well, here’s the thing, i still want to share stuff with you all but i couldn’t see doing it with wordpress. so i started a tumblr blog.

you can now find me on http://gleeknet.tumblr.com.

so, adios! i may be back here later, i may not. in the meantime, say hi to my newest family member, deanna. she was born on july 12 at 10:17PM!

i’m so glad that i made this! despite the fact that the day i decided to model it, it was in the 80s, there have been cold days since then where i have been able to wear it and love it. it was a super fast and easy knit (thank you, mary-heather!) and i would definitely make more in the future.

i love the little garter ridge detail near the edge. simple yet elegant.

a couple of peanut butter sandwiches and the pool, and we were good to go! will you look at how leggy this kid is now? she comes up to KP’s waist! she’s so tall!

the warmer weather has been really inspiring creativity wise. if you think that i’ve stopped crafting, then think again! i finally finished all of the mitered squares i’ll need to make a baby blanket for baby no. 2!

i’ll be blocking these soon and beginning the process of seaming them together, but not before i finish something for myself. really, it’s been tons of knitting and crocheting for other people around here, and it was time i cast on for a little shawl for me! (on ravelry)

i grabbed the yarn that i bought in charleston and cast-on for a simple things shawl. i can’t stop knitting on it! in fact, i had a knitting needle failure (one of my knitpicks options cords broke) and i was not to be stopped by this. i immediately called for replacements from knitpicks and they are sending some, but in the meantime, i transferred the project onto a longer cord so that i could keep on going! i can’t wait to finish this one. i think it’ll be perfect for rainy/cool spring days.

here’s the link to the tutorial to get you started: http://whipup.net/2006/04/13/ask-and-ye-shall-receive/

this was a very nice pair of light, soft corduroys that i didn’t want to let go of, especially since the maternity panel wasn’t all huge like some of my other pants.

and i also turned a pair of maternity jeans into a skirt!

i’m sure i’ll wear both a lot once the weather stays above 75 degrees everyday!

one tip for those of you thinking about doing this: if your pants are tight in the butt or upper thigh, they will continue to be tight there even turning it into a skirt. this tutorial/repurposing is best used with pants that fit just right or are too big but maybe are too short.

they are basic toe-up socks with a linen stitch. i’m getting much better at winging my own patterns and i’m hoping that this translates to me designing more in the future.

KP tells me that next time he’d like them to be a little taller and i guess i’ll oblige. my guess is that the next pair will be plain stockinette for him i did love using the socks that rock mediumweight for these. more hefty than fingering meant that these man-sized socks didn’t require as many stitches. they should have gone a lot faster if i hadn’t been so waylaid by the pregnancy. regardless, they’re done! and not a moment too soon. spring is right around the corner. see?

this one is wearing a plain brown shirt and some black shorts.

i also made his nose a little bigger/wider, put his ears a little farther back, eyes a little wider, and omitted the mouth. i like this look a lot!

let’s hope he’s happy in his new home. i want to get him off to his new owner soon, but i hardly ever see her! fingers crossed we’re able to meet up in the near future.

there wasn’t much to do but golf (for KP), run around (for C), and read and knit (for me) and that’s definitely nothing to complain about.

as long as the weather was nice, we were at the beach. even on a colder and rainy day, i still managed to get C to the beach to look for shells.

and we took her to the playground and sent her down the slides.

but it definitely would not have been a “vacation” for me if i hadn’t spent time reading on the beach. thankfully, there was plenty of that.

hopefully summer will come to NYC soon and i can continue my sun worshiping without having to travel. still, it was nice to get away.

when i finally go the mojo back, i started off with the kindle case and crocheted granny square and cat. it wasn’t until i was done with those that i felt ready to knit again, so i picked up the vest and finished it off! (on ravelry)

i did do a few mods on this to make it fit better across my belly (which will never go away even after the baby is born) and i changed the bottom bind-off to 1×1 rib instead.

the brooks farm four play pooled a lot so i alternated skeins every few rows in order to break up the color blocking.

now, every year, my spiders knitting group treks to bay ridge to have a party at marie’s house. this is the 5th year in a row that we’ve done it! last year we swapped cowls, and the year before that we did a single sock exchange. this year we did a mitts exchange and i knit up some fingerless mitts for virginia. (on ravelry)

now for someone who hasn’t knit much in the past few months, and what i have knit was all stockinette, these were tough to get through! no fault of the pattern though. the good thing was that they turned out beautiful and i finished them in time to give them to viriginia (i was in danger of not finishing once or twice.)

if you’re a fan of lace and cables, i highly recommend these! they would look great in almost any yarn. wanna know what i got in return? possibly the coolest mittens ever!!

cathy designed and knit these knowing how much i LOVE battlestar galactica. she really went all out and even put the symbol for caprica on the thumb (because my birth sign is capricorn.) she was so thoughtful and i truly love them to pieces!

thanks cathy!!

http://www.chicaandjo.com/2009/09/03/make-a-custom-kindle-cover-case/

cutting the particle board was tough on my hands but that was the hardest part of the tutorial.

i used some of the cute kokka fabric from my stash and some old bra straps for the elastic.

i love how it’s designed so that it can be stood up. perfect for reading while eating!

the next two projects that i finished were crochet! (and i still have the crochet fever running through my veins.) i worked on a giant granny square lap blanket in order to bust some of my stash. (on ravelry)

it’s just the perfect amount of warmth for the spring days to come.

then, when i was done with the blanket, i had some of the lamb’s pride left over so i whipped up a cat for carrieoke’s new baby, charlie. (on ravelry)

this is roger and he is happily ensconced at the carrieoke household now, but while he was with me, he enjoyed looking out the window and taking cat naps in our bed. a very fun and laid back cat