What Happened to December and January?

Yikes!  Will I ever catch up? Don't you think it's time to remove the turkey header?  I am so behind on posts I don't even know where to start. First, I was behind with my Christmas knitting, and now I don't even have an excuse!  I guess I'll start with some of the finished projects.  I made lots of mittens:

 The grand kids in Chicago need lots of mittens.

And so does their mama. She requested really warm mittens, so I used this pattern which includes directions for a lining.  If you want a challenge, here's a link to the pattern, definitely a "don't talk to me" one!  But the results are worth the effort.

Palm ------------------------Top

This slouchy hat was a fun knit.

This hat was fun, too.

This hat was for my oldest grandson who's on a swim team and needs something warm after practice!  It had matching mitts which are on their way to Chicago for his January birthday.  The pattern is interesting and includes both the hat and mitts.

If you want to knit something totally different, try a bracelet!  You can get kits from Ellen Sandin at Earthfaire.

Our youngest grand daughter loves to cook, so I made her this apron.

I got a Christmas surprise, too. The avocado seed finally sprouted after weeks sitting in water.  Now it has lots more leaves and is probably a foot tall!

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That's all for now, but I'll be back soon for an update on the late December January birthday projects.  Happy New Year a tad late!

Catching Up with November!

Hello!  I haven't gone into hiding, but somehow this month of November is flying by without any posts from me.  Probably like the rest of you, my needles have been busy  and so have our days. ( I am done with my cataract surgeries and can see well now at a distance. However, I am anxious for my visit with the optician so I will also be able to see well up close!}

My holiday projects have been derailed though by booties for a bunch of babies and their  varied arrivals, one pair last month and three pairs recently!

This pair is for a baby that's due in December.

This hat went along with the all pink booties.

Speaking of hats, I also made  this hat for a friend who is a big SeaHawks fan. ( I removed the pom pom per her request.)

And then I did another Cowl ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just now this little fairy whispered in my ear that it's time to make supper, so I will sign off.  Have a great week!

Happy Sunday!

Well, it's a chilly and kinda rainy afternoon, so I thought I'd update my blog. This weather lately has been great for knitting although we have braved the rain and taken a few walks. We also spent most of yesterday at the first choir retreat with our new director; it was a fun and productive day as we got a head start on Christmas music. In addition, I even have a few finishes to share.

Can you believe this is the seventeenth Interrupted Cowl that has come off my needles? I just cast on # 18 the other day and still have 2 more skeins of this yarn left.  It's a fun and easy knit.

One of my choir friends is about to have her first grand son, so I made these booties for her to give him. This is another one of my go-to patterns although I swear the yarn I use has less yardage than it used to.

For some reason these socks don't appear to be the same size. Stella tried one of them on, and I think that's why the one looks larger but really isn't.  Maybe it just stretched out?  The pattern is quite interesting although I didn't continue it down the foot of the sock.  I LOVE this yarn color because it makes me think of peppermint sticks. ( I purchased the yarn a while back at  Vogue Knitting Live when it was here in Bellevue.)

Our backyard has been pretty busy lately. This guy and his pals visit regularly along with a squirrel that takes a peanut from my fingers.  Other birds have been here en masse, too, including nuthatches, juncos and towhees. As a result, our bird feeder needs filling several times a week!

Much to my delight, our fall blooming clematis has added a bright spot to our back yard at this time of year.  In addition, it reminds me of my dear friend, Linda, who gave it to me a long time ago.  She is no longer with us, but I think of her so often as she is the one who convinced me to move to Colorado where I met my husband! 

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Hope you all have had a great weekend! 

One Done and One to Go................

Gosh, I've sure not been a good blogger lately, but this time I have an excuse. I had my first cataract surgery last week and for 6 weeks beforehand I had to quit wearing my contacts and instead wear some very out of date glasses.  It was worth it though as now my vision in that eye is great...at a distance. Thankfully I can now wear one contact and am seeing much better, both far and near. Later in the month the other eye will be fixed. Other than that, life has been much the same as always with choir, the family, and volunteering.  I do have some finishes to share though.

This quilt is finally finished, hurrah!  I learned a hard lesson with this one: Do not use spray glue to hold your backing in place unless you plan to finish the project immediately.  As the glue ages, it yellows and leaves very hard to remove stains.  With persistence, the stains mostly disappeared which was a relief.  I did the embroidery and piecing on this quilt and it was quilted by a friend, who is now deceased.  Lots of memories in this piece.

This is the second pair of socks I finished during September. The pattern is called Impossible Girl's Socks and is free on Ravelry.

And these socks are my first October finish.  The pattern, also free, is Sunday Swing and was part of a KAL sponsored by Dee.  Val suggested only doing the pattern on the cuff.

On a totally different topic, we've had some fun nature experiences lately. We had these four little visitors right on on back step this past week in the early evening.  They went nose to nose with our cat, so it was good that there was a pane of glass between them!

In Mid-September when Dick's brother and wife visited, we took a fun walk at Coulon Beach Park and were treated to a special sight.

En route to the above cairn, we saw these turtles sunning themselves on this log, and on our return, this is what we saw.  Turtle number four tried hard but didn't get to stay on the log for more than a couple of minutes.

That's it for now.  I hope you all are enjoying a great week!

What's Up? And a Finish!

Wow! We are almost halfway through the month of September already, and I'm not sure how that's happened.  We've been busy with the beginning of a new choir year, which for us means dealing with lots of music in our position as choir librarians. Then there has been some doctor/dentist visits, some work in the yard, visits with relatives and of course, some knitting. Somehow I manage to get behind with blog visits; but I'll bet you've figured that out already?

Our roses have been so pretty this year!

This birdie, a Steller's Jay, is pretty tame and visits almost every day, hoping for a peanut. There's also a friendly squirrel that took a peanut from my fingers today, but it's harder to get to sit still long enough to photograph.  Someday, maybe.....  They both have friends but no others are as tame.

This is the first time I've ever knit a right and left sock!  It's a fun and also free pattern. The yarn is  Schachmayr sock yarn. I'll be making this pattern again, for sure!

So, that's what's been going on here. We expect to have a busy weekend as my BIL and SIL are returning from an Alaska cruise and will be staying here for a couple of days before heading back home.  Hope you all have a great week!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Well, here it is the first day of September, and once again August zipped by very quickly. We were out of town for a couple of days, celebrating our anniversary. This time we went to the North Cascades and spent a couple of days in Winthrop, enjoying its western flavor.  En route we explored a bit near the Gorge Dam.

One morning we did a bit of hiking to Ladder Creek Falls 

When we were exploring the town, we saw this mama  deer and her two yearlings snacking on  the side of one of the roads.

Our most interesting discovery was the museum. Its grounds are open all the time, so even though the building was closed, we learned a lot about the history of Winthrop and the surrounding area.

Time in the car plus the August birthdays of two grand children inspired these two finishes.The youngest grand daughter loves unicorns which resulted in this project.

 This kitty went to our  oldest grand daughter whose family loves cats.  I saw a sample at a yarn shop in Coeur d'Alene and was delighted to find the free pattern on Ravelry. (It's only about 3 " tall.)

I also finished my August Camp Loopy project using one of my "go-to" patterns.  Remind me to never knit with lace yarn again as it took forever.  It looks the same on both sides which is great for scarves.

And best of all two long-time UFOs are now FINISHED. Hurrah! 

This pattern is one of my favorites.

I varied the pattern of the foot for this pair

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So, there you have it, that's what's kept me busy recently.  Hope all of you have a most enjoyable three day week end and a very Happy Labor Day tomorrow!

Friday Felines

What better place to nap than a newly finished shawl?