Knitting Sandwich

now i can take a deep breath

...shake off the ripple addiction, and focus on other projects.

my nephew's birthday blanket is finished.  two ripple blankets in just over a month... i think my ripple itch is sated for the time being.

i've made a somewhat binding pact with myself not to buy any yarn this year (i said somewhat binding - we'll see how it goes) and running out of the purple yarn half-way through the blanket was my first test.

i resisted the urge to run out and just purchase more purple yarn so i could continue my color scheme and decided to go with what i had on hand.

it's a little more mish-mashy than i would normally do... but i don't necessarily think that's a bad thing.  it's good for me to push myself out of my comfort zone every now and again (and good for me to stick to my non-yarn buying pledge).

-melissa

Hip Hip HOORAY!

My sister had her baby!

Introducing sweet miss Zoë.

I know I should be finishing up her blanket

And weaving in the ends of her bibs with matching wipes

But all I want to do is look at her and bask in my sister's happiness

-Auntië Lindsëy

reverse inspiration

Remember how Melissa told us that, just inches away from the end of her bedsocks, she got lured back into the highly addictive world of ripples?

Well, upon reading that post of hers I intentified with her completely.  I started some bedsocks of my own way back in May that have sat around since then, and I too have been wrapped up in the wonderfully delicious ripple world as well...

so you'd think that seeing Melissa's post would encourage me to continue with the rippling madness but, to my surprise, it had the reverse effect of inspiring me to finally finish the bed socks!

The biggest problem with waiting eight months to finish a knitting project?  

Well it seems my sizing might be a little bit off.  I guess my stitches are a bit looser these days amidst the Alpine breezes.

What about you?  Any projects you've been putting off finishing for a long time? 

-cmvs

on the plus side

there are definite benefits to being addicted to ripples:

you can be half-way done with your blanket before you even know what hit you!

-melissa

addicted

i am one toe decrease section away from finishing my turkish bed socks (pattern rav link).  they've been on the needles since august and i'm excited to finally have them finished.

so what did i do last night?  finish them up?

noooooo..... instead i did this:

i totally cast on for another neat ripple afghan (pattern rav link).  my "reasoning" was that my nephew isaac's first birthday is less than a month away so i needed to get started.

but the truth is i have been desperate to get back to the ripples... i am completely and helplessly addicted.

-melissa

clara's very own lora jacobson

my brother's girlfriend lora has, over the years, made fleece tie blankets for all the nieces and nephews in our family.  the blanket she made lily is very popular for snuggling under in our house and we've taken to calling it the lora jacobson.

after a visit to the remnant bin at joann's, lily decided that her doll clara needed a lora jacobson of her own.

the blanket turned out just the perfect size for clara to use while snuggling in her bed.

and here's both the girls snuggled up with their lora jacobsons:

-melissa

366? 52?

My husband and some friends are doing the 365 project this year.  The idea is to take a picture every day and post it to the flickr group.  While we were brainstorming on photo ideas I caught the fever and decided to jump in.  But to relive some pressure (it IS a leap year, that extra day might be just too much) I called my project 366?52?  I might end up doing one picture a week.  

So far so good.  I've posted every day, even though there have been some nights where I'm wandering around the house after bedtime looking for a good shot.  Here are some of my favorites from the first days of the year.  

Day 1 Sabrina in the tutu she got for christmas.  She insists on wearing it everywhere, even to the playground, even to church.

Day 2 The grapefruit harvest of 2012 (I don't think we will get scurvy this month).

Day 13 Home grown cocktails (my favorite way to avoid scurvy).

Day 4 Taken on the way home from work. (I was safely stoped at a light with my parking break on).

I'm hoping to take time to really see this year.  Last year flew by in a flash and I'm sure this one will to, but hopefully I'll have at least 52 glimpses of it.  

-Lindsey

comfort knitting

right now i want my knitting to be a comfort.  nothing challenging, nothing that even makes me think a teeny tiny bit.  i just want to sit and get all zen with my stitches.

what about you?  are you feeling the need for challenges or comfort?  or maybe you find challenges comforting?

where do your stitches go when you need some comfort knitting?

-melissa

luna's loss could be your gain

luna got this book for christmas from my mother-in-law's insane cat.  a very funny gift, but as it turns out i already own a copy.

i decided luna doesn't really need her own book, since she can't read and doesn't even have thumbs she can't really do many crafts anyway.

sooooo.... if you'd like your very own copy of "crafting with cat hair" (and who wouldn't?!?!) just leave a comment.  if more than one person is interested, i'll come up with some clever way to decide who wins.  (if you want to up your chances you could leave a cat hair themed poem or somesuch silliness.)

i'm happy to ship anywhere - spread the cat-hair-crafting love, i'd say.

-melissa

Seven years

It is my seven year anniversary today.  It has been a good seven years!

Michael and I buy gifts together and have agreed that this year we are buying a mango tree at the Urban Harvest fruit tree sale next week.  

But my wonderful husband is a very thoughtful and talented gift giver -so much more than I am.  The sneaky man also got me some beautiful hand spun by Melissa aka Girlplussheep on etsy.  

The seven year itch is not itchy at all, but actually soft and quite squishy!

-Lindsey