10 Stitches of Patience

I have now started three blankets for a baby my friend is having. She lives far away and has a baby due in.... gosh, six more weeks now. And I wanted to make her a blanket for this one.

I started one but ended up not loving the yarn or the pattern so I put it aside. Then I started another one, but the color changes were a bit above my skill level at the moment and I was being crazy and making it up on my own, so I had no pattern to fall back on.

That blanket now lives in a Duplo box, half finished and destined to be pulled apart and turned into something else. Maybe a cute hat.....

A couple weeks ago at knitting one of the more advanced knitters, who has a Knitting Super Power of somehow remembering EVERYTHING she has ever learned about knitting and always being willing to stop and help anyone, was making a 10 stitch blanket.

It starts off as 10 stitches knitting each row, then turning a corner with short rows and continuing on going around and around.

I had some DK yarn I had bought with the intent of making slippers for my son, but decided that I didn't like the colors on it for slippers. It lived in my stash for a few months until I needed something with changing colors to make this blanket.

The blanket started out easily, going fast and corners were turned rapidly, it grew in size and then it slowed down. Each side feels like it takes forever now. But so far that is my only complaint about this blanket! I am even daring to learn to knit backwards sometimes, though my confidence in this is shaky.

The blue line is where it started.
I might have to knit some toy cars with this,
it reminds me of a little race track or game board.

I am not sure how much bigger this will get, though I did buy two more balls of yarn for it! I am hoping to finish it in time, but I have had a few things interfere.

Wound up with a migraine yesterday that has left me feeling icky all day and long into the night and now this morning all I have the brain power for is rambling on here. And all this beautiful sunshine (which may have been the cause of my headache!) has had my family rushing out into spring at top speed because WOW is it gorgeous out there. But, there is no way to knit outside with two kiddos who get into everything dangerous the moment I get out the yarn.

I did get a suggestion that I should crochet myself a sun hat, since I can not find one that fits me in the store. That project might have to take precedence to the blanket... I am sure that my friend will not mind if it is a little bit late!

Spring Break Part 1

For some reason I can not figure out my sons school has split his spring break up into one week break, two weeks of school, then another one week break. This isn't really a problem this year, so I am just going with it.

This week, we started out sunny and are ending it with rain. Saturday and Sunday and Monday were BEAUTIFUL.

We celebrated the start of spring break on Friday by grating sidewalk chalk to make chalk paint and made a mess in the driveway. Our neighbors came over to help too! Then we moved our little party into the back yard. We played in the yard and I moved some branches from the cherry plum tree that were cut when we got it trimmed and made a little barrier in a circle shape to designate a "garden" where the kiddos can dig holes and make a mess. I got out the kid sized garden tools and let them go nuts.

Saturday we made a mess in the yard digging a hole, Sunday we made a bigger mess making the hole even deeper and then Monday we took the mess to the river.

We live only a few miles from the Sandy River. There is a little sandy beach you can get to through Glen Otto Park, but I decided that we needed to go play with rocks this Monday.

We headed up the road to a state park and paid the credit/debit card ONLY machine 5 dollars to park the car. I get that its awesome to have parks that are cared for and all, but 5 dollars to park for less than 2 hours in an EMPTY parking lot. Yeesh! Either way, we paid and put rain boots on the kids and headed down to the river bank. I put Dan on Evie Watch, and I was on Liam Watch. Liam and I explored a little rocky beach and then crossed some rocks onto a little island of rocks. We tossed rocks into the water and I found some quartz rocks and something I think is jasper and a small piece of agate. Once I showed Dan what river agate looked like he pretty much blinked and then pulled up a HUGE piece from the rocks right where we had been playing. Yea, I was jealous. We spent the rest of the time alternating between keeping Evie out of the water, keeping Liam out of the water, making sure no one got mud inside their boots and looking for rocks.

The agate Dan found

I love rock hunting. Just so you know.

We ended up being DONE when both kids fell down within 2 minutes of each other and got water inside their boots. Once they were cold and wet it was time to go. I had packed some PB&J sammiches and after we peeled wet and muddy clothes from the kids and buckled them in we headed home. Evie got a small nap in the car too! SCORE! I turned them loose in the yard when I got home and let them play in the garden. We packed it up and did baths around 4 and then goofed around inside for a while. Pillow fights and coloring and a movie ended the night.

Tuesday it was raining and I had ended up tweaking my back somehow at the river, so we had a lazy day. I looked up new places that I could take the kids for some rock hunting, I found a few good ones too! Super excited for it to dry out so I can go play with them outside and find pretty rocks.

Wednesday we spent the day baking and making a mess. I made a cake for my husband and the kids were stir crazy so the day was filled with tantrums and fights and crying and time outs. I find myself hoping for them to grow up JUST enough for me to be able to say "I don't care if it is raining, GO OUTSIDE!" and not have to worry about them getting too cold and not knowing how to tell me. But those days are a ways off.

I thought about finding an Easter craft for them to make, but it is hard to find things for them to do that are Evie safe. She is one of those babies who eats crayons and paper and puts everything in her mouth. Scissors and anything with a point is out, even pencils.... and glue... I don't even want to THINK about that with her! Maybe I will just cut out some egg shapes and give them crayons.

Thursday we had a lazy movie day. We colored a bit and had some snuggles and tickles.

But today, Friday, was the best! We went to the Vancouver library and played with our cousins and read books. Then went to their house for lunch. Now Evie is napping and Liam is watching a tv show and I get to relax for a bit with Katchoo in my lap as I type this and get ready to grab the pictures to post with it.

Evie's cousin Grace read her some books, and I am in love with the tables they have in this play area of the library. I want to duplicate that at home!!!!

Even with the rain we had a good spring break! Another weekend, and then back to school. I will be glad for my 4 hours of Just Evie time in the morning, and then my running crash hugs from Liam when I pick him up!

The First Day of Spring

Yea. Ok. So the first day isn't until the 20th, but today FELT like the first day. It was rainy this morning, miserable and dreary. Drizzly and cold. Then, right about 11:30 the clouds broke up and the sun came in like a raging inferno. The sidewalks dried up, it was WARM outside, and the afternoon sunshine was gorgeous.

A friend from knitting had invited me to the park, if it wasn't raining, so of course we went out into this gorgeous afternoon.

Now, I have to explain something here. I love it when my kids get messy, but I HATE it all at the same time. I love the idea of them having fun and being kids and exploring the world but I hate the clean up. Wiping muddy boots, stain treating muddy pants, that dingy grey stain on the bottom of socks that never goes away once they have gotten mudded. I hate those problems. I hate peeling wet muddy clothes off the kids before putting them in the car because by God I WILL NOT CLEAN MUD FROM A CARSEAT!

So of course, because it was sunny but still damp on the grass and downright marshy in some places and there was a lake under the swingset... (no really, a lake. Not a puddle in the groove from where feet slide to stop the swing, it was a full out lake. I totally expected to see ducks out there paddling along under the swings.) ... I knew I was in for a muddy day. I embraced it. I even welcomed it, because with mud comes fun, with fun comes tired kids, with tired kids comes a mommy who can have a relaxing evening. So bring on the mud!

And we did. Liam was muddy kneed before 5 minutes went by and Evie started off slow with just her hands being dirty from some playing in the pathway pebbles. Soon though she took off to try stomping in a puddle and got her boot stuck in the mud and pulled her foot out and landed on her butt. In the mud.

Yup. It was that bad.

   But we got in some quality duck watching time before that!

And in the end, the kids were not at all put off by a little mud. We played, we romped, we got a corndog from the corner market. Liam crashed out in the car on the way home, Evie lasted until 4:45 and managed to stay awake through a bath before demanding her "baba" and falling asleep.

Today I made memories. I made a friend, which is a big deal for me. I made it through the whole day without once panicking about the muddy clothes I was going to have to deal with.

And now that I have written this while eating my homemade chicken burrito, I am off to go scrub some boots. I really need to buy these kids real rainboots.