UPDATE: Now I can include some vacation photos...

To cool off, we visited a local water park. The boys had a blast on the slides (not this fast one though - that's my brother-in-law flying out the bottom!) and it was a refreshing and sand-free break from the heat of the beach.

Our last outing took us to two of Tuscany's most famous and most beautiful medieval cities, San Gimignano and Siena.

San Gimignano was amazing. You park outside the city walls then walk into this tiny little world. I wish I could convey how it feels to be inside this little town. The streets are crooked and narrow and the buildings on either side are high, so there's no view of the countryside around you. Then suddenly the small street will open up into a piazza.

Walking the shady zigzag streets, winding around and cutting through the little city, you really get the sense of medieval people living their lives in the confines of this small unit hidden behind the safety of city walls and high towers, cut off from the rest of the world.

Siena is much like San Gimignano, but muuuuch larger. We got to drive into the city walls to the parking area. Drive into them - cool! The streets were again all narrow and brick paved and lined with high stone buildings, but this was so much bigger. Here the small streets open up to a giant cathedral,

and the most incredible piazza.

The piazza has a sloped ground (perfect for sitting and relaxing) leading down to the impressive Tower del Mangia. And there are restaurants and bars all around the piazza. We couldn't resist sitting down and enjoying a pizza and the cool evening air in this beautiful space.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Coming to you today (the first day of the official sockapalooza send off) from a very hot internet point in Siena. I've checked the sockapalooza database and we're at 48% reported done! That's almost half. Woo hoo! You've definitely been knitting. Now wipe that sweat from your brow and keep it up! I've got one last repeat of waving lace to do and then it's the final toe for me. The socks will be ready to ship when I am back stateside.

When last we spoke, I had popped into a 10 min.-1Euro internet point in a hellaciously hot Florence and only had time to check the sockapalooza progress. It's been near impossible to find stamps and a mailbox to send postcards around here, so I gave up early on ever being able to find an internet point where I could upload pictures. Therefore, one more promise of pics to come, including boys on the beach, wee one in Florence, and a very leany tower.

Now to see if we can find some pizza around here....

Well, they flew us anyway. That's my favorite line from A Room With A View, which is as close as I'd ever been to Italy before this trip. "It is fate, vicar, but call it Italy if you like."

We had a wonderful time. The weather was unbelievable. Living in Boston where you'll have three different kids of weather in one day, it's hard to believe that folks just wake up expecting the same sunshine everyday, but that's how it was. We got to do a lot of fun stuff with the kids, but I still had enough relaxation time to knit a couple of things and finish the Harry Potter book. And no one spoiled it for me. Although I didn't see any other Harry Potter books on the beach, Italy was certainly not free of Pottermania. We spotted these signs in a bookstore window in Siena and on the way to our gate in the airport, we passed a life-sized lego Hagrid!

The boys said, "what's a Hagrid?"

The kids were so funny on the flight back home! Wee one squirmed unhappily in her wee seatbelt (so cute) but once she was in her baby basinette, she played with a screw in the wall for about twenty minutes and then passed out. Phew!

While wee was investigating the screw in the wall, the boys got their little headset package from the flight attendant. B immediately put on the big blue eye mask and S had me explain to him what each thing was. After considering everything for a moment, S handed me everything but the earplugs, insisting that they were all he wanted and asking me how to put them in. He stuck them in (not to far!) and looked so funny with those giant pink things sticking out of his ears! And then he said disappointedly, "but I can't hear the music at all in these!" Ha! So we switched the earplugs for the earphones and he chose some hideous rock channel to listen to. "Listen to 7. 7 is great!"

(Note: the camera card was full, so unfortunately there's no pictures of the boys' airplane shenanigans.)

Later, with their children's meal, the boys each got a small bag with a coloring book and stickers and a plastic digital watch. S was so excited about the watch that he made me set the time right away and then gave me updates on the time every minute for the next five minutes in a happy sing-song voice. "It's almooost four o'clo-hock.... It's four oh one-hun..." I turned to roll my eyes at my husband and caught a glimpse of B who in some sort of jet lag induced punchy state had stuck about twenty of the stickers all over his face. I looked back at S. Asleep. And so they stayed until landing.

We got home crazy late because Air France lost wee one's suitcase. Fingers crossed that we get her little clothes and toys and favorite doll back. In the meantime, it's unpacking and getting over jet lag for us for the next couple of days. Please oh please, let the baby get back to her normal sleep schedule!

I've posted pictures to all my previous vacation posts, so go back and check them out for all the sites: the beach and Pisa, Florence, and the water park, Sam Gimignano, and Siena.

What a day for the blog server to go down - the deadline to finish your sockapalooza socks! Things seem to be working again now, so UPDATE THE DATABASE and POST TO THE PLIGG about your finished socks. There's no need to notify me personally by email about your finished socks. You need to update your own info in the database - I can't do it for you. Remember to update the info again when you send your socks out and then again when you receive your socks from your pal.

So far we've got 63% finished - awesome! That percentage on its own may not look so awesome, but when I think that that's almost as many people as participated in the entire sockapalooza last time, all finished on time, it really is impressive! Those of you still working, keep at it and send out those socks as soon as you can. And contact your pal to let them know that the socks are a little delayed, so they won't worry.

My two pairs of socks are all ready for packing up and mailing. I would have sent them yesterday, but, like my webserver, I was knocked out as well. I got hit by a mean cold that was either floating around in the airplane or waiting at home for me. I spent the whole day freezing and then sweating and using everything and anything I could get my hands on as kleenex. Not the best time to kitchener up the last toe of my second pair of socks and dash out to the post office!

Well, they're almost done and excited about their big trip. Both pairs of socks were something new for me and a joy to knit. The waving lace socks are truly lovely.

I hope my pals enjoy them!

UPDATE: According to the database info, 629 people have finished their socks, almost 400 pairs of socks are flying their way around the world right now, and over 100 people have already received their socks. Hooray!

Hey, if you're all done knitting and want to make more socks, there will be folks who'll be needing sock saviors in the next few days and weeks, so check in on the database to volunteer to be a sock savior. Thanks!!

UPDATE 8/9: Wow, you guys are really finishing like gangbusters! We're now at 66% reported finished, just under 50% reported sent, and almost 20% reported received. Sockapalooza rules!!

So what did I knit while on vacation?

It's another dolly bag, knit in pink this time and with the few changes that I wanted to make last time. I added four stitches to the total width, allowing for one purl between the diamonds and the cables at the widest point, and also changed one of the cables to twist in the opposite direction so they twist toward each other. It was already the cutest thing ever for a little girl - and now it's just a little bit better.

So what do you make after you make the cutest thing ever for a little girl? Well, the cutest thing ever for a little boy.

It's the striped denim hat from one of my fave books ever, Itty-Bitty Hats (it's the inside of the white denim hat with dots pictured in the book). It hasn't been washed yet, so it's still a little long, but it is such a handsome hat!

These are both gifts (overdue gifts!) and are likely to be my last little projects for a while. After 5 months of the limited time and even more limited energy of new mommy-dom, it's time to make something adult sized again. Yup, the vacation's over.

The lovely emli bonnet that I made for wee one in my embossed leaves knitting mania is now gone. It was in her suitcase that was lost by Al Italia and Air France on our trip back from Italy. All of her little summer clothes are gone now and I'm starting to really miss the particularly special things that were in there.

Like the emli bonnet.

Like this silly yellow sun hat that was big brother B's when he was a baby.

Like this handsewn baby doll that wee one really loved.

I know it's just clothes and stuff, but still I'm going through all the stages of grief: denial, anger, depression, and finally, shopping!

UPDATE 8/15: Emli bonnet is back!

As Friday ended with still no sign of any of wee one's little clothes, I figured this weekend was the perfect time to start sewing those dresses I was planning to make for her. I would be exaggerating if I said that it took no time, but I did manage to finish dress number one in a few hours of stolen time on Saturday.

The only difficult part was the curved hem. Anyone have any tips for making that lie neater without doing anything too technical? Of course, once it's on baby, who's paying attention to the hem anyway! B helped wee one model her new outfit for us.

Even easier to sew than the dress itself, were the cutie patootie matching panties!

The blue polka dot dress is also already underway. I love the subtle pink flower pattern on this fabric the most though. So sweet and feminine.

Thanks to Johanna for the perfect fabric and perfect pattern (McCalls M5083)!

Woo hoo! I can now tell you that my pal was Cirlia who works at Webs. It was so hard going to Webs and not mentioning it to anyone there. But now all can be revealed and it's so exciting to see the socks I made on her blog and on her feet!

I hope you all are having fun watching for the socks you made to appear on your pal's blog or the pligg. We are now at 72% finished knitting (you gals and guys are awesome!), 60% sent, and 35% received. How 'bout you all share your sock pal stories (did you know your sock pal? was it a huge suprise? did you get just the socks you've always dreamed of getting?) to help encourage those still knitting to finish up!

And remember to update the database when you finish and send your pal's socks and then again when you receive the ones knit for you. I can't update it for you, you've got to go to the database and check things off so I know you're done. Thanks!!

The boys!

trying to decide who's taller

A lot of you have wondered where the boys are these days. Never fear, they're running around doing all the things that 1st grade boys do. That of course means that they haven't really intersected my knitting/crafting life that much of late. That is, until Monday when S comes down the stairs while we're packing up for sports camp and says, "mommy, I have to show you this interesting thing I saw in the Highlights magazine." I'm thinking maybe it's some article on bears or bees or one of those hidden picture puzzles to solve. Nope.

Him: "Look, here it says CRAFTS."
Me, clearly not getting it: "Uh-huh."
Him: "Look, you take a milk carton and cut it and glue paper to it and some ribbon..."

And with the enthusiasm usually reserved for picking out new Lego sets, he explains.

Him: "It's a pretty container - we have to make one!"
Me, incredulous: "Okay."
Him: "I can put things in it. We have paper. Do we have a milk carton? Can we make it now?"

Whaddaya gonna do? The boy wants to craft. And so we made it.

B didn't want to feel like he was missing out on the fun but we were out of half-gallon milk jugs and he's not quite as into the crafting as his brother, so he just had me do one of the other crafts in the book for him.

Also back...

emli!

Yes, without warning, wee one's suitcase suddenly showed up again and she's been wearing all her best little clothes and her enjoying her favorite toys again.

It's good to be back.

I so enjoyed making Erika Knight's denim pinafore for a friend's daughter a couple of years back that I knew I wanted to make one someday for wee one. I kept my eye open for Rowan denim and bought enough for the dress right before we left for vacation. The temporary loss of wee one's clothes (another quick hooray that they are back now!) was the perfect excuse to cast on!

Just like before, I'm downsizing the pattern to be about a 1 year size. The little girl I made it for before is now 3 and I've heard that she can still wear it as a top. So I'm hoping that wee one will get a lot of wear out of this one. And since the denim wears and washes so well, I'm even making it in white (after knitting one white sweater in a particularly lovely but not particularaly washable yarn, I swore not to use white again unless was supersupersuperwash)!

Now that all my sockapalooza socks are done, this will become my new on-the-go knitting project for quick trips to the playground. Everything else on my needles is either too big, too fiddly, or too much work. Wee one may not need a new dress now, but with three more weeks of summer knitting ahead, she'll probably get it pretty soon.

The second part of wee one's new little wardrobe in the making is a bolero to keep her arms warm on chillier mornings and evenings in late summer and early fall. Now that I've got her summer clothes back, I want her getting as much use out of them as possible! So I bought some baby leggings and am working on this light cover up for the top.

Shannon gifted me with a teensy version of this pattern at my baby shower. It was so lovely and was perfect for wee one in her first few months. It was an extra layer just where she needed it. Now that she's outgrown that first shrug, it's time for a bigger version.

two fronts - can't you just see the pretty shrug shape?

This one will be in Rowan's Soft Lux, their slightly sparkly baby soft yarn (the non-sparkly version is called Soft Baby). I've always wanted to use this for a baby project. The gold ply is very subtle and even though I'm not a sparkle girl that doesn't mean that wee one can't be one!

One week of the boys in camp and instead of knitting, I spent all my time on ravelry.

I'm usually way out of the loop on new cool things like this. I had almost no idea what ravelry was and even now that I'm in, I don't really know what the hell I'm doing. But I'm having fun! At first, I wasn't sure that it'd be something I would really find useful since I'm not an organize-my-stash-in-Excell or keep-track-of-projects-on-my-pda type of person. (I don't have time for that, I'm knitting, for goodness sakes!) But ravelry is just so darned easy to use, especially coming in at this point when there are thousands of patterns and yarns already added. It's just a matter of entering your own project info and uploading a picture and, bob's-your-uncle, you've got 53 projects in ravelry!

If you're playing around on ravelry this weekend, come say hi.

S has been asking again. "Weren't you supposed to be making our tiger animals?" Riiiight. Honestly, I've got too many other things on the needles that need to be done sooner, so I'm about as focused on these stuffed animals as the boys are. That is to say, I work on them a little bit every two weeks or so, which is just about the same time that the boys remember that I was supposed to be working on them.

Instead of knitting on them today, I'll blog about my progress. The boys love seeing the pictures of the things in the house on the computer. The pattern is from Sirdar's booklet "Things to Make" and they're called "Bendy Animals" because they're supposed to be kinda posable.

They call for you to put those little bendy hair rollers in the body so the limbs don't just hang down. Isn't that a neat idea??!! I'm not sure I'll be doing that, but the tiger's still cool. S thought it was so cool that upon seeing the picture, he instantly wanted me to make it. "I want that. Just like that. Exactly like that." And B didn't want his animal to be any less cool, so we're adapting the tiger to be a lion for him (ie - yellow body, no stripes and a bigger mane).

And here's my progress so far. Many little pieces. Ugh! What I actually have here is just the legs and the bottom soles of the feet. (Yes, I specified "sole" of the foot. There is also a shoe upper that I haven't knitted yet!)

Oh man, these are going to be a nightmare to sew up. Luckily, I don't have to think about that again for another couple of weeks!

We're two weeks past the sockapalooza deadline, 75% of you have reported finishing your socks and 50% of you have reported receiving your socks! But the emails are starting to come in with forgotten pals wondering where their socks are and other pals wondering if the socks they sent have arrived. So if you don't want to be getting emails from me asking where your socks are, remember to update the database and get in contact with your pal. Let them know if you're running late; let them know that you got your socks.

And now it's my turn to let my pal know that I received my socks and LOVED them!!

My pal, Jen of Monkeyknits spoiled me good! She sent an anonymous email early on asking me some questions and I mentioned some pink socks I'd seen with picot edge and little ribbon ties that were the sort of style and color I liked. And she made me exactly those socks!

They are so pretty in pink Koigu. And check out the inside of those picot cuffs! Love it!

Now, I have some pretty boring sock preferences and am not the most exciting pal to knit for. I mentioned to my pal that I was afraid of variegated yarns, especially when they're not in my standard fave colors, and afraid of textured patterns, especially of lace socks which I suspect of being too chilly. So Jen decided to make me a second pair of socks to help me get over my fears. I think these gorgeous Monkeys may just convince me!

The yarn is the new Socks that Rocks Silkie. The colors are lovely and they are so comfy. And the monkey pattern, well, it's the monkey pattern, it rocks!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jen! (And thanks too from the boys who are having a blast with their little treat too!)

And finally, our July finisher winner - see it pays to update the database! - is Jennie L of jennie's blog in Sweden. Congrats Jennie, I'll be sending you a gift certificate for a sockapalooza bag from fellow sockapalooza, Allena!

Okay everyone, finish those socks and update the database or you'll be hearing from me. I'll be signing people up for sock saviors when I don't hear back from their pals, so for all of you excited to knit another pair of socks, check the database in the next week or two to sign up as a sock savior. Thanks!!

Working with this denim yarn is soooo weird. Everything seems "enormous and a half" (to quote my boys) when knitting and it's really hard to imagine that it could ever shrink down enough to be normal-sized. But it does. Take the denim hat I knit for a friend's little boy this vacation.

Before washing:

I knit the 2 yr. size. Can you believe that the pattern called for 9" before starting the crown decreases? It's as long as wee one's whole body!

After washing:

It's much snugger now. It even fits on wee one's head, although I did turn up the bottom edge twice to get it to actually sit on the top of her head. For a larger baby, I think it'll be great! With the ribbing and the extra length, he should be able to wear it for a long time.

And now my next adventure in shrinkage, wee one's white denim pinafore. The front is all done.

I've sized down the pattern to be about a one year size, but before washing it looks like a blanket next to a 5 month old wee one!

With some washing, it should fit her next summer. Cross your fingers, wee one!

Wee one's blue polka dots dress is done and ooh, is sewing these little dresses ever addictive!

No pics yet of wee one in her new dress since she's sleeping right now and it's about 65 degrees today in Boston. (We get wee one's summer clothes back, I sew her two new dresses and suddenly it's fall here!)

But the sewing will go on. We've just packed up wee one's baby basinette and put my sewing table in its place. I've got a new little stash of pretty, girly fabrics and an awesome new book full of fun projects that I can actually make!

Have you seen Amy Karol's new book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing? It is so cool!

The projects are simple but beautiful and super cute. There's this little apron pinafore and this little baby jacket, which I'll definitely be making. And then a ton of other sweet little projects for me to make like pillows and purses and the instructions are so clear. There's even a simple quilt pattern perfect for a beginner like me who has no idea what she's doing. It's just the sewing book I'd been looking for - love it!

Don't worry that only wee one is benefiting from my recent sewing activities. Now that the machine is out again and I've remembered how to use it, I thought it was only right that I dig out those Stupid Sock Creatures I promised to make for the boys last Christmas. I'd already cut out all the pieces but I had to reread all the sewing instructions before I could get going.

Once I started sewing though, it was really quick and simple. Perfect for a novice seamstress like myself! The only hairy part was when I was attaching the little arms. No hand-sewing for me, Mr. Sock Creature man. I did it all on the machine and the tiny circumference of the armholes was a tad difficult. Still, I had S's sock monster all sewn together in about an hour.

Now to stuff him and give him a face. This is the coolest part! S wants three eyes, buck teeth and a sticky-outy tongue. And then there's the neat trick of making the lips out of the heel of the sock. I'm totally having fun with this!

(Hey, has anyone made Jordan or one of the creatures from the book with round ears? B's Jordan monster is up next and I don't understand the instructions for the ear. Help!)

Wee one's wee soft lux shrug now has a back! I couldn't resist laying it out over the first piece of the denim pinafore I'm also knitting for her to see how it will look on her.

Looking at these sorts of work-in-progress pictures with yarn ends everywhere, I can hardly believe that the garment will ever look neat and orderly. Sort of like my home nowadays.

It's that time of year again - time to plan the Halloween costumes...

The boys have been extremely schizophrenic in the last weeks about what they want to be. We've gone all the way from a ghost to Spongebob and back again several times. Right now, we're at one ghost and one Spongebob, but I'm pretty sure that will change. It doesn't appear however that I will be knitting or sewing large costumes for them this time around. The ghost wants just a sheet with eyes cut out. I suggested a poncho-style costume (like this cool rain poncho from this cool sewing book) but no go. And the Spongebob wants normal pants, shirt and shoes. Bah!

So I'm focusing all my Halloween energy on wee one. After bookmarking and visiting this baby viking hat pattern about a dozen times over the years, I finally come up with a reason to get it. Wee one is going as a baby Viking!

I've always been curious what you get for $24.50! The pattern is extremely thorough with pages of abbreviations and techniques and the Aurora 8 yarn is lovely, but still, I would have been happy with just the hat instructions for, oh let's say $6.95. This gotta-buy-the-yarn-to-get-the-pattern thing is sort of a pet peeve of mine and is the reason I never shop at The Yarn Co. in NYC. They were pretty rude when I asked where I could find the patterns for a couple of the wonderful samples they have hanging everywhere in their shop. There was this sort of if-you-have-to-ask-you-can't-afford-it attitude that they had when they said 'well, if you buy yarn, we'll write down the pattern for you.' I didn't buy yarn. And you know what, when they started coming out with books, I didn't buy them either. But I have to admit that their latest book well surpassed my knitable projects quota that I use to decide if a book is worth buying or not. It's good. (Hey, in the comments, Christa says that she visited their booth at Stitches and they were selling patterns! Maybe they've changed their sales approach since their pattern books have come out. That sounds very promising! Whoops, looks like she was talking about the Bella Knitting/viking hat people - check out this post about pattern sales. Was it too much to ask for that the Yarn Co change its ways?)

Anyhoo, I bought the viking hat pattern and, despite the cost, I'm excited about making it. It's a small price to pay so that my bald little girl will finally have some hair! And with the help of "real Viking" Helene, I've got some ideas of a simple little apron-style dress to sew up for her to wear with the hat. Oh boy!

School doesn't start for another week, so I'm spending my days juggling three kids. When the baby sleeps, the boys immediately ask to play games and we spend her whole naptime and any other awake time she'll let us playing Mille Bornes, Fluxx and Set. The other day I managed to talk the boys into letting me sit by them and knit while they played Highly Suspect just with each other. I had to knit on their lion and tiger animals, of course. And I only managed to make four little shoes before cheating and accusations of cheating stopped the game. But I did knit.

So that's legs, feet and shoes done. There's still the back, a front (with intarsia patch), two arms (thankfully, the hands are knit straight down from the arms), head (with intarsia and muzzle sections), two ears, and a tail to go. At this pace, I should have them done by the time the boys start school. Next year.

And there'll be no knitting today. B wants us to go to Toys R Us to buy him a new transformer. It's all he's talked about for 24 hours. They've dressed themselves and are right next to me waiting for me to finish on the computer so we can go get the transformers. And so we're off to fill another day....

I'm working with this green Shelridge Farm worsted wool (yummmy!). I've swatched and swatched and swatched and changed my plans over and over.

If I can ever get things to synch, this should be a design for the sweet sheep and something new for me to wear to Rhinebeck. Man, where is Tim Gunn when you need him? "Make it work!"

Wee one! And she should be sporting a new sweater! I just got the yarn...

It's KnitPicks Swish Superwash for a baby Pinwheel Sweater. I'm so excited about this project. It can be my go-to project when my own Rhinebeck sweater has issues. Which it's having now, so let's cast on for the pinwheel sweater, shall we?! Hee, hee.