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

A Crocheted scarf

This is a child sized scarf crocheted in Moda Dea Lazy Daisy. Don't I have the best models????

A treat for me today!!!!

My friend and I went to San Antonio Central Market today to see Chef Rick Bayless do a cooking demonstration and book signing! He was really great, just like he is on his cooking show - witty, easy-going, and so knowledgable. I really enjoyed this outing. He prepared a grilled chicken Ceaser salad with Cilantro Lime vinegarette and guacamole and we got to taste it, and it was wonderful! Here is a pic of Rick doing the finishing touches on a dish and then a pic with me during the book signing.

Free Hugs Campaign. (music by Sick Puppies.net album out)

Sniff sniff

A bittersweet thing happened last night. At the beginning of my third session of knitting class, one student decided to break free and move on, on her own. The sad thing is that we will miss her, she adds a lot of *spice* to the group, and is very fun to have around. The great thing is that she has such a good understanding of knitting that she is pushing herself to learn more and more, and isn't having trouble learning from videos. So I will miss her, but I am very proud of her.

As for the rest of the class, I am incredibly proud of them! It doesn't matter how awkward they feel, or how new the task is that they are learning, they pay attention, and they push through, they are doing awesome! Just a couple of months ago, they never held a knitting needle, and now they have completed a knitted, felted bag (with their own design elements to it), a cabled ribbed scarf, and now they are mastering working on dpn's to make a hat.

After the new year starts, we will be doing socks on two circs, from the toe up! Yippee!!!!!

I have been tagged!

Mokihana tagged me with a meme. First time I’ve ever gotten tagged. Sounds like fun, so here goes:
1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
My son
2. What were you doing at 0800? That hasn't happened yet today. Y'day, I was sleeping.
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?Waking up waaay tooo early.
4. What happened to you in 2006? Lots of things. Nothing significant. I went to Maine with my family.
5. What was the last thing you said out loud? "Chrystal, do you want to come in???" (to my dog.)
6. How many beverages did you have today?None yet, but I am about to get a cup of coffee.
7. What color is your hairbrush?I have a maroon one and a green one.
8. What was the last thing you paid for? Stuff at Hobby Lobby.
9. Where were you last night? Home with family plus BIL.
10. What color is your front door?Red
11. Where do you keep your change?In my wallet, and in a coffee can over the washer.
12. What’s the weather like today?Nasty - rainy 41 degrees - very dreary.
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? I love Homemade Vanilla by Bluebell, it can be added to to go with my moods (chocolate shell, nuts, whip, whatever!)
14. What excites you?Really good food, yarn and knitting, especially an FO, church, getting together with my friends, my children.
15. Do you want to cut your hair?I did, then I cut it and didn't like it right away, then I dyed it, and now I really like it.
16. Are you over the age of 25?Yes indeedy.
17. Do you talk a lot?it depends. Here lately I just don't have any words - I think I used them all up! It depends on who I am with tho, sometimes a LOT and sometimes very little.
18. Do you watch the O.C.? NO!
19. Do you know anyone named Steven? My hubby's uncle and cousin, and Nacho Libre's side Kick.
20. Do you make up your own words?Occasionally.
21. Are you a jealous person?Not really. I have overcome a lot.
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.Anni
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.Kelly
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?Probably Danny.
25. What does the last text message you received say?I don't text (that may change because I am soon upgrading my phone)
26. Do you chew on your straw?No, but my kids chew on my straw and it drives me nuts.
27. Do you have curly hair?it used to be stick straight but now it's wavy.
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?Not sure yet. I am feeling very hermit-ish (oh look, a made up word!).
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? I dunno, I don't keep score of rudeness.
30. What was the last thing you ate?A turkey, miracle whip and squash relish sandwich, last night
31. Will you get married in the future?I already am.
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?The Departed.
33. Is there anyone you like right now?I like several people. I have wonderful friends and I like them all.
34. When was the last time you did the dishes?Last night.
35. Are you currently depressed? I wouldn't say depressed, just very introverted, which is unusual for me.
36. Did you cry today? No PMS isn't scheduled for another week.
37. Why did you answer and post this?Because Moki tagged me and I have waited too long, but I didn't forget, because she is my favorite friend that I "picked up" online! Teehee!
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
OK, now, I am not sure if anyone I know would do it, so I will copy and paste this to my Myspace page to increase the chances!!! Oh, maybe Mary from Anointing Oil. But if you read my blog and want to do this survey, please feel free!!! : )

FO and a half

Olivia's Step sock #1
A Christmas Stocking for Danny Jr.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Sorry about my lack of posting lately, I have been feeling very under the weather, and haven't even felt like knitting! Can you believe that? Ack! I have a lot of WIPs and only one FO since the baby bolero. I wish I could get by with only an hour or two of sleep each night, but in reality I need a good 9 hours. There goes that!

Here are my WIPs (I have more but can't get my brain organized enough to remember what else I have going on!)

Step Socks for Oliv

Single Cable Scarf (current project for my knitting class)

Christmas Stocking for Danny Jr (see earlier posts for Danny Sr's Stocking)

FO - Chemo Cap for Chloe. Some serious blocking needs to be done for it to fit her, though! Oops!

As I am on the eve of Thanksgiving, I wanted to make a list of a few of the things I am thankful for:

1. Jesus Christ

2. My Family

3. My home

4. My friends

5. My pets

6. The love my family shares

7. Food for every meal

8. Clothing

9. My country

10. My gifts of hospitality and knitting

11. My health

I could go on and on. I generally live in a state of thankfulness, every moment that I have breath is a blessing.

The Model

Here is a picture of me with my sock model, DH Danny!

Baby Bolero

I started a baby bolero (by Leigh Radford, One Skein) last night and finished this evening. Here is the front and back view. I am not 100% in love with the pattern, I had to modify it to work for me, but all in all, I think it came out pretty cute!

Ta-Daaaa!

Here are the finished DH socks!!!

They are made with Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Effekt, color #10.

Trick or Treat!!

Pics

The epitome of handsome (but don't tell HIM that!!)
The rooster and his nuts....Hehe!
Let me in, Let me in!!!! (He stood there at the door for an hour, wanting to come in, but I stuck him back in his cage - the purpose for letting him out is to go and be free and eat bugs!)
The two rulers of the roost (or so they think)
Sophia my animal lover.
Yaya the beautiful...

DH Ankle Sock

So the socks that I have been making for Danny were meant to be taller, but when I tried it on him for fit after I was done the heel, he loved it as an ankle sock. It is not complete in this pic - I still did 4 rows of ribbing then I bound off. I will post another pic after the set is complete and on the model. : )

I love the way the stripes are turning out.

Have a great day!

Ravelry Me

I got my invite to Ravelry yesterday. As I was waiting for this invite, I kept thinking...Is this all it's hyped up to be??? Well, I have to answer that with a nice big YES. It is really cool, and I can see how it might take away from knitting time! Hehe! I got four projects onto my page, which are all featured here, and I think I will go knit for a bit now. But yes, I am happy to be on Ravelry! My screen name there is Knittingloca (of course!).

Peace Out...

I know the answer...

OK, I know the answer to knit or to pick. I offered the pecans for sale (cut out the middle man, so to speak) and someone ordered 350 pounds!!!! So the answer is, we will be picking. Hehe!

Remember our rooster Eddie? He is now allowed out of his cage and he follows me around like a little puppy dog. Where I go he goes!!!! It is so sweet.

Gotta get dinner cooked so we can pick some more before dark, so Toodles! (Or cockadoodledoodles!)

Going NUTS!!!

OK, so as if I needed another thing to do with my time, the pecan harvest this year is absolutely huge. In my yard, I have about 20-30 pecan trees, which are dropping their goods left and right. One morning I picked for a half hour, sold them, and made about $10.00. The thing is, there are soooo many pecans and if I don't pick them, it's like leaving money laying around! We are having a fabulous cold snap today....they are announcing a high of 58, so once the rain settles, I will feel an obligation to be a picking queen.

SO....do I knit or do I pick????

The socks for DH are coming so fast! I started one Saturday AM, and with all the weekend duties, I still managed to knit half a sock! I only wish DH and I had the same shoe size...these are NICE! You'll see a pic very soon.

Blessings on your day,
XO
M

Just keep knitting, Just keep knitting, Just keep knitting, knitting, knitting.....

I was messing around last night, playing with different toe-up cast on techniques that I have read about and learned, like the Turkish cast on, Figure 8 cast on, and Judy's Magic cast on. Anyways, I liked but didn't love the results, so I came up with my own cast on technique that made the nicest toe! Of course, there is nothing new under the sun, and I am sure I am not the only one who came up with this, but that's OK - it works for me!!!! So I started some socks in Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Effekt color 10 and Oh My Goodness! It is really nice! And after the Jaywalkers, they are knitting up so quickly (plain vanilla) and DH was eyeing them and I asked if he liked the color and he really does, so he's gonna get a new pair of socks soon...I'll post a pic when #1 is done.

Goin' For a walk.......a Jaaaayyyyyywalk (FINALLY!)

Finally a FO - my Jaywalkers are complete. But of course, a low to go with the high! I found a dropped stitch on the 2nd one, right where the heel flap starts! Yikes!!!! I will be able to fix it w/o ripping back, thankfully! Because they are mine, for someone else, I would have to ribbit.
OK here they are, in their fraternal twin glory:


***an addendum....i was able to fix my snafu and I can't even find the spot now, so PHEW!!!!!

First Session Knitting...Over!

My first session of Knitting 101 is now over! My students did an awesome job on their felted purses. I love how they each did something different from the other. They all had design freedom and it was great to see how each student came up with a different purse.

Next week, we will begin Knitting 102, and we will be doing a cabled ribbed scarf. I hope that there will be enough students to do another Knitting 101 - it was a lot of fun and I can't wait to teach more people how to knit. The reward is so great when my students actually find that they LOVE to knit and can't wait to move on to the next skill.

OTN - the second Jaywalker. I have about an inch or two to go then decrease for the toes. I have only one set of Addis and some friends want to learn toe up socks on 2 circs, so I have to free the ones I am using. I will be doing some in Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Effekt color #10 - I am anxious to see how these turn out!

Hoping my next post is complete Jaywalkers. Oh yeah...Next week, I plan to get some Mary Jane Crocs to wear with my socks. Believe it or not, all the socks I have made went to other people, and these are actually the first ones I'll be keeping. The Step ones went to my mom for her birthday.

Allrightythen....have a wonderful day, Blessings!

Wimberly fun - Alpacas and glass

Today we went to the Old Oaks Ranch in Wimberley TX - it is an alpaca ranch and they spin, weave, teach classes, sell goodies, etc...Here I am with D Jr and Romeo the alpaca and his friend (whose name I don't know!). What tender creatures!

Here is Danny feeding Quan Yen, the baby alpaca.

Here's Olivia feeding her.....

And Sophia........

Then we went to Wimberley Glassworks. In the entrance I saw this real live scorpion. This is the first live scorpion I see in TX since I moved here in '94. The girls at the shop asked if I was from TX, and said they see scorpions all the time, and to not worry about it! I took a pic, though.

Here is the glass artist (what is the word for it???) with his work in the oven. Please forgive the lack of technical terms... we got there 20 minutes before closing, and when they explained the steps, we couldn't really hear them.

Here is the artist with his finished work.

This was such a cool day! Between the ranch and the glass shop, we stopped at the candy store!!! Yeah for the kids!!!!!

We are all really enjoying my mother's visit, and we will be sad to see her leave.