Happy New Year's Eve

We got to meet Ethan  person.... 

Yes, he is one sweet snuggle......

We went back home to relieve other grandma who watched Will so we could go to the hospital.

We packed up Will, his meds, bedding and loveys and drove to our house.

The doctors all agree, he needs to stay away from new brother until he gets the fever under control.

The antibiotics should help with that.  What a good adventure to mark Ethan's arrival!

I added to the hand spun sock while riding to the hospital.  There wasn't any other knitting time because of the miserable 3yo on my lap!

Hoping he will bounce back to his cheerful self soon!

A LATE CHRISTMAS PRESENT!

Finally this little guy, grandchild #8, has been sent into the world! 

Ethan Matthew, all 6lbs 6oz of him!  It was a tough journey for mom and son. 

It was a hard day for big brother who is sick with a nasty virus, fever and horrendous cough.

I kept him today and now that he has fallen alseep, 

I am doing a little knitting on a sock and then I will sleep, too, so I am ready for tomorrow when I meet the new grandson when the other grandma will come over and I can go to the hospital!

Post Christmas

I've said my goodbyes to all the grands and their parents.

The house is back in order and quiet once again.

It was such a blessing to have the house full. 

After all the cleaning and laundry, it was nice to have a sit down.  The minute Bill or I do sit down, there is a cat ready to join us;  they are pretty scarce during the invasion of all the peoples!

I finished all the colored bits in the Hansel shawl this afternoon. 

And later in the day I started piecing a few of the Churn Dash blocks.

Accuquilt is a wonderful invention and really helps to make a very accurate and easy to piece block. 

I did find I had to tweak the 1/4" set seam on my machine so that the piecing comes out exactly.

Now that I know what setting I need to use, the rest is a piece of cake!

This evening I started the edging on the shawl!  It took me this long to memorize the pattern repeat and get it right as the stitch count changes in the 16 row pattern!

(New grandson didn't make an appearance for my birthday or for Christmas.....we are still waiting!)

Christmas Eve!

                                                                          Merry Christmas!

A Houseful!

 

Ta-Da!  Just in time for Christmas! 

My parents are enjoying getting to know the additional grand children.

This one has my Mom's middle name for her own, too! 

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The Polar Express gathering.......popcorn was appreciated, so , too, were the laps of many aunts and uncles! 

Speaking of popcorn, as Matthew enjoyed his bowl, someone zeroed in on him and had a feast!  (granted a very messy feast and he sure squawked when the bowl was empty!!!!) 

I have begun the colored band on the shawl!  So nice to add the change-up for my knitting pleasures!

Wagon Train

We loaded up all of us to go to Daytona International airport to meet my parents as they came off their plane!  We were 17 strong and 4 vehicles but we did it!

My parents are here for the winter but came down earlier than usual to have Christmas with all of my children and grandchildren!  

When we got home, we unwound around the yard, hanging out and talking and enjoying each other's company. 

On the knitting front, I have completed section one of the Half Hans Shawl.  Moving to color tomorrow!

Celebration

This has been the flavor of this past year.  My yarn bowl is in the trash-a sweet little kitty decided that it could be knocked off my end table....inch by inch.  Too many shards to put together is a metaphor for life. 

On the other hand, there has been color and beauty.   I am enjoying the coloring and playing with colors.   

My knitting is pleasurable and moving right along-they will be done by Christmas morning!

My house is full-so is my heart!

The Decade of my Sixties is about to unfold!!!

I am bookended by two daughter-in-laws and the two youngest grand kids!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

This is what came in the mail....it is reward yarn for a job well done.  What job-getting ready for all my company!  I was supposed to save it for when they were here because I can knit socks in my sleep! 

I must be dreaming!

*I saw this yarn and just had to have it!  What a fun yarn to come off my needles;  thank you blog friend for the idea!

Stepping Out

The hand dyed, hand spun Merino Superwash socks are finished!  They turned out to be a pretty close

match for the two socks. 

We are having a very warm December and it is so nice to be outside to admire all of the flowers in bloom right now.  This is the calliandra bush at the end of our porch.  They are amazing blooms, aren't they?! 

The shrimp plants are all doing an above average bloom display.   The bushes have been attracting a type of moth-if you look near the top, you can see one! 

This is our own pointsettia that blooms right on schedule every year!  Yes, both the red and white grow together!   

The many Christmas cactuses are still graces us with blooms!  My front porch is just awash with the large rosy pink flowers! 

The needles were empty for only a few hours until I cast on the Hansel (half version).   I have wanted to make this shawl for a month now but had to wait for other projects to get done.  It is being knit in my own Coopworth/Romney woolen yarn.  I have other Coopworth yarns that will contrast with this main section later on in the knitting.  The shawl has different 'layers' of designs and colors and has been calling me to knit it!

Special Edition Saturday

I ripped out the offending sock to the toe and just added the extra stitches I should have put there in the first place!  I knit like mad on the hour trip there!

Will had his 3rd birthday party today!   There were about a dozen kids over for a Polar Express party! 

Cousin Ella came also-and so did Elijah but I didn't get a picture of him, bad me. 

When the crowd and noise got to Will, he would lay down to some serious train play and tune us all out!  We had a wonderful time with the gathering! 

To decompress after the very social day, I continued the knitting!  I am back to the part of the yarn I had rewound-always a good hurdle for me to reach the spot I had ripped out and to move forward from there!

I am headed to a good night's sleep!

FO Friday

My expectant daughter-in-law asked if I could sew a valance for her.  She bought some fabric to match the crib bumpers she purchased.   I asked to see the picture and then set to work.

I love a good challenge!

She wanted it streamlined;  very tailored with no ruffles.  

Check 

I whipped off a little bookbag purse for a friend's child. 

I am always careful to make something that isn't Christmas-y because that happens a LOT when you have a December birthday!  they do like to go to the beach a lot some I put one of my resin/sea glass charms on the zipper pull with some beads.

Something to use all year round!

The Good and the Bad

The 'Baby's First Christmas' ornaments are complete!  

I will hang then on the tree just before the kids get here! 

The rest of the day I spent paring down the studio so I can convert it to a guest room area.

I do like the wide open look!  

This is sock two which would be good news if I finished sock one.

But I didn't.

I quit.

That knitter's quiet voice that tells you something isn't right but because you are enjoying the knitting you ignore.

Bad decision. 

The sock is too narrow.  It has four less stitches than I usually have for my socks (56 sts).

Four stitches means 1/2 " which means the sock has to be ripped out.

Bad feeling number two is stirring, the yarn for sock 1 is much thinner than the yarn in the skein for sock 2.

Plan A is to finish sock 2, rip out sock 1 and begin knitting it.  If it looks really differently,  rip them both out and make a cowl!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is extreme knitting;  the kind that keeps us on the edge.

Momentum

I read about these cute little bowls from one of the blogs I read.

The instructions are here and I highly recommend giving one or 10 a try!

They were designed to be little thread bowls .

I like the idea and will use it for all kinds of little things! 

I used some of the scraps from the recent Christmas stockings but what a cute idea in any fabric!

The pattern calls for hand-stitching but I used a small zig-zag stitch instead and it makes this little project one I can do!  

I'm so glad I read about this-thank you for sharing yours, Karen of K's Quilting Korner;  which was a hop from the RSC2015 which is the project from So Scrappy.

This is how you find great idea and blog friends!

I put the binding on Tutti-Frutti II  and enjoyed it as much as the first one!

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The Masham wool is a skein now, 240 yards of two-ply.  It softened up considerably after washing and even has a slight halo~  I will have to make up some samples for these new-to-me wools I have been spinning! 

T

The huge finish today, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge top is completed!

This is a BIG  quilt top-it measures 8' by 10'  !   Too big to get in the photo by myself.

Bill will have to get a ladder and hang it up on the design wall for me!

I will not be quilting this until after Christmas;  I want to at least start it before year's end. 

I chose a blue cloud fabric for the wider fabric to be the sky and a silver for the narrow border to represent a silver lining for this rainbow!

Now to think about the quilting design......