Currently, I'm loving...

... my new Uniball Signo pens and refills. I accidentally ordered 0.38 mm instead of my beloved 0.28 mm, but it turns out I love them just as much!

... barefoot soccer games.

... learning to use my new (to me) Copic markers.

... a little green in our garden and that our Monday night dinner featured our very own arugula.

... that we took a much-needed break from packing to enjoy a day down at the Waterfront. Watching him love every minute of it was totally worth it.

... that my tulips are still going strong.

... watching this very energetic and spirited little guy grow up.

Right Now

Right now, this is what my house looks like. It's kind of driving me crazy, but it feels good to be making progress. Slowly, we're getting there.

32

Last Wednesday was my 32nd birthday, and it was a hectic day at work: meetings, data analysis, new deadlines. I missed almost all of my birthday phone calls as I was in the lab or in a meeting, which was such a bummer. Living three time zones away from our family makes it really difficult to talk on the phone, unless it's the weekend. That's one thing that will be simplified by our upcoming move.

Still, with all that said, it was a lovely birthday. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to wear capris and short sleeves. My boys treated me to breakfast, so no cooking for me. My office mate, who is also my best friend, surprised me with balloons, fancy coffee, chocolate, and an iTunes gift card upon my arrival at work. I got lots of loving messages and emails from family and friends. My lab mates sang 'Happy Birthday' during lab meeting. And, after work, we went to the park with my best friend and her family so the kids could play, and we had burritos, tacos, and cupcakes. I'm really very lucky.

I wish I had something really deep to say about the year ahead or had grand plans for the upcoming year. For the time being, I feel like I'm just working hard to keep my head above water and figure out what comes next for our little family. To be honest, it's hard not to be weepy as I celebrate my last birthday in Seattle. But I know that's not productive, so instead of being sad, I'll try to fill my heart with gratitude for all the people that helped to make my birthday so special.

So, thank you.

Teddy's baby booties

As I mentioned before, I think baby booties make for adorable baby gifts. And, of course, they offer the added plus of being a quick knit. I recently made these simple baby booties for a special little boy, Teddy, who we are all looking forward to meeting in a few months.

I first made these baby booties a couple of years ago for my nephew, and found the pattern to be really enjoyable to knit. I once again used Baby Cotsoy to knit these booties, as I like how soft it is, adore the color, and really appreciate the fact that they can be machine washed.

They're so teeny tiny and cute. I'm feeling the urge to try a new bootie pattern - do you have any favorites you can recommend?

Earth tone baby booties

You'd think that since we're getting ready for a big cross-country move, the crafting would come to a halt. But I find that when I don't get my crafting fix, I'm just plain crabby. And so, as I make lists of all the things we need to do before we move, I'm making an additional list: little portable craft projects to work on during this time of transition. After all, who wants a crabby Mama?

So, to keep the crabbies at bay (and because baby booties are the cutest and fastest baby gift), I've been working on these earth tone baby booties (Ravelry details here). I've made these before and I remember really enjoying this pattern. I was so happy to find that I remembered correctly -- this is a really fun and quick pattern. And I really love that they have ties, so as to make sure they stay on. So cute!

I used Knit Picks Felici (can't recall the colorway), and think it makes for a funky, boyish pair of booties. They're not quite cuddly, but still pretty cute. I was happy to find I could make 2 pairs of these booties out of one skein, which was lovely. These are so super soft -- LOVE.

And look how adorably tiny they are. They're on their way to Baby Hudson, and I'm so hoping his feet aren't as big as M's were when he was a newborn, so that they'll fit at least for a few weeks!

Getting ready to move on

Enjoying a sunny Seattle afternoon at the "beach"

I can't believe it, but we're actually getting ready to leave Seattle. After having lived here for 9 years, this was not an easy decision... especially given how much we love our life here. But, all good things must come to an end, and it's time for us to move on to a new stage for our family. We're headed to North Carolina for a job opportunity and to be closer to family. We're in the midst of packing up and getting ready to say goodbye, but won't probably make it to our new home until the middle to end of July.

In the last few weeks, I've been getting asked if I'm excited to be moving, and I don't have a good way to answer that. I guess the short answer is: no, not at all. I love Seattle and everything about our life here, but it's time to move on. And I am not familiar with the area we're moving to, so I don't know what it'll be like to live there. So, no, I'm not at all excited. But I'm also not dreading it... I think once you make a decision, you need to make the best of it and try your hardest to make it work. And so while I may not be excited, I think it'll be good for our family, both immediate and extended.

Between Mike and I, we've moved at least 11 times -- but moving with a toddler is a totally different experience. We're trying to maintain the normalcy of our days as much as we can, so as to enjoy our last few weeks here and to make it an easy transition for M. The last thing I want to do is to wish our last few weeks here away, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish we could skip the packing and the unpacking altogether. Ahhh, wishful thinking.

Aside from packing, we have lots to look forward to in the next few weeks: birthdays, going away parties, and more birthdays. I'll be back on one of my packing breaks to share!

(A Different) Easy Baby Cardigan

So yesterday I showed you the Easy Baby Cardigan I made for Baby Hudson using the pattern from More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. After finishing up that bad boy, I was really in the mood for another cute baby knit, but I wanted no more stitching up of side seams. So I did a Ravelry search, and found this pattern. It's also called Easy Baby Cardigan (which, funny enough, I hadn't noticed til just now...), but is seamless. It's a top-down sweater, my first, and definitely not my last (ravelry details here).

I used Plymouth Yarn's Happy Feet DK for this sweater, which I had originally purchased intending to make something totally different. What, I don't recall, it's been in my knitting basket that long. This yarn is a dream to work with, and the stitch definition is lovely. The best part is that it's incredibly soft, and machine washable, which is an infant mother's dream.

The pattern calls for ties instead of buttons, but I decided to add buttons and button loops anyway. I wanted to make the button loops big enough so that it wouldn't be a hassle for Hudson's Mom to put it on and off, but they turned out too big for the buttons I used. I'll go back tonight and change the buttons, and next time add 4 or 5 buttonholes (and add the adorable hood). And now they're off, headed to their new owner, along with lots of love from Aunt Lizzy.

Easy Baby Cardigan

A month and a half ago, I posted about the new yarn I'd gotten from Knit Picks and my lofty goals for them. I've been busy knitting, but not finishing anything. It appears I suffer from Knitter's Startitis -- I get more excited about starting a new project than about finishing up the ones I've got on the needles. For a while there, I had 7 projects going at one time.

This past week I finally added buttons to Baby Hudson's Easy Baby Cardigan from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts (ravelry details here), which had been waiting for the right buttons for some time. This little sweater was so quick to knit -- it probably took me a week of knitting on my commute to get it knit up.

But then you have to seam up the sides, and that's where I lost a little steam. Stitching up side seams are, by far, my least favorite part of finishing a garment, and it was no different with this little sweater. Thankfully, it's a teeny little sweater, so stitching up the sides didn't take long. I am very pleased with how it turned out!

I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Peapod, which is a brighter green than I'd expected. I was not crazy about the fact that the yarn isn't tightly spun, and thus can easily split if you're not careful. But once washed, it gets incredibly soft and totally perfect for a baby. I will definitely use it for baby garments again in the future. 

Even though I wasn't crazy about having to stitch up the side seams, I'll probably make this little sweater again. It's cute, fast, and easy!

Where did Spring go?

This weekend, Spring arrived in Seattle. It was sunny and dry and just lovely. We don't usually let a little bit of rain keep us from enjoying the outdoors, but being out and about on a sunny and dry day really is so much more enjoyable. 

We spent our Saturday morning at the Arboretum

Our daffodils finally bloomed

We actually needed to water our garden

Little pea shoots are making their way out of the ground

We also spent our Sunday at a local lake beach with friends. The first real picnic of the year -- or at least the first one where the sun was shining! It was as close to perfect as it can get.

Sadly, someone forgot to give Spring the memo that it was supposed to stick around. We're back to rain here, though the temperatures have happily risen from this time last week. Still, it's little comfort when all I can think of is how badly I want to smell like sunblock again.

Spring, come back!