Babies on the Way!

I have several baby gifts to get made in the next few months and I find I am tired of many of the items I have made over the years.

There are so many things one can make for a baby gift so the decision is difficult.

I love to do blankets.

This was the last one I did and I'd do it again, but really I'd like to try something new.

So I started the hunt.  I looked online, I looked in all my pattern books and thought I had it narrowed down to a few - and then I got the latest Mary Maxim catalogue in the mail.

Well there went all my ideas and decisions!

But I did find one that I absolutely love, and I think one particular couple will like it as well so this morning I ordered the pattern and the yarn and I can't wait until it comes so I can get started on it.

I have no idea if they are having a boy or a girl - but these days baby blankets don't have to be the traditional pastel baby colours. 

Ruffles Turtle, Blanket & Bib

Isn't this the cutest set you have seen?

In the meantime I have started knitting a winter coat for Molly.  She has been removing the fur from her side for a few years now and has quite a bald spot happening there.  It started off from a food allergy but has become a habit she just can't seem to break now.  She is by nature a fairly nervous girl, and when she is over tired or has been too wound up she licks and chews her side.

She's 8 now, and winters here are harsh, so I am making her a soft double knit coat to cover her bald spot.  I started it last night and will probably get it done by next week - then it is on to scarves for the Special Olympics. 

I like to do several things at once so I'll add the baby ensemble in to the mix as soon as I get the pattern and yarn.

The weekend looks like it is going to be a busy one working outside cleaning the yard... we are buried under elm leaves in our yard, and it has been raining for the past 2 days so you can imagine the mess we have to clean up both in the gutters and on the ground.  It is supposed to be sunny but colder this weekend so I plan to drag out my woollies and stock up on hot chocolate - and get the job done....

Happy weekend everyone!

Time to Give Back!

Are you rich in talent? Do you have a bit of time you could use to do something for someone else?  Do you have the desire to "Give Back" to someone or something, but not sure what you could do?

If you can knit or crochet - even at a beginner level - I have a project for you.



It's called  THE SCARF PROJECT - and it runs in both Canada and the USA.  It is a project to supply scarves to the athletes, coaches and volunteers of the SPECIAL OLYMPICS Winter Games in 2012.

The information for the Canadian Games can be found here: click on the story of the scarf project and it will take you to the pdf file on the project.
http://www.stalbert2012.ca/en/

The information for the American Games can be found here:
http://www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org/

If you need patterns for your scarves here are some links for those...
http://www.scarvesforspecialolympics.org/patterns
or you can use your own patterns or make one up.

The pattern does not matter - but colors do.

For the Canadian project this time around the colors are blue and white and a "touch of red" - just like the logo.  I recommend using Red Heart Super Saver yarn - as it's inexpensive, durable, washes well and makes a nice warm scarf.  Colours  0886 Blue   and 311 White  or Red Heart Soft  4600 White and 2624 Royal Blue or 9820 Mid Blue would be my choice.

The American project this time around are using the colours red and navy.  Red Heart Super Saver  387 Soft Navy and 319 Cherry red or Red Heart Soft  4604 Navy and 9925 Really Red.

Lets show these very special athletes our support by doing something special for them. Your help and support would be greatly appreciated...

Today is the First Day...

Of the rest of your life...

If you think these words have been used over and over again since they first appeared on posters in the 1960's, you would be correct.  Google them and see what comes up. 

There are inspirational sites who use this phrase, there are song writers and performers who have used this phrase; there are ordinary people like you and I who cling to this phrase; and sadly there are some who scoff at this phrase.

Today I am going to use it for me.

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE.

I say it with conviction, and determination, and a firm belief that it is true (for me) on many levels.

Yesterday I visited my oncologist - a routine 6 month check-up much like the ones I have been attending every 3-6 months for over 5 years.  What made yesterday different was that yesterday marked the end of five years of cancer treatment for me.  No more nasty drugs, no more feeling like I am fighting for my life every night when I take my meds before I go to sleep.  No more feeling like I have to "do something" to be able to stay alive and living.

I left his office with tears in my eyes - tears of joy, yes!  Tears of fear - most certainly... but as I walked back to work, I felt pretty light, thankful, and renewed, and the thought came to me that tomorrow really is the first day of the rest of my life.

I have a rest of my life - thanks to the past 5 years - and I can't wait to get started on it.

I am not the same person I was 5 years ago - I am new, this is my first day... I can start again and do things different or do things the same - the choice is mine.

Someone (on the internet) wrote that this phrase is " A cop out for those who seek to use "psychological mind trickery" in hopes of starting over.  Kind of like how people who do video games, when they mess up they punch reset and start over."

I'm laughing at this comment - in fact I'm rolling on the floor laughing at this person.... kinda like!  LOL! ROFL! 

All I have to say to this person is - my hope for you is that life never challenges you more than that of your beloved video games...

 This IS the beginning of a new day,

and

Today IS the first day in the Rest of My Life!

Thank you, Dr. Fox, Dr. Momoh, Dr. Lezack and Dr. Gerber - for helping me reach this very special day!

Going back 40 years.

Just over a year ago, I inherited a box of pattern books from one of my girl friends.  She was clearing out her father's belongings and she found not only the pattern books but a sizable stash of yarn that had belonged to her mother, which she also donated to me.  At the time I briefly flipped through the books, but then got busy with other things and forgot all about them.

This past weekend I decided to clean and organize my craft room, and what did I find?  The box of books.

So I dumped them on the floor and spent some real time looking at the treasures I had inherited.

Most of the books are Canadian knitting/crochet pattern books from the 40's to the 70's.  Some of them I already have, because I also inherited my mother's collection some years back.  There are some wonderful patterns from BeeHive, Patons, Canadiana, Monarch, yarns, and many older patterns that are not associated with any yarn at all.

Also in the box was a May 1971 issue of Family Circle... the price of the magazine?  25cents!  Now that is a treasure, to be sure.  I opened it up, and time sort of fell away for me.

I would have been 16 at the time of the publication of this magazine - just getting my driver's license, just getting my first paid part-time job, just thinking I was a real grown-up, perhaps?  Looking at the pictures in the magazine, I could almost feel 16 again!   Okay - maybe that's a stretch....

The crafts of the day (in 1971) were Macrame, and Needlepoint and Embroidery... in fact there is a whole pull-put section entitled Treasury of Needlework Stitches - which is just that - 6 pages of different stitches with directions and illustrations.

The article that caught my eye was entitled "How to Cut Household expenses by 10%."  In this article they had a Monthly Budget Expense for a family of 4.

Check this out - remember this is for a Family of Four!

Food, including meals out  -  $206.00/month 
Housing, including fuel, utilities, furnishings - $215.00/month
Clothing and Upkeep - $76.00/month
Transportation, including car - $79.00/month
Personal care - $21.00/month
Reading and Recreation - $31.00/month
Medical care, including insurance - $50.00/month
Other goods, services - $23.00/month
Gifts, contributions - $25.00/month
Life Insurance - $16.00/month
Occupational expenses - $8.00/month

for a total  of    750.00 per month (for 4 people)!

What happened to us?  How did we get so far ahead - or should I say behind, ourselves.  I don't know about you, but I pretty much spend their monthly budget for food - weekly!

Yes our wages are much more than those of 1971 - still in all I would be willing to bet that at the end of the day - they still had more cash in their pockets than we do today!

Another article that got my attention was "Pep up TV dinners".  I quote " With a few deft touches you can enhance and glamorize handy TV dinners in a matter of minutes.  Simply by adding sauces, spices, herbs and garnishes to the tray-pack dinners, you can turn out tempting eye-appealing meals."

Okay, so maybe some things have changed for the better....

Dinner anyone?

Happy Thanksgiving!

This digital ecard created with Smilebox

Pumpkin Man Update

I hope you are busy working on your pumpkin man yard decorations for the Pumpkin Man Challenge.

Remember  pictures emailed to me by October 20th and I'll announce the winner October 31st.

I've change my mind on the prize - hope you don't mind - the prize will be a Avon gift basket loaded with great products.



While hubby was cleaning leaves from the gutters this morning, I started working on the body of my Pumpkin Man.  There is no shortage of leaves in my yard, or any other yard around here for that matter so I began stuffing bags.... and stuffing bags... and stuffing bags.

The body is pretty much done, and I did have a terrific helper, as you can see.  Molly still is not sure what to make of this headless creature in her yard!   Isn't she adorable!

So I'm heading off to do my grocery shopping now - Have  big Thanksgiving dinner to cook on Sunday, so need some provisions... hopefully in my travels today I will come across the perfect "Head" for my man.  Then all that will be left will be the embellishments I add to his clothing....

Happy Friday everyone...

Flapper is finished, Turkey to follow!

It's been a beautiful week weather-wise in Winnipeg this week, yesterday we even broke a record for highest temperature EVER in October ... we got to 31.8 C. which is roughly 90 F.  Not bad for Manitoba in October.  Our normal high should be somewhere around 13C so as you can see we are far above where we should be. 

Hopefully the warm weather will stick around for the weekend as it's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada an a lot of people have plans that include travel. 

I am cooking my Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday.  I can't wait for the turkey dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert.  YUM!

Remember the little china head doll I was going to dress as a flapper?  Did I tell you about her?  When I visited my 92 yr old Aunt Margaret last year - she handed me a small (about 8") China head doll that she had made. 

"Do you like her?"  she asked.
"I love her"...
"Then take her home with you, and make her something nice to wear!"

I designed and crocheted a flapper-style dress then decided to hand -sew sequins to the bodice portion of the dress.

I had forgotten all about this project, and the doll had become buried in a pile on my worktable.  Last weekend I was moving piles - well trying to clean, actually; and I felt something hard in a pile of fabric.  I discovered the China Head doll and then remembered that I was working on a dress for her.

It too awhile to hunt down the dress but I did eventually find it in a plastic bag with some thread a needle some sequins and a pair of scissors.  So I took it to work and all week I have been hand sewing sequins on the dress on my lunch break.

I finished the outfit last evening and here is the result.  I think she turned out pretty cute.

Chip even donated a feather to complete the look....NO, I did not pull is out of him - he shed it all on his own!

So, now I have one less project to finish.  Up next.... pumpkin man.... the leaves are bagged, all I need is to find a pumpkin the right size.

Have you been working on yours?