I am Back to Being my Old Self

After several months without posts, I am back and feeling well again. I had to have emergency surgery October 20th then will have to have the process reversed next summer, but I am feeling stronger everyday.

I just started back knitting and finished this for my grandson Thomas for Christmas. He knows I have a rodent phobia and likes to tease me so I made this as a joke between us.

You will not believe what Jackson looks like. He just turned 6 months old, has two teeth now and weighs almost 30 lbs. He is one big boy and is such a sweet baby.

I am currently working on a beautiful yellow sweater for a gift and will be starting another as soon as I finish this one.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! Merry Christmas to you all!

Donna

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.com
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Finishing up birthday and Christmas knitting...

Well, today is my 54th birthday. Life is well over half over, but that's ok. Who wants to live forever? Nothing exciting going on. My daughter is in the middle of a big merger and my son lives 10 hours away. They paid for me to take a trip to Indiana next month to see the baby and that is the best present every. I am really looking forward to it. I told Jack I didn't want a gift. We spent gobs on vacation and that was enough for me.

This is for my youngest grandson, Jackson. It is a 24 months and he will only be 6 months old at Christmas, but he is wearing 9-12 month clothing so I figured he would need something next fall. I love it and can't wait to give it to him for Christmas.

This is the completed set for my son for his birthday. It doesn't look like Indiana is going to get cold enough to wear it before the end of the baseball season, but I sent it to him early anyway.

I have now started a long sweater vest for my sister for her birthday the day after Christmas (see a picture of the pattern below.) She works for the school system and I found the cutest one room schoolhouse button for the vest. It is a bit bigger than what is recommended so instead of a buttonhole on the vest, I am going to do an i-cord or crocheted chain stitch loop to use on it.

Hope everyone is enjoying their fall. Until next time.....

Back to knitting....

Now that the vacation is over and done with, I have to get back to my knitting. I have several things to accomplish a couple are here. The sweater is for my daughter, Kelly for her birthday in November. I still have to purchase the organza ribbon and sew it on for the belt. I also made my son a CUBS scarf for his birthday in Oct. I am making him a hat to match with duplicate stitch on it, but am waiting for the yarn for it.

I am also finishing up my grandson's little sweater to go with his hat for Christmas and am well on my way with it.

I am now started my push to Christmas getting projects finished and starting to get the grandson's their gifts. I am also getting our Christmas trip to Indiana arranged and I am going to be going to Indiana next month as a gift from the two kids for my birthday to see my new grandson, Jackson. He is really growing.
I am going to have to set my sights on learning sock knitting next I think.

Back from Vegas!

Takeoff and here we go:

This is how my husband spends the time flying:

This is what we saw getting off the plane as we walked to get our baggage.

We finally got there after months of planning. I am setting up a site just for the trip report and pictures. It should be available next week sometime and I will post it here. We had a spectacular time, I am not sure how much rest we actually got, but we had loads of fun. Check back next week to see the link to the report and more great pics of our trip!

The Start of the Christmas Rush.....

I have finally finished one set of Christmas sweaters and hats. This is for the elder grandson, Thomas. I don't think I enjoy doing stripes like this much. They aren't difficult, but you have to take care with the colors a lot, especially when seaming and such because you don't want the white to show on blue or vice versa. All in all, I wasn't pleased with the way the pattern designer wrote the instructions for finishing.

We only have a little over 3 weeks until vacation now and it will start to become busy fairly soon. With pets and all, you have to make a lot of preparations and I always over prepare with regards to having our wills and information readily available in our home should something happen. Nothing is worse that grieving and having to deal with all that it involves then not being able to find the insurance, requests, wills and such of the person involved. I always make sure that stuff is right on the kitchen counter with all the instructions just in case.

We are really looking forward to getting away for a week. It is very hot there this year, but we are renting a car so won't have to walk in it much. All in all, it should be a really good and relaxing time for us.

Donna

The Hats are done, the sweaters coming...

I have Thomas's and Jackson's hats for Christmas finished and Thomas's sweater almost done. I will be starting Jackson's sweater and leaving it to work on the plane while we are on vacation.
I am also going to be making my son a CUBS striped scarf for his birthday in October. I have to buy the yarn and the patches for it still. I will probably get to doing that today.

We are less than a month now until Vegas. Each day seems a little longer than the one before. I dislocated my knee a week and a half ago so am trying to get it strong enough to go back to swimming so I can really strengthen it. I find that walking a lot on it seems to make it more susceptible to popping out again. This isn't the first time this has happened and I know what to do when it does, but I thought since it hasn't happened in around 2 years now, that maybe it was healed completely, but I guess it never will be.

We finished the Harry Potter book the day it came out and I am on a second reading. I always read it fast the first time then go back and read it slowly every other time so I get all the little tidbits I missed. She sure did kill off a lot in this book. I cried for some of the deaths.

I have got to find more projects to line up as I am almost out of knitting projects. I have a sweater for my dd's birthday (November) to do, but am starting it after I come back from vacation. Other than that, I will probably have nothing. I will probably take the scarf and the baby sweater with me to Vegas as I have bamboo needles for both so I shouldn't have a problem in the airport security.

It is cleaning day for me, so I best get started.
When all else fails....
Donna

Just more birthday stuff...

This bag is for one of my best friend's for her birthday next month. I used Paton SWS in Regency and bought the button from the Button Drawer online. It is my favorite place to get cool buttons.

My sweet boy is sure growing. Looks like it won't be long until this sleeper won't fit. Guess Nonny is going to have to get Jackson some CUBS gear! His daddy sent me this last night after the CUBS kicked the Arizona Diamondbacks' behinds for them. We are all big Cubs fans including Jackson!

We are still biding our time waiting for vacation. We are just 5 1/2 weeks out. I have never wanted to go on vacation more. After last year with Jack's open heart surgery, we need a nice break, just the two of us. I was scared to death I was going to lose him last year and to have him healthy again and ready to go on a trip is the best of news. Since we have a pool here at the condos, we have been swimming in the evenings and he has gotten used to being around people without a shirt now. He will get stares of course, but what can you do, they cut open his chest from neck to near naval for heaven's sake? He isn't Frankenstein. He doesn't even notice anymore and I am so glad.

I have several projects still going. I am still working on my grandson's blue and white striped sweater, then will do a matching hat, have a hat and sweater for the little guy in the works and a beautiful hyacinth bluish purple colored wrap sweater I want to do for my dd's birthday in November. Right now I am hurrying around and knitting a shawl that matches a top I made for Vegas. It is blue ribbon yarn all glittery, just perfect for the bright lights of Vegas and the shawl is the same yarn. It was a spur of the moment idea as I have 6 skeins of the stuff left.

I am waiting none to patiently for later morning to get here so that UPS will deliver my Harry Potter book. I saw a streaming video this morning of her reading the book and quit watching as I want to read it for myself.

Hope everyone that peeks in here has a good summer!

Donna

Birthday presents, etc.

This is a cashmere scarf for my dil for her birthday this Saturday. I was disappointed the bead color didn't come out in the picture. They are really gorgeous, an irredescent blue, purple and aqua. She isn't much of a sweater person, but she wears scarves constantly in the wintertime outdoors and in so I thought a nice soft cashmere would be nice.

I am hard at work on another booga bag for a friend's birthday in August and have about 2/3 of Thomas's sweater finished for Christmas. I want to make him a matching stocking cap to go with it and then get on the baby's stuff.

We only have 6 weeks left until vacation and the days seem to be plodding along. We have already planned out when we want to go next year and where we want to stay. We hope to do a winter trip next year when it is cheap and stay at a fancier hotel for less days and just mainly gamble and take in one show.

Lots to do so TTFN....

Donna

"As the Sweater Begins....."

I have the back finished and am working on the front of this sweater for Thomas for Christmas. I will be making him a matching stocking cap to go with it and mittens if I can find the time. It has kind of a stand up mock turtleneck, which Kelly doesn't think he will like so I am just going to make it shorter more like a regular neckline. I love the color and since blue is Thomas's favorite color I think it will be a hit.

I now only have 1 thing OTN so I need to get something else going so I have stuff to switch off since I get bored. I am going to begin my dil's cashmere scarf I think because it will be an easy knit. It is just a simple open purse stitch.

It has been horrible hot and montrously humid here for weeks now. I go over about 7:45 to the pool every morning to swim laps and it is hot and sticky even that early. I guess we are just in for a long hot summer so to speak. I rarely leave the house when it is so awfully hot. I get nauseous going in and out of the AC buildings and car into the heat.

We have 7 weeks from today and we leave on vacation. I guess Las Vegas is having record heat sometimes near 120 degrees getting only into the 90's overnight. Glad we are renting a car! I am not about to walk in that kind of heat. Their humidity is running only 3% and I got a nosebleed going there in April 2004 and walking around so I know I would have trouble in that kind of heat with no moisture in the air. We are really looking forward to getting away and spending some good old romance time together. I booked us a reservation at Stacks in the Mirage on the night we go to see "Love" so we can have a nice romantic dinner then go to the Cirque show. Most of the time we eat buffets or cheapo stuff. One of our favorites is DerWeinerschnitzel! We like their chili cheese dogs and they don't have one of those here. When we lived out west we used to go there all the time because it is cheap eats and we really miss them. Everyone raves about In and Out burger, which is ok, but nothing to write home about. It is a hamburger just like a lot of other places. The one good thing is the stuff is fresh there. They have one not too far from the hotel, so I imagine that will be a lunch sometime too. We also are planning on going to Nora's, which is a small family owned Italian restaurant everyone raves about. We tried Maggianos when we were there in 2005, but weren't really that inpressed with it so want to try something different.

I have our Harry Potter tickets for Friday night clenched in my fat little hands. We are looking forward to seeing the newest movie. I bought them a week early as the shows sell out for several weeks here. I am sure most places do.

Well, back to my knitting. Keep everyone!

Donna

My Two Boys

Thomas and Jackson went to the zoo together this week and though T looks like he is having fun, Jackson seems a bit bored by it all!

Finally finished the sweater for my son-in-law for his birthday. It is graciously modeled by my hunk of burnin' love. He made me promise to at least not show his lounge pants so I had to crop part of the sleeve! lol Saturday's are his slob out day and I didn't force him to get all cleaned up just for a picture of the sweater.

I am coming along nicely with the baby's hat. I have about a 1/3 of it finished now. I want to get it done then I can work on Thomas's sweater and finish it up and get his hat done so they are both finished for Christmas.

Have a good weekend everyone and keep safe in this heat!

Donna

Working hard at gifts....

I have a bunch of projects all on my plate right now. I have half a sleeve yet to complete my sil's birthday present and will post when it is finished. I did a yarn shop at knitpicks and got some lovely silk blend yarn for my dd's sweater for her birthday in November (see previous post pic) then bought some cashmere to make my dil a scarf. It is called night sky and I think she will like it. I want to make this scarf for her. She wears scarves all fall and winter all the time.

I am also going to get a booga bag done for dd for Christmas and a hat and sweater made for Jackson and a sweater and match hat for Thomas (see previous picture of blue and white striped sweater start) I decided to make Jackson a sweater and hat in 24 months so he could wear it next year as he has 4 sweaters I made him already plus assorted jackets and such to keep him warm this fall and winter. I am going to get him some little corduroys in olive or tan and a turtleneck to go under the sweater. I didn't go with the same colors because I have a huge amount of leftover yarn from Tom's sweater. I bought it on a sale where it couldn't be returned and changed my mind about the pattern when I saw how bulky the sweater would be and knew Tom would never wear it. I have something like 8 skeins left so am using two for the baby's stuff along with the rust and olive. Here is the pattern, the buttons and the start on the hat.
We are now under 8 weeks until vacation and each day seems to stretch on forever. Glad I have to much knitting to do so it keeps me occupied.

Until next time....
the newest movie comes out in less than a week!

Donna

More about Jackson

He is growing and becoming quite the sweet baby. It is hard to believe he is almost a month old. His mom says he is sleeping all night now and they just took a trip to Chicago for a friend's baby shower and it went very well. He got his first trip to a hotel, his first baby shower, and his first experience in a swimming pool, which as you can see didn't thrill him!

As for my knitting, I have the front and back finished on my sil's sweater for his birthday and am starting the sleeves today. This looks kind of orangy, but is a really nice honey color. I look forward to finishing it and getting back to my grandson's sweater and hat for Christmas. I picked out some lovely yarn for my dd's birthday sweater. She is a redhead and so some colors just won't work for her. I think this deep bluish purple will look great. Here is a pic of the sweater pattern she wanted.

The most exciting thing going on at our house is that we only have 8 weeks until we leave for Vegas. It sure can't come soon enough in my opinion. We are pretty much all ready to go except to pack. We are really looking forward to a little "us" time after last year and the new baby this year and all.

Hope everyone is having a fine summer!

Donna

More Boogas!

Here are two more. The blue and purple one is for the other granddaughter of my best friend and the cool big one in rainbow colors is mine all MINE!!!! I think I am going to use maybe a velcro closer at the top of my bag, or snaps or something to keep it closed but I just love it!

Newest project finished!

I just finished the booga bag for my best friend's granddaughter and started one for the other granddaughter. They are only 6 months apart (biological and other one is step) so they pretty much like the same things. I had leftover yarn so whipped this up driving to Indiana. I think it turned out really great and I think kids that age will love the charms and the fact they can change them out as they wish because I attached them with a lobster clasp. It is smaller than it looks about 8 inches across and down. The one for Lindsay is blue, green brown colorways and I think she will like it. Her favorite colors are blue and green and it was the best combo I could find.
Here is a pic of the stuff all together. The lion yarn is for Lindsay with the angel charms and the Noro is for me to eventually make a bag when I get time. Tom's yarn should be in tomorrow so I can start on his birthday sweater. I need to get Lindsay's bag done too because I promised to send it to them before the start school in August so lots of knitting for me. I will have to put aside T's sweater until these other two are done then start his mom's sweater for her birthday, which is in November and her handbag for Christmas.

Donna

It's good to be the king, well queen....

Since it is my blog, I can bore you all to death with more photos! Thought I would show you some comparison shots. One of our older grandson Thomas as a baby, one of Jackson's dad at two weeks old and Jackson.

This is Thomas at about a year old:
This is a picture of my son Jay and he was two weeks old in this pic: This is Jackson at 3 days old
I am knitting up a storm. I have a pink and white striped booga almost done, one I have to start, a sweater for my son in law I have to have done before August 16 for his birthday, Thomas's sweater and hat for Christmas, a booga for my dd and a sweater for her birthday. I also bought some Noro to make myself a bag, but who knows when that will happen. Not until all the assorted gifts are done, that is for sure.

Donna