Emptyknitster

Last week Andrea, from Life on Laffer , wrote to say that I'd won some yarn. It arrived in the mail today and I'm so excited. I can't remember when I've won anything ! Once when I was little my mom won a case of frozen waffles from the grocery store, but that's about as close to hitting the jackpot as I've ever gotten. The yarn is beautiful, just take a look.... Two skeins of Happy Feet called Berries. They are going to make the BEST pair of socks! Thank you Andrea!! (Don't forget to check her blog and enter the "Bark in the Park" raffle for some other great yarns! - My luck has run out with this win, so friends go for it!) But then another score! A friend at school had ordered some yarn intending to make hats for her family. She hadn't realized that it was DK weight and so she gave it to me. Her disappointment is my delight! Thank you Kay! It is bamboo and cotton yarn. I've never knit with it but have heard many great things about that ...

I asked for a "swift, deer",  NOT a "deer swift." This fits my house perfectly! Thanks to ravelry for the laugh!

I haven't had a cold in a long time...years maybe. I fought the good fight most of the week, trying to keep the dreaded cold at bay: lots of sleep, plenty of liquids, and extra vitamin C, but nothing could keep it from invading my body.  I think it's the worst cold in history, but probably it's because I haven't had one for a while, cotton stuffed head, eyes that feel like the are about to swell shut, ears bordering on hurting, runny nose and sore throat. I'm trying to put on a good front, it's the weekend after all, the weather is picking up, the sun's out and warming us up.  So in goes a dose of cold medicine, out come the flip-flops and off we go! Heading back home I begin to think that I'm feeling better, the head's clearing and the nose not dripping so much - but my feet don't feel quite right........ Dang!

Yesterday's newspaper had an article about an old fashioned five and dime. A photo of pink lozenges brought back memories of my grandmother. My father’s mother became a widow when my father was 12 years old. Her sister, Emma, said that when Grandfather died, my grandmother went into their bedroom, climbed in bed, and stayed there for three days. Times were tough for them to begin with, and I’m sure Gramma had no idea what she was going to do to provide for three young children. Aunt Emma was an old-maid schoolteacher in Wyoming. She came to the rescue by opening her house to the troubled family of four. In return my grandmother cooked and kept the house. As her children grew up and got married, they each began taking a six-month stint having my grandmother living with them. Perhaps it was just a young girl’s perception, and I don’t deny it, but our six months with Gramma every 12 months were interesting times.  Being the only granddaughter of eight grandchildren, you would thin...

When knitting out in the "real world", I often get asked how long I have been knitting. The when makes little difference to me. I've been knitting since I was a little girl, actually, the spring of my fifth grade year in school. It's the how I started knitting that I enjoy relaying. Bea, a lovely and glamorous lady who lived in a house across the street, was teaching my mother to knit. I spent quite some time watching the two with their heads together, casting on, putting the right hand needle into the loop on the left needle, twisting the yarn around and then pulling it off. As they were finishing with the first knitting lesson, I gathered up my courage and announced that I would like to learn to knit. Mom said that someday I could learn to knit, but right then I was to young. I was truly disappointed and gathered a small ball of yellow yarn, two pencils and went upstairs to my bedroom. Hours later, I came down to show my mom not only one but two doll booties! I h...

It's our wonderful Sadie Lou Who's birthday today!!! Sitting pretty! Showing off the new chompers.... On the go... Happy first birthday! "It's a long way to Montana, but we sure have fun when we get there!" First day of kindergarten... "I'm missing some teeth!" (thanks Tiger!) Gramma's sweet girl... Have a wonderful day. I can't wait to see the pictures of your birthday!

I've been working on an Irish knit sweater for the "California Girl's" Christmas gift. I love knitting all those cables! One thing that I often do when knitting a sweater is to knit the two fronts or two sleeves at the same time. That way each piece is exactly the same as the other!  Notice the white feather on the ceramic cat....it's from our wild albino turkey! Yep, she made it through the winter! This sweater is from Paton's Aran Knits for the Family . When my nephew Joe was little I made several sweaters for him from this booklet. I also made a few Aran knit buntings that the babies looked lovely in! If anyone knows of a good book of Aran patterns, please leave a comment. I have five more Aran Christmas sweaters to do! I may try designing some Aran Sweaters to keep from getting bored!  The California Girl  The Mandy look a like The Prince 

One Hubby who loves me, who I love and want to grow old with. Two son-in-laws that are generous with their holiday time so that I can have outstanding memories to carry me through the entire year! Three well adjusted and loving daughters who like to spend time with me and vice versa. Four beautiful and active grandchildren who keep me laughing even when it's just thinking about them. Many Irish ancestors who came to America and gave me the Luck o' the Irish !

I made Hubby’s favorite cookie, Banana Oatmeal, last weekend. My mom always thought his favorite cookies were the Almond Crescent Cookies she made for him each Christmas. For years I thought that hubby loved Chocolate Chip Cookies the best. It wasn't until recently, when I gave him a choice between The Tiger's favorite banana bread or these cookies, that I found out Banana Oatmeal are his top choice. These cookies are fairly healthy because they contain oatmeal and bananas. At our house we love to eat cookie dough, always have and probably always will, but these always taste better warm from the oven! Years ago I got the recipe from a coworker at the Savings and Loan in Billings. She was a great lady who had raised several children on her own with a very tight budget. No food was left uneaten, even those brown bananas! Enjoy! Banana Oatmeal Cookies 3/4 cup Crisco 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 cup bananas 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon nutme...

I knit two fast projects today for a friend's baby. The first is a bunny hat and the other is called a "cocoon". If this little baby boy is anything like D#3 when she was a newborn, it will be in constant use. As a brand new baby D#3 would think she was "free falling" unless she swaddled as tight as could be!  (Edit 4-3-10...baby's here and a much better model than the old doll!) The baby won't arrive for another week or two so I thought I'd put it on a doll that was my mother's when she was young. Yarn: Stashed Red Heart Patterns: Bunny Beanie by Noe Knit                Laurel Love Cocoon The baby doll doesn't show off the cocoon well... but she does show off the dress that my mother-in -law made as a baptismal dress for my husband. I don't know if they used it or if it was a dream dress for the girl they never had... Hubby is the third son in the family. Had he been a girl he would have been named Carol...

Recently I have come across two fun, fellow knitting bloggers.  Life on Laffer is a fellow teacher, knitter, blogger, pet lover. Go to her site today, leave a comment and enter to win two beautiful skeins of yarn. (Also, take a look at some older posts. She is holding a fundraiser for a quantity of yarn to help the local animal shelter - a good cause.) Another blog that I found is Yarn on the House   this site gives away free yarn on a weekly basis! Check it out!!

I'd been feeling lost since the finishing of the UFO sweater. Treading water for a week, wanting to start on the half dozen annual Christmas Sweaters that I knit each year but not having the yarn. To keep myself busy, I found a vintage baby hat pattern and did a little needle experimentation, my original thought was that it would be a small gift to a friend. It is a lovely pattern but the fingering yarn called for should have been lace yarn. So the "small" gift turned into a rather large hat and not a gift at all, only a great experiment in Amish knitting. Then, I received a phone call from Julia, friend and owner of the LYS. Julia told me that my order of Encore yarn had arrived. After school I went to our Friday night knitting group, also picking up the yarn. Then off for a lovely dinner and shopping with Daughter Number Three before picking up Daughter Number Two at the airport.  The next morning I pulled out the yarn and showed D#2 the sweater pattern that I wanted ...