Sunday, August 23, 2009
Well I started the onesie Friday night and made the test swatch, but instead of giving the swatch to the little ones for dolly blankets, I am going to start keeping a journal of sorts of the things I make.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
We went to dinner last night with Nathan and Nina at Carmela's and had a wonderful visit! Afterwards Bonnie, Kurt and I went to Barnes and Nobles to look at magazines and I took a peek at the books too. This is what I got last night!
Of course I promised not to buy anymore books until I made at least one outfit from each book so that means I need to get busy crocheting and knitting, LOL
Today, since I am ahead on my volunteer hours this month, I am going to do some re-organizing of the house. But I just had to tell you about my new books first! If you click on the photos it will take you to Amazon.com where you can buy your own copy. I highly recommend them! They have some very cute and easy paterns in there!
Have a great weekend!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Trying out a design I have had in mind for a while now, part crochet part knit. I am sure there are things out there, I just have never come by them before.
Plus being a lefty and having trouble casting on, I thought that there may be a few other lefties with the same problem and this might be a fun thing to try out a new skill.
So with the body finished and the sleeves left to do, I attempted to divide and conquer. Needless to say, I am doing the other sleeve AFTER I get some DPNs or a circular needle tomorrow.
Lesson learned and jotted to memory!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
A family fun night, complete with dinner, a round of golf at the local miniature golf course and then to wrap up the evening we were all going over to Melanie's to pop some fireworks. What could be better than eating, laughing and having fun?
Meeting at Johnny Carino's Restaurant for dinner, we sat down and started talking and catching up on all of the latest news. Emily and I were playing on Amy's I-Phone and coloring her menu. Nathan and Nina's land was a hot topic as we waited for our salads and appetizers to be delivered.
We had just started eating and were just all having a great time when in walks Bonnie! Her boss was a real sweetheart and let her have the evening off.
He deserves a special card for that!
After dinner, the waitress brought out two plates of dessert and I told Kurt, "We should get a piece of cheesecake to share." The words were barely out of my mouth when the waitress brought us one of the plates with an envelope. I looked over and Melanie had the other dessert plate (her favorite) and an envelope too.
While Kurt was getting the plate and forks ready, I took the envelope and said, "what is this?" while opening it.
Melanie and I must have been opening our envelopes at the same time because later Kurt said, " All I heard was some screaming from Melanie and then you screamed, 'I'm going to be a Grandma!!!?!'" After much (loud) excitement, we settled into to more giggling and I swear, the whole restaurant must have known what was going on!!
There was even more chatter and giggling as we asked: How long have you known? How far along are you? How did you keep a secret that long? Then I asked how did you keep from looking and queuing things on Ravelry? hahahahaha She said, if she did then I would know something was up. How funny is that?
She really does know me.
I asked if I could let my sister Penny know and they said YES! Oh how funny it is when something unexpected comes along and the first thing you want to do is tell everyone that hasn't heard it yet!! LOL
After dinner we went to Melanie's house, the golf was a ploy, hehehehehe to distract us, and we popped fireworks. I worked on my garment I am knitting have to finish so I can start making BABY things!
It even came with pictures showing Nina's tummy from week 5 to week 9.
Friday, August 14, 2009
This is the cutest thing, well at least I think so, LOL. Dora and her friends are playing Super Spy and Tico drives up in his boat car and takes them for a ride. Its just a clip of Tico but its too cute!
Why am I watching Dora? Well when you watch three little ones between the ages of 18 months and 3 ½ years, and you want to stitch, then you have to give a little. I give them Nick and Noggin. And sometimes you find a gem worth writing about. :-)
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Here is the doll I sent Anna on our Dolly Swap on Ravelry. Click here to go to the Ravelry page!
I crocheted the body and head as one piece using a single crochet and size 7 hook. Chained 4 then joined, worked 12 singles in the loop and then increased by 3 every row until I reached 36 single crochets, in the round. Then worked that count until i reached my desired head size then decreased by 3 until I reached 12 stitches and worked that until i liked the neck size and then increased for the shoulders. When the stitch count got up to about 48 did two rows and then divided by half to give me front and back measuring 24 stitches each half and then counted 8 in and skipped 8 and then joined to the remaining 8 on each side to make arm holes. Continue in singles to get the desired body size and then I decreased, BUT I would recommend not decreasing more than 12 stitches because she has a wee-little hiney with her legs. LOL
Cut out of fabric legs and arms and stuff and then attach to the arm holes and leg holes. I pinched and stitched the nose and cheeks and them embroidered her faces but you can do as you please.
The hair is a soft yarn I got at Joanne's that felt like hair and had different textures to the yarn. Crocheted, with an H hook, chain 4 then join, 8 singles in loop and then continue to crochet in the round with half doubles, increasing to avoid pulling, until you reach the desired amount of hair and then do triples (back of hair) doubles, half doubles, singles (bangs) as last row and tie off. Sew to head in desired fashion and then comb is you like to give brushed smooth look.
That is how I made my Dollie.
Here she is with her box of goodies. I made a small mile a minute blanket and bag for her to carry it in. As well as a bag for the pin cushion and lotion and blanket and bag to be stored in.
Here she is undressed, I know, not very proper, but she does have undergarments on! Her top is square necked single crochets with jewelry fasteners for the closures. She has a lace skirt with a ribbed underskirt and shoes to match.
Here is a close-up of her face. I think she looks a little like a cross between Julia Child's and Miss Marple, from the older movies. Kurt says she definitely looks like a British actress. ;-) 
Here is Kurt and Caleb. Caleb is holding the 1st attempt at making a doll. He fell in love with her ... after her face was embroidered. Funny how he didn't want anything to do with her faceless. hahhaha
Here are the pictures of the doll I received from Anna in our Dolly Swap on Ravelry. I named her Sally and she made herself right at home!
Here she is with the Ratties, visiting. Sally loves Daisy as much as I do! ;-)
Here she is with my Mom's Mammy Doll, they talk sewing and embroidery. Sally is sitting on my embroidery machine, while mammy is sitting on the laptop used with the embroidery machine.
Here she is chatting it up with the Barbies. They have a room setting on my dresser and like to try on my new Barbie Creations. They are probably discussing fashion and enjoying stories of her trip over to our home.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Well yes most of us experience this once in a while, maybe many times. That is where I am at knitting. Working on this test design, I bought enough yarn to make the garment and last night was getting close to the end of the first skein and decided to roll the second skein into a ball.
Something my Grandmommie always told me is important to do before you use it. makes it easier to handle and gets any kinks out of the yarn before you get it involved in your project.
Well your supposed to pull out a thread or two which, here lately involves a small hank that is stuffed inside the whole skein. Then you find the end and start your rolling process.
Well my yarn, lilac Bernat Baby, had like 4 hanks stuffed inside and then a wad of tangles before I got to the one thread! WOW what a mess.
My first impulse was to take it back to the store and say this mess is yours, give me a new skein. But after a nights rest and a very nice day with only one little one to watch, I started rolling and have it almost completely untangled. Just have the big wad to tangles to go now.
Saving them for tomorrow.
Anyways.... my knitting project was due to be finished on the 12th, and I am gulp one day late, so she said to not worry about it and keep her updated on the progress.
How sweet is that?!?!
I may scour the web for a cool hat to make.........
Had a friend over for dinner and we went over a talk and Kurt fixed us a wonderful dinner of BBQ ribs, baked potatoes w/fixings and sweet peas. Did I tell you I was married to the most wonderful man?
No?
Hey I am married to the most wonderful man there is! And he doesn't even read this, and I still feel that way! LOL
Finished my crocheted test skirt!! Click test skirt to see my Ravelry page!
Here is the pictures of it:
Now I have to decide when to wear it? Was cold in the meeting last night, maybe next Wednesday. Fun and easy to make, as long as you don't have 3 year olds distracting you every two or three minutes, while working the pattern stage. Click here to get to the designer's page on Ravelry.
Missed my chance to join in on the Dishrag Tag. You have teams of 10, each person when they get the box makes a dishrag using the enclosed pattern and yarn and then keeps the dishrag that was sent in the box. Puts their dishrag in the box with a new skein of cotten yarn and mails to the next one in your group. First group finished is the winners!!! Sounds like a lot of fun. Here is the link for it if you want to check out the goings on.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
I came across this website and it is too cute!! you have to go there and look at these cuties
Look at how cute!!
Just click on this little rattie and it will take you to the website. This lady makes small instruments and has her trained rats take pictures with them. :-) How cute is that?!?!
I wonder if I could get Daisy to do this?
The website is in Russian, I think, so you will have to have google translate it for you.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
What you say, no thanks? What does that mean?
Well to put it simply, I am too green of a knitter to use size 2 mm knitting needles and figure out how to read a pattern that calls for a lot of decreases and more. LOL The Barbie outfit will have to wait!
I did buy the needles though. ;-)
Caleb loves the fabric store! A plus in his book on my part. I can see us visiting it a lot when he comes over. He hugs and kisses the yarn, even meowing at it. Looks in the books like a pro and ohhhhs and ahhhhs over all of the fabric, and notions. hehehehehe
Started back on my squares for the summer swap, the boucle baby yarn is going really fast. makes up for the tiny grannies on the other square.
Got my Dollie yesterday and it is too cute! She is on the dresser with the Barbies though I think she will like it better by the embroidery machine with the mammy Dollie. Pics to follow!
Knitting project going well and it is actually hanging down by itself now which is great! Starting the crochet skirt on Thursday evening. Friday will mail off my Dollie, the threads package and the Barbie outfit. Have two extra little ones this week, and going to sit with a sick friend during the meeting tomorrow night, so this week is jam packed!
See you later, its bedtime!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Since I cant post anything about my knitted garment I decided to try to knit this Barbie outfit!
Just click English above to get the patern to try it for yourselves!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Here is Sophia's baby sister's Madeline Rose, outfit I made for her. The shorts are purchased but they match perfectly. I was so happy to find them and include them with her gift. Sophia is so funny!! We got her some Snow White red gloves and a purse with goodies in it and she had the best fun putting them on and posing for us. And the baby is too too cute!! Can't wait to love on her some more in the near future!
Here is the crochet top I was testing in the last post, all finished up. The Caron Eco yarn is sooo soft and even though I was afraid I was going to feel stiff and hot in this, surprisingly I was cool and comfortable. I would gladly make this again, and it took about 20 hours total to make. Pretty and easy to make! Try it out, you'll be glad you did. Its called Paris in the Spring, and you can find the pattern on Ravelry.
My first knitting project is a test garment for a new designer. I am not suppose to let any pics or details about it out yet, but I can ell you that it is working up quickly! I LOVE circular needles!
Kurt has been going back and forth bringing dirt to Nina and Nathan's land and Ryan has been busily spreading it out. I am sure once they get back from their race in San Fransisco they will be really excited to see the progress made! They get temporary lights installed soon so that means that they will be working into the dark sometimes.
Bonnie is working her 1st 6 hour shift! Yesterday she worked her 1st morning shift and the funny thing is she went in on Thursday thinking it was that day when it was Friday. hehehehe To be 18 and have a first job. I remember those days!!
August is around the corner and I will be losing one little one but spending more time out in my volunteer work with my friends! I am so excited!
Another thing I am excited about it I finally sent off the last two traveling scarves to their owners and now I am through! yippee lets celebrate! I love doing round robins, but when you factor in the money spent, over 100 dollars, on a scarf is kind of wasteful in this day and age of job losses and all. Its pretty and I love all of the hard work and will wear it with much pride and delight, but the cost factor is disappointing.
Will be knitting and finishing up my Dollie for a Dollie swap. I want to mail her off on Monday! Will post pics after she has received her Dollie. Just in case she pops over to see if I have posted anything on her. :-)
Gotta go now!
DeeDee
Sunday, July 19, 2009
It HAS been a while since I have been here. Let's review what has been happening around here.
May:
My sister came down and I joined facebook to play farm town with her. The next thing I knew It was July and my crocheting had suffered ALOT! It was fun farming but I was going to bed later and later, not studying, not organizing and definitely not crocheting or sewing.
June:
One day assembly came and I hadn't made anything for me to wear. :-( So I took the next best step and went and bought some new things to wear, and it was something nice and fun to do! Kurt and I stayed an extra day so we could spend our 29th Anniversary in Houston. We ate dinner with Christy and her babies and even found some more fencing for my garden!
My poor garden, facebook had distracted me from watering and weeding and it was beginning to look pretty awful out there. But hey my farm on facebook was inching towards the 20 level and I was at the largest farm I could get. LOL My trees and animals flourished and I was feeling very proud of myself.
On the way home from Houston, Kurt and I stopped at Best Buy and bought me a new laptop! A Toshiba and it was wonderful! With the exception the graphics card wouldn't support Sims 2 and seeing that I was paying for it, and wouldn't be buying another one in this system of things, I wanted to make sure it was what I wanted. So 2 weeks later, almost to the time, we went back to Best Buy and upgraded to another Toshiba, 17 inches with a graphics card that would support not only the game I wanted but the future of websites. It has 3 gigs ram and 250 hard-drive. The other one had 2 gigs ram and 160 hard-drive another down for it. Its a pretty navy blue and the only drawback is 1) the 17 inch screen means either I make me a laptop bag or spend about 75 bucks on one. And 2) the navy shows fingerprints. And 3) it was 200 bucks more.
But it is the one for me.
So my other laptop, the IBM will now become the embroidery laptop with web capabilities to download directly to the laptop embroidery designs and connect to other computers as well. With a 60 gig hard-drive I should never run out of space for embroidery designs!! The original IBM laptop that was being used for the embroidering, will be transformed into a laptop for little ones to play windows 3.1 games on to teach colors, shapes and mouse control. Boy are their parents gonna love me!! LOL It has an a-drive (for those who don't know, it is a floppy disk drive to save your info onto, and a small hard drive, I don't even remember how small. hahahaha
July:
First part of July meant the big assembly and I still haven't made anything for me to wear, thank you facebook, so I just wore what I bought for June. Had a talk which directly spoke of facebook and that was my cue to drop it, even though I was at level 28, and my farm was something wonderful although a bit eccentric with it horse racetrack, its maze gardens and sandy beach area right next to a river of no return. Huh? The drama was excellent and gave me many insightful points on how to deal with family that leaves the protection offered us, without making it impossible for them to feel like they can return to us. **sigh**
Nina and Nathan bought some land, nearby, and when they sign the papers Kurt will start the site work. He is chomping at the 'proverbial bit' to get started. Within 1 week of leaving facebook, I have started crocheting again and trying to revive my garden outside. Within 2 weeks I started my first knitting project and organized my room so I can start sewing. I have been going to bed earlier and feeling much better about myself and even getting my studying in more. I have helped with a sister who is home bound, sitting with her during the meetings which not only helps her but me as well. It gives you a really good feeling to be there for others. I just wished I could have been there for Nathans Papa and Kurt's Uncle and Aunt.
August is coming and one of my little ones is leaving for pre-school. Though I will will miss the extra money, I will enjoy the freedom of one less little one to watch. One of the other ones comes just once a week usually and the other one is just 4 days a week. But all in all I have had a good run. I mean, we purchased a new air conditioner, my laptop, a new dishwasher, built a pergola where we can spend cozy fall evening under drinking coffee and visiting, many good times with my family, and much more, so its time to downsize the childcare and pick up my service, volunteering, studying, crochet and knitting, sewing, organizing my house and helping Nina and Nathan with their new home as well as spending more quality time with Kurt and Bonnie.
Well that's about it. Will show crochet, sewing and knitting projects next time!
Farewell facebook, the ride was fun and I learned a lot. Like keeping my time for myself and my family and strengthen my resolve to do what is right and important to live forever!!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The Pergola is almost finished!
Bonnie, Kurt and I worked on putting up the base and the 1st layer of cross beams. Course I took lots of pictures as they were working hard yesterday, but this morning I was helping Kurt to put the last two boards up so no pictures of the actual work being done today. But the semi-complete pergola is photographed.
Now to get the two upper layers and add them and we are done! Yea, then make the horseshoe and boccia courts and we are ready to play some games and relax with coffee or tea!
Here are the pics from this weekend:
Here are the bookmarks for the swap. Made two bookmarks of the same design, because one is for me. The one with the long flowing tail I made for my Nina because she liked it most.
Here is the breakdown of the pieces:
Here is the pattern, I wanted to share, and it’s not a hard bookmark and is easily adaptable to anything you want to add to it.
Bookmark base is made
1. Make11 chains
2. Single crochet in the 2nd chain and then across; 10 singles.
3. Chain 1; then 10 half double crochets.
4. Repeat until piece measures 8 inches. Finish off
5. Fold in half; Stitch together
For the flower base
1. *chain 7; Single; half double; double; double; half double; single *
Repeat from * to * until you have 8 petals. Join to make a circle.
For the flower center
1. Chain 3 join.
2. 15 half doubles in circle join; chain 1
3. Half double in same stitch as joined * half double in each next two stitches, 2 half double in next stitch* repeat until end of row, join; chain 1
4. Repeat row 3
5. Half double all the way around; join; chain 1
6. Repeat row 5
7. *Half double twice; decrease half double; half double twice* repeat until end. Join; chain 1
8. Repeat row 7 until you are down to 3 stitches. Sew up the center and tie off.
It is really growing, and the grass is growing fast too! LOL I just weeded the garden Friday and here today, Sunday, there are blades of glory everywhere. I think I will probably be in there all of the time pulling weeds. So if you ever need me and cant get me on the phone, I am probably in there fighting a losing battle of the wits. Hahahahaha
Here are the pictures from this weekend:
We had a visitor Friday, a beautiful fluffy bunnie. Just hopped into the yard and started munching grass. I would invite him into the garden to help me weed but I think he might have taste for other goodies.
He was so used to the yard activity that Nina was able to walk around the garden near him to where I was on the other side with out him even caring.
Here is his photo shoots:
Well that is it for this weekend!
Tomorrow I will be mailing off another traveling scarf, the bookmarks and my threads swap.
We are also going to be working on the pool, it is almost that time of year!
I shocked it yesterday and sprayed water at the poor spiders that have been feeding on the water bugs living in the 2 inches of water and leaves in the bottom of the pool.
Now the water is clear and all but one water bug are gone. Even a snail decided that the water wasn’t fit to drink. LOL
A full bag of shock and 2 inches of water took care of everything but the leaves and spiders. Hahahaa
Gotta go and make a Barbie outfit and let Kurt have his computer back.
See ya later!
