Fall - It Came and Went

Hello and welcome back. Actually you haven't been gone but I certainly have been. I have been gone much too long and fall is over with nary a post. We have had a bit of family illness of the parent variety with several trips to the emergency room including one ambulance ride and a few days in the hospital for Jerry's dad. My mom had a total knee replacement. Her knee is doing great but she had some other complications that has made recovery a long, slow process. All of this has lead to lots of impromptu over nights by various family members, canceled plans, last minute changes of plans, etc. I know most of you have been there. To top it off blogger has eaten two very nice posts. I have no idea where they are but if anyone finds them please let me know. I think they were some of my best posts ever.

We have had some fun and there has been a fair amount of knitting going on. So, let me entertain you with a few of the highlights of fall.

We went with Jerry's daughter and her family to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival.
We had so much fun. We did face painting but on the arm so it could be seen and enjoyed by the one painted on.
We got to know some very lovely sheep.
We looked through holes in walls simply because the adults told us too. They thought we were soooo cute.


Grandpa bought us flower shaped fairy hats. It was a day of making memories. I am printing a book of all the pictures from that day as a Christmas gift.

I knit this pattern back in August and love the pattern. I have started knitting it again in I Love This Cotton! from Hobby Lobby. It is so soft and yummy feeling I am truly enjoying knitting this little baby blanket. There are several babies baking and will need sweet little things knit for them. As soon as I get done with Christmas knitting I will be back to this blanket.

Speaking of Christmas knitting..... I have three granddaughter's under the age of 6. They are each getting an outfit for Christmas. I am knitting the vest and buying jeans and matching shirts. If time allows there will be a belt and/or headband. The pink and green is for the youngest and the pink one is for the oldest. I have yellow and lavender on the needles for the middle child. One front is complete and almost 1/2 the second front.

I keep a prayer shawl on the needles all the time and this is the most recent one. These multi-color, multi-yarn ones have been very popular.

I have talked about this shawl before but I like this picture much better. A dress form opens so many more opportunities for making a shawl look like something. I love the textures in this one and there are just hints of colors that the light picks up.


While talking about scribble lace shawls this is one of my favorites color wise. It is made with cotton crochet thread so isn't as slick and drape able as some of my others. I actually prefer it as a scarf.


Finally the mega afghan/blanket is complete. In case you have forgotten it's humble beginnings you can see it here.


I attempted to take a picture of my son with it before he left on Thanksgiving but I didn't have a memory card in the camera. Relatives took pics for me but I don't have them yet.

Congrats to KU in their win over Mizzou today. Thanks to the Olpe Eagles for a great season. I am so proud of you for making it all the way to state playoffs and for playing a good game against Smith Center.

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?

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.