FO: Ryder's Blankie

After working on this baby for almost 9 months...here is Ryder's Blankie!

Crochet was really hurting my wrist for some reason (I've made other stuff and never been bothered - could be the yarn), so it has taken me a lot longer than I had wanted to make this blanket. Ryder was born in July and this was supposed to be part of his shower gift! Ooops!

Once again I have enlisted the help of my kids to model for me...

If you look closely at Maeghan's mouth you can see the stitches she received at the Dentist last week after she had a frenectomy done. Your frenum is the skin between the two front teeth that connects to the gums...if it is too big (as in Maeghan's case) it causes the front teeth to have a large space and perhaps grow like this /\, removing the extra tissue allows her adult teeth to hopefully come in closer together and straight. We'll have to see how hers progress because one of her adult teeth is mostly in and definately shoots out crooked like this \. Maeghan is also apparently a tongue thruster (when she swallows, her tongue pushes on the back of her upper front teeth instead of the roof of her mouth), and this can also causes two front teeth to push out at odd angles. Looks like we'll be buying shares in the local orthodontist business soon!

Anyways, here are the specs of Ryder's Blankie:

Pattern: Soft Waves by Jan Eaton
Yarn: Bernat Satin in shades of blue and cream
Hook: 5mm - H

I think the blanket turned out really well. The yarn is very soft with a nice weight to it, and is very easy to care for. Machine wash and dry. Perfect for a busy mother! I hope it becomes his favorite one!

My goal over Christmas was to clear up all of the Works In Progress, and I have pretty much done that now. I'm still working on my remaining sock, but that has become more of a travel project so it's moving pretty slowly. I think I really don't love the bamboo needles...it takes too much effort to slide the work around, I am determined to finish it though. The next socks I make I'm going to try Magic Loop...maybe I'll like that better. As it stands now though, my plan for my hang-over day tomorrow is to cast on for the Gathered Pullover:

Happy New Years Everyone! I need to go prepare for my guests!

Christmas and an FO!

Christmas has come and gone, and in the madness of it all, I didn't even manage one post! Maeghan's Christmas concert was really great. No pictures to post, as I was the video taping queen once again, but she looked so great! There was a dress rehearsal in the afternoon, which Connie and I attended, and the real performance was later that night. Maeghan knew her poems so well, I could hear her voice above all of the other kids, and she looked so beautiful up there on the stage singing the songs. We loved every minute of it!


We were very happy to have Granny and Grandpa came to stay with us over the holidays. It was nice to share it with them. Every year we open one gift on Christmas Eve, and the Christmas Eve present is the same every year...new pajamas. I suppose Owen is a little young to have remembered this from last year because he waited all day in anticipation of opening that gift. He kept asking me "Mommy can I open it now?" and I had to keep telling him that he had to wait until after supper. Finally the time came and the kids excitedly ripped off the wrapping paper. Owen took one look at his new pajamas and exclaimed "THIS IS NOT COOL!!!" He was so disappointed that it wasn't a toy. I was laughing so hard that I completely forgot to grab the camera. Poor little guy! He got over it though when he saw that everyone else also got pajamas.

Christmas morning was a whirlwind as always. The kids slept till 6:30am and then dragged us all out of our beds. Santa spoiled them rotten, and so did everyone else. Thank you everyone for the great gifts! As always, I was dismayed at the amount of wrapping paper that ends up in the trash/recycling bin. So Moira and I went the other day to the fabric store and bought all sorts of Christmas fabrics on sale for 65% off. During the next year, I'm planning to sew some drawstring or velcro closing bags to use for wrapping instead of paper next year. They can be used over and over again and I won't feel so bad about all of the waste! Another tradition I'm considering nixing is sending out the Christmas cards. Just think about all of the fuel that is burned flying millions of cards around the world every year, as well as all of the paper used for the cards, only for them to be tossed after a couple days. Yikes! I know email cards may be a little more impersonal, but they do seem a lot more environmentally friendly! Hmmmmm.....anyways, back to Christmas.....

After lunch the kids got busy with all their loot! Maeghan painted some beautiful piggy banks (from Aunty Melissa - thanks!),

And Owen rode on his new motorcycle video game...not even an eye injury could keep this little guy from riding hard! Heehee! (the cold cloth makes it feel better!)

And later in the afternoon Kevin, Connie, and Ryder came to have a delicious Turkey Dinner with us. It was a pretty relaxing day for me as I didn't have to do any of the cooking! Grandpa took over and served up the Turkey and all of the fixings. Yum Yum! We spent Boxing Day at Conor and Holly's, it was nice to see everyone again!

And finally, on to the FO - Tudora

Tudora was a Christmas pressie made for my mother-in-law Moira. I used one ball of Bernat Cashmere Natural Blends and size 4mm needles - US 6. Not surprisingly there is pretty much no cashmere in this yarn, but it does feel very soft, showed the stitch definition well, and was very affordable - especially with a 40% off coupon from Michael's! Hehehe. I think the toggle button I found at Walmart looks very nice with it!

I hope everyone had a safe, happy holiday season!

Owen the Brown Nosed Reindeer

Wait a minute...it sounds kind of funny calling him a "brown nosed" reindeer, but, I swear he really just had a brown nose! The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy as usual, and the highlight of the week was Owen's Christmas concert "The Night Before Christmas"." He was a fantastic reindeer, and was right into the whole performance. It was really entertaining! I didn't take too many pictures as I was video taping the whole thing, but here is what I got: Owen being mauled by Santa,

And here is the little reindeer showing off the loot that he got from the big guy.

(Sorry Aidan it was the only picture I had!) I've been madly trying to prepare for Christmas already, I don't have much time off before the holidays so I'm doing as much as I can now. Can you believe that I bought for 15 neices and nephews! CRAZY! I didn't realize I had that many, I'm going to have to up my monthly payments into the Christmas Budget so I'm better prepared for next year (payroll savings bond...I thought if I started this last year I wouldn't go into debt this year...it helped, but unfortunately still wasn't enough!) I think that I'm going to also plan for more handmade gifts next year, the time just got away from me this year.

Well, that's all I've got for now, stay tuned for Maeghan's Christmas concert which takes place next week, and at least one FO is on it's way!