I am so ashamed.....

I got a comment from my sister, my sister, of all people... not knowing what a sock blank is. I am so ashamed! How could I fail her in such a manner? She is a knitter...shouldn't she know these things? She gets catalogs from Knit Picks...shouldn't she know these things? Now I know some of you are not knitters or are not sock knitters or don't get catalogs from Knit Picks. You are excused from my shame. However, my sister? Go here and learn the ways of the sockknitters, my dear sister. Maybe the shame will escape you. http://www.knitpicks.com/yarns/Bare_Sock_Yarn_Dye_Blank__D5420174.html

My Knitting Mojo Might Be Back!

I've been complaining to my Ravelry buddy about losing my sock knitting mojo. I haven't knit a sock since before my Dad died and that was two months ago. That's not like me! She had been dropping hints for some time about what my favorite flowers were, what my favorite colors were, etc. She's a clever one, that girl is! I told her that I loved daisies and that we had daisies and pink roses for our flowers at our wedding - almost 25 years ago! She took note and started painting a sock blank for me. I went out to the mailbox this morning and this is what I found..

I was so excited I couldn't wait to get into the house to open it. A package from her is always a big surprise and so much fun! Oh - I forgot - she also enclosed some stitch markers and I need to get some pictures of those too. They are cute!
When R came down stairs, I showed it to her and she said, "How on earth are you going to ravel that to knit it?" I agreed. It's almost too pretty to mess with!
And which end do I start with? Do I want the bigger daisy at the toes or at the cuff?

So many questions to be answered! At least the old mojo is back and I am finally thinking about knitting socks again. All is slowly getting right with my little world again! Thank you so much! You have made my week!

Baby Bibs for Raj

Mom's neighbors just had their first baby - Rajesh. He's adorable from the pictures I've seen of him. I wanted to make something functional that he could use for a while, so I decided on bibs. Two are made from the Mason Dixon Knitting book #1. The blue bib looked so plain I decided to 'spruce it up' with a crocheted trim. The green bib is my favorite. I found the pattern on www.KnittingPatternCentral.com. It's called Green Peace. Of course you need to make it out of green and it has the little peace sign on it. It was fun to make. I just hope Raji will get plenty of use out of all three of them.

Time for Pie

The resident bakers (R and L) have been in a pie baking kind of mood. R found a recipe in Mary Jane's Farm magazine for a raspberry and rhubarb pandowdy. Since only some of us like raspeberries ... and I don't.... and since rhubarb isn't in season, they opted to change the recipe to strawberry and apple. I had my doubts, but they were soon carried away. One taste and I knew they had stumbled onto something pretty good!

For Easter dessert they decided to make strawberry pies. R decorated the one on the right and L decorated the one on the left. They were almost too pretty to cut into. Note: I said almost!
We ate too much, enjoyed each others company and missed Daddy. That said, it was a nice day. I hope you all had a nice Easter too.

Time for Another Cake!

We have some friends who own a local nursery. Every year they call R and ask her to decorate a cake for Joe - the owner. One year R decorated the cake with an old truck - Joe collects old trucks - with the bed of the truck full of sunflowers. It was adorable. This year she was at a loss. I suggested seed packets. Off she went to look through all the seed packets she has collected for years. As you can tell, she studied those seed packets like crazy. I think she did an absolutely beautiful job! I don't see how they will be able to cut it. We also take the extra icing to Joe's daughters. They love to eat it straight out of the bag. YUCK! Oh well...to each his (or her) own!

Joe was there when we delivered the cake and was quite impressed. That was the ultimate compliment! I am really proud of our resident cake decorator!

They say position in life is everything. Well, I have no idea what this 'position' says about Ginger's life. She climbed up on the back of the couch and started bathing. Her little 'elbow' is resting on the shelf behind her. She is always the lady! I'm so proud.

New Bracelets

Check out the cool clay beads we found at Michaels! There are also two little beads that say "Love 2 Knit".
This is my spring/summer bracelet. R wore it to church the other day and it looked very cute with her outfit.

Speaking of church...we had some real excitement yesterday during morning services. We were sitting in the balcony - all quiet and attentive to the sermon. Out of nowhere comes a wasp. A WASP! We were all dodging it and hoping it would return the favor. It got past Mom, then me... There sat poor R. It got her on the inside of her wrist and then, somehow, got under her skirt. We were doing some heavy duty scrambling trying to get away from that thing! We went to the bathroom to check out the sting on her leg and it had really swelled up - big time. We knew she wasn't allergic, so she agreed to stay until services were over. On the way home we got her some Benedryl and a Sprite. The Sprite bottle served as an ice pack until we could get home! An hour or so later the swelling was down and by bed time you could hardly tell where it was at all.

The hostas are all coming up and looking beautiful. The 70 degree weather we had yesterday really perked them up. However, we have the possibility of snow flurries tonight and tomorrow morning! R and L raked some leaves over the hostas, so hopefully they won't get zapped.

As soon as the bibs are finished, I will show them off. Right now I'm knitting a 'Green Peace' bib - it's so cute! Probably my favorite of the three I've made so far.