Back to School

Jake started 5th Grade yesterday, and Kaitlyn is now a Junior in High School. They are sure getting all grown up. Next year is going to be a big year. Having already gone through the Senior Year stuff with Kim, I know there will be lots of events, lots of expenses all year long, and then the big event at the end of the year. Jake will experience his first year in Middle School next year. Ack! I'm not sure I'm ready for all of this! Ok, let's get through this year before we start stressing about next year.

Here's a picture of my big boy on his first day of 5th grade.It was a hot day, but he insisted on wearing long sleeves. I think he wanted to show off the cool shirt he got at Silver Lake this summer. Good thing his school is air conditioned. Jake loves his teacher, and I think he's going to have another great year. He has been so fortunate to have such awesome teachers every single year. It makes such a difference! Hats off to teachers!



I've got a few other pictures to show you. This one is my version of the Everlasting Bagstopper on Knitty.com. I decided I wanted a round bottom, and a slightly bigger bag overall, so used the Pinwheel baby blanket pattern to get started. I stopped when I had 14 stitches in each section, so 140 stitches all together. Then I did several more rounds in stockinette without any more increases. Switched to size 11 needles and started the pattern stitch. It took me a while to realize that I probably have too many stitches...it's going to be quite a large bag. I think 120 or 130 would have been a better stopping point. I'm using some Butterfly Cotton from my stash...I think I'm going to add the orange in as a wide stripe, and then finish off again with the turquoise at the top (since it doesn't look like the turquoise I have is going to be enough)



Here is a photo of another Garden Gate Scarf I just finished. This one I knit for SWTC with their yarns. I used Bamboo for the scarf, and Karaoke for the stems and flowers. Some of the flowers are felted, and some are not. Jonelle at SWTC wanted me to make it that way. I think she said she may add it to the Karaoke trunk shows that are going around right now, showing how Karaoke felts. I wanted to get a better photo of it, but it was about 90 degrees today, and Kaitlyn refused to pose for another scarf picture in the heat. The photo of the Garden Gate Scarf on my website was taken with Kaitlyn on another 90 degree day in the spring. She put up a fuss that day too. Poor baby....it's not like I don't ever do a THING for her. Looking at this picture, and the other one that is on the patterns, (look up there at the sidebar) I think I like the criss-crossing of the stems better than having them run straight up. What do you think?