Chicago, Chicago... my kind of town

Thank you for all of the wishes (get well and birthday) for the Bud. He always seems to bounce back quickly from whatever brings him down.

He has been fabulous...in fact he had a great time with the grandparents while I went to the windy city for a long weekend with Davin. (Thank you, grandparents!!!)


("The Bean" at Millennium Park)

We slept in and wandered the city. We even went to a movie in a theater!


(Inside "The Bean")

Davin shopped with me at not one, but two different yarn shops (what a guy!) and I even did some knitting - pictures to come when I get myself together enough to take them.


I will leave you with my favorite Chicago graffiti.

Birthday Surprises

Today's birthday plans for the Bud were modified slightly to include a trip to the ER.
Yesterday's "cold" escalated quickly (despite our counter measures) and started to cause some breathing problems - similar to those that gave us 2 nights in the hospital last May.
Because of our preventative measures it did not get as extreme, but we are tired around here, and our celebration was a little abbreviated.

Happy birthday, sweet boy, be well.

Time Flies when...

...you are crazy busy.

It always seems that when I have the most obligations, I also do the most "escaping". I think I have been using knitting as an escape, because I seem to have done a bit of it lately. Perhaps it is also the chill in the air that makes knitting so appealing right now.

I finished two socks for the two year old.

His birthday was on Wednesday, but our family party is tomorrow. He has grown up so much lately - he astounds me every day with how much he knows and can do. He was pretty psyched to have matching socks with mom. I used the leftovers from my camouflage socks. He thought it was fun to put our feet together and wiggle our toes.
They were my first attempt at making toe up socks. I liked making the toe and being able to use all the yarn down to the last inches, but I am not a fan of the short row heel. I know that there are other heels for toe-up, but I think I will stick with my cuff down socks for now.

I also finally made myself one of the Purl Berets.

I have admired Nuttnbunny's for awhile... and it is getting cooler. It is such a fun and easy pattern, and the result is a wonderfully wearable beret. I can understand why she has made many. I've already had the chance to wear it a number of times this week with the cool wet weather.
I used the yarn I dyed with coffee, and I think I may have enough yarn left to make some matching mitts.

On the getting colder, needing hats topic... I started a new hat for the Bud. Along with getting older, his head has gotten bigger too - the hat I made for him last winter is the only one that fits, and just barely. I am trying the Ganomy hat pattern from EZ's Knitter's Almanac. With the increases and decreases it reminds me of the Sweet Baby Cap pattern (of which I am so fond - I will soon cast on for #4).

I am using Lana Grossa Cool Wool - it feels so nice and soft, I think it will be perfect for a toddler head. I hope it wears well too.

I also finally finished my Road Trip socks that I started for the trip down to AZ with Sara.

Since I used US 0s and didn't really try to shorten the cuff, I ran out of yarn and had to use a different color for the toes. I think they turned out nicely, and the fit is the best I have made for myself. They had a test drive this week and drove beautifully.

It seems that my stash of yarn has multiplied this week too.
I got my first "Booty" from the yarn pirate:


I signed up for the "Booty Club" so that I would get some fun packages while Davin was in the Windy City. I am very excited about this yarn because I really like the colors, but it is not something I would have picked out on my own.

I also filled up my punch card at my LYS and was able to pick out a freebie for myself: Dream in Color - Smooshy "Happy Forest".


This Meilenweit Cotton just jumped in my bag too. I'm sure that that is the goal... come in for the freebie and leave with more, but oh well.

Still to come:
A post on tomorrow's festivities :)

Big Leaves and Brown Socks

Big Leaf:


Brown Sock:

I bought this yarn with Project Spectrum in mind, but I didn't get around to it in time. Instead I was inspired by the SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous) Knit-A-Long for October. Anything with cables fits, so I cast on for Spring Cable by Elinor Gray.
I made a few modifications to the pattern. The seed stitches are 5 wide (instead of 3) with 6 stitch wide cable - I wanted to have the cable come down as an extension of the 2x2 ribbing. Since I made the cable wider, I am crossing the cable every 8th round instead of 7th.
I love the simplicity of this pattern, and I also love the Cherry Tree Hill yarn - it is so soft and squishy.
For some reason the brown color with cables screams fall to me.

A chance to check in...

I finally have a chance to check in.
It's nap time... so I am going to try and be quick while I have a chance and do a speedy update.

For those of you who know Davin, he has started a blog for his time in the windy city: Going Places, Seeing Stuff
We've been attempting to use Skype and such to keep in touch, but nothing is like having him here.

Last Saturday's craft fair with Shelly was a lot of fun. Not as much selling as we would have liked, but then the crowd really was not there for a craft fair and spending money. They were there for a college homecoming and football game. So if you keep that in mind, I think we did pretty well.

Movie Night that same Saturday was great. The rain cleared up, and it got a bit warmer.
The Goonies brought tears to my eyes I was laughing so hard - especially the first 20 minutes. Ya gotta love the 80s and PG movies before the PG13 rating.

I am taking a graduate level class with a number of other educators which meets once a month. It started this week, and I had to smile when the instructors explained that we had to keep a blog as part of the course. Many of the other participants were a little shaken at this announcement. I think I may be able to pull it off. :)

As for knitting... I finally have a photo (albeit one with poor color quality) of the latest Sweet Baby Cap by Gro.

I am not such a fan of the pooling mid way up, but that's math for you - even the koigu I used (which I think of as pretty pool-resistant) pooled a bit on the two other hats.

I have been a little quieter than usual in the blog-o-sphere with so much going on, I am hoping things will slow down a bit now and feel closer to normal. We will have to see.