Left Overs are a good thing!

I needed to make a baby gift and wanted to use up yarn that I already had, so I looked and found just enough softee baby to make one more blanket. I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I have to admit the pattern wasn't very imaginative - just good old grandmother's favorite, but I think the garter stitch stripes look pretty cool.
I used a smaller sized needle this time. The blanket is super soft. The other three blankets were knit with a larger needle. Do you remember the pink one and the blue one and the combo of pink and blue ? I can't remember how many skeins of yarn I bought to begin with, but nevertheless I am very happy that I was able to make four blankets out of it! Now I can go back to knitting my socks!

happy knitting :)

Long time...no blogging...

...sure hope you haven't forgot about me :)

Where do I begin to tell you about what's been going on here? Why have I been missing? How did everything spin out of control?

It's all my dear 92 year old father's fault. On the evening of February 11th, I came home from a meeting at church to find out (bad me, my cell phone was turned off) that my father blacked out, fell back and hit his head, hurt his back and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Because of the black out they kept him in the hospital for four days to find the cause. No cause was found other than syncope. He was lucky, very lucky that he didn't break any bones. He was bleeding profusely though, so he did call for help with his lifeline this time, thank goodness. He went to rehab for 3 weeks. He actually enjoyed rehab this time. He was very social and didn't seem to be anxious to go back home. He felt safe - I'm sure of that. The nurses thought he would do well in assisted living, so I did some investigating and found a family owned and run lovely place. Even though it was recommended to go there directly from rehab, he didn't want to go there without seeing it first, so he was discharged and went back home. I can't say that I blame him for that as this was a big decision. The very next day we went for a tour and he did in fact like what he saw. A plan for his move was put into place and exactly one week later he moved into his new assisted living apartment which is really only one room with a private bathroom. Need I say more...deciding what to bring was prioritized and the rest (My Dad never threw anything out...so much to go through, you should have seen my living room after the move. Glad to report that I just have a couple of boxes left.) was left to me to figure out what do with what remained. I worked hard, really hard and then was exhausted, partly because of the stress and lack of sleep. The whole week he was alone at home I didn't sleep much worrying about him. Fortunately that feeling didn't last long and good sleep has returned with the feeling that he is now safe, and has all the help he needs and deserves. He is happy and seems to like his new living arrangement. The food is fabulous with delicious desserts. He loves his sweets. Everything is good now :)

I hope you'll all understand why I've been missing in action. With so little extra time, taking care of my family was high on my list and unfortunately blogging was real low. Now that things are getting back to normal, slowly I'll try to catch up with everyone. Now to show you some of what I've been working on. Yes, I was determined to find a little time to knit.

I manage to finish my River Rapids Socks:
Another prayer shawl was completed:
as well as a pair of shortie socks made out of leftover sock yarn. Nothing special, but good mindless knitting:
I even had a nice Valentine's surprise this year:
What I can't believe is that Easter is right around the corner!

Before everything went out of control I did actually buy myself a new camera, a Cannon Powershot SX110 IS. I LOVE it! I'm still learning....the zoom is super and videos come out great. It had already been put to good use, even though it took me a while to get it out of it's box.

For now everything is GOOD. I'll be sure to stop in and catch up with my friends as time allows. I think I'll be playing catch-up for quite some time. Enjoy the spring and hope you have time for some extra happy knitting :) I know that is what keep me sane.

Finding time...

...to do the things I want and love to do is difficult these days. I'm still knitting, but it seems as though I'm not accomplishing much. I did finish my own My So Called Scarf:

and I am working on a pair of socks right now:
I'm knitting them as a short row toe up using the stitch pattern from the River Rapids Sock pattern. I'm really stuck on the short row toe and heel from my Toe-Up Totem Sock Pattern...I'll admit that I'm afraid to try a different pattern because this one fits me so well. The yarn I am using is the prize I won on Becky's blog.

A couple of weeks ago I tried a new cookie recipe for Peanut Butter Cowboy Cookies which was a big hit.
Next time I make them I'll double them. I substituted canola oil for the butter and they were fabulous :) Whenever I can I have been substituting canola oil for butter and shortening just because I think it's much more healthy. Cakes, cookies and breads do fine with the substitution. The only recipes that don't work out is pie crusts. Today I used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe with oil and they taste a little different, but they turned out fine.

Last time I spoke a little too soon about my Dad doing much better. Though there is nothing terribly wrong, he has developed a pressure ulcer ( looks like he's missing a chunk of flesh) on the bottom of his heel. Most likely this is due to poor circulation and wearing his new shoes. He's been living in slipper socks in the house since his toe infection. Looking back I remember being asked if he was diabetic. Not realizing that all his feet problems are probably due to poor circulation and neuropathy (remember I needed to get him a blanket support). The visiting nurses are back in the picture because the pressure ulcer requires special wound care. Hopefully it will heal faster than the infection. Luckily the ulcer was caught before it was infected.

Seems like everything is breaking around here. Between my old washing machine, old shredder and now my old Cannon Power Shot A70 digital camera has been behaving very poorly lately. I think it may be dying slowly. While trying to capture some video at my sons' concerts this week the screen went black. Don't know what's wrong with it, but I did manage to get it to take some photographs for this post...thank goodness!! I'm going to have to start saving up for a new camera. I did a little research and I'm wondering if a Cannon Powershot SX110 IS would be a good one for me. It seems to be a moderate priced camera that has a lot of nice features. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. I want a camera with a zoom greater than 3x without breaking the bank.

I'm sorry to say I'm still way behind in my blog reading. All of my blogging friends are very prolific....need I say more. Even though I am a slow poke...I do enjoy catching up on what everyone is doing. When I have a few extra minutes I'll keep trying do a little catching up. My dad and my family come first, so I hope you all understand :)

Hope the rest of your weekend (very spring like here) is filled with lots of happy knitting :)