Getting ready to hit the road

Well, I am getting ready to go to Florida!! My hubby's boss called and offered me a ticket to come see him for a week. So I am busy trying to get over a cold and get packed. I haven't seen him since June. So I am really excited. I have been working like mad on gifts, but no pictures yet. I will be taking my camera and Hubby has a lap top, so I will try to post from the road. Have a great Weekend!

But I did see something interesting on another blog that I would like to share:

Your Birthdate: July 6

You tend to be a the rock in relationships - people depend on you. Thoughtful and caring, you often put others needs first. You aren't content to help those you know... you want to give to the world. An idealist, you strive for positive change and dream about how much better things could be. Your strength: Your intuition Your weakness: You put yourself last Your power color: Rose Your power symbol: Cloud Your power month: June

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

For Gracie Poo Poo

This is a special post meant for Gracie Poo Poo. It is not intended to offend, just as a special message to my almost daughter. (she is my best friends daughter, but I love her like she was my own)

I found this quizilla quiz online and thought of you Grace! I wonder which bunny you are?

So, I took the quiz and this is the result!!

you are the "you suck, and that's sad"
happy bunny. your truthful, but can be a bit
brutal.


which happy bunny are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I am really liking this Swap Thing

As I mentioned yesterday, I joined a Stitch Marker Swap. Well, I got my second set today in the mail. They are so cute. I literally cracked up when I opened the package. They even came with a Hello Kitty bag! It was a bright spot in a really long day.

And I was so inspired that I got all 5 of my sets ready to go and I got my Spindlers secret Santa ready to go too. They will be in the post tomorrow!!

I am diligently working away on the blanket and the hat to go with the fingerless mitts.

I hope everyone's knitting is going great!

Only 41 Days til Christmas!!

Can you believe that the holidays are almost here? It is blowing my mind! I have been spinning and knitting and can't seem to get caught up! My Mom always said, the older you get, the quicker the time goes...boy was she right.

I have managed to finish one gift this weekend. I did make a pair, but you can see what they look like better by themselves. These were knit with a beautiful yarn I found at a yarn shop on my trip last week. It was so cool to find a knit shop right on the hwy, in Bandon,
The Wool Company. They even had roving and dyed fleece for sale. So I will be sure to stop there again the next time I visit the coast.

The yarn is Noro Shinano - it is 65% wool and 35% silk. It was on sale for 30% off. It was a really great find! It is softer than the Noro Silk Garden in my opinion. I really like it. I don't usually go for the earthy tones, but this has just a hint of enough other colors to catch my eye. I will also be making a hat to go with these. So only a gajillion more presents to go!

I also joined a stitch marker swap and I got my first package the other day from Elspeth She sent some beautiful markers and some yummy chocolates...it was a very nice treat. ( I will post a photo tomorrow, flickr is acting up)

So the holidays are zooming up on us and so I will continue to knit away and hope I get all my gifts done. Next year I think I'll start in February!!

Have a great week!

Winter has Arrived!

Well....I made it home in one piece....This is what it looked like on my drive to the coast.





Aren't the fall colors beautiful against the green of the trees? I took these shots while I was driving...I didn't look through the hole, just held up the camera and shot away. Most of them were blurry, but a few came out.

This is what it looked like on my way home





It is beautiful I know, but I hate driving in it. and besides, on long drives Michael is supposed to be with me so he can drive and I can knit or snooze.....(just another reason to miss him)

I did have a wonderful visit with Melanie, but for some reason we were so busy talking that we took no pictures, plus it rained a lot. I will take pictures at Christmas time. We plan on visiting again on our way to spend the holiday with Lilee & Bri & Josh.

But, Mel did send me home with lots of goodies, handmade soap, lavender massage oil, rosemary cooking oil, a medicine bag she made, bulbs for the garden, a cool puzzle, a gourd that she grew, some jewelry and I am sure I have forgotten something. So I was very spoiled and had a very good time. I even ate venison!! It was yummy! Mel is a great cook and a great friend and I still don't know why it took me so long to visit.

I did get her started knitting, so I have started her on a healthy addiction that I hope will help her quit smoking!! (hint hint) She took to it right away, which doesn't' surprise me, she is very creative and talented.

I did also get to spend a few days with Lilee and Bri and I will share about that tomorrow. I am beat and freezing.....thank goodness they are coming to fill the oil tanks today so I can have the heat on a bit warmer, I always worry about it running out.

Stay warm and have a good day.

Off to see the wizard...

Well... I'm off...not exactly to see the wizard, but to see my best friend Melanie. We have been friends since the 4th grade (30 something years ago...yikes!)

I am excited about spending some time with her and then I am off to see Lilee Mae. I may be able to post from the road, if not, see ya next week!!

This is my Mom. She loved Halloween. I am sure she is looking down from heaven tonite enjoying everyone's costumes. I miss you Mom!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hey...I'm famous.....sort of

One of my favorite blogs is The Yarn Junkie. and if you go there, you will see a picture of me~!!! or at least of my head and my ear. LOL. I test knitted a hat for her and sent a pic and she put up the photo. Cool huh?

Well, her yarn is nice and the pattern was nice also it is from the top down, so if your not sure if you have enough yarn, no problem.

I am soaking a pound of alpaca I just got and so I will be blending this with some wool later this week. I am not sure what I am going to make, but I'll share when I decide.

I read a few other blogs like Kerry Knits. She has kids and is a great writer. She always cracks me up. I have come to the conclusion that you have many more amusing things to write about when your kids are small. Life around her is pretty mundane. But at least I have lots of pretty pictures to share. and next week I get to see Lilee so she will probably do some cute things....anyway here's some of those photos I was talking about:

This summer my niece Tori came to stay a while with me. She is 15 now and it seems like just yesterday that she was a tiny baby. We had a good time while she was here, including this silly photo session. She is so beautiful and smart. I can't wait to see what she will be when she finishes growing up.

I have one of those coffee travel cups from Starbucks that let you put your own photos on the outside behind the plastic. Well, I scanned my favorites at the time and made this template so the originals didn't get hurt. I really love that cup. There is everything from Josh as a little boy to Lilee as a baby. And my mom too, who is in heaven. And that is my hubby with the starfish on his head. ( That is really one of my favorites.)

And last but never least it Lilee this past summer at my house. I love it when she laughs, which is a lot, and I really like this pic of her filling up the pool with the hose.

Have a nice week everyone!

At long last....Proof that I knit!

Well... I finally found the digital camera and I have some photos of current projects to share.

This is a Christmas gift, but I can't say for whom. It is a blanket, It is made from all my handspun from the beginning. Most I have dyed, some just spun. The fishes came from here http://knittingarrows.blogspot.com
but unfortunately she has taken her version down. Originally it came from Knitters Magazine, Issue 51 (summer 1998) and created by Paula Levy.

Anyway my intention is for the fish to look like they are swimming in the waves. It is kinda abstract, but it will fit the person that will be receiving it.


These very cute slippers are another gift. I just used my standard sock pattern, except I used size 10.5 needles and then felted. I also added the novelty yarn to the cuff and then just the top of the slipper. I knitted it in with the base yarn at the top of the foot and then cut it at the end of each row and joined it again when I got to that point (used dpns to make it easier to tell where to join the yarn again). After felting I cut off the ends and voila! They base yarn is Cascade 220 wool yarn, just a single strand. So you can get an average pair of slippers from one hank of Cascade.


This is a pair of slippers I made for me with my handspun/dyed yarn. They came out pretty cool too, I think. They are nice and warm without being too heavy like some felted slippers.


And last, but in no way least is some orange yarn I spun up and dyed with wiltons dye. the picture really doesn't do it justice. I will try to take a better picture tomorrow in the sunlight.

So there you have it...proof that I do knit and spin and dye my yarn. This is the most fun I have had with a hobby EVER and trust me I have had MANY!! lol

I hope everyone is having a good week! See ya.

A Lazy Saturday

Well, it is taking forever to get over this cold. This has been the laziest Saturday I have had in quite a while. I got an okay start, got up at 8am, but then I sat down in the living room and woke up at 1pm. Geez, guess I was still tired LOL.

I did get one thing accomplished, I went to Joann's Crafts and used my second 50% off coupon. Got some top secret scrapbooking kits that will be turned into Christmas presents....

Tomorrow my goal is to find the digital camera and take some fiber pictures. I am getting pretty good at picking out vm from my roving so that is coming along pretty good.


Michael got to spend 2 weeks in Hawaii this September with his childhood friend and he finally sent me a package with something for me. And he did good. I told him I would like a puca shell necklace, the kind that was popular in the 70's to hang on my rearview mirror of my xterra. Well, he did and he even went the extra mile. Before my Mom passed away, she collected turtles. Whenever I went somewhere I would look for a small turtle, carved from wood or stone or something and then I would send them to her. Well, the necklace Michael sent had a turtle made from wood and a shell hanging from it. (see below). So I just wanted to acknowledge the my husband is very thoughtful and I love him very much.

This is my very handsome son, Joshua. He is Lilee's Daddy. He is in the Navy and we all miss him very much. This is one of my favorite pictures of him. He may look like a grease monkey, but I bet he's the cutest one you have ever seen.

Daddy took Lilee to get pictures taken all by himself (note the sneakers). I love this shot because I think the sneakers are hilarious. Josh is a great dad, but I guess dad's don't think about those things. He got mad at me when I teased him, but I told him it was cute and we will always have a good chuckle when we talk about that picture.

Well, I hope everyone doesn't think I am an obsessive gramma or something. I just have a small family and I am very proud of them and love them and want to share them with everyone else.

I am off to spin some more so I can dye it soon so I can finish Michael's Christmas project.

Have good weekend!

I did it!!

Well, I actually did it. I fixed that stupid blue bar and got it back up to the top where it belongs. It is amazing to me that one or two little letters in the wrong place can mess up your page so much.

Anyway, I think I am going to finally get over this awful cold I have had for the last week. I am starting to feel normal and not like a zombie.

I am still working away on that roving and finally making some headway. Not all of the roving has as much vm as other parts.

I need to get batteries for the digital camera before I can share any current projects. But I do have some other photos to share:

This is my Hubby. This is one of my favorite pictures of him. Though now his hair is much longer and his beard much greyer, he is still the cutest guy I have ever seen. He has been in Florida on business most of this year, and I must say it has been the most lonesome year I can recall. But, he will be home by Thanksgiving this year. So I will be extra thankful this holiday season.

This is Miss Lilee and her Mom Brianna at music class. I was lucky enough to get to go to this class with them when I was visiting. It is really interesting. They teach the parents songs to sing with the kid and they get music and instruments to take home.

Lilee doesn't like to get her hands dirty in the least. She'll make you wash them if they are the slightest bit sticky or dirty. So, it was hilarious to me that she was willing to pick up the sand. Although this lasted about 10 seconds and she was running to the water to rinse off her hands.

I saved the best picture for last. On my last visit we went out to lunch. (Bri, Lilee & I) and as you can tell we had a great time. One of my most favorites sounds in the world is a baby/toddlers laugh and this photo just cracks me up because I can just hear her laughter in my mind.

Well, I am off to spin. I really am enjoying looking at these pics and thinking about everyone. I hope everyone else enjoys them too.

Wow

Well, I was really excited to see how many hits I got. I did email my yahoo groups and family & friends that I started a blog. But I didn't expect that much response. and I got some cool comments too. Thanks everyone. I know that there seems to be a problem with the blue box being in the wrong place. It should be a banner at the top of the page. I am working on getting some to help me fix that. In the mean time I will just move the writing down so you can see it.

I have been down with a nasty cold, so I don't have much knitting pics today, but since I am im mourning for summer, I decided to show you some photos from our garden.


The lilees are part of the "Lilee" Garden.


These are some interesting shots of some of the tulips that came up this spring. Michael was in Florida and didn't get to see the garden and all the new tulips we planted the previous fall. So I got creative with the digital camera.


I thought that this shot of the daffodils was cool because of the wood behind it.But now fall is upon us and all the flowers are history...

I can't wait for spring!

Wooly news: I am picking out the vm from those 11lbs of roving I got. Since I have been sick it is kind of a medatative thing to do. I have made a couple of bats and it spins up like a dream.

So that was a lesson well learned. Alway look at the fleece first and wash and pick it before sending it off to be proccessed.

Well, I'm off to pop the top on a can of chicken soup....

Here we go....

Okay. I have been talking about starting a blog and here it is. My first offical post. I have so enjoyed reading other posts that I am looking forward to this no matter how intimidating it is.... lol..





This is me and my granddaughter Lilee Mae. She is 2 and 3/4 years old. She will be 3 in December. She is the smartest, brightest, most wonderful little girl.

She inspires my knitting...even if she won't wear ponchos!! I made her this one and also one with a hood, but she refuses to wear them. Because she tries to find sleeve holes and then when she realizes that their are no sleeves, she raises her arms and off goes the poncho....it is really funny. I guess they are too restricting to her. Luckily they are kinda big, so maybe she'll like them this coming winter.

Lucky for me though, she does like sweaters and socks...

My hubby (Michael) took this cute photo of some of the first socks I made Lilee.

This photo always makes me smile. Lilee is wearing an outfit I sent her and socks that I knitted her. (I made matching ones for her mom). The reason that this is such a great photo is that it is an everyday photo of Lilee wearing clothes and socks from me. Not just a posed, lets send Gram a photo.

That is why I enjoy knitting for Brianna and Lileee. Bri (my wonderfuld Daughter in Law) really takes care of the stuff I make them and I know she wears the socks too.....I have seen her wear them...

Well, I guess I made it throught my first post. I have plenty of more pics and stories to share, so this is going to be fun!