A new Whimsy hat. for Jacob...

How cute can one baby be?!

My sweet little nephew Jacob needed a new winter hat...a custom Whimsy was the obvious answer. This was my first go with this many colors of yarn...and I was a touch apprehensive. Would I be able to keep all of the yarn tangle free and tidy? But, in the end, it was easy peasy. Everywhere I went I carried this project in my big knitting bag which I had loaded with the various skeins of yarn ( in a very particular order of course). I just started on another for our good friend Cole...

Preschooler Yoga Pants...

So, I finally got around to figuring out that serger I got for my birthday (5 months ago).
My first project....some yoga/lounge pants for Mr. Luke.
I used stretch cotton jersey and just traced the inseam from a pair of pants we have around.
Worked like a charm...I made actual pants on my first try.
I used this Tutorial over at Luckybeans.

The Pumpkin Patch

We ventured out to the local Pumpkin Patch Extravaganza with the boys and had a great time. This particular Pumpkin Patch is the most elaborate (and populated) pumpkin scene I've ever attended...but it's family owned and they grow the pumpkins at the farm.You pull your own perfect squash right off the vine.

I much prefer this to arriving at some roadside field where the 'pre-picked' pumpkins sit all in tidy rows. I find that scene much more bothersom.

Mommy and Kai

Daddy and the boys in a train car

Mommy and Kai on a tractor tire

More tractor fun

Luke.

Photo's of our bounty to come...

What we've been up to...

We've been easing gently into Fall around here. I picked up my knitting again, found some cozy reading spots for rainy days, gotten all the board games out, gathered some seasonal treasures for our nature bowl, and created a new studio for myself. Every thing's just rolling along.

One of our great reading spots...get's alot of use by the boys.

My new friend...A 1950's Necchi, made it Italy. She's amazing. I named her Bella.

My new Studio space.

A couple bags I have in the studio.

My old (sorta) reliable machine on her desk. That's Sylvia the half lady.

The boys playing Candy Land on a rainy day.

Our Nature Bowl...we fill it with seasonal treasures. Leaves and pumpkins in the Fall, flowers and seed pods in the Spring.....etc.

Yesterday's Art project.

My most recent Thrift store score...and most favorite chair of all time...
sitting nicely with our magazine rack full of two of my other favorite things...
Dwell and Atomic Ranch Magazines.


Hope Fall is finding it's way into your space as well.

The Sweetpea...

So, I am incorporating a new hat silhouette into the shop inventory for winter this year. It has the classic look and feel of a hand knit cap, but with a fun twist. A sweet pointed top that finishes it off like a little dollop of whipped cream. My hats were my top sellers last winter so I have been a knitting machine recently as I gear up to keep the shop stocked for the chilly months.

Golden Gate..

We recently had a great day trip to San Francisco...or as we call it 'The City' (apparently the city we actually live in doesn't count)...to sort of mark the end of our summer. We went to the aquarium and then to our favorite beach under the Golden Gate. One of the many great things about this beach is that you just can't take a bad photo there. I mean how can you flub up a photo with one of the most famous bridges in the world as your back drop?!

This is really the first summers end since the kids were born, or since college for that matter, that has required any 'marking'. I enjoyed that feeling that this was the beginning of an annual tradition. The first of many end of summer celebrations. Luke has started back to preschool for his first full year of school, albeit only two mornings a week. We will now fall into the schedule of parents everywhere with a winter break, a spring break, and a glorious summer break. Up until now, as parents of babies and toddlers, we have enjoyed (and occasionally dreaded) this very free form, days running together, devil may care sort of existence. Now, as the structure of polite society is slowly being imposed upon us, I find I am a tad resistant and even a tad more totally relieved.
Relieved to be sharing the task of ushering Luke into adulthood, even if just for 5 hours a week.
Relieved to have those same 5 hours alone with Kai.
Relieved to have successfully reached yet another marker in the parenting road.

Tagged...

(the boys + Cole on our recent camping trip)

So, I received a note from my bloggy friend Lucia. I've been tagged!

Here's what I have been "tagged" to do:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged, and to read your blog.

Random Facts:

1.I have a heart shaped birthmark on my left thigh. Not just sorta, vaguely heart shaped...but, rather, a near perfect heart. I always forget about it until a new person sees it and gets all worked up about how cute it is.

2. I don't like chocolate really. I sometimes have these strong urges to eat some, but I don't particularly enjoy the way it tastes. In my mind this confirms that there is some hormonal compulsion to eat chocolate...it's the only food I don't like the taste of which I have the occasional compulsion to take a bite of.

3. I cannot stand the idea of watching a movie during daylight hours. It feels like a complete waste of sunlight to sit in the dark for 2 hours. I think I have been to one matinée in the past 10 years and I was totally preoccupied by what I may be missing the entire time. I Love watching movies at night though...mainly documentaries. But, thats a whole other random thing.

4. I have some serious phone issues. I hate answering the phone. If, by chance, I do answer, I am usually fine to talk. I just have hard time answering. I get all nervous like when I would call a boy in high school. This is all a part of a larger random fact issue...see below.

5. I have a deep fear of and disdain for what I like to call "the awkward moment". I will avoid them at almost all costs. For me this means any unexpected pause, stutter, talk-over, unheard comment, and miscommunication that might occur during the course of a normal conversation. I can't watch them in movies (have you noticed how often this is a part of the main plotline of a movie, especially romantic comedies) (Bridgette Jones Diary...AAHHHH) I am forced to cover my eyes. It is also, I believe, the reason I hesitate to answer the phone. Because I am basically inviting an awkward moment right into my day. You should know that my dread of the 'awkward moment' causes me to create quite a few of them. Yeah. Irony. I see it.

6. I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis since I was 9 months old. My wrists are both fused and don't bend at all and almost all of my joints are affected. It hurts all the time, but I feel like I am at an advantage because I have never known life without it. I feel tremendously for the folks who have normal active lives and are then suddenly slammed with this disease. I take an injectable medication twice a month to help control my symptoms and it works fairly well.

7. I have to have the sheets, pillows and blankets on my bed PERFECT before I can go to sleep. I cannot stand when there are wrinkles or bunches. I must smooth and pat. Chris chuckles at me almost every night. For eight years. I think it is sorta like a dog walking in circles three times before lying down.

8. When I am upset I clean. Compulsively. Psychotically. So, when my house is a mess, I am either seriously injured or life is sailing along smoothly. If it is ridiculously clean I am probably struggling through something. Right now...messy, and I'm not injured.


So..I am not really the tagging type. If you read this and want to participate please do.

The Metro...

So, I am calling my new Diaper Bag design 'The Metro' because it has that hip urban parent vibe. That is precisely the feeling what I was going for...utilitarian, yet stylish, with yummy fabrics to make it a bit of a statement piece.

My friend Lucia said ...'It's like a messenger bag, but without the flap...I like it.'

There are couple of these beauties over in the shop right now...