Gloves from self striping sock yarn

Hooray! I finally finished a pair of gloves with ample pinky room space. I always mess up the little guy, but this time it was a success! A student of mine requested I make him a pair of gloves this summer and I had this yarn laying around from a Joanne's mark down (97 cents a skein). It only took one, so I can make another set like this. I think one of my brothers might like them.

NICU Tips

As a mom with Mo-Mo twins, I really have wanted to post the three signs to look for when children are ready to be discharged from the NICU. My girls were only 6 weeks early and didn't need oxygen and were born with healthy lungs and healthy hearts. They just needed time, time that seemed unbearable then and like a short stressful time a million years ago now (it's only been 16 months)! Twin A spent 13 days and twin B spent 18 days in a level two NICU.

So the three things to wait for:

1. They lose the IVs

2. They don't need to be in an isolette- they can regulate their own body temperature

3. Ad-lib feeding- the babies cry to be fed and there is no longer a need for the nasal gavage

When you start seeing one of these accomplishments met, the rest come quickly. It feels like forever, and I know I thought they would never 'ad-lib' feed if they had a gavage in but they do and it's great. My children were funny, once their umbilical cords fell off, they'd start ad-lib feeding- the same exact day!

Also, if someone reading this is expecting momo twins, just know that statistics can be discouraging but I had no bed rest prior to the planned C-section and the girls were born healthy and without any delays. God is good.

Packages and a Simple Gift

These are all the packages to send out today. A summer's worth of work! I cannot sew at all, but I needed to sew up a gift. I found this great tutorial and used some canvas I had purchased when a Joanne's near my house was going out of business. I love this fabric and was going to make curtains for my brother Andrew (don't worry Andrew, I still have enough for curtains)!

I've gone Posting Mad!!

I knit in traffic. Confession, my morning commute during the school year yields socks and scarves. ONLY when we are completely stopped, which is often- my 26 mile commute takes one hour each way. I am stopped quite a bit. So these socks...the green pair are gorgeous and I've knit three pairs already- old Aracuna stash. The grey with pink toe are Christmas gifts for my girls- stockings for their stockings!! It's alpaca from the owner of Canvas Works little hobby farm. I love them. And the fraternal twins are Noro scrap. I am debating whether I should give them as a gift since they're quite mismatched. I love them, I'd put them on my baby but you never know.

The scarf was a gift for a friend of mine that moved to Prague- it's cold there. It's the Rivulet Scarf from IK. It is the second scarf I've ever knit. I hate making scarves- they are really boring in my opinion, but again- it was well suited for the driving conditions!!

Trying to Feel at Home

Living in Southern California has been really hard for me. It has been a way more difficult transition than I thought it would be. I grew up here and lived here until I was twenty-five so you'd think I'd be at home with all the driving, fast-food restaurants and sunny mild weather. One would think...but this summer off I've been trying to make the best of it. We've visited Idyllwild and Sequoia, spent a lot of time with family and been to the beach a couple times. The girls really like seeing people and getting to take long evening walks nearly every night.

So we have a little hands-off garden in the front and two tomato bushes in the back and a lemon tree. For the girls birthday I canned lemon curd to feel a little more connected with our land base. This week I oven-dried (we axed the dehydrator when we moved down) and canned some strawberry jam from the strawberries that are grown about two miles from our home. It felt nice, a little more like home and hopefully I will remember to engage in more activities like this while we are here.

My fall hands-off garden will include potatoes, garlic, and greens. They are easy and like the cool. I will still have my glorious broccoli plants (shrubs now) and resilient chard!!

Rebecca's Little Sweater- Green Mountain Spinnery

Okay, so I have a niece coming soon and we are very excited about the event. When I heard the news I immediately started knitting the Debbie Bliss Teddy Bear All-In-One and was really enjoying the pattern. However, the yarn I chose was a sort of blue tweed (very pretty and I bought the yarn to make a sweater for my girls), but it was something that would be considered for a boy. Anyway, when I found out the beautiful baby would be a girl I knit this little number using Cotton Comfort in Violet. I think it turned out great. I need to wash it and block it today and get it in the mail tomorrow.

Oh, if you are making this pattern, beware- with all the decreases it gets fiddley (wd?sp?). I hope I did it right, I just mathematically calculated how many stitch repetitions I could do and how many stockinette stitches along the side I'd need.

I didn't style the photo because I had to charge my camera so I was stuck to the kitchen wall and I figure I'm not a designer or artist so this is a straightforward shot!

Birthday Gifts

These are two aprons I made for two adorable little ladies that are having birthdays. Packaging them was a blast. The aprons were so simple and I followed a couple tutorials online on making ruffles and the rest just sort of came together.

Enjoy!