Wow, an actual FO!

I am happy these socks are done, but none too proud of the fact that they took me 18 months to knit! I started them to take to a Stitch 'n Pitch game (in 2008!) and made quite a bit of progress on them for a while... then they got ignored for a very long time. These are the Socks of Kindness, and I used Jojoland Melody yarn.

My first FO of 2010. Now, what to put on the needles next?

ps.... Jake was the photographer for this shot.

Message from McKenna

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by my grandma's blog!

I hope you had a great Christmas, and that the New Year is off to a good start!

My grandma has just finished working on her personal page for "Team McKenna Faith" (that's me) for the March of Dimes walk coming up soon. Well.... when it gets warmer, that's for sure! My mommy has done the March of Dimes walk the last few years. Who knew I would be one of the babies born prematurely... one of the babies that she was walking for and didn't even know it.

As you can imagine, this cause has become even more important to Mommy and Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa, and our whole entire family and circle of friends (and there are a lot of them! Have you heard about those crazy parties in our family? Whew, I'm going to have to get used to all that commotion! So far I've led a very sheltered life!) .

anyway.... since we all had the experience of me being born before I was done cookin' in the oven, we definitely want to help prevent other families from going through the turmoil and emotional struggle that premature birth can cause, as well as the added financial burden, possible birth defects, etc. (Grandma put those words in... my vocabulary is not quite THAT good yet!)

Some of those babies in the NICU with me were not doing as well as I was. I wish every one of them could be as strong and healthy as I am now. I wish all of us could have stayed in our mommy's wombs a little longer so we could grow inside and not in the NICU. It was not a fun place to be for any of us, but those wonderful angels (nurses and doctors) helped me get bigger and stronger so I could go home to be with my mommy and daddy.

All the big people in the family are trying to get a really big team of local friends and family to walk with us. I will be in my stroller, which will be all decorated with balloons and signs. It's going to be a fun weekend (we will walk two different events in one weekend in 2 different locations) It's a lot of walking, but it will be great! Don'tcha think?

I know you can't come walk with us, but please consider a donation for our team, for a very worthy cause, in honor and celebration of ME! Just click on the banner. Easy-peasy!

Thanks a bunch!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO,
McKenna

(my grandma, the Bloomin' Knitiot, thanks you too!) Mwah!

PS... just a little reminder.... this is me on the day I was born. I only weighed 2 lbs. 5 oz.


and look at me now! 5 months old, almost 10 lbs. Yay!

10 Things

Inspired by my friend Maria's recent post, here are 10 things I am most looking forward to in 2010:

1: Watching McKenna continue to grow stronger and seeing her develop so many new skills during this next year.

2. Getting rid of the UGLY wallpaper in our family room and hopefully getting new furniture too. I'd like to maybe get rid of the mantle and put tile around the fireplace instead. We'll see.

3. A vacation? I didn't get one last year....

4. Swimming in our new pool. Please let there be a summer this year!

5. Being more active, being more careful with my eating, and losing some weight.

6. Adding sewing back into my leisure pastimes. Knitting kind of took over for a while, and will not go away, but I'll be doing more sewing this year.

7. McKenna being able to spend more time with the family, as RSV season ends, and her lungs become more developed. Hurry spring!

8. The March Of Dimes Walk for Babies in April. Supporting the March of Dimes in their battle against premature birth has taken on a whole new meaning in our lives. We are hoping to gather a huge team to walk in honor and celebration of McKenna, our little miracle.

9. Getting back into the habit of reading. I've spent very little time with my nose in a book lately, and I miss it!

10. I vow to be a better blogger this year!

Blue Moon

Happy New Year everyone! Tonight there is a "Blue Moon" which I feel I must mention, since my company name is Once In A Bloomoon Creations. A Blue Moon comes every 2-1/2 years, but only about every 19 years on New Years Eve . So, now that you know that piece of info......

Let me just say, 2009 had its share of moments, that's for darned sure...

The highlights:

~Kaitlyn graduated from high school with high honors

~Kaitlyn got her drivers license and a car (THANK THE HEAVENS ABOVE I am done carting that girl's butt around!)

~Kaitlyn started college

~Kim and Drew announced that Mike and I would become grandparents!

~McKenna was born

~I became a very proud grandma!!

Some of the challenges:

~Insomnia came to visit and didn't want to leave... I still have sleepless nights at times but things are somewhat better. That was a struggle for quite a few months. There have been several other health worries, some of which are still unresolved. Other family members have had their share of health issues as well.

~McKenna's birth was 9 weeks early, due to Kim developing severe pre-eclampsia. McKenna's 45 day stay in the NICU downtown was emotionally, logistically, and basically in all ways challenging. We all got through it... I am humbled by Kim and Drew's strength and perseverance during this time to do everything they could for their tiny preemie daughter. Happily things have only improved over time and she is doing so well now!

~The timing of McKenna's birth coincided with my planned trip to Portland to go to the Sock Summit. While disappointed about missing the SS, I was also going to be able to visit with my sister who lives too far away for me to see more than once a year if we're lucky. And I was going to finally meet my dear online friend Maria. We have "known" each other online for 12 years and we were so looking forward to a face-to-face visit (and some sock knitting together). But I needed to be here to support Kim and Drew as they learned to cope with the situation and help them get through it to the prize at the end....

~Mike worked about a million hours (slight exaggeration, I think... but I'm not sure) this year... way more overtime than he would like at this point in his life. I try hard to not complain, considering the rate of unemployment, especially in Michigan. And considering a couple of family members lost their jobs this year, we do consider ourselves fortunate to not have faced the prospect of Mike looking for a new job (again). But really, 70+ hours a week when you're in your 50s gets a little hard on the body (and mind). Give the man a bit of a break. We'd all be a little happier and less stressed, that's for sure.

My business was very slow this year, but I am going to take part of the blame for that. My focus was definitely elsewhere, and the lack of extra time to devote to promoting my patterns was just something I had no control over.

I spent a very huge portion of the spring, summer and fall planning and executing a graduation party, a baby shower (that came after the baby!), then caring for McKenna when Kim went back to work...I was devoting my attention to everything (it seemed) but Jake. Guilt overpowered me at times... I felt like he spent way too much time at the bottom of the totem pole this year, and I tried very hard to make special times with him, but it just felt like I was throwing him a bone. I am hoping to somehow make it up to him. He was a trooper, thank goodness. I hope he doesn't resent the lack of attention compared to everything else that happened this year.

Jake didn't really have any huge milestones, but I will report he is doing great in 7th grade, and loves being "Uncle Jake" to McKenna. So many days he rushes in from school, scrubs his hands, and comes to say hello to her. Such a good boy :-)

So that was 2009, and I think we are all ready for a New Year. Here's to the hopes and expectations and dreams... may they all come true!

Dodecahedron---I just call it Pointy Ball!

What's this? Another blog post so soon? Another FO so soon? In the midst of the holiday chaos?

I finished up McKenna's ball last night. Knitting the last point after stuffing it was pretty tedious, but I'm happy with the results. I put a cat toy (bell in a cage) in the middle of the stuffing for a little jingly fun. I hope McKenna enjoys her dodecahedron for years to come.

click for pattern

Oh heck, let's just add one more photo here. I made this Pretty Thing cowl for my good friend Tamara. I used alpaca, (because Tam loves her some alpaca) but it kind of hid the stitch pattern. Next time I make a Pretty Thing (and I will do this project again) I will use a less fuzzy yarn. It's a pretty thing indeed!

Pattern available on Ravelry

McKenna's Stocking

I went to my stash and came up with these 4 colors to knit McKenna's Christmas stocking. Not Christmas-y colors by any means, but definitely girly-girl colors. I made up the pattern as I went along, and had no idea how it would turn out. McKenna thought it was a pretty cozy sleeping bag before it went into the washer for felting!



I haven't felted anything in a while, and I guess I forgot that standing over the washing machine with a watchful eye is the key to getting the results you want. I had the stocking in the washer for only 8 minutes, and it was done. I would have stopped the felting a bit earlier had I been standing there. It's not WAY too small, but I would have liked it if all my design elements were a bit more visible and also if it were just a wee bit bigger to fit more goodies inside in future years.



I'll be needle-felting McKenna's name once the stocking is dry.



Hey! What happened to my sleeping bag? It used to be THIS big! I can't fit in that anymore!!!!

My new toy

My new piece of electronics arrived today. I decided I needed one of these slick little Flip video cameras. The fact that you could personalize it with a photo or a graphic really sealed the deal for which camera I might buy. I love the fact that no one else will have a camera exactly like mine!

It really couldn't be any easier to use. The USB connection "flips" out of the top of the camera and you plug it right into your computer, without any cords.


The software is so user friendly. Within mere seconds you can save to your computer, email your video, upload it to the internet, pull screen shots from it, make it into a video greeting card, burn it to a DVD, etc.

The Flip MinoHD is quite small, (smaller than my phone) and will slip easily into a pocket or purse. I am going to be taking a ton of video of McKenna (and Christmas, and many other things) How handy, to just be able to whip it out because it's with you all the time, instead of having to haul around the big video camera, in its big case, worrying about if you have a blank tape or DVD to record onto, etc.

I'm so excited to get the early Christmas present that I bought myself. I got the power adapter free (you get one free accessory on the website right now) which allows me to charge it when I am away from my computer. I also want the HDMI cables that will let me watch the videos on the TV, and also the mini tripod which will come in very handy.

Knitting has resumed....

My cut has healed, but I still have swelling, pain and numbness in my finger. I decided I couldn't wait any longer to knit McKenna's pumpkin hat, so it was knit yesterday with my finger up in the air. My tension was definitely all over the place. Oh well, it still turned out to be a cute hat for an adorable little girl. Hopefully my finger is back in working order before too much longer.

Well....

There will be no knitting with THIS (or the pain that accompanies it).

Public Service Announcement:

Can Lid + Stupidity = 6 Stitches (of the non-knitting variety)

McKenna hits the yarn store....

McKenna is 2 months old today, and she decided it was about time she shopped for yarn. She had an appt. downtown today, which happened to be in the building next to where City Knits is located. So McKenna convinced her mommy to take us inside so she could pick something out.

She quickly was overcome by the yarn fumes, and went off to la-la land, which meant she had to trust me to pick out the yarn. I picked Crystal Palace Bamboozle, in the Tulip colorway (which reminds me more of melon colors than tulips, but it's pretty!) I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it yet, but it sure was exciting to me that one of the very first places McKenna went (besides to her doctor appts.) was a yarn store!

No knitting, just McKenna

This picture was taken today and I love it SO much that I had to share!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

McKenna is leaving the hospital tonight!!!!!! We are all so relieved, happy, excited, etc. This sweetie is finally going to sleep in her own home with Mommy and Daddy. YAY!!!!

ps... that's the latest new hat from me :-)