I Love My Busy Life!

Well, things did not turn out as planned. Everyone in the family is sick I think, so we had no house full of grandchildren this weekend, and things have been relatively quiet. We had no family dinner and only Mom and I went to the baby shower from our family. Things are looking better though. It seems that most everyone is well and we are shooting for another family dinner tomorrow. It will be the first time that Mom and some of the kids have seen Lucas and 4 weeks since Brian and Anna have been to visit. I am chomping at the bit to see them, and Lucas. I have so many projects in my head and I just don't know how to organize them all. Here is my list: 1. Traveling Woman Shawl 2. Snuggle Blanket for Colin 3. Birthday Cards for Class Next Week 4. Bookmark for my Swap Partner 5. Learning more embroidery stitches 6. Sewing a purse organizer 7. Sewing a purse for Anna 8. Birthday gift for my BD Swap Partner 9. Sweet Baby Socks for Lucas and Colin 10. Bag for Valentine Swap at Work 11. Valentines for my Fam 12. Planning Anna's Birthday Party Whew, what a list. I will accomplish most of it though. I finished Anna's Girlie Scarf and I can't wait to give it to her tomorrow.

Snuggle Blanket for Colin is coming along nicely.

The Traveling Woman shawl is on hold for just a bit until I finish some other things.

I am thinking about Christmas gifts, believe it or not. I would so love to make stockings for all the grandchildren this year and also make a gift for all the kids. That would be the ultimate Christmas for me. Giving all handmade gifts makes the holiday so special. I am going to shoot for it. If I start planning now, and gather materials, patterns, etc., I might just be able to pull it off. Ok, I am off to update the calendar, take my Bernina for service and try to eliminate a little dust from my house. Love and Peace~~~

Grandchildren, Knitting and Christenings

Started a blanket for Colin last night. He is due on March 31 and it will still be chilly then. I chose blue and white, not because it is my favorite colors, or that it is the standard for baby boys, but because that is the colors his Mommy is using in his nursery. We are going to Lucas' christening today. Can't believe he is a month old. Life just flies by while you are looking in another direction. My life is full and blessed, but it seems like I miss a lot of it. Next weekend is Tiffany's baby shower, Anna and Brian coming to visit and the Super Bowl. A very exciting weekend coming up. Food, kids, football and so much fun! The playroom is pretty much finished and we are happy that we have this wonderful room for the kids to play and watch movies. My Traveling Woman shawl is coming along very well. Since it is the first lace shawl that I have made, I am very proud of the fact that it is going so well. I can't wait to finish it. OPAM 2012 is underway and I finished a couple of items for January. I hope I can finish all the items I have planned for 2012. I have set some pretty lofty goals for myself this year. I am looking forward to this challenge!

Traveling Woman and Other Shawls

My Traveling Woman is going so well! I just finished the third repeat of Chart A and hope to do the fourth tonight. I love this Malabrigo Sock Yarn. It feels like pure silk in my hands. I have a goal in 2012 to make 6 shawls. I am starting with this one. I am not sure what the other 5 patterns will be, but for sure, one will be Holden Shawlette. In addition, I really want to do Faraway, So Close. I have always loved it, and I have had it in my queue forever, but then I won the pattern from my MA group, so it has been "burning a hole in my pocket" as my Dad used to say. Such a big decision!

I have had a very chaotic start to 2012. A terrible,can't get rid of it cold, a root canal, doctor's appointments with my Mom, changes at work and disappointment in the NFL! But, I do have a wonderful, blessed life and I am happy! I finished a couple of knitting projects this past week. Take a look! Snuggle Blanket and Hat for Lucas:

And, my Saroyan Scarf by Liz Abinante:

I have just cast on Traveling Woman, also from Liz and I am trying to finish a snuggle blanket for Anna before her birthday on February 17. I can't believe that she will be 3! She is so adorable and if I had hand picked a granddaughter, I could not have chosen one as dear as she is to me. We have another baby coming in March, Colin, and we are all so excited! Babies are such a wonderful part of being a family. Lucas is growing like a weed and Brian and Anna are so big! I have a couple of projects that I am planning for 2012. I want to do more embroidery, and more scrapbooking. I have boxes of photos and things that I have saved for scrapping and I need to get started. So many projects, so little time! I am counting the days until OPAM 2012! Can't wait to get started.

Handmade Gifts

I am constantly surprised at the fact that people in general just don't appreciate handmade gifts. I guess they don't stop to think about the time, money, energy and love that a person puts into a handmade item. Yarns that are soft and warm are very expensive and some gifts take hours of knitting or crocheting. A good example is hand knit socks. Yes, knit socks are sold in all department stores, cost anywhere from a couple of dollars to $20 or so, but they are not even slightly comparable to a pair of hand knit socks. Once you have worn a pair of custom fit, hand knit socks, you will never be the same. It has been my experience in the past, that some people just don't get the idea at all. It takes anywhere from 8 to 40 hours to knit or crochet a handmade item, depending on what the item is and the amount of time the artist has to devote to creating it. Not to mention the cost. Good sock yarn averages about $20 per ball and it takes 2 balls to make a pair of socks for an adult. Yes, you can buy several pair of socks for $40, but they won't be the same. Blankets and throws take much longer to knit and much more yarn. Then there are quilts. Hours and hours of cutting, measuring, constructing and then quilting. Artists make handmade gifts because they love doing it, and cost and time is no object to them. They love the people they are doing the item for, and want to do something special for them. They put all their love and creativity into these gifts, as well as many hours. The next time you are given a handmade gift, stop and think about what goes into making one.

Maxwell Moppy Herrin

Crazy week! My best friend and first doggy love, Max is not feeling well. He has always had allergies and skin rashes and infections and ear infections and you name it, he has had it. I could have bought a car with the money I have spent at the vet trying to keep him healthy and happy. This week, however, was a bit different. He changed drastically and quickly. He seemed to lose about 3 or 4 pounds overnight, and he started vomiting for no apparent reason. My first thought was a parasite. I was so worried when I dropped him off at the Vet on Tuesday morning. I could hear her over and over in my mind saying we had to put him down. That was a scene I could not fathom. After x-rays and blood work, she could not tell me what was wrong. She said that he had lost 4 pounds and had a mass around his liver, but they had no idea what the mass was. She said that it might be gall stones, but she was pretty sure it wasn't, and it could be cancer, she wasn't sure. She seemed to think that there was a possibility that it was a severe infection of some kind. The only way to know for sure if it was cancer was with an ultra sound. I thought about what she said and then I realized that if it wasn't gall stones, then it COULD be cancer. I did not want to know that. If we had the ultrasound and it was cancer, what would change? Nothing. The only difference would be that I would be waiting for him pass on and that was not a path I wanted to go down. So, I decided against the ultrasound. She gave him a shot of a heavy duty antibiotic and a prescription for more antibiotic to take by mouth. He seemed to be feeling better on Wednesday and seemed better each day. I am now praying for him each day and hoping that God will let him stay with me for a few more years. Sometimes, not knowing is the best thing...don't you think?

Catching Up

Since I have been away for a while, I thought I would do a quick update on some things that I have finished and projects that I have started. I do have several projects in the works right now, as always. I seem to have "cast-on-itis" and can't cure it. I like to have several different things to work on at one time. The only problem with that, is sometimes I don't mark my place well, and have to spend extra time deciding where I am in the pattern. I need to break myself from that. My life would be so much easier. Jenny, from my Crochet Club at work, made these beautiful hotpads and I loved them so much I decided to give them a try. Here is my finished product:

I love knitting socks, as a matter of fact, I think I am addicted to socks. Here are a couple of pair that I have finished recently: I call these Clown Socks!

There are socks that I made for my Mom. They are called Dragonfly Socks:

This is a pair of fingerless mitts that I made for myself. They still need blocking, but are so soft and warm!

I have a few other things that are close to being finished. I love to see my projects get completed. Til next time!