Bad Blogger!

Hello everyone!

I know it has been a while. Life keeps going, ya know? My son turned 18 last month (phew!) and everyone started school, including my Munchkin. He is now reading the Cat in the Hat by himself and knows his math addition 1+ all the way through 8 (he surprised me with that one the other day). We've been working on 1+ through 5, but he surprised me my knowing 1+8=9!

Pirate Day at the dentist; his first tooth cleaning!

Along with the family's schooling, I am keeping busy with plenty of projects! I will be starting necklaces and acrylic jewelry charms to earn extra money for Christmas, you'll have to check them out! Course, I'll have to get them posted... lol.

I have crossed a few items off of my Year of Projects, another pair of arm warmers,

a hat (have to figure out how to finish the bill) and a scarf from one of my books. I have successfully completed 2 pairs of socks and am now taking on the challenge of actually trying to make them fit my foot! Since I have a size 5-5.5 shoe, the patterns for the size 8 tends to be a little big.... ha. SO - I have purchased the materials that I need and I will be casting on soon! I will keep you updated.

I am finishing a Where's Waldo hat for my older son, and starting a dreadlocks hat for him as well. I look forward to seeing how it turns out. Although the pattern for the dreadlocks hat isn't very clear, so I will have to do some experimenting to get it right. I guess that is how we learn, right?

I have made 1 of 2 toddler sized socks, and this toddler has got to have long feet! ha, they are a bit long. I need to learn the art of adding in another color, particularly in working with stripes. I get a funky jog in the color change and sometimes more than one... hmmm

I finished my dreamy strozzi necklace, it turned out very well! I would highly recommend the pattern for anyone looking for a gift to make. I used the baby alpaca.... oooh, so dreamy soft....


More pictures to come!

Well, that is all for now... I will sign on again soon!

Your Baby Can Read!

Since I am a little short on time and behind in my posts, I thought I would just share a product that I absolutely love! I believe that all moms want the best for their children, and every mom needs to find ways to keep their baby busy in a constructive way. This product does just that.

When we received our Your Baby Can Read package, we weren't sure exactly how it would work, but it was a fun way to entertain our son, a very active 10 month old, productively. He loved it! The video shows children between the ages of 6 months to 5 years old reading at various levels. The younger children indicate their knowledge by pointing or acting out the word being shown. Fabulous!

We started our son when he was 10 months old, I let him eat his breakfast while he watched the video. Then before bed we would read through flash cards just as we do books now that he is older. One month after starting, he read his first word - "dog". "Do" he said! LOL!! We were thrilled!

My son is now 3 years old and is reading between First and Second grade levels. He can read entire small books by himself. Video demonstrations will be loaded soon for your entertainment... 

This is not a sponsored post and I hope I don't get in trouble for promoting the product, but it is a wonderful program from which I believe anyone can benefit, including non-english speaking families as multiple languages are offered.

Now, the program requires the time and involvement of the parents. While sitting in front of the videos may make some impact, the real progress will be made by parents reading to the children and encouraging them. Most children are only be interested as much as their parents show interest. 

Some people might wonder what the benefits of teaching your child to read at such an early age - why?? Aren't they going to learn later? They might. The parent orientation video explains many benefits of using the program and I highly recommend to all parents that they check it out. As for me, I've read recently that illiteracy among the American children is quite high. Learning at a young age helps to foster a love for learning, it helps shape the child's brain for easier learning in the future. And quite frankly, the younger the child, the easier it is for them to learn multiple languages, of which reading is one. There are so many other reasons, but listing those would make this post a novel.

My son can navigate around our computer, my smart phone, he can put together a jigsaw puzzle of the United States, and he can count to 40 by himself, and to 100 with a small amount of assistance. He can count to 30 in Spanish and to 6 in Japanese. When we are baking, he reads the recipe to me. As far as I am concerned, the higher the leg up I can give my son in this world, the better for him. He loves to learn, it is fun and exciting, and it opens up his world in a huge way.

I highly recommend Your Baby Can Read! If you aren't sure about it, there is a starter pack. Try it out! It will be one of the BEST investments you can make for your child and their future. 

http://www.yourbabycan.com/?adid=2000445&gclid=CJrslaabw6oCFWU0QgodtU_tRg

If you have any questions, feel free to email or comment!

One bootie down and one more to go!

AHA! I have finished my bootie! Christina at the Knitting Bee showed me how to do the seem. I am really quite pleased! I am already 3/4 done with the second bootie and can probably finish during naptime today... nice!

Bernat Baby Knit Booties

Just need to add a ribbon and it is good to go! wahoo! will post when both are all complete...

Takin' on the Booties - again!

Alright! I started the booties again last night (I ran out of yarn for the blanket and am unable to finish until I find more... arg - if any of you have Bernat Pipsqueak that you are willing to part with, leave me a comment, please!), and I have to say that I am quite pleased!!

My little self-imposed time out was most beneficial, I zoomed right through the pattern with no problems! woohoo! I am through the "ruffle" part of the first bootie and starting the instep...

Until next time...

Bustin' my Booties!

And I was doing so well!! My needle slipped and try as I might, I could not get the stitches back! The more I tried, the more stitches I lost and pretty soon half of my project had unravelled.... ~sigh

So! I have put the booties down for now, to start again later. Instead, I have started a hooded baby blanket, a  super easy stockinette stitch pattern from Bernat that I found for free at Joann's. I've made good progress and as soon as I am done, I will tackle the booties - Again.

First pair of baby booties

Well! today I start sharing my knitting progress! Two days ago I chose a Bernat pattern for baby booties (baby knit booties, free online at Bernat.com or on the label of the yarn), and after 6 tries, the pattern is finally taking off!! I should have chosen an easier pattern to start with, but, I have learned so much! I'm glad I took on the challenge.

I learned how to do a yfwd (yarn forward or yarn over) - being a continental knitter, I grab the yarn from the top with my right needle and pull it forward and just let the yarn stay there.

I then learned how to do a sl (slip stitch) - simply passing the next stitch to be knitted onto the needle instead of knitting the yarn through, and

I learned how to do psso (pass slip stitch over) - which is simply pulling the stitch that was slipped up, back and over the previously knitted stitch. this one can be tricky if you knit too tightly... haha

I also learned that sometimes the parenthesis within a pattern don't always refer to the different sizing variations. Within my pattern are parenthesis that mean that small portion is to be repeated within the repeat... aha!! so that was my problem...

So, after starting over 6 times, I have completed 8 rows and the design is turning out beautifully! I am so excited and can't wait to see the end result.

check out my pics and see what you think! YAY!!