Catching up.

This has been a crazy, exciting, exhausting, wonderful year so far. I keep trying to find a reason to write in this little space here and life just keeps proving to be extra distracting. So lets catch up.

Last March we moved from our little condo to a three bed, two bath, single family home that is less than a mile from my husband's work and our children's school. John honestly walks to work most days, and it is so wonderful to have him arrive home in such a better mood since he did not just battle traffic. Grace loves her new school - she transferred schools at Spring Break, and handled the transition like a champ. Jessica is excited to start Kindergarten and Grace cannot wait to catch up with all of her friends in just under two weeks.

I'm still a knitting factory and have a bunch of finished project details to roll out. I just signed up for the Craftsy September Mystery Knit Along and cannot wait to get my yarn and find out what we are making!

My latest project off the needles is my Westknits Mystery KAL 2012, just need to weave in ends and take some pretty pictures. Until then, here are Clues 1 and 2:

day 1- recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

I'm ususally the one behind the camera...this is Jack and me on a walk.

Our 1st Snow in December will have to do.

Shopping @ Ikea is most recent but again I'm behind the camera.

15 Interesting facts about Jen:

1. My husband asked me out for our first date on Feb 16 because he thought it was too cliche to have our first date on Valentines Day.
2. Since we moved to Chicago, my dear husband has been out of town on Valentines Day for business EVERY YEAR! (Thankfully my kids make sweet Valentines)
3. I think this is more funny than tragic, since we enjoy showing our love for each other all year round.
4. We have been married for 8 years
5.  and have 3 children.
6. We have fish for pets because of allergies to cats, our home is too small for a dog, and the kids are too small for a hamster/guinea pig/rabbit yet.
7. The year I graduated high school, my school did Senior shirts with everyone's name printed on the back. My shirt has my name as Jennifer Moretti - when they fit the names to the graphic my last name and the next student's first name got cut. I was rather bummed by it at the time.
8. On our first date I happened to ask John if I could see his license because I have a thing about out of state licenses.
9. When I saw his last name, it was a strange moment when I saw Moretti. (we met at church, fairly casual, so we hadn't exchanged last names)
10. My initials did not change when I got married.
11. Reading and knitting compete as my top free-time fillers - I am always super excited when I find a good audiobook so I can enjoy both at the same time.
12. Reading has been my escape when life gets to be too much since I was seven.
13. It physically pains me when I hear someone does not like to read because I have yet to encounter a movie adaptation that can come close to the stories brought to life by my imagination at work with a great author.
14. I love that knitting allows me to be creative and practical.
15. My word for this year is Simplify. (or KISS = Keep It Simple Silly)

Happy Valentines Day! 

Hoping yours is full of LOVE, HAPPINESS, and CHOCOLATE!

30 Day Blog Challenge!

Saw this here (another mommyblog), looks like fun, maybe it will kick my blog back into action.

day 1- recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
day 2- the meaning behind your blog name
day 3- a picture of you and your friends
day 4- a habit that you wish you didn’t have
day 5- a picture of somewhere you've been to
day 6- favorite super hero and why
day 7- a picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
day 8- short term goals for this month and why
day 9- something you're proud of in the past few days
day 10- songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad
day 11- another picture of you and your friends
day 12- how you found out about blogger and why you have one
day 13- a letter to someone
day 14- a picture of you and your family
day 15- put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play
day 16- another picture of yourself
day 17- someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
day 18- plans/dreams/goals you have
day 19- nicknames you have and why you have them
day 20- someone you love
day 21- a picture of something that makes you happy
day 22- what makes you different from everyone else
day 23- something you crave for a lot
day 24- your last five facebook status'
day 25- what I would find in your bag
day 26- what do you think about your friends
day 27- why are you doing this 30 day challenge
day 28- a picture of you from last year and now, how have you changed since then?
day 29- in this past month, what have you learned
day 30- your favorite song

001:365

Icy Snow 1/20/2011 - 001:365

I was waiting for my new camera, and the day after it arrived I caught this one on my BlackBerry...

I'm looking forward to a photo journey this year; I didn't get very far last year but I had a frustrating camera. Now that I've improved my equipment this should be more fun. 

Penelope Cobblestone Scarf

At last, I have written up my first pattern. I hope you enjoy knitting this scarf as much as I did ~ Happy Holidays!

Penelope Cobblestone Scarf by Jennifer Moretti

Inspired by the  2006 movie Penelope starring Christina Ricci and James McAvoy. My niece requested a scarf like Penelope's to make her Halloween costume complete last year and a really cute, cozy scarf was born.  This is my first pattern write up ever, it has not been test knit, gentle input is greatly appreciated.

• Size: 8 inches wide and just over 60 inches long - shown in movie approx 80 inches long
• Yarn: Lion Brand Baby Soft Solid (60% Acrylic/40% Nylon; 459yd/141g) in 2 colors: [MC1] Pistachio and [MC2] Violet.  Red Heart Ltd Designer Sport  (100% Acrylic; 270 yr/85g) [CC] Black Note: I used approx three quarters of each of all three skeins for a scarf just over 60 inches - approx 345 yds of each MC, and approx 210 yards of CC.
• Needle: US 5 [3.75mm] 16" circular needle or double pointed needles (magic loop would work too)
• Gauge: oops, lost my notes - I did go down one needle size than recommended on yarn label to get a slightly denser fabric.
• Notions: tapestry needle
• Stitch pattern:

Cobblestone Stitch [Multiple of 8 sts] (revised 11/13/10)

Row 1: With CC, knit.

Rows 2-9: With MC1, knit every row

Row 10: With CC, * k7, drop next stitch off needle and unravel 8 rows down, picking up CC from row 1 below; insert needle into this stitch and under the 8 loose strands of MC1, and knit, catching the loose strands behind stitch; * repeat for round.

Row 11: With CC, knit

Rows 12-19: With MC2, knit every row.

Row 20: With CC, knit 3, *drop next st, unravel, and knit CC st from 9th row below as in Row 10; k7 * repeat for round; last repeat end k4.

Repeat Rows 1-20

(adapted from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns Blister Check, or Coin Stitch pg 69)

Scarf Pattern:

Begin with CC, CO 80 sts, join to work in round careful not to twist. 

Work 3 - 7 rounds stockinette stitch (or desired length for rolled edge). 

Continue in Cobblestone Stitch pattern for desired length.

Then, with CC, work 3 - 7 rounds in stockinette stitch (or desired length for rolled edge). 

To finish, knot off or weave in ends inside tube, may sew tube closed or leave open.

A pictorial tutorial for the Cobblestone Stitch pattern Row 10:

A look at the back

You are welcome to print this pattern, teach this pattern, and sell items made with this pattern to your hearts desire, all I ask is that you please give me credit where credit is due and not represent as your own. Thank you!

ChiClone

Today we are supposed to have the worst storm in 70 years. It was a windy night all right and there are twigs and branches all over outside. Thankfully it seems that the storm has not hit us with as much vengeance as anticipated. As usual, a lovely name has been given to this storm - ChiClone.

My favorite slimline bible I got at Spirit West Coast 2000 has spontaneously gone ragged at the edges. I have  been using it more, but goodness. I would rather not use a zipper cover for this bible so I popped on Ravelry to see if I could knit a cover. I fell in love with a free pattern, but alas the website is no longer and the wayback machine had no archive. Upon further look I found two more candidates that will require a trip to the library.

• Journal Cover with Ribbon Ties from Ready, Set, Knit Cables
• Vampire Diary Protector (I know, but it's cute) from Vampire Knits

In the meantime I have fashioned a lovely paper cover to hopefully slow the disintegration until I can knit the new long term cover.

I have really been enjoying my bible study and the small group on Tuesdays. I am so thankful I remembered to sign up just in time. The study we are using, Cynthia Heald's Becoming a Woman of Simplicity, is exactly what I needed right now. And the group of women in my small group are such a blessing to me and each other.

Here's a Halloween sneak peek:

Starring: Jessa as Snow White, and Gracie as Rapunzel

The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!

[warning: I have a bee in my bonnet today and have to get this off my chest, I likely just need more sleep but I'm trying to blog more frequently so here goes]


All three of my kids love The Cat in the Hat... on PBS. I really love that the Cat has the kids ask their mother before they go on their learning adventures. I want to love that the mom repeats back where they say they are going and to be back soon, I just wish she'd pop her head out the door/window and see the kids standing with a man sized cat first.

Perhaps I'm looking too deep into a cartoon, but it happens every episode and I spent the first few of them being so happy the show reinforces asking before doing. Slowly it has just been nagging at me with each additional show that these kids are standing there with this huge cat and they actually are going somewhere because they keep coming back with stuff (otherwise how did Sally come back with silk from the silkworm?) This is where the show is different than say, The Backyardigans, where their adventures really were the work of imagination.

Just please, look your child in the face and see who s/he is with before you give permission. Before you know it s/he'll be 15 and it wont be the Cat in the Hat anymore.

EIGHT YEARS!!!

Time sure does fly when you are having fun!

A New School Year

Guess who is very excited to go back to school!

Another school year has begun. And I have one very happy 1st grader. She loves her teacher, a few friends from last year are in her class this year and the rest she can play with at lunch. The first day was a half day so I'm looking forward to hearing all about how fun lunch and recess are. I should not be so surprised but this little girl is so excited to be at school all day now and is looking forward to a great school year.

Now I get to figure out what to do with the other two and work out our new schedule. I'm seeing Thursday playdates with the cousins and a checking of Library Storytime schedules in the future. As for today, I have some running around to do to get ready to pamper daddy this weekend. He's going to deserve it.

Found it!

Ahem...er sorry about the blog silence. My camera went missing so it was hard to get motivated to post picture less posts (the kids being so cute and all). I was trying to keep up by taking pics with my phone...but then couldn't find the data transfer cable specific to my phone. Someone has seriously got to universalize this stuff! Anyway, I found the camera today, so I'm back :)

So LOTS has happened since January -
We got a 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan! My sweet husband who is madly in love with me finally gave in and got his wife a minivan. I am in heaven! I love it so much it is as wonderful as I hoped and so nice to have all the room we need. Also, I'm finally back to an automatic transmission - I truly appreciate my 5 years of experience driving a manual transmission vehicle, and am glad that I will never have to worry about being in a situation where I cannot drive a vehicle. But I've put my time in and am relieved to be back to letting the car do the work.
Jack is a big one year old now - can you say FASTEST YEAR EVER! He now shares bedtime with his sisters instead of having to wait until they are already asleep before he can go down. This has exponentially improved our evenings. He has five teeth, is still a contender for fastest crawler, now walks along furniture, and occasionally you can catch him standing without support. You can make his day by holding his fingers so he can walk. Oh! and with the recent warm up, the LOVES the park and likes sliding on his belly (feet first) down the slide.

On the knitting front:
I knit Ang a shawlette and fingerless mitts and she loves them :) Now I'm working on a bright green Ishbel for myself and I'm so excited it may be ready by St Patrick's day!

...and I renewed our Costco membership.

Exciting stuff!

I also have a new cookbook and so far it's awesome! The taste of home simple & delicious cookbook is my new friend. It has 12 weeks of dinner main dishes, plus many of add-on options for sides, salads, soups & desserts. The first recipe we tried is very similar to this one. And then I made the chicken dish from week 1 and this book is a keeper. If you stick to the week's menu it even gives you a shopping list!

Glad to be back!

<3 Jen

PS: Tonight I cooked with wine after a long break of cooking from bags and boxes and I forgot how nice it is to sip a glass of wine while cooking. Definitely going to enjoy that more often.