She Knits Shizknits

OOTD- Christmas Eve

Trying to keep comfortable  and somewhat warm as I ran last minute CE errands and got the small men ready to go to my Mom's for dinner..

• sweater tunic/dress: Charlotte Russe
• black knit sweater leggings: TJMaxx (remixed)
• boots: On Your Feet "Otero" from Overstock.com (remixed)

These leggings are SO. COMFORTABLE.  They are slightly thicker knit than tights (the package said 'sweater knit'), and have a thick band at the waist instead of a thing elastic. This means I can actually wear them without looking like Sal's dreaded segmented worm. Even under this rather form-fitting sweater dress, they look good.

After wearing the dress/tunic for a few hours, I realized that I probably need to order a full-slip for future wearings. Since the dress is sweater-ish, it would rub against the knit leggings on my bum and start riding up a bit. After a while, my entire bum would be showing and the dress would rucked up around my waist in the back. Not an attractive look!  I kept having to check to make sure the dress wasn't working its way upward over my bum.

I also had a similar 'walking dress' problem with this red shirtdress when I wore tights:

• red shirtdress: H&M
• black long sleeved tee: Old Navy (remixed)
• striped tights: Kohls? (remixed)
• boots: Aerosoles (remixed)

I would be walking and the dress would slowly crawl upwards so it was all bunched up between my thighs. Nice!

Anyways, I think wearing a slip underneath would solve the 'creeping dress' problem. Plus I have a couple of sheer dresses that would benefit from being worn with a full slip- they would lay better and be less see-through.

I ended up ordering these short (18") full slips from Kohls, since they were having a pretty good sale and free shipping**. I got one in black and one in nude to try out. I know 18" is short, but I figured most of my dresses are on the shorter side so hopefully it works out. I'll just return them to the store if not.

So am I crazy to try wearing a full-slip? I remember my mom wearing slips when I was growing up, but it seems that no one wears them now!

**if you're looking to buy, use these coupon codes to get a better deal: "extra20" gets you 20% off- better than the 15% they are advertising on the Kohls homepage, and good thru Jan. 19.   Also, "nocharge" will give you free shipping with no minimum order (not sure how long it's good for).

OOTD- plaid mad

Friends, I have a confession to make: I used to fear the Plaid.

Yes, that's right: even in the 90's, when the Plaid was all the rage (remember grunge?), I couldn't bring myself to wear it. While all my college friends had flannel shirts and ripped jeans, I stayed far, far away from the Plaid.

Why?

It was because I had been traumatized by my elementary school years at Catholic school, where we were forced to wear plaid jumpers (from 1-4th grade) and plaid skirts ( from 5-8th). No matter which Plaid you were wearing, your hem had better reach the floor when you knelt down, or there would be hell to pay from Sister Thomas Maureen!  Oh, and don't forget: your socks had to be knee-high white knit, and your shirt had to be a white button down with a round collar (though the really cool girls wore Oxfords). 

It was YEARS of the Plaid, people. YEARS.  No wonder I have no fashion sense! Whatever rudimentary fashion I had was beaten out of me by the Plaid.

All this to say: I have not purchased nor worn a piece of the Plaid clothing for many a year (I'll let you guess as to how many). But a few weeks ago I was browsing a store online and came across this cute little plaid skirt:

Two things I love in a skirt: bows, and peek-a-boo petticoat layers. This skirt had both...and since I was shopping on Cyber Monday, I got it for a song (less than $10). The bow, petti, and low price got me over my fear of the Plaid, and when the skirt arrived, I was very pleased with how it fit and felt.

Since today was rainy and cold, I finally pulled it out and gave wearing the Plaid a whirl once again:

tshirt- Kohls; brown sweater: H&M; plaid skirt: Charlotte Russe; sweater tights: ???

brown boots: Aerosoles "Lastiticty"; necklace: handmade by me

It was a lot more fun than I remember it being in elemntary school:

And look at this cute little petticoat layer peeking out underneath!

I am warm, comfy, and no longer afraid of the Plaid!

pushing it with OOTD posts...

I'm going to try starting something new here: posting occasional pictures of my OOTD (Outfit Of The Day). So a few times a week, I'll put up photos of myself a la Chewy Spaghetti or the ladies at Academichic. Why? Well, there are two reasons:

1- I'm tired of wearing my mom-uniform of jeans + tshirt. Not that I'm a fashionista, but one day I realized that I had worn the same ariation of jeans + tshirt everyday for nearly two weeks. Really? I can't be more creative than that?

A few weeks ago I was browsing around on Flickr and found the Wardrobe Remix group. There was so much real-world fashion inspiration there: these were real people wearing real clothes, not some crazy haute couture or catwalk fashion like this-

(Cuz really readers- can you imagine me in that orange outfit at the park? Or volunteering at school??  Little Man would be mortified- and for good reason! )

The Wardrobe Remix group led me to some great new bloggers, who have given me the inspiration to perk up my daily outfits a bit. I'm not wearing stiletto heels to carpool pickup, but I'm trying new things like wearing skinny belts and brightly colored tights (not always together LOL)...

I'm also finding that this is a new way for me to be creative that doesn't involve paint, colored pencils or paper. Finding different (and for me, unexpected) ways to mix color, texture and fit has been fun! And I've found 'new' outfits from clothes I already had.

The second reason for my posting OOTD photos: Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like having my photo taken. Never have, even as a child! I have many yellowing photos where I'm scowling or looking straight on at the camera with no expression at all. I'm sure that drove my parents crazy! LOL

I"m not sure why it's such a chore for me to take photos- as an adult my photo-phobia has gotten worse. When I see a camera, I immediately stick out my tongue or duck my head. That might be why there are very few photos of me in my Flickr stream- over 3800 images and I'm in only a handful of them. 

Posting my OOTD will hopefully get me to loosen up in front of the camera. I need to be less judgmental & nitpicky about how I look in the photo, and just BE.

So, here's my first posted OOTD photo (taken yesterday, when it was quite chilly - for so.cal at least- and I knew I had to be in and out of the car for multiple pickups and errands)

white blouse- ?? I think Old Navy from a couple years ago

red sweater- TJMaxx

straight leg jeans- Gap 1969 (real straight)

boots- Lassen

This is probably the tenth or so OOTD in my "What I Wore Today" photoset, and I think I'm just starting to get comfortable with the self-portrait thing. Don't I look more relaxed than in my very first OOTD photo??

shirt- Old Navy
scarf- Old Navy
jean skirt- ?? very old so who knows
leggings- Target
socks- Target
boots- Lassen (from Zappos)

At least I'm looking into the camera with the first photo! Anyways, you'll probably be seeing more of these OOTD posts....just one more creative bit that I"m trying to 'knit' into my life...!

"brothers"

This is one of my favorite photos of the boys:

It's from July of 2006...I took it when we visited a friend's small hobby farm. Little Man was watching the chickens in their coop when Monkey Boy walked up behind him and gave him a big hug.

I loved the photo, but I wasn't a fan of the background...so I played with the image in Photoshop and came up with this digi-layout:

All the papers and elements from Kasia Designs' "Dandelion Wishes" kit. I love how the page turned out. And best of all, the whole kit only cost me a $1!  Shabby Pickle Designs is having an incredible $1 sale to celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day. The sale goes through this weekend (11/6-11/8), so if you want to pick up some really great digi goodies, head on over!

random ramblings wednesday

-waaay too much time spent running around yesterday...errands/carpool/shopping/carpool/science night...too much! I actually felt flu-ish going to be last night!

-thank goodness I'm feeling better today

-skipped 6am yoga class this morning. woke up at 5:30, looked at the clock and thought "nah", rolled over and went back to sleep...that extra hour of snoozing was prolly just as good for me as the yoga would have been

-cleaning up email distribution lists can be a pain in the patootie

-i need to sign up for another Cooking Light subscription...they have the best recipes

-today is supposed to be 96F..hello, Mamma Nature? didn't Fall start yesterday?

-no knitting going on around here as it's been too hot

-the Dearest has been working some crazy hours for the past month...I miss him!

-gearing up for a Girls' Weekend in Palm Springs this weekend....I was told I need a "hootchie-mama dress" for Saturday night...should I be scared?!?

-just got the Best Camera app for my iPhone...very cool! If you have a cell with a camera, you should try this app out! 

-wanna go shopping for some tights for Fall...despite the 96F temps LOL Am I crazy or what?

-our masterbath needs a serious deep clean...why can't I find a cleaning person who will clean just the bathrooms???

-sitting on my desk is a spiral notebook with a bunch of Little Man's passwords and account names...I love looking through it and seeing what he uses as passwords!

-I'm trying to journal at least a few times a week- started last week and have only managed to  write twice...

-over the drama...and that's all I'm going to say about that

-lots of books to pick up at the library...that will be my next stop after dropping off Monkey Boy at preschool today. 

-need to take more photos of LM...he's in school all day and MonkeyBoy isn't, so I have been taking lots of pics of MB lately...

-MB's preschool wanted a family photo and the most current one I have is from April. Seriously??? Wow..need to take family photos more often.

-the small men were yelling while in the bathtub together last night...I thought they were arguing and went in there to ask them stop. Turned out it was the Lego men who were 'arguing' (they take Lego figures into the tub for play)....doh!

-just noticed today that MB has some seriously hairy legs...lucky for him, he's a boy! LOL

-need to fold about six loads of laundry- ugh

now, I'm off to fold that laundry and get lunch ready for MB before preschool.....

yoga instructor fail...

see more Fail Blog

love this!

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

random thursday

Oh how I love orange!

Little Man made me breakfast this morning...

...it's a bowl of ice cream with 'special syrup' (maple syrup) and a chocolate kiss. He was quite proud of his creation! I think ice cream for breakfast is pretty tasty, too! LOL

And a sneak peek at my latest knitting FO:

It's a shawl I just finished knitting from my handspun. More photos to come- when I figure out how to photograph it since it's so big!

Lastly....Does a bear scat in the woods???

"owl be your friend forever..."

It's been quite a week.  Little Man came home from school on Tuesday running a low fever; by Wednesday he was running a 103F fever and spending a lot of time laying on the sofa and sleeping. Poor little guy- luckily he was on the mend by Thursday, which meant he could attend the Valentine's party at school.

Originally he had intended to give his classmates small origami cranes.  In fact he'd made fifteen cranes by Tuesday night, but he needed twenty and he was so sick on Wednesday that he couldn't finish the rest of the cranes.

Little Man was quite stressed on Thursday morning- he was very worried that he wouldn't have enough cards to give out at the Valentine's party. Luckily Momma came to the rescue:

Aren't the cards cute???  I found them at Living Locurto. The original cards were pink so I changed them to blue and brown to make them a bit more 'boyish', then stapled a little bag of heart stickers to the cards and added a ribbon tag.  Little Man was quite happy to take them to school and hand them out.

Monkey Boy also had a Valentine's party at his preschool, so we made these lolly holders using cards from SAJ:

Luckily LM and MB had great party days at school- both small men came home with lots of cute Valentines and plenty of candy.

FO Report: Holy giant blanket, Batman!

FO Report: Spiderman Blanket
Yarn: Berroco Comfort in Pimpernel (red), Navy Blue, and Black
Needles: US8 (pattern calls for US7)
Pattern Talk:  I started knitting this blanket last summer, when Monkey Boy was totally obsessed with Spiderman. I figured I could finish the blanket just in time for Christmas, and he'd have a nice new blanket to snuggle with.

Well, it didn't get done till about a week ago so I missed the Christmas deadline, and Monkey Boy is currently more obsessed with Batman than Spiderman....but I am done with this blanket and I am quite happy with it! MB is, too...the finished blanket is HUGE!

For reference, MB is 41" tall, and the blanket has not been blocked or anything so it's still a bit 'tight' in this photo.  I guesstimate that it'll be more then 50" in diameter once I get around to blocking it. I still have to crochet "spiderwebs" in black from the outside points to the center, but after casting off for TWO HOURS (I think there were well over 800 sts!), and sewing in all the ends, I am ready for a break from this project! Besides, MB seems to like the blanket as is...he has been snuggling under it on the sofa for the past few days.

This was the first time I have used Berocco Comfort and I was impressed.  The yarn *is* splitty if you aren't careful, but the finished product is lovely: nice drape and feel, and it's machine washable.  Plus it's fairly inexpensive at only $6.00ish a ball for 210yds.  Since I knit a lot of stuff for the small men, I will probably end up using this yarn again.

The pattern is "ok"...I understand that English is not the patternmaker's first language, but it was a bit confusing to figure out. The notes from fellow Ravelers who had finished this pattern already really helped me understand what was going on. I can't complain much about the pattern though, since it was free!