Celebrating!

Well.... tonight for the very first time in YEARS I will be celebrating my birthday :)  I love each and every day of my life! I find it very easy to find joy and celebration in most every day.... picking just one day to celebrate seems rather silly.... an earmark of age mostly, not a true celebration.  But tonight I celebrate EVERYONE!!! There is going to be food and drink and lots of singing and goofy stuff :) If I don't get too nutty I'll make sure there is a picture or two to post later.... in the meantime.... Happy birthday to everyone! Hope you are truly enjoying your summer!

Phoebe's Sweater for Emma Clair

I found this marvelous book for my little niece.... and included in the book are patterns that can be knitted to match the characters.  What joy!!!

Mid Summer - WHAT?!?!

Okay.....last post was April....it is now mid July!!!! What happened? I don't have any excuses for my lack of words.....but I must say I must have fallen asleep for 40 winks and nods!  Well, I'm back.  I have kept busy a bit with knitting these past couple weeks - we are having a baby boom at work and it serves me well to keep the baby stuff on my sticks!!!!! I never have any back ups anymore!!!!  But everything is appreciated and loved - and I do enjoy seeing things spring to life so quickly :)

     There's a "Gnome Hat", a "Bronco's Hoodie" and a "Baby Owl Vest".......the girl I made these for is into Harry Potter and the Bronco's BIG TIME!!! Thought these would be cute and not too obvious.  Now she wants a "Gnome Hat" for herself!!! FUN!!!!!                                                                                                                                                                                         

Seeing double!

It's been a while since my last post.....not much going on to write about.  But just received the best pictures today and wanted to share......as I posted earlier I finished the sweater I knit for my brother and sent it off - I  made fun of the fact that it was a complete match to the sweater I knit the year before for his son!!! BORING!!! But then I got these pictures of father and son together and it was totally worth it :)  Little sister is in a couple of the pictures wearing a vest I knit for her - what a little ham!!!!

Long scarfs....Hawks in need....Irish feelings

First off......A good friend and coworker asked me to do her a very special favor - knit her a very long scarf that is soft and squishy, using the colors brown/tan/cream, and it had to have fringe!  She was very specific about her needs and even told me I could take my time if needed.....she still wears scarfs in the middle of summer!! YIKES!  Mostly, I think, when she takes long motorcycle rides with her husband - she wears them under everything - kinda like a long skinny portable blanket :)  Well, I finished it and presented it to her at work earlier this week - she was very pleased!

Next.....later in the week (yesterday) we had a client bring in his hawk....a very beautiful hawk with sore feet. This particular hawk was very gentle and nice - well.....it probably didn't appreciate what the doctor was doing to his feet and would have pretty much liked to have bitten her! ....but other than that - very gentle and nice.  He had very ouchy sores on his feet that needed debriding and cleansing - he should be better in a short little while....I'm always amazed at the wondrous creatures we are allowed to protect and care for!

And finally.....today I believe I feel a bit Irish!  I woke to a misty chilled morning.  The trees have blossomed and are filling out with beautiful green and purple leaves - the lawn is emerald green (at the beginnings of emerald green!) and I have a big bag of potatoes and onions. It's all  so perfect - the chilly morn with new colorful trees and lawn.....potatoes and onions! So I made me some Irish Potato Soup and Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread (a recipe so generously shared by the girls at Our Best Bites) Oh so yummy! And the house smells so warm and cozy - a great day to knit knit knit!!! I will be making some doggy sweaters today - Sometimes a little extra warmth is needed for our little surgery patients - the woolen sweaters are perfect for their recovery.  I will post pictures when they are finished :)   Please go to www.ourbestbites.com to find the wonderful Irish Soda Bread recipe (and a whole lot more!!!)

320,000 stitches later....

I finished my brother's sweater today- what a crazy long project!!! Not a difficult one - quite easy in fact! But, when I did the math I discovered that to complete this sweater it would take approx. 320,000 stitches! WHAT?!? I know most knitters don't bother to figure things like that out.  They are content in the fact that they are creating something beautiful, or perhaps useful.  Knitters usually revel in the fiber they so adore - seeing their intricate patterns take form as they knit across each row.  Me? I find it difficult to stay on task with projects that take more than a day or two - yes....I love the feel of fiber - the loft of it, the weight of it.....I even love creating beautiful stitch patterns within my knitting.....it just needs to be completed in a day or two!!!! But, alas, I love my brother so I knit this "Man Sweater" for him.  And yes, I counted the stitches because that made me happy :) It is finished now and I'm rejoicing!!! (Did I mention that last year I knit this very same sweater for his grown son? In the very same color no less!! )

You can do it!!!! You can do it!!!!

This morning I woke a bit anxious.....I had a early morning double dental appointment - which, without going into long and dreary details, basically means a bad start to my morning :(  To top it off, the appointment is across town - not a bad thing usually, but definitely difficult when the weather decides to throw an early Spring blizzard at you!!! I left this morning feeling sour and defeated - but then I glanced over at my little flowers that had been such a joy to watch blossoming earlier in the week - they were getting hammered and still they hung in there - I felt ashamed to have left the house in such a gloomy mood - here is an example of "smiling at adversity" times ten!!! I whispered quietly to the the little flowers....."You can do it... You can do it...." And I thought, if they can do it with a smile, then absolutely, I can too!! I went off to my dental appointment and discovered it was only a difficult trip in my own mind.....I got wonderful news and the bit of work they did today didn't hurt at all :) By the time I returned home the sun had come out and the snow had melted - the little flowers were happy and fine!!!! I think I may have heard them cheering very quietly........