Really!! I have been knitting!

It's been a bit of a hard week. Jim and I have both been ill, Rebekah has the sniffles. I worked 3 nights in a row (which totally kills me). I also started Precepts Bible study at church (the best in deapth Bible study I've ever done) and today is Rebekah's 2nd Birthday!! We had a little family party with Grandma and Grandpa T and Uncle Brian and Aunt Jennifer last night with Spaghetti and salad and cornbread muffins and cake and ice cream. I have been waiting for her 2nd birthday for a while!! Here's why...

When Dad was 2, my Grandparents gave him this wagon. On my 2nd birthday, I had cake on the same wagon. Mom and Dad have this wagon now and Rebekah plays with it when she visits Grandma and Grandpa....so....

Rebekah had a great little birthday party! And I have documentation that a Ride-Em wagon will last over 60 years!! And still provide lots of fun to children of all ages.

On other fronts, I am working on the Central Park Hoodie and got to the sleeves. I don't know if I am doing it right to qualify as knitting in the round, but it looks good to me and is working in my mind. Maybe I'm "unventing" something in my own way. Anyhow, it's fun!! And I promise to take a picture soon. Check here for further updates or on my Ravelry page (joylinnknits).

I also finished Clue 7 of SOTS 3. I can't believe that I have kept up with this one!! I hope to finish in time and be entered in the final drawing for the Colourmart yarn!! That would be so great!!! This is not the greatest picture. I took it at work over the only thing I could find that was big enough. It's not such a great backdrop, but it's done! I should have posted it earlier. I finished it on Wednesday night.

Yarny Goodness in the Mail

Remember when I won the completion prize for Clue 3 of SOTS3? It came in the mail yesterday! YEAH ME!! Its scrumptious yarn. Hand spun/hand dyed from Yarnzone. It's naturally dyed in green from mexican Olives. I think its gorgeous! And there is a pattern for a lacy scarf that I can make with it. Rebekah took the bag with the yarn and added a couple of skeins and was trotting around the house with it yesterday. Also in the package was a tiny skein of yellow yarn that Rebekah claimed. She made me take the staple out from the card and give it to her and immediately, she rubbed the yarn on her cheek! I'm raising a Yarnaholic already!! I wish I'd taken a picture of it. I can't post that because she is spending the night at Grandma's tonight and I don't have the picture. But I can post this picture

Drastic changes

Ok, I've been thinking about this lately and just up and called my hairdresser today. She had an appointment at 2 so I colored my hair, rinsed it out and went to see Kacie who cut it off. She cut off about 6-7 inches in the back. I love it!! I guess I should have taken a picture of it and I will, I just felt a need to post today and that's the big decision I made. It made me feel so good that I had to put on makeup to go to work, it just didn't feel right without makeup...ya know? I'll get a picture tomorrow and post it up.

I'm still working on SOTS3 and am really surprised to still be keeping up. We are into clue 6 now and it is beautiful!! I love my yarn and plan to send a finished picture to the dyer that I bought it from on Etsy. I am also still working on the last sock of my Baudelaire pair. I am also loving to work on Julie's Central Park Hoodie. This yarn is scrumtious!! It is so soft. The pattern calls for Donegal Tweed. I used some of that a few years back for another project and while the colors are beautiful, the yarn is not soft. I decided to use Shepherd's Wool from Stonehenge Mill in Michigan. Heritage carries it and it is lovely. 250 yards and soft!!! Beautiful!!

Anyhow, that's all for now. Some day soon I will bake some cookies for Jim. He's been hinting pretty loudly for them!!

UFO Wednesdays

I had an "I got it" moment today. I have had several projects languishing as UFOs and have been trying to decide what to do with them. So I had this idea (or brain fart, call it what you will) and decided that Wednesdays will be Work on UFO Day for a while. Having decided this, I picked out my Peacock Feathers Shawl from Fiddlesticks and began to work on it. I had to do some reading of the directions because this particular pattern is mirrored. You have to work the chart right to left to the center then work it back left to right from the center to the end of the row. Then you also have to reverse the stitches on the second half. It's not really as complicated as it sounds, I just had to get my bearings about me before I started it again. I hope that this idea will help me to get some of those UFOs completed that have been sitting around for quite a while. I started with my shawl like this:

And ended the day with it looking like this!

I've been working on Chart 2 of this pattern today while watching Rebekah. I was able to finish the whole chart but found that I was making a few mistakes and really had to tink a lot more than I should have. It's probably the cold. Jim has been hit by the cold bug that Rebekah had earlier this week. I am coming down with it as well but colds don't affect me like they do Jim. But this has been a great day for Rebekah and me. She is learning new words every day and I am having a blast watching her grow! Thank you Lord for the gift. Right now she is dancing to a commercial because she loves music. How blessed I am!!

Catching Up...It's September already!!!

It's a busy time for us at the Catanzaro house but some of us still have time to play and reflect on nature and all that God has created. Rebekah has found books!! I am reading to her now from a children's bible story book for her naps and before bedtime. She loves reading now. I like this picture. It sort of speaks for itself. Rebekah is such a good child. We are so glad that God has given us this precious one to take care of and raise while we are on this earth.

September is always a busy month for everyone, especially those who have children going back to school. My Stepson, Chris, started a new school in CrosLex, but Rebekah doesn't start school for a few years. However, I find myself as busy as anyone with kids in school! I Completed Clue 5 of SOTS this week. It was so nice and only took 2 evenings of knitting. (However, my evening goes from 10PM to 2AM because of the night shift work) I sat up alone and watched all 6 hours of Pride and Prejudice. It flowed so easily. I finished on Sunday night and because I knew that I would be finished early, I had gone to Heritage (http://www.heritagespinningandweaving.com/) to pick out yarn for the Central Park Hoodie that I decided to do for Julie (my Stepdaughter) for Christmas. I picked up some lovely yarn in green, actually, it's Ivy. It's Shepherd's Wool from Stonehenge Fiber Mill. It's wonderfully soft and is knitting up beautifully! I think that Julie will be happy with it. I also picked up 2 of these Fiberspheres. They are wonderful for yarn that is wound from hanks when you are using them, as the ball gets smaller and more messy to manage...it's all kept neat inside the ball!! I love it!

I also started practicing with Attitude of the Heart (our worship team at church) on Mondays and Resounding Praise (our bell choir) on Thursdays. It's a busy time!! But I love being part of these groups.

In the meantime, I have been working on my second set of Baudelaire socks (these are for me). Jim is going to school, and Rebekah is being herself. She is learning so much and her vocabulary is growing on a daily basis. She surprises me with words. She is also learning to knit. I have no doubt that she will be knitting soon!!

I WON! WOO HOO!!

I posted my Pictures of Clue 3 last week at the last possible moment for me (after a 2 hour last minute knitting marathon after getting home from a 6 hour drive to Lexington to pick up Chris). So there I was, sitting in a chair all alone with the TV on and everyone else in bed, finishing Clue 3, snapping a picture and posting it quick enough to count for the drawing. DK and Mr. K picked me!!! I won!!!! And best of all...I finished Clue 4 already. i just don't have a picture yet and probably won't be able to get it done and posted until Thursday or Friday (due to work and sleep). I just can't believe that I won!! YAY ME!! And thank you DK and Mr. K!! Stay tuned now for pictures....

Life has a way....

Life has definately gotten in the way of my knitting this week! I barely finished SOTS3 clue 3 in time for the completion prize cut off. I am posting this right before midnight...I just finished and laid it out on the couch and snapped a picture so I could get it posted! Jim started OCC for the fall semester this week and I have been working in the ER every night that I work. Let me tell you...It's been a little brutal to be knitting. Anyhow, I was able to get it finished and finished a set of Baudelaire socks last week for Kristine.