Our new grandbaby, Joshua, was born to daughter Sarah and husband Ben yesterday. All are doing well and baby Caroline and big brother, Naaman are enthralled at the moment with the tiny little baby. Guess I’ll have to stop calling baby Caroline, baby. Grandma Fix-it hasn’t completed Joshua’s blanket yet so must get busy. Took a side trip knitting some baby cocoons for Caroline and Naaman’s dolls so they could cuddle theirs too like mommy.

Island time? Should it be named a new time zone? No not really,  just a slower way of life and one we are becoming accustomed to quickly. Relish life one minute at a time.

Our daughter Sarah and husband Ben are expecting their third any day now with time dragging it seems. We are sure they are anxious to have the baby put in it’s appearance. Grandma is knitting away on THE baby blanket which has been,  for all the previous 5 grandbabies, out of cashmere which makes a simply luscious blanket. It’s amazingly strong as evidenced by the “Linus” blanket pose it has assumed for all of them. Baby Caroline has been the roughest of any of them, worrying hers by sticking little fingers through the lace holes. Grandma has become known as Grandma Fix-It because she watches me mend the holes and return it ready for abuse once again. Lesson learned though, forget the lace. This one has NO yarn overs. Simply knit and purl with a diamond design.

SoXperience is ready!

All the workshops are lined up, the Island Motor Inn on Chincoteague Island is ready for us, and boy are we ready for spring after this last blizzard. Thankfully we did not lose power this time. Our grandaughter Jaina’s school did have the roof collapse on part of it. Wonder what they will do? All schools in the area are closed until Tuesday of next week and there is a state of emergency issued so no one is to be on the roads. The size of the equipment that is being used to clear the roads keeps getting bigger and bigger. Dan said the last plow which went through must have been from the forest service for pulling logs. Gigantic! that was two days ago and the roads are closed once again.  Soooo…. Looking forward to the Spring Garden & Flower show in April which will be the same weekend in April as our SoXperience. To find all the information about SoXperience just go to that link on our website.

Or, what the ER can do to your knitting.

These little socks out of Step yarn that I was knitting for my grandson went with me to the emergency room when Dan fell off the ladder and then to the orthopedic offices and through surgery waiting rooms. So, needless to say, it was some mindless knitting. So I finally focused on it one day and thought, what in the world did I do?!!!  AWK! Forgot to continue the rib down on the foot. So I got these little socks that look like balloons. BLAH!  The thought of ripping out the heels made me hold my head. But all is not lost. Sooooo…I dropped the stitches back and reworked them as purl stitches. Working the two socks at once on Addi Turbos is great and it did not take long to rework them and I am much happier not ripping out. Here they are finished on his feet, 5 seconds before, “thanks Grandma” and they are ripped off his feet as he heads to play somewhere else. That kind of ripping is acceptable, almost. Oh yeah, fraternal socks don’t bother me at all.

Grandbabies are perfect to knit for.

Love those small projects and when they like what you knitted…what a bonus! This little hat with its knitted embellishment of a flower just called to me as I thumbed through the Louisa Harding book, Enchanted Garden. There was that little flower and I just had to give it a try. So, chose Panda Cotton in two very bright colors which when I got going in it, I wondered if it was too much for a little baby girl. The little bit of elastic in the yarn was a bonus to help it fit an unknown size head except by choosing the age in the pattern. The picot edge was different, you began with it as the cast on edge, not adding it after you finished your knitting. And the flower was so simple that you wanted to knit a couple dozen just to stick on your other projects. Cool!

Here she is, baby Caroline with her new duds. Sarah, her mom, says she alternated pulling it on her head and tucking it under her chin and “wearing” it there. What fun!

Have you tried the new Addi Turbo Lace Needles. Not being a lace knitter, I didn’t think I would have any interest in using them. But AHA! Had the opportunity to try them when knitting the Swirl Shawl with Melody yarn and found that I like the long points. Wonder how they would work for sock knitting…well they’re great for that too. That extra pointy tip is really good for the fingering weight yarn used in socks also. Picking up stitches along the gusset, not a snap, but a little easier.

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