Not so secret garden...

This is the year. I am starting asparagus crowns that I will harvest in a year. I am starting raspberry canes and wisteria. I am growing lettuce, beans, peppers, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, and Alan is building me up some fancy boxes to do it. We finished one today when it was freezing out.

That and I finished my first pair of socks. Hear that? Two items that match, done.

Cross that of the to do before 33 list (ha, need to finish that list)! I gifted them to Alan so I could make myself some that are longer in the leg and now I just need to decide... Tosh Vintage in Cove or Water Lily? Pictures of the yarn yum are from google images and I am not sure who to credit...

I am in the middle of another fantastic class at the local shop, Insouciant. I went with a double strand of the Habu Tsumugi Silk in charcoal and light grey. I am slow to knit it up but it should be a good summer top.

I have another knitting project that is quite an undertaking. The recipient could be a silent lurker so no details will be revealed until gifted. I know, such a tease!

I have also fallen behind in my book challenge. 50 for this year. I need suggestions so shout some out. And I am not counting cookbooks in the count. :)

On top of life and knitting, I am hindering helping Shirley help a new neighbor. He needed some suggestions for his house (yep, from paint to lights, tile, etc.) so Pinterest to the rescue. I will have to post some before pics, mood boards, and after pics. Have I told you how much I love painting? I do!

Seams, bits, and pieces

I have knit all the pieces of the sweater. All that is left is the class on Sunday where I think we will pick up stitches to knit the collar. YAY!!!!! It isn't perfect but it turned out pretty good.

I am working on seaming all the pieces together, this page on seaming is helpful.

I have a couple of classes coming up, magic loop and a sock class. I have a couple of hive hats and a gift on the needles still.

And in baking news, I think I will make a batch of Roma's cookies, I just got the cutest cookie cutter in the mail from Fancy Flours.

Finally

I'm working hard on my sweater. The class first met last Sunday and we have two weeks to knit the back and two front pieces to the armholes. I've 10" of the back done and I think the measurement to the armholes will be 16.5". The pattern is Cinnamon but with some edits to make it more man-like for Alan. No waist shaping, larger collar, cool buttons, etc. I'm using Cascade Eco + in Summer Sky Heather, Alan liked the color and I'm happy it is light so I can see what I'm doing!

We've decorated for Valentine's Day AND knit night is tonight. Sweet. Before I go though, I have a few things to make for our neighborhood pizza party tomorrow. Should be a hoot!

Meanwhile, we managed to get up our posts on our big Northwest driving trip, start reading here. I think we should do it again this spring!

365

Can you believe I have a one year old?! I cannot.

I have two sets of pictures here. The first is from the last year. I tried to put together a collection of Frankie showing every month and got pretty close to having every picture from the day he turned the month. And of course there is a picture from when he was first born and a couple days later, when we were still in the hospital.



Then we have pictures from his birthday party. He is so amazing. He laughs and smiles, waves, claps, now he even blows (he watched dad trying to light the fire). He has 5 1/2 teeth. He is wearing 12-18 month clothes. He will wear the soft sole shoes. He likes to put on Grandpa's and Scott's sunglasses. He walks really well now, it is crazy how good his balance is for his age. He will dance to music. He loves the slide in the yard and his little red car. He likes marshmallows and green beans, he likes beans in general. He can finish a whole squeeze pack of baby food now and then some. He had his one year check up and his is still a lightweight, tall, and a normal head size. He is a social little bug. We are just enjoying every minute of this!

Happy birthday Frankie Doodle!


 

11 months and counting

Tiny guy turned 11 months old a couple days ago. He is almost a year! Wow. He was a bit sick but the doctors are working with us on getting him better. We have another scan this week. We love our pediatrician, she has really been great through all of this. Recovery is slow but sure.

He is definitely a walker. He will hardly crawl any more. He is getting really good at walking around with two toys, usually a floss container and Wii remote (with the floss parts removed and no batteries in the remote).

He loves to play peek-a-boo and squish Ro cat. He even tried to catch her tongue when she was sticking it out (we got it on video). He had an orange balloon that lasted for weeks that he enjoyed walking around the house.

He has been swimming at the pirate pool in Bountiful and loves the water. He likes all kinds of food (except bananas) and even tried a corn dog! He now has 5 teeth. He loves cheese and his maple poofs. He even eats peas (thanks Shirley!).

He has been working on words and he now clearly says 'hi,' 'bye,' and 'yeah.' Sometimes he even adds in a wave to emphasize the hi and bye. He also loves music. He will dance when he hears something he likes. He still likes to tickle the ivories too when he is at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We had the chance to hang with Scotty recently and the boys managed a couple games of badminton. Tiny loves the racquet! We try to take him to the zoo once a week to see the animals. He loves to ride the carousel and the train. We are sad to see the train go since we just got the membership!

Also, our little cuddler now has a cool tricycle courtesy of a nice woman at a garage sale. Score!

Happy 10 months Smiley!

Frankie turned 10 months old! I cannot believe it. He has been out longer than in now. He is a light weight, the doctor told us to lay on the butter, literally. He eats what we eat for the most part AND then has ice cream after every meal.

He loves grilled cheese sandwiches. He screams for whole milk yogurt (Liberte brand). He noms up Plum Organics baby food (blueberry, pear, and purple carrots is his favorite flavor). He screams for our water bottles and loves drinking out of a straw. He self feeds everything, including avocado. He squishes it in his hands, eyebrows, nose, and sometimes in his mouth!

He loves to eat his maple cinnamon poofs and I think they make him smell like french toast. He enjoys cheerios, just like his dad. He loves pasta noodles with butter. He recognizes a Tillamoo square of cheese. He brushes his teeth (thanks Aunt Chris). He sometimes waves, smiles a lot, points and gestures for things he wants. We are working on clapping. He says a lot of dadadada and other nonsense but no words yet. We are still working on signing with him.

His sleeping is not consistent but neither is mine! He sort of plays ball. He isn't patient enough to get through many books, he wants to skip pages to get to the end. He almost has 4 teeth! He will bounce while standing when music is playing. He loves when dad plays the piano. I'm working on teaching him body parts and animal sounds. He is working on what sounds Ro Cat makes when he pulls on or squishes various body parts.

And as of Friday night, he walks!