A Big Monkey for the Little Guy

Here is the Little Guy today after his 2PM feeding. Ready to get the UV light turned back on. His bilirubin is still high, so he still has to be under the UV light. They gave him a different light today, it provides a much greater surface area and will hopefully help him to return to normal levels faster than the other light. His color is actually much better than when I first met him on Tuesday. He up to 2 ounces of formula today. He was visited by the speech pathologist and passed all of his tests with flying colors. These tests are done to assess any developmental problems and are all centered around the sucking reflex. It also is used to determine if he can move on to the bottle and/or breast. Tomorrow he will be visited by the physical therapist. We are all taking an infant CPR class tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow for an update!





Here is Jackson's Big Monkey and his matching blanket. He needs a name (the monkey, not the Little Guy). Hmmmm....George is too obvious. Is Queck a possibility? (inside joke) He looks serious in this photo. He is visiting my office. Let's have a naming contest. Leave me a comment with your ideas. The winner will get a hat or scarf custom knitted for you in whatever color you desire. Unless of course, you ARE a knitter, in which case I will do a stash dive in my "Yarn Sanctuary" (aka extra bedroom) for you.





He is praying that someone will come up with the perfect name, because he's pretty sure he doesn't want to be named Queck.

The future's so bright I gotta wear shades

Every day he is a little better. He is tolerating his feedings a bit better, no throwing up this evening. He is cooking under the light to help his bilirubin, hence the eye mask. The neonatologist likes to draw eyes and glasses on them. Pretty cute little guy!

Someone new to knit for!!!

I am going home from Show Low tomorrow to meet this little guy. His name is Jackson James Dunn and he was born on Monday, July 7 @ 5:57AM. He weighs 6lbs. 14 oz. and is 20 inches long.









And here are his proud parents, Aimee and Clint Dunn. You can be sure that Jack will have many cute knitted things. More photos later---

The Sixth of July

AAhhhhhhhhhhhh the Fourth of July+2. I am a little late, but as you can see my blog got a makeover, thanks to Calliope. Click on her button below---she does wonderful work, and quickly, too!






I don't have a photo yet, but this morning, Clint and Aimee had one of these:

but in the boy flavor. This cutie is Taylor and she is loved by knitters and non-knitters alike. Clint and Aimee have Jackson James, who will also be loved by knitters and non-knitters alike. I don't have a photo of him yet but will post the real thing as soon as I get one, probably sometime tonight. Everything went fine, in fact, rather quickly. They didn't expect him until the 22nd or later, but the heat adds an extra stressor and I guess a lot of women deliver a bit early during the heat of the summer. When it is 115 outside, it is no fun being pregnant.

I am still in Show Low and will be heading home day after tomorrow, Tuesday. Back into physical therapy Wednesday, and knitting at Papa San on Sunday. Hope to see you there!

It is definitely Summer time!

I there knitting friends! It is officially summer, the middle of June. I am finally blogging again. I had rotator cuff surgery on June 9, and since my injury wasn't to the point where a lot of repair work had to be done, I have the official blessing of the orthopod to type on the computer and knit as much as my pain level permitted. Which isn't as much as I had hoped it would be, oddly enough. I did finish these, with the aid of Vicodin and donut holes.


And I worked on both of these--the coriolis (the one on my foot) I started at Sock Camp and the Monkey KawKaw I started while under the influence of drugs, because if I was thinking clearly I surely would not have cast on yet another pair of socks. Or technically, a sock, since for some reason I am doing only one, another clue that my thinking is clouded.




Speaking of Sock Camp, I came home with no dirty clothes, but a suitcase full of this

After tripping over the suitcase for a month, I was strolling through Joann's looking for ideas about how to display and store this yarn. I found this





which I purchased and turned into this.

I can look at these wonderful Blue Moon colors while new ideas percolate in my mind.


























I have also spawned a couple of monkeys---This one for Aimee's little one who will be here the end of July,















and this little wild dancing monkey for Lilly, whose mom is a wonderful Public Health Nurse that I appreciate greatly!









This monkey's name is Nelly, a combination that Lilly came up with to combine her name and mine. Last I heard, Nelly was much loved and was going to show and tell.



I will spare you the photos of my shoulder. I am getting more range of motion every day and I see the surgeon next Thursday. I have no photos of WWKIP Day, even though it was yesterday. I am envious of everyone who had gatherings in climates conducive to gatherings of knitters. The desert southwest doesn't lend itself to gatherings of this sort when it is 113+ outside.

Till next time, happy knitting!

The Socks from Hell

Remember the blue sock in my last post? I finished it's mate. If I knew how many stitches I knitted in all versions of this sock (since I am gauge-impaired) I am sure that I could have finished at least 2 1/2 pair of socks. Be that as it may---this is undoubtedly the absolute best fitting sock I have ever tried on. I wore them today with my Birkenstock Boston clogs and there was absolutely NO sagging anywhere. Nor were they too tight. Maybe it is the magic of Cat Bordhi's design, but the fit is out of this world.............

Another cast on

Finally finish both of the socks from hell. Cast on the Serendipity design in Dragon's Blood. Cool, cool pattern, going to be a fun knit!

HURRY UP!!! HURRY UP!!!

Whew!!! The plan was to have both of these done before midnight tonight (8 minutes from now). But, as some of you know, I have ripped these things out so many times that I should have 2 1/2 pairs to show for the amount of stitches I knit. But here is one and I LOVE IT!! Gotta go---have to publish this BEFORE midnight!!!!

See you Sunday.......................

WARNING!!!WARNING!!!WARNING!!!

Halloooooooooooo out there in knitter's land! I know that it is getting warmer, but the knitting bug still persists. Check out DeeDee's Taming of the Ewe Scarf in Socks That Rock (STR) Fire on the Mountain.
Very pretty, eh?

This one is from a new scarf book that DeeDee found and all of the scarves are based around the sea theme. This scarf has a lacy starfish pattern. Very cool, and all of them follow the ocean theme.











Here is Jackie's scarf--it is knitted longways and she fringed as she went. Looks great with her leather jacket!



















IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SUCCUMB TO THE SOCK BUG, READ NO FURTHER!!! FINAL WARNING!!! THIS MIGHT PUSH YOU OVER THE SOCK EDGE!!!




These clear clogs are called sloggers and you can get them from Knitter's Dream (www.knittersdream.com) They were 37.95 including shipping and handling. Knit on!!!

It's About Time!!!

Geezzz... a lot of time has passed since I last posted. I have been trying to use iWeb but I am getting more and more frustrated with it. I decided to come back to blogger again and see how it goes here...

There has been a lot of knitting going on. I have some new knitters with first projects, experienced knitters with new projects, and gifted knits from Christmas past. Read on!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lekki has just finished her hat, in less than a week! Way to go! Who is that in the background knitting behind you? Hmmm....looks like something in red??? Is she wearing scrubs???








And here is Leonda, who is a whiz at all things crafty, AND she was my wonderful Elph in Black this year! She did a scarf and hat in no time--she also did a capelet but my photo didn't turn out nearly as well as the capelet.





These are Salad Wristers knitted by Kathleen, my very artistic TA! Roll your cursor over Salad Wrister on the line above and it will lead you to the link and pattern. They are verrryyy cute. And check out her nails in Cibola colors--very spirited!

Now, for not new knitters with projects (better than saying "old knitters", correct?) Here is Fran AKA "Grasshopper" modeling Barb's Capelet and here she is modeling her shrug and another capelet--I think she may have knitted this one. Or else we asked her to model it because she is so good at it--


















And here is Linda in (I think) some of her yarn from Florence---I know it's Linda, it's the yarn I'm not sure about, after all, we did do a yarn crawl across Italy last spring--















Boein's socks don't want to upload now, for some reason. Maybe because it is midnight and my contacts are filmy? I will try them tomorrow.

And here is the mystery knitter for this post---hiding behind Boein's socks knitted out of Colinette's Jitterbug. I believe his mom has a matching pair, too. Perhaps we can get a photo of his feet and moms to post later?


My next post will be about Christmas gifting. I have a bunch of photos of things i knitted for presents this past Christmas. And I have other ideas lurking in the back of my mind...............until then, happy knitting!

Yarn crawl halfway around the world

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh what we will do for yarn! Here we are in Florence (the one in Italy) with Beatrice Galli in front of her yarn store. I googled "yarn shops in Florence Italy" and up popped Beatrice's store. It was Monday before we left, and I emailed her for the hours for her shop, thinking I wouldn't get an answer before I left for Phoenix on Wednesday. I had an email from her on Tuesday. We looked her up, she has a wonderful view of the Ponte de Vecchio, a notable bridge lined with goldsmith shops. Naturally, we looked her up and dropped some serious coin. If you ever go to Florence, she is easy to find, and quite sweet! ! There were several completed objects on this trip, and one new knitter who cast on and finished a scarf (her first) during this trip. It even drew a nice comment from Beatrice, which is the ultimate compliment!
Here are my miserable Inside-Out socks in the Monsoon colorway from my Rockin' Sock Club. I have to really get busy on them, since my 2nd kit arrived today.
developed some problems with it om the trip, so I put it in time-out. I finallly finished the first and started the second yesterday. I have to get cranking on the second one so that I can dive into the new kit. I cannot knit on these socks in public for an obvious reason when you see the sock in person. Come to knitting on Sunday and I will show you why. Even so, they are very comfortable.

And here is the new yarn! I will bring it Sunday. It is a new blend of merino and silk from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Their sock yarn is proving to be absolutely yummy-delicious.



I can't believe that I haven't posted since February. Bring your knitting on Sunday, if you have any FO's (finished objects, as opposed to unfinished objects), bring them for photo acknowledgement. See you then!

Why we do what we do

Here is why we do what we do. This is Bertha (on the right) and her sisters and niece, all wearing their prayer shawls that Bertha knitted for them this past year.





Here are three of her nieces wearing scarchos that she knitted in 06. She is a prolific knitter, and has at least 3 other shawls, socks, and felted bags. My challenge to all of us is to keep track of everything we knit this year. I think you will be amazed at how many things you make.





Meet Sophie, wearing her her newly finished pink hat! At 10, she is the youngest person that I have ever taught to knit. She and some of her friends like to knit at school recess. It is one of many special things that she does with her grandmother. Way to go Sophie!






Ady is a TA in my office. She is working on a scarf, but check out the scarf she is wearing. I gave my TA's who knit balls of yarn for Christmas, she has knitted hers into this great scarf. Way to go Ady!


Speaking of newly finished objects, here is Louisa running her waterfall--

This was the first project she undertook. She learned quickly and it became a boring knit. She has done several shawls, scarves, even a pair of Ugg booties. Way to go Louisa!






Here at last is my Urban Bubble Scarf! From the nice, pre-felting stockinette stitch, then with all the balls placed with rubber bands, drying on top of my crocs, and lastly, the finished product. It took 400 yards of a fine mohair 90% nylon 10% and about a zillion little wooden balls. It starts with 3 stitches, increases to 35, decrease back to 3 and bind off. Then, you put the balls the purl side, wrap a rubber band around the ball, throw into the lingerie bag and felt away. I will bring it for show and tell on Sunday. It is the most curious thing I have ever knitted. I will explain on Sunday-hope to see you there!

Knitting on Sunday!

Come to Papa San on Sunday--and check out my ruffly-thing!

'Tween 2K6 and 2K7

Hi there! Check out my cool felted Dansko clogs from Carson!



I finished my mom's sweater--here are close ups of the frog closure.




And the completed closure--

I will bring the completed sweater for show and tell on Sunday.

Hope to see you there!

"Tis the Season!

I can't believe it, 2006 is almost over. This is a time when we all reflect on the past year, our triumphs, our sorrows, our life. It is time to take an inventory of our lives, to look at where we have been, where we are now, and where we want to go.

Knitting marks our passage through time. Every item we knit reflects who we are. It is tangible evidence of who we were, where we were, and what we were doing at that particular point in life. I look at my oldest knitted artifact--a pair of mittens knitted for my dad. They are made of ragg wool, grey and black, with a cable running down the top. I knitted at least 3 mittens before I finally got one that was small enough to fit. I thought I had to follow the directions exactly as written, including needle size. I didn't know that it was OK to take a detour from the written instructions. I knew what the finished product was supposed to look like, but the path that was laid out in the instructions didn't take me there. I had to forge ahead with my own ideas. After a couple of attempts, I found out that it was OK to think independently from the pattern, to meld your own ideas with those of the designer. So it goes with life. The route we plan to take frequently takes a detour, yet our ultimate destination stays the same.

As Brenda Dayne says in her "Knitter's Manifesto", knitting becomes a living record of who we were when we began, how we changed along the way, and a record of who we are at completion.

Bertha and I were talking about things we have knitted over the past year. I wrote down her completed projects, but I left the notes at home. This is Christmas Eve and I am at my mom's in Roll. Best as I can remember, she knitted at least 4 prayer shawls by herself, and joined in to knit at least 3 others. She knitted at least 2 drop stitch shawls, no--make that 4. She has two, and she knitted 2 for her mother in law, both in different shades of yellow. Add to that scarves that are too numerous to mention and 4 or 5 scarchos for nieces and Sarah. When you stop to think about everything you have knitted over the past year, you will be amazed.

Linda knitted these fingerless glove/handwarmers in a flash.
She knitted them in chenille, on a large-ish needle (11?), around 20 stitches, knitted a rectangle, then bound off, seaming them, leaving a hole for the thumb. Quick and comfy.


A couple of new things I read about--Denise needles have a breast cancer set that costs $55, comes in a pink case with pink cables. The $5 goes to research. Also, they now have size 17 and 19 needles. I hope Santa took the hint I left for these.

And last but not least, the Sven and Olga Sweaters.

Enjoy the photo, we don't wear them often. Especially not with the shirt that Curt has on. My New Year's resolution is to leave the chubby cheeks and blubbery neck behind in 2007. But right now I have to go get a slice of Italian Creme Cake. New Year's is still a week away.



I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May you surround yourself with beautiful knitted things and people who love you. And Cashmere.

Onward----------