Merry Christmas – 2018

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christbirth

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.

15 And it came to pass, the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. (St. Luke 2:8-16)

May you and your families have a very blessed Christmas Day.

Baby 2X2 Hats

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I have a friend who had a baby girl about 2 months ago so I decided now that my hand was better to make her a simple baby hat (my hand still tires easily and gets nerve pain when I over do, but it’s slowly getting better.) I certainly can’t leave her 3 year old brother without a hat, so after finishing the 2X2 rib hat from 5 Easy Pieces – Knit Newborn Hats (Circular), (free pattern on Ravelry) for her daughter, I started one for her son.  I choose the 2X2 rib because it’s, easy (to knit and on my hand) and soft and squishy.  I used a size 6 for the newborn size (the pattern called for a size 7, I knit loosely so I  usually go down a needle size to get gauge)  and used the size 7 for the 3 year old’s hat and added 12 stitches.  I will also add length so it will cover his ears :).  **There use to be a way to magnify the pictures on Word Press but I can’t find it anymore, so even tho you can’t see the yarn very well, it’s Yarn Bee (from Hobby Lobby) Soft and Sleek, the pink is pink stripe and the blue is Denim Blues.  It is very soft stuff and knits nicely.  I believe Hobby Lobby is having a yarn sale in the store this week (Monday Dec 24th – Saturday Dec 29 2018) for 30% off.  Incentive to buy some more :P.

I am still working on the spinning.  I finished that rolag and weighed the bobbins with the singles and first one is a little heavier so I decided to get another of the rolags to spin (that will leave 3 left) and put 2/3 of the rolag on the lighter bobbin and the rest on the other bobbin, hopefully that will balance it out.  We will see.

Tomorrow will be baking day, rolls for Christmas dinner on Tuesday :).

**Update:  I discovered that if you choose the pictures side by side choice that you can click on them on the blog and they will enlarge in a separate window, however if you chose the single pictures they will not.  So there you go.

Some New Housemates and Some Spinning

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Meet (yellow and green) Princess Peach, and (teal on the top and blue on the bottom and some white) Yoshi.  My son and his spouse weren’t having enough time for these love birds because of their alpacas and shows to sell their alpaca yarn, etc.  So I inherited them.  Unfortunately they are both females so they have to have separate cages because, tho they like each other, it’s from afar, lol.  I didn’t realize just how noisy and loud love birds can be, they make a call similar to the kookaburra, :P.  They also have quiet noises as well.  You can’t see the color well on the teal/blue love bird, but she is beautiful.  They are not friendly so I have to love them from afar as well :P.  They are very intelligent as most parrots are, Miss Peach figured out how to get out of her cage and I had to secure all the doors on her cage, she is naughty :P.

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Ok, re-posting the finished spool of singles and the progress on the 2nd spool and showing the rolag with it.  I have four more rolags not counting the one I draped across the wheel, however I have the 1st spool about 1/2 way full and tho I can get more on it, if I have 2,  more than 1/2 full spools, I worry that it will be overfull after plying, and my  Baynes wheel doesn’t do plying well once that happens.  So I might have to just spin what is left over, after filling this 2nd spool 1/2 way, and ply the left over singles from a center pull ball and use it if I need it for the scarf that I am planning on making with this yarn. I’m hoping to have this done tomorrow evening or Monday sometime, been a long time coming with this skein :P.  Then I can concentrate on continuing learning to spin on the Rick Reeves double drive wheel ;).

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Thanksgiving DayHope everyone is having a Happy Thanksgiving Day.  My thoughts and prayers are going out to those who suffered devastating losses in the California fires :(, and all those who had no family to celebrate with.   My heart is breaking for them.

I may not have much according to the world, but I have enough.  I have my faith, my family, a warm place to live, food on my table and clothes on my back.  I even have some things that I wanted, a spinning wheel (that was given to me – could not afford to buy one), my knitting needles, some yarn to knit and fiber to spin, a computer (a gift from my dad).  I have an older car that allows me to get around in town and a working sewing machine I’ve had for about 20 years, that allows me to do some sewing (repairs and gifts).  I can not complain because there are others who have less.  I’m grateful for the things the Lord has provided for me.  I wasn’t always grateful because I saw the things others had, but as I saw the lack and needs of others who had less than I did,  I began thanking our Father in Heaven for those things I had neglected to recognize as blessings in my life.  It has given me a sense of peace and comfort to see and recognize all the Lord has blessed me with.  I hope you find things to be grateful for too even tho there is so much strife and drama in the world, there are things in our lives that are blessings and tender mercies.  Sharing what we have is a blessing to others, not only lifting them but us as well.  I hope we can all find ways to bless others’ lives.

Veteran’s Day 2018 – November 11

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Veteran's Day

For our Military, who have given service and sacrificed for our freedom!

I would like to take a moment to thank all those veterans who fought in the various wars and “police actions” for our freedom.   Thank you for your service, and thank you to your families for allowing you to do that.

I would also like to thank my Dad, who is also a Veteran!

Dad1

Happy Birthday Dad! And Snow is Coming!

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My Dad Happy 29th Birthday (again) Dad!!!  Best Dad in the world!!

Our weather report says snow over night and into tomorrow totaling between 1 and 3 inches.  In the 30’s here today and 20’s to low 30’s tomorrow, sigh.  Guess the Old Farmers Almanac is gonna be right about more snow and colder temps this winter.

**UPDATE** The snow here was only a trace, 1″ and up was south of us.  But it was our first snow for the 2018-2019 winter.  Yeah, it’s already melted :P.

Sudden Loss

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Scarfalong  This is my progress on the Scarf Along I was doing with my friend Kari.

I got a call from another friend of ours today to tell me  Kari was killed in a one car accident yesterday evening.  My heart hurts over her loss.  She was my Harry Potter marathon buddy when I lived in TN.  We would have a Harry Potter marathon every 3 months or so, popcorn, soft drinks and knitting.  We went to church together (where I met her) and I enjoyed her “lets go do something” attitude.  She will be very missed.  I will finish my scarf in her memory.

One More Contraption to Wear on the Road to Recovery.

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splint/brace Well, had my hand Dr appt. today and the cast is off!  I will now be wearing this for at least the next 4 weeks.  Plus starting Thursday I will be having physical therapy appts, where I will find out what my new physical therapist determines will be the duration of my torture, I mean therapy sessions.  The dr was nice enough to prescribe me pain meds for the upcoming therapy sessions after he bent my little finger to see it’s flexibility after being in the cast for 6 weeks and my eyes almost bugged out of my head, and I said I don’t think I want physical therapy.  He then informed me that if I didn’t I would lose a lot of mobility in my fingers, and to be honest at that point I would have been fine with that :P.   Can you tell I am not looking forward to these?  I’m accepting volunteers to take my place for those :P.

I was hoping I would be knitting again, however I did not anticipate having a splint/brace on for at least another month, sigh.  Maybe time to see if I can figure out the throwing knitting style or a variation there of (I normally knit the combined continental knitting style, also referred to as picking, so I use my left hand for my knitting tension like a crocheter does and my right hand does the actual knitting.)  Time to get serious to see if I can spin with my left hand in this contraption.  At least, I can take it off to wash my hair :), and for those dang physical therapy sessions and whatever home exercises they make me do.  Otherwise it is to be in this thing, tho honestly, my hand is grateful for the support the splint/brace gives.  Aspirin at this point is my friend :).

 

Just one more set, honest :P   I couldn’t resist this one more stitch marker set from Adore Knits , it was on sale and so darn cute! These are tiny for sock knitting, which works well for me because I have to use size 0 to get gauge for my socks.

Remembering 9/11 2018

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9-11

As we remember the 17th year since this heinous attack was perpetrated, may we take a moment to remember all those who died on this day 17 years ago and thank those who helped in the aftermath. I would like to salute those heroes on flight 93, and all those who, on that day, willingly and unselfishly sacrificed their lives to save the lives of others. I also salute those in our armed services who have given their lives and those who continue to fight, selflessly putting their own lives in jeopardy to protect us and others from terrorism. They are all heroes to me and I will never forget.

New Purple Cast

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new cast2 Well I went to the Dr.’s yesterday and good news, the x-ray showed no slipping, of the fractured piece of bone that was broken loose in my hand under the little finger.  So no surgery!  This new purple cast will be on for 3 weeks then it can come off and physical torture, I mean physical therapy will start.  A friend said be sure to ask for pain meds.  I said “aspirin won’t take care of the pain?”, he said, “nope.”  Ugh.

Miss my knitting.  Might try to spin some time this week to see if I can do it with this cast on.  Would be a relaxing diversion.  My Baynes spinning wheel is in the back ground, getting no love at the moment, but we will see if that can be remedied.

We have been having heavy storms every day now for over a week, and the weather pattern shows the storms taking a brief respite tomorrow and then continuing through Saturday.  We have been in flood warning for a week and have over flowing rivers and two days ago 4 tornadoes touched down in areas close to, but not super close to my town, except one, which touched down in the city adjoining my town.  A sample of the winter weather pattern?  If so we should be prepared for a lot of snow and I hear the old farmer almanac also predicting very cold harsh temps, sigh.  Guess I will be looking to see if the woolly caterpillars are out in force this fall (the older people use that as an indicator of colder temps for the winter here.)