Pretty photogenic group...

We did family photos at Sears today. Other than getting pictures taken a half an hour after our appointment time (and the increasing squirreliness of the kids), things went pretty smoothly. These are the photos we picked to give to family for Christmas.



If anyone wants to see all of the pictures from the sitting, let me know and I will email you the info to see the whole session!

WIP Friday on Saturday

In the same order as they appear on the sidebar, my current WIPs are:
The candle flame lace shawl. I am almost done with the eighth lace repeat. I haven't completely decided how many repeats to do. I think I have enough yarn for 15, but we'll see how it looks at 12 and decide from there.



Bloomers for the Crumpets dress. Still just needs the elastic. I really need to just finish the darn things so I can get 'em off the list.

The current purse sock. I am doing a peasant heel, which is added after finishing the toe, so I am actually a couple of inches past the heel point. Since the weather is getting cold, I'm not making as much progress as it is just about impossible to knit while the kids are playing in the park this time of year. I can knit while they play at home, but then I don't pull out the purse sock...



Feather and Fan lace scarflet. All that is left is weaving in the ends. Like the bloomers, I need to be Nike inspired and "Just Do It." I'm so stinkin' close.

This is most of a washable, reusable cover for our Swiffer duster. It is based on the ball-band dishcloth in Mason-Dixon knitting. I'm afraid I can't take credit for being clever enough to come up with the Swiffer idea. While this is my own design, I got the idea from a couple of other blogs.



Recently finished objects include the pumpkin hat and the cat parts for the kids' Halloween costume. I will hopefully get my ducks in a row and get some FO pics up soonish.

Reunited!

Our sweet kitty Chai is home!!!! She had a nice two week vacation with a wonderful person. Apparently, after slipping out the door, she had been captured in a big net by a neighbor, whose son was hitting Chai with a stick. Our good samaritan (who was visiting another neighbor) intervened on Chai's behalf and took her home. She had reported finding Chai to the animal shelter, but her report and our report were apparently never matched up. This morning, this wonderful lady was back in the area visiting her friend who lives two doors down from us and after seeing signs, they check with us and our princess is home!

I truly hope that there is a special place in heaven reserved for people who are kind to animals. While we expressed our appreciation in words and a small reward, I'm not sure that is possible to adequately convey just how much her kind actions meant to us.

We're back...

Sorry for the long hiatus, but sometimes life happens. Combine that with some unresolved guilt for having old pix that haven't been posted, and well, you know...

I haven't been completely away from the blog, even though I haven't been posting, I am still working on moving the posts from my knitting blog over. I only have a dozen or so left and then I will be unified into a single blog!

This morning we went for a walk and then spent a few minutes at close park. It is a brisk day...36.5°F right now, according to Weather Underground. When we went to the park on Tuesday, the weather was similar and mom ended up carrying all the hats, gloves, and mittens, so we tried just winter coats (Don't look at me like that...they both have hoods and the jackets are on the big side so hands can be turtled up into the sleeves...it's not like I sent 'em out nekkid. Really.), but everyone was pretty chilly by the time we got home. So we all had some hot cocoa and are now piled in the recliner with one big blanket over everyone and nummies for all comers. All in all, not a bad way to be on a cold, cloudy November day! Of course, having two hands to type would make my life easier, but it is pretty cozy, so I'm not complaining!

Still no Kitty Chai, but we are checking weekly at the animal shelter (cats are held for seven days before being adoptable) and aren't giving up hope. Mama misses her princess...

Missing Kitty

Our sweet Kitten Chai has been missing since yesterday. We are hoping that she just slipped out for a short outdoor adventure and will come back soon, but in the meantime, we'd appreciate some "Kitty Chai, go home" thoughts that anyone can spare.

Poor Kitty Man...he's usually pretty affection starved, but he has turned into a little orange cockleburr, clinging to Mama, wondering where his furry sister is.

At the Fire Station

A few pictures from the open house at the local fire station (10/14/06):

Miss Bean showing Sparky the Fire Dog some lovin'

Mr. Bug posing with the fire fighters' uniforms. He got some nice compliments on the hat that mama knit for him!

The kids working in a fire engine, getting ready to fight fires

Bug getting ready to hook up the hoses on the tank truck

Bug tries his hand at law enforcement

Going for a ride in a fire engine

The fire engine we rode in (with its next load of passengers)

What we're reading

Since the weather has gotten colder again, we have been enjoying cuddling up with blankies and books. A few of our favorites right now incude...

The Kipper books by Mick Inkpen. Not only do we enjoy reading about Kipper's adventures, we have been having Kipper and his best friend Tiger joining us for many of our daily activities. Love that three-year-old imagination!!



The Cleo books by Caroline Mockford and Stella Blackstone. Cleo is a cute little orange kitty and we enjoy the bright, colorful pictures in these books. Bug and Cleo are busy playing and talking as I write this.



We have also been hooked on "If you give..." books by Laura Joffe Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond. We have If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, If You Give A Moose A Muffin, and If You Give A Pig A Pancake out from the library right now.



Also anything by Todd Parr, though we have a couple of Otto books out from the library that have been a huge hit. We are also huge Dr. Seuss fans, but then again, who isn't??

According to my thermometer...

Mom and Dad should be almost back to Oregon by now. Today is sunny and 66°! It was mostly overcast and chilly during their trip, so if it is warming up again, they must be almost home. We had a wonderful visit with them and I promise to get back to blogging and catching up soon. A sneak peak of what I need to catch up on (and post pictures of):

• Open house at the local fire station (10/14)
• A Kite Festival (10/15)
• Grandma and Grandpa visiting (10/20 - 10/27)
• Trick or Treating at the Zoo (10/21)
• A very Beanie birthday (10/21, party 10/22)
  
• Geology museum (10/26)

I also need to get back to knit blogging. I finally have some finished objects that I need to get blogging on!

WIP Friday

One new project on the needles...

I had been scanning some knitting blogs and Bug saw a pumpkin hat and booties that the blogger had made and decided that he absolutely, without a doubt needed a pumpkin hat. Since we are already quite clear that Halloween is his favorite holiday, I figured that at least he might be likely to wear a pumpkin hat (like obsessively, forever). So yesterday we made a trip to Hobby Lobby to find some cheap yarn so I could start right away. Bug immediately bonded with a shade of orange from a camoflage line (basically hunter safety orange). I showed him a couple more pumpkiny shades, but his mind was made up! As it turns out, as I get into the hat, I really like this color for a pumpkin! I guess I need to appoint Bug my color consultant when I go yarn shopping. I would also like to make some little stuffed pumpkins as decoration, unless I am completely sick of knitting with acrylic by the time I finish this.

The candle flame lace continues on. I am about two rows from being finished with the second time around of the 36 row repeat. The sock continues. I am getting pretty close to being ready for the heel and I have decided that I am going to do a peasant heel instead of the short rows I had planned to see if that works better with self-striping yarn. The scarflet is moving ahead and the ball of yarn is getting noticably smaller. And we're not going to talk about the bloomers. I still haven't found or bought elastic.

Creative dishwashing

Yesterday, Bean decided that she didn't need a nap. Whereas Bug gets increasingly cranky as time passes after missing a nap, Bean stays her chipper self until she completely melts down and crashes. So while I did my usual nap chores and puttered around, Bean was delighted to entertain herself. After a while, things were sounding a *bit* too quiet so I went to investigate. When I walked into the kitchen, she was bent over with her head in the sink. Of course, since I am a mom, I had to ask the obvious, "What are you doing?!?" She stands upright and announces, "Hair" (actually, the r sounds more like a "w"). I replied, "Yes, I see your hair," to which she proudly responded, "Wet!"

Since I am (occasionally) a wise mama, I know a losing battle when I see one, so I just let her keep playing in the sink. Later, after Bug got up and she was back playing in the sink again, she came out to the living room sopping wet. I said, "Oh my, what a soggy girl!" She answered, "No, wet!" So I backed up and amended, "What a wet girl!" Her reply (with a can-you-believe-how-slow-this-lady-is look on her face) was "No, wet hair." Duh, mom!