Up North

For Michiganders, many summer weekends (and extended weekends) are spent 'up north'.  It's hard to describe the beauty and charm of 'up north', but it's always fun to expose newcomers to the experience. 

We started the end of last week up at Mackinac Island.  My first visit to Mackinac was for our first anniversary. There are no motor vehicles on the island, so travel is simply by horse drawn carriages and bicycles. 


Now that we have visited a few times, one night on the island is enough to kick off a nice up north vacation (as long as we make sure to stop at Marc's Double Oven for morning pastries!).


The rest of our vacation was spent in Petoskey...


With old friends

And new ones, too!


Boating, swimming, and just general relaxing time ruled, and we took advantage of it.


And as far as knitting goes, there was time for that, too!


 I was able to stop in the LYS (Cynthia's Too!) and spotted these little guys on display.

And much of my downtime was spent knitting this little number:


I'm hoping to have an FO by the end of this weekend- I'll keep you posted!

The Name Game



As I mentioned last week,  we won't be finding out the sex of Baby FPK.  Now before you all start congratulating me on what a great decision I am making, there is probably something you should know.  If it were up to me, I'd find out.

Some may ask why I'm giving in so easily, and the thing is, I'm not.  I'm just picking my battles.

Before I start my story, and you all decide to give your undying support to my husband (much like the large Christmas tree debacle), just keep in mind that I am a sensitive woman...and a pregnant one at that!

Ever since we first got married I have known that Joe would like to name his first son Giuseppe.  Every since we first got married, Joe knew that I did not want a child named Giuseppe.  Giuseppe was Joe's grandfather's name and is the Italian form of Joseph.  Joseph has become sort of a family name in his family, so in Joe's mind, Giuseppe is the name in its purest form.  We do have to keep in mind that when Joe's grandfather moved to the US from Switzerland, he changed his name to Joseph!  

I guess one of my biggest issues is that the name is hard to say, spell, and people don't really know how to pronounce it.  When we tell others that its the Italian form of Joseph, their reply is usually, "Oh- Joeseppe!"  Nope!

A couple years ago I came up with a plan, a little deal, if you will.  Joe and I also hold differing opinions on finding out the gender of our baby.  I always knew that he did not want to know, but being the planner I am, it seemed like a necessity.  Because I feared losing both the gender and name battle, I proposed the deal- if I don't find out the sex of our children, I don't have to have a son named Giuseppe. 

And there you have it- the reason I will not find out the gender of my child.

 Some things to keep in mind before leaving your opinion:
1.  I am a sensitive pregnant woman with crazy emotions
2.We live in a small town in Michigan, we can't get away with names as crazy as celebrity children
3. I am a sensitive pregnant woman with crazy emotions

Ok- say what you want :)

Yellow Fabric

Some of you may remember that a while ago I enlisted help in finding a yellow fabric.  At the time, I couldn't tell you why I was looking for such a gender- neutral yellow fabric, but by now, you may have a good guess. 

Just over a year ago, my sister moved away and left me with her nursery set.  It is a light maple wood, which probably wouldn't be my first choice in bedroom furniture, so I started scouring the internet for room options that would work with said furniture.

It didn't take long before I spotted this room at Ohdeedoh and fell in love with the color scheme and thus my newly inherited furniture.


The room is from the blog Me and Wee and was done for a baby girl. Since we are not finding out the sex of our little one before the arrival (and there's a whole story there, more later),  and I was already in love with this room, I figured it was the perfect inspiration for our gender-neutral baby room.


Since it's more than difficult to find bright yellow and white crib bedding, I decided it might be easier to just find some fabric to make a crib bumper and possibly skirt to bring the yellow bedding in (the other bedding would just be white, easy-peasy, right?).  Turns out a modern yellow and white fabric is hard to find.  This is what I had in mind (but in yellow and white instead of orange and white, obviously):

See more of this nursery here

Here's what I've purchased so far:


But I'm still not completely settled on it. I think it will get the job done, but I'm not sure it was exactly what I was looking for.  So if you happen to be out and about and notice some fantastically modern yellow and white fabric, let me know :-)

PS...yesterday Steven A posted an interview with me for 'Project Ten'. See more on his blog and stay tuned for the next designers! 

Plucky Finds

As promised (and since the sun came out enough for me to snap a few shots), here is what I walked away with from the Plucky Open House this past weekend. 
2 skeins of the brand new Primo in Candy Apple
-75% Merino, 20% Cashmere, 5% Nylon
-385 Yards
-Fingering Weight
1 skein MW Superwash
100% Merino Wool Superwash in Honey Wilkes
-215 Yards
-Worsted Weight

I also left with one skein of this:



But I also have four more on the way :-)
Primo in Grey Shimmer
-75% Merino, 20%, 5% Nylon
-385 Yards
-Fingering Weight

I have big plans for this yarn, a new cardigan (that will happen to be in my size) that will eventually develop inot a pattern I've wanted to write up for quite some time.  I was honestly waiting for just the right hue of Plucky yarn.  Thanks so the open house, I was enabled!

And here's a peak at how it's knitting up:


Ah-maz-ing!

You can peep more Plucky yarn in other people's stash here on Ravelry.

***Needed to add this:  Sarah will be updating her Etsy shop tomorrow!  If you've had a hard time getting your own Plucky, here's your chance.  Read more about it on her blog here (and follow for postings on future updates as well)***