Knitting Sandwich

june weather - minnesota edition

with june ending i am officially halfway done with my 2015 weather blanket!!

 only one pink square (temps in the 90's) for the entire month june! we've been enjoying such beautiful summer weather.  well, summer like i enjoy - not too hot during the day and sometimes cooling off in the evenings.  being pregnant in june i especially appreciated the not so hot and humid temps.

 we had a fair number of what i dubbed "iron man days" - highs in the 80's (red) lows in the 60's (yellow).  iron man is not my favorite avenger (um, hello chris hemsworth as thor) but my inner nerd is still amused when we have iron man days.

 the extended forecast for july shows more of the same, so i'm hoping we can stave off the hot and humid weather until after baby lemon's arrival... fingers crossed.  but if not, thank goodness for ac, i'll just sit inside and watch thor!

-melissa

the 9 3/4 party

lillian's 9 3/4's birthday was november 17th, and to paraphrase the immortal words of hagrid, "it's not every day your young lass turns 9 3/4!"  a potter-themed party was definitely needed to celebrate.

the invitations:

 the house decorations:

the last was a photobooth set up for people to pose and take pictures all night long... lots of silliness was found on that camera, but this one, of my goofball husband, is my favorite!

we had to have harry potter themed snacks as well...

lily made the broomsticks and snitches herself!

and what birthday party would be complete without a cake?  "made it myself, words and all... i may have sat on it a bit."

everyone came in costumes:

 from left to right we have: neville longbottom, hermoine granger, fleur delacour, harry potter, draco malfoy, luna lovegood, and ron weasley!

the grownups dressed up too:

 again, from left to right: minerva mcgonogall, hagrid, professor sprout, bellatrix lestrange, madame hootch, albus dumbledoor, professor trelawney, rita skeeter, severus snape, and the minister of magic cornelius fudge.

everyone had so much fun!  but especially lily, which made me especially happy!

 -melissa

a dothraki engagement hoop

i'm super crazy excited to announce that my brother and his girlfriend got engaged a couple weeks ago! of course i love my brother, but i also love his girlfriend and i've never had a sister-in-law before so this is big big news!!

of course there needed to be some crafting to express my love and joy. luckily they both love george rr martin's song of ice and fire as much as i do so this was the obvious place to go with their gift!

 my sun and stars, and moon of my life...  dothraki terms of endearment, perfect for two lovebirds embarking on a lifetime together!

-melissa

the catch up/catch all post

alright!  let's do this thing!

#1: the hedgerow mitts (rav link) i'm knitting for my friend lisa with rachael's wonderful hand dyed yarn:

 i'm still slogging along... the first is done, the second is maybe a quarter of the way done.  i don't know what my problem with this project is, i love the pattern, i love the yarn, i'm loving the finished product... but i will do anything, *anything*, to avoid working on them.  luckily my friend lisa is understanding, she told me, "if i wanted something fast i could have bought them at a store."  thank you lisa.  

#2: lily's granny square afghan.  it's done.  it's actually been done since march 3rd... it's just waiting for me to get my act together and take some pictures of it to share with you...

#3: secret things i can't talk about on the blog... there's the embroidery (that's still in progress) and some knitted goods for a swap on instagram (that were just finished but not mailed yet) but i can't report more on either until they've been gifted.  

#4: cooper cowl (rav link) for little heather made with her fantastic amazing gorgeous handspun:

 don't you just want to die?!?  this yarn is such a dream... i started this on saturday and can't stop knitting it.  **gorgeous!!**

#5: spring break baby!!!  my family spent last week spring breaking it up in chicago. we had such a lovely time, we hit the field museum (my personal favorite), the adler planetarium, and the art institute, as well as just traipsing all over the city enjoying the sites!

 brian indulged me and drove me by the home alone house on our way out of town (which wasn't really on the way and added probably 2hrs to our travel time, which is why it was an indulgence).  

 i was in kevin-heaven!!!

so there you go!  i think we're all caught up now.  with me anyways... what have y'all been up to?!?

-melissa

Q saves the day

i scored this baby at the thrift the other day:

$1 for a huge rag ball?!?  yes please!!

i took it home to make a little circle rug.  the biggest crochet hook i had was a usN 10mm.  Aside from hurting my hand it was producing the stiffest rug known to man.. more of a frisbee really...

 after a quick trip to joann's to pick up a usQ 15.75mm hook and i'm back in business!

so as much as the tng fan in me hates to say it, Q saved the day...

-melissa