Thanksgiving 2007

We spent Thanksgiving at Joann's and Joe's. She told me she left the turkey cooking all night around 250 degrees. Now I'm wondering if it's safe to cook turkey at a low temp. Anyway it was all very good. I contributed a delicious sweet potato souffle which was featured in Good Morning America this week. We ate very early which was nice; after lunch we watched the Charlotte Thanksgiving Parade. Since I ate more than I normally eat I went for an energizing walk in the neighborhood and took this picture. The colors are so beautiful and I know this won't last.



This next picture is not very good because the lamp is on the way. I don't think there's any way to crop it.



Well so long for now; I still have some energy left so I'm going to make Chex Mix. I finished Kevin's scarf and this week I'll be mailing him a package.

Kevin's first visit to Venice

Venice 014
Originally uploaded by usafmain

Kevin sent us some neat pictures from Venice. Looks like he is enjoying touring the towns near Aviano. Venice is about one hour away. What a neat place to visit. I do hope we get to go soon sometime in the year 2008. The weather in Italy is about the same as our weather.

The Knitting Nuts First Meeting

Yarn, Coffee, Cute Baby, Great Fellowship.....

What can be more fun than meeting with ladies who love to knit and enjoy delicious coffee? I recommend the Cafe au Lait (hot coffee with steamed milk) at Dilworth Coffee House. The medium size was only $2.50.

I believe all the ladies have met through Ravelry (the knitting social network site). I have not been contacted yet so I'm on the waiting list. My daughter said I could use her password to get in and explore. Ha..ha...Thank you Andrea. By the way my daughter is doing quite well with her knitting. She left my house this past Thursday morning with a large zip lock bag of yarn I gave her. She will be working on simple knit & purl combinations to create dishcloths.

Michelle's baby Samantha is adorable. She is our baby model so we can try our knitted baby things. I knitted the white cap with the chicks she is wearing. We all loved having her around. The knitted pirate is Barnacle Bill. He is amazing; even more amazing is the fact that he was knitted by someone who has not been knitting long. I love him.

Caleb & Taite Visit Nana

Loved having Caleb and Taite around eventhough our time together was short. I spent a few hours with them this past Monday while Andrea joined her husband Travis at the Southern Baptist Convention which took place in Greensboro. I'm glad the children do remember me when they come to visit. This makes babysitting much easier. The hardest part I would say was not being able to leave both boys alone in the same room...Caleb like every 3 yr old who has a small baby brother can at times be a bully so I had to be careful to keep an eye at all time. Caleb loves to listen to me read stories. The picture also shows Taite playing with the night light.



Taite worked on walking - he's almost there. I loved getting so many sweet hugs from him. He looked so proud of what he's been able to do now. By Thanksgiving he might be walking on his own. For now he goes from cabinet to cabinet to chair, etc..Very smart baby.

The morning before they left we took this picture on our front porch.

Another Knitting Group Meeting

The ladies who came to this knitting meeting met through the popular social network site called Ravelry I have not become a member of this site since there is a waiting list. According to Rose, Connie, Michelle and Shandeh there is nothing like it. They love it and Connie especially has been encouraging me to get on the waiting list. Maybe I will check it out. Connie is a super teacher. I came out of this meeting learning how to do the dread locks fringe. I will see how it looks on the modular knitted scarf I completed. It was very neat watching Connie do the Tunisian crochet and she also demonstrated how to use a small wooden loom to make an icord. Correct me if I'm wrong, Connie - you did call it a loom. I've always been intrigued by the long crochet hook.

Getting Ready for Caleb's and Taite's Visit

I'm looking forward to Caleb's and Taite's visit. Our house has been very quiet since Kevin left for Aviano. Last time I spoke to Caleb on the phone it was neat. I understood everything he said. I rearranged a few things upstairs and I do hope Caleb likes his room. He will be sleeping in what used to be Kevin's room.

Working on the Modular Knitting Scarf

I think I finally got the hang of modular knitting at least working with the equilateral triangles. It's been fun learning. I will be teaching this technique at the Mint Hill Library on Tuesday November 13 at 1 p.m. I made a short video working on the scarf.

Baby Bootees

Recently I purchased the book Adorable Knits for Tots by Zoe Mellor. I got it with a 50% off coupon from Michaels. Someone at work requested a pair of bootees so I made the ones featured in the book. I used a size two kneedles with Baby Soft a Lion Brand Yarn which is sportweight yarn.

Bootees in progress.

My First Charlotte Purl Knitting Group Meeting

Me and Connie

Today I went with my friend Connie to my first meeting of the Charlotte Purls Knitting group. They meet at a Caribou Coffee in the University Area every other Saturday. It was really neat and I'm so glad Connie brought me along. Everyone made me feel very welcomed and I would definitely like to go back. Speaking of Connie...she is the best and a great teacher. She taught me a new knitting pattern which creates a bobble/blackberry like stitch. Connie I checked the pattern I had and mine is much more complicated. Mine has a bobble increase and a bobble decrease which goes like this:

bbl inc (bobble increase) p1, yo, pi, yo, p1 all into same stitch
bbl dec (bobble decrease) with yarn in front slip 2 stitches knitwise, K3 tog pass 2 slipped stitches over knit stitch
dec 3 (decrease 3) p2tog, p2tog, slip first decrease over second decrease.

These fingerless gloves are very popular. I hope I have time to make a pair to give away as a christmas gift. I love knitting mittens.

Knitsters sharing with one another.

Stacey one of the members of Charlotte Purls. You made me feel very welcomed, Stacey.
I love your knitted belt.