"A Knitting Post....."

My oldest son, Patrick, asked me to knit something for a good friend of his who had twin boys a few weeks ago.  I decided some cotton bibs would fit the bill.

I used 6 colors of Lily's Worsted 4 ply Cotton, "Sugar'n Cream" (www.sugarncream.com), which is made from 100% USA grown cotton, although surprisingly, to me at least, is made in Canada!

Patrick's request filled, I am now on to my daughter in laws request, wrist and leg warmers to wear to her yoga class.  I'm on it Julie!   ;)

"Kitchen's DONE!"

The final pieces of the kitchen updating were finished yesterday.  YEA!!!!  Here are a few "before and after" photos.   :)

I suppose it is unfair to compare the above photos to the ones below because of all the things on the countertop, but I plan to re-organize a bit in hopes of having to put less back on them.

Hard to believe that it is the same room.  We're VERY happy with the results!   :)

"Our Little Valentine....."

Our little Valentine, Abigail, wore one of the shrugs to daycare today that Grandpa Isabell knitted for her.  "Pretty In Pink" is my thought!  There may be some basis to call me "biased".   ;)

"Family Heirlooms......"

Don received a large package from his sister Heather yesterday.  She has recently retired and is "downsizing" in preparation for a move.  She was the "keeper" of some heirloom pottery, made by their Great Great Grandfather, George W. Chandler.  He owned and operated the Moingona Pottery Works, in Moingona, Iowa, with his partner, Sylvester H. Deering, in 1875- 1877.  The "keepership" has now willingly become Don's.   ;)

The photograph below shows 4 generations of Don's mother's family.  George Chandler, on the left, his daughter, Mamie (Chandler) Miller, holding either her granddaughter Mary Eloise or Evelyn, and her daughter (Don's Grandmother), Eloise (Miller) Anderson.  Don's aunt's were born in 1916 and 1917, and Great Great Grandfather George Chandler passed away in 1918, so the baby in the photo could have been either girl.  This photo was taken on the steps of Mamie's home in Des Moines, Iowa.

The package contained 2 large pieces of pottery, a handsome, sturdy pitcher, and an angel food cake pan.  There was also a handwritten note (although at this time Don hasn't yet found out who wrote it) about the pitcher being used for milk from Mamie's cows.  :)

Heather also sent 3 small pieces of pottery, too, but unfortunately, 2 of them had broken handles.  "Small" being the key word here.  ;)  In my opinion, and my opinion only, I think they may have been made for someone's dollhouse.

They look really good in our updated kitchen.  :)

"A Little Fiber......"

I started knitting a vest for my daughter in law, Julie, quite awhile ago.  It was taking me ages to knit.....not because it was uninteresting to knit or that I was having trouble with it, but because when listening to my audio books on my iTouch, the voice reading them sounded like the person was talking underwater with an echo.  I kept putting off my knitting because I didn't enjoy listening to my books!

The audio problem was taken care of by Don making an appointment with our Apple store to talk with a technician about the problem.  It was a simple fix of some sort and my iTouch only needed to be hooked up and updated or something along that line.  Some files had somehow become corroded but were put to rights again by the updating.

After that, I was happy once again, listening to audio books and knitting.  The vest I had started for Julie was done in no time....buttons sewn on, and blocked.  Here is a photo of the finished vest.......

The pattern, called "The East to West Vest", is from Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill (http://www.blackberry-ridge.com), located outside of Mount Horeb, WI, which isn't too far from Madison.  The worsted yarn is from their "Colorflow" selection, called Bright Evening.

I also sent Julie a small woven bag that I had received as a gift when I attended the Jason Collingwood's weaving workshop last Spring.  The hostess of the workshop, Anita Hofstrom, wove one of these small bags for each of the class participants.  I thought it might be a perfect size for my Granddaughter, Abigail, and sent it along when I shipped the vest to Julie.  Julie may have to "try it out" first.   ;)

"Replaced Medicine Cabinet....."

Since we were already having work done in the house to update it, another thing that needed to be replaced was the 3 mirrored panel medicine cabinet.  We'd had trouble with the heavy mirrored doors continually becoming loose and almost falling off the cabinet, so after many attempts at fixing them, we finally removed 2 of the doors and have been living with it open (it has been oh so attractive).  We decided it was time to find a similar cabinet with a better hanging mechanism for its mirrored doors and replace the old cabinet.

Yesterday, Rob and Franklin removed the old cabinet and found the original recessed medicine cabinets empty hole in the wall.  When Don had renovated the bathroom in March of 1995 (as seen painted on the wall in yellow paint), the old cabinet had been removed and just covered over with the new and larger mirrored cabinet.  Inside the hole were dates and signatures of who did what and when, so Rob added yesterdays date and his company's name, Spruce Painting, too.

After prepping the area and adding support inside the hole so the new cabinet would have a secure mount, they hung our new 3 mirrored panel medicine cabinet.  Truthfully, anyone who was familiar with what our bathroom looked like before we started having trouble with the doors would not know this is a new cabinet.  That works for us.......   ;)

"Bedroom #1 Painted......."

Rob and Franklin have completed the painting of the kitchen, but I want to wait until the new tile backsplash is installed before I post a photo of that room again.

The next room to be painted was the larger of the 2 bedrooms.  The smaller bedroom will be done "hopefully" next week.  I've included before and after photos from both directions.......

Quite a difference, eh?   ;)