Riding Lesson

Corbin had his first Horseback Riding lesson today!!! I must admit I am living a bit vicariously through him as I have had a life long love of horses! He took a bit to warm up to his instructor (as expected) however he was talking normally to her by the end of the lesson! I look forward to many more. He did so well following her direction and it was exciting to experience my child's success. He had a session in their riding corral and then he got to go on a trail ride. He and I can't wait for him to go back.

Here's a couple of pics :)

also an apology for the !!! I am really excited about his lessons :)

New Zealand Pullover

So my pattern for the New Zealand Pullover (rav link) arrived in the mail and so the shawl has to take second seat at least until I can determine how long this pullover will take. I am SO excited to be working on this though as I am making it for my husband. He has wanted me to make him a sweater for a long time. When I saw this pattern I knew it would be for him. I did the swatch as prescribed by Elizabeth and washed and blocked it. I am getting 5.75 stitches to the inch and this will be the smallest gauge that I have ever knit an adult sweater. This will also be the largest sweater I have ever knit. So....I am a little nervous at how long it will take me. It is mostly stockinette so it will be fast on that account, but with probably 4-5 hours knitting yesterday at least, I have 3.5-4" on the body. I'm knitting it in Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Wool, their Burnt Orange color. It is one of my favorite yarns. I LOVE the resulting fabric. Below is a picture of the yarn, I will try to get some WIP pics when there is more to show :)

Also this will be one of the classes I am teaching in the fall at The Yarn Branch. We're doing "A Study in Elizabeth Zimmerman", with a choice in projects of either the Baby Surprise Jacket or the New Zealand Pullover. Both are unisex and can be knit in any weight yarn. I think this will make for a great class!

Through the Loops Summer Shawl KAL

So I jumped in! I have tons of knitting to get done, but I could not resist joining this KAL. I started the Cladonia shawl yesterday. I had purchases the pattern within minutes of seeing it. I am doing it out of my Cashnyro yarn in Big Blue World and Verily Verde. I am already about half way through the stripes, but I am getting into the "long" rows. Still trying to decide which color I will use where in the lace borders.

Also this is definitely helping to tide me over as I wait for Elizabeth Zimmerman's new book Knit One Knit All.

Also here is a gratuitous darling pic of Corbin with Oakley

Summer

Well we're now into Alaska summer. The leaves have popped and I have definitely been keeping busy!! We now have a puppy and we LOVE him. He has been the easiest puppy ever so far. Easy to train and very loving. He's done really well with the boys and they are doing great with him too.

Lots of sewing and knitting have been happening and I have so much to catch up on picture wise. I will try to do a collage or something. Just the thought of catching up is daunting so I might just let myself off and the hook and do better with future projects.

Here is a sweet picture of Oakley sleeping in Corbin arms :)

Valentines Day

I find this holiday more fun now that I have children to celebrate it with. I told them we would have a special lunch....pink pancakes and eggs! They got a huge kick out of it :) I even made the pancakes into heart shapes! John and I are going out tonight after I get off work and I'm looking forward to that. Although today's lunch was a pretty fun way to celebrate our love as a family!

P.S. The eggs turned out prettier then the look in the picture lol.

Finished - Yellow Brick Road Gone Girly!

So yesterday I busted out the quilting and binding on this Yellow Brick Road quilt. It took right around 7 hours! Whew, the boys were super co-operative (Noah napped during most of the quilting) and this was done without *almost* any strife. Only the end of the binding gave me fits, as I was trying out a new technique for meeting up the binding. It turned out great though I had to use my seam ripper a couple of times! I backed the quilt with minkee and I have to say I was VERY glad to have "basted" this using fabric spray adhesive. It really did a great job keeping the minkee in place rather than stretching. Now this quilt is ready for the baby shower on Sunday and I have a big weight off my shoulders. Just have one more coordinating burp rag to finish which should take all of 30 minutes!

Also finished up a pair of socks this morning, but as I was taking my first picture of them the battery on the camera died, so until next time on those. I am also waiting for my personal photographer (also known as my sister Whitney) to take some pics of me in my Undergrowth Hat and Hallet's Ledge Sweater so I can post about them!

A couple things from a BUSY Week!

So I won't touch on EVERYTHING I was busy doing this last week, but here are two accomplishments.

1. The boys room.

I forgot to take a before picture. But the upper half of the walls had been tarp blue. Not a bad color but it had been waiting a year for me to finish the room and I just woke up and realized that I never was going to want to spend the money on the paneling and chair rail. We have many more pressing fixes around that house. So I went to Lowe's and picked out some new paint. Went home and the next day jumped into painting mode! I taped, primed, and painted. here are the results. I'm very happy with it, and the boys (Corbin in particular) though it was a "beautiful blue". I had gone through their room a couple days before that and was ruthless. Now they have a nicely organized room with a place for everything. They have been doing much better at cleaning it up as well (which had been the real goal!).

2. Started a four patch posy quilt top.

This is one of the new classes this session at work. The sample is done in oriental prints and was just lovely. BUT! I have been dying to use a really bold and fun print and decided this was the time to try it! This is easier than some of the other patterns out there using the "stack and whack" method. It means layering four repeats (where the pattern 'repeats" across the fabric) exactly on top of each other and cutting them simultaneously to creat a kaleidoscope effect when they are pieced together. This was harder than I expected (though I should've known) and took me a long time (well longer than I thought it should have). I got it all cut out and have pieced 9 of the blocks so far. I think they are pretty cool. Here's how it looked as I went from step to step :)