Parenting Fail

Do you ever feel like you might be a bad parent?  Well folks, I am here to make you feel better. After you read this story, you will for sure feel like a stellar parent compared to me.

I allow my boys to use my tablet to play games or watch kid appropriate shows on Netflix.  They have their own section and know how to turn it on and select what they want to play.

The other day, Cal asked for the tablet and I set him up on the couch to enjoy an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba.  I walked away to do put away laundry and came back to Cal absolutely entranced with what he was watching - not unusual.

I sat down beside him and glanced down and saw what he was watching.  Boobs.  Naked boobs.

He had found a movie on Netflix and clearly it piqued his interest.  It was called "#1 Cheerleader Camp".  How he found it, I will never know.

I do know that I managed to rip that tablet so fast out of his hands his head spun.  Now, I have no issue with my child seeing breasts.  He has seen mine before when I have changed in front of him or getting out of the shower.  But on Netflix?  Yikes!  This "special" movie had an opening sequence of cheerleaders topless jumping on a trampoline.  Quality programming right there.

Cal, you are about 16 years too young for that.

My kids will now be monitored for what they are watching on Netflix.  No more willy-nilly browsing.

Parenting fail!

Feel better now?

Projects Lately

I have made a TON of gifts lately so I thought I would put them all in a post for everyone to enjoy.

Bus Hat

This is a gift for my cousin's husband (does that make him my cousin too?  I don't know....).  She said a simple color would be best but I wanted to make a fancier than normal hat.  The result was this fun pattern.

The yarn I used is a dark grey by Berocco Vintage (one of my favorite yarns).  I hope he likes it!

Teddy Bear

This guy looks super cute.  But seriously, he was a pain.  Only because I had to seam all the pieces and my seaming is terrible.  That is actually why he's wearing a scarf - because the seam is so bad that he looks like he has been decapitated.

See what I mean about all the pieces?  Eeek!

Skull Cable Hat

I wish my picture could show just how cool this is.  The cable is subtle but you can still tell it's a skull.  This hat is for my cousin.  I hope he likes it!

Again, I used one of my favorite yarns, Berocco Vintage in grey.

Dinosaur Jr.

This guy looks hard, but honestly?  Easy!  And fun!  This is by far one of my most favorite projects.  Look how cute he turned out!  And the best part was minimal seaming.  

His head and body are all one piece, see?

So cute!  I want to make some for my kids now!  

Henry's Rabbit

This is not a rabbit for anyone I know named Henry.  As a matter of fact, it's for my cousin's little girl Hazel.  I still have to sew its eyes on but here is the bun.  I like how it has one small, different color for the tail.  I think it would be fun to stripe it like an actual bunny.  That would take some planning on my part though.

Striped Hat

I don't have a pattern for this one.  It's my own original pattern.  I just cast on the amount of stitches that is pretty standard for an adult male hat.  I was going to do plain, but I had some leftover green yarn and made a few stripes.  

The green shows up very lime-ish in the picture whereas it's more of a Kelly green.

Ho Ho Hats

These were so simple to make.  Both hats, including the sewing, took about 3 hours.  I made two, one for each of my boys. 

Jack kept thanking me over and over again.  He would run up to me, hug me, and say "Thank you so much for my Santa hat mama.  I love it".  

Clearly, they hate these hats based on the sad faces.

Even though most of my Christmas projects are almost over, I have a ton of projects lined up for the new year.  I will never run out of fun things to knit!

All I Want For Christmas!

I have been keeping an Amazon wish list for all the things I am hoping for this year.  Jason and his parents thank me for it!  Here are some of the items on my wish list.

Knitter's Pride Dreamz Interchangeable Knitting Needle Set

Since I am constantly buying new circular needles for my knitting projects, this would make a perfect gift.  All the needles I could ever need with all the cord lengths I could ever need.  This is my most coveted gift.

Fruit Infusion Pitcher

I drink a lot of water and this would make drinking water even more fun!  You can fill the inner tube with fruit, herbs or whatever you like.  I can think of a million different flavors that would make drinking water an easy task:  Cucumber and melon, mint, strawberry, citrus, etc. etc. etc.  I also asked for a single serve water bottle with an infusion tube.

Rush Clockwork Angels DVD

Rush is my favorite band.  Ever.  I try to buy and hang on to all their DVD's and this is the newest one that I want to add to my collection.  I saw this concert over the summer and it was awesome.  I NEED the DVD to re-live that concert.

Dearforms slippers

You can always tell when it's time for new slippers when the dog chews your old ones (damn dog).  I am very particular with what I like:  It needs to have a back, but not a half-back.  I like my toes covered and I like sheepskin or something warm lining the inside.  I think the above slippers will work quite well.

Knitted Toys book

I have been loving knitted toys lately.  I made several as Christmas gifts and this book has some really cute styles that I could knit as well.  I have tons of birthdays coming up and that snake on the cover would be fun to make for one of my boys.  

I have a few more items on the list, but the things in this post are the ones I want most.  Hint hint Jason (not that he reads this).  

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Anniversary

On Monday Jason and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary.  To be nostalgic, I pulled up our wedding pictures to remember that day.  You can enjoy these pictures too!

Happy Anniversary babe.  Here's to another 77 more years!

Catch Up - Pumpkin Patch and Halloween

This is mostly going to be a picture post.  That is way more fun than a wall of text anyways.  For Jack's first preschool outing, we went to the pumpkin patch.  We went last year as well but it's still fun.  We all had a good time and both kiddos enjoyed picking out some pumpkins.

For Halloween, I really wanted to dress the boys in a theme.  I thought characters from Yo Gabba Gabba would be cute since Cal is obsessed right now.  And then I considered super heroes.  And then I considered Mario and Luigi since Jack loves Mario Bros.  In the end, just picking two cute costumes won out.

Man did Jack and Cal have an awesome time.  Jack knew exactly what to expect.  Cal immediately understood after the first house.  He realized that hey, if you knock on this person's door, and yell something, they will give you candy!  He would run up the steps, knock on the door multiple times and thrust out his bag.  It was adorable.  The weird thing is that people had no clue what he was.  I mean, his costume isn't that unknown is it?

I love celebrating holidays with my kids.  They make it so much more fun.  And to see their reactions to things is precious.

Knit, Purl, Repeat

The last knitting post I did was at the end of August.  There is probably no way I will be able to post all the projects I have done since than.  Too many and I will likely forget some.  But I will try!

I loved the Just Enough Ruffles scarf I made for my mom so I decided to try it again. This time with a variegated yarn.  I wasn't sure who I was making this for but it was fun.

Just Enough Ruffles scarf using Berocco Comfort worsted weight in Raspberry Tart

My friend asked me to knit a hat for her.  She had the yarn already purchased and I just needed to find a pattern.  She requested a slouchy cable hat.  So I came up with this pattern.

Lemon Curd Slouch

I don't know what the yarn was since she purchased it in Alaska but I love how it turned out!

I don't know how it happened but I have really gravitated towards hats.  I am known as the "hat knitter" by a few people.  I think it's because they are quick and easy to work up.  Continuing on with the hat trend.......

Someone from a message board that I frequent was on the hunt for a knitted baby hat.  She doesn't know if the baby she is expecting is a boy or a girl so I covered all my bases.

Trio of baby hats

The owl hat is this pattern.  I don't recall what pattern I used for the blue hat but I do know that the pattern didn't call for the pom pom, I added that after the fact. The pink hat is this pattern.  I actually started the hats using a pima cotton yarn but I didn't like how they were turning out.  I instead switched to some baby specific yarn but I don't recall what it was.  Again that is what happens when you are working on too many projects and don't write them down!

I had some leftover yarn from another project and decided to put it to good use.  What else would you do with bright orange yarn?  A pumpkin of course!

This hat is actually my own pattern (sort of).  I used a random child's beanie I found on Ravelry and another pattern for the stems.

I believe the stem pattern is from here.

Now, when you have a ton of leftover green yarn, what do you do with that?  Jason requested I make him a beanie, so I did.  Super simple, super easy.  I don't even have the pattern linked because I just knitted it.  I casted on what I thought was a good amount of stitches and just went from there.  This picture is not very good.  The color looks grey when it's really more Kelly green.

I am knitting most everyone something for Christmas and I asked my sister to pick something she would like.  She picked a beautiful hat and I was so excited to knit it.  We went to the yarn store and she picked her own yarn.

Audrey Hat in Malabrigo Rios Purple Mystery

This color is more of a deep purple but I love how you can see the subtle stripe in the yarn.  This was one of my favorite things to knit.  It is always nice to knit with a high quality yarn because it is soft, easy to work with and just beautiful.  My budget doesn't allow myself to use $13 skeins of yarn often though.

Another Christmas gift I made was for my aunt (she doesn't read the blog) and I love it.  I found this pattern and HAD TO have this exact yarn.  It's discontinued so it was a bit of a challenge.  I hope I am not out of touch but I feel like this cowl is exactly her style.

Rainbow Twist in Malabrigo Rasta Arco Iris

It's funny because this is actually the second twist I made.  I wasn't happy with how I seamed the first one so I took all the stitches out and started over.  The seam on this one is much more clean.

I had started another project using some leftover Madelinetosh yarn but I wasn't happy with it.  I need to be at least 90% happy with how a project turns out otherwise I start over.  I took out the scarf I had started, unraveled it and made this cowl instead.  It knitted up so fast and it matches the winter hat I made for myself last year.

Bella Cowl in Madelinetosh Vintage in Carmine (discontinued)

This was my first project using a lace pattern.  Lace intimidates me.  I found an easy one to start with and it was amazingly easy.  I won't be intimidated anymore!

My coworker is due to have a baby this month and I wanted to knit the little guy a hat.  I am very proud to say that this is my own pattern.  I made this one up myself and if I ever get around to it, I will publish it here (in case I have any readers who are knitters).  I wanted to use up some other yarn I had bought and I wanted a striped hat.  This one was so easy.  I made it in a larger size so it would fit the wee one as he grew.  I love how it turned out.

Striped baby hat - A Pachey original

The stripes are in groups of 6 and I added the pom pom to make it more fun. The yarn is a soft pima cotton from Cascade yarns.

I am currently working on some dishcloths as Christmas gifts for my mother-in-law, Mamo and probably some other family members who I will not name.  I bought Lion brand Kitchen Cotton yarn in super fun colors and am working on this pattern series.

Here is one completed.  I have about 10 more to do before Christmas - not hard considering they only take about 2 hours to knit.

This hat is for my uncle for Christmas.  It's in a simple cable pattern with a good quality yarn.

Fisher Cable in Berroco Vintage in Cast Iron

I have many other projects in the works.  I have a hat for my cousin's fiance, something pretty for my cousin, an awesome teddy bear for my nephew, a dinosaur for my other nephew, a stuffed pig for my cousin's daughter and something for my older sister and her husband.

Lots of work ahead!  I can't post some items because I do want them to be a surprise but I can't wait to share all the finished projects!