Shameless baby photo sharing

   Here it is, the long awaited photo of grandpa and Owen on the Fat Bob. Owen doesn't look too excited but he will!

   My Hubs is so cute! I swear, he's getting better looking as he gets older. By the way, one of the rare times I get to take his photo is when he's holding Owen.....


    Now for other news. The cover for my new nook came today, and I'm very excited about it. All that's left is for the screen protectors to show up. I don't get it, the screen protectors shipped days before the cover, yet the cover is here and they aren't. Hmmph. That's the postal system for ya.


    Spent time with good friend Bonny today, helping her put some finishing touches on a few of her projects to sell at the flea market/craft fair. That's May 17th, at FDR High School in Hyde Park. It's the same day as the town wide yard sale. If you're going to be participating in that and driving all around town anyway, stop by the High School. It'll be worth it, I swear.

Catching up again

    It seems we have found the problem with my laptop. The power/charging cord was bad. Hubs and I went to Best Buy and got a new one, and so far it seems all better! There is only one little problem left. This blog site isn't recognizing the browser I'm using. That makes no sense to me, as I use Google as my browser, and Google owns the blogsite. As long as I can continue to post, it matters not to me.


   I did get to go visit with mom yesterday, at least for a while. Hubs had to go to the house in Fishkill to look at, and hopefully fix, a couple of problems they've been having. He dropped me off at mom's so we could visit. We had a nice time. Unfortunately, it wasn't as long of a visit as I thought it would be. It turns out that everything was OK at the house, at least for now.


    I recently purchased a new nook HD+. It's the big one. I love it so far. I love the touch screen, and I made it so that when I'm reading and turn the page, when I swipe the screen it looks like an actual page is turning. It really is the little things that make me happy.


    Since my laptop is back up, I've been busy transferring photos from there to my nook. I can use them for wallpaper! I need to get some photos of Chloe, Mason and Owen from far away, because of the scale thing. I put a close up of Owen as a wallpaper, and all I got was an eye, a nose, and part of his smile. It was scary looking.


   My days last week babysitting for Owen were lots of fun. He is such a joyful little boy. And at 5 months old, he loves it when you hold him up and he stands on our legs. He can actually support his weight, we just hold him for balance. He might be an early walker. I'm not sure if I should be happy for Sara and Mike, or sorry for them!


    Here is the latest photo of Owen, having tummy time.

    I am shamelessly adding the photo of Owen because it seems when I post photos of the grandkids, I get many more views!


    I was knitting on the legwarmers, but the new nook took my attention away from them. I do take them with me when I go to watch Owen. I hope to get some work done while he naps. Keep your fingers crossed, I might take a photo of them if there's any visible progress...

One from the new nook

    This one I'm writing on the new nook, my laptop is still messed up. I've been busy getting ready for the craft fair/flea market on May 17th. This will be a short one also, as I'm currently babysitting Owen. Right now he's happy but that could change in an instant.


    This weekend I plan on visiting my mom. It's been too long. I am still working on the leg warmers, but not a lot. One if these days I will figure out how to get photos from facebook to my nook. In the meantime, stay happy!


    It seems that from my nook, I can't put in any labels...

It's been a while....

    I know, and I'm sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I had my laptop crash. Then after we sort of got it back, it wouldn't connect to anything. I think I finally got most things working again, except for some reason I couldn't log into my blog.


    Today I finally got through, but I'm still not sure if what I write will actually post. How can a blog site, owned by google, not recognize google as the search engine I'm using? It confounds me. But I shall keep writing and hope it posts.


    I've been working like a mad woman these past few days, getting more rings and yarn for my cat toys, as well as gathering more supplies of other kinds. For instance Hubs gave me some small S hooks he found in the garage, new in the package. I can use them to hang my cat toys in the wire cubes we are using. I also purchased some paper lunch bags for those toys that are purchased.


    I have also been busy making more cat toys, as well as re-tagging the ones that I had previously tagged. So now, all the toys are tagged with the new business cards, and the measurement on the back. This evening I made four more toys. As you may be able to tell, I bought more yarn today, and my good friend Bonny gave me some of hers too.


    Now my hands are tired, and so am I. Hubs has gone to bed already, as he has to work tomorrow. Before I sign off, I wanted to tell you that I've taken the legwarmers out of their time out. It felt good to work on them today while I was at Bonny's.

News, news and more news!

    See what happens when I take a couple of days off? There are developments in nearly every aspect of my life! First, I'm excited about the craft fair next month. Even more so since I was browsing business cards and found one that was perfect for my cat toys! So I ordered some!

    And they will arrive before the craft fair, so I can put one on each cat toy! As if that wasn't enough, I got word from Hubs that our friends female cat is having kittens. They have a young Munchkin male cat, and he bred with their regular female cat. I get to have a kitten if any of the babies turn out to be Munchkins! I am so excited! Here is a photo of a Munchkin cat, just so you know what they look like.

    And here is what a kitten looks like!

    I have no idea what Sam and Jade's kittens will look like, it could go either way. Jade is a beautiful short hair, mostly white, and Sam is a long hair Munchkin. I'm really looking forward to meeting their offspring.


    As you remember, I watched Owen Monday and Tuesday this week, as well as my regular gig on coming up on Thursday and Friday. Well, this week, he rolled over for the first time! I was so excited! He did it four times in all, the first two times to the left and the second ones were to the right. He was so calm about it, he didn't startle himself at all. I tried to get it on video but he wasn't co-operating. I did get a photo of his smile, though.

    He's been drooling up a storm lately! I've been calling him Drooly Smurf. So far, no teeth have poked through, though. His mommy can't feel any yet.


    And lastly!! I have made a decision. After the craft fair, if I haven't sold all my cat toys, I am going to post them for sale in my etsy store. I've had one for ages, but never posted anything for sale yet. It should be fun! And I have the benefit of a good friend who has had experience with an etsy store so if I have any questions, she will help me out.

It's all in the preparation

    Five weeks from yesterday, on May 17th, there will be a craft fair at FDR High School, here in Hyde Park. Once again, with my friends Mckenzie and Bonny, I will be there selling my handcrafted things. This time, I am featuring my very own, self-designed cat toy. I call it Lazy Kim's Cat Toy.

     I originally made one for my kitteh Ozzy, and he loved it. Over the years, I think he's had three of them. I have made them for all my family members that have cats. I even made a special double one for Jesse and Julie's cats, at their request. I recently had to make them a new one, since the Lady and Gizmo destroyed it. Every toy is Ozzy tested and Ozzy approved.


    I will also have my crocheted blankets, as well as a few knitted shawls. Bonny is cranking out some crocheted dolls! They are really cool, and with each doll you purchase, you get a crocheted outfit of your choice! Mckenzie will have more of her goodies that she makes herself, including her superior lip balm. I'm sure she will also have some new items that I haven't even seen yet!


    If you are in the area on that day, please feel free to stop by and see us!

Two days with Owen

    This week was special, for a number of reasons. In case you don't remember, I babysit for my youngest grandchild every Thursday and Friday. He is the cutest patootie I have seen since his mom was a baby!


   We were having a great time together on Thursday, hanging out and talking to each other. Then he went and partially filled his diaper THREE TIMES! At least they were small ones, and easily cleaned up.


    He loves it when you talk to him, and sing to him. So yesterday, I made my own station on their Pandora, a 70's Rock station. Now I can really sing to him! He is so cute, and he really does sing back at you! I need to find a microphone shaped soft or chewy baby toy. This child is going to be a vocalist, as well as a drummer like daddy and grandpa.


    Next week I will be caring for Owen four days out of the five, so I will probably not be in touch. I'm sure I'll be a total basket case by the end of the week. Who knew that caring for a baby could wear you out so much? It's not like he's a toddler and running around and getting into everything! He pretty much stays where you put him.


    And now for a few photos. These are not new, just my favorites!

    I have been informed that this last one was not posed. He actually fell asleep like that!

Back to real business

    Since the felting fiasco, I've gone back to working on my previous projects, specifically the Pi Shawl and the double knit pad thing for Owen. It was hard going back to the shawl, with its sock weight yarn. I'd been using two strands of worsted weight for so long, my hands hurt from the much smaller knitting movements required for the Pi Shawl.


    I've only done a couple of rows on the double knit pad for Owen, but I did find the two color sample I had made of regular double knitting. One side is one color, and the other side is a different, contrasting color. You can make a design on both sides simply by using the second color to knit the first color's stitch, and vice versa. Here are photos of my sample:

    And there you have it. It is harder to do, because you are holding both colors at the same time. But once you get the hang of it, it's not really that bad.


   Lastly, I have a new photo of the Pi Shawl progress. Again, it doesn't look like much, and you'll see it better when it's all done and stretched out.

    As it gets bigger, the stripes of color get thinner. And that's all I have for today.

I will not felt anything ever again....

   You see the photos, you see the pattern and think "Yeah, I can do this, it's not that hard!". Well, at least for me, it never turns out the way it's supposed to. After 11 skeins of wool that were not on sale, after putting all other projects in a time out, and after knitting like a mad woman for days on end, it's finally over.


   The giant purple bag came off the needles, and I took this photo:

    Then I folded it up and put it on the shelf. I wasn't going to felt it right away. I would rather felt it when Hubs isn't home, because he complains that I'm using the hot water and therefore using our oil unnecessarily.


    Well..... I couldn't wait. Last night I put it in the washer with a pair of youngest son's old denim shorts and three tennis balls that I have expressly for the purpose of felting. I had to run them through twice. This morning, I threw the whole mess into the dryer and hoped for the best. This is what I pulled out of the dryer about an hour ago...

    I put the yardstick in so we could all have a reference point to the original photo. It shrunk too much up and down, and not enough side to side. I am unhappy. I stuffed it with a couple of sheet sets so it had some dimension:

    I am seriously considering cutting a few inches out of the middle to make it shorter. I shall have to think on this for a while. In the meantime I think it's going in a time out of it's own....

Purple Bag Photos!

    I really can't believe how huge this bag really is! I had to take photos so I wouldn't forget after it's felted.

    So right now it's about 30 inches wide and 27 inches tall. I've got two more rounds until I can bind off. Then I just have to finish the tabs that hold the rings for the handle. I don't have enough yarn. I'll have to buy one more skein. That sucks! There is more yarn in this stupid bag than in most sweaters!!

An all projects update

   I am still knitting like a mad woman here. Unfortunately, every other project is in a time out. The Pi Shawl, the double knit pad for Owen, the legwarmers (remember them?), I'm sure there are more but I just can't recall right now. They are all in sleep mode and someday I will get back to them.


   Of course, in the meantime, I'm still working on the Huge Adventure Bag. This thing is taking on a life of its own. I am currently almost to the ends of skeins 7 and 8, with 9 and 10 ready to go. I still have 25 more rounds to go until I increase on the short sides for the handle attachment flaps. I would take a photo, but I really don't think it would make much sense to the eye. It would just look  like a giant mound of double stranded, purple stockinette, with four stitch markers  indicating the corners. 


    I'm still plugging away on the 36 inch circular needle. I did find a set of double pointed needles in the size needed, at Out Of The Loop, one of my favorite LYS's. I feel I should mention that Hubs actually volunteered to take me there! We were in Fishkill making a Sam's run, and he mentioned it, so off we went. While we were there, I decided to buy another skein of the yarn I'm using for the Pi Shawl, since I was concerned I would run out before I finished. Now I can make sure it's big enough to suit me.


    I may very well be out of touch for the next few days, as it's my turn to babysit little Owen tomorrow and Friday. I am out of touch with the internet while performing that task. I need to concentrate on the little guy. He's growing so fast! He's become so much more vocal, trying out his little voice! I have so much fun with him....