Purling Sprite

Kids Say the Darnest Things

I spent his first year wishing that he would talk, now, I am re-thinking that wish. I love the little stinker--even if he makes me look like a doofus.

On Pumpkin Pie minus the Pie

Wonderboy: Mom--I love pumpkin pie, but please take out the white bread stuff

Me: But that is what a pie is--it has to have the white bread stuff

Wonderboy: Mom but it is crunchy and I can't just swallow it. I have to chew it!

Me: Bangs head agains the wall--I spent so long trying to make it perfect and yet he only wants moosh!

 

On Getting in Shape

Conversation between hubby and I on my exercise routine and helpful Wonderboy jumps in to chat:

Me: I just want to be in shape.

Hubby: Yeah, I know, you are doing good, you are getting there.

Wonderboy: Mom--what shape do you want to be? Square, triangle, circle, rectangle?

Me & Hubby: Laughed out loud--well, I guess I am already in a circle shape, let's shoot for a rectangle at least!

On Socks and Blockers

The mail came and I got a superb RAOK from Wendy--thank you!!! I opened the package and the self-conversation turned to the following:

Me: Woohoooo, they are awesome, now I can put my knitted socks on them and they will be perfect--no more nasty socks!

Wonderboy: Oh Mom, that is so coool. Now, I don't have to throw out my socks with the holes. We can put them there and they will be perfect again!!!

Me: Ummmm....not exactly....(I need to be more clear when I do my self-talks)

Wonderboy started talking exactly at 12 months, since then, he has had a very rich vocabulary. He is the type of kid that sits down and says: "Actually, I believe...blah, blah, blah"; "Stop screaming N..., you are abnoxious"; "Mom, you are so impetuous". The kid is ony 4--I can hardly wait to our future years.

Picture of socks: Luxurious comfy socks, loom knitted with Ultra Alpaca by Berroco. Look for the pattern in the upcoming Loom Knitting Primer book

Avast! A Pirate Saturday Sky Me Hearties

Ahoy! This scurvy pirate knows that she slept the Pirate Talk Day--I reckon this wench must have had a bit too much grog the night before and it slipped her mind. To compensate for the terrible deed, she  brings you a picture of her latest Pirate drab...check it!!

This wench luvs the shirt--although some scurvy pirates around the ship are planning mutiny against it...they claim, it makes this wench look "evvvvil" and it must walk the plank. I say nay! Shirt stays as it makes this wench feel like a *fine* buxom beauty.

What say ye my Needle Pirates....should it walk the plank?

I shall bid you a pleasant day and leave you with a view of our Saturday Sky--the snow smarlty melted away for us lubbers--except at the very tip of the mountain where you can still see the white fluff.

Look! It is white, fluffy, and wet!

Brrrrr! It is cold here...how cold? Well, cold enough for the white fluff to come down and not only up in the mountains but down to our little valley too! It is beautiful!

I never in my entire life did I think I would say the following words: I love waking up early! By 7:30am, I have already had 2 hours just for myself--granted, I have spent them exercising and taking a shower, but the idea of having those 2 hours just for me makes my day so much better. To top the great feeling, I have lost 3 lbs! 3 weeks straight exercising and 3 lbs down is not too shabby. I am feeling so much better too--I don't feel as tired and my skin looks healthier--even radiant!

Speaking of radiant--look at my radiant pumpkin--she complaints a bit but she knows her future. I believe all pumpkins know that when they reach a certain size they will meet Mr. Oven, thus a lot of them refuse to grow and they stay itty bitty--avoidance behaviour can be found everywhere, not only in our children!

The future of this pumpkin has already been decided--Wonderboy told me yesterday that his favorite pie was pumpkin and if I loved him that I should make him one with the nice orange pumpkin. The timing was perfect--you see, this will be my very first time. I have never made pumpkin pie, but thanks to one of my neighbors who told me how to cook it and to Mim who just yesterday posted how to make the pastry section of the pie, I should be able to accomplish the task! If you have any tips before I start the entire process, let me know, this baby is cooking right now and Wonderboy and I will be making the pie this afternoon! Wish us luck!

 

Need ideas...1 lonely skein of Lion And Lamb

The cheap person in me bought only 1 lonely skein of Lion and Lamb last year when Clapotis was ever so popular. I finally got around to winding it into a ball and my hands are itching to do something with it but huge problem: what to do with one lonely skein of 205 yards.

I thought maybe I can wing it and knit the Forest Canopy Shoulder shawl by Susan but after consulting her about my yardage, that idea went out the window.

Then I searched in the meca of patterns, Knitty.com and found Wavy but it is not tickling my fancy...at least not for this yarn.

Then it occurred to me that I could knit a ruffles scarf style with the yarn--I should have just enough to make one of those creatures...but does it do the Lion and Lamb justice?

After much searching online, I consulted the treasury books and found the pattern on that picture shot--do you think it would work?

Give this dumb thrifty shopper advice.....ideas on what to do with this lonely but gorgeous skein.

Picture Perfect?!?

Picture perfect! I found this neat lightbox the other day at Julia's blog and I thought to myself--hey, I could make one (alright, I thought, hubby could make one, ha!) I have always wanted to take more artsy photographs or photos that would look a bit on the professional side. You have seen the pictures that look like they are just floating in the air, or seem to have no background at all. 

I expressed the interest to darling hubby and handed him the printed materials list and how-tos, he looked it over and said--oh that is easy! The hardest part of the project: getting the PVC into our car!

The picture still has room for improvement, but it is way better than without the lightbox. Here is the lightbox in action! I will be making some adjustments: like new lights, cut the sheet to have it form fitted to the box, cutting a hole at the top of the sheet to take arial view pictures.

With Winter approaching and long dark days ahead of us, I am thinking the light box will become quite handy.

One sock finished: Taken with lightbox with gold background. I love how the colors come alive. Now all I need is a set of sock shapers for the picture to be even better!

Bad Picture: Needs a lot of improvent. Background is white, but the lights are giving it a tint and it is taking away the color from the socks.

Maybe what I need is one of these little inexpensive toys, hehehehe. Hoooooooonnnney!

Seriously, what do you think--do you see an improvement on the pictures? Or better yet, do you have any tips on better picture taking?

It's all about the Funnel Cakes!

My Saturday Sky brings you some fluffy white snow from the Wellsville mountains. The weather here has turned cold...cold enough to turn on the heater on and bring out the coats.

Hubby took us down to the SLC State Fair and I pigged out...pigged out like I have never done before. I guess all the exercise that I have been doing was a good thing as it is balancing out all the yummies I put in today.

Visiting the fair is one of those moments that brings back sweet memories. When I was little, Grandma and Grandpa will take me to the fair and will get me an ice-cream, corn on the cob Mexican style, and Fresas con Crema (frozen strawberries in cream). Yummy!

Today, I tried to give that same experience to my little ones, there was pigging out, lots and lots of pigging out: the religious funnel cake, corndogs, Hawain chicken, hot chocolate, and rides, lots of rides and even some dancing to the Navy Destroyer band--men in their Navy uniforms playing some of the coolest songs--even if the songs weren't good--all you had to do was look at them ;).

At the end of the wonderful day, hubby gifted me with a hand knitted sweater. Isn't it just beautiful! It has the most beautiful cables in the front and the back with  acccents of double moss stitch. I was informed by the vendor that it was hand knitted, at first I was doubtful but then I inspected the sweater and guess what--one of the cables on the back has less repeats than the cable on the other side, no, I didn't see it as a flaw, but as the perfect sweater! A toasty gem!

Long live the state fairs and family traditions!

Goodies all around

My Greatest Find of the Year--Illuminated!

I have been coveting an OTT Lite for the longest time. Every time I saw it at the LYS, it beckoned me with its sweet light promises--promises of no more squinting to see the tiny little stitches or the strain on my eyes when knitting with dark color yarns. However, one look at the price tag always sent me off in the other direction. Let's face it, these little fancy toys are not cheap--for the regular price of one, I can feed the troop for at least 2 weeks (if not more!). But today, I finally caught one. I say caught because it was absolute luck of the day. We were driving to work and hubby decided to listened to the local ads on the radio. I was knitting away when the words OTT Lite came out of the speakers, I dropped my knitting and almost jumped to the back of the car to reach for my cell phone. Someone had an unloved OTT Lite for sale...for a ridiculously low price. How low? I should make you guess but no, I can't contain myself...$65.00! I had to get it, I just had too. I never knew how much I strained my eyes until now--knitting under this light feels as if I am sitting outside in the morning light--not too intense, not hot, just perfect! I am so tickled pink! I love it! As you can see, I have already put the light to good use--I was knitting away at my socks with the yarn that I got from Scout, I have been neglecting them but I have a goal of finishing them by the end of next week. My motivation: it is rather cold in the mornings when I go biking and a nice pair of wool socks will keep me nice and toasty. 

But wait...there are more goodies to show you...most of them I got free....yay! We all love freebies.

More knitting looms for the lowly designer/author, courtesy of Provo Craft.

They have a new packaging that gives information on the yarn suitable for the knitting loom. The only downside, it appears that the packages is not re-usable. Before they used to have the little baggies where you could store the knitting loom, but it appears that these boxes are not like those baggies. But a light just went on, I guess you can't have those in bags, if you do, the knitting looms will warp, thus, they do need to lay flat....good call Provo Craft.

I believe they are making sure that I don't run out of looms for my swatching and projects for a possible 2nd book......hmmmm

I haven't opened the packages yet, but I did see that the Purple Knifty Knitter (what some of you call the Unicorn) has a new set of instructions--instructions in 4 different languages, now that is pretty knifty! I will report more on the included instructions when I get to sit down and read them over.

Wait, as if looms wasn't enough, another freebie package arrived from Berroco Yarns! Inside there were some skeins of their latest yarns: Pure Merino--it has won my heart--it is sooooft, and not itchy at all; Ultra Alpaca--think softer than a baby; Keltic--awesome colors; and Smart Mohair--not itchy like the other mohair I have seen and touched. And if the yarn wasn't enough to floor me, they sent me a binder full of their shade/color cards for all their yarns! It is my first time seeing shade cards for an entire yarn collection--I literally just knelt down and started feeling each and every single one of them....seeing all the different colors that the yarns come is a great way to get one thinking of designs. 

I guess someone may want me to start getting ideas and start swatching--I have looms and yarn....all I need now is a baby sitter, hehehehe.

I have one extra goodie to show you...but it will have to wait til tomorrow. You see, this is the 2nd time I write this post, the first time around, I had all my goodies but then the light went out and my first post just went poof. But, I'll tell you a hint: it is about something many bloggers have been writing about....ooooh, what could it be....hehehehe.

I am off for now...I must get up in 4 hours to hit Curves...no rested for the wicked, ha!

Bedtime Habits

I have always been a night person, going to bed early for me meant going to bed around 1am or 2am. Getting up early is just not for me, for years I have heard women with children tell me that to get anything done, I had to get up early, I always shrugged it all off--I thought they were kidding, until now. But old habits are hard to break--it is almost 1:30am and I am still up!

It is not that I am not tired, I just can't see the reasoning behind going to bed so early (late?!?). However, I think a little light starting to come alive inside my head--if I am to get up at 5am or 6am, I must get my booty into bed.

Are you ready for this...for one entire week, I have been getting my duff out of bed at either 5am or 6am. The sky picture above is the view at 6:30am--right before going on my bike ride. Yay! I am still at it my friends...I am still exercising and trying to eat healthier and give a good example to the tykes. My body is tired though...I am thinking that I must start clocking in to bed around 10am...either that or one of these days I am going to fall off my bike and fall asleep by the side of the road, ha!

My exercise routine has started to sink in and I am able to sneak in a few hours minutes of knitting. I was able to finish my Mom's Hermione hat.  Although my Mom chose to have the bobbles in, I am afraid they remind me too much of nipples...I dunno, I wish I had followed my instincts and just skipped them. She requested a scarf too--I am thinking for sure skipping the bobbles altogether.

The hat-mania continues and I casted on for the beautiful Celtic Cap by A Girl from Auntie. I believe I bought this pattern about 2 months after I learned how to knit (about a year ago). I love the cable design....and although I rarely use hats, I am taking this opportunity to learn how the celtic cables are knitted--once I master the skill (probably 4 or 5 hats!) I hope to have the courage to try out Rogue--the very first pattern I bought after learning how to knit.

Picture of the Day

My darling Wonderboy: I was doing the dishes upstairs and when I came down, I found him like this--he is so sweet--he slept in there for about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, a few hours later, the same cute basket gave him a black eye as he tripped and he fell down right on the corner :(.

I miss my Mommmmy

Sniff, sniff, sniff....she is on her way right now to NY. The visit was way to short. The time went by too fast, we had so many plans but time caught up with us and half of our plans did not come through.

Saying goodbye to her gets harder and harder each time. Each time, I try to be stoic and hold my ground, I try hard not to show too much emotion, but each time, I fail miserably. As she holds me close and tells me that she loves me, I can feel the pain within me starting and my eyes begin to sting and then I can feel the little streams down my cheeks. (Just keep on thinking that she'll be back soon, soon...soon!)

This time around was a bit harder than ever before for two reasons: First, my darlin' Momma has been very sick with RA and it has caused her great pain and it has changed her lifestyle completely. It worries me that she is so far away--in a place where I can't care for her and be there for her.

The second reason are my little ones. They instantly fell in love with their Abuelita and seeing her go was heartbreaking. My little Wonderboy kept a straight face throughout our goodbyes at the airport. He didn't smile, he didn't cry, he didn't do much, just gave Abuelita high five and a kiss. However, as soon as we got to the car and he got in his seat--his little face changed completely and he just started crying non-stop. He wanted his Abuelita and he wanted to go in the plane to NY with Abuelita.  I held him in my arms and reasured him that Abuelita would come back soon (at the same time, I was trying to affirm this to myself too) but as I held him and felt his crying, I started with the crocodile tears again....at the end, my little Wonderboy was my support. Baby Wondergirl just kept on asking for her Grandma and her Uncle....and telling her daddy that "mommy...sad...miss...grandma" (she talks in one word sentences).

Although we are a bit sad...we have hope, she has promised to move closer to us...maybe in two years, or if everything goes well a bit sooner. In the mean time, we will cherish our little mini-vacations together. Grandma come back soon!!! (She reads my blog over at the library...Mami, regrese pronto!--la extranamos mucho!).

Pictures of yummy food coming up....think yummy salad and some very tasty Corundas and Pork in Green Salsa......yuummmm.

Here is a mini-slide of more pictures with Abuelita....

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

It is coming to a close

(Our Saturday Sky picture-a little late, but I wanted you to see how beautiful the sky was this saturday over by our house)

My Momma's visit was too short--she is leaving tonight at midnight and my heart aches. It would be probably another entire year before I see her again. Her visit has been wonderful--the kids have loved being with her and being spoiled by her. I have enjoyed her yummy cooking: Huevos Rancheros for breakfast, lots of yummy salsa and the tastiest salad ever (I will bring you the recipe in a couple of days). Even Osita has enjoyed Grandma--she is petted non-stop (and disciplined too!).

Seeing my little brother again was quite neat--he is no longer little! He is 10 and he is already my height--granted, I am quite short, but still, he just seems to be growing and growing.

Today, I will spend the day with my Momma and try to hug her as much as I can (without smothering her, hehehehe).

A few shots of Grandma enjoying the kiddos

And a few shots of the finished Ruana for the Loom Knitting Primer book. Please disregard the no-make up face and the terrible baggy clothes. Yeah--this is the way I look first thing in the morning....terrible, I know, hehehehe.  But, look closely: my double chin is getting smaller from my exercising...it is paying off, yay!!

There has been other knitting: currently on the needles I have a Hermione hat for my Mom. She requested one after seeing all my stash of patterns and finding out that I could knit on needles.

I have other requests too:

An entire Griffyndor outfit for my little brother: socks, scarf, hat, and gloves...he even wanted me to knit him a cape (I quickly turned him down on that one)

A cashmere cabley scarf for my momma and possibly a matching hat.

I am so glad that they were able to come visit me. My children have enjoyed seeing and getting to know her and I have enjoyed just having her with me.

On a side note: have you noticed anything different about my blog---I know have the little Favicon thanks to Denise's  hubby, he will be posting detailed instructions over on his blog, check it out! I was so clueless and he came to the rescue with his expert advice. (If he doesn't have the instructions, drop him a note and he'll send you the instructions). Thanks bunches B!