And yet another contest...

Wow, contests are fun!  I have been enjoying finding them.  The lastest I found is at KnitWitch's.  (Button is not clickable - I have not figured that out yet.)

The kids and I have been having a busy week.  We rented a plot at a local community garden this summer, and are having fun trying to get things to grow.  So far we have managed to not kill our 5 tomato plants, our corn, pole beans, zucchini, some of our pea plants, and some of our carrots appear to be surviving!  We also have rutabaga at my daughter's request...we'll see how that goes!  We *might* have a surviving melon plant and a few cucumbers, but that remains to be seen.

Today a playdate with people we have known for a while, but are only recently really becoming friends.

Another contest

Monniblog is having a contest for her one thousandth post!  Wow, I can't imagine.  There are several ways to win, and 4 prizes.  Go to her contest post and check it out!

My socks

The Knitting Wildflower is having a contest for her blogiversary, and is asking for people to share their sock stories.  This is mine:

booties
Originally uploaded by Mommaknits

I'm knitting my first ever pair of full sized socks - I've only ever knit sock like booties before. 

So far it has taken me about a year and a half to knit these things - after well over a year I had about 1 inch of ribbing done. I thought maybe I hated knitting socks!

Not true!  Luckily, it turns out I hate knitting RIBBING on socks.  It may also have something to do with the yarn - I think it is a cotton blend, but after over a year, and a lost ballband, who can remember?  Anyhow, it is so NOT smooshy.  I like smooshy.

I have now done a bit more - about half of the heels are completed!

A few contests

I have entered a few contests lately - go and check them out!

Georgi is having a blogiversary contest, and is giving out yarn. I mean, who doesn't need more yarn???

Darcy Knotty is having a 200th post contest, and she has a large variety of lovely prizes!

Blind Purls is giving away some nice knitting and crochet books for her 30th birthday.

Gingersnaps with tea is giving away something (sock yarn, maybe) in a contest to get non-sock patterns using sock yarn.

Ali is having a summer goals contest.  My goals are to work on my spinning, both wheel and drop spindle, and to finish my first pair of socks.

Yarn Yenta is having a contest to help raise awareness of Inflammatory Breast Cancer, something I didn't even know existed!

Long time gone...

So in the last 6 months I have been learning to spin on a spinning wheel, and a drop spindle. I LOVE it! I'll try to post more details soon.

I just adopted several virtual pets - we'll see how it goes.

My Pets

The green one has been claimed by my son, imp, and the pink one now belongs to my daughter.

Click on my eggs, and help me out!

My new music toy!

CHeck this out!

www.Jango.com

A few more critters

Warning: This is another image heavy post!

I mentioned before that I have recently taught myself how to crochet. The reason I did was I kept seeing all these cute
amigurumi (knit or crochet stuffed toys, usually cute animals) and crochet patterns, but could not find many knit versions. So, I taught myself how to crochet! My first project was a mouse ...who was quickly joined by a friend. (If you click on the "mouse" link it will take you to the pattern. I really like this designer - she also designed the turtle and the cat.)


After that came a pair of cats...


...who got along fine with the mice.


In fact, they started to appear together all over the house, in pairs...


...and soon in larger groups.


I am having a lot of fun with these little guys. I made a rainbow mouse with bigger ears because the yarn colors reminded me of Viva Piñata 's little mousemellow, who has enormous ears! She, along with the blue mouse above, went to two of hubby's business associates as a gift. Here they are, peeking out of their boxes before they were delivered to their new owners!


I decided to try to make my own pattern of a guinea pig, since I have not seen any, but I go the nose a bit off, so may I present: Fergy Fudgehog! (aka the rainbow hedgehog)

6 months later...

Wow, it's been a while! We have been busy settling in, and a lot has happened in the past 6 months.

My parents came to visit in February, which thrilled the kids to no end! We all had a wonderful time, and they were great houseguests.

Critter is reading all the time now. Hard to believe it was such a tough struggle for her! She also has been into paper-crafting, and is making beautiful 3-D animals, and a house full of furniture. It's fun to see what she comes up with!

Imp is busily working on his fine motor skills, and today cut out the most intricate mini cereal box (guess where the mini box idea came from!)

While my parents were visiting, Mom thought she had lost the hat I knit for her 2 years ago, so we raided my stash and she chose some yarn. I cast on, determined to finished before they had to leave the Pacific Northwest (cool, not cold, and rain, not snow) and return to the Midwest, where they had been having huge snowstorms. Then, she found her hat! Those house elves sure are mischievous. So the pressure was off. I finished the new hat about a week ago, but have decided it needs adornment, and am searching for the perfect thing. Since I recently taught myself to crochet, I think that might be the answer.

On to the photo heavy part of this post: My recent FO (finished objects)!


This is Harvey the turtle. A friend had a baby, and so I made my first ever pair of socks for the baby. I loved them, but it didn't seem enough...so...along came Harvey!


Here are the baby socks - aren't they cute?


So cute, Harvey decided to try them on! But they were too big. Hopefully they fit my friend's baby a bit better!


One more view of the socks...do you think I'm proud of them?