Thanksgiving behind us & Christmas ahead ....

I hope if you celebrated Thanksgiving that you were with those you love & enjoyed a wonderful meal together. I know we have been blessed. Our son has hosted the holiday meals for a few years now. Our daughter in love is a blessing to our family. They certainly have the gift of hospitality.

It is a time for reflection and thought. Some times this reflective thought process can be pretty decent other times it can be distressing. Today I was thinking about how we communicate with one another. How the words we speak may be heard & yet misunderstood. They can be spoken and yet go unheard. They can be meant with love and full of good intentions & yet received as judgement or belittling or out right criticism. A lot of communication is unspoken so you need to tune into the body language as well as the spoken words. But when someone is screaming at you and you know that they are expressing themselves with a lot of anger how do you respond in the least harmful way? How do you get your true intentions across to them and restore peace? Or can you restore peace?

What if you decide you don't want to restore peace? What if you are tired of the miscommunication and the nonsense that goes with it? What if you just are too tired to be bothered with making the effort to restore peace with those you love and yet can let them be in their own world until the day they wake up realizing that they let you go when they should have been making peace with you instead? I've had these kinds of conversations ... the ones where ugly, angry words are spoken in haste and some that weren't so hasty but were just as ugly & angry. I don't care for these conversations. In fact I really find them disappointing. Especially my part in them when I have been the one misunderstood. But still there comes a time in life when you just get tired of the pain they cause.

I recall vividly the time I had this type of conversation with my dad, (God Bless him may he rest in peace) it was sad ~ really, horribly sad. We did make up of course. But too many families go through times like this. Where someone feels like they aren't being heard and then the holidays arrive with all the "warmth & good cheer" messages and some people handle them well while others scream to be heard for a change. Is that how you feel? Do you know someone who feels this way? Any suggestions for improving your communication skills? I know that some people recognize their problems and work on fixing them. I also know some people just remain quiet while they seethe inside. (not healthy at all) And I know that some people will respond if they were yelled at and still others may start the fight just so they can 'break the tension'.
So what does all this have to do with crocheting or happy holidays? What will all this "reflective" thinking do for anyone?
Most likely nothing at all. In the off chance it helps you drop me a comment to let me know. My hope is that we all learn how to be heard and understood at the same time. Especially when we are communicating with our loved ones. If you think before you speak & realize that what you are about to speak will cause more harm than good by all means "bite your tongue" and keep those ugly thoughts to yourself!!!

Okay so I'm going to relax and crochet a while. See where my thoughts take me tonight. I hope everyone had a wonderful & very happy thanksgiving yesterday, anyone shopping on "black Friday" I hope you got all the best sales for what you needed/ wanted to purchase.
May you all have a great weekend with frog free projects! Stay warm if it's cold where you live and stay cool if it's hot where you live :)

What a difference a day makes & sad news...

So I have no updates on my crocheting. Yes I am still busy with many projects but nothing to report on for this post. My last post came before my heart breaking news. When I returned from my most enjoyable time with my friend (we had lunch & then crocheted the afternoon away at the library) I had spoken with my daughter. She was telling me how she had not felt the baby move so she had gone to the doctor. They could not find the baby's heartbeat, and the ultrasound confirmed that the baby was "gone". The shock and anger and denial was strong and furious feelings... emotions I didn't know I had ran through me and all I could think of was if I felt like this how in the world did my daughter & son in love feel? Needless to say we were all greatly distressed by this news. On Friday Sarah was induced and the baby was delivered, they were able to hold him and kiss him and tell him they loved him and say their goodbyes. They gave him a name. Joshua Paul. He was already 1lb. 6 ounces & 12 & 1/2 inches long. (She was 23 weeks along.) He will never be forgotten. They took photos, we don't have to wonder what he looked like because we can see how incredibly precious he truly was. His hands & feet, all 10 fingers & toes. He is safe with Jesus and will never feel any pain or know any distress or sorrow, and he'll be there when we arrive. The emotions are not as raw right now and so I can share this news with you.

I went to a beginners quilting class on Sat. morning at my church and I am making my first quilting project. It will be a memorial wall hanging. I have my 9 patch square ready for embroidery. Now I need to design & layout my embroidery portion of this project. I believe I want his name in the center sq. with the date & weight & inches. (if it will all fit nicely there) then the four corners will have something embroidered on them. I just have to make the final decision as to what I want where & then get to stitching. Once that is done I can then add the lightweight batting and the back (which will be a solid piece of fabric matching one in the square) and then I am supposed to "quilt it" which is the fun part I guess. I will learn what to do when I'm done with my stitching.

What a difference a day makes. And all the life & love & emotions that are wrapped up in each day is a gift we should not take for granted. We should make the best & the most out of each day we have since we have not been promised tomorrow.
Wishing you all frog free projects.

I'm still alive & well... just crazy busy

Hi everyone ~ I hope you are still reading this blog. Anyway my mom called me last week and had to share about the free custom photo book Oprah's viewers had the chance to order from Snapfish... which meant I had to really focus on getting some photo's worthy of a custom photo book gathered together & uploaded so I could then "create" my photo book. Well my mom wanted to get a free book also which meant I had to create her account upload photos for her and create her free book as well. Thankfully there was such a great demand that they ended up extending the deadline for creating the book (not for getting in on the deal) ... whew I just finished my photo book ... my mom's I finished first ... I figured she deserved it more since she told me about the deal in the first place. Thanks Mom!

Crochet wise I still have a million & one things to do ... okay so I don't have a "million" but I do have an awful lot to get busy with. Status of blue newborn sweater ... it is still waiting for the second sleeve to be worked. Status of the hexagon newborn sweater in sport weight white & yellow assembled & waiting for trim edging to be worked.
Chemo caps for charity outreach at my local public library ... two started but I really don't care for the pattern at all so may have to frog & begin yet again.
By the way I'm also reading for the book discussion group and one book just for pleasure & one other for research ... yeah I'm a little busy.

Today I will go out for lunch with a fellow crocheter (and she is my friend's mom) then to the library so we can settle in for some crochet time. Hopefully that means something gets accomplished.
Wishing you all well ... and frog free days.
I wish you knew how important comments really are to a blogger!!!

The finish line is in sight ...

So I have only to work the second sleeve since I have officially finished the body of the sweater. Once I have that done I will trim it all around and be happy. Meanwhile I began another infant sweater using the Hexagon pattern ... I think I used to small of a hook with my sport weight yarn but my thought is if I did then I will have to work it a few extra rounds before folding and joining etc. Mainly white with a yellow stripe and then will trim in yellow. Right now out of the 6 or 7 babies being expected (I think I'll hear of one more or I've lost count somehow) I know two will be "surprise" since the parents don't want to know in advance, then I've been told the one due soon is a boy, and out of the rest I've heard that 2 are expecting girls. So I will make some thing more "boyish" in color tones and even though I am using white & yellow I think it will be something that can work for either gender. Anyway I had an hour's drive yesterday morning where I was a passenger so I brought along the white & yellow yarn & my E hook ... since then I have noticed that the pattern called for a G hook (I think) so we'll see just how small my infant sweater turns out ... thankfully I have 2 dolls to try baby items on to get a feel for what size to call the finished item. (one is small like a newborn baby and the other is approximately the size of a 3 to 6 month old baby) I am fairly certain this little sweater will be infant sized (meaning newborn) I have the first motif worked to the 7th round so far and the second motif is at 5 rounds waiting for me to get done with the white so I can get back to it & finish is off too. Everyone was wactching me and asking what are you working on now? (I love that ... never get tired of telling people what I'm making)

So the drive ... my mom had donated a tree in my dad's memory and the chruch in Northville was having a memorial service and following that service they were dedicating the trees in memory of the loved ones who have gone on ahead of us. It was very nice from beginning to end. It allowed me to get the 2 motifs to the 5th round on the drive there & back.

Okay need to get the infant sweaters done so I can start on Kyla's sweater and snuggle (which I still need to go shopping for the yarn) when I asked Kyla what 2 colors did she like the first thing she said was, "pink & red" then when I asked her what other 2 colors she liked she seemed to have colors paired off ... black and (almost any color here) yellow and green orange and yellow orange and black ... and the list went on ... so basically I can pick any two colors that will work well together and she will be happy. Of course the main thing on her mind is that I find her a wand for her birthday. A princess wand and not some small baby one either but a nice one in a nice size. She told grandpa all about a pink scooter that she thinks is so cute and she would like it so he's shopping for a pink scooter. I think we need to go to the store & find it and see if it is really something a 4 yr. old should be playing on/with.
I really do need feed back ... if you have any questions about crocheting I will do my best to answer!
Wishing you all a frog free day :)

Just Crazy busybusybusy

So the lovely newborn sweater is not finished yet. It took several visits from dear friend "Froggie" to finally get the stitch count figured out right! Now just a little more to complete the section I'm on then I can work the second sleeve & then trim all around and then take pictures.
Thinking of the snuggle I need to make for Kyla's birthday ... her other 2 have been "loved" to pieces literally. And also I wanted to make her the hexagon sweater I am thinking of trying this pattern using Lion Brand's Lion Suede prints and a large hook. But I'll know more about this once I begin the first hexagon.

We've got Christmas right around the corner and I am thinking that perhaps I could manage 3 child sized afghans for my grand daughters ... but with all the baby items I still need to make I'm not sure how I can be thinking anything of the sort. Time will tell. If I pace myself perhaps I can manage it all.

I've got a project underway that has nothing to do with crochet but is very time consuming all the same. So lots to balance right now.
Wishing you all the fun of crocheting without any of the "frogging" ... unless of course you have to get your stitch count correct! LOL

Crazy busy around here ....

Finishing up the newborn sweater in blue (using the DMC size 3 cotton I picked up in Italy) which required me to make adjustments in order to have it come out the correct size... I think I finally have this correct so that I can finish the body section & then go for the sleeve and then trimming it won't be too bad. Knowing I have to finish this one in order to move on to several others I took on yet another project. As some of you may recall I volunteer my time teaching crochet at Alpha Pregnancy Care Center to some expectant & new moms. One came to me with her sons um mm well since I don't really know how to spell their word for it I will end up calling it his blanket. It has been loved on and one small section had become separated completely from the rest and that left a few rows unraveling. No miracle worker here but I do think I can get the unraveled row or so reworked and join the section that came off, then go to the area where it is unraveling now & get it more secure.

This leads me to my soap box.... Please when you are working on gifts and your yarn has a knot in it from the factory don't be lazy ... cut it out & make your work join as you would in a color change ... leaving enough to weave into the work so the tail winds up woven back into itself if possible. If you really can't bring yourself to not work with "knots" then knot the yarn but leave a long enough tail on both ends to weave into the work hiding the knot in your work. Most instructions that even bother to deal with this issue state to never work with knots in your crocheting because knots have a way of becoming undone causing unraveling (usually while in the wash!) and a loss of all your hard work. The best suggestion I've seen is that you should always work your yarn to make the switch in a yarn color or a new skein of the same color happen at the end or beginning of a row. Being practical as I try never to waste yarn most of mine are somewhere in the body of the work I'm on... only a couple of times did I ever adhere to that suggestion. One other suggestion comes to mind for when you are working large afghans ... you just randomly lay a strand of yarn over the work & work your row as normal this hides repair yarn into the work ... I did this on my daughters college afghan but to be honest with you I think it would take a miracle to find that repair yarn if it was ever needed!

Okay thought I had a couple of photo's ready to share with you & discovered they haven't been saved in the correct folder so not today but soon!
Wishing you all frog free days :)