When Silence is a Good Thing

You know that saying, "Silence is golden.  Unless you have a toddler.  Then it's very, very bad."  Or something like that.  Well, I'm definitely not a toddler, so let's say that a long absence from this blog means things are going pretty well!

I have mentally started 10 or 12 posts in the last several months, but never made it to a keyboard to get them online.  I think somewhere I have pictures of baby gift #2 (baby boy was born before Thanksgiving, and I got to hold him when he was 2 days old, and he's sweet, and his mommy loved his gifts and his daddy loved the meals I put in their freezer).  If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my finished Legion of Boom socks (which I proudly wore to watch my Seahawks decimate the Denver Broncos!!) as well as another pair of socks I've started.  I also made myself a couple of shrugs recently.  I have no pictures of those, I really should try to get pictures of me wearing them for you.

Currently, I have another secret project going.  I've been doing a lot of knitting, and zero cross stitching.  I broke my sewing machine a few months ago while trying to hem a pair of jeans - okay, so the whole machine is probably not broken, but it's more than just the needle that's broken.  Yes, I sewed over a pin.  Yes, I continued to use the broken needle, because denim.  There's no way I'm hand-hemming denim!  But it caused more damage than just the broken needle.  I'm sure I would make a repair person very happy by bringing it for a look!  But for now it sits on the table, because I don't have time to deal with it!

Beyond my hooks and needles, church is great, work is great, the kids are great, the dog is great.  My yard is not great.  We've been in this house for almost 5 years, and I still don't have it the way I want it.  I think it's time for me to declare "I'm just not a gardener", plant flowers in containers and do my best to keep grass alive.

On a personal note, next month marks the end of the series of "one year ago today" moments I've been living through.  I think passing the one year marker on several key moments in my divorce has been a good thing.  But I'm glad they're coming to an end.  I don't want to live the rest of my life marking the passage of time based on something painful.

I'm not going to end this post by making promises to be a better blogger.  If you've stayed with me through the last 6 and a half years, you know I have long silences with bright moments in between.  I'm glad that some of you are inspired by what I write, and what I stitch.  I'm grateful for your comments and your shares over the years.  I take it as a good sign that I've had the urge to write more recently.  Schedule willing, I'll be back again...sometime......

One Secret Is Out!

I can finally talk about all the surprises I had planned for my dear friend, April, and her new baby girl!  April and I have been friends since high school youth group.  Now that we seem to be in the 2nd or 3rd wave of friends having babies, I kind of wanted to go all out making this special for her!

So first, before the baby was born, came the poncho and booties.  They were so fun to make, and turned out so cute!  April called to tell me she received them and she loved them.

The next surprise was a surprise-within-a-surprise.  I showed you the jumbled yarn for a project I was working on for her shower.  This is what it turned into:

A series of "blocks" - knit and crochet.  Here I was playing with layout before assembling them with white yarn.  It is so hard for me to be random, y'all.  I made a total of 20 blocks: 4 each of yellow and light blue, and 2 each of the other 6 colors.  (Dark purple is single crochet, light purple is knit "linen" stitch, light pink is garter stitch, dark pink is basketweave knit, dark blue is "puff" or "bubble" crochet, and green is cable knit.)

And here's the real surprise:

The blanket in the background is clearly not the point of this picture. The real surprise was that I flew in to be there for her shower!  It was so hard to keep this a secret for about 7 or 8 weeks!  But it was worth it!  I got plenty of baby snuggles (and hugs from my friend).  They're so sweet, and of course she loved the blanket.

Now to finish the gift for the second baby-to-be in my circle, then back to normal!

My Week In Stitches

Well this was a distracted week!  First I had a long weekend for the holiday, then I was sick on Thursday.  I started a Bible study on Wednesday, and somewhere in there I even managed to do some stitching!  No work on Fairy Sisters this week - my contacts are at the very END of their lives, so I didn't put myself through the torture of trying to stitch when I couldn't see.  Instead.........

I finished Irish Blessing!  And I forgot my cardinal rule with this fabric, always photograph under harsh electric light.  Hopefully Jo will be able to get a better shot of it when she receives it!  It's on its way to England!  I will restitch this at some point for myself - I would absolutely love to have some of my work hanging in my house.  And I may rechart the pattern I shared so that it incorporates what I did here.  I'm really happy with the changes I made.  The "braid" in the middle is the blue, pink and yellow together, so it makes a rainbow thread.  It looks really pretty.

Oooh!  I found one I took and put on Instagram after I finished - you can see some of the detail better - it was cut off at the top, so I've cropped it even more to show the braid and the Rhodes stitches:

And here's a sneak peak of the new baby gift - just  a look at the yarn.  This is DK yarn from Kraemer Yarns, Tatamy Tweed.  The color name is Oatmeal. and it's so soft!  I love this pattern, I'm making great progress on it.

Okay!  Off to the post office and the eye doctor!  Have a great weekend!

In Search Of.....

I need a little input from some of my fiber friends.  So you know one of my friends is expecting a baby girl in a couple of months, and I am having so much fun making super cuteness for her.  In fact, the cuteness is so super that it may actually kill me to not share it.  But I can't, because I want my friend to be surprised when she opens the package from me.  No, actually I want to be there when she opens my gift, but that's not likely to happen. (Digression, sorry.)

So, another dear friend is expecting (well, his wife is) before the end of the year.  This time it's a baby boy.  The problem is - I had 2 girls.  My best friend has girls.  Previously, this particular friend had 2 girls (and an ungrateful ex-wife who looked down on handmade gifts, probably because she was only capable of cutting paper and sticking it next to pictures.  Oops, another digression!)

So tell me, what is your go-to baby gift?  I'm resisting the idea of a blankie, but that may be the easiest solution.  I can make booties.  I have the fishy sleep sack in my gift stash, but I'd like to give more than one item, especially since baby-girl-to-be is getting a newborn size ensemble and 2 more things for when she's around 12 months old.  I know, I can search Ravelry, but it's overwhelming, and I keep getting stuck on the girly ideas!!  Thanks for your help!

Oh, and if you haven't entered my Blogoversary Giveaway yet, go now and get your entry in!  I'll draw the winner on September 3!

My Week In Stitches

I'd like to say a huge thank you for the sweet comments on my previous post.  It's not easy to open up about my personal life to "strangers" (and yes, I'm realizing how often I use "quotes" in my posts).  It's safer to just talk about what's in my hands than reality and pain and growth.  Thank you for making me feel safe enough to open up!

What do you say we start with Irish Blessing progress this week?  Cuz guess what?  I finished the lettering!!!  I took a couple of days off earlier this week (thus, freshly wine dyed fabric) for the last day of summer break and the first day of school, and spent quite a bit of time on Irish Blessing when the kids were at school:

Please know, everyone, that I truly wish this for all my readers.  This saying has a lot of meaning for me right now!  And, all that's left is the fun stuff!

Unfortunately, Fairy Sisters did not get as much attention.  I put a few x's in last night.  I've already decided that if I ever do another HAED I'm not using 28 count. Or if I do, I'm only doing tent stitches.  I'm going to push myself to finish these 2 pages before the end of the year.  I really don't want to carry them into a 3rd year.  I think I need to recharge my iPod, put on a bunch of CraftLit episodes and do mindless night sky stitching while listening to classic literature:

And finally, a first day of school pic.  The 10 year old is still, well, 10 and resisting getting her picture taken.  We've all decided that we like this tradition, and from now on I will try to take the first day of school off, so I'm there when they leave and when they get home, just like "normal."

Have a great week everyone, and be sure to check back - I have something special to announce early next week!!!!