Love Was Born

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas. "God Bless Us Everyone"

Christmas Re-cap

This was the best Christmas ever. It was a handmade holiday here and although there were a few unfinished gifts it was a complete success. There were leg warmers....


Sweaters.....

hats.....and so much more....

There was a letter from Santa inviting the 'kid' to continue her hard work and someday she may be asked to join his Astro Elves at the North Pole. We all know Santa depends on the Astro Elves for his once a year flight...right?? ;)

He knows she is studying astronomy so he gave her a special gift.
There were gifts left from Santa and we send special heartfelt thanks to him for his generosity. We believe in Santa Magic!

It was a special Christmas and I don't want the holidays to end this year. For a little while we could forget the struggles and bask in the warmth of family and the True Meaning of Christmas. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

One More Sleep....

Like a small child, I'm anxious for tomorrow morning. I refuse to re-visit this past year tonite (or even today with a very sick husband) but will instead focus on the True Meaning for this holiday. We have very few gifts and we're still struggling, however, just like the Whos down in Whoville of Dr. Seuss's classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas we will enjoy the day with family/friends in spite of it all.
I wish for everyone to have a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the Miracle.
"God Bless Us Everyone"

A Fun Meme

I read this at Chan's Place and enjoyed the meme so much I'm borrowing it.

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider? Both!
2. Turkey or Ham? Turkey
. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree? Fake. Although I plan to have real next year.
4. Decorations on the outside of your house? Wreath, evergreen under the windows and lights along the roof
5. Snowball fights or sleddin’? Both!!!
6. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping? Not much of a shopper but I remember the fun of shopping downtown when I was a kid.
7. Favorite Christmas song? I have two faves White Christmas and Silent Night
8. How do you feel about Christmas movies?Love 'em especially the classics
9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music? Never too early
10. Stockings before or after presents? Before.
11. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you? Go, go, go, and I don’t like it! I love seeing the family but know all too soon we'll be home for the holiday
12. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when? Christmas Eve before bed
13. What do you do after presents and dinner? Chatter with family
14. What is your favorite holiday smell? Sugar cookies and shortbread
15. Ice skating or walking around the mall? Skating. I’d rather have a beating than go to the mall.
16. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day? Oh we wait until Santa has delivered the goodies so Christmas day it is
17. Favorite Christmas memory? I have two: One snowy Christmas evening, my dad pulled us on a sled down the middle of the road to my grandparent's farm.
The Christmas (I think I was 7) Santa left my kid size pink kitchen set and a new doll in a cradle
18. Favorite Part about winter? Snow and wearing all my handknits
19. Ever been kissed under mistletoe? mmmm.....can't remember ;)

Slowing the Season

This year has been tough in so many ways for this little household. We're taking the tough and turning them into blessings (not an easy task but we're doing our best). Due to unforeseen circumstances (medical saga and it's little games) there will be NO purchased gifts this year therefore changing the holiday dynamics in this house.

So, this year, I'm joining gMarie and others by taking the "Slowing the Season" pledge.

"Please join us in our effort to reduce stress, reduce our carbon footprint, really slow down and enjoy the holiday season this year and in years to come. Exchanging gifts isn’t a big part of holiday preparations. For me and my family, the holidays are not about how much you spend, how much you give or receive, but spending time with loved ones making memories.
In an effort to achieve this goal – I plan to do the following to the best of my ability:

~exchange gifts only with my immediate family
~give handmade gifts with meaning;
~give supplies to make a something that the recipient would enjoy;
~participate in free, local holiday events;
~buy from local artists whenever possible; and
~try to create one new family tradition.

We're just reclaiming the PEACE and JOY of the season.
If you care to join us in slowing the season - feel free to use my badge (or create your own) and add the pledge to your blog. Between now and Christmas share little ways you are reclaiming the Peace and Joy of the Season with you family."

I'm ad-libbing here:
There are a few friends on my gift list.
All of my gifts are handmade).
We have a lot of deep rooted traditions here so I had to give the new tradition a lot of thought. I called mom and we came up with a plan; we're attending Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with my 90 yr old grandmother at her church. Mom and I are taking cookies and tea to her home afterwards so the family can visit. She doesn't know it yet and she will be surprised and delighted.

In spite of the trials and tribulations this past year found necessary to bestow on this house, we are blessed. I wish for everyone to slow down, breathe in the Christmas Air and have a peaceful and blessed holiday.

Christmas in July

There's more than one way to beat the heat. Since the a/c is on the blink and I'm water logged from the swimming pool, the college DD and I came up with a plan to celebrate Christmas in July.
We dug out the Christmas DVDs and our favorite movie White Christmas was first on the list.
Instead of homemade cookies and hot chocolate we had mint chocolate chip ice cream and fresh squeezed lemonade.




Christmas certainly cannot commence without a tree and decorations so the silver tinsel tree and colored ornaments came out of the box. There weren't any lights since no one volunteered to go to the attic in this heat to get them.
Of course there must be presents and we agreed they had to be homemade.








DD played Santa and distributed the gifts.
She made a print of the lyrics of a favorite song from Celtic Thunder for her dad.












For me, she made this plaque. It spells family in Cherokee. She embroidered the letters and flowers on the fabric background and it's mounted on an old picture frame.










I knitted a hat for her and here she is playing a goof with it. She also received a red and silver glitzy handsewn scarf.

Our eldest DD was at work but there's a handmade gift under the tree for her.

Instead of ending the day with a sled ride we'll end with a midnite dip in the swimming pool.
I think this 'holiday' will become a tradition in this household. It certainly helped to take our minds off the oppressing heat and humidity for a little while.

Belated Christmas Post

I've been a bad blogger and failed to put pictures of the tree and a few gifts the elves finally finished. LOL Here I thought those darn elves were on strike.
I made a pair of socks for my MIL. Red Heart Heart & Sole.
I like people with small feet:)













I saw a hat similar to this one on Ravelry and I thought it was perfect for the college freshman DD. It was! It is! She loved it.
One skein of Noro Silk Garden. I started this from the top down so I had more control of the height of the hat.

This is a cowl made from my handspun merino/silk blend. Buttons are the most difficult thing to find around here. I managed to settle for the these from our very tiny Joann Fabric store.

Two hats for two very sweet little girls. I hope they like them.

Our Christmas Tree this year. It is bright. It is VERY bright. It's a large tree with 3300 lights. We're enjoying it as much as possible. We will be putting away the decorations very soon.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

Merry Christmas

This is a short post. I have no idea what is wrong with my holiday spirit this year. I'm in a bit of a funk.

To all of my blogging friends and those dear to me, Merry Christmas.

You've laughed with me, you've cried with me and I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

GOD BLESS US ONE AND ALL!

12 Knitting Days of Christmas

I am not a writer or a poet but I had fun writing this little ditty. Please sing the following to the tune of 12 Days Of Christmas. Enjoy!

The 12 Days of Knitting

On the first day of knitting I gathered all my yarn, grabbed knitting needles and I very quickly cast on.

On the second of knitting I gathered all my yarn, Two warm afghans and One lacey shawl

On the third day of knitting I gathered all my yarn, 3 wool hats, two warm afghans and One lacey shawl

On the fourth day of knitting I gathered all my yarn, 4 soft sweaters, 3 wool hats, two warm afghans and One lacey shawl.

On the fifth day of knitting I gathered all my yarn , a bot-tle of wine, 4 soft sweaters, 3 wool hats, two warm afghans and One lacey shawl

On the 6th day of knitting I gathered all my yarn, 6 pair of gloves, a bot-tle of wine, 4 soft sweaters, 3 wool hats, two warm afghans and One lacey shawl

On the 7th day of knitting I gathered all my yarn, 7 fair isle mitts, 6 pair of gloves, a bot-tle of wine, 4 soft sweaters, 3 wool hats, two blankets and One lacey shawl

On the 8th day of knitting I gathered all my yarn, 8 fuzzy scarves, 7 fair isle mitts, 6 pair of gloves, a bot-tle of wine, 4 soft sweaters, 3 wool hats, two warm afghans and one lacey shawl

On the 9th day of knitting I gathered all my yarn, 9 little snowmen, 8 fuzzy scarves, 7 fair ilse mitts, 6 pairs of gloves , a bot-tle of wine, 4 soft sweaters, 3 wool hats, 2 warm afghans and one lacey shawl

On the 10th (hiccup) day of knitting I gathered all my yarn, 10 knitted toys, 9 little snowmen, 8 fuzzy scarves, 7 fair isle mitts, 6 pairs of gloves, a bot-tle of wine, 4 soft sweaters, 3 wool hats, 2 warm afghans and one lacey shawl

ON the 11th day (hiccup) of knitting I gathered all my yarn, 11 cotton cloths (hiccup), 10 knitted toys, 9 little snowmen, 8 fuzzy scarves, 7 fair isle mitts, 6 pair of gloves, a bot-tle (hiccup) of wine, 4 soft sweaters, 3 wool hats, 2 afghans and one lacey shawl.

On the 12th day (hiccup) of knitting the dog ate my yarn (hiccup), the pattern is lost, I don’t care, it’s too late in the year, needles disappeared, snowmen have melted (hiccup) frogged the fuzzy scarves, scrapped those mitts, unfinished gloves, a bot-tle of wine (hiccup), sweaters with no sleeves, huge wool hats, raveled afghans (hiccup) and forget that lace shawl!

P.S. And this explains why my Christmas gift knitting is not finished.........LOL

Christmas Eve Treats

Dear Sissy and Gretchen,

It was Christmas Eve and the humans decided we could have one of those wonderful gingerbread cookie treats. We gathered around the big human while he opened the box. I could have had the box opened in the time it took him to find scissors to cut the bag of treats. But, he just had to do it himself.
Do you see Gypsy begging? That gets very annoying. She acts all cute-like and makes out like a bandit with treats because of her so called cuteness. I don't know why I get told to get down when I beg for treats like she does. Do you know how many treats I could get if they would just allow me to be cute-like?



Of course because she begs so cute-like she gets teh first treat. I do wait patiently but boy, I'd love to snag the first treat just one time. I wanted you to see that I was a gentleman and shared the box of cookies.
They were delicious. Mind you, I usually only get 2 good chomps out of a treat but they were very tasty. Thank you again for the wonderful box of goodies.

Mr. Milo came to visit. He is a busy dog but a LOT of fun. The humans did a lot of yelling but we just ignored it and had fun anyway. I secretly thought the humans would leave and then we could've had a lot of unsupervised fun. I heard mumblings about "if we leave I'm afraid we'd come home to the tree knocked over and the house a shambles." Now you know I wouldn't do anything to the tree. That trouble belongs to the cats. As far as the house a shambles? I have no idea what they're talking about.

I was trying to rest for the next round of fun when the humans decided to put this ridiculous
hat on my head. Then they wonder why I do some of the things I do. They had a good laugh about me looking like the elf in the ELF movie. I have no idea what was so funny but just wait till they leave the house again.
Hope you and Gretchen had a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Paw Hugs,
Mr. Bettis

To all Finicky Felines,

This post is silly. I am sick of Mr. B & Co. getting attention. As you can see I am hiding from the humans for fear they are looking for me to wash my face (which seems to be something they enjoy doing and I detest). I hate water unless I can knock over a cup of the liquid stuff and watch Mr. B get into trouble.........LOL. I am also a bit fearful they will put that stupid elf hat on my head and take a picture only to ridicule me on the internet. What shame! If you don't believe me, just take a look at this.
I heard a story about a fellow feline who took a tumble while sleeping and her loyal subject has had wa-a-a-y too much time posting emails and comments about the feline's accident. I have noticed that she didn't post about the accident on her blog. Whew!

About the accusation of the tree knock-over; I thought my loyal subjects put up a tree with sparkly toys (I think they call them ornaments) just for my enjoyment. What is that dog talking about?

Meow,
Princess Aurora

oooohhhh.......Gifts Galore

Look what the postman delivered yesterday. A lovely box of goodies from Anita just for me.
Homemade bath snowballs that are grapefruit scented. I can't wait to lock myself in tub room and indulge in these. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful smelly jellies. I love the scents and they fill the room with aroma. Both of these will be on my gift list next year. Last but not least, a bottle of rainkissed lotion. Thank you so much Mrs. Grinch:). See? I knew your heart would grow 2 sizes. LOL Thank you so much!


I finished these in the nick of time (no pun intended to ole' St Nick). I felted sweaters and made purses for the kid's friends. These were fun to make. I found a collection of knitted belts and added them as the handles. Sewed a button or added an adornment and there you have it, purses!
They have been wrapped and sent with her this morning. She has an early class this morning and half day of school. They are going to get pizza after school and exchange their gifts. Oh to be young again.

I made a collection of little gifts for her to give to some of her friends. She's a senior and thought it was necessary to give to everyone. LOL
Cell phone sweaters. They're made from the sleeves of sweaters. Perfect for teens (although I admit to swiping one for self).

She did manage to squeeze in some knitting time and made 2 scarves. She ran out of time for pics. They were finished last night at midnite. I could hear the needles clicking. She also made several picture frames and inserted pictures of the past year's events.

The youngest son called yesterday and announced that he and our daughter-in-law to be is coming on Christmas Eve. I had no idea this son was coming and guess what? His gift is not finished. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to make it. I slept 4 hours last night and Mr. Lyme is not finished with me yet. By the way, if Mr. Lyme or Mr. Flu come knocking on your door for a visit (or in Mr. Lyme's case, a move-in). Give 'em the boot!



In case I don't get an opportunity to read blogs and respond, I apologize. I will read them as soon as I find those elves and put them to work. Now where are the little creatures?

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!

Mr. Smarty Pants

There's one in every family. Mr. or Ms. Smarty Pants. For reference you may read the comment left in the former post from my son aka Mr. Smarty Pants. He posted under his lovely wife's name, Becca. Of course knowing my dear DIL, she probably had something in on it. LOL.
He has visions not of sugar plums but a hat. As he called it, a simple 1970's style hat. In yellow and black. His comment referred to my inability as a knitter mom to fulfill his wish/vision of such a hat. Keep in mind he requested this hat a week ago. Yes, a week ago. Right smack before Christmas. As knitters know it is not wise for a non-knitter to request a knitted anything right before Christmas.
So I'm calling all knitters to bear arms with pointy sticks and unite! LOL The following is a post to the son:)


Dear First Born Son,
Keep in mind you did recieve a lovely hand knitted aran sweater a few Christmas's ago. A hand knitted hat last Christmas and other knitted items over the years. While you are dreaming of another hand knitted hat, your knitting mother is busy. (and no this is not procrastination as you so commonly call it:).
Please look at the unfinished project (commonly known in knitter's lingo as a UFO) of your sister's sweater to be finished 12/24/2008. Does it look as if she can wear this as is? tsk, tsk, son.


Then of course there is this hat. Another UFO to be finished 12/20/2008 and shipped along with 2 little girl scarves that haven't even made it to the needles yet.







And these gloves. Yet another UFO. To be finished when I see this person. Whenever that may be:).
Not pictured are the numerous pairs of socks to be finished that won't make in Christmas stockings this year including your knitting mother's Christmas socks. Now you will have to look at your mother on Christmas morning in dumb dull socks. Nothing bright or fancy just plain ole' socks.

Let's not forget my visions of knitted gnomes adorning shelves in the house. So far only the body of one is finished. No legs, no arms, just the body. Are you feeling sorry for your mother yet?:) Do you feel sorry for the unfinished knitted gnome?

The elves went on strike around here. As soon as I find the little creatures they're in trouble. Big trouble! How dare they leave me in the midst of all this Christmas mess:)

Do you have any idea how much I detest making pom-poms? Perhaps you could see fit to get your dear knitting mother (who doesn't have nice Christmas socks to wear on Christmas morning) a cheap pom-pom maker:).
So there you have it, son. Logical and reasonable reasons to your knitting request one week before Christmas.


Love,
your knitting mom (who won't have nice, bright, fancy Christmas socks to wear on Christmas morning)

He's Getting Coal

Christmas decorating has begun. My 1900 cookstove is ready for the holidays. I want to make popcorn strands strung across the stove top.

Miss Gypsy and Miss Molly went to the groomer to get a spiffy holiday haircut. Mr. Bettis stayed home.

This green mass monster was his entertainment :(. It was a cone of cotton yarn. The cardboard cone is MIA. Probably in Mr. Bettis's tummy.

There's no blaming the "girls" for this deed. He was here alone with the exception of the cats.

And this is what the cats were doing. It's difficult to believe the green cotton mass of yarn was the result of a sleeping cat.

I don't believe Mr. Bettis realizes that Santa is watching. I do believe Mr. Bettis is on the Naughty List this year.

Merry Christmas

The youngest daughterbaked more cookies today. This time the cookies required a bit more time.

Decorated sugar cookie. are a lot of fun. It is traditional at our house to make these cookies on Christmas Eve. The daughter also decorated a very nice gingerbread house for decoration on my antique 1900 black cook stove in my kitchen.
.





I leave you now until after Christmas Day. We will be celebrating with family tomorrow.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Love and peace to all!

The Mind (sanity) is slipping

Knit 'n Time

I finally got some knittin' time. This is the "new" scarf for the Piccolo Pirate's flute teacher.
After all the scarf knitting woes posted below, Woo-Hoo! It's finished. I'm not that fond of knitting scarves, I get bored easily. But I must say, they work up quickly and they are pretty when finished. I made this one yesterday afternoon.
The Piccolo Pirate would've made this herself except she has a lot of homework. So she's excused..........this time.

I started these on Saturday evening. I finished them last evening. Quick, pretty and warm. They are made from Worsted Slub from

Yarn Treehouse. I liked working with this yarn, it was soft. These mitts go to the dog groomer aka Vet Girl's co-worker.

My kids have a knack of coming to me one month before Christmas to see if I have any "nice, homemade gifts lying around" for them to give to people they know will appreciate them. Yeah right, like I have a box full of beautiful handmade knitted items set aside just for them. But, I'm a mom, so I try to "whip" up nice gifts for them. I must admit, I like the wonderful comments that come back, isn't that why we knit in the first place?
Next year, my BFF and I will be posting pics of all the beautiful items the gift containers that we have knitted all year.

p.s. Mark the above statement on a calendar and remind me of this next year when I'm in another knitting gift panic.

Christmas Gift Knitting Woes

It all started with this scarf. I decided to knit a scarf for the Piccolo Pirate's flute teacher. I purchased the yarn out of town. Listening to the DH who told me one skein would be enough, I purchased one lonely skein. (apparently the "yarn logic" side of my brain was on vacation).This scarf is not near long enough and I am about of yarn. Unfortunately it would cost $35.00 to put "liquid gold" in the car to get to the shop to purchase another $5.99 skein to finish the scarf. Not counting the 1 1/2 hour drive to the shop.


Trying to find yarn in my stash, I found this unfinished scarf. So I thought, okay, I can finish this for the flute teacher. Wrong!
It is knitted with my yarn, Trapeze and Storm Cloud. The grey skein is attached but the colored yarn is no where to be seen. So after going through 10 of the 25 containers of yarn stash and me grumbling to the DH that this was all his fault for talking me out of the second skein of yarn for the above scarf, I cannot finish this scarf.
This does wrap around the neck enough to put a nice stick pin through it and make a neck wrap. But not for the flute teacher, she is young and would want a nice long scarf. So I'll put this on hold. (not good for me to do this as it will probably become another UFO....again).


Going through UFO knit bags (and there are quite a few of them, stashed behind the couch, hidden in closets, drawers etc) I found these unfinished socks. Now I know why they're unfinished. I started these awhile back with my yarn, Trapeze and Storm Cloud (do you see where I'm going with this?). I put the socks aside and picked them up at a later date to finish the second sock. When I put the two together to size them up, something was very wrong.
I designed my own pattern but failed to follow it. One of those things where I think I'm smarter than my own notes. I made the right sock with the MC Trapeze in the foot. I made the left sock alternating the MC and the CC every two rows in the foot. I am out of the Trapeze yarn. AH-HA! So that's where the Trapeze yarn went to finish the Trapeze scarf. I'm in trouble up here. These were a gift.

Lessons learned:
1. Never, ever, ever listen to the DH when it comes to buying the extra skein of yarn. He does not knit and knows nothing about it. He is only out to eliminate my stash.

2. Never, ever go off on a whim and cut the yarn from a project to start another project with the yarn. If I should decide to do this again I must frog the original project or finish it.

3. Never think I'm smarter than my own notes. Always read the pattern. Although I admit, I have mis-laid the pattern somewhere.......okay, I need to find my book of notes........... now where could that be?

p.s.The likely-hood of me learning from these lessons is probably pretty slim with the exception of lesson #1.

Black Friday & all that!

Thanksgiving dinner was a success! Everyone made it with the exception of the youngest son and girlfriend. They were unable to make it. The turkey was delicious with all the trimmings.

My kitchen is decorated in vintage 1940's and the tree is decorated in vintage 1940-1950.

I wanted a nice german feather tree but the wallet wouldn't allow such an expense so the DH bought snow flock and sprayed one of my own (charlie brown tree as the kids call it) artificial trees. I put an inexpensive sparkly garland and ornaments. This little house reminds me of the houses my dad used with our Christmas train when I was a kid.

This star is a replica of the star ornaments my grandparents had as decorations at the farm house. I have many fond memories of those Christmases past.

Not willing to spend $7.99 for a glittered postcard ornament, I found antique replica postcards in my box of old cards for the Piccolo Pirate to glitter and add silver ribbon to hang. I have an assortment of these and the cost for each of the 6 postcard ornaments that we made came to $1.00 a piece.

I like this tree.

39 days until Christmas?!

Socks and more socks are on the needles to be knitted for Christmas gifts. My very BFF found it necessary to inform me, today, there are only 39 days until Christmas. Who needs a BFF like that? ME! That's who. If it wasn't for her telling me these things, Dec 25 would creep up and I wouldn't know it.

This a cuff for someone who has small feet. I can't say who as she could be reading this blog. It is my dyed yarn, Hot Stuff. I chose plain old K2, P2 ribbing. Good for car knitting.






This is another skein of my yarn, Whoville. The camera does not do justice for this skein. It is a pattern I'm designing and I think they'll go to the Piccolo Pirate. She can wear them with her clear sock clogs and they'll look good.
I like knitting these, they're fun.







Yeah! These are finished. Another gift to be stashed in the gift container. They're for another person with small feet. I love small feet, don't you?

January 2007 started out well with my little knitting needles working away on Christmas gifts. Somewhere between March and September, "Self "decided that she wanted socks, bags, teddy bears etc. "Self "became self-absorbed (or would that be greedy?)in her own knitting and put the Christmas gift knitting aside. Now it's 39 days until the Big Day and I am frantically knitting gifts. Where is "Self" when I need those second set of hands?