As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve been working on a few design projects . . . and I’ve added one since that post!

The “Mini-Must-Have” is finished except the buttons . . . and the pattern is currently in the test-knitting stage of things thanks to [Tallgal], Kim and Jen.  Once I’m sure we’ve worked out the kinks (writing is rewriting, right?) then I’ll make it available through Ravelry.  And once I have the buttons selected and on it we’ll take some photos with it modeled.  In the mean time:

Mini-Must-Have

I’ve also been working on “Simplicity”

Simplicity

I’ve also started a new design project that I’m very excited about . . . its a twisted stitch sock pattern in two versions, his and hers.  Here is a little bit of his . . .

sock

This one hasn’t been named yet, but if all goes well it will be available as a free pattern in the Butterfly Yarns Newsletter later this month so if you haven’t signed up for it, check it out!  This pattern will available on Ravelry as well . . .

Farmyard

I’ve almost finished planting our garden for this year . . . I wait until Memorial Day weekend every year to be sure we really are past any danger of frost; after all this is New England!

my garden

It isn’t much really but I don’t dare plant too many things since the garden bed is inside the play area.  I’m cautiously optimistic that the boy-child will leave the garden alone this year but have a feeling the girl-child is going to find flowers and tomatoes hard to resist.   That said, I’ve got tomatoes, basil, rosemary, peppers for Dom, Eggplant and a few other herbs and flowers.  We’ll have to wait and see how they do.

And a few chicken pics for you:

and these are the new Eggie chicks, learning to forage:

chickies foraging

I’ve also taken up coffee roasting, using the wood-fired oven which works out wonderfully since all the smoke and smell is outdoors.  We were given several pounds of coffee beans but I have not idea what type they are . . . here is them being roasted:

roasting coffee

coffee roasting 2

roasted

and on that note . . . see you next post!

We had a busy spring with Mimmo finishing up his first year of Preschool (loved it); me taking a cake decorating class and Caterina’s First Birthday.  In late May we also hatched a new crop of chicks, 8 in all and we are now waiting to see just how many hens we’ll get . . . Then we had about a month of rain, something like 3/4 of June and into July and now we are trying to enjoy summer.

Mimmo had a terrific 4th Birthday.  He was so excited about having his party this year and had requested a dinasour cake but later changed it to a Dragon.  My plan for putting it together didn’t come off as well as I’d hoped but we regrouped and turned it into a slain dragon, which the birthday boy loved! He had a ball with his friends and cousins and they are getting closer to actually being able to break the pinata themselves, maybe next year!

Mimmo is now taking Karate classes and he’s really getting into it.  He already has his first yellow stripe on his belt and we are all very proud!  We’re also going swimming in Gloucester with the cousins twice a week; he likes the beach but isn’t thrilled with the cold, ocean waters.  Caterina is liking all the outdoor time but going through sunblock at an amazing rate!

Knitting wise, I’ve just gotten back into the swing of things. . . I’ve finished up a pair of socks I had started last fall and I’m currently working on a pair for Caterina for this fall . . . just my basic kids sock pattern so its a relatively quick project.  I’ve also noticed that Mimmo’s legs are much longer now and his feet are HUGE so he’s going to need several pairs of socks before the weather gets cold!  Looks like I’ll have my work cut out for me this year!

I still need to figure out what is going on with the photo portin of the software for this so I’ll try to add photos but I’m not certain in will work.

I’ve got photos from our trip to Italy, from Halloween and fall and now from Christmas and I’m going to load them soon . . . really I am.

Christmas here was terrific – it almost has to be with children involved, doesn’t it?

The little ones had a great time – Santa was good to them and the big one got most of what he asked for (lucky for Santa he only asked for 3 things!) including a bug catching vaccum thingy which he’s having a ball with even though there are no bugs to chase, save the random ant here or there . . .

Christmas night, as Daddy was tucking him in, he said that “This was my first Christmas” and he’s right, in all likelyhood, this is the first Christmas he will ever remember. When I tucked him back in he told me that “This was my best christmas ever” and I believe him on that count too. So very cute and he totally made our holiday.

Santa was very good to me as well. I got an interesting cookbook – it had some good recipes and beautiful photos; and the Mason-Dixon knitting book. It was an interesting choice as I did (when I had time to read blogs) really enjoy their blog – and while it would likely be an interesting read . . . most of the patterns seemed kinda basic and not really the type of thing that I’ll do or that I’ll need a pattern for . . .

So back to the bookstore I went to return the . . . and try again. I pulled out a stack of knitting books and a stack of cookbooks and headed for the cafe . . . and I gotta tell ya – after looking at about a dozen of the newer knitting books that are out right now – I’m kinda “over” the whole knitting book thing. I’m sure there will be one or two here and there that are interesting but none of the ones I saw really did anything for me. Ah well . . .

Now here is the part that will tell you just what kind of a geek I really am . . . I bought a Text Book. Actually, a rather expensive text book. Baking and Pastry – mastering the art and craft by The Culinary Institute of America.

Yeah, a baking book, or from the look of it, THE baking book. I’ve been doing a lot of bread baking lately and I love to bake pastry of all sorts . . . and this book covers it all. I’m going to have to go back to the gym soon just to conteract the baking!

It has actually been so long since I’ve written regularly that I’m not even sure what to write to catch up! Now that is bad.  Bad, bad blogger!

Guess I’ll give an overview of what we’ve been up to and post a bunch of photos

The baby is 4 months now and she’s gotten so big! I can’t believe how fast she has grown.  She can hold her own head and even almost sit now.  She smiles and is starting to laugh.  Last week was the first time she laughed for me.  It was the funny little, hesitant laugh, like she wasn’t sure she was doing it right or perhaps was slightly startled when she realized she was the one making that noise.  It was very cute, we were playing peek-a-boo and when I popped up from behind the cloth I was “hiding” behind she started to laugh! That made me laugh which made her laugh again . . . it was all very cute.

Mimmo is 3 now and has become such a “big kid”.  In fact, he’s so big he’s as big or bigger than some of the 4 year olds we know! He’s wearing a 4 and sometimes a 5 for clothes (I think he may be in the 5s by winter!) and he’s up to a size 11 shoe!  At his physical this year we found he’d gained 8 lbs and grown 6 inches in the past year!  I’m no expert but that seems like a lot of growing to me!

 I’ve been trying to make sure that he got to do lots of fun summer things this year even with a new sister.  I didn’t want him to not have a good summer just because of the baby and how much harder it is to get out with two of them. 

We’ve gone to the beach in Gloucester with his cousins for swimming lessons;

to a friend camp in NH where he got to swim with Dom;

he helped his dad with a painting project one day.

We went to the Stone Zoo with our new playgroup friends; and to the Aquarium with other friends (no photo, forgot the camera!);

We drove to NY for Dom’s Aunt & Uncle’s 50th Annivarsary;

and Mimmo was invited to a day of Preschool Summer camp which he LOVED!

We’ve also had a birthday party or two;

hatched a few baby chicks (3 hatched)

We also went to St. Anthony’s Feast at the church where Mimmo went on the rides this year!

And there is much more but I’m going to split it into a second post since I haven’t been able to get through it all yet as the photo thing is moving really slowly . . .

I also have knitting and spinning content but they may require a third post . . . . stay tuned!

Mimmo’s Barlett Raglan, started April 30th, 2008, finished May 21st, 2008
Pattern: Basic Top-down Raglan
Yarn: Bartlett Yarn Fisherman 2-ply
Needles: Size 8
Dimensions: Child’s size 4 with extra long sleeves
Pattern Notes: Should fit next year as well, though I may need to add to the body length
Would I knit it again? Yes, I’ll be knitting at least 1-2 of these a year forever.

Nope, they are not twins   These are our kids, the left is Caterina at one day old and the right is Mimmo at 3 days old.  These pics were taken almost 3 years apart!

I had them blown up and framed for D’s father’s day surprise – everyone who saw them at the craft store thought they were twins!

Knitting wise I’ve a bunch of project stuff to update and photos to take – several projects that just need ends woven in or buttons sewn on or a seam etc and a couple of new things – hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that and update it here sometime this week . . .

Here are a few pictures of the new arrival and the rest of us . . .

Margaret called me about 40 minutes ago…Caterina arrived at approximately 5:15 a.m. this morning! 6 pounds 15 ounces, 19 inches long, 13 inch head circumference, Apgar scores were 9.

Mom and baby are doing well, Caterina was nursing when we talked, I’ll be heading down later today to take a picture and spend the next two nights with them. They will be coming home on Monday.

I’ll take a picture of the two and give you an update when I return from the hospital tomorrow morning.

This morning the three of us went out to breakfast together – for pancakes at ouf favorite little local diner.  Its something that Dom and I used to do frequently together before Mimmo came along and its something that the three of us have done together something like weekly since he arrived.  Today was strange, knowing it would be the last time that it was just the three of us going out together.  By the next time we go we’ll be 4.

When we got home we did a variety of the usual things and I worked hard on my “to do” list – things like making sure the laundry is all done – washed, dried, folded and put away and empty hampers and baskets; like toping off the waterer and feeder in the chicken coop; like making sure there were diapers and wipes for both children stocked near the changing table.  I wanted to be sure that anything that really needed to be done had been . . . after lunch (homemade pizza – YUM!) and a short nap while watching Peter Pan, the little guy went off with Nonna for a bit and while Dom got ready for work – one last shift before he’s out for the next 10 days – I left for a final bit of down time.

I got in the car and drove away from reality, responsibility for a couple of hours.  I went to the Barnes and Noble down the road, got an iced tea/lemonade drink and picked out a stack of knitting books to browse through.  I found a comfy chair and just sat leafing through the books and enjoying the peace and quiet of being able to sit for that long and basically do nothing. 

I even got a special treat for myself – a copy of “A fine fleece” which I’ve been eyeing since someone brought a copy to knitting one night.  I don’t really buy many knitting books anymore, partly because I have so many already, partly because of a tightening budget and partly because, truth-be-told there haven’t been all that many that interest me lately.  This book I had to have.  Its the first “pattern book” I’ve seen come out in a long while that had many patterns I feel I would actually knit.  I think, over time, its possible I would knit more than half of the patterns in this book, and that doesn’t happen often.

When I came home after my little break I got to do a bunch of fun things like sweeping, moping and vaccuming, more laundry, making beds up with clean sheets and picking up seemingly endless toys.  Now the house is clean. . . or at least as clean as its going to get before the baby arrives.  There is no laundry in the hamper, all the floors are clean and the dishes and kitchen are cleaned up.  It will be interesting to see if the others can manage to keep it that way over the next ten days or so.

Here is the baby blanket that the Monday night knitting group made for her:

Isn’t it pretty! I think she’s really going to like the bright colors and its the perfect size for using with the car seat and stroller – which since we’ll be out and about much more than when the little guy was a baby is great!

And here is the one that I recently finished out of the Suri Silk:

This is super soft and very pink – I plan to use it to bring her home in . . . but it isn’t the most washable fiber so it will be more of a special occassion blanket than an every day kinda blanket . . . but it was so soft I just couldn’t resist

And here is the 3 of us together at Easter . . . weeks ago and I’m already the size of a blimp! Now just imagine how much bigger I am at what, like 6 weeks later?

And isn’t the little guy adorable in his suit? Too bad he’s had to wear it like 4 more times since then for all the funerals we’ve gone to lately . . . but he sure is cute!