A Tornado Runs Through It

Everything happened so fast! I should have gotten a pic of the tree with the gifts still under it, but I didn't. The kids had a great Christmas and an even greater time opening gifts! I didn't even get a pic of them as they were opening. It was like the Bumpuses dogs with the turkey on A Christmas Story!

This is the Big Momma, Grand Poobah, Be-all, End-all, coolest gift ever!

And look, a tat for Christmas!!!!!

Knit Or Die!!!!!

(this is a temporary tatoo from Twist that I saw advertised on Ravelry. I got it within two or three days of ordering....so cool!)

I wanna sew, I wanna sew, I wanna sew!!! These four bags were made by a friend of my Mom's for Christmas. These are beautifully designed, rugged and useful and sturdy, not to mention the great color schemes.

WenRay Designs
For more information or orders.

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

With lots of love to you in blogland, may you have a most wonderful time celebrating this very special time with your family and friends.

Is he real???

Here's the crew with a man dressed like Santa. : )
"Who IS this guy, anyways???"

DJ told me, in no uncertain terms, and with no prompts or information given to him from any external sources, that any Santa that we see is not the REAL Santa. He says that the Real Santa lives in the sky and no one ever sees him. And the calendar says he's three. Hmph.

The Most Wonderful Time....

My, but Christmas is a busy time, isn't it? There are presents to buy, cookies to bake, casseroles to prepare, Christmas parties to attend.....and somewhere in there, feed the family, slow down, rest, take time to reflect on why we go through all this. It is hard to be thankful and full of HOLYday Spirit when everything around you is going a hundred miles an hour, when drivers around you are more full of rage than usual, when you are fighting over a spot in the cashier lines at the stores, when you just don't know what that special gift should be for that special person, and when you figure it out and go look for it, it's gone. Yes, it's that most wonderful time of the year, isn't it?
Today, I will be baking cookies for my neighbors and friends, and instead of rushing to get it all done, and stressing about it, I plan to take my time, and enjoy the process of doing something nice for them. I hope to be able to do that in everything that I do for the rest of the Christmas season. And beyond.
I wish all of you in blogland the ability to take some time and relax, enjoy spending time with your family, be with your friends, take a deep breath, feel no stress, and have that warm, fuzzy feeling inside, that knowledge of being loved, unconditionally, wholly, completely, by our LORD who came to earth to live with us.
Love and Blessings to you and yours!

Baby Bolero Finished

Here is the finished baby bolero for my daughter's kindergarten teacher, who is due in January. This teacher was so influential in her life and she really made school a great experience for my baby girl, who really didn't want to go to school. She loves it now, and is thriving in first grade!

The eyelet detail:
Being a model is hard work!

Mini Christmas Stocking Ornament Pattern

Merry Christmas, Friends!

Here is the pattern I promised for the Mini Stocking ornament. Enjoy!

You will need:
Fluffy white novelty yarn, preferably thin with slubs and fur
Fingering weight yarn (I LOVE Knit Picks Palette)
Size 2 dpn's
Needle for weaving in ends
Crochet hook for hang loop
Place marker

With fluffy novelty yarn, CO 20 sts (7, 7, 6 on the dpn's). Place marker. Work 3 rnds.

Cut yarn and start with fingering wt yarn, leaving a good 10 " tail. Work 15 rows. Divide sts like this - heel flap - 10 sts on one needle (take the five before marker and the five after marker, this will center the tail to make your loop later), 5 each on the other two needles.

Work the heel flap as follows: You should be at the end of your 10 sts, so p back. Turn. sl1, k1 to the end. P back. Do this 5 times.

Turn heel:
K6, k2 tog, k1, turn.
P till 4 sts left, p2 tog, p1, turn.
K till 2 sts left, k2 tog, turn.
P till 2 sts left, p2 tog, turn.
K across. There should be 6 sts on your needle.

Gusset:
With same needle (needle 1), pick up 5 sts along flap. With new needle (needle 2), knit across the next two needles, for a total of 10 sts on the 2nd needle. With third needle (needle 3) , pick up 5 sts along the other side of the flap, then three off the first needle. This will leave you with 8 sts on the 1st and 3rd needles, 10 on the 2nd one.
Rnd 1: Needle 1 - k till 3 sts left, k2 tog, k1, Needle 2 - knit across, Needle 3 - k1, ssk, k o the end.
Rnd 2: k across
Repeat 2 more times, you should have 5 sts on needle 1 and 3, and 10 on needle 2.

Knit 8 rnds.

Toe:
Rnd 1: on needle 1, k til 3 sts left, k2 tog. Needle 2, k1, ssk, k till 3 sts remain, k2 tog, k1. Needle 3, k1 ssk, k to the end.
Rnd 2: knit around
Repeat 2 more times till 8 sts total remain. Break yarn and with large needle, thread through all the sts and pull tight. Turn work inside out and weave in ends.

With a crochet hook, take the tail of fingering wt yarn and do a crochet chain for 3-4 inches, affix it to the base, and weave all the ends in and voila, an ornament!

Coming Soon...

Many of you asked me for the pattern for the mini stocking ornament, and since the original ones I knit were from a pattern (short row heel technique), I wrote a new pattern with a flap heel and gusset. So, coming soon...a Christmas gift to you...will be the pattern for the Mini Christmas Stocking Ornament. It will be like the blue one I posted.

But I did knit last night...

I knit another red stocking ornament last night, then made this one in our school colors (Go Blue!!!) I made this one with a flap and gusset heel and like it better. I had no pattern for this, just did the generic half of the total sts for the heel and turned it, picked up 5 on each side of the flap and finished, no gaps. Oh yeah, the total st # was 20, just like the others.

I got going on another baby bolero. I expect to finish the body this evening and the sleeves tomorrow.

A trip to the zoo

On our way to the zoo, we passed Ole' Saint Nick, on his way to work.
The highlight of our trip to the zoo was the Lorries. We all got to feed them and they got quite friendly with us. Very cool. Here's DJ...
Sophia and Mom....
And Olivia.

We saw all sorts of animals (duh, it was the zoo!) and really enjoyed our time together.

There was even a pair of lovebirds! : )

In case you wonder....

I got the pattern for that Christmas Stocking from a book called Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used size 2 dpn's, Knit Picks Palette yarn, a fluffy novelty yarn from the local hobby center. There are 20 stitches and I used the short row heel. I don't like this method for real socks because of gaps, but on this, I just turned it inside out and fixed the gaps from there.

First knit ornament of 07

Last evening, my three kiddos had their weekly Awanas meeting, my husband had a ball game to attend, and I had an hour to kill by myself! I got a couple of groceries then went to Starbucks for a decaf and some knitting. Here is what I made - I cast on at Starbucks and finished the stocking there, added the fluffy white trim after bedtime. Very gratifying to produce such a cute little knit in such a short time.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!!!!

Copy and paste this link to receive your greeting!!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1127634036