sweater pics

I snagged a few pictures of this little moving target with my cell phone. In his very cute, new, hand-knit sweater:

which is even cuter from the back if that's at all possible:

the buttons need some work - they're pulling at the holes but that may just be the yarn. Any suggestions?

little boys with big boy hair cuts

scroll down a few posts for the 'before' shot of little Jordan. Here, is the after.

OMG. I just might love this little bugger. The marks near his nose? Grizzly Bear bite. :( Of all my dogs I knew Grizz was going to be one to watch. He got Jordan the other day when the baby fell on him. I know these things happen and Stephanie is pretty laid back but still. I felt feel awful. Isn't he just a doll baby?

BUT - I was glad to spend a quiet day down at Clementine's. Those knitters are a good bunch., like salve to me. And now, the sweater is almost finished, a hat and sock are both in the works. Whatever will I knit next? Ravelry, here I come!

My girls down at Cami's were so good to me today - they bought $125 worth of my cards and pin cushions from the crap fair! Esteem restored! Thanks, ladies. You sure know how to make a girl feel special. :)

To those who have been sending good thoughts/prayers for my friend Susan's husband, here's an update - John had surgery Monday to have chest tubes inserted to remove some fluid building up around his lungs. They also drained his one lung that was completely filled. Last I heard, he was still in ICU but in stable condition. The doctors were surprised at the amount of infection he still had. He's been on some potent, IV antibiotics for about 10 days. They're not working as well as the doctors had hoped. I will keep you posted.
Thanks for the prayers. I'm sure they appreciate knowing folks all over are putting in a good word for them. :)

Now I need to read a bedtime story and do some tucking. Night all.

promised pictures

first, the van damage. not major but I know it'll still cost more than I want to spend to fix it. :(

and the raglan sweater I'm knitting for Cami

the yarn is Berroco Comfort, a really nice (though splitty) acrylic.

the pattern is a top-down, raglan sleeve baby sweater. with this yarn and size 8 needles it's knitting up to fit little Jordan (14 months) perfectly.

and Fatboy was just too cute not to snap a picture and share. :)

happy Tuesday!

baby it's cold outside

Even the wine is cold:

How stinkin' cute are these? I found them in one of my favorite mail order catalogs. I wish some crafty vixen would write up a pattern so I could re-create them without paying SIXTY FIVE DOLLARS for them! I didn't say I ever bought anything from this particular catalog, It's just one of my favorite wishbooks. They are mighty proud of their stuff. I love most everything in the pages. But these are just. too. cute.

I'm off to Ravelry to see if the uber crafty folk there maybe thought this up already. It wouldn't be the first time I was late in discovering something so excellent!

Pictures of some knitting soon, promise!

crap fair

I always look at bad experiences as feedback for the future. It's the Pollyanna in me, I guess. Today SUCKED ASS. The company was great - I love spending time with my friend Heather and her son, Aleksander. But the people of Danville don't know cute when they see it. If it weren't for the stalkers who stopped by -waving- I'd have sold very little and folks, my stuff is capitol C cute.

All my items were priced clearly, with cohesive signage and priced well, I think. Luckily I made just enough to buy Ken an early Christmas present with a few bucks left to spare. And the good news is, now I have Christmas cards to mail, Santas to share (Anna) and more time now to knit. Halle-frickin'-lujia.

cute. see?

And just in case the day wasn't quite crappy enough with bad sales and terrible weather, I crashed my van on the way home. I'm fine but where the steering wheel used to be horizontal when driving forward, it's now vertical. Wet, leaf covered, curvy roads and jumping telephone poles - they'll get you every time. Damn it all. Shook me up good.

But the bright side? Stephanie cooked dinner tonight and cleaned the kitchen afterward and the house looked great when I got home. I have a wife. It rocks. :)

Big shout out to my brother, Russ who lost his faithful girl-dog, Jezebel this week. I love you big brother. (((hug)))

craft fair info

For my faithful lurker and anyone else interested - I don't have a lot of information on the craft fair I'm doing tomorrow. I know it's in Danville at the fairgrounds from 9 to 3. It's supposedly a big one, advertised in the Star and everything so. . .

Stop by and see me!

the craft fair cometh

I'm ass-deep in santas, cards and other papery goodness. I'm still working on some cards and I need to print up business cards, price tags and signage. And my computer is misbehaving. There is little I hate more than bad computers. Bad computers and messy linen closets.

Behold, the before shot:

notice there's nothing on the top shelf? That is what prompted this closet clean out. I made the mistake of asking Ken to put some blankets away on the top shelf and he doesn't possess my blanket stacking skills. So when he added to the precarious stack the pile came tumbling down on top of him. I tried not to laugh (unsuccessfully) and my punishment was a stack of boxes to pack the next morning. My instructions were to pack away anything we don't use. Without the extra linens, my closet is now organized and perfectly lovely:

spreading all my secrets on the internet. what's the matter with me? boredom, mostly. without my computer I've been forced to find other means of passing my time. Scrubbing toilets is next. Oh, and of course this is keeping me busy too:

meet sweet Jordan. He's busy, that one. And I, quite frankly, am exhausted. :)

pancakes, blanket forts and Stuart Little

This is how my day began: pancakes, blanket forts and Stuart Little on the TV. I think I did pretty good considering it was my first fort in about 15 years. :)

You may ask why I was building a fort in my living room. Well, for those of you who may not know the story, Ken and I adopted a young family. We saw an ad on Craigslist from a young mother who found herself in a desperate situation. She'd moved from Idaho to live with friends here in Indy and the friends turned out to be not so good. They got evicted from their house, leaving Steph and her three little boys homeless. That's where we come in. Stephanie, Jordan (13 months), Preston (3) and Hunter (5) are now safe and sound under our roof. A blanket roof as it turns out. :)

It's working out really well. I have someone who helps out with things here and Stephanie has an extra pair of hands for these sweet, loving boys. Everyone is thriving here. It's fun to see.

Preston and Hunter enjoying the blanket fort.

I highly recommend playing in a blanket fort with little people. They're big fun!

Is it nap time yet? ;)

boo (b)

Snagged a few Halloween pics off my cell phone. Please excuse the crappy pictures but this shit is too good not to share.

First up, evidence of convincing someone what a good bra can do for her self esteem, not to mention her cleavage. I texted this picture to her husband and I think he may have actually been speechless - a rare occurrence indeed. Cover your eyes, little ones. This isn't for tender viewers:

and my darling girl-child, discovering her love of false eyelashes. Go ahead and tell me how freakin' adorable she is. :)

And the amazing Halloween cookies my friend Trista made for a knitting get-together. I liked them so much I had her make a few dozen for Ken to haul to work today. They were a HIT! This picture doesn't even begin to show in detail the intricate work she puts in to these cookies. Every Witch has a wart, every eye is perfectly blood-shot. They ROCK! Thanks Trista!

and, as promised, a full-sized shot of a few of the Halloween cards I created. They were a hit too.

happy haunting!

happy halloweenie

I cropped this picture way down to share just a snippet of some Halloween cards I've made this year. I'll share the whole picture this weekend, after my cards have gone out in the mail. I don't usually send Halloween cards but I was looking through my paper crafting stash and thought it'd be fun to use some of the items I've had for a while - always a good challenge.

Years ago I bought a Halloween paper kit - it has to be at least 6 or 7 years old. Never used a bit of it. It had these neat vellum, Victorian looking Halloween sentiments. I had fun creating different ways to use them. And my rocking new stamp. It's been a while since I played around. I busted out the embossing powder and everything! Needless to say my desk is a mess now and I've done nothing all week toward the craft fair. But it was worth it knowing I'm going to make some folks smile this week. :)

Happy Halloweenie!