Christmas at Simone's

A very hot Christmas Day in Toowoomba - all the fans going at once!!

Up very early - the family next door was up at daybreak - no more sleep for us either!

Tom - the light of my life, my grandson aged 6 had to be dragged out of bed 7.45 am - had a late bedtime the night before - but he soon woke up when he saw all the presents under the tree - the scream of delight as he ran into the room was deafening!!

It has been more than six months since we have seen our Tom - how he has grown - being at school has made a difference to him - such a little man now!



Three happy faces - Tom and his Grandma and Grandpa - so happy to be together after 7 whole months apart!!

I am not looking my best - a nasty cold on the chest making me feel and look an old bag!

But so lovely to hear that best of all sounds "Grandmaaaa!!!" and a big big bear hug!!

After the Storm!

Last week Eric and I were caught in a violent thunderstorm, when we were in Wynnum - the opposite side of Moreton Bay from where we live !





When we finally got under way after the storm had subsided, this was what we saw from the car windows - first the rainbow - a double one - then a glorious sunset!


The storm was very violent while it lasted - quite scary - but the peace afterwards was beautiful!

You have to admit it was certainly spectacular!

Catching up on Knitting for Christmas Gifts among other things!

This little gem is the Beribboned Eyelet Sweater, from the Kids , Kids, Kids pattern book. I made it as part of the Knitalong held recently on Babysweaters Group on Yahoo.

The yarn is TLC Nap Time and the sweet popsicle buttons are -once again - from daverun on eBay - my favourite button seller in the world!

I love this little sweater and have made many. However, it is very girly and I thought I would tweak the pattern and change it to a more boy- like version. So I came up with a totally different look - all in garter stitch. Check it out!

Yes it is the same basic design - but I changed the shaping method slightly, gave it a ribbing cuff and devised a ribbing band that went all the way round in one piece instead of having a separate neck band. And the buttons again, are adorable - little dalmatians - from daverun of course!! I have no affiliation with Dave Rundell, I am just a very happy and satisfied customer. I have sent him these pics of his buttons on an actual garment.


Another few things I have finally finished are:


This really nice sweater for Christmas for my daughter Simone - made in of all things, Twilley's Bulky Capricorn! Now discontinued - but eBay is a wonderful place to buy it still!

She lives in chilly Toowoomba where they have bitter winters, being right on the Darling Downs, and so she needs the odd bulky cozy sweater. The basque and cuffs are in Disco 8 ply acrylic. Yes I use acrylic - and love it - the last time I made this particular sweater for Simone, I made it in the most gorgeous soft pure wool and the moths destroyed it! It is a long time since I made an adult size sweater - after making baby things for so long it was a shock!! Seemed to take forever!



This little hoodie is a Christmas gift for Simone's son Tom - my beautiful grandson, aged 6-1/2.

The body is a denim DK from England I can't remember the name of, the sleeves and trim is Red Heart Super Saver in Fiesta Jewels. I have since found out from his Mum that he is into mittens - so I shall hunt out the sideways mitten pattern from Mariella - from Knitbabysurprise group or Babysweaters - both on Yahoo.

Will make them in the Fiesta Jewels too.



Another little Christmas gift - this time for 6 year old Caitlin - I have made this one before - this time I had to size the pattern down because I had 6 skeins of Bernat Club Soft that dear Marilyn in SE Texas gave me some time back.
It is much thicker than the pattern called for - after several attempts I finally got the downsizing worked out - phew! All that math!
The pic doesn't really do it justice - it is a pale apricot colour and the teddy bear buttons match exactly.



Here is another version of the Beribboned Eyelet Sweater - suitable for boy or girl - I used the same 8 stitch shaping under the armholes, used the Wager Welt 8 row pattern and made a ribbing band all the way around again. It came out so cute!

The yarn is Angoretta by Panda - the softest nicest acrylic in snowy white - and wouldn't you know it? Discontinued! But EBay to the rescue again! Missed out on 10 skeins of it in delicious pink the other day - boo hoo!

Still working away at finishing Christmas gifts!! Won't it be lovely to get back to knitting at my leisure instead of to a deadline??

Finished this little set for charity though - have to think of my homeless babies too!

All made in Disco 8 ply - the Jacket and the Hat are from a Red Heart Leaflet called Baby Talk.
The boots are from a free pattern on Bevscountrycottage.com - Michelle's preemie booties. Knitted in a bigger yarn they are so simple - just done on two needles, and one seam only down the back and along the sole - if you made on circs or dpns they would have no seaming at all - because you could do a three needle cast/bind off.The buttons are gorgeous little blue and white pencils - from daverun of course!

Well back to the knitting - Grand daughters Lauren and Samantha have two Christmas gifts that have to be finished, DIL Cathy's Christmas Sweater is waiting for second sleeve, sewing up and neckband - son Richard's Sweater isn't started yet - but thankfully, we are not seeing them till 16th January - so some breathing space there! I will get it all done by then I know! Thank goodness I am a fast knitter!

Happy Baby Set

For those who have asked!

I make the pants for my baby sets from a knitting pattern put out by Red Heart Yarns called Happy Baby . You can find it here - the pattern is free!

http://www.royalyarns.com/fp/fpkntbaby.htm

If you scroll down the page you will see this pattern and many others - all free. And the Happy Baby pattern is there twice - there are two versions one for Red Heart and one for TLC yarns

There are tons of free knitting and crochet patterns on the internet if you look.

Grandma's Knitting

Monday, November 21, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving to all My American Friends!

This is the kind of pie I am!!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all in U.S.A.

with love from Yvette

You Are Apple Pie

You're the perfect combo of comforting and traditional Those who like you crave security

What Kind of Pie Are You?

Caitlin at Southbank Sat 12th Nov

Samantha at Southbank

 

Saturday 12th Nov on Brisbane River

This is one of the Brisbane "City Cats' that Ferry people up and down the Brisbane River for very little charge. They are very fast - we did the journey from Hamilton to Southbank in about 20 minutes.

We took the granddaughters, Sam and Caitlin to Southbank for the day - we went to the man made beach and took a picnic - it was the best day!










This is me in a strong breeze on the City Cat. Not the best looking dame on the boat but I was comfy. Hair tucked out of sight under the hat!









Sam and Fuzzy had a "new" dress each! Thrifty grandma found them iin a thrift shop - $3.00 each - whoo hoo bargain!












The river trip is so cool - and very cheap - Eric and I have pensioner concessions, and the girls went on children's concessions - the whole round trip cost us only $7.50 about $5.30 USD!!


There have been loads of building developments along the shores of the Brisbane River in the last three decades. Very attractive private housing, and condominiums. Some god awful high rise too.
















This is the city skyline - on the right , framed by the old Story Bridge.



This is the Riverside Centre - lots of office buildings, expensive restaurants and shops.

They have great markets here every Sunday, all day. Everything from leather work, and all sorts of crafts - historical photographic reproductions of old pictures of Brisbane in days gone by, handprinted fabrics, hand made furniture, paintings by local artists, toys, gifts, hand made candles, scented oils, all the usual stuff! Great food stalls too!

Notice the reproductions of old Mississippi Paddle Boats? These are great floating restaurants!

Next time - some info about Southbank!!

At the Brisbane Museum

With Grandma and Grandpa in the Dinosaur Garden

We had a great time at the museum on Saturday

The girls really enjoyed themselves! The dinosaurs (of course) were the favourite exhibits. But they also were fascinated by carriages and coaches and buggies on display - pity there were no models of horses in the shafts to give them a clearer picture of how it was. Mind you - it didn't go down to well to be asked "Did they have these to ride in when you were alittle girl, Grandma?" There was a man next to me who fell about laughing! Cheek!

What did surprise me was how long we stayed in the section with spiders, insects and birds, snakes, etc. There was a library there with lots of books on dinosaurs and snakes and they had a great time sitting there looking at pictures. The ant farm was great - they had a blue light (black light?) to shine on the burrows and chambers - and there were lots of creepy spiders to look at - fortunately NOT alive!

There were plenty of interactive displays too - which the girls loved because it was such a change not to be told "Don't Touch" - plenty of videos and large models of sharks, whales and stingrays - all guaranteed to make a little girl shudder with delight!

We took the girls to Southbank for a picnic - and have promised to take them back there this weekend , to swim at the man made "beach" there and picnic on Picnic Island. The playgrounds there are wonderful, very innovative and helpful for kids who like to use their imaginations. It's all slap bang on the banks of the Brisbane river too - so much activity and so much beauty. It's years since I was last there!

We drove in and parked the car - a mistake because there are so many car parks we took ages to find the one we had parked in - and walked miles! This time though, we will take the City Cat up the river from Hamilton Wharf and get off right by the "Beach" - less walking for Grandma with her very sore knee. Will post more pics of our next trip. Including some of the CityCat and the river too - Brisbane is such a pretty city!

Another Set Done!

Finished another little set - there are boots to go with it now! Yarn is Panda Angoretta in Royal Blue (nearly finished it all boo hoo!) and Red Heart Super Saver in Banana Berry. I get the Supersaver from a wonderful seller on eBay Sheryl716.

Four of Caitlin

This is our Caitlin aka Fuzzy - 6 years old very photogenic , full of mischief and very funny!! 

Samantha Collage

Just playing around with pics - still learning how to do all sorts of things. Anyway - four views of Sam's "Bad Hair" 

Samantha's Bad Hair Day

Sam won the best girl with bad hair in Grade 3 - never had fun like this at school when I was her age!! 

Caitlin aka Fuzzy

Bad hair day for a 6 year old!! this was taken after a happy Bad Hair Day at school!! You can see why she is commonly known as Fuzzy!

We have been losing rather a lot of teeth - the first tooth earned her $10 from the tooth fairy - we have been wiggling loose teeth like mad to make more money - because "the tooth fairy has a LOT of money, Grandma - she is very very rich!" 

Bad Hair Day!

Thursday Oct 27th was bad hair day at Morayfield Primary!!

Samantha and Caitlin aged 8 and 6 made a great effort.

Sam (on the left)won the prize for the best girl in Grade 3 - onya Sam!!!!! 

Bits and Pieces

Did a silly thing - stayed up all night talking to knitting pals in Newfoundland, Yukon and Ohio. Plus sending pattern scans to various other knitting buddies.

So although I had a nice long lie in today - I am feeling like a wet dishrag. One needs sleep more as one gets older I find - not the other way round as is popularly believed!!

Knitting with some of my new Supersaver in Banana Berry - my eBay purchase arrived on Monday from USA - 36 skeins of assorted variegated yarns. Funny - I have used this yarn before - I am NOT a yarn snob - and it has always been reasonably soft to use - but this one feels like harsh coarse string! So a wash in cream shampoo and a rinse in good conditioner plus a go in the dryer is called for!! It will soften up - I am just wondering if this is an idiosyncrasy - if only certain colors are like this? It has a LOT of blue and green in it. The other colors that have predominately reds, yellows, oranges, etc don't seem so harsh - or is it just me?

Making a happy little garter stitch sweater in Banana Berry S. Saver and Royal Blue Panda Angoretta - sadly a discontinued yarn ! Boo hoo! I have some of it in a bright Pink, and a delicious cream as well. If I can find any more of it on eBay I will grab it no matter what. At least it is Australian yarn and so the postage isn't crippling.

Waiting waiting waiting waiting for Workers' Compensation to process my wages for this week. Looks like the claim wasn't processed in time for last Wednesday's pay day- so have to wait till next Wednesday - in the meantime not a brass razoo and it's only Friday. Eric and I can cope but we have 7 cats and 2 dogs, and they are getting sick of invented meals. Why is bureaucracy so unco-operative? They know at head office that the claim form certificates have to be in every week on a Thursday to make it for the next pay day - so why hang on to them?

STOP PRESS!!!! Just got a phone call - they have cash waiting at the office for me right now !!! The girl in the office did it specially for me! What a sweetheart!

In the meantime, the knee is still very sore - and I have to rest it. I love those instructions - whoo hoo! no need to feel guilty about knitting and knitting and knitting!!!!!!!!! All day while I listen to talking books or watch TV!! Have great plans for all this lovely new yarn - I love COLOUR!!! Have a few little odds and sods to sew up and get out of my unfinished basket.

Then it 's time to start on Sandee's afghan ( Blue Hearts) and her brother's throw ( Georgia Tech, complete with bee) - finish a sweater for DIL started last year - sweater for stepson and daughter, and grandson. These are to be Christmas gifts. Ha ha ha - optimist!!!!!!! Also make a Christmas exchange. What does one make for a Christmas exchange? A gift? Or does it have to be a Christmas thing - ornament - or similar??

I am making Christmas gifts this year - found some nice little bathroom crochet items - know exactly who will get them too - plus a small jar of brandied apricots - Sylvia loves my crochet and my apricots. Making ginger and melon jam too, and some crochet edges for some handtowels - bought a heap of thread on ebay a few months back.

Next time dear Diary - will outline Christmas gifts more thoroughly.

My Third daughter Vanessa

This is Vanessa - my little friend in Dayton OHIO. She has become my adopted third daughter!!
She is expecting her first baby in February 2006. Oh really? I hear you say ?? Sarcasm is not nice!!

The baby is a girl - and I am trying to make useful little garments of all sizes for her right now.

I have a daughter Simone, and another "borrowed" daughter Lisa here in Australia. Vanessa has adopted me for her #2 MOM!! 

Another of Dave's buttons

Here is one of the teddy buttons - I have red, blue and yellow with white outlines now.
Where to get them ? - ebay Seller? - daverun Am I pleased with them ?? - YES!!! Did they cost a lot ? No WAY!!! 

Someone parked their Roller (Rolls Royce to you plebs lol) outside our house a few weeks ago - I couldn't resist taking a pic - the house has been painted since this was taken too - so it looks a little less decrepit now!

Wouldn't it be nice........................ 

Have you ever seen such beautiful buttons?? I got them from daverun on ebay - for the princely sum of .99 for 10!!! I bought about $25.00 all told - and he only charged me $2.50 US postage - even though I live in Australia!! 

Set #4

This is the fourth set I finished this week - the jacket had been made for a while.

Yes it is another shorter version of EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket - I love this little pattern!

Made in Royal Blue Panda Angoretta (why oh why did they discontinue this lovely soft yarn?)
with variegated Red Heart Supersaver in Starbrights. What a yummy combination. The buttons are from my favourite button seller in the whole world - daverun is his ID (Dave Rundell from Florida) He has the nicest and cheapest buttons - and get this gals - he charges only $2.50 US for postage - NO MATTER how many packets of buttons or WHERE you live in the world!!!!!!

I have been sending him pics of my work using his lovely buttons to show him how wonderful they make my little garments look. These teddy buttons in yellow with black cost me about $3.00 US for 20. I have them in red, and blue and yellow with white as well. Plus chickens, geese, helicopters, penguins, dolphins, toadstools, frogs, kitties, dogs, ice creams, birthday cakes and popsicles!!

I will post another entry showing the birthday cake buttons onVanessa's baby set.