A White Christmas

It hasn't happened in years. We had snow on the ground before Christmas and here we are four days later with additional snow and very little melting. We have had four measurable snows and one significant ice storm so far this winter. Very unusual.

Christmas Morning

This was Christmas morning at our house. That isn't all the presents as there were other grandparent's houses to go to and some had been done the weekend before and some wouldn't be opened until later. So all in all I guess this isn't too obscene as far as gift giving goes as this accumulation is for in the neighborhood of twenty people. The grandkids got things like yoga videos, exercise mats, and outdoor play equipment. Books were big also.






Now this is the story of the year. Grandchildren, almost 2 and almost 4. Pumpkin pie on a dresser in a back bedroom not being heated so I could store such extra goodies as pie, cookies, candies, etc. Very quiet grandchildren who like pumpkin pie. The little one comes to daddy and wants her hands washed. Oh no, where is the four year old? On a footstool pushed up to the dresser eating pie. We had to laugh and take pictures as it was just too funny. Those tracks in the pie go all the way to the bottom crust. We even kept the pie around for a couple of days for the laughs.

The baking

Notice I don't say The Knitting? There isn't much of that going on. I also didn't say The Wrapping. There is still lots of that to do. That is also what college age daughters are for. She has her instructions for tomorrow while I am at work. She will have the assistance of the almost teenage granddaughter who just blew in from Utah. The Utah family drove through some awful weather and we are very thankful they are here safely. The girls are watching the Polar Express, the men are playing poker and I am making lists, checking them twice and then making some more lists. The menu was set and the shopping was done, that is until I found out this evening I will have four more than I expected for Christmas morning breakfast. No problem, a new list for my man to take to the grocery store in the morning while I am at work. Notice the theme here, I am at work, everyone else is at home. This will be the biggest Christmas morning since we joined our two families five years ago. I can hardly wait. We will be having the main meal for this bunch tomorrow night before everyone moves on to various spouses families Christmas celebrations after breakfast Christmas morning. (I am not going to guess how to properly punctuate that sentence.) The men will be preparing the turkey and the ham, while I am at work. We will also have sweet potato casserole, fancy corn, hot rolls, fruit salad, pumpkin and pecan pie and anything that any roving relatives add to the mix.















The pictures I want to share with you are of my biscotti. The CD's included in the pictures are of the Christmas music playing at the time. The poor oven was on from 10 this a.m. until 6 p.m. I baked the four pies mentioned above, two batches of biscotti, two loaves of banana bread, biscuits and at least two other things but they have probably already eaten it. This doesn't include the big pot of soup that simmered along all day.

Back to the biscotti. I got this recipe last year from Giada De Laurentiis on HGTV. She is my man's favorite cooking show hostess but I don't think he can tell you anything she makes. Anyway, we all love this biscotti. My inherited-son was so impressed that I had made it and I won't be telling him how easy it is.
I must now get back to my lists so that I can sneak off to work in the morning knowing everything will be ready when I get home.

I can dream can't I?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Ho, Ho, Ho. It's snowing again. Fourth weekend in a row for some kind of winter weather. I love the snow so won't complain a bit. I had some last minute errands to run this a.m. and except for watching out for the other guy it was fun to run around in the snow.
The first picture is from last weekend. Does it look familiar? It is the same view as our first snow picture back in November. Since it looks like we will actually get some snow this year I am going to take the same picture with each snow.






I did finish decorating but did it in shifts. After the Grinch (see previous post) finished repairing the lights without cursing too much the tree sat for several days because I had a nasty infection and by the time I got home in the evenings I was too tired to think about anything. My son was home on the 14th so he added his 21 years of accumulated ornaments. My daughter and I finished on Sunday and as always we think it is the most beautiful tree we have ever had. Of course with it being artificial the shape is the same but the ornaments are better placed, or something. The tree topper is not on in any of the pictures. It is an angel bear I made years ago and she needed a little reworking this year also.







Today we start getting family from out of town. There is more food in this house right now than probably since last year. I have both a ham and a turkey thawing for our dinner on Christmas Eve with Jerry's family. We will be home Christmas morning with who ever is spending the night in addition to my children. Christmas afternoon we go to my mom's for Christmas with my extended family. Between now and then I have to wrap every present I have purchases, fill stockings and cook. I love this part and with extra family coming I will put them to work as well.
Yes, it is certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....



God Bless Us Everyone.

Still decorating

The tree is having some technical difficulties so Santa aka The Grinch has taken it back to his workshop to fix the light that won't light on one side.
I think everything else is done though. I will finish the tree when that pesky string of lights gets fixed. It doesn't look bad just the way it is. Enjoy a few of my other decorations. I am off to stir the chili we are having later for supper. Can't wait, it smells so good.

The decorating begins

Decorating for Christmas. Tune in later for hopefully more Christmas looking pictures. See the corner with no tree below. It is waiting in the car to fill up that corner.

Twenty-two years ago today

Twenty-two years ago today I was pregnant with my first child. Only I knew and I would keep my secret until Christmas morning.
Twenty-two years ago today my parents lost their third child, their second son. The son who was too tiny and too sick at birth but fought and survived to graduate, work and marry the light of his life. Three months later he was taken away from us.
How different would our lives be today if he had lived?
I love you and miss you.

Let It Snow

It is already December 7. How did that happen? I wish someone would slow the world down just a little bit. I'm not concerned about being ready for Christmas, I will be. I'm not concerned about daughter's surgery, it will be fine. I simply don't understand how we got to December already.















In turning over calendars to December it seems each one has a lovely snow picture. I have not yet shown you the first snow of the year for us. It came early the morning of November 24. It was pretty much gone by noon but it was a lovely snow. A friend tells me that means we will have 24 snows this winter. Another friend claims it will be a total of 24" of snow this year. We shall see.















December 6 we got more precipitation in the form of freezing rain and sleet. I refused to take pictures of it. I heard that it actually snowed for a few minutes but I saw no indication of that so it doesn't count toward the number of snows count or accumulation totals. All it did was increase the amount of *&%# that had to be scrapped off of windshields in order to get everyone home after work.

Scribble Lace

I recently completed another scribble lace shawl/scarf. I love these things! The yarns and the needles completely transform the basic idea. This one was too slick to use aluminum needles so I switched to bamboo. That held so much better but then it was not as open and airy as the first one. http://fiberinspired.blogspot.com/2007/09/i-have-completed-two-scribble-shawls.html














The colors on this one are so rich. Both yarns have copper in the name. One is Copper Wire and the other Copper Penney.








The next one in my mind is in blacks and I will go back to a slicker set of needles. At least I think that is what will work.

The basic pattern is from the Mason Dixon Knitting book.

I have a stalker

I can't get away from him. Everywhere I look there he is. He is in the kitchen, on the couch and once again he creeps into my blog. Will Thanksgiving never get here so I can be rid of him?





Yes, I speak of Gary the Gobbler. This is #3 completed. He seems very happy made from yarn named Camel and I hope my swap partner is going to love her new dishcloth.

I have been playing with my camera after joining a photography group over at Ravelry. I hope my photographs improve and I even learned to get a respectable close up. I just love the look of the tail feathers.




















Can you guess who this is? See what I mean? The one above is the one that was blocking in the kitchen and this one is hanging out on the couch. Gary insists I can't stop until my mother has one too.

Gary the third

It appears that Gary #3 is just over half done. Poor guy is going to loose a bit of his height in a few minutes though. I must have missed a YO two rows back because I should have 37 and I only have 36. I might not matter at this point but I don't want him to have a lumpy breast or broken tail feathers.
This is the yarn called Camel and I really like how it is working up. Gary appears happy with the color as well.
I have found that the seat of this chair in our bedroom is really great for photographing small items when I have no natural light.
Check back for more "Adventures With Gary".

More Gary

Wally World is the only place in town that carries yarn. So of course I have to cruise by just in case there is something good. Well, I found these colors of Peaches & Creme. The solid is Camel and the variegated is Earthtone. I thought both would make wonderful Gary the Gobbler dishcloths. Not that yellow, orange and off white won't work great I just think these look kind of turkeyish. Do you think Gary will mind being knit from a yarn called Camel?

I am making great progress on the Log Cabin blanket. I tried to take pictures but I really need natural light so will wait until I have some of that. It is almost dark when I get home from work so I may even have to wait for the weekend. Stay tuned for Log Cabin blankets and more Gary the Gobbler.

Fall things

Meet Gary the Gobbler. He is a delightfully quick knit dishcloth and I have completed two so far. One is in the mail to Ysabeau for a Fall theme exchange. The second one will go in the mail shortly for a dishcloth exchange. I plan to knit more before Thanksgiving to give as hostess gifts and just for fun. My mom loves the knitted dishcloths so she will get one when we go home for Thanksgiving. Both of the kids are out on their own now and really seem to like getting things for their apartments. I am trying to use from my stash and these are the color options that I have left. Not exactly turkey colors but they are after all going to be dishcloths. You can search for Gary the Gobbler to get the free pattern.



Becky sent me this lovely cloth as part of the Fall theme exchange. I need to iron it and get it back on the side table in the living room.

These beautiful fabrics came as a thank you gift from a cyber friend. They are pieces of fabric, beads and charms and best of all two leaves and machine stitched "tree bark" that she created. I have them on my work table and I simply love looking at them. They haven't told me yet what they want to be but they will.

Contest

Do you enjoy contests with prizes? Do you like blogs about knitting, pets and family adventures? If the answer to either is yes you need to check out "Shut Up, I'm Counting". I found her through another blog I read "loveincomfortknits" and since there was a contests WITH PRIZES I thought I would enter. Well, I looked around her blog a bit and decided she was having way too much fun with life and I had better peek in and see what she is doing now and again. Head on over and mention that I sent you.

This pic has nothing to do with this post but I really don't like posts without pictures.
This is from our vacation this summer. Loved spending a few days just the four of us. And the ocean..... how I loved the ocean.

Scrumbles

I stumbled across a site a while back that fascinated me. I then joined a Yahoo group and then an exchange within the group. Isn't that the normal progression of getting ourselves into new "trouble"? I have actually participated four months in the exchange but only have two pictures. I forgot to take ones picture and the last one has not arrived at its new home yet so I don't want to spoil the surprise in case she reads my blog. I use a combination of knitting and crochet but mostly crochet. The last one, not yet pictured, has a little bit of beading.
What I have enjoyed so much about these little, about the size of my hand, guys is that there are no rules and no pattern. I find a bit of yarn, a color or whatever inspires me at the moment and add more yarns to compliment it. I try to pick a new stitch or technique with each one and since they are small they are a quick adventure. I seem to have little control over what they want to become. They have minds of their own.

It's my bag

Everlasting bagstopper....
I love the name of this bag, I love this bag and I love that it won't be delegated to a grocery bag as it was originally planned to be. It is now a bag for anything nice I want to carry, like knitting or books or whatever. It is also a door decoration.














Why is it so special?

I may never wash it either.

Now the disclaimer.
Is this how the bag is supposed to look? Well, not exactly.
Did I use the yarn suggested? No.
Did I follow the pattern exactly? No.
Is any of this intentional? Yes and no.
I used a different yarn because I had it in my stash and I wanted to start the bag. This is also known as frugal.
The bag does not look like the picture because I didn't follow the pattern exactly but it was a TV watching project and every time Jack Bauer gets in a tight spot I tend to loose my place in my knitting. And since Jack gets in a lot of tight spots I get lost a lot. This is also known as taking creative license.
I plan to knit more Everlasting bagstoppers and I may have to let Jack sit the next one out.

One of the babies is here

Avery Nicole arrived Thursday evening. For the first time ever, well at least in recent memory, the gift was done before the baby was. Photographed, wrapped and waiting to be delivered. What the stork brought me was a BAD cold so I can't go visiting, holding, ooooing and ahhhhhing until the cold is gone. I have seen pictures and grandma is floating around at work. The kimono is from the book "Mason-Dixon Knitting" and the hat is called Baby's First Hat, designed by Abigail Goss of Crotiques. I found it online but I haven't been able to find it again.
Miss Avery is barely 6 lbs. so she will probably need to grow a bit before wearing this. I had baby sumo wrestlers so was very thankful for gifts that were a bit larger.

Ravelry Invitation

I got my invitation today! I need a user name and some time to play.

Ravelry

Some interesting numbers. I guess I will be invited to join by the end of the week. I won't be home most of the weekend but I will get to play later. I've heard so much about Ravelry I can't wait to check it out.

9/21 I sent in my info. and I was #34627
10/16 5123 ahead of me and 9984 behind me
10/17 4200 ahead - 10,650 behind
10/18 3527 ahead - 11,028 behind
10/19 3228 ahead - 11,483 behind
10/22 1905 ahead - 12,506 behind
10/23 1204 ahead - 12,937 behind

This is going to be HUGE! Any one already a member? I have heard there is so much incredible inspiration in this one spot. I can hardly wait.

Podcast & Contest

Monday Vickie Howell posted a contest to celebrate the launch of her Podcast Craft. Rock. Listen. Just for linking to the information on her website she would send a skein of her new yarn. Even though I don't think I really know how to do that properly yet I linked to her web site and today I am listed on her blog and I am watching the mailbox for the yarn. How cool is that? A skein of yarn for just a couple minutes of trying to figure out how to do something.
I also entered the contest for some free books but I didn't win any of those. Congratulations to those who did.
Check out Vickie's site for information on her podcast. She has some great guests lined up.

Finished and their stories

Catching up on a few things that were recently finished. The bib goes to a long-time friend for a grand baby to be born soon. The multi-color baby hat is preemie/doll size and doesn't have a home yet. Neither does the pink/lavender one though it has a twin that goes with a kimono that is almost complete. The kimono and hat will go to a baby expected any day now. I guess I had better get the ribbons on the kimono so I can photograph and otherwise prepare it for delivery to the new little one.












This prayer shawl has a sad but "it's a God thing" story. I made the shawl several months ago. It is black Lion Brand Homespun and lots of different pinks, variegated and shades that coordinate with pink. I just loved the feel of it and I couldn't seem to get it to the church office to be used as needed. A week ago Wednesday I also had 5 prayer cloths I had made and intended to drop off at the church office after my Prayer Shawl meeting but the door was locked. I didn't take pictures of the cloths. On with the story. The very next day we received word that a niece in her early 30's with 4 small children and a husband has been diagnosed with breast cancer. That saga continues with the possibility that the cancer has spread.
I immediately knew where this shawl was supposed to go to live. With Kelly. Why did I have 5 prayer cloths with no home? Because Darrin and the 4 beautiful kiddos needed something to comfort them as well. It certainly is a God thing.

Scribble shawls

I have completed two scribble shawls from the book Mason-Dixon Knitting. The first one pictured here I sold right off the needles. I had no intention of selling it. What's a girl to do when someone offers money, enough money to seriously consider selling something you love? 1) Make sure there is enough yarn to make one for herself. 2) Plan on spending the money on more yarn. SOLD!


The second scribble shawl, you can see part of it in the picture below, ended much too soon. The balls of yarn were deceptive and there was not enough of the blue to make the shawl long and swishy. So, it has hung out in my "studio" for the last couple of weeks trying to inspire me to do something with it. Since it would be IMPOSSIBLE to frog that is not an option. A trip to the button box proved the spark to complete this project, I hope. Folded in an uneven rectangle it resembles an asymmetrical shrug that needs something to hold it in place. My plan is to construct a brooch of sorts on a recycled lapel pin with buttons that coordinate with the shawl.
First, a test piece out of white buttons to make sure the glue will hold and my idea will work.

While the Chiefs are trying to loose again, and Clint Boyer is on rain delay I am gluing buttons, deconstructing a sweater and finishing a baby kimono. Hold the phone! The Chiefs just tied the game. Go Chiefs!