when bad knitting happens to good people

There once was a sweater. It had a body, arms and a yoke on it's way to being finished. The owls were half way done when a funny looking stitch was spotted.


Without thinking I tinked back to that stitch and came across something I've never seen before. So I tinked back more stitches and was once again stumped.


I couldn't understand why the yarn came from the left then went back the same direction.

So I decided to rip back completely to that spot to reknit. As I was pulling out the circular, the piece that attaches the needle tip to the cable broke.


As colorful words started to spew out of my mouth I realized that the funky stitch that I saw was a wrapped stitch from the short row shaping. I created this huge mess for nothing. I blame the mass amounts of sugar I consumed that day.

Needless to say, the owl sweater is in time out.

Blake turns 6!

On Saturday my little girl turned 6.


It amazes me to see pictures of her so young. Was she really that small?



Did she really have all that attitude... even at that age?


I wonder where she get's it from? ;-)

Saturday was filled with presents, cake and laughter. We were lucky to have one of Blake's oldest chums over for a play date. This was the first time she had a friend over to play in the new house and she was the perfect hostess showing Katie every toy she owned.

They geeked over making a fort and played in barbietopia that sprung eternal in the room of pink.



Why yes, there are over 30 barbies in that house.


And yes, they are having one heck of a party! And so did my princess.

Only in Portland

conversation had last night.

me: "So honey, what did you do today?"

c: "Oh...you know. I biked naked down Mount Tabor. The Flaming Lips were shooting a music video."

me: "cool...so what do you want for dinner?"

LOL. At least chris wore my hand knit socks during the shoot!!

Monkey Bar Peeps

Yesterday I volunteered at Blake's school for two hours. It was a great time for me to see what goes on in her classroom and for me to get to know the kids a bit more.

Blake made a couple of friends. They hug in the morning when they see each other. My heart just filled up with rainbows and cupcakes when I saw this!!

During recess Blake, who had dressed herself in a wild colorful skirt and black tank-top, started to climb the monkey bars. A boy ran right under her, looked up, than ran away! I couldn't believe my eyes!

Later that night Blake started doing flips off the couch when I saw some blue under her skirt. "Are you wearing Bloomers?" I asked. "Yup." she said matter of fact.

I've never been so proud! Forget about her ability to count to 100 or write out words she sounds out herself. She wore fricken bloomers to protect her underwear from being viewed by little boy eyes!

Awesome!!

First Day of School

Blake's first official day of school was Friday.

I drove her to Sitton Elementary and walked her in. She was nervous. Okay okay... I must admit I was a little nervous as well. We've been to Sitton before on a previous carnival event earlier this year so that part wasn't new for her. It was the kids and the organized chaos that ensued.

After the first bell we walked to Room 1. There were a few other kids there with their families. One thing I love about North Portland is the diversity we have. We heard many languages, saw a lot of different skin tones and even a blue mohawk.

We found her hook to hang her back pack and she picked a spot at one of the four tables to sit in. She was quiet so I was hesitant to leave. But I bucked up, gave her a kiss and hug and backed out of the kindergarten room waving and giving thumbs up the entire way.

When I picked her up she was all smiles. "I LOVE school!!" she yelled. And for the first time this week I relaxed, sighed and enjoyed the moment as she told me about her day.

Ranen turns 10!!

Thursday was Ranen's Tenth birthday. 10. We are talking double digits and it's totally freaking me out.


Ranen isn't a huge fan of cake (i know!) so we opted for donuts and candles in lieu of.

After ice cream and donuts, he opened his presents. As a right of passage, Chris bought Ranen a full stereo set including a turn table.

Chris did an excellent job picking up records that would appeal to a preteen including Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, The Doors and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among others.

In the past couple of days we've heard the following from Ranen. "Hey guys, I'm going into my room for a while." followed by heavy metal and the sound of banging feet.

.... and so it begins!

Blake's unofficial start.

Today was the official start of the school year for most kids, but for the kindergarten class at Sitton the first three days are dedicated to one on one assessment meetings with the teacher. I really don't know who was more anxious, Blake or me.


All my worries were for not. She and the teacher got along famously. Blake answered all her questions and showed she was more then ready to be a school kid.

Later I cried. I could blame it on the moon or the hormones, but it was more of a realization that my daughter is about to start a whole new phase in her life. It's scary and awesome all at the same time.

Yaaaarn

Yarn. Oh how do I love thee. And what better way to spend a wonderful afternoon then with great friends, yarn and lots of color!

So this is what happens when someone gives me permanent dye.


Honestly I was a little confused on which direction to go. Part of me wanted perfection. Perfect stripes in multiple colors gently flowing together in a perfect representation of a color wheel. The other part of me wanted to say "frick you perfection!". I wanted to let my hair down and play. So what eventually happened was the mental struggle captured on this blank starting from left to right and ending with Blake's name written on top. How will this knit up as socks? Who knows...but I'm kind of curious to find out!

The next two sock blanks I already had planned in my head. At the sock summit I fell in love with the thought of stripped knee highs. My favorite colors are maroon and green and even though I was risking looking like a walking Christmas advertisement, I went for it.


I don't think this combo will look too christmasy...right? Knee Socks. Rock!

I was a blown away by what my fellow knitters did. The engineer had the most freeflowing and creative samples, the professor had an amazing eye for color, the lawyer had me drooling with her overdye and the teacher kept spitting out color combos that I never would have thought would work...but they did. And they were wonderul. Everyone did amazing work.

So now I need more time to knit. Good thing I finished the promised doggie sweater for Blake's day care provider!




Molly was gracious enough to pose! What a cat!!

Baby Presents

Today we planned on attending the Pumpkin Patch opening of their Trailblazer Corn Maze. Unfortunately it was a downpour this morning and as much as we are hard core Portlanders who are not afraid of a little rain, cold mud on the other hand didn't sound as much fun as bowling.

Blake dressed herself. And Ranen ended up beating my score.


I also finished a gift package for Chris's band mate who is expecting a child at the end of this month.


The highlights:

A self screenprinted onesie with the band's logo on the front.

And their tagline on the butt. I know...chris made me do it!


I also made a stuffed elephant.


There's an embroidered heart on the front and the Pan's symbol on the butt. I was inspired by Care Bears.


And of course, the Norwegian Sweet Cap...modeled here by Blake's baby doll.


Since we don't know the sex of the baby I kept the colors as neutural as I could. Everything is machine washable...a must for babies. I hope they like it!