Casting on for 2 at a time

Sometimes I think when knitting the worst part can be sleeves or legs, they seem to go on forever and then you need to make sure they are even. Well do get away with this I work them both at the same time.
I just recently wrote up my first pattern for fingerless gloves and wanted to use my easy way out. So I am sharing with you how I cast on and work two at a time. What you are going to need is yarn but thats a given, some double pointed needles and a long circular needle.
Wind your skein into 2 balls, or cakes whatever you prefer to work with.

To begin, Cast on all your stitches onto 1 DPN




Next up you are going to transfer half of those stitches to a second double pointed needle . Slip then purl wise onto the needle. It will look like this.
You are treating each end of the circular like its a separate needle (technically it is lol just attached) What you are going to do is slip them purlwise onto these needles. We are slipping them from where they are already joined NOT where they need to be joined. The working yarn and tail are at the other end of the DPN. Now slip these purlwise onto your circular needle. The tail and working yarn will be closest to your needle tips.

Here is a close up for you to see a lil better.

Do the same for the second arm/leg or wrist warmer what ever it is you are working 2 at a time on. From the second ball or cake of yarn.

Now you can start working in the round. The way to do this is lay your work out in front of you like I have, move the stitches w/ the tail yarn closest to the needles tip. Also slide the stitches attached to your working yarn to the cable, by pulling out that needle tip. Being careful not to twist your stitches. To avoid twisting I put all the 'ridges' to the center.

Be sure to place a stitch marker to mark the begining of your rounds. Here you can see I have worked 1/2 of 1 side of the fingerless glove

Contine working each side, making sure you are working each leg, arm, wrist or what ever it is from its own ball of yarn, otherwise you wil end up w/ a mess of joined pieces and might get confused. The yarn will be worked along a side, around the cable and along the second side.

I hope this was of some help to you all. If you already have live stitches you can just skip ahead and slip the stitches 1/2 on each needle onto your circular and just work them across, around the cable, and back across. I find it saves me time and lots of aggrivation. And will eliminate SECOND SOCK SYNDROM (insert dun dun dun right here) If you have any questions feel free to ask me and I will try to help you out.

Let me take a brief moment to spam my new pattern. It is almost done testing. Its called Action Fingers. http://ravel.me/deweysred/mwlt6

~ thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

Selective BIonic Hearing!

I swear kids have selective bionic hearing. I am telling you they really do. Have you ever noticed that if they are doing something then want to do they dont hear you no matter how many times you say thier name or offer up goodies, they dont seem to hear a word you are saying? BUT as soon as you take your pants down to sit on the potty its "mom, what are you doing" " mom I need you" they know it. Of if you open the fridge for something, its "mom what are you eating, I am hungry too" even if you just finished dinner LOL. It is quite funny if you think about it.

On a side note.
The weather is getting colder and I have been ever so thankful for our wood stove. We have yet to turn our heat on and the stove really is a life saver. Also making plans for preparations for the upcoming holidays. During the hussle bussle of all plans I am also planning for a Bazaar, the girls dance studio is holding a holiday bazaar. They are doing a raffle from vendor donations where half the proceeds go to children in need this holiday season. Its really a great cause. I have been planning for that as well. Working on some dolls, wrist warmers, leg warmers, petti skirts, key chains. Lots and lots of stuff I hope. I dont have much time to get everything together but I can only do what I can do. I am hoping to do well with making things. Its a great opportunity for me to get my name out thier even more as well.

I must leave you today, dance to get ready for, children to feed and things to do as always. I hope you enjoy your day.



~ thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

A Mothers Job!!

As a mother, our job never ends. A days begining often runs in with a days end. The job in itself reminds me of the math lesson on a circle mixed with the energizer bunny. It has no begining, and it has no end and it keeps going and going.
There are very many stages, and no promotions. We often take on the jobs of almost any other profession at a moments notice, with no previous backround or schooling. In one day alone we go from, caretaker, bum and nose wiper, plumber, garbage man ok womam, chef (often short order cook for the picky, I mean selective) , maid, librarian, referee, teacher, translator, psychiatrist, dr and nurse, chauffer, architect and planner, the list simply goes on and on. We are constantly multi tasking, I am actually nursing as I type this ironically haha.
We are like super heros. We hear things that before being a mother, we would never have heard. Upon becoming a mother, we gain xray vision and mind readers.
There are so many things that we do, we get no sick time. If we try to take a days rest, the make up is far worse than it would have been if we had just done it to begin with. More than likely, we are faced with 10x the initial work.
Some say the pay sucks, but I disagree. Being a mother is one of the most rewarding and satisfying jobs one will ever be privledged to acquire. Yes we are so very busy each and every day and never seem to catch up or get a break, but could you imagine how bored and lonely you would be. I am not sure what I did with my time before becoming a mother. Oh thats right, I used to sleep in half that day and get paid to do meaningless work. If I was asked to go back in time to do it all over again, you could bet your last dollar that I would jump at the chance. Each and every child is a blessing beyond belief. Sometimes we have rough days, and everything seems to suck. But in the end, its a learing experience to us as well, (may as well add student to that list we made earlier LOL. )
No matter the moment , you can always look into those sweet little eyes and see the upmost love and devotion. Complete trust and admiration.
I challenge you, take a moment, no matter what you are doing and drop everything. Go to those sweet babies and just sit and cuddle, give them a kiss, read a book, build a tower of blocks, do anything just you and them. I tell you that you wont regret it. There will be a day when they are too big to cuddle in your lap or ask you to read a book to them. Savor every moment of thier littleness and thier need for you.
I leave you with this
Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow
For babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow,
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.

I have to run, the baby took out the music toys, dinner is ready, I have to toss a log on the fire. I hope that you have a great night !


~ thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

DIfferent doesnt mean Stupid

I have a couple of internet and IRL friends who have children who are delayed in some what or another, whether it be physically, developlementally, emotionally or mentally. It doesnt matter how they are different, labels arent needed, they are children and who cares what struggles that they have to deal with on a daily bases. We all have our struggles and dealings. What bothers me is that I hear stories from those friends that someone says something around thier children, something that may not be meant to be but is insulting and hurts these childrens feelings.
What I dont think people realize is that just because these children are different and have struggles, does not at all make them stupid. Yes many of them take things in differently then you or I, but they still get what you are saying. They take things in differently but they still gets everything you say. It would be like you bad mouthing these people in pig latin or something, they hear you and its said differently but they get it dont they.
I guess my point is, please dont underestimate children with special needs. We are all different from one another in many different ways. Please stop and think before making comments about someone else. Special needs or not, it still hurts!
A good example, is treat others the way you want to be treated!!

~ thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

Near Fail

I nearly failed at updating lately lol. Been busy, picking up more custom orders, making Halloween costumes. But I also have exciting news. I think I am going to be doing a Holiday Bazaar at the girls dance studio. Its the sunday after Thanksgiving , and will mean lots of sewing in the future, well for the next month. But also getting my name out there more. I work on and off on the side helping out with alterations and stuff at the dance studio, and do side custom orders, but I really think this may help with my 'career' .
I am thinking of some leg warmers, dolls, petti skirts, hats, headbands, flowers and some baked goods. Debating clothing but I am not sure. If you have any thoughts or opinions please share them with me. I would love to hear what you think.
Thats all for now, I have a house to clean, a costume to make and lists to compile.

oh so my team won third in the Dish Rag Tag. :)

Thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

The proof is in the pudding!

Jack is 16 monthes old and is still nursing, yes I am 'one of those' LOL Anyway, he still gets up a few times a night. Usually its no big deal to me because when he first wakes up *(pending on the time) I will bring him in bed with me and we both fall asleep. Sometimes he still wakes up but I get more sleep with him in bed next to me, I dont have to get up or sit up, just usually a matter of rolling over and moving my shirt out of the way LOL. Last night was like any other night, or so I thought. I put Jack to bed about 8:30 and wouldnt you know he slept till 5:30, 9 whole hours of sleep. This is the most he has ever slept. I know I am probably jinxing myself by even talking about it. But I cant beleive he did it.

Little stinker has been pulling my leg all along waking up a few times a night when he knew he could do it. Looks like its time for mommy to go to work, Jack went to work to show me that he could in fact do it, now to keep it up. Thats all on me. I may be free to have my bed to just my husband and I. That is such a blissful sound. A kid free bed. One can only imagine when that day comes hehe. Wish me luck as I need to be strong and keep this up. I dont have problems with him still nursing but I would love to be getting more consecutive sleep at night.

In other words, I have been knitting and neglecting my blog apparently, 2 whole weeks without posting, wish I had lots to sew for it. I have however been cleaning but I am not about to show pics of my house when it was messy so you will just have to beleive me.

I also knit myself a new sweater, finished it too. All the ends are woven in, and the buttons are sewn on. LOL No modeling pics yet but here she is

OH how I wish I could tell you more about it but I have been asked not to. But she sure is purdy. Love her buttons too.

Now on my needles is a sleeveless cardigan type vest for Lily, called In threes

I am hoping to make some matching leg warmers for her too.

Thats all for today! Hope you enjoy your Sunday!

~ thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

Active social lives!!

I think that this fall my girls are going to have more active social lives than me LOL. Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance and tumbling. LOL! Lily was originally going to be taking ballet with the lovely Miss Ashley at this amazing studio, Triple Threat Performing Arts Center and Avry was going to be taking preK tumbling with the talented Miss Molly also at the same studio. But, I am not sure how it happened but more classes were opened up, and room was found for both girls to take a class together. Its a combo class. Pre tap and Pre ballet. I know you thinking isnt Lily already taking ballet, yes indeed she is but she will help out some and there is never such a thing as too much dance is there LOL.
I am so excited, my girls get to do what I have always wanted to do as a child but never could. They get to dance and do extra curricular activities. Will take some finagling on our part but we are going to make it work. My babies get to do the things that I was never able to do and it feels so amazing.

Today I will part leaving you with these words

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you giver her a smile, she'll give you her heart....So if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of sh*t!" ...-Unknown


~ thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

Take a look with in.....

I was reading this posted from a friend this am on Facebook and it got me thinking. Our children are more of a reflection of us than we may realize. I often see different things when looking at my children. There are times when I see my 16 month old being so gentle and loving on a sweet newborn,







or watching as he carress's her cheek.

And I know that he is as sweet as he is because he is treated just as sweetly at home. There are times when we as parents realize that we are doing something right. I know from these few sweet moments my husband and I are raising a sweet and nurturing little boy.
But as we know there are two sides to every story. There are times when you can look at your sweet child's face and see it scrunched up in anger saying who knows what. You know what? She learned that from you too!! Our children really are a reflection of us, they watch , see and hear everything that we do. No matter how many doors we close and lock or how much we try to whisper they hear it and they know.
Thank goodness no one is perfect and children are such forgiving little creatures. It doesnt take much for us to get ourselves back on the right track. We too fall of the track. Its just a matter of picking up your boot straps and trying again.
Now dont get me wrong, children dont get absolutely everything from us. There are often subject to outside situations that dont involve us. They play with other children who learn from thier parents or caregivers, some are cared for by others when parents need to work or more times than not the television. We as parents are guiding our future leaders, in years to come these sweet little ones, the easily influenced, the spongues ready to absorb anything and everything are going to be running this earth and thier children after them. The Lion King had it right, its a "Circle of Life". Now dont get me wrong there are situations where its not always the parent or caregivers influences that have been passed along to our children, there are times when its something internal that influences our children, and in this one case alone its not completely our fault, but that doesnt mean that we still dont influence our children.
If we want our children to be the best that they can be, then we in turn need to be the best parents that we can be. We need to lead by example. Take a few seconds today to get down to thier level and hug them, lay in the grass looking at the clouds and find the animals and shapes. The only time we need to worry about when guiding our children, is the time flying by and them growing up tooo fast. Savor every moment that you have with them, they are only little once and you only get one chance at guiding them. This is your time to shine, your children will reflect it for many years as will thier children and childrens children.
I will part today and leave you with this

Babies Don’t Keep

By Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing,make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,
Lullabye, rockaby, lullabye loo.
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo,
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo,
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
For children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs;
Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.



~ thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

KINDERGARTEN!!!!

yes thats right, my sweet Lily started Kindergarten this week. I have been unsure on the days leading up to Wednesday. I was expected to ship my baby off on a big yellow school bus and trust that she was going to be ok. Well we did it, I got a little chocked up but I did not shed a tear. Here she is in her new school duds





















She really did love it, here she is with her buddy Lydia, also starting Kindergarten and in the same class .

My big girl on her bus so happy and excited waving me off on her way to school.

As I part I write this one letter

Dear Kindergarten, Please be kind to my baby. Treat her with as much love and kindness she deserves. This is my world and I am sharing her with you. She is sweet, sensitive and ready to learn. Encourage her and embrace her as we have done for all of her 5 years. She will go far with just a little bit of help from you.

Sincerely yours, A kindergarteners Mom

Well her first day went great, she found out that she knows 3 other little girls in her class that ride the bus, and also has a friend from dance on the same bus. She has already come home with a new friend and talk of the 'boys' sitting behind then trying to touch thier hands.... LOL and so it begins.

Today I think the entire state is in anticipation of Earl. Frenzies to get bread , milk and batteries! It is barely raining, well we have had spurts of pouring rain. Today, we sit and watch movies with pop corn and milk shakes in celebration of the long weekend and a success to the start of school .

~ thanks for reading , Kristen ;)

As promised...

I finally managed to finish all my UFO's, AND take pics of them LOL. I have been working on getting fall and winter clothes made for the kids. Let me tell you it can be a big task. But I am trying to do what I can so we have to buy the kids less, a very helpful thing when you have 3 to buy for. Anyway here is what I have recently finished

Dress and leggins for lily




















romper for Jackson
















top for Lily





















skirt for Lily





















shirt for Jackson







Dress and Leggins for Avry

















Dress for Lily with a side of baby lol




















sweater for Lily I knitted

Dress for Avry

And here is what I had previously finished up for the kids

hoodie for Avry

hoodie for Lily

Sweater I knit for Jackson

shirt for Jack

shirt for Avry

shirt for Lily

romper for jackson

This is just the beginings lol, Yesterday I cut out another 6 tee shirts. Traced a really really cute cardigan to match Lilys skirt and traced pants for each of them. Today I hope to cut the pants and cardigan. I may stop cutting after this though because it sure does give me plenty to sew. But I do prefer to have a bunch cut so I can just sew sew sew, I think cutting takes the most time, well its my least favorite anyway, not sure on it taking more time. Guess its all part of assembly line sewing. Some do it with diapers, me I do it with wardrobes.

At some point I will get to my sewing list I made for myself.

Tata for now, must feed the kids breakfast so I can get on with my cutting for the day. Oh and cant forget about a dress for a fellow divas daughter. Have a good day ;)

Time suck!!

Well thats what today felt like anyway. LOL This am was spent searching Ravelry. If you are a knitter or crochet or heck a yarnie (you know who you are) then you are need to check out http://www.ravelry.com/ it is the best site for us yarnies LOL . See I am debating what to cast on next for Avrys winter/fall sweater. I finished Jacks and am working on Lilys. I kept debating back and forth between this ridinghood sweater but then searching more I found the Genevieve . I have the Ridinghood pattern, and really wanted more of a sweater than a dress till I found The Neverland Hoodie Wendy. Unfortunately the Wendy wont be released till sometime in September. So now I have to think of things to do inbetween. I must have this pattern, if you knew Avry you would know how much this is her. Too bad I am so impatient LOL.

On another craft front I made Avry a tumbling bag, ok a tumbling bag is a bag to take to tumbling. Not that she will need anything but Lily has a bag to put her dance shoes in so how could I not make Avry a bag to take with her. Aside from that I might have spent far too much time on Ravelry today.

OH speaking of ravelry and knitting and stuff

Its cool, basically you get a box w/ some treats and 2 balls of say peaches and cream cotton yarn, you knit one dishcloth, take out the yummies and fill the box back up with similar things to what you recieved, ie: two balls of cotton yarn and treats. The team that gets thier box back to the leader first wins. I really am not weird it'll be fun.

Long time no post...

I know I know, it has been forever since I last blogged, I am really no good at this whole blog thing. I really really wanna give this another go, for what the millianth time LOL Anyway

So onto the whats new part, um Lily is 5 and starting kindergarten, can you believe it she is going to school soon. Avry is 3 and almost diaper free, only wears em at night and Jack, well he is all boy. Balls and cars and some boob and he is happy as ever, of course with the occasional clean diaper thrown in there. Lately I have been busy sewing fall and winter clothes, I know your thinking um do you realize its still August and hot. I do but the more I get done the less we will end up buying which is a definate plus when you have 3 to buy for. The girls are also doing extra curriculars this year. Lily will be doing ballet and Avry will be tumbling. They are so excited.

Today I was putting around at one of the many, er I mean few forums that I belong to and came across this http://yarnmiracle.com/blog/ and her talk of Dish Rag Tag. Seems like a really cool idea.
WEll thats all for now, I have a few leotards and a bag to make Avry today. Pictures hopefully to come soon.
so