THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!

Wow! Look at all my loot! (the child did not come with the package!!) My Secret Pal is wonderful and must be a mind reader!! I have been wanting a pom pom maker and she sent me one!!! along with some stitch markers, and point protectors (which are always useful), 2 cute ornaments and a cat notepad (which Noey has claimed), a candle warmer, Knit 1 magazine (which I hadn't seen yet!) and 2 skeins of Lambs Pride worsted in the most beautiful lavender......Noey's new favorite color! Thank you so much!

FO

Hat #5 is done! Whew! l really enjoy making hats but this pattern is getting a little tedious. I have one more to go, and then I'll try something different. I'm thinking of making a watchman's cap for my dad.

A Very Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My parents went down to San Diego to pick up my niece, Megan, and bring her up here. Since my mom was on the road Thursday morning, she couldn't cook the traditional dinner, and I certainly don't cook, so we picked up the whole spread from Pavillion's. Pretty good, and not too much clean up! Everything was really good, but not as good as my mom's!

It was an extra special treat to have Megan here, especially for Noey. She adores her cousin and sticks to her like glue.
My mom offered to watch Noey Friday morning so Megan and I could hit the mall. I got all my Christmas shopping done and I got myself a new purse to boot! Very exciting! Noey spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa's with Megan on Friday night, so I got a lot of cleaning and knitting time in. I finished my third Blooming Flower Washcloth. Saturday Megan came to our house and spent the day with us. Noey was in seventh heaven, and actually I was too because I got to knit while the girls played!

Earlier in the week I got a package all the way from Australia!! It's my ornament from Ornamental Exchange. Made by the wonderful Belinda! It is beautifully made, and the yarn is oh so soft! I can't wait to get our tree so I can hang it!

Also in the package from Australia was a book for Noey! Is that the sweetest thing??!! It's about Santa and six white boomers (kangaroos) instead of reindeer....a very cute story! It came with a CD which we have now listened to at least 47 times in the car, and the song is permanently imbedded in my brain!
Six white boomers, snow white boomers on their Australian run!

and I finished up another hat! This one just for Noey because every girl needs a Christmas Hat!

A little Thanksgiving treat

My friend, Debbie, and I took the girls (Hannah, Ava, and Noey) to the Arnold School Craft Fair on Saturday. We spent most our time trying to keep Ava (age 2 1/2) from touching everything!! (poor little thing....so many shiny, sparkly things!!)

We found these cute little turkey favors, so we each bought one to use as our sample. We're going to make up a bunch for Thanksgiving place settings. They're just a chocolate chip cookie on the bottom with a Nutter Butter glued to it with frosting. Then candy corn for the feathers, a tic tac for the nose, mini chocolate chips for the eyes, and a swedish fish for the waddle. So cute!!

My second Blooming Flower Washcloth is done! I'm really churning out the goods! I started it on Friday, and finished Sunday afternoon. The color is so pretty. I think I'm gonna need one of these for myself.

I'm alternating between the washclothes and the hats, so I started another hat Sunday night. I'm using the same old Easy Roll Brim Hat and some more scratchy acrylic. They're all for Noey's friends, so I've let her choose the yarn, and apparently she's drawn to acrylic!!

I finally got a picture of Noey wearing her new hat. Used to be if a camera was within 100 yards, she would appear out of nowhere, pose and smile! But now she's camera shy. I can't keep up!

Another FO and more WIP's

I finished another hat for the Hatalong. This one is for Noey, but I couldn't get her to model it for me! Besides it's much too hot to wear a hat anyway!! Noey wanted a "Rainbow" hat and chose this Red Heart acrylic. It turned out pretty good, but I just don't like acrylic! I'm getting pretty good at hats and I really like knitting them.....good thing cuz I have 3 more to make as Christmas presents!

I started another Blooming Flower Washcloth yesterday. This one in pink....it's so pretty....and I'm really moving along on it, should be done by tomorrow. I'm feeling strangely calm about all the presents I still need to complete. I feel like I'm really making progress.

Thanks for all your well wishes for Noey. She was thrilled to have so many people comment for her!

Proud Mama and Picture Heavy Post

What a week! I'm so happy it's almost over. We've been busy! Monday was ballet. Tuesday was our Parent/Teacher conference (she's perfect!) and our family picture (she took the most beautiful picture!). Wednesday was dress rehearsal. And tonight was the big show! Noey was in her first Dance Performance. The theme was Under the Sea. Noey designed her own costume! She performed on stage in front of a packed audience and she was great! I was so incredibly proud!

In knitting news I finished the Potato Chip Scarf.....finally! It's an easy knit but very tedius. (Hi Shannon!) I love the cashmere blend - so soft! It's perfect for my friend, Sheri. She's a cashmere sort of gal.

I ordered a couple things from Knitter's Review Boutique for my Secret Pal, and a couple for myself.....this is how it came. Isn't that nice? I just love the presentation.

It's mid-November for crying out loud! It's so darn HOT! and to show you just how hot it is....here' s my flamingo thermometer....yes, it's 100 degrees!!

As it turns out I'm in two ornament exchanges. One is Rox's Ornamental, the other at work. So this is my first attempt. It's from Melanie Falick's Handknit Holidays. Not bad, but a little plain. I thought I'd try to embroider some design on it.

My second and third attempt at ornaments. I'm not so sure about these either. They're kinda cute, but they really curled up before I blocked them. So we'll see.....I thought I would put sequins on for ornaments.

Busy Days

I finished the final row of the Potato Chip Scarf and now I'm just binding off.....one thousand four hundred and forty stitches! Yikes! This is taking forever. This is my progress from 1 1/2 hours this morning in the Church Nursery. (no kids at first service again.)

and my book came in! It is the most beautiful book with lots of great projects.....although most are above my skill level. I have added several to my "to do" list however.

I did find one passage particularly amusing, and I quote "Choose one person on your list to knit for this year, and focus on that project alone."

Ohhhhh.....that's where I went wrong. I was trying to handknit something for ALL of the people on my list!

I'm just a knitting fool

I finally have some FO's and I'm feeling very accomplished, and feeling a little less anxious about getting all my Christmas presents done.

First up, I started working on a Potato Chip Scarf for my friend, Sheri's birthday. I'm using KnitPicks Ambrosia which is a cashmere blend....it is heavenly! So soft and easy to work with.

I finished the Blooming Flower Washcloth last night. I can definitely see an improvement in my knitting skills. I started one months and months ago but didn't like it at all. This one is much better! It's really cute, although I wish it would lay flat.

and finally, I finished a hat for the Hatalong. I used Bernat Cotton Tots yarn, which is ok, but I'm not crazy about it. This one will be for one of Noey's friends. I like the pattern - it's a simple roll brim, and the model sure is cute!!

Because I don't have enough to do

I got a bee in my bonnet yesterday, and decided I needed to make myself some pretty stitch markers. Of course I had none of the supplies needed, so I was planning to go to Michael's tomorrow during my "alone time" (Noey goes to grandma's on Tuesdays). As fate would have it I had a migraine last night and took the day off work today. So once I started feeling better I headed over to Michael's. I made a whole bunch this morning (some are for my Secret Pal) but I don't know if I did them right??? But I like them anyway, they're shiny and pretty!!

and because I really have enough to do, I joined the Cover Your Head KAL as well as Rox's Ornament Exchange!! I added 5 hats to my list for Christmas presents. (Noey and her 4 little friends!) so hopefully the KAL will help motivate me.

Thanks for your comments about my Circle Afghan. I love to just sit and look at the colors, or "pet" it. I know my parents will love it.

Life keeps chugging along

I feel like I'm finally making some headway in the Christmas present department, although if I think about how much more I have to do.....well, I don't even want to think about it!

I finished the second Spa Cloth....these things are taking a lot longer than I think they should, so yesterday I started and finished another Cell Phone Pouch, this one for my niece, Megan. Today I decided to give the Blooming Washcloth another try so I started one in a beautiful chocolate brown CP Cotton Chenille.

I'm still wishing I could be working on stuff for myself, but in the meantime I ordered Melanie Falick's Handknit Holidays just for fun!

Thank you Secret Pal! I received a package earlier this week.....in it was 2 skeins of Noro Kureyon in the lovely colorway 134, along with a sheep tape measure, and a candle. Thank you so much!!