A Day in the Life of.....

Riverstone

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Originally uploaded by ADITLO

This is the sweater that I knit for Olivia, Mary's grand niece - Melanie's daughter. I wanted something different and this was just that. The arms and top of the sweater are knit long ways and then you pick up stitches along the bottom of it and knit the body. I am a slow knitter but this didn't take me too long to do it. It is knit in Cascade 220 superwash in a demin color with Cascade 220 superwash in an off white as accent. The shoulders each have 3 little white rose buttons to keep it closed. The accent is not part of the pattern, I put a crocheted shell edging on the bottom to dress it up a little and make sure that no one would think she was a little boy. Hope it fits and she likes it. I am not even sure that she has seen it yet but if I don't blog now, I won't remember. And if you haven't checked out patternfish, this is a good opportunity to do just that. You won't find any free patterns but you will find some cool ones. Enjoy.

http://www.patternfish.com/patterns/2961

Baby 1 and Baby 3

Here are 2 of the new babies all ready for a rocking Christmas. I believe that this one (the brown and white)    is available and the black and white one is spoken for but there are plenty more where he/she came from. If anyone is interested they will be ready to go the 1st of February.

Roaring Twenties - Kelsie Style

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Originally uploaded by ADITLO

Halloween night found Kelsie dressed to the nines as a beautiful flapper. Although the kids are a bit too big for trick or treating they still like to dress up. This year there was a party at a friends house and all the girls dressed in 20's clothing. The outfit was put together by Kelsie and I and the coat was compliaments of my grandmother - Nana Dot. Kelsie was quite the bees knees.

Christmas Camp Style

Christmas Decorations
Originally uploaded by ADITLO

This past weekend was Christmas in July at camp. We had a blast (or at least I did). We got out the reindeer that we bought last year at AC Moore, put up a christmas tree that I had a few years ago with the cats were kittens, decorated the pine tree in the front of our site with paper snow flakes, lights and purple crinkle paper. OF course it rained buckets immediately after I finished so the PAPER decorations got a little soggy but it was fun to do.

Later that night, Santa came to the campground in a golf cart of course to see all the kids and give them presents. We had punch and cookies and some of the adults stayed and sang karoke. It was a lot of fun inspite of the rain.

F is for

Friends, Family and Food.  These are all the ingrediants of a great Easter Sunday.  This Easter we spent the day with Mary's family.  Her parents, her sister Jeannie and her family (the wonderful hosts) her sister Betty and her husband and boys joined us for dessert.  A great meal and fun and laughter was had by all.

Grasshopper ice cream squares
Originally uploaded by ADITLO

Check out more photos in my Easter set here Easter.

And the winner is......

Carolyn.... by cat vote, Carolyn is the winner of the Christmas contest.  As you can see we did it very fairly, the siamese cat Sasha, is Cheryl's and the fluff ball is Doug, Jared's cat. Carolyn, if you contact me we can decide if you want yarn that I have already dyed or if you want me to dye you some special.  You decide.                               

After the excitement of the contest, we settled down to the business of Christmas.  I was very busy making soap bags, and face cloths for Mary's mother, sisters and sisters-in-law as Christmas gifts.  Julie helped me make some soap and let me buy some of her other soaps that she had made previously.  So that was their gifts.  I also made the Celtic Braid Socks for my mother-in-law Fran with yarn that Kelsie and I dyed this summer with the wild raspberries and some purple dye.    So we were set.   Or so we thought.  On Monday afternoon, my mom went to a doctor's appointment where they did an EKG.  It was abnormal.  So they sent her to the hospital, where they kept her.  Seems that she had had at least one heart attack if not more. So into the hospital she went, and stayed.  She was there Christmas, and Wednesday at Holy Family hospital and then she was transferred into St. Elizabeths where they put a stent into her right cardiac artery.  Now she is home and feeling much better.  But with that and everyone at our house being sick it has been an interesting week.  I am currently working on a chemo cap for a woman that I work with that is battling breast cancer for a 2nd time.  I will post pictures when it is more done. 

For Christmas I received my very own sock blockers YAH!!!.  I will post pictures of them and the yarn that went with them next post.  Have a great NEW YEAR! 

Christmas Tradition/Contest

I feel like having a contest.  Read on to find out what it entails.  On Saturday Mary and Cheryl put up the Christmas tree while I was at work.  It is a fake one (with 4 cats it is safer) that already has lights on it.  Sunday night we were all home so we had the kids decorate it.   Now Cheryl has Christmas ornaments, I have ornaments and even Mary has at least one ornament so the kids had quite a few to choose from.  One of our family’s traditions is that we hang a Santa bell on the tree every year and this year was no exception.  Every year a different child/adult has the responsibility to put the bell on.  It is a small metal bell that has been around since my mom was little.   Supposedly when Santa arrives, he rings the bell.  Many a child has claimed to have heard it while they were sleeping, myself included.  When I grew up and moved out of my grandmother’s house, we had a small bell that we put on our Christmas tree and when my kids were born, I continued the tradition as did my sister.  Now that we all live together, we use the original bell.  Do you have a tradition/ritual that was started when you were little or when your parents were little that you have continued?  Leave me a comment telling me a little bit about it, or post it on your blog and let me know and I will put everyone’s name into a hat and you will get a little goodie bag with some hand dyed yarn and other knitting type items. Contest ends December 21^st at midnight. 

Christmas Swap Questions

1. Are you religious? no not really, I believe in a higher power and life after death though
2. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced? Intermediate
3. Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting? I crochet, scrapbook
4. Favorite color(s)? purples, orange, some greens
5. Do you collect anything? bags all sizes, shapes
6. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? no
7. Do you have any pets? 2 cats, 4 live in the house though
8. Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? Coffee or Hot Chocolate
9. Cookies or Sweets? Sweets (cakes, or candy)
10. Do you knit socks? Yes
11. If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits)
12. Do you put up a Christmas tree? If not then what do you do? We put up a fake one now, but for a while we used a real one (before cats) and I loved it.
13. Favorite holiday treats? Love xmas candy
14. Favorite holiday smells? Fresh tree, snow in the air
15. Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? Please elaborate. Traditional.  Put the tree up about a week or week 1/2 before xmas, decorate, like to sing carols with kids.  Christmas day, go to in-laws after xmas in morning at home
16. What are your favorite holiday traditions? - stockings, silver santa bell on tree,
17. Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about....” giving and the looks on my kids faces
18. If you were a Christmas ornament you would be…….? small plain round ornament that while doesn't attract any attention must not be forgotten
19. What was your favorite gift you've ever received? my nothing box Or given? hand made sox for my wife (even though they were late)
20. When do you start your Christmas? I start shopping in July but no decorating until very near.
21. Do you send Christmas cards? No, always intend to and never get around to it. Do you make them or buy them?
22. What is your favorite Christmas dish? It used to be my grand mother's scallop and shrimp casarole, now, not sure
23. Carolers are at your door. What do you do? Listen and ask if they would like something to drink
24. When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning? Mostly christmas morning.  Sometimes my kids persuade me to open one on Christmas eve
25. Do you celebrate with family or friends or both? Both