My First Cardigan

I am so excited - I've started knitting my very first cardigan!  Naturally it's for Brooklyn since I do love to make things for her.  But it also made sense to me to make a very small sweater my first time.  Don't you love how stockinette stitch rolls on the edge?  This pattern will have me pick up stitches all the way around for a cute little edging, so the rolling doesn't worry me right now.

I'm really enjoying this yarn as well.  It's very soft and has little nubbies of different colors and textures that kind of stick up.  Caron Simply Soft Baby and I got it with a 40% off coupon, so it will make a very low cost sweater for her.

Smelly Dog, Smelly Dog

As I tell this story you are going to guess the end before I get there.

We're driving along tonight and unbelievably we see a skunk walking
along the road. I turned to Keith and mentioned that I'd never seen a
live skunk before - only dead ones at the side of the road.

Fast forward about 45 minutes and Joe needed to go outside. I opened
the back door and out he went. I walked over to get water from the
fridge when I smelled the most horrible smell EVER! The lightbulb
went on in my brain and I went running to the back door. Sure enough,
Joe was nose to nose with a very irritated skunk, who had a very
puffed up tail!!! I started yelling at Joe to "COME" and he finally
ambled over and straight into the shower he went.

Apparently he didn't get sprayed too bad because I was able to get the
smell out.

Good times????? :)

Dinner with B&R

Since I have no picture to go with the words on this post I decided to use a photo of Brooklyn from 4th of July.  She was out in the front yard with her grandpa and happy as a clam.  I'm not sure what she's looking at in the picture, but it certainly has her attention!

Last night was one of those beautiful family nights.  Keith's brother and his wife were in town for a brief time and they came over for dinner and chatting.  We grilled hamburgers and had the nicest time.  They truly are among my favorite people and I could talk with them for hours and hours and never tire of it.

Looking back I remember the time before any of us were married.  Keith and I went on a double date with them to the drive-in and right as the movie started it began pouring down rain!  This was back before the sound came in on your radio - these were the days of the little speakers that you hang on your window.  We closed the window as much as we could and we had the windshield wipers going at full speed.  In case anybody is wondering, it's a little tough to watch a movie through your windshield wipers - LOL!  To this day it makes me laugh to think about it.

Good times.....

Joe At The Lake

Each time we are on the lake Joe demonstrates again that he is a retriever through and through.  9 times out of 10 he's able to find a toy or stick or something on the beach to carry around.  This time somebody had left a plastic shovel behind so he claimed it as his own.  He swam with it, played fetch with it and generally just had a good time.

We always know when he's had enough swimming and gets tired because he'll swim to the boat and kind of hold on to the ladder til we get over to him and help him back in.  We take off his lifejacket, he shakes the water all over the place, then he finds a place to work on his suntan.

Doggie good times......   :)

Wordless Wednesday

Stamp Night Projects

Now to show a couple of projects we did at our recent Stamp Club.  The first is cute as it can be.  It's a miniature scrapbook album, maybe about 3 inches square!  The inside pages are cardstock and the front and back cover are mini envelopes.  There also is a page in the back envelope to do journaling on - just cute as it can be!  We used the new set  Eastern Blooms, the pages are Tangerine Tango and the ribbon on the front is Kiwi Kiss - all Stampin Up products.

Our second project was this card, using the new Dreams du Jour stamp set.  I love, love this card!  Again, Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango cardstock and not sure if it shows in the photo or not, but the top white layer is scored rather like a quilt and at the bottom we used the new Scallop Edge Punch - oh so awesome!  Also featured is Bella Rose Designer Paper.

And ha! - I was able to sneak in a picture of Brooklyn and it actually goes along with the topic.  :)  Stampin Up packages their stamps with the wood and you mount them yourself.  I prefer using acrylics for my stamps and finally had a lightbulb moment on what to do with all the leftover wood mounts - use them as blocks for Little B!  I put them in a little pink heart shaped basket and she dumped and filled the basket for quite a little bit.  I wonder if now I can justify more stamp purchases so that I'll have more Blocks for B?   ;)

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."  - Psalm 19:1

Preemie Eyelet Hat

photo.jpg
Originally uploaded by scrappygolden

Staying with my "knitting for others" theme that I seem to be in, I recently made this preemie hat. I finally found a model for it and doesn't she looked tickled with the new hat?

Silly aside, the pattern can be found here and only took a tiny bit of yarn and a small block of time. It truly is a darling hat and now I want to make all the hats she shows on the blog.

Not sure yet where I will donate these hats, but I'm willing to bet I'll find someplace. :)

Scarves to Donate

I am loving my newest project and am probably one of the last knitters ever to finally make one.  Allow me to introduce to you the My So Called Scarf.  I think it's one of those things that are so beautiful online, but I recently saw one in person and it about knocked my socks off!  I'm using Malabrigo yarn in the Charrua colorway and this yarn is just like buttah....soooo soft.  A true joy to knit with.

This is the second of the scarves that I had promised to a girl I work with for her church's Christmas effort to supply backpacks to the homeless.  We were asked to each knit and donate two scarves and now I see that I never blogged about the first one, so let me do that now.

This scarf I did in March and is the Sinful Ribbed Scarf with an added ruffle edge.  The yarn is Jo-Ann Sensations Angel Hair color MUL650.  It just hit me that this also is one of the softest yarns I've ever used, so apparently that's the sort of yarn I enjoy for scarves.

Hopefully both of these will bring comfort and joy to somebody that needs them this winter.

Being Still

This is one of my absolute favorite Bible verses and one that I struggle the most with.  I think many times we get so caught up in being busy and trying to fix things and make things perfect that we really don't hush long enough to listen for Him to give us direction.

In the morning during Bible time yesterday was when this verse came to me again.  It has cooled off here in Texas so I took my coffee and Bible to the backyard for reading.  After my reading was finished and I'd made notes of some new favorite verses, all of a sudden this verse just came at me.  The timing was interesting too because Friday one of my favorite friends found out her "position had been eliminated" at work and I was just devastated.  And not too long after that many of us in our family received an email that my brother/sister-in-law's dog Harmony had passed away.  Sadness - and an entire post coming on that.  But my mind had been a whirl about things happening and wanting to make things better.  And yet, God stepped in and told me to be still.  So I did.

And looking around I noticed the birds, oh so many different varieties.  My first thought was to jump up and come get the camera, but He reminded me again to be still.  And a dog barked in the distance.  And more birds flew in the yard, including a brilliant red cardinal.  And the tears started to flow silently.  Those few moments of beautiful peace and a clear mind and the Lord brings such  wonderful things.  I started to pray and the tears still flowed.  How awesome is our God who loves us no matter what.  Who listens to the words of our hearts.  And who just wants us to be still sometimes and to listen to Him.

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  - Phillipians 4:7

A Day At The Aquarium

Where has this week gone?   :)  Well even though it's already Thursday I'm going to post about the family fun we had last Sunday.  All 6 of us went to the Dallas World Aquarium and had a wonderful time.  I will admit that I was afraid that Miss B would be too young to really enjoy it, but I'm here to tell you I was WRONG!  This little exhibit had two ducks swimming around and they were moving fast enough that it was almost like one of those little wind up toys.  It still seems funny to me to see pictures of her standing up or walking.  :)

But she wasn't always walking!  I have pictures of each and every one of us holding Brooklyn at one time or the other.  Here she is with her Aunt Lynne' and they are looking at some turtles swim.  She has just recently learned to point at things and it is so darling.

Her Grandpa had her when we went through the shark tunnel.  I'm sure he's telling her that if a shark appears while we're at the lake that he'll punch it in the nose for her.  ;)

And I love it that her hair is long enough to put in a little hairbow.  She looks like a little kewpie doll here.

Watching her at the aquarium was another example of how adults could learn a lot from children and babies.  Brooklyn was wide-eyed throughout the place, just looking slowly at everything.  Where we were impressed with amazing rare animals she was equally entranced by water sounds and splashes or big leaves.  Equally impressive to her was a bamboo edging and she wanted to put one little hand in each one of them.  So darling!

Good times.......

Feather and Fan Baby Blanket

I finished this blanket on Tuesday last week and couldn't be happier with it.  The pattern is the Feather and Fan Blanket and I've always loved the delicate lacey look, but was afraid to try it.  Now I'm so glad I did because it really wasn't hard at all.  It's only a four row repeat and only one of the rows is a pattern row.

This was made for one of my dear friend's daughters who is due very soon.  I started the blanket in March but just sort of did a few rows every now and then because I knew I had 9 months to finish.  Guess what - those 9 months pass more quickly than you think - LOL!  The last two weeks have seen quite a bit of dedicated knitting time on this blanket.

I chose white because I've always thought that white blankets look very heirloom.  And the white yarn with this lacey pattern just made it so beautiful. 

The yarn is simply the Pound of Love by Lion Brand.  I am a firm believer in using yarn that a new mother is able to wash and dry.  And this drapes so lovely.

Keith and I were looking at it yesterday morning and he asked me how long it took to knit.  I was able to figure a rough estimate because each pattern repeat took about an hour, so approximately 44 hours went into this blanket.  That sounds like a tremendous amount of time, but really it was all knit either watching tv/movies with Keith or knitting with friends.

One of my favorite parts about knitting blankets for new babies is the amount of prayer that goes into them.  During those hours much time was spent thinking abouto and praying for baby Paige.

This blanket truly was a labor of love and I hope she loves it too.  :)

Behold, children are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them! ~ Psalm 127:3-5

Wii Are Becoming More Fit

I thought I'd share a picture of what has been occupying our time every.single.night this week.

We bought a WiiFit last weekend and have been having so much fun with it! What are the odds that I would ever say any kind of exercise was actually FUN???

For those that have never seen it I'll explain the screen. In the foreground is the back of Keith's head (his Mii) and he's doing the hula hoop game. During this event there are two other Mii's that are facing you and will periodically toss another hula hoop your way. The idea is to lean over and catch the hula hoop on your head, then try and spin all the hula hoops at one time.

One of my favorite parts of the Wii is that once people play on it their Mii becomes part of our machine. So in this particular screen shot you see the Mii on the left with the pink shirt - that is my Mii. The other Mii, the one with the blonde ponytails and white shirt is BROOKLYN!!! This really makes Keith and I laugh when we're doing any of the WiiFit games and we see Brooklyn. The machine just tosses in random Mii's, so we never know who we'll see and that's part of the fun of it.

My favorite is a step aerobic type game, especially now that I've unlocked the advanced mode. I have confirmed that I have no rhythm at all, but it is fun to do and makes me laugh.

One more thing - the first time you set up the WiiFit it weighs you and figures your BMI. And at that point it makes your little Mii on the screen become larger. Strangely enough it was funny to watch my little Mii look down at her body growing exponentially and her little eyes got quite large at the phenomena! And the little board that you step on? Each time you hear a little voice say "Oh!" like it can't believe how large you are. Thankfully I do find this hilarious.... ;)

Good times......

It's For Brooklyn Honey....

Oh such beauty. This little cove is where Keith and I stopped to swim at one point this weekend. When it gets to the hot part of the summer we have always loved to just stop the boat somewhere on the lake and jump in - with lifejackets on of course - and kind of bob around. The water was 28 feet deep in this little cove and so wonderfully cool in the midst of our 106 degree weather.

Now the background to the next part of the story is that Keith and I watch a LOT of Discovery Channel and it's been Shark Week....

As we were bobbing along and talking and laughing I turned to Keith and asked him - in all seriousness mind you - if a shark would suddenly appear and bite me would he swim over and punch it in the nose? He gave me The Look and told me that sharks are not in lakes. OK, I get that, but let's pretend for a minute that somehow a shark got in the wrong place, showed up at our lake and bit me, would he punch out the shark? Keith was silent for a minute and then said no. I feigned being insulted, then asked why not. He said "Well, really there is no sense in both of us getting bitten, so I should stay over here. You know...for Brooklyn." OK, I burst out laughing at that. I love it that he's not going to save me so that he would be alive for our granddaughter. :)

Good times.......

Well...,,mom warned me. Anytime you try to knit under pressure with a
looming deadline that's when mistakes happen. What you're seeing here
is three dropped stitches. And unfortunately I didn't bring a crochet
hook along on this trip to take care of this problem. Fortunately I
have a Macyver husband who fashioned a crochet hook out if a clothes
hanger and I was on my merry way. He told me to get him a hanger, some
duck tape and a coconut and he'd get me fixed up.

I love that man. :)

Coffee and Mud Dobbers, Though Not Together

Sometimes a day just starts out so good that you want to celebrate with your favorite Cheery Cherry Mug. This morning it's filled with coffee and my new favorite Coffeemate flavor - Italian Sweet Creme.

I got the mug at a Harry and David store at the outlet mall when the family females went shopping a few weeks back. When I saw it on the shelf I was just so tickled and sashayed my fine self up to the register only to find that it was ON SALE even! Really, does it get any better than that???

--<>--

And now for something really gross, look what we found on the side of our house last night - a mud dobber village! Honestly it was really kind of cool to see from afar, then I was a chicken and went in the house while my mighty warrior husband took care of it. Almost a shame to tear it down after they did so much work, but then they didn't ask me before they started building. ;)