Two Weeks Already!

Happy Friday Morning Everyone!  It's been two weeks since I last posted, although I have been trying to keep up with all of your blogs and posts.  My life is relatively unchanging these days.  I truly appreciate all of the thoughts, concerns and well wishes from you all.

I went to the doctor on Tuesday and although I still am on a weight restriction of no more than 2 1/2 lbs. for another 6-8 weeks, no vacumming, etc., I have been up and around a bit more.  He also sent me to physical therapy which began on Wednesday.  Very light exercises, to me they aren't even exercises! Lifting my arms above my head 20 times.  Rolling over in the bed.  That's it!  The therapist said after his exam that I also damaged all of my lower back muscles in the fall and they have to be rehabilitated too.  Plus, everything below the actual break absorbed some of the impact and the joints are all "jammed up".  I am a bit better but both doctor and therapist want me resting in the recliner more than I'm up and about because the bone is still not healed fully.

Which has made more time for crafting!  This is a hat I made for my friend from church.  I made the pattern from a store bought hat she loves so I named it the "Teresa Hat".  I've made several of them for her over the past year or two and this is the latest one.  She brought me the yarn and I made it in about 2 hours.  I've made myself one too and have to say, it's the most comfortable and easy to wear hat I've ever had.

I also got a Knit Picks order of sock yarn in the mail.  I've already finished a pair of socks from the two small balls of green, tan and cream.  It's called "Chickadee" in the Felici line. 

Here is the rest of the order.  Most of this will be used for socks for various people in my family.  It's never too early to start on Christmas gifts is it?

A closer look at the speckles.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the speckles.

The Corner to Corner crochet blanket has been taken back out and I'm hoping to finish it today or tomorrow.  Miss Piper has asked for it to wrap her baby doll in and I'm happy to take care of that need for her.  She loves the bright colors but I'm still not sold on them. :-)  It will be about 36 inches square when done.

Hubby went to Michaels for me last Sunday and bought the yarn for this wedding blanket.  We had a couple in our church get married and I wasn't able to get to the store to buy the yarn.  When I had a 20% coupon off all sale and regular price items this last weekend, it was too good a deal to pass up.  We face-timed while he was there and he was able to get exactly what I needed.  Plus, the yarn was on sale so I got a great deal!  It's hard to tell from the photo but it is a Queen sized blanket.  The photo on the left shows the detail a bit better. I made this in just 9 days, in between the hat and socks!

And here are the socks made with the Felici "Chickadee" yarn.  Plain vanilla socks from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's pattern. So easy and nothing to memorize.  Just knit and knit and knit.  I really like making this pattern.  It's my "go to" pattern for when I travel.

A few more pairs of mittens and a lonely baby hat.  I have to get cracking on these and get more made.

My pretty Valentine.  She sent this picture to all of her grandparents.

Debra from the "Araignee" blog on my sidebar sent me this lovely package.  It has CHOCOLATE scented soap and lotion bars as well as this pretty card she made. All of you who know me, know how I adore anything chocolate.  I love her lotion bars.  I have one right by my knitting chair and in my bag as well.  Thank you so much Debra.  You are so generous.

This is the view this morning out our front door.  About 2 1/2 foot of snow still on the ground and it's flurrying outside my window.  We've had snow 3 days this week and more predicted for Sunday and Monday.  I truly believe it's the never ending winter.  And some places have had NO snow this year.  It's been in the 70's at Mandy's all this week.

Yesterday I got this picture of Miss Piper at the shoe store getting new tennis shoes.  Her little feet grew right out of her old ones.  She's getting so tall too.  Don't you just love that face?

The newest news is that Mandy, Brad and Miss Piper will be moving again.  Their house went on the market yesterday and their new destination will be Omaha, Nebraska!  Still not here with us, but all of our extended family and Brad's family are there.  My brothers and sister, Dennis' sister and Mom. All of our cousins and Mandy's cousins.  Brad's brothers, parents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  You get the picture.  A huge support system and a fantastic job for Brad.  He's in Texas as I type this looking at a Piper Comanche airplane to buy.  I think the move will be a vast improvement in their lives.  Family is important.

We're seriously considering moving back there after Dennis retires.  We absolutely love the Pacific Northwest, but family is much more important than where you live.  As I get older, I realize that more.  We both grew up there and still have lots of friends there.  Time will tell.

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well and are having an early spring wherever you may be.  It HAS to be better than our weather.  :-)

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

Have a lovely weekend and thank you all for visiting me today.

Blessings always,
Betsy

Another Friday

Hello my friends!  Another week has gone by.  Another week of sitting in my chair and crocheting/knitting.  I've been enjoying podcasts from crafters all over the world.  It's been a snowy, icy, windy, cold week here, so it has been good to be cozy at home.  My back is still very painful.  I'm not sure that's normal at this point so if there is no change over the weekend, Hubby is wanting me to call the doctor on Monday.  Would you please pray for a huge improvement over the weekend?

I have been busy though.  My hot pads were in a terrible, disgusting shape.  Stained and burnt.  (Don't ask!)  This week I thought, this is crazy.  I've made tons of these to give away, I need to make some for us.  So I chose my brightest cotton yarn that makes me happy and crocheted away.  Within a couple of  hours I had these.  They are SO easy and are a free pattern on Ravelry.  Just look up double thick crochet hot pads and they'll pop up.  The ones I had before I made over 20 years ago, so they last a long, long time and are completely machine washable/dryable.

I finished the "Wonderful Girl" socks.  Another free Ravelry pattern.  I did change the pattern a bit and put one cable up the outside of each sock.  I love these.  Knit Picks Tweed Fingering weight yarn.

I also finished the "Lala's Simple Shawl" and will be donating it to the local Veterans Home for the ladies there.  People seem to forget there are ladies in the VA Homes, and these are perfect around their shoulders.  I have donated many of these shawls and they are always received with gratitude.

The bottom photo shows the stitch pattern a bit closer.  These photos were before it was blocked since I'm not physically able to do that right now.

Another pair of socks have begun.  These are the "Petty Harbour" pattern again, which is fast becoming a favorite of mine.  Knit Picks "Gemstone" hand painted yarn. This photo was from last night.

Here they are this morning.  One heel turned and I'm working on the second.  I have a big sock yarn order that is supposed to arrive tomorrow.  It will have enough yarn to keep me busy all year. Possibly Christmas presents????

Two more pairs of mittens are done.

And four more baby hats.

I bought the pattern below on Ravelry yesterday.  I've only purchased two patterns online and both were from this lady.  She is amazing and a really nice lady too. Her "real" job is a physical therapist and she's been messaging me hints about my back ever since I hurt it.

This pattern uses up the ends of sock yarn skeins since you don't use an entire skein for a pair of socks.  I've started two blankets with my "mini" sock yarn skeins, but don't like either of them very much.  So I thought I would give this a try.  My colors are going to be different than hers because of my particular leftover colors, but the pattern itself is lovely.

Here's my view most of the time.  In my recliner knitting and watching podcasts. You can see a little of Chloe there on her bed on the floor.  She's never far away from me.  I love my Chloe girl!

For a change of pace.  Here's our youngest son Alex in the building he's rented for his business.  It's in Tawada, Aomori, Japan.  This room originally had 6 classrooms in it.  This week the construction guys tore out all of the walls. Yesterday we got a picture showing the green floor is all gone too!  His office will be in this building, (he lives in an apartment behind the building.)  The local museum is renting part of this space for display and a library.  Another young business person has rented office space from him too.  That's good, because he still has an apartment in Tokyo.  He spends about two weeks each month at each location since he still has several clients in Tokyo.  His heart is in northern Japan though, and he has many friends there.  He has lived there since he graduated with his Masters Degree at 19 and spent his summers teaching English in Aomori since he was 13.

Isn't he a good looking guy?  He's my baby, even if he is 28 years old now!  He's accomplished much in his young life.  He translates fluently in Japanese and Chinese and also teaches often.  We sure miss him.  He still finds time to FaceTime with us several times a week.

Here he is clearing a path from the business end of the building to the living quarters.  Did you think Japan is tropical?  They get more snow in Aomori on average than we do in Spokane!

And here's his Dad clearing our steps on the same day, only here in Spokane!  It has begun to warm up into the 30's this week though, so we're hoping for some melting.  Yesterday we had an ice storm that shut down most schools.  They don't close schools often here.  Yesterday was our first snow day in Spokane this school year and we have over 4 foot of snow in our yard!  That gives you some idea of how bad the roads were yesterday.  Hubby went to work though.  Nothing stops him.

I'm going to go back to my chair now.  I hope things are going well for you all.  I'm trying to read all of your blogs and stay up with all of your news.  Have a lovely week everyone!

"Rejoice in the LORD always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"  Philippians 4:4

Blessings,

Betsy

Happy Friday

Hello my friends and HaPpY FeBrUaRy!   I'm excited for February because not only is it my birthday month, but it means spring is ever closer.  I'm still on recliner chair/bedrest for several more weeks so this again will be fairly short.  I can't seem to concentrate to finish projects so I have several in the works I'll show you.

First off, another Lala's Simple Shawl which is a free pattern on Ravelry. This is knit with Caron's Simply Soft yarn and will most likely be donated to a local nursing home.  They are great around the shoulders of the ladies in wheelchairs and are easily washed/dried.  I think I could make hundreds of these and not have enough for the demand.

I did manage to put out a few Valentine's decorations.  The Scandinavian crocheted hearts are Teresa's pattern, (on my sidebar).  She offers the pattern free on her blog.  You should hop on over and get it.  They're loads of fun to make. :-)

Three more baby hats and two pairs of mittens have made their way off the needles.

One sock done and another started.  I like this Knit Picks Stroll Tweed yarn. It's very soft yet has nylon in it to make them hardwearing.

Can you see the tiny cable going up the side of the sock?

It's snowing again today.

6+ inches predicted today and tonight.  I WILL NOT be shoveling it.

My birthday was Wednesday and I got this beautiful card from my Hubby.  I won't show you what he wrote inside, but let it be known that I adore this man more every day.  And that's saying something since I've been madly in love with him since I was 15 years old!

Friends brought me balloons!

Mandy, Brad and Piper sent me a candle that a former co-worker of Mandy's who lives in Lake Oswego, OR made.  She has a business, zcandlestudio.com and let me tell you, this candle is amazing!  It came wrapped and packaged in this sweet box and cord.

The little box is full of wooden matches!

My candle is lavender scented.  You can see the lavender leaves in the soy wax.  I love this!  I wish you could smell what I do!

Jenny and Neal gave me this sweet cast iron squirrel.  I'm not sure if he'll stay in our yard here at home or help guard the trailer at the lake this summer. :-)

Another friend gave me flowers and lots of cards have arrived.  Alex has face-timed from Japan almost every day this week and Mandy face-times with Piper every day.  Jamie called from Montana on my birthday, so this Mama was very happy after hearing from all of our kids.

Look at this cute photo bomber!  Mandy and Brad are getting ready to list their home for sale and move from the East coast, probably back to our hometown in Nebraska.  Mandy had taken down photos in the stairwell and touched up the paint.  She was taking this picture to send to Brad and Piper jumped into it completely unexpectedly.  Isn't she a doll?  I wish they were moving here, but Omaha is the next best thing since Brad's entire family is there and all of both Dennis' and my families are also there.  They will have lots of people around that love them and that makes me very happy.  Who knows?  Maybe we'll head back there after retirement.  You never know what life will bring.

I made a bunch of these hearts last year or the year before and have them scattered around the house.  I want to spread love everywhere, here, there, and all over the world.

And now, I have to go sit back in my recliner and out of this desk chair.  Have a lovely, lovely week my friends.  I hope you're all spreading LOVE everywhere you go.

"Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be Holy; without holiness no one will see the LORD."  Hebrews 12:14

And another caught my eye this week.

"Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools." Ecclesiastes 7:9

I pray for peace and love in all of our spirits during this month that we celebrate LOVE.

Blessings always my friend,
Betsy