Mother's Day Fingerless Mitts

I designed these fingerless mitts just for Mom for Mother's Day this year.  They were fun to do and came out as well as I had hoped.  I love the design on the back of the hand with the beads.  I also like how the palm designed turned out as well.

I took a "formula" for making fingerless mitts and a couple pattern ideas from a book and began writing.

I finished knitting them on Mother's Day and got them into the mail Tuesday afternoon after sharing them with my friends at the local yarn shop during our Tuesday social knitting time.  Mom got them in the mail today and is very happy with them and reports they fit very well (something I was a bit worried about when making them).

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  I love you :)

Where did my little boy go?

Where did my little boy go?

There was this little boy I used to know.  He had dish-water blond hair with curls in the back, and he was the most interesting little man I'd ever met.  He was logical, analytical, and overtly curious about everything.  He was orderly, precise, and smart.  For example, he would take books out of a bookshelf and line them up in size order across a room.  He would remove storage containers from kitchen cabinets and line them up across the kitchen floor ... all in order.  He would investigate odd things he'd find, like packed coffee cakes (for cappuccinos) ... and then taste them to see if they were good cookies.  He would sip from cups, taste from plates, and push any buttons he could find.  He would sit on the floor and investigate his toes, and search under sofas and beds. He would sit in a high chair, still unable to walk, but able to select a game and put it into a computer and press the right buttons on the keyboard to "Jump Start" and play.

Where did this little boy go?

He has grown up.

Now he has closely cropped light brown hair, with a quirky wave in the front and an occasional curl over the forehead.  He is the most interesting young man I know.  He is logical, analytical, and overtly curious about everything.  He is no longer orderly, as his world surrounds his being, filling the space he occupies.  He is precise in his studies, and extremely smart, amazing me with the knowledge he has garnered over the years.  The books no longer sit neatly on a shelf, but lay in stacks around his desk and chair.  No longer do the books lay in a simple line across the room, but lay helter-skelter wherever he sits, available to grab in any spare moment to be devoured by the still curious mind.  He no longer removes containers from the cabinets to line them up across the floor, but pulls them out to mix, stir, and cook up meals ... storing those things which may remain as leftovers.  He no longer occupies the middle of the kitchen floor playing with lids and spoons, but uses them in a creative way to prepare meals, snacks, and goodies for his family ... and helping in keep order in the kitchen.  He investigates the great outdoors, enamored by frogs, birds, and fuzzy creatures.  He investigates tidbits of information, delving into the world wide web of information on the computer, creating images, papers, and stories for himself.  His creativeness extends past the computer into make-believe, music, dance, and art.

Where did my little boy go?

He grew up.

Okay, this is very strange.  I haven't been away for that long and already Blogger has changed things.  Facebook did the same thing.  Oh well.

The reason I decided to write tonight was because the purpose of this blog was to keep in touch with family.  Recently I tried to connect family with a photo of Amber from dance that someone else happened to take.  In the process of tagging, family got up in arms because they thought some other random person was linking their name to a photo they weren't in.  The sad part was, those two family members didn't even recognize Amber!  Here her picture has been on this blog and in e-mails and no one knew it was her. 

That being said, I guess this blog is not doing its intended purpose, which was keeping family that is far away, in touch with us out here.  I try to get photos up about once a month if I can, but if no one is even looking at the blog, I wonder why I even try.

I have since removed the FB photo tagging links to those family members.  I cannot and won't double photos in both places.  It would be too time consuming.

Family who want to stay in touch on FB may do so.  Others can read blog entries as they desire.  I will continue to stay in touch via e-mail, too.

Our daily lives are a ritual of schedules.  We go from one hour to the next, day after day, one event to the next.  Until the school and dance year is over, our schedules are pretty set in stone.

Every day we school at home.  The rest we fit in as we can.

Mondays are allergy shot days, dance, and scouts.
Tuesdays are violin and dance.
Wednesdays are volunteering at EPO and TAing at the studio, then more dance.
Thursdays are band day for the entire morning, followed by TAing at the studio, and then more dance.
Fridays are violin again, and more dance.
Saturdays are teaching dance, and whatever else we can fit in or perform.
Sundays are a day of rest ... unless someone is dancing.

Dance fills our lives in this house.  If someone isn't taking a class, you can hear feet tapping in the kitchen or in the playroom, music playing and someone scribbling on paper as they choreograph a new number, or humming and singing rehearsal pieces.

So, if you don't hear from us on FB, or read an entry on this blog, or don't get an e-mail, it's probably because there isn't much more to add ... or we simply do not have time to squat in front of the computer and do lots of creative writing and editing and photo editing.

Butterfly Free fingerless hand mitts

These are the fingerless gloves/hand mitts I designed for the silent auction to be held at our local yarn shop. Sheila Joynes, one of the shop managers, hand me this yarn and another (not pictured) to make something out of them for the auction. The auction will benefit breast cancer research and goes hand-in-hand with our charity knitting of "knitted knockers" which are distributed as needed. We've even had requests for our knitted and crocheted breast prosthesis from as far away as Georgia!

At any rate, the pattern itself for the "skeleton" of the mitts is from a few pages copied from a book that belongs to my friend Andrea Brush. From there I got the design on the back of the hand from the 2011 Advent Scarf I made. It is only a portion of the repeated section.

The ladies have asked me to write the pattern up for sale. Sheila also said I should put it up for sale on Ravelry. Quite an exciting adventure.

Now I have to figure out what to do with the other yarn. It's quite different from this yarn, which was a sport weight mercerized cotton, called Butterfly Cotton. This is the yarn we use to make our knitted and crocheted breast prosthesis. The other is mainly black, with specks of knobby colors. Should be interesting. I recently purchased a book on lace and eyelet patterns. I have to find just the right pattern for the next pair of mitts.

Easter Sunday - Resurrection Sunday - He is Risen!

We gathered together to read the Resurrection story this morning. Each of us took turns reading aloud to the others. Then we did the mini Sunday School lesson with our Resurrection Eggs.
The weather was so beautiful this morning. The Easter Bunny visited and left the eggs outside this year! What a change from these past several years! Amber is greeting Mr. Gray Dawson as he ran by with their dogs this morning. Joule was not on her leash and she went dashing off after them. Ian ran after her down the driveway to retrieve her.
Joule helped Ian find his hidden eggs.
Don't you love Ethan's attire? He donned a pair of socks (over his pj pants, of course) and Daryn's sneakers. (Ethan's sneakers have died and he's in need of new ones ... in the meantime, he's wearing Daryn's shoes.)
Evyn found one!
Everyone has found their eggs. There were solid chocolate little eggs, peanut butter and chocolate little eggs, and a couple Cadbury eggs for each.


Then we decorated the eggs before having them for breakfast! Some very interesting designs.
This is about 5 minutes after Ethan took some medication. But he was drawing on the eggs and his arm started to itch. Next thing we knew, his arm was very red, a huge welt at his last injection site, with satellite welts starting around it. He also said his throat started to feel funny and he started coughing. We immediately had him take Benedryl, take his inhaler, and his nasal spray. So glad the Benedryl acted as fast as it did. By the time I thought to get the camera to document it, the welts started to disappear. Thank goodness!


First batch of Hot Cross Buns. They were so big and fluffy and tender! (And yummy!)

Here is the second batch baking. More for tomorrow :)

Evyn's 15th Birthday

What's so funny? Ethan's gift to Evyn was a piece of paper that was wrapped in tissue paper no less. On it he wrote, "This is not your gift." What a jokester!
One day while hunting for a costume for Ian at Goodwill he spotted this purple sweatshirt and HAD to get it for Evyn. Evyn really likes purple (and green). As you can tell, he really liked it, too.
Amber's gift to Evyn was an "IOU" to do what Evyn wanted her to do for 24 hours ... like clean up. Not sure if it's been used yet. She also made him a little pouch with some cloth and buttons.

We also found a new game for the Wii for him. It's called Skylanders. It has little figurines that go onto a "portal" and you can switch them out. It's not an "active" game, but he does enjoy it.

We got him a couple extra figures to go with the start up set.
Lastly, the Diamond Head hat which I made for him out of Debbie Macomber's Blossom Street yarn, which is wool. He likes to wear hats.


Getting his Skylanders out of their box and learning how to play.
The "dirt cake" in the trifle bowl. It was SO yummy. The bottom is crushed Oreos, followed by a mixture of cream cheese and cool whip, then homemade chocolate pudding, and then topped with homemade chocolate cake (crumbled) and then another cup of crushed Oreos. I couldn't find dye-free worms, so I found natural jellied slugs and bugs ... just as fun.
These are the candles from his first birthday!

Happy Birthday, Evyn! We sure do love you a whole BUNCH!

CWO!

Daryn has been selected to the Chief Warrant Officer program in the U.S. Naval Reserves! We are so extremely happy for him. He's been trying to do this for years and perseverance has paid off! Congratulations, honey! We love you!