I'm Here!!

Hey Y'all!!  I am here and doing just fine!  I know I have been MIA.  Thanks for all the emails asking if I am ok.  I truly feel the bloggy love.  For some reason I find the dog days of summer a bit depressing, and I have been feeling it again this summer.  Although floating in the pool at my folks' house does help (must be the Vitamin D I have been soaking up from the sun) does help chase away the summer blahs.  The stresses of just every day to day life, a sick mother-in-law, a stressed out hubs, a full time job...I can go on a bit...just left me a bit burned out. 

But I am here, and with a smile on my face!



And I have been busy making socks!!  I was determined this year to learn making socks and to sharpen my skills.  I have always been in awe of sock knitters and so intimidated by their skills.  So, as you can see below, I have been working on it.

I have learned so much!!  I love toe up socks!  And now I can't stop looking at sock patterns on ravelry and dreaming about all the sock yarn at SAFF this fall!!!

 

My mom turned 75 last week!  I told her I was taking a day off of work and we would go do something fun.  I asked her what she wanted to do, and she said I want to go to Joanne's Fabric and look at patterns.  We had a blast!!  As you can see she loaded up her cart with some goodies.  Afterwards we went to lunch.  It was such a fun day!

This evening I realized that the locusts were not buzzing quite as loud as they were yesterday and I could hear soft humming of the crickets.  It sounded like fall to me.  I know there are still some summer days left, but I can feel that beginning of summer ending and fall beginning.  And I love this, because I love the fall1  Everything about it.  I feel so good in the fall...I love the colors, the feel of the air, the outdoor fall festivals, pumpkins.  I could go on and on.  Seems fitting that I should start working on a sweater.  A first for me!!  I hope to have it ready to wear this fall, too!  

I have plans to add some scarves and hats to my etsy shop and knit and crochet up some little pumpkins and leaves!  

Ladies and Gentlemen, We have a Pair!

Tah - Dah!!  Yay!  A pair of socks.  And they fit like a freakin glove!  LOL!!   Socks have always intimidated me.  They looked so hard.  But my Biscuits (my knitting group, we call ourselves Biscuits) encouraged me.  They were all doing it, so I jumped in the pool.  I drank the Kool Aid.  I caved!  The last pair I did, which was my first, were a bit big.  So I moved down to a size 1 needle.  That was all it took!  I have purchased a good top-down sock book and am ready to jump in head first.

I am not sure if I have shared with everyone that my mother-in-law has been fighting cancer.  She has fought so hard for the past five years.  Breast Cancer, which has now spread into the lung.  Christmas and New Years left her with a hard case of pneumonia and in the hospital.  Wednesday my husband went with her back to the oncologist.  Although her doctor couldn't say that more chemo would help, she offered the suggestion in hopes to help the lung strengthen.  So she has begun another round of chemo.  

She will lose her hair.   I decided I would like to make her some chemo caps.  I will probably crochet one, but I was worried it would be too itchy.  So I got to googling and found some ideas.

So, here is what I came up with.  I popped it up with a scarf and a pin (both of which are hers).  I used old tee-shirts that Brad was getting rid of.  It is so soft and I hope it will be comfy for her.

And it is reversible!!  Here it is reversed with no bling at all.  

OK...so I can't give her just one!  She has to have an assortment and I have a huge pile of tee shirts to use.  I can't think of a better use!

I really like how one hat can have so many looks!

In greys.  I think this one will really look good with her complexion.

And here it is reversed.    I have a nice little collection of scarves I have picked up at thrift stores.  At the time I bought them I had designs of reusing them somehow...so there ya go! 

After doing these two I realized how much gratification out of sewing these caps up and started thinking that maybe it can be something I can do for other cancer patients.  

Y'all have a great week.  If anyone is interested in some directions, I followed a little tutorial to make these.  Here are the directions.  I will mention that I went up to 23" on the measurement because the 21.5" was too tight.  

Bye for now!

A New Year...

I have to say I am ready!  I like New Year's.   It's like a new start, a clean slate so to speak.  After a busy Christmas I'm happy to settle back into my routine.  Decorations will come down this week, but not today.   Today I'm chilling with Phoebe and old movies, and of course some yarn!

She's lounging in the sun while I was taking pictures of these cute little fingerless gloves.  Look at those eyes!

Check em out!!!  I like them so much I have started another pair.  The pattern is a redheart freebie.  I don't normally care for crocheted gloves because they can feel too bulky, but I like these.  They actually look knit to me.

I used a sock yarn that I got in a yarn swap, so I don't know where it is from.  The green in it is stunning.

Another thing I have been wanting to make myself is a pair of warm socks to wear around the house to keep my feet warm.  I found crochet geeks tutorial on you tube and followed it, except for the cuff.  I did a ribbed cuff on my and worked it in the round.

You could easily rename these "feet warmers"!  They are so cozy and warm!

I  did use a bulky yarn, if I had gone with something finer I could easily wear these with shoes.  I'm so pleased with them!  And they are crochet!!!  How cool is that!

I'm off for now, going to work on my second pair of gloves.  I hope everyone had a great New Years!

Phoebe wishes you all a Happy New Year!