Woah! No way!

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Originally uploaded by Sheepish.

Yes! Some actual knitting content. See, I told you this was a knitting blog. Remember a while back when I mentioned that I was making Lambchop #1 a ballerina style wrap-around sweater in Knit Picks Merino in the Petal colorway? Yeah, you probably don't. It's been long enough that I barely remember it. I think I started this thing just after Christmas. It didn't get very far fast.

While we were on our trip in the snow last month, I finished the front right section (the arms were already done). Then, I just put it away while I got all freakishly obsessed with cleaning and organizing our house. A couple of weeks ago, though, Lambchop started asking about it. She's pretty cute when she talks about it, because she doesn't really know what to call it. She just says her sweater and does this funky wrapping motion around her torso. I always get her point. So, I vowed not to disappoint my first-born on this occasion and pulled it back out.

I had gotten partway up the left front when I realized that I couldn't find the right front to measure against (this is a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of sweater - no pattern involved). So, I put it down again till the other half appeared after having fallen out of my bag at playgroup (you can't imagine how happy I was to see it). Then, I quickly got back to work, and the fronts are both done. I'm about halfway through the back and hope to be set up for sewing and blocking later this week (that is if she hasn't outgrown the thing by now). I'm not looking forward to the enormously long i-cord wrapping thingamabob I'm going to have to make when I finish the rest of the knitting, but we aim to please the little ones, and this is really what she wants.

In other news, I conquered about 3/4 of the livingroom. Seeing that it may not stay that way long if drastic measures weren't taken to make my little ones put their toys away, we headed off to Ikea today for more kid-friendly storage devices. I usually just get plain ole transparent plastic bins, but that doesn't seem to do the trick. Last night, I remembered reading in Organizing From the Inside Out that it's important to have storage units that are aesthetically pleasing to you, othewise you won't use them. So, working on that assumption, we loaded up on all sorts of cute, gayly colored goodies at Ikea. The overall damage wasn't bad for the quantity we got, but I certainly hadn't intended to spend so much.

On the bright side, though, the kids had a great time picking out things at the store (I thought it would be important that they pick them out, not just that I get stuff that I think is cute) and came home very excited about them all. Plus, our livingroom looks a lot more fun and happy with all the bright colors.

We got some cheapo treats for Mommy and Daddy, too, because no trip to the store would be fully satisfying without them. Though I would like to have set up camp in one of the bedroom displays and called it home, I just got a couple of inexpensive CD and DVD holders, instead. I did realize something about Ikea, though. It's great for dreaming. They've got a whole bedroom/bathroom/office/kitchen/livingroom scenario set up for you to dream about. Pretty clever selling tactic, I assume, but when you don't have the money for it, you walk from bedroom to bedroom sighing and wishing it were yours. Oddly enough, I even saw this in Lambchop #1. She spotted a really cute girl's room and fell instantly in love. A few minutes later, she said she wanted to go back to see HER room. Much like her mother, her imagination was vivid enough to transport her from her real life into a dream one where she'd go to bed each night in that cute little bed with all those cute little shelves and decorations around. *SIGH* Sucks being poor sometimes, but at least our livingroom is looking cuter.