Happy Leap Day!

This year is a Leap Year and today is Leap Day!  So, Happy Leap Day!

I had a crazy busy week.  It was my Birthday last week and I got lots of goodies and had a fantastic week!

Darlene posted the greatest picture on my FB page:

Google even knew it was my special day:

My friend Suzi got me my favorite shortbread cookies form Panera (my friend Amy got me a scone and cinnamon roll for breakfast, but I ate them before I could snap a picture):

Yvette sent me well wishes with pictures of my Celesete and Cataleya at the rodeo!

Jaime got me beautiful orange roses and a bottle of wine!

Darlene got me a fancy nostepinne!  She even had my name engraved on it.  I wound one skein of the yarn for my Citadel on it.  It is sooooo cute!  It is not as easy as it seems...but it was fun!

My parents gave me a Spätzle maker.  For Mother's Day last year, my sister brought one of these makers to my mom's house and we made Spätzle with it.  It was delicious....Now I cannot wait to make it whenever I want just for me :)

They also gave me a Packet to help me make the mushroom Cream sauce to go with the Spätzle and some Schnitzel.

My parent's asked me what I wanted for my "Birthday Dinner" and I told them I wanted steak. Not just any steak, but a steak my parents call "Jerry Golden Steak".  The steak is usually a flank steak but what makes it "Jerry Golden" is a certain sauce a friend of theirs (named Jerry Golden) made.  The sauce has Butter, Worcestershire Sauce, and some Seasoning all mixed up (yea, all low fat stuff...LOL)!  My dad also got a Kobe Steak Cut and some lobster tails.....it was delicious....here is what was left (right before I finished it off)!

Then...Jaime took me to Fredericksburg, TX for just a one night stay....there is a German restaurant there that serves Spätzle and we had made these plans before I knew I would be getting a Spätzle maker from my parents as a present....so here is my meal at Ausländer:

We walked the streets of Fredericksburg and got some homemade fudge and I got Antonio a long candy necklace (Long story why I only got him one...but I watched him on Friday evening and Saturday and I took him to my parents for the rest of Saturday and told him I would bring him something back and I was supposed to watch him on Sunday, but Bizzle ended up watching him), and I got myself a Pumpkin Spice Candle...this candle smells very cinnamon-y and I love it...I have already burnt it in my house and I love the smell!  It will last 120-140 hours :)

I also stopped at a fabric shop that had some yarn....but not really yarn I was looking for....I did see this absolutely adorable fabric....but I did not buy any and now I kind of wish I would...but I would have to ask Darlene to sew a bag for me and she does enough for me already so it is good that I did not buy any :)

Oh, and on the way to Fredericksburg....Jaime stopped in Comfort so I could go to The Tinsmith's Wife....I was good, I only got some colorful stitch markers.

Oh, and last but not least....Precious got to go to the groomers for pampering on my Birthday (but she does not consider it pampering).....Yes, I swear this is the same dog...one pic taken in the morning and one in the afternoon...I feel so terrible for taking so long to take her!

Now, I bet you are wondering if I got to knit at all (since this is a knitting blog)...Well, I did!

I worked a little on my Citadel...When I watched Antonio over the weekend,  he saw me try it on and of course he said "I wanna try!" so I put it on him too!  He loved it...LOL!

I finished my February Socks....just in the knit of time (pun intended).  This is my first pair of socks where I did a true afterthought heel and cut my knitting...

Tomorrow I get to start my March socks and I have my yarn ready:

The only other thing I worked on is new....yup, we all know I have nothing else to knit on....so Darlene really wants to make the 3 Color Cashmere Shawl by Joji Locatelli...so I stash dove....I am going to use some yarn that was part of a club kit last year along with some Wollmeise in Blend in Black that I had...I want to call it "What's Black and White and Pink All Over"...LOL!

Here is my start:

I have been doing really well with my Continental knitting....the above shawl is almost all continental.  The beginning tab start was done throwing, and I find myself throwing on accident sometimes, but over 90% of it is all continental....Yeah Me!

I leave you with a couple of pics....one is a gorgeous wreath my sister got me from a church auction and one is my mom's orchid.  On the LSSK thread, some of the ladies are always showing their gorgeous orchids...when I went my mom's house, hers was in bloom and so pretty, I had to take a picture.

Have great week everyone....I hope you get lots of knitting

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Mother's Day!  Paige, my daughter, surprised me with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from her and my son (he lives out of town).  I love them!

My sister also got me a flower bouquet with sunflowers (which matches my current project bag....I love sunflowers!)  It is sooooo super pretty!!

So, we all went to my mom's for dinner....me, Paige, Antonio, my sister (Janice), her hubby (Jim), and my niece and nephew (Grace and Sean), plus my mom and dad of course....my mother made a delicious brisket and my dad made his famous red cabbage side dish.....I think most of you know that my mother is German....I mean full blood, German Citizen (not USA), her sister and her sister's family is all still in Germany.....my sister and I were both born in Germany......so, I mention this because my mother's father had a bakery in Germany and my mom can cook and she can bake like nobody's business!  Well, she used to make us a noodle dish when we were younger....it is called Spätzle and some people spell it Spaetzle (without the umlaut).  My mother does not make it much anymore because it is pretty labor intensive.....but with my sister traveling to Europe so much lately, she had a coworker that gave her a Spätzle maker.....it is pretty cool.  We made it yesterday and I have to say, the Spätzle was delicious!  Here are some pictures of it being made....it reminds me a little of a french press coffee maker...you put the ingredients in, then mix with the built in mixer, then the bottom comes off to put over the pot of boiling water and you churn the dough into the water.

and here it is boiling in the water!

It was delicious!  Anyway, a great Mother's Day was had by all!  I know this is not a cooking blog.....so I will get onto the knitting.  First.....stash enhancements and I have A LOT!  Remember my friend went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool show and got me some goodies?  well, they came in!  Yahoo!  She did such a great job of getting everything packaged up in ziplocks with air all sucked out of them!

I got a bat of fiber from Loop in the Abracadabra colorway....it is so awesome!

Two skeins of Miss Babs Yowza in the Mad Hatter Colorway!

Two skeins of Miss Babs new base called Hot Shot (wool and Nylon) in the Drunken Watermelon colorway!

Two skeins of Miss Babs Yummy 2 ply in the exclusive Maryland Sheep and Wool Show 2015 colorway!

and lastly, a ceramic cup from Jenny the Potter that says :YaRRrrn!

Oh, and did you know that Bags By Awesomegrannie just celebrated it's one year Anniversary?  Darlene is so awesome! She made me a sock material bag set with matching needle holders as a thank you to me for my help here and there (really, I do not do much!)  She never needs to thank me, but I love the set!  She also had some new material with Orange Sheep....who does not love Orange Sheep?  So I had to buy a set....both bag sets are so happy!  Thank you Darlene for being so Awesome!

Then......Yes, there is more.....guess what was announced this past week?  CAMP LOOPY 2015!  No, I am not done with all my Loopy Academy stuff...but I am super excited about Camp Loopy.  I got some Malabrigo Aroyo in the Chispas Colorway...the color looked to have more of alight mauve and a goldish color in it, but when I got it in person it is more purply-grey...but that is A-Okay...I still love it!  I think I am going to make a Lintilla with it, but I am not 100% sure yet...I still have time to look some more!  I got a couple of t-shirts and a Leonard the Lion along with my yarn!

Here was the picture from website:

As for knitting this week...I started a new shawl for a KAL with the Bags By Awesomegrannie Ravelry Group....I am also going to double dip in the Melanie Berg Any Shawl Kal...I am making You're Beautiful by Melanie Berg in a gorgeous yellow!

I worked on my Miss Babs Knitting Tour Ves shawl....I need to get caught up on this, I am a touch behind.

And, I finished my secret project.....just needs blocking...I have it folded on purpose, so the while surprise is not given away, but so you can see the gorgeous coloring of the yarn!

and I finished the Team Spirit socks for a Hiya Hiya KAL....they are so small, they do not even fit Darlene's 7 year old grand daughter...but I will find someone to wear them...LOL!

Well, I think that is just about it.......oh, I also got a Vitamix....I am pretty excited about it and I hope the healthy shakes help me to loose some weight and just be 'healthier' in general.....of course the first thing I made was a margarita (not so good for weight loss), but I had a healthy kale shake today and it was yummy!  I hope I can keep it up......wish me luck!

I leave you with some fun pics!  Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!