Best Laid Plans

Cate the next 2 posts are for you! I'm gonna tell you how I did my steeks for the Fair Isle.

Before one can actually take scissors to a knitted sweater that is 2 years in the making, one must plan for the event.

My sweater cardigan needs to be planned out. I have 300 stitches in the round which means that there are 150 sts for the front and 150 sts for the back. Out of these 150 stitches I need to figure out how many I'm going to use for the shoulders and for the neck hole.

Being a fan of Mrs. Zimmerman, I decided to employ the percentage system and adjusted it to suit my needs. I also have to remember that this cardigan is meant to have the shoulders drop onto the arm so I'm going to need extra shoulder stitches for that.

150 stitches = 100%

Shoulders
40% x 150 sts = 60 sts
2 shoulders x 60 = 120 sts

Neck
Remaining 20% x 150 sts = 30 sts

Now that the calculations have been made, I took some left over cotton yarn and blocked off the stitches.



All of the separate sections of stitches are on individual waste yarn holders. For example, the 60 shoulder stitches for the front are on a separate waste yarn than the back shoulder stitches.




Next, I decided on where I wanted to cut open the front as well where to place the sleeves. I then ran waste yarn down these areas so I knew where to place the steeks.

After all the stitches are on the waste yarns and I know where I'm going to place the steeks, I turned the sweater inside out and did a 3-needle bind off on the sleeve area.

This was enough work for one day. Tomorrow, steeks!

City Knits

When searching for the perfect button, knitters know that JoAnn's or Michael's will just not do the trick. These big box stores are fantastic for a great many things but not for the perfect button which is to be placed on a Fair Isle sweater that has been worked on for the past 2 years. Try explaining this to DH.

Me: Honey? Can you take me to City Knits so I can get some buttons?

DH: Can't you drive?

Me: I can't fit behind the wheel.

DH: Where is City Knits?

Me: Downtown Detroit in the Fisher Building.

DH: Can't you just go to JoAnn's?

This is the point in the conversation that we all just take a very very deep breath and remember that this is the man that you love and adore.

Me: Are you kidding me? You want me to go to JoAnn's for some buttons that were made in a third world country that everyone else on the planet has to put on Maxine's sweater that I have been working on for 2 whole years?

DH:

Me: Never mind, I'll take myself.

DH: No you're not! Its dangerous in Detroit and I don't want you down there by yourself in your condition. Get in the car.

So off to City Knits we go!

City Knits is located in the Fisher Building, which has been recently refurbished. I'd be willing to be it was the cat's meow back in her day. Brass door pulls, marble floors, high painted ceilings, the works. Spared no expense. I'm so glad that she is being restored to her respectible self.

The shop itself is wonderful! Full of great yarny selection and buttons from local artists as well as from artists around the world. The book selection puts other LYS book selections to shame. Not only do they have the trendy books but they also have the stitch dictionaries and the OLD how to books. This totally impressed me!

Of course I couldn't just get the buttons I originally came for. I found the Lorna's Laces sock yarn.



I've never used such wonderful sock yarn before so I thought I would splurge a little. And then they wound it for me as well!!! That was great cuz it meant no sitting on the floor with the skein on my feet, trying to reach past the over extended belly that can't possibly stretch more than it already has, and ball it up.

I'm going to call the resulting socks "Parrot Bay" as they remind me of the vibrant colors of Parrots and I could really go for a drink right about now!



I also got a book!



Where is the picture of the buttons you ask? I forgot to take them. I'm sorry and I'll do better next time!

Little White Boxes

I love little white boxes. Especially if the little white box was left by the post man on my front porch with a postmark from Washington State. My little white box always contains goodies and other treasures any knitter would love to have.

Here is what my little white box contained today!



20 hanks of Berroco Softwist! I have absolutely no idea what the luscious blend of wool and rayon wants to be when it grows up but I'm sure it will let me know. A spring time top? Or maybe a fall 3/4 sleeve pullover? Only time will tell.

In addition to the yarn, I received some books.



I have been wanting these books on lace for quite some time now and I'm glad that they just happened to make it in my inbox during check out time. Both are loaded with inspiration and some great lessons on how to knit and properly block lace.

These goodies as well as the rest of the stash will need to keep me satiated until the next little white box makes its appearance!

Results Revealed

Several months ago the question of stashing came up at the chat site. It was started because one of the chatters saw a survey somewhere and we had all agreed that it was very unrealistic. I think that the greatest number of accumulated stash was the ridiculously small amount of 20 balls. This is a sweaters worth people! So this discussion led me to start an informal survey of my own.

First off, I want to thank the 59 people that took the time to take the survey! Of these knitting gurus, no one can quite open up a store. Granted I have no idea who voted and who didn't so I am left with my imagination and I can imagine quite a bit. When I met Bri while I was in Florida, she admitted to having seen stashes larger than some local yarn stores. Of course they were pretty small yarn stores, possibly closet sized, so it probably didn't take much to fill it up. However her DH Charles did comment on this. Now I'm thinking if a guy is gonna take the time to mention that someones stash has more in it than a yarn store, then I'm guessing that it is a pretty small store.

2 people have just started knitting so they don't have a stash. I want to welcome you guys to the wonderful world of knitting and stashing!

The majority of the voters said that they have several 20 gallon tub full (38 people, I was one of them). This does not surprise me. Its quite easy to fill up a a 20 gallon tub especially with all the great yarn sales out there. And every knitter knows that you have to get the quantity right up front because its not going to last forever. In fact when its gone, its gone and thats the end of it.

12 people said they have 1 20 gallon tub full. My theory on this is that that they actually have more than the 1 tub but its in boxes and not in a tub so it doesn't count. OR its sock yarn, which everyone knows by now doesn't count. Of course they could just have the one tub and I'm reading too much into the situation.

The remaining 5 people have a box full. I attribute this to them being new knitters who have recently found the great savings to be had on the internet. I'm quite certain that they will have a sizable yarn stash before too long!

Once again I want to thank everyone for participating in the survey it was great fun! If you have an idea for another survey let me know.

Mission Accomplished!

Miss Maxine in her brand spankin' new wool sweater! (I think she likes it!)

They Call Me...

Sausage Fingers




Do you see the size of those things? They are famous for swelling up overnight and then unswelling (is that even a word?) throughout the day. Its really putting a damper on the knitting.

Speaking of knitting. I officially have 23 inches completed on the sweater. This leaves 3 or 4 more inches to go before I start to steek, which I'm totally looking forward to!

On your mark, get set...

GO!!!

Today is the official start of getting into shape for the 2010 Knitting Olympics!



Remember this? Me either. Its the basket that the Fair Isle has been living in for awhile now.

I took some measurements and it is currently almost 19 inches long. I have another 7 to 9 inches to go. Then the steeking.

Michigan Scuba Treasure Shipwreck Diving

Ray and his dive buddies went diving again up at Marine City, Michigan. They found this wreck, which they are calling "The Jefferson St. Wreck," on a drift dive last year and are now checking it out. This year Ray got a side scan sonar that he can hang over the edge of the boat and take pictures of the bottom of the river. Well he found not only this wreck but another wreck about 50 feet away! How cool is that?



Rick, the bald guy with the camera, did a fantastic job of capturing the excitement of the day. In the video, "Tiny Bubbles" is our boat and DH is the guy getting it all together and situated before they take off!

Now lets talk about the loot. He found a small fishing weight for down riggers, some triangle things, and a small bottle. The bottle he brought home for me!

Getting Into Shape

Is been a year since the last Knitting Olympics and I think that its time that we start getting into shape for the next one. The next Winter Olympics according to the site I found will be in Vancouver in 2010. I'm choosing the Winter Olympics, as opposed to the summer olympics, because the first Knitting Olympics took place during the Winter Olympics. I would hate to break tradition after all. This time the games will be held for 17 days which, if memory serves correctly, is a couple days longer than the last Winter Olympics.

Here is what I'm proposing. Get your oldest WIP and finish it in 17 days. For me, this is the Fair Isle. I completely understand that it is already started and mostly complete. However this is just for getting into shape purposes and I have to work up to starting and finishing an object in 17 days. I figure I may as well start here.

I'm starting the timer on June 18 and ending on July 5.

Wish me luck.

Big Girl Bed

Now that Karolyn is 2 1/2 years old, we decided it was a good idea to get her a big girl bed. (That, and we needed the crib for the new baby.) The bed we decided on is incredibly special indeed. It was made by her great grandpa for her grandpa. Which was then passed down to her dad. And daddy is passing it down to her.

The bed had been sitting in the basement since we moved in collecting dust. We brought it upstairs, cleaned it up and made the necessary repairs.



It was then put together by K and her daddy. She was incredibly excited about getting a new bed that all she said for the next 2 hours was "big girl bed," "big girl bed!"



Later mommy and K went shopping for just the perfect sheets and blanket. First we went to JC Penney's to no avail so we headed off to Sears. There we found a very large section dedicated to toddler/ little kids bed sets. Of course there was the Disney and Sesame Street selection but I really wanted something a bit more generic but fun at the same time. We eventually settled on a butterfly print with a matching pillow.



As soon as we put those sheets on the bed she climbed right up and played on her new big girl bed for quite some time! I am also proud to say that she managed to sleep all through the night on the new bed. I, on the other hand, had some trouble sleeping as I was worried about her falling off the bed. She did of course at 5:30 am and survived the incident with no injuries!

Ultimate Compliment

A while back Marie left a comment on my blog saying that she found a picture of my hat on someone else's blog. This of course excited me to no end as I just love seeing other's interpretation of my designs.

Immediately I cruised on over to the site to check it out. Turns out that this knitter is German and her entire blog is in German so I couldn't read a thing that she said, just stare at the picture. Then I Googled her site and sure enough it was my lucky day, directly next to the link to her site was a translator provided by Google. Naturally I clicked on it and magically what I could not read a minute before was transformed to words that made since to me.


She said she made it as a chemo cap and it was relatively easy to execute. I'm extactic that it turned out so great for her and that whomever the recipient is will have a warm head to make her life a bit easier. Thanks Christiane, your hat turned out great!

Mrs. Zimmerman's Baby Surplice Jacket

I subscribe to Vogue Knitting Magazine and while I usually don't like the majority of the patterns published, I find the articles to be fascinating. The Spring/Summer 2007 issue was particularly special as it had Mrs. Zimmerman's pithy instructions for making a baby surplice jacket. This is of course a variation on a theme of the famous BSJ.

Fairy yarn mommy sent me some really great machine washable yarn in an outstanding colorway and just knew it had to be this jacket.

I casted it on, blindly followed the instructions, then casted off. After it was all said and done, I completely understood where Elizabeth was going with the design. If I haven't said it already, Elizabeth is a genius!



Altogether I used 3 balls of Cascade Yarns Bollicine. This is an incredibly easy and fast knit. I'm already planning on making some adjustments so it will fit a toddler. Hopefully it will be done in time for fall when the weather starts to get a chill in the air and the leaves transform to their artistic display of colors.

Tuesday's are wonderful...

...because I'm due on a Tuesday. This means that on Tuesday's is when the magic number of weeks remaining becomes 1 less. This Tuesday marks the beginning of week 7. Not that I'm counting or anything, I'm just sayin'.

Edited on Wednesday:

I went to the Dr yesterday and we now have a date for the baby. The C-section is scheduled for Friday July 20, 2007 at 8:30 am. The lady who called to let me know said that we have to be there at the hospital at 6:30 and that I can't have anything to eat or drink after midnight.

Of course I asked her if she was crazy about the food thing. Then I explained to her that I'm usually up in the middle of the night (about 3 am) eating and then I get breakfast at 5 am. She told me that this is standard operating procedure for major surgery. I'm gonna have to have Ray get me something to eat after we have the baby.

We are pretty sure we have a name! Ray picked it out and its growing on me. Now we just need a middle name. I told him that he was in charge of that. I'm not even gonna tell so don't ask. Something needs to be a surprise!

Also, the Aunties at Elann chatsite have decided that they need to get a pool going. They were originally going to bet on the date and time of the arrival but then I botched that up for them. So they are needing something else to bet on. Wt maybe? I don't know but if you can think of something go and tell Betsy about it so she can get it all set up.

Priscilla

There is always a time in a knitters life when all they need is an easy knit. A knit that you don't have to think of what your next move is. A knit that all you have to do is follow the pattern. And hopefully that pattern is well written.

I found all of these elements present in Priscilla. The pattern is in Berroco book #223. This book is wonderful. It shows how one can take the same identical pattern, switch yarns, adjust the gauge (if needed), and have a completely different top! All of the tops are quite easy and I'm planning on making more of them in the future.

As luck would have it, Berroco Echo was on sale at Herrschners a while back and I picked some up. To be completely honest, I actually bought the yarn for this pattern and then followed through with the the plan. This is monumental because I normally never use the yarn the pattern calls for as it usually costs the GNP of small countries.

I made the L sized top and I think it will fit. I did try it on but the belly got in the way and everything is out of proportion so I'm not sure if it looks good on me or not. I have hope as the top part actually fit! The belly part, on the other hand is a different story altogether. I'm excited as I now have a cute and soft summer top to wear.

Now for the specs. I used 7 balls of yarn and knit it on Options US10.5 needles.

Cutaway!

Today a new pattern made its debut at Elann.com. While I did not design this cutaway cardigan, I did knit it up and the gorgeous Margaux is modeling it! I'm incredibly excited over it!



Baby News

First off, I want to tell everyone that Betsy Faye Jr. has started to drop. A co-worker actually commented on this so I know that I'm not completely crazy as far as this is concerned.

Then this morning after I dropped K off at the day care, I start to have contractions right in the middle of traffic. I think I was the ONLY person sitting in their car thinking "please don't turn green now, please don't turn green now." Naturally they are Braxton-Hicks contractions because I'm not due for another 8 weeks. They had better be BHs cuz the kid isn't done cooking in there.

Tonight I'm taking it extremely easy so I should be able to make some progress on the baby surplice jacket! Also if you could just tell Jr to settle down in there I would greatly appreciate it. I think she thinks there is a trapeze swing or something cuz she has been moving all day long.

Help Help, My Letters Are Missing!

I was playing around with the blog this weekend and added a banner pix, changed some of the sidebar titles, started yet another project. Regardless, I thought that I had the banner all figured out. Acutally I did have it all figured out for my computer. All of the pixels lined up and I could see the words. Well I thought I would see how it looked on my work computer and some of the letters got cut off.

So I'm wondering what you can see. I set up a simple poll. Its only going to last for a week (as opposed to the one in the side bar).

Baby Things

When Karolyn was born, they put a little hat what the hospital has deemed worthy of the term "hat" on her head. In actuality, its more like a knitted tube that they cut off the roll and tied some string on the one end. Not very fashionable in my book and may actually scar the kid for life. In addition to this, the makers of baby clothes doesn't know what the size of a newborn head is either as all of their hats were just way to big.

Its a good think that momma is a knitter and is fully capable of knitting up a hat for the new baby.

The yarn I'm chose to use was Lara by Elann.com. I have to say that I don't think that I will ever use this yarn again. It is incredibly soft, holds its shape well, great shine. What's wrong with it you ask? It splits. It splits horribly. I had to tink more than I cared for because I kept splitting the yarn. And its not like I was using the dull Addis. Oh no, this baby was on the Options. It doesn't get much sharper than that.

I looked up the circumference of a newborn babies head. Read the gauge on the ball band (no swatching on this one), and casted on. I knit until the desired height was achieved then started the k2tog, k2 decrease round. Knit 3 more rows and another decrease round. When I had about 7 stitches left I drew the string through and called it good!



Here little one, now you will be the most fashionable kid in the nursery!

Meeting Bri

Meeting Elannites is always so much fun. There is always something to talk about. Yarn, the chatsite gossip, yarn, our families, yarn, yarn, yarn. Did I mention that we talked about yarn? Its not very often that you get to talk to someone about yarn and not have the person think that you are crazy.

Bri and her DH were gratious enough to come to my parents condo in Orlando on Friday when we got into town. And they didn't just come, they came with food! That girl sure can bake and cook and don't you be letting anyone tell you different. I'm just saying that if some of those cookies made it into my HUGe present I'm not gonna complain. Provided T is gratious enough to put me and Bri in the same group. Hint Hint.

Of course we got along fabulously as I knew we would. If I had to be completely honest, I would have to say that if we grew up together we would have gotten each other in some serious trouble. Our devious mischivious minds think too much alike!


Later in the evening, we found a playground. Karolyn got to play and we got to talk. Again about yarn, the belly, yarn, gossip, yarn. The entire time she kept asking if I was OK (to make sure I wasn't gonna drop the kid right then and there) and then would comment on how pregnant I am. She was really cute about it!


Eventually it was time to say "Good Bye" however I'm looking forward to the next time we get to meet up.

John and Nikki

Dear John,

Growing up, you were pretty much always a pain in my ass. You were always tagging along. Mary and Mike didn't want to play with you, mostly because they were so close in age, so we were pretty much stuck together. Not that I minded most of the time but at other times, like when I started getting boyfriends, you figured out how to irritate the living daylights out of me. Now I understand this was for attention so I forgive you.


Of course there was the time when you decided to jump into the water and didn't know how to swim and I had to jump in after you to make sure you were OK. And you were always there to tell me when I was being a bitch. Of course I probably was being pretty moody but I do love your honesty.

When we got to be old enough to go to the movies, we went together and laughed out loud without a care in the world.


I could tell you anything and knew that you would not betray my confidences.

When you joined the Air Force a month before the attacks on the World Trade Centers I worried like crazy. When you volunteered to go to the UAE 6 months after the attacks, I worried even more.


I had a wonderful time that Christmas you came to visit me and my new baby. I had an even better time when you brought Nikki over for me to meet. I knew right then and there that she was the one for you.


When you announced your engagement, I was thrilled.

When you got married I was extactic.


Congratulations on your marriage!

Love,

Libby

Time Keeps on Slippin'...

Time sure has been getting away from me lately. It seems like only yesterday that I met Trish and now I'm off to meet my second Elannite! How fun is that? And who is this Elannite you ask? Well its Bri of course. She lives in the Orlando area and it just so happens that we are going to my baby brothers' wedding also in the Orlando area.

About this baby brother of mine getting all married up. I just don't know about it as I will always think of him as the little shit that tagged along everywhere I went. I remember his favorite game was to see how long it took him to get rid of my boyfriends in high school. The record stands at 3 days for Neil Adams. He is still proud of that conquest!

When he told me he wanted to bring his girlfriend over for Christmas, I thought I could have some fun with this. Well I ended up liking Nikki so much that I just couldn't be mean to her. Besides it was fun watching her boss John around! That was when I decided she was a keeper and then hounded him to snatch her up. Apparently he listened to his big sister cuz they are getting married on Sunday! Congratulations John!

The Perfect Weekend

My perfect weekend started Friday evening when Ray and Karolyn came home. Usually they get home before I do but I took a half hour lunch and beat them home. Coming home is my favorite part of the day. My little girl runs to the front door saying "ommy" "ommy." It melts my heart. This Friday however was full of surprises. Ray came home with a huge bouquet of roses!



He was also carrying a white grocery bag full of stuff. The "stuff" almost made me cry. Karolyn made me mother's day presents!



She painted a mug that says "I 'heart' U" with a flower planted inside. I promptly put this on the top shelf of the plant rack located in the dining room. Then I pulled out a heart that had tissue paper glued to it with the letters "#1 MOM" written on it! Of course that got its due respect directly next to the plant. I showed Karolyn her plant that she made and she was all excited that it was next to the other plants in the kitchen!



On Sunday, I felt like a the luckiest person in the world!

Baby Blanket

This post comes to you during the middle of the night because I'm up right now. Why am I up in the middle of the night? Excellent question, one that every woman that has ever been pregnant ever can answer. I have to pee! And of course it just doesn't end there, I'm hungry as well. So I'm eating. In addition, I have heartburn for which I popped some Tums. Actually it was the heartburn that woke me up. Did you know that they have heartburn tablets just for pregnant people? Amazing huh? And I'm not referring to Tums either. I was in the baby store and found them. They claim to not have the chalky taste of Tums but they are $12.00 a bottle. Now I ask you, would you pay $12.00 per bottle when you can get Tums for about $2.99? Lets put this into terminology that every knitter can understand, yarn money or chalky taste, yarn money or chalky taste. That's what I thought.

Enough with the commercials, we will be getting back to the regularly scheduled program. In my mad rush to get the requested photos, I realized that I left out some pretty important details concerning the baby blanket.

This is my personal design. I started by finding the perfect yarn for the project. It had to be very soft as it was touching a newborn baby and it needed to be available in baby colors. Knit Picks Shine fit the bill perfectly. I can recommend this yarn for anyone knitting baby items.

Next I had to find the perfect poem. So I got out Karolyn's big book of nursery rhymes and found the one that I wanted to knit up. Is more of a prayer really but I love it. Then I graphed it out and started knitting.

Once the center section was complete, I started on the flying geese border found in the Mason Dixon Knitting book. Now I have a few words to say about this border. Its not for the faint of heart or one that is interested in a quick knit. The geese almost did me in. That is correct, I was almost derailed by the geese and my baby would freeze because it did not have a blankie to snuggle up in. It was this image and this image alone that kept me going. I figured that the geese would be my lunchtime knitting project. I lost count on how many lunch breaks it took to get the geese to fly but fly they did.

The geese were then all hand sewn in place and some mitered corners were added. Again from the Mason Dixon book. At this point I felt like I was in the home stretch. I picked up stitches around the edge of all those geese and gartered up a yellow border. I just knit until I got tired of it and then applied an i-cord bind off. All of the knitting is now complete! I could have just screamed out in joy at this point!

Next I hand sewed on some cotton flannel to hide the back side of the blanket.

The blanket is now complete!

All in all, it took about 3 months to complete. Not nearly as fast as Svetlana but its not turtle pase either.

I ended up using 4 balls of the yellow, 2 balls of the green, 2 balls of blue, and 1.25 balls of purple.

A Baby's Prayer

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Bless the bed that I lie on


Four angels round my bed
Two of them stand at my head


Two of them stand at my feet
All will watch me while I sleep

Many Thanks

I want to thank everyone for their sympathies. It meant alot to me. The trip to Idaho was wonderful and sad all at the same time. Wonderful because I hardly ever get to see my family and sad because of the circumstances. My brothers and I picked on each other as if no time had passed between seeing them. Karolyn got to spend time with her "papa" and "gramma." Papa took Karolyn for a walk in the back yard where they picked grass. I heard it was fun. What was I doing you ask? Playing a good ol' fashion game of Risk with my brothers and Ray. I was in the process of taking over Asia. Ray was putting a damper on that as he had possession of Siam and was not giving it up. John, my baby brother that is getting married next month, had complete sole possession of North AND South America. Michael, my CSI LV (I'm not even making that up) brother, was trying to maintain control of Europe but kept having this little debacle over Iceland and Greenland with John. We ended up having to call a truce because it was 12:30 am and the plane left the next day. It was wonderful!

I am proud to say that we were not "those" parents on the airplane! You all know what I'm talking about. The parents with the screaming kid that kicks the back of your seat and will just not stop for the life it. Now while my little angel did get fussy at times, she did her colors and read books and ate for the duration of the flights. Even the flight attendants commented on what a good baby she was. Music to momma's ears!

I did manage to get some knitting done. I'll give you some sneak peeks.


Yes this is the baby blanket. All of the flying geese borders have been hand sewn in place. I then added corner sections and picked up stitches all the way around the perimeter of the blankie. Gartered that up a bit until I thought it looked good and then added an applied i-cord for the bind off.



I'll be done soon so you will see her in all her glory then. I'm not gonna spoil it early!

Questions Answered

Marie brings up an excellent point. She commented:

Hmm... you have me a great idea here. 20 gallon tubs instead of 12 gallon tubs. Does that mean I could claim having "less" stash if there is a lower number of tubs? ;-)

After careful thought and consideration I have to agree that this is exactly how it works. Less tubs means less stash. Right? I'm soooooo glad that you all agree with me on this one because this is what came in the mail this week.



10 ball of this stuff is a gift from my fairy yarn mommy. Its a merino/ acrylic blend that is wonderfully soft and just as warm. And you want to know the best part? It's machine washable!!! The girls are gonna have matching cardigans!



And this big box is my great deal from Herrschners! Berroco Hush and Lullaby! Enough for matching sweaters and hats! I'm soooo excited about this.

Thank you again for all of your prayers and concerns for my family! I greatly appreciate it.

Stash Enhancement

In case you have not noticed, the yarn diet is not going so well. I have enhanced the stash by 5 times the amount that I have knitted. I'm glad that I don't gain weight at this rate. Could you imagine?

I took a peek at the "How Large Is Your Stash" poll on the side bar and noticed that the overwhelming majority has several 20 gallon tubs full of yarn. I too have several 20 gallon tubs full of yarn and I could probably fill up a couple more so the snacking I partook in today really doesn't count much. Besides it was all under $2 a ball and how can anyone refuse that? Its cheaper than Red Heart for the love of God.

Wanna know what I got? OK I'll tell ya, stop twisting my arm. Herrscheners sent me the lovely "weekly sale" email and I fell hard. I only got snacking amounts and its for my girls so does it really count? I think not.

I picked up some Berroco Lullaby in a pale purple. Enough for matching sweaters for the girls. I also got some Berroco Hush in two different colors. Enough for a hat and scarf set for each of the girls.

Other news:

The travel arrangements to go the Grandma's funeral have all been made. Plane tickets, car, and hotel. I'm putting DH in charge of the dog sitter.

I went shopping for suitable clothes for me so I don't look like a monumentally sized pregnant ragga-muffin and spent last night hemming up my pants.

I still need to get snacks for the plane and dressy shoes for Karolyn. DH is all taken care of and his suit fits him perfectly!!!

Tonight I have to finish the laundry and work on cleaning the house so I have a clean house to come home to.

Big Grandma

As a little girl growing up the only way my siblings and I were able to not confuse our grandmas were to refer to them as "Big Grandma" and "Little Grandma." Little Grandma was my mom's mom, and the shorter of the two. Big Grandma was my dad's mom and the taller grandma, 5'2".



Every Sunday after church, we would go to big grandma's house and have breakfast. This picture of her on her wedding day was always in the same spot. On the far right corner of the china cabinet. A china cabinet that little girls were not allowed to touch. I remember this being my all time favorite picture of my grandma. Just the way my grandpa looked at her is priceless. It says that he is the luckiest guy in the world!



Breakfast was always the same. Dad's famous eggs, bacon, and grease toast. Dad would dice up and fry some onion and potato, then scramble in the eggs. Grandma's job was to cook the bacon. To ensure that nothing went to waste, Auntie Marilyn would dip white bread in the bacon grease, sprinkle sugar over the top and serve it up!



After the dishes were hand washed and put away, we would open up the record player, put on our favorite story, Jack and the Beanstalk, and listen while Grandma flipped the pages in the book.



We laughed at the funny parts and huddled together when the Giant kidnapped the Magic Harp from Happy Valley. We cringed when Jack eased his way down the rope into the Giants' pocket to free the Harp, praying he would not get caught. We then rejoiced when the Harp was returned the fine citizens of Happy Valley and life returned to normal.




After the story was finished, we would put on our coats and drive back home.

My dad called yesterday to let me know that Grandma died. I called my aunt asking when the funural was and she was not certain but thinks it will be next weekend. She could not give specific details as she did not know them herself. As of now, we are planning on going to Idaho for the service.

Thanks for all of the wonderful times and memories. Thanks for being a great Grandma.