Taking the Scenic Route

As it stands right now, nobody from Zach’s family will be at his graduation tomorrow.  Nobody.

Chatting on the phone

My tired boys

New yarn love:  Paton’s Bohemian.  Oh my gosh, this stuff is lucious!  I am seriously considering returning some of the yarn I have and getting some of this stuff for my remaining projects.  So soft and fluffy!  I liked it so much I am adding it to my favorite yarns column on the left. 

ok…back to my knitting now.

Sorry I haven’t been posting.  Been knitting like a crazy person.  One of these days I will post pictures of it. 

“Every time a freedom is taken from the American people, the terrorist have won.”

That has been my sig line at MDC for a while and I am hunting for a new quote to use  (unless I can think of something that succinct again).  It was put up in response to a series of  consumer ads that said every time you stay home, don’t buy stuff, ect, the terrorist have won.  I found the ads pretty tasteless at the time…pushing the idea that to be patriotic you had to buy a new, American made car and such.  Just yuck!  I am doing a link to the helper mama threads for right now, but will find something else I like after that. 

Knitting, knitting, knitting!  My mom came up and we picked out yarn for my brother, SIL, and grandma so I can get going on scarves for Christmas.  The local yarn shop isn’t open until Tues, and we are going to look for a higher quality, classic yarn for her scarf, and I want a natural fiber yarn that is very warm for dad since he can be out in the cold for long hours at times.

I have discovered a manmade yarn that I am enjoying knitting with.  It is caron brand, cozy line.  I knitting two skeins of the “blue jeans”  into a garter stitch scarf right now.  (one skein would make a short scarf, but I want a more useful one) It is too textured to do an cables or special stitches because the stitches would just disappear, but I like the loft and drape to the fabric it is creating.  It is also going much, much faster than I was expecting.  I have never done a scarf and knew they were fast, but never realized how fast.  It is a two strand yarn and would not be the easiest yarn to knit with if you were just starting out because stitch definition gets lost & you have to have a little looser tension to keep the yarns from un winding, but it’s a breeze if you have any experience at all and you will have the unique properties worked out before you are done casting on.

Fun!  I also have some Lion brand “homespun” and Pattons “cha cha” for the other two scarves.

I finally have the most of the addresses I need to get Christmas Cards going.  I still need to get a hold of some people and find out some of Zach’s extended family, but at least we have currents on his siblings now. 

I talked to Diane today and she is terribly excited about hosting the graduation party.  She is such a sweetie!  Her dh graduated this spring and so we just have a lot in common with them.  I am so lame though.  I am horrible about getting out the invites on time, so I had to call people today and let them know that the invitations were coming in the mail. I felt like such a dolt! 

I still have to buy the Christmas cards and make graduation announcements and buy postage and mail the MDC mama box out.  Too much to do.  I am so behind on cleaning right now we still don’t have the tree up, laundry is piling up, and I am sitting here writing and eating chocolate.  I better go.

Storytime

I came around the corner to find Zane carefully tucking the bear under the blankets, then retrieving a book and “reading” to him.  Such cuteness!

“caught ya!”  hee hee

Are you looking for something to get you into the holiday spirit?  Go to the MDC needy mama/helper mama thread to learn about all the mama’s in need and all the mama’s helping out.  (grab some kleenex though, because the posts are very moving)  We absolutely can’t afford to help with Gift Certificates for food and toys that so many people need, but I do have some gently used toys and have knitted a hat.  If you are a knitter but have no money for yarn, there are several people willing to donate yarn (particuarly wool…good for soakers and longies) if you can take the time to knit something…hat, mittens, sweaters, diaper soakers, longies…whatever you are comfortable with.  There are also mama’s donating patterns for those who are knitting for the needy mamas.  There are also mama’s helping out with shipping costs for those of us who have things to give, but no money for postage. 

If somebody is interested, I can help you navigate through it all if you aren’t familiar with MDC.

I haven’t posted much lately because I have really been busy.  I am likely to make a longer post later tonight, but we will see if he goes to bed on time.  lol.  Besides planning his graduation party and working on the invites  I spent most of yesterday on the computer trying to modify maps to print out since there are so many out of town guests that either don’t know the school, or the host’s house, or both.  I was on Zach’s computer most of the day because my keyboard is a little screwy and my monitor colors are way off, something you definitely don’t want when doing graphic work.

I have also been knitting like crazy.  Zane needed a hat before cold weather hit.  I still have to make the gloves, but I finished the hat.  (pictures below).  The yarn is hand dyed yarn from Jessica at Fabric Connection.  It is dyed to compliment his coat, which is black with blue trim.  I didn’t use a pattern.  I just started knitting and hoped for the best.  lol.  I started by making the two earflaps, starting at the point and then increasing at the second to last stitch in every other row.  The earflaps were in garter stitch and done on the same set of needles, one after the other (each with their own skein, so I only had to remember the most recent row of stitches and didn’t have to remember what I did for later).   I was planning on making them smaller triangles, but I was thinking while knitting (dangerous, I know) and ended up making them a lot bigger than I intended, so I ended up joining them together on the back instead of just having them on the sides.  I cast on some more stitches to make a front, and eventually started doing the rest in stockinet stitch.   I decreased until it was almost able to be closed up, and then made a tube, decreasing at a much slower rate, but ending up transitioning to i-cord the last few inches.  Then I made a quick pom-pom (see mom, it was worth all the annoying hours you spent with me on those dang pom-poms, because I was able to do this one in about 2 minutes..lol).  Then I put about 6 pieces of yarn on a tapestry needle, pulled it through the tip of the earflap, and then braided the strings.  I think I am going to need to cut those ties a little, they are so long right now they look silly.

My next project was for my stint as a “helper mommy” at MDC.  I am sending a few gently used toys and a hat for a mama in need.  I hope I have money for postage.  I might have to ask Gemini for postage money.  lol.  I was planning on using up the acrylic yarn I had, but I just couldn’t do it.  I ended up grabbing up some of the Bernat cottonTots that I love because I just couldn’t stand the idea of that scratchy acrylic on top of a tender little head.  I finally tried cables!  woo hoo!  I didn’t have a cable needle, but read that a dpn works just fine, and it did!  It was a small cable, and the process took a lot longer than I was planning on, but I am fairly happy with the results.  I made it with a frilly type brim to make it more girlie since I hardly ever get to knit for a girl.  It was the same thing I did on one of my pumpkin hats that I couldn’t afford to send to my nieces.  I only had a little bit of yarn left on the skien, so I decided to make a pom-pom top for that hat too.  I sure hope it fits the little girl!  I am always so nervous about that!

Earflap “Dr. Seuss” hat on Zane

The pink girlie-girl hat