sherriknits

Can you believe July is over? You know what this means?  We are getting closer to having a baby!  She is now considered full-term, 37 weeks.  I can barely contain my excitement. 

My niece had her baby 2 days ago.  The girls were 2 weeks apart….my niece was induced, though, so who knows how close they might have come.  We went to see her in the hospital and the nurse there was almost overbearing in saying my little mama-to-be needed to be home in bed.  Her poor feet and ankles are so swollen but she’s been taking it easy and the doctor is watching her closely.  She goes tomorrow and is on her once a week appointments now unless they decide she needs to come in more often. 

Doesn’t she look like a cute mama-to-be?

Thankfully, my niece and little one are doing just fine.

I managed to get some knitting done!  I joined the Caffiene Addicts swap and we had to include a knitted item.  At first I was a little overwhelmed at knitting anything and then I decided to go for it when I found this pattern at one of my favorite yarn shops!

This is a handout with purchase at Village Yarn and Tea.  I made friends with the owner a few years ago so I always like to pop in to say hi but I have yet to see her there!  I do plan to see her at Stitch n Pitch, though.

I accidentally made too many picots on the edge but I do like how it came out….a lot!  Also, the pattern calls for an I-cord drawstring but I had the little imp help me wind up a twisted drawstring cord instead and I like it.  I just forced it into the stockinette stitch and it works just fine.

I might actually start drinking tea to have something like this! 

….or else I’ll just add to my teapot collection that I have …. and none of them ever see any tea.

I was really looking forward to a 4-day weekend, but it ended up to be kind of a bust.

Hubby got a bad cold and coughed his head off for days.  I had a sleepless night and was worth nothing for a whole day.  We were just kind of bummed out that we didn’t do anything fun…but then, I guess there wasn’t much we could do about it.

We did have a fun 4th….the little imp for the first time in his life actually enjoyed the fireworks.  We went over to big sis’s house and played Wii for awhile.  They actually got me to drive race cars with them.  I used to be really good at video games but no more.  I came in last every time, but I had fun.

He’s actually pretty good!  He plays against the good competition and holds his own. 

They’ve been getting the baby room ready, I just love it.

And look what I saw on the changing table.

We actually could see the neighborhood fireworks better than the city ones because a hill is in the way, but we didn’t feel like going closer and getting caught in traffic, especially if the little imp can’t stand it, been there, done that.

The parents-to-be have a great deack overlooking everything so  we stood outside watching the whole city go nuts.

This picture cracks me up.  He’s talking to his brother-in-law….he drags his name waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy out when he talks to him and I caught him in the middle of it.

Even though he did better with the fireworks than he’s ever done, there came a point where he was DONE…so his BIL got him some headphones.

Have I said lately how great my son-in-law is?

I did get knitting done during the day of doing nothing but sitting on a chair after watching the sun come up once again.  I think I better not have any more of those Starbucks doubleshots even in late afternoon! 

Anyway, this is not for me.  I was going to make it all one color until I decided to do it for a gift. 

Today the new bride, the imp and I decided to go to the beach.  I wanted to play tourist like a friend of mine did.  I forgot to take any pictures but we had fun.  The little imp hates shopping but I got him a little present so he was a little happier.  I could just choke sometimes, though.  He showed me the “claw” and I told him if he’d be good, we could get it.  Well, he suddenly turned and ran away.  I chased after him and asked him where he was going because the deal was to stick with us.  “My phone, Mom!” he answers.  He’d left it laying on the display.  ugh.

We had ice cream before we drove home and then made a quick trip down onto the beach.

I’m not sure if they were feeding these seagulls or what, but they were flying in place when we drove by

I was excited when I got home that the flowers on my new rosebush had finally started to open, there are LOTS of them to come

it is exactly what I hoped it would be!

And now we know it is summer because the ice cream truck was driving around our neighborhood today!  Amazingly, it was not that obnoxious music it has been in years past.

Back to watching the Mariner’s, we’re actually on the board in the 2nd inning!  Things seem to be turning around for us.  I’m watching the game until hubby gets home and fixes the computer for me.  I had to bring my work computer home (from my real job) because our home computer quit…and now this one must not be hooked up right.  I discovered today that I must have overwritten some files and I am missing a week’s worth of bookkeeping.  Tonight I get to do it all over before I get the data to our programmer.  bummer.

I had a great last few days. Knitting is going well and I got a great gift in the mail today.

It was also a sad day, today, though….papa-to-be lost his grandma today and it was pretty unexpected.  I heard he was handling it ok, but he was probably a little bit in shock.  They were not able to revive her when the paramedics were called to her house and when the family gathered at the hospital there was a social worker there to meet them.  The kids are getting away for their first anniversary over the next few days, so the family said they should just go and enjoy themselves.  They can’t do anything here and there won’t be a service for a few days so they need the chance to celebrate.  As mama said to me, they were concerned she might hang on for a few days and they would never have left if that was the case.  Our kids are very sensitive and it’s nice that the family said they should go with their blessing because they need the opportunity to honor  their anniversary.  They have to cook for a chili feed fundraiser tonight so it will be ready after church tomorrow so he has things to keep himself busy.  It makes me realize the depth of love I have for my new kids and I’ve been concerned for him all day but they’ve had a lot going on so I haven’t been able to talk to him.

I saw the mama today.  I had the cutest book to give her.  

She was pretty tickled.

Ok…I wanted to show you what I won!

Frieda was asking for donations for her cancer walk in Canada.  She was walking in memory of her mother and mother-in-law and she was offering the shawl as a prize.  I won!  I didn’t donate because of the prize, but I am sure thrilled to be the winner. However, she was so incredibly generous because that isn’t all she sent me!

I had a really hard time capturing how beautiful this yarn is.  The amazing thing is I have been looking at this very yarn in this very colorway online. I could not be more thrilled.  She did such a beautiful job of knitting on the shawl, too, and I will really enjoy it.

I’m making good progress on my BYOB. 

I was only going to make this 3 colors but last night as I was knitting on the way to Olympia on our date, I decided it needed some more pop so I got the light blue.  What’s weird is, that color of blue may be my least favorite color, but it really seemed to make a difference in the whole thing.  I hope to get lots farther tonight on my knitting but I wanted to make sure to get pictures while it is still light out.  It’s on the needles and I couldn’t get it to lay flat (and of course about 10 stitches popped off the needles) but I’ll be working on it tonight and hope to have better pictures to show you soon.

Yesterday was the first day of summer and we had about our 3rd nice day of the year.  It was warm and beautiful but by the time I got off work, the fog was rolling in.  We were pleasantly surprised when we got out of town that it was actually very warm.  We love to eat at i.talia and never knew until last night that they have outdoor seating across the way from the restaurant so we ate outside.  I haven’t used my phone much for taking pictures but I thought it did a decent job.

And my knitting came with me:

The waitress was really interested in the bag. 

And now, back to knitting!

This has been an incredibly busy week.  I didn’t knit at all for several days.  Today I got ahold of the cotton-ease yarn I have been waiting for.  I have to confess, I never thought I’d use Lion Brand yarn, but this cotton is actually pretty nice.  I love how it looks and feels in the seed stitch.  I’m about 2/3 of the way done with the base right now…lots of seed stitch but it’s actually been quite relaxing to me tonight.

It’s quite a bit bigger than the picture (and greener), had to take the picture when it was still daylight.

I love that people are making bags and actually using them but I haven’t seen one that grabbed my attention like this one did.  If you haven’t seen it, go check out the new Knitty…. byob (bring your own bag). 

The little imp got to go to big sis’s this afternoon.  When I picked him up, he was playing some race car game on Wii.  Man, that kid can drive!  He does well against some of the older kids.  You know, he does think he is going to be driving a car at 16.  We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it in putting him off.  (heartbreak)  But on the Wii, evidently they earn their licenses so maybe that will count for something.  It’s awfully interesting raising a child who is many ages rolled into one in one body.  It was so sweet, though, when we left big sis asked him to come say goodbye to baby.  He gets embarrassed but he puts his hand on her tummy to feel the baby and then looks the other way and talks to it.  very sweet.

And now I want to head to bed.  I am so tired, saw daylight approaching before I fell asleep and did well all day until about 5.  I’d have gone to bed at 7 but it was only the imp and I home much of the evening.

I got my little girlie football helmet hat done last night.  I want to re-do the football, but it came out cute.  Papa-to-be seemed to like both the pink and the blue.  Of course I forgot to take his picture with them.

I know that Father’s Day, like Mother’s Day, has it’s challenges for many people.  I am one of them.  It is a painful time for me in many ways, but the part that gets to me is the fact that I am so grateful to be married to a man who loves his kids and has been there for them.  We’re in a new era with 3 of our 4 kids and it’s really different for us.  Even though they have become adults and our childraising years are finished with them, we don’t quit being their parents.  We are so blessed and we know it.  They are great kids and to say we are proud is an understatement.

We have gone to one service at church for the summer and I think it is a good thing.  We had a great service today, but I think both the fellow who did the sermon (father of 2 young girls) and my hubby. who sang a song, were grateful they only had to do it once.

One daddy is still in the early years with his adorable little girls.  He is one who takes the job seriously and he had some great things to share today.  He asked hubby to sing a song, as I said yesterday.  I want to post the words to the song.

Cinderella 

by Steven Curtis Chapman 

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I’m sittin’ here wearin’ the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It’s been a long day and there’s still work to do,
She’s pulling at me saying “Dad I need you!
There’s a ball at the castle and I’ve been invited and I need to practice my dancin’”
“Oh please, daddy, please!” 

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone

She says he’s a nice guy and I’d be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says “Dad, the prom is just one week away,
And I need to practice my dancin’”
“Oh please, daddy, please!”

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone
She will be gone.

Well, she came home today
With a ring on her hand
Just glowin’ and tellin’ us all they had planned
She says “Dad, the wedding’s still six months away
but I need to practice my dancin’”
“Oh please, daddy please!”

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t wanna miss even one song,
(even one song)
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone

It is a beautiful song.  I sat next to mama-to-be.  She is not a terribly sentimental girl (unlike me) but the song had barely started and she leaned into me and when I turned, she was just sobbing.  Of course, I was, too and we had one heck of a time getting through it.  Hubby had assured me that if he sang it 100 times, he wouldn’t get emotional when he sang it.  He did well and I think he avoided looking at us as much as he could because he knew I would be crying.  I am not kidding, I was fighting loud sobs.  I wasn’t alone, I saw dads all over the room literally losing it, moms, too.  He has the perfect voice for ballads like this and those who know him well know it wasn’t just a song.  He did well until he got to the part about “she came home today with a ring on her hand…” and he choked.  He has been a professional musician and he was able to just speak the words until he could sing again but if anyone wasn’t crying yet, they sure were at that point.  Dan, the speaker, told anyone who didn’t know that we have married off 2 of our daughters in the past year and that song had fresh meaning.  My dear daughter cried for about half an hour and I could barely handle seeing her hugging her daddy after.  The newlyweds were on the worship team today and when they came down after the service was over, the bride was in tears, too.  They love their dad and they know he loves them.  Now, we aren’t forgetting our boys………they’re the best.

Ok, moving on.  We had a pie auction after church and how I’d love to post the little video I took today of our son’s girlfriend as auctioneer.  I don’t think she’d like me to share it but she was adorable.  She’s shorter than I am (I’m 5 ft) and she stood on a chair with the mic….and our son stood behind her and she was only a little taller than him.  Cute.  They’re going on a mission trip to Mexico and this was a fundraiser that we do every year for that.  I didn’t end up with any pies but I did help drive the price up so that has to count for something.

We had a great barbecue this afternoon…we’ve started buying Western Sizzler Steaks, they go far and they are cheaper at the meat market.  The meat market is attached to a fruit stand so we got some great salad and fruit from there.  Hubby barbecued and we sat outside as long as it took us to eat before we came inside because the wind was so cold.  BUT…the sun was out!  Our son and girlfriend and the parents-to-be were here for several hours.  They all left and the newlyweds showed up.  By then, I was fighting to stay awake, but we had a nice visit with them, too.

Tomorrow is my day off!  Since I went to therapy last week, I get to stay home tomorrow.  Hopefully it is a fruitful day.

This is my second time here today.  Mama-to-be brought her little hat to me because her camera battery was dead.  Nothing exciting, just a plain little hat to go with a little sweater.

The set

And this was rather humorous.  She did not even realize she wasn’t holding the sweater with her hands.

Baby was kicking up a storm today while they were visiting us.

I had a nice date with hubby tonight..a little shopping, a little reading and coffee drinking makes for a nice evening.  I even bought a book.

I liked the pictures and what I read.  I gave hubby a test on internet lingo but he miserably failed…. LYS, Blog, FO, UFO, tink, frog, WIP 

Tomorrow is WWKIP and I’m excited.  The coffee shop we are meeting at already has it on the marquis.  We have a new street market on Saturdays so we should have fun if we have nice weather.  I hope everyone has somewhere to knit in public!  I will be leaving that early tomorrow, though, to attend a good friend’s graduation from nursing school.  I am so proud of her for making her dream come true…way to go, Nurse Bunni!  She’s an RN!

I really am not going to complain about the weather when I think of the horrible tragedy in Iowa and the flooding going on in the midwest…but at the same time, this is the first time we’ve seen the sun in about 2 weeks and I really have to mark it on my calendar!  This has been the strangest year.  The whole town was excited when it started clearing up this afternoon!  Maybe it will warm up, too.  (we’ve had 40’s to 50’s)

I finished another simple little hat for SweetPea to match the bolero but I took it to mama without taking a picture of it.  I asked her to email me a picture but she didn’t get home until after dark tonight.  She is so thrilled at the simplest of things.  So is daddy….they take pictures of baby’s closet and send them to me.  The little bolero I made for mother’s day is hanging in the closet and it is soooo funny hanging on the hanger…the sleeves stick straight out.  I love that they are having so much fun getting ready for the big event.

Knit night the other night was really small, but we really had a great time.  Everyone came in pretty early and we just had a great time laughing and knitting.  I wasn’t going to put a picture but I thought maybe the daughter of one of the knitters might like to see her mom having fun.

See Ravelry open on the laptop there and the pink t-shirt? 

A daily occurence in our household is for the little imp to put on his tux.  I am serious.  Some days it is 4 or 5 times. 

Notice the executive pose.  (and the dressy shoes)

Now for a closeup of the collar and tie….

I love his creativity and enjoyment of life.

It just occurs to me that I had better get knitting a hat for Father’s Day for daddy-to-be.  I think I’ll make the pink version of the football helmet and give him both of them and he can return whichever one they don’t need.  I can’t think of anything he’d enjoy more than a football hat for baby.  They haven’t seen any of the other hats I’ve made…I want to give them when baby is born.

Too bad I have so much to do tomorrow, but glad it’s quick!  Oh yeah…and Saturday is WWKIP so I’ll be knitting all day.

Technorati Tags: blessings, imp, knitting

I am going to be happy with whatever we get in August when grandbaby is born…but I hope at some point I get a granddaughter to wear this hat!

I wish I had a head to put it on to show how adorable it is.  (I don’t know what I will do for a background when we get rid of the grass we grew in pots for the wedding, I’m loving it for pictures but we’ve promised it to a friend and just haven’t given it to her yet).

Anyway, I love, love, love this hat!  I love the vintage look of it and I think to see a little girl turning her head back and forth with those white loopies will be so cute!

Do you agree?

And now I need to flip through the book and find another hat to start on.  I’m so glad that my friend helped bump me out of my inability to make a decision on where to start knitting for baby.  It helped to think that this is probably just the beginning of several grandchildren and I can put away what isn’t needed this time.

World-Wide Knit in Public Day is this coming Saturday.  Do you have plans to be knitting somewhere in public?  I do.  We’ll be knitting downtown at the new street market our community has.  I have to leave early to go to a very special graduation but I get over 4 hours at WWKIP so that’s good!  If you don’t have a plan in your area, grab a friend and sit at the park or at the mall or on a bus.  It’s great fun!

And now I just got a call that Comcast is at the shop to change over my internet and install a tv connection so I had better get ready to go.  Hubby is taking care of the technical part of it.  Woohoo!  I found it was cheaper to change over to them and get phone, internet AND tv than it was for what I was currently doing for my slow connection.

I am really wanting to work on my Francie sock, but I’ve kind of got the baby bug now.  Maybe I’ll get the current little hat done and then jump back and forth.

Here’s my progress…

It’s so soft and fuzzy.  I’ll try to get better pictures next time to show the back.  A friend suggested not binding off the 2 edges so the end result is a t-shape that is then seamed together…instead to knit those center stitches and on each side to purl 2 together joining the sides at the same time.  It worked great.  Right now it is back on the needles as I add the bottom edging.  There are little curlicues that go on the top of the hat at each side where the joins are.  If I can’t get that right, I’ll leave them off, but really would like to have them there.  The whole concept of the Itty Bitty Hat book is that for the first year, babies are seen from the top of the head down so the hats are designed to make the top of the hat cute.

We’re seeing baby move all the time.  Mama is looking so cute and Daddy is pretty thrilled to talk about baby.  Gotta love that.

I have one more picture I want to post of the first hat just so I have it without the shadows.

I got a fun present today but never got a chance to take a picture in the daylight so that will have to wait…but I have to say I have the best of friends.

The SP12 questionnaire was posted the other day and mine is now at the top of my page on a tab of it’s own so if you’re here for that, look up there.

I’ve been buried in bookwork and got no opportunity to knit today.  Right after I finished reconciling a bank statement this afternoon (that was refusing to be balanced), I got a chance to visit with 3 good friends, though and that was a great reward for sticking to my job.  I had a potluck to go to with hubby right after work and that was fun, too.  Mama and Papa-to-be were there and before we started our meeting, we had to make a guess as to what we all thought baby would be….evenly divided.  It’s fun that so many people are excited about it.

We’re going through some adjustment pangs with the little imp now that big sis just got married.  It will all work out but it’s very different.  We’ve always appreciated the help that our kids have been.  Today when I got to work, the new bride’s father-in-law happened to be there.  He was asking how it was going and I told him it’s been an adjustment.  I told him about a few of the incidents we’ve had but that it’s been good and the kids are all a big help even still.  He said it is nice to see a family functioning as you’d hope it would, that many families probably really don’t have what we have.  He said he knew his son (my new son-in-law) loves the imp as if he was his own brother.  We see it every day with all 3 of the kids and their chosen ones.  I cannot say enough how grateful I am.

Sunday a friend emailed this picture of hubby playing his new bass. That’s our new son-in-law on the drums. 

I was so excited to win the Baby Legs drawing over at Just RK’s blog.  They came yesterday and they are cute, cute, cute.  I explained to the little imp how it came about that I got them (did he get it, I doubt it, but I still talked to him about it)…and then I let him give them to the new mama.  She was excited, she’s heard about them.  We loved the colors she got.  She didn’t open them because they are doing some major moving around in their house and didn’t want them to be out of the wrapper.  I wanted to touch them but oh well, soon enough.

(hmmm, maybe I need to knit something to go with this!)

We had sunshine the other day!  It’s been so cold and yucky here (rain) but we had a few nice days and the little imp had to be dragged out of the house to enjoy the sunshine.  He started playing with his shadow.

Technorati Tags: littleimp, baby