Tate Farms 2010

So we went to Tate Farms on Columbus day and I FORGOT MY CAMERA. I had it around my neck, decided to change shirts and took it off placing it on the bed, and thought "I'm going to forget that right there." And sure enough, I did. GRRR. So the only way I was even SLIGHTLY ok while we were there is I promised myself we would come back, camera in tow. And I'd even order new shirts for the kids so the pictures would be particularly cute. Ha, ha.

We went with friends of ours both times, and miraculously the first time our friend had her own camera. Some of the best pictures were from the first time.

They have a firetruck all fixed up, and both kids loved it.



Kate apparently likes anything she can drive. =)



Dash was just a little too cool for his own good. =)



In the house of pumpkins...





Buried in corn...





Playing on the rides...



After the corn bin, Dash went through a hay maze, and at the end of it he said "I have corn in my shoe." So John took off his shoe...



I'll say.

Tackling the giant tire pile...



This slide is two stories tall. Dash is fearless. At least towards giant slides. He's terrified of baths. =)



I could not get Kate to stand still to save me life. Here she is taking off. =)



This one's better, it's from the first trip...



Driving the tractor...



We all had so much fun. I love what they do out there. TONS for the kids to do, 10 bucks to get in, pumpkins are cheap... Just a great time for what you pay.

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

Yarnigans

So every once in a while I get on a knitting or crochet kick. A good friend of mine had a baby and I took some pictures for her, and decided to make a few wonky hats to use for the pictures. And one thing led to another and almost our whole family has new hats now (sorry John, I'm working on it), Kate has a new ballerina, Dash has a new fish and I came across a toy I made him a while ago and decided more of the same needed to be made of those too. =)

While we were in North Carolina, we met up with some friends and she reminded me that Amigurumi is awesome and I know how to do it. =) I haven't done it in a while but Dash has an obsession with fish lately and I thought I might as well make him a fish toy. Amigurumi just means crocheted toy in Japanese and you can find a bajillion patterns all over the web. So if you hate yarny stuff, just skip on over this post. =)

First up is Dash's fish hat. I found this pattern on knitty - here



Oh and I have a horrible tendency to not quite finish things. Sorry. =) This guy still needs pupils. =)

It's WAY long, and the mouth is what goes over Dash's head... and you can pull it down and suddenly it looks like a fish ate your head. Dash digs it.

Here's another shot where you can see his gigantic mouth. I thought there was no way this was going to fit when I started knitting it, but it does. =)



This little guy is one of my favorites, I think Dash thinks the "curly" tail makes it too girly. I don't care, she's cute. =)



That pattern is here.

This guy is wicked cool, I made him from the Itty Bitty Toys book by Susan B. Anderson. She rocks. She has a new series in a knitting magazine coming out with these reversible toys, I can't wait to make the hedgehog/squirrel.

This guy starts out as an egg...



and turns into a bird. =) Albeit a bird with a missing beak. It's coming, I promise.



Her blog is here.

Next is Brisa the ballerina. She's gorgeous, at least when the designer made her she was gorgeous. Mine looks a little psychotic. =) I think I'm going to redo her eyes. I don't want to do the plastic eyes because she's for Kate, but I think she looks a little nuts with these big ol black eyes. I'll post a picture when I fix her. =)



And her super cool hair. What a nifty technique.



The girl who designed her goes by Owlishly on everything, her patterns are on artfire and Etsy and she has a blog as well. Here's her artfire store...

And her blog.

I really, really love that hula girl. And all of her stuff, really. Super cute.

And crazy eyes or not, Kate digs her. =)



I'll try and post more that I work on, I always have something going on. Right now it's a quilt, and I LOVE the fabric so I can't wait to work on it. I just can't find any time. =) It's not like I can take my sewing machine to bed and work on it while the kids are asleep. I can crochet while I'm piled up watching TV though so that's what usually gets done around my house. When I finish that quilt, I'll post pics of that too.