Another Baby Blanket

I forgot to take pictures of another one of the baby blankets I made for our grandbaby that is due in October. I guess I will just have to describe it. Duh! I made it when I was out in California at Mom's. Out of doubled flannel with a little rubber ducky print - the little duckies are so cute!!! I crocheted a rippled edge around it in the same yellow yarn that I used to make the "Exquisite" afghan that I shared in a previous post. It turned out lovely too, even if I had to say that myself!

And it is soft and cuddly too...it should be very snuggly for Baby.

I am posting a couple of pictures of my little 'assistant'. Mom's little chihuahua, Gigi, loved being anywhere nearby when I was working on things. I had to keep a close eye on her, because I found out GiGi has a penchant for yarn!!!!! If I didn't keep track of it, all of the sudden my yarn ball would be in the other room, with a tell-tale length of yarn connecting it to the object I was working on. So GiGi, we have discovered, is a little yarn thief! I still think she is too cute to get upset with!!!! LOL (if you look closely at the pics, you can see the rubber duckie flannel)Also I am posting a couple of pictures of some of the flowers that were blooming when I was there....ohhhh...how I loved the flowers!!!!! And a little hummingbird that kept dive-bombing my head!

All About Kermit!

I have to share, as I am sitting here this morning... listening to my parrot, Kermit, babbling in the other room to himself. He is such a joy!!! This month is his first birdie birthday.

We call him our little alien friend, because he hasn't 'perfected' his voice yet, and he sometimes sounds like a little Martian. But he is talking, and his vocabulary has increased! Some things that we taught him to say, some things he picked up on his own, and some things he learned from the Cockatiel Boys, Cricket, Baby and Frodo.

Kermit can now say: Hello! ; Good Morning; Hi Kermie!; Good Boy! ; Kermit is a good boy; Pretty boy; Pretty bird; How ya doing?; "HONEY!!" (he picked that one up from me. lol); Hey, Baby!!!!; I Love you; I love you, Mommy; 'HA-HA-HA-HA-HA'; he can bark exactly like Gabriel 'rufrufrufrufrufruf' - with the same little growl Gabriel uses (sometimes I can't tell if its Kermit or the dog barking - he's that good. :o)); Pretty Boy, Rugby (learned from the 'tiel boys); and wolf whistles, and seven other different 'tunes' that Ray taught him how to whistle.

He is so amusing!!! He is the first parrot we have owned (a black wing jardine) and I have fallen in love with this bird. He makes us all smile! Another one of God's totally 'Amaze-ing' creations!!!!

I am so thankful God gave us these special little gifts, that enrich our lives so much!

"Exquisite" Baby Afghan finished

I finished crocheting a baby blanket for my youngest DD, who is expecting a baby in October. (another BabyGrand!) I used a pattern leaflet with designs in it by Terry Kimbrough. The pattern I chose was called "Exquisite"....because I absolutely love the crochet pineapple design!

I used Bernat Satin worsted weight yarn in a lovely soft colorway called 'banana'. The yarn is soft and squishy...yummy!

I enjoyed making the blanket...the pattern was well written and easy to follow. The only problem I had was when I didn't pay attention to what I was doing and lost my count. The yarn worked up beautifully, although I had a little trouble with it splitting when I worked it up.

But the end project was worth it. I loved how it turned out - and so did Kim and James!

It's a bit too lacey to be a practical blanket, but wrapped over a flannel recieving blanket, it will be cozy and pretty, and what I hope will be an heirloom. :o)

Here are the pictures of the completed afghan....

Home Again!

After about six weeks out in California, helping out my Momma, I am home again for a while...and suffering from jet lag! I can't get enough sleep...I am still tired. I know it will get back to 'normal' soon. Until then, if I can't be found...I curled up somewhere and am taking a nap!
I felt prayers being answered yesterday on my way home. On the way TO the airport we came within a foot or two of being in an accident. Scary!! I haven't ever been 'that' close! I did a lot of thank you's to God for protecting us from that one!!! Then flying into Detroit airport, where I was to get my connecting flight to Green Bay, the airplane began its descent to Detroit, and then we could feel the plane lifting back up again. It turned out that the Air Traffic Controllers changed their minds about giving clearance for our plane to land, and said that it was just a little too close, so we had to circle around the airport again a time or two. Another Thank You Lord!
I have definitely felt God's presence in my life lately.
Momma had a close call with a medication mix-up that made her very sick, and was pretty scary, so I extended my stay another week to be sure she was better before I came back. There were many prayers being said for her - and I really felt them being answered!
She is, happily, feeling MUCH better, the medication problem has been fixed, and she is doing pretty good for being 86!

Learn something new every day

I'm preparing for my trip to my Mom's next week...so I decided to wash one of my purses to use. I checked all of the pockets, cleaned it out, and threw it in the washer with some of my turtleneck tops, and some towels.

I have washed this purse this way many times with good results. I threw the load in the dryer when it was washed, and to my shock, when I opened the dryer - discovered BLUE ink from 3 ball point pens ALL OVER the inside of my dryer. Everywhere. And plenty of blue ink stains on my load of wash. It seems that the purse had a rip in the lining that I didn't notice, and these 3 pens were hiding in there. GRRRRR!!!!!

I tried Simple Green, I tried my Mr Clean Magic eraser, Rubbing Alcohol. Nothing worked!!!!

Then I had an 'ah-ha' thought - and Googled for 'removing ink from dryer drum'. I found a site called Thrifty Fun and they had oodles of suggestions for removing the ink. Apparently I am not the only dork that has had ball point pens explode in their dryers. The first person suggested Lysol Disinfectant Spray. I had that on hand, so I tried it. It removed some of the ink...but there was still a lot left.
Another suggestion, was to use a Magic Eraser sponge, and soak it with NON-acetone nail polish remover. I had 'regular' nail polish remover, and it didn't work...so I made a trip to the dollar store. Came home, soaked my magic eraser sponge with the non-acetone remover, and it worked!!! My dryer is totally clean again.

Oh...and on the same site, they said to throw some of the Orange Cleaner in with the laundry soap, and also use Shout on the stains on the clothes, and the ink will come out. Almost all of it did. Amazing. I am in awe of these geniuses.

Now I have two questions on my mind (make that 3)....

Question 1. Just WHAT did we ever do before the internet (and before Google???)

Question 2. Who on earth came UP with the idea of "hey, I will just pour some of this here non-acetone nail polish remover on my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser sponge, and I KNOW that will take off the ink that is all over the inside of my dryer????? WHO thinks these things up????

Question 3. WHY is this stuff considered Thrifty "FUN"???? LOLOL


I dunno...but thanks, whoever you are. I'm glad your idea of fun is figuring these things out so I don't have to try. Cause I never would have thought it up. :o)

Now the Knitting...

I finished the hat I was knitting for my youngest DD's boyfriend. I like it. The pattern was easy (2x2 Rib) and came from the Stitch n B___ch book. It is called Men's Hot Head Hat.

Here it is on my DH's head, so I could take pictures.

I made it with Caron Simply Soft worsted, and Red Heart Soft (worsted). It didn't take too long to make, either. I think I will make him another one!! LOL Oh, and now DH wants one too!!!

Funny Dogs & Funny Kittehs!!!!

K, dis haz abzolutli nuttin ta do wit knittin!!! TWO of mah favrit places tah look are http://www.laughoutlouddogs.com/ and http://www.lolcats.com/. If you haven't seen these, and you are an animal lover, like me, you NEED to go check them out!!! They are so funny!!!! Just go browse through the pictures! I can spend a lot of time doing nothing at those two sites!!! But they sure make you smile!!!

Here is a picture of one of our dogs that I submitted to LOL dogs. .. this is one of our precious 'babies', Squirt. One of the gals from a Ravelry group I am on (LOLRavelers) came up with the words for each of these pics. (thank you Cathy in Ohio!!!!)

Hope you enjoy! (my favorite is the Ribbit, Ribbit one!)