Secret Pal Package

First off, I'd like to apologize to my secret pal for taking so long to post about the latest package. Sorry!

I received the latest package from my secret pal when I got home from vacation. It was perfect timing! Here is what I got:

I got a really cool crochet pattern book, 5 skeins of yarn, and a knitted book cover. There are lots of cute patterns in the book that I would love to make, but they are going to have to wait a little while. I have other projects that need to get completed before I start ANOTHER one. :o) Thank you secret pal!

I think I might start sewing again. Ken bought me a new sewing machine for Christmas but I don't know much about the features. I was supposed to take a "getting to know your new machine" class earlier this week but they cancelled it due to the snow we got. Now I won't be able to take the class until February 10. :o( I don't know how to attach the walking foot to the machine (that's the main reason why I want to take the class). Once I learn that, I want to make Madelyn a blanket similar to this one for Easter. The pattern used to be available on oh fransson's blog but it isn't anymore. That's okay. This gives me more room for creativity. Maybe I'll add a little basket to the quilt top. Hmm. We'll see. Now I just need to find some Easter fabric. That's turning out to be a lot harder than it sounds.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a little girl that needs some attention.

happy (but cold) at home

My hubby and I survived our first vacation with little Madelyn. We drove to Florida (yes, that's right...DROVE) from Michigan with a 6 month old. Yep. We're that crazy. It took us two days to get to Orlando. We didn't have that many stops the first day. The second day was another story. Madelyn was getting tired of being in the car seat (but who can blame her??). We had to stop a few times more but overall, Madelyn was SO good! Ken and I are really lucky to have her as a daughter. Of course, we knew this way before vacation, but spending 9 days with just the three of us really hit home to me. We are a family. I love both of them so overwhelmingly much that it takes my breath away.

While it was cold (by Florida standards...it was in the fifties most of the time we were there), we still had a great time. We went to Seaworld and Madelyn LOVED Shamu. :o) We went to Longboat Key to visit Ken's parents. Madelyn had a good time sitting with Grandpa on the beach and getting her toes wet in the Gulf. I wouldn't have traded this time with them for the world.

Of course, driving to Florida gave me lots of time for knitting. I haven't had time to take pictures of what I made yet...mainly because of the laundry that is begging to be done. I'll be sure to get the pics of it up soon though.

relaxin'...

I just wanted to do a quick post to say that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...we're on vacation! I'm busily working away on some knitted projects that I'll post about when I return home. I better get back to the sunshine! Don't be too jealous...

Shhh....it's still a surprise........

So my friend Jo had a birthday this past Monday. I won't say which birthday it was, but that it was a pretty big one and she's older than me :o). She's an avid scrapbooker (she actually is to blame for dragging me into yet another craft) and while she doesn't knit herself, she appreciates the work that goes into it.See? She likes the turkey hat I made Madelyn this year for Thanksgiving. A little while ago she requested me to make her an earflap hat. I thought her birthday would be the perfect opportunity to do just that. The day she asked me to make her the hat, I had on a pair of fun socks (I just LOVE fun socks...just to wear...not so much to knit) that were red and white striped. She told me she loved them! I thought it'd be fun to make her a hat similar to my socks. Here's how it turned out. I won't be giving it to her until next Friday. So if you see her, try to keep your mouth shut, okay? Okay! :o)

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! I sure did. It was my daughter's first Christmas and it was just wonderful.

I got to spend a lot of time with family and to just relax. I really didn't work on that many crafty things, which is really odd for me. But now that all of the holidays are over, I'm ready to jump right back in. I just received my first issue of Interweave Knits and there are sooooooo many good patterns! I want to make myself this sweater but I should probably finish up the gloves I started to make myself and the hat I promised to knit for a friend of mine first. I guess I better start knitting!