Author Archives: Ali

Blue Booties!

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So, I went to a baby shower last night, and I whipped up some little blue baby booties and a hat for the little dude.

This was a super confusing pattern. OH my word.

But I eventually figured it out, with enough time to whip up a matching hat, to boot!

And in other good news, my car is fixed(ish)! The door latch is still broken, and has been for 2 years, (You can only open it from the inside, and only when the window is rolled down, yes, it’s a pain in the rear, but no one in Moscow carries parts to my car and it would be several hundred dollars just for the parts and we’ve put up with it for so long anyway that it doesn’t really bother us that much anymore) but we now have a functioning window! The poor guy at the window replacement place told me it would only take a hour… so I waited for an hour. Then another hour, then another hour… then I went back in there to see what was going on and it was obvious that the guy was having a rough time with my door. Apparently my silly German car makes even simple little things extremely complicated. But the guy was nice and didn’t charge anything extra for two extra hours of labor, even though it took him 3x longer than he had told us. But huzzah, we have a window!

So, I probably won’t be checking in on the ol’ blog much this weekend because we have our second anniversary on Sunday! So we will be out celebrating!

Butternut Aidez Completed.

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So here is the Butternut (or Butterbutt) Aidez, in all her wooly glory. I finished it on Tuesday, actually, but you know, I needed to get a photo shoot and all that jazz in, so without further ado…

But maybe the sunlight is too bright here.

Yep, definitely too bright!

Come walk with me…over here, to the shade.

Ah, much better.

Sleeve detailing.

Back detail (and as an added bonus you get to see how crooked my back is!)

I feel compelled to tell you all now that this is not meant to be a maternity cardigan, and I didn’t knit it to be worn during pregnancy, so I am hoping the fit will be a bit… better by the fall. When I don’t have a seven month baby belly in the way.

But that being said, I am absolutely THRILLED with this sweater. I love it. And it wasn’t even as hard as I thought it would be. The pattern and directions were wonderful and I can’t praise the designer highly enough. This was a joy to knit and wearing it around town today I got lots of compliments!

So, if anyone is interested, I raveled it here, and here is the link to the pattern, should anyone want to attempt their OWN Aidez. (And you really should.. it’s so fun, we could start a club!)

Butternut Aidez

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So, when I originally typed the title of this post, I typed it as Butterbutt Aizez. And I almost left it, because that would have been more interesting. But anyway… Exciting knitting things are happening at La Casa Tong. Seriously!


Sorry for the poorly lit pictures, but this is my Aidez BLOCKING. Yep, that means all the actually knitting is DONE and all I have to do now is wait for it to be done blocking and then seam it all together!

Those are some sleeves and one of the front panels.

The front panels almost look like an outline of the state of Idaho!

And now I just have to seam them all together! And I am not sure how long that will take me because seaming is pretty much my least favorite thing to do. But I will be sure to let you know as soon as I finish it, although I am not sure it’s going to fit me right now, being 7 months pregnant, but you know, I’ll probably model it for you guys anyway.

Slouchy Hats

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I made two more slouchy hats.

Forgive the crappy pictures, it’s been one of those days.

The lovely self portrait.

And now they are on their way to a lovely girl in Portland.

I think it’s nice that my knit things are going all over the Northwest.

Taking pictures of the back of your head is kind of difficult… hah.

It’s been pouring down rain all day. Which is weird, since yesterday it was 76 degrees and extremely sunny and warm. And of course it has to rain on the day after our car window gets broken and I have to drive to Pullman for my prenatal appointment in the rain with the water flying inside the car… that was fun. But the appointment went well, everything is looking good and baby Togglebuttons is as healthy as can be (also, he’s still very big.) I’ve been doing fairly well. I haven’t gotten really sick in about a month, so that’s been a huge blessing. Still dealing with the evening sickness, but I’ve managed to put on 3 pounds now, so that’s good. I think I’ll have to do a baby stuff post soon, because as of today I just got a BUNCH more baby stuff, so excited!

More Weekend Adventures

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So we went exploring again this weekend. It was super awesome.


Paul and I definitely both have this fascination with graveyards. The more rural and old, the better.

And it was also pretty much the nicest day so far this year, so it was a great day to go driving all around Troy, Genesee and Deary.

75 and sunny! It was absolutely perfect weather.

And weird bugs. There are weird bugs in the Palouse.


But there are always pretty flowers.

And pretty trees.

And random little antique stores tucked away in the countryside.

And sad little broken headstones.

And lots of great views of the wonderful Palouse. Seriously, there are few places as beautiful as the Palouse in the springtime. Really, really beautiful. (also, isn’t my husband cute?)

Hope I didn’t overload you too much with pictures. But hey, it’s my blog so I can do what I want, right? Oh, also I’ve finished up a few hats since I blogged last, so I’ll be back early next week to show you those!

Baby Boy Blue Blanket

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So, I’ve got all these big projects in the works, and none of them are finished, so I thought I would take a break from actually working on them to show you some of the stuff I’m doing. This is my Baby Boy Blue Blanket, for Togglebuttons.

It’s definitely turning out bigger than I thought it would.

But I am love-love-loving the colors together and the way it’s striping up.

Aren’t those some good boy-ish colors? I think so.

I can’t wait to wrap him up in it! I can’t believe how rapidly September is coming…

Memorial Day Fun

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Paul and I went on a hike on Memorial Day, because it was surprisingly nice out! (It was supposed to be yucky out, so that was a pleasant surprise!)

We went to the old University of Idaho Arboretum, which was in FULL bloom!

I was a bit unprepared for how hard hiking is when you’re in your last trimester, though.

So we spent a lot of time resting on logs and taking a breather.

We did get plenty of bug bites during the walk though… I always forget about the bugs…

But even with the bugs, it was still really pretty. I definitely recommend that all you Moscowvites should go check out the old UI Arboretum. If I could hike it while big and pregnant, (and in flipflops, nonetheless) well then you can do it to.

But we had a great time. And then we went out for my belated Birthday lunch, since we were out of town for my actual birthday.


The waitress brought out this ginormous piece of cake as a surprise. Seriously, between Paul and I we only ate about 1/3 of it. It was a very, very large cake.

And then we took a little walk through the Lawson Gardens in Pullman and there were so many tulips in bloom!

Are you tired of looking at flower pictures yet? Well, too bad, I’ve got a few more.

Ok, we’re almost done.

Ok, nearly done.

Alright, I’m done with the flowers. For now.

Did you do anything exciting for Memorial Day?

Baby Owen’s Hoodie

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Remember that hoodie I made for Baby Owen? Well, his momma put up a picture of him wearing his little hoodie! Wanna see how cute he is?

I am totally geeking out about how cute he is!

I’ll also try to post tomorrow about all of our  Memorial Day adventures, we did all kinds of fun stuff around Moscow and Pullman!

26 Weeks!

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Today was really nice out, and after a quick morning at the Farmers Market (Got some delicious asparagus and some rhubarb) we decided to take a trip down to Kendrick, which is a small town about 30 minutes outside of Moscow. We stopped at an old graveyard on our way back and took some pictures.

I feel like my belly has really expanded a lot in the last two weeks.

Feeling pretty good, other than the regular pregnancy things, heartburn, backaches, still throwing up a lot, but I guess that just can’t be helped, it is what it is, and I’m 2/3 the way through it, so I’m counting that as a blessing!

We had a lot of fun today driving around the country. The Palouse is such a scenic place to live, and while there may not be tons to do in Moscow, the scenery makes up for it. Especially on nice days like today!

Homemade Mac n Cheese

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I have had some strong cravings for cheesy pasta lately, so we decided to make mac ‘n cheese the other night, and it turned out SO good.

Seriously, seriously good. Here is the recipe: (I found it on allrecipes.com)

  • 8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
  • 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 pinch paprika

Directions

  1. Cook macaroni according to the package directions. Drain.
  2. In a saucepan, melt butter or margarine over medium heat. Stir in enough flour to make a roux. Add milk to roux slowly, stirring constantly. Stir in cheeses, and cook over low heat until cheese is melted and the sauce is a little thick. Put macaroni in large casserole dish, and pour sauce over macaroni. Stir well.
  3. Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs and brown. Spread over the macaroni and cheese to cover. Sprinkle with a little paprika.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Serve.

I substituted elbow macaroni noodles for shells, which is what we had on hand. I also added two handfuls of chopped ham to it, since we were just doing that as our main dish without any side-dishes. I also shredded provolone cheese on the top instead of using the Parmesan. Seriously, so good! Give it a try, you will not regret it.