It's hard to believe, but the SUN's out here after a week of snow, ice, rain and heavy winds. There's lots of yard cleanup to do, but we've been busy catching up on more pressing things. I had to get these mittens finished up and in the mail to David who is turning SEVEN tomorrow. Time sure does fly; it seems just days ago when he was the size of Max.
Have a happy day, David, and a great year! We love you.
Just heard that this little guy has gained a couple of pounds and a couple of inches since he came home from the hospital. And Opa caught him awake!
Opa is the major photographer in our family, so this is a rare shot, but a good one, don't you think? Now I've got to get to work and figure out how to add the cretan stitch to my Sun Bonnet Sue block. See ya later!
Looking out our window at the moment, I see snow coming down HARD and our rhodie which appears to be pouting, not without reason. 
We seldom see icicles.
Max isn't worried.
This is great knitting weather! Where shall I begin?
We woke up this morning to the promised snow, not as much as the pundits predicted, but enough to close the local schools, including the UW, and to keep us homebound for the day. Our son had things to do, so he was inspired to do some shoveling. Don't know whether he'll make it back up our hill except on foot though.
We've been trying to keep up our normal walking routine which has been a challenge, especially on Sunday when it was snowing. I tried to brush the snow off before we went inside, but it took a while for my coat to dry out! As you can see in the first photo, there's a lot more snow in our frontyard today. (No walk today either!)
On Monday we braved a trip down our hill and across town to meet an online friend. Becca and her husband will be moving here soon and certainly got exposed to the "real Seattle" on this visit.
Meanwhile, Max hasn't let a little thing like snow interrupt his schedule!
And Opa took this picture for Sophia. (Mocha wanted equal time on the blog with Ginger and Max....)
Mommy looks pretty happy, doesn't she?
Bliss!
To practice each week's stitch, I found a piece of evenweave fabric in my stash and created a sampler or "doodle cloth" as Debra would say. This verse seemed like an appropriate reminder and can be found at about.com as part of a free band sampler pattern by Connie G. Barwick. As I was stitching it, I noticed Dick had stuck a post-it onto the pattern before the word "and" with "temper" written on it. He knows me too well! I'm trying to sort my colors by the ROYGBIV instructions for the TAST Beginners but am perplexed as to where purplely red and brown/tan would fit in. Any suggestions? Also, I am wondering whether anyone has suggestions on how to keep a detached chain stitch/lazy daisy stitch open; mine invariably collapse as you can maybe see where I tried to nail down the fly stitch with a detached chain. To me, the counted fabric is a bit inhibiting, and you can see where my stitching rebeled and started downhill. (These old eyeballs ain't what they used to be, that's for sure!) If you're curious to see how I used the fly stitch on my "real" TAST project, check out the Tuesday Stitchers' blog. You'll find lots of pretty stitching there.
Meanwhile, life goes on. Max is settling in at home and keeping Mom and Dad on their toes, and Ginger is hoping we won't return these car seats.
