BFFs

I've made some more toys and actually I don't even remember the last time I made something that wasn't a toy. Perhaps I'm getting in touch with that inner child again. Over the summer my sister-in-law was in town with my completely adorable nephew and nieces. You may remember I made some fish for Carol. She also asked for a pig that I only just now got around to making. And because I can't send something to Carol and not the other two cutie-pies, I made a bear (who I first thought was going to be a monkey, but obviously I'd been wrong about that) for Audrey and I have an alien (similar to this) I'll send to Porter.

Maybe I'll make something other than toys at some point but for now I'm enjoying my little friends. They are fun and don't require a lot of thought or a pattern and for someone in her mid-thirties who is going to school and taking care of four kids, well, thoughts are at a premium around here.

devil duck

I do believe he's the cutest little devil I know.

finally getting to the fun stuff!

Getting in the car after school today, Megan, who is in seventh grade, said, “Mom! We finally did something fun in science today!”

I asked what that fun thing had been and her answer came in an excited rush, “We had the periodic table of elements and we looked at the abbreviations. We had to write the atomic number, what the letter stood for, like H was for hydrogen and we wrote down the weight. Then we figured out how many protons, neutrons and electrons there there are in each one. There were one two or three (graduated) rings. We had to draw how many electrons there were...”

It’s good to know that school isn’t all academics and the kids are getting some fun and games in as well.

It's a ... turtle!

I thought this turtle would be a girl because my daughters declared our turtle a girl (the vet said it's too hard to tell, so I'll just take the kiddo's word for it). Her name is Alice. This turtle though, appears to be a boy. I made him for a friend who is currently going through the adoption process! I hope he (what's his name? I can't tell! Charlie? Jon? Thomas? Any suggestions?) gets a lovely child friend soon.

survivors guilt

Survivors Guilt. It's real. From time to time I struggle with it. I looked through my photos just now to see if I snapped a picture one day in October of last year. I didn't, so I'll just have to describe it to you. Tessa and I went to Gardner Village (in Salt Lake, I think) with my sister and her two boys to see the witches on display. Funny, funny witches. Now Tessa loves her cousins, all of them. She wanted to hold onto the stroller to "help" Aunt Sarah push Baby L. Being even more helpful, she took the hand of her preschool-aged cousin E. From behind this scene I could barely keep my composure. Sarah. A little girl. Two little boys. That little girl should have, in my mind, been her Lucy. But it wasn't. Why did I get to have three healthy girls and then one sick one who survived just fine when Sarah had only one sick daughter who did not live to see a first Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year or birthday? There really isn't any way I'll ever understand. It isn't fair.

You can read Sarah's point of view on a similar line of thinking on her blog but from another perspective. And, if you can, please donate to Lucy's tree. It's an amazing chance to give to sick children and their families.

some crafty content to come soon. I crocheted a little duck who seems to have waddled off & I'm also working on a turtle. I haven't had a lot of time for crafts because I recently started school. I figured I'd give being a grown-up a try for a change.

9/11

never forgetting

seriously loving birds

So right now I'm having a love affair with crochet birds. I can't help it! It started a short while back with the owls, Jane & Carol. This week I finished a fine pair of blue birds with a little nest for some friends who just adopted a most beautiful baby boy from Ethiopia.

They were crocheted using acrylic yarn and an H hook,

made entirely out of items I already had on hand!

I am most infatuated with their long legs.

and now I'm working on some yellow birds that may or may not become ducks. I didn't originally intend for them to be ducks, but that's how they're lookin'.

fish

I crocheted some fish for my niece

a dragonfly

One day late in June we came back home from being somewhere I don't recall. I noticed on a flower in the window box one of the largest, most beautiful dragonflies I'd ever seen. I assigned Doug the duty of keeping an eye on it while I ran in the house to fetch my camera. To my relief, the creature remained in place during my absence. I started taking pictures, and got some pretty nice ones, I thought. But then I realized there was no movement at all from the lovely dragonfly. I hoped he was sleeping even though I knew that not to be the case.

My Tessa has been having a particularly difficult time lately, reprocessing the death of her cousin, Lucy. The other day she told me she wants to go up to heaven, get Lucy and bring her back.

Sarah, my sister & Lucy's mother, has posted another blog entry about her girl. If at all possible, please donate to Lucy's tree. All of the money, every penny, goes to help children and their families at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Ut.

a playdate with lucy

Remembering Lucy five years after she passed away, Tessa and I took some items to donate to, what Tess calls, "My hospital." (Tessa was sick after her birth with the Group B Strep virus and spent a week in a NICU about 50 miles from the hospital where her cousin, Lucy, would live and die the following year.) Here are some pictures of our afternoon:

Tess, walking in the front doors swinging the bag of

knitted and crocheted bereavement items.

**

she was amazed to see the doors open automatically

(you'd think the girl'd never been to a grocery store!)

**

after dropping off our donation,

we headed to the cafeteria to get an ice cream cone.

**
though she had trouble deciding between rainbow sherbet

or cookies n cream, she finally chose the latter.

**

I had her pose in front of the pond where I ate lunch

nearly every day she was a patient at McKay-Dee.

**

**

Mmmm! That was good!

you can read about Lucy on A Tree For Lucy. You can also donate to an amazing cause, helping sick children and their families (read about it here).

a crafty slacker

Mikay on the 4th of July. We walked up to the park by my parent's house where she got dizzy from spinning too long on the merry go round - aka death trap. it's the same one we played on as children. I just closed my eyes and pretended not to see.

I've been a serious slacker in the crafty department. I've got a water bottle sling half way done for my sister. I've got a ladybug started, but couldn't get the head to work like I wanted so it's having a time out. I was very stressed about Mom's surgery (ps, she's home now) and I'm not even sure what I did all of last week. Now I'm just tired. I need someone to come crochet/knit with me. Someone to keep me company so I can get back into the groove. Anyone? Anyone?

anyone know what flower this is? We passed a couple houses with them out front along the way. I'd love to have them in my yard.

a quick update

my mom made it through surgery fabulously! I saw her yesterday and she looked great. I told her she ought to try acting a little more like someone who just had their heart operated on. Thanks for the good thoughts/prayers.

Lucy

(lucy's blog)

A single name. Two syllables. Those four letters stir such emotion within me. This blog, in fact, has it's name because of her. She was known as our ladybug. Being clever, I thought to call this blog "antknit" because I am the aunt of a little Ladybug (it was particularly amusing at 1 a.m. when I thought of it).

Lucy is the person I miss most in life. Lucy is the person we had shortest. Lucy.

My thoughts are kind of ramble-y right now and probably not making a lot of sense. I'll just get to the point, I guess. Each year since our Lucy was with us we've decorated a tree in her honor at the Festival of Trees in Salt Lake City. All proceeds go to help families and children at Primary Children's Hospital. And if you've ever been there, you know how amazing that place is.

This year Lucy's mama (my amazing younger sister) has started a blog dedicated to Lucy's memory. Weekly, she plans to share stories of her firstborn child's life. Personally, I'm very much looking forward to them. Lucy was our "bringer of Light".

etsy, i finally did it

So, I finally got a few little things made that weren't otherwise promised to anyone and put them up on etsy. Take a look if you want! I've added some water bottle slings (I love mine, by the way), the owl family, an alien dude and some little buddies - specifically these little buddies:

actually Pat isn't up there quite yet, but he will be soon. It's lunch time for me right now though.

I also have to blog about the two awesome prizes I won! Totally don't deserve them but am grateful. I expect to be kinda busy the next few days but will get to it soon, I promise.

And if you wouldn't mind holding a good thought for my mom next week, I'd appreciate it. She is having heart surgery. Ugh. We're a little nervous.

owl family

This is what I've been working on for the past 3 or so days. believe it or not, the nest was the most time consuming of the bunch. They are Jane (mama) and Carol (baby) and were named for one of my most favorite little girls in the whole world.

I won!

I won! I won. I won, I won, I won!

PS, thanks for the help :)

a new frog

posing in the portulaca

entering the contest...

MommaB is having another contest because she's got an over active guilty conscience. I can relate to that. Her sister won the other one fair and square (they claim ;). So I enter again.

I think this bag would be perfect to carry all of the little projects I plan on doing, like the not-quite-so-weird-and-drunk-looking frog who is hoping to be born soon and will be a cousin to this guy (the weird-and-drunk-looking one):

My husband's work friend told him he'd buy a frog if I could make one after seeing a penguin and a lion I'd made for a couple of the women in the office who recently had babies.

crossing my fingers 'cause I'd really like to win!

and PS, I get extra-credit if you leave a comment on her blog saying you saw it here first! Oh and hey, check out MommaB's Etsy shop!

because I get thirsty

I've been a lot more active lately. I go to the gym and lift weights regularly and I like to ride my husband's bike. I would rather ride mine, but it has two flat tires that need to be completely replaced because of a nasty patch of those evil goat-head weeds. I hate those things. My bike is nicer. His gears slip and the water bottle holder is broken off. I don't have a clue what to do about the gears, but as far as a water bottle holder goes ... well ... I remembered a knitted item (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the pattern) I'd seen once on a friend's blog. I didn't feel like knitting though, I wanted to crochet. It's faster. So I made a crochet water bottle holder from no pattern. I like it.

I made it with cotton yarn. I don't make many items for myself, and I can't wait to use this!

so much better

Megs, Suzy and I recovered the dining chairs.

before:

this one was, by far, the worst.

my girls, troopers that they were, took the covers off of 4 and a half of our 6 chairs (Doug and I did the other 1.5)

after:

they look so. much. better.

a special thanks to my friend, Michelle (who is yet to get a blog even though she is super amazing and should absolutely have one!), for giving, yes giving(!), us this lovely upholstery fabric.