Surprise visit from Grandma and Grandpa! (and Aunt & Uncle, of course)

I can remember three (maybe four) times my family drove to go on vacation. So imagine my surprise when my family decided to drive to visit us in North Carolina! I was thrilled to have them come and they did not disappoint - we had a blast.

This is essentially the only picture I took while they were here, but it sums up their visit nicely - playing with Benjamin. He absolutely adored his Uncle Daniel, frequently preferred Sarah over me, cackled with his Grandpa, and snuggled with Grandma. I absolutely love visiting and being visited by family. Plus things are "accidentally" left at my house: chocolate covered blueberries, milano cookies, a $20 bill, apples, yogurt, Twix, a pair of darn tough socks (??). Does everyone's mom do that? :)

Our weekend (and bellies) was filled with food from Durham's best eateries: Q shack, Tonali, Sitar, Ox and Rabbit, and homemade pizza. We toured Duke Gardens, went swimming, and watched General Conference.  My favorite talk was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk from Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to read it again. I don't know how anyone gets through 8 hours of conference without busying their hands or "resting" their eyes.  This year I worked on burial gowns for UNC hospital. The pattern I used was quite simple and it went faster than I anticipated.

I think it looks precious though my heart aches for the parents who need it.

On a happier note, my sister got engaged! Wahoo!

Congratulations you little lovebirds.

Oops

Can you say, "airhead"?

I honestly don't know how that happened.

I'm tempted to not take out the 320 stitches required to fix it but to somehow patchwork it....

Please advise.

Ugh, I'll just do it.

Dishes or Crochet?

I seem to be asking myself this question more and more these days. Should I do the dishes, or should I crochet? Sometimes I do the dishes. When I do, I'm always surprised at how quickly it goes. (You'd think I'd stop getting surprised after a while...) Other times, like today, I choose to crochet. 

Why? 

1. Because I'm working on a project that is quite fun. 

2. Because the dishes are "soaking" (to use Doug's terminology). 

3. We're going to have homemade French Onion Soup tonight so there will be plenty of dishes to do later.

4. Because I'm pregnant so I'm always productive whether or not I'm keeping house.

Score.

Yes that's laundry in the background. See? I don't just crochet. 

Oh wait, I folded that yesterday...

But at least I didn't have to get off the couch to take my picture. :)

Oh boy!

We're going to have a boy! Congratulations to the 10 other women who learned the gender of their baby the same day as me haha. You're probably tired of announcements but I can't help but share the news :).

Finally I have a wonderful excuse to follow blogs like Sewing for Boys, Boy, Oh, Boy, Oh Boy!, and Made. I may be a little overexcited but I've already started looking at sewing patterns... here are some of my favorites:

via made

via The Train to Crazy

via made

via Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

And I've already started this "little" project I first fell in love with at Maybe Matilda:

via Tales from Cuckoo Land

But I'm using this tangerine orange instead:

This pictures doesn't quite do the brightness of the yarn justice

Despite the small frustrations daily life brings, I'm extremely grateful to have the comforting consistency of the gospel and the delightful excitement of having a baby. Here's to a new adventure :).

The Christmas Secret

So for some Christmas presents I made some amigurumi. That's right, little crocheted animal friends. And let me tell you, it was way fun! Here is a picture of three of them together (I also crocheted a penguin for my sister, because she just happens to love penguins these days):

Aren't they awesome!! I chose these three because each is the favorite of the person I made it for. Wanna see more? Of course you do :)

See Yoshi's thumb?! 

It was more fun to make these than to make clothing because they are so playful. Doug actually asked if we could not give them away and just keep them. I was sorely tempted! But now it's too late, haha. 

Merry Christmas!!

A Secret Project

So I've been working on this project for a long time. As in 40+ hours. I loved probably 36 hours of it. Doug kept telling me to buy it/them from Rachel (Maybe Matilda - he said he could get 'em cheap because they are childhood friends, HAH. I wouldn't even give it to him for cheap and I'm his wife!) Still, the results are totally worth it! Unfortunately, I'm not keeping it/them, because they are Christmas presents for The Nelsons and for the LeMaistres. So no guessing until after Christmas!! The picture is zoomed in so that (hopefully) there is no way they could figure it out before time. I'll be sure to post the full picture after Christmas.

All I have to say is that these presents better be loved or send them back because I want them! haha.

I've been busy...

Hooray for a new skill and lots of time to practice! Below is my FINISHED cowl and some crochet projects I worked on this weekend.

I FINISHED!

A cute free baby hat pattern I found and wanted to try.
And, in case you're wondering, no.

Another free pattern
It was such a pain I didn't do the other bootie, haha

Um, this is supposed to be a washcloth
I don't know what I'll use it for, if I do..

Did you notice the color pattern? Essentially I picked out the colors for the cute hat, then I wanted to keep my hands busy during General Conference (and stay awake) (which by the way, was totally awesome) and so I ended up making other stuff with the same colors - because, duh, I don't have lots of yarn yet. That was a super long sentence, sorry if you had to read it twice! Anyway, are you proud of me yet?

Now I'm unstoppable, I can do anything.

Perfectionism or Impatience?

Which one will out?

Here is my Maybe Matilda crochet project thus far, all 2 or 3 inches of it. And already I am faced with a dilemma.

Notice that I finally found pillows that match the couch!! :)

Will I cave to my perfectionist or my impatient tendencies? Because neither can live while the other survives. Maybe I'm being a little melodramatic. Still, it is a problem that caused me to stop my work until I figure it out (that's my efficiency/laziness coming out - after all, it's only 4 rows! haha). You see, on the fourth row I learned something about my crocheting technique; I learned how to keep the stitches tighter by crocheting in front of the project instead of on top. What? That doesn't make sense? Well, the result is that the stitches on the first three rows are looser than the rest of the cowl will be.

So if I were a perfectionist, I would patiently undo, then redo the project. But if I were impatient, I would just keept going and hope the original looseness wouldn't show. Especially because I've already started over twice.

What would you do?

Hurry up and tell me, already!

Past the point of no return

I just did something a wee little bit scary, exciting, adventurous, etc. Needless to say, I'm going out of my comfort zone on this one and trying something new. Crocheting! with Maybe Matilda (who is actually one of Doug's friends from NY and is a totally awesome person besides). She is offering a crochet along (haha, every time I type crochet I spell it wrong and have to redo it..) and I signed up! Crazy, right? I don't even have needles hooks! 

Okay, truth is, I have crocheted before. I made a bath soap holder (don't ask), and some flowers that I attached to hair pieces. And I do have hooks, they're in Utah - Maria is sending them to me -  I just haven't picked them up in 3 years. So now that you know the truth, I'm still a little "scurred" (as my Anu would say!) but I'm committing myself, hence the post.

So this is what we're making:  

what color(s) should I do??

Will mine look that cute? Probably not. Will I ever wear it? eh, perhaps. But the adventure is on and there's no turning back. I needed something new to break up the humdrum of moving in, getting a new job, starting a new calling, learning where the grocery stores are, and meeting new people. 

Wanna do this with me?? Please do! I'd love some extra support. I added her button (on the left side of the blog) to make it easy peasy. Just for you. :)