Merry Christmas to Me!

Christmas is officially over! I think it went really well. I felt more prepared this year than in years past and I think a large part of that was I didn't make presents this year. I know that homemade gifts are one of a kind and really appreciated, but they sure add a lot of stress on the holidays!

                                                                                

The Mailman brought me a Christmas present the day we got back to Topeka from seeing family. It was two pounds of beautiful fiber just waiting to be spun into some great yarn! It is 100% wool and I got one pound of specialty dyed. This was a fun thing to order because you have no idea what color is coming, I was more than pleased with what I got!

My second pound was just some natural gray that I will probably try to dye with kool-aid. I've never done that before but I have a couple of friends who have that I can look to for advice. I just hope I don't turn the whole kitchen orange. Who am I kidding that wouldn't be that bad!

Lastly, here is a picture of Daryl and cousin Henry wrestling! They were so cute running and screaming after each other and playing "tackle"! Daryl had such a good time with Henry that he has been asking to see him every day now since. There are a lot of miles between them but I am going to have to get them together more often because they sure do play well together and have a lot of fun! What silly boys!!



Merry Christmas 2011!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful  Christmas holiday. This season, as much as we try to prepare for it, is still bringing its own surprises. But santa did find our house and lets hope all the kids are as happy as Daryl was this morning!
See you all next year.

The only holiday knit was for Grandma Hazel!
The pattern is "A Very Warm  Hat" and the yarn
was some of my handspun!

Santa Craft Day!

Daryl went to his last craft making class of the year on Thursday.  This time he got to make a Santa list holder.  He'll be hanging his Santa list on it in 6 days!  Enjoy a few pics.  Looking forward to the coming holiday weekend and spending time with family!

No craft is complete without a cookie and milk

 break!

Check and Check

Daryl mailing the Christmas Cards!

1.) Get Up Tree2.) Wrap Presents
3.) Laundry
4.) Finish Birthday present #1
5.) Start Birthday present #2
6.) Start Addressing Christmas Cards7.) Give both Dogs a bath (and maybe Daryl too!)

I thought getting thru this much of my list was pretty good but it wasn't even half! I am still giving myself tonight to knit some and bathe the dogs!! Kelly helped a bunch with getting the Christmas decorations up! The Christmas cards are sent minus a few we still need to find an address for!

Our 2011 Tree!

All in all a pretty productive weekend. :)

Ugh, December you are sucking all my energy!!

I like December, I like Christmas and I even like snow! But I feel like I need to go into hibernation or something to find my energy and my mojo. I've fallen into a rut of going home (its pretty much dark) so I get into my jammies and don't do a darn thing besides listen to Daryl and his crazy stories.
I've had birthdays come and go for people I've wanted to knit for and the last time I touched needles was last Thursday! A week ago people!!!!
Birthday presents will be late this year but I'm not giving up yet. And as I've already stated Christmas knitting is just out of the question all together! Never fear the one thing I am actually doing decent at right now is Christmas shopping. I think I've counted and I have six gifts to get and then I am DONE!
Shhhhh (Not a single present is wrapped.) Double Shhhhhh (We haven't even put up our tree yet.)
OK so I have a grand plan to shake these winter blahs and finish some projects this weekend, and yes I am calling the laundry a project!!! :)
Here is my list to hold me accountable and I will post what got done on Monday! The goal is everything!
1.) Get Up Tree
2.) Wrap Presents
3.) Laundry
4.) Finish Birthday present #1
5.) Start Birthday present #2
6.) Start Addressing Christmas Cards
7.) Give both Dogs a bath (and maybe Daryl too!)
....I think that is enough!

Cute Daryl story
I picked Daryl up from Preschool some day last week and this is how it went down:
Daryl-"Guess what I did today."
Me-"What did you do today?"
Daryl- "I learned how to draw a circle and a trinapple!"
Me-"That is wonderful I love circles and trinapples!!"

Ten Santas!!

 Hello everyone! I've had a busy week here at the Manor and I apologize for lack of new posts. I'm not guaranteeing that December is going to be any better. :-s

We had not one but two great Thanksgiving meals this year. For the second my sister and her kids joined us for the whole weekend. This was really great because we had not seem them since Daryl's birthday. On Saturday we all made our way to downtown and watched the Miracle on Kansas Avenue parade. The kids got lots of candy and we saw at least 10 Santas! The best float by far was the Huff and Puff balloons on a flat bed trailer just letting their fires get super high! It warmed the whole street!

Kelly topped off our evening and weekend with a fire in the fireplace. We roasted marshmallows because I will never miss a chance to burn a marshmallow to a crisp!

I did not step one foot in a store this last weekend and I am just fine with that. I am about half done with the x-mas shopping and I think the rest can be done on-line. No knitted gifts this year, I will give you a moment to collect yourself from the sadness.........but I just never had a plan and without a plan its not something you can do in this stage of the game.
Maybe next year!!!

Whoo Guessed It?

Did anyone guess my special knitting project?Did anyone guess cutest owl you have ever seen in your life!!!! If you did you win!!!!

Just put on the beak and I love her, I don't know what I'm going to name her but I'm taking suggestions. <3

I got to eat turkey with Daryl today at school. He loved that I was there but cried when I left :-(

When Kel picked him up he was happy again so that is good. To make up for ditching him at school we went on a date tonight without dad. I let him pick the place! No red lobster for this guy! He wants Wendy's and frostys! Frosties? OK, how do you plural frosty!!!!

First Day of Pre-School

Yesterday Daryl had his first day of pre-school! His teacher is Ms. Nikki and he said he had a good time. He made a paper turkey and played outside, he was very proud to wear his new Thomas hat and mittens.
Today he is wearing his swim trunks under his clothes and is going swimming. It is also Thanksgiving lunch today and I'm going to go join him for some turkey!

Turkey Craft Day!

Last Thursday Daryl got to make turkey crafts at the community center. Just like the pumpkin class he loved it! He has one of these classes left for Santa Claus and he is already excited about it.
Watching him follow directions for these classes and sit down for a teacher has proven to me he is ready for preschool. So he heads to his first day on Monday! He will be going to an all-day preschool because the half-day kind could not work with our schedule to pick him up and still have to take him to daycare.
He said goodbye to his Mary on Friday and it was kind of sad. Mary has been watching him since he was eight-weeks old and has been a great sitter. But she agreed with us that he was ready for more of a learning environment. Daryl keeps asking if his friend Lane is coming to school too and we keep telling him we don't think so.

I hope he makes new friends quickly and that he really likes it. He took a tour last week but Kelly took him so I don't have many details.
I will let everyone know how it goes on Tuesday! I will also hopefully show you all my special knitting project I have been working on!

So much news!

We had a very busy long weekend around the manor! On Friday D and I went to the  Hutch animal shelter and picked up a friend for Vinny! Sister is a good dog and we already are loving having her around. Even Kelly likes her so that is really saying something!

Saturday Kel and D went to the KU football game. It was probably the best game of the year and it's just too bad they couldn't pull out the win. Daryl had such a good time at the tailgate and game he told me about it all night.

On Sunday we all went up to Holton to celebrate Kelly's dad's 60th birthday! As always the family gatherings are rowdy and fun. Daryl was a ham as usual and was singing for everyone, he ended his songs with an Amen! Too funny! On Sunday Daryl also found his Christmas presents. Ugh. He came into the house (they were hiding in the garage) yelling "Santa brought my presents! He brought me a woody and a buzz and a slinky dog!" Kelly quickly replied that Santa was going to take them back to wrap them and it's not Christmas yet! That is what I get for trying to be prepared for the holidays. Ugh again!
On the knitting front I've been a little distracted. I have a shawl going, a too small sweater, and a few gifts. But,  I had to stop all that to make myself a big toy! What will it be? We shall see.....

Pow WOW

Daryl and I got to go to our first Pow Wow last Saturday. Kelly's grandparents were the honored veterans at the ceremony and it was a lot of fun.
We had to leave fairly early because a 3-year-old can only watch drummers and dancers for so long. He actually lasted about two hours. I don't know how much longer it went.
It was a cool experience and one I'm thankful that I got to be there.
For my knitting I have been working on all of my projects that I have been in time out for awhile. I now remember why I had stalled on them.
I'm trying The Orchid Thief shawlette again by Ysolda. Man this project may be beyond my skill. There is some problems with the pattern but plenty of peeps have made this shall so I reason it is possible.
I can't wait until my day off on Friday and I am going to bunker myself in a coffee shop and not come out until I get one repeat of chart 3 done!!
Wish me luck!

We never said he sang good!

Daryl did a little trick-or-treating yesterday and went out again tonight. He made out with a lot of candy! The best part of his age is when we put the candy away he forgets about it, so hopefully we can make it last awhile!
What I really needed to share was his latest musical performance! He sings a lot but usually when the camera comes out he clams up. I've never heard this song before but I think it will be popular soon!
Happy Halloween everyone!

Too Much Fun For One Pumpkin

Daryl may have inherited the crafty gene for me! He went to his first craft class yesterday and he had a blast! The class was for 2 and 3-year-olds and they made sock pumpkins.
He loved his sooo much that he wanted to put it on the front porch with the real pumpkins because those were its mommy and daddy.

Other news: The body of my sweater is done and.....its too small! Again! But I'm doing this year what I should have done last year. I'm going to finish it and give it to a 9-year-old girl because that is who it should fit. It's a hand wash item so I will have to be choosy with who gets it!

Kelly is also home from Tampa, Florida and we are happy to have him! His work sends him some far away places but he loves it and I love that he loves it.

OK, next entry should be Halloween costumes so be prepared to be scared! Not really...this whole Halloween thing really spooks D and the only thing he likes is the candy!

Friday Night Football

Little Kelly!

Kelly, D and I had a bird's eye view of the Holton vs Hayden football game yesterday. My sister-in-law's family had won a press box suite for the game and they invited us to join them. Not only was it the best seats but they fed us too! It was a great game and the Wildcats won in exciting fashion! ;)

My "Wicked" sweater

The game was so good I ONLY knit for three quarters of it. That is really saying something. I'm on deadline for this sweater and by golly I just might make it!

On Friday I also got to Yarn Shop hop and I would post a picture of all my goodies but then Kelly would see it too...so I won't do that! As my favorite knitter/blogger The Yarn Harlot says, "The yarn stash is like an iceberg and only 10 percent should ever be visible."
Try not to think about that when you come into my house and think I have a lot of yarn!

KC Marathon

Our Marathon relay team with a half-marathoner
thrown in for good measure!

Oh what a day! Ran part of a marathon today with four other lovely ladies. Whoever thought of the idea for a marathon relay should be congratulated, it is a darn fun thing to do! You get all the signs and cheers and cowbell ringing for the crazy runners and only have to run part of the way! My leg was six and a half miles and right now my knee is hating me. My watch showed 61 minutes for my leg of the race! I'm very happy with that.
Doesn't matter because it was so cold this morning that I decided this was it for me till Spring. My running season ends in October, AMEN! So I did six races this year 1.)Mother's Day 5K 2.) Wichita 8K 3.) Fiesta 5K 4.) Manhattan 10K 5.) Air Museum 5K and today 6.)KC 10ishK!
My goal was four so goal was met and exceeded! I will have to think on my running goal for next year, my knee is hurting so bad right now I don't want to think about it!

D running his race!

When I got home Daryl told me to come watch him run, and I did! I love that he wants to be like me so he wants to run races, now if I could only get him to start playing with yarn... :)

Just when I thought I would never be done

Kelly putting on his sweater for the first time!

All of a sudden two years of knit/purl seventeen rows then knit two in a row was done! Last night I put the last seam in the Checks & Balances  sweater pattern by Debbie Stoller! I was so happy I couldn't even stand myself. I wanted to scream to complete strangers that I hand-knit a sweater in "Man" size!

I settled for posting on Facebook and it was totally satisfying because my lovely friends and family adequately swooned over it! Thanks for that!



Tonight Daryl and I went to my nephew's junior high football game. It was perfect weather and his team won! Yay!

With one big knitting project behind me I cast on the next pattern that has eluded me once before. The infamouse "Wicked"! I had a contest with a friend trying to knit this sweater pattern two Octobers ago. She won! Her sweater was fabulous and mine got frogged after being two sizes to small!

So this October I cast it on again! I'm going to once again try to finish it before Halloween, so far I have eight inches of sweater...this could get interesting! I will post pictures soon!

Funny wisdom from a three-year-old of the day, "If you poop on the sidewalk at Mary's you get a time out." Oh really Daryl, did you get a time out for that?

"No, she told me first." 





 



"Honey it itches a little."

Photo Fail!

Dad and Daryl went to the pumpkin patch today....are you waiting to see the pictures....ya, me too!
I sent Kel with the camera, put it in his hand as he went out the door. I asked to see the pictures as soon as they hit the door and what do you know, he left it in the truck!
Daryl did pick out some great pumpkins. He was so proud of them that when we put them on the porch he said they were all his. Also said he was putting them out for Santa! We have to work on our holidays a little bit. :)
I knitted Kel's collar on his sweater. I want to look at some videos on different seam stitches before I sew up the rest. I do not like the look of the two shoulder seams that I did so I'm hoping to find something different for the rest of it.
More picture hopefully later this week!!!

Topeka got a Daylight Donuts!
Daryl and I are thrilled!

I love fall!

Daryl loved playing in the corn!

This last weekend the family went to the Buckner Fall Fest in Hanston. Everyone had a blast! There was a lot of visiting with old friends, playing and eating!
Sometimes my old hometown can feel deserted so seeing it full of people and activity was awesome!
I'm going to work on finishing Kel's sweater this week and maybe start a cowl that I have been eyeing for a long time. I just have to seam up the man sweater but I'm nervous about finishing it because what if it doesn't fit? That would be sad :( But I have to finish because it is starting to get cool!



Sweater pieces taking a bath!

Alphabet

Ya....we still need to work on that!

Knitting Weekend!



That is a whole couch full of sweater!

I got a lot of knitting done this weekend. I made a Minion hat for my nephew's birthday, finished my awesome ear flap hat, and completed the LAST SLEEVE of Kel's sweater!
The theme of the weekend was the laundry and dishes can wait, I'm feeling some major knitting mojo and I'm just going with it. Thankfully my husband does not question this (anymore) and I'm a happy lady!
Other important notes for the last couple of days:

Daryl seems to have the potty training down, I will spare details as I know once something is on the Internet it's out there for good and some day he will be sixteen and googling his own name! Maybe sooner.

Saw "The Help" at the movies with an awesome group of ladies. I bawled my eyes out and if you have not seen it yet you should. It barely scratched the surface of how wrong humans can be and makes you want to be a better person. That's always a good thing.

Last but not least ran another 5K on Saturday and set a new personal record for myself. It helps me get out of bed in the morning to run when I get to do races. If you want to get into running enter a race, they are a great time and crossing the finish line is an amazing feeling! Kelly ran too and he beat me but only by a little!

Winning!

Earflaps anyone?

Sorry I couldn't help myself, I watched the Charlie Sheen roast last night and I can't stop saying, "Winning!" The only other thing I have to say about that show was who the heck invited Mike Tyson? That was a shame, he wasn't funny and he didn't have any idea what was going on. He was not winning!
Just wanted to let everyone know  my awesome hand spun hat is almost finished, I just need to rustle up some hot pink yarn to edge it with. Kelly's sleeve is still not done but I will work on it soon, but probably not today!
Daryl had his first dentist appointment today and the only good thing I have to say is he didn't bite anyone.

This was before the freak out, you can sorta
tell it's going to happen.

He cried for about five minutes and after that was over we found out he has two cavities. They are going to wait six months to treat them just because they don't think he would let them at this age and I'm not for putting him under if we don't have to.
Hope everyone out there is Winning!
ok ill stop saying that...

Clean Sweep!

Today we didn't have any plans as a family. So that means a day to stay at the manor and CLEAN THIS PLACE UP! So I did that while Kelly golfed, so don't feel to bad for him!
Daryl helped me clean a little as well as he went to the bathroom about every thirty minutes! Turns out he really likes to wash his hands by himself so that leads to a lot of "I have to potty again mom!"
I spun a little from a new batt I made at The Wicked Stitch in Wamego. Jennifer has a great store and she lets customers play with her toys!
I have not knit on Kelly's sweater at all today thankyouverymuch, and I'm almost done with my earflap hat!
I should be able to finish the sleeve this week and hopefully block all the parts of the sweater. Maybe...

This is Daryl doubting I will ever finish Kel's sweater!

Bamboozeled

I've been tricked! I was working on the second sleeve for Kelly's sweater when the sleeve started to fight back. (It's a little known legend that the second of any pair, ex. sock, glove or sleeve, doesn't like to be finished. Thus leaving the knitter with a completely useless one of something that needs a two.)
So this second sleeve got tricky, and by tricky I mean mind numbingly boring! So I started looking at my recently washed and whacked handspun and longed to work with it.
So yesterday I quit fighting the urge, put the sleeve aside and cast on a hat! Its going to be awesome. It will have ear flaps and everything.
But don't worry my frenemy the sleeve. I will finish you and you can bet on that!!!!

Sleeves are dumb, here is a hat!

D got his hair cut today! What a big boy!!

Road Trip

Our family spent our long weekend out west! We even packed up Vinny Boo Boo. Had a great time visiting with mom and we really didn't do a whole lot besides play outside and visit.

Daryl reported for work but the Co-Op was closed!

I also got a lot of reading a knitting done and that is my idea of a good time! Wiley (one of Daryl's sleeping animals) had such a good time he decided to stay! Now, Wiley you have to come home in October and that is that.

Had a great dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Wasko and Uncle David and Keri. Kelly even snuck in a round of golf. When we asked Daryl what he wanted to do, he just wanted to mow the lawn. So we let him!

Washing Yarn

Got to wash a lot of yarn that I spun. I put this part off for so long and I don't know why. Once you have the set up going its lots of fun!
First you need refreshments CHECK

 Next you need some yarn to wash CHECK

 Some really hot water to soak your yarn in followed by some really cold water to shock it. Repeat these steps a few times.

 Wring it out good! Because you are going to get your floor really wet if you don't!

 This is the best part! Whack it as hard as you can, this isn't just fun it also helps set the twist!

 Hang to dry!!

So  much fun!