Springtime Bandit

Thank you for your comments on Wordpress.  It sounds like if I mess around with it a little I'll like it just as much as blogger.  Apples and Oranges, but still a great fruit you can enjoy year round.  Don't expect a change anytime soon.  I have to set everything up first.

Once school starts it's time to get ready for fall.  Though in Southern California the summer weather is just starting.  This last week had to be the hottest of this year.  We'll get fall sometime around Thanksgiving.  Then there is the January and February warm up.  I remember going to the beach in a bikini for a Super Bowl party once.  We finally have our winter April thru June-ish.  Really it's just the rainy season.

Anywho, I get in the fall mood and start knitting all those warm woolens again, but I have enough time to finish a couple of projects before I really need to use them.  Then I get to go shopping for the right stuff to wear with it.

Speaking of fall fashions, I need to buy rain boots while they are in stock.  Because today there were thunderstorms!  I love it. As you can see BG doesn't.  Weird SoCal weather.

I started this right after school was back in session.  I love making shawls because they seems so fast.  Of course when you get to a couple hundres stitches on the needles it can take an eternity to knit a row.  But by then the pattern is memorized and I get anxious to see how the colors will match up.  I don't make huge shawls either.  I like mine to act more like scarves.

That is why when I saw the worsted weight Springtime Bandit (rav) I fell in love.  I mean really, bigger yarn.  I can knit this up so quickly that way. 

I used Malabrigo Silky which is closer to a DK weight on size US 8 needles.  My gauge was 5st/inch opposed to the 4st/inch that the pattern calls for.  I stuck with this gauge because I liked the way the stitches draped.  I made up for the loss by working an extra round of the body pattern.  My finished triangle was 50x36x22 inches, so slightly larger than the finished measurements in the pattern, 50x33x20.  I lightly steam blocked in with my iron, so I'm certain I could of skipped the extra repeat and blocked it out larger.

I think that I am starting to fall out of love with Malabrigo.  Even though I pick out the same dye lots and try to match up skeins that look alike, I still find huge variations in the color saturation.  I had this problem with the Kids February Sweater that I made BG and actually re knit the entire thing to try to resolve it.  The problem was not resolved after changing around the skeins.

Here in the variegated colorway I came across the same problem.  In the first skein the blues and yellows are very prominent while in the second skein they blend into the purples and grays more.  If you are looking for it, you can see it in the above shot. While being worn, this is not noticeable because the shawl is folded up on itself.

By the time I started on the third skein the yellows and blues were starting to pop again.  Normally this is my queue to start frogging.  That's a bad habit that I am trying to break.   It was also just the last ten rows so I'm ignoring it.  We are talking big steps here people.  That and I'm tired of reknitting things.

Thinking About Changing

This morning, after the big mommy walk, I sat down at the computer to get some things done.

There were mommy group emails to be sent out.  I'm the self appointed Birthday Coordinator.  This came about because I had a Cupcakes in the Park event to celebrate when LG turned one.  It was originally one of my Picnics in the Park that I regularly host turned into plus cupcakes.  I had said no gifts, but mommies wanted to bring on anyways, so there were gifts also.

Then other moms wanted to add their baby's birthday on the group calendar and it turned into a bit much.  The organizer said no birthday parties are allowed.

Now I feel guilty...

So, once a month I retitled my regular park event to celebrate the birthdays.  It's turning into a lot of work trying to coordinate other people's schedules.

--

Then there were emails that needed to be read from the Room Mom coordinator.   BG volunteered me for that by telling her teacher that I would be room mom without telling me.  I went to the meeting yesterday and there are actually going to be two of us for our classroom.  It really can't be done by one mom and we are both glad to be able to help and get help. 

I'll also be teaching the 4-time a year art class to the kids and going on all the field trips as mandated by BG. 

I did want to be more active this year and it's either help at school or become a Girl Scout leader.

--

Finally a little bit of blogging and the main point of this post.

I'm thinking about switching the blog over to Wordpress.  Mainly because they require an email address when leaving a comment.  All the comments that I get come from <noreply-comment@blogger.com>.  Currently there are three people that I can write back to because I already have their emails.  Hi Michelle, Desi, my sister.  I normally just call Senora Fuerte.

With the mommy group I've suddenly had an increase in readers and I want is to be able to write little thank yous and replies.  I would like to be able to use my iPhone email to get this done and that is less time spent on the computer.  I currently have moments in the day, like while waiting for school to get out or when nursing BG, that I can use my phone to write short emails.  Right now I'm just playing Pocket Frog.

I know some of you use Wordpress and some of you have used both.  Can you give me a little feedback?  

Oh, and thank you.

Elijah II

Meet the drummer (swoon) of our little safari band.  It's Elijah II. (rav)

 

The first time I knit an Elijah it took me a week.  This time it took me the entire eight weeks of summer.  The delays were things like the 2.5 hour nap that LG took on my chest today because every time I tried to transfer her she would wake up.  I think she's getting another molar?

This Elijah is made with Malabrigo Worsted, so he is larger than the pattern calls for.  I tried to not over stuff him.  I want a cuddly elephant.  I had taken a few pictures to post on Friday and then realized that he had a very deflated face.  I didn't quite give his head enough stuffing. Oops.

New photos were taken and I'm very happy with this one.  It's on one of our black chairs and I'm hiding the busy background with an old work apron.  Before the pictures were in the backyard and the colors were very washed out.

I do love the dark purple of the yarn.  It's call Purple Magic.  It's a great shade if you have a Halloween knit coming up.  I kept his eyes simple for little kids to play with him.  Just an embroidered "x" for each eye.  They aren't really knotted in there, so I hope neither of the kids figures out that all they need to do is pull the thread out of his head.  If they ever do, it's take all of two minutes to fix. 

Okay, LG is definitely teething.  She has just fallen asleep again on my lap as I try to type this.   I'm glad a friend is picking up BG from school today.

The Swing

Have I ever told you that LG loves to swing?  It has been her favorite activity at the park for quite awhile now.  I've gotten to the point that I don't even try to get her off the swing.  She loves it.  

A friend of ours handed down their daughter's old backyard swing when she had outgrown it.  It took me a couple of weeks to head over to Home Depot to pick up rope to hang the swing.  When I bought the rope, we went to a different park near all the shopping centers.  LG got a little weird there.  I don't know if it is because we were with different friends?  Maybe it was because I had a mommy friend to talk to and was distracted while pushing her?  LG suddenly didn't want to swing.  I didn't think twice about it.

We played, ate lunch and then headed home to hang her swing.  Turns out that it is more difficult to hang a swing in a tree than you would think.  You really need an almost level branch and we don't have any trees with level branches.  

 

I finally decided to hang the swing off the upstairs patio.  It's on the far side of the yard and the ground can get a little soggy there sometimes, but it really was the best place to hang a swing.  Oh, and I have mastered the Fisherman's Bend Knot.  

Mastered.

I put LG in the swing, scratch that.  I tried to put LG in the swing, but she would have nothing to do with it.  I'm still pondering why.  Is it because the handles are a little different than the swings at our park, but the same as the swings at the new park?  Is it because it's bright yellow?  It must be a phase that she is going through.  Right?  RIGHT!!!???

As far as the swing in our backyard, it's not lonely.  

BG had some friends over the other day.  I saw them head over to the swing and decided to spy on them.  I was laughing so hard by the time they spotted me.

I guess it's a good thing that I got a strong rope.  Well, at least up to 124lbs. and it's doubled on both sides.  I told the girls that only one of them is allowed to swing at a time. 

They were very excited to hear that this is an OK to play on toy.

BG and I had a chat later.  We have enough space off the patio that she would like me to add a swing seat and a swing disk.  Our backyard is turning into a little playground with a picnic table, a $2 garage sale kiddie slide and the swing.  Any other toys that you can think of that we need?

I'm gonna have to start buying stronger ropes.

Potholders

Here's a fun little craft that the kids enjoyed during the summer.  BG and I had fun making these together.  Well, it was kinda more like she got bored after five rows of weaving and I finished them. 

Hey Sissy, what are these?

This is your basic $5 kit from the craft store.  It comes with a loom, hook and enough stretchy bands to make four potholders.  Next time I head back to the store I'll pick up the refill kit.  Then we will have enough supplies to make potholders for all the friends that BG wants to share them with.

 These are pretty cool.

BG then gave them out to the neighborhood friends as gifts.  One was out the door and gone before I even knew it.  Then as she was giving away the second potholder, I quickly finished the last one and snapped some pictures with LG's help. 

 I think I like this one.

I told BG that I was going to tell all her friends that I had them.  I was then immediately sworn under the power of the Pinky Promise to say that BG made them and I had nothing to do with it.  Pinky Promise, that's powerful stuff there.

I'm just gonna...

In all these were a very fun project.  The most fun was in picking out the colors.  BG likes the colorblock patterns, like the pink/purple one, more than the striped patterns, like the yellow, orange, green and white one.  Deciding which colors went to which friends was a lot of fun, too.  Like she has a friend that loves yellow and another that likes pink.  BG is a little bit more into blue these days, so you can guess which one she wants to keep for herself.

... mine...

That is if her little sister doesn't steal them all.

Yosemite

One more post about our family vacation and then we can get back to the crafting.

We car camped while we were in Mammoth Lakes.  This is different from say, backpack camping or backyard camping.  It's basically regular camping when you put your car up to a campsite and pitch a tent, then pack up when you are done.  While we were in Yosemite, we hoteled it. 

Funny thing, we had cell phone and internet connection the entire time in Mammoth and nothing in Yosemite.  Well, there were the computers in the lobby that you could of paid for by the hour but we weren't doing that.  This is all very important because we like Facebook.  Can you say, "addicted." At least I kicked the Farmville habit this summer. 

Oh and yes it is roughing it when you have your iPhone.  It's not like I could roast marshmallows on my campfire app.

We had a great time in the park.  We rented bikes and cruised around the entire place, twice.   Stopped to hike here and there, and got lemonade at the Ahwahnee Hotel.  I have to admit that I was happy to be on the bike after all the hiking we did in Mammoth.  And BG was happy when I told her we would skip the last hike to a waterfall for the day. 

Here are just a few quick pictures taken by my husband while we were there. 

Sisters in front of Yosemite Valley Chapel. 

Crossing the mighty Merced River.

Hiking up to the beautiful lower Yosemite Falls.

Half Dome from the valley floor.

At the Ahwahnee Hotel.

Looking down on the valley and a view of Half Dome from Glacier Point.