window decorations

window decorations
Originally uploaded by moonfroggy

is the title of my blog an ok one?

i have been playing around with the title of my blog lately and i think i am finally happy with surrounded by tree's but i would love to get feedback. is this an ok title? the header image is a recent one of one of our apple trees showing the very unripe baby apples. i am planning to put a new header image in every few months showing the tree's growth. i like the name because i am surrounded by trees and because we call dmitri tree.

my other question is does anyone know of an iphone app that is free for uploading pics and posting on blogger? i have shozu but i can't seem to log into blogger with it. i am seriously thinking i may just switch this blog to wordpress since the wordpress app works so well. i think i only have 1 or 2 readers on this blog right now and maybe i will never have any more but it would be good to change soon if i am going to.

waiting for my yarn

i am excitedly waiting for my yarn to get here and making all sorts of plans for it. one thought i have is that maybe every time i get a new skein of yarn i will try and make 1 12" x 12" square. this is related to my short attention span with knitting and lack of ever making anything big. my thought is that eventually i will have a bunch of squares and will be able to make a blanket! it would be so nice if when Dmitri is ready to have his own bed he could have a blanket made by me that is all for him. I think we will be co-sleeping for a long time still at least i hope we will but knowing how i am with knitting i will have to start soon to have a blanket done when the time comes!

i'm not a hat person oh wait maybe i am!

this morning while browsing etsy i stumbled upon a secret sale of my favorite yarn and had to order some and then i had to go and browse ravelry and drool over patterns. while doing this i was thinking about how i don't really like wearing scarfs i prefer not to have anything around my neck and while i like hats i tend to find they make me to warm and i often take them off and have to carry my hat around plus lately i wear my hair up (i use my knitting needles to hold it in a bun!). i was a little bit bummed because i prefer to knit quick easy things that don't use much yarn. i have rather expensive taste in yarn and a short attention span. this has left me with a love of hats but being as how i never wear my hats it seems silly to keep knitting them. rob likes hats and he has trouble finding hats to fit his big head and dmitri will wear a hat if it is windy and cold but i want to knit stuff for me to. then i came across this pattern and i think this is something i would actually wear! it will keep my ears warm which is important because when i have cold ears i get a really terrible headache but i can wear my hair in a bun and it probably won't keep me to warm. now i am browsing ravelry for more patterns for head scarfs and headbands and yay they use even less yarn!

Pile of crochet motifs

Pile of crochet motifs
Originally uploaded by namolio

this pic makes me feel a great need to learn how to crochet.
aren't they pretty!

another window star

i am realizing that i am not into following directions with these but i am having a lot of fun making them. this one is made from kite paper and it is so nice to work with. easier to fold than tissue paper and holds it's shape better.

my window star

i got a book called Magical Window Stars and it is a neat book full of instructions for making specific stars. i am not big on following instructions though and besides i didn't have all the tools needed on hand and i was having to work quickly while D was needing me and then happy to be with his papa and then needing his mama again and so i just sort of free hand did my own window star and this is what i came up with. i am very happy with how it came out. i'm not sure if i will keep the book or not. i did learn a few things from it but i really like doing stuff free hand and so i may not use the actual diagrams in the book. if i don't keep the book it will probably be gifted to one of my friends. anyhow i am pleased with my free hand star and once i can get some paper in other colors i will be making many more. i might even post directions for some of them along with how to do a free hand window star. do you like it?

slippers

i have wanted to knit slippers since i was a little girl and i saw some my grandma had made for herself. i have the patterns she used for hers. she gave them to me several years ago. anyhow my big challenge with knitting is that i often have to abruptly stop to do mama related stuff and then can't remember where i was. my other challenge is that i am not fond of perling and i like really easy simple patterns. and i found a pattern that will work great for me it is super easy if i stop abruptly it will be fine. no need to have specific yarn and needles to get some specific gauge. super easy. so my next project may be these slippers you can also see them here

robs finished spiral hat

i think it came out very well! i especially like the brim which was something rob requested.

our advent calendar

i wanted a very simple advent calendar and while i love the fabric ones people make to use every year i like the idea of making a new one each year. i guess i hope when dmitri is older he can help make a paper advent calendar each year. this years calendar i made alone since dmitri is 13 months and not very helpful he did play with the crayons while i worked though and he kept me company. it is just envelopes hanging on a string with numbers drawn on with crayons. i am happy with it. it is for the entire month of December so it goes to 31 and no candy is inside it (although rob wishes it had candy) instead it just has pieces of paper with a fun thing to do each day and many of the things are easy and simple activities we might have decided to do any ways. one of the fun things is i shuffled the papers and so most of the days i don't know what the activity will be. i like that it will be a surprise for me! my activities include baking an apple pie, going to the beach, looking at stars, having a family music night and a family reading night (where rob reads out loud but if dmitri wants to pay with the books we may just curl up and listen to a favorite audio book) all simple easy non stressful things. when dmitri is older we will do more elaborate things i might put a treasure map in one day and we could go to museums and stuff.

Robs solstice spiral hat

Uploaded - 11\30\08-7
Originally uploaded by moonfroggy

I am almost done with robs hat. It's gray because that's what I had and rob really likes gray. And it is large cuz rob has an abnormally large head.

dmitri's spiral hat

i am so happy with this spiral hat. i made up the pattern and plan to write it out for others to use. it knit up super fast and i love the spiral. it is shaped sort of like an acorn cap and so i have found myself calling it his acorn hat. it is reversible and looks neat no matter how it is worn. it is also super stretchy. i have enough yarn left that i think i may make a bigger one for me and give my simple rolled brim hat to rob. dmitri seems to like it to because he actually wears it instead of taking it off when i put it on his head.
stay tuned for the pattern and also the adult version once it is knit up.

my simple rolled brim hat

Uploaded - 11\26\08
Originally uploaded by moonfroggy

my simple rolled brim hat. i am pretty happy with how this came out

a t-rex day advent calendar

we don't celebrate christmas or Hanuka (we might start celebrating Hanuka though in a very simple way). rob is agnostic and i am a pantheist. i plan to raise dmitri as a pantheist but anyhow not being christians rob and i have never felt all that comfortable with christmas but we i feel a need to do something fun very year and while we always celebrate solstice i wanted something more of a silly kid holiday and so i canme up with t-rex day. t-rex day used to be on the new moon in december but since becoming a mom we changed it to the 25th so that dmitri won't feel like he is left out when all his friends get to celebrate xmas every december 25th he will be celebrating t-rex day. to celebrate t-rex day you have to decide who will be breaking into your home to leave gifts. this is something for kids to do. the first year it was a t-rex thus the name. when dmitri is old enough we may write a letter to the univers every year saying we would like to invite a dinosour or a dragon or a pine tree or whatever we come up with to break in and leave some gifts while we are sleeping. then you get to spend a month decorating the house and sneaking about making gifts. a big part of t-rex day is that gifts are supposed to be hand made and fun and easy and simple. non stresful gifts. you then get to give your gift anonymously by pretending to be something like a dinosaur. anyhow this is our families way of not celebrating christmas but still having fun and we get to decorate the house and this year i want to make an advent calender. i have ben having a lot of fun browsing flickr and looking at different calendars and my favorite ones are the ones with simpole bags iether paper bags or cloth sacks with numbers on them strung up on a wall. i thimk i will be making one with bags probably paper bags. i need to decide what to put in them. when dmitri is older i may do winter seeds to plant and little notes about how that day we will take a trip to the beach or a favorite museum but he is 13 months old so whatever i fill a calendar with this year will be more for me than for him. i may actually buy some thinghs this year that he needs any ways and fill the calendar that way. he is growing out of all his cloths and his socks and i could easily fill a calendar with things i need to buy soon anyways. anyhow t-rex day is coming as is solctice! i hope to post some pics of our holiday crafts soon.

hat pattern

i actually bought a knitting pattern. i don't buy patterns often but i bought one and i plan to soon start knitting a spiral hat i spent a few weeks looking at the pictures of the hat before i decided to just go ahead and get the pattern. now i have to find yarn to use for it. any suggestions?

magical cayenne pepper

i seem to have caught some sort of viral ickyness that includes a terribly sore throat. cough drops never really help much and i was feeling desperate so i looked up home remedies on google. i kept finding things that said to drink various things like orange juice or water with cayenne pepper in it. i was afraid to try it but desperation drove me to try it and it works! it sort of numbs my throat and i am realizing i tend to like spicy things like hot and sour soup when i am sick for the reason of it helping my sore throat and it helps with congestion. so next time you get a sore throat try cayenne pepper!

breastfeeding on sesame street

happenings where i live

tree tree recently turned 1 and he is walking a lot. right now he is playing under the kitchen sink while papa does dishes. he closes the doors then fusses then papa opens the doors and he smiles and closes the doors and on and on it goes. it is sort of cute. the rain has come and woken up all the sleeping seeds here and the birds have been happy and singing. the birds ate all my seedlings so i had to go and get special protective cloth to cover my seeds with and now i have lots of little seeds growing! i frogged my cowl and am making a hat instead it is almost done but i need another set of knitting needles to finish it. should be done by this weekend! i will have enough left over yarn to make a cowl if i wish and maybe a matching hat for treetree i may just do the hat and then use any left over yarn to make a cowl. i have been pondering a cowl that has beads in it since cowls seem sort of necklace like.

cowl

dmitri 108
Originally uploaded by moonfroggy

i hope i have enough yarn to make a matching hat