My friend, Kristen McKnight, is super talented. If anyone is looking for a photographer in the Phoenix area, please think of her (comment on this post w your email address and I can get you in touch). She does family photos, engagement pics, maternity and belly photos, etc., etc.
Anyway, Kristen took a bunch of belly pics of me during my visit to Phoenix last weekend. Here’s a sneak peek. Can’t wait to see the rest!
Filed under Baby
We had some good friends in town visiting before Christmas. One afternoon with no plans, and they got suckered into tagging along with me to two mid-century stores I had yet to go to in search of our nursery rocker. As one of my favorites would say: “bazinga.” Hehe.
Well, lo and behold, the last store we went to FINALLY had a chair that would work! (I’d been to like 9-10 mid-century stores in the past few weeks.) Our friends must’ve been good luck. Especially because they had a checkbook. And I didn’t. Nor did I have cash. And the store didn’t take plastic. I bargained a bit off the pricetag, and we walked out with a chair for $100. And then, our friends decided to gift us the chair…because they’re that cool.
So, here she is (along with a very pretty model):
What I like about it: it rocks, but it doesn’t look like a rocker. It’s in really good shape. It doesn’t stink. It’s green, and goes with the theme. It was cheap (compared to everything that I like). It makes me happy.
What Brady likes about it: his knees touching his chin when he sits in it. LOL. So, maybe it’ll be used by me the most. That probably would’ve been the case anyway.
I also scored the ottoman pouf on Etsy. Oh, how I love Etsy. I’ll need to find a sidetable for next to the chair and some bright/fun pillows for lumbar support.
More pics/angles:
We’re on our way to Durango for Christmas. Six-hour drive. I spent the first hour crocheting a cowl. I had some leftover yarn from another project, so I used it to make another cowl because I ended up wearing my yellow one a lot. 🙂
Here are some pics. I’ll post the pattern later.
Now what do I do? Five more hours. Guess I could talk to Brady…
1/4/12 UPDATE. Here’s the pattern I used, from Lionbrand: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/L10146.html?noImages=&r=1.
Filed under Crafty
Back in Glenwood a few weeks ago, my friends and I occupied a coffee shop and crocheted/knitted for a good 5-6 hours. We felt like old bitties, but it was fun. And, we were even serenaded by an accordion at one point.
Proof:
Remember that hat I crocheted for a friends’ baby? Well, I attempted to teach the group how to do it. We all came up with different results (different yarn, different-sized hooks). However, I think the following directions give a good enough tutorial. When in doubt, check YouTube (that’s how I learned).
For a small hat, use thinner yarn and a smaller hook. For an adult-sized hat, use thicker yarn and a larger hook. For the adult-sized hat I’ll show in this tutorial, I used Lion Brand’s Thick and Quick yarn with a size N hook.
Start by chaining three stitches. Then, join the chain with a simple slip stitch.
Chain two (slip stitch).
Now, start your first row by stitching 11 half double crochet stitches into the center hole you created by joining your original chain.
Time to start your second row. It’s helpful to mark where you start. In between each stitch from the previous row, crochet two half double crochet stitches. So, row two will end up with double the amount of stitches (24).
Third row. You’re going to do one half double crochet (HDC) increase on every other stitch. That means you’ll do start off your row with one HDC. In the next spot, do two HDC. In the next spot do one HDC. Keep alternating in that pattern for all of row three.
Fourth row. One HDC in each spot.
Here’s a picture of my progress at this point…somewhere between row 3 and 4:
Fifth row. Do one HDC increase every three stitches. So, one HDC, one HDC, two HDC. Repeat.
Sixth row. Do one HDC in each space.
Seventh – Xth row. Continue to do one HDC in each space until you reach the desired length. I think I ended up doing 10 rows or so. I kept testing it on my head until I reached the desired size.
To finish off my hat, I did a couple single crochet stitches, then a few slip stitches so that the end tapers off. Then, tie off and tuck in the tail. You’re done!
Here’s my final result (fuzzy pic, but you get the idea):
Filed under Crafty
Continuing my attempt to embrace winter…
Last weekend we went on a hut trip with two other couples. We went to the 10th Mountain Division’s Benedict Fabi Hut, near Aspen. It was a really good time. It was cold and snowy, but not enough to deter us.
We had a six-mile hike up and a six-mile hike back. Going up was brutal. There really wasn’t a break in the climbing. It took us a solid six hours to get to the top – that time includes several pit stops and an extended break for lunch. From the main parking lot (the lower one), we clocked total milage on the way up to be 6.08 miles.
Not having hiked anything significant in a while, this was really tough for me and my ever-shrinking lung capacity. Plus, the weight of my pack, the extra weight of me and my changing body didn’t help matters. My pack doesn’t fit anymore, which I found out as we were putting on gear. The hip strap doesn’t fasten, meaning the weight of the pack isn’t distributed properly. My hip flexers ended up carrying most of the weight and KILLED towards the top. Brady was a trooper and really helped me through. It’s so frustrating not being myself!! Everyone else did great, though.
The hut is uber-cute. It’s one of the newer ones…built in 2004.
If you go, I’d recommend printing out directions from hutski.com. And getting several maps. Those were our resources, and between them all we found our way just fine. However, I will say that no one set of directions out there is comprehensive. Even the directions from hutski can be a bit unclear on their own.
Here are a few pics of the trip.
Filed under Adventurous
It’s officially winter. And so far, I’ve been embracing it. There’s extreme coziness to snuggling up indoors and knitting/crocheting/quilting (which I love), but I don’t think anything is more invigorating than bundling up and heading outdoors to enjoy the beauty of winter.
A few weeks ago, I headed up to Glenwood Springs with a few friends for a girls weekend. It was fabulous. We stayed in a hostel, which meant cramming five of us into a space that’s smaller than an average dorm room. But it was fun and felt a lot like camp…late-night ghost stories included.
Here’s a view from my top bunk. That’s as wide as our mini hallway got. If this picture doesn’t make you feel claustrophobic, I’m not sure what would…
We headed out for a hike on both Saturday and Sunday. Both times, we went to the Hanging Lake trail. Snowshoes not necessary, although we did battle some snow/ice on the trail. On Saturday, we got too late of a start to finish, so that’s what we set out to do on Sunday. Here are some pictures from the adventure. It was so nice to get outdoors and break a sweat in the freezing cold. It’s like telling the cold “ha, you can’t get me, you can’t bring me down.” Or something like that.
Beaver!
Filed under Adventurous
About a month ago (or so), I went with a friend to an Intro to Knitting class at Fabric Bliss. And, thus, my knitting addiction commenced.
Because I already knew how to crochet, I think it helped me pick up knitting quickly. It probably helps that Aurora (owner of Fabric Bliss) is a great instructor. I’d definitely recommend Fabric Bliss’ classes if you’re in Denver!
In class, we were given a pattern to make a scarf. I followed the pattern (mostly), but made a cowl instead. I didn’t really want to take the time to knit a sufficiently long scarf, and I didn’t want to buy more yarn on a project that was just for me. I also made a few minor adjustments to the pattern so I wouldn’t have to do that much purl-ing. My notes below.
It turned out great! Love the color. Love the length. It’s a perfect little cowl. And it’s done in perfect time for me to take advantage of wearing it during this really cold weather we’re having right now (ummm…high of 18 today. That’s Fahrenheit…). I might want to make 20 more in all different colors.
Here are a few pictures of the final result.
Using size 13 needles, I cast on 24 stitches.
I knit regularly for 10 rows.
Then I did four rows of knit, purl, knit, purl.
Back to 10 rows of knitting.
Then, again: knit, purl, knit, purl.
I followed that pattern for eight rotations.
Then I cast off, and sewed the ends together (with yarn).
I’m sure I could have finished it off more elegantly, but I was anxious to get it done so I could work on my other projects. It was really fun to learn to knit, and to finish something relatively quickly.
This cowl took less that one skein of Lion Brand’s Thick and Quick yarn – about $8. I used the citron color.
And, just because I took bump pictures after I took cowl pictures, you get a bonus baby bump photo. Taken right at the week 20 mark. Feeling large.
I’m relatively new to blogging. It’s been about five months since I started this blog. My original goal wasn’t really to achieve anything. I just wanted a place to play a bit online.
Then, I realized it’d be a great tool for sharing updates with family and friends, since we are all scattered throughout the country. So, that’s been my main audience.
I don’t really have any revised goals for my blog, but I will say that I LOVE blogs that share opinions, give advice and also go through detailed diy projects. These are the blogs I follow most regularly, and I think they have a real value-add.
Someday, it’d be great if my blog did that for others. Until then, I’d like to share who I follow:
Lay Baby Lay – http://laybabylay.com/– For creative nursery ideas and other baby advice.
Modg Blog – www.modgblog.com – For funny (really funny), pregnancy/baby advice. Product reviews. And other insights.
Little Green Notebook – http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/ – For great design ideas and really thorough, step-by-step (w/ pictures!) diy projects.
A Pretty Cool Life – www.aprettycoollife.com – For fun craft projects, ideas and other inspiration.
Our Mid Century – www.ourmidcentury.com – For creative mid century modern design ideas.
The Purl Bee – www.purlbee.com – For sewing and knitting/crocheting ideas and inspiration.
Well, those are the favorites, the sites that I visit most often. Please visit and enjoy! If you find any others that are similar, please let me know!
I found another project I want to tackle! Now that I know how to knit, I’d love to take the Lamb Shoppe’s top-down baby jacket class. I could make this:
Now, I need to find out when they’ll have this class next!
I stumbled upon this inspiration when looking at Laura’s blog…in case you want another Denver crafter to follow…
Today is my moms’ birthday (happy birthday, mom!). I just came across this picture of her and my dad (and me…in the belly).
I’m not sure how far along she was in this picture. Looks like she’s a bit larger than I am right now, but it’s kinda cool thinking about what she and my dad were thinking about before I arrived. Were they super excited to meet this new little person (probably…that’s a dumb questions…duh, it’s me!)? Were they crazy stressed about money like Brady and I? Point being, it’s kinda neat to think about your parents being in the same spot you are in right now.
Although I’m glad I won’t be laying on an avocado green rug anytime soon.
Filed under Baby
well, that's neat 