Where has the time gone?

It has been over a year since I have posted here. I will try to remedy that in the next few days.

Who thought it would snow?

Certainly not this hummingbird! 

Spent the Memorial Day holiday weekend in Colorado, where the weather was a bit colder than Missouri. 

Only 4 weeks old and can already spell his name!

As soon as George's name was on his birth certificate, I began knitting a set of alphabet blocks with his name on them.  I organized the blocks with his first name in blue letters, middle name in green letters, and last name in red letters, with letters on the other sides in yellow, orange and purple.  They were knit out of I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby, and I cut 3' foam cubes to fill them.  I think if I did another set for another baby (no time soon, though!) I would probably try to find some acrylic yarn in those colors but lighter weight (DK/sport weight rather than worsted) so that they would be smaller.

Yoda?

The week before George arrived, Kyle asked if I could knit him a Yoda hat.  So I jumped right on the request, and here is the dapper young man (at 19 days of age) sporting the latest in headwear.

Kyle says that he and George are now set for Halloween.  In the second Star Wars movie, Luke Skywalker straps Yoda to his back to do Jedi training.  So Kyle is Luke and George is Yoda.  I am sure his head will have grown enough that I will have to  knit another one for him in a larger size, but I will be glad to do it!

Prince George Bybee has arrived!

Hilary gave birth on Saturday, March 14, to her and Kyle's first child, George Neal Bybee. He weighed in at 7 pounds 5 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long.  John and I were there Saturday evening and Sunday to greet him.

My brother, the math guy, was particularly excited to have a "pi baby" in the family.  For those of the mathematically challenged, when you compute the value of pi to 4 decimal places, you get 3.1415  (3/14/15 being George's birthdate.)

Busy knitting for babies

I thought, when I finished my third baby set (blanket, sweater, booties, hat, scratch mitts) since the new year began and completed 6 baby blankets with yarn that a friend from Jeff City knitting group gave me to make and donate, that maybe I could move on to other knitting for a while.  But not so ..  Liz's brother and his wife are expecting a baby in April, so she asked me to make them a set.  So it's back to baby items.  But our son-in-law Kyle requested a "baby Yoda" hat for their little guy, due March 21.  It was so cute I jumped right in, and made it in 2 sizes, newborn and 6 month.  Can't wait to see him in them!

 Here are all the blankets made from the yarn Carolyn gave me, all washed and ready to donate.  Thanks Carolyn

I can crochet!

I finally decided that crochet is a skill that all knitters should have, and I gave it a try.  YouTube has been a wonderful resource.  The problem with it, as with most things on the web, is weeding through all the crap to get to the really valuable information.  I have learned three stitches:  single crochet, double crochet, and half double crochet.  I can reproduce these at will, but have not learned how to integrate them into a pattern or alternate them in a row of crochet.  Right now, all my crochet projects are rectangles!  I hope soon to be able to read a pattern and make something besides squares, but at least I can pick up a hook and make a credible item.

The picture below are my two most presentable squares, alternating rows of sc, dc, and hdc.  The towel is the Retro Rib kitchen towel.  All of these are in I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby.  I think it is the best cotton yarn available from any box store.