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!