Plum Stitches

another placket-neck sweater

I seem to be in one of those grooves of knitting pattern repeats.  This is probably my fourth little placket-front sweater, but I can't help myself.  It's sweet, simple and and easy knit, love it!

Pattern:  Placket-Neck Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, by Joelle Hoverson
Size:  6 - 12 months
Yarn:  Stash yarn!  Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre purchase maybe two years ago to make a hat for myself.  I used about 3 skeins and have 2 left.  Hmmmm, what to do with it...
Needles:  Size 8 circular
Notes:  Like I said this is a repeat performer.  Hope the recipient likes it as much as I do.  The little orange buttons are from the massive vintage collection my mother gave me for Christmas a few years ago.  Also, I deviated a bit from the pattern and knit the sleeves in stockinette as opposed to in the round on dpns (which I never use).

In other exciting news, Chloe started napping again when she comes home from camp.  Not everyday, but at least a few days a week.  I've rigged it so they're both napping for a bit and I get some down time with no one asking me any questions, or jabbering away!  Ah, never have a truly appreciated silence so much. 

Her school is also going to start the kids 3.5-4years old with swimming lessons twice a week.  A new development, just across the street from her school has a gym with a pool and are allowing the kids to use for swim lessons.  Such a relief, I've been looking all over the place for lessons, but none seem to jive with our schedule for the summer.

something new in JC

A beer garden that seats 800. people, crazy, right?  Zepplin Hall opened over the weekend and we headed over with neighborhood friends and their kids late yesterday afternoon.

What an awesome addition to Jersey City.  Now, I certainly wouldn't want to be a neighbor to this place or live above it considering it's open until 2am.  It's in a newly developed neighborhood downtown called Liberty Harbor and butts up against the Light Rail tracks.  But it is fun and kids are welcome until 9pm. Can't wait to go back!

You can tell Chloe had a great time playing with her friends by all the dirt on her face.

Saturday we celebrated Jim's niece's graduation from High School.  I'm starting to feel old.  She seemed so young when Jim and I first started dating and now she's all grown up.  Phoebe hung out with Nonna for a bit - a great day all around!

I just signed up to run the Newport Half Marathon (Newport's a neighborhood in Jersey City).  I'm hoping this really kicks my butt into gear, but I do need to ramp up my mileage.  Fortunately, it's at the end of September so I have plenty of time.  I ran one way back when I lived in San Francisco, but it's been awhile.

The Placket-Front Sweater if finished, just drying at the moment, so I'll have pictures soon. 

We're headed to Vermont for the upcoming holiday weekend.  **Hopefully** it won't rain too much, but that's pretty much a fantasy, but you never know.  While we're there I want to take Chloe back to Shelburne Farms, I think this year she'll get so much more out of it than last year.  Plus I really want to see the Brown Swiss Cows again and I just love the pigs and piglets.

the swift lives!

I've had a swift and a ball winder for a few years now - and gotten lots of use out of both.  Last summer in the confusion of moving bedrooms around in preparation for Phoebe's arrival I thought a lost a crucial piece of the swift, but I unearthed it under a table last week. 

We had a nice, if a bit soggy, week at the beach.  There was really only one day of torrential rain, but it was still too cold on most days to camp out at the beach for any longer than a brief visit.  We caught up on sleep, watched the garden grow and read a few books.  A perfect week, except for the lack of sunshine!




The eggplant is growing like crazy - I just love the purple veins on the leaves. 

 

last day of school

It's Chloe's last day of school.  Well, she is going to summer camp at her school, but there's a week break and we're headed to the beach!  I'm not sure she quite understands that the school year ends today.  Although last night she saw a bag of her belongings that had resided in her cubby ,at home and she got very sad and teary eyed.  Oh the emotion!  And of course in response my eyes welled up. 

As usual, I waited to the last possible moment to pick up gifts for her teachers.  I always have grand aspirations of making them something, but my planning skills are a bit weak.  We did pick little bouquets of flowers from our garden and wrapped them in parchment paper.  Last night I dragged both kiddies to Anthropologie to pick up some small paper-related gifts.

I bought a few different things from this collection - I thought they were so sweet.  Hopefully the teachers like them as much as Chloe and I did!

If you have something fabulous to share about your outdoor space, hop on over to Apartment Therapy and enter the My Great Outdoors 2009 project.

Lastly, for any of you NPR listeners out there, the featured Jersey City as part of a segment this morning.  Of course, I have a feeling it was just part of the local news, but still.   So exciting! The street they talk about is very close to where we live.  You can listen to the segment here.

summer vacation

It's hard to believe on Friday, Chloe wraps up her first year of school.  Well, pre-k 3 that is.  Time just goes by too fast.  I really hope that despite life being frustrating at times, I'm enjoying it to it's fullest.  Because they ain't young for long.

She's off for a week and then I signed her up for the first session of summer camp at her school.  She'll be going in the morning for camp and then switching to the morning program come fall.  It's been a real challenge recently with the afternoon program.  The little girl still needs a nap, but if she naps after school then she never goes to bed at night.  And I'm done dealing with little kids come 7pm. 

I think it's all been exacerbated by the summer weather and just spending more time running around in the mornings.  By the time I pick her up from school she is DONE.

In anticipation of summer camp, I'm on the hunt for an insulated backpack as she'll be bringing her lunch everyday.  If you pack lunches, check out Biggie's Lunch in a Box blog for inspiration. 

We had a fabulous weekend, traveling up to Montgomery, NY for a friend's son's third birthday party.  The weather was gorgeous, but not too hot, and Chloe had a blast playing with all the other kids.



I did manage to get back on track with my little sweater - finished both sleeves and progressing on the body.  Need to figure out my next project - I seem to be trapped in the never ending baby projects.  Not that it's a bad thing, but sometimes I wonder if I'll ever move on!

What else?  Check out this decadent Princess Pavillion.  How cool is that?  If only I had the time and space to stretch out and make something like this, Chloe would be in heaven!  I can just see it now.

minty peas

I admit it, I'm a sucker for marketing.  I bought a few packages of the Happy Baby minty peas and carrots, just as a back-up.  Last night broke into one of the packages and was pleasantly surprised to find this on the bottom of the cubes!

Holly smokes I won something!  I bought raffle tickets a few weeks ago from a friend who was working to raise money for her son's pre-school.  And, much to my surprise, I won a gift certificate to a digital photography workshop at Kenneth Chen Portraits.  Hopefully I'll actually get to use it and learn how to use more of the functionality of my camera.

Oh, and have I mentioned recently that I've become addicted to all things Bravo?  That channel has me sucked in and captivated.  Luckily, we have Tivo, so I can watch it whenever I feel like it and am not beholden to actual TV schedules.

smiling

 A few things in the garden that made me smile this morning.

And how about this - a truck that sells cupcakes around Union Square in New York!  Now I have a cupcake craving.  Check it out at Cupcakestop.

false start

 I started another Placket-Front Sweater the other day from some yarn in my stash.  Wouldn't you know it, I get to where the sleeves start and realize my stitches are way off!  No way to salvage it, so the frogging begins.  I wonder if I'll ever learn my lesson ;-)

We had a BBQ with friends yesterday in our back yard to celebrate Jim's birthday.  We cleaned it up from head-to-toe.  The best part of the effort is that even after the party we're able to enjoy it.  AND, I was able to use my coveted Orla Kiely dishes and glasses that I finally tracked down a few months ago at Target.

 

The cat battle continues, now I'm trying Cayenne Pepper sprinkled throughout the beds.  It seems to be working, but probably not for long. 

We planted some seeds that my SIL passed on to use last week.  Chloe's very excited to see if this ones grows.  And we're curious to see how quickly it takes over.  I just love looking at these seed packages - the illustrations are fabulous!