Knitting away for more little ones

Yep KM's right :


That's my Happy New Year Wishes picture of Gabriella from my brother - I'm an aunt again - that makes 10!

The newest Tamburro is due in Sept. and the other baby I hinted at is our friends Karl & Emily - they're on their 3rd! Nopressurenopressurenopressure....

Actually I'm enjoying celebrating all these new babies - and another friend's baby is due pretty soon, so I've been working on his gift - trying to find just the right yarn for the project - so far it hasn't worked out exactly as I wanted, but I think it'll turn out pretty cute. Here's a mystery shot of bits of the swatching I've been doing, :



And I've actually started something for myself! I'm getting pretty far on the Thermal socks, and I think I'm going to keep them - I just need to figure out how to finish up those toes better. It's not often I make something for myself really. In that theme, I have also started on a pair of Evangelines with the Malabrigo that my little younger brother gave me for Christmas for myself. They're knitting up really fast, wonderfully soft and I love the color, although this picture isn't that great -bad lighting:



The blue by my thumb is the stitch marker for the thumb stitches - I haven't put them on yet. I may do a little shaping to the palm to give it a better fit on the palm.

Next week, I'm helping out with an event associated with Mike's school and get to do a little Theatre makeup! I'm excited, but a little nervous - I haven't done any theatre stuff for a while, and I'm hoping it'll turn out right. I'm supposed to get two of the students to look like this or this or this. I'm pretty confident about the makeup - little more nervous about the costumes. I'll post pictures to show how it turns out. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

trying to figure out where the time has gone

I can't believe it's already Jan. 13th! (Happy Birthday Stefan!!)

When I said I wasn't going to feel guilty for not posting, and not make excuses about why I hadn't posted, I really didn't intend to drop off the blogisphere. As you can see I meant to post a few days ago, and didn't have access to the pictures that went with the post, (a typical excuse for me not posting) but I really feel like the days and weeks are flying by! I still feel like it's somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas not the beginning of 2009!

So what have I been doing? Well, Mike and I have been doing some deep recycling/cleaning over the past weeks, and gave away 6-7 large boxes full of clothes and other things that we're no longer using. It feels really good to 'clean house' and let go of things. If you read my blog, you know I go back and forth with this concept - this time, this stuff needed to go, and it was good to let it go.

I have also signed up to do some volunteering and teach knitting/crochet at a women's shelter and unwed mother's house. I'm excited to be doing some teaching and working with people again. Not that I don't work with people at my current job, but it's over the phone, and just not the same thing. I went to one last night, and pulled out my crochet hooks, which I haven't done in a while, and it reminded me how much beautiful stuff can be created with crochet. You may be seeing some soon because of it.

Speaking of my current job, we're moving offices to a new spiffy place that's a bit closer to home -so, shorter commute, yeah! (only by about 10 minutes - but I'm still excited). In the move I also got an upgrade to my computer, so yeah again! It really doesn't take much to keep me happy. At the moment, there's no power or internet, so we're all working from home. I like this concept, but in reality, I think I like having the option to do this rather than wanting to do it all the time. If I ever did have/want to work from home, I think it definitely helps having worked in the office with most folks first, so when I call them for stuff I know who they are - then it's almost like being there!

I've been working diligently on my 'thermal socks' as I call them, or the Faceted Rib socks as they're know to the rest of the world.
They're from The little box of socks, and I just love the pattern. I finished one, but don't like the toe - see the decreases form a ridge up the middle of the toe, and I think it breaks up the pattern and would bug me (there's a matching one on the bottom too) if I wore them with anything closed toe.

So I'll be ripping that out and figuring out a new toe. I haven't had time to explore that yet, so I've stared on the second to keep from 2nd sock syndrome. I'm about 3 inches into it.

I have a handful of other projects with yarn and pattern ready to go. They were things I was thinking about over/before Christmas that I didn't get to, and now that I've taken the deadline away, I'm not as worried about them, but that makes me in no rush to finish them either.

I do have one more baby project from the last set of babies, and hear that I need to plan for another 2!! coming up in about 9 months (different people) I'm not at liberty to say who these potentials belong to, as I don't have complete clearance yet, but when I do I'll be bragging no doubt.

I took my newly converted knitter to It's a Stitch shop b/c it's closer to where she lives. I'd never been there before, and it's a cute little shop. They've got a small, but nice selection of yarns, and the staff was very nice. My knitter friend bought some beautiful yarn that she wants to make into a cowl, so I'm working on finding her the just perfect pattern. Something not too complicated, (although she's a quick learner), but fun. She's very good about being a one-at-a-time project knitter, we'll see how long that lasts!

Off to enjoy the warmish weather - especially compared to most of the rest of the US. There are some things that I really enjoy about SC, and the weather is definitely one of them!!

reflecting on 2008

Welcome 2009! and Goodbye to 2008.

I think 2009 came so fast that it zipped into place before we were even aware it was here! At least that's the way it felt. Both Mike and I have been going full steam for the past few weeks, and it's nice to finally have some time to just ... sit... and be and reflect on the last moments of 2008.

We drove to KY for the Christmas holidays and saw lots and lots of people and lots and lots of babies! Some new arrivals that we hadn't seen in weeks or months:

baby Claire and her brother William
baby Gabriel - yes, he is wearing the hat I made him (yeah!) and his bib says "My dad is cooler than your dad" - I just love it!

Others we hadn't seen in a few years!

Like sisters
Georgia and Vivian

or Brothers
Gabe and Andrew
(I missed snapping a picture of the other brother Nicholas - Gabe's twin)

and brother/sister duo
Carsen and Keegan

Of course I also got to see my 'baby' brother:
who liked his new hat and it fit -yeah!

I also finished a scarf for my FIL
and some dishcloths' for my MIL:
and and

.

My MIL really made some beautiful gifts this year though. I loved them all, so I can't say which are my favorite, but they were for her grandkids, my nieces and nephews - she's so so talented, I just had to brag about them.

First there are the 2 gorilla's she made for each of the boys - each one with it's own personality - which matched the boys really well!


The one on the left is Andrew's and the right is Jacob's

There was a beautiful Octopus for Mike's niece Olivia



and a great topsy-turvy 'babydoll' for Claire:
Sleeping:


And awake:


It's so so cute! It makes me want to make a knitted one, so I've been searching for patterns and have found a few. It's on my 2009 list.
There were so many things I just didn't have the time to make and do, but that's what a new year is for eh?

I was reading a blog post that instead of asking what you had planned for 2009 (which I'll do in another post) asked what you had accomplished and did right in 2008! I thought this was a wonderful way to start the new year. Why think about all the resolutions we didn't do, but focus on what we did right. So...


my reflections on what I did right in 2008

In 2008, I, (and my hubby) sold a house, and moved across the country to a new place neither of us had lived before, to start a new dream. There were times, when things didn't look so good, and we were apart, but we worked together and worked through them, all for the better.
My motto: It'll all work out in the end - if it hasn't worked out, it's not the end.

In 2008, I found a job - that I like! and works for what Mike and I need to support us while he's in school. And I'm doing well, having gotten a promotion already and enjoy my company and job.

In 2008, I have given/thrown away/gotten rid of let go of many things that no longer hold value to me, but I was holding on to for the wrong reasons. This one was hard and I know I have more to do, but it feels good to let go sometimes. Goodbye old bedroom set, may you serve some child well.

In 2008, I made some beautiful knitted heirlooms that I am really proud of - (the baptism gown, and baby sweaters this one and this one for sure) and gave some great baby gifts that I really enjoyed as well.

In 2008, I finished some old UFOs and have been using my stash yarn and more often buying yarn for projects rather than buying the yarn and then finding a project.

In 2008, I've found and kept up with new friends via the blog, and I'm ashamed to admit it, but facebook too ;)

In 2008 we were able to see lots of family and friends, we are happy and healthy and holding our own in this economy! Yeah for 2008!!!