Been a long time comin'

Contrary to what our blog might suggest, we are open for business at Casa de Fred! We closed for a bit while we enjoyed a great vakay to Minnesota for a lot of family and a ton more more. Upon returning, I went through a whirlwind of writing new papers, revising old ones, and preparing for my first day of teaching. Now that the semester is well under way, I feel like I have a little more time to think and post.

Here are just a few pics from our lovely visit to Duluth and Brainerd! Wish I could post them all.










































Yup...you read that correctly...Bri is teaching!!! One of the best features of my graduate program is that they provide us the opportunity to teach our own course. So, I am responsible for molding and educating the young minds of 40 UMD students as we delve into understanding development across the lifespan. It's a lot more work than I ever thought it would be, but it's also invigorating. In the three lectures I have done thus far I have learned just a few things:

1) The same student will ALWAYS be 5 minutes late to class
2) Wearing heels is just a bad idea
3) I can teach a whole lot in 75 minutes, but not as much as I would like

Amongst all the prepping and practicing of my lectures, I have found a bit of time to work on my knitting projects. I still have my Aran blanket to finish. I managed to get a ton completed on it as flew to Minnesota and drove all around the state. It's to the point now that I have to just decide when to stop knitting...but when is a blanket big enough for a baby? I keep dreaming that it would be great if he/she would also be able to use it as a toddler blanket, so I keep on knitting. What do you think??
I have also started my very first sweater!! My knitting guru and I are both delving into A Cardigan for Arwen. It's a whole lot of stockinette stitch, which can be mind-numbingly boring, but it is so exciting to know that soon I'll have my very own hand-knitted cardigan! Plus, the yarn I bought for it...I have decided to call it my "butta yarn" because it knits up as soft and smooth as butter.

Stay tuned for additional photos as I learn about short rows for sleeves, backwards cast-on method, and so much more.

Now I lay me down to sleep

I have finished this very creative blanket for one of my close friends at work. She has been bugging me for weeks about when she'll finally get to see it. I put on the last 2 faces and 4 hooves this afternoon when I was experiencing a writing block this afternoon.

Pattern: Sheep Dreams from "Knit Baby Blankets!" by Dori Betjemann

Yarn: KnitPicks Swish Superwash in Dublin; Bernat Satin in Silk & Ebony

Needles: Size 7 circular

I loved the pattern for this blanket. There were a number of different stitches that came together for an interesting, yet simple design. Plus, it kept my attention throughout as the stitches changed every couple rows. Even without the sheep, I thought it was beautiful blanket. But, the sheep just add so much to it.

Will I make this one again? I am not sure. The blanket itself was simple and didn't take that much time. However, each sheep took almost an hour to do. That's 14 hours of just "sheep work". There are so many other amazing patterns that I am dying to make for the next baby to come into this world that I'm sure it'll be awhile before I feel the bug to do this one again.

Perhaps this will be a one of kind blanket...perfect for that one of a kind friend!

Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)

I do count my blessings every night before I sleep...

But during the evenings, I have to start counting sheep. I'm on crunch time on getting my Sheep Dreams baby blanket finished for my friend. I'm heading out of town in 2 weeks, and then she goes on maternity leave right when I get back. Which means I have roughly 12 days to finish 16 sheep.

After doing my first sheep I didn't think that was possible. I've never done duplicate stitching before, so it took me awhile to figure it out. I had the instructions from the pattern and my two handy "how-to-knit" books on my lap to tackle the first one. Took me about 3 times of stitching and removing and stitching and removing and stitching and removing again before I was happy with the finished project. The problem with this type of pattern is that the blanket has its "ugly" parts of the backside of the blanket...with all the winding colors of yarn that have passed over top of one another. The best part, though, is that the right side of the blanket turns out amazing.

So, I have 1 1/2 sheep done...only 14 1/2 to go in the next 12 days.

If I could turn back time

Oh where oh where has my summer gone? Oh where oh where could she be?

It's hard to believe that it is already the middle of July, but the calendar doesn't lie. Hubby and I just got back from a fabulous trip to KY to see our family and friends. We were there for 4 days, but it's just never long enough. But, we had a BLAST! We played with our niece and nephew, ate tons and tons and tons of yummy food with our family, and met up with friends each night for a few drinks. I realized when I started looking at the pictures that Jason was the one behind the camera the whole time...only managed to get a few pictures of him.

Jason and his sister enjoying the sun

I also took a short trip up to Indy to spend the day with my sister and brother-in-law. They usually come down to KY whenever we make it into town, but they already had their son shipped off to the grandparent's house for the weekend so they could work on getting the rooms ready for the arrival of my nephew. It was a short trip, but an absolutely wonderful one! I got to help them out with their cleaning and laugh at all the funny stuff they found. The bonus came when my sister found a tape recording of her 3rd grade violin concert. We sat in their car...where the only tape recorder could be found...and laughed at the whole thing! Again...too short of a visit :(

Many people would groan at the thought of an 8 hour car trip, but I saw it as a chance to finish a few things up. On the way out, I worked on an Emma Grace Headband for my niece until it was so dark that I couldn't see my needles anymore. When I saw her the next day, I measured to see how much more I would need to make it the proper length. Both she and her brother were quite enthralled watching me knit...maybe next time I"ll have more time to sit down and teach them! I managed to lose one of my DPN's in the car...and it still hasn't been found. A small price to pay to bring a smile to this one's face.

Isn't she adorable?

On the way back, I tried so hard to finish the final border on my Sheep Dreams blanket for a close friend. But it is just an agonizing pattern so I can only do 2 rows at a time. For row one, you increase 1 into EVERY stitch...for row two, you K2tog or P2tog along all of the 240 stitches that you have on your needles. It's hard on my fingers and boring as hell. So, right around Columbus, I decided to cast on my new blanket for another friend having a baby. It is an Aran blanket design and is turning out just beautifully. I love the simplicity of this pattern, but it looks like it is much more involved when you see the final output. Here's what I managed to get done in about 5 hours:


So, now it's back to work again. Of course, I do have to wait for one more thing...a special FedEx package from KY. In all of my insanity of packing to leave on Monday morning, I left my laptop and laptop bag at my parent's house! In it are not only my wonderful computer, but also ALL of my files for every paper I'm writing, every project I'm working on, and every data file I need to work on everything else. Thanks to my hubby's wonderful family for breaking into my parent's house and shipping my lifeline back to me as quickly as possible. You are all wonderful! So, until I get that back, I'll be trying to come up with things to work on...guess my blog and Ravelry will do for now!

Thank You!

Just a quick note to my few, but loyal readers! I hope that everyone has a safe and wonderful 4th of July holiday. DH and I are heading down to VA to hang out with some friends who get into the 4th like I get into Halloween!!

To all those serving or have served in the military: THANKS! Thanks for choosing to do a job that is very difficult and fraught with experiences that you don't have any choice over. We are all here today because of what those before you have done and what you are doing today. I wish there was more I could do than simply say thanks...but know that you are in my thoughts and prayers!

Sorry for the lack of pictures and posts lately. I finally got my invitation to Ravelry, so I have spent a lot of time taking pictures and uploading things for that. If you are a knitter/crocheter and haven't heard of Ravelry, than check it out!!! It's the latest rage!

DH and I will be heading to Flo-town for some family, friends, and as I've been told "At least 2 Skyline trips" next week. Look out KY...here come the Fredstrom's! I'll post pictures of all of our summer adventures soon!!!

Knittin' at the Yard

Every year we get together with our friends Tom & Lauren to celebrate Tom and Jason's birthdays. **Happy Birthday, boys!** This year, we decided to head up to the "Yard" and watch the Orioles play the Nationals for some good interleague play. We gathered some friends, snagged the Tuesday night $8 cheap seats, and settled in for a great game. Unfortunately, the O's lost 7-4. Still, it was a gorgeous evening and we had a blast with our friends!









I convinced my good ol' guru that we should try knitting at the game. We're both working on large, wool baby blankets, so that would not suffice. We needed something smaller that didn't require a lot of attention. So, as my first "stash project" I thought we could try a lacy headband from Knit Picks.
So, we knitted and knitted and knitted...all the while yelling, screaming, and celebrating for the few great plays that the O's managed to squeak out. We were hoping that the camera scanning the crowd would show us up on the jumbotron, but no. I even kept knitting, while standing and singing during the 7th inning stretch!!!! But still, no jumbotron debut.

I think we probably each got about half of a headbead done *she in green, me in blue* by the end of the 7th inning. Since the O's were way behind, we all decided to duck out at that time and head home. I really like this "stash project" because it's so portable and I can work on it anywhere. Plus I have some lovely colors in my stash that I would love to use up. Who knows, maybe I'll make one for everyone I know!!!


We're gonna try to catch the O's vs Yankee's game on the 26th, so maybe we'll be able to do some more knittin' at the Yard! Hopefully the O's will pull out a win the next time...after all, it will be the Yankees!!

OC2007