Yarn and... teeth.

So I know it's been crickets around here lately.  Because yarn.  ALL THE YARN.  SO MUCH YARN.

Giant order of yarn.  Only one of the many things I've been working on.

If you're interested in the yarn you can check out my new website - Destination Yarn - or follow along on the social medias (instagram, facebook, ravelry) for some behind the scenes type fun.

Releasing my colorways as collections.  Super fun way to approach a color story.

BUT ANYWAYS.  I had to dust off the blog today because today was a big milestone for us.  Our very first child lost her very first tooth:

Which, ICK.  I mean Yay.  How fun! But also ICK.

ME TOO CHEESE!

So the tooth fairy will be coming tonight.  There's some debate as to how much she will bring (her friend got $8.  Which 8 x 20 teeth x 3 kids = $480 of NOPE) and if she will come for every single tooth.  But we'll figure it out.

CHEEEEEEEEESE!

And in case you want to tear up about the passage of time here's a picture from when she first got that tooth:

SHE WAS SO LITTLE AND A BABY AND TIME FLIES GAAAAAH.  Also look at the pretty Destination Yarn sweater.  I wonder if that still fits her at all...

Well that was fun.  Hopefully it won't be another 2 months before I blog again.

End of the Year Teacher Gifts

So!  SO MUCH has been going on with the girl lately.  Like the very last day of Kindergarten ever:

SHE DID IT!  We survived!  The first kid in all day school is a BIG adjustment.  To say the least.  But we're on the other side of it now.  And she did fantastic.  And the boys adjusted to spending the day without their girl.  All good things.  As her teacher put it "she is SO ready for first grade!"

Her teachers were awesome.  I can't say enough good things about them.  She really blossomed this year.

Also they are knitters!  No, really.  New knitters becoming obsessive knitters.  At one point during the year I pointed them at Ravelry.  MWAHAHAHAHAHAH.  And during her conference - after the conferency things and important stuff was over, of course - I answered knitting questions for them.  YEAH.  When you're an indie dyer and your kid's teachers are knitters end of the year gifts are easy:

Campus International colorway.  BOOM.

My daughter actually designed the colorway.  She did a sketch of her school colors to show me what colors to use.  I mixed the dye and then she did this:

 SO PROUD.

It was very fun.  To complete the gift I packaged the whole thing as a sock kit.  This is their first time knitting socks so I figured they needed a pattern and needles as well:

The kits are leftover from way back when I set them up to sell at Joseph Beth Booksellers.  I had 3 different kits of Destination Yarn, pattern, and needles and used to sell them at all of the Joseph Beth stores across the midwest.  But then Joseph Beth went out of business.  So I have a few leftover.  Perfect teacher's gift!  In case you still need a teacher's gift - or need something for the sock knitter in your life - I have the kits for sale at any of my shows.  Look for an upcoming list - BIG things happening soon!

Seriously are we done with this photoshoot now?  It's really early in the morning.

  Yay for the official start to summer!!!

Shalom for a Little Girl.

So!  I knit my girl a Shalom Sweater:

But... wait.  I have to start at the beginning.  See for the March installment of Kate and Jeanne's Road Trip Yarn Club we wanted a bulky yarn with pops of colors.  The inspiration was Wildflowers on the Great Plains.  I love how the finished colorway/pattern turned out.

 There's a couple of extra kits for this pattern up on the Destination Yarn Etsy Shop along with some other colorways on the new bulky base.

But!  It was a new base for me.  And a completely new dye technique that I had never tried before called stipple dying.  It was SO FUN to experiment with.  But it took some serious getting used to.  And after I screwed up one skein... and then another... and then another I threw my mistakes in the dyepot with a bunch of leftover dye and was all FINE.  YOU WILL JUST BE PURPLE.  STUPID YARN.

However my fit of rage lead to some really gorgeous yarn.

I figured it would end up as a cowl or something.  But my daughter claimed it.  And I had just enough to make her this:

It's the Shalom Cardigan pattern that everyone, myself included, knit a few years ago.

It knit up crazy quickly.  Then on one of the MANY snow days we had she asked me to make a skirt to match.  So we dug out some fabric and cranked out a Lazy Days Skirt.  Easy.

Literally that morning by 9:30 we had made a skirt and the boys had watched a movie and IT WAS ONLY 9:30 WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DOOOOOO.  There were a belligerent amount of snow days in a row this year.

The finished outfit is just darling.  A photoshoot after her art class at the CMA was necessary.

I love LOVE the yellow buttons.  She picked them out herself from the button box I inherited from my great-grandmother.  I'd guess the buttons are older than I am. 

90cents for buttons?!

The yellow against the purple is just so kicky and perfect.

As far as modifications go it was pretty easy to take this down to a kid's size.  I started with 51 stitches on a size 10.5 needle.  I only did 3 knit stitches on either end because the 5 the pattern called for was a bit much on a little kid.  Other than that I knit as written until the divide for the arms.  After the 2nd increase I had 101 stitches and after the third I had 129.  When dividing for the arms I K23, BO21, K43, BO 21, K23.  Then cast on 9 under each arm.  I omitted all of the waist shaping and just knit straight down from there.

I actually had to do the divide for the arms twice.  The first time she didn't like how tight it was across her back.  So I ripped it out and adjusted my stitch counts.  That's one of the best things about knitting.  Make a mistake?  Don't like how it fits/looks?  Rip it out and use the yarn again.  No problem.

Overall I'm just thrilled with this.  The whole thing started as a mistake and turned into something really beautiful.  She's worn it to school often since it was finished.  I think that's about the best compliment I can ever receive.

Also she turned 6 this week.  Which.  DUDE.  It goes so fast.  I'm actually writing this because I'm procrastinating getting the house ready for her Frozen Birthday party tomorrow.  It's amazing how much festivity you can create with a few streamers and some balloons.  Anyways in honor of her birthday here's a side by side of Shaloms from when I was hideously pregnant with her:

Yay for Shalom Sweaters!

First Day of School 2014.

So!  It happened!  She's officially a Kindergartner now!

And it was fine.  The worst that happened was that the sign we made said "2013" instead of "2014"

she wanted to add the part about what she likes

Something had to go wrong and if that was it I'll take it.  I can even ghetto photoshop it out:

Nailed it.

As long as I got some pictures of how nervous/excited she was:

And a picture of the backpack.  She was very proud of the backpack.

And she was SO nervous and excited.  Here she is waiting for school to start with her friend:

The same picture with the same friend from last year they are all smiles.  Not so much this year.

Drop off was tough.  Normally Matt will drive her to school but I did it the first day.  For both our sakes.  But everything went as it should have - both Matt and I cried.  She did not.

Then it was home to face my forlorn boys who missed their sister terribly.  To make them feel better - and celebrate her first day - they made her some cupcakes:

Then we went to the pet store where my Tiny had a milestone of his own.  First time MEEOWING at the hamsters.  It's probably my favorite toddler trick:

MEEEEEEOOOOOOOOW.

Amusing them is going to be a whole different ballgame.  In the morning we painted, made cupcakes, went to the pet store, frosted cupcakes, read about the frog he's going to get when the fishtank filter is working again, and ate lunch.  As I was putting the dude down for a nap he says to me "I think I'm going start preschool tomorrow because you are boring."  GAH.

Pick-up was more nerve wrecking than drop off.  I couldn't wait to see her!  To hear all about it!  And then she got into the car and was silent.  For about 5 full minutes I couldn't get her to say anything at all.  And then all of a sudden she busted out with "MOMMY I JUST CAN'T STAND IT I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!"

And went on to tell me all about her amazing first day.  All about the friends she made and the hunt for clues they went on through the school.  About how her buddy had a note from his mom in his lunch, too, and how cool it was that they could read their notes without help from their teacher.

She was also SO excited to see her siblings:

When I took Tiny out of the car she ran over to me and was all "I just can't wait to hug him!"

 I tried to get a revised First Day picture with a 2014 sign but.... yeah:

The cupcakes were a hit, too:

The rest of this week has been pretty rough, though.  This new schedule (of actually having a schedule) is taking it's toll on all 3 of them.  And me, honestly.  I'm exhausted beyond all reason.  I might adopt their new 8PM bedtime.   But I think once we're all used to it this school thing is going to be pretty great.

Also great?  UNIFORMS.  For seriously.

Although she is already on day 3 wearing Hello Kitty socks b/c they are "almost white and I don't think I'll get yelled at"  UM.... As someone who used to wear hot pink tights b/c there was nothing in the dress code about the color of tights we were allowed to wear I get it.  They changed that rule the next year btw.

YAY KINDERGARTEN!

Kindergarten Eve.

So I just put my little girl down for the last time before she starts REAL school ALL DAY EVERY DAY.  And... Yeah.  I decided that since Matt is at basketball the best way to cope was to pour myself a big glass of wine and open up a blogger window.

This should end well.  Like my fancy coaster?

You guys.  HOW DID THAT GO BY SO FAST?  I don't understand.

Pictured:  yesterday?  Pretty sure that was yesterday.

I mean I know some time has gone by by virtue of the sheer amount of other children that I have but all of a sudden I'm the parent of an actual school aged kid.

Or based on this photo a sullen teenager.

This is the end of an era.  This is the start of a whole new chapter for us.  Between her starting Kindergarten, the Dude headed off to preschool in a few weeks, and Tiny walking... well.  The future is now, my friends.

Pictured:  The future.  Those are our penguin overlords.

A future that maybe doesn't involve the insane management of minutia, the sleep deprivation, the base needs, the... poop... that these last 5.5 years have been centered around.

Quick you just wrote about poop - throw in an adorable picture of a pony so they forget!

I feel like we're pretty tops at this toddler thing by now.  And newborns/babies?  Bah.  Owned. It.  But school aged kids are a whole new ball game.  I have NO IDEA what to expect.  I feel like I'm starting over at parenting.  Like they just handed me this tiny baby and sent me off with a few handouts and well wishes.  Sure.  It will be fine.  Millions of people have done this before, right? 

GAH GAH GAH GAH.

This time with her going from that itty bitty baby to a KINDERGARTNER OMG has been so amazing.  Watching her grow up has been such a privilege.  So much of parenting is done in these first few years and I'm so very proud of the little girl she has become.

She is READY for this new chapter.  Nervous, sure.  But also really, really excited:

Packing her lunch for tomorrow.  Of course her brother wanted to help.  Also I am completely resigned to the fact that anything I send in for lunch will NEVER wind up on pintrest.  SLACKER MOMS, UNITE!

I've tried to make sure that this summer would be the best ever EVER.  We've done camps and gone to the fair, and stayed out late, and gone to the movies, and built cardboard castles, and rode bikes, and read chapter books, and even squeezed in a little time at the pool:

And gone on so, so many adventures:

Akron Zoo.  We went one day b/c my daughter told me "I want to go on an adventure today."  Adventure, acquired.

Erie, PA.  Just because we could.

I can't believe that is coming to an end.  Her adventures will be mainly school related now.  Which we wanted - we purposely picked a school with all sorts of amazing opportunities who's whole mission is "to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, lifelong learners, who have the courage to act responsibly to make the world a better place"  She's going to LOVE it.  The whole world is going to open up for her.  But (and I know this is selfish) man I'm going to miss her.

Pictured.  Project Runway Friday Afternoon.  My favorite part of the week.  We'd put the boys down for naps and for an hour watch this silly show together even though I don't usually allow tv during the day and even though I probably had laundry to fold or something else that needed done.

Also the dynamic of two boys?  How does that even work?  I"m entering a world of cars and things that vroom and belligerent amounts of energy and incredibly gross books from the library (eyewitness amphibians?  DISGUSTING.  Frogs are not pleasant creatures.)  Hold me.

So yeah.  Tomorrow.  Wish us luck!