Entrechat

Yay!  Entrechat is finished!  This is a gorgeous pattern, and it knitted up quickly in Malabrigo Chunky.  If you knit, run, don’t walk, and get the pattern when the Knitting Kninja releases it (hopefully soon!).

 

Whew!

I cannot believe that it is almost the end of October.  It was a crazy month–visitors, tons of writing and knitting, ballet and swimming classes for the girls, lia sophia parties, and now, Halloween.  It’s no wonder we’re ending the month a bit under the weather, what with all we’ve done.  Erica had a cough, which she promptly gave to me, and it mutated into a fevered variation by the time Samantha caught it.  Sigh.

But, November is going to bring with it a whole new set of excitement–and hopefully, a healthy household to go along with it.  I have SIX lia sophia parties this month, which is awesome.  I have a monetary goal in mind that may be a bit ambitious, but I’m hoping it works out.  Cross your fingers! 

Not only that, but we’ll still have ballet lessons for Samantha and swimming classes for Erica. They are both just too cute!

We’re also planning on a few fun activities for Thanksgiving week–our first Thanksgiving in the states since 2005!  It’ll be weird to be surrounded by people who actually celebrate this holiday!  Of course, we’ll miss our traditions–inviting our British neighbors over, the girls having school in the morning, and picking up the fresh turkey from the butcher (and running any additional errands) that day because everything is still open.  But, we’re excited to be surrounded by family.

It’s going to be another fast month…isn’t it?

And on that note, take a look at how big baby Jessica is getting!

 

in threes: a baby cardigan

in threes: a baby cardigan has been published on Ravelry! I am super excited to publish this piece! It’s my first sized garment, and required a lot of work, time, and thought to get it just right. I’m really proud of myself.

I’ve put a widget to the side that includes links to all my published patterns–2 here on my blog (free) and three now available as PDF downloads via Ravelry. Please check them out if you are a knitter!

 

The Sniffles.

The sniffles…the girls have them.  Poor things.  Luckily, I have (miraculously) wound up with two girls who handle getting sick pretty well, and they are simply getting on with life and ignoring their colds.  I am fairly certain that they did not get this from me.

Of course, Marcus and I have them too–not from a cold or the weather, but because Anne and Phil’s time with us is up.  They left yesterday for a few days in NYC before they’ll return to the UK on Saturday.  We are both really, really sad to see them go.  Marcus and I were talking last night about how we would have liked to have met them earlier on in our stay overseas…but of course, we can’t go back.

We had a great time while they were here though!  We took them to Deep Creek, where we hiked and generally just hung out and relaxed.  They saw downtown Annapolis as it prepared for the boat show.  They got to play with the girls (they’re exhausted now, by the way).  Anne and I knitted, and Marcus and Phil played video games.

And when they left, Marcus commented about how we’ll really have to try to get me out there next year…so at least that’s something.

Cheers, Anne and Phil!  We miss you already!

 

Who Does This?

Who gets themselves all into a tizzy about something, without going through the proper channels and looking for the easiest solution? Who forgets that when there are thousands that have gone before you, your problem isn’t unique and there’s an answer somewhere?

**Raises hand in the air, timidly**

Yep, that’s me.

Life is falling back into place here, and the anxiety has subsided. And all because I did what I should have done from the beginning, and asked for help.

Ahh…I can sleep again.

 

Four in the Morning

Those of you who suffer from depression and anxiety know how it can be the tiniest thing that gets to you.  For me, it’s happened quite a bit in the past week, and always over something small.

I have a new business venture, which I adore, but there are parts to it that I am just learning.  And as such, I’ve made mistakes.  And I hate that.  I hate failing and doing things wrong.  I hate not knowing the answers to things.  I hate feeling overwhelmed by such seemingly small details.

I know there’s a learning curve.  But I hate the learning curve.

It makes me frustrated about things that would normally not frustrate me–it brings out the worst in me when I have this small thing provoking all this anxiety in me behind the scenes.

And then it gets worse because I realize that if I had been perfect…had done it right the first time…none of this would have happened.

It doesn’t make it any better to realize that there’s a solution to everything and that these small business-related issues are not earth-shattering.

In fact, it makes it worse.  When I realize that, I get more upset with myself for not being able to handle such small things.

It’s four in the morning.  I can’t sleep for all the things running around in my head…and none of them can be handled at four in the morning anyway.

 

Blog Contest Winners!

30,000 page views…I’m there!  Here’s to the next 30,000!

And if that weren’t enough excitement, we have blog contest winners, too!

I had one person pick the exact date I’d reach 30,000–Josie!  I also had one person pick the 17th (Patti) and one person pick the 19th (Melanie).  Since I’m feeling generous, I’ll up the prize count and each of these three winners something!

Josie, Patti, and Melanie, please leave a message in the comments with your color preferences (give me a first and second choice) and I’ll get your hats out to you soon! 

Your color choices are stonechat (greens and maroons),  paris night (dark blue, mostly solid), verdes (different shades of green) and olive (dark green, mostly solid).  Here are a few pictures to help you decide!

Unless one of you wants to take up knitting, in which case, be sure to let me know which color yarn you’d prefer!    Somehow, I suspect that might not be the case!

Congratulations to the winners!

 

In Real Time

I am watching NFL games, in real time. That’s right–the Redskins vs. the Giants. I don’t have to stay up late to watch. I don’t have to avoid hearing the scores until tomorrow because the game wasn’t the most popular in its time slot and AFN won’t air it until tomorrow morning.

I’m sitting here, watching football on a Sunday afternoon.

Life is good.

 

Collision

Sometimes my worlds collide, and you get a peek at some knitting AND the kids, all in one picture.

Samantha, Chunky Dean Street Hat, Malabrigo Chunky Paris Night

Five year old attitude at its best, right?

PS:  This is a Dean Street Hat in Chunky Paris Night, one that you may select if you win the blog contest I posted about yesterday.  I’m also knitting some up for the girls…how awesome is this hat?

 

My First Blog Contest

I noticed that as of today, I am 641 page views away from reaching a big milestone for me–30,000 page views since I started blogging!

Since I skipped any blog-versary celebrations in March, I thought I’d have a little contest to celebrate this occasion, instead!

Your mission: Select the date when I will meet/exceed 30,000 page views.  Choices must be made by FRIDAY, Sept 11. (Please note the change from Saturday–I forgot we’re going away for the weekend!) Any guesses after this date will not be counted.  Post your guess as a comment on this blog post.

What I’ll Do:  I will continue to blog per usual, and check my blog stats on a daily basis.  The day that I login and see a number above 30,000 page views will be the winning date.

Who Wins: The person who selects a date closest to the date will win first prize.  I’ll use the random number generator to select a second prize winner!  If two or people select the same date, I’ll randomly select the first/second prize winners from that pool.

The prizes: If the winner is a knitter, they can select either one skein of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in either Cordovan or Eggplant.  If you’re a malabrigo junkie–all the better, because October is the Stockpile, and sock yarn is the yarn of choice!

If the winner is not a knitter (or they aren’t interested in sock yarn), they will win a handknit winter hat, using the Dean Street Hat pattern by Ninaknits, in Malabrigo Chunky Paris Night or Malabrigo Worsted Olive.

For sneak peeks at any of these colorways, please visit the malabrigo website, or check out my stash on Ravelry!

Let the guessing begin!    Please spread the word to friends and other bloggers–all guesses welcome!

NOTE:  I have had to hide my counter–I know what you guys are doing.  I am on to you!  Ha-ha!  In addition, I am going to move the entry date to FRIDAY, instead of Saturday.  So, be sure to enter by Friday!