Curly Purly

It's done! The Curly Purly soaker in Kool-aid dyed Wool of the Andes. Still needs to be lanolized. (front and back pictures)

Being a mom sometimes makes you use words like...giddy

I teach my babies a little bit a sign language. Just a few simple signs to help things along. I have taught Frugalbaby the signs for milk, more, and all done. She uses all done almost every time she eats but usually uses the word for more and only signs milk if she has given me other signs of wanting to nurse and I ask her if she wants milk. I have shown her the sign for please several times but she's never used it. It's been quite a long time since I signed please to her. Today she was sitting in her high chair eating lunch. I was giving her tiny cubes of cheese a few at a time and spoon feeding her bites of canned peaches. After the first bite of peach, she wanted more. I said to her while I signed more "Would you like more, please?" And she signed please! I was just....well... giddy with excitement! And then she signed it again! And again!

And that reminds me of some more photo blogging I didn't get to yet. I had a half-bushel box of peaches sitting on the kitchen floor a couple weeks ago and Frugalbaby crawled up to it and took out a big peach and took a bite. I decided that I'd let her have it. So I put her in the high chair with it. She ate almost half of it. She loooooves peaches! And isn't she beautiful?

Onion Braid

I dug up my onions yesterday (I am done gardening. If it frosts, I will conveniently forget to cover my tomatoes) and since they still had their tops I made my first ever onion braid. I had Frugalboy hold it up for the picture. (Because I didn't want to be in it!)

Fruit Loops

My friend Tami helped me name this yarn as we wound it at the park today. I posted a pic yesterday of the hanks, and it is even prettier as a skein, don't you think? And the balls are even prettier!

What kind of knitting needle are you?

(I'm sorry, I don't know how to fix the picture so it doesn't overlap the template, anyone know?)

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are pink aluminum.Retro, straightforward and fun, you love classic things. If they're 99 cents at Goodwill all the better! You are moved by striking colors and tasty morsels, and you like a stitch-n-bitch session in the sun. Just remember, while you're being kitschy cool, don't get too cold. Ice cubes are best kept in your cocktails, baby!
Take this quiz!








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More knittin'

Some bibs I did. The top purple one was a gift for someone, and the blue one started as a dishcloth and I decided to make it a bib halfway through. I don't love the shape, but it is kind of heart-shaped. Then I did another purple one and added some ribbing for interest. It is also a gift for my friend Michele who recently had a baby. Well, not so recently. I had every intention of sending her a gift and then I forgot, and when I realized I had forgotten, I made the bib (since her baby is old enough to need it now) and I am also going to send Choxie (do you know this stuff? Yummy chocolate only at Target, but not at Target.com!) for her to indulge on during naptime. But I haven't sent it because I am afraid it will melt, so I am waiting for a nice cool spell.

Oh. my. gosh. Can I go on and on and on or what?

This is a keychain wool soaker that I whipped out while I sat at soccer games on Saturday. I wish it were variegated yarn but I don't have any scraps of that to use yet. I took this with my camera's super macro mode. Turned out pretty good, huh? It measures about 2 inches across at it's biggest point. (the soaker, not the camera.)


This is another Sophie bag. Then I knitted a rose and leaf and some i-cord for a stem and felted them, too. I will sew them on but in this picture they are just laid on. It is a Christmas gift for someone who I am pretty sure doesn't know about my blog. If you do, you'd better act surprised!



I dyed some more yarn, too. It's still drying. The pink is going to be the waistband and cuffs for a soaker for Frugalbaby and the variegated will be a Booga bag for my sister (who also doesn't know about my blog, and if you do, you'd better comment and then act surprised when you open your present!)



I told you I would blog lots, with pictures, didn't I?

Veggie Love

Have I ever mentioned how much I love zucchini? I threw a yellow tomato with some cheese on the grill, too, just for some variety...

Most of the other zucchini I have eaten this summer was gobbled up before I could take a picture, including the lunch I made today--sliced zukes, yellow squash, red onion, and cherry tomatoes, all sauteed together in olive oil, eaten in a pita until the pita was gone, then I just ate the rest with a fork. YUM.

The Wall of Wild

Have you ever seen the show Smallville? That girl Chloe has a bulletin board in the school newspaper office covered with newpaper clippings about the strange happenings in their town. She calls it the Wall of Weird. In our kitchen we have started something we call the Wall of Wild. It is still small, but it is growing. We have pictures of the wildlife we see at our house. Right now, we have a close-up picture of a skunk, and 2 pictures of deer (one of which is here). And as soon as I get it printed out, I'm going to add this one. Unfortunately you can only see 3 of the coons. There were 4.

Guess What? Guess What?

I uploaded like 75 pictures from the digital camera. Lots of blogging (with pictures!) to come!

an quick explanation

On Wednesday last week my sister-in-law and I went to Caldwell to an orchard and bought peaches and pears for canning. On Friday she and another friend started canning the peaches while I took dinner to another friend and they finished before I even got back! So I helped with the rest of them to go in the freezer for smoothies. So while in The Hollow Tree I didn't list any peaches, I acually get a dozen jars for my own storage, and only 4 of the freezer bags are mine. Also, only 14 pint jars of the salsa are mine, I just helped do the rest of them. I can't decide if I should list the food I preserve that is actually mine, or the work I do. What do you think?

Edited to add: I am going to put the number of jars for myself in parantheses after the total number. So 28(14) pints salsa means I helped make 28 jars but only 14 are for me. Thanks gals.

The Sand in Your Shoes

When Frugaldad was a missionary in Germany, the wife of the mission president gave a talk once at a meeting and one of the things she said was to the effect of "When something needs to be done, it's not the boulders in your path, it's the sand in your shoes that keeps you from doing it."

I find this to be all too true. There's always something small (or not so small) that keeps me from getting a project done. Past examples:

I can't plant the early spring garden because I haven't weeded yet.
I can't bake bread because I haven't washed the mixer bowl from making those cookies.
I can't sew diapers because I haven't cut them out yet.
I can't cut out the diapers during naptime because the table still has lunch dishes on it.
I can't get started knitting that soaker because the needles are backordered.
I can't blog about that because I haven't downloaded the pictures from the camera yet.

and the list goes on!

Some of the most recent sand in my shoes was actually some charity sewing. The stake Relief Society held a daytime sewing day to help prepare for the stake Enrichment activity held before the General Women's Broadcast. The day was to prepare stuff for the actual Enrichment meeting so the women could finish that day. The day before I had been really sick so the house was in pretty poor shape. I knew I couldn't spend much time there, let alone take a sewing machine or a serger. Frugalgirl2 had swimming lessons right in the middle of the designated sewing day, and since our swimming lessons were right next to the church, I hopped on over to see if there was anything I could help with in twenty minutes. There had been a big turn-out, so I wasn't really needed, but I asked the stake RS president if there was anything I could take home to work on. She was so glad to hand me a big trash bag full of fabric to make tote bags out of. The bags would be filled with a blanket (and maybe something else, I don't actually know the details) and given to children who had to be removed from their homes. The bags are going to be in the trunks of the county sheriff's deputies.

The only catch (this is the sand part) was in order to sew them, I had to cut a 3-inch strip off each rectangle of fabric to use as a handle. Well, I knew it wouldn't take me that long, but every time I thought I should get started, I figured my time was better used elsewhere, like cleaning the house for my sister's visit, or folding laundry, etc. And my kids were off track, so when they were home it was hard to start any sort of project. When my sister finally left, I knew I had to get them done because the "deadline" I had been given was coming up in less than 2 weeks. One afternoon I finally did it. It took me about 15 minutes. Then I started sewing the bags and found they took me about 15 minutes each to sew. No problem, right? Well, I had fabric for 30 bags. That come up to almost 8 hours of sewing. But I pressed on (no fabric pun intended).

The deadline of September 1 came and went, (15 bags done, 15 to go) but I had talked with the RS at church and she knew I'd get them done in time (by Sept 23). Last Friday I was serging the side seam of the 24th bag and the fabric jammed in the blade and one of the loopers, plus it bent the right needle. I got the fabric out, replaced the needle and when I continued to sew, the machine made a funny noise and the seam seemed like the tension was off, but I did the last 2 seams anyway. Upon close investigation and re-threading, I discovered that the looper was hitting
the needles. I replaced the left needle. Still hitting the looper. Then I started cleaning the lint off the sewing table around the serger and I found a little metal piece. It broke off during the fabric jam, I suppose. I called and chatted with the RS president and she only needed 20 bags, not 30, so I don't have to find a way to get the last 6 finished, luckily. But I do get to take my serger in for repairs. It will take a week, says the repair shop.

Now I at least have a valid excuse for not getting any sewing done.

Nothing to say...

I have been crazy busy doing nothing interesting. I did notice I hit 1000 page views! Wow! Of course, most of them are me checking back for comments, but still! Anyway, I am writing blog entries in my head as I keep busy doing other stuff. Check back someday soon. The Frugalkids have been on track break and go back on Tuesday, so I ought to have some free time the week after that.