More Catching Up!!

Hi all!! Boy I am sure not liking this new average I seem to have with blogging. Only once a month, I feel so out of touch. I do visit your sites though, and some fo my faithful few (you know who you are :)) Continue to leave me comments!! I sure do appreciate it. On the Alex front, he is at his sandbox destination. Arrived safely. We have had the opportunity to talk with him a few times. We got a webcam for Christmas, and then you get onto Skype. What a wonderful thing!!! Last Wednesday, we talked for about an hour with VIDEO!!! The movements are a little delayed, but clear!! He was cleaning his rifle. We got a tour of his "can" that's what they call their "house." The conversation takes a little longer, b/c of the delay, but he sounds and looks good. He has already lost 20 pounds!! Hope he doesn't loose too much more, he'll fit back into the dress blues he came out of boot camp with. Skype also allows you to take snapshots. Which I did, but I have no idea where on my computer they went. I tried to find them this afternoon, and I can't. I will try to find them, or take another one and post it here. Thank you to all those who are faithfully praying for him. He truely is in God's hands, not that he never wasn't!!
Knitting has slowed down, however I was sick last week, and did some things for my mom. However, since they sometimes read this blog, I will have to wait on those pictures. I will put on here some of the items I did from Christmas. (yes, I'm still playing catch up!!). First up are the scarves I did for my neices. The first one, is a crochet pattern from my LYS. It is what is called a "Mock Cable Stitch". Very cool, funky, but easy!! I even made one for myself. My beautiful neice Liberty
and then Lydia are modeling those scarves. I used Encore for the pink one, and Patons wool for the redder one.
The other scarf, modeled by the beautiful and wonderful cook, Lindsay, was the One Skein Scarf from the Happy Hooker Book. Also very simple, and I like the flowery looking motif. All very simple, but fun to make!! Thanks to Lindsay for taking pictures for her old aunt, as I forgot. Oh she is also a wonderful and talented photographer!!! Thanks, Lindsay!!
THe other two are dishclothes. Both are snowflakes, The white one is a little hard to see, but I thought the blue one turned out nice. Both were easy patterns (see my Ravelry page under Zandersmom), but I liked the pattern and the motif better on the blue one. The white one, actually had two yarn overs in the middle, which if your a knitter, you will know leaves a hole. So, eventhough hard to see, there are two holes in the middle of the snowflake. Kind of different!! :) I guess that's it, I just wanted to catch up. I am involved in a new Bible Study, but we have just started, but I am learning soooo much, I'm not sure I even know where to start. I will save that for a post by itself. It is Beth Moore's "Psalm of Ascent." It is very different, but by far the most spiritually challenging one of hers I have done. I will be teaching in the spring, until the end of the year, so that will keep me busy as well. I am reviewing curriculm right now. Well, I guess I'm done, for now, thanks as always for visiting. Please come back!!
Suzanne

New Things

Back to knitting!! I've actually been pretty busy on the knitting front, just not on the getting pictures from hubby front. However, he did get them to me yesterday, so I will try to catch up, but I will do it in small doses. First are the two helmetliners that I did for our Marine and his buddy, Ben.
I made Alex the black one, which is being modeled by my youngest son, Eric.
This was made from Shepherd's Wool, made right here in northern Michigan at Stonehedge Fiber Mill.This yarn was just simply "Yummy."
It was just buttery soft, and it worked up like a dream. It is 100% wool, which is required by our military. I am trying to think of something to make for me out of it. I made Ben's out of Cascade 220.
It is being modeled by my son Greg. I wanted to see how the two compared. The Cascade is a great yarn, but the Shepherd's Wool won handsdown for softness.
They both turned out great and the pattern was different than anything I've ever done, but not hard at all. It is a very well written pattern. Check out my Ravelry notebook for all the details.
The blue scarf was a quick gift for a friend at church. I had some leftover yarn from this... A beautiful flower motif scarf that I made for Anna for Christmas.
It was crocheted and quick to make. It looks longer than it is. Anyway, back to the blue scarf....sorry. I used the leftover Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky and size 17 needles. Turned out nice and long, enough to wrap around several times. I made her a dishcloth too, but don't seem to have that picture yet. I'll share when I do. I guess that's it for now, I have lots more to share, but I don't want to bore you all in one post. As usual, thanks for taking the time to read my blog, and I hope you visit again soon.
Suzanne