Cloudy Monday

Good Morning Friends!

What a lovely Sunday we had in Spokane. I even took Chloe for a 1 1/2 mile walk in the afternoon. I started out with a jacket on, but that quickly became much too heavy to wear. It was a beautiful cloud-less day. This morning, however, is another story. Very dense clouds with the promise of rain in them. The forecast is for 1/2 inch of rain this afternoon and evening. But, at least we were blessed with a nice weekend.

Friday evening hubby and I saw the movie "Courageous" in Deer Park, WA. We both highly recommend it. In fact, we went out Saturday morning and bought the video to send to our son, Alex, in Japan. We both think he would enjoy it and he likes to get English videos! We also had friends over for pizza Saturday evening and we watched it with them since they were unable to go to the viewing Friday night. We laughed and we cried. Alot. The advantage of the DVD is watching the bloopers and the story behind the movie. It is produced, directed and shot mosting by a church, using members as the actors. This is their fourth movie that I'm aware of, and they just get better each time.

So, I just tried to upload a few pictures and it says I've exceeded my limit. Since I know next to nothing about computers, has anyone else experienced this with blogger.com? I guess my days of blogging will be no more if I have to purchase more space. That is definitely not in the budget!

I was going to show you a lace scarf in progress. I bought a merino/silk/tinsel blend at Paradise Fibers on Friday and started it yesterday. It will take some time to complete, because of the lace pattern. As you all know, there are no distractions allowed when kitting lace, so it will have to be worked on when I'm alone.

I also took a picture of a little burial outfit I made last night. Just the sleeves need added. It'a a beautiful lilac color.

And last but not least, was a picture of yet another blue baby sweater and sockies completed and the hat on the needles. I can work on these sets in church, in meetings, chatting with friends. The pattern is pretty much memorized so I always have a set on the needles. Many of the charities I belong to ask for baby sets so I usually have something to send them.

Tonight is dinner at church with the other Elders and wives before our monthly meetings. It's the start of another busy week for me. Next week I'm driving to Portland, OR to spend a few days with our daughter. I'm going to be a Grandma again in September, and I'm supposed to go the the Dr. with her and hear the baby's heartbeat! I'm so excited. Being a Grandma is one of God's greatest blessings.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Blessings,

Betsy

Same Old, Same Old

Hello my friends!

It's Friday morning and it has been just a normal week for me.  Knitting group and nursing home visits.  I managed to finish the cuddly baby blanket and it will have a Tah-dah!  moment soon.  I also finished a baby sweater and will work on a hat and sockies today.  One more set of pink and brown and I think I'll set aside that particular pattern for awhile.

I did take 57 hats and several burial outfits to the hospital on Tuesday morning.  The nurses oohed and aahed over all of it and asked me to please make more of the tiny things for both the burial needs and the micro-preemies that survive.  I think I'll try to work on those next week.

I also started a scarf from a "Pattern with No Name" from Ginny's blog "Small Things".  It's a beautiful simple lace pattern that is supposed to use fingerling weight yarn.  I started it with Caron Simply Soft in the Soft White colorway as that's what I had in the house and I wanted to see the pattern take shape.  I think it's a little too thick though and hope to get to the yarn shop today to find something else.  The scarf is supposed to be for me, but I usually end up giving everything away.

We've had several snow events this week.  I snow-blwed about 6 inches on Wednesday and it snowed some yesterday too.  We've had more snow in the last week than we have all winter!  That darn groundhog!   It's supposed to be near 50 degrees this weekend though and lots of that nasty white stuff will melt away.  Yippee!!!

Tonight hubby and I are going to grab dinner at some fast food place because we're going to see the movie "Courageous".  It's being shown at a sister church about 35 miles north of us at 7:00.  That doesn't leave a lot of time from when hubby gets home to get me and make the drive.  With all the snow we recieved this week, they have even more, so we want to leave lots of time.  Traffic is also very heavy on that highway in the morning/evening for commuters.  Lot's of people work in Spokane, but live in the smaller towns around here.

This is the basket I'm beginning to put together for my secret sister at church for March.  A green basket, shamrock towel, mug and socks.  I'm also going to get her a skein of green yarn since she likes to crochet.  What do you think?

 First thing, excuse the bad pictures.  I'm such a bad photographer, I don't even know why I try!  Today I'm showing you my entry-way.  It's a split-level house, so not much floor space there.  We bought this wall hanging on clearance at the Oregon coast.  I love it and the saying on it.  It's about 3 feet square, so it's pretty big.

 I had to take two pictures closer up so you could read what it says.

 Okay-this picture is really bad.  The lighting is off this morning, another cloudy day and it was the best of the batch!  I picked up the faith, friends and family plaques in Montana and my best friend gave me the cross for my birthday this year.  It has scriptures ingraved on it about worrying.  I'm a worrier and she knows it.  Under these plaques is a table I'll show you sometime.

 And here's my little Chloe baby. still sleeping away this morning!

  No huge plans this weekend.  We have to prepare the hospitality lunch at church on Sunday so I'm off to the grocery store right now.  Then I have knitting group this afternoon with some of the nicest ladies I've met in a long time.  Most are in their 70's and 80's. I've only been going to this group for about a month but I'm really enjoying visiting with them all.

Have a wonderfully blessed weekend and I'll see you all again next week.

Blessings,

Betsy

Whew! It's Monday!

Hello everyone!  I made it through the weekend in one piece.  I think.  It was the complete whirlwind I had been expecting, but it all turned out very well.

Friday afternoon our college kids arrived.  They were the most polite, curteous teenagers that we've hosted in recent years.  They even made their beds both days!  For some reason I think it's funny when guests make their beds the day they leave.  It's like they believe they're preparing for the next people to stay in that room.  Do they not realize I wash all the bedding between each person who stays here?!  Just a thought that popped into my little mind!

Saturday morning ten ladies from church came to the craft morning, plus the three teenagers.  The boy was the only one who crafted of the teens.  He used my round loom and made a knitted hat in about 3 hours!  The girls were very cordial though and visited with everyone.

Three of our friends then spent the afternoon with us just eating pizza and visiting.  I hadn't seen my young friend from Oklahoma in almost 3 years so it was wonderful to catch up with her.  Their little family wants desperately to move back to the Northwest somewhere to be closer to family, but no job has been found yet.  She stays at home with their 3 & 4 year olds and loves it but misses having family close.  My hubby performed the wedding ceremonies for her and her husband and our other young friends that also visited with us on Saturday afternoon.  We had a wonderful time remembering how much fun we used to have together.  We met with both couples weekly for Bible study as they were all new Christians.  Our own faith grew and was strengthened by studying with them since we were seeing the Bible with the eyes of people who had never read it before.

Saturday evening hubby and I had a nice "date night" at the Spokane symphony.  The featured "soloists" were a brother team that we had seen in Hawaii on several occasions.  It was fantastic.  I couldn't fathom how Hawaiian slack guitar sounds could meld with the symphony orchestra but they did it in a beautiful sound.  We had front row seats and sat directly in front of the harpist!  I spent the evening just watching her hands.  Amazing!

Sunday was just as busy.  Church in the morning, bridal shower in the afternoon and then evening services.  After evening service we went to Arby's for dinner with about 10 other people and had a nice hour or so just visiting and relaxing.  Can you believe Arby's was out of roast beef!?  We had a laugh over that and then ordered chicken, fish or ham!

So----that was my weekend.  Almost no computer time at all.  I did read emails but didn't answer any until late last night.  Since I last posted pictures I've been so busy that not much knitting has been accomplished.  Only two little pictures to show you.

I finished another baby sweater set.  The sweater was almost finished when I last blogged, so it probably shouldn't count!  So really I made two hats, 1 pair of blue socks and one solitary pink sockie.  The other pink sock is on the needles right now.  I must admit I'm tiring of these sets but I still have 3 babies on the way and I'm not sure of the gender of any of them.  I'm making 3 of each color just to be prepared!  Any sets I don't need can always be donated to one of the many charity groups I'm in.  A friend also keeps buying them almost as fast as I've made each set.  She has bought 3 rainbow blankets and 3 sweater sets in the past 6 weeks for new babies in her life.  She pays me well and it helps purchase more yarn so I'm not complaining.  I just need to get busy with more sets before I lose my motivation!

This is a picture of our gray skies this morning.  That's Mt. Spokane in the background!  Ha!  This morning when I woke up it was beautiful.  Covered in fresh snow and blue skies.  Something happened in the past couple of hours.  Clouds have appeared.  Just north of us about 30 miles or so and up to the Canadian border recieved 8 to 14 inches of snow Saturday night, including Mt. Spokane.  We woke up to about 1/8 of an inch yesterday.  By the time church was over everything was melted away and that's just the way I like it.  Snow in the mountains but not here.

I've spent a lot of time at my sewing machine recently sewing bandana's for myself.  After much prayer and study, I have come to the conclusion that I do need to start covering my head for prayer and worship at the minimum as it tells in 1 Corinthians 11.  I just can't find the cultural argument no matter how much I tried.  And believe me I tried.  Remember me?  I'm the one who dyed my hair for the first time about two weeks ago and cut a lot of it off three weeks ago.  I've been fighting this for all I'm worth, but what I've discovered is this.  If we discount this as a cultural thing, what else are we going to deem cultural and thus stop following that Paul and others taught?  It's a slippery slope we find ourselves on.  I'm not trying to be legalistic and I definitely am NOT trying to put my beliefs on anyone else but I have to follow where I believe the Lord is convicting me in my heart. 

Okay, enough preaching.  That's not what this blog is all about, but it is about my life and that's an important part of my heart.  So, I've been sewing and it's been fun.  I haven't sewn much in years but I'm enjoying my time behind the machine.  Do any of you sew?   I used to make all of my daughters clothes and a lot of mine when she was small.  The price of patterns, material and notions became so expensive though that it was less expensive to buy things and so my machine was brought out for repairs or quilting, etc.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and I'll try to be back soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

A Foggy Morning

Good Morning Friends!

It's a gray, foggy day here in Spokane but I've had a productive morning.  I caught up on my Bible reading before leaving my bed today.  Somehow I was a few chapters behind and thought I would take this day to play catch up and do some research into some scriptures that have been on my heart lately.  I'm just going to throw it out there and see if any of you have opinions on this.  1 Corinthians 11:2-16  This passage just sort of "leapt" out at me recently and I've been praying on it and asking for clarification from the Lord.  I've never really given this much thought but for some reason it keeps peeking into my brain!  Please let me know what you all think if you're comfortable sharing.

I then got up, ran to the grocery store to pick up a few necessities.  I've done laundry, vacuumed, dusted and spent a few hours on the computer doing the mundane tasks I always put off.  For example, I keep a list of all Christmas cards I send/recieve every year with all the addresses.  That makes sending the cards each December a much easier task.  No searching for the correct address, everything is in one place and handy.  For some reason, every year it's February at least, before I get myself organized enough to update the list.  It only takes half an hour or so, why do I procrastinate?

Then I did some computer stuff for our ladies ministry at church.  It's all done now and this afternoon I can knit with a clean concious.  Did I spell that right?    We did have a very busy weekend, but I toted my knitting along and finished a boy baby sweater set and started another one.

I do love these sweaters.  It's a variation of the 5 hour baby sweater, although I've NEVER finished one in close to 5 hours.  It's more like 7 or 8 hours for me if I don't have many interuptions.

I picked up a small box of Valentine Candy this morning for my elderly friend at the nursing home.  She loves chocolates but she will eat the entire box in a very short time if I take her a bigger box.  This small one should be perfect for her.

Oh!  I almost forgot to tell you about my other friend at a different nursing facility that I made the crochet blanket for.  I delivered it last Friday and I how wish I had taken my camera.  The look on her face was priceless!  She just sat there smiling and hugging that blanket the entire time I was visiting her.  It made me feel wonderful to do something so small that made her so happy.

And now, I'll leave you with a last picture of my Chloe-baby.  I'm going to try to take her on a nice long walk in a little while if the rains stops long enough.

Isn't she precious?  She is so much company for me.  But, she has spoiled us for any other dog.  Hubby is already saying that we'll never have another dog.  She's so good it would be an impossible act to follow.

Have a wonderfully blessed day everyone and I look forward to reading your comments.

Blessings,

Betsy

Good Morning Thursday!

I'm feeling MUCH better!  Still not 100% but other than a lingering cough, dizziness and a bit of a stuffy nose, I'm ready to join the land of the living again.  Until the next bug attacks!

At noon I'm off to get my new haircut highlighted.  I've never, ever put a drop of dye on my hair before but I'm told it will make the gray blend in more.  I'll see how it goes, it may be the first and last time I do it.  My daughter has been trying to convince me to do it, among other people, so I'm up for one time anyway.  I've had the appointment since before I got sick and I'm glad that I don't have to cancel it.  I hate to mess up other people's schedules.

I have a quick tah-dah moment for you. Last night I finally finished the blanket for my friend.  It turned out to be 46 x 56 inches.  I listened to Carol and added another row and I think now it's just about perfect.  I couldn't have done more without a trip to the yarn shop so I'm glad it worked out the way it did.  Here's a picture for you of the completed blanket.  We have snowy skies today so I turned on all the lights to capture the colors a little. Please excuse the glare.

 And a close up of the picot stitch border.  I think it looks good don't you?  The color is bright yellow but it looks cream in the picture.  All of the colors look pretty washed out for some reason.  I'm a horrible photographer!

Then I quickly made a baby sweater, hat and socks for a friend who's having her second great-grandchild next month.  She's not much older than I am!  She likes to give these sets whenever she attends a baby shower.

 And one more pair of sockies made late last night.  I'll start another sweater today.

Would you believe I have NO projects on the hook or needles?!  I finished everything before I went to bed last night.  I don't believe this has happend in a long, long time.  I always have something going.

Now, I'm off to get my hair done. Sure hope I don't regret this.  52 years with no dye and now I'm caving in to pressure.  :-)  Have a marvelous weekend everyone.  Stay warm and dry if you're in the cold climate areas and cool if you are blessed to live in a warm place.  Like Hawaii.  My dream home.  I want to move.  Soon.  Before next winter.

Blessings,

Betsy

Still Sick, (Sounds like there's an echo here!)

Oh my goodness!  2012 has certainly not started well for me.  First almost three weeks with shingles and now a doozy of a cold.  Hubby had it last week, but was only sick for about four days.  I've been down for the count since Friday...what's that...five days now and no better?  My eyes hurt, my nose hurts.  Bleh!  But enough about that.  I have had valuable crocheting time while I've stayed away from other people.  I started a blanket for my friend in the nursing home.  The plan was to make various size squares in a different color in each round.  It was taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  I got it to about 36 inches by 18 inches and decided, nope.  If I want her to have it in the next week or so I had to change to plan B.   I'll keep that for a future baby blanket.  Now I'm making solid color squares, eight rounds each and joining as I go.  What do you think of my progress?

It's a bit puckered because it hasn't been blocked yet, but for the most part, I like the way it's looking.  If I had to do it again, I would problably make the center of each square a different color to add contrast, but I think she'll like it just fine.  I can't decide if I should just do the four squares to finish out the row or add another entire row.  What do you think?  There will be a border of some sort too, that will add some length and width.  Right now it's about 50 inches by 36 inches.

Tonight is the class hubby and I teach on Financial Peace but I think he'll be going alone.  I don't want to spread this stuff around to others.  We're having our taxes done tomorrow night.  Oh joy of joy!  I always dread that day each year.  It's always so nerve wracking.  No matter how well you try to plan and pay in advance, something new the government is doing always seems to jump out and get us.

Our church youth group is putting on a Valentine's dinner for us on Friday night.  There are over 35 couples attending and it promises to be quite lovely.  They have menus that we choose our entree from and we were told to "dress up".  I certainly hope this nasty virus is gone by then.

Well lovely friends.  On that note I'll leave you for now to go drink a cup of nice hot tea.  I'm sorry my posts have been rather dreary lately.  I can't muster up much enthusiasm these days.  Thank goodness for my yarny projects.  They're keeping me sane while I've been sick so much.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Our granddaughter went back to school yesterday!  Can you believe it?  As sick as she was last week, in school now!  Oh for the resilence of youth!  LOL  Thank you all for your prayers.  The final diagnoses was a nasty virus and pneumonia.

Now I'll leave you with a picture of my faithful companion who is very patient with her Momma.

She loves to sleep right next to me when I'm sick.  She's very much a comfort.

I hope you all have a wonderfully lovely day.

Blessings,

Betsy

Finally Friday.

Good Morning Friends!

It's been long long week at the Queen house.  Dear hubby has been fighting a really nasty cold all week.  I can't remember the last time he was sick.  Seriously.  He never gets sick.  It's been years and years.  Now me, on the other hand, I catch every bug that even comes within a city block of me.  I can already feel the first symptoms of a cold trying to attach to my body.  I've been dosing myself with zinc losenges and using the "Netti Pot" to rinse my sinuses.  People tell me both methods will fight off off a cold so I've been preparing for battle!

Our dear granddaughter has been in the hospital all week and finally got to go home last night.  She still has pneumonia and they are waiting for test results to come back for Kawasaki Disease.  Meanwhile, the doctor thought she would rest more at home where things aren't so frightening.  She didn't need the I.V. system anymore so they let her go home.  She has to go back daily to have her lungs checked and make sure she's not getting worse again.  BUT, it's a praise that she got to go home again!  God is good.  All the time.

I have managed to get a little crocheting and knitting done this week, but not a lot.  The first picture are more baby hats for the local hospital.  They are lavendar-not pink.  I'm not sure why they look pink!

 The second picture are blessing gowns and a burial bunting I made for the hospital, but I may send them to one of the charity groups I'm part of on Ravelry. I put a 12 inch ruler in with them so you can see the sizes more accurately.  One white with blue ribbons, one pink with white ribbon and a blue gown with blue ribbon.  The bunting is pink with white ribbon.

I can't make very many of these without getting depressed so I think I'm done for awhile.

I just began crocheting a blanket for a friend in a nursing facility.  She's not even 50 years old and it gets a bit depressing for her there.  I thought a colorful blanket might bring some cheer to her room.  She's hoping to make enough progress to be able to get her own apartment someday soon and the blanket would be useful there too.  I want to make it fairly large so I think it  may take me awhile.

Hubby wants to take me out to dinner this weekend to celebrate my birthday.  Hopefully we'll both be healthy enough!  I don't want to spread my germs to others.  I'm thinking Applebees.  What do you think?  They have healthy options and I'm still trying to shed some pounds.  Only about 50 lbs. to go!!!!  Applebees has entrees that contain Weight Watcher points so you know what is okay to eat and what to avoid.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I thank you all for your prayers for our little granddaughter.  We're hoping she's on the road to recovery and will be up and running around again very soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

Good Morning Wednesday!

Good Morning friends! I can't believe I slept until 7:30 a.m. this morning.  That's very unusual of me and I now feel like I have lost part of my day that I can't get back.  I'm feeling a little better every day, but still very tired and sluggish.  So...I've spent my days crocheting.  I joined my first ever CAL, (crochet along) with the Lucy group on Ravelry.  That's ALL I have worked on for two days and this is all I have to show for it.

It is very slow going because I'm ending each round a different color and finishing it as I go so I won't have thousands of ends to weave in when I'm finish.  It's supposed to be baby blanket size when finished, although I had intended to make it larger to use as a throw on the sofa.  However, after some pushing, hubby finally confessed that the colors aren't his preference.  Too bright.  Too Lucyish. The picture doesn't actually show how bright it is.  So, now I've lost my drive to finish it although I will push on.  It's not in my nature to leave a project unfinished.  However, it is destined to remain a baby blanket and will probably go to one of my charity groups.  I'm estimating at least 20 hours in this blanket already and at least that much more to go.  And I was very excited at the start.  However, as I worked on it, could see it's brightness, I didn't think it would fit in our home.

This is a tablecloth I made several years ago.  I've actually crocheted an identical one for my daughter-in-law.  We don't eat on it, but I leave it on the table.  With only Dennis and I, it gets folded back and we eat off of placements!  Then after dinner it get's put back in place and looks nice again!  Nothing has ever been spilled on it and I hope it stays that way.

 Layed out it all it's glory for you to see!  I measured it for you this morning.  Six feet across!  I can't believe it's so big!

 Some of the detail closer up.  The last ring of pineapples, (edging), was finished at the beach a few years ago.  We stopped at our daughters in Portland, OR on our way to the coast and I layed the last ring down on the floor to see how long it was.  It stretched from one end of her apartment to the other.  At least 30 feet!  I was astounded!

Hubby figured out that it took approximately 2000 hours to complete!  I don't think these will be sold on ebay!

A few last pictures I took today. The fist two are the full winter moon I took out of our bedroom window at 4:30 this morning!  (I got up to use the bathroom and couldn't resist).  Bear in mind, they were taken through the glass because it was 12 F outside and I was in my nighty! :-)

 I thought it was eerily beautiful.

 This is Mt. Spokane from my back deck a few minutes ago.  No snow here but the resorts are happy.  It's okay with me if it stays that way.  We've only had 9 inches of snow so far this season.  Very, very unusual but good for the City's snow removal budget!

And now, dear friends, I'm going to go crochet on that lovely little blanket some more.  My energy bursts come and go and I've been told to try to enjoy this quiet time in my life.  I'm trying but I'm not a patient person.

I'll be seeing you all soon!

Blessings,

Betsy

Good Morning Week!

AHHH!  I feel like I might be on the mend.  Finally!  My fever has been gone for an entire day now.  My spots have all started the first steps to disappearing.  I think the anti-viral medication the Dr. gave me was the turning point.  Hubby and I had a very lazy weekend, full of knitting, (for me), and movies on the television.

Just as we were falling asleep last night the phone rang.  We've learned not to panic when it rings after 10:00 p.m., it's usually Alex in Japan.  And it was.  He was calling to tell us all about the apartment he's found in Tokyo.  It's about a 15 minute walk to the university he'll be working at.  I was appalled at the price but he assures us that it's very reasonable for Tokyo.  He can see the Tokyo Tower, (Looks like the Eiffel Tower) from the street outside his door.  Now I have a fairly good idea of the part of town he's in since I've been to the tower a couple of times.  He begins his new job on February 1 and his emotions are torn.  He absolutely loves the people in northern Japan, but his girlfriend lives in Tokyo.  The jobs are in Tokyo.  You could just hear the excitement in his voice about new beginnings.

Here's a picture of Anri, (Alex's girlfriend), and me in September.

 And here's Alex, Anri and her dog during the same visit.

Now a few ta-da moments for you of different projects I managed to finish up while laying around all week.  Enjoy!  I also made 4 pink hats that I forgot to photograph.  These were boxed up this morning to send to the "Lil Troopers" charity.  It's a group that provides baby items for miliary families.  I just found this pattern and I love it.  A hat takes about 1 1/2 hours to knit so it's a fast, satisfying knit.  You can change the size just by adjusting your needle size.  Very easy.

 This will be a hat for our local hospital.  I was trying out a new crochet pattern and it looked huge so I tried it on a doll I have that is newborn size and it fits perfectly!

 This blanket is one I wasn't really happy with the end product, but too much work went into it for me to rip it out.  It was boxed up this morning too, for the ongoing baby shower at Pine Ridge Reservation, another charity group I'm in.  It's the feather and fan pattern.

 I think you'll be able to see the pattern better here.

There is another box to mail with two scarves and two hats for the "Outreach to Appalachia" charity group I'm in.  I forgot to take pictures of those items for you.

I finally finished the queen size crocheted blanket for the wedding shower I have later this month.  It seemed to take forever, but maybe that's because I was sick.  In actuality, it was only 9 days.

 A close up of one of the squares for you to see.  I love the pineapple detailing.

So apparentlybeing sick was a productive time for me!  Three boxes off to different charities and the wedding blanket done.  Now I can relax a bit and plan my next projects besides the ongoing baby hats.

I collect angels and my best friend gave me this one for my birthday last year.  She hangs on the wall right next to the bed.  Isn't she beautiful?

 And, of course, my Chloe baby.  She's been right next to me on the sofa the entire week.  How I love this dog.  She's such a great companion and so gentle.  She acts so shy when I take her picture!  Just like a girl!

I hope I'm well enough tomorrow to take all my boxes to the post office. I really want to beat the rate increase.  Now I need to get started on more hats for the local hospital.  My needles sure seem to keep busy. 

What are you up to today?  The sun is shining here.  How about where you live?  Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Blessings,

Betsy

Good Morning!

Good Morning again!  I can't believe another week has passed.  Thanksgiving was very quiet with just DH and I.  We did talk to all of our children that day, but none were able to be at home this year.  Christmas will be better.  Our daughter and middle son and their families will all be home.  Alex, in Japan, won't be able to come home and it will be our first Christmas without him.  Very sad.  I know we raised them to be independent adults-but oh, how I miss my babies!

Since I spent so much of the weekend just being lazy, I think I'm finally on the mend from this bug I've had.  The cough is still hanging on, but everyone I know who has had it says the same thing.  My voice is almost normal now.

I have a few pictures of projects I've made over the past week.  I'm not a great photographer in the best of circumstances and it's foggy and gray out this morning so these aren't very bright.

This first picture is of newborn hats for our local hospital.  I try to take 30-40 hats to them every month.  I made all of these from one skein of yarn!  I'm going to crochet the next few I make just for some variety.

This picture is a real disappointment.  It's very dark.  I made a drop stitch shawl for a charity benefit DH and I are going to this Friday.  The dress I'm wearing is a short sleeve "little black dress" so I'm hoping the shawl will help with the warmth factor.  It is doubled over in the picture so I could fit it in!  It's made with Paton's Kroy Sock yarn and I used four skeins.

This is a scarf and mitten set for my secret sister at church.  I'll give these to her in January when we reveal ourselves otherwise she would guess it was me!

This is my little Chloe, on snuggled up next to me while we were knitting other night.  She's my best buddy and never a critic. 



I'll just be watching little "Miss E" until the end of next week.  She's big enough to go to a daycare with more children and I'm getting "antsy" for my freedom once again.  It's been a good couple of months but I am ready to go back to my knitting group and nursing home visits again.

And speaking of  "MissE", she's just begun calling me in the way 3 month olds have when they're hungry! 

Please let me know what you're all working on and how your Christmas plans are coming.

Blessings,

Betsy

Wednesday!!????

Is it possible?  Has it been a week since I posted?  My life has gone crazy since I've started babysitting little "Miss E".  She's a darling but it's like I've given birth to a newborn!  It's amazing how much time they take up.  I have managed to get a few things completed this week though.  DH and I finished our Christmas shopping on Saturday, even the stocking stuffers!  I wrapped everything up today and the gifts are stacked nicely in our bedroom.  I'll put bows and ribbons on them before putting them under the tree once it's up in December.  I detest wrapping gifts so I try to get that done right away so I don't have it "hanging over my head" on my to do list.

I also finished my talk and the power point that goes along with it.  I'm supposed to give it this weekend in Helena, Montana, but a huge winter storm is expected in the mountains of northern Idaho right at the time we're supposed to be driving through them.  We'll have to keep an eye on the weather tomorrow and see if it's smart to head out over the mountains.  Up to a foot of snow is predicted on the passes right now and I don't look forward to driving through that in the dark.  Then another storm is forecast for Sunday afternoon when we would be driving home.

I really was looking forward to this because I was talking about the charity knitting/crocheting that I do and hoped to make some converts!  LOL  No really I was!  There is so much need out there right now with all the disasters that have been hitting not only here in the U.S. but all over the world.  The point I wanted to get across was that even if you don't craft at all, there is SOMETHING that each person can do.  There.  I gave my talk and I didn't even have to leave my warm house!

I'm knitting a slouchy hat right now for a friend at church.  He's recently retired from the sheriffs dept. and he asked if I would knit him a hat like all the kids are wearing.  He figures he can carry a sandwich in the "slouchy" part in the winter and ice to cool him off in the summer!!!!  I hope he's kidding.  So, I'm going to surprise him tomorrow night with his hat.  I'm sure he didn't think I would really knit it for him.  I'll try to get a picture of it for you.

Maybe I'll even have snow pictures after this weekend.  Have a wonderful evening.

Blessings,

Betsy

It's Cold!

Hello Everyone!  It's cold here in the northwest!  Tuesday and Wednesday mornings were in the upper teens and today was 22 on our back deck.  The weatherman said it was warmer than that, but we always seem to get colder temps and more snow in our area.

A friend dropped off 2 boxes and a bag full of old, old, old knitting magazines.  I picked through and chose about 8 to keep.  She has someone else that wants to look at them too.  It was so much fun to look at the patterns from the 70's and 80's.  And the hair!!!  Oh my!  What were we thinking?  I imagine that will be what people say in 20 years when they look at pictures we're taking now.

This is what I did this morning.

We have Bible Study at our house tonight and although we usually don't have snacks, just coffee and tea, I decided that the cold weather dictated some yummy muffins.  Then I realized that it's Cheryl's birthday today, so it is very appropriate to have baked goodies.  Right?  These are chocolate/peanut butter chip muffins.  The filling is chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, cream cheese and sugar. In other words, no calories at all! :-)

I finished this set on Tuesday evening.  I think I've made 6 or so of these sets this year.  I like the flower on the hat.  Every flower I put on the girls hats are different because I can't remember what I did before!  It is chocolate brown and pink, made from Caron's Simply Soft yarn.

And this, this is my dear friend "V".  I visit her a couple of times a week and I love her to pieces.  I used to help care for her and her husband who has now passed away.  She calls me her "knitting angel" because she has Alzheimers and can't remember names.  She knows who I am though and I love her like a mother.  My Mom died when I was 29 years old. "V" is within 2 weeks of the age my own Mom would have been had she lived.  Maybe that's why I care so much for her.  One of the aides took this picture for me on Tuesday.

Now I'm working on a hat and scarf for myself.  Now that's a shocker.  I hardly every keep anything for myself but decided to make some cold weather things for myself.  I'll post pictures when I can.

Alex has recieved yet another box of hats, baby items and mittens for the people in Japan.  Thank you all for the support you have shown this project.  He apologizes for not distributing the last 3 boxes he's recieved.  He's been very ill with a flu-like illness and has not been able to get out. He's much better now and will get the items to their new owners as soon as possible.

Here's a verse from a song that's been repeating itself over and over in my head all week long.  It's from the song "Hosanna" by Hillsong. I hope it means something to you too.

Heal my heart and make it clean.
Open up my eyes to the things unseen.
Show me how to love like You have loved  me.
Break my heart for what breaks Yours,
Everthing I am for Your Kingdoms cause,
As I walk from earth into eternity.

I do want my heart to break for what breaks my Lords' heart and I want to be His hands and feet while I walk on this earth.  Let me know your thoughts on this if you would like to share.

Have a wonderful day everyone.

Blesssings,

Betsy

Thursday!

Ever have one of those days where you do lots of stuff but it doesn't look like it?  I was very industrious today, sweeping floors, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms.  I even trimmed the bushes outside on this very beautiful fall day.  But the thing of it is, nothing looks any different!  I guess now that it's just Dennis and myself, the house doesn't get very cluttered or dirty.  It was much more rewarding when I could see the difference it made when I cleaned.

I also started another Rainbow Baby Blanket.

Not too bad of progress for day one.  Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow.  I actually sold one of these for to a friend today for a baby gift.  I wish I could find an outlet to sell more of my things to help pay for my fiber habit.

I just took this picture of my baby Chloe.  You can see how disturbed she is by having her picture taken!  She is just the sweetest dog I've ever known.  She loves her coca-cola blanket.  It's one of those really soft fleece blankets and she loves to snuggle on it in front of the fire.

Tomorrow night and Saturday I'm going to a ladies retreat up in the mountains north of here.  It's about 50 miles south of the Canadian border and a beautiful place in the fall.  Of course, when you get a bunch of women together there isn't much sleeping going on.  I've heard rumors that there is going to be a chocolate buffet tomorrow night.  Oh, I'll definitely be in Heaven!!!!  So much for Weight Watchers this week.

I've been asked to speak at a "ladies day" in Montana next month.  They want me to talk about the Hats for Japan project and how it started as an idea and with the help of many, progressed to almost 1500 items to help keep people warm this winter.  I think the theme is something about how we can all do something, even if it's small, to help others.  I am NOT a speaker.  This is definitely NOT in my comfort zone.  Don't get me wrong, I love to talk. To one or two people.  Not in front of a group.  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I prepare my "talk".

Have a wonderful Friday everyone and enjoy your weekend.  I plan to eat lots of chocolate!

Blessings,

Betsy

Address for sending items to Japan

I mentioned in my post earlier today that unfortunately I can't continue to collect items for Japan.  After that was posted I recieved a message on Ravelry from craftyrider who gave me a possible link.

I emailed the contact given to me and he graciously emailed me back a long note about his project.  His name is Bernd Kestler and he lives in Yokohama, Japan.  He would LOVE to continue recieving items from any of you would like to continue sending them.

He is also collecting knitting needles and crochet hooks and yarn.  Preferably natural fiber yarns but will take anything.  They are teaching classes in all of the various areas affected by the tsunami/earthquake/typhoon.

How wonderful is this?  I know many of you still want to continue to help.  He said he knows postage can be an issue but that even "one wooley hat will keep someone warm and will fit into an envelope with not much postage".  He clearly has a heart to help the Japanese people.  Here's his address:

Bernd Kestler
Yokohama-shi 223-0062
Kohoku-ku
Hiyoshi Honcho 6-39-9
Japan

His blog is at  http://knitforjapan.wordpress.com/

I hope any of you interested will check it out.  I'll be back tomorrow and show you the pictures of Kamaishi as promised.

Blessings,

Betsy

Matsushima Bay

After we left Ishinomaki we stayed the night in Matsushima Bay at the Japanese equivilent of a bed & breakfast.  It was very nice and we had a traditional breakfast of miso soup, fish, rice, pickles and green tea.  Yum!  Matsushima Bay was also affected by the typhoon but not as severely as many other towns.  From what Alex and I saw, the bay bore the brunt of the storm and protected the town itself.  Here are a few pictures of that area.

This was our room.  They served us green tea when shown to our room.  No furniture to sit on, just the floor.  The T.V. was 100 yen just to turn it on!  Needless to say, we didn't watch T.V. Alex was making phone calls to arrange to meet a daycare provider that evening to give her hats for the families in her area near Kessenuma.  Notice the only mirror in the room on the 6 inch box on the floor!

When we returned to the room the table had been moved and our futons set up for the night.  My 22 year old son insisted we move them to opposite sides of the room because he was NOT going to sleep that close to his mom.  That would be too "weird" you know!  :-)  They were actually very comfortable and cozy.

This was the bay area where all the bricks had been washed away from this sidewalk by the tsunami.

A boat, tossed onshore by the wave.

This was an undamaged mosaic on the sidewalk.  Notice the bricks to the left are washed away.



There was supposed to be a footbridge out to this island but it was destroyed and found inland after the tsunami.

 I did want to get more pictures of Matsushima Bay because there was much more damage, but it got dark very quickly.  We planned to go back to the bay area the next morning but woke to fog and rain.

I have been asked if I am still collecting items for Japan.  As much as I would love to continue, I simply can't afford to keep sending boxes there.  Alex has also exhausted his savings mailing boxes around Japan to areas we couldn't drive to.  If I find an outlet that will accept items directly from crafters I'll be sure to post the address for anyone who would like to continue to send items.  I know anything that can be sent would be appreciated.

I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of Kamaishi.

Blessings,

Betsy