Joy to a Knitter's heart....

What a wonderful surprise!  My husband went to the mailbox this morning and a beautifully wrapped gift had been left for us.  To my surprise, was these figures with knitted accessories.  I love, love, love them!  These are things that I have been knitting for gifts for Christmas.  I know the time that it takes to make them for people and I cannot imagine knitting these TINY scarf, hat, and mittens.  They are done perfectly and they must have been really fiddly to make.  Thank you to our friends for making our day--My Day. My husband watches me knitting and he also has an appreciation for the time and work that went into making them.  I love surprises!!!!!!!!!!!
Love to all from,
Marie

I'm Back...............

  I have been away from the blog for a long while.  I fell in July and it took a while to get over that.  I found out during that time, that I am pre-diabetic  and have to have more blood work done around the first of the New Year.  We will know more about what is going on then.  I sure hope the food during the holidays does not mess me up.  Our son and his family were here from San Francisco for Thanksgiving and I am afraid that I was not as careful as I had been.  We will be alone for Christmas and there will be none of those sweets to tempt me.  I have also been very busy knitting and crocheting during these months that I didn't post.  I will share below some of what has been on my needles.  Also, I found that there are knitter's video pod casts and I have really been enjoying those.  I wish that I could knit, spin, and use that beautiful expensive yarn they use. I just goggled for knitter's video pod cast and came up with some great ones.

This lace shawl was done for our granddaughter.  She is going to be in a wedding the last of December and she can wrap this around her shoulders before and after the wedding.  It is Little Shells Shawlette from Holly and Ella Knits.  I found it as a free pattern on-line a while ago. 

A knitted baby blanket for baby born in Scotland.  I also did more blankets and hats that our son wanted for their friends who are expecting in the early New Year.  I forgot to get pictures of those and they are now in SF.

Some knitted hats for friends and family on top.  The ones on the bottom were done for our son, his wife, and little boy.  I used a free pattern from Tin Can Knits.  I also did a scarf to match for our son and a cowl fro our daughter-in-law.  It was very cold while they were here for Thanksgiving.

This is another cowl that I knitted for our daughter-in-law.  It was a free pattern that I found on the internet and the thread is Red Heart Boutique Midnight, color Aura.  It is much prettier than in the picture--the colors are so pretty and there is a lot of sparkle in the yarn.

This is a crochet shrug that our daughter-in-law wanted. The pattern is in the current Crochet Today magazine.  When I took the pictures, I had not worked in the threads because I was waiting on her to come and try it on.  It fit her fine--I was not sure because she is so tiny and I was afraid it would be too big.  

A Santa scarf that I knitted for a friend's granddaughter.

Christmas socks knitted for a friend.  They are knitted top-down and I used Heart and Sole sock yarn from Red Heart Yarns.

Here is wishing you a wonderful holiday season and that you have a great New Year.
Love,
Marie

Late summer flowers and projects...

Where did the summer go?!!  Part of it found me going back and forth to the doctor.  In my last post,
I told you that I had fallen the week before and hurt my knee.  I should have gone to the ER the afternoon  that I fell, but I was doctoring myself.  My leg started swelling and then a wide red band developed above my ankle and was hot.  I called the doctor and they told me to go to Urgent Care.  The two doctors there
 x-rayed my knee and ankle and there were no fractures and then they sent me to the hospital for an
ultrasound of my leg so that blood clots could be ruled out and thank goodness that came out okay.  It ended up that I had an infection in my leg and was on antibiotics for two weeks.  The doctor explained that because of the swelling and fluid in my leg, bacteria got in through some cut or scratch and had a feast. 
On the visit back to the doctor, my blood pressure was too high.  He put me on a fluid pill with the blood pressure med in it.  He then sent me for blood work and all was okay except that after fasting, my blood sugar level was high.  Now, when I go back about my leg, the doctor says he will check the blood sugar again. I told the doctor if he keeps giving me pills, I won’t be able to close the top on my pill box.
  Even with all this going on, I have stayed busy knitting and crocheting.  The red bag and hat were crocheted for my daughter-in-law’s mother.  She had liked the one I did with yellow flowers and wanted hers done in red.  The little girl is wearing the sweater that I had shown in my last post.  She is the daughter of a friend of my son and his wife.  I had some extra Curious George fabric, so I decided to make Noah an appliqued tie shirt.  The crochet yellow blanket will go in gift box
ready for the next baby. 
  Fall is in the air here and I have begun to decorate for Fall—will share later.
Love,
Marie

Enjoying the summer flowers and knitting...

This little pitcher is filled with zinnias that I planted from seed that Gretchen at Bird House Cottage shared with me.  I call them "cut and come" because the more you cut them, the more blooms you will have.  The butterflies really do enjoy them too.

 

I hope you can see the butterfly.  They love this butterfly bush as much as they do the zinnia.

 

 

This is a knitted blanket and a couple of receiving blankets with crochet edge that I made for a couples first baby.

I knitted this little cap-sleeve sweaters for a couple of special little girls.

This set and bib was done for our daughter-in-law's brother and his wife.  They are expecting their first baby, a girl, and wanted the set done in this pale lavender.  There is more knitting to do but I am not able to get out right now.  I fell on Sunday a week ago and all the weight went on my right knee.  I am much better but think it is going to just take time and patience.  At least I did not break a bone--I found out there is something as hard as my head. Ha!

 

Enjoy

Love,

Marie



A wonderful week with the family

We have just had a wonderful visit from our son, his wife, and our grandson from CA.  Our daughter and her teenage daughter also came from OK.  Before they came, my husband and I were riding around the countryside and saw a yard sale.  I saw the cutest little bike and asked him to please turn around and go back for me to see the bike.  Not to happy about doing this, but did it anyway, we pulled into the driveway and asked the man if he would bring the bike to the car (we are disabled and to get out we would have had to use wheelchairs).  The man was so kind and brought it for us to see and we asked the price--$3.00 and of course we said put it in the back of the van.  I then tried to make a decision between a bell or horn for the bike--I wanted the one that would irritate my son the most. Ha!  I decided on the horn and it cost twice what the bike cost.  Within an hour of them arriving, Noah had already enjoyed more than the cost of the bike and horn.  We even let him bring it in the house--probably would not have allowed one of our kids to do that, but he is a grandson.  I wanted to share this video with you and can imagine in a few years he will be flying down the ramp on a skateboard.

Then to add to the excitement of their visit, on the afternoon before they flew home the next morning, a bear came to visit and was in a tree in our back yard.  Now, mind you, we live within two blocks of downtown of our city.  This bear caused a lot of excitement but the wildlife person that came out said to leave it alone.  The last we heard, the bear was about 2 miles away on a golf course not far from the Haw River.  I sure hope it found it's way safely where it was trying to go.

Enjoy!

Love,

Marie

Scenes from the screen porch...

My husband is having a relapse with his MS.  I can take a cup of coffee, my I-Pad loaded with a good book, and be surrounded with these beautiful sights and sounds from the birds, and know there is someone greater than us in charge.  I wish you could come and sit a spell with me--I forgot to tell you how good the May blossoms smell.
Love,
Marie

My 198 yds. of Heaven...

This is my 198 yards of Heaven.  Thanks Karen for your help in understanding the pattern.  This is a free pattern by Christy Verity and I found it by a search.   Below is a view of it being worn. This picture was with the pattern.

Love,
Marie

My Citron finished...

I finished my citron and this is a picture before blocking.  I had some lavender worsted weight yarn and wanted to try this pattern.  I had been seeing it and loved the ruching and the ruffle and wanted to try knitting it.  It is a very easy pattern and can be found free on line. 
Love,
Marie

Doing a little crochet and knitting...

I have been spending these cold dreary day mostly wrapped up in my favorite afghan.  While cuddly warm, I have been doing some genealogy research for a friend—I find this so interesting.  I have also done a few yarn projects.

These are a couple of dishcloths that I knitted.  I did these by knitting with two strands of No. 10 crochet cotton--Aunt Lydia's.  I love the feel of these and being 100% cotton, I think they will launder well.
Using a size 8 knitting needle and contrasting colors.  You can't tell, but the bottom cloth is done by knitting with a strand of yellow and a strand of white.  The top cloth is done by using a strand of variegated and a strand of white.
Pattern:

Cast on 4 stitches
Row 1:  Knit
Row 2:  Knit 2, yo, knit the remaining stitches

Repeat Row 2 until it is as wide as you want it
then knit 1, knit 2 tog, yo, knit 2 tog, knit remaining
stitches. Continue until 4 stitch are left and then bind off
and work in ends.

This bag is crocheted and the pattern is on the front and inside of Crochet Today,
March/April 2013 issue.  I thought it was going to be hard to do, but it was not.

I hope you enjoyed 

your visit.

Love,

Marie

Thundersnow.....

  

This is a view out the bay window in our kitchen.  We had heavy rain off and on all day.  The temperature was in the low 50's most of the day.  At 6 pm, the rain was pouring down.  Then the temperature started dropping and by 8 pm it was snowing and thundering.  I have read today that is a rare occurrence.  I read a girl's blog from the UK today and she had the same thing happen on January 14--three days before us.  I found that interesting.  The snow was beautiful this morning but it is disappearing  quickly.  I hope we have another snow and that it comes during the daylight hours.

Love,

Marie