Pictures of the next batch of grandbabies

The first is of my Daughter and her Husband, as of October 11, 2008, at almost five months. When I get a picture of an ultra sound I'll post it too :-D

The other on is of my Son Jacques and his Significant Other, Chenoa and their little Jude. It's hard to see, but he must have liked the sensation of the sound waves because he pushed his little face right up to it.

More later, :)

Update on last post

This is much better. I tried a new stitch from my Mother's stitch book and like it pretty much. My aim was to have functionality and beauty. It remains to be seen if I accomplish both :-D

The Jacket !@#$%

I have been doing a LOT of sewing lately due to my lack of funds and needing appropriate clothing to go to the Mosque in.

Most of my work comes out really nice. I tried a new pattern this week and MAN! It came out sooooo large I have to say that I was really surprised and disappointed too because the material was on sale at Wal-Mart for $1.00 a yard and it's really great. It's a deep forest green and a little stretchy. I didn't realize it was until I started to work with it, but that's not why it came out so big.

The reason is that I actually followed the pattern and cut it to the right size, but then I didn't sew it at the called for 5/8" margin. It's just such a waste of material and these days it has become less expensive in many cases to just buy what you want and make do even it it's not quite what you want. (if you can sew it'll make you crazy)

It doesn't look very flattering in the picture, but it's really nice and has great shape if you really are a size 18, which I'm not, but the measurements matched my measurements, a size 8-10. When you sew you end up using sizes that don't match up with the store sizes so you have to get over the "number" thing and just get a match with the measurements. Anyway I'm very disappointed, but its quite pretty, maybe I will find someone that it fits :)

In the mean time I'm going to cut the pattern down a couple of sizes and try again ;)

Trip To Alabama - Sept. 5,6 & 7of 08

I started knitting this one just before leaving for AL and didn't like it so I started the next one Thursday this week and like the look of it much more.



These were both done in Red Heart, Blueberry Pie yarn. The knitted one also has Red Heart, Navy blue and it's double strands, using US 10 circulars, but it wasn't what I was trying to achieve so I used the Blueberry with a US "G" hook and got what I wanted.

I'm trying to make a prayer rug. After I get the crocheted one more rectangular, I'll start doing shells around it to enlarge it over all. I'm not sure yet, maybe shells. I've re-found a crochet stitch book of my Mother's and may try something different.

I've crocheted since childhood and sometimes feel that it's old hat, but then when I can't achieve what I want with knitting needles I fall back on the much easier to manipulate crochet hook. It probably feels easier to manipulate than needles because I've only had a couple of years doing the knitting. I taught myself from books and CD beginning in 2006 and seem to learn something new every day.

I plan on finishing the knit one and just making a small layette or lap cover. I hate it when I start something and then don't finish it.

I must say that I am pleasantly surprised how soft the "yarn" is considering it's that darn acrylic stuff, but this one really is. After you've used natural materials you become a bit of a snob. The way it feels when it moves through your fingers will really win you over and you become much more sensitive to different kinds of textiles.

As I progress I'll update the photos.

September Visit to Tennessee

I got a lot of sewing done and finally got to spend some quality time with my Step-Mom. Both of my parents have passed over so I usually call her Mom2 after her e-mail.

Since her surgery in February, when we almost lost her, she is doing much better. She's off of the feeding system and eating real food. She wasn't gaining any weight and we were getting worried, but now we know why. Her thyroid (?) wasn't cooperating. They don't think there's any cancer, but still need to do some "figgerin" to fix the problem.

I will have pics of the visit if I can find the Kodak easy share software or get them to send another copy of it. I suspect it's in Alabama in a box!

She's about 6' with shoes on and still hasn't broken 100 lbs. yet. It's not like she's not eating, her body just won't let her gain any weight. She has finally gotten her home empty of the free loaders (family of course) and it has made all the difference in her state of mind. Stress will keep you from gaining weight also. I discovered this when I was there five weeks out of eight earlier in the year and lost 15 pounds myself with all of the stress of caring for her stroke victim husband and then her too when she was able to come home after 32 days in the hospital.
Anyway, all is much better now :-D
Suphanna Allah!!