would initially prescribe an individual who presented w/ my symptoms and bloodwork at her office. Because I am not pregnant I don't need constant monitoring so we have been seeing each other every 6 months and having bloodwork drawn every 3 months. After the last blood draw (between visits) we decided to try dropping the synthroid altogether. If I had been a bit smarter I might have actually had intermediate bloodwork drawn as the effects of dropping off the meds can be felt/seen more quickly than the rebound of good health going back on them... About 8 weeks after I stopped taking my synthroid I knew I was feeling tired, was having trouble concentrating and thought that I wasn't in such a good place. But, I figured, oh, I have an appointment in 4 weeks. I can manage. Well, I should have thought that through a little better and realized that not only would I feel worse in 4 more weeks, but that it would take that much longer for the drug to work when/if I went back on. I waited, though, because, well, I had the appointment. She is a busy Dr. I felt I could manage.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. When I arrived for my appointment I was a little nervous, after all I didn't have my blood test results. There was no concrete way for me to know that my weight gain, sluggishness, exhaustion, etc. was truly being caused by a lack of thyroid hormone... but such a sense of relief when the Dr. walked in and said, basically, well, that was a failed experiment. Not that I relish being on a drug that I will most likely be on for the rest of my life, but knowing that all these symptoms weren't going to be permanent was such a relief. Sadly it has taken probably 4 weeks now to feel close to normal, but, here I am, and I will not sit idly by waiting for my appointment ever again.

Keep your eyes posted for more posts. Now that I can stay up after the kids are in bed, well, you never know what you might find here!