End of the Year

Well, Christmas has come and gone again. I think the kids had a good time. It was a little disappointing; as no grandparents could come as planned. The weather was just too harsh.
But other than that, we had a great time. :-)

YS got some Knight Dress-Up, which seems to be one of the favorites this year. I love the way he wears the helmet, it cracks me up!


DD got her wishes- an umbrella and a stuffed horse. For whatever reason, she loves umbrellas, and promises to take better care of it this year!

ES is very happy with his little hand-held Cars game. I am so glad he figured out how to turn it down!! :-)

And Joel liked his gifts too! I designed this Ivy Cap on the "knit" as it were, and it worked pretty well for only having pictures to go by. It's a prototype, though, and I will be improving this pattern for sure before I put it up for sale!!

(He's so sweet to let me take pictures!! He really doesn't like it...)

And this is the dk basic black beanie. It turned out absolute perfection!!! I am so incredibly happy about it!! This is another I want to duplicate. I need to get better about writing the pattern as I knit it.........

Now I am working on a gorgeous merino scarf for Joel and some socks for me. I need them!! I have 3 pairs of socks now, and some of those have holes. I'd rather use my yarn and make some than go spend more money on socks....

One of my Christmas presents was the new Skatechurch T-shirt. Check it out here. It's exciting for me, b/c that is my husband on the shirt. That picture was taken on the Canada trip- the original shows my name on the board. Fun!!! I think it's cute that my husband who tries so hard to not be in pictures is now pictured on a shirt. :-)

Snow Week

Portland is covered in snow. It's been snowing off and on for a full week. The last 2 weekends church has been cancelled b/c of weather conditions. Crazy. I'd never heard of CHURCH being cancelled before- and I'm sad. I miss it.

The kids sort of enjoy the snow-- for about 5 minutes at a time. It's just too cold for little city kids. Joel and I laugh, b/c we grew up in the country where the whole winter is like this- but our kids just don't get it. It snows like this in Portland once ever 10 or more years. The news is comparing this to 1994--it hasn't been this bad since then. Mild climate. This year, we're getting wind, snow, and freezing rain. Last night, the wind blew the snow around and we actually have drifts. Check it out:

YS couldn't go anywhere. He got a bit scared.

Joel offered 10cents to the first kid who jumped in the snow drift, so they both tried.

It was pretty cute. They are so light, they didn't even go in. Until they stood up, that is. ES enjoyed it for 10 minutes. Then it was too cold. DD helped Joel shovel for awhile, but even with 2 pairs of socks on, when the snow gets in your shoes, your feet get cold!

The snow drifted right into the center of our backyard. The edges were barely covered. The kids are on top of the one big drift.

It'll be all melted by Tuesday. It's supposed to rain all next week. So wild! When I was DD's age, I lived in Montana- and this would have been a half day's storm-worth. The snow would have covered the bouncy horse, and I'd have been able to walk over the fence on the snow after a full week of it!

The kids have had the last week off of school. We haven't been going anywhere, really, b/c of the snow, so I've had lots of knitting time.


This is how far I've progressed on the Entrelac Socks. I'm thinking I might be about done, as they are starting to feel tight. Knitting one little block at a time takes so much longer than regular socks!! I'm about over it. But I will finish them this month!

I also made a hat/headband for my FIL- but I don't have a picture of it yet. I had to do it twice, the 1st time the earflaps were at the back of the head. Oops.

And I finally finished Joel's double-knit beanie. I had to frog about 3 inches--Dude, frogging dk is hard. It took me over an hour to get it back on the needles and knittable. I like dk knitting, but I never want to frog it again! That pic will have to wait for after Christmas b/c it's already wrapped.

We went to go see the Nutcracker Ballet yesterday! Unfortunately, my In-laws, who purchased the tickets, were unable to come b/c of the crazy weather. That was sad. But we invited some friends, and all the tickets got used. I love watching the kids when we go to something like that. They get so into it! YS actually stayed awake and almost still for the whole thing!! I think they really enjoyed it. :-) It is amazing what those people can do! It almost makes my feet hurt just thinking about it. There were a lot of young kids in the show- I never realized that. They did so great! Kids are amazing. Especially mine- but I'm not biased or anything.........;)

It has finally begun.....

Even though it is only December, and the Lord of the Rings Sock Club doesn't start until February; here are 2 "teaser" patterns for sale!!

Hobbit Feet:

And The Prancing Pony:

I loved designing these socks! I am so excited to finally get to share some of these patterns with you! If you go to the link above, it will take you to more information about the socks, and links to purchase the patterns. Kits are available, and b/c of the yarns and colors involved, I highly recommend the kits. These yarns are amazing. I so enjoyed working with them, and I am sure you will too.

The First Week of December

What a week it has been!! Which I should have expected, as the weekend before was quite wild....but I didn't.
Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful! We got to be with my family (even got to stay overnight!) on Thursday and Joel's family on Friday and Saturday. Since Joel's family celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday, we got to have 2 Thanksgivings!! I loved it. I think we all did. There is so much to be thankful for!

The kids had such a wonderful time. They love animals so much, but with mine and DD's allergies, we rarely get to be around them.
YS got brave enough to pet the dogs, but he was initially very scared of Grandpa's new puppy. He tried valiantly to run away from her, and managed to fall down right on top of her!! I wish we'd had a camera in hand for that one!



DD had her very first riding lesson; and loved every second of it! She can hardly wait to go back for another. ES had a short one too, but I think he had more fun rolling around in the dirt with the new puppy while DD was on the horse. :-)

I was so busy on Friday and Saturday, I completely forgot to take any pictures. Which was lame b/c Cousin Owen was there, and I didn't get any photos. I'll have to ask Uncle B for some copies....

So last week, the kids and I got back into schoolwork (which was harder than I expected for some reason...) and swim lessons, and PE Co-0p. With the kids being completely worn out from the trip, and myself not far behind them, it was a busy week. YS finally got caught up on his sleep yesterday-- his first nap in 2 weeks! Ya know, my first 2 didn't prepare me for a child that would be done with naps immediately after his second birthday. *sigh* I wish I had their energy and rubber-quality body capabilities sometimes!!! *wink*

I was hopeful that yesterday would be calm and relaxing and quiet. We actually intended to go to the Portland Children's Museum, as we finally got a pass from Multnomah County Library (you can actually put them on hold, and get them when available!!), but- this is what we did instead:

My brand-new-used washing machine.


And this is why:

This is the motor of my old washing machine. See the 2 little white things in the foreground? They are supposed to be one little white piece.

This is where those pieces came from.

So Happy Birthday to me-9 days early!

I have to go to church now. I'll tell you about the knitting another day. ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yes, I know I'm a day early- but I won't be on the computer tomorrow, I'll be enjoying my family. So Happy Thanksgiving a day early!

We are planning on spending time with both my family and Joel's. It should be a fun and busy weekend. The kids are so excited there is no way they will sleep today- and I know they will be up at 6am tomorrow! I'm excited that we are actually taking a holiday in which Joel is not going to be working!!!!! That hasn't happened for awhile, and we are looking forward to it. ;-) Normally, the only way we can escape the city and visit family is for Joel to work for them when we get there. Which means the kids and I are relaxing and trying to stay out of his way while he replaces floors, toilets, or whatever else needs fixed. While it is wonderful that he can do that- and help out and we get away from the city, it is a bit sad that he doesn't get to join in the vacation part. So this is an exciting holiday for us. ;-)



As I mentioned before, I love Thanksgiving. It is such a joyous time. When you think about all the things you are grateful for, it's hard to complain or be sad about anything. I love it!

So, I am thankful for my family---my strong, healthy, well-clothed and housed family. Especially my amazing husband who works so hard to keep us that way. I am thankful for Gods' provision. So many times this year-again-He provided for us in unexpected, much-needed ways. As I sit here and type this, I am listening to my children in the background, and I am thankful for the laughter of children. I am thankful that we are able to worship our God openly, homeschool our children and not miss a minute of their growing up, and vote in our country. (Sometimes it feels like my vote doesn't matter- but I still get to vote!) ;-)

And I am thankful above all, that God is in control of everything. I have nothing to fear, I am a child of the KING.



what are you thankful for????? (yes, I know I asked that already- but I know you can add to it!)

"Unventing"

Unventing is a term coined by Elizabeth Zimmerman- an amazing knitter/designer(for those of you who don't know about her- for those of you who do, you know what I'm talking about). My understanding is that it has to do with Solomon's comment: "There is nothing new under the sun". So a knitter in Maryland can be teaching herself a new technique, and wind up with the same pattern a knitter in Alaska comes up with in her designing time. Nobody broke a copyright, nobody plagarized; they just wound up with the same thing far apart and maybe even around the same time.

That happened to me today. I sent a pattern to Knitty a few months ago that was rejected; I just found a very similar pattern in the new Twist Collective. I want to jump up and down and scream, "I did it first!!!!", but that wouldn't change anything. And technically, I don't know if it's true or not.

Anyway, here is MY Entrelac Beanie:

Which, if you really like, you can contact me, and I will send you the pattern in exchange for $5.00.

In other news, we are looking forward to our Thanksgiving vacation (Joel actually gets paid vacation this year!! This is a first!!) with as much family as we can possibly be with. Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year- even over Christmas. I just love the family time, the sitting around and sharing- the thankfulness. We have so much to be thankful for. I just love this season.

What are you thankful for??

Mid-November

Already. I say this every time- but time just flies by so fast!!
I haven't been posting as much b/c I've just been too busy. B/w homeschooling, knitting, and driving the kids around, I don't have as much time to be on the computer. Joel teases me that I've become a "soccer Mom" overnight. Well, the kids are doing soccer in their PE Co-op that we go to on Wed afternoons; and they are doing swimming lessons twice a week in Gresham, so all of a sudden, we're driving more. It's been really good for them. They aren't nearly as worried about getting water in their faces anymore. YS is still too young for the swimming lessons, but in January he should be able to get involved as well.

I have been knitting as much as possible too (although I confess that I have also been playing our new Wii that Joel won at the Company Picnic last summer- it's been a long time since I played video games!!!). But since everything that I've been knitting for the past month are Christmas presents, you will have to wait until after Christmas for the pictures.

I got another rejection notice for pattern submissions yesterday. I've gotten to the point that I just recycle my design submissions. They're rejected here, I send them there. You get the idea. I figure if I do that for the next 10 years, they'll be in style at some point, and someone will like them. ;) ha, ha.

The other day, DD asked me if the books stay in the library when the library is closed. "Yes, of course". "Well", she answered, "if I was a book, I'd be scared that a pirate was going to come and steal me!"