a case of the stripes

Em's got a case of the stripes. I knit this dress for Moo several years ago - Marfie returned it for Em and I paired it with a pair of Moo's hand-me-down tights. I have to admit to loving to dress Little Miss up in her little outfits.

swim swim

We hit the pool again this weekend. E is a fish and we hope Em becomes one too. We didn't plan to take her down the huge twisty water slide but she was totally up fo it. In the video below, you can see as soon as she hits the water with her papa she starts doing the baby sign language sign for "more". She couldn't get enough.

back to school

E went back to school after nearly three weeks of being away. If he didn't already have a reputation as being the tallest kindergartner, now his black eye has really gotten some attention.
The weather did not only a number on our work and holiday life - but also to E's social life. Birthday parties were rescheduled, school holiday celebrations didn't happen . . . so E's lovely, sweet teacher dedicated today to jammies and books. I read bedtime books to the kids (they loved that I wore jammies too!) and got to see all of their sweet pjs and cuddle friends. E was thrilled to bring Scabbers along to school. Hopefully, the kids in aftercare won't give him too hard of a time for wearing his jam jams.

e's shiner

In the middle of a big Wii tennis practice session, E slipped on our basement carpet and landed head first on the edge of a low cabinet - getting an instant black eye and cut. The blood wasn't too bad but both of us were scared. Now he is sporting a big shiner, just in time to go back to school tomorrow. I didn't capure it so well in this photo - it's very vivid in real life. When you ask E about his eye, he replies, "You should see the other guy." Thanks Tall House, Double Cup.

damm, Martha Stewart knows how to pick a dog . . .

well, at least a dog from a breeder - which is kind of creepy in this day and age but still, I can't deny it, when I look at Martha's new pup I get a little squishy and start to want one too. As a lifelong cat owner who thinks dogs are a little much to handle, I still longed for a cinnamon chow. For awhile I fell in love with a super fat, super short miniature Pomeranian in my hood - who lived on ground chicken and was treated like a prince. But still - this chow . . . love. Ideally, a runty, small cinnamon chow. Isn't this mug glorious?

the new granny update

I am deep into working on "the new granny scarf" that I previously posted on. I have to admit, I always thought of crochet as the poor cousin to knitting but I am really getting into these granny squares - or hexagons, as they actually are. I played around a lot with shapes and hook size and searched blogs a lot for method to square off the edges. I think I like what I've come up with.

I am still experimenting with whether to felt the pieces before joining them together. On the left is a felted version. It's not easy to see the difference but the felted does feel denser and tighter.

I broke down the yarn into little bobbins - i was getting a bit crazy to lug 8 skeis around with me. I am still in love with the colors and textures.

I say again - watch out Garnet Hill!

knitting and sewing projects from 2007 & 2008

another faux wrap dress

faux wrap dress

circle jacket for em

headscarf for em

cowgirl halter dress for em

little red riding hood sweater for little miss

parfait halter dress

em's fair isle legwarmers

em's chestnut hat & legwarmers

garnet hill sweater for em

em's chocolat cherise hat & legwarmers

chocolate cable sweater for e

em's Christmas stocking

e's stripey hat

Snowflake Stripey Hat

Snowflake Aviatrix cap

reid cardigan

candy corn costume

em's wrap sweater

someday daughter sweater

rose festival onesie

moo's hat & purse

amelie sweater dress

e's shamrock sweater

new dress

I was able to finish knitting a new dress/tunic for Em during our snowstorms. I knit most of it during Thanksgiving break but needed a bit of time to block and finish it. It's the same pattern as the last dress I finished for her - I am addicted to it.

ta ta

We have to say goodbye to Nana and Jonesie today as they head back to Wisconsin. Here are some pictures from their memorable visit.

make-up Christmas

Tall House, Double Cup's brother and sis-in-law didn't make it to Portland in time for our annual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities so we had a make-up Christmas on Saturday night. I made cippiono and grilled bread and Nana made the salad. We all drank champagne and wine, sans kidlets, and celebrated Chris and Jen's visit.

christmas eve and christmas day in pictures

merry christmas

the new cookie for our cookie exchange

Despite the snow we are going forward with our cookie exchange Tuesday night - minus a couple of people snowed in too far away to swap.



I went for a new one this year - the Ambrosia Macaroons. Orange zest and bittersweet chocolate make them crazy good. E loves them and I keep catching Tall House, Double Cup sneaking into the dining room to have one more. I made 9 dozen while snowed in today and promised my staff to bring a plate of them in, if the library opens tomorrow.

my snow boys

Life finally slowed down for us today and we got to play and work a little in the snow. Nana and Jonesie have arrived so there are a couple more hands to take care of Em and play with E.




This is the most snow we've had in ten years - it's already covered with a sheen of ice but that's not stopping anyone from sledding.

Our resident snow master. The shovel still had the tag on it since we bought it years ago.

the new granny

One of my first knitting teachers looked down on crochet. She would say, "knitters do not crochet," with a sneer - so I never explored it much. But then . . . . Garnet Hill came out with this scarf this year. I fell in love right away and knew somehow I could make it for myself.

Buying the yarn was easy. I got a lovely box of Knit Picks Palette in the mail earlier this week. Both Em and I keep playing with the skeins - jut tumbling them over and over together, imagining how the scarf will turn out.

Actually mastering scarf without a pattern is more of a challenge. I found a hexagon granny square that fits the bill though the first one I made is definitely too big. I bought a smaller hook last night and ready to try again. Garnet Hill, watch out.

my district's White House ornament

Did you know each state and district within each state sends a holiday ornament to the White House Christmas tree? Here is the ornament from my district - so appropriate that it has bikes on it since I nearly hit a biker every other week in my hood.

You can see all of the state's offerings here.

happy day Mr. Big

Happy 6th Birthday to my very best boy.

the birthday party that happened!

Despite snow, wind and icy roads, E's 6th birthday was a blast. About half of the guests were able to navigate the roads and make it to the bowling alley. E didn't know the difference and was completely pumped up and loved sharing bowling with his buddies.



E picked out an Indiana Jones cake - the boulder shoots down the ramp a la the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie that E has never seen but somehow has grasped onto as very cool.

E got a little lovely time with his best friend at the end of the party. He might say that was the best part. A huge loving thank you to everyone who was able to make it. For the friends that couldn't, we need a makeup bowling date in 2009!

best friends

E was reunited with his best friend Will tonight. We met up to see Mo play at Mississippi Pizza. Both boys got to sing onstage and brought the house down. It was such a fun night. E was thrilled when he heard Will had arrived - just pure joy spread across his face. They boys are true blue soul brothers. Videos below . .

scan fair

We went to Scan Fair over the weekend - had our fill of kringle and aeblskivers. We watched dancers, shopped for Nordic crafts and hit the Pippi Longstocking room for kids. I couldn't tempt E into signing up for folk dancing classes but I still have my fingers crossed for Em.

organizational tools

What I love more than organizing is reading about organizational tools. Is that weird? I love to read organizing books, blogs, and magazine articles. The editor in chief at Real Simple must feel the same way because they run organizing content in every issue. The library I work for - and specifically the amazing Marfie - created a very cool Learning 2.0 program for our staff and as part of Learning 2.1 - our next phase - she introduced us to a crazy fun amount of online organizing tools. This is waste-your-day-online crazy. I want to use them all! Now, now, now! But in triage mode, these are the first I want to try:

Listingly (there is nothing I love more than a list I can check off)

ChoreWars (points for making your bed!)

I heart Shawn, Ivy and Target

My sweet, sweet girlfriend Shawn and her handsome husband just adpoted their sweet Ivy from South Korea. I am crazy emotional about the whole thing and feel incredibly invested in Shawn and Kevin's marriage as I was sitting next to Shawn on the second day of grad school when she leaned over to me and said, "Don't you think that Kevin guy is cute?" Destiny was born that day - 15 year ago!
Ivy's been a dream baby so far and I am just dying to get my hands on her. I was so proud to see on Shawn's blog that she took Ivy for her first Target outing. Welcome to America Ivy! Aren't they meant for each other! I love you guys!

annual Martha Stewart Christmas preview

Tall House, Double Cup and I make a yearly pilgrimage while we are in Wisconsin to Kmart. We studiously avoid places like this all year but each Thanksgiving week, we have to stop by to see the new Martha Stewart Christmas decorations and some random Badger gear.








This year there is a new Martha line that's mostly pink and brown. I love some p&b combos but not on my Christmas tree. I am contemplating buying it for birthday party gifts.

The ribbon was very pretty - but nothing tempted me to buy it yet.

Another year, yet another crazy desire for this fake fruit garland. Real gumdrops would be too tempting for E & Em at our house.

Next step - review Martha's Macy's holiday collection.

rainy lights

We hit the Portland International Raceway for the one night they let people walk around the track (rather than drive) to see the big holiday light displays. We had plans to go last year but were deterred by the rain. This year we bravely faced the drizzle (does it always rain the first Monday in December?) and hooked up with the Cedros clan to march the track.

The kids ran like crazy with lots of happy screaming and silliness.

I had my own scream of delight when just steps into the walk, Auntie Brooke broke out the holiday cocktails. I think she called these Chocolate Nutties. The recipe was a blur of desirable liquor - topped off with a maraschino cherry.

The combination of crazy weather, strong drinks and holiday happiness made for a very fun night.

imports from Wisconsin

I think maybe I should go into the import business - importing the best of Wisconsin to Oregon. This year our haul included Leinenkugels beer and assorted frozen meat from this amazing butcher - Sailer's in teeny tiny Elmwood. Everything made it safely home and Tall House, Double Cup already broke out the brauts.