Lots of stuff....and I will be a Grandma again!

Hey everyone.....life after the Stephen and Steven tour has been good.  I have some great news....I will be a grandma again...I knew this news last week when I posted but the posting was so full of Stephen and Steven I thought I would wait another week to post.  Little Mario and Amanda are expecting again.....a boy this time!  Little Mario is my late hubby's son.  He and his wife had to have fertility injections to have Alexxis (a little over a year now) and since they had to have fertility injections, they did not think they could get prego on their own....but they were wrong.  I think they were both very shocked to find out they were prego (a few months ago) but they just found out the sex and it is a boy!  So there will be more baby knitting in my future.

Baby is due December 16.....10 years to the day that my late hubby died....we are all hoping he is named Mario Alonzo Ramirez III, but Little Mario (the II) is not sure yet.

Here is Alexxis holding a blue rose with Daddy

I worked some more on my Stage 4 tour de socks socks...but it was clear that I was not going to finish by 9 am on Thursday.  One of the requirements was to do 6 pattern repeats on the leg....well, that was going to be like 86 rows....that is one long leg!  So I only did 5 repeats (I like it better) and I started the heel flap on one of them....but I am still really enjoying this pattern...it should be smoother sailing from here on out as no more beads are needed.

My friend, Heather, posted on FB that she wanted someone to make these sandals for her baby girl (I made a pom pom blanket for her baby back in February/March, exactly like Alexxis').....I did not make these, this is the picture she posted on Facebook...

I could not find this exact pattern at the time (I did find it later) but I made her these.  The first picture is NOT my picture, it is the picture from the pattern.....the second picture is the set I made her...I only had 4 buttons to hold the flowers so I could only but 2 buttons on each sandal.

These were crochet, so for someone who does not crochet a lot...I'd say I did pretty good.

I have some stash enhancements.....my mother told me that she thinks my niece (she is 14) would love for me to knit some socks for her....My mom said her favorite colors were red, white and black, so I found this self striping yarn to make a pair of socks for her.....the colorway is queen of hearts.

While on the simply socks website (which rocks by the way)....I found this Turtle Purl yarn in the colorway burberry (the tag actually says trenchcoat, but it was advertised as burberry).....well, if you know me...I love purses and bags....and I love burberry (along with many other brands) so I had to get this colorway for me....I cannot wait to make them FOR ME!  Darlene is the one that told me about the Simply Socks website and Turtle Purl yarn...she listens to way more podcasts than I do and she is way more "in the know" than I am (maybe she should be the one blogging).

Paige sent me a text last week telling me how much she loved a certain pair of socks I knit her (January of last year....I blogged about them here).....anyway, I think she really likes them because they are a cotton blend...and lets face it....here in Texas, it is not always comfortable to wear wool socks...it is hot here!  She wants more socks like this....so I ordered some more yarn....The yarn is called CoBaSi by Hikoo...it is COtton, BAmboo, and SIlk (take the first two letters of each and you have CoBaSi).  She said she wants green, so I am waiting for Kiwi and Blarney to show up in my mailbox today or tomorrow.....

I have one more enhancement that I think is pretty cool.  It is a light you can bend and put anywhere, but it was advertised to go around your neck and that is how I used it.  It was great to knit in the truck when it got too dark at night....it was also great sitting outside knitting in the dark while camping...but it did attract a few moths and small flying bugs (that was a down side).

Camp Loopy project 3 was posted this past week.....this put me in a little of a panic.  I was not expecting them to post till later in the month...but when they posted last week I realized the month was moving along faster than I wanted it to....and really hardly had anything done on my camp #2 project....I was only at like 6 inches.....

So.....we went camping this past weekend and I think I got a nice chunk of knitting done.....I am well into my second skein and hope to attach my 3rd skein by tomorrow....since I only have 4 skeins....if I finish my 2nd skein around the 15th...I think I will be okay.  It is about 22 inches now.  I did have a cable mistake and I had to rip out like 13 rows...but I fixed it.

While we were camping at Chalk Bluff, I took several pictures...the water in the Nueces River is crystal clear and you can see the rocks on the bottom....there was a gorgeous sunset...and a HUGE full moon that I learned was called a super moon or 'the buck moon'.  There was a stop at a liquor store for more wine which is also a gun shop (ha, ha...only in Texas), and my knitting with the tents in the background (Jaime spoils me and I stayed in the AC in the RV).....

Well, I think that is about all I have for now.....have a great week everyone!  Here are some of my favorite pics I have stolen from others on the internet......

Happy Happy Happy knitting everyone!

Happy Memorial Day

Hello everyone....I hope everyone had a great and relaxing Memorial Day weekend....Thank You to all our service men and women for all that you do. I just realized that last week I called my post Maniac Monday and it was a Tuesday....I guess that is just one way to show it really was a Maniac week since I did not even know what day it was. I had a great relaxing weekend.....I went to Chalk Bluff with my boyfriend, Jaime, and his boys. I invited Paige and Antonio, but she did not want to come and she had to work. Plus, this past weekend was Antonio's Dad's birthday...so it was good that Antonio got to go to the lake with his dad. Here was my knitting view for most of the weekend:

I have been having problems with my clothes dryer lately...it was making a very loud noise (the bearings rubbing together or something like that) and then it started ruining clothes....there was a piece of felt at the back of the drum that came started hanging and then got tangled with clothes and it was pulled out (the dryer is only 6 years old), well, after the felt was gone, the clothes started to get stuck between the drum and the back wall, when you pulled your clothes out...you would have black marks all over it....then, it started to tear the clothes.  The straw broke when it tore Antonio's favorite Nijna Turtle shirt, and Paige sent me a text with this picture.

So what does a good grandma do?  She orders 2 new ninja turtles shirts....

and shops for a new dryer.  I got another one almost exactly like my own....mostly because I did not want to buy a whole new washer/dryer set (since my other house still has not sold) but I wanted the new dryer to fit on my existing pedestal, and kind of match my washer....it is not an exact match, the new one is a little lighter of a 'platinum' color, but it fits on the pedestal and looks okay (I think).

For knitting this week, I finished the gussets of both of the green socks.....not just 2 lengths of the foot in all knit, 2 toes and I should be good to go.....new tour de sock starts Sunday so I better get with it if I want these finished before the next tour!

I also finished the Hiya Hiya Shadowboxing Socks KAL...I wanted them finished before Camp Loopy and Tour De Socks too.....

So, a little more news on mine and my daughter's moving and living arrangements....the original plan was that my daughter and her best friend would live in my house (the one I just moved into) and I would eventually move in with my boyfriend, Jaime.....well, without making a really long story (and this is pretty much not knitting related, but ties to it at the end)...everyone has realized that it might be better Paige to live on her own with Antonio...so Paige found a cute 2 bedroom/2 bath apartment that she thinks she can afford....and I will live in my house alone with my 3 dogs (one of the reasons for me not to move to Jaime's).  I am actually really excited about this.....my son was worried that I would not like it and I told him "Do you know what it feels like to walk into the kitchen and if there is a dirty bowl on the counter then you put it there and only you put it there?" and he replied, "No" and I replied, "Neither do I but I am looking forward to it!"

So what does this have to do with knitting?

As Paige and I are going through the house as to what couch she can take and what we will need to buy she asked me if I would make her some place mats.  I logged her on to ravelry and she picked out these Sunday Brunch place mats.  I ordered the book and started this past weekend...I love it when Paige asks me to knit her something!

So I have one of four place mats done (that spot in middle is a lobster claw stitch marker from Vanessa at Vintage Rose)......if a finished object is a FO and a half finished object is a HO, is a quarter finished object a QUO or QO??

After posting all those pictures, I see that I am wearing my new PJ's in all the pictures but the last one....I really got these new PJ's them for my soon to be knitting retreat at my sister's lakehouse (in 2 weeks), but I ended up wearing the majority of this past weekend.....So, to all of you who think I knit so fast....I really don't....I just knit all the time (and obviously do not get out of my PJ's ever).....ha, ha!

I hope everyone has an awesome week....I will be a knitting fool every minute I can to get ready for Camp Loopy and Tour De Sock...my Tour De Sock team is Team Roasted....I am getting a new Bag Set and sock sack from Awesome Grannie with Coffee material....She put up lots of Sock Socks this past weekend and some new patterns....you should check them out...I have my eye on the sundae sock sack!

Happy Happy Happy Knitting everyone.....and GO SPURS GO!  BEAT THE THUNDER!!!