Best Little Southern Wedding Ever!

The Ring Bearer, the Groom and the MOB practicing

The Grooms Mom and the Brides Mom

Father of the Bride and his Baby Girl!

Libby approving the flowers

Me, pinning grandmother of the brides sunflower on (Mother and daughter)

Mrs. Lucas Walsh

Oh, to have her hair and her curls again!

Bride and her Dad (my favorite picture)

Grandparents of the Bride (My parents)

Alexandria Elizebeth

Handcuffed groom with the brides garter (Made by Me)

Brother of the brides contribution to the festivities

Garter by Me

Ring Bearer, Aiden, with pillow by me.

It was a beautiful day and all went well. They are now happily married and living in their new house in AL!

Happy Knitting!

Wedding Week (or losing the dress battle)

The weather is still hot, mid to upper 90's.  The sun is bright, bright, bright and extremely hot. The humidity is in the upper 70's, which means you're wet 5 minutes after walking out the door and the heat index, what it feels like on your body, is between 103-107 on a good day. No change in sight for the week ahead. Me, ScrappyKnitter, the Mother of the Bride, is having NO luck finding anything to wear for the big day. Everyone's tired of hearing me complain about my "new size" of huge, hatred for this heat inside my body and outside my body, my gray hair and did I mention the heat?  Guests will start arriving on Wednesday and I can't even begin to think about what the heck needs to be done. Thank God for the husband. Without him it wouldn't be possible to have all this ready by next Saturday.

The bride and groom are getting excited. The Mother and Father of the Bride are getting excited.  We're just all so tired. More from thinking than doing. Not much to do for an outdoor wedding until the few days before. Our oldest daughter will be the photographer so I'll have lots of photo's to post when I recuperate from the big day.  Seems weddings are much different now than they were 36 years ago when i got married.  No wedding cake, she wants cupcakes done in a tower on the table. No veil, but she's got such a beautiful head of the most perfect curls she really doesn't need one. Bare feet (not me, I've been bitten enough by fire ants to last me a lifetime). Informal, very informal. I get it cause it's just like her, the way she's always been. She doesn't want to be like everyone else, she wants to be what she is. Plain, simple and beautiful. So, our yard will be all done up in colorful lanterns, lots of sunflowers, close friends, close relatives, and nieces and nephew and I pray it all goes the way the Bride and Groom want it and just one small prayer that the Mother of the Bride makes it through the week. The Father of the Bride too, who is in charge of the lawn, the weeds, the dog piles and keeping us all sane. In this heat. This unbearable, stifling, heat.

Ok, I feel better after my rant. Must go put on the smallest amount of clothes that are legal and see about washing some outdoor deck furniture, the deck and putting all my plants/cactus somewhere.  If you're down near Savannah, GA next Saturday, stop in, we'll give you a hotdog or a hamburg. Oh, did I mention that........she wants a cookout after the wedding with hamburgs, hotdogs, all the fixin's, a fire in the fire pit to roast marshmellows and the wedding's at 7 p.m.  You'll find me leaning up against one of the pecan trees in my back yard with my eyes closed. 

Itty bitty bags. Sometimes you just have to do something to keep your fingers nimble till you can knit again. This is a free pattern on Ravelry and we put 1/2 of a dryer sheet in each and hung them from our rear view mirrors in our cars. Mine is pink (of course) and the Brides is green. Quick and lots of fun.

Happy Knitting!

35 Years of Camping Shawl aka EZ Camping Shawl

35th Anniversary Camping Shawl

Close Up

A few mistakes but lots of fun, except blocking. Back breaking and wasn't sure how to block out the little scalloped edges.

It took up my entire dining room table, and then some.

Here's a bargain. If you live near a Wal~mart RUN and get some. They were only $5.00!  They are 12" square and there's 9 squares. I figured that was a great amount for blocking scarves, small items like socks, cowls, mittens, etc. 

I also found crochet hooks in the smaller sizes (B, C, D, E) for $1.28, also at Walmart!  Fun shopping trip today.

That's my measuring tape. It measured 39" long and the wing span is approximately 71". I used 228 pins and 8 blocking wires.  Took me a long, long, long time to bock it.  Now, what to do with it.

Happy Knitting!

I'm a Once A Month Blogger!

I can't believe it was May 23rd when I blogged last.  Well, lots has been going on and I've been either busy, sick, or busy.  Actually, I haven't been that busy, except I consider my knitting being busy. I've just been diagnosed with Thryoid Disease, which isn't a bad thing because I thought I must be dying a slow death of something mysterious that no-one could figure out.  I've had no, and I mean NO, ambition, never feel good, tired beyond tired, major weight gain, depressed, all kinds of things.  So, my youngest and my Mom insisted I go and have a blood test to check my T3-T4 and TSH (?), which are thyroid hormones.  Well, they came back high, I'm on thyroid meds and HOPING they make me feel more like myself instead of an 80 year old woman on her last leg!  'nough said.


The Baby Girl, her fiance' and her best friend are in Africa again.  This is Alex's 3rd trip and she'll be gone for 6 weeks, then back 8 days and then her wedding.  My oh my that child has a lot on her plate and flew away to Africa.  Now I'm getting e-mails that "I forgot to do this, I forgot to that," so I have things to do besides knit. They are having a blast and I'm looking forward to my 3rd skein of "African Yarn."

Jeck Sock  One down, one to go

Add captionWendy's Mystery shawlette KAL

My little Japanese Bear to help Japan rebuild

Wendy's Mystery Shawl before blocking

Made this for one of Alex's friends in Africa.

Saroyan for Africa

Annis in Lotus Blossom Aurora

Citron

Knit One, Crochet Too Crock-O-Dye Wendy's Mystery Shawl KAL

I also finished my EZ Shawl that I started last summer around our 35th Anniversay, since it was 8/9/10 and EZ's 100th Birthday was the same day. Only took 10 months!!! I am now finishing up the Goddess Knits Anniversary Shawl. If you look on my projects page (ScrappyKnitter on Ravelry) you'll see that took a whole lot longer!

The cute model showing off all my knitting is my youngest granddaughter Lyssa (nick name Baby Jane). She loves to model, even in this hot weather. Notice she has on a shrug? Ick! Too hot for that. Thanks Baby Jane!

Off to knit. Hope it's cool where you are because here there's nothing else to do this summer but sit in the a/c. It's even too hot to get in our pool. Had 4 days this week over 100, with the heat index up around 104. Too hot for this Northerner!

Happy Knitting!

Knitting, Wedding Parties, Family and Camping

 Because Sonja put this on her blog, and I read it, I decided it was time for me to do another KAL (knit a-long).  The first one I ever did was with Wendy at Wendyknits.  This is the Summer Mystery Shawl.

 The Baby Girl had a camp out with her wedding party, Mom (me) and Dad, Libby and Maggi (the puppies), her Big Sister, Big Brother and niece Lyssa and nephew Jay.  We had 3 tents and 1 camper (Mom and Dad's) all lined up. 14 people and lots of site seeing around the park, campfires, roasted marshmallow's, hikes in the woods and card games.

 Actually got my 'son-in-law to be' to hold up my Jeck sock.

 Then, his groomsman, Ben got a turn (notice him looking?).

Then it was Neal's turn.  Now, Neal didn't want to just hold it for a picture, he wanted to know how the "heck you make a sock?"  So, he studied it real hard, I showed him how to knit one stitch and that was it.  That's the Baby Girl looking, and laughing. She can't figure out how I make them either (magic, right?) but she sure likes wearing them. She didn't even ask if this one was for her.

Happy Knitting!

To Knit? To Ravelry? Which?

I feel as though I do nothing but knit, but after lots of thought on the subject, I've come to the conclusion that I do a lot of surfing on Ravelry, perusing knitting magazines and thinking about all the things I wish I could knit but just never get around to actually knitting because I spend so much time doing all of the above.  Vicious cycle.

Saroyan for the Baby Girl to take with her on her trip to Africa this year.

This is me! I had a lesson in shooting a 22 semi-automatic handgun. Fun, I enjoyed it but I can't see me doing that for anything but target practice.  By the time I remembered where to put my left hand, where to put my right hand, where to put my feet, how to lean, the bad guy would have been there and gone.  Not so sure I could shoot a person anyway, no matter how bad they were.  I had NO trouble shooting my "paper man target" though.  I was given 50 bullets and that bugger had 49 bullet holes in him, most through the heart and the head. YAY ME!

I think this cute little guy is some type of Warbler. It's so tiny! It comes to the feeder twice a day but we only see one at a time. My Grandmother and my Mom have always loved birdwatching. I thought it was for "old people." Well, I've been enjoying watching birds for about 25+ years now so I guess I was wrong, or I'm old. NOT!!!

This was a very fun, enjoyable, fast knit. After reading the Rainey Sisters blog on the Herbert Niebling Doily I thought I should try a simpler one and loved it. I've said before that my Great Grandmother crocheted with very thin crochet cotton, things like bedspreads, wedding bells on all our pillowcases she gave to her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and I think I have her love for thread. I loved this project.The Queen's Lace, Piecework Magazine, Lace Special

The middle, or beginning, is the hardest part of the whole thing.

Bath Time

Uh, dropped a stitch, which turned into 5 stitches. Well, guess I'll fix it later.

Put a knitting needle into the 5 stitches to deal with later.

Love the middle but don't look too close. This was a fun knit but boring at times and there's a few mistakes.

This is the Insignia scarf by Cecily Glowick MacDonald. I'm doing it in Banana Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.  Kind of a relaxing knit since it's all garter stitch.  I love garter stitch and will save this for the "Wedding Parties" camping trip next weekend.  I'm looking forward to that, and as of right now all 3 of my kids and 2 of the grandkids will be there, along with lots of young, energetic friends of my daughters and her future husbands. I'll need knitting for 4 glorious days in the sun!  Yeah!!!!

                                                                                                          

Carolina Wrens  Not too old as they thought this was the nest and just laid there and rested.  I took 10 pictures of these 2 cute little things. 

This is a Beach bag from Lion Brand Yarn on Ravelry I started last night. I had the urge to crochet and had some crochet cotton (and might have bought a few colors to add to it.)

My new sock Jeck, free from Ravelry. My Sunshine holds my stitch markers. Isn't he cute?

And, the Nantucket basket my father made for me is just the right size to hold a skein of sock yarn so it doesn't roll on the floor and get covered in bright white pug hair!

Back to knitting/Ravelry/NCIS - oh, that's my Knitting Show.  I bought every season from the beginning and Gibbs and the gang keep me company while I knit, check out Ravelry or read a knitting magazine.  Being a retired SAHM is kind of boring so I have to have company.............

Happy Knitting!