Hmmm

So...I haven't been knitting.
At all.
It's amazing how many hours are sucked away by baby worship. Everyday Rowan seems to do something new. Recently, his obsession has been kitties :)
To combat my inability to knit at home, I've been thinking about going to a local knitting group so that I'm actually forced to at least pick up the needles. I did whip up a dishcloth for my mother back in May for Mother's Day. It was gratifying to finish a project, no matter how small.

So instead of progress on those pants....which at this point will be for child number two, here's a pretty picture of a gorgeous Vermont garden.

The Baby Daze is Clearing

Rowan is finally sleeping through the night and I am finally starting to consistently be able to cross things off the to do list. We even managed to visit some friends and see the beach. Vacationing with an infant is like nothing I could have pictured. Babies are so small, yet require so much STUFF whenever you take them places. I am planning on running the Nike Women's Half Marathon in San Francisco this October, and the idea of what we will need to get on the plane is kind of intimidating. I won't even attempt to cloth diaper for any part of that trip :)

The weather is finally starting to turn around. We had a...I'm not sure if I would call it a freak or a typical spring snow storm a few days ago that covered our tulips and daffodils with inches of a wet slushy mess. I saw some really beautiful pictures on Facebook of flowers in the snow, but it dampened my spirits so much that I hadn't the heart to take out the camera.

I am more happy about the green that is everywhere now that those few inches have melted. This might have been why I chose to delve into the stash for this gorgeous handpainted yarn.
I'm slowly working my way through baby bell bottoms from The Blue Blog. I think they'll be a nice fit for my chubby baby...if I finish them before he grows too big, of course. I love the color variations in the yarn.

This winter I was working on a nice quick scarf in Moss stitch, but I made it too wide and started to hate it and the very very slow progress I was making on it...and who knows where it is now :)

Rowan already loves vegetables, of the cotton sort anyways.
And speaking of vegetables, I got a raised bed to garden in this year, with the idea that I will take it from the condo when we buy a house in a few years. I've started the seeds...even the ones you're not supposed too. Poor zucchini. I love raising veggies from seed. It doesn't always work out, but it seems like when it does, I feel like I've accomplished so much more than when I buy the small plants from the farmers markets. Maybe because my kitchen window is no greenhouse. Only the strong survive :)

A Late FO

I was hoping to finish this in time for my sister's baby shower in May....
And then I was hoping to have it done for when she gave birth in June....
And when that didn't happen, I thought, "Heck, why not give myself a few months and aim for the Baptism in August?"....
And when that didn't happen...I thought, "I should really stop avoiding sewing this elephant up and just get it done for Christmas. Ava (her daughter) is now old enough to appreciate stuffed toys...if I put it off too much longer she will be able to verbally thank me for her gift!"

Guess what I was doing while my sister and her daughter were over for Christmas?But I finally got it done.

I made it a rattle on a whim with a small plastic container I had lying around from a shower favor and some mung beans. That was a good decision, because Ava loves different noises and textures, and she LOVED her little elephant. (So much so that it was hard to get a decent picture. :)
Besides the rattle, the only changes I made to the pattern were to add a tail, a suggestion I got from Ravelry.