Happy Easter!

Been a While

It really has been a while since I posted.  Not sure what to blame that on, I guess just flitting from here to there and not lighting somewhere long enough to post.  Well, that and I needed to take and download some pictures and the camera was always in the wrong place, and I'm still lazy about climbing stairs.

But I made the effort, finally, so here's a bit of what we've been doing.

Sydney and Sam belong to a boy's group at church, called Cadets, quite similar to Boy Scouts but with a Bible message included.  They get to do all the cool things Scouts do, including crafts and camp outs.  Saturday was the Cadet-o-Rama where the boys from all over the valley could come together and compete.  They shot off rockets:

Sam couldn't find most of his rocket after he launched it, but he was still happy because he got third place in his age group for appearance.  Actually, Grandma and another mom got recruited to judge the rockets, but honestly we didn't know whose was whose.  No, really!  And Sam also won third for his craft-a nice shelf.  I didn't judge the crafts-the leaders did that.  Then they raced their cars-when my boys were in Cadets they called it the Pinewood Derby.  Syd got third in his age division, but they only gave ribbons to the top two.  They also give out the Turtle Award which goes to the slowest car that crosses the finish line.  Another boy in their group, Nels, almost got it, but his car didn't quite make it all the way across the line.  All the boys had a blast.

The girls' group, GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior), got to make rockets but they will shoot them off later at a church member's farm.  The boys will too, and the ones like Sam that lost their rockets will build new ones.  All the girls painted theirs pink and purple, go figure!

I've been sewing and knitting.  I finally finished the Christmas pajamas, and will give them to the kids on Easter.  I have a nice stack of flannel now-just love them all done and ready for the owners!

 But this year, I had to make a nightgown for Gracie-she informed us she's too grown up for pajamas.  When I cut the nightgown out, it had long sleeves with elastic at the wrists.  Her other Gramma made her a nightgown the same way, but Gracie hated the elastic, so I had to come up with something different.  I cut off a portion of the sleeves, added eyelet lace, and faced it with a strip cut from the part I whacked off.  I suppose penguins are okay for Easter, right?

 The kids are coming for Easter dinner, and yesterday, while wandering through Jo-Ann's I came across this tablecloth, marked to half price.  The creative juices started flowing, so I went home and cut out napkins from my massive fabric stash.  A little pressing and hemming and I have washable napkins to use year after year.

Then I started digging through my knits.  I was looking for something blue and green to match some jewelry I bought a while back.  I found this-I have a suspicion it might be swimsuit fabric, but I like it.  This one one of several pieces of fabric a good friend gave me.  She's never been fond of knits and I love them so I happily accepted all she had to offer!  I should be able to find a skirt in my closet to match for Easter.  It will be the first skirt I've worn in months, and you can bet when I get home I'll find my jeans!  Not supposed to be warm here on Easter.

As for knitting, the usual sock project is always in the car, and I finished a pair of leg warmers I started winter before last.  Not my fault-I ran out of yarn and had to wait forever for the store to get more in.  It's a different dye lot, but you can hardly see it and I'll probably just keep them in my winter box in the car. 

I have tons of sock yarn left so I made up a toddler-sized sock pattern.  It really turned out cute-hopefully I'll post pics in the next few days.  I want to put them in my Etsy shop so I'm contemplating the best setting to photograph them in.

Well, you all have a blessed Easter, or a good Passover.  One of these days I'm going to go to a Seder just to see what it's like.

This Easter

All in all, it was a good weekend.  Yesterday we watched the three little kids hunt for Easter eggs-in the snow of course!

The kids got to sit in the fire truck and ambulance after the hunt, and got to pet a chicken at the petting zoo set up in the park.

Thanks very much to the 4H groups, the Manhattan American Legion, and the Manhattan volunteer fire department.  They have really made this a huge success for many years!  There are bigger hunts in Bozeman-a megachurch holds one on the university campus with 50,000 eggs, but can you imagine the traffic problems?  We could have walked to the one in Manhattan if we wanted to.

It actually turned out to be a fairly warm day.  The sun came out and melted away the snow.  Today was even more beautiful and it got all the way up to 60F.  The first day of the year (except when I was in Mazatlan) that I never put a coat on all day.

Today we had a wonderful church service, then went to our oldest son's house for ham dinner.  It was a relaxing day with the guys gathered in the living room talking, the little kids playing outside, and the daughter-in-law and I chatting in the kitchen.  At one point, Isaac decided to try to get some little rubber darts out of the patio door-they had gotten stuck there yesterday-and all the men jumped up and started hunting up tools and things to fish the darts out with.  Steve finally got them out, but DIL and I decided that the testosterone level in the room went up 20 points when the guys realized there was something to tinker with!

There were a few misty moments thinking of Gram and missing other family members, but God was faithful in keeping us going on a good/tough day.

It's a Rule!!

In Montana it's the rule that you must have snow on Easter.  It doesn't matter if Easter is early or late, there will be snow and bone-chilling temperatures.

Everybody is getting a little crabby around here.  Thursday night we were hit with ANOTHER blizzard.  People are talking about moving somewhere warmer.  Our racks of summer clothes at the store are still full and look mighty lonely.  They even moved them closer to the restrooms so people could see them as they pass by, but when you have to slog through six inches of freezing slush, shorts and cute little tops are the last thing on your mind.  I am totally convinced that if Easter were in July, it would still snow!

It does make for a pretty sunrise picture, but I could do with a summer type of sunrise.

We've had a bunch of stressful things hit our family lately-some I can talk about, some I can't.  But all the stressors make me want to fly away to Mazatlan and forget about everything!

Anyway, have a blessed Easter, and remember that He loved us enough to die for us.

Knitted Easter Egg Pattern

Okay, here is my creation.  I think it turned out pretty well-it's been fun cranking them out.

Easter Egg Pattern

Materials:  Bits of leftover knitting worsted, about an ounce.  The variegated is the most fun, especially the self-striping yarns.

Set of double pointed knitting needles size 6 US.
 Large darning needle

Cast on 8 stitches, divide on 3 needles (3 stitches, 2 stitches, and 3 stitches).
Row 1:  Knit around.
Row 2:  Knit 1, (inc. in stitch below next stitch, K 2) around, K1 (See increase instructions at the end of this post.)  (11 sts)
Row 3:  Knit around.
Row 4:  K 1 (inc. 1, K 2) around.  (16 sts)
Row 5:  Knit around.
Row 6:  K 1 (inc. 1, K 3) around.  (21 sts)
Row 7:  Knit around.
Row 8:  K 1 (inc. 1, K 4) around.  (26 sts)
Row 9:  Knit around.
Row 10:  K 2 (inc. 1, K 4) around.  (32 sts)

Rows 11-24:  Knit around.

Row 25:  K 2 (K 2 tog, K 4) around.  (27 sts)
Rows 26-28:  Knit around.

Row 29:  K 2 (K 2 tog, K4) around, K 1. (23 sts)
Rows 30-32:  Knit around.

Row 33:  K2 (K 2 tog, K 4) around, K 2 tog, K 1  (19 sts)
Rows 34-36:  Knit around.

Row 37:  K 1, (K 2 tog) around.  (10 sts)
Row 38:  K 2 tog around.

Cut yarn, leaving about 8", thread yarn needle and run through remaining stitches on needles.  Pull tightly, run needle through the end carefully so you don't see the threads on the outside, bury thread tail and cut.

Bury thread at the bottom end, but leave egg open if you are going to fill it.  You could stuff it with cotton or fiberfill and sew up the end if you wanted to, but I filled mine with Robin Eggs and those little wrapped chocolate eggs.

Increase Instructions

Insert needle into the stitch BELOW the next stitch.

 Then yarn over and pull through that stitch.  You now have a new stitch on your right needle.

 

Knit the next stitch as usual.  That would count as the next stitch in the sequence.

I'm trying to get 10 done-I'm on 8 1/2 as of today, so I have to keep moving on them.  All my kids-big and little are getting these for Easter.

From the Past

My mom was a fabulous crocheter. She dearly loved to make stuffed things-bunnies, dinosaurs, dogs, etc. About 20 years ago, when the rage was Cabbage Patch and crafters could buy Doll-Baby heads and make their own dolls, Mom bought a ton of tiny heads and crocheted dozens of these bunnies. She had apparently given two to my mother-in-law. The other day Mother brought me the bunnies and requested that I give them to Gracie. Of course I will, but I wish I could find the pattern and heads to make enough for all the grandkids. I might be able to find the pattern, I have most of Mom's but I'm sure they don't manufacture the heads anymore.


Mom would be pleased to know that Gracie had them. Happy Easter, Mom!