Ryder's Cable Sweater finished!!!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. It's as always, been hectic around my house. A few posts back I had asked all of my friends and family to keep Ryder in their prayers. I want to thank everyone for their prayers. I still don't want to go into great detail, but suffice it to say that Ryder was gone from mine and my son's lives for a while. His mom took off with him, and for two weeks we did not know where they were at. Then she took Ryder to her Aunt and Uncle's house, so I didn't get to see him for 6 weeks all together. It was a very hard time, although while he was at Auntie Mary and Uncle Ken's I had the reassurance that he was safe and well cared for.

Issues are now worked out, and Ryder is back here and staying at gramma's house alot, and I think his mom and I have worked out an understanding, so that she won't just take off again and not let me know where they are. I am greatful for all of the prayers, and greatful to have him back!!

So......on to some pics...these are pics of Ryder in the Cable Sweater I knit him. It is a Sirdar pattern, knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK yarn...







A pic from the back...






Sorry for all the pics...they are just all sooooooo cute, I couldn't decide which ones to post...LOL!!

aren't these too sweet!

My friend and most favorite sock designer, Monica, designed these sweet little baby socks, and sent the pattern for me to try out. I just love them. They were a very quick knit-finished them in an evening, and I think because of the ribbing which you can't see because it is under the cuff, they should not be too easy for a baby to kick off. Lyllie was already in bed when I finished these, so I couldn't take them over for her to try on, but will definitely take them tomorrow and will post picks of my sweet little granddaughter modeling them for us. Thank you Monica for letting me be the first to knit these...well, second...I guess you were first--LOL!! I am guessing that this pattern will soon be available at The Loopy Ewe for sale along with many of Monica's other patterns.

I knit these in Fortissima Colori Socka in colorway 2402 which I had tucked away in my stash. Again-the pictures do not really do the colors justice. I think I need a new camera...oh well...someday...
Thank you again Monica for letting me try this pattern out for you. I can't wait to see these on Lyllie!!

Hey Monica--Look what I did!!!!!!!!

I haven't blogged in a while...but I have been knitting. There has been a lot of stuff going on around my house...stuff I won't go into here right now, but thank God for knitting--it gets my mind off the stress.

One thing I will tell is that Lyllie was in the hospital with complications from RSV. RSV is a nasty virus. In adults it acts like a cold. Adults and older children often are not affected with complications, but in babies it can be very nasty and cause major issues with the lungs. Luckily for us and Lyllie, her lungs were not affected so badly--just a cough. But she got horrible diarrhea and vomiting from the virus and became dehydrated. So she spent a couple days in the hospital on IV fluids. She is home now, and is doing much better, and is practically back to her old self. Please keep her in your prayers though that she will continue to heal. Also--please keep Ryder in your prayers. It is a situation I don't want to talk about here yet, but I will someday soon.

So...on to the knitting front...I knit one pair of Monkey socks in the Smooshy Dream in color Beach fog...pictures of the beginning of the sock are in an older post. I got them finished, and Aimee quickly claimed them for herself--I din't even get a chance to take a picture of them first!! What a brat--LOL!! Oh well--she is lucky she is my number 1 daughter...oh wait...she is my only daughter!!

I made 3 pairs of little socks for Lyllie--socks that she can't kick off. One pair was a pair of "Baby Monkey" socks in the same yarn as the pair aimee claimed...so Mommy and daughter have a matching pair of socks. Here is a pick of one of the pairs I made Lyllie...



this is a pattern that I made up myself as I knit them. I really like how they turned out, and they are so cute on her! Of course...this proud grandma thinks everything is cute on her!! LOL!!

Then I started a new pair for myself...These are one of Monica's patterns...Furrows.






These are done in Trekking XXL, but I don't have the colorway. My son spent a couple days at my house, and decided to do some cleaning, and he...gasp...threw away the wrapper!!!!!!! Bad boy!!!!!! He just didn't know!! I am loving how they turned out though, and the pattern was fun to knit. I did a little alteration though, and worked a short row heel. I really love the short row heels now that I have them figured out.

Now I am going to start my second Basketweave sock--got the first one done, and want to finish the pair. I am on a mission to complete all of my pairs that only have one sock done, and am now looking forward to doing all the second socks. I WILL overcome second sock syndrome!!!! So right now the Furrows pair will only have the one done, but I will go back to the second one soon...just want to get my basketweave pair done.






This is a pattern by Marguerite Byrne and can be found here. These are done in Trekking XXL as well, colorway 181. Darling son didn't find that wrapper to throw away--LOL!!

So anyway--that is life in a nutshell around here right now. Just keep Lyllie and ryder in your prayers for me...thank you!!

I leave you tonight with this recent pic of Lyllie in one of the sweaters I made her...it is still a little to big, but by this spring it should fit her well...

My Favorite American Idol Audition

This is my first year to actually watch American Idol from thebeginning. I just never quite understood why people got hooked on the show. But now I understand the draw of the show...
this is my favorite so far...




Bless his heart--he really tried!!

Ryder is trying to figure out how to crawl!

Shot this cute video this evening of Ryder trying to figure out how to crawl. He is so cute!! he can get up on his hands and knees, but can't quite figure out how to get everything going in the right direction all at once!! Then he gets mad because he can't get moving to where he wants to go. He's getting better though--last week when he tried to get up on his knees he would end up scooting backwards!! It is amazing to watch him everyday learning new things. It seems like just yesterday that he was Lyllie's size...time just moves too quickly!! Like Aimee says--I will soon need to get serious about babyproofing the house!! Just look at those wheels turning in Ryder's head!!

Ryder & Lyllie's First Visit with Santa

The kids and I finally got the babies to the mall today to visit Santa. It was lots of fun! We got there while Santa was on a break to feed his reindeer, so there was no line. We had to wait for an hour for Santa to get back, but it worked out well. Lyllie ate while we were waiting, so she was sleeping for her visit. Ryder took a little nap, and woke up a very happy boy.
when Santa got back, Ryder was at first very intrigued by him, but then suddenly decided he was scared of him and started crying. Those pictures of him crying were just as cute though. We also got pics of both babies with Santa.
I could not believe as we were heading up to Santa's chair that I was there with my grandbabies!! Last year at this time, I had no idea of the joy that I was going to have this year at Christmastime with my two little blessings!! I can't put into words the joy I felt as we walked up the walkway with the babies. I still am feeling so very blessed!!
Oh-and by the way--Mr. Ryder has his first two teeth in now!! They are the bottom two. They are too little to get in a picture yet - but they are there!! Way to go, Ryder!! He hasn't even hardly been fussy about teething, so we were surprised when they popped through!!









Well-I'm signing off for now--want to go finish my monkey socks, and then am going to start a pair of Dancing Tulips with my Cherry Blossom Yarn which is pictured in an earlier post.

Finally some knitting inspiration!!

I've been in a knitting slump!! I did not think it could happen to me, but it did!! All weekend, I've been frogging one project after another. I've been looking for THE PERFECT yarn for a certain sock pattern I've been wanting to knit. I thought my CTH Cherry Blossom was going to be the yarn, and couldn't wait to get started. But the yarn did not work with the pattern. Tried a couple other CTH yarns, but they weren't going to work either. So all weekend, I got nothing accomplished:( Then today went back to my LYS to return a couple skeins that I knew I wasn't going to use. And as I was looking in the sock yarn room I found this...



It is Smooshy, Dream in Color in the "Beach Fog" colorway. Suddenly I felt inspired again as I pictured this beautiful, soft and yes, smooshy yarn knit up into Monkey Socks. I have not knit Monkey socks as of yet, but have seen thousands of Monkey sock projects on Ravelry, and here on some of the knitting blogs I read...so I found my inspiration, and exchanged a couple of other yarns for this, and now have my first pair of Monkeys on the needles. I am loving the yarn, and loving how it is knitting up. I also love how it feels in my hands as I knit with it. I see much more Smooshy yarn in my future!




So...what about the pattern I was trying to find the right yarn for? and what about my CTH Cherry Blossom yarn that I so love? For now, I have set them both aside...I know I will find the perfect yarn for the pattern, so will just wait until I find that yarn...it will probably happen when I am not even looking...and I know I will find the perfect pattern for my Cherry Blossom yarn. I do have a custom hand dyed yarn coming that I ordered that I think will be perfect for that pattern I want to knit. So I will just have to be patient and wait for that to come. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy these Monkeys and this Smooshy!!