Knitting, Surfing, Blogging, Folding... My Life in a Nutshell

Slowly but surely I'm finishing the baby sweater. Nothing seems to be keeping me interested in my knitting. Maybe it's spring fever, or that I haven't finished anything since Kevin's cowl. I might just have to do a little itty-bitty project to actually finish something.

I've been checking out some different blogs and now I am totally enamoured with The Pioneer Woman. If only I could live like this in the country, homeschooling my kids (But that would totally hinder the education and development of my kids! I know my strengths and I just couldn't get MY kids to do lessons with me.) and cook the yummy stuff she does.

I guess I should go and fold some clothes. The poor kids are without socks and had to dig for them today.

Busy Times, Busy Times

Ooooo, I've been a bad, bad blogger! December was the last time I blogged. Horrible, just horrible. I've done a little knitting, but it seems we've been extra busy at the Unruh house. Between basketball practices and games, my volleyball games, short trips to watch wrestling and volunteer meetings and church there hasn't been a ton of time to blog.

I did finish Kevin's cowl on our way to Colorado to ski. It was super easy. I didn't have a pattern. Just size 10 circs and chunky yarn. Kevin loved it. He said it was really warm and he is even wearing it on the train when it is cold. Here Kevin and Miller are at the slopes with Kevin keeping his neck warm and stylish. The hat isn't my work. Those Nike people make a good ski cap for Kevin's bald head and he really likes it.


Right now I'm working on another baby item. The Mason-Dixon Baby Kimono is getting done again along with a pair of booties for my friend Susie who just had a baby girl. These babies keep cropping up out of nowhere. It makes me wonder where they come from!

Just Rambling

Kevin's mittens are done. He seems to like them. Now he wants me to knit him a cowl. The weather has been so cold here, especially the wind. He said that a scarf is too long but something to pull up around his neck would be perfect. I'll get it started as soon as I get some Christmas cookies and gifts made.

I think it is kind of funny that now he wants me to knit him things. He used to make fun of it, but he now is reaping the benefits of my needles.

Kolby is staying with us and is wearing his sub socks every night. He says they are the warmest socks to lounge around in. The other day I purposely dug my own knitted socks from the laundry to make my toes warm up.

I'm subbing tomorrow so hopefully I can get a start on Kevin's cowl. But with the weather, we may not have school. Hmmm, to make money or cookies. I'm not quite sure what I which I want to do.

A Month Gone And No Blogging

Shame, shame on me. The whole month of November came and went with not a single blog update from me. But a very productive knitting month for me. I finished Kolby's monster green sub socks! He really liked them.

I made Calorimetry for Malorie and myself. It's a great head band that really does keep your ears warm and your hair up! This only took about 2 days to do. Super easy, with old stash to be used.

I took Kevin to the yarn store on Saturday and have started making him some convertible mittens. I'm just taking a plain old mitten pattern and rearranging it to a convertible mitten pattern. I made Kevin pick the yarn. He was really surprised at all he had to choose from. (Again another male who has no idea how much yarn there is out there!) The really good thing was it was a sale day at the store and I got 10% off. WooHoo!!!

I finished baby booties and a pair of mittens for the Bazaar at church. No one purchased them, so I'm going to donate them to a local charity who needs mittens for kids this winter.

Also on the yarn front, Malorie used yarn to make the solar system. She did so well with her work she got an A+ on it. It was very cute and portrayed the planets fairly accurately. (We went through a lot of my left overs.)

Hopefully I'll get more blogging done for this month. We are going to Colorado after Christmas so maybe I'll get some massive knitting done then.

Progress on the Socks and Malorie to the LYS

I'm taking Malorie to a beginning knitting class today. She has expressed an interest in learning to knit, but I have a hard time teaching it. So when I got the LYS flier for classes last week and the class was being offered, I jumped on it. I'm going to go with her. I'm trying to spend time with just her. It gets hard to do, but I'm working on it.

I have one of Kolby's "submarine" socks done. I use the submarine term because these are the absolutely longest socks I've knitted and it looks like a green sub. I'm doing a little bit of other knitting right now. I need to take a break from the socks and church is getting ready for its Fall Bazaar that raises money for mission groups. I figured I could knit up some booties, a scarf and maybe a few dishcloths. This knitting will get rid of the Red Heart yarn my neighbor's mother gave me. Plus I'll get away from the socks long enough to appreciate them again when I knit on them again.

I've been knitting when I'm subbing or watching Miller's soccer games, but I've been up to a little sewing too. Miller wanted to be Yoda for Halloween and Jodi's nephew need a donut costume so the machine has been out and roaring to life again.

Well it's off to the LYS with Malorie. I'll take pix to show you how she does.

Why are people amazed by knitting?

I've started Kolby's sock request. I went to the LYS to get some sock yarn that was blue and yellow and couldn't find any. So.., I called Kolby. They're going to be his socks, so he should choose the yarn. Well, he drove up to the store came inside and was a little astounded by how much yarn there was to choose from. He decided on an electric green. It's not neon, but it's very vibrant.

I've been taking these socks everywhere. I want to get them done, but I'm still working on the toe of the first sock. This is not good since I doing toe-up socks! His size 12 feet are a little bigger than my kids, so I wasn't quite prepared to do so many wrap and turns.

Sorry for that detour into my wrap and turn obsession, anyway people seem amazed that I knit. On Sunday I took my knitting to the girl's volleyball games to do between long waits for each game. I had three people amazed that I knit and that they remembered their grandma doing it. (WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK ONLY OLD LADIES KNIT?) Then on Monday I was at my women's league volleyball game and took out my knitting to work for the hour long wait for our next games. Again more people were amazed that I knit. I think so were surprised that I did any craft work at all. Then when I told the recreation tech who was in charge of the volleyball games that night that I blog about my knitting I thought he was going to laugh himself into a heart attack. He couldn't believe that I knitted, but also that I blogged about it. Oh, if he even Googled knitting blogs he would be severely in shock on the amount of them! I mean look at the link about 790,000 hits from Google!!! That's not even taking into effect the people who blog about their knitting but it's not their primary subject!

Well I'm off to sub this afternoon and I'll take my socks with me. The kids think it's a hoot to see me work with all those needles and it gives me something to do while they are in music class!

Baby Sweater Down, Socks To Go

I finished baby Jentri's sweater and booties. The pattern is Helena from Knitty. I did change it a bit. The pattern called for 6 repeats of the arrow pattern, but after about 3 repeats are started thinking (which is a scary thing for me to do) the sweater would be way too long for Jentri. Her momma isn't the tallest person in the world. If she gets any height, it's gonna have to come from daddy!

The booties pattern is from Saartje's knits. I had to knit 4 of these little guys. Each time my sizing was off. Finally I knitted two that actually were close in size. It drives me crazy how my gauge can switch from one size to another depending on the day that I'm knitting.

I used plain ol' Peaches and Cream yarn for both. I love this colorway and it seems so perfect for a baby. The best part about the yarn is that it is cotton which is a great fiber to have with little ones. It's soft, durable and is easy to wash.

Now I've got to get started on my Christmas knitting. Socks, hats and hairbands. These things should go pretty easy. I've got to do stripes on the socks, so I'll be adding something new to my abilities. Last night I was looking for the booties pattern and found a headband pattern that I think the girls will like. We are going skiing at Christmas time, so I figured this would be a great stocking stuffer for the girls. I may even make one for me.