Just one

I love, LOVE, to make flower arrangements. I have been making them since high school. Why I never went into the profession, I will never know. Well, I think I do know. I love it, and why ruin it by having to do it everyday, all the time. It's my nephews prom tomorrow and he asked me to make flowers for his girlfriend. You can't see them, but there are two zombies in the flowers. She loves zombies. It was fun to do.

So, I am at the craft store,picking up the things needed to make the bouquet, and happen to end up by the yarn. Oh yea, its on the other side of the store. BUT, I had to walk by and see if they had anything interesting. I spot it. The cutest ball of baby yarn. Blue and pink and soft and well cute... At this point, hubby, whom I told would I would be 15 min, has now made his way into the store after being in the car over 30 min, finds me. "What are you doing over here? I thought you needed flower stuff over there?" No, I got that stuff honey, I'm just visiting over here. He replies, "I have been in the car almost a hour, can you visit later, without me." OK, I'll be out. The one ball of yarn had to come home with me. It's really sweet. I have to make something with it. I am thinking about holding it together with another baby yarn and making a baby blanket, for the friend who is expecting. I know, I will have to return and buy more if I do that, but I will make the sacrifice.

This is short and sweet, because I need to knit!

The Circle of Life

Life. It never ceases to amaze me. I am feeling like a bi polar knitter. Let me explain. It's not what you think.
I have a friend at school. She is wonderful. Kind, generous and always giving positive uplifting comments. She is dying. Pancreatic cancer. Boom, just like that.
A few weeks ago a precious little fifth grader pops in my room. huge smile. Tells me he misses my class, gives me a hug and looks me dead in the eye and shares the most frightening thing he could ever imagine. His mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.
What do we knitters do with this pain. We knit. We knit prayer Shaw's and chemo caps. With each stitch we pray. Pray for comfort. For a cure, for hope, for strength. Then we finish it, wrap it, and pray, that it gives them all of those things and more.

And then it happens. the darkness lifts. Another friend tells you, after many tries and a miscarriage, she is pregnant. She is glowing, her happiness radiates and captures you. You begin to feel good. Even great. Thankful, she got her wish. She is past the 3 months of worry and looking and feeling better than she ever has. And as a knitter, how do you share in her happiness. You knit! You knit little tiny things. brightly colored things. Things that make you feel GOOD!

SO my invisible friends, what I mean about the Bi polar part is the two extremes in my life at the moment. Each at the extreme end of our emotions. And how do you deal with all of it.
OK, You got it. You knit. And each project is so different, so..........bi polar.

I am knitting bright things! Keeping it up beat and happy! This is a booga bag for my daughter. It is soooooo fast and soooo much fun. I did have to put it aside to make the chemo cap. But I plan on felting it before I leave school tomorrow. Yes, I have a washer in my class room. I am a FCS teacher. And my washer here at home, does not have a agitator, so nothing felts right. My other washer at school is perfect.
And the nephews sweater is so fast, I have stopped to do all the other projects. It is still as cute as can be! And brings a smile to everyone who sees his socks and the half done sweater.

My prized afghan that I won is upstairs waiting for me. I work a few rows before I put my very tired body to rest. It is very beautiful. I would post a pic, but I am too lazy to go upstairs and get it. I may just take the camera and laptop to bed with me and grab a pic and post it. You will see. But for now, I NEED TO KNIT!
I did it. I am not as tired as I thought.
Here are the 30 plus rows that are done.
The colors are totally opposite of me. I am a blue person. But the daughter said I needed to step out of the box, and go opposite of my safe zone. I am enjoying the color change.

Finally! I wanted to be done by the end of march. Well, I guess April will do. The sweater was fun. Knitted from the top down. Straight knitting, Not a lot of thought. Probably a good thing considering the month we have had.
I blocked it and it washed beautifully. I think I made it a size to big. I seems to have grown while in the wash. Oh well.
I love the color. Circus Peanuts.......


The nephews socks are finished. Lots and lots of fun. I picked up some Comfort at Bloomin a few weeks ago. All the colors in the socks. SO I am making the cute sweater in the picture.

I am having fun with this stuff. It takes me back to when my kids were little. Making cute little things. They are not time consuming and lots of fun.
Hubby is on the mend. He spent 3 days in the hospital. came home last sunday. And is doing OK....He has a long road ahead of him. Mending that is. Things are slow. He is happy he is home and knows it's only temporary. He was a little depressed. I figured it was from being home all week by himself and not being able to go anywhere. So I called all the extended family and threw some burgers and dogs on the grill. It was a wonderful night for cooking out. And it was the perfect medicine for hubby! He got lots of laughs and was brought back to the real world. Work, friends, family and all its problems and all the other stuff in between.
Oh the throw. I started it I will get a pic on here real soon, Promise! It is fast. I am lovin it!

The sun will come out tomorrow

Day 2 of the second surgery. He is off the IV. And with a little prayer and hope he will come home for good tomorrow. His Surgery was 25 min and uneventful according to the surgeon. Works for me.

I thought about bringing the afghan, but remembered how cramped the waiting area was last time. It was the right move. The waiting room was filled with little seating. The socks were a perfect project. I finished the second pair, today . I had to run back to Bloomin to get more. One skein is not quite enough. I needed 2inches more of work. It seemed like a waste to buy all that yarn for 2 inches, so I bought two skeins, figured I would make my daughter a pair.

I am going to get the afghan as soon as I am done posting. Will add pictures as soon as I get a few rows on.

It seems like things are looking up. I am finishing projects and my husband is healing. We have been blessed.

I told the surgeon yesterday, God brought us to you. Hows that he asked. I said, I had my gallbladder taken out sooner than I planned, we were going to wait till summer, but decided on sooner at the last minute. that's when we realized what a caring, compassionate man you were. My husband trusted you immediately You told my husband you would do his Colonoscopy, and a two weeks later you saved my husbands life. If I would have waited, or never went to the doctors, who is to say when my husband would have gotten the colonoscopy? When the cancer cells broke through the tumors? No... God took care of all that. He then looked at me and smiled. He knew too.

Woop, there it is!!!

Oh yes, it came today! My winning prize!

I walked in from school, and WOOP there it was!!! It took me twenty minutes to find the camera. It was right where I left it. But I was to excited to see it. Didn't want to open the box, till I took a picture.

Here it is, right before I ripped it out of the box. The colors looked so beautiful.

I just hope I have 11 needles in wood! I will not work this beautiful yarn on anything less.Will check the needle case as soon as I am finished If not, I will be at Bloomin first thing after work.

WOW, I mean WOW, this is soooooo pretty! The mohair is beautiful!

It comes with 6 different patterns you can make. Way, way to many choices! BUT, have no fear, I chose a pattern. I am going to do "Knitted Scallops".

And it could not have come at a better time. Hubby goes into the hospital Friday, for hopefully his final surgery. It will be a 1-2 hour procedure. Which will give me plenty of time to work on the afghan. I am much calmer about this surgery. It is just to put him back together. And the risk is very small this time. So I can pray and knit, calmly. He can't wait to get it done and over with, and I can't wait to be a normal family again.

This scary time has made some positive impact on our family. We are more loving towards each other, more patient. We spend more time together as a family and truly enjoy being with each other. The kids are calmer and not so scared. Even though they are old enough to understand they are still children, and they were afraid of losing their dad. I found being honest with them about this from the beginning was the best way. They weren't afraid to ask questions. And they were aware of everything going on at all times.

Ok, enough of that.... Let me go look for those 11 needles!!!

Happy knitting everyone who reads this, God Bless you and your hands!

Larry had to check out the box too! I couldn't click the camera fast enough to get him smelling all the yarn. Just like his owner, loves to smell the yarn!

Till next time, I still Need to knit!

butterflies

AWWWW spring! As I work on my circus peanuts cardigan, I am also working on, aaaaaaaa, 4 other projects and, many, many more I want to start. My fingers just don't go quick enough.

I will add a picture or two later of the projects in progress. The butterfly, was taken by my daughter last summer. We were up at our camp, by cooks forest. She is really good with a camera.

It was knit nite. Everyone is working on lighter things. A sure sign of summer. Helped on of my students with her first gusset. She did great. She just needs to let herself go and enjoy the sock. I am finishing up my nephews first sock. Oh, you don't know about that project. My husband and one of my brothers sons, the middle one, have this game going. He always shows my husband his cool socks. And My husband always makes a fuss about how cool they are. SOOOO, I went to the big sale at Bloomin a few weeks ago and picked up the CUTEST jitterbug sock yarn for him. If you ever get the chance to knit with jitterbug, DO IT! Its the second time I have used it and I LOVE IT! It feels so good on the needles.
O, yea, the socks. So I am knitting middle son of brother socks and vest to match for his 4th birthday next month. The yarn, well I will just have to post a picture for you to see.

Laurie said any day now for my gift! Can't wait! I still am amazed that I won!

The boys are watching the hockey game to see who will play the pens, if the pens win. I don't get it, but they don't get gussets, so we are even.

Will post more in a bit. For now, I NEED TO KNIT

Its getting better all the time

I decided to add my April Kal to this post. I don't have much to add. The weather is beautiful here. So we spent our day out in it!

I thought the dishcloth was appropriate. Spring is finally here!

Have a wonderful day!

I wanted this done by today. Oh Well. I am almost to the armholes. I have to keep reminding myself that, not only am I doing the front, but the back and sleeves all at the same time. SOO the process is a little slower, but not.
I am on the fence with the yarn. Blue Skies Organic Cotton. It does get dirty, easily. Peels a little. I will have to wash it when I finish. I will make my final decision after it is finished.
This is a great book. Lots of inspiration. If you are looking for your purpose in life, this book gives you some thoughts.
I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie, at a signing and reading last fall. She is charming. She tells her story of how she came to be the writer she is today. I have read all her books about the Shop on Blossom street. Its a good read.


These are recovering hubby's socks. I started
one of them on the Florida trip. When his surgery turned out to be more than we bargained for, I felt a profound need to work on them. I can't wait to finish them. The yarn is stiff, not very soft to the touch. I will wash them in some wool lite and hope to soften them.
He is coming along nicely. He had a eight day stay at the hospital. We brought him home on Tuesday morning. Since then he is doing great. A nurse comes every other day or so. And all have been happy with his progress. He sees the surgeon on Thursday and will schedule his second and final surgery. And after that, we will hopefully resume our boring, suburban life again.
In all the drama and sadness that went on in my life last week, a good thing happened. I, who never ever wins anything, won this beautiful kit. Laurie http://laurieg63.blogspot.com/had a contest during lent. Do something nice
for someone. If you want to see what I wrote go to Laurie's blog Feb 2008 and you'll see.
I couldn't believe she was so generous to give away such a beautiful gift! I am so excited and cannot wait to get it and get started on it! She does want me to post the progress. I can and will do that! That way, I have to finish it!!! Look for that page someday soon!
Well, I have some cross-stitch to do. Yes I said cross stitch. I found a new stitch shop not far from Bloomin yarns! We have not had a cross stitch shop since Noble craftsmen. Which closed! The shop is called "The French Knot" BEAUTIFUL! worth the trip to see her shop. It is just so pretty! She is right across the street from Donaldson crossroads. I think it on east mcmurray. Call for times. She has little ones and works around them.
Till the next post, keep knitting!