Just for fun...

You Are Teal Green

You are a one of a kind, original person. There's no one even close to being like you. Expressive and creative, you have a knack for making the impossible possible. While you are a bit offbeat, you don't scare people away with your quirks. Your warm personality nicely counteracts and strange habits you may have.

What Color Green Are You?

Congradulations Graduates!

May was totally the month of graduations. My brother graduated college (he was on the 25-yr plan! lol), my DS Asa graduated HS, my neice on one side and nephew on the other graduated HS, plus we had a second cousin and daughters of 2 friends also graduate HS. Wow! It was a bumper crop of kids that year! Here are some pics of some of the immediate grads.

This was a very eventful month in other ways as well. My father-in-law in MO was rushed to the hospital the day after my son graduated with congestive heart failure. He is a diabetic and had to have open heart bypass surgery the following Wed. Normally, lots of people have this surgery with flying colors. However, he had 2 sides of his heart 100% blocked and the other was 90% blocked. He also had to get rid of 18 Lbs. (yes pounds) of fluid before the surgery. So it was very serious. He got to come home after about 2 1/2 weeks but had to be rushed back after 1 1/2 days with more fluid buildup in his lungs. After about week, he got to come home yesterday. Since today is my MIL's birthday, she got what she wanted most!

I lost my daddy 10 years ago the same time essentially after bypass surgery. He had a stress test on Monday, a dye test on Wed., surgery on Thurs, and died on Fri. He was 57. He was a heavy smoker. (Please don't smoke!) So I was very vested in getting a good outcome with my FIL. I ended up having to take my wimpy self to the dr., I gave myself a pre-ulcer just from the deja vu. Can you believe that...


And now for something upbeat... I finally got over my stage-fright on the sweater I am knitting for my Mama for her birthday. It is a gorgeous cotton-blend short-sleeve top by Elsebeth Lavold. I knit the back up to the arm-hole shaping and then realized it was going to be too small at the bottom. It is designed to be 4 in smaller at the top of the hip than at the bust! I don't think most women are shaped like that. At least not in my family (lol)! I had to frog it (2 skeins worth) and start over. Arggh! I have finished the back and have the front about 1/4 of the way up to the arm-hole shaping. I will post some pics of my version soon.

O Canadot, O Canadot...

My DD Cheyenne went to a Montessori preschool and kindergarden and since there was an R&D facility with lots of PHDs that were international in the town, her classmates were like a little UN. One of the cool things they did was learn about countries around the world. They would bring in a parent from that country and learn to identify it on the globe, know what its capital was, what its flag looked like and learn to sing the national anthem in the native language of the country.

One week my DD and I were riding home and she starting singing "O Canadot, O Canadot...". I said "Honey, that's "O Canada, O Canada...". But she insisted she was singing it right and spent all week singing it as "O Canadot, O Canadot..." I could not convince her otherwise. I still think of that everytime I think of Canada. :o)

Last week I took another trip to Calgary and took some cool pictures. One of the downtown shopping areas has these great sculpture that I think is representing flags (maybe as in downhill snow skiing? anyone know for sure?). They have a huge department store - The Hudson Bay Company (sound familiar history nuts?? established in 1670). I also got to stay in the historic Palliser hotel - the building is in the shape of an E. Cool, Aay?

Shrimp-Tastic!

I just wanted to say a public thank you to some friends of ours! Herb and Virginia in Tulsa invited us over to dinner the last time we were up there. Whenever they say they are going to cook we just say "YES"! They fixed us Cajun Barbequed Shrimp, homemade rice and beans, garlic bread, a yummy fresh salad and if that isn't enough...apple pie with carmel and nut topping! Delish! Thanks Virginia and Herb and the boys - we enjoyed the food and the visit.


I finished my crochet project from the Happy Hooker CAL and wanted to post a picture of the finished purse. I made it in a fun variegated cotton by Plymouth yarn called Fantasy Naturale. I made it a little bigger than the pattern but after I finished I think I could have just made it like the pattern and been just fine. I used just over one skein and could probably have used just one if I had made it according to the directions. Quick and Easy. I wanted to make a fun bag to take to the beach or on a movie date with DH. I love the orange handles I was able to find - they really match the mood of the yarn and of course, I love orange (go POKES!)

My DS Asa did get to play soccer for his Senior year so he was really pumped about that. The DH and I drove up to see Senior night for the last home game of the season and got to see him honored as a Senior and also got to see him play. The bad news is that the first surgery was not enough. He evidently does not have enough ACL to work so he is going to have another surgery to replace his ACL. He was bummed about having to be on crutches again... We are postponing the surgery until after he gets back from his mission trip to Germany this summer. He will be on crutches for 3 weeks and then will have to wait 6 months to play soccer again so he should make the spring season.


We also got to see him go to Sr. Prom. Here is photographic proof that DS can and does smile. They rented a duelie limo and had a great time. The picture on the bottom left is with our former next-door neighbor Sara. Sara took Asa last year as a friend to the Jr Prom. The picture on the right is Asa's date, she is a Jr and has a really cute smile.

G'Day Mate!

Just for fun... A hilarious picture of my DS - he had an assignment to make a presentation about Australia and he and a friend decided to use a Steve Irwin tribute... ENJOY! Notice those fashionable boots on Asa. Throw another shimp on the barbee...

Well, it's been a long dry spell for blogging but I have been knitting and crocheting up a storm. Here is a darling baby sweater I crocheted in a super-soft baby teri with black ww trim. The pattern is from CrochetMe and is called "Baby It's Cold Outside". It took just over 1 skein. I wanted to add bumblebee buttons but it was amazingly hard to find any. I even looked in several states including California! This was a really quick baby gift but you CAN NOT see your stitches with this yarn and sometimes can't even feel them. It went to an acquaintance that now works with my husband. They are expecting their first child, a girl.

I also wanted to post my last few blocks for the Stitchmania Class I am teaching monthly at Yarntopia. For March the blocks were a Granny Square (by class request!) and V-Stitch.


April includes a block in the Snapdragon stitch and another in the Basketweave stitch.


On the news front, DS goes back to the doctor tomorrow after getting off his crutches about a month ago. He has been going to physical therapy twice a week since then and the therapist says he is ahead of schedule. If all goes well, the doctor will decide what kind of knee brace he needs and we can get it ordered and back (yesterday if Asa has anything to do with it!) and he will get to play in a few soccer games at the end of his senior year season. Please keep his healing in your prayers. Thanks!

Food, Glorious Food

Can you tell I am hungry???

What is your favorite restaurant in the Katy area for:

Hamburgers - so far 9'ers on Grand Parkway

Pizza - Roma takeout from Mason

Chinese - Pei Wei but would like more options

Sushi - Sushi Hanna so far

Italian - I like Carrabba's the best but pretty far, like Hasta La Pasta close

Steak - Outback kinda far

Mexican - Pappacito's kinda far, La Finca on Westheimer Parkway

Mexican Fast Food - Taco Cabana

Misc - Chicken Noodle soup at Chick-fil-a , Sonic fountain drinks

Happy Birthday Cheyenne!

In my mind I just brought my DD home from the hospital, but here she is with my DH at Abuelo's for her 20th birthday dinner! Wow, time flies. I made her a black cashmere scarf with burgandy trim from the Happy Hooker book to match the felted purse I made for her for Christmas. She also got a digital camera from her daddy and me.

It has been an eventful few weeks. We drove 9 hours north through an ice storm and got to Oklahoma at 4 am. Then we called the doctor's office to find out the time of my DS's knee surgery. Well, long story short, they messed up the time and we had to reschedule for the NEXT WEEK! I was NOT amused. I had arranged to have the next week off to stay with Aas while he was recovering and take him to any follow up visits. Well, that wasn't going to happen...

So, I got to go to my DD's college library so I could have access to a high speed internet access so I could work while we waited for the surgery. Fortunately, we got good news after the surgery. He had not torn his ACL all the way through, he has about 50% left. Fifty percent of God's work is better than 100% of a surgeon's replacement ACL. However, he had a rip that they had to remove tissue to correct and had to stitch up another tear in his MCL. This is good news and changes his recovery plan. We are hopeful he can recover more quickly and get to at least walk-on for his senior year of soccer. He can't walk or put weight on his left leg for 5 weeks. He's on crutches and has a leg immobilizer. He also can't get in the shower. We're not sure which is worse - no walking or no shower (lol).

He is really tough, he took the IV without a wimper, something he definately wouldn't have been able to do 4 years ago. He is handling the pain well too. I would totally be milking it if I were him.

Then I had to fly to Richmond, VA on the Sunday after his surgery. I flew on a regional jet where the seats are 1 and 2. I sat in the 1 seat and across the aisle, there were 2 seats, one of which had a man who threw up the ENTIRE nearly 3 hour flight. What fun! Thank goodness, I have kids and have developed the ability to hear, see, etc and not get sick myself. Poor man...

Then on the flight back to Tulsa, we fought 200 mile an hour headwinds (honest, the pilot told me himself) so that we had to make an emergency landing at Lake Charles, LA to get fuel. Of course, he botched the landing the first time so we had to circle and try again. Since that airport was damaged in Hurrican Rita, we were not able to de-plane and the re-fueling took over an hour. I was on another SMALL plane for over 5 and a half hours. Fun, fun.

Soooo, when I was offered a first class upgrade for $65 to Denver today, I jumped on it. I think I deserved it! LOL.



I have recently finished a baby afghan for a friend of my DD's. I got this yarn on sale for $1 a skein, a total bargain. I used a cool corner start diagonal pattern for the center section and then added a Terry Kimbrough border. I think it turned out really cute.



Here is a picture of the Stitchmania January set of blocks. The lavendar block is in Shell stitch and the spring green block is in what I am calling Canoe stitch. I used offwhite to create a border and then used the spring green to join them without any sewing. I am planning to join the sets of monthly blocks with the lavendar and then add a border around the 4 x 3 throw. I am planning a granite stitch block for February and not sure yet on the second block for the month. I will work on it this week.



I get to fly home on Wednesday night, it will be good to sleep in my own bed for a change!

Holy Cow! It's 2007!!

I have no excuse for not posting other than being busy-busy and going back and forth to Oklahoma and Texas alot. I have been doing a lot of crocheting and knitting though.

I made 4 felted purses, 1 cable knit purse, 1 set of hunter-orange knit hand warmers (for my tom-boy niece), and a 1 scarf made of a yummy cotton-cashmere blend (hopefully picture to follow).

I also made myself some cool hand warmers from the CrochetMe Wristlet pattern with a DK weight of Koigu. I didn't even know they MADE a DK weight, sooooo I HAD to buy some and here's what I made with one of the skeins. I did adjust the pattern to Normal Wristies even though I am a Wee Wristie in real life and used HDC instead of SC on the Thumb-bit and Top O' the Mitt because the Koigu in DK is a merino and a lot like cotton so it didn't have really any stretch.

I also started teaching a new class at Yarntopia called the Happy Hooker Crochet-a-long. You can join the Yahoo group here. I made the One Skein Scarf with a cool yarn called Lang Emotion. It is aromatherapy yarn in a ginseng scent. I am donating it to the Red Scarf Project. I plan to attach a note letting the former Foster Kid know about the neat scent this scarf has. You may notice the funky picture here, it is hard to take a picture in a mirror without blinding oneself...

There is also a new class at Yarntopia that I am teaching as well. It is Stitchmania. Each month we will learn 2 new crochet stitches. At the end of the year, we'll have enough blocks for a throw. Here is a block in the Shell stitch.
I am presently fiddling with how I want the blocks to be joined and bordered. I don't want to sew them together (how 70's!!) but also want it to have a modern feel. I'll post my results.

We have had a great Christmas season with one exception. My DS Asa blew out his knee just before Christmas. He tore his ACL and MCLs and is having surgery on the 19th of this month. This pretty much rules out his getting to play soccer in his Senior year. He's really bummed about it. This is the same leg he broke his growth plate and broke his shin his Sophomore year. Please keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery and physical therapy. It would be great if he could at least step on the field for their last game in May.

The Crusades and Christmas Shopping

I was tooling around the web and found a new author I HAVE to get from my DS (ha, ha, really for me, but any excuse will do!). KM Grant has written the first 2 books of the DeGranville triolgy. They look awesome.

But even more fun, check out her blog. It is awesome. She lives in Glasglow, Scotland and you can almost hear her burr...

Enjoy!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Which is really, really hard in Katy, Texas! But, I can crochet myself one! I designed a crocheted felted Christmas stocking for Yarntopia. They will have the pattern for sale and I will also be teaching a class on how to make it as well.
This was really the first felted project I have made and boy does Cascade 220 felt up nice and quick. I added the Berroco Chincilla trim after since it states it is dry-clean only on the label.

I am getting ready to go to Los Angeles next week but I get to take my mom along with me. We are going to do some tourist-y stuff like Catalina Island and Rodeo Drive. We are the ULTIMATE TOURISTS! lol Any ideas? Let me know so we can check them out.

Luck 'O the Irish!

My DS Asa asked me to make him an afghan in his favorite soccer team colors, Ireland's Celtics in kelly green and white. He also wanted it striped, warm and big! Not able to face the idea of row after row of dc, I adapted a pattern from a leaflet I bought and came up with this...

I crocheted it in an acrylic/wool blend called Plymouth Yarn Encore, so it is really warm and washable. It almost has a braided or cabled look. When I took it up to Oklahoma to give it to him, he immediately got in a recliner and covered up with it and watched TV. In 17-yr old body language, that means he likes it. LOL

I haven't been sleeping well lately (note the time stamps on my last couple of posts) so Thursday night at about 3am, I started a quick baby gift for one of the counselers at LA Weight Loss that just had twins, a boy and a girl. I made them in one of my favorite yarns, Bernat Cottontots, so I decided to call them Peter Cottontots Bibs!
PS - I have lost 24 lbs, yeah! If you want a healthy balanced way to lose weight, LA Weight Loss is great. Give them my name if you go, you get credit for referrals (the mercenary me, said that...).

They Wanted to be in Pictures!

I finally slowed down enough to take some pictures of some of the knitting and crocheting I have been doing!


This is from a fun class I took at Yarntopia called Beginning Socks. It is done in a worsted weight wool yarn. I am planning for it to be more of a "slipper" for one of my sister-in-law's (it's a secret which one!) for Christmas. I am planning to crochet a butterfly and attach it to the slipper and then do crewel work to add the path the butterfly took up the slipper. Now I just have to start and finish the 2nd one!

I also took another sock class from Catherine called Magic Loop Socks. I think this might be the method I like best. We started a child's sock, I chose turquoise thinking I was making a baby gift but I guess it will be a big sister gift for the next lucky mom-to-be. Here's what it looks like so far. I am just going to have to guess on the length since I don't have someone specific to measure.

I like to make hats or beanies. They go fast and don't take a lot of yarn. Here are some I have made. Two are knitted from one of my favorite yarns, Noro. I LOVE variegated yarn. These are Noro Silk Garden. Another one was specially requested by my DS in Harry Potter Gryffindor colors in a wool/acrylic blend, and the last two are some of the tons of beanies in Caron's Simply Soft that I have made for my DD, DS, and their friends. In fact, the white one with the black border was just requested by a friend of my DS.

I also decided to try felting. I picked a favorite Noro Kureyon in greens and lavendars and used the Corner Start Stitch to make a felted case for my new toy, a Pocket PC 8125. Here is a "before" photo of it before I felt it.



I will take an "after" picture and post it when I get it felted and completed. Don't you just love how this yarn looks in this stitch!

I've been Everywhere Man, I've been Everywhere...

Except where it's cold, I guess! Knitting and crocheting content to follow soon...


create your own visited states map

The Look of Love

As I get close to my dd's wedding, I am constantly reminded of what I call the "look of love". You know the one I mean - where the person's face lights up from within. And is so luminous that everyone can see it's the "look of love".

It's that look that new mother's have when they hold their sleeping infant. It's that look I have when my husband of almost 26 years comes home after we've been apart. It's that look a grandma has when her first granddaughter is all dressed up for prom.

It's that look that Catherine K had the other night at Thursday night knitting when she spoke of her autistic son looking at her shirt and reading out loud "rrr" "eahh" "aaah" "duh". Her "look of love" was so bright it lit the room and my sometimes small self-absorbed world.

It's that "look of love" I wish for my dd and my new SIL for today and a million more tomorrows. I wish it for you too...

Fruit Roll Up!

My latest crochet project - I have named it the "Fruit Roll Up". Nice and Juicy Easy project in a totally fun yarn (Rowan Chunky Print). I made it for display at Yarntopia where you can also get the directions on how to make it. Check it out the next time you get a chance to drop into the store in Katy.

Here Comes the Bride

My dd Cheyenne is getting married July 22nd. So we are in a flurry of wedding plans. Including SERIOUS dieting for the mother of the bride....me! (9 down) The invitations are supposed to be in this week. She is having two showers the weekend of June 17th. I have ordered her gifts for the shower... I will not panic, I will not panic (or cry, yet...) Here is a picture of her trying on her "princess" dress.
She is going to be a beautiful bride (of course I'm a little biased!)

Will it go 'Round in Circles?

Remember the song from the '70's (I'm really dating myself now...) that talked about going round in circles? Here's some of the lyrics to remind you...


I've got a song I ain't got no melody
How'm I gonna sing it with my friends
I've got a song I ain't got no melody
How'm I gonna sing it with my friends

Will it go round in circles
Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky
Will it go round in circles
Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky




Well, that's what I kept thinking of, or humming as the case may be, as I was working on Lyn's Round Ripple Afghan. It really got ridiculous because I made 2 of them with a "G" hook! Here are the "boy" and "girl" versions. I love using variegated yarn but after finishing the project, I think I would have liked the "girl" version better if I had used the variegated as the 2nd color choice rather then the middle and outside. The lavender ended up being a "darker" color. I used my favorite for baby afghans, Caron's Simply Soft.


I also made 2 baby washcloths for the brother and sister of the "girl" baby out of Cottontots. Here is the one from the brother - sorry the detail is not as clear as in real life. These Baby Feet Cloth knitted pattern comes from a favorite site of mine from Rhonda K. White. These were made for my mom's neighbor and she is including a yellow rubber ducky and a Mickey Mouse soap for each of the siblings. Too Cute!