A Christmas Reflection

Christmas 2011 just recently past, though the holiday times are still with us, I thought I do a bit of a reflection. Not the best of pictures, think my batteries were low at this point which made the picture grainy. When this photo was taken not everything was wrapped and under the tree as DD still needed to get some of items under there. She always shops and wraps after she makes it home.

Darling Daughter coming home for a week long visit is the best part of the season for me. We just don't get to see her as often as I would like. She's busy, we're busy, and the distance and cost of visits plays into that.

I'm not offended when people say Happy Holidays to me, instead of Merry Christmas. Doing so implies they may not know if I celebrate Christmas (meaning they may not know my religious beliefs...and that's ok with me. I consider religious beliefs to be a personal and private thing). I don't think saying Happy Holidays takes Christ out of Christmas at all, those feelings are in ones heart. I also think it covers more then Christmas. Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings to me covers Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and The Jewish Holidays as well.

I do not shop on Black Friday...I do not shop on Manic Monday. Don't belief you could pay enough to do either. I absolutely will not shop at stupid hours be they at 6 am or 12 mn. Reduce your hours so your employes can sleep, spend time with their families and be safer. I am beyond applaud by people who fight each other for gifts. I belief if people would show some personal restraint and not go shopping at those ridiculous hours the stores would be forced to alter their hours and things would be safer.

We generally eat a nice meal at home for New Years or go out but make it home early enough to have Champagne at home when the clock strikes 12.

I was disappointed I couldn't find real candy canes this year for the tree. Real ones to me are the red and white. The best I could do was green and red. They're not as pretty, but far away better then those awful strange colored ones. Putting Candy Canes on the tree always makes me think of my Grandfather, such a fond memory. It's an important tradition for me.

I did not get all the knitting and crocheting projects I wanted done by Christmas, but came very close. Naturally, continuing to work on those that didn't get done.

Next year I plan to buy more from local venders and those on line who do "homemade" vs the chains.

I hope everyone had a joyous holiday with friends and families. And now looking forward to New Years........what will 2012 bring?

A travel plan in order

I've posted about Oddball blankets before, it's a group on RAV, every knitter knits there section and sends the blanket on. Some are baby blankets, some full sized, some even for pets. This is a knitted worsted weight blanket sized for babies that requires 6 knitters and a border patrol person. My section has been complete and now that the blanket, Fruit Salad has it's traveling papers will be mailed, once again.

This blanket has traveled from Canada, to Wyoming, to Texas, to the state of Washington, then to me here in Ohio. From Ohio, The Buckeye State it will travel to Idaho for it's final section. I'm unsure where it will go from there to be bordered. The blue section is to represent blueberries.

Another Finished Object for Friday is January Cloth (my first cable attempt). And my 10th of 12th cloths for Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge which is part of my YOP. It's not great and I learned that I would NEVER again do a cable stitch using Cotton!


Cotton has no give which made doing this very difficult. And as you can see where I tried really hard to knit loser...there are some inconsistent holes near the cables. There are sections that turned out nice but I was only able to do a few rows at a time cause it played havoc on hands.

FOF Badge and link in sidebar.

Santa Claus Memories, Thank you Mom

This is an old bookcase, been in the family forever. The shelves are adjustable (to a point), and the case has been painted many colors throughout the years. I remember it mostly being black in my younger years. A very fond memory of Mom comes to mind especially this time of year especially. She transformed this old bookcase into the fireplace that Santa Clause came down...year after year.

She'd remove all the books, and many of the shelves and using crape paper that looked like bricks...bingo, right before you very eyes a fireplace would appear. We watched her do this multiple times...and with her use of magic snow, hanging our socks on the mantle; we believed the Jolly Old Man truly did come down that very chimney.
After all, the proof was there every Christmas morning. The colored pictures don't withstand the test of time as well as the old black and whites (1952 and 1953). But clearly you can see, Santa did come to visit and bring great excitement and joy to us kids. My older brother Chuck and I playing cowboys and Indians and even before people knew about the word multi-tasking...clearly we were...we were also having a tea party. Younger brother Mike in the jump seat.

Thank you Mom for the wonderful memories.

I'ld like to add, this magical bookcase has been painted once again, creamy white this time round and is in DD's house.

Merry Christmas Mom.

What are the Right Tools?

This is the start to The January Cloth for Cotton Cloth Calendar Challenge for my DD. Sigh.........The photo shows 2 cables and the pattern is called mirror image. The beginning you see is after 3 tries! Argh..........it's been frogged multiple times. First it was going to be blue and white......white for snow and blue for cold. Cold and snow pretty much sums up Ohio in January. However, after frogging twice I decided to stick with one solid color, one less issue to deal with. This is my first attempt at cables. Learning to knit cables is one of 2 items on the goal area of My Year of Projects List.

I thought (probably not wisely so), that doing a cotton washcloth would be a good way to try my hand at this stitch, because it's a small project and doing something new on a small project is probably a better idea.....right? Hum, well in retrospeak, I think using cotton for a cable is probably NOT a good idea? Cotton has next to know give, no flexibility which seems to make doing the stitch really hard on my hands......tight. I do a few rows, then take a break.
I read the directions several times, and watched a couple of video's to see how to do the stitch. Above you see 2 types of cable stitch holders. The one that looks like a knitting needle with a curve is the one I started with. My thought was, it's about the same size (gauge) as the knitting needles I'm using for the project..........figured that would keep the stitches the right gauge?
Some directions suggest knitting right from the stitch holder..........yeah, tried that and couldn't keep the count very well. Though it did seem knitting from the holder when the holder was in back of the work (C6B) was easier then C6F. Another video suggested moving the stitches back to the regular knitting needle. That method seemed to work better for me.........except I found again moving them hard to keep the right number, things just seemed toooooooooooo tight, particular with C6F.

Then I remembered the cable holders I purchased previously that looked like big safety pins and thought I'd give those a try. I much prefer these. Using these and putting the stitches back on the needle seems to be easier....not easy, but easier. One of the video's showed a v shape stitch holder that I've not seen in the stores. Need to keep my eyes open, as it seemed like it might be the ticket.

Does the equipment/tools one uses make a difference? As a newbie, I think so...but what say you all? Is using a cotton a foolish way to learn? Is a good wool easier?

YOP link and badge in sidebar. Working on the actual list, plan to have an additional page/tab here vs reposting it each Sunday.

It's Friday....here's Royalty

Blue, Gold, Purple crocheted granny squares joined by a very dark Forest Green. This afghan is a team work project. Cheryl donated the squares over on Bridge and Beyond. I edged the squares, and assembled the afghan. It measures a little over 50 x 64. The dark green yarn was also donated by Laurie over on Bridge and Beyond. I enjoy designing afghans to help the homeless from donated goodies from big hearted knitters and crocheters. Homeless Families Foundation helps homeless families with temporary housing for up to 3 months while they aid the family in seeking help they need to keep their family together, to help with the job search, to help care for the kids and get them to and from school, help with homework etc. It's a wonderful program. When they make the move from temporary housing to permanent housing they receive a "Welcome Home" pack to help them get started. One of the items they receive is the gift of a handmade afghan........a wonderful way to say, "Welcome Home."

This is my finished object Friday post, link/badge in the sidebar. Join in, it's fun. Hope you're all chipping away and finishing up items you need for Christmas Gifts, time's getting close.

**Throwing a challenge out there to all who read this post:
Are you from one of the following states:
Conn, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Miss., Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, or Utah?
No one from those states has donated over on Bridge and Beyond. You could represent your state....surely someone in those states knits/crochets and has a big heart.....nudge nudge**

A Special Dinner

Our two Cooks, Mean and Stacie. We often join these lovely ladies for dinner and or drinks out. They had a nice surprise for Ernie and I. Said they wanted to cook us dinner. How cool is that folks. Don't they look adorable in aprons doing the dinner prep? Notice the 2 bottle of wine...they know me well.


Stacie cutting fresh strawberries to add to a yummy spinach salad.


Megan grating some fresh parmesian cheese to add to her stuff shells. The shells were awesome. Look out Giada!


While dinner was in the oven, we enjoyed wine, marinated mushrooms and Bruschetta . Conversation was lively, the food excellent, the company wonderful, AND they cleaned up. My kind of a nice evening.

Thank You, we really enjoyed ourselves!