Owlishly

Raquel the monkey girl preview

Here's what my newest pattern looks like-

I'll be back with more when I'm able to get everything together :)

Whipup!

Neat! My dolls were included in the toys & games section under crochet toys on whip up.  One of my friends let me know which was a pleasant surprise. 

I've finished up my monkey girl doll too.  She's for my niece, though I don't know if I'll name it after her yet, I'll let my sister decide after she sees what the doll looks like.  I'm going to try to get some pictures up either tonight or tomorrow and hopefully the pattern up before we leave Iowa.  I wish I had more time to post more, I'll be back when I can!

Dry spell

So here we are in Iowa, luckily none of us have killed each other yet.  Not that we haven't thought about it.  My husband and I are opposites in almost every way, and while I really really love him, he and I probably shouldn't spend as much time as we have together :) Our trip here was interesting since I'd never been to Oklahoma or Kansas and we drove through both of them on Sunday to get here that evening.  Unfortunately, by that time, we'd been in the car since WAY early Friday morning and weren't really in the sight seeing mood. 

Here was Arizona, probably midday and after waking up to some question, comment, giggle, growl, yell, etc. from the back seat.  We left home at 2:30am and I didn't sleep before leaving because my husband was *sure* that I'd be able to sleep in the car if I was good and tired.  It SO didn't happen.  I blame my sleep issues on the whole having kids thing, since before that, I didn't ever really have problems falling/staying asleep when I was supposed to. 

We ended up taking a bit of a detour to go to Meteor Crater in AZ just by chance.  It was the same exit as a suddenly announced bathroom break necessitated. It was rather strange to be driving along and then all of a sudden come upon a gigantic hole in the ground.  My little boy loved it, and keeps talking about it to everyone.  I took tons of photographs of it, but haven't uploaded most of them yet. 

By the way, here's an aside.  Even though I love my kids to death and am very proud of them, I've chosen to keep photographs of them off of my blog.  I feel a tiny bit hypocritical about that since I love looking at other people's kids and pictures of themselves, but I just don't feel comfortable with anyone knowing what they look like.  I know occasionally I may sneak one in because I just can't stand not to share, for the most part I'm going to try to keep them private.  I'm still up in the air about what to call them too since my husband requested my not sharing their names either.  I can't call them by an initial because my husband and my two little one's names all start with the same letter (completely unplanned too).  Anyway, I'll get back to the trip stuff now.

We stayed the night in Albuquerque, and I was so happy to get to our hotel.  I seriously had no sleep issues that night!  Next morning after finally getting to try a watermelon slushie from Sonic (yum!) we drove through the top part of Texas and into Oklahoma. 

In Texas we were trying to avoid a stormy looking sky and I tried to capture what it looked like, for some reason it still doesn't look quite the same to me.  That day, which was Saturday, I was rested enough to be able to crochet a bit.  Though when I say a bit, I really do mean it.  We spent HOURS in the car and I was so distracted that I only was able to make 2 doll heads.  I'm finding out that I'm sort of a slow crocheter, but that was slow even for me :)  We didn't get to our hotel in Oklahoma City until 9pm Central time.

Next morning happened to be Easter Sunday and we found out that next to nothing was open all day & each state along our way into Iowa.

This last one was taken in Kansas while we were zipping along. I'd anticipated our trip taking longer than we'd planned just because everything takes longer now with our little ones, but I was still surprised when it did.  I've been working on a little monkey doll for my niece and was able to make the body that day, but with all the distractions of new places and trying to keep our little ones in good spirits I really didn't get much of anything done. 

By the way, thanks again everyone for your suggestions about what to bring, I limited all the stuff we were bringing for them to a box between their car seats & so far so good.  They were entertained with new books, stickers, their travel magna & aqua doodles, and our little boy had 3 animal puppets & our little girl had her baby doll.  We listened to their music & stories that I'd downloaded to my ipod and my little guy got to watch a dvd while my little girl napped. I'm definitely glad though that that part of our trip is over, on our way back home we'll spend 5 nights on the road instead of 2 so we shouldn't be cooped up so much coming home. 

I'll try to post more crafty related things next time since yesterday we did go to Sioux City and I got to stop into Susan's Yarn Garden and get some really pretty Cascade Sierra in a lovely salmon color.  The color is no. 56, but it looks a lot closer to no. 55 to me.  I've never used it before, but I really like the wool/cotton blend and am itching to make something with it.  I also bought 2 new hooks by Inox (?) a company I've never heard of.  I think the label & description are in German, but the packaging says made in Mexico. I'll try to get some pictures of them too :)

Road trip 2008- California to Iowa & back

VACATION ALERT- From March 21, 2008 to April 6, 2008 I will be out of state. Both of my husband's grandmothers are in failing health and we are going to Iowa to spend time with them. We are driving so my internet availability will be erratic at best. I will do my best to get patterns sent within a 72 hour time frame. I anticipate being able to do better most transactions, but I want to give myself a window to err on the side of caution. I appreciate your understanding, and hopefully I'll be able to finish up some new patterns before we get back.

Is what I posted in the announcements in my Etsy shop, for those of you interested, my patterns are available through my Ravelry store for immediate download if you want to circumvent the whole etsy thing. 

I'm nervous and excited and really, really nervous about traveling so far by car with my little ones.  We used to go on road trips frequently enough when I was a girl, but now it's a whole different ball game.  Wish us luck, I'm sure we'll need it.  The car's all packed up except for my camera, the computer, my iPod & my husband's family tree research. Oh, and the kids and us adults. :) 

I hope to get a lot of new patterns finished up and photographed and ready to go by the time we get back, but we'll have to see how things go.  I also was tagged earlier this week and plan to play along, just maybe in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to get to it.  My internet connection will be spotty to say the least, hopefully I'll be able to get to my sister in law's every other day to take care of things and get my fix. 

Also, by the way, thanks so much everyone for the comments left about Dave.  They were really helpful. I decided to keep the hair but nix the freckles since with the whole crocheted aspect, the face has enough going on.  And now, as much as I don't want to, I have to get up and finish getting everything ready since my break is over!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So I've finished my shamrock boy, I'm still adding the images to the pattern, but since it's ridiculously late I'll be going to bed before adding it to etsy ('specially since I'm misspelling everything).

I just wanted to share and ask your opinion-

Which do you prefer? With hair & freckles, or without?  He looks a bit like a Tarleton twin to me with the hair, I don't know if it's too much.

or

He looks sweet to me without the hair, and very naughty with it.  And I don't feel like I was able to represent an accurate hairline either.  What do you think?

Major Frustration

Okay, so I've taken forever it seems to actually get some doll patterns out and I feel bad because I keep mentioning them like they're imminent...and then it still doesn't happen.  I don't remember if I've shared, but I'm sick AGAIN. Blah. After my brother-in-law's visit, I came down with a horrid cough, that I'm fairly sure I caught from my little boy, but in keeping with sickies vs me, it's winning.  I can't seem to shake it, nor can I sleep much from all the coughing. 

And in keeping with the pity party going on here today, my computer is acting funky again.  I had an issue last week that with the help of Apple care, I though was resolved, but it happened again yesterday.  Luckily after being on the phone with Apple care again, we fixed the issue, but I was advised to go to the Apple store and try to have a Genius take a look since it was somewhat unusual.  I took it in last night and was there for an hour and a half, stumping 3 of the guys at the Genius bar.  That's not good.  One wants to kill my hard drive and start over again, the other one doesn't think it's software related and wants to replace the logic board, the last guy is unsure that it's either and is pushing for doing both.  I don't care what they do, as long as it's fixed.  Apparently, it's something they've never encountered, or heard of and are perplexed with why it's happening. 

I love my computer and am so frustrated that this is going on, especially since we're leaving Friday (WAY) AM and can't leave it for them to tinker with since my husband needs it for a bunch of genealogy stuff that he's working on. And I have to be able to send patterns out. And work on my new ones. Well, I'd accidentally scheduled two appointments, so I had one yesterday, and I have another one today, that I guess we'll be going to and seeing what can be done before we have to go on Friday!  Send good thoughts this way please!

Suggestions

Thanks so much for the suggestions, I do think I'll be borrowing my mom's dvd player.  My little boy is really into Veggie Tales, Planet Earth & the fabulously yucky Life in the Undergrowth dvds.  I also ended up getting some lap desks from amazon & some Ed Emberley books so that he can draw. 

My little girl is going to be harder to entertain, but she likes looking at her favorite books and playing with  her babies & duplos, I just need to get some more for them. They both LOVE the DK books, especially the Encyclopedia of Animals & the Encyclopedia of Nature.  We'll probably keep all the toys & books on the seat between them so that they can choose what they want to play with.  Luckily, she still naps, so we'll schedule the longer parts of the drives while she takes her afternoon naps.

I feel like I'm forgetting something though.  I have a week and a half to remember, but just to be sure, I'm also getting some survival things, like an Eton emergency radio/flashlight/cell phone charger just in case.  It may be overkill, but I'm a big fan of being prepared and not having to use anything instead of the other way around.

Okay, since tonight my husband's at a board meeting tonight, I've got to get going.  I've a diaper to change and dinner to make before I can spend some time trying to crochet.

Geez, I really am trying to get some new patterns done!

It just has been really difficult to find time to work on things.  Finally my brother in law & partner's visit is over, not that I didn't really enjoy having them around, but our little one's are wiped out and so am I.  We're leaving on our 17 day road trip on the 21st and I wanted to get some of the many patterns that I'd been working on done. 

Dingbat me, I was making dinner last night and doing something pretty benign but sliced off a chunk of the tip of my thumb.  Boy did I feel dumb. Still do in fact.  I don't know how the heck I wasn't aware of where my thumb was, but I haven't been able to crochet.  Luckily it's my right thumb, and in a couple of days it should be useful again.  Then today I banged it on everything possible, each time causing insane amounts of pain.  Seriously, ouch.

Anyway, I'll try to get the patterns typed up and done, all but finishing up little details & pictures so that when they are completed, I can just take the pictures and get them up right away.

By the way, anyone have any good suggestions for activities for a toddler & preschooler for road trips? We have a couple of long driving days beginning the trip, our drive back home will be stretched over 6 days but going will only be 3 and though we plan on lots of stops, I think we'll be at a loss for things to keep them occupied for all that time.

Some excitement in the midst of my housekeeping overhaul

Yay, finally something interesting to post!  First, what do you think came in the mail the day before yesterday?

My little Alexa the bee girl, all the way back home from her jaunt to Australia for a photo shoot! But not just her, she brought some goodies with her- some Frankie magazines which included her pattern and an image from her super fab photo shoot!  How neat is that! 

My pattern for her is in the latest issue of Frankie magazine which I'm rather excited about. 

The extra magazines that I got have already been claimed by my dad & grandma- some of my biggest fans.

Then, I don't know why I'm so late in the game when it comes to knitting bags, but off all the biggies I hadn't found "the perfect one" or at least any that I considered close.  It's always the wrong color, or pattern, or size, or material.  I know, I can be incredibly hard to please. But the search ended earlier this week, only to find out the one I want is back ordered for months and months and months! WHY!!!!!!!!!!!! I called or checked all the online retailers, and all of the LYS's within a 60 mile radius of our house and finally found my second choice bag, in my second choice color. 

I bought the Namaste Malibu in Olive which is a lovely grown up color, but I wanted the Hollywood Pink Laguna.  I love it anyway, it's nice and cavernous!  It's kind of clanky with all the metal on the handles, but I think once it's full that may not be as much of an issue.  My little girl and I went to get it this morning while my son visited with grandma.  I'm just going to have to wait until the Laguna's are in stock. Nuts. But I am glad I've found a good bag for our impending trip, I was getting concerned since I don't really like the one I've been using.  At last, fun stuff.   

Crafting withdrawls

I'm dying here, I haven't had any time to crochet or embroider or anything of the sort! Let me just say, rather embarrassedly by the way, my house was and still a tiny bit is a mess.  I tend to make excuses that it's because I'm SO busy or because of this or because of that, but the awful truth is that I'd just been lazy about picking up diligently. 

So hopefully by embarrassing myself by letting anyone who reads this know, maybe that'll keep me a little more convicted.  I've gotten rid of boxes and boxes of things, at least half of my kids toys, probably around half of my books and a mish mash of random things that'll keep the thrift store that everything was donated to busy for a while.

Hopefully within the next couple of days I can get back to working on my crafty projects, but in the meantime, it's lovely being able to breath easier not having the burden of cleaning guilt weighing in on my conscience.