Absorba!

I'm pleased to announce that I have completed Absorba the Great Bathmat! I used 4 strands of worsted weight cotton, 2 each in cream and ecru. The cream is actually a buttery color.

Overall, I am pleased with the result, particularly its squishiness. I wasn't expecting that before I started. The final shape is a bit wonky, as you can see below - not sure if it's something I did or just the nature of it.


I have quite a bit of yarn left and am wondering if it will be enough to make a second, square Absorba, leaving off the last two strips. That will be a project for a later date.

Foto Friday - Save the Fishies!

Happy Friday! It's been a fairly good week. The weather turned out to be quite nice...only one day that we didn't go out for a walk. I've started to incorporate a nice sized hill in my walk (with Finn in the stroller) to balance out all of my dietary indulgences. It's fine for now, but I'm not sure if I'll be so willing to do it when it's 80 plus degrees out.



I saw this painted a couple places along my neighborhood walk. It reads "Dump No Waste Drains To River." I don't think I've ever noticed them before, but who knows, maybe they've been there all along. Maybe some of my readers who have lived near the three rivers all their lives can tell me if this is standard and I'm still just a newbie around here. Amanda...this is your old 'hood...have you seen these? In any case, I think they're cool. Whose idea was it to make it so cute with the fish? I imagine when Finn is older, it can be an opener to a childhood environmental discussion. That would be after we ditch the SUV for a Prius. Ooh, this parenting stuff is going to be tricky.

Have a nice weekend, folks!

Work perks

I miss cake. I really do. When I made the decision earlier this year to make my maternity leave permanent, there was no telling what I would come to miss most about working, if anything. Now I know. I grew accustomed to those regular cakes for coworkers' birthdays. Even the crappy ones are a treat when you're at work. I love to bake, but the fact that the average cake is large and doesn't keep well and we are only two plus baby, a cake in the house can be a bit much. But, I missed cake. Last night I made my first ever carrot cake and this was my breakfast this morning.



Yummy, yum. And I'm pretty sure it counts as a serving of vegetables. Now, as I said, this was my first carrot cake. The cake is super moist and very good, but I think a little lacking in the flavor area...like a spice is missing or something. It only called for a little cinnamon, should there be something else? The cream cheese frosting is great, but maybe a little too sweet? R thinks it's fine. I had baby carrots, so I just threw them in my blender chopper thingy so they were chopped rather than shredded, which worked. And boy did I have carrots...I had bought a five pound bag at Costco. FIVE pounds! What was I thinking? Maybe I can make baby food to freeze for when Finn is a bit older. Anyway, now I feel like I must find or create the perfect carrot cake recipe, but I expect it could take a long time because we just can't eat that much carrot cake. Can we?

Foto Friday

I've decided to institure Foto Fridays. Each Friday I will feature...you guessed it... a photograph! Just any photograph that I've taken that I'd like to share.



I love this picture because Finn is working his little tongue, which he did all the time during his first few months of life. And he looks so innocent, which is how babies should look, right?

Confession of a Desperate Mama

I listen to ABBA multiple times a day...every day...for the last week or two. I think my favorite song is "Lay All Your Love On Me." It's got a great beat. How did this come about, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Finn has always liked music. One day he was tired, but having trouble falling asleep. He usually hates when you go near the computer while you're holding him, but I wanted to put some music on to help quiet him. So, trying to be quick about it, I open iTunes and pick something, anything, from the top of the list...ABBA...Greatest Hits. Two seconds of Dancing Queen and I had a quiet baby on my hands. Turns out...it wasn't a fluke...he LOVES ABBA. Usually, he's out with the first line of DQ, but if he's really fussy, we'll keep it playing and he is content. R was against the idea of our ABBA-lovin' baby boy...until he was a desperate Papa one night and now he, too, is a believer in the powers of Swedish 70's pop music. His favorite is "Take a Chance On Me." Go figure.

Easter goodies

We spent a quiet Easter at home this year. The Easter Bunny brought a couple books for Finn and lots of candy for R and me. I decided on Saturday that I am going to have an annual Easter project. Being so last minute, this year's is not done, but I thought I had better post about it as motivation to complete it, sooner rather than later. However, this will actually be the second annual Easter project. Last year I made these lovely (I think) felted eggs...

I made more, but they were given away as gifts. At the time I didn't have felting needles which would have made the decorative part much easier, so I may have to try them again at some point.

In knitting land, I've mostly been working on my Absorba bathmat - I'm about half finished. It's going pretty well as my TV watching project. I do want to start Finn's stocking, but have not gotten around to winding balls - I need a ball winder!