Where has the time gone?

Wow has it really been that long since my last post? I am hanging my head in shame for neglecting you all and my blog for so long. I could say that dyeing up yarns and rovings getting ready for local fiber festivals and complications with my pregnancy were to blame, but really, I am the only one to blame here.

I would like to introduce the newest member to the Knitted to a T family. Our baby boy was born July 21, 2009 at 2:00pm. He was 8 lbs and 21in long. We named the little guy Isaac Mathew (no I didn't forget the other "t" in Mathew lol).



Isaac in the nursery being cleaned up and checked.


Proud Daddy, Big Brother James and Isaac.


Mommy (me) and Isaac.


Isaac 1 month old.


Big Brother James (4) and Isaac (1 month).

Tomorrow we have Isaac's 2 month check-up. He is such a little chunk. I can't wait to see what he tips the scales at this time. The last time he was weighed he had been gaining 2oz per day! That is double what the "scale" says they should be gaining. Of course that "scale" is based on formula fed babies, but I won't get on my soap box about that at this point. ;)

Ok so proud Mommy that I am had to show you my boys before I went onto the fiber part of my life. I had been dyeing up yarn and roving like a mad woman getting ready for my fiber festival season. I have 2 shows under my belt and one more to go.

The last one that I am doing this year is the Kentucky Wool Festival. While it isn't a true wool festival (more crafts than wool), the wool part is growing. There is a blog just for the wool part of the festival with a list of vendors for this year and other info. Check it out here. The festival runs October 2 - 4, Friday and Saturday from 10am - 10pm and Sunday 10am - 6pm. Hope to see you there

Thank you to all that have come out to the past festivals and shown their support. I hope that you enjoy your purchases.

Hopefully soon I will get back to my sadly neglected website. I will be adding things back to my etsy sight as well here in the next few weeks.

See you all around.

I've Got My......

Baby back, baby back, baby back. (Sung to the Chili's Baby Back Ribs commercial)

We went to pick him up today. My Mom was going to bring him back, but she was having pool issues and we had to go see if there was anything that we could do to fix it.

I was so excited to get there. We stopped at Home Depot on the way to get some lights and then Kevin wanted to show me the patio furniture that was on sale. I just wanted out of there to go get James.

Finally we made it to my Mom's. We got in the door and we hear "MOMMY!! DADDY!!" Then he ran to hug us. It felt so good to have him in my arms again. I feel complete again. I got to get my hugs and kisses good night tonight. It felt so good.

Poor little guy had a busy time at Grandma's. He fell asleep in the car on the way home. Of course when he does that he is really upset when he is woke up. I got to sit and snuggle with him while we watched some educational TV. I didn't complain one bit. It was nice to snuggle with him again.

He decided after he ate some mac n cheese (his toddler staple) he asked for a wash cloth and to go to bed. So I wiped him off, brushed his teeth and got him dressed for bed. He was one tuckered out little guy.

I didn't get the basement finished, but I got a good amount done. I am hoping to get it done by the end of the week at the latest. I am so close, but so far away. I can't use the sweeper down there while James is sleeping since we have hard wood floor through out the entire house and the part that I am working on is right under his room. The noise comes straight through and I surely don't want to wake him. So it will have to be done after Kevin gets home from work each day. That's OK.

Tomorrow it is back to normal for James and I. I hope that he didn't pick up any bad habits while at his grandma's. ;)

Wait until you see what grandma bought him. I hope to have a picture of him and it tomorrow.

Waiting, Waiting and Still Waiting

STR

I am one of the ones that are still waiting for their Rockin Sock Club Package. I want it so bad I can taste it. They have a blog set up for all the members and yesterday just about put me over the edge. There were people posting right and left that they got their package. My mail man had come and gone yesterday and today leaving me with nothing but bills. So I am stuck here waiting for Monday in hopes that it will come, but I am not holding my breath. I feel like a child at on Christmas Eve. This is so crazy. :) This was all that I asked Kevin to get me for my Birthday. It is a great gift that keeps on giving through the year.


ADS

Some of you might have noticed on left hand side that I now have ads and a search section. There are so many things that need to be done and taken care of that I was hoping to make a little money that way. If you don't know already, I am a stay at home mom and sadly I don't make any money at doing that. I feel that my contribution to the family is less than what it should be. I have an Etsy store set up that I was told I should do from friends and family, but it isn't going well either. I sold 1 knitted hat around Christmas and that is it. I don't know where I am going wrong. I was hoping that with the adds and the search section I might be able to make a little to help out. We are currently having to get our kitten spayed, looking at a $400 + propane bill whenever they decide to come out and fill the tank again, we have to get the breaks fixed on my vehicle, Kevin needs to have work done on his beater truck that he drives to work, he needs to get to a hearing specialist too and quite a few other things. Sadly you have to have money to do all those things and they always seem to happen all at the same time. Ugh.

If you could just click on one or more of the adds when you visit I would greatly appreciate it. It is quick and painless. If you have them on your site I will do the same for you. Thanks!


KNITTING

I have no pictures to show you of my knitting progress this time. Sorry. I am working on a pair of socks for my cousin though. I am using Trekking XXL Color 102. This is the first socks that I have made with it and I am loving how the colors are coming together. I am not going to want to give them away when they are done I know it. At least I am enjoying knitting them and it is something that is keeping me somewhat sane while I am waiting for my STR package.


PICTURE

I will leave you today with a picture of James playing in the tent that I made him with his table and chairs. He had a great time.

Can I Get a Drum Roll Please?

It is FINISHED!!! The wee fair isle for James is done.

Before I show you the finished product I want to show you what the neck and shoulders are supposed too look like.

Here I have it laying out on our extra bed. I am still working on the collar ribbing. Our kitten had to get in the picture too. She is so funny.




Oh for those of you who keep asking me if we have given her a name yet.... the answer is Yes. I have been wanting something that went along with the fact that she loves to cut/chew my knitting yarn all the time. Does anyone know why a cat will do this? It gets rather annoying. Anyway back to the name thing. I found a name that means to snip. It is German. So her name is now Schnitzel. Kind of fitting don't you think?




Here is a close up of the collar ribbing. Still needing 2/3ds knit. I was so close that I could taste it and it just wasn't knitting up fast. I kept measuring and measuring and I swear I was knitting into that black hole of knitting. I don't care how many rounds that I knit the measurements never changed.

















And now the moment some of you have been waiting for...........




The FINISHED fair isle!

These pictures are fairly true to color. They were taken with a flash at night in the house so they are a bit washed out. Also it applies to this months colors in Project Spectrum.














It still needs a good blocking. The fair isle patterns are tighter than the rest of the sweater. So I am hoping that it will block out . I guess we shall see.














I socked it over James' head at my In-Laws after I had finished it. Doesn't look too happy does he? He didn't get much of a nap and the collar is a little tight going over his big melon.


















He got over his torment when he heard the clock go "Kee Koo" as he says. The In-Laws have an old coo coo clock that he loves. That would be what he is pointing to.


















Not sure if you can see how big the sweater actually is on him, but if you look closely at the bottom of the sweater the bottom fair isle section is missing. So it is plenty long on him. Also the shoulders look like he has football padding on. I am hoping that he will be able to wear it again next year. That is if his head doesn't grow much more. :)


















You can see the shoulders better in this picture. Kind of reminds me of the shoulder pads in the 80's. After a good soak/wash and block it might soften up. Don't look at the mess behind him.

James wanted to go out and play in the snow so I put his sweater on to keep him warm. I know really it was just because I wanted him to wear it and keeping him warm is just a good reason to get him to wear it.

















Where do I go from here? Well I have a few UFOs that I really would like to get finished so that they are no longer haunting my dreams. I could really use my gloves right now if they were finished.

Stay tuned to see what is next.

Coming Together Slowly

Here we have the completed front fair isle. I still have some more rows of the plain old blue to knit then it will be placed on some waste yarn so I can work on the back fair isle section.
















Here is a different angle of it. It is a really cool pattern and I just love to watch how it slowly forms as I am knitting.





















I will do the sleeves before I work any farther on the front or back so I will have a better idea of how much plain blue to knit before I join the top back in the round again.
















I am really loving the way that this is coming together. So far the pattern has been easy to read and straight forward. I have read ahead though and the neck shaping and such and it seems a but cryptic. I will have to read it more carefully when I get to that point and see if I can go step by step to understand what they are trying to say.














At the rate that I am going I should have it done by the end of winter. LOL

Here is the beginnings of the first sleeve. I will knit in blue for quite some time then start another fair isle pattern before adding a few more rows of blue then casting off.







































This first sleeve is coming along nicely. I am so anxious to get this finished.

Warm Fair Isle, Cold House

UPDATE: Kevin was able to fix the furnace. He was able to get it fixed Friday night. So we are warm again. Thanks for all the warm wishes. Keep your fingers crossed that it is fixed.

Slowly the little Fair Isle Sweater is coming along. One day it will grow up into a big sweater.

I am really enjoying knitting this. The Fair Isle parts are so much fun. I have finally found my groove again with the 2 handed/2 color knitting. It took me a while to get back in that groove and I am sure that some of the people at my FNSLYS (Favorite No So Local Yarn Store) were wondering what I was thinking knitting something so challenging. It looked like I had two left hands and neither of them knew what the other was doing. Guess that is what happens when you haven't picked something up for over a year.
















I do have my groove back. If you saw me knitting on this and thought "Wow what a mess that girl is". I promise it and I don't look like that now. LOL

I really wish I had more time to work on it. Between vet appointments, Dr. appointments, James' new found love for books again, (if he is awake I have to read his entire mass quantity of books until it is either nap time or bed time. I swear that I have them all memorized. Kevin laughs at me because I can read quite a few of them without even looking at them.) the normal daily household cleaning and such I just don't have much time to work on it. Hopefully things will settle down in a while and I can get back on a routine again and some knitting time will be included in there some where.



















Currently we are trying to stay warm. I had to call Kevin this morning to let him know that the furnace wasn't working! Currently we are at 50 degrees in the house. Burrrrrr. Kevin took a 1/2 day to hopefully fix it. He had to go and get a part that USED to cost $7 that now costs $75! Sadly at the moment it doesn't seem to be working. I just thank God that we have a heater (oil filled electric heater) hooked up in James' room. At least he will be warm. If we don't get it fixed I will be packing up and either heading to the In-laws or my Mom's. Please wish us luck that Kevin can fix it. We don't have the $$ to pay for some one to come in.

My feet are cold. Guess it is time to add another layer of socks. *sigh*

Visiting an UFO

Last year I started a fair isle sweater for James. Sadly it ended up getting put in the knitting basket for later knitting and I just never picked it back up. I was learning so many new things in the land of knitting and I was so excited about it all that I was trying to knit everything at once. Which means that my old projects were neglected.

I am using the pattern from the Dale book # 149. It is this one on the front cover. Of course I am using different colors and added a few stripes in the pattern. I have held up what I have finished so far to see how it will fit the wee one and it is going to be big still. I am so glad.



















THIS is where I stopped last year on it. So I picked it up from there and have started to make some progress on it.
















It is no longer being knit in the round. Call me a wimp, but I just can't bring myself to steek it. I am not that brave yet and my sewing skills, or lack there of, leave a lot to be desired that is for sure. So I split it for the front and back.















I am a little farther than this on it, but I need to get pictures and all that fun stuff.

I am so excited about it again and I would love to be able to get it finished so that James could wear it this winter some time, if the weather would cooperate that is.

I am hoping to revisit all my UFO's that have been ignored. I really need to get some of them finished. Heck I have a pair of gloves that only need a few fingers knit in and then the ends woven in. I have a problem with being monogamous with my knitting. I think I need to work on that. ;)