Little Mr – Page 5

Zoo-ish (What can I say? I like birds.)

April 12, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

We made a trip today to the zoo. I’m fortunate enough to live within easy driving distance to the fantastic Columbus Zoo. I don’t think I ever truly appreciated it until I went and visited other zoos elsewhere. We really do seem to have one of the best zoos, at least when it comes to Ohio – it isn’t like I’ve traveled elsewhere to see if there’s any other that compares.

It was the kid’s first trip and it went pretty much as expected – he’d rather chew on the wood at the displays and didn’t really care about the animals. It was busy, though, since it’s one of the nicer days we’ve had in a while on a weekend. We didn’t get to see the whole zoo, but I don’t mind because we got to see my favorite: the aviary. I know, I know – the zoo is packed full of other animals to see and ones probably more interesting than some North American birds. I can’t help it. I like birds. We have a zoo pass for the season, so I’ll probably try to go back on a weekday in hopes that it’s less busy so we can get closer. Maybe if we go a few times the Little Mr will get more into it?

This evening I’m going to cut into my fabric for my next Sorbetto. I wore my black one today under a green cardigan and I absolutely love how comfortable it is to wear, which really cemented my desire for MOAR TANKS! So here’s hoping this next one turns out as awesome as the first!

Baby-ish painting.

April 6, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

painting painting2 dalekanium-finished2 watermelon-socks1

We tried a craft today. At this point, the toys we do have aren’t entertaining him anymore – he’d rather play with cords, the remote control, my sewing machine pedal, my spinning wheel, my knitting basket and bag, etc. Desperate to find something to keep him occupied, I tried throwing some paint on a piece of paper, throwing it in a ziplock bag, and taping it down to the floor for him to move around and make some art. It’s just our first try, so it didn’t go over very well. He rolled around on it but wasn’t very interested in using his hands to move the paint around.

I finished my Dalekanium socks this weekend. The stash down group I’m a part of started thread about making the 2nd quarter a sock knitting theme, so I pushed through the cuff of the 2nd sock to finish it off and count that yardage out. And then I immediately cast on a pair of plain vanilla socks with some old, old stash (Knit Picks Stroll, Watermelon Hand Painted). For some reason I thought this yarn was the self-striping kind, but I was mistaken. The colors aren’t my favorite at all, but they’re just socks so it isn’t like anyone will really see them anyway. Yardage out is yardage out, regardless of whether you love it or not.

I’m still working on my second muslin version of the Sorbetto. I have one sleeve of bias tape to finish and it’s done (it’s really hard to get any sewing done when you have to stop every 5 minutes). However, while I thought it originally fit, now it feels like it pokes out at the arm holes a bit. I’m not sure what to do to fix it – maybe the arm holes need taken in a bit more? I can’t really go down a size because of bust issues and I’m not confident enough to try a full bust adjustment. I might have to play with the muslin and tack it in with some pins and see if that fixes it – if it does, then I’ll just do the same on my proper wearable version.

I’m going to start tackling the upstairs bedroom soon, converting it from the stepson’s room to a guest bedroom/craft combo again. It’s what we used to have before we had the baby and I had to give up that room. It has been nearly 5 years since the stepson moved, and he only visits a handful of times a year now. It just feels like it’s time to get it switched over so that my niece and nephew have a place to stay without sleeping on the floor. I’ll take ‘before’ pictures, soon. I have a vague plan, but it’s going to take a lot of time to get it all done – not because it’s labor intensive so much as there’s less time these days.

Multitasking

March 19, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

Yesterday the Mr had a late meeting, so the little one and I some time at home alone. I’ve been seriously lacking some knitting time with all the work I’ve been doing lately, so I took the opportunity to multitask and sit in the rocking chair while he played. I think I maybe knit 4 rows? Possibly 8? I don’t know. It wasn’t much, that’s for sure, though I suppose any progress is progress and that’s 4/8 less rows to knit. After he fell over (he’s still a bit wobbly, after all) and threw a fit about hitting the carpet I had to put things down and we tried reading. I don’t read to him enough, to be honest. After a long day, it’s usually the last thing on my mind. And, besides, he’s way more interested in eating the books than looking at them right now. Fabric books are my BFF right now and I wish I had more than two – I may have to find some interesting pieces of fabric and whip one up myself one night after he goes to bed. We’ve tried looking at this one before but he wasn’t really interested, but this time around he wanted to turn the pages a bit, open the flaps, and feel the different textures.

Tonight I’m getting a glorious night out for wine and watercolor painting. I’m not great at painting, though I’ve always wanted to learn/get better, but I’m going to guess I’m not going to care much about how my painting looks once I have a glass of wine or two. I think we’re painting flowers? I don’t know. I didn’t really pay attention – I just heard wine and a kid-free night out with a girlfriend and I was all SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.

Cabin fever

February 21, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

I honestly think winter will never end. I know that’s not true, but good grief am I tired of it. We’ve received several more inches over night, and even more as the day has gone. It wouldn’t be so bad if we could just bundle up and go for a walk, but the days it isn’t snowing it’s below zero and ridiculously cold. Too cold for a neighborhood walk. My cabin fever is far beyond peak at this point, and I think the only thing getting me through is knowing that the Pacific Northwest has trees and spring flowers blooming… it can’t possibly be much longer of this if they’re already getting spring, right??

This kid… oh my goodness. I can already tell the trouble I’m going to be having in another week or so once he actually figures out crawling. I used to be able to lay him on a blanket on the floor and he’d play with his toys. Now that he’s figured out how to roll, he’s rolling everywhere. Yesterday he found one of the husband’s boots and proceeded to suck on it (just the thought of all that road salt and other gunk going in his mouth makes me want to throw up a little). He’s finding my knitting basket under the end table, too, which means I might end up having to move that. I’m going to have my hands full soon, and I’m torn between complete and utter dread and feeling like I need to start obsessively cleaning everything.

My Featherweight cardigan is knitting up fairly well, despite the lack of time I’ve had. I tried it on this morning and I think I can get away with one more chunk of the Archangel colorway and then do the edging, but we’ll have to see once I get there. I have plenty of yarn so I could probably do 5 chunks of the Archangel, though I’m starting to feel like if I have to do any more purling I’m going to poke myself in the eye with a knitting needle. I don’t want it to necessarily be a long cardigan, but too short won’t work, either. I’m fairly short, to finding that happy in-between is the key.

In the kitchen together

January 5, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

We’re quite the pair, my little munchkin and I. He has, apparently, inherited my “I hate naps” trait, which leads to a bit of a tricky day trying to get things done with him in tow. The few times he does nap I catch up on the computer, or I spend it knitting (I have a sweet little Gramps cardigan in the works for him for next winter), or other things that are difficult with a baby. But most days I’m toting him around with me. Upstairs to play while I put away laundry or clean the bedrooms. In the home office/craft room when I need something from there. And, of course, in the kitchen to cook and bake.

I know, ultimately, every room he’s in is interesting – every day there’s new items and sounds he’s noticing. But the kitchen… the kitchen is my favorite place to be with him. The kitchen is where we can go from fussy baby to completely content. He loves to watch me move around the room, opening and closing things, banging spoons on the pots and pans, running the mixer or kneading bread dough. The kitchen is my happy place – watching a few ingredients come together to make something amazingly delicious is like magic. If there’s one thing I hope to pass on to him, it would be a love of the kitchen. Even if all he ever makes is boxed mac and cheese in his adult life (though I really hope he makes more than that. Please, universe, let him be a better cook than that!), I want him to have fond memories of time in the kitchen with his mama. Kneading bread, making jam, canning salsa, etc.

Today I made a double batch of these coconut breakfast bars. I made them last week but didn’t like all that honey in there, so this week I used less. I also skipped the coconut milk and just used water, mostly because I didn’t feel like messing with trying to thaw some coconut milk for it. I’m still not sure I really love these bars, and I feel like they’re missing something, so perhaps next time I’ll make some major modifications to tweak them more for my tastes.

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