Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Wesley's First Christmas

My oldest son, Christopher, has blessed our family by adding to his.
On October 8, 2011, Wesley Connor Brush was born. This automatically makes me a grandmother of which I have no experience. In fact, anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't really care for children.
Oh, mine were alright, I suppose, but even that was pushing it for me.
You see, back in 1990, I had a job in a daycare center where my children were attending. I never thought I'd make it past two weeks, yet I stayed there for six years. So maybe you could understand a little bit why I just don't really enjoy being around children.
Yet, Wesley was born and the person I always was seemed to just...disappear, and was replaced with what I am today, a picture showing, love gushing grandmother that chose the name Nana. You can color me surprised.
This has also effected my knitting choices as you will see. I decided to make an afghan for the precious tyke and not just any afghan, oh no, I wanted it to be heirloom, something that he will have and cherish for his entire life and I do mean his ENTIRE life.
I found the Tree of Life pattern off the Lion Brand website, got my materials together and on May 29, 2011 cast on the project that would consume my life for six months. I finished it on November 30, 2011.
My dear husband boxed it up along with a leather bound book of Twas The Night Before Christmas, and sent it off for Wesley's first Christmas.
May I present to you, my labor of love, for the new love of my life....

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Long Time, No See

Where have I been?
Well, I've been right here, just not posting anything that I've been doing.
Why, you may ask? Hmmm, good question. It's not like I couldn't have taken the time to do so. I have been knitting like my backside was on fire, keeping six projects going at once.
That may be the reason.
My fingers have been tripping over the textures of yarn instead of typing on the keyboard. But it's a poor excuse and one I intend to rectify.

So, let's see what I've been up to since I last posted.
I told y'all about my precious sister, Carolyn being diagnosed with Acute Leukemia and that I made her a shawl to keep her warm while she was in the hospital.

What you may not be aware is Carolyn, has been in UAB hospital since July 6th after coming out of a three month remission.


I made her a few chemo caps out of the softest yarns I could find. This one is her favorite. :-)





Here are a few more....






Her bone marrow test still shows cancer cells after the last round of chemo. Her white blood cells are very low and she’s been plagued with fever and/or headaches daily.
Her doctors can’t give her anymore chemo. They were hoping that her white blood cells would come back up before sending her home, however, that didn’t happening either.
They gave her 2-4 weeks to live.

It is my pleasure to announce that she has passed that mile marker.
I talk to my sister every week, even though she is very tired, she is always interested in what is going on in my life and shares my joys as well as heartaches.

I called her last night to tell her about receiving a blue ribbon for the Crown Prince shawl I had entered in the Baldwin County Fair.
She said, "Susan, I thought you had already told me you had the blue ribbon."
"No", I replied, "I said I wanted the blue ribbon."
"Well I've been thinking all this time that you had already won."
"And that", I said without hesitation, "is the reason I received it, because it was already made real."

May I introduce to you, the Crown Prince from the book Knitted Lace of Estonia. My blue ribbon winner.



Even though it is folded on display, the pattern of the magnificent shawl is incredible and a pleasure to knit.


I honed my knitting skills on this pattern.
Took my lumps like a trooper too.
You can bet the lessons learned are ingrained and appreciated.

Wonder if I should tackle the Queen Susan Shawl? :-)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Heirloom Baby Blanket Ensemble

I sure am getting a lot of practice making baby blankets and stuff especially for someone who really doesn't like children.
I'm not Cruella DeVille like some people think, I have children of my own, but I don't necessarily enjoy being around other people's kids.
Actually, now that my boys are grown, I find that I actually have something in common with them other than being there mother.

Anyway, I was asked by a precious co-worker to make an heirloom blanket for her granddaughter who was due to make her arrival in February.
I got all caught up in the "oohs and ahhs" as this paneled blanket was taking shape that I decided that clearly, this granddaughter was going to need some socks to go with her blanket. We can't have her little toes exposed, now can we?

So, once I finished the socks I thought, well a good southern girl will need a hat to complete her ensemble. So I whipped out my crochet hook and two hours later, the child has a hat fit for a beauty queen.

I washed and blocked the blanket, socks and hat...stood back to admire my handiwork and thought, "What in the world are you doing?" Honey, I'm surprised that I stopped when I did before I knitted a onesie outfit or dress, because I most definitely had been looking at patterns!

Here's a few pictures of the project. But I would appreciate it that if you should see me making a stupid baby blanket again, that you will remind me that I DO NOT LIKE CHILDREN!





Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Pirate Princess

My BFF Renee has a very old black short-haired miniature Dauchsaund named Schatzee. Renee and I were new friends when she brought Schatzee home and our sons were in first grade. Now our sons are in college and Schatzee is still with us, giving unconditional love to Renee and thinks I  love her too.

Schatzee doesn't know that I'm not a dog person. She thinks I'm just wonderful. She crawls in my lap and licks me as if I'm part of the family. I am more than happy to point out what a smelly, stupid dog she is but because the tone of my voice says anything but, she just knows that she is my favorite. After all these years, there is no point in telling her differently.

Living on Alabama's Gulf Coast, Renee has a love of the sea, sailing and the freedom it brings her, therefore, she considers herself a pirate at heart. (Renee and I also have a Johnny Depp fetish where Pirates of the Caribbean movies are concerned. But I digress...)

I was browsing through knitting patterns for some ideas when I ran across this pirate dog sweater. I knew instantly that I had to make it for her. I didn't buy any special yarn, I just used what I had in my stash which consisted of some off white baby yarn and ball of black acrylic. I found some pearl beads in the bottom of my beading tray, strung them on the baby yarn and sewed it around the collar.
I call it, Pirate Princess and hope that it's not too long, too wide or too garish for Schatzee's taste.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Needle Mania Giveaway!

GardenLynn is giving away a complete set of Knit Picks 4" DPNs!
They are Harmony wood and include sizes 0 - 4. These are a dream for knitting socks! They come in a portable, take along bag that keeps them clean and handy. 
Go to her Blog for complete details!