Making houses and stuff.

So after finally finishing O's little sweater, you'd think I'd take a break, but no, I immediately cast on for the next sweater. What a difference size 8 needles make. I am almost halfway down the body already. It's going to be a quick knit. I really like the pattern, it's knit from the top down with stitches held and then later picked up for the sleeves. Which means minimal finishing work. I think I might add pockets, mostly because I like pockets a lot, and partially because I think the front needs to be broken up a bit. I flipped through a knitting pattern book while we were driving around on errands today. It's called Favorite Mittens, and I really recommend it to anyone interested in either knitting mittens, craft as folklore, or both. The author collects traditional knitting patterns from all over the eastern coast and has stories of their origins with each pattern. I picked it up from the library because I am really into the mittens, but I think I might have to own a copy. The introduction is really informative too, going into all of the things that make a good mitten. I really need to get some more smaller double pointed needles. I have been eyeing this set from knitpicks. The wood is so pretty! There are so many mittens I want to make. I am still working on the Squirrelly Swedish Mittens right now, mostly because I was working on the sweater.


The boys have been keeping me very busy. I'm slowly starting to toilet train B, but I'm not in a hurry. He spent most of the day pushing the vacuum around the house. If he was not just getting over a huge fear of it, I would have turned it on so he could have done some cleaning too! He is finally pretty much unsick, but his molars are still coming in, making him a drooly monster. I finally took the two boys to the park by myself the other day. It is a lot of work.


Tomorrow I am going to do some shopping. I am meeting up with my mom and sister at the mall with the boys. B wants/needs some new sandals. He found his ones from last year and tried to put them on. He looked at me and said "Too small. Buy new ones. MAAAALLLLL!" And since I love excuses to shop, that is what we are doing. O does not need anything, as I probably bought too much of everything for his older brother. But it's so hard to resist the cute little stuff. 


The other day B brought me a toy catalog he found, and was pointing at a house. He then brought me his little Makka Pakka, and said "House, sleep!" And I deduced that he wanted me to build him a house for the little guy. Instead of breaking out the Mega Blocks, I dug out an old shoe box and some gift bags I found next to it. I used a holographic glittery bag to line the box, and quickly crafted a bed out of a gift box I found in one of the boxes. I added a blanket, put some art on the walls and cut out a door. I also made a magazine holder and re-purposed the gift tags from the bags as magazines. The best part about this box is that it slides out matchbox-style, leaving a perfect spot for a garage. Luckily, B's taste is not discerning, and he does not care that all I have is masking tape to put things together with, and he loved it. Especially since there is a garage. He loves garages.