Knit One Quilt Too

Happy 2007!

Grandfather Frost and Snowflake wish you a very Happy New Year! 

PS- I wish I could say I made these, but they are from Magic Cabin Dolls, I believe.  We've had them for many years.

Z is for...

Zydeco!  Not the music, but the restaurant.  This is our favorite place to go as a family in Bend.  It's not your typical family restaurant.  This is a nice place and definitely caters to adults, but the menu is kid friendly with sides that kids like and the staff is always happy to see us.  If you ever make it to Bend, you should check it out.  It's not in the typical place you might look for a nice restaurant because it's sandwiched between a car dealer and a Burger King!  However, you won't be sorry you looked for it.

We went there the other night and had a very nice dinner.  We also managed to draw all over the table.  We usually fill the paper with drawings and hangman games.  Here's a testament to the food.  I complelely forgot to take photos of the dishes because they are so good there were mostly gone by the time I remembered.  If you do go try the Almond Wet Cake!  Another reason to go is the homemade dog biscuits available for free.  See, the restaurant is named after the family dog.  Awww, how sweet is that!

Another One Bites the Dust

I finished another novelty yarn scarf.  This is a stash buster- yay!  I had two partial balls of this fluffy stuff, so I made a striped scarf.  This one is for Scrabble's groomer and it's perfect because it has his exact colors!  It's really, really soft.  In fact, so soft that Ryan wants one too!  I think I'll come up with more manly colors for him though.  Uh oh, that might mean a yarn buying trip!

 

Now that Christmas is over, here are some photos of the gifts I had to wait to show you.  I had a brilliant idea early this year to make a set of felted clogs for my brother's family.  I bought the yarn and patterns well ahead of time, but time got away from me and then I kept on putting them off.  I could tell, just by looking at the pattern, that I wasn't going to enjoy it much.  And, on top of that, it's not good TV knitting because every row is different and it involves a lot of counting. 

Fast forward to about 3 weeks before Christmas.  I'm frantically knitting away at these.  The child ones are pretty cute and I start the adult ones before I felt anything. When I finished all the knitting I finally felted it all.  Disaster strikes.  The child ones came out pretty cute, but the adult ones looked horrid.  Not only that, but the ones for my brother could fit someone with the widest feet on the planet.  So, that's how I ended up in the art gallery that had the most amazing gingerbread structure I've ever seen.  (I guess it was a good thing afterall!).  I did send the child ones and my brother said they actually fit.  I don't think I'll be making more of these any time soon.  Thank god it's over!

Before felting.

After felting.  This is the only after photo I have.  I'll not speak of the adult ones again!

This is the very cool gingerbread structure that we happened upon.  It has moving parts and is based on one of the historical landmarks in our town.

Here's another gift I made this year.  I actually made three of these, but they look much the same.  It's a felt ornament based on the designs in the book by Salley Mavor- Felt Wee Folk.  This is 100% wool felt, embroidered with DMC floss and slightly padded with wool stuffing.

Y is for...

Yuletide!  Christmas Eve at my parent's house.  May you have all the warmest wishes of the holiday season. 

X is for...

Xmas Corners!  Enjoy these photos of our favorite Christmas Corners of My Home.  Many of these items are handmade by me, my family or other handcrafters.  These, of course, are the most precious ones.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Present

Now, back to all things soft and stitchy!  I have gifted several things that I can show you.  First was this Branching Out scarf from Knitty.  I had this half way done last week when I decided to finish it for a gift for Ryan's Occupational Therapist.  Cindy has done some amazing work with Ryan this year and she's always ready for his antics.  She's the first therapist he's ever had who would take his ideas (and believe me, he's got plenty of them) and run with them.  The blue is brighter here than in real life.  It's actually a navy blue and this is Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool.

I also had this scarf halfway done when I decided to finish it for Ryan's speech therapist.  It is from two novelty yarns held together.  I'm glad to get this one done.  I want to get the novelty stuff out of the stash and stick with natural fibers. 

These chemotherapy hats were knit by me and my mom for a local knit shop which donates them to the hospital.  I'm also glad these are done.  The Berocco Chinchilla is a pain to knit with (literally).  You can't see your stitches and it's hard on the hands.  I only used it because the shop donates the yarn.  Next year, if I do it again I may have to buy yarn that I can more comfortably knit.  Chloe had planned on making one, but she was so frustrated by the yarn, that she gave it to me.

Lastly, here's something I didn't make!  This was my gift from my friend, Jenn, in my homeschool group's Mom's Night Out Holiday party.  Isn't it lovely!  I just love the added beads around the edge and it gives me ideas for some future projects.  Thank you so much, Jenn!

I made three more moebius bowls over the past week as gifts, but forgot to photograph them.  One was mailed off, the second went to my friend Erin at the afore mentioned holiday party and the third is waiting for an Imagination Tribe trade.  I'll try to remember to get a photo of that one.  Well, back to the Christmas preparations and festivities!  Happy Holiday Knitting!

W is for...

Winter Solstice!  We celebrated last night because that's what my calendar said.  We may have been a day off, but we had a lovely evening nonetheless.  We lit the candles that we got in the Winter Solstice light trade at dinner and ate by candlelight.  Then I read a book about the Winter Solstice to the kids.  After dinner we ate some Solstice cake that the kids decorated.  Ryan started the Solstice cake tradition a couple of years ago.  What a peaceful evening!

V is for...

Violets!  I've had African Violets for years and they are the best houseplant for me!  They don't require a whole lot of care and the blooms are profuse and last forever.  Of course, at this particular moment in time mine are almost all in a nonblooming stage.  I wish I had taken a photo a month or two ago.  It was particularly beautiful.  I had a couple of these for a long time, but when I was pregnant with Chloe I started a bunch of them from leaf cuttings.  They were given as gifts and I kept a few.  I now have 4 regular AV's and one mini that I got at an AV show.  The mini is my favorite. 

If you are interested in having a house plant, but think you don't have a green thumb, give an AV a try.  I recommend you buy a two part pot which you can find at a garden shop.  I've even made one at a paint your own pottery place.  This is a pot that the plant sits in, then you place that one in another pot which holds the water.  With this system they get just enough water and you only need to fill the pot every week or two.  I also recommend regular feedings with an AV fertilizer.  I put just a few drops in the water every time I fill it.  Mine sit in our kitchen window just behind my sink which means that I easily remember to fill the water pot.  I have found that this is the perfect amount of light for them.  You might need to move yours around to different spots until you find the perfect light situation.

My Talented Sister

Taking a break from all things soft and stitchy, I wanted to show you what I got in the mail recently from my sister.  She is a talented glass artist as well as stitcher.  For my birthday I got this beautiful bowl which I love for the colors and the sweet shape.  Thank you so much, Cheryl!

A couple of weeks later we got a Christmas package from Cheryl.  Inside was one package that said, "Open Now".  So we did and we were thrilled to see these beautiful glass leaf ornaments, one for each of us.  She even made some fancy doggy cookies for Scrabble.  What a sweetie!

Aren't they breathtaking!  Me thinks my sister needs a blog!

U is for...

Unschooling!  I've talked about it before and now I have a blog about it.  It's a lifestyle choice for us that allows us to travel when we want, sleep in if needed and generally have tons of fun while learning a whole lot.  Last Wednesday we had a fantastic day of skiing and snowboarding that was possible only because we unschool.  Here are some photos of that day. 

Perfect conditions and an open road to Mt. Bachelor.

Chloe and Kristin take their first ski lesson.

Ryan the DUDE!  You should see him go!

Chloe and Kristin on the bunny hill.

Chloe's looking good!

Mark snowboarding too.