Been busy here at Casa Campbell, between Oz growing up, weird weather, trip to North Carolina to see family (and our friends Neil, Dana, Sophie & Henry), and swim class.  But overall, things have been going well.  Oz eats like a frat boy, downing bottles and eating solids like you wouldn't believe.  And he's working on mastering the art of eating cheerios very quickly, which the pup loves, since he gets anything that falls (which is still a lot).

And we have had crazy spring weather here as well.  Some awesome, gorgeous days around 85, but....currently we have 2 inches of snow on the ground and it's quite gloomy out.  I guess nice for tea anyway, but I really didn't think Oz would still be wearing the wool jacket I knit him this late in the year.

However, I also got to take a wonderful class at Fancy Tiger with a friend for A-line skirts, which was a lot of fun and produced this:

I am planning to make several more, as these would be perfect for spring/summer weather (not the snow though!), and have the fabric ready to go.  I made a second one, a bit different, out of one yard of rose-designed retro looking fabric and added a ruffle for length, even though it was a stretch to do one with just one yard.  After doing it once, it is really quite easy and quick to bust these out, taking about one long naptime, or more likely these days, 2 medium length naptimes (not me but Oz of course).

Speaking of the little guy, we had our first swim class on Saturday, and he had a lot of fun splashing around in the water and watching other babies.  I can't wait for next week, as I think he will really enjoy each class.

And also on sat night, Kyle and I went to see the Denver Roller Dolls play a double header up in Broomfield.  We saw the Mile High Club beat the Texecutioners, and the Bruising Altitude soundly beat O-Town Derby Dames from Utah.  It was a lot of fun, and we can't wait to go back again.  Also nice to have a date night, thanks to my lovely mom who babysat for us.  Luckily since he goes to bed pretty early, evenings around here aren't too bad, but it sure is nice to leave every now and then.

October/November

Looks like about once a month is all I can manage to post. Want to do a quick-ish recap though, about events lately (and there have been a lot!):

1. Homeowners, yup, new to the clan. Home Depot here we come.
2. Went to Edinburgh for work, and had way more fun than should be allowed. Kyle went with, and at some point I'll get around to posting pics on my Flickr, but until then, some key phrases: cold & windy, wonderful friendly people, whisky (yumm!), chips with curry sauce (double yumm!). Totally love the curry sauce on fries, now ranks up there with green chile cheese fries :)
3. Painting..a lovely blue to distract me from the cleaning needed in the house
4. Need glasses now. Hubby assures me I look adorable, but they still feel really odd. Never wearing glasses means I have to continuously resist the urge to swat them off my face like hair. Also, frames in the vision feel weird!
5. Been spinning a lot more lately, but not knitting too much. Made some fun navajo-plied superwash merino, about dk weight. Pretty lofty, which is nice
6. Taking Maggie Casey's Spinning 1 class at Shuttles, which is so awesome, as I am learning a ton! At some point I hope to do a brief summary of what I've learned, but so far I've gotten to try different wheels and types, worked with gorgeous fleece, and made my best spinning ever.

Been crazy busy lately, or maybe it just feels like it. Lots of changes/events in the last month, all of which have really gotten the creative side of me out. Hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and upload some pics of Barley running around in some of the snow we've been having around here, not to mention updating for December too :)

Vacation for the Nation

Since Kyle's work gave him the 3rd of July off, as well as the 4th, I decided to take it off as well. Being my mom's birthday and a long weekend, we took the opportunity to drive up and hang out with my parents at Carter Lake. Of course, since we were near (sort of?) Fort Collins, I finally got my spinning wheel from Lambspun! I loves it so much! Then we headed to the lake and hung out with my Aunt Connie and cousin Laura and their families. It was a lot of fun, as my Dad busted out the jet skies and Barley got to romp around in the water some. Turns out he only really likes to splash around in it and not actually swim, unless we're in the water, then he'll swim to Kyle and I just to hang out.


Also started and finished a golf club cover for Kyle with a skull design
with a crooked mouth. Mostly designed for fun and also to sort of go with the mythic brewery name we have of Crooked Mouth Brewing, from the name Campbell. It was my first Fair isle, and it was pretty fun, as long as I had my chart to go from. Also, finished Gracie's top by trying steeking for the first time. Not as scary as I though, but I need to work on picking up the stitches after steeking to give a more delicate edge. Hmm, what else? Also tried navajo plying on my drop spindle for the first time, and I love how it turned out! Turned out to be a very fibery weekend, as I started spinning some chocolate brown merino, and decided I should ply it with another color. Had some undyed wool roving around and so I decided to dye it a slightly varigated sky blue for later spinning and plying. And while I was dyeing, I dyed up some KnitPicks sock yarn with a range of plummy colors, for knitting into Kristi's wonderful Froot Loops socks. Overall, it was a very, very relaxing weekend, with lots of fun time with family, sun, water, pup antics, and of course, beer.