Some more FO's

Despite the rain and cool temperatures we've been having, the garden is an FO! Well, mostly. Still have the pumpkins and purple potatoes to plant and the herb garden but the green beans, beets, kolorabi, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, and onions are in! Did I forget anything?

I had help...for a bit... and then.... .....you get the picture. Sidewalk chalk and bubbles...definitely more fun!

I was hoping to have two sweaters out of the WIP pile and in the FO pile but not just yet. Maybe by Friday? However! I did get my swap package in the mail last week and my swap partner received it over the weekend. Yet another swap in the Itty Bitty Group. This one was on cupcakes with the requirements being the cupcake hat and the cupcake pincushion. They are swappers extrodinaire. We have such fun as virtual friends. We've been swapping for over a year now with new people joining in that just adds to the fun and friendships. And now RAK has been added in and that really adds to the closeness of the group.

My swap partner had her daughter model the hat. She is 6 months old and the hat is soooo much cuter on a sweet little face. Both were fun and easy to knit. Details on my ravelry page.

I added a crocheted hot pad. Fun to crochet, well written pattern. But, alas, not sure how much more crocheting I can do, especially with cotton. It made my hands and wrists hurt and I ended up taking Alieve to finish. I do love to crochet though so I'll probably tough through some more crochet projects but few and far between. Knitting does not affect my hands or wrists since I taught myself continental knitting.

Hopefully I'll be back soon.

puttin' on the ritz and glitz

via knitting and crocheting! I finished my second Moonrise necklace and it's hard to decide which I like more. The pattern is from Sivia Harding. The beads from Earthfaire and called Crystal Bouquet. This one definitely went faster that the first.

Miss S and I crocheted some necklaces with wire and beads. Wow, if you're in a hurry for a gift that's inexpensive, this is it! Once the beads were strung on the wire, two hours tops to make the necklace. This in mine, three rows of crocheted wire with the beads already on the wire and moved into position as the stitches were formed. The only stitches used were slip stitch, chain, and single crochet.

Miss S crochet necklace:

Three strands of pre strung beads on wire were crocheted using a chain or single crochet with the beads moved into position as the stitches were formed.

Fun, fast projects with great results. But, enough procrastinating, time to get going on Christmas knitting!

"The Sun did not shine,

It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house All that cold, cold, wet day. " But unlike Sally and her brother we don't have to wish for something to do. There is always plenty! And my poor blog was sadly neglected these past two rainy weeks as I was attempting to finish something! Everything seems to be a WIP. Miss S has no such problems. Perhaps she should write this blog? Here she is on the cold, cold, wet day, crocheting her umpteenth shawl for the Hospice.

Drumroll please as yet another heads off to someone in need of a warm hug.
I haven't been just sitting. I've been busy knitting, but sweaters take time when you're watching 3 two year olds every day. And I've been a little down. I needed to finish something so I started a few quick projects. One was trying my hand at amigurumi, or, easier to say, little crocheted toys. My grandmunchkins have a book that was their daddy's once upon a time. And hiding inside is a little bug named Goldbug. He's on every page, in the tank, the ambulance, the new car, and they can show you where he is because they've read the book again and again and again. I think I could show you where he is without searching. I thought it would be fun to make them their own goldbugs. My husband and daughter gave them the thumbs up and, more importantly, so did the grandmunchkins. Look a little like aliens don't they? (details on my ravelry page)Here is the original Goldbug that inspired these creations. Try as I might I couldn't get blogger to put him in the upright position but since he is all over the book in all kinds of situations it seems right he wouldn't be in a normal position in a blog post either.

A quick project for me usually involves sewing. We haven't done anything with Halloween since our children were very small but those children now have our adorable grandmunchkins and they do take part in the lighter side of Halloween. That being carving pumpkins, dressing in costumes, and trick or treating. So I made them all trick or treat bags. Really fun and quick to sew even though there were 8 of them. I used fabric paint for the words, my sewing maching to embroider their names, and cut out pumpkins from fabric and backed them with batting and fabric and sewed them right sides together, turned them, and painted faces on them.

The girls have the candy corn bags and the boys the pumpkin ones.

Obviously Mr W thinks my posed shot of the bags isn't as cute as the shots of him modeling them. I'd have to agree.

Last weekend was the annual retreat for our knitting guild. It was the second year I got to go and take classes and stay for the weekend. The first class on Friday was on entrelac. Something I'd never even attempted and I learned a great deal. Though I will rarely, if ever, use this technique, the class was very worthwhile. Saturday's 6 hours of classes were on neckline finishes. Round, square, v neck. I was exhausted by class end but what a wealth of information. Here is my square neck. We had to have samples done before the class and then added the finish.

As I said, I've been a little down. This path called grief one would suspect would plummet you to the valley floor and you would begin a steady upward climb. Not so. You plummet to the valley, climb a bit, only to plummet again, and again, and again. The plummets are spread apart more as time goes on, but they're still there. And you are caught unawares that you're about to plunge. Last week was like that for me. And my daughter. But once in awhile you set yourself up for a drop. This was one for me. This road was used by my sons. I have no pictures of them playing with it. But now my grandsons are playing with it and while that brings great pleasure, I miss the little boys that grew up and started it all.

Hopefully the next blog post won't be two weeks from now!

a couple of FO's

The biggest FO this week was getting my son married! Which meant sewing and decorating and crocheting...oh my! This is one of many pictures of the big FO. My husband built the structure for the back drop for the wedding and then it was up to us to decorate it. A very successful FO that turned out beautifully. The flowers were the pots from out back deck that I plant every year. But this year the flowers were all lavender or purple or white to match the wedding! I just loved the backdrop it provided for the wedding!

And of course, there were dresses for the flower girls that I got to sew! Here is the dress for the 8 year old.

And for the almost 3 year old!

And though the almost 2 year old wasn't part of the wedding, she and her brothers needed something special to wear too! So I picked up fabric and got to work. She looked adorable!

I crocheted a shawl for me. My daughter picked out the pattern and said it would be perfect for the wedding. I caved and thought I could surely get it done in time and there was a CAL on ravelry to provide support. After almost 5 months and a few very early morning sessions, as in crocheting until 2:30 am, it was completed on time and my husband said it looked "classy".

And if the wedding wasn't enough, I joined a hat swap on ravelry. The hat had to be in the mail by, you guessed it, the day of the wedding! The hat is the Marley hat from Itty Bitty Hats. I used leftover Dream in Color classy and mailed it off just before the wedding! I included two little books for the swap partner's little daughters, the leftover yarn, and a knitting bag.

Loved this hat and I'll be doing several more!

Check one off the list

Miss S's bolero. Supposed to be done for Easter but done for Mother's Day. Only we didn't get to go to church today. I've been caught by the spring flu bug. Hopefully I'll get to snap a picture of her in it next Sunday. She has a skirt and top that needed this addition and the green in the bolero matches the green in the skirt perfectly.
This was a free pattern on the modadea.com website and called the Crochet One Button Bolero. I made one before out of sport weight stash yarn but it was tooooo small for Miss S. So my little granddaughter got it. This time around I ordered the yarn the pattern called for and made the medium size. It fits and looks so cute on her. All the details are on my ravelry project page.
NOW...to work on the next items on my list!

PLAY TIME!!

The sun has been shining on the Northwet and the flowers are blooming. My Daphne is in bloom and the scent wafts across the deck when the breeze blows. I've spent the last few days on the deck drinking in the sun and sights and scents of spring.

SPRING FEVER IS HERE! And excitement is running high.

Actually her enthusiasm is from the jumping and wiggling done during the library story time. My daughter and daughter (in law) took the little ones to their first story time at the library. I got to go along as the doting grandmother and chief (and only) photographer. Both jobs I enjoy immensely.

This little one is also enthused. She is saying "diiiisssss". Translation? Look at all the books on the table!!!

While we're waiting for the story to begin we'll enjoy some books on our own. I love it that all of my kids are readers and they are training my grandmunchkins to be as well.

They said to be involved with your child in story time. I think their Mommy is enjoying it as much as they are! I enjoyed it! Today was "silly" day and the stories, songs, and fingerplays were just that...silly!

After story time it was time to explore the playground at the park. There is a pint sized play structure, just right for pint sized people!

Little people play in their way and I play in my way. I think I have more to show for my play times than they do and I don't tend to be cranky or need a nap after my play times.

I posted my granddaughter's Easter dresses a few weeks ago. I'm so glad I finished them when I did because on the next sewing project my machine decided it needed some time in the shop and has been resting there for over two weeks now! I miss her badly but glad she's getting the needed rest since she's going to be working overtime when the wedding gets closer.

The Easter dresses were spring like and it doesn't look like this sunny spring weather is going to hang around to celebrate Easter with us. So....I made capes/shawls for the girls to wear over their dresses. Remember at the first of the post when I said I was spending time on the deck smelling the daphne? Well, I was also crocheting! This is an old pattern. I made one for my daughter when she was little and handed down the shawl and lost the pattern. Low and behold, someone gave me their old stash of craft magazines and it was in there! I'm holding on to this copy!

Front and back view of the shawl/cape for the 8 year old and below is the front and back view of the one for the 2 year old. A very fast crochet project since it's all double crochets. And it used up quite a few skeins of stash sport weight. You change the size by changing the hook size.

been busy!

I'm back into my knitting and crocheting after finishing the marathon scrapbooking. However, I just ordered the pictures from January and February and our zoo trip today so I'll be back in the scrapbooking mode soon.
But for now, I'm reading, crocheting, and knitting. My son is getting married in June and I wanted a shawl to wear. Something lacy, something in the purple tones that the wedding colors are going to be. My daughter, who is also a crocheter, found this pattern. And, although I promised myself to use up the yarn I had on hand, I didn't have the right purple and a special occasion such as a son's wedding seemed like a good excuse, err reason, to head for the LYS and throw the diet, yarn diet, out the window. I was good, and came home with only the yarn for the shawl. It's Fiddlesticks Merino wool and silk. A little stiff to work with but I think it will soften after blocking.
The pattern is from Interweave Crochet. There is a CAL on ravelry that I joined. Those that went ahead of me stated that the pattern is a bit of a mental challenge at first but once you get into it the pattern flows. They were right. I'm on row 22 and it is now intuitive as to what comes next.

I also finished my FIRST ever sock, for me. I knit a baby sock some time ago but never a sock for me. I can see why they are so addictive! Fun to knit and it feels oh so good on. I'm casting on for the second tonight...maybe.... We have three grandmunchkins spending the day and night so I may settle tonight for a book and a latte.

It fits well. It's knit from Reggio Exclusive and the pattern is from Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd. A great hand holder for a first time sock knitter. I think I'm addicted!

As I said, we've got the grandmunchkins for today and tonight so stay tuned for really cute pictures of Grandpa teaching the little ones to blow bubbles!