Ho Ho Hooooo

 Ho Ho Ho...Almost Merry Christmas!!!

This was oh what a week at work and home.  I planned a big holiday party at work and it was successful...I haven't woken up at 3:00am since its been over. LOL

Our son Joey broke his ankle and tore a ligament in his ankle. Just stepping out of his truck at work. Be careful folks. He has surgery on Wed to install pins and plates.  

There was a little knitting. Mason's felted slippers are done as of today.

After the felting was done...I whip stitched around the top and then picked up stitches with a size 2 needle, and transferred to a size 7. It was very tight but it worked.  The pattern said to knit a big swatch, and then attach it to the slipper.  Ummmmm nope!  This method worked great.  I'm going to make myself a pair after Christmas.  Now I can start on Jayce's. His are much smaller.  Cross your fingers these fit! 

 Ruth finished up her beautiful scarf for her niece.  Pattern is Strand of Pearls. Natalie Servant. Yarn is Holst Garn Coast. Petrol colorway. Wool and cotton.  Emma will LOVE it!

 Martha worked on her sweater all week!  She has about 3 inches of bottom band left. So pretty!! 

 

In other news:

I saw all four grands  this weekend..yea! No pictures of little Charlotte..darn!

Joe's family had their Christmas party this weekend. So much fun as always.

 

Joe with two of his sisters. Donna on the left is the eldest, and Mindy is youngest.  Jeanine lives in S.C. and unable to attend.

 

Jayce riding a horse....

Joe's niece, Jackie, age 9, free form drew faces on those of us that wanted them.  Jayce and I chose snowmen.

Mason chose a Santa face with a reindeer on his cheek. He is happy he is just sitting still so it dries. LOL

I did not wash mine off last night so I could show Charlotte today.

Baby jack stayed over on Friday. He is such a darling boy.

 

Have a good week dear blog readers...I hope you are enjoying all of the things of the season, however you celebrate.
 

 

  

Thinking about all the things

 Hi Dear Blog Readers...

This week I have been  thinking about all of the things. Christmas and knitting. I'm determined that after the last two years when my life was in chaos, I will have a good Christmas season. To me it's not the day, that is a big letdown. It's the season.  Music turned up loud....cookies....Christmas trees....seeing family...food.   And of course knitting. I want to knit all of the things in the winter months.

I have finished both pairs of felted slippers. They knit up fast. Now, I have to pick up stitches all around and knit a collar in ribbing to keep them on.  I have to search for yarn.  

Knit in LettiLopi Yarn.

Mason size 10.5 needles, double stranded

Jayce size 9 needles single stranded.

 I had time to work on the Christmas yarn socks.  Doing a German short row heel. You do it twice..the 2nd time around I used the red. Much faster than a traditional heel...but....when done with traditional heel you have already worked on some of the foot.  With this heel you are just starting the foot when it's done.  Loving the colors. Maybe because are different than the gray sweater I've worked on for months. 

 Ruth is away this week and did not send new pictures of her knitting. 

Martha sent me this note yesterday and I laughed out loud.

" A murder took place here regarding the sweater.  I was ready to Bind off the body and finally got into the sweater and it was huge. H.U.G.E!  So i ripped back to the arms and looked carefully at the final finished size.  There’s no schematics for the sweater which I rely on heavily for sizing, fit etc.  I think I’m going to make the next smaller size but I have to rethink it for mistakes, and I want to recheck my gauge too.  I did the first ripping and thinking in the evening when I’m prone to mistakes so I don’t trust my thinking.  I’m going to tackle that this afternoon"

 Here is her restart.

I was reading a blog this week and they mentioned the Bindle Hat pattern.  You use 4 (yes 4) strands of fingering weight yarn to get a cool marled effect. Knitters said working with that many strands was kind of a nightmare but loved the look when done.  It's intent is to use up leftover sock yarn.

 

 I subscribe to Feedspot today (the free version), and get some cool ideas there.  Its a snippet of different blog posts each day.

In other news:

 I made matching hats for Jayce, Mason and Tiffany last year in green. I also made an ear flap hat for the boys before. I put an I-cord knot on the top of the blue hat. And Jayce kept saying he wanted a "tail" for the green hat.  I could not find green yarn, so he and Joe decided a blue tail would look good.  He loves it.

 

 

 

He is the cutest  little guy. Talks up a storm now. 

We went tree shopping with Tiffany and boys. It was cold. Jayce was too little to appreciate it I think.

But fun. We both got nice trees. 

I am going to decorate ours this morning. I am also making peanut butter cookies today.  I stopped at the store to get two bags of hershey kisses to put on top of the cookies. There was a woman near me and had the same in her cart.  She looked at me and said baking?  I said yep?  You making peanut butter cookies too? She said yep!  LOL

 

Holiday Happenings

 Hi Dear Blog Readers!

It's been a busy week here.  I hosted Thanksgiving and still haven't quite recovered.  It was very fun though.

I managed to finish up the 2nd sock. I'm very happy with how they turned out and how the colors match! Sheer luck!

My favorite plain pattern.

Row 1  K3, slip 1

Row 2 Knit 

I made Jayce felted slippers, but they are Mason's size.  LOL. I even got gauge! Felting is a crap shoot for sure. These need to be a little smaller yet.  

LetiLopi yarn doubled.  I'm trying again with single strand for Jayce.

I have a long hair appt this week so I started a pair of Christmas socks. Yarn is from Rhinebeck this year.  I have no illusions of getting them done for this Christmas!  I just needed something I can pick up here and there. I think I will do the K3, slip 1 pattern again.

Ruth has knit a lot on her Rolling  Rock sweater this week.  It's sooo beautiful. 

Martha has knit a lot on her's as well.  Stick and Stone cardigan is the pattern. She is driving to Boston today so sent a pic from her car. The colors is beyond beautiful.

Have a wonderful week dear blog readers.

Tomorrow is December 1st..how did that happen!
 

Sweater Sunday

 Hi Dear Blog Readers.

Some sweater updates on a Sunday:

I bound off the bottom of the sweater. I'm going to put it down for a bit now and make a couple of quick Christmas presents before I carry on. 

Ruth is moving ahead with her sweater.  Sooo pretty.
 

 

Martha is working on her beautiful green sweater. 

 In other news:

I had the pleasure of watching Jayce on Friday morning.We made cupcakes.  Why add one decoration when you can add 6 to each one!

They were here for a bit yesterday.

Charlotte's 2nd birthday was yesterday! What a cute Minnie Mouse princess she is.

Jack's first birthday is next week so celebrated both at once.

My 4 grands at the birthday

What a wonderful time was had by all.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving dear blog readers...Knit on!

Carry on as needed

 Hi Dear Blog Readers...

I always talk about the weather....this week we had SNOW, and thunderstorm with hail, rain and wind. Wonderful knitting weather. I did not get out to walk much, but yesterday I did walk for over an hour and it felt wonderful!  Joe has cleared the yard of leaves multiple times, and its covered again.  Most of the trees are bare now...thank goodness.  

This week I tried the sweater on a couple of times. Put is on a string and soaked it good. The fit is good. Now a little ribbing and bind off the bottom.  I added in side shaping....figuring out how to increase in pattern.  And the last 2 or 3 inches I went up a needle size. It's hard to tell with stitches on the needles.

I think I will start the sleeves, and then figure out if I want to pause and make the kids some slippers...I'll see. I don't want to completely stop so I forget the rhythm of the pattern.

While the sweater was drying, I was able to get the sock heel done. Now working on decreases.

Ruth made the difficult but  necessary decision to rip her Rolling Rock sweater and start over with a smaller size.  She is carrying on again.

 

Martha has been swatching all week.  She is carrying on with a nice pattern.

She settled on the Stick and Stone cardigan by Christie Archer Designs using Harrisville Watershed yarn Mallard color. It's going to be very pretty.

 I dont really have other news this week.  Life has been pretty dull here.  Trying to get the house spruced up for Thanksgiving is a  huge job.

Have a great week dear blog readers...

Knit on! 

Musings on a Sunday

 Hi Dear Blog Readers...It's raining here today....rain and leaves. We have gotten a lot of rain recently, but it's ok we still need it. One night this week we had thunderstorm with hail. Worst storm of the year in November. hahah.  We are supposed to get 3-4 inches of snow over the next couple of days. Hmmmm

I had to do a little tinking on the sweater again but now back on track. Maybe 2" to go till I can start ribbing.  There are so many pretty combinations on Ravelry.  

 

Ruth gave us this tiny darning loom when we were in Rhinebeck. I had a hole in one of my favorite pair of socks so thought I'd give it a try.

I was lucky to still have the same yarn to fix it.

The little pieces were tiny and a bit hard to handle.  This is kind of pointy but it was that kind of heel. I'm confident I can do better on the next one.

 

 

I have to admit I'm a little sick of the sweater. I want to knit something for Mason and Jayce so I better get going. I think I might have to save the sweater sleeves until after their stuff is done. I'm thinking felted slippers maybe.  They would be quick. 

 Ruth tried on her pretty Rolling Rock sweater and so far the fit is great. She is making good progress.

Martha is ALMOST done with her beautiful sweater. She has had these buttons for about 15 years that her daughter gave her.  I think it's stunning.

In other news:

I've been a little melancholy this week.  I got out my hand knit socks and have worn them this week. I was thinking about what mom told me the last Christmas she was alive when she opened the socks I made her.  She said Oh now I only need one more pair and I can wear them everyday.  I didn't realize she wore them everyday.  She had hammer toes and bunions, so I custom made them for a good fit.  At the end of every sock season, she would send a couple pair home so I could fix holes. She was sad when she had to toss them because they were irreparable.   I would have made her tons of socks if I only knew how much she wore them. 

Yesterday I  took down the curtains in the dining room and washed them. I get in a panic before Thanksgiving and try to clean more than usual.  I was washing the windows and was thinking about the year we moved into this house, over 30 years ago.  My mother in law came and washed all of the windows, inside and out...in January!  

Not sure why I'm thinking about these things. Maybe because it will be my first holiday season without any parents.

Joe is working on building new steps for our back door.  He has to work on the railing yet.  It will be nice.

 

 

I'll leave you with some pictures from my walks.  I just love nature and the sky.

 

It was nice out one night so I was walking to get some fresh air. The moon was amazing.

 

Glorious sunrise.

 Have a wonderful week dear blog readers...Knit on!