Birthdays

Speaking of my daughter's birthday....there've been (or will be) a couple OTHER birthdays in the extended family that mean knitting gifts.

My brother-in-law, Joe, had a birthday in April. He chose a lap afghan for a gift, knit in their school district's colors. Here is a sneak peek at part of the project thus far: (and I DO apologize it seems to be taking me forever to complete!)



I have a sister-in-law (who will remain nameless at this point in order to maintain some semblance of secrecy) who will be having a birthday in the upcoming months and I am also working on a project for her. Here's another sneak peek:



I've also been working on my lace shawl project which is getting bigger. I'm sure there are TONS of mistakes in it....but I plan to make it a learning point and keep it for myself, so I will use it no matter what. Photos will be forthcoming after it is complete.

Went out and shot some photos last evening and this is the view I got along one of the country roads east of town. Unfortunately the area was hit by severe storms yesterday and about 100 miles east of us one town is over half gone with 4 dead, 3 critically injured and over 70 treated for injuries. Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Parkersburg, New Hartford and Butler & Black Hawk counties.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my oldest! How did 17 years go by already?????



(photo taken by a friend on recent band trip to Chicago)

Super Hero Saturday (or Farewell to Nathan)

My sister gathered a bunch of us together on Saturday to wish my nephew a fond farewell as he heads off to boot camp next week. He will be going to training for the Army down in Oklahoma next week and will return in early August. Fortunately, in addition to my nephew who is following his calling to military service, our gathering included a couple other Super Heroes from our family:

Sunshine Boy



and

Bubble Girl



When they aren't pursuing their super hero roles, they are - in "normal" life - my brother's kids.



In the background there you can spot my sister's youngest as well. (She's got three boys, the oldest of which just turned 17 in March and was the center of the festivities!)



As you might detect the youngest of my brother's children also has a second characteristic: he loves cookies! (Ok, this may be simply a family/genetic trait as most of us in the family tend to like cookies. It's quite possible he is surrounded completely by enablers in this area. Hopefully he will develop relationships with fruit lovers as he grows and makes his own friends and romantic connections.)

As you can see, this little corner of the world has finally turned green and decided to bloom.....YEAH! It was a perfect day filled with too much food, lots of sunshine, watching kids play together, too much food, and a beautiful "breeze" (stiff wind is more the truth, but it was lovely nonetheless!)

I hope Nathan has a good summer. I hope that this choice is just the right thing for him. I hope he knows he starts this venture with lots of family who love him and want him to succeed. We'll be thinking of you all summer!

Susan's Sox - Part 2

This is the second pair of socks I knit for my knitting group friend Susan. She bought the yarn. It is Opal. I think it knit up quite lovely and much different than it appeared in the ball! (Had no idea those solid bands were lurking within!)

I will give them to her on Wednesday when our group meets. I hope she likes them!
I'll be interested to know if she has a preference for one construction versus the other (top down or toe up....)

Even though I did this pair from the toe up, I still ended up with quite a bit of yarn left over. First, these are knit to fit a woman's size 6.5 (US) sized foot. Secondly, since the yarn was in one 100g ball, I was still nervous on the first sock not to exceed the "half-way point" of the yarn and only made the leg/cuff about 7" long. Looking back, I could've easily made the leg lengths at least 9".

Anyone have any suggestions on how to solve that dilema?