Oops!

Now I know why it snowed today! I forgot to change my banner from snow laden pine trees to something springy! Silly me.

What I’ve Been Up To

Let’s start with this poor shot of me. It’s poor because what I was really trying to take a picture of is the lovely scarf from Martha. I’ve had it for just over a week and already worn it to work twice. It’s lovely. The color, the texture, the length – it makes me happy.  She has more for sale here. I’d love one of her ink blot shirts but am on a strict clothing monetary diet until I see some significant headway in the weight department.

Then there was sending the kids to school in rain gear with mitten & hats while it was snowing because by midday it would be in the upper 40s. Wacky crossover spring weather we’ve been having.

The only creating I’ve been up to is trying to finish knitting easter baskets, which is what I should be doing right now. The thing is, this the 1st night in days where I’m up past 9pm. The hubby has been out of state for business, day care closed due to the providers illness and then I ended up with a fever! It was a tough couple of days I don’t mind telling you. I won’t go on and on about the nasty details. I do think the kids rather enjoyed it though. I didn’t harp on them to clean up; I fed them only things that were easy to cook, required no grocery shopping and that I knew they would eat; and lastly I let them watch as many videos online and off as they wanted. No joke. I was barely able to sit up, so as long as they weren’t brandishing knives I was satisfied. If I was a single mom I’d have to live closer to relatives so I could enlist their help in moments such as this. I mean Seth watched no less than 10 episodes of vintage Transformers cartoons and umpteen million product reviews. Did you know there are actually adults who buy toys and do serious detailed youtube video reviews of them? Seth was enthralled. Scary visions of the future, I tell ya.

I finally did get the kids and myself outside for some fresh, albiet chilly, air and some sunshine. Of course, all I could do was lay on the ground in the middle of the yard a take pics of the sky. My it was pretty.

Subconcious Inspiration

So I’m thinking chickens and trees are common images in Polish artwork. So what I’m about to say isn’t quite as coincidental as it may appear. I still found it interesting.

I completely don’t remember this piece shown above. Apparently it was up in my parents house while I was growing up. It hasn’t been up for a long while, which explains my lack of memory. I found a Polish book in parent’s house this last weekend and recognized the word wycinanki. Mentioning this to my mom who had not seen my last post, she pulls out this red papercut. Three guesses where I got the subconcious inspiration for my 1st paper cut?

Two Repeat Wycinanki

Inspired by Jackie to peak into the world of papercutting I tried my hand at my first wycinanki. Wichi-what? It’s just the Polish term for paper cutting. But since I’m half Polish I like the term. And chickens.  This little single fold paper cut is based off a design in Folk Art Designs to Color or Cut by Ramona Jablonski. I had no idea before Jackie mentioned it that I could find designs to copy and cut. It’s fun and I want to do another. And another. This one I did completely with scissors. I wonder how I’d do if I got off my lazy bum and pulled out an x-acto to try something a little more complicated? I can tell you this one was more difficult that I expected. I want to do little ones to put on cards and big ones to frame. Oh, I can tell this could be dangerous.

1st Hat – Again

I did it. After my first annoying attempt, I completed my first hand knit hat. I even messed with the pattern. Yeah!

Yarn – Rowan Big Wool, 100% Merino Wool

Pattern – Chunky Knit Beanie by Leslie over at a friend to knit with (Thanks Leslie!!)

What I did:

• Knit on dpn instead of straight needles
• Due to knitting in the round I dropped 4 stitches off the cast on (thanks to the advice of Martha)
• The first version didn’t cover my ears as much as I wanted it to, so I lengthen the portion where you decrease stitches. Instead of knitting 2 together for the last two rows, I started to knit 2 together, knit 2 stitches and repeated until I got down to less than 10 stitches. Now it covers my ears and there aren’t any gaps from reducing so quickly!

This is a really quick and easy hat. Perfect for a 1st hat. Supposedly you can knit it in a night, which for a mom of little ones actually  means 3 nights. At least for me anyways. What’s even more fun? Doing it with a group. Each person with their own choice of yarn and ideas on how to alter the pattern. Here’s Martha’s and Jen’s. Still waiting to see pics of Sarah’s and Dana’s.

Me

The oh so marvelous Ayama taged me to show my 6th of 6 photo. The whole idea is you find the 6th photo in the 6th picture folder on your computer and blog about it.  Well, it all depends on how you count. Do you count folders within folders? If there aren’t 6 pictures in what you decide is the 6th folder because you were preoccupied with a new born baby, do you continue counting in the next folder or start again from one? Complicated, I tell ya. But here’s what I landed on. A sleeping puppy.

Her name was Nikita and I loved her as much as she drove me nuts. And boy did she drive me nuts! Smart enough to open doors, gates & refrigerators; dumb enough to eat an entire pound of butter in one sitting. Just ask Martha. She was there the first time we left our darling puppy alone in our house. She actually wasn’t a puppy. Nikita was a 5 year old neglected and rescued German Shepard. When we came home from a lovely breakfast that first weekend we found what appeared to be a murder scene. In the end, it was only that Nikita had gotten a small cut on her tongue from breaking a window and proceeded to drink a ton of water and run from window to window watching for us, drooling blood all the while. Little did we know how much worse it could get.

Most people wonder why we kept her and dealt with things like coming home to find our freezer empty and thawing food hidden all over the house. Or sweet and sour sauce paw prints next to the Chinese take out menu with the phone off the hook. (I’m not kidding. It really did happen.) But Nikita was the master of Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde. When we were home, she looked like she does in this picture.  She enjoyed long walks and napping. When we were out on a walk and my asthma would flare up she’d come check on me every few yards. Fireworks made her tremble in fear and she’d never leave my side if I was crying.

I loved her with all my heart. Some day I’ll have a dog again. But for now, I’m still recuperating from dear, sweet, crazy Nikita.

Now. If you’ve stuck with me reading all of my sappy puppy love story then you deserve a reward. And I deserve an award. A Kreativ Blogger award that is.

I’m utterly honored and really quite blown away that Lorraine over at Ikat Bag has seen fit to bestow this award on me. Me?! I mean her energy to complete projects is astounding. I only wish I could keep up.

I know I’m supposed to tag and nominate others now as a result of the meme and the award, but I like to break the rules. How about my 3 of my favorite Ikat Bag posts instead?

• Donut shop dress up set
• Mail carrier play set
• Ribbon rings (not sure if this would be more for the kids or me)