lather, rinse, repeat...

hello from rainy, wet, soggy, gray & a wee bit depressing...... ohio
but even a pluviophile like myself knows to much of a good thing is well.....not a good thing!

rainy days speak to me

they say light a candle, put on some soup & knit the day away

and knit i have!

i'm still enjoying the sock yarn blanket & swap

pictured is goodness that arrived in the mail & from my library knitting group

little balls of goodness from kim

kim is also doing mitered squares but she is doing a scarf

she was kind enough to share from her stash :)

kim belongs to our local library knitting group

barbara who is also in our local library knitting group

left a goodie bag in my jeep

how sweet is she!

 kim  from the my sisters knitter group & ravelry (Bungalow312)sent these little beauties & tea~

it's going to be hard to pick a favorite!

she too sent the cutest card~

all of this goodness came from ellen also from my sisters knitter group

and ravelry (elns)

chocolate, tea, lip balm & a san francisco magnet

she sent the cutest post card

she & i share the love of knitting & oysters :)

 anna jane from the my sisters knitter & ravelry group

sent a fun package! how cute is the notepad! and doesn't she make the

cutest cards~

blanket progess

i love that so many knitter friends

make up the story of my blanket :)

what's on your needles?

~*~

love in the knitting community~

it's been another fun mail week!

jesse from wee pleasures sent this adorable package~

aren't those mittens wonderful!!!  i'll tell ya, they had me

wishing for winter! 

candy, yarn, mittens, & tea

what more could a girl want?

and sanja from love of cuteness sent these sweet little

balls of yarnie goodness &a little ball of lip balm

i've already knitted in two of the balls :) & have used

the lip balm several times

 

steph from woolythyme filled my wooden bowl & heart with joy with

a great selection of yarns that will add so much warmth to my blanket

steph has already made three blankets!!!!

andi from my sisters knitter sent these little beauties

along with some tasty teas~ the pretty pink skein was

quickly snatched up by one of the littles claiming it was her favorite! 

this lovely package came from olivia of this hand made life 

i love how she carded the yarn & isn't that a beautiful card!

a heartfelt thank you to each of you

this knitting community is a very generous group of women

i love knowing there is a little part of you in my blanket :)

my blanket is growing as is my heart

*~thank you~*

jeez louise....i haven't posted in a long time!

i should have titled this post...the sock yarn blanket continues

it's so much fun that i have a hard time working on anything else!

 i did find a tutorial on rope baskets & i've been having lots of fun with those

 it hasn't been all blanket knitting all the time but most of the time

here's my blanket progress so far...

i have to say my favorite part of this project

is swapping yarn with the ladies of my sisters knitter~ yarn blanket swapping group

my first swap was from andi (insert... enabler enabler enabler....but in a very good way :)) which i blogged about here

i joined the yarn blanket swap and switched with these ladies...

let me tell ya, it was a fun mail week! 

who doesn't like to receive anything addressed by hand

peggy  from the same state as myself sent this package of goodness

just look at all those pretty little balls of yarn & a sweet card too!

it's been hard not to pop them out & start casting on but mothers day is

around the corner & i've got mothers day goodies to create :)

 

laura sent chocolate AND yarn! chocolate with peanuts, my favorite!

i only have the cream color left to add

fun yarn & chocolate candy....what more could a girl want?

thanks ladies! i love having a part of you knit into my blanket :)

it's spring time in ohio and if you are a gardener, it's time to dig in the dirt

we ( i say we but i did very little of the work) converted to raised beds last year

we love it!  

this year the hubs added another bed & a little hoop house

the littles have a cabin near by & we have plans of a little flower bed project to 

make their cabin a bit more cozy

they even have a little clothes line in the back~

how's your spring?

(wanna swap yarn?)

~*~

i have a little addiction...

it all started with the blanket below
jesse's blanket...there i said it....she is my enabler :)

jesse is a beautiful knitter and always inspires me with her projects

take a look at the socks this girl knits.....amazing!

http://weepleasures.blogspot.com/

with the help from Andi of my sisters knitter , the inspiration of jesse & ravelry,

my addiction began.

Andi (my other enabler) was sweet & fed my addiction by send mini skeins to get me started & sent
me to a video on you tube to help me along~

sock yarn blanket tutorial

and tea...she sent one of her favorite teas :)

look at those little bitty skeins..those are andi's

(my yarn is the messy looking balls)

how could you not fall in love

oh the fun this is! 

my favorite part of this project is adding yarn from projects that i have knit

and adding yarn given to me from friends 

so many memories in a single project

if anyone is interested in starting this project & would like me to send

you some mini skeins, just drop me a line :)

xo ~ a special thanks to andi & jesse  ~xo

~*~

pink, yellow, purple, green...anything but white!

i have come to the conclusion that we continue having snow

because 

a. i still have a little snowman decoration on my porch

b. my blog STILL has a snowy picture on

c. i live in the wrong state

i can't do anything about c at the moment

but i did take the snowman down

and

i've put a pretty sunflower in place of the snowy picture

COME ON SPRING!!!!

gardening......and so it begins!

i can't speak for everyone
but
i think just about everyone i know has had their share of winter!

this has been the scene at our house for most of the past month...

(our house looks crooked...lol)

but...

the first of the gardening catalogs have been showing up in the mailbox

giving us hope that spring will indeed show itself  :)

the hubs & i started planning the garden today....yeah!!!!!!
the peas, according to my grandad, should go in the ground on st. patricks day

we did raised beds last year so this year will be easy peasy compared to last


are you planning on planting anything this year?

~*~

I know better but I did it anyway...

Pipers Journey....and a journey it has been!

First let me begin by saying I received this pattern for my birthday last year

from my friend Andi over at My Sisters Knitter 

Thank you Andi!

It is a Quince & Company pattern (Andi knows me well :)

and

I ordered Quince & Company yarn (heavenly yarn)

now...had only they included a little note in my package that said

DON'T FORGET TO KNIT A SWATCH TO CHECK YOUR GAUGE!

they did not

so

i did not

i don't really blame Quince & Co., i know better...i really really do

i have only myself to blame  :(

this is pipers journey  take 1

pretty little bandanna don't ya think?

it's suppose to be a shawl

 ( it was a very little shawl)

i knew in my heart it was small but i thought it could be a nice scarf

(it was even little for a scarf!)

i had completed the pattern & thought hmmmmmm

the picture on the pattern wraps around her neck twice...

mine wrapped once, and barely that

the above picture is done

 except for the lace section which doesn't make it longer, only a few inches wider 

but i forged ahead & added the lace

(insert cuss words here)

(insert more cuss words here)

so gauge is important you say 

ok, i'll give this gauge thing a shot

suggested needle size 6....well you see how that worked out

so i tried size 7...nope

size 8...right on the money

this is pipers journey take two

it's already bigger than journey 1 and i'm only half way on the length

so lesson learned

gauge does matter

(take everything everyone ever told you about gauge & insert here)

to be continued....

~*~

baby reed...

our son doug , our daughter in law ashlie & their daughter iris

welcomed "reed douglas" on december 25th

so precious is this little one

~joy~

the pixie is in the house :)

today turned out to be many things!

a snowday

a no work day

a no school day

a no volunteer day

a baking day

a "lets set up a playstore in the living room" day

we've had the first winter storm of 2015

several inches of snow followed by single digit temperatures 

brrrrrrrrrrr

sounds like a good reason to stay home

so stay home we did & the pixie came by to spend her snowday with us...yeah!!!!!

we baked flourless peanut butter cookies with kisses

it's paula deens recipe....super easy, gluton free & makes less than 2 dozen, so quick i tell ya!

flourless peanut butter cookies

then we set up a playstore for shopping

complete with shopping baskets

a discounted holiday department

and of course a check out girl

it was the best kind of day :)

how do you spend your snow days?

~*~