Christmas Knitting

This year for Christmas presents I decided I would knit hats.  Lots of hats, out of leftover yarn from other projects or yarn I mysteriously accumulated with no pattern intentions attached to them.  I am hoping Finn will not be scarred for life after modeling pink hats but I don't have a Styrofoam head so he got the job. 

The State of the Children Address, Part 2

Monday, was Frankie's Boy Scout Court of Honor.  I made a cake to bring as we were all supposed to bring a dessert.  Bob made Finn's cake, I made the on for Frankie's court of honor.  Bob thinks cakes should be rectangles and made from boxes.  I think they should be round and made from scratch!





Frankie was promoted from Tenderfoot to Second Class.  He has a lot of fun in boyscouts and is working his way up the ranks!  I guess, a lot of boys join for the campouts etc. and never really progress.  I'm glad my son is ambitious enough to keep moving on up. I am very proud of him and he seems to be pretty popular in his troop.  We shopped around for a troop as some of them seem sort of stunted - no growth, the kids aren't progressing up the ranks, people are just.... er.... peculiar.  But who am I to judge?  I just wanted Frankie to fit and people who appreciate a made from scratch cake instead of homemade granola.

Tonight is  his Christmas Chorus Concert at the school and then the Jaguars game at our friends house.  We don't usually have outings on school night but tomorrow is a half school day where they show up, take attendance, feed them candy and then send them home.  (Your tax dollars at work....)  All their Christmas activities were today and they were told not to even bring their back packs tomorrow so I take it this is just a ploy to collect the money for the school without actually having to do actual teaching of any kind.  They will be excused the absence as they will be attending  the Political Science Class I will be teaching about the unethical practice  of squandering taxpayer money and learning how loopholes are tantamount to fraud.  You know, I just don't understand why they never invite me to join the PFA anymore....  do you think they don't like my cake?


Franklin is happy with his accomplishments and we are proud.

The State of The Children Address, Part 1

On December 6th, Finn celebrated his fourth birthday.  This is one of those milestones where your baby is really becoming a boy and there is no denying it anymore.  (No matter how much this mother wants to.)  We were told when he was born much too early that he would probably always be behind and that we had to adjust his age as to when things were expected and we were indeed told that our child may not ever be 'normal' 50% according the great medical brains.  (What is normal anyway?)  We were even urged to file for Social Security for him; not the number, THE CHECK!   Judging by what I have seen and experienced in the four years I have had the gift of this small human, I am going to write a letter to Shands Hospital where he was born.  Their slogan is, "Shands the Science of Hope."  How about this instead, "Shands - Keeping Faith in God's Miracles."  If you're ever in doubt look at all the children in this world who's parents were told they wouldn't be able to do this or overcome that apparently, someone forgot to tell these little people what they couldn't do cause they did it anyway.


Finn's first Christmas, this picture was a gift to us from the NICU nurses.  They each decorated a t-shirt for their baby and took pictures for the parents.





Finn on his birthday, preparing to be deployed!

Our Decorations

Here are some of the things we decorated for Christmas....

The good smelling Fraser Fir that it turns out I'm allergic to.  Bob thinks because I nagged him about getting a tree and I turned out to be dreadfully allergic to it is pure providence.  Talk about be careful what you wish for!













And of course the outside of our house.  I can never get decent pictures of Christmas lights!  We think it looks beautiful as we all worked on it.  Putting up the candy canes is Finn's specialty.

Christmas Cheer

Here is a 10lb bar of chocolate our neighbor brought us.  The retirement company the company uses brings one to each office every Christmas time and since he works alone and could not even imagine what he would do with all this chocolate he gave it to us.  We knew exactly what to do with it.















Here is my diningroom  with the only snowflakes I will see this year...









and the basil plant I decorated because Bob wouldn't go get me a real Christmas tree.











Here is my neighbor Barbara's house.  Barbara and her son put up this huge light display every year and every year they add something new.  The come on Thanksgiving evening and stay up till New Year.








My pictures really don't do them justice.

Green Fairy Quilts: Time for another giveaway!!

Green Fairy Quilts: Time for another giveaway!!

Green Fairy Quilts: Time for another giveaway!!

Green Fairy Quilts: Time for another giveaway!!

She's giving more patterns away and they're beautiful as always!

In Return For Your Opinion...

I will give you mine.  Haha.  Thought it was going to be a giveaway?  Nope, odds are too good a certain someone would win, especially since like two people read this blog!

Here are some reviews for you:

The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck - Excellent book.  I listened to it instead of reading it because I have a soft spot for books read by the actual author because they made the characters and so therefore must know what they indeed sound like.  Frankie listened to it as well (in about a day!) and he liked it even though he is eleven years old and so as a matter of course has very bad taste.  Great Family Read.  (It is not in the least political even though Fox News' Glenn Beck wrote it.)

The Sister by Poppy Adams - I'm currently listening to this one.  So far all I can tell you is that I know way more about moths and caterpillars than I ever have or will want to know!  I'll finish it of course, because I always finish books I buy because I spent the cha-ching on it and it will either amuse me or make me weep with boredom for hours and hours and hours but I finish what I start!  Whichever way it goes is my own fault (oh, and the people who write reviews on amazon.com)





    

Arguing With Idiots by Glenn Beck - First, of all Bob is starting to wonder if I secretly have the hots for Glenn Beck.  Second, This is a political book, be warned.  It is all about how are country is failing to keep to the constitution.  I felt he made a lot of true and valid points and in an extremely funny and scarry way.  The truth is always scarier than fiction though isn't it?  A good book if you follow politics or if you don't. 



 The Atonement Child by Francine Rivers - Mixed review on this one.  I listened again, and it seems every time I listen to a Christian fiction book it is read by the same woman or type of woman.  It is hard to picture a book about a young christian college woman when her voice is being done by a woman who sounds like she may actually have been aboard the ark with Moses and his family; perhaps, she should go read The Sister which is actually about old ladies.   This production company needs to try a little harder if they hope to keep selling audiobooks!  As for the actual story, I wasn't thrilled.  It was very predictable.  In some way unbelievable (3 women in the same family in the same sort of situation), I'm not buying it, sorry.  It did make me think a lot about the hypocrisy that must indeed be in certain churches and christian colleges and in some ways it did hit home with me in a personal way.  Honestly, not Francine River's best though.

I know I've only reviewed audio books, but I haven't been doing a lot of sitting and reading and so this is the best way for me to get my fiction fix at the moment. 

One last review and this is probably the most important of them all:

Great Value Mayonnaise sold by Walmart -  This is the nastiest, most disgustingest mayo I have ever tasted.  hospital cafeteria packet mayo is better than this.  I really expect better quality from the Chinese Mayonnaisemakers than this!  I stopped eating sandwiches until it was gone, or tried it's still not gone.  And they changed the packaging from the picture and there are ripples inside the jar now so you cannot get the last of the mayonnaise out, so it makes it look like it's NEVER GONE!  There is no hope of getting a new, better mayonnaise because this one will last you forever.  The Rules specifically state that you cannot open a new jar until the old jar is gone, right?   I snuck off to Winn-Dixie yesterday where Hellman's is on sale buy one get one free.  I now have a mayonnaise stash,  I'm so ashamed...  

Which shawl would you make with this yarn?  Cascade Yarns Alpaca Lace Colorway: Red Wine Heat   (Name sounds a bit risque, huh?)

Fountain Pen Shawl

 
Luna Moth Shawl
       
Snowdrop Shawl
       
Rose Trellis Shawl  




 Queen Anne's Lace

Bleeding Heart's Stole


   
Cobweb Lace Stole

  

Official Disclaimer:  Your opinion may or may not matter.  All opinions are subject to rejection with or without prior notice.  Please keep in mind the number of year I will probably be knitting this.  Thank you.

I sure would like to hear it though... help me out.

Progression

Here are a some of the things I've been trying to make progress on lately...                           First we have an apron for Christmas time.

Here is a close up to show the fabric; my stomach fat is just a little bonus I provide.

Second is the Celtic Tote, that is the back and it's hard to see the pattern because it's squished up on the needles and it's not felted yet and so on...  I just really wanted to put it on here to show that I am making progress.

Third, is a new project that a person such as myself has no real business starting at this point, but the yarn was so yummy and felt so good in my hands and I just gave in.  I am not a one project girl anymore, apparently.  In fact there is another project on different needles, but we aren't talking about that.  This is a yarn I bought when I went to a knit-in at a yarn shop in Jacksonville.  It's a kettle dyed, I got the colorway Tango Reds.  http://www.aslantrends.com/santa_fe.html

Lastly, here are some pictures of the back room.  It occurred to me that I never took any once it was all done.  By the way, this room calls my name and invites me to hide in there needs cleaned quite a lot for just a tiny little room.  I try to keep up with my cleaning chores!

  

Autumn Inspirations

I finished my fall apron.  It's nothing fancy, but it can be completed in under an hour... besides, I love aprons and you can never have enough!  They come in handy when you are baking half moon cookies.  We brought in the cabinet that Bob refinished.  He said he wasn't quite done but I was tired of waiting.

We enjoyed some pretty cool days and evenings about two weeks ago and took advantage by spending a lot of time outdoors.  It's a good thing we did because autumn is over; it's summer again.

Look at Finn's sweater in the last picture, he looks like a little Canadian.

The Lace Scarf

I finished the lace scarf and it's busy being blocked.  Gilbert the Great and Terrible was of course busy guarding it and Bob was teasing him that he was "going to touch the knitting!" 

It is so soft and I love the pattern and the color but it is not keeping blocked well.  It keeps rolling in on itself.  I'm thinking it may be the silk mixed in with the wool, I've come to understand the silk doesn't block as well as pure wool.

I'm going to block it again and leave it for a couple days, I'll show pics when I'm done...