A Labor of Love and bloody fingers

I did it! I finished Lilly's Easter sweater with one day to spare.  Mind you I have been working on this sweater jacket for over a month.  As the deadline was looming I spent more and more time knitting.....I felt like my fingers were going to bleed.  It was all worth it when I finally wrangled her into it.

And yes, I did have to wrangle her into it. More like chase her down the hall, pin her legs down and force her to try it on. After the initial fiasco of trying it on, she loves it.  I must admit I am proud as punch of it.  So, because I am so proud of myself,  I am now going to display hundreds, OK that might be and exaggeration, of pictures of Lilly and her sweater.

You can find the awesome pattern by Kate Gilbert here

New Home and New Hat

Yes, we frequently stay in our pajamas all day. Sue me

We now have 6 chicks, Penelope and Juniper hatched this week, living with us, and I decided it was time to get a bigger brooder. Having no more  boxes I went online and saw that someone had made a brooder out of a dog kennel, so that's what the kids and I set out to do.  The kids loved the project, but I'm not sure how much they really helped. We are all very proud of our new creation, and the chicks seem to love their new home.  I love walking past the room and glancing in to see what the chicks are doing. They are such adorable little creatures.

My son just sits and watches them now that he doesn't have to stand on a stool to see them

On a totally different not I've recently finished a hat for a lady who gave me to pictures and said, "put them together."  I did just that, and this is what it became.

This is not my hair arm or hand, this is my husbands. I just had to put that out there.

I think it turned out pretty cute.  I think it will look even better on the baby.  If I get picture I will be sure to post them up here.  

Lilly's Sweater Update: I am now shaping the armholes and am pretty happy with the project so far.  There are a few mistakes, and I don't love the yarn.  But the pattern is so beautiful that even my own ineptitude cannot ruin it.  I would like to have it done by Easter.  We'll see how that goes.

Hanging with the Chicks

On Tuesday afternoon, we became the proud owners of 4 little chicks.  After three long weeks of anxiously watching the incubator, our first batch of eggs hatched. I don't know who was more excited me or the kids.

 We were lucky enough to be able to watch them hatch.  The kids couldn't believe how big they were in comparison to the eggs. What a great learning experience for them, but who cares about that? Have you ever held a cute fluffy yellow little chick? They melted the heart of even my stubborn husband who wanted no part of having chickens.

We have no idea if they are girls or boys, but we're pretending they're girls.  We named them Hen (Henrietta), Lizzie (Elizabeth Bennett), Emma , and Fanny. Just take a gander.........

I think they might be a little frightened by the huge face in the corner

Adorable right? Sorry the pictures aren't great. I was do busy adoring them to take great pictures. I'll keep you updated with better pictures as they grow.

Crazy Spinning

I've done it! After three months of spinning five minutes here and there, I have finished my first skein of yarn in 15 years. The is the first yarn I have spun without my Grandmother's help, and gosh darn it, I think she would be proud.  My husband got me the fiber for Christmas.  Crazy colors right? I love it! I haven't decided what I'm going to knit it into yet, maybe a cute little baby hat.

OK, there is room for improvement, but it's gorgeous right?

Monkey Bread Party

Last weekend, amid the cold grey weather my kids and I decided to throw a Monkey Bread Party.  It sounds exciting right? Well, it was.  We invited my whole family, about 11 people, over to make break, play monkey games, and have a good time.  Fun and frivolity ensued.

First we split up into groups, and rolled out our dough in to little pieces and rolled it in cinnamon and sugar, and put in in the pans.  (Could this be any easier?)

While the bread was rising we went outside and played Monkey tag, (running from tree to tree while "aligator" tries to get you) hide and seek, and dodge the coconut.  All in all it was a great time.  It was a fun little get together to make the winter blah's temporarily go away.

Here's Lilly running from the obligatory.

My sister Haley was surprisingly competitive when it came to Monkey Tag

Alas, I have no picture of our finished loves of Monkey Bread  because people started eating them as soon as they came out of the oven.  I guess that means it was a success!

The Eggs are Here!!

My phone rang at 7 am the other day...muttering angrily about my in-laws (they always find some reason to call before 7 about trivial things.) I got out of bed, (I'd been awake, I was just hiding from my kids in the warmth of my bed) answered the phone, and was overjoyed when it was the postmaster telling my my eggs were here! So, needless to say we got around as quickly as we could and drove to the post office, to pick up our precious cargo. The kids were so excited.  We dropped all the stuff we were suppose to do that morning and just focused on our eggs. What a joy it was to do with with my kids! 

here's our eggs straight out of the box. 

Here's Lex and Lilly loving on their eggs

Here is Lex loading our waiting incubator up with eggs

Here rest my lovely Buff Orpington eggs waiting to hatch! I'll keep you posted!

P.S.. Sorry these pictures look like videos. I'm not sure why.  I'll have to look into that.

And now.....The Bum Shake

I started this blog as a purely knitting blog.  I wanted to talk about the patterns I was designing, my difficulties following charts, my finished projects, ect.  Well I've become horrible distracted lately, dash it all, and my blog has become something a bit different.  So, now you just have to deal with it.

My knitting life for the past couple of weeks has been dreadfully boring and uninspired so, to make myself, and all of you feel better, here my my underwear clad children doing the bum shake.  I hope to post something more of use soon, but until then, enjoy.