SomerKnits

I'm guest posting again today over at  The Cloth Diaper Whisperer .  This particular post is about how everything is prettier when you cloth diaper and its absolutely 100% true.  :-) It is easy to write about things that are going on in your life and right now there is much more going on in the world of diapering than in the world of knitting.  I have been inspired recently though and my fingers are itching to knit.  I am hoping over the holiday weekend to get to do a bit of that. And for absolutely no reason at all other than cuteness, I will leave you with this picture from Museum Babies.  (BTW - if you live in Tulsa and haven't heard of Museum Babies, go to the Gilcrease website to read up on it.  They are on a break for the summer but we can't wait to start back up in the fall!!)

In celebration of reaching 100 facebook fans I am having a giveaway.  There will be not just one but three winners!  Up for grabs are 1 pair of felted wool dryer balls and 2 sets of stitch markers.  Each set of stitch markers will be a set of 5 coordinating markers. This is my first rafflecopter giveaway, I though I would give it a try and see how it goes.  I am leaving the giveaway open until the 20th to give everyone time to enter.  :-) Thanks for helping me meet this milestone.  No matter how small it may seem to some, it means a lot to me! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my Grandma and my Mimi.  I love you all and Evelyn does too! 4 Generations Evelyn's First Ball Game Visiting Mimi, Evelyn is full of giggles! First Wedding First Valentine's Day and First Tea Party! Snuggles from Great-Grandma Pat My first Mother's Day was wonderful and I hope yours was too.  I got to knit!!  Really!  It was so nice. And my thoughtful husband built me a swing set!  If you know me, you know how awesome that is.  My first order of business will be to hang my hammock chair and have a nice lie-down and read a book, I can't wait!  :-) Before I head off to a much deserved soak in the tub, I want to take a minute to thank my wonderful mom.  Even though this was also her day she got up and fixed fantastic blueberry pancakes (my favorite) for a big family breakfast this morning.  Thanks for helping make my first Mother's Day special, Mom!   My mom is a wonder...

I am still not as good at time management as I would like to be but I am working on it.  I have cut down on TV so much.  I don't turn it on until after she is asleep and some nights not at all.  I don't want her getting all TV obsessed. I did another guest post for The Cloth Diaper Whisperer .  It all about pimping out my cloth diapers.  I am obsessed, I tell ya. Speaking of obsessed, I am obsessed with Rumpkinz  diapers.  Soooo cute!  I really, really NEED a Minion diaper .  I have 2 of her diapers so far, a Kermit the Frog face diaper and a Thing 1 Thing 2 diaper.   I really like them and they have hemp inserts.  Since I like them so much I am going to be hosting a co-op to order some at discounted prices (yay!) so hit me up if you might be interested.  We will have to get together at least the minimum order to qualify for co-op prices. Well, I will leave you with some phone pics of Baby Girl from Easter.  I know,...

Ok, it has taken me a while to get around to posting this.  Again.  But you can find me guest blogging  here at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer.    I decided that one of the best ways to get out that urge to gush incessantly about my love for cloth diapers would be to guest blog about it.  That way it doesn't totally take over this blog.  I'll be sure to mention it here when I do though, even if it is a little late. Back in the world of Knitting, my handspun cowl is done except for blocking!  It only took me 3 weeks to bind off!!  Oh well.  So, blocking and pictures, coming soon!!

Ok, well, thats being a little dramatic.  I get to knit for approximately 30 minutes once a week.  So I should be able to complete at least one project by maybe the middle of the summer. You see, there are so many things on the to do list that there just isn't a lot of time left over for knitting.  And its not just the 'have to do' list thats getting in the way.  Even the 'want to do' list is getting in the way. I have to get my living room feeling less claustrophobic.  The whole room has started to close in on me and its making me nuts.  To the point that I just want to box it all up and have the room be completely empty if thats what it takes to feel better about it.  And then I have to get my chaotic craft room/office under control.  Ever since we had to empty out the guest room to make it a nursery its been a disaster area, which is not at all conducive to effectively working.  Or crafting for that matter.  And then there is the ga...

I am making progress on that project I am knitting with my first handspun.  I LOVE how the colors are knitting up. I am going for the random or messy-on-purpose look here.  It seems to suit the unevenness of the yarn and playfulness of the many colors.  To achieve the messy look I am just doing YO, k2tog but changing up where the YO starts.  So basically if you looked really closely, every once in a while you would see a single knit next to a k2tog or a k3tog to change up the starting point. I am just about to start the border again and the bind off.  I will have to take a picture of the completed project just to post because the weather has gotten so warm I don't know if I will get to wear it this winter or if I will have to wait all the way until next! Not that I object, I am loving the warm weather. Well, except for the painful sinuses.

I'm still "making," even when I am not knitting as much.  Speaking of which, and I'll get on to the real topic in just a minute, I finally got up the guts to start knitting with that handspun I made so long ago.  It seriously feels like forever, I guess it was last spring though.  Anyway, it is on its way to becoming a cowl and I will definitely post pics when it is done. So my wee one and my cloth diapering adventures have inspired me to become a little more green (or a little more crunchy, as some might see it) in the rest of my life.  I've often thought about making my own cleaning products, but never got around to actually doing it.  I mean, yes, I did basic things like run vinegar through my coffee pot and pour baking soda followed by vinegar down a slow drain, but I had never sat down and worked on figuring out how to replace all of my household cleaners with stuff I made.  Luckily, I have friends who are just as in to this as I am, some with more e...

And by that I mean YUM!   Who knew? My friends and I, who all have babies 6 months and younger, decided during our weekly play date to make lactation cookies.  I scoured the internet and found these two recipes  that looked the best.  I had virtually everything in my cabinets, except brewers yeast, which turned out to be harder to find than I thought it would be, at least in scoop-able baking form.  We ended up having to hit up Akins for that, although Whole Foods likely would have had it too.  Reasors not so much.  They had a nice blank spot on their shelves where it should have been, but the employee I talked to couldn't tell me the last time they had actually gotten any in.  Hmm.  Anyway, back to the cookies.  If you click that link and read through all the helpful information and then the cookie recipes, we decided to start with the first one.  We used peanut butter, not almond butter, but I bet almond butter would be awesome....

I've been making dryer balls like a mad woman recently!  That is, when i am not holding or feeding Evelyn, who is still the sweetest, cutest baby around.  I'm making my dryer balls denser than before, which requires more wool and more felting, but its totally worth it.  And I am having way too much fun playing with color.  Who new you could have so much fun making balls out of wool? I took a big batch over to The Peaceful Housewife in Sand Springs earlier this week, so if you are looking to stock up, head over to her store or her website.  She will even custom scent them for you.  Speaking of The Peaceful Housewife, she will also be at Babyfest in Tulsa, which I hear is coming up pretty soon, so I will post more info on that as I get it.  Rumor has it she will be taking my dryer balls to Baby fest with her, so stop by and check her out.  Rumor also has it that local cloth diaper business Green Bees will be joining her.  Yay!  (I love...

I have put off picking out a baby book because I am just too dang indecisive.  I know I want something unique and interesting, not just an off the shelf baby book from someplace like Babies R Us.  Not that there is anything wrong with those, its just not what I have in mind.  So I have spent hours searching Etsy.  I have compared what the books on etsy offer to what commercially produced baby books on Amazon offer.  I believe I have narrowed it down to these three books.  Each has its pros and cons.  And each has its price.  So maybe you could help me out.  Give me your input. This first book is made by  Ruby Love Designs . Pros:   The cover is unique and interesting. Comes with 52 custom designed pages 20 blank pages for scrapbooking 24 adhesive photo sleeves A 14 month calendar with matching stickers Additional packages of pages available including 2nd year package, first holidays package, years 3-5 package and NICU page Cons:...

I had a knitting related post planned, I wanted to break it up a bit from all the baby related posts, but then I completely failed to take a picture of the little hat I made for my friend Ashley's baby, so that post went down the drain.  Perhaps Ashley would be kind enough to take a picture of little Miss Avery in the hat sometime.  But enough of my failings, on to the 4 week birthday of little Evelyn! Photo by Madison Vining Photography Somewhat knitting related, who remembers the silvery grey blanket I knit that won first in its category at the fair this year?  Yep, that one that Evelyn is on in the picture above.  Doesn't she look adorable?  Madison Vining took newborn pictures of Evelyn when she was 6 days old.  We had a fantastic time and I love, love, love all the photos.  Madison was a joy to work with and I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a fantastic and patient newborn photographer. Its already hard to believe she was that ...

Well, despite the fact that my right wrist has decided to not yet get over the whole carpal tunnel thing, I have knit (and completed) something!  I have a few things I have been working on, but I hadn't put all that much in to them recently.  But I finally sat down and knit on the same project from start to finish. Ok, so its a small cotton baby hat.  And I didn't swatch, so its not as small as I had intended and I have started another one on smaller needles (although between the smaller needles and the less stitches I may have over compensated...)  So take heart, my knitting mojo has not gone away!  (Its just slowed down a bit what with all the distractions) I'm excited for many things coming up.  Of course there is baby knitting, for both little Miss Evelyn and also for friends' babies.  Then there is the Indie Emporium Shop.  Have I mentioned that exciting news?  I think its going to be great!  And I was thinking maybe at some poi...

So I did the all words post, here is the picture post to go along with it.  I was too intent on writing it all out to worry about incorporating the pictures. 1/2/12 Me and Evelyn in the delivery room. All three of us, our first family picture. 1/3/12: Holding my baby girl in the NICU.  I hated that IV in her poor head.  1/4/12: My little glow-worm. Ben checking on our little glow-worm. 1/5/12: Diva Time.  1/6/12: Home!!  1/7/12: My clothes are all too big!!  At least I have my wubbanub. Ok, I will try not to inundate you with baby pictures, but I can say there will probably be more soon because we had the fantastic Madison Vining here last sunday taking newborn photos.  She took a ton and the previews so far are amazing.

Bear with me.  This will be long and detailed, but I want to have it for myself so I am not going to leave things out of edit it down to an easy read. When I went to a friend's New Years Eve party and stayed up until 1am, I had no idea I was going to be woken up at 5am with my first contraction.  Well, the first one strong enough to wake me up.  A big part of me thought the contractions would stop.  They were irregular and uncomfortable but not out of control.  I fell back asleep between each one just to be re-awoken 10-15 minutes later by the next one.  I did time them, even though I was sleeping in between, just so I would know.  I didn't have the heart to wake Ben.  After all, we had gone to bed at 1am!  And my living room was full of company, also sleeping, so I just stayed in bed.  At 6 I figured my mom was up so I started texting her.  I was hungry so I snuck out to the kitchen to get yogurt and then ran a warm bath.  I...

I write brilliant blog posts in the shower.  Really.  They are witty and insightful and focused.  And then I get out of the shower and there are a million other things waiting to be done and I get distracted and those well thought out blog posts fly away like they were never even there. I didn't blog as much as I wanted while I was pregnant.  I didn't blog as much as I wanted to about all of the exciting fall shows and things I was working on.  My blog is also having an identity crisis.  While I still want to focus on knitting and share what I do and learn and all, I may be transitioning to much more of a lifestyle blog because despite my best efforts, I am going to end up being one of those people who can't help but talk about their child and all that goes along with that. I only gave one knitted Christmas present this year.  It was a pair of beautiful brown socks knit in Happy Feet in a garter rib pattern.  I have been working on them for we...