Knit on My Cat

After dinner during the week, I've been trying to take Iris out for a little walk around our apartment complex. It's a good way for both of us to get a little activity, and provides a nice respite from finding entertainment for a toddler who is getting progressively crankier as the evening goes on.

This probably goes without saying, but taking a walk with a toddler is a completely different experience from the evening time "power walks" I used to take alone. Obviously, they are slower. Also, I notice things I didn't pay much attention to before.

Like how long our shadows are:

How interesting this drain is:

Tiny flowers:

Gravel is fun to take out of potholes:

And stairs are fun to climb…

over…

And over.

Sometime after this picture was taken, there was a tiny tumble from the second stair, so our walk ended a little prematurely. I carried a tired and slightly disgruntled baby home, but she doesn't seem any worse for wear.

Some more pictures I couldn't resist putting in. You can click to make big.

I'm so grateful to be sharing these walks with her right now.

The BSJ is now EBB (everything but buttons).

In other breaking news, last Saturday, Iris had her first (long overdue) haircut.

Before:

After:

(With Kym, our lovely stylist.)

She still has plenty of hair… it's just not in her face so much now. So we're both happy. I think it was one of the less traumatizing firsts for both of us, on the whole.

That is the word that best describes my current WIP, this Baby Surprise Jacket. (Do I really need to put up this Rav link?) Besides that the pattern is sort of that way to begin with, I strongly suspect that all my increases and decreases are not quite perfectly aligned. Fortunately, I think the fingering weight yarn will hide many ills (Dream in Color Starry in Punky Fuschia. I don't think it shows in pictures, but in real life, it has a subtle sparkle. Just right for your baby bling needs!)

Maybe you can see the sparkle in that one. I hate to even post pictures of WIPs around here anymore, because I seldom seem to have a finished object to show off later. I don't want to be a tease! I'm feeling pretty confident about this one. Fun, ingenious, keeps you guessing… all things that keep me engaged in a knitting pattern.

I'm trying to find things to do with my sock yarn stash this summer that aren't socks. Baby stuff, hats, shawls, scarves. This caught my attention yesterday in a big way. It is practically begging for the Malabrigo Sock treatment. I'll take other suggestions of course. I am not going to run out of sock yarn anytime soon!

1. Jam!

Last weekend, I picked strawberries and made my first freezer jam. It was super easy to make, and the results are spectacular!
I don't think I'll ever go back to store bought. Not when there are so many delicious fruits to experiment with! I am not usually a fan of sugar free jam from the store, but I substituted the sugar for Splenda and it worked fine. There is so much fresh strawberry flavor here, I don't miss the sugar at all. (I used Ball Simple Creations No Cook Fruit Pectin. I don't think you can just go swapping sugar and Splenda willy nilly… it really depends on your pectin. So be careful!)

2. Bread!

Because you need homemade bread to go with homemade jam, right? I don't think it gets any better, really.

Of course, June is not just for eating things. More on my summer fiber pursuits coming soon.!

I would like to give a
way a jar of jam to a blog reader in the Metro-Louisville area. If you want one, leave
me a comment and I'll pick someone at random on 06/12/2009. I wish I could open this
little contest up to everyone, but I don't think I can put this stuff in
the mail, so you also win my delightful in-person delivery. Yay! (Oh, and
if you're interested in making your own, Erin put up this really nice
tutorial. I promise you, it is sooooo worth it!)