Ahoy, Matey!

I was all set to drive to Target on Monday to buy the kids matching pirate costumes, when I decided to see what I had around the house to make the costumes. I found some gray cotton, left over from the super hero capes, to make vests and some gray felt to make eye patches.  I began to think this might just work.

On a quick bike trip (the kids rode their bikes, I walked) to our crazy craft store in town I found bandannas for hats and a skull and crossbones stencil to make it all look legit.  The kids will wear the vests over striped shirts and they may or may not have paint stirrer swords.   As awesome as the swords sound, they are probably a really bad idea.  But maybe a bag of chocolate coins?  Or telescopes?  I made the treasure map out of an old bed sheet.

Guess what else the kids tried on yesterday?  Snowsuits!  Because the temperature is barely making it out of the 30's these days.  Should make for interesting trick or treating!  Happy Wednesday!

Unraveling

This is my very lovely, and very completed,  Lonely Tree Shawl.   But I really wanted it to be bigger. Soooo...

This is me preparing to unravel the last eight rows, using this method.  It was very nerve wracking, but don't worry, everything turned out ok.  It's such a lacy pattern and it's three weeks worth of knitting and there are no mistakes at all in the shawl. So I really debated if it was worth it to take the risk of dropping a stitch while unraveling.  But I decided that I have worked so hard on this that it was worth it to have it exactly as I want it.  

So out the stitches had to go.  

Ok, back to knitting again.  I can't wait to share the finished product with you!

Artist In Residence

Please enjoy a few select pieces from Audrey's collection:  Retrospective of a Two Year Old

On The Lighter Side

Every morning when Audrey comes downstairs the first thing she does is look at the paperwhites and exclaim "Look how tall they are getting!"  I reach out to hold her and say "I know, it happens so fast."

My friend asked Audrey how old she would be next month and Audrey, with a slight frown while trying to fold her pinky finger under her thumb, she said, "Too much."

Colton is the politest 17th month old I know.  He says please when asking to breastfeed and thank you after.  I can hear your jaw dropping at the shock of it all.

Our PBS station had a Martha Stewart: Cooking School marathon over the weekend.  Part of me really wished I could have sat on the couch with a bottle of buttery Chardonnay and bowl of buttery popcorn and watched all 12 hours, but look at all the things I would have missed.

C is for Cape

For Colton and our nephews, I made these super hero capes for Christmas.  As much as I really wish I could sew, and despite the fact that I have taken a sewing class, I'm not very good at it.  It is possible that I'm really bad at it.  I had to rip one entire cape apart and half of another and resew them.  But I pressed on (ha!), with the sewing machine scrunched onto Craig's desk, crawling around on the floor cutting fabric, with a determined scowl on my face.

The pattern was easy to follow, just do exactly like she says.  I used two colors for each cape, all four are black in the inside.  And I added the felt letters by free handing a stencil, cutting the felt, then I hand sewed them on with embroidery floss.

I going to make on for Audrey's birthday next month.  It may build my sewing confidence!

Advent

It took us all week but we have finally eaten all the Thanksgiving leftovers, removed the extra silverware from the draw and finished the laundry.  Ok, there is still laundry, because...well, there is always laundry.  We listened to Christmas music for the first time today and Craig took the kids to the park while I put up some Christmas decorations.  We have not bought or made a single present.  But that's ok.  We have time for the important things.

I made an Advent calendar with some painted salt dough trees this week.  (Can you tell salt dough is the extent of my craftiness?)   I hope it is a calendar we'll use for years to come.  Each date has a little activity on the back.  Just a sticky note, I'm looking for something nicer, but this will work for now.  Today was "Listen to Christmas music" to help us ease into the season.

Hope you are enjoying the beginning and preparations of early December.

Place Cards

With two sick kids napping in their room, I found the fourth episode of Call the Midwife on the DVR and sat down to finish these place cards for Thanksgiving dinner.  I made the salt dough leaves last week and today wrote the name cards.  I do not at all know how to print in calligraphy but I have a lesson book and some pens so I thought I'd give it a go.  Hummm, have to keep practicing.

As sad as it is to see Audrey sick, she is the best patient.  She's spent most of the day laying on the couch and sleeping.  We had a free tv day - meaning we could watch as much tv as we want.  And we're still in our pajamas!  Well some days are just like that.