Gimme' the Candy!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!

Gnome MIA

It was cold, windy and snowy yesterday. I tried to capture the snow falling but the camera wasn't cooperating. Ranks right up there with my yarn/knitting pictures:). I do not proclaim to be a photographer by any means.
I'm in trouble here. I had BIG plans for hand knitted Christmas gifts. HUGE plans. Something went wrong. I know I had all year to knit gifts but Self needed socks. Self also needed a new sweater. Self has NEEDS you know?!


The eldest son is NOT getting a hand knitted sweater this year. The DH isn't getting one either. I am scratching gifts right and left from the Christmas list. There will be very little buying of gifts this year given fuel, food, utility expenses. So.............I am resorting to smaller hand knitted gifts. Like these little babies.
I found the pattern on Ravelry. My apologies to those who are not on Ravelry.
They make up to approximately 5 inches and they knit fast. I need fast right now. My needles are busy with mittens, gloves and socks. Hopefully they will get done in time for Ole' St. Nick to deliver:)
Thinking ahead to next year I plan to knit this for the youngest daughter. Fingering weight for a sweater. I know what you're thinking, "how can she possibly plan for next year when she's scratching gifts this year?" Hey! At least I have a plan.........lol

I started an Alan Dart Gnome. His body and one leg were knitted. I decided to clean the living room and change the furniture around. Mr. Gnome body parts are MIA. (I wonder if I can use MIA as an excuse for the unfinished Christmas gifts?)
There is no documentation i.e. picture, journal etc of the missing gnome. I realize no documention appears to be suspicious of, the procratinating knitter aka lil' ole me, but trust me, I really was knitting the gnome. I think I have a suspect of the 4-legged variety. Long white hair. Known to swipe yarn and WIP and stash them under beds. That Darn Cat!

p.s. That's what I get for cleaning. I'll learn someday.............

Knotty or Knice?

My BFF gave me these socks for my birthday. I LOVE them! She bought the yarn at the MD sheep & wool festival this past May. The yarn is Socks that Rock in Watermelon Tourmaline. She knew that I've been wanting this color for a long time. The pattern is a Cookie A pattern.
I enjoy receiving hand knit gifts. I appreciate it so much.
They're perfect!




That wasn't the end of the surprises. She also knew I have been wanting Gingerbread House from Knitpicks. Everytime I would try to order it, it was on backorder. This yarn is so-o-o-o soft. I pet it everytime I walk near it in the basket. She made pattern keeper sets for me and she bought me a Knit Night Light so I can knit in the dark.
Thank you BFF you know me better than anyone.

I called my BFF yesterday in a panic. She was calm as a cucumber about the whole "finish gift thing." I am sweating it over here. I have no idea how she can be so calm. I know we made this "finish the gifts in time" vow last year but I have no idea where the time went. I also have no idea how she can be so calm.
Now before you think I haven't finished anything. Take a look. Knotty or Knice gloves.
This picture didn't do true justice to the color. After 15 pictures I gave up and settled on this one. It is a purple/blue/green mix and they are perfect for the person in mind.
I loved making these. They were quick and the pattern is very well written.

I was on the search for a project when I happened to come across these on the needles. (so that's where my extra set of size 4 dpns were stashed) I started them sometime back in Jan 2007. I put them away and I only had one thumb to finish. I'm still trying to figure out why I did that little stunt. Is my mind slipping? Don't answer that.......lol I have no idea what pattern I used for these and since I only had the thumb to finish I didn't even look for it.
I finished the thumb and stashed them as a gift. I have a person on the nice list who requested mittens and since she likes softer colors these are perfect. One more gift crossed off the list.
Off to see if I can find UFO's that should have been finished a year ago or to find more needles...............
p.s. Just read the BFFs post. She is in a knitting panic. Whew! I was afraid I was in panic mode alone. (I'm feeling much better now:)

It's a BIG Day

October 17 is a BIG day. It's my Birthday!




I thought I'd share a few pictures. This is me at the age of 3 months. My parents adored me although they tell me I didn't sleep at night. I was blessed with a son (read post below) who did not sleep at night either. Apparently my "mother's curse" of having a child just like me does work:)

I was a happy baby, so they say.

Here I am at the age of 2 1/2 years. Look at that cheesy smile. (my mother cut my bangs, can you tell?) I loved having my picture taken way back when. That has changed.

I remember dressing up and I loved dresses and patent leather shoes. That has changed also:)

I played with baby dolls but my favorite toys were a stuffed skunk with a vinyl head and a sock monkey that my dad won at his place of work. I no longer have them although I'm still on the search for a skunk similar to the one I had. Mom and Dad gave me a new sock monkey two Christmas's ago.



This is the best I could in my search to find an older picture. This was taken at 15 yrs. The photographer lightened my dark brown hair to this reddish color(:-.
My (greyish.....ahem) hair is now a lovely dark brown thanks to those boxes of hair dye that are so readily available. hey! You gotta do what you gotta do these days!




This, folks, is my NEW Birthday present. A dryer. An honest -to -goodness-brand- new -fangled clothes dryer. Our son and daughter-in-law came up last weekend. They purchased and installed this brand new gas dryer. It's my Birthday/ Christmas present. Thank you, Nick and Becca, I love it. The DH loves it even more. He was tired of hanging out laundry. LOL
It doesn't take much to please me but I must admit this tops the toilet that the same son installed for me a few years ago on my birthday.

He took me into the bathroom after the toilet installation to sing Happy Birthday to me. When he got to the line of "Dear Mom....." he flushed the toilet. I laughed until I cried. It is a requirement to have a sense of humor in order to survive in this family.



Look at the inside of this baby. It is HUGE! Those towels come out soft and warm.
The husband and I agreed to not get each other any gifts this year. We have to feed and maintain the car. It needed a brand new $100 battery this week. Don't forget the fuel. But it's all okay. You have no idea the gifts that have graced my doorstep in the past from the DH (when he remembered):

A swiffer


A swiffer wet jet (which he and the youngest DD quickly assembled to "try out" and have never used it since)


A blender (so he and the youngest DD could make milkshakes. I don't like milkshakes)


A salad shooter ( he also bought all the salad fixings so he could try out my birthday salad shooter)


A "good" broom (that he promptly took downstairs to his work area)


Well........you get the picture. I'm content to not exchange gifts:)


p.s. I just opened my email this morning and the youngest DD sent me an ecard It's perfect!

Thirty Five Moons Ago

On this day, October 13, 1973, a young girl gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.

Son, this is a tribute to you on your special day.








You were such a beautiful baby that I must admit your grandmother and I would try little girl bonnets on you. You would have nothing to do with hats and quickly pulled them off.

You were awake most nights during your baby life (you still don't sleep much) which left us napping during the day. Little did I/doctors know that you were struggling with asthma/allergies at such a young age.





You learned to swim at the age of 3 1/2. You had no fear of the water and jumped in on the first day of swim practice and swam to the instructor. You were diving from the diving board at the age of 4 yrs. This love of the water resulted in you qualifying for the swim team at the age of 4 yrs. You enjoyed attending and winning at the swim meets. Remember getting up at 5 am to go to swim practice? Only to return that evening after school to swim at 6 pm? It never wore you out. You had more energy than 5 kids:).






Later, the years were filled with football, baseball and band practice. It was a busy time but you had fun. (the reason why the teachers still remember you after all these years...........LOL) Remember the day I received the phone call from your Vice Principal that you and your friend were caught during class time tying rubber bands around the school to see if you could qualify for the Guinness Book of Records?

You grew to become a responsible, mature man and for a while you filled your days with acting in a few movies and theater. We enjoyed watching you perform.




You met a beautiful young woman and you are now happily married. We adore and love your wife and we're happy to say we have gained a "daughter."

Dad and I are very proud of all that you have accomplished and will continue to accomplish. We are glad that God chose us to be your parents and we love you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON!

Murphy's Law

Remember Matilda? Well it's Murphy's Law. Everything comes in threes. Keep in mind the DH is away two nights a week now. Of course all of this happens while he is away.

The dryer is broken.

The DD went to get in her car this morning. Wouldn't start. The bus already went so she took the other car. I hope this is the end of stuff breaking around here. If it wasn't for spending money to fix the stuff, I'd buy yarn to soothe my woes:) However, I do have Mr. Bettis and his on-going antics.


See this toy? The dogs recieved this in their stocking last year. When squeezed it plays "O Christmas Tree." Mr. Bettis had the toy for the first time. There's no way it would look this good if he had it from last year.

He was having a good ole' time. Until..........it started playing music. He jumped back and ran with his tail tucked. Cracks me up. I think I'll keep this toy around just to keep him in line:).






When it finished singing it's tune he came back to investigate. He's sniffing and checking it out here. The pink towel is supposed to keep him off the love seat. You can see how well that works.






Look what I finished! YAY! Music mitts for the daughter. They're in her school colors and I think she's going to love them. The yarn is Kraemer Sterling/Silver fingering yarn. I dyed the red skein. They were fun and I enjoyed knitting them.
I just hope her friends in the band don't decide they each need a pair.
I'll teach them to knit if they do:)

p.s. It's raining. Translation? A broken dryer, wet clothes and well?....it's beginning to look like the Beverly Hillbillies around here with wet laundry hanging throughout the house LOL.

Doldrums vs Startitis

Where have I been? Buried in an avalanche of stash.
I've been in a bit of the doldrums lately (translation? It involves a certain band director and ongoing medical issues). I decided that if I started something, I would feel better.
So out came the coveted one skein of Wollmeise that I acquired from Sara. It has been sitting pretty in the basket for months. It's growing up to become the Heartland Shawl. This shawl is for Self.





Feeling a bit guilty about starting a shawl for Self when I should be knitting Christmas gifts I started a pair of socks. Using a skein of my Doozer's handdyed DK weight, this pair should whip up rather quickly. Not sure who they're for but everyone I know has the same size feet.





The youngest daughter is begging for a Favorite Warm Sweater so I dug around in the yarn stash mass and found this Noro and Lamb's Pride. She's small in stature so it should knit quick too. That is, if I actually knit on it:)









Self started complaining again and I cast on for a pair of Monkey socks. This is a skein of yarn that I handdyed and it was begging to be used. Just as soon as I got this far, I found the No Purl Monkeys and now I wish I was knitting that pattern instead of this one. (sigh) I guess I'll have to cast on another pair of socks to knit the No Purl Monkeys.






Then I found this pattern, Bobby's Garden Blanket. Had to have it. I cannot justify buying enough Noro to make this blanket right now so I dragged the left-over sock yarn container to the "knitting corner" and cast on for this lovely blankie. It will take me forever to knit but it's fun and I'm not in any hurry. Any suggestions to use a nice, inexpensive, worsted weight yarn that would give me the same effect as the Noro is greatly appreciated:).

p.s. I'm off to find another set of dpns to cast on the No Purl Monkey Socks. I'm feeling a bit happier now:)