Announcing new Ripple Slip Pattern

My new pattern is now ready and up for sale. The "Buy It" buttons are over there in the sidebar. ---->>

I've added it on Ravelry (where you can see a few more photos). I still need to add it to my website. 

There are many options with this pattern:

• Scarf or Shawl
  
• Knit stitch pattern lengthwise or widthwise
• Yarns in 2 contrasting solid colors
• 2 colorways of a self-striping yarn
• A self-striping yarn with a solid
  

Here are some photos for ideas:

Scarf, 1 skein Kauni, split so that contrasting colors were alternated, knit lengthwise:

Scarf, 2 skeins of different colorways of SWTC Karaoke, knit widthwise:

Shawl, 3 Skeins Silky Wool and 5 Skeins Silk Garden Lite, knit widthwise:

Shawl, 4 oz. each tan and black DK Alpaca, knit lengthwise:

Let me know how you like it! 

Go Spartans!

So, any N. Carolina fans who are in town for the big NCAA Championship game tonight woke up to this:

Hope they're enjoying the Michigan weather! At least it was decent on Saturday and most of yesterday.

Jake wanted green pancakes in honor of the game tonight, so I went one better and made 2 of these (only one survived the flip though)

So.....

Saturday was quite the day of surprises, for many people.

First of all, let me tell you....The very best way to throw a surprise party is 6 months after the birthday! 

Yep, on Saturday, my family and friends got me, and they got me good. Now, generally I pride myself on being a rather observant person.... one who can pick up on things and put them together when they are going on behind the scenes. But not this time. No sirree.  I think part of it was that I was so preoccupied for 2 months trying to bite my tongue (which is missing big chunks at this point) and not let it slip that Kim and Drew are expecting (until they decided it was time for the announcement). Or maybe I'm just getting old. Who knows. But SURPRISED I was. Totally, 100% clueless, and it was great!

But, let's back-track to earlier in the day. Kim and Drew came over to make the announcement to Kaitlyn and Jake, who were kept in the dark up until this point.  Kim had made up Easter baskets for them, giving them to them early (supposedly) because Kaitlyn is leaving for FL at the end of the week. In the eggs was not candy, but puzzle pieces. Kim had gotten some of those blank puzzles from Michael's, and I helped her write a poem that would reveal at the end that they were going to become an aunt and uncle. They worked together and put the puzzles together, and read what was written on them.  Their reaction? I think they were in shock. Neither one of them said a word. They didn't even look at Kim and Drew. They both kind of had a glazed look on their face and stared off into space or down at the floor. I don't understand it, but eventually I coaxed them into saying something and giving hugs! Weird...

Then a little while later, the phone rang, and then Jake asked if he could spend the night at his friends' house to watch the NCAA game (he's a huge Spartans fan) and that Kim and Drew were going to drop him off, because they were leaving to go to the mall before we met up again at Mike's brother's house to have a card party. LIES! All of it, LIES! Kim and Drew were really going to pick up the party sub, the cake, the chicken, etc. Jake went with them so he would be there with the video camera ready when I came around the corner and was surprised. (I even put the video camera case into the car myself, but it had been loaded with something heavy so I wouldn't know the camera wasn't in there) 

We pulled up to Chris and Deb's house, and yes, there were a few more cars than I was expecting to be there, but it didn't send up any red flags at all. Mike said something like "It looks like everyone is out in the yard, so lets just go that way first.... I'll follow you" So I went through the garage into the back yard, and there were a LOT of people standing there, and then they said Surprise! and it took me a minute to figure out what the heck was going on, because there was Jake (NOT at Trevor's house spending the night) with the video camera, and there were some of my knitting buddies (who would NOT be at a Bloom family card game) and you know my 50 year old brain had to pause for a moment and "get it". 

So, Mike and Kim had been planning and making this happen and I had no idea. And then we got sick and THANK GOODNESS we got better in time to be able to enjoy it without having to cancel or infect everyone. 

Here's just about everyone that came to my party...

BUT WAIT! There's MORE!

Kim had been telling me (probably more lies) that she and Drew were going to make the baby announcement at our Easter gathering.  But I told her there were going to be people at the card party who would be out of town next weekend, so she should do it early. (I had NO IDEA how many people would be there on Saturday that would not be there next weekend! LOL) Her idea was to get everyone together for a group photo, have them say "cheese" for the first picture, then have them say "Kim and Drew are having a baby" for the second one, and whoever was taking the pictures would get all the reactions to the announcement. Unfortunately, because it was such a big crowd, (and because most of them are loud-mouthed Blooms, and I say that with deep affection, y'all) and because Debbie who was taking the pictures was kind of far away to get us all in, not everyone heard what she said so Mike yelled it out again, and still...blank stares.... smiling for the camera.... and FINALLY people started getting it and there were hugs and tears and cheers and it was really great. Deb continued to take pictures (until my camera card filled up.... I should have emptied some pictures off there before I went... darn it) but my friend Tam also had the video camera going and got all the celebration afterwards. It was great.

Here's one of the best pictures ....The look on my SIL Debbie's face is priceless. I don't remember...it's all a blur, but she must've screamed something out because everyone is looking at her! LOL

Phew, I am so glad to be able to speak freely now without having to try to keep this secret any longer. My firstborn is going to be a mommy. And what a great mommy she is going to be. Yay! 

They plan on finding out (if baby cooperates) if it's a girl or a boy next month at the ultrasound. Then I can knit specifically for gender instead of the generic knitting I am doing right now. 

Much to tell...

...... but I'll save the big long story for tomorrow. For now, it's just the announcement I've been wanting to make for over 2 months since I found out........

I'm going to be a grandma!!!!

Let the baby knitting begin..... 

(SOOOOOO excited!)

Knitting content....No words needed

Ok, a few words. Cupcake hat/sweater set for baby shower in 2 weeks. My friend/neighbor Donna's granddaughter is arriving soon! EXCITING! I was so happy to find the cupcake buttons once I decided to do the cupcake hat to go with the sweater. Very happy with how this turned out!

Cupcake hat from Itty Bitty Nursery and Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater

House of Flu

Jake got it first, got better, had a relapse, got better again, then it hit the rest of us full force in the last few days. All life as we previously knew it has come to a standstill as we muddle through with our chills, aches, fevers and general comatose-like states. Be back soon!

Blooms, and notes about the kitchen project

There is one more flower to open, but here is my amaryllis in all its glory.

And here it is with a backdrop of my new kitchen color. (Though this is not really the best indication of the color...more photos of kitchen progress to come soon)


Mike is off this week, so we are trying to get as much done as possible. The ceiling is painted, the walls are about done. We still have to paint all the trim (white) and put it back up. The doors will be a darker shade of the walls, and they still need to be painted. We are getting new base moldings, so all of that needs to be bought, cut, primed and painted.

We are taking out our ceramic tile countertop/backsplash and putting in a really fun retro Formica (the boomerang pattern from the 50s has been revived, and we are getting it in the aqua color, which is why we picked this color for the walls) The countertop is almost exactly the same color as the turquoise Fiestaware, so I will use some of the accessory Fiesta pieces around the kitchen.I am thinking yellow and red accents here and there will be nice (See that metal edging on the coral Formica table in that link above? We are trying to find a source for that metal strip for the front edge of the countertops. Originally we were going to have Home Depot make the countertop with a bullnose, where the pattern would go around the front edge of the countertop, seamlessly. But we decided to buy the Formica sheet and do the countertops ourselves, saving money, allowing for this fun retro-looking edge application, and it will also eliminate the corner seam in the Formica, which I was not happy about having to begin with) . We are going to put up some sort of metal backsplash. Not positive yet, but it might be diamond tread. We are also putting in a dark gray composite sink. There is gray in the Formica, so that will tie in. Plus I'm just sick and tired of trying to keep an almond colored porcelain sink looking nice. It's always got pot marks, stains, etc. Dark will be much easier to deal with!

We're also putting in a new bank of cabinets with the same fun countertop, so I can store more of my appliances, and have another work surface as well. HOPEFULLY it'll not be another clutter collector!

Here is my stove, which fits in with the retro look we are going for

I spent a while last night looking for a fun new cookie jar, and found a few prospects. I also found a cute clock that I'm hoping to snag on ebay.

After 5 days of rain, and a flooded yard, the sun has come out, but the temps have plummeted. We got a dusting of snow a little while ago. It was nearly 70 just 6 days ago. But this is not unusual. It takes a long time for Michigan to let go of winter.

Jake was home sick the past 2 days but went back today. I hope he's doing ok. So far no call from him asking to come home, so hopefully he's snapped back.

Off to order the countertop. Soon there will be tile-smashing going on! Fun!

Soup Party

Saturday evening was fun! We went to a Soup Party, which is an annual event, but this is only the second time we've gone. I don't know why we've passed so many times before, cuz it sure was great!

The premise: Everyone brings a Crockpot full of soup. Unusual recipes are encouraged, so that there aren't 6 pots of Chicken Noodle, ya know?

Someone brings a few loaves of crusty bread to go with, but there are surprisingly few other things to eat such as appetizers, desserts, etc. Believe me...... you don't need them. I think I tried small amounts of about 6 soups and felt full the entire evening.

The photo shows only about 1/2 of the Crockpots. There was another table set up on the other side. This is the only picture I got though. I meant to take more pix, but I started sailing with the Cap'n.... (Morgan, that is) and well, I guess I forgot. Me and the Cap'n had a good time though.

Some of the soups that were made are listed here (and again, I meant to actually write them down, but...well...the Cap'n stopped me)

Dill Pickle
Lasagna
Taco Twist
Reuben
Buffalo Chickenjavascript:void(0)
Onion
Creamy Tomato
Loaded Baked Potato
Mexican Wedding Soup
Stuffed Green Pepper

to name a few. Everything thing was really good! To add to the festivities, there is a raffle drawing. I didn't remember this from the one other time we went, but that was a long time ago. Anyway, the host/hostess (My BIL's brother and his wife) provide prizes for the drawing. There is a Crockpot (of course), ladle, and other assorted kitchen goodies. The money collected from the raffle is split and becomes 2 of the prizes as well. We won a cash prize of $63. WOO HOO!

Crazy weather

We're supposed to hit a record high today. The record is 56, they are saying 58-60. There is still snow out there that needs to go somewhere, but unfortunately the ground is still frozen solid. To top it off, thunderstorms tomorrow.

If we didn't live on this particular dirt road, I would not have a problem with the washing away of the 8 weeks of snow that has accumulated with no real melting. ( We didn't get our typical January thaw.... the snow just kept coming and the temps would hardly budge out of the single digits and teens.) But when things get warm really fast like this (and add some rain on top of it) our road can not handle it and turns to a muddy mess. Every year I pray it is not the year we have to resort to parking at the corner and putting on our boots to walk home. We've come close a few years, but this might be the one. Hoo boy... fun times.

On the knitting front, I am almost done with one of the pieces for my new pattern. The pattern will have several different options to choose from, and I am hoping to have samples to show all, or at least most, of the options in photos on the pattern. I'm getting good feedback about the design, and will announce it here when it's ready.

I spent about 7 hours Saturday in the company of my knitting buddies at Kim's house. We had ourselves a little mid-winter knitting retreat. Lots of chatter, food, and knitting. Unfortunately I was the first one who had to leave.... I really didn't want to leave but I had to tear myself away to go to a fundraiser that night. We had a really great time. Kim lives in a rural area where wildlife abound and at one point during the afternoon, 4 deer came and stood right outside her dining area window to feed a bit, and then stared as us while we stared at them. It was so cool!

Feels like a heat wave!

I was able to walk out the door to get the mail without turning into a popsicle today. We're having a one-day heat wave here. It's 35 degrees at the moment. Now, to some of you (Hi Maria!) who may be enjoying unseasonably warm temps, we have been below freezing, and quite often below zero, for a while now. Brrr.... We also had a bunch of snow dump on us again last weekend, but thankfully none since then.

 

It's going to get frigid again this weekend. Single digits overnight with highs in the teens. Winter has a tight grip on us this year for sure. My wool socks and felted clogs are on my feet constantly. I've even had to wear socks to bed a few times and let me tell you, it has to be mighty cold for me to go to bed with socks on. I HATE having my feet covered in bed. Most times I have them sticking out of the sheets and blankets. So yes, this little warm up today feels nice. Even if it is short-lived.

I started these socks before Stitch 'n Pitch this summer so I could knit something small at the ballpark. After the game, they got put aside so I could work on my Rhinebeck sweater. I finally decided to pick the socks back up, and I've made a good bit of progress in the past few days. Hopefully they will be done this weekend. I love the pattern and the yarn!



I have another pair of socks that have been in progress even longer than these. I need to finish them so I can dive into my sock yarn stash and start a new pair. I really want to knit up some of my sock yarn before I buy any more. Not all of it, mind you, but at least a couple more pairs of socks have to come from my stash before I buy any more (and I already know what the first purchase will be. I got to see and feel some Mini Mochi last night and it is so pretty, and SO soft. That yarn is going to make some scrumptious socks!)

I'm working on a new design right now. It's being tested, and I hope to get the pattern written up, photos taken, and have it for sale soon! Watch for details here!

Happy New Year!

The holidays left very little time, energy, or desire to blog. But here I finally am!

Christmas was wonderful. We had Christmas Eve here at our house, with Kim and Drew, my parents, and my brother Andy and his family. Mike made homemade kielbasa, and golabki (pronounced gawumpki....which is Polish stuffed cabbage). We also put a ham in the oven, and had some yummy side dishes. SIL Karen brought an awesome salad that I will definitely make again. It was unique and wonderful!  Here is the link: Spinach Salad.  She used fresh bean sprouts instead of canned (a very wise choice in my opinion!) and added Toastettes croutons as well. Yum.

Kim and Drew spent the night as they always do, and we all woke up in the same house to share the festivities on Christmas Morning. Lots of great gifts were passed around and then opened and enjoyed.  We had a rather lazy day, just the way we like it. 

New Year's Eve plans were changed at the last minute. The party we were to go to was cancelled so we ended up picking up some take-out and staying home. No problem. Another quiet, lazy day. Same with New Year's Day. More time for vegging.

This morning I awoke to a strange sound coming from downstairs. Even as I came down, I couldn't figure out what I was hearing. Turns out Mike had started stripping the wallpaper and had the steamer going to get the paper and glue off once the top layer of paper came off.

We have been talking about redoing the kitchen for many months now, and if you don't take that first step, it will never happen.

We've had the same theme in the kitchen since we gutted and remodeled the kitchen not too long after moving in over 15 years ago! It's hunter green checkerboard, and apples. I loved it at the time we did it. I've had a LOT of matching accessories added to the room over the years, but after a while you just get to the point where it starts to drive you crazy. Apples, apples, EVERYWHERE!

When I got my Fiesta dishes, I started thinking more seriously about changing things up. So now it looks like we have made the decision to do it. I can't wait. The few walls that we've gotten the wallpaper off today already look better (though we will have lots of repair work to do before we can actually put some fresh paint up). And unfortunately, it's not just 4 walls of one room that need to be done. The apple/checkerboard theme goes towards the back entrance area, and also down the hallway to the stairs. I think it's actually on 15 surfaces. A big job, for sure. But it will be worth it in the end. I am SO ready for this!

My plan is to paint all the walls one color of Fiesta (pretty sure I've decided on turquoise) and then the window and door moldings will be a combination of the other Fiesta colors that I have in my dishes. It's going to be quirky and whimsical, and I'm going to love it! I plan on using Porcelaine 150 paints (mixing to make Fiesta-like colors when they are not available) and painting all of the 40+ ceramic cabinet and drawer knobs I have now. I have looked and looked and have not found anything I like to replace them without spending about $500. I have used the paint before and it is very durable after being baked in a regular oven...no kiln needed! 

I have no idea how long this project is going to take, but I'm glad it's finally underway and I really am looking forward to my fresh, new kitchen! Long overdue. 

 The big issue we have to decide on is whether to tear up the ceramic tile countertop and backsplash now, or have that be a separate project later on. The tile is almond, with an almond/green checkerboard backsplash. It REALLY needs to go (I'm thinking about a soapstone or concrete countertop). Now, or later, that is the question.......

Off to put the last of the Christmas decor away. Hopefully weeks won't go by again before I blog the next time, huh?

(Holy cow, I just went back and looked at the post when I got my Fiesta dishes and started talking about taking down the wallpaper and painting the kitchen. That was over EIGHT MONTHS AGO! It took us a while to get to this point, huh? Sheesh!)

Busy Busy BUSY!

Holy cow, December is just flying by!

I think everyone is scrambling to get ready for Christmas this year. With Thanksgiving being late this year, December was right around the corner, and now it's half over already. Sheesh!

No knitting pictures to show, no knitting content to report. I'm too busy doing other things. Decorating, getting packages ready for the mail, baking, etc.

I've taken some time out to have some fun along the way though!

Kim and I had a little 2-day mother/daughter outing 2 weekends ago. We went shopping in Frankenmuth all day on Sunday (and a little more Monday morning) and then headed over to Birch Run outlet mall to shop the rest of the day. We had a fun time, and it was nice to get a little more shopping done while spending time with Kim. Included in the fun was a HUGE chicken dinner at Zehnder's in Frankenmuth. Zehnder's is an institution, THE place to eat when in Frankenmuth, but we had never been there before. Our waitress was a real sweetie and we really enjoyed her after a long day of hitting the sidewalks. The other place you MUST go to is Bronner's.  A true Christmas wonderland! We spent over an hour there Sunday night but they closed down the store when we had only seen about 3/4 of the store, and so we had to go back in the morning to actually make our selections and purchases. 

Here are Kim and I outside the Frankenmuth Woolen Mill store. Kim froze her butt on the metal sheep toy. It was about 15 degrees that day. 

This past Saturday was Mike's company Christmas party. They provided everyone a room (or a taxi ride home instead) at the hotel complex where the party was held. It was nice to be able to enjoy the evening and then just go upstairs and sleep it off.  A good time was had by all (That tends to happen when the alcohol is flowing freely!)

It's crunch time now, so I must fire up my KitchenAid mixer and get back to work!

We're having Christmas eve here with my mom and dad, Kim and Drew, and my brother's family. My brother loves cheesecake, so the past several years his gift has been a couple different flavors of cheesecakes. After baking, I freeze them, then cut each one into 4 pieces, wrap in foil and pop them back in the freezer. That way he can just pull out 1/4 of a cheesecake now and then and have a little treat. So I have 2 cheesecakes to make for him, and one for us to have Christmas eve. I also want to get some cookies made. I will try out something I bought myself at the outlet mall, which my friend Tam told me about. There was a 3-6 week wait to get one online so I was happy to find it in the store. 

It's the New Metro beater blade for my mixer. It's got silicone edges that scrape the sides for you and it even gets down to the very bottom of the bowl where sometimes things don't quite get mixed in. 

Ok, time to get into the kitchen and get crackin'!  

(I just heard on the radio we are going to get some snow this evening. Yay! Yesterday morning it was pouring rain, and I really am not happy when it pours in December, washes away the snow and makes everything muddy brown again. It was 50+ degrees when Mike left for work yesterday morning, but down into the low 20s by afternoon. Brrr......)