Mistress Stash Enhancer - family

Mom

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Sun, 13 May 2007 13:55:00 -0400

Mom-

Thanks can't even begin to say it all. But its a start.

Thanks Mom, for all the hugs. I needed every one of them...

Thanks Mom, for the lectures and advice, now I understand your wisdom..

Thanks Mom, for being proud when I made good. And for being supportive when I didn't...

Thanks Mom, for guiding me when I was lost, and knowing when I had to find my own way...

Thanks Mom, for being an inspiration and a friend...

Thanks can't even begin to say it all, but its a start.

Thanks Mom, most importantly for being my Mom.

I love you. Happy Mother's Day Mom.

Baby love

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Fri, 04 May 2007 09:09:11 -0400

What ~~a week~~ er, two weeks its been! So much has happened. Among the sleep overs, birthday parties, various chores and Mike being home on break, Kailey has been one little fussy baby. After talking to her Dr. I finally decided to have her tested for acid reflux. She has been very drooly, fussy, has the hiccups a lot, and seems to swallow frequently too. The Dr. called for a 18 hour ph study, and an ultrasound. Damn. It was a long 18 hours in the hospital while she was having her test. Both Bryce and Allysa had reflux, but they threw up. A.lot. Bryce had excessive periodic breathing too. Baby Love, has periodic breathing too. Quite a bit for her age too... our Dr. being on the safe side prescribed an apnea monitor for her to wear when she is sleeping. It has two electrodes attached to a belt that she wears around her chest. It monitors her heart rate and her breathing. Hopefully she won't have any episodes... Our Dr. also put her on Zantac and Reglan (no idea if I spelled that right). Which should stop the reflux, and hopefully heal any damage that may have been done to her esophagus.

Baby love has some new hand knits to show off, After picking up some cotton at the LYS two weeks ago I casted on for little hat

(clicky on all pictures to embiggen)

Stats:

Pattern- Ruffled tulip hat by fiber trends

Yarn- 1.5 balls Paton's cotton worsted white, approx. 2 yards Patton's martinique in pink.

Needles- size 7 Clover dpns

Started- April 22, 2007

Finished- April 25, 2007

Notes- I used white for the whole hat, Instead of using the pink for the heart pattern. I used purl sts instead. And pink for the tie. Next time, I will in large the heart pattern and knit the heart patten with all purl sts. Its a little big on her right now, but she will grow into it. She is already 12lbs 5oz!

Baby love looks so sweet in Daddy's arms. (Daddy didn't know I was taking pictures, hehe!)

Baby love has a few MDK bibs to show off too,

Silly Mommy put the button hole on the wrong side of one! The buttons came from a tin of buttons I found in the basement of our home. I don't know how long they have been down there, it was a great find!

Now that Baby love is napping I'm going to go take a shower, I really should clean (ick), or knit (oh knit!), or maybe nap... mmm... nap....

Another special day

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:15:00 -0400

Today my baby Allysa it is your birthday. As, you promptly reminded me the moment your eyes cracked open this morning. Last night I said to you "this is the last day your 2." and you replied with a smile "yes, me THREE!" now llysa, you are three.

(Allysa age 3)

I find it hard to believe just three years have flown past. In that time you've learned so much, you've grown from a baby to a toddler and now your almost a preschooler. You teach me so much each day, make me smile ear to ear, I love you little llysa. I hope you have a fabulous birthday. Now slow down, your growing to fast!

(Allysa a few minutes old. Sorry about the crappy pic, its a picture of a pictrure)

P.S. I'm waaay behind on my emails, but I want to thank everyone for wishing Corra a Happy Birthday! She enjoyed reading each comment, and she asked me who everyone was. Thank you for helping make her birthday a special day.

P.P.S. fiberlisious post coming up! Now that I bought a new sling for Kailey I might be able to finagle more computer time ; )

To my Corra

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:55:00 -0400

Some how, I don't know how this quite happened. But today my little Corra turned 8 years old.

(Corra age 8)

Its amazing how quickly you've grown and how much you've learned in the past 8 years.

(Corra 3 days old, she looks so happy to have her picture taken!)

You've grown into such a loving, creative, sweet individual. You swell my heart up with love. I'm glad to have been blessed with you my sweet little girl. I love you, and I'm glad that I'm your Mum. Happy Birthday little girl. I love you.

~ Mom

Don't label me sista!

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:04:17 -0400

Something about being labeled as something, or labeling someone else bothers me. Mostly because we are more than just one thing. Let me explain. The other day while dropping Allysa off at the sitters, I was asked by the sitter to show off my Charlotte's Web shawl that I've been wearing under my jacket. My sitter wanted The lady to see it (she's the sweet Grandmothery type) said "oh, your a knitter! I hate people like you!" She was joking and laughing. (She explained that she had tried to learn how to knit. But couldn't) Recently Lynda wrote about her encounter with a yarn shop owner. The owner labeled her as just a sock knitter? This hit a cord with me.

Mostly because lately, I've been just a sock knitter

its all about the easy, as my SIL would say. All about the easy. Easy is what my brain seems to be able to handle right now while Kailey is still in the newborn stage. Easy has become too easy, I've grown bored with socks and want something different. I'm now craving a sweater. Because don't we all want to knit a sweater on the first day of Spring?

Mr. Mailman delivered my knit picks order and the 2 knitting pure & simple patterns I ordered from One fine yarn. Now that I have the neck down v neck shaped cardi in my hands, I don't know what yarn to use. It calls for a dk or light worsted yarn. I so very want to knit a sweater right now, but my biggest problem well, is my boobs. (such interesting google hits I'll get from that sentence. I'm sure) I'm nursing Kailey, my boobs are huge. Soon my boobs will return to their normal size. (non existent) So what to knit, what to knit? I want to knit something that will still fit next year! I've been scouring the net for dk or worsted weight that knits 5sts/inch on size 6 needles that isn't horribly expensive. Is that too much to ask?

So, am I just a sock knitter?

(New Seacoast Panda from yarn4socks.com gilded Lilly is mine, ashes and roses & sorbet are Mom's. btw yarn4socks is having a 20% all yarns containing green till the 22!)

yes, I'm a sock knitter.

I'm a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter. A friend.

I am crafter, a knitter, a quilter. A needle artist, a paper crafter, a photographer.

I am cook, a repair-woman, a home owner. A volunteer, a jewelry artist, a decorator.

I am me, among many things. But most importantly I am loved.

Two of a kind

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:59:00 -0400

Friday my little guy was in a play called Three of a kind. Had to be *the* cutest little play eva! When the curtain rose there where tears in my eyes. If the play wasn't so funny I probably would have bawled. B played one of the three wise men, he had to memorize 6 lines. Smart little guy memorized all of his lines! (Seriously when he came home a month before the play telling me he had a speaking part and had to memorize lines, my head started to hurt. Kid forgets to flush the toilet for crying out loud, and you want him to memorize 6 lines, what?)

(B's the cute lil guy in orange.)

Also on Friday I finished my barely mentioned on the blog socks. They are two of a kind ; )

They are a perfect match right down to the little pink stripe going around my top of my foot. Clicky on the pick and see.

Have you ever some across something that you liked so much that you didn't want to share? You wanted it all to yourself, and didn't want to tell a single soul. Because your worried that if you do tell, ya'll have to share. Well... that's how I feel about this sock yarn, and the store I bought it from. I mean, come on look how cool it striped:

The colors just blend into each other, keeping me intrigued watching them change row after row. I wanted to keep the dyer and the store a secret. I didn't want to tell... but I don't keep secrets very well. Oh no I don't. I have to tell you where I bought this yarn, because the service is great, and they have great sales. I have to tell you what kind of yarn this is, because you have to knit with it. It's just too neat not too.

Two of a kind socks

Stats:

Pattern: casted on 56sts, knit 15 rows K2, P2. Then K6, P2. Short row heel, classic toe.

Yarn: Twisted colorway Octarine purchased from yarn4socks.com

Needles: Knitpicks circs US 1

Time: 2 weeks 3 days

Notes: Ya wanna know what else is neat about these socks? The colorway's name Ocartine, Oct meaning 8 (pretty sure about that) 56 divided by 8 equals 7. And the stitch pattern I used is a 8 stitch repeat. Ain't that neat. I guess math can be cool ; )

PS. Guess who found her thumb?

Smitten with Mittens

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 17:05:00 -0500

I haven't had a whole lot of time lately to knit, my knitting time has been replaced with sleeping time! Waking up every 2-3 hours at night sure can tucker a person out! Now, while I've been sleeping instead of knitting my Mom must have been knitting instead of sleeping! Mom knit mittens for the kids, each one of them got a pair

Even little Kailey sized mittens

See that smile? I think she loves them. Check out what Allysa had to say about them (sorry about the crappy video, Mike took the good camera back to work. And I learned a new lesson. Even though when your taping holding the camera up and down and it looks ok. You can't rotate it on the computer! So please enjoy this sideways photo ; )

(here's a link, too just in case, and see the Christmas tree still up in the background? grrrrr!)

Just in case you have no idea what she is saying, here's a monologue:

me: tell me about your mittens.

A: they mittens mema made and they really beautiful

me: do you love them?

A: They really beautiful, and I love them, and love them.

me: blow kiss.

At least I'm pretty sure that's what she said! Thank you Mom for knitting the kids mittens, every time they put them on, and every time I look at our mitten basket it makes me smile and think of you. I love you Mom, thanks.

And to show you how much work goes into kid pictures, here is the older kids goofing off and squishing Bryce

They make me laugh! Stay tuned, maybe sometime this week I will hopefully finish my socks! (hey! quit laughing ; )

3-day weekend

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:44:05 -0500

We had a 3 day weekend this weekend, after the kids having 3 days off last week thanks to the snow storm (which by the way, why wasn't it called a Nor'ester?) it was like we had a vacation from school. I'm looking forward to tomorrow which will hopefully bring back some bit of normalcy to our house. I say some, because Bryce has a cold and he's being dragged to the Dr tomorrow. Kailey has her 1 month appointment and I'm hoping to have him checked out too. He's supposed to have his adenoids removed this coming Monday. The kids where able to spend some time outside in the snow this weekend. They enjoyed themselves immensely and its a good thing Mema keeps us stocked with mittens!

all pictures are embiggenable

Yes, Allysa is licking the snow and Bryce is riding his snowboard down the hill. I need to get that kid a helmet! They where thrilled when my friend AmandaJ brought her boys up to play, She got to cuddle with Kailey and show me her latest FO. (Which is amazing btw, I can't believe your giving it away!!)

Saturday afternoon I kitchnered the toe of B's last sock, once he got up from "quiet time" (what a laugh!) he put them on with the biggest smile on his face!

Here's B's crazy socks after a day of wear, He loves how the socks don't match! When I asked B how much he liked his new socks he replied with

"This much!!!" ahhh, this is why I love to knit him socks. Do you know what is so crazy about these socks? I have a walnut sized ball of lapis left over. Crazzzy! The needles didn't even get a chance to cool before I wound up a hank of brand spanken new sock yarn! More on that tomorrow, Here's a pic of Kailey holding my needles

gotta start 'em while they're young!

PS Does anyone know where you can purchase downloadable Knitting Pure and Simple patterns? I'm dying to have the top down V-shaped Cardigan and don't want to wait a week for it to be mailed to me.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day, and thank you Mom!

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:41:12 -0500

Yesterday I really wanted to sit down and write a nice post about Valentine's day, wishing ya'll a happy one, and telling you how we celebrate it. Also telling ya'll how much you mean to me. How reading your blog posts inspire me to knit more and craft better. How your encouragement and complements make me feel. How much I appreciate and care for all of you, and am thankful for the wonderful world of knit bloggers. But hey, a nap sounded a wee bit more enticing, sorry! The kids and I received a packaged from my mom and dad containing beanies!

For all of us! Kailey with mine and....

her new sweater! (sorry I thought I took a picture of her with her beanie too, but I can't find it now!) Thank you mom, I'm loven the color. You should have seen Mr. Mailman hopping through the snow to deliver it!

I'd say we got some snow! But we found ways to keep ourselves occupied while the snow fell all day yesterday

we're almost outta cookies!

PS I finished the 2nd borelo, but dinner's almost done!

There has been knitting, and finishing too!

noreply@blogspirit.com (Mistress Stash Enhancer) — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 17:29:14 -0500

Between my naps and such, there has been a bit of knitting and finishing too! These poor little booties have been waiting very patiently for buttons, they fit Kailey's feet fairly well with a pair of socks. They are so cute, ya almost want to knit a pair for every little girl ya know

ok, I do want to knit them for every little girl I know. But everyone I know who's pregnant is having a boy!

Stats:

Pattern: Mary Jane booties from Knitting for Babies walmart brochure found in check out line.

Yarn: Joann's sensations Bellezza Collection Tesoro 100% wool, color 954 Leftover from Comforting Jenn square

Needles: US 3

Time: ummm... knitting time maybe 2 hours per bootie, but they've been waiting for buttons for 3 weeks!

Notes: I started the first bootie Jan 17 and finished it that night, I started the second bootie the morning of Jan 18 and finished it sometime during my hospital stay. Then the little booties sat around waiting for lil buttons which I found upstairs in my button drawer.

Sometime in November I bought a hank of Inca Cotton from Stitch your Art out to knit the baby borelo from One Skein. Then the knitting blah's hit, and I finally casted on sometime last week.

Stats:

Pattern: Baby Borelo from One Skein

Yarn: Inca Cotton 100% Organic Cotton Ecru

Needles: US 8 knit pick options

Time: 1 week maybe?

Notes: I forgot to change to a size 9 needle when knitting the ribbing, oops! I think it turned out well. I'm hoping if I put the leftover yarn together with the needles and the finished sweater it will magically reproduce and I will have a baby gift for Mike's cousin who had her baby boy last week. Hey one can dream right? ; )

one more, cause she is so darned cute

Sometime during the first two weeks I knit these

2 of Abigail's 4 corners dishcloths, Abigail you where right they are the perfect knit when one can't concentrate to well.. and yet I still managed to screw up my second cloth (the green one) one side is smaller than the rest. No idea what happened!! The red one is also a good inch bigger around than the green one. I guess I was more "relaxed" when I knit that one! Abigail just came up with a cool new scrubby pattern called tribbles. Finally, something to do will all that leftover cotton!

The kids had a snow day today we baked cookies and chilled out in our jammies all day. They have another one tomorrow. Weatherman says we're getting snow

damn, I think for once the weatherman might be right! They say we'll be getting 6-10 inches of snow tonight, and 5-8 inches of snow tomorrow. I don't think they'll be going to school on Thursday either!

Updated family pic!

Bryce, Corra holding Kailey and Allysa. Just lookin' at em makes me want to smile even though right now they have remodeled Bryce's pterodactyl hot wheels track and are shooting cars from the playroom into the hallway, some cars are making it across the hallway into the living room. *sigh* they grow up too fast