Finally!

I won't go into lengthy detail about our trials and tribulations in our rental home search, but I am excited to say that after a year of searching, we finally found one! We couldn't be more thrilled. Of course, now we will actually have to move. You'd think Jeff and I would be expert movers at this point, sheesh. It's a good thing that due to space constraints, we never fully unpacked from our last move.

It's only a few miles away from my sister-in-law and her family, who have graciously rented their basement to us for the last year and a half. It's hard to think about how much we'll miss her kids, and how sad it will be that Harper won't be playing with them every day anymore. They have so much fun together, so I'm sure we'll all visit often.

We'll take some pictures once we get settled. It's an older house (read: dated appliances and interior... but nothing beats the oven/stove we had in Seattle) with three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms and a fenced yard for Dottie and Dexter. It's not exactly something that we would purchase, but it meets our needs for the next couple of years until we are ready to buy again. We move at the end of the month, and I'm thrilled!

The 5th Beatle

We've had one heck of a holiday filled with family, fun, sand & waves (unfortunately not of the oceanic variety), video games (shout out to Lego Harry Potter!!) and lots of yummy food. Yesterday, Harper tried to prove that he is the true fifth Beatle. For a toddler, he sure knows how to rock the drum pads!

Amigurumi Banana

Harper loves bananas. Lately, he's less interested in eating bananas and more interested in opening it, taking a few bites, peeling it a bit more, and saying "na-na" over and over again. I thought it'd be fun if I knit a banana for him. I was so excited to use up a little of my acrylic yarn stash, so whipped up an amigurumi banana in no time.

It even comes completely out of the peel. Jeff and I were excited to give it to him the morning after it came off my size 3 double pointed needles. I wish I had taken a video of it. After breakfast, I told him, "Harper, I have a suprise for you!" I brought the amigurumi banana out from behind my back. He shouted "Na-na!!!!!" with his usual banana-induced excitement. He ran towards me, eyes fixed on the banana. He opened his mouth to take in about a quarter of the banana, biting down hard. He paused, looking down with confusion. Unsure of what to do, he finally spit it out and pushed the toy away. He threw a complete fit. Perhaps he thought we tricked him on purpose, or maybe he was just disappointed. Next time I'll put a squeaker in it. Maybe I'll embroider a happy face on it so he better understands that it's supposed to be a toy. Even now, a week later, he still wants nothing to do with the fraud of a banana.

Ready for the Park

Harper loves going for walks in the warm weather we've been having. He sits back in his stroller and takes in the sights & smells at the park. Sometimes he'll point and say things like "birdie", "jet", or "doggie woof", but mostly you can tell he's just absorbing everything around him. I can hardly believe he'll be two years old in two short months.

 Excited to get going

Annoyed with his mama's obsession with taking pictures

A Knitter's Rant

The other day, my eyes caught something on TV that really bugged me. I was reminded of a major pet peeve of mine. The movie was of low production quality circa 1975, and there was some insane lady sitting in a rocking chair, who was supposed to be knitting. Yes, she was supposed to be knitting, but it looked more like she was ineffectively digging a hole in a tangle of yarn. There weren't even stitches on the needles. She was holding a pair of needles much too large for her project, and was plucking and poking like her life depended on it. Would it have been so difficult for either her or the director to do a teensiest bit of research on how to hold knitting needles?

These fake knitters pop up everywhere. I love getting craft ads in the mail (especially my Knit Picks catalog), and scan over every little detail for good deals, inspiration, and eye candy. Not too long ago, I received an ad for a craft store (who shall remain anonymous to protect the innocent), that contained a picture of a joyous mother and teenage daughter who were bonding while supposedly knitting. They couldn't have looked any more awkward. Yes folks, even the craft stores can't quite get it right.

Yes, I do understand the saying "there is no wrong way to knit". Left handed, right handed, pickers, throwers, Tunisian, Portuguese... there are many ways to to hold your needles, and many variances on how to craft stitches. But sometimes it's quite plain when the person has no idea what they are doing. No, I am far from a perfect knitter, and I pass no judgment on other knitters (regardless of their skill level). Maybe I just feel like the intelligence of me and my fellow knitters is being insulted. Or maybe this is just one of those silly, pointless pet peeves. Or maybe I'm just paying too close attention to something so trivial. Hopefully I don't come off to rant-y (yes, I just made up the word "ranty"), because I don't mean to. Well... not really. :)

Inconveniently, I was unable to find a picture of a fake knitter. Go figure. This lady however, really DID knit with these ginormous needles, making the Guinness books with these big 'uns. What are those, like size 80 needles? And rope for yarn? Amazing.

Pixels in Bloom

I've been wanting to change the name of our blog for quite some time now. "Two Dogs and a Baby" doesn't quite work anymore. Harper is no longer a baby, and we had to change it from "Three Dogs" to "Two Dogs" when Noodle left our family. After several failed attempts at brainstorming, we finally have our new title (which I adore). Don't worry, I won't break everyone's links by changing the URL.

Now... let's just see if we can post more often.