Andie's Knitting

Andie is now knitting and doing a marvelous job of it. She and I seem to be opposites insofar as I struggled with the knitting, e.g. twisted and dropped stitches, but was very comfortable with the cast on. Andie, by contrast, has me do her casting on, but she knits with such speed and uniformity; it's really wonderful!

Using her babysitting earnings, she bought her very first hank of yarn and chose a purple Manos del Uruguay. She's now working on a scarf and states that her next project will be a hat. I'm so proud of her!



This was her first scarf - - a light bulky weight New Zealand wool tweed.

What a Week...

While Mohamed was re-hospitalized last week and this week, I managed to get quite a bit of knitting finished. I had to laugh when I realized that my husband is a) very good for my creative output and b) absolutely awful on my nerves, equilibrium and sleep. ;)
Here's the finished products thus far....


This is my "wildflowers" scarf made
from Manos del Uruguay yarn. The picture in no way does the colors justice!


This is Skander's skull hat and no, it's not glow-in-the-dark...just a really bizarre photograph. And in conclusion,



Another Lamb's Pride winter hat being modeled
by
THE NEWEST KNITTER
IN THE FAMILY!
Yes, Andie is now knitting and I'll
post her projects on Monday.

Almost Done

This is Skander's skull hat. It's actually farther along now due to the lag time between the photo and posting. I'm on the K3/K2tog row now and I have to move it to DP needles to finish it off.

It's warm, soft, stretchy and quite large because of the skull. It may very well 'swim' on Skander's head, but we'll see. If it's too big, I'll find someone it'll fit! :)

Not-So-Sweet Liberty

On the Fourth of July, my daughter adopted a tiny, stray, gray kitten. Andie named her new pet "Liberty." Libby, as she is called, was incredibly shy, unassuming and frightened. Regular meals and lots of love and attention brought the kitten out of her shell. Little did we realize then that we had unleashed a beast!

A Lovely Sunday

Tired of being confined and feeling a sense of "cabin fever", we broke out briefly this weekend and it was wonderful. We visited the Peaks of Otter along the Blue Ridge Parkway and had a good time enjoying nature in all of its summertime beauty.

When we returned home, we went into "couch potato" mode (which was just what we needed after last week) and watched movies and relaxed together. I'm almost finished with Skander's hat, which I forgot to photograph yesterday, but will tonight. Have a great week!

He's baaaaack....

Let me tell you a little bit about a book I once read. In it, the heroine, who is in purgatory and attempting to earn her wings and rise to Heaven, is given various tasks to complete as part of a repentence plan. After her first assignment is successfully completed, her case worker tells her that it's now time for a bit of "punishment" and gives the heroine a choice. She can spend one week at home with three sick children -or- one day with a sick husband. The lady chose the vomiting kids....

Need yarn. Lots of yarn. I have sharp needles and am prepared to use them. ;)

Here's Miss Hannah in her as-yet-too-large watermelon hat.

Thank Goodness Knitting = Zen....

...because if it didn't, I'd be taking an AWFUL LOT OF VALIUM lately. :) After a positively superb birthday, my weekend concluded with my husband saying, "My chest hurts...my heart's beating too quickly...I'm having a lot of pain in my back and shoulders." No, thank you Lord, it wasn't a heart attack, but was, instead, episodic irregular heartbeats. Mohamed's heart rate would jump from 40 beats to 150, back down to 60 and then up to 140. The numbers jumped all over the place and it went on for hours.

We started out in the Bedford General Hospital Emergency Room and Mohamed was then moved by ambulance to Lynchburg General Hospital. All kinds of tests were performed and although we don't yet have a firm diagnosis, we do know that he didn't have a heart attack and doesn't have any blocked arteries or valves. Both are great news.

I've coped with needles in hand. When he slept, I knitted....when he was getting blood drawn, I turned my back and knitted...while we waited, I knitted...when he was shaved, I stood there and laughed my ass off like a braying donkey (you don't want to know and he'd KILL me if I told you!).

Well, Mohamed is coming home tonight (at long last!) and from here, we'll see what the doctor figures out. In the meantime, here's Trevor modeling his diaper and new slippers.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's my birthday and Oh! what a good one it's been. I had hoped to receive a couple of gifts and my family outdid themselves. I asked for a bit of yarn, a yarn trinket or a little bit of money to buy yarn. To my surprise and delight, I received all three!

First up is this bizarre contraption - - a wool winder. Only a knitter would go "Ohhhhhhh" when they opened a box to find this in it. I can't wait to break it in on the my second gift which was...


YARN, YARN and even more YARN!
You know you're an addict when you stop shopping by 4 oz. skeins and/or 50 gram balls and start looking for multiple pounds. As a an additional gift, I was also given the time to do whatever it was that I wanted to do. And that was.................

KNIT!
Beside my woman's size 10 foot is a woman's size 8 unfelted slipper.

Thank you Mohamed, Andie, Skander, Dad, Joan and Denise for making this the best birthday ever!

P.S. Next year, I'm going to be 40 and dreadfully depressed - - can we do this again, same time next year? LOL

Andie is modeling my first scarf, made with Malabrigo's "Velvet Grapes" yarn. It was an incredibly easy knit, the yarn was wonderful (kettle dyed in Uruguay) and it was the perfect first project. We gave it to Andie's History teacher last week as a "thank you."