Well its here... And it came, oh so fast. It seemed like yesterday that Christmas was a month away. Now it is said and done and it is the beginning of a new year, almost. Just a few more hours.
I'm not going to be staying up to bring in the new year....To tired. Instead I'm going to write a little post and go to bead. Hubby is at work and I'm pooped. The past 4 days I've gotten up at 3 am, so that I could be at work by 4am. Now I've really started bakers hours. argh. In a way it is really nice... I'm home by 9 or 10 and have the rest of the day to do whatever. But then there is that whole lack of sleep thing. It's hard trying to go to bed early when you're use to staying up late.
Anyways... My knitting has suffered from working more hours, I just
haven't had the time. I've only knit once in the past 5 days. Before that I did finish the baby hat for the shop. I think it turned out really cute, but its kinda small. It will diffidently be for a 0-3 month old. Now I have to make matching mits.
The kids has a good Christmas, G had fun with the presents and L just loved the paper. They got to have Christmas twice. First at the In-laws then at my
parents. Here is G drinking his hot cocoa out of the "special big boy cup" aunt Dawn gave him. He loves it! And L is holding her first baby doll. I was happy to find this one, it is just what I was looking for. There was lots more but I'm sure you don't want a list...
Santa brought me a book, it is pretty cool too. It has all different kinds of stitch patterns in it and how to design and knit your own sweaters. I've always wanted to knit myself a sweater but I've never found a pattern that I've absoutley loved. Now is my chance to make my very own!
I did however manage to use my new SWIFT and BALL
WINDER!!! My in-laws did very well on my gifts... Thanks Hubby for giving them the idea! I also had 
time to dye my first skein of yarn with koolaid! It was fun, but It didn't turn out how I would have liked. I didn't expect much, this being my first time dying yarn. Practice makes perfect. The end product reminds me of a 6th graders tye-dyed t-shirt.... Anyways I'm going to dye another skein soon, hopefully this one will turn out better!
That's it for now... More later.
Have a happy New Year everyone! May it be filled with lots of knitting!
Last night was our church's children's Christmas Service. This is a picture of G and his Sunday school classmates singing. They are the 2 & 3's. They did better than I thought they would. I help out once a month in their class and it was so funny to see them practice their songs. They started out with Away in a Manger, then The B-I-B-L-E, followed by Jesus Loves Me. Not many of them sang, but for 2 and 3 year olds I was impressed. G flashed everyone his tummy mid- manger song. And he shouted out "Bible" a bit later than everyone else, it was very cute. Also he held his arms up making muscles during the strong part of Jesus Loves Me. I'm such a proud mommy! Oh yeah, he is the one on the far right (striped sweater on). Sorry for the bad picture, My camera only has digital zoom, and we were kinda far away. Bummer, I know. 
While at my grandmother's house over T-day week I found these cool old tins full of cinnamon sticks. I'm going to use them for my knitting notions. The really old one (Ann page) now is holding my self made stitch markers. I'm not quite sure what the others will be for but I'm sure I'll find something. If you click you can see that they only cost $1.49, wowee, that's cheap!
Ok Just now I found my son looking like this. That is what I get for putting on a veggie tales just so I can blog. Bad mom, bad bad mom. It is diaper cream... So maybe it will just put some moisture into his cute little cheeks! He is only 2 1/2, and boys will be boys. They seem to get into everything. Except my knitting. I've drilled him about that. No no, that's mommy's knitting, don't touch. Thankfully he understands;-) (Please avert your eyes from the mess in the background... It will get cleaned up after nap time! )
On knitting news, I've finished two hats out of cascade 220. I love the way they turned out! I can't show them to you yet... But in a week I will. They are both of my own design, and I'm quite proud of them.
I sure would like a real swift and ball winder... This is what I'm working with. Two chairs and my good old hands. I like the look of a hand wound center pull ball but when you have over 15 different balls to wind, it gets old. Maybe I'll get a swift and winder for Christmas, one can only hope. And here is the end product. G thought it was pretty cool watching me make a ball out of yarn. He kept saying mommy mada ball, ball.
Last week, Friday I went out to the yarn shop to pick up some of that cascade I made one of the
hats out of... Anyways I came back with a bit more than I was originally going to get. I bought the fiber trends felted clog pattern and some cascade. I also took some Jaeger Baby Merino home to make some sample hat and mits for the shop. Baby hats knit up so quick and I love making them. I'll post pictures of my progress as I get going on them.
Also my niece Lilly was over and she had her hat that I made for her on so of course I took a picture of her in it. The last pic of the hat, G was modeling it so it only seemed fair to put the recipient's picture on my blog. Yes I'm sorry you probably are sick of all my pictures, but I just love them!
What's a blog without pictures?!
Enough is enough. Happy knitting everyone!
I found my camera! I was totally freaking out last night. All is well now:-) Oh yeah, it was in the sofa... Where else would it be?! Duh.
I can show you all pictures of our little tree. There are no ornaments on yet I figured I had to wait for hubby for that. I think he was a little upset that I put the lights on without him. In my defense, both kids were napping at the same time! Hello,
opportunity doesn't knock all day long. So i went for it! The tree isn't but two inches taller than G, and I put two strands (i think 100) of lights on it. One strand of clear around the middle and color on he outside. I get a bit obsessive when it comes to Christmas lights. I might have a tiny case of OCD. You could say I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Our tommy loves the tree. Last year he camped out under it until we therw it out!
Well I sent out my secret pals last package on Monday and she received it yesterday! Her name is Colleen and I had so much fun spoiling her. The funny thing is that she was my sisters last secret pal. Anyways go and check her out, she is a very cool and talented knitter!
To prove how small of a blogging world it is, my bloggin friend Christy had my real life friend Amy as her secret pal. How bazaar.
Other news.
My first panta is done. I think the next one I make I'll double the yarn to make it more weather worthy, and I'll make it shorter, it isn't that snugg. Also my edges aren't as tight as I would like them to be. Other than that its great! I uses Classic Elite's Inca Alpaca. It didn't even use the whole skein(109 yards, 50 g)! Actually I bought this yarn a few months ago (on clearance) when our local craft store was going out of business. Originally it was going to become a sweater, but now I've decided that it will become my winter accessories. I'm also planning on buying a new winter coat from Lands End, I'm still not sure. Maybe we'll see what Santa brings me this year:-)
I almost forgot. About a week ago I received a wonderful package 
from my brother. He is in Korea at the moment. He sent me a beautiful painting that was rolled up like a scroll. The monkeys are fitting for two reasons. My grandpa use to call me little monkey and Jared(my brother) use to call me monkey girl. Though I'm not sure why. Still it brought tears to my face when i opened it. There were two boxes in the package, that contained the most beautiful set of chop sticks. This package was unexpected and wonderful, thanks bIg bRo! I loved it!
Tonight is knitting at the LYS! I love knitting night.... Hopefully the roads will be drivable.
Happy knitting to all and to all a knitting night!
I came across this fabulous knit! I'm so very excited about this. A panta-along is being put together(by rainberryblue)... Go check it out and see if it interests you. This is going to be perfect for me because I always wear my hair up in a bun, hats just don't work. I have already started it, well actually I have it completely knit up and all I need is to seam it up. I knit it in one day, it goes very quickly
y. Once I finish it I'll post pictures.
This is one thing I didn't even mention until now, a baby hat my sister Dawn. A friend of hers just had a little girl. L is modeling it. As you can see it's too small for her, which is good. She is almost 9 months old, and I want it to fit a newborn. It was put in the mail on Monday along with my final package for my secret pal. Yes I know, the deadline was the 4th.... I'm a bad sp. But hopefully she wont mind.
It is quite frightful outside today. They say we are going to get 8 inches of the white fluffy stuff by tonight... I love snow. Well actually i hate driving in it and cant stand when its
melting and all slushy. But when it is snowing it is one of the most beautiful things God has given us. G made his first snowman today. Of course he had some help from daddy and mommy. He also insisted on wearing his sunglasses that only have one lens. He is such a silly little boy. Lately he had been such a sweetie and we laugh and have tons of fun together.
Oh yeah, we finally got a Christmas tree. That was on Sunday, and I just put lights on it today. We have a little one so we could put it on top of an end table. That way L can't get into it too much. Oh how I love the smell of a good Christmas tree.... and sweets....
Today I made buckeyes. So many people have posted recipes on their blogs, I think its about time I post one. So here you go.
Buckeyes:
1 lb peanut butter
1 lb confectioners sugar
1/2 lb graham crackers
1/2 lb butter or margarine
1 tbs vanilla
Crush graham crackers fine. Mix all ingredients together. Roll into small balls. Chill(I like to put them in the freezer).
Melt (double boiler works best):
18 oz. Chocolate chips
1/5 bar of paraffin wax (canning wax)
Dip the chilled balls into the mixture, holding by toothpicks. Put balls on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Best when served from refridgerator.
Enjoy!
I had some left over chocolate and dipped bananas and pretzels in it(not together, separately). Yummy!
Last week I learned a new technique. The tubular cast on. What a cool thing it is! It makes the most polished looking cast on I've ever come across. If you haven't tried it I suggest you do! Just look at it! Very cool! Go ahead and click on the pic. Get a closer look.
Ok well I wanted to post a picture of my tree but I've misplaced my camera. I'm kinda freaking out, were could it be? It will turn up eventually, until then, no tree pictures or any others for that matter. AHHHH
Knit happy everyone!
So for my solid sock along I need to pick the coolest photo ever to enter so I can win a prize (yarn for my stash of course). I'm not too creative but I thought this was cute. What do you think? Or should
I do something completely different?! Comments are welcome. Good, bad and ugly;-)
Help Me Win!
Knit Happy!
*edit*
I know you can't really see the socks too well... does that matter?! Does the cuteness out rule that fact? Or because it is a sock contest not a baby contest, should I pick a picture that really shows off the socks? What to do.... I'm sure I'll think of something. Thanks in advance for your advice!
We went on a nice vacation all thanks to modern technology! Travel sized DVD players. Mom, Dad, how in the world did 
you travel with out it? With five kids!? You must have been crazy;-)
We all had a great time! I got to see my sister and her family, and we met for the first time Bella. What a sweetie! She warmed up to us rather quickly, and wanted to be held. And Madison has gotten so tall since we last saw her. She is now in school, and is learning to read! It was great visiting with everyone. We even saw family from my dads side of the family and my moms side. One of my Uncles rented a house for all of us, and I think there were 19 of us in the house at one time. It was so much fun. There was a hot tub right outside of the house. It was really cool to be able to sit outside and see the
beautiful snowow still while being toasty warm!
(Uncle Tom, with Bella and Leah)We had a slight change of plans, and decided to go from Oakland MD to Buffalo NY. My dads side of the family lives there. My Aunts boyfriend of 20 yrs (not quite my unclee, but we still knew him very well) passed away the Friday after thanksgiving. He had been sick and had many problems for years now, he was still young, only 65yrs old. It was a sad reason, but we got to visit all of my family, most of which hubby had never met. It was good to see everyone.
We drove back 
on last Wednesday, and arrived home around 10 at night. One nice thing about all the driving was that I had a good amount of time to knit! I finished my leaf lace socks, and I'm very happy with them! The downside... It gets dark out by 5-o-clock. I felt like I was wasting precious knitting time while I was just sitting there in the huge van watching kid movies(too keep the boy happy). At one point I actually turned around to knit by the light of the DVD player. It wworked but it was really awkward, it didn't last for long. I decided that the next time I go on a long trip I'm going to buy a necklace that has a light on it, so I'll be able to knit in the dark.Things have been busy since our return. Our church had a Christmas brunch where women decorate the tables and there's speaker afterwards. My friends and I decorated two tables, it was stressful but fun. The brunch was on saturday, so thursday and friday was busy with table stuff. because of course we are last minute kind of people;-) I haven't been able to keep up with all the chores, but I don't think I ever really did*grin* There is always so much to do and so little time. And then there is knitting:)A 
few days ago I received a wonderful package from my secret pal! I had temporally forgotten about it. Secret pal... i don't have to call her that anymore, her name is Katie, go ahead and check her out! Ok are you back now?! Well she sent me tons of goodies. First of all she sent me some dye your own yarn, (worsted weight) and some kool-aid that I'm planning on making a Sophie bag out of. I'm really 
excited about that one! next are two skeins, in a beautiful cranberry color, of essential from knit picks. More socks! Gotta love that! Two candles, one french vanilla, the othere black cherry, both yummy smelling. Two cute little ceramic pumpkins, one of which broke on the way. Oh yes, and some chocolate covered potato chips, very very good. I advise you try some if you haven't had the pleasure:-) How could i forget. She was kind enough to send some gifts for the kiddos. Too sweet. For L, a musical crawl-along. And for G the ever popular Little People. They both loved their gifts! Thanks Katie, you rocked! You can be my secret pal anytime!
Knitting U
pdates:
I Almost for got. I started a new pair of socks, out of some Opal hubby gave me for our anniversary. For this pair I tried a new method, toe up. Allena showed me while we were up there. She even taught me how to crochet! How cool is that?! I made s dishcloth out of some orange cotton yarn we found in my grandma's attic. Allena and I searche
d through the attic for knitting stuff and fo
und a few things. I got a couple crochet hooks and a circular needle, with the old package and everything! The circular needle still had half a dishcloth on it:-) I Also started my manos throw... I think that's it!
Happy knitting!
I'm not going to be staying up to bring in the new year....To tired. Instead I'm going to write a little post and go to bead. Hubby is at work and I'm pooped. The past 4 days I've gotten up at 3 am, so that I could be at work by 4am. Now I've really started bakers hours. argh. In a way it is really nice... I'm home by 9 or 10 and have the rest of the day to do whatever. But then there is that whole lack of sleep thing. It's hard trying to go to bed early when you're use to staying up late.
haven't had the time. I've only knit once in the past 5 days. Before that I did finish the baby hat for the shop. I think it turned out really cute, but its kinda small. It will diffidently be for a 0-3 month old. Now I have to make matching mits.
parents. Here is G drinking his hot cocoa out of the "special big boy cup" aunt Dawn gave him. He loves it! And L is holding her first baby doll. I was happy to find this one, it is just what I was looking for. There was lots more but I'm sure you don't want a list...
WINDER!!! My in-laws did very well on my gifts... Thanks Hubby for giving them the idea! I also had 
time to dye my first skein of yarn with koolaid! It was fun, but It didn't turn out how I would have liked. I didn't expect much, this being my first time dying yarn. Practice makes perfect. The end product reminds me of a 6th graders tye-dyed t-shirt.... Anyways I'm going to dye another skein soon, hopefully this one will turn out better!
