it was bound to happen

this blog has been interrupted by the sudden urge to 'nest'.



please excuse me. 

August Favorites 2008

August Favorites 2008, originally uploaded by gonzomama.

Wish I'd thought of it first

I am loving this tattoo.


(oh, and if you are a non-knitter, WIP stands for work in progress. which may or may not have needed the explanation, but just in case.)

photo friday.10

Spidey

Henry has been very into Spider-man lately. We have the first two movies and though he's not picky, they get requested quite a bit if we watch a movie. The more I see of them, the less I like them. Let me rephrase that. They are really terrible movies. I cringe at the thought of watching them again. I'm also discovering that I am not a big Tobey Macguire fan (except in Wonderboys, I love that movie), or maybe it's just the Spider-man role. Anyway, I digress.

Since the introduction to Spidey, Henry likes to pretend he is climbing the walls and shooting webs. The other day I turned from the kitchen sink to find him walking on his hands and feet with his shirt pulled up to under his eyes. I asked him if was a bug (this was the bug walk), he said "no, miy-man(spiderman)". Okay, then. He drives cars up the wall and says miy-man. Spiders are referred to as Spiderman now.
Now, not that this needs explaining, but this boy's Papa is into comics. It was his major in college (well, actually Sequential Art, but saying comics is the best way to describe it). So, needless to say, this is all being encouraged.




So we were playing in the driveway the other day and Matt brings out a 'mask' for Henry. Henry doesn't quite get it (I think we need to dye the mask red). So what does Papa do? He shows Henry it's a Spider-man mask. Then he really gets into it. I'm talking sound effects while web shooting and everything. Oh, I love this Papa. I hope our neighbors were watching.





To be fair, I told him those pictures would probably wind up on the internet. There was no argument, so here they are.

little drummer boy

The past few days, the boy has loved telling people he's 2. We had his Mimi, aunt Amanda, and cousin Amaya over for a birthday dinner Friday, so he's been in 'party' mode ever since. Amaya had her birthday party Saturday morning (Amaya turns 5 today -HAPPY BIRTHDAY!). Sunday we saved the 'big' gift for Henry's real day of celebration. Let's just say it was well received.
It has been non-stop jammin' around this house. I swear he would sleep with the drumsticks if I let him. He mastered the kick pedal yesterday, now he's working on coordinating the use of arms and legs to produce sound. If it's not working for him he'll just squat and use the drum sticks on the bass drum(? - i know nothing of drums, so that's a guess as to which drum that actually is). We have had these drums stored up in the attic for well over a year now waiting for the right time to give them to the boy (we got them for such a deal, but he was so little). I have to say I think our timing was right on.



The rest of his day was spent by all of us lounging in our pj's until about 2:00 in the afternoon. I took a nap while the boys played with Henry's new toys and watched some the Olympics. It was a nice, relaxing day. Just what we all needed. Later, H. and I took Matt to the airport. He had to go out of town for some work this week. So far I am hanging in there okay. By the end of the week . . . who knows. Before he left, Matt got all the baby clothes from the attic. I'm a little excited about pulling out all those teeny little clothes and remembering H. wearing them. I'm also excited about finding the things we didn't use much and putting them in a pile of things to go (as in, leave this house).

With Matt gone for the week, my friend Pamela offered to take Henry for an afternoon and evening. I had some reservations about this. Not because of Pamela. Not. At. All. I just don't know how well I will cope having both of my guys gone at one time. That's never happened before. On the other hand, I keep thinking to myself that it is going to be a loooooonnng time before I get that many hours to myself again and I should take complete advantage of this opportunity. So, Henry is off to his first sleep over this afternoon. I know he will have so much fun. He loves Pamela and her two boys, Alex and Greyson.



Pamela, thank you. I am truly grateful for this, even though I have butterflies in my stomach. I'm gonna miss my (big) boy.

Really?

Yes. Really. A finished object. Yes. I do knit on occasion (hence, gonzomama knits). I just do not knit as fast as I would like to.
Be warned though. I had to take pictures in a hurry, so I took many, which means I will post many because I am a horrible editor. Also, it is not totally finished because it needs to be blocked. You will note I have chosen to hide the areas I deemed unfit to show.



This is the Sorry My Child Broke (ate?) Your Handmade By You Paper Lampshade Scarf. The shorter title would be the Noro Striped Scarf, inspired by b r o o k l y n t w e e d and many others over at Ravelry.



I used three colorways throughout the scarf. I used two skeins of Noro Silk Garden 245 which is striped the entire length of the scarf, and one skein each of Noro Silk Garden 279 and 221 (4 skeins total) using a size 7 needle. I basically followed b r o o k l y n t w e e d 's recipe and cast on 39 stitches in a 1x1 ribbing (therefore no curling). Then I took his cue and manually striped the yarn alternating skeins every two rows. I also did the slipped stitch edge (purlwise) at the end of every second row, which I highly recommend as it adds such a nice finish to the edging. I had never before done a slipped stitch edge and that's why I need to block the scarf. The first quarter of the scarf has a slight curve on the side the yarn was carried up because I was pulling the yarn a bit too tight. Once I realized this though, the problem was easily solved by loosening up a tad. My hope is that blocking the scarf will even that out.



I knit until I ran out of yarn (although I did cut out a bright fuschia colored section of yarn on one skein). This was a simple project with a gorgeous end result. This will not be the last one of these I knit for sure. Especially because I'm not keeping this one (neither is Matt - we tend to share scarves). This one is being gifted to my very deserving cousin Jordan. It's more of a payback than a gift though.



Last Thanksgiving we were back in Illinois and Jordan generously gave up his room for the Lewis clan. One afternoon Henry was napping in there and when he awoke we found him in his pack n play surrounded by shredded paper from the shade of this lamp. Which Jordan made. By hand. Ergo, the long ass name of the scarf. Jordan was so gracious and understanding, so I figured the least I could do is make him something in return. Now if he really wants to even things out, he can let any children he decides to have in the future wash this scarf in some nice hot water :)

a boy in the making

a boy in the making, originally uploaded by gonzomama.

Happy Birthday, my little man! I can't believe you are already two. Time flies when you are having fun they say. No doubt, because these two years whizzed by me.

Henry, my boy, you bring so much to the lives of those that know and love you. I've never met a goofier boy (although you have many tricked into thinking you are serious, but I know better). You make your papa and I laugh everyday, and touch us with your sweet tenderness. We love watching you grow and experience every new thing with such excitement and wonderment. It is because of our love for you and the love we feel from you that we took the leap of faith to start this journey anew.

We hope you enjoy your day, but you have been our greatest gift. We love you.