Pugmom's Knitting, Crocheting, Two & Four Legged Family

Patterns

2012-01-02T18:15:00.002-05:00

For some reason the links to my patterns are no longer available. I will have to try and figure out how to fix this, until I do anyone who wants the patterns just has to email me pugmom@tbaytel.net and I will send the pattern in pdf format back to you as an attachment. Sorry for the inconvenience.

June 2011

2011-06-03T13:52:00.002-04:00

Well June has finally arrived and hubby and I are still wondering if we are going to get a summer this year. The weather in Northern Ontario as in many other places has been bizarre to say the least. Hubby decided to go ahead and plant the veggie garden and we are still having to cover everything up at night as we have been getting frost *sigh*

Our family of geese are once again back in the pond and it looks like she hatched 6 goslings, wasn't able to find my camera and get a picture of this years group yet.

We are hoping that the 2nd half of 2011 will better for everyone as trips to emergency are getting hard on all of us. Hubby was admitted with pneumonia, and so far knock on wood has quit smoking - 5 months now. Between antibiotics and a medication called Nifedipine the swelling in my feet and lower legs as well as all of a sudden having to deal with high blood pressure is finally under control. Our daughter in law had her gall bladder removed this week and is home now recuperating.

All my wip's have been put on hold as our 4 1/2 year old grand daughter Loralei mentioned that her baby blanket was too small to go around her now. Her face just radiated joy when grandma said are you trying to tell grandma that you need a big girl blanket now. Thank dog I had quite a few skeins of baby coordinates in my stash as she wants the big girl blanket done in the same yarn. She picked out the colors and the order that she wanted them done in and I finally found the saved copy of the rainbow ripple afghan pattern that I had used to do her baby blanket in. Dog willing I should have it finished sometime this weekend and hopefully will get a nice sunny day to get a good picture of it. It will be big enough that if she wants to fold it in half she will be able to use it as a shawl too. She even tried to give her baby blanket to her younger sister Arja because grandma is making her a new blanket - even though Arja is only 2 1/2 she kept saying no is Loralei's, so for now she continues to take the baby blanket with her everywhere and sleeps with it every night. She even packed it in her bag to go out to camp at her aunt's this weekend.

I will have to put a few more wip's on hold because when hubby and I were babysitting the day our daughter in law had her gall bladder removed I was crocheting as much as I could while trying to keep an eye on Loralei and the twins Arja & Ty. Well both Arja & Ty asked if I would make blankets for them too when I finished Loralei's, so have the yarn and pattern to do one for Arja all set to go, now just have to find a yarn and pattern that I like for a boy to do Ty's blanket in.

I need to find that attachment for my camera so I can download and post the pictures I got the other day of Loralei and the twins.

Well time to get back to my crocheting, another overcast rainy day - so a good time to keep working on the blanket.

An Update Finally

2010-04-11T20:39:00.002-04:00

Well I can't believe that almost a year has gone by since I last remembered to post something to my blog. I guess being without a computer for nearly 5 days this past week because my hard drive and dvd burner went kaput thanks to some new virus AVG did not have a fix for yet made me realize just how important it is to back things up. I got all my programs reinstalled and even though I have lost all the pattern files free and purchased, most of my pictures are on flickr so I still have those.

I just have to get a couple of updates for my programs from their web sites and I will be all set to do a back up. My computer guy explained how to do it all and there are also free sites online that you can back up on so will be checking them out as well. From now on I will be saving my patterns etc to rewriteable cd's and remembering to do back ups.

One of my grand daughter's birthday is April 15th and I am working hard on getting a couple of cloths done in the colors she picked out. I finished a KAL yesterday so just need to block it and am working on another one that has the letter M on it for Madison.

Well I guess it it time to get back to getting everything up to date on my computer.

A Bit of This and That and my new Yarn Swift & Stitch Markers

2009-04-21T17:04:00.006-04:00

Well it has finally stopped snowing and the temps have finally gone above freezing, so now the snow that we got over the last two days is starting to melt off the roof and making it look like it is raining. LOL The weather man says the sun is going to come out tomorrow and that when Friday rolls around we will be getting rain.

On a good note our oldest son has been released from the hospital after spending 5 days there. He developed pneumonia, strep throat and was having headaches that completely incapacitated him. They were concerned that the headaches may be somehow related to the blood clot he developed after his knee surgery a few months ago so put him through the ringer with tests which thankfully all came back normal. They had him on IV with antibiotics until his fever broke on Monday and then put him on oral antibiotics. They released him home because his fever did not come back but he is on strict bed rest. Anyone who has had pneumonia knows how it just knocks you flat on your back.

Hubby is a wonderful handyman and kept saying that he was going to make me a yarn swift to go along with the ball winder that I got for Christmas, the only problem is that he never got around to it. LOL Instead he bought me one for Easter on EBay and I bought myself some gorgeous stitch markers on Etsy. I have my swift all set up to go and hope it works as great as it looks. I am slowly but surely getting my stash sorted out and into some semblance of order and now should be able to get all my hanks into wonderful centre pull balls.

The seller on Etsy makes these wonderful minatures using the fimo clay and then makes stitch markers, as soon as I save up a bit more I will be getting some more they are so cute.

When Dave & Laura came over with the kids for a walk, Trinity and Kirra just had to come inside to check out Smokey's kitten. Well Kirra named the kitten, so Smokey's kitten is now called Sprinkles. She is 4 weeks old and just a blast. She is playing with the toys and is very affectionate, even started purring the other day when I picked her up. I managed to get a couple of pictures of her and mom snoozing in the sun.

If this is Spring I'll Pass

2009-04-20T11:35:00.008-04:00

Here are some pictures of what hubby and I woke up to this morning. It started snowing around 7 pm last night and the weatherman is saying that mother nature is going to continue with this snow for the rest of today and part of tomorrow.

Has been a really busy week and our oldest son was admitted to the hospital with viral pneumonia, strep throat and they are waiting for the results of his spinal tap.

Madison absolutely loved her owl hat and purse that I got knit up for her birthday. Here are a couple of pics of her wearing them.

We had a great Easter weekend with the kids and they had a blast finding their eggs and stuff that Shaun had hidden around the loft. Madison's were all pastel pinks, yellows, purples and Dylan's were footballs, baseballs, soccer balls.

I finally figured out the Owl Pattern in straight knitting to make a matching scarf and as soon as I get all my scribbles written up will post the pattern and a picture. The scarf pattern is a tad wider than I expected but that is because I added a 5 stitch border on each side and 4 owls in between. The Owl pattern is done over 11 stitches and 18 rows so the possibilities are endless for incorporating it into a pattern for scarves, sweaters, headbands etc.etc. The only limit is your imagination. When I went to the bead store the beads or beans as Madison calls them are sold in hanks, so I have lots of beads for the eyes on the scarf.

I just finished test knitting a dishcloth for one of the ladies on Rachel's yahoo group. I love cables and my grand daughter Hunter decided that this one looked like a tree.

Well since the weather outside is dreadful, I am going to do my daily walk inside the house and get to work on some of my knitting and crocheting projects. Is a good day to relax.

Hope everyone is having better weather than we are.

New Patterns

2009-04-07T08:35:00.003-04:00

Well I made a trip into town last week to pick up some yarn that I had ordered from a local yarn store called Caryll's Yarns. Hubby better hope I never win the lottery because I would go crazy getting items here. The customer service is outstanding, the yarns available are outstanding and if she does not have enough on hand for your project she will order it for you. She also has a number of different handmade items on display some for sale, some not. One of the not for sale items on display was an owl hat with matching bag that had been done in Patons Canadian yarn. The person who had knitted it had left instructions with Caryll on how she had made it and I was able to figure it all out and made a set for my grand daughter Madison as her birthday is on April 15th. I hope she likes it as much as I enjoyed knitting it. I am now working on creating a matching scarf pattern. I have also posted the pattern for both items in my patterns.

Even though it is windy and below seasonal temperatures the sun has finally made an appearance today and hopefully we will not get anymore snow. The 50cm we got last week is enough, we have even delayed starting all our seeds for the garden because it sure looks like we will not be able to plant until late this year. I just hope we don't end up with a short growing season.

Hope everyone has a great day.

I learned how to make a Granny Square and Now It's Snow

2009-03-26T22:32:00.004-04:00

Well believe it or not I have crocheted since well lets just say a long time like 40+ years and I have never learned how to do a granny square. LOL Well someone on my crochet partners yahoo group posted the most gorgeous picture of an afghan that was just one big granny square done in different colors. I got lots of help and suggestions for sites to check out on how to crochet a granny square. Well I did it, frogged the sucker 6 times but now I am well on my way to making my very first ever big granny square afghan. My stepson and his wife had twins in October 08 and for the first time ever I did not have an afghan crocheted and ready for the arrival of a grandchild well in this case grandchildren. The one I have started now will be for Arja and then I will start another for Ty and will use some blues and greens for the boy, better late than never I guess.

Well the freezing rain has finally stopped and now we are getting snow flurries. I guess Mother Nature missed that when March comes in like a lion it is supposed to go out like a lamb. I think the lion must have ate the lamb this year. LOL

Even Zeus the Rottie Cross doesn't want to be outside too much this week with all this crazy weather.

Besides hockey I also love Curling and Figure Skating, and with all this crazy weather I have been able to snuggle up on the couch and work on my different projects and get my fill of all three sports.

I thought it was supposed to be spring - anyone for skating

2009-03-24T09:59:00.006-04:00

Well it appears that mother nature is going to make sure that the month of March is interesting. We have had huge snow storms and now the weatherman is predicting freezing rain right up to Thursday where it apparently will turn into snow flurries.

It started raining about noon and by the time 3 pm rolled around it had turned into ice pellets and when I got up this morning I have a driveway that the only way anyone will get in or out is if they are wearing ice skates. The windows are totally glazed over with ice and we cannot even see out of them and I guess we won't have any of it melting because we are under overcast skies, wind and the temperature is still below freezing. As I type this the freezing rain has stopped for now. The schools out here are all closed so the kids are getting extra March break days.

The worst part is that our outdoor boiler that heats the house went out sometime during the night and I don't know how we are going to be able to get it going again. Walking is precarious, thank goodness we do have a small wood stove in the house that we can use to add some warmth to the house, we also have a heater attachment that fits onto a propane tank and it helps warm things up inside too.

Well today is definitely going to be a day to stay bundled up on the couch working on some of my knitting and crochet projects. The fun part will be keeping the mooches aka Phoebe and Anya away when I decide to have lunch.

Happy 1st Day of Spring

2009-03-20T08:01:00.006-04:00

Well apparently at 7:44 am it became the 1st day of Spring, so I decided to peek outside and take a couple of pictures from the deck as the sun was coming up over the pond.

Needless to say it will be quite a few more days of above freezing temperatures before we will actually see the pond and green grass.

A couple of weeks back Shaun borrowed my Dodge Grand Caravan so he could go to his physio therapy and then went over to his older brother's place. He parked the van at the front of the house and they went for a bit of exercise. Both of them are in physio after having surgery, Norm Jr. due to torn knee ligaments and Shaun because of his leg injury at work. Unfortunately my van was hit while it was parked out in front of Norm Jr.'s house. We are now calling his wife Calli after CSI Miami. Luckily for us she noticed some pieces of the wheel rim as the snow out front started to melt and with her checking around and also with the help of the Thunder Bay Police they were able to determine who had hit my van. My van is now in at Breeny's a local repair shop being fixed. Hopefully we will get it back all fixed next week. I just find it mind boggling that someone would smash into another vehicle and take off without leaving a note or anything. We have a Nissan Altima as a rental and boy oh boy talk about having to get used to new gadgets, it is one of these new keyless cars that you have to press a start button to get going. Here are some pictures of my smashed front end. Oh well next week I will have my van back all nice again.

Happy 1st day of Spring to everyone.

Let the Sunshine

2009-03-13T13:09:00.003-04:00

Well I sure did not know what kind of day to expect today because when I woke up at 4 am it was -25 Celsius with a windchill in the mid -30's. It is now 1 pm the sun is shining brightly, the wind is down to 13 km/h and the temp has gone up to -8 Celsius. Even though the kids gave me their cold I am going to bundle up and try and go for my daily walk outside and get some fresh air. I am counting the days that we will finally be able to put all the screens in our windows and keep them open so that we always have fresh air :-)

I have 14 different projects on my knitting needles and/or crochet hooks and am slowly but surely making a dent in them all. If everything goes according to Hoyle I should be able to finish two more dishcloth KAL's. I got the Cables for Ireland a KAL with KnittingKnook finished earlier in the week and have got row 40 finished on the KnittingKnook March special. I only have 15 rows left to complete the February KAL X's and O's with Rachel's Knitting Group and am half way through the March KAL with Monthly Dishcloths. I am going to really put my needles in gear to get these items finished before the Mid March KAL's start on March 16th. Wish me luck. I will post pictures later.

Kahlua's family has gone to Florida so she is visiting with us a couple of weeks.

Have a great day.

Is It Spring Yet? LOL

2009-03-11T11:05:00.004-04:00

Well you would think that after living in Thunder Bay for 21 years I would not be surprised by the crazy weather that happens. Even with all the warnings on the news that a storm front was going to hit and that we could get up to 40cm of snow, I don't think hubby or I were prepared for what greeted us when we got up at 8 am today. Hubby finally got the backhoe to start and is now outside plowing the driveway. Today is definitely not a day that I will be attempting to do my walk outside, will do my walking inside and around the house. Poor hubby will be outside for hours, once he gets our driveway plowed he then has to go plow the neighbours and our middle sons driveways. We are hoping that the weather people are wrong and we won't be getting more snow as they are predicating.

Love is in the Air - Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T11:37:00.002-05:00

I hope that everyone has a great Valentine's Day and for all of the chocolate lovers out there I hope you get your favorites, but don't eat too many and get an upset tummy.

I also want to share a few of the Valentine knitting and crochet patterns that I really like :

Heart Shaped Placemat and Serving Ring

Two Hearts as One Hanging Towel Set

Sew-Funky's The Love Cloth

Heart Stitch Table Runner (C)

Conversation Heart Scarf Pattern

Hunter's birthday was on the 12th but her barbeque/party is today. I finished her name washcloths and was more than halfway finished the Stepping Stones afghan that I was doing for her birthday when I realized I had made an error way back around row 5 or 6. I have to block the cloths and will get the pictures before I wrap them up and hopefully if I really get my hands in gear I may be able to get the afghan done before 4 pm.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day and for all the Canadians a wonderful long weekend.

One World One Heart

2009-02-07T22:30:00.002-05:00

Today as I was looking at Sew-Funky's newest pattern on her blog I noticed a reference to something called One World One Heart. Well it turns out this is the creation of A Whimsical Bohemian. Bloggers from around the world join in and offer a free giveaway opportunity to people and all that you have to do is leave a comment on the post. I visited a few blogs today and have seen outstanding craftsmanship and love the fact that this has allowed me the opportunity to learn all kinds of knowledge about other crafts and people.

I hope you all will check out quite a few of the blogs participating in this event. A listing of them can be found at the One World One Heart page.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Oh My Goodness It's My Birthday

2009-01-12T12:33:00.008-05:00

Well I still cannot believe that hubby, Kathy, Danny, Hunter & Daniel planned and pulled off a surprise birthday dinner for me yesterday. I did not clue in to what they were doing until I went out in the kitchen to get a coffee and got told to get the heck out of the kitchen. LOL

My daughter in law Laura had come over to show me the scarf she had knitted - it is her first completed project since I started teaching her and the grand daughters how to knit using regular needles. The girls are still using their looms but are getting old enough now to start teaching them how to use knitting needles. Laura arrived before Kathy, Danny, Hunter and Daniel did so they were able to sneak everything into the house without me even noticing because I was busy with Laura. Her scarf turned out lovely and when she went home she used some more of the yarn and made a hat with a pom pom on it. I only have a picture of the scarf.

Laura and David's daughter Trinity is on a horse kick right now, I found a washcloth pattern called Giddyup and finally finished it yesterday for Trinity.

My surprise dinner was lots of fun and here are all my pictures.

I hope that everyone has a great day just like I am.

A Day to Stay Inside

2009-01-09T10:15:00.004-05:00

So far this winter has been bizzare, we go from getting snow for two days to now getting up this morning to temperature of -29 with a windchill of -37 . No wonder everyone has colds or is feeling sick.
Today is definitely a day to spend working on getting my craft room organized and working on some of my knitting and crocheting projects.

Hubby took some pictures this morning and even though we are glad to see the sun shining it still is freezing cold outside, so he went out and filled the outdoor boiler right up.

The best investment we ever made was purchasing the backhoe, with all the snow so far this winter it has made a huge difference in keeping the driveway and yard plowed, as well as being able to use it to bring wood in for the outdoor boiler.

Happy New Year

2009-01-03T12:23:00.002-05:00

I hope that everyone had a great holiday and will have a happy and prosperous New Year. Hubby and I both fell asleep before the ball dropped. LOL We had New Year's supper with Kathy, Dan, Hunter and Daniel and I am kicking myself for forgetting to take my camera. They have been getting a daily visit from a fox and he was there while we were there. Funny thing is he has been leaving their cats alone and the cats have been leaving him alone.

Hunter and Daniel came back and spent the night with us and we watched a couple of movies. They both want to learn how to knit so Grandma also spent time teaching them how to cast on and knit. It will take a few more lessons before they really get it, but they are doing well.

Hubby bought me a web cam for my birthday and gave it to me early, so I managed to get it all hooked up and spoke to my sister using it today. We had lots of fun and is better than talking on the phone and no long distance charges to worry about either.

Since the weatherman is telling us we are going to get another huge snowfall and it is already snowing as I type this, I decided to spend the day working on getting more of my yarn sorted and inventoried in my craft room. I figure if I keep doing a bit every day I will eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then will have to sort out all my knitting, crochet books and patterns and decide what to do with the duplicates I am sure to find.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Happy Holiday

2008-12-28T00:37:00.002-05:00

I hope that everyone had/has a great holiday season celebrating whatever they celebrate.

While this Christmas was not the best we have ever had it wasn't the worst either.

This will probably be my last post for awhile - I just have way too many things going on in life right now to be able to keep up with this as well as I will be unjoining the majority of my knitting and crocheting groups.

I have a couple of patterns for dishcloths that I am working on - so may post them sometime in the future if they turn out.

9 Days and Counting

2008-12-16T21:48:00.001-05:00

Well I can't believe that it is only 9 days till Christmas, we definitely don't have to worry about not having a White Christmas. As I type this it has started snowing again. Since it is -21 celcius I am hoping that we won't get too much snow.

I found a couple of figurines for the twins first Christmas, not that they will know what they are as they are only 2 months old. I hope as they get older they will like them as much as I do.

I have finished a few of my knitting and crocheting projects but still have quite a few to finish, hopefully I will get them done.

The cats figured that since the sun came out today they would catch a few rays by laying on the kitchen table.

Schools Out for Winter

2008-12-15T13:19:00.001-05:00

Well today was probably the first of many days that the kids will get to stay home from school because of the weather.

Dave and Hubby are outside plowing the driveway and the grandkids shoveled all the snow off the deck. According to the weather man our temps will be a high of -18 and a low of -26 and more snow expected today.
Hubby is making a huge pile so that the kids can use it for sliding.

I decided to put up my Christmas Tree, usually I do it Christmas Eve but with all the snow I figured what the heck.

Let It Snow

2008-12-11T10:13:00.002-05:00

Well the weatherman said we were going to get 5 to 10 cm of snow during the day and overnight. Well I think we got a bit more than that and now Norm will have to start plowing.

Madison decided that she wanted to learn how to make spaghetti and meatballs, so was helping Grandpa make supper last night. Tigger the cat decided she had to watch what was going on too.

I finally got the Snowman scarf finished, even though the instructions were a bit lacking. I am sure that Trinity will be thrilled when she opens her birthday package on Dec. 24th. If anyone is interested I am pretty sure that I could write out what I did to create the scarf, was pretty easy and worked up quickly because I did it using half double crochets. I just wish I could have found the instructions I thought I had saved on how not to end up with a hole in the middle when you make the circle. I used the button on the front to cover that one and then used some extra yarn to cover up the hole on the back part.

Today will definitely be a day to stay inside and keep warm and work on some more knitting and crocheting projects. Even though the sun is shining brightly it is expected to go down to -21C and then more snow is expected by late afternoon.

A Great Sunday

2008-12-01T01:18:00.000-05:00

With so many grand kids I decided to start what I hope will continue to be a wonderful family tradition. Each family will have their own Advent Calendar that I can fill up with all kinds doodads and hopefully all the grand kids will love all the little doodads as it gets closer and closer to Christmas Day. A couple of the pockets will have some candy treats. I wrapped each one, put their name on it and the day it is to be opened. Some of the items will fit into the stockings on Madison and Dylan's. Aliza, Trinity, Kirra's have pockets as does Hunter and Daniels. I picked up all kinds of different things, Christmas shaped notepads, marshmallow shape kits that can then be put on the tree as ornaments, some beading kits, some wood model kits for the boys etc. etc.

For some reason I had it in my head that December 1st was on Tuesday and then all of a sudden at supper time I realized that it was tomorrow. I got everything sorted and our first stop was at Kathy and Dan's to drop off Hunter and Daniel's. I explained everything to them because they only knew about those paper ones that you open and get a chocolate. LOL

Our next stop was Dave and Laura's to drop off Aliza, Trinity, Kirra and Loralei's.

The twins are almost 8 weeks old so I just had to take more pictures. They are doing wonderful and growing in leaps and bounds.

I even managed to get all the girls and the twins to sit still for 5 minutes so I could take a picture of all of them together.

and of course Madison wanted a picture with her in it as well. I am sure that Dylan enjoyed going to his hockey game a lot more than having to go all over the place with Grandma and Grandpa and be surrounded by girls.

We then came home and I took some pictures of Madison with the Advent Calendar for her and Dylan. I will take everything over tomorrow after supper for them to set up and then open up the December 1st doodad.

Norm is always teasing me about my Tim Horton's traveling mug so he snapped a picture of me holding it after I had filled it up before we left to go into town. It is nice to be able to have a few sips of coffee in between going to the different stores and not making him go through the drive through to get me a coffee.

Shaun's leg is doing much better. The nurses in Ambulatory care have been doing a wonderful job with changing the dressings. Hopefully when they remove this cast, they will be able to straighten his ankle/foot out even more and all signs of infection on the two incisions will be gone. He is doing well using his crutches and everyone is doing different things to try and keep him occupied.

As always some pictures of the dogs and cats.

Hope everyone has a great week, time to get back to working on my Xmas knitting and crocheting projects.

Now to try and Catch Up

2008-11-28T01:16:00.000-05:00

Well now I get to play catch up. My computer decided to stop working on Nov 14th and I finally got it back yesterday repaired. My power supply blew which in turn blew my mother board. When I logged on there were over 5,000 emails so I figured I would just start using the delete key and only keep the Knit and Crochet Alongs as well as some patterns I had ordered, unfortunately I got carried away using the delete key and deleted some of the emails that I should not have. *sigh*

Good news - the twins are doing great and growing like crazy. I am hoping to get some new pictures now that they are 6 weeks old.

Bad news - when they took Shaun's temporary cast off two of the three incisions were infected. They were able to straighten his foot out a bit more and when they put the new cast on they cut sections out so they could clean and dress the infections. He has to go to the hospital every other day to get the dressings change and they also have him on oral antibiotics.

Sad news - My stepmother passed away. She was in Mexico with her friend Otto and they were in an accident. She was killed on impact and Otto is still in intensive care in stable condition but still not stable enough to be transported back home. Margot's memorial service was held on Nov 26th.

I would really appreciate some prays for my 18 year old nephew, Michael. He will be undergoing surgery December 1st and then start treatments for testicular cancer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends. Now back to playing catch up.

Never A Dull Moment

2008-11-01T12:38:00.001-04:00

It has been ages since I have had the time to post anything on my blog. Dave & Laura's twins arrived naturally on October 12, 2008 so they decided to throw everyone's Thanksgiving plans out of wack. Arja was born first at 7:53 am and weighed 6 pounds 1 1/2 ounces, Ty arrived at 8:13 am and weighed 5 pounds 5 ounces. Ty was having some respiratory issues so spent Sunday and Monday morning in the NICU. On Monday afternoon Laura and the twins were moved into a private room and the doctor allowed everyone to come home Tuesday late in the afternoon.Grandma and Grandpa went sort of crazy with snapping pictures and there are about 50+ on my flickr page.

I cannot believe it has been two weeks already since they were born and I got a few pictures yesterday of everyone getting ready to go trick or treating. Unfortunately Aliza went to her friend Nicoles right from school and then they all met up in town so I wasn't able to get any pictures of Aliza and Nicole. I told them that they had to dress up again today just so I could have some pictures, so hopefully they will.

Kathy and I took Hunter, Daniel, Madison and Dylan trick or treating and we all had a great time - I think Kathy and I are still in shock over all the goodies the kids got. Now for the good part all the pictures LOL

Unfortunately after working in construction and roofing for 13 years our youngest son Shaun had an accident and fell off the roof, all because of a patch of frost on the spot he stepped on as he was setting everything up to start shingling. He was finally allowed to come home yesterday after being in the hospital since October 16th and he will never be able to go through security at the airport without setting off the alarms. They were able to put his shattered ankle and broken leg and foot together. Three surgeries later he has 3 plates, 2 leg posts, 13 skrews and skin grafts. The surgeon said it was like putting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. He is in what they call a soft half cast wrapped with sterile gauze and has to go back to the fracture clinic in two weeks to have all the staples removed and depending on how well the skin grafts have healed he may then be put into a regular cast. The surgeon said it will be at least 3 months before he will be allowed to put any weight on his leg and then he will have to start physio therapy. I thank God every day that it wasn't worse. There are pictures on my flickr page, don't want to post any here in case some people have weak stomachs when it comes to that type of picture.

I did manage to somehow finish my Pugs hand towel as well as one of the cloths for the sets I am making for all the Grand kids for Christmas. Hopefully now that everything is back to normal I will be able to catch up on all my Christmas projects. I am hoping to find some extra time to write up the Pug hand towel pattern and add it to my design list in case anyone would like to knit one.

Daniel's birthday is November 6th, so I am working on an easy ripple afghan in Patons Decor Rich Blues Color. I also got some Patons Decor in Florals and am going to use a pattern called Stepping Stones to make one for Hunter for Christmas.

For anyone who belongs to Ravelry the Irish Hiking patterns are gorgeous and I am hoping to find enough time to make all my grand kids Hat and Scarf sets for Christmas and maybe even leg warmers for the girls and mittens too.

I guess I need to close for now as I need to find a pattern to knit some toe/cast socks for Shaun so if he decides to go out he won't freeze it poor toes off.

Grandparent Duty

2008-09-28T08:25:00.001-04:00

Well the threatened thunder storms arrived so Norm went and picked up Hunter and Daniel after supper Friday night because there was no way I was leaving the house or getting behind the wheel during a storm. I have a hard enough time getting in a vehicle without having an anxiety or panic attack in great weather since being in a car accident a few years ago. According to the doctors I have a form of agoraphobia along with PTSD, to go along with my other permanent injuries from the car accident.

The weather always affects our satellite dish reception so it is a good thing that I have lots of movies as well as craft supplies for when we are doing the grandparent thing.

Well while the kids watched movies and did their craft thing on Friday night and Saturday. Phoebe decided that she was going to watch as the kids did their coloring and crafts and I was actually able to get a couple of pictures before she moved over onto the blanket on the couch for a nap.

I was working on a hat pattern that was posted on one of my yahoo groups. I found a yarn in my stash that I just fell in love with and by using two strands was able to make gauge and if I do say so myself, the pattern turned out gorgeous. It is called Easy Cable-Knit Hat and it is easy. They also posted a pattern called Irish Hiking Scarf which I have now started knitting and I think will just be perfect with the hat. Then someone posted a pattern called Cabled Bag which I think is just a perfect companion for the hat and scarf. Needless to say I now know what sets I will be making for my sister, daughter in laws and grand daughters for Christmas.

Here are the rest of the pictures that I got before the kids went home.

Well today looks like we will have a wonderful fall day even though it is a bit on the cool side, there is no signs of rain and the sun is shining. I am going to keep working on the Irish Hiking Scarf and then see if I have some yarn in my stash to make up the Cabled Bay to match, if not will just have to make a trip to town or find something I like that I can order online.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Two New Patterns Available

2008-09-26T12:33:00.000-04:00

I have not only got the knitting and crocheting bug, I now have the design my own dishcloths bug. I designed two more patterns and am working on another one. The 2nd was for a knit alongs on Rachel's yahoo group and the 3rd one was used as a knit along on Knitdishcloths yahoo group. Now that the knit alongs are finished I have added both patterns in Word and PDF download under My Free Patterns. I hope that anyone who knits them enjoys them as much as I did in creating them.

I have pretty much got my to do list of knitting and crocheting set up for all my Christmas gifts. Having 3 sons, 3 daughter in laws, 8 grandchildren, twins expected October 23rd, my sister, brother in law, nephew, my brother, sister in law, and a few things that my friends have asked for definitely means my needles and hooks are going to be busy.

My yarn orders for the different items have arrived as well as my Mason Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines and my copy of Dishcloth Hangups 2009 - Knitting in Colors Calendar. I just cannot say enough good things about the Calendar and the best part was that Peaches and Creme yarn kits for the calendar and the Mason Dixon book were available for purchase at Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Company.

Today is overcast, cool and it definitely looks like rain, so a perfect day to curl up on the couch and work on my projects.

Fall is Arriving

2008-09-18T10:36:00.000-04:00

Well the weather is definitely getting cooler, the leaves on the trees are starting to change colors, so fall is arriving. Even though I love the sunny warm days of summer I think that fall is my favorite time of year, the infusion of colors just makes it wonderful to look at everything. Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny cool day, but today is overcast and windy, so it looks like we might be getting some rain.

I have finally figured out how to add my patterns to the web page so now they are on the right side listed under My Patterns in PDF or Word, no more having to copy and paste the written out pattern in my blog. I really enjoyed designing my first cloth Swedish Blocks, so I have written up a few more and am just working on knitting them, as soon as they are correct I will be adding them to the list.

My yarn order from Jean who manages the RA Yarns and More group arrived yesterday so now I have all my yarn to work on the scarves for the 2009 Special Olympics.

I had pre-ordered the new Mason Dixon book and Amazon emailed me saying it had been sent out. Some others on my groups have already received their copies and say it is even better than the first one, so I am hoping that my copy will arrive within the next few days.

My daughter in law that is expecting twins, her due date is October 23rd, gave us all a scare over the weekend by having a false labour. She is going for another ultra sound today as she has placenta previa and will have to have a C-Section if the placenta doesn't move.

Kahlua will be staying with us for another 3 weeks as her owner will be home today but has to go out of town again for three weeks tomorrow.

I have a number of projects on my needles and hooks so am hoping to get a couple finished and the swatch for the Mystic Earth Shawl project has been added to our group, so want to get that done so I can try and decide which of the yarns I got from Sarah Yarns that I want to use to do the shawl.

My 2009 Calendar Knitting in Colors arrived in the mail yesterday and I ordered the packs for it from Peaches and Creme.

My grandaughter, Madison, picked out the colors she wanted for her shawl for Xmas from my stash of Red Heart Lustersheen - Hot Pink and Cherry Red. She went through the different patterns that I have printed out and picked out the pattern called Loving Hearts Doll Shawl that is on Ravelry. The pattern is very pretty and really easy to make larger so it will fit her. It will be awhile before I get it on my needles as I have to finish a bunch of my other works in progress first.

Hope everyone has a great day and I am going to spend my day working on my knitting and crocheting.

Busy Days

2008-09-16T19:39:00.000-04:00

As anyone who reads my blog, they are aware that I love my dogs and because of that I again volunteered to be on the executive of the Pug Club of Canada and was elected as Vice President. Since the club's formation in the early 90's I have done numerous different jobs on the executive and recently found myself having to jump in and do the Club's newsletter. I had to put all my other things on the back burner including my knitting and crocheting *sigh* I finally got the newsletter finished and it has been emailed and/or regular mailed it out to all our members. Now I can finally get back to my knitting and crocheting.

The balance of my order from Mona of Crochetstyleetc arrived today, so now I have all the cotton chenille to work on the bathroom sets that I want to make up for Xmas gifts for the family. The choice of colors is wonderful and it is lovely and soft.

I also got my yarn order from Sarah's Yarns for the upcoming Mystic Earth shawl knit along.

I am just waiting for my order of yarn in Delft Blue and White to arrive so that I can knit or crochet some scarves in support of the 2009 Special Olympics. All the information is available at Coats and Clark.

And of course I have to include todays pictures of the dogs

Sad News

2008-09-07T14:14:00.001-04:00

Our wonderful pug Paige who hubby nicknamed "Yapper" passed away yesterday and has joined all her friends at Rainbow Bridge. Paige loved the days when parcels arrived. I would unpack the box and put it on the floor while I put all the items away and we would always come back to find her curled up snoring away in the box.

I am so glad that hubby bought me the digital camera for Xmas a couple years ago because now I will always be able to remember her in my heart as well as having pictures.

A Bit of an Update

2008-08-31T14:45:00.000-04:00

Has been a wonderful month, even though the weather has been strange. Norm and his buddy found a great site for picking wild blueberries and I now have about 8 4 litre bags of blueberries in the freezer. Now I just have to find the time to make muffins, pies and jam.

Madison decided that she was going to cut her hair, I just wish I could have got a picture of her before her mom fixed it all up. I think she looks really cute with bangs.

The Pugs don't tolerate the heat well and we have had some very warm days which is unusual for this time of year in Thunder Bay, so they have found the spot they like on the couch and do what they do best, be couch potatoes.

I had planted 3 new rose bushes last year and thought that none of them made it through the winter, well I was thrilled to discover that one of them had and it has started blooming.
Now I just need to find my gardening tools and clear out the grass and stuff around it, so hopefully next year it will be even bigger and have more blooms. The wild rose bush that hubby's great grandmother planted when they came from Finland took very well to being transplanted and I had lots of pink tea roses earlier in the summer.

I was asked to become a test knitter for a designer and decided to say yes, so have been extra busy working on my own things as well as hers. School starts in a few days so will have more time to keep up with everything as I won't have to be babysitting when Madison & Dylan's parents are at work.

I also ordered the yarn to make scarves for the Special Olympics, they are wanting to receive 5,000 of them. I really enjoy participating in projects like this and hope that they have no problems meeting their target.

The kitten that we took to my sister's in June is doing very well and their older cat Kit has now adjusted to her being in the house and they have become best buddies.

Hope everyone has a great long weekend, and am sending out prayers for all those being affected by Gustav.

Need a 48 Hour Day Please

2008-08-05T23:50:00.005-04:00

Hubby & his buddy packed up our camper and have gone off blueberry picking. My two grandchildren that I babysit regularly are off at day camp. You would think that with being home alone with just the dogs and cats, I would have all kinds of time on my hands to get all the things done that I wanted to get done. NOT! I had forgotten how long it actually takes me to complete normal day to day activities when I have no one to assist me. Don't ever get in a car accident and end up with permanent impairments.

I have designed another pattern for another dishcloth and got some help from the wonderful members at Rachel's yahoo group. I had frogged it three times, I think I was being too picky and hard on myself, so asked on the group for a test knitter and I was bombarded with members volunteering to assist me. So if it works out I hopefully will have another pattern to share.

It will probably be awhile before I sit down and try and design another one as my son stopped at the postal outlet to pick up my parcels. Living in a rural location means our letter mail is delivered by independent contractor and any parcels, registered mail etc means I need to get someone to drive me all the way into town, or if I get lucky, like today, I can reach my son or daughter in law at work and they will pick up the parcels on their way home for me.

The boxes contained the yarn I had ordered from Elann to make up the Sun Ray Shawl for my granddaughters for Christmas. In the other box was the Riviera Cotton Chenille that I had ordered from Mona's online store. I am going to use this to make up some bath sets using the pattern called Sea foam towels that was originally published in the Interweave Knits, Fall 2006 issue. It is now available on the free download page at knitting daily. The other box contained the nylon netting spools that I had ordered from Knits and Bits by Linda for my kitchen scrubby patterns as well as the patterns I use to make bath puffs. I am hoping that I will have a few of the projects completed before some of the other cotton chenille colors that I ordered arrive. *smile* The other package contained some stitch holders that I had bid on at E Bay. They are absolutely adorable.

Elann Yarns

Cotton Chenille
Nylon Netting Spools

Stitch Markers

We had another crazy day of weather, sun shine all morning and into the early afternoon. Then all of a sudden the black clouds roll in and we get a 30 minute thunder storm that blows over and back out comes the sun.

Now I just need to figure out how to get 48 hour days so that I can keep up with all the things I need to do and want to do. *smile*

My First Designed Knit Dishcloth & Other Things

2008-07-30T17:30:00.005-04:00

Anchor Magicline Self Striping Color #1413

Peaches & Creme 100% Cotton - Neon Green

Anchor Magicline Color # 1506

Supplies:

1 Skein 100% Cotton Knitting worsted yarn
1 Pair Size 6 (US) 4mm single point needles
Tapestry needle
Scissors

Pattern:

Inspired by a stitch pattern in Barbara G. Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns

Multiple of 6 + 2 for pattern plus stitches for border

This is my first attempt at designing and writing up a pattern so I hope it makes sense to anyone wanting to knit the cloth.

Border – 4 rows – either garter stitch – knit every row or seed stitch - K1, P1 across

I used a seed stitch border in the samples above (1) Peaches & Crème Neon Green, (2) Anchor Magicline - Colour #1506, (3) Anchor Magicline Self Striping - Color #1413

B4 = Border Stitches (either garter stitch or seed stitch)

Size: 8” long 9” wide

Cast on 46 stitches

Rows 1 – 4: Border – either garter stitch or seed stitch

Row 5: (RS) B4, K2, *P4, K2, repeat from * across to last 4 stitches, B4

Row 6: B4, P2, *K4, P2, repeat from * across to last 4 stitches, B4

Row 7: B4, P2, *K4, P2, repeat from * across to last 4 stitches, B4

Row 8: B4, K2, *P4, K2, repeat from * across to last 4 stitches, B4

Row 9: B4, P2, *K4, P2, repeat from * across to last 4 stitches, B4

Row 10: B4, K2, *P4, K2, repeat from * across to last 4 stitches, B4

Row 11: B4, P2, *K4, P2, repeat from * across to last 4 stitches, B4

Row 12: B4, K2, *P4, K2, repeat from * across to last 4 stitches, B4

Repeat Rows 5 to 12 4 more times, then repeat row 5 once.

(If you want the cloth to be a bit longer then repeat Rows 5 to 12 5 more times, then repeat row 5 once, the second cloth was knitted doing 5 more)

Border – 4 rows – same as first 4 rows.

Bind off and weave in ends.

Please feel free to make a copy of this pattern for personal use, but please do not sell the pattern. Your completed work can be sold, donated, given as a gift and I would appreciate if you do use my pattern that a link to my blog be provided. I guess this is my way of saying my pattern is copyrighted.

Shaun decided to fix the quad runner and Madison decided to have some fun. She has no fear so Shaun had to set it so that she couldn't go too fast.

As I slowly but surely get boxes unpacked and put up onto the shelves that hubby and the boys made for me in the room I now lovingly call my craft room, I have on way too many occasions searched on E Bay to replace my books and/or magazines that became damaged from being in the basement for too many years. I ran across an ad from a seller say huge lot of books and patterns and decided to bid on it and won the bid. Well hubby is still complaining about having to go and pick up the box at the outlet because it weighed 55 pounds. I never expected to be receiving 100's of patterns, pattern books and hard cover books, I guess I should have read the description better. I am however in 7th heaven. Here are some pictures of the books that I will definitely be making use of and I am sure I will find more as I sort through the rest of the box.

I finished the knit along cloth for July with Rachel's Knitting Room. Turned out to be a two piece bathing suit or bikini depending on what you want to call it.

Madison was shopping in town with her mom & dad and saw a Pug statue while they were at dollarama. She got her mom to buy it so she could give Grandma a gift. One of the cutest Pug statues I have seen in ages and even brought a tear to my eye that I have such a thoughtful 5 year old granddaughter.

There is certainly never a dull moment in the house with the Pugs and the Cardigans. I unpacked one of the boxes yesterday and put the empty box on the floor while I put the things away, when I came back to pick it up and put it in the garbage this is what I saw, Paige in a box.

I decided to watch a few shows on TV last night and the dogs decided they needed to join me on the couch as well. Peaches on my chest and Sassy and Kahlua on my legs.

Busy busy days but well worth it.

The Sun Came Out and No Rain

2008-07-24T14:30:00.001-04:00

Well we finally got two days in a row of warm temperatures and sunshine. However it looks like the entire weekend will be a wet one. Rain is supposed to start again sometime this evening and thunder storms are predicted for the entire weekend.

I finally found the manual for my digital camera and now know how to use the zoom feature. I managed to get what I think are really good pictures of our geese family, every other time I tried if I got too close they would swim away, but now that I know how to use the zoom I don't have to get too close.

Kahlua, a Pug that we breed and sold to a wonderful family always come to visit when the family goes on vacation. She was dropped off yesterday afternoon and like every other time immediately made herself at home. She lives with 3 boys so when the grand kids are here she just adores getting attention. There is nothing quite like being owned by a Pug, even though they snore and snort, lick you to death, shed 365 days of the year, can clear a room when they toot and never let you go to the bathroom alone again, there will never be a day where their antics do not bring a smile to your face. Norm decided that he had to get pictures of us having a nap.

Thanks to Rachel who has some of the most gorgeous dishcloth patterns for sale at Knits by Rachel came out and taught me how to block by dishcloths after I have finished doing them. I decided to take advantage of the sunny day and the wonderful breeze and blocked a bunch of the cloths that I had finished.

I also spent some more time in my craft room unpacking boxes, getting more of my yarns onto the shelves and updating my inventory list. A couple of the boxes contained Christmas presents that I had picked up on sale for the grand kids this year, so had hubby laughing his head off at me because I decided to wrap them and label them. Once he stopped laughing he was kind enough to take them all upstairs and put them away so that the when the grand kids are here they won't see them or find them. Having 8 grand kids means I am always picking things up during the year either for birthdays or Christmas and now that our middle son and his wife have fraternal twins due the end of October I have added a bunch of different knitting and crocheting projects to my list of items to do. They were told that one is a boy and one is a girl, but apparently during her last ultrasound they were saying that it might be two boys, so hopefully when she goes in for her next ultrasound next month, we will find out for sure.

So all in all this week so far has been a very good one.

Another Typical Sunday

2008-07-20T22:55:00.000-04:00

Well it started out looking like we were going to have a nice pleasant day, but it fooled us. I had hoped to get some pictures with the lightning flashes but kept missing. The thunder and lightning had the dogs barking and running around like crazy. Unlike most people hubby and I just adore the storms, it is just fascinating what mother nature can do.

As per usual the storm knocked out our satellite dish signal so we decided to watch a couple of movies that we had not got around to watching - The Bucket List and Vantage Point. We really enjoyed both of them. Luckily this time we did not have our power knocked out like last weekend. We are seriously considering looking into getting a generator, it seems to be more and more often that when the storms hit we lose our power.

I finished the mid month knit along with Monthly Dishcloths - another lovely design from Sue Schaefer of Harvest Moon Designs.

So all in all just another normal Sunday.

A Wonderful Visit and Day

2008-07-15T13:49:00.000-04:00

Well the day started off with the sun shining brightly and temp going up to 25 celcius and a nice breeze blowing. Grandkids arrived around 6:45 am so we had breakfast and watched some cartoons. I managed to get another box of yarn sorted out and put away in the shelves as well as throw in a load of laundry. Hubby tidied up a bit in the bathroom and kitchen.

Madison finished her Bee Craft that we were working on when grandma was babysitting on Sunday. Thank goodness Grandma keeps a good supply of crafts because we had no power on Sunday from 4 am to 2 pm and it also rained all day. She is very pleased with her finished work.

Then Rachel, Rick, Kaylee and Luke arrived for a visit and we had a great time. Rachel taught me how to block my cloths so that I can get better pictures and explained lots about how to graph different patterns for knitting. Now when I knit up her gorgeous patterns I will be able to get really good pictures. She has beautiful patterns for sale at http://www.knitsbyrachel.com/ and lots of great information and links at http://rachelsknittingcorner.blogspot.com/

It was absolutely wonderful to meet Rachel and her family, it is just great to be able to put a face to the person on the other computer. Hopefully the next visit will be longer, they still had to go and get their grocery shopping done.

2008-07-10T01:12:00.000-04:00

Well I am finally starting to feel better, turns out what started out as a cold turned into pneumonia. Doctor prescribed antibiotics and stuff and with the cost of them it is a darn good thing they are working. Cloth of the Week which is one of my yahoo dishcloth knit a long groups celebrated it's 1 year anniversary on July 1st and a number of absolutely gorgeous dishcloth patterns were made available to the group members. I have managed to finish two of them diagonal bobbles and Gumdrops. My granddaughter Madison claimed the "Gumdrops" one before I even had it off the needles. Now that I am feeling better I am hoping to get the rest of them knitted as well.

The dogs have also decided that Madison cannot lay down on the couch and watch her cartoons unless they do too.

The geese decided to pay us a visit again and the 5 goslings are growing up fast. We have not seen the duck family for over a week so they must have moved over to the other pond.

Happy Canada Day

2008-07-01T11:56:00.000-04:00

To all my fellow Canadians, I hope that your weather is better than ours and that you all enjoy a wonderful day off. Hubby thankfully is better and I am slowly but surely starting to feel better. We had hoped to attend one of the numerous functions scheduled at Marina Park but with rain again we will just stay home and relax. We had great weather yesterday, sunny and hot and with finally getting the above ground pool all filled and chemicals in it, the grandkids had lots of fun being able to cool off.

Finally got the pictures of my finished dishcloths uploaded but am still trying to play catch up with the knit alongs and crochet alongs.

My daughter in law that is expecting twins is doing very well and her recent ultra sound they were able to determine that one is a boy and one is a girl, so now I know what colors to get and I have a couple of patterns for blankets that I hope to get started on as soon as I catch up on my other projects.

The Week from Hell

2008-06-29T17:31:00.000-04:00

Well I have decided that I am going to call this the week from hell. Sunday hubby awakens with a sore throat, Monday I awaken with a sore throat, and with the sun, rain, sun, rain, hot, cold weather, both hubby and I have been so sick that we are barely able to function. Neither one of us can remember the last time that both of us had a summer cold at the same time. I did manage to finish 3 dishcloths from 2 of the knit along groups I belong too. Normally I would have got all caught up by the end of the week but even knitting was tiring. Hopefully with lots of fluids, and some over the counter cold medication we will both start feeling better soon. Luckily we have a doctor's appointment on the 2nd and if worst comes to worst we will both need antibiotics to give this cold a kick in the butt.

We picked up some of those Off candles and we were very surprised to learn that they worked. We did have a nice dinner last weekend in between thunder storms and rain and they kept the bugs away.

Well time to go lay down again.

Not a Dull Day

2008-06-24T22:15:00.000-04:00

With all the crazy weather going on I am tempted to go back on vacation down in Ajax at my sisters. We came home a week earlier than planned as my sister's surgery went better than anticipated and she was able to return to work yesterday. I am still trying to work my way through 3 1/2 weeks of emails as well as get caught up with all the other things that didn't get done while we were away. Today when we wake up the sun is shining, a couple of hours later we have dark clouds then pouring rain, then back to sunshine and the temperature goes up to 22 celcius and out come all the bugs.

We got a visit this morning from the family of geese that are residing in our pond.

We have not been able to get a picture of the duck family as of yet. It is funny when both families decide to take their babies for a swim as they each stay at the farthest ends of the pond away from each other.

Shaun and hubby have decided to start cleaning up around the yard, most of the garbage has been picked up and taken to the dump and now they decided to take the defunct cars to the scrap metal dealer. It is unbelievable what can be done using a backhoe.

Now the car is all hooked up and ready to go to the scrap metal yard.

My granddaughter Madison celebrated her last day of junior kindergarten today and was having fun playing outside with Lucky despite all the bugs. For some reason the bugs just seem to love biting Lucky's pink belly and we are having to make sure to put repellent on him as well as ourselves. Our other grandchildren are finished school tomorrow. All of them are looking forward to having the summer off, especially since we finished filling up the swimming pool today. Hopefully the chlorine tablets will do their job and the levels will allow the kids to go swimming if the temperature goes up into the 20's and the sun stays out for awhile.

I managed to find some Anchor Magicline cotton yarn for sale on Ebay and finished a dishcloth called Starfish. I just love the way this yarn self stripes in the pattern. I wish that the yarn had not been discontinued. The pattern for this cloth and others using this yarn can be found at http://sew-funky.blogspot.com/

Sunshine & Knitting

2008-05-22T22:32:00.000-04:00

Well after getting 3 Celcius yesterday, it warmed up today and the sun came out at least until supper time, now we are supposed to be getting rain but sun and warmer temperatures over the weekend. I actually had a day to myself, and got to not only finish off a couple of my dishcloths. Waffle Knit - a pattern that I found at Homespun Living.
and another lovely pattern from Harvest Moon called Every Day, Any Day.

I was able to start the swatch for an upcoming shawl knit along called Mystic Meadows. The yarn I bought is very different to what I am used to working with, is a fingering weight, wool and silk mix. The colors are bright and varied, everything I would consider seeing in a field full of blooming flowers. I can't wait till we receive our pattern on June 1st. Only six days till we leave for our vacation/visit with my sister in Ajax. The hardest part will not be having access to my computer. Hopefully I have copied all the files to disc that I need to take with me. Yesterday my granddaughter and I spent time making things for Father's Day, it just boggles my mind that with her only being 5 years old, she knew we had to work on things because I won't be here in June to help her make something. She is just way too smart for her own good. Today was her mom's day off work as well as her day to go to school. Her mom is back to work tomorrow so it will be interesting to see what ideas she comes up with for making something. My other grand daughter's love doing crafts as well and were thrilled on the weekend when they saw the box full of beads and buttons and all kinds of interesting things to make crafts, there is nothing quite as special as receiving a gift made with the love of a child.

I have finally narrowed down my pattern choices for baby afghans to 6, have my yarn and with now knowing that my daughter in law is expecting twins, I am really going to have to get busy making two of everything.

Spring has finally Sprung

2008-05-19T18:08:00.000-04:00

Well all I can hope is that now that we are finally getting warmer temperatures during the day and all the snow has melted, the pond has completely unthawed, that I can finally say that spring is here. Hubby was out most of the day turning over the vegetable garden and actually planted some potato seeds. I spent the day doing what I love to do best working on knitting and crocheting projects and actually managed to get another 2 boxes of yarn sorted, listed and put away on the shelves in my craft room.

I finished the May monthly Knit along for my Digknitting Group, did one in Neon green and the other in Light Green. Could not for the life of me figure out what it was, so our group moderator finally told us that it is the Recycle arrows.

I went to grab a cup of java and looked out to see we had Canada Geese on the pond and even managed to get a couple of pictures without scaring them off, now if that isn't a sure sign that spring is finally here I don't know what is.

I decided to join a dishcloth exchange being done by Dishcloth Weekly Knit along on Ravelry group and then had to decide what pattern and colors to use. Finally made up my mind and have them started and am half done on the 1st one, luckily I have until June 4th to get them out into the mail for the exchange.

Today we got the 1st set of rows for our monthly knit along from Rachel's Knitting Room, another one of my favorite yahoo groups.

I am counting the days until hubby and leave for Ajax to spend the month of June with my sister and her family. She is scheduled for surgery on June 2nd and even though we will have to help her around the house and stuff, it will be a vacation and I am hoping to be able to get all my knitting and crocheting projects caught up so I can plan the next ones for birthdays and Christmas.

As I slowly but surely figure out how all this blogging stuff works, I will be able to update my page more often.

Supposed to be Spring?

2008-04-28T14:46:00.000-04:00

Well hubby and I were talking about the fact that it looks like we started the seeds inside for our vegetable garden too soon, especially since the rain the weatherman said we were going to get actually turned into snow. Add in the wind factor and yesterday weather wise was absolutely awful. Snapped a couple of pictures up on the road when it finally stopped snowing.

We went into town yesterday afternoon to watch two of our granddaughters make their debut on the runway. Trinity and Kirra have been attending Lakehead Modeling classes and enjoying every minute of it. Even though I couldn't get really close I did manage to get a few really nice pictures.

Kirra 1st Trinity 3rd in line Kirra Trinity

We also took a picture of Loralei, who for now is the youngest of the four girls. God willing we will be grandparents again in November.

Our youngest son and his wife belong to a bowling league so Sunday evenings Grandma and Grandpa get to babysit their two kids. Grandpa and Dylan watch hockey while Madison and Grandma had lots of fun doing crafts. She made herself a cute little bracelet using seed beads and sequins.

Once the grandkids were picked up I spent the rest of the evening trying to play catch up on all my knitting and crocheting projects. Managed to get a couple finished and will post pictures another day.

Craft Room

2008-04-22T12:51:00.000-04:00

Well it looks like my wish for a craft room is finally going to become a reality. We live in a home that hubby's family built back in the 1930's so when I say that cupboard space doesn't exist I am not kidding. The house is what is considered a 1 1/2 storey but due to injuries sustained in a car accident back in October 2001 I am not able to constantly go up and down the stairs to the 2nd floor. So needless to say the living room, kitchen and bedroom off the living room are used as a computer room and storage area for all my work in progress, books, yarns etc . It helps that hubby is a handy man and the middle and youngest son are both carpenters. Middle son is currently involved in a huge renovation project and all the workers get first dibs on the items that would end up in the landfill site. The kitchen and living room floors have been redone, walls are all painted and we got new living room furniture and all new kitchen appliances.

So now they are all pitching in and helping get the room off the living room done. It has been painted, lights fixed and put up as well as my youngest son put up shelving for on two walls for all my reading books, next to knitting and crocheting I love to read. I almost have all the books up on the shelves and in order. Middle son brought out 3 huge shelving units and right now they are out in the garage, so next thing to do is paint them and once the single bed is moved out of the room and upstairs, we will bring them in and I will have what I feel is a marvelous place to store all my yarns and accessories. Once I have this all done I will probably be happier than a pig in mud. LOL

Needless to say I have fallen behind on my Knit and Crochet Alongs as well as my other WIP's, but once I have this all organized I will be able to catch up really quickly.

I am working on the KAL with Rachel's Knitting Room as well as the Mid April KAL with MonthlyDishcloths. Bookmarks, Cloth of the Week KAL and Ravelry Monthly KAL are saved but not started yet. It is just great all the wonderful groups and people that can be found at the yahoogroups.

Crochetpartners is starting a comfortghan that the members can send different completed squares to different people who will assemble them into afghans that can be sent out to those in need, so if you enjoy doing that kind of stuff consider joining the yahoo group.

Now back to work on my room.

April 18, 2008

2008-04-18T15:29:00.000-04:00

Just what I needed another item to add to my list of things to do. Hopefully I will figure out how all this blogging stuff works and be able to add pictures and stuff.
Right now I am busy working on several knit and crochet alongs with different groups.

The good thing is that it finally looks like Spring is going to come to Lappe, the snow in our yard is starting to melt and our pond is starting to thaw. We had a couple of Canada geese on the pond yesterday, so am keeping my fingers crossed that we do not get anymore snow.