Stuff I've made... May 31, 2011

Apple pies baked for James early this spring. Yum!  I think apple pie is James' favorite breakfast.

 

 

Scarf and flowers crocheted for Maria

 

 

Flower rug crocheted for Hallie's baptism

 

 

Tiny crochet hats.  I've made several of the ear-flap hat (center with braids) for different things.  For Phoenix Price (Chad and Kelley) and for Michael Lian (John and Leah).  And of course, for our baby.  I made the football hats for Marcus Fernandez (Ramon & Emily).  And a couple more (of course) for our son.

 

 

I made several sets of these nursing blanket and matching diaper/burp cloths a couple years ago when a work friend was expecting a baby. I have a couple sets left, and this was the only one that wasn't extremely 'girly', so I've added it to my own baby stash.

 

  

I made this baby afghan a long time ago.  I don't think I even had a baby in mind when I made it.  And it has moved around with me.  Since I was taking pictures of "stuff I've made," I took a picture of this one too.

 

Baby Girl Simpson's afghan.  Looking forward to meeting my new niece!

 

My current project in progress - little baby afghan for Lincoln.   Getting close to finished, I just need to find another skein of the green yarn.

 

More upcoming projects:

• hot pads for the cousins getting married this summer. 
• pieced orange and brown blanket for Lincoln. 
• newborn booties for Lincoln.
• find/make? blessing outfit for Lincoln. 
• clothes for me (2 dresses down, 1 dress or shirt to go, 1 skirt to go). 
• Christmas stocking for Lincoln.

Quick Hike on a Family Reunion Saturday - August 8, 2009

On one of our Sunday drives, a couple months ago, we found this trailhead at the top of the neighborhoods near our chapel. Since then, the pavilion is new. The piles of dirt are new. The heavy equipment is new. We plan to go back before winter to see the end results.
We only had an hour and a half, so we hiked up for 45 minutes. This was the steepest section that we found - and the group riding horses cut off the trail up at the top, so we never did see them up close. I had to stop and breathe a couple times on this section. And my mountain goat, James, would stop and wait for me to catch up.

The steep section (pictured above) is cutting through this green patch (pictured below). It is A LOT steeper than this picture shows. This green patch was my goal for the hike and we actually made it ten minutes past the green patch to a high point with a view of the trail. It goes on a long way. We'll pack a lunch for the next attempt!

We saw quite a bit of wildlife on this hike. Lots of birds - including a sage hen or something like a grouse in the bushes. We startled a buck (growing his antlers - looked like a 4-point for starters) and saw a doe further down the hillside. I took a picture of the buck, but it turned out to be a picture of where the buck used to be standing.

WUNDERLI FAMILY REUNION

I went with G&G to the Wunderli Family Reunion at the West Valley City Rec Center - every year on the 2nd Saturday in August. It is a reunion of the decendants of Rudolf and Lina Wunderli. There is a family tree on the wall w/Rudolf & Lina, their eight children, all their grandchildren, and great-grand-children. So my mom made it onto the tree. But it ends there because it is SO HUGE. They'll need a new tree for each of those great-grandchildren's decendants. For example, my Mom's tree would have five children and 14 grandchildren already!

Rudolf & Lina Baertschi Wunderli ---> Newell & Meta Wunderli Clark ---> Calvin & Margaret Clark Price ---> Gil & Kathy Price Simpson ---> James & Jessica Simpson McCalvy ---> future banditos.

It is a very short reunion and pretty sparsly attended. Potluck lunch and some visiting and games and clean-up. Grandma's sister Dorothy was there and two of their brothers. So I did recognize some of the people. We sat at a 'games table' - set up with butcher paper, crayons and games to keep kids occupied. Granddad and I drew pictures on the table.

I asked one of the grandkids (one with a last name of Wunderly) why some of the Wunderli's spelled their name with a y - Wunderly and some spelled it with an i - Wunderli. He (and a couple nearby cousins) explained that in Swiss/German, i and y are interchangable. When he did extractions, he'd sometimes find the same individual using different spellings. He believes that the Y is the more ancient and traditional spelling.

Rudolf and Lina had four sons (& four daughters - none of whom kept the Wunderli name because of marriage) who emigrated to the United States. Two of them kept the Wunderli spelling and two adopted the Wunderly spelling. He said that when they arrived in the states, people would pronounce Wunderli - WON-DERL-EYE. So the brothers that changed to Wunderly did it so that people could pronounce WON-DERL-EEE correctly.

While I visited with relatives I didn't know, James stayed home, took a nap and did a little clothes shopping. After dinner, I finished making him a hat for Christmas - I didn't have a pattern, so I had to redo parts of the hat as I went along. I also had to try it on him a couple times to make sure I got it just right. It won't be a suprize, but maybe by December he'll have forgotten about it. I chose colors that would match his ski parka and then I had him take a picture of me modelling the finished product. I think it turned out great! Now James wants to learn to crochet so he can make a few more. He's got a list of the styles he wants to try to make.

P.S. for Tucker: HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY!!! Hope you had a good birthday - did you do the triathlon again? Sorry we missed out on birthday cake - we'll bring your present to you in a couple weeks. Love you!

Simpson Family Reunion (& the library CD saga) - July 8-11, 2009

Tuesday July 7 - pack everything we can think of and make a huge pile of stuff in the middle of the livingroom. Make 2 batches of cookies and try to plan travel food.

Wednesday July 8 - get off work, throw everything from the livingroom into the back of The Outlaw, learn how to strap the bike rack (borrowed from the gear closet at backcountry.com) onto the back, stop at the library for a book on CD and get on the road. Arrive in Eagle somewhere around 11. Visit a bit with my folks, get some sleep.

Thursday July 9 - wake up and shower. Enjoy Dad's omlettes, cantelope & grapefruit for breakfast. Help pack the motorhome full of water toys and bikes and food. Drive to visit my old job and friends at the Center for Wound Healing. Stop for lunch at Panda Express. Stop for last minute items at Craft Warehouse and Kings. Repack The Outlaw, and the bike rack. Drive to SISCRA and attempt to unload The Outlaw: (Helpers - Aspen, Hallie, Zoe, Carter, Bree, Emma, Stella & McKayla)

Set up our tent. Tent was also borrowed from the gear closet at backcountry.com - glad it was still daylight because it would have been really tricky to set up in the dark! Take some of the kids down to the lake to throw rocks and pick flowers. Yummy dinner & visiting & campfire & snuggle under the feather bed to sleep.

Friday July 10 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
My birthday crown and wand - hand made by Carter (Stella in the background by the motorhome).

I helped set up for tie-dye t-shirts and James helped with the highway clean-up in the morning. Then it was time for lunch and time for the Simpson Family Cribbage Tournament - I was eliminated by Stacey L. and James was eliminated by Jessica L. I don't feel too bad, since Stacey won the tournament!

Kurt! Turns 29 on the 22nd! Thanks for the digital camera, I took about a gazillion pictures, all on Friday and a few on Saturday and none on Sunday. Oops.

Playing in Cascade Reservoir in the afternoon until dinner time - Bree was our little shadow for the first part of the weekend. As soon as we arrived in Eagle, I could count on her following wherever I went. We had a wonderful fun time!

Opa, Carter & Stella in the tahiti.

Emma L, Maria & Zoe and Aspen in the tube behind Jed's boat.

Nathan, James & Emma D.

Emma and Kristen

Carter & Stella playing in the sand

Stella, Carter & James washing sand off their feet on the way to The Outlaw.

Carter & Stella on our way back to camp - I could not get Carter to smile any bigger than this!

McKayla (turns 7 on the 19th) & the play purse I made her for her birthday. She made me a star garland with a special happy birthday message!

James and Nacho - playing fetch with the dirty hedgehog toy. I didn't think chiuaua's played fetch, but James and Nacho had a system down.

Tucker, McKayla and Kurt didn't feel good today. But it was still a good birthday - Costa Vida style burritos for dinner, costco cake for dessert and more presents! A purse from Mom & Kim - very cute! But by bed time, James didn't feel good.

Saturday July 11 - Midnight: James definitely caught whatever bug that McKayla, Tucker and Kurt had yesterday. 1 am: Awake again, poor James! 2 am: James is really not feeling well and is not keeping any fluids down. 3 am: starting to get muscle cramps too - definite sign of dehydration. Wake up Kurt & Dad for a blessing and then drive up to McCall's hospital. 4 am: check into the ER for IV fluids and anti-nausea. 5 am: James is finally sleeping, I don't feel good. 8 am: After 3 liters of IV fluid, check out of the ER and drive to the airport to watch planes for an hour - until the pharmacy opens. 9 am: Fill anti-nausea prescription and drive back to camp. 10 am: Mom doesn't feel good, Dad doesn't feel good. Eat a little breakfast, take a long nap. Afternoon-ish: Awake enough to play some cribbage and take a shower and clean puke off of the passenger-side car mat. Eat a little dinner with the family, (Jed doesn't feel good) skip dessert, go back to bed before dark.

Sunday July 12 - Wake up to a loud thunderstorm, including rain & lightning. McKayla, Kurt, Tucker, James & Jessi feeling much better, Emma doesn't feel good. Pack up camp, help pick up trash and round up bicycles. Drive back to Eagle. Unpack The Outlaw. Do some laundry. Set out the tent to dry. Dismantle and de-spider the grill. Repack The Outlaw, including the grill. Take showers. Visit and give hugs and get on the road. Stop for fuel. Return to Eagle for the tent and laundry. Finally get back on the road. Part-way through the book on CD and about half-way back to Utah, the CD player breaks. Will not give back the library's CD. Finally, back to North Salt Lake & unloaded the car into a big pile in the living room (except for the grill which is on the back porch) and fall into bed before 1 am because we both have to work in the morning.

Thursday July 23 - James has been to RC Willey, where he bought the CD/radio deck for The Outlaw. They no longer sell car stereo items and will not help James try to retreive the CD. So he goes to Best Buy. They attempt to remove the CD with a pair of needle nose pliers. No luck. Today, James went to Car Concepts, thinking that as a specialty store, they'll be able to retreive the CD no problem. They've got some time, so they help. And they ask, "Which is more imporant, your library CD or your ability to listen to the radio?" James said, "The CD." So they explained that the CD deck's circuit had been sautered into place instead of screwed into place, so when removing the CD, they essentially had to break it apart (not the CD, the player). So we got the CD back, it still plays, but The Outlaw no longer has CD or radio. At least they did the demolition for free.

We're now doing some research to replace it - maybe for James' birthday in December.... Think he can live without radio in his car until then?

Knitting Aha! Moment - March 6, 2009

This story begins with crochet. I love to crochet. I learned how back in 2001 when my sister Kim was expecting her oldest, McKayla. I started by buying a pattern for making an afghan out of 54 different granny squares. A wonderful project because I was able to learn how to read the directions, practice different stiches, make small accomplishments and finally end up with a large afghan.

Then it got really fun & I made some baby blankets and sweaters and booties and hotpads and wash cloths and snowflakes and even some elephants and monkeys. This year I'm making little purses for my nieces' birthdays.

Then I found the most perfect pattern for a purse / scripture bag that I'd like to make for my Mom for her birthday. So cute with verigated blue wool yarn that you 'felt' to make it fuzzy and more dense. BUT the pattern is KNIT.

I've seen tons of cute knit patterns before this, but I've always told myself that I don't need a new hobby until I've done all the crochet projects that I want to do. I have so many ideas for projects that I think I'll never run out. But I caved!

I bought the pattern. I bought the yarn. I bought the knitting needles. I pulled out some yarn left over from an old project (a pink stuffed elefant) so that I could practice without ruining my beautiful new yarn. And I definitely needed to practice before jumping into a new hobby.

I'm so FRUSTRATED. The "Basic Stitches" instructions that came with the instructions for the purse are pretty easy to follow and I felt like I was doing it correctly, but the pictures show some perfect stitches like this:

And my results were coming out like this:



Over and over and over again. So I went to the internet and did some research and watched some videos. And over and over again, I did the stitches EXACTLY as they show it, but after 5 or 6 rows, it does not look like the picture. And all the videos and instructions show you how to do ONE row and then they end. I wanted to watch for 5 or 6 rows, so maybe I could figure out where I was going wrong.

Today I figured it out! With knitting and crochet, you turn your project around for each new row. In crochet when you do that, the basic stitches look identical from both sides, but in knitting they don't! So that's why my knitting didn't look like the pretty picture. They were knitting one stitch for one row, turning the project around and then doing a DIFFERENT stitch, turning it around and knitting the original stitch for the third row. But they didn't tell me that!

There are names for everything - my new vocabulary includes knit stitch, purl stitch, garter stitch (what I was doing over and over and over again), stockinette stitch (what I should have been doing to get the results that I wanted), and lots, lots more.

AHA!

Now I have a pretty little practice sample:

And I feel like I can actually try this purse pattern without making a mess out of the beautiful yarn and hopefully have an end product that I'll be happy to give as a birthday present.

Next Step: Practice with knitting in the round.