Hats all around

This summer has brought a lot of travel and even more knitting.  For some reason a large amount of the knitting has been hats.  Hats for munchkins that is.  Who can blame me though, they are so CUTE! 

The bear hat is the result of a friend asking for one for her little man but never finding a pattern she loved.  When it doubt, make your own pattern.  It came out well I'd say.

I call August to December "birthday season" as it seems we are at a birthday party nearly every week for the entire 5 months.  With all of these cuties as inspiration, the hats very nearly made themselves.  I particularly love the striped photo prop hat, I can't wait to see the pictures of the little guy.

When fall finally arrives in our neck of the woods, the kids around here are going to be warm, toasty, and cute!

Summertime!

Whether the calendar agrees with me or not, I declare it summer.  These are my reasons why.

1) School is out in my neck of the woods.

2) My neighborhood pool is open.

3) The Farmers' Markets are open. 

4) Caprese salad with ingredients from aforementioned Farmers' Market.  Summer's lovely simplicity in a bowl. Yum!

5) It hit 90 degrees this week.

6) It has stopped raining daily.

7) It is strawberry picking time.

8) All of the people in my knitting group are doing open work or lace instead of blankets because "dear, it is just too hot."  I am knitting cute little hats for the same reason.  Watch for a blue one soon.

9) The summer concerts have started.

What makes it summer for you?

My New Ride

It has been a wild ride for the last few months but we are now moved into the house and mostly settled.  (No pictures of the house until the lawn is installed, the downfall of moving in February.)  There were hassles with the build and the move but it was worth it.   We have wonderful neighbors and friends close by.  I am also, finally, back to knitting and filling my Etsy store check out the new stuff and the gorgeous pictures.  I can't take credit for the vast majority of the outdoor pictures, by the way, those were taken by my dear friend Jolene.  Check out her photography blog here.  I told you she was talented now didn't I?

With all of these changes has come another.  I've gotten a new ride.  Cool huh?  

My daughter and I have taken to riding to the local parks in the mornings before it gets too hot.  She loves the trailer, I love the exercise and we're saving quite a bit of gas.  We are lucky to live in a place with so may parks and nature trails available.  We plan to explore them all this summer.  I hope that you and yours find some nearby and do the same.  I'd love to hear how your adventures go!

Progress

More work has been done on the house and the much awaited bannisters are in!  Munchkin may now tour the house freely.  No closing date yet but we are getting close.  I'm so ready to live out of drawers and cupboards instead of boxes and to have some semblance of order.  Sure our house is clean and gorgeous for showings but papers have a way of disappearing when I have to keep putting them somewhere "safe."

I'm now also dabbling in bead work for my Etsy store.  I currently have 2 sets of prayer beads for sale in my store and more to come very soon.  This is something I stumbled across a few years ago and shared with the women at my church recently.  They are fun and thought provoking to make and they are peaceful things to have in your life.  I've very excited about these and even if no one buys them, I hope to spread the word about them and encourage more people to make their own to use in their own prayers.

In addition to the prayer beads, I've been knitting like crazy, especially for Christmas.  In 10 days I knit 6 scarves and a purse.  They came out wonderfully but unfortunately there are no pictures since I gave them all away before photographing them.  Rookie mistake.