A Wonderful Christmas....

And a good time was had by all! Here we see Kaylee comtemplating what Uncle Jed might be about to open. Have you ever heard of a little boy who did not want to open his presents? Well that was Colby this year, 3 years old and he was content to play with his matchbox cars in the corner while everyone else opened gifts. He certainly doesn't take after his father, in the midst of the presents above ...

I have my first skein of Noro Sock yarn!!! What an amazing vortex of colorful wonderfulness!!!

Now if only I could finish this pair of Grinchy Christmas socks that Rock that did not get finished in time to wear on Christmas... I am attempting to turn the heel of a toe up sock. Cat Bordhi, what are you trying to tell me in those strange diagrams? I am not helping myself understand at all by Magic looping socks explained on DPNs or 2 circulars, now am I? And can I please get back to knitting my Dracula's bride shawl now? I have finished and presented all mittens hats and socks meant to be gifts. There are many new Mystery Shawls waiting to be knit in January so I'd better get busy!

I Finished the Quilt!

I have been working night and day and I have finally finished the quilt for Savannah for Christmas. Now I am writing a book of I Spy poems to go with the quilt, here is a sample poem:

I spy a kiwi, some eggs and some cherries,
An ice cream sundae and fresh strawberries!
A blue plate special, a birthday cake,
Some peanuts, some pickles and
A roast beef to bake!

I spy a wish list, flamingos, and holly,
A tiny pink dress to fit a paper dolly.
I spy el Apache and a big red tepee
A man driving a car,
Oh where can he be?


It took quite a while to do all the quilting, which I did as zigzags all the way down each diagonal pink stripe. I hope this picture will show what I mean...

I am having so much fun with this project! I am hoping that she will have her mom read her a poem each night at bedtime and she can look for the items as she drifts off to sleep.




Here is a picture of the label I put on the back in the lower right hand corner.

I have also finished a knitted hat for granddaughter Kaylee, the pattern is the Shining Star Hat by Kate Gilbert. I used Bamboozle yarn, which has a high percentage of bamboo fiber in the yarn. I didn't really like working with it because of the stretch, which created constant tensioning problems. Also the holes tended to close up and hide the pretty star pattern unless you stretch the hat right out, here I have it stretched over a coffee can. I think her little head will be big enough to showcase the pattern well.

Back to writing poems...

Santa's Workshop...

I have spent the last two days making placemats! This Route 66 set is going to our oldest daughter in Arizona. The fabric is perfect, her husband worked in Kingman, which is mentioned on the top placemat! They have two children, so this is a set of four.

The second set is for daughter Sara and her family. She has four children, so this is a set of six. It took FOREVER to miter all of those corners!!!!! She loves anything froggy, so I hope she likes these.

The third set is for daughter Josie and family. Her Richard is a bit of a gourmet cook, and the first meal he ever cooked for her was pasta, so I thought this might be appropriate... These are a set of three. I still have more kids but this is enough placemats for one year, maybe next year!!

I also finished off another pair of mittens, this pair for grandson Colby. I put his initials on them so they will be easy to spot at daycare! Boy have I been productive today. Now I have to get back to quilting the quilt, it is a race to Christmas!!

Snow Day!

We had a mini-blizzard yesterday, it sure made it feel more like Christmas. Gary helped me to learn to use a snow-blower, and I did a couple of rows up and down the driveway. I haven't learned to start it yet though, so I have a way to go before he can come home from work to find a cleared driveway!

My granddaughter spent the day learning to snowboard up and down the streets of her small town. My daughter took a video and put it on YouTube! Now let's see if I can insert a clip....

Wow have I impressed myself now! Is there nothing I can't do? Lol! And it only took me two days to figure this out. Anyway this is granddaughter Savannah, the future recipient of the quilt I am working on which you have seen in a previous post.

Have a marvelous snow filled day!

I am working steadily on Christmas gifts

This is a pair of mittens for grandson Vincent. I embroidered his initials on them so he will know they are his if they end up in the lost and found at school. It is hard to keep track of your mittens when you are in kindergarten!

Next to knit a pair for Colby, the next smaller size in Red with Blue trim. I know I won't get mittens done for all of them, but maybe a few!

Happy Thanksgiving...

Boobie rolls were the big hit at our Thanksgiving table this year. They were made by Josie's Richard, because she was sad when I said I wouldn't have time to make them. I never could have made them like this! Aren't they wild?

Why do we call him Josie's Richard? Because daughter Jessica also has a life partner named Richard. Our other two daughters live with Bobs, so we call them Lisa's Bob and Sara's Bob. Further complicated by the fact that Sara's ex-husband's name is Bob, whom we refer to as Sara's old Bob. Son Jed lives with a Jessica , so we call her Jessica Rose as opposed to just Jessica, who would be his twin sister. Boy do we need more names in this family! And don't even get me started on Davids....

The meal was lovely; Turkey, stuffing, roasted garlic smashed red potatoes, sweet potato with streusel topping, oven-roasted herbed turnip and carrots, pumpkin bread, homemade cranberry sauce, broccoli slaw, carrots/peas/corn, lemon meringue, pumpkin, Dutch apple, chocolate cream and Boston cream pies. I can't eat again for a week. I swear.

I hope everyone had a day as nice as mine.

A Finished Project!

These socks are for my daughter Jessica for Christmas. They are the Flow Motion socks from the Vogue Knitting Ultimate Sock book. I really hate the way the tops flare out away from the leg. I was not happy with the pattern either because it was riddled with errors. First off, they never said to double strand the yarn, which was obvious from the picture and the needle size. The chart had an error, and the heel turn directions were SO messed up. Now how on earth can a major company like Vogue call something the "Ultimate" sock book when it is full of errors? The other pattern I started to make also had errors and I gave up in disgust. I understand that all of these patterns have been published previously in Vogue Knitting magazine, and they were chosen to be in the "Ultimate" sock book. So didn't anyone knit them when they were published in the magazine? Couldn't they find the errors from the test knitters and the knitters who bought the magazines? Then why could they not fix these patterns before publishing the "Ultimate" sock book? The Vogue Knitting website has been down ever since the book came out. I think they must be hiding their heads in shame!!!! End of rant. Sorry. The socks will be warm, but I will never knit socks double stranded again. I had to buy a second ball of yarn (which makes these almost a $36 pair of socks) and I don't even know if they will fit inside her shoes. Anyway they finished.

I've Been working on a Quilt!

Every year I make someone in the family a quilt for Christmas. No one ever knows ahead of time who will get it. This year I have been working on a quilt for granddaughter Savannah, 5, now in a big girl bed so that baby quilt has got to go! It is an "I Spy" style quilt, which will come with a written list of things to look for as she drops off to sleep. The pattern comes from the book "Picture Play Quilts" by Ami Simms.
I sure hope Savannah enjoys it. Here are some close ups showing the photo transfers I have added. This close up shows Savannah swimming on our vacation in Florida this year. The dolphin beside her and the flamingoes beneath her are to remind her of our day at Sea World. We really had a great time. Also there is a picture of her giving Shamu a big hug. Below is a picture of the flowers she picked in my Mom's dooryard.

Obviously the blocks are not sewn together here yet, they are just arranged on my design wall. The back of the quilt will be 12 inch blocks of assorted fabrics I am trying to use up. I just can't afford to buy more fabric right now, and I have so much to use!

Well back to chain myself to the sewing machine.

A VISIT WITH KAYLEE

I had my dear sweet 2 year old granddaughter Kaylee overnight last night. That is always an experience! Here she is dancing to her favorite song, "Gone Gone Gone" by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss. As soon as the song is over, she shouts "More Gone Gone Gone Grammy!! More Gone Gone Gone!" Cutest thing ever.

So I go into the bedroom where she was sleeping this morning because I thought I heard her stirring, and there she is sitting cross legged in her bed stark naked. She had removed her blanket sleeper AND HER DIAPER and when she looked up and saw me she quietly said "Oh no." I couldn't stop laughing. And I was sincerely thankful that her diaper was only wet. This time.

Well later I was emptying out my knitting bag when she spotted the row counter necklace I had made, and asked to put it on. Who can resist that little face. She even said pease. So I let her try it on, and she pulled on it so she could see the beads near her face and the thread snapped. Beads went flying EVERYWHERE! Her little mouth popped open, she looked at me accusingly, and said, "Grammy!! You broke it!!!" I broke it? How cute is that. She got down on her little hands and knees with my husband and I all scrambling around picking up what seemed like thousands of little beads. Well she had to go home after lunch, but lucky me, tomorrow my oldest granddaughter Ashleigh is coming to visit. The joy never ends.

WTF? DAY!

Tuesday are hereby chosen to be my official WTF? days. Here is today's:

Just in case your doggie happens to have 4 broken legs! Seriously. WTF? Look at this poor dog's face, he is SOO thinking "WTF???"

I WANT A BLOG!

I want a blog. I don't know why, but all the cool kids have one. I drool over other knitter's yarns and projects, and I want to show you mine too. Will anyone read it? I don't know. Probably my kids will come to my page and shake their heads in shame and say to each other "Can you believe Mom actually thinks people are interested in her knitting? Maybe we should have her evaluated..." They, of course, have never heard of the Yarn Harlot. Or Grumperina. Or Crazy Aunt Purl. Not that I think I could ever be one of them, (well maybe I do, in my wildest dreams, but I will never admit it. Well maybe if you shove my 000 double points under my fingernails. Maybe.)

What's on my needles? Way too much. I have come up with the great wonderful ingenious idea to rotate my projects in this manner.

• Work 1 row of my Halloween Mystery Shawl. Ok, the mystery is over, we can call it my "Dracula's Bride" shawl.


• Work on Christmas baby sweater for 10 minutes. My pea brain can't take more than that much stockinette stitch at a time.


• Work another row of Dracula's Bride.


• Work on Gary's Home Depot socks for 10 mintes.


• Dracula's Bride.


• Work on Christmas mittens for 10 minutes.


• Dracula


• Work on Icelandic Shawl for 1 row. Why did I ever start that damn thing? Oops, can I say that in a blog? Do I need an explicit tag now? How do I get one?


• Drac


• Work on Christmas socks for 10 minutes.


• DB

You see where I am going with this? I admit it, I am obsessed with lace knitting. I know I don't look good in shawls, that's not the point. But when I finish my DB shawl and can post pics of the finished blocked shawl you will all know just how cool I really am. Really, kids. (You can stop laughing now. )