What a GREAT weekend.

After a week of cold drizzly weather, this weekend was beautiful.
I spent Saturday morning doing my favorite thing, going to Eastern Market, in the heart of Detroit, to get my weekly produce with my cousins. Marilyn, her husband Jon, and I go almost every week to relax. We talk to the farmers, get our eggs, produce, soup from the Russell Street Deli vendor, bread from the Zingerman's vendor, and visit with total strangers. Often we see the mounted police officer patrolling the market on Elmo, a HUGE horse. What could be better than that? Just look at this picture of the market. This is only one shed. There are 3 others. Let me just say, this is a jewel in Detroit.

When we have loaded our carts with fresh eggs, vegetables, and fruit, we head to Milano's Bakery for the best cheese danish you have ever eaten. Let me correct that, once a month we splurge on the danish. After we leave Eastern Market, we often head to Hamtramck. 50 years ago, it was a city that was populated by Polish immigrants. Now days, it is a more diverse city. However, many of the original polish butchers and bakers have remained. Jon likes to stop at the butcher shop and get some sausage. The wonderful smokey smells that come from the grocery bag, words can't describe, and I AM A VEGETARIAN! Some things never change, smells bring back memories of childhood. The other stop we sometimes make, is at the polish bakery. This week we bought some paczkis, the most incredible round donuts,  either glazed and jelly filled or chocolate dipped with a custard filling. These are not your normal donuts, these are sent from heaven. 


Saturday afternoon was my, "just like",  a grandson's 2nd birthday. Nolan had a bounce house in their backyard. The children had a blast. They had a fire going in the pit ( 48 degrees outside ), but the kids were barefoot most of the time. They carved pumpkins to take home and hit a ghost pinata'. I think they got more candy from breaking the ghost than they will get from trick or treating Halloween night. We had such a good time. 

This is Nolan, enjoying his cake

                                                  

                                                   

                                                  

I also finished "Stretch", the giraffe bib, for my newest little one, David. I will start watching him the end of the year. He is 3 weeks old. I love this bib. 

It didn't photograph real sharp, but in person, the design really "pops". I plan on making about a dozen different styles. They are from Elaine Fitzpatrick. You can get her free patterns on Ravelry or on her blog, Down Cloverlaine. LOVE IT!


OH, I forgot to tell you, my son started the Detroit Police Academy in September. He will be in training until May, 2012. What a change from first, touring for 3 years all over the world with his band, then 11 years as the Community Center Director for the Royal Oak Salvation Army. Maybe running the summer day camps will have prepared him for patrolling the streets of Detroit. LOL! 120 kids, I can't imagine. Anyway, I am so proud of him and happy for him. He has wanted this for awhile. 


I better go. The little ones will be arriving in about 8 hours. I better get some sleep. 

APRIL 6TH????????

Is it true?  The last time I blogged was April 6?!?!?!?  That is pathetic.


I don't know where the time has gone. Spring and summer came and went. With 5 grandchildren, 4 dogs, 3 birds, and 3 turtles that I take care of, I didn't go on vacation. So what did I do?  Wait, that should say, So what DID I do?  If I think REALLY hard, I can come up with a few things. I am a jigsaw puzzle fanatic. I put about 10 puzzles together. I work them on my kitchen table, so, I start the puzzle after dinner and it has to been completed before breakfast. Too bad I can't make money doing puzzles. I would be a wealthy woman.

                                                            


I finished Tortellini Tortoise,

I made 3 skinny scarves,

This is my favorite. I made the Pig, from "itty bitty toys", page 43. I love my pig.

I made a tote bag,

and last, but not least, I made my VERY long, winter scarf.

Oh yeah, one other thing I finally did. I started eating properly. I have been a vegetarian since 1992, but that doesn't mean I was a healthy eater. On June 13th I decided to get with it. Turn my life around for the last time. I have yo-yo dieted so many times, I can't count. I am happy to say that as of today I have lost 47.5 lbs. I still have a long way to go (another 65 lbs), but, I have the rest of my life to get it off and KEEP it off. At some point I will post before and after pictures. Maybe at the half way point. Anyway, my daughter told me to check out  Lose It. I love this website. For some CRAZY reason, it clicked.


I made a delicious pot of Cauliflower Soup over the weekend. It is like a freebie soup, calorie wise. If I remember correctly, Weight Watchers don't count points for most vegetables. This would be point free. DELICIOUS!


Has anyone seen the issue of Knitsimple, Holiday 2011?  Susan B. Anderson has the sweetest set of fairies in a tulip purse. My granddaughters are going to love them. I had to hide the magazine so they won't have a clue about whats to come. Hopefully, I will get started on these fairies this week.


Time to go wash the dishes.

Its time to SNAP OUT OF IT!!!!!!!!

When you haven't posted on your blog for 3 weeks because you were getting ready for the holidays, that is understandable. When the last time you posted was 6 months ago and you keep saying you can't find the time, SNAP OUT OF IT!!!!!  Unless your last name is Obama or you are in a lab developing a cure for something or you are Kate Gosslin, chances are, you can find a few minutes a week to blog SOMETHING! All I can say is, "I am sorry". There are no excuses for my excuses, so I won't make any.  The only thing I will say, when one stitch lets loose, it unravels everything.

I don't want to start blogging today about what happened 6 months ago. I will tell you a few things, then, it is time to look ahead. Let me start by saying, I FINISHED THE LION/ELEPHANT itty bitty reversible toy!!! He started off a possible misfit toy and turned out to be Neve's favorite toy. Elephant, as she calls him, sits on my bookshelf. Every morning when Neve arrives, the first thing she sees is Elephant. She watches him, with a smile on her face, while she takes her coat and boots off. Then, *vooom*, off to get Elephant. With a grab and a hug, the 2 are off to play. This is one loved toy.

Florian Fox. I fell in love with this fox years ago. It is from a book called "And So To Bed" by Lucinda Guy. I made it for my collection and ended up giving it to Nolan for his first birthday. His mom, Ruth, had given me the yarn from her mother's stash (my dear friend for 34 years, who passed away). When Ruth saw the completed fox, she fell in love with it. Since the yarn had been in her mom's stash, I felt it was meant to be that Florian Fox go live with Nolan and Ruth.

Through the winter all I really made was dishclothes, mainly to learn new stitches. I didn't take on any major projects. Kinda lost my "oomph". I loved looking through magazines and books, but mentally I couldn't get it together.

BIG NEWS!!!!!!!  My son applied a few years ago to become a police officer in a few cities. He was accepted by the Nashville, Tennessee police department, but, he really wanted to work in Detroit. He turned down the Nashville offer a year ago, hoping Detroit would call him. After waiting and waiting, he finally got the call. PRAISE GOD!!!!  He will be starting the police academy something in late spring or early summer. What a change this is going to be. He is currently the Community Center Director for the Salvation Army. He is thrilled, so we are thrilled.

This winter we also expanded our family. We have adopted 3 Map Turtles: Shellie, 10 years old and Sheldon and Shamus, both 9 years old. We are having so much fun with these 3 cuties. We have actually rearranged our furniture away from the TV to facing the aquarium.

Ok, fast forward to today, I am working on Tortellini Tortoise from the book Knit & Purl Pets. I had to temporarily jump ship (from the itty bittys) to make this turtle. Even though I know Susan Anderson wouldn't be upset, I feel like I am cheating on her. LOL.  Since we have our 3 little turtles, I had to knit one.

As I said, I didn't knit this winter, but I did buy lots of books. WOO HOO!!!! Actually, I joined a book club. What a great way to buy books. Saved a ton of money.

Oh, one last thing. NOT good news. This winter while I was moping around, I gained 12 pounds. What a pain, literally. If I had been in good shape to begin with, this would not bother me. Gaining this weight means I now have 90 pounds to lose. ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!  Last week I pulled out my Weight Watcher books and started counting my points. First week, down 6 pounds.    84 pounds to go.

Wow, has life changed.

I can't believe how different life is when you get older. When I was starting my family, sleep wasn't in my vocabulary. Now granted, I had just turned 19 when my daughter was born and was 21 when my son came along. Back then, it was nothing to pull allnighters. I remember doing all my housework, sewing, decorating between the hours of 12:00 am and 4:00 am. I would go to sleep from 4:00 am to 7:00 am. I didn't do that every night, but that was my life more often than not. Let me clarify that a bit, housework was done when it got done, IF it got done. My house was clean but often messy. I loved sewing for my family: the kid's clothes, my husband's flannel shirts, my clothes, slippers for friends and relatives, crafts for each holiday. I seemed to get more done in those wee hours of the night/morning than if I tried to do it while the children were awake. Now, if I am not in bed by 9:30 pm, which rarely happens, chances are you will catch me sleeping at the dining room table. Not a pretty sight.

I was hoping with school back in session, that I would get into a very productive routine. Nope!

I didn't take into consideration that when school started back up, Nolan would be in full crawling mode. In the summer, little man was happy to sit in his bouncy chair, sit on my lap, jump in his "Johnny Jump-up". Now, he is rarely in the same room for more than 2 minutes. He is the speediest crawler I have had the pleasure of knowing. The fact that he is trying to keep up with 4 little girls might explain it. And I would love to know who told Nolan that naps are optional. Anyway.......with all that said, I was finding it very hard to find the time to knit.

A few weeks ago I decided to take a Saturday and do nothing, EXCEPT, things that were knitting related. My son had given me a gift certificate to a fantastic knit shop in Detroit called "City Knits". I called my dear friend, Lisa, to see if she wanted to go with me. She had never been to this shop. It is in the old historic Fisher Building. The architecture is mind boggling. From the minute you touch the ornate handle on the door, walk into the lobby and look up to see the carvings and paintings on the walls and ceilings, you can almost feel what it must have been like in the 1940's and 50's. Then when you go into each little shop in the building, it again, takes you back in time. City Knits has so much packed into a small space. I love the yarn selection, but what I REALLY love is their selection of books. I feel like I am at the library every time I sit down at the little nook to look thru the books. Lisa swore she wasn't going to look, let alone buy, anything. She brought along her knitting. I felt bad that she was going to knit while I spent ages looking for ways to spend my gift certificate. As she was walking to the table, to join other knitters, she was stopped by EVERYONE in the shop. She was carrying an adorable felted purse she had knit. For the next HOUR, Lisa and her purse were the talk of the shop. It was hysterical. I loved it. I think it was me who had to wait for her to stop talking with all the other knitters about her purse. I had made my purchase and then joined Lisa at the table. Oh, if you would like to see Lisa's purse, she is Sasa6 on Ravelry. The purse pattern is called, "B4 Bag" by Trish Bloom. By the way, look at what I bought with part of my gift certificate.

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the colors, I love the temperatures, I love the smell in the morning. I used to love the smell of burning leaves, now that is just a memory.

Last weekend I brought in the outside plants that I will try to save all winter. We had a really warm week, 90 degrees, after weeks of 60-70 degree temps. My grape tomatoes started blooming again. I am sure nothing will happen, but, I brought the plant in. Time will tell.

I started 2 clippings from leaves that were laying in the parking lot at Eastern Market, in Detroit. I think they are going to make it.

Basil, Rosemary, and Oregano. Need I say more?

A little of this, a little of that.

My favorite, Hens and Chicks.

Ok, let's get to knitting, I mentioned the last time I posted that I was going to make my reversible Lion and Elephant a misfit toy, since I didn't like the way the yarn was striping. Well, I have now kinda fallen in love with the lion. I don't know why. Nothing has changed, but he is growing on me. It will all depend on how his expression turns out. If I like his face, I am not going to use the yarn I had originally bought for the elephant. Until I find the perfect yarn, the elephant will be on hold

I was watching the PBS show, "Knit and Crochet, Today", and decided to crochet the Filigree Bowl they were demonstrating. I can't believe how fast *I* crocheted it. It only took me hours, not days. The stiffening with sugar water took 3 days to dry. I love it.

I also made 2 more of Susan Anderson's "Egg to Bluebird and a Little Nest, too". My neighbor has been hinting for one for ages. I was making mine and I mentioned it. She looked so excited, I had to surprise her with it. Then, I started mine, DONE IN 2 DAYS!!!! I do not knit fast. That thrilled me.

I am sure most of you tried to win the giveaway on Susan Anderson's blog last week. She was giving away 10 copies of "knitsimple Holiday 2010". One lucky person was also to get yarn to make one of the wonderful animals in the magazine. Of course I commented, hoping to win a copy of the magazine. Then, I PANICKED! I thought, what are the chances of me winning? And with Susan's new animals featured in the magazine, most likely it will sell out as soon as it hits the stands. So, I immediately went to the website and ordered my copy of the holiday issue. I don't even care that I paid twice the price. I now own the magazine and can't wait to make the Hedgehog/Squirrel reversible toy. And the Owls, oh my gosh. OH, the fox. Let's face it, anything Susan designs, DARLING!

I also bought this used book. There are some very cool looking patterns in it.

Like I said earlier, fall is my favorite time of the year. I forgot to mention that I loved apple picking, pumpkins, cider mill donuts, and decorating my dining room. However, I am not into decorating for Halloween, just fall.

What a great feeling, KNITTING NEEDLES!!!

First let me say, Thank You, SO MUCH, for all the words of encouragement during my weeks of caring for Titch and the words of sympathy over his passing. For some reason his passing has been harder on me than when I had to put down my own dogs. I think that is because my dogs had lived long and happy lives. It was their time. Titch was only 9 weeks. I thought he had his whole life ahead of him. He made an impression on my heart. Such a sweet boy. Again, thank you for all your kind words.

I feel like I have been away from knitting for months. It turns out, it has only been 5 weeks.

I opened my knitting bag to see what I had been working on. I found my skein of red Cascade Yarns, UltraPima cotton, with the beginnings of a pretty little scarf, hanging from the needles. I also found the half knit egg from "itty bitty toys" pattern, Egg to Bluebird and a Little Nest, too. And, my misfit toy, the reversible Lion and Elephant toy, also from "itty bitty toys". That is the one that looks like it should be in the "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" movie. The yarn I chose is self-striping and looks pretty tacky. I have decided I will finish this toy and tell everyone it was made for my Rudolph collection. It is a toy from the "Island of Misfit Toys". THEN, I will make another Lion and Elephant reversible toy in yarn I like.

I decided to work on the scarf. It is such an easy pattern, one I can knit while watching TV or talking with family and friends. I had about 3 inches completed on the scarf when I put it away the end of July. I picked up the needles on Tuesday night and finished the scarf on Wednesday night. WOO HOO!!!! That is great for me. I really like this pattern. The finished size: 4"x 58"

Now that I am back to clicking the knitting needles together, I am anxious to get back to Knitting thru the "itty bittys".

Tough week

My last post was introducing you to my little Titch. That was 2 weeks ago.

When he arrived to me he weighed 4.5 lbs. As of last Thursday he was 8 weeks old and weighed 18 lbs. For a megaesophagus puppy, weight gain is wonderful, but for Titch to have gained 12.5 lbs. in 3 weeks, FANTASTIC! I was sure we were out of the woods. Maybe an issue here and there, but, for all purposes, Titch was a normal, happy, chubby puppy.

My heart is breaking. Titch died on Monday, August 30th from an infection that ravaged his little body. He was a fat puppy on Friday morning and by Monday afternoon he had lost 7 lbs. I made the decision to let him go on Monday evening. I miss him terribly, but I am so glad he is no longer in pain.

I spent the last few nights of Titchie's life, sitting in the rocker, his head on my shoulder, rocking. Needless to say, I didn't sleep. I was to worried.

So, I am now in no shape to concentrate on much of anything. I am hoping a few good nights of sleep and I will be back to knitting. It will be very theraputic, as well as relaxing.