B-side, Back in School, Bargains, and Podcasts

Here's a status shot of how far I've gotten on my mom's B-Side Cardigan by Laura Chau. I'm having a good time with this one. This isn't the greatest picture. It honestly looks better in person. It's pretty mindless, but that cable keeps things interesting. My choice of yarn I'm not so sure about. I'm using Knitpicks Swish DK in Mist. I've had it in my stash for ages and figured it would be a good choice for mom since she has a habit of accidentally shrinking (and bleaching) things, God love her! Anyway, the yarn has a weird texture to it, I'm assuming that's how superwash is supposed to feel since this is my first time working with it. And it's already pilling. I'm hoping that after a good washing and shaving, it will look pretty good, we'll see.

The Spring semester starts today. Since I'm back to work full time, I was only able to take one course. Unfortunately, it's a science (Human Development and Reproduction)that I need for my major and have been putting off forever. It only meets once a week, from 6-8:50. In addition to that I'm still at the restaurant 2 nights a week for extra cashola. This schedule is pretty nuts, so we'll see how long I can hack it.

Here's a cute shot I took over the weekends of the kidlets all dresed up and adorable. I am such a bargain shopper. Lucas's sweater was 7 bucks at Target. Natalia's dress, 6 bucks at Old Navy, and her little purple shrug was 8 bucks at H&M. Pretty much their entire wardrobes come from those 3 stores.



Podcasts, I'm pretty much obsessed with them right now. It's the only thing that motivates me to clean.

Here are the ones I listen to:
Craftlit - Heather Ordover is a crafty, literary, rockstar
Knitmore Girls - Jasmine has awesome fuschia hair, enough said
Never Not Knitting - Alana is hilarious and she has a daughter just a little younger than mine. She also designs adorable kids' stuff.
Lime and Violet - are always good
Stash and Burn - great knitting content
Stitch It - love Meghan and all her tips, she's ADORABLE
High Fiber Diet - Coggie is pleasant, funny, and informative
Knitajourney - Susan conducts some really great interviews
The Knitting Show - Peter and Deidre are a brother & sister duo from a family of 12 siblings
Grandma's Sewing Cabinet
Radical Cross Stitch - Rayna's Australian craftiness
Knitpicks

And that's not even all of them.

Talk to you soon.

Pajama Day...oh yeah!

Hi there! Does this face look excited?

That's because it is. Natalia is PSYCHED for pajama day at school!!!

(Lucas was busy watching Yo Gabba Gabba and declined being photographed.)
She has had this outfit planned for the last 2 weeks. We got those awesome unicorn jammy jams at the Old Navy post-holiday sale for about 4 bucks. The pink cowboy boots were thrifted for 5 bucks. They will also be having breakfast for lunch at school today. Our responsiblility was butter and syrup. It's gonna be a good day.

I threw on my ultra warm Owls sweater keep me toasty in this bitterest of all winters and am headed out the door.
Talk to you soon.

Granny Squares - Love em

I'm still plugging away at my Granny Square afghan. I underestimated how long this would take. I need about 80 squares and I've done about 7. I can't wait until it's done. The colors are cheerful and bright. Very fun.

I'm using assorted colors of assorted cheap acrylic yarns. There's some Red Heart in there, Lion's Brand, Vanna White's line. I needed wash-ability and could not afford to spend the $$$ on superwash wool. Maybe next time.

A big CONGRATS to Lucy over at Attic 24. She just welcomed home a brand new baby boy. Sigh - baby fever pangs. When I mention another baby to my husband, he looks at me incredulously, and asks: "Do you want to live UNDER A BRIDGE?" So, I'm thinking, no baby number 3 for us.

Being the Mama I Want to Be

So, I'm talking to a graphic designer via Etsy (freaking love Etsy)about a new, customized layout for the blog. I'm very excited, and hope to have a complete blog makeover very soon. I still need to add some widgets and my Ravelry button and all that fun stuff. I did manage to add my blog list. I love all of the blogs on my list dearly. They are my inspiration in all things crafty and bloggy. Be sure to check them out if you haven't already. The list does not even include half of the blogs I frequent. This whole internet craft world is so amazing. It's literally changed my life. I have learned so much from it: craft techniques, the aesthetic I prefer to surround myself with, all things domestic (cleaning with natural ingredients, menu planning), even parenting styles.

Right now I'm really interested in Gentle Parenting. It seems such a natural and intuitive way to raise children. It includes breastfeeding (which I did), co-sleeping (both kids still in our bed, and I love it), wearing your baby in a sling/carrier type thing ( I loved this idea but it did not work out for us because both my kids were about 9 lbs at birth and I am about 5 ft 1, so it was really hard on my back & shoulders)avoiding corporal punishment or any harsh discipline, etc. There is so much to it and I am very much a newbie. I know it all sounds very hippie-granola, and kind of unrealistic. But, I think even changing a few things here and there will help me to be the mom I want to be. I'm still guilty of letting frustration lead to yelling (more often than I care to admit), my kids still eat frozen chicken nuggets, and I have to use stealth tactics to get vegetables in them. I didn't use cloth diapers, and I do not plan on homeshooling. And sometimes, I get overwhelmed. But, I am doing everything I can to make sure my kids are happy, healthy, secure, and aware that they are loved. Look at these two knuckleheads:

How could I not?

Happy New Year

Hello, welcome to my new blog. My old one, www.knitalia.blogspot.com is now defunct. Hence, no link for you to follow. I wanted to go in a new direction because my crafting has gone in some new directions. In addition to knitting, I am also crocheting, and embroidering. I deleted the old blog because I wanted a brand new, fresh start for a brand new, fresh year. All my old photos can be found at my Flickr page. It's going to take awhile to get this blog the way I want it, so bear with me.
Here's what's been good:
Natalia has been crafting (and yes, my heart is swelling with pride):


She's working on a felt butterfly and flower softie kit we bought at Joann's.

I put some awesome decals and and a couple of equally awesome Black Apple prints up on the walls in the kids' room:



I also sewed a simple cushion for their room. The fabric is Japanese and from Superbuzzy. I single crocheted the border. Very cute.

I've been cross stitching (my first attempt) this portrait of Ariel, you know, the Little Mermaid...for Natalia:


I have a couple of other knitting and crochet projects on the needles but no pics right now.

We had a Christmas concert:

See how lady-like she's sitting there in the front row?

And a birthday:



We had Natalia's 5th at Chuck E. Cheese. The party actually had to be postponed due to snow, poor thing. We ended up having it the following Monday night. But, good times were had by all as you can see.