Weekend of Firsts

This weekend was a crazy one.  I had a knitting retreat on Friday and Saturday and Will had his first ever soccer game as well.  Knitting was great.  Friday was a finishing class which was five hours (yes, 5) of intense knitting.  I learned a lot and hope to be able to remember half!  Saturday was fair isle and I was so nervous I would be crap and ended up loving it.  I had to leave the class an hour early to go to Will's game but I still learned quite a bit.  

Here is the hat that I started yesterday and finished today. Will says it "bugs" him-I think it's just itchy.  It's done in Mission Falls 1824 Wool and I think it feels great, but I'm not a little kid with super sensitive skin.   

Another shot...
This is Will in his "I won't move an inch" pose.  Apparently you must purse your lips and look melancholy in order to hold still.  Here's a pic of the top of the hat...
And here's a close up of my mad hot fair isle skills...
Can you tell I'm quite proud?  Here are the details... Pattern: Halton Crown Hat from "Kids 

Knitted Hats"

      Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool

      Date: 4/26/08-4/27/08

      Changes: Added green color to the crown

and shortened the rib from 2"

to about 1".

Okay, enough of the hat.  Now to soccer.  It was hilarious because all the kids on Will's team are 3.  They had NO idea what they were doing.  At the end of the game, Will had finally had enough and came crying off the field saying that the other team wouldn't share the ball with him.  Most of the time he just ran.  No direction, just ran.  Lizzy had a blast hanging out with my Dad, sister Brooke and niece Morgan.  In this first picture, Will his comparing his muscles with his buddy during a time out. 

In this one, Lizzy is attempting to walk (she actually took about 7 steps together tonight!)
All in all, a pretty great weekend.  I hope everyone else had a good one as well.  

YESSSS!

I did it!  Thank you Marit and Hege!  The needle tips on my 16 inch #7's were a bit long (the curve on the 12" tips would have made it so I didn't have to stretch the yarn so much) but it worked and I didn't have to spend the extra $15 for another set of 12" #7's.  I finished the one for my left hand. Hooray!  The only problem with these is that I did the bind off wrong-I forgot to bind off in pattern so they're a bit tight along the fingers.  Also, the color is not good against my skin.  I love pink but alas, it does not look good on me:( .  These will be a gift for some lucky soul.  I think when I try again I will make them longer and remember to do the bind off right. Thanks again for the help!  

Chicken!

I'm knitting the fingerless gloves from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" and it seems to be an easy pattern but I'm freaking out about the thumb opening.  It says I need two 8" US size 6 needles and I'm using 12" because I don't actually think 8" exist in a size 6.  Anyway, all is well but I'm wondering if I can use my 16" size 6 as the second pair?  Does that make sense?  Does the second pair have to be the same cord size as the first?  I guess I don't really get how it works.  It's just a hole, it doesn't cover the thumb at all.  HELP!  I could just go into a yarn store and get some help but I don't want to look like an idiot-so I'll post it on a blog where really good knitters can read about my stupidity!

Also, here's a quick pic of a bowl I made.  I just used the same pattern as the "John Merrick" but stretched it over a bowl instead of my head.  It didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to but I guess that's what happens when you make a hat into a bowl.  It will hold my precious baby alpaca until I use it for the blanket I'm making.  Do you like my complete inability to take a photo?  It's so wonky.  

 

Finally, for those of you who don't care about knitting (is that possible?), here's one of the family after the BYU volleyball game.  It was fantastic-they beat UC Irvine. I'm really hoping to go the championships in California (actually held at Irvine) this month.  I especially love how my ring is shining like kryptonite!    

Welcome to the fold, Lizzy

 Lizzy got into my knitting bag yesterday and started "knitting".  She was concentrating very hard on clicking the needles together-very cute.  She also started standing up in the middle of the floor yesterday, something she has been too chicken to do before.  We're extremely proud of our baby who learned to knit and stand up by herself all in one day (yes, I know she is 14 months old and should be walking by now!).
Will is trying his hardest to get her to walk (presumably so she is better able to play with him) so he walks around the house with her holding her hands.

On the knitting front, I'm still working on the stupid boring shrug and will have it completed soon.  I've also finished three "Lyra's Hoods" and will post later after I have taken pictures of the recipients in them.  Also, I tried knitting a bowl and felted it today so we'll see how it looks after it's dry. 

That's about it except that I have to winge about the weather for a sec.  It was 75 degrees yesterday and is 40 as I write!  What is that all about?  Okay, I know what it's about-spring in Utah.  I know I'll be complaining more when it's August and 103 degrees!
 

35 REASONS WE LOVE STEVE

Steve is 35 years old today.  Yes, he is an old, old man.  I am listing 35 things we love about Steve so he knows just HOW MUCH we love him...

1) He does "Magnum" really well.

2) He's smokin' hot.

3)  He's COMPLETELY dedicated to us.

4) He has more than 35 pairs of cargo pants/shorts.

5) He wears shorts and slippers in the winter.

6) He is an amazing cook and cooks most of the dinners around here!

7) He loves winter and snow with all his heart.  If I would do it, he would move to the North 

Pole.

8) He works hard.

9) He has great design style-I know, it's crazy.

10) He looks awesome in glasses and has 1.5 million pairs.

11) He has a serious watch addiction and has 1.6 million of those.

12) He puts others first.

13) He's trying really hard to eat right (a HUGE effort for someone who hates fruits and veg)

14) He's an enormous food snob!

15) If he only got cooking utensils as gifts for the rest of his life, he would be thrilled.

16) He's dedicated to the gospel.

17) He's got awesome hair.

18) He's extremely patient.

19) He LOVES to travel.

20) He would love to live in another country someday.

21) He speaks Spanish like a pro (Go, Chile!).

22) Will is going to be playing soccer soon and Steve is so excited he can hardly breathe!

23) He loves his stupid FJ Cruiser (even though I've crashed it twice because of the lack of 

visibility).

24) He loves Disney World/Land and is almost as excited as the kids when we go.

25) He's accepting of everyone.

26) He's taught me to be more kind.

27) He loves Boo and Shamus (our rotten dogs).

28) He's very intelligent (just ask him).

29) He loves meeting new people.

Now from the kids...

30) He works out (Will)

31) He plays with us (Will)

32) He's nice to me and works out (Will)

33) He puts movies on for me (Will)

34) He's a chef too (Will)

35) He's a rock star! (Lizzy)

We love you so much Steve (Daddy)!  Happy birthday!   

Oh my gosh, Kara is right...

36) He is an actual Scottish Laird!  (it's true, he owns one foot of land in Scotland and is thereby a legal Laird!) 

That one counts for next year, Steve.  We love you!

Shrug

Nothing very exciting going on around here-weather is still not so great so we spend a lot of time at the aquarium and I think I know each fish by name now.
 Also, we read lots and lots of books. Will's favorite right now is one about Knights.  He was asking me what armor was and apparently I just pointed to the knights arm because Will says "so this is his 'toe-er' (pointing to the knight's toe) and this is his 'leg-er' (pointing to the knight's leg).  Yep!  And so to knitting.  Yes, I know this piece is terribly simple but I honestly wear stuff like this all the time (it adds some detail to my relatively boring shirt repertoire).  I'm also working on one with sleeves (sort of) but it's boring me to sobs.  I'll post some pics when it's done.  I'm taking a finishing class at the end of the month and am currently working on swatches for that.  We'll see how it goes.  So far, I'm scared to seam anything so hopefully this will give me the confidence I need to do a sweater.  Forgive the pictures-I've never been terribly comfortable with the camera.  Also, the pattern is one Kamille (owns a local yarn store) made many years ago and she can't remember where she saw it first.  You just cast on 43 (45, 47) stitches and knit in a 1x1 rib until it's 30 inches long (or however large you need it so it fits snugly) and then mattress stitch it together.  This first photo was taken at Steve's cousin's house on Sunday-it was sooo cold but shruggy kept me warm (ish).  

See, it's lovely really.  I can wear it to warm my shoulders...

or my neck!