And we're walking, we're walking.....

Finally! Charlie is officially a walker! He went the whole way across the living room last night! All for a piece of pizza. (That's my little chunky monkey!) He has also discovered with his new found walking abilities, he can just about climb into Atley's pedal car, and if he's put in it, he can push it around with his feet. Dan was so proud. Luckily, he was home to see it! Charlie can also say "car."

I finished my partial chunk of roving last night! I think I'm going to wind it up and do the hot water thingy and whack it tonight, and then start over with an empty spindle for the next ounce of fiber. I don't want to overload my spindle. I don't think I'll be able to fit the whole second ounce on there, so I'll make 2 hanks out of it. Then, I can attempt my cotton ball spinning for the Cup.

That was the only fibery thing I had time for last night.

First Steps!

Charlie took his first steps last night! There were only about 2-3 of them, and he only went about 4 inches, but he took steps without holding on to anything! Hopefully he'll be full-fledged walking very soon! :0)

I'm working on a new sweater for him right now. It's for my Transfiguration OWL for the Cup. I've had the yarn for it since last fall. My OWL requires me to use at least 750 yds of my stash. I don't mind seaming. I don't know if it's because I like to sew or what, but it just doesn't bother me. I'd much rather seam in sleeves than do them in 1 piece. Dear lord, I never thought I was going to finish the sleeves on that thing! Thankfully last night, I had to break for the front, and I'm now happily doing short rows of st st. (which I also don't mind, but for pete's sake, 132 sts in each row was a bit much!

Oh, we're going to Amish Country in 2 days to check out that fabric store! I can't wait! (and, I think we're even going to get some lunch at Der Dutchman...yummy!)

Summer vacation is in full swing....70 days left! Yesterday, I let the kids play in the backyard by themselves. Normally, they're not allowed back there if no one is out with them. Well, I figured almost 9, 6, and 5 year olds should be able to play by themselves in the backyard......um, no. They were "washing" their bikes with dirty leaves, so I gave them rags to use. Then, Atley came in and asked for a bucket of water. "Sure, just make sure you turn the hose off." About an hour later, I went to check on them because they were quiet......and the entire backyard was a mud pit, children looked like drowned rats, and my nice, clean, previously dry laundry that was hanging on the line was dripping. Needless to say, it will be some time before the kids are allowed to play in the backyard unattended again.

Awesomeness

Charlie's viking hat is up for the March prize for Herbology in the House Cup!! I'm so excited. I showed him his picture today, and he was too. He's getting so big. He can sit up by himself now! Like, from laying on the floor to pulling himself up to sit. This morning, he even finally scooted forward in his walker! (Food is a driving force for that child.) He rammed into my work chair because he was hungry! lol

Oh, I can't believe I forgot to blog about this yesterday. So, while I was at the carnival with my mom and the kids, Dan stopped by to wish his sister a happy b-day. While he was there, his dad says, oh yeah, by the way, about a week and a half ago, your brother was burning a stump out of his yard, and it caught Michelle's Mustang on fire. WTF!!?!?! They BURNED my CAR and NOONE COULD TELL US!!?!??! Ok, so it wasn't the nicest car in the world. In fact, it was a pretty crappy $300 special, but it was mine, and Dan's VW is finally painfully close to being done, and there was an actual snowball's chance in hell that my car might get started on before I die. We got it almost 5 years ago and have made about twice our money back from it selling parts we weren't going to use off it. And now, it's burned. Apparently the tarp caught on fire and the roof is toast. We had initially planned on putting a different roof on it anyway because I like fastbacks and it's a coupe, but we have since changed our minds because I'd just like to have it. Well, so much for that plan! Dan did just find a picture of a Mustang wagon a month or so ago, and we were talking about that so I could have my car to drive everyday and still be able to tote all the children. My poor car.

Warmth

It's going to be 69 today....69!!!! I can't wait! Heat! Warmth! Sun! I love spring.

Well, I think (hope, hope, hope) I might finally get my crafting dream started! The other day, the florist at the end of my block put up a sign "Crafters Wanted, Inquire Within." I'm thinking about stopping down and seeing if they'd want to sell my bibs and toys!! I figure, most people buy flowers for new moms. What better thing to sell there than some sweet baby gifts, so they have one stop shopping!! I'm hoping to get some things together and go talk to them in the next couple days. I'm very hopeful!

Charlie has 7 teeth now! He will be 1 in 3 weeks. I can't believe it. He is definitely mobile, though still not really crawling. He can scoot on his butt faster than I can blink, though! Oh, I got my sample diapers I blogged about a month or so ago yesterday. Very nice. If anyone has little ones, definitely give that number a call! So far, so good. They are very absorbent. I like them much better than my normals.

Yarnin' Progress

Things are plugging along here. I've been working like crazy. Dan's work said they might call him back next week, so we'll see!!

Other than playing Big Mutha Truckers and Big Mutha Truckers 2 (boy, it's amazing what you find in the back of the cupboards on the entertainment center), I've been yarnin'. Mostly while Ari has been kickin' the pants off of everyone, including Dan (which really cheezes him off...hehe) in Mortal Kombat 545 (ok, so I forget what one we have...it's about 5 years old, for PS2, if that helps, if anyone cares.) Yes, we are bad parents. We encourage our children to play violent video games and applaud their 5 yo selves for getting 11 straight wins in a row, most of them flawless victories. (Mortal Kombat is nice like that and keeps track of how many times one person beats another, just to rub it in a little more....)

Anywho, Charlie has tooth #6 coming in! Yay for Charlie! He loves brocolli and cheese soup and is very sad it is gone. What is it with my kids and brocolli? They are like the kids on the Hidden Vally Ranch commercial. They fean brocolli. Charlie at 2 bowls of it one night. He wanted more, but I didn't want him to explode. He also, finally for time #2, slept through the night last night! Yay!!

Here is my newest FO. I test knit a baby viking hat. I love this pic of Charlie.

Of course, I know have to make one for Atley. Incidentally, when I googled the spelling of Attila, I found out that Atley is a derivative of Attila. Who knew!?! Here, we just thought we were naming him after someone in the most awesome car movie ever. Dan will be so proud when he comes home. He has always been pushing for the name Attila. I vetoed it with Atley, and with Charlie we tried to stay away from "A" names because we didn't want Melodie to feel left out being the only not "A" child (that, and we didn't want to be confused with the Duggars.)

Healing Thoughts and Prayers

One of my good friends just emailed me. Apparently her little baby, who will just be 2 months old tomorrow, is in the hospital with a pretty bad infection. The poor little guy is being poked and prodded like a pin cushion. They don't know how long he'll have to stay at the hospital, but he's a very, very sick little guy! Any healing thoughts and/or prayers you could send their way would be much appreciated. Thanks!

First tooth!

Charlie's first tooth finally came through this morning! It was one of the bottom fronts. The other one looks like it should come through any day now, too. He'll be munching down Cheerios before I know it!

For my knitting, I've thought about making the ill-fated Chunky Monkey into a Tom Turkey and giving the "Chunk" a new go. I really wanted to make something special for Charlie.....Cartman Pumpkin-head is not it! Oh well, we all have to learn somehow, right? My left handed version of "Cash" is now available.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I was just SO excited about Charlie's tooth, I had to share it with the world!

Squash and patterns and hair, oh my!

Charlie loves squash. He had it for the first time yesterday. I had just bought a single jar of squash baby food to see if he liked it before I put in the effort to make him some. Well, he likes it! He would open his mouth like a little birdie as soon as he saw the spoon! He ate the whole jar in 1 sitting, mixed with cereal! I'm going to have to go buy a butternut squash to roast today (which I've never done before. I'll also be getting at least another jar of food, just in case I screw it up!) Today is also his 5 month birthday. Happy Birthday to my sweet little chunky monkey Charlie.

My patterns are now officially listed for sale on Ravelry! There are buttons to purchase them to the left if you're not a member. If you are, my Ravelry shop is officially open for business!

And hair....well, I knew it was too good to be true. The aliens must have returned the real Melodie last night. She was in prime form this morning! She got out of the tub at 8:30....we have to leave at 8:30. She was in there for over 45 minutes! I made her get dressed and brush her teeth, but I took the brush, a waffle, and her shoes and socks. I told her it's one thing that she makes herself late, but she's not going to make Ari late, too! I dropped Ari off, then pulled into a spot to let Melodie finish getting ready. I think she even might have made it on time, but it was close. They were still walking in when she ran over to get in line.

Ready for purchase

Bats in the Belfry is ready for purchase! It is available for $2 USD. Here is a better picture:




Please email me if you're interested. It will be available on Ravelry, too, as soon as I'm set up to sell.

Purchase "Cash"

Ok, I am ready to put it up for sale! The Cash right hand knitting pattern has been tested. Until I get set up through Ravelry, you can contact me and I can send a PDF directly to you. The pattern is available for $2, payable through Paypal. If you're interested, my email is madams (@) sssnet (.) com (remove parentheses and spaces.) The lefty version is being tested and will be available shortly. Thanks for looking!

Pagan Baby....ideas

I'm hoping to work on a line called Pagan Baby. As a pagan mom, I've always been dismally disappointed in the apparent lack of patterns for pagan babies (and kids! That will come in time too, I hope!) I've got some ideas in the works AKA my brain. If you have any ideas you'd like to see, let me know!

I am.....Charlie Cash

Well, I got the bib done! My first extensive design of my own! (Ok, so it's a bib....but we know me and my math abilities...this is a big accomplishment!) If any left handed knitters are reading this out there who would be willing test this, I'd be thrilled to hear from you! I'm getting a good response from righties....now I just have to adjust the pattern! I feel for left handed people. I just knit left handed. I can't imagine having all kinds of stuff in life that is just so downright opposite of what everyone gets. I know Thanksgiving dinner was hard enough growing up with 4 lefties and 3 righties trying to sit around a round table. Ugh.

Anyway, here is a picture, if anyone is interested.....


It will hopefully be available for purchase on Ravelry shortly!

As for the wind clean up...it's still going! We were really, really lucky. I was out and about yesterdy for the first time, and the rest of town didn't fare so well. There were huge trees uprooted. Scary stuff!