emme in picture books

I had never heard the name Emmeline - or had it actually sink into my consciousness until Marci suggested it after I shared my agony over choosing between Emma and Madeline for my daughter. Of course, I had a one year-old boy at the time and knew it would be years before we tried again - I like things decided.
But in just the last two years, Emmeline is popping up all over children's books. I've been collecting titles, and even though none of them spell our girl's name like we do, I think she'll still like them . . . .

The Faceless Fiend (Mad Misadventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones) by Howard Whitehouse
Emmaline and the Bunny by Katherine Hannigan (comes out in March - I am reading it in galley).

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
The Mouse of Amherst by Elizabeth Spires (not brand new but I just realized the mouse's name is Emmeline.

If you see anymore children's books with Emmeline as a main character, please let me know!

class quilt

I've been working on E's kindergarten class project for the school auction. It's a quilt called Happiness - with each square drawn by a student in the class showing what makes them happy. It's been so much fun to work on with some of the other class moms.

Bolt - up on Alberta - donated much of the supplies and I am in love with the "happy" colors.

sweethearts

It would be easy to be jealous of the sweet love between these two but they are just the most joyous pair together. Em is so happy with her Dada. Her eyes follow him everywhere in the room and when he steps out just to get rid of the garbage, she is waiting at the door for his return. I love to get photos of them together - I hope they are always like this.

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.