To market to market...

Or maybe just to the beach. This is where my market bag has been of late. The beach. The funny thing is to see my family, we are not beach folk. If you scroll back through my posts you may have noticed that my daughter has red hair and a fair complexion. My son has curly blond hair and tans a bit better. My husband is a redhead and although I am descended from Italians (my father gets quite dark) the pigment gene skipped me completely. My dark is most people's base tan. We are doing our best this summer, with SPF 5o in hand to dispel the idea that in order to enjoy the beach you have to tan up....so far so good (no burns).

This bag was a super quick knit and I didn't make any modifications. I knit it up using lion brand cotton-ease and needed less than 3 skeins. The bottom is knit up holding two strands at once so while the bag is very Mary Poppins like with it's ability to hold almost anything you want to stuff inside; the bottom doesn't stretch out to match your height. You know a lot of knitted bags are great and can easily be filled up but once full and the strap is on your shoulder you may have to do a little soccer maneuvering to help walk because the bottom of the bag is hanging out at your ankles. Free pattern can be found here.

A quick story that isn't about knitting or the bag but rather driving home from the beach. Today while driving home we are all in the car enjoying an afternoon thunderstorm that began just as we were headed home, bundled into our comfy clothes, smelling of sunscreen and sand. It is an hour drive to the beach from our house so our rides home can either be great and drowsy or full of screaming from an exhausted two year old late for his nap....always a crap shoot which one it will be. Today a couple of miles from home he decides that he is done being in his car seat and wants out. If you aren't familiar with little people car seats they have a buckle between the legs that secures their lower half and a chest strap with a clasp around their chests. So my son is complaining quite loudly about how he "is done" being in his seat. A quiet minute and then I hear a loud (and quite happy) WHEEEEEE from the back seat. A check of the rear view mirror and I see my young son has pushed his chest strap down to his waist and pulled his arms out. He is still secured with his lower strap but from the waist up, nothing. His arms are in the air much like a person on a roller coaster rides and as I turn corners he is yelling WHEEEEEE....what am I going to do with him?

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Long lazy summer days

Umm....it's been awhile. I have regressed I'm afraid to my childhood of long lazy summer days. There are so many things I want to share and I have been reading all of your blogs out there but somehow I haven't managed to wrestle up enough energy to comment let alone create a new post. My only excuse is this is the first summer since 2003 that I haven't been pregnant, nursing, or had someone too small to really enjoy all that summer has to offer. I have been making the most of it and making up for lost time this summer.

Last summer I got very annoyed with people who seemed to disappear with only a few posts during the summer months. I thought, how hard is it really to just keep up with your blog? Well my friends I am finding it very hard :). The temp here has finally hit the triple digits and so that means our afternoons are finding us hunkered down inside working on projects, watching movies, and getting out of the heat. My shawl? Well it hasn't even been started. I finally got a ball winder and have the yarn all wound, baby steps people, baby steps.

There has been some knitting and a little sewing. I made up this purse in minutes the other morning.
My daughter asked if we could do something together, so I let her cut the fabric and sit in my lap and help me feed the fabric through the machine. The "handles" we found in a toy bin in the bottom of her closet. Just some plastic heart bracelets she had.
I apologize for the brief post and the fact that I haven't been checking in but my lazy days are over and I miss catching up with all of you. I have some finished knitting to share and other stories but right now I am late getting the kids packed up to go camping for the weekend. I will check back with you Monday morning and see how things are with you. Thanks for hanging in there and I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and are enjoying your summer as well!!

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Yikes, it's already July

I totally took a hiatus from all things blog related. I just jumped right into summer with both feet and in my down time I was mostly cooling off and not really knitting. We have been soaking up all things sun and trying to be as adventurous as possible. Mind you my kids are little and my tolerance for melt downs hasn't been high lately so our idea of adventure might differ a bit from yours :)

I am still trying to figure out that delicate balance that we all do, between work, family, friends, household chores, and enjoying the great outdoors. We have done some beach time at our favorite beach...
We have done some picnics up in the forest....I made these scones yesterday morning for breakfast....

and some more time at the beach, notice not any knitting anywhere.

July for my EZ knit a long is a shawl. I'll admit it, I'm a little bit afraid of this project. I have a pattern complete with yarn and needles all waiting for me and I haven't touched it (sigh). I am however casting on for this in the hopes that I can use it this summer at the farmer's market and even collecting veggies in my backyard. Fear not though I will not abandon ship this early in the knit-a-long and as soon as my little bag is finished I'll start the shawl.

Now I must go and catch up with all of you and see what you are working on!

I forgot here are some links for free shawl patterns. Silky alpaca lace shawl, aeolian shawl, shipwreck, floral fanasy shawl, bloom, laminaria, jerry, leaves and waves, nicky, ella, zeta, spanish dancer, josephina, Cold Mountain, patricia, tri-aran-angle, dagmar, maja, & jeanie. Hopefully these will give you a headstart!

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