Thursday, June 2, 2022

Busy days!

My goodness! The days are flying by! Dennis said to me today, “How did I ever have time to work?” He’s right. The days are so full and busy between taking care of the lawn, the very, very small garden that I’ve planted, the house, and watching over Mom, I don’t know how we ever had time to do anything else. 

I have finished a little bit of knitting/crocheting that I’ll show you today. First a sweater for baby J. that I sent along with Mandy. I’m not sure if I showed it to you or not. If I did, please forgive me. I just used a basic baby sweater for numbers of stitches and then I made up the pattern for the sleeve cuffs and the bottom of the sweater.

The front:

The back.

This is just a simple crocheted  shawl I made from a Red Heart Super Saver skein I got in one of the batches of yarn from Facebook marketplace, but I’m not sure of the colorway. It is for the hospital cancer patients.

Then I needed to make another baby set. I had wanted to get this done in time to send along with Mandy also, but there was no way I could possibly finish it in time. Our daughter-in-law’s sister is expecting a baby girl at the end of June. She and baby J will only be about two months apart in age. They live within blocks of each other, so these two little girls will be able to grow up with each other. That makes my heart happy. I hope Mama likes the same colors as her sister, because those are the colors I chose. First is a crocheted blanket using the corner to corner stitch and a made up border. The border is two rows of half double crochet in each of the two colors of dark gray and cream and then a scallop stitch in light gray.

I also made her a sweater and hat in the 3 to 6 month size. I have not put the buttons on yet. I also haven’t washed and blocked any of the projects that you see in this post except the sweater for baby J that Mandy took with her.

One baby hat completed and another on the needles. These are for the University Hospital Medical Center. The completed one looks gray in the photo but it is really baby blue.

Brad, Mandy and Piper are in Paris this week and part of next week. They are staying with friends that have an apartment there. She sent me a picture of their room that overlooks Notre Dame but for some reason it’s not posting here.

Miss Piper is having a wonderful time. Here she is posing in front of the Eiffel tower. Look at those long thin legs! Grandpa says she’s 9 going on 16! 💜

And lit up at night!

They will go on to London next week to see Alex and family. I know Mandy‘s disappointed in not seeing the Queen’s Jubilee this week as she enjoys the Royal family very much. However, I think she’s just as excited to see baby J and hold her in her arms soon.

Meanwhile we have Lizzie while they’re gone. She and Zoey play and play and play all day and then fall into bed exhausted at night and don’t move until morning! It’s hilarious. These two love each other so much. Please ignore the dog hair on the chair. Even though they’re tiny, they still shed a little bit. It’s impossible to keep it all off of the furniture.

Meanwhile, Dennis spent a couple of hours at the camper yesterday putting in a fantastic fan and a few other small upgrades. Those things are great. It will help cool the camper off so much when we don’t want to use the air conditioner. We are planning to go camping in the Black Hills with Miss Piper at the end of this month. That is if the diesel prices aren’t completely out of this world. After Paris and London she probably won’t want to go camping with grandpa and grandma anyway. It won’t be nearly as exciting!

At the last minute I decided to plant a very small garden. The only place I could do it has about 8 inches of river rock in it. It’s about 8‘ x 5‘ and is taking a lot of work to get the rock out of there. Dennis has spent hours making a space big enough for me to plant three rows of green beans and four hills of zucchini. Today I planted a cherry tomato plant. We still have a lot of rock to remove in the next few days because we have to get a fence up around it on Saturday. My green beans have just started poking through the ground and the deer already ate two of them off last night. It will be a very, very small garden this year and maybe next year when I can get an earlier start I can organize it better and get more vegetables.  I sure miss the raised beds that Dennis made for me at our house in Spokane.

We have had the most amazing week of beautifully coolish weather in the 70’s and bright blue skies. We have had every window in the house open day and night since Monday. I love that. There’s nothing better than sleeping with the windows open on a summer night and waking up to the sound of birdsong in the morning.

It’s getting late and I need to go to bed before too long. I can’t seem to find time to post during the day anymore. It seems we are always doing this or that. Take care everyone I’m trying to keep up with all of your blogs. May God in his mercy bless each one of you.

Blessings and hugs,
Betsy


16 comments:

  1. I enjoyed seeing the photos of the Eiffel tower and Piper,. Nice items you've made. Gas has now gotten in $5 plus. I was able to get 5 gallons today with 10 cents off per gallon at Safeway this afternoon. Just a bit above half a tank of gas but wanted to get what I could when it's a bit cheaper that way. We've had warm days lately and I was able to cut back some weeds finally as I've had time to do it this week. I hope to cut back the blackberries as well as they are overtaking the flower bed. Way too much rain this spring and they grow way too tall, even after Megan cut them back. So annoying! I need to make some weed spray from YL essential oils plus vinegar and water as that may get them away for awhile. Will see. Megan was able to get 2 tomato plants on Monday, b1g1free at Bauman farm. Bigger than expected but so thankful to have them and there's some tomatoes growing now! Yeah!
    Have a good rest of your week, my friend! Hugs and blessings, Becky

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  2. Beautiful pieces of crochet!
    Piper looks lovely on the background of Eiffel tower!
    I like the Psalm prayer that ends your post.

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  3. How exciting for Mandy and family to have a trip to Paris and London. I can guarantee you the camping trip with Piper will still be very exciting to her.

    Good luck with the garden. I didn't do one this year. Maybe next. LOL

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  4. You certainly have been busy! Such cute baby gifts you have made Betsy. I'm sure they will be greatly appreciated. Piper certainly is growing up quickly, isn't she? I hope your camping trip can happen.

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  5. Beautiful sweater for your Grand! And the gift you made for the other baby is really sweet. I bet Piper is having a blast what fun for her! I bet she is looking forward to camping!! :)

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  6. You are definitely keeping busy. All the projects look great!

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  7. The pic of Piper and the Eiffel Tower is great! I'm glad she is getting this opportunity! I know what you mean about busy-each day is pretty packed!

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  8. I can't believe how much you get done! All your work is so lovely. I've been watching teh Jubilee live streams since I'm up all night with Pup anyway. I am finding it very bittersweet seeing how fragile Elizabeth is.

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  9. I like your crochet projects, the tiny sweaters, hats, blankets. It's amazing how much you get done.
    I hope the fence you build will keep those deer out now that they've discovered it.

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  10. Betsy, your blog is always a joy to read. Wow....you really accomplish a lot...getting all those beautiful and sweet baby clothes ready! What lucky little ones to receive those precious gifts! I can just picture those two dogs chasing each other around all day! I love that pic of Piper in front of the Eiffel Tower. So cool. Hope you're able to take your camping trip. We just cancelled our RV trip to Wyoming for August....going to be too expensive. Hoping/praying things will come back down to normal sometime in the future. I hear we have 2000 years worth of oil in our own country, but we're not using it. Yikes. What a burden for everybody.

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  11. AMO TUS TEJIDOS BETSY, ERES GENIAL¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ A MI ME PASA LO MISMO, EL TIEMPO VUELA Y VUELA TAN RAPIDO, QUIERO HACER MUCHAS COSAS, PERO EL DIA LLEGA A SU FIN Y ESTOY TAN CANSADA, HAY MUCHOS HIJOS PARA CUIDAR AQUI, HACE FRIO Y SE USA MUCHA ROPA, IMAGINATE QUE CON 8 PERSONAS EN LA CASA, HAY MUCHO PARA LAVAR, PLANCHAR Y ORDENAR, LIMPIAR Y COCINAR, MAS TEJER ECT. TENGO 13 NIETOS TAMBIEN Y PARA ELLOS TEJO MUCHO, IGUAL QUE TU PARA TUS NIETAS, AMO MI VIDA CAOTICAMENTE FELIZ, AMO SER UNA GUARDIANA DE MI HOGAR, DIOS ME PUSO EN ESTE MUNDO PARA SERVIR A LOS DEMAS. TE DESEO UN BENDECIDO FIN DE SEMANA DULCE HERMANA.

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  12. I LOVE YOUR KNITTING BETSY, YOU ARE GREAT¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ THE SAME THING HAPPENS TO ME, MY TIME FLIES AND IT FLIES SO FAST, I WANT TO DO SO MANY THINGS, BUT THE DAY COMES TO AN END AND I AM SO TIRED, THERE ARE MANY CHILDREN TO TAKE CARE OF HERE, IT IS COLD AND WE WEAR A LOT OF CLOTHES, IMAGINE THAT WITH 8 PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE, THERE IS A LOT TO WASH, IRON AND TIDY, CLEAN AND COOK, PLUS KNITTING ECT. I HAVE 13 GRANDCHILDREN TOO AND FOR THEM I KNIT MUCH, JUST LIKE YOU DO FOR YOUR GRANDDAUGHTERS, I LOVE MY LIFE CHAOTICALLY HAPPY, I LOVE BEING A GUARDIAN OF MY HOME, GOD PUT ME IN THIS WORLD TO SERVE OTHERS. I WISH YOU A BLESSED WEEKEND SWEET SISTER.

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  13. The sweaters are just adorable! So sweet. And how wonderful Baby J will have a cousin to grow up with. So precious. I call my grandkids the "cousin crew" and they have so much fun together. What a wonderful trip for Miss Piper! My oldest granddaughter has those legs, too. Where do they get them? It gets tricky when you are looking at dresses and they all look like mini skirts. Thank you for sharing all the vacation photos! Traveling from my chair!

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  14. Love the words in that psalm. I think of them often. Baby J's sweater is adorable. I really like how you created your own pattern. The hat and blanket are pretty, too. That baby blue color is so pretty. I like having windows open, too. It's a little warm for that today, but I still have them open since it's cloudy and the sun isn't directly on the windows. It looks like Piper is really having fun. I'm sure, though, that she will love a camping trip with you and Dennis. Have a great week! xx

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  15. Bless you sweet friend, you are always so busy making and doing for others. You reflect His light and love into world. Such lovely pictures. Little Miss Piper is getting so tall. Blessings to you and your sweet family as well dear friend. ((hugs))

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  16. I love the sweaters that you knit. I am such a slow knitter, I'm amazed at how quickly you can whip up a sweater! We are hoping to get one or two camping trips in. this summer. We haven't been in almost three years! We had plans to go to South Dakota but with gas prices as they are we are not going to go. But hopefully a couple of short trips should be doable. I'll bet Miss Piper will be very happy to spend some one on one time with Grandpa and Grandma! Have a great week!

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