Another Tah-Dah!

Happy Friday everyone!  Wow!  It's warm here today.  53 degrees at 9:00 a.m.!  Is it really February?  I know this won't last, but I'm determined to enjoy it.  The rain is falling too, but it's SO MUCH better than snow falling, right?

Here is the poncho Tah-dah!  I like this one much better than the one I made last month.  Teresa, (the lady I gifted it to), seems to like it and the brighter colors, but this is definitely more "me".  It is three tones of grey.  Very light, medium and a charcoal gray.  What do you think?

Here's a horrible picture of me wearing it, but at least you can get an idea of how big it is.  I wanted it bigger because I plan to wear it at the lake this year for warmth around the campfire.  I wanted it big enough to be able to put my arms up in it  :-)  Sorry about the quality of the picture.  As I've said before, I am NOT a photographer.  Not my talent at all.

The mail has brought even more sweet surprises.  This cute birthday card is from Taci.

And she made these wonderful mats out of wool and crocheted a very pretty edging around it.  Thank you Taci.  I love them.

There was another package too!  This one came from beautiful Gracie.  She made me a Birthday AND and Valentine's card.  Also this colorful mat/hot pad and a dishcloth.  Thank you sweet Gracie.  I love them both. :-)

My goodness this has been a wonderful birthday week.  Almost everyday has brought another package in the mail.  Thank you all for making this birthday so special.

I've had my Valentine's decorations out for a couple of weeks now.  I enjoy looking at them, so even though it's early, I tend to put them up right after the Christmas stuff comes down.  This is pretty much all I put out anyway.  Just a few hearts hanging about.  Those are Teresa's Scandinavian hearts made into a garland.  

See my kitchen?  What you see is what you get.  Even my McDonalds ice tea cup on the counter in the background.

I have hearts hung on my cabinet doors.  The one on the right is from Helen.  I love it.

Hearts show up draped on a few things on the wall too.  See my new birthday angel from Nita there on the right?

Here's a sneak peek at a couple of sweater sets that I made this week for Taci to take to Brazil.  I'll take a better picture for you later.

I have news!  Dennis and I are flying to Washington D.C. at the end of the month to see Piper, Mandy and Brad.  Brad's parents, Dennis and Marilyn will be there too.  We really enjoy their company.  Alex was supposed to be there on a business trip for the University.  He was going to be visiting Harvard and Univerisities in both Baltimore and D.C. too, but his trip was canceled this week.  I'm SO disappointed that we won't see him.  It's been almost a year and a half since I've been able to touch my baby.  Thank goodness for FaceTime.  He is so good about face-timing with us once a week or so.  Not always easy with a 17 hour time difference.  But....we do get to see Mandy's family.  Dennis will be there for a week and I'll stay 2 weeks.  After all, I need as much time to play with Miss Piper as I can get, right?  

Ellen is staying at our house with Chloe for us while we're gone.  We are so grateful that she is willing to come stay here whenever we travel anywhere.  And Chloe loves her.

Now I need to get busy with my laundry.  I haven't figured out a way to get it to fold and iron itself so I can knit and crochet more.  Does anyone out there have an answer to this puzzle?

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by payer and petition, with thanskgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, whch transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians, 4:5-6

Blessings, 

Betsy

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

Yes, it was my birthday yesterday...SuperBowl Sunday.  And our beloved Seahawks lost by one play.  Sad, but we still love them.  :-)  I was one blessed woman yesterday though.  The entire church sang Happy Birthday to me during the morning service.  We had lunch with friends.  Mandy face-timed from Maryland with Piper.  Alex face-timed Saturday night from Japan, where it was already my birthday, and Jamie texted me from Montana.  Life is good.  Dennis bought me a yummy chocolate cake.  Mmmmm.  It was just big enough for us each to have 2 pieces, so there is some leftover for tomorrow after dinner.  And I got lots of goodies too.

My best friend in the world, (after Dennis of course,) Jenny, made me this finger-knitted cowl.  Now you have to understand that Jenny doesn't knit or crochet so this was a true labor of love.  Isn't it beautiful?  I think she did an amazing job.

Nita and Larry bought me this beautiful bowl and angel in Cozamel, Mexico while on their cruise.  The bowl is for the camper and the peanut M & M's that are always available.  Pretty, pretty.

This is a card from Miss Piper that she picked out herself.  I also recieved an Amazon gift card from her Mommy and Daddy.  Now, what shall I buy?  Hmmmm.  Decisions, decisions.

Today's mail bought even more goodies.  From Teresa this cute, cute card with button centers on the flowers.

And inside is one of her beautiful Scandanavian hearts in deep purple, although it looks black here for some reason.  She knows purple is my favorite color.  Also a beautiful stitch marker.  You can never have too many of those.  And I'm sure she made it too.  Thank you Teresa.

From Becky in Portland I received this beautiful card, flower seeds and a yummy candy bar.  Inside the card she said she was giving me chocolates and flowers for my birthday.  How sweet.  Thank you Becky!

And a big Tah-dah!  Here is my handsome husband...the most handsome guy in the world in my eyes.  Nope ladies, he's all mine, you can't have him.  :-)  He's modeling the sweater I made him last week.  I used Hobby Lobby's I love this Yarn to test the pattern before I bought more expensive yarn.  He loves it.  The sweater cost me less than $15.00 to make!!!!!   I'm not sure I like the drop shoulders, but he really likes it and says it's very comfortable and warmer than the store bought sweaters he has.  He had a birthday a couple of weeks ago too.  Next year is the big 60 for him and he is NOT happy about it.  By the way, I turned 55 and don't mind saying so.  Can't change it so I may as well accept it, right?

Finally, I tested Teresa's baby hat pattern and her directions were spot on.  This is on a doll that I have that wears newborn size clothes.  I use the doll to test the sizes on all the baby clothes I make for charity to make sure my gauge is okay.  It only took about 45 minutes to make the hat and flower.

Teresa and I both thought it needed something more though so I added another row of purple and like it much better.  The pattern is on Teresa's blog for free.  You'll find her on my sidebar.

I'm going to finish my poncho tonight.  I just have the trim left to do.  I've set it aside so many times to do other projects this week that it's taken me longer than I thought.  However, since its still way too cold here to wear it I figured it could wait.  I just have one more row of edging to put on it and it will be done.  Then I can make some hats for Taci to take to Brazil this summer.

I am so blessed to have you all in my life.  I can't believe how this little blog has brought so many GOOD friends to me.  Thank you all, just for being you.  You all encourage me in so many ways.  I hope you're all staying warm and dry if you're experiencing the winter season, and for those of you "down under", I am SO jealous.  :-)

"Taste  and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him."  Psalm 34:8

Blessings,

Betsy

Monday Warmup

Happy Monday everyone!  I know that the eastern part of the U.S. is having cold and snow, but a January thaw has hit us here.  it is forecast to be 53 today!  Yippee!  Almost all of the snow is gone, gone, gone.  I went and washed my car this morning.  My light blue CRV was almost black.  No exageration.  It is pretty blue again.  I also took advantage of the warm up to clean up Chloe's doggie "gifts" in the backyard if you get my drift.  NOT one of my favorite jobs but when you have a dog it does need to be done.

This is what I found in my rhubarb bed.  Do you see the three little red shoots trying to break through along with one little piece of ice in the upper left side.  It gives me hope that spring will actually arrive eventually.  I know it's only January but in a couple of months it will be LAKE TIME!!!!!  :-)

Some of you asked where I got the book covers that I use for hands free reading.  Here's the label from inside.  It is a retired husband and wife who go to craft shows and sell them, but you can call or email and order that way too.  They had lots of pretty patterns to choose from.

One of the ladies at church asked me yesterday if I could crochet quart size jar covers for her.  She's a teacher and wants to fill the jars with candy and put a lid with a straw on it for her parent volunteers.  I told her sure I could!  I came home yesterday and before I went to bed I had whipped up all ten of them with scraps of dishcloth cotton that I had in a basket.  I have enough cotton to make a hundred of them easily!  Here's a pretty yellow one....

And a multicolored one....

All ten in a row.   :-)

Another project I've been researching is a group called 'KnittedKnockers.org'.  If you are interested in doing any charity knitting projects I highly recommend this group.  They knit, (and crochet), breast prosthesis for cancer patients that have had mastectomies.  They are SO MUCH more comfortable than the silicone ones that are available to the ladies.  They are soft against the scar tissue and lightweight.  I highly recommend watchig the videos on the above website.

I made these two on Saturday for a friend who just had a mastectomy.  I made two different sizes for her to try out to determine which one she likes better.  Then, I'll make her another one in the size she likes, so one can be in the laundry and she'll still have one to wear.  Aren't they cool?  I actually cried when I read some of the testimonial letters on the website.  I don't think I have ever made anything that made me feel so good to give away as these.  I've made about 10 in different sizes for donation .  They are super easy to make.

The back of Dennis' sweater is done.  Lots of rows in plain stockinette.  Good TV or book reading knitting.  :-)

The front has begun....

Little Sophie went home last night.  We picked her Mom & Dad up at the airport about 9 last night.  It was SO foggy we couldn't see to the end of our driveway and we had to drive way up on the plateau to the airport.  I was very happy Dennis was driving and that his truck has fog lights.  It was a slow drive for sure.

I'm missing this little girl on my lap already.  She is a cutie.

I need to take the last load of laundry out of the washer and finish a few other projects before I sit down to knit.  I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and stay warm and dry.

"Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."  Luke 6:38

Blessings,

Betsy