A Pattern Giveaway!

Today I sold my 100th pattern on Ravelry!  I realize I'm still a small time designer, but 100 is pretty cool.  To celebrate I am offering a giveaway for those who may want to knit one of my patterns: one free pattern of the winner's choice!   To enter go to Ravelry and comment on this thread. On Friday I will randomly draw a winner.  Thanks everyone for helping me get there!

Grow Old With Me

Well, it's taken me FOREVER, but I've finally got my newest knitting pattern ready for publication!

You've seen it before, but here it is again, Grow Old With Me, the perfect 'old man' sweater for your little man!  This sweater was really a labour of love. I designed it with my Mr E in mind.  He picked the yarn, the buttons, and specifically requested the five stripes for his fifth birthday!  And now, he would rather wear his "birthday sweater" than any other.  He is such a joy to me, this little man.

It is available on Ravelry for your downloading pleasure, or you can buy it now, right here: !  Please enjoy, and as always, feel free to share with me your finished products:

I do not like them, Sam-I-Am. - DIY Refinished Dresser

Although it may be hard to believe, occasionally I put down my knitting needles.  Usually I spend the needle-less time cleaning my house or feeding my children, who always seem to want to eat just a few hours after I have just fed them.  I just gave you food, yesterday! But, this week I neglected the house (don't worry, I did feed the littles) and finished a project long in the making.

You see, shortly after Atticus was born I began frantically looking for a dresser for him.  The poor boy needed very little coming into this family of boys. We had all the clothes, all the toys, all the diapers, all the everything that any little boy baby could need.  But, my poor sweet boy did not have a place for all the everything! We only have two dressers in our house, one for me and one for the boys.  Everything else is stuffed into closets. So, in those days after his birth when I was sitting around enjoying my baby I desperately searched for a new dresser for him so that his clothes and diapers didn't need to sit in a laundry basket on the floor permanently.

I found this cool old dresser on Kijiji for $60. I sent my wonderful husband out late one night after work to pick it up, because I NEEDED it, right then!!!  (Have I mentioned lately that I love that man? Because I do!) I wish I had taken a before picture, but I didn't.  The dresser was well over 100 years old and in pretty rough shape.  The drawers were falling apart and there scratches and gouges all over the surface.  If it had been a family heirloom I may have tried to keep it in it's original state, but it wasn't, so I told Jared my vision of what I wanted it to become and left it at that. And, there it has sat for four months in our garage. (Did I mention how desperately I needed the dresser?) 

Then, this summer while I was away in Sandpoint, Jared got busy and finished it for me. He's a dream!

Maybe you cannot appreciate the transformation, but it is amazing.  It was unpainted, with a solid wood top.  He stripped the whole thing, glued together the drawers, took off the top and made a new one, repainted, stained the top, and put back on all the hardware.  Love?  Yes!

But, one problem still remained.  While the drawers were definitely more solid, they were still very gross.  Check this out:

They were stained and dirty, and not a place I wanted to lay my baby's wardrobe.

So, with all my creative powers combined, I refinished the inside of the dresser, and here's what I came up with:

Okay, the sides of the drawers could use a little love, but honestly, I'm totally in love and may just cut up all my Dr Seuss books and Mod Podge my entire house!

That's right. I cut apart an old copy of Green Eggs and Ham and with a whole pot of Mod Podge I lined the drawers (after I painted the sides a bright yellow, which I love!)

I may or may not have opened and shut the drawers about 30 times today, waking Atticus from his nap once just to take a peak inside those drawers! And, putting away laundry has never been so rewarding, I promise.

Adventure Journal 2012 - Frank Slide

For some bizzaro reason I decided it would be a good idea to load up all three boys and drive to the cabin all by myself to "relax" there, all by myself, for two whole weeks.  Guess what?  Being alone with three kids at a remote cabin in Idaho is not necessarily relaxing.  Cabin fever anyone?  I was very happy when Alice and her family showed up with her kids and offered mine some distraction.

Anyway, as a survival technique, on the way to the cabin we went through the Crowsnest Pass in Southern Alberta and stopped to climb over the rocks of the infamous Frank Slide. It was too late to go to the visitors center, but frankly (no pun intended) the boys were just as happy to play on the rocks.

For some reason, my lasting memory of visiting the Frank Slide when I was little is buying black rock candy at the gift shop. Does the fact that my only memory 20 plus years later is of the food?  Hmmm... we'll save that thought for later.

There is really nothing there but a whole pile of rocks (enough to cover a whole town) so really this is just an excuse to show you pictures of my darling littles.

Birthday Stripes

Remember when I said I was knitting Eli a sweater for his birthday in June?  Well, I had so much fun knitting that that as soon as I finished I started knitting Silas one for his birthday in September.  And then I just couldn't wait for September to put it on him, so now both my boys have stripes for their birthdays!

I haven't been able to do a real photo shoot yet, but today I took a few shots in the house. I figured I had better get them photographed before they get too loved.

Here's Eli's sweater. He picked the yarn, and requested five stripes for five years. It's my own design, which I will have tested once my holidays are over, and release the pattern.  Anyone interested in testing???

And Silas's sweater: the 8 stripes have no significance. There are three stars though, so let's say they are for his three years of life. This pattern is called Gathering Stripes and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  I am going to have to make one for me one day.  It's been so hot, I've barely been able to get Silas in it, but he didn't seem too miserable today, so I snuck it on and took a few shots.  What a cutie! 

Adventure Journal 2012 - Big Hill Springs

We normally spend Sunday afternoons as extended family at someone's house.  This particular Sunday was far too beautiful, and far too hot to spend indoors anywhere. So, after church, we all loaded up and drove to Big Hill Springs Provincial Park for a picnic. We agreed that never before had we been there when there was more than two or three other families, but on this day it was BUSY! It was hard just to find a spot in the shade to picnic. We managed, somehow. 

I'm not sure if any of the kids ate anything besides the rootbeer that Holly and Tyler brought.  They were having too much fun playing in the stream.  They got absolutely filthy, and my boys had to strip down before I even let them in the van, but it was so much fun, and way cooler than anywhere in the city would have been.

Oh CANADA!!!

I know where the centre of the universe is, do you? Well, I went there this July 1st, just as I always do, and had a fantastic time, just as I always do. Enjoy!

Passing out the Canadian paraphernalia.

Ask anyone who's ever gone, the Raymond parade is the very best parade in the world.  Why? Because they throw candy. Lots of candy. 

It's fuzzy, but amazing how much these two fellas look alike. 

Atticus already has a favourite cousin, and Rachel is surely the one. 

And, my favourite pictures of the day: