It Fits!!!!

Long before Jackson was born I knitted 3 sweaters, a collection of little hats and a few pairs of socks. I tried to gauge when he would wear these items as I didn't wish for them to be the right size in the middle of July in Washington DC. The above picture is Jackson and his Mommie. JST is wearing a sweater I made in size 9 months and fits right on time. He looks so sweet, and so does his mother. I love seeing these items on him. Yarn is Encore that wears like cast iron for baby items. Easy to knit with and great colorways.

All dressed and ready to go to day care, but time for one more bottle. Such a little man with his bluejeans and sweater. Jackson has 2 teeth with 2 more soon to be in, weighs 17 lbs now and is pulling himself up to everything. He wants to walk and is very close to doing so. His personality is now so cute, I am only sorry I don't live near him to see all these changes. His brothers and sisters are doing fine. I get updates as they are busy teens and almost teen.

I posted these photo's as I can't discuss what is currently on needles they are Christmas gifts. Yesterday was Black Friday and for the first time I can ever remember I worked retail. Now granted there were not mobs lined up at the door when we opened but the shop was very busy. Lots of yarn for scarves, mittens and socks and other fast knit little items went flying out the door. I sold knit kits, the book on 'Beginning Knitting', needles and a skein of yarn. I think those are great get started gifts. In a time of financial crisis we don't seem to see a cut back on buying wonderful yarns. If a person is going to spend hours creating something they want good yarn.

Knitting and such!

Its that time of the year, when a person should be outside cleaning up all these freakin leaves, but why do that when a person could knit? Knitting wins out. I did mow the front yard and clear up a few leaves there this morning but didn't want to over do it so left all the leaves hiding behind the shrubs in the backyard. The above I refer to as the Green Monster. I shall not say more but it feels like I have been knitting on it for 1/2 of my life. It is daughters Christmas present. I am slowly making my way to finishing it.
The next photo is a mitten. I got this urge last Friday at work, to knit mittens, when one friend came in the shop and said she was making Smittens. Smittens is a darling little booklet we have that shows creative mittens. I thought heck I can do that. So I bought some Elsebeth Lavold yarn off the sale rack and came home and poured over Ravelry till I found a great free pattern and yesterday while knitting at "Its A Grind" I got this much done. I will do my own little creative stitching on top of the glove. This one I refer to as the 'Green Thumb Mitten'. The yarn is wonderful to knit with. 50% baby alpaca, 50% merino wool.

The above photo is mothers scarf. I did a stitch called 'Simple Lace' by Ann Norling. Moves along fairly fast and you don't even need to haul the pattern around with you. It sticks in your mind after 2 rows. The yarn is cashmere and silk.

Yesterday was a fun last minute thing where several of us were determined to find some quiet spot and work on Christmas presents. The Head Frog, who is whipping out lace a mile a minute, and Courtney who does socks in her sleep, (that girl can knit faster than lighting!!) enjoyed a quiet corner of 'Its a Grind' out on Sunset and Park. The coffee shop was very quiet for a Sat. afternoon, and as we sipped our coffee the stitches moved along fast. Thanx Girls.

Last but not least, I have a great photo of Jackson. He is at Ihop waiting for his first sampling of Pancakes. "What are pancakes, Grammie? Doesn't matter they will go in my mouth like everything else does!"

PS: Happy Birthday Jonna Kay!!! I am very proud of you and love you.

Fast Trip

As you can see my fast trip was back up to Mothers. It was near her birthday and I had not been up to see her since July. I wanted to share views that she sees daily from her front room. Of course above is her favorite view, Mt. Shasta. This is from her new front room windows. She watches the mountain change with the seasons.





The above pictures are also from her huge front room windows. Across the canyon she sees the trees change to gold each fall. It gives new meaning to there is gold in "them thar hills". The road is from is at her house. When I tell you she lives in the mountains I really mean the mtns. Her location is about 8 miles out of town in the forest. The winters bring up to 10 feet of snow at her house to fear of wild fires burning through the canyon each summer. Somehow she and Dad survived nearly 36 years of living at this location and were able to live with the extreme seasonal concerns. I could not do it. My brother now spends most of his winter plowing them out and during the summer clearing near the house so the fire crews will help if such a terrible thing happened.. I couldn't live with it. I fear the fires when I am there in summer time, and I don't drive in the snow during the winters. I never thought of myself as a city girl but guess I am.


On the knitting side of life I seem to be not getting as many stitches done as I should. I am working on daughters Christmas gift. I have all the items I need to ship back east for Christmas to son and his family. I will have them all in the mail in next couple weeks. I have a front to finish on Jackson's sweater.

I have seen the Head Frog another time. I am glad she has the time to come back to our world of knitting. She is a talented knitter. We have talked the Real J. to teach one more 'finishing class'. I hope to fill the class up so I can also attend. She is so full of knitting knowledge that it is a joy to work for her. If any of you that follow this attempt at blogging, are interested in the class call the shop and sign up before its full.