Let the Gardening Begin!

Hi Everybody!!
I am so excited that gardening season is upon us!! We have had a very interesting, but nice spring here in Michigan. On March 31 and April 1st, we actually slept with our windows open!! It was 80 degrees!! I don't believe I've ever done that!! However nice, I do know that it was too hot too fast, and would not last. It didn't, but it did give way to a nice spring with lots of blooming going on!. I also have added (thanks to my DH and Son #2) three more gardens!! They are raised beds, two are 12x4's and one is 6x4. I would have liked them 12x6's but there was a little miss communication(translated, they didn't really listen to me!!). Shhhh don't tell them I said that!! :) My sons Greg and Eric built them for me, and actually shoveled in all the dirt while I was at work. Thanks to all my guys!! :) Having these extra beds allows me to plant some things that I simply have not had room for, also will allow me some crop rotation in the coming years.
I planted peas, garlic, shallots and brussel sprouts for the first time, oh, and potatoes. These are already in the ground. I will also have room for beans, and Swiss chard, which I am very anxious to try. I will have more room for more herbs, like Basil that I use a lot of!! Here are some pictures of me and my DH laying out the grids with string.

I also got lots of lettuces planted!!
I have been knitting. Made some more of those baby bell bottom pants, but can't find the pictures. Made them in a pretty chocolate brown with a cute little pink onesie. Made a nice little gift. Our church seems to be a baby factory!! I'm sure not drinking the water!! :) I finally finished my Circle Socks. Last August, DH and I went to Wisconsin and found a beautiful yarn shop in an old bank. I found some Ty Dy Sock yarn by Knit 1 Crochet Two, in the color mineral. I love it!! Wanted to do Jaywalkers, but I think this yarn was too splitty so I saw these Circle Socks on Ravelry and thought that would work better. I do like this pattern, and modified the instep with a diamond decrease. Not original idea, Lilia on Ravelry came up with it and it works out beautifully!! Thanks Lilia!! I also modified the toe, not sure what you call it, but you end with the kitchner stitch, which I love. The original pattern calls for the Star Toe, which I do not love. So, I am all in all very happy with these.
If you read my Ravelry project page, you will see the many issues I have had with these socks. Knitter problem, not the pattern!! :)
Onto the other sock!! Might actually make a little pair of flip flop socks, (see Ravelry). We attend a church family camp in June, and they might just be the thing for those early morning trips to the bath house!! Hope you all are having a wonderful spring!! More knitting and gardening pictures as they come!! Thanks as always for visiting. Please leave a comment!! I love to hear from you!! Blessings, Suzanne.

I have no idea!!

Now that's a title!! Could that possibly mean that I haven't done this in sooooo long, that I totally forgot how? Well, hopefully not totally!! I have really been doing a lot, much of which you'll see in a moment, but life is just too busy. Besides working, and family, I am teaching a Precept Bible Study class, which really takes a lot of study time, and then I am also doing Beth Moore's Esther bible study in my Sunday School class. I have been participating in a reading program (I work at a library, and no we don't get to read a work!! :) ). All that takes a lot of time, and it seems I am a bit tired all the time!! But alas, I have been knitting. There is always time to squeeze that in!! I started the beginning of the year all excited, that I could pump out a few socks for me!! And maybe even a new purse. Then I found out a dear friend of ours, who served in Iraq during one of the more difficult times, is expecting. Well, that put me into full baby mode!! I searched and searched for the cutest things, and I think, thanks to Ravelry, found quite a few!! Here we go. First, are the cutest little baby pants on the planet. I will be making lots more of these, they are really quite simple, and fast to make. The pattern is well written
I used some Caron simply soft, and they turned out quite well. The next item is a little thing the book calls a singlet. I call it a vest. I got it from the Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders book. The pattern looks like it has a lot of steps, but is super easy and quick. I used Patons Baby Bamboo, and the look of the finished project is very professional looking. I will make this again as well. The little flower, which you saw on the pants, this vest, and will see again, is actually from this pattern. Then I made the cutest little rattle EVER!! I(remember I work at a library) saw a new book at work, and sort of quickly glanced at it. I saw this bunny rattle, and having made some toys before thought they are often a little harder and very time involved. Well, this is not. The book is latest by Erika Knight, and is called Natural Nursery Knits!! I have several of Erika's books, and this one will be next. This rattle was so easy and quick, and the patterns are so well written. She has some adorable things in this book. You really should check it out!! Lastly, are the little shoes. The pattern is by a french gal named Pruline. I found the pattern on Ravelry, and it was totally in french, but so simply written, that it is easy to translate. She did her shoes with a really fine gauge yarn, but I used a size 8 needle and CottonTots yarn for mine, and again the flower from the singlet pattern and VIOLE. The cutest shoes!! These really are simple. I also made a couple of hats, the pattern was found through Ravelry, but was from the Crochetville Forums. It is a simple crochet construction, I made two, one(ivory) using the Patons Bamboo again, and the other using some Yarn Bee Sweet Delight because it was in pink camo.
The whole gift package looks like this;
I hope she likes it. I sure had fun knitting and crocheting every stitch. As always, I thank you for visiting, and hope you come back soon. I will try not to take so long to post.
Suzanne

Happy New Year!!

I know, better late than never!! What a whirlwind!! I hope each one of you had a blessed holiday season with family, friends, and celebrating the birth of Christ!! I decided since I have been so bad at posting, I would give you some eye candy!! I realized that I haven't put all my recent projects on this blog. I have had more computer issues this fall, which makes it difficult to post pictures, but I will try to catch you up. As for upcoming events, I am excited to be starting two new things in the coming weeks, I am taking a Beth Moore study on Esther!! Should be an excellent study, as it always is with Beth!! Then in February, I will begin teaching Ephesians in Precepts, which if you don't know is a Kay Arthur study. The Precept study is a lot more work than the Beth Moore study, not only because I am teaching, but it is just very detailed and goes back to the original Greek and Hebrew!! I love it, eventhough it requires many early mornings of study time. I learn so much!! I will keep you all updated, and if you've never done either study, I would challenge you to try one or the other or hey....BOTH!!! :)
We had a delightful Christmas season, with family, and friends. Alex and Anna returned from their honeymoon in Maui, and are doing great in their new apartment. She has it decorated so cute!!
Alex is officially off deployment!!! And received a special commendation while in Iraq. We, of course, are very proud of him and are grateful to the USMC for recognizing some of his unique abilities!! This is one of the Christmas presents this year, its a felted tote for my Mom. She wanted something to carry her Bible in, and it fits perfectly!! I used the Falling Leaves Pattern from Classic Elite, and the yarn was Cascade 220!! Love both. The pattern is real easy, and by pulling the new color yarn underneath the stitch, it creates that real straight line!! Very cool!! I also did a scarf for mom.
I used an Alpaca in ivory. The yarn is on my Ravelry notebook, sorry, I can't remember what is was now, but it was very soft and nice to work with. I haven't done a lot of lace work, but this was a fairly quick knit!! I also made a quick crocheted hat for my neice. She looks so cute in hats!! Made a different one for my nephew too, but not sure that picture is loaded. If it is, I'll post it. I am going to leave you with several pictures from the past month. As always thanks for visiting. I do visit your blogs, but have been real behind in lots of things due to all these computer issues. Happy 2010! Hope to hear from you!!
Suzanne

This is a cowl that I finally finished, started it over a year ago!! I love the color and the pattern is linked on my Ravelry page.

Wedding

Well, the big day finally arrived on November 28.2009. Everything went very well, and everyone looked beautiful. We were blessed with a 50 degree and sunny day, which in Michigan in late November, rarely happens. The kids are off to Hawaii for their honeymoon. I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!!

Slacker!!

Actually, I'm not. We have been very busy with Alex's being home, and the upcoming wedding. And then even though I have no picture, I wasn't knitting at all when he came home. A few days before his arrival, I was wrestling with my 13 year old (who is acutally taller than Alex) and I ended up with a badly sprained ring finger, on my right hand. I had it in a brace for 3 weeks. I really did try to knit with it on, and I realized that I do use that finger more than I thought. So, no knitting. Argh!! That was tough! Did get a lot of reading done though!! :) Having Alex home is such a joy, he is so happy and giddy. Just glad to be home I guess!! :) After my finger healed, I had a few dishrags to finish for Anna. Her first shower, (given by my SIL Maribeth and Melia) was Sat. October 17th.
I was a beautiful sunny day ( one of the very few we've had). I knitted her 12 dishcloths. One for every month. For example, Jan - snowflake, Feb - pink hearts, March - green shamrock, etc. I think you get the idea. I wrapped them, actually rolled them into toilet paper tubes, and then wrapped them like candy, and put numbers on them, so she would open them in order, and put them into a cute little box.
It turned out quite cute, and she loved them.

I wish I would have taken pictures of each one, but I ran out of time. I do have them all written down though. We have been busily doing all sorts of little final details for the wedding in 5 weeks. Picking up extra hours at work hasn't helped with the knitting. Then, Christmas is right around the corner. We'll see! I did finish Lydia's shrug.
She won't actually wear it down the aisle, but I tried it on her before I put the sleeves in, and it fit her great. The pattern was from Knitting Pure and Simple, and is a size 4. All I need to do is block it and get a pink button for the top. I made the sleeves 3/4 as it called for only little cap sleeves.
That won't work for Michigan in November!! I sure hope our weather changes. Seriously, no sun, and lots and lots of rain. If we get as much snow as we have rain this fall, we will be buried this winter. I hope all of you have been good. I appreciate so much the sweet comments from my faithful readers. I see some of you are as behind as I am. As always, thanks for visiting, and come back soon. Hopefully with all that is going on around hear, I will try to do better at updating everything!!!
Suzanne

He's HOME!!!!

I cannot even begin to put into words what this past week and weekend have been like. We knew last week that Alex would probably be leaving the sandbox, but of course, didn't know exactly when. Late last week at 2:00 in the morning, we got a call from him that he was in America!! Then on Thursday morning, he called with the time he would be home. We headed to the base late Friday night, Our Marines rolled in around 2:00a.m.!! Those last few moments were the hardest. We were in a gym, and they closed all the doors, had us facing one door and the sargeant said that he was leaving through these doors,
and that the next people to walk through would be our Marines. I am sure in a normal state of mind, that those next few moments were just that, but it seemed like an eternity!!
Once the door opened, the crowd just went wild. Of course, they all look a like, and you are frantically searching for your boy!! Anna found him!!!! She ran so fast, all I saw was a blonde blurr,
and she almost knocked him over!!!! To say we were happy is such an understatement!!

We are so thankful to our great God for his constant protection and His faithfulness!! Here are a few more pictures of the happy reunion!!
The next day, we through an Open House for him. We had a lot of faithful friends and relatives attend. It was a good day. We were only going on less than 4 hours of sleep, so by late afternoon we were all dragging. Poor Alex still doesn't know what time zone he's in. Sunday was church, and they had Alex say a few words, and then prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for his safe return.
Our church is filled with faithful prayer warriors!! You too, have been faithful, I know many of you have prayed for Alex, and asked about him on more than one occassion, and for that I am very grateful to each of you!! Thanks for visiting! God is Good!!!
Suzanne

Oh so Much!!!

Where do I start? First, just got back from a weeks vacation!! Had fun tubbing (well at least the kids did)
, and boating, etc.

All the fun water things. I floated and read!! :) Also did some knitting...got my first toe up socks done
, also got my first sock done for a test knit that I am doing on Ravelry. The pattern is called Soybean Socks. Very fun and this pattern I do believe is up now, and you really should get it!! Christabel did a wonderful job, and this is a delightful pattern, and goes really quickly. It was fun to be a test knitter!!

My husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on August 11th. We got away for a couple days. We went to Door County, Wisconsin.
Very quaint small towns. Just a very relaxing couple of days. I really should be doing laundry, but alas, it isn't going anywhere.
We are trying not to rush summer,(especially since it just got here...weather wise), but Alex will be home so soon!!! Hopefully I will share that in pictures!! For now, just trying to enjoy these last lazy days of summer!! Thanks for visiting!!
Suzanne