Life lately.

Life, man. Sometimes it takes over and it’s all you can do to keep your head above water. That’s been January for us. My car is totaled and we need to wait until we get our tax return to buy a new one, and turns out the door of our other car is going to cost almost a thousand dollars to fix instead of like 200, like we initially thought. Luckily a friend from work is able to give me a ride to and from work every day- which is amazing and super helpful and Pauls dad is letting us borrow his car until we get our other car back from the shop.

It’s hard being away from Sam so much. I’m really not used to it yet, and it seems very strange to me that I have to spend so much of my day without him, especially since he goes to bed early in the evenings still. But I know he has a blast with his babysitter and her son who is the same age as Sam. He’s gotten a lot less clingy since he’s started going to the sitters, which has been nice for all of us! His health problems seem to be winding down as well. No phantom fevers in two months (YAY) and only a few minor rashes, all of which have been fairly easy to clear up! He is still sleeping poorly, but we’re not sure if he’s teething or a growth spurt or what, but he hasn’t been a happy camper at night recently.

Work is going well. I’m in final testing, which means that I take electrical relays and I hook them up to computers and run tests on them to make sure they are running the way they are supposed to.  It’s pretty interesting work and I can listen to my iPod while I work which is great. It was a bit hard after the accident because it’s all standing, which was kind of hard when my ankle looked like this.

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Most of my bruising is gone now, but the lovely green and yellowish tinge on both of my shins and my hip. It’s kind of gross looking- but feels a lot better than it did a week ago! I’ve been seeing a chiropractor as well, which has helped unlock my neck, but my hips are still pretty out of whack. Luckily my rods didn’t break and there was no real damage to my spinal fusion. Unfortunately the top two vertebrae (the only two of the top that aren’t fused) took the brunt of the movement and locked up pretty badly. It’s going to take a bit more chiropractic work to get them back in position, as well as possibly some physical therapy for my hips.

I’ve got a few more projects Im working on that will get their way onto the blog sometime this week. Mostly just hats, but also working on a baby blanket for a darling little baby Hugh! Hopefully I’ll get into the swing of life again in February and posting won’t be too sporadic and maybe I’ll get some actual knitting done!

 

Dragon! Rawr!

I made a Dragon for my sweet cousin Logan.

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I really like this guy. He’s awfully fun. If I get some spare time (hah!) I might try to make one for Sam. But for now I’ve got to finish up the last few of my custom orders. I’ll feel much better once those are behind me, I hate making people wait for them for too long. I’ve got a sweater to finish up, hopefully this weekend and that will be IT for my custom orders!

Work is going well so far. Sam is loving hanging out with his buddy Caden all day. He’s napping well there and getting lots of play time. Sam is a very social kid, so being around other people all day is great for him. He’s happy as a clam and I’m not constantly fretting about how he’s doing. He loves their two dogs, too! I gotta admit, I was pretty anxious about leaving him all day, but he seems to be doing great and putting all my fears to rest.

Now back to knitting!

Felted Slippers!

I made a pair of felted slippers for my “Secret Santa” this year!

They start out huge!

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But after a quick wash they felt down pretty fast!

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Also, Sam got his first big “boo-boo” today. He fell down in the kitchen and bonked his head on a cabinet.

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He is doing fine now, but poor buddy bonked it so hard! We’ve got a show tonight at Bucer’s (7:30-10:30 TONIGHT!!!) then we’re leaving for Tacoma hopefully first thing in the morning! Merry Christmas!

 

 

School Colors

 

For Paul’s dad and his step-mom Gloria I decided to make them school color hats (Since he works at U of I and she works at WSU!)

Gold and silver, for the Vandals!

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And Crimson and Grey for the Cougars!
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I tried really hard to make the stripes “random”, but it was harder than I thought. I kept feeling like they were not balanced right. So my “random” striping turned into very methodical counting and some math. But I really like the way they turned out, so it was worth it. And now I can get the “random” look of striping, without it actually being random. (I’m too much of a control freak for that.)

More Christmas knits to come!

Cabled Christmas

A family set of commissioned stockings! I actually made the middle one last year, and she asked me to make the cabled ones for the mama and the papa of the family. Pictures did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but they’ve already been delivered, so oh well, live and learn and buy a new camera lens, right? (Mine is currently broken and is taking very fuzzy pictures. Boo!)

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The stocking on the right is actually a deep forest green. The color isn’t showing up quite right, but it’s really a lovely yarn!

I’ve got lots of Christmas present knits to show you guys- they’re just not given to their respective recipients yet, so stay tuned.

PS Did you notice it’s snowing on the blog????

Little Turtle

 

A custom order for a little blue turtle. He’s awfully cute and tiny.

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He can fit in the palm of your hand!

But, that’s all I’ve got time for today. Back to frantic Christmas knitting!

 

Fair Isle Stockings

This is hands down my favorite project I’ve ever worked on. I absolutely had a blast making these custom fair isle stockings. Each family member has a different animal, the dad (Adam) got a wolf, the mom (Cathlin) wanted a horse, and of course, an elephant for their daughter Eleanor!

Paul made the charts for me to knit the animals, everything else I came up with on my own pattern for using graph paper and just trial and error. Otherwise it’s just like making a really, really large sock. These things are pretty big and nice and stretchy and ready to be filled up with presents!!

 

 

 

Rockford Socks

Someone commissioned a pair of Rockford socks for Christmas and I was so excited to make them! I don’t make socks very often at all (In fact it’s been a few years!) so I was really happy to get to make something other than a hat or stuffed animal. I’m really pleased with the way they turned out!

 

 

 

 

 

Paul tried them on for me to make sure the fit was correct, and he declared them “the most comfortable socks I’ve ever worn”. I asked him if he wanted a pair and he said no, because he would feel too badly if he got a hole in them. Hah! So apparently he’ll stick with his Walmart tube socks…

And back to knitting stockings!

Last Minute Hat

It was 3:0opm when I realized I had forgotten to make a present for the baby shower I was going to that evening at 7. So I quickly cast on  hat, but I wanted it to be a little bit interesting, so I grabbed a contrasting color and got to work. This is what ended up coming out of it:

My good ol’ coffee canister back to modeling newborn sized hats!

I like this little circle thing happening here. It reminds me of the circus, but I’m not entirely sure why.

Working on lots of Christmas presents and custom orders at the moment, so not a whole lot to blog about, but we’re definitely keeping busy over here! Sam has gotten a lot better about independent play, which helps me get things done and knit at a faster pace. He’s learning and growing so fast- it’s amazing to watch! I am getting really excited about Christmas this year, I think he’ll really enjoy opening presents and celebrating with everyone.

What are you working on?