Boy is it HOT!!!!

Ok so I haven't blogged in a while. It's so darn hot! I like to hibernate in the bedroom! I haven't done too much knitting! I have finished up my alene camisole. I will post pictures soon. Currently I have a sock OTN, it's called "overlapping leaves", very pretty. I also have my sidar duet OTN. I need to pick up stitches and finish the neckband. It's just so hot lately!

I am also starting a new baby blanket. It's called "Ocean Waves". It will be in all blues. I am also going to donate it, and hopefully a few hats to a hospital on the HAIN's list. I'm excited about this!

I bought the yarn to make myself a pinwheel sweater! I'm very excited about this! I also want to work on flirty skirty, which was featured on knitty gritty. I have also fallen in LOVE with the sublime yarn. I found a CUTE sweater they made out of kid mohair. Now I just need to save my pennies!

Nothing else really new. Just really hot!!

~danielle~

Picture of fruit stripes blanket.

Here is a picture of the fruit stripes blanket. It has 2 more knitters and a border to be added and then it's ready to go!

~danielle~

Odds and Ends!

My aunt and uncle will be arriving today. They left last Friday (from Ohio) and drove to Nashville, TN. They will arrive here this evening and then tomorrow we will make the 7 hour trip to San Antonio to my parent's house. Lane and I will get to ride in a RV! I'm exciting to see what he thinks of this as he will be able to move around a bit during the trip. I'm also a bit nervous b/c I wont have my car down in SA and it's a long trip, knowing he can move around. I'll be packing the dvd player and his dvds!!

I finally got all the packages mailed out on Friday. I hope that means they will start to arrive today. I sent a finished preemie blanket to Shandeh, a finished baby blanket to Snowbear and then a WIP baby blanket to Robinknits. Those blankets are just turning out so beautiful.

I have also finished the front and the back of my pink duet shirt. It's seamed together and I'm taking it to mom's so she can help me read the directions and see what needs to happen next. I also picked my alene camisole back up. It's seamed up the sides and I've started working the lace bottom. I've gotten about 3 or so inches done. It's really pretty and really looks nice. I've also been looking at sock patterns. I want to cast on some more socks!

I've posted a question on the KH boards about how to read a pattern that is written from the top down, when I want to work from the toe up. I can't quite get my mind wrapped around that. We'll see how it goes :)

I also went to Roy's Toys and Trains and they gave me a $10 gift certificate for helping to advertise. I bought 1 set of thomas stickers and some cowboy stickers to work on Lane's scrapbook. I also bought him a train whistle, which is absoulately LOVES!

I was also approaced about doing some photography work. They want some Black and whites done of the big fountain in town. I went and played with it some, but when I return from vacation I'll definitely get to work on it. It would be nice to earn a little extra money on the side maybe.

Anyway, should be cleaning and packing. We are leaving in the morning!

~danielle~

I won a prize?

A couple weeks/blogs back I wrote about going to Roy's Toys and trains store that is located in Jefferson Texas. I wrote about the experience we had and great of a time we had and about how much my son TOTALLY enjoyed the trains and the train ride.

Well yesterday I was checking email and I get an email from Vicki (Roy's wife) thanking me b/c she googled roys toys and trains and they ended up being 2nd on the google list due to my blog post. She said a big thank you and to come into the store as she had a gift for me. How cool is that?

I'm hoping to go into the store this evening or tomorrow and see what I've won. I just think it's really cool and I hope that someone else saw my blog post and comes in and visits their really cool shop!

~danielle~

Movie: PS I love you.

I've had this movie for a month now and just never sat down to watch it. I knew it was going to be a tear jerker but I wasn't expecting what I got. That movie was amazing. Yes I cried for a good portion of the movie. But it was just amazing how even after death, her husband was able to help her through the healing process. Hilary Swank did what most people would do, which is just shut down and hide.

Words can't express how great this movie was. If you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY recommend it. Watch it with your girlfriends, your mothers, your sisters... bring lots of kleenex though. But it's so moving you will be just as awed as I am after you've seen it.

~danielle~

Summer fun and spring fling blanket are finished!

I finished the borders on the 2 oddball blankets I had! They look beautiful! I can't wait until snowbear and shandeh receive them! I'm sure they will make some little one very happy! Thanks to all the ladies that worked on the 2 blanekts that I started and to those that have worked on all the other blankets. We really touch the lives of other people!

~danielle~

Why I knit for charity?

Someone asked me why I knit for charity. Well there are 2 main reasons that I knit for charity. 1. I've had items knitted for me in the past when I've been through some rough times. It's always nice to receive something in a time of need. To be reminded that people do care about me even when I feel like noone does. So therefore I want to return the favor, or pass it on in a sense. 2. I know it's important to give to charity. We aren't poor but we certainly aren't rich. We don't really have the money to donate to charity, but I feel like donating my time/resources and skills is just as important.

I also enjoy the time I spend knitting items for charity. I knitted some squares for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting. I was never a student there, but I did spend some time on the campus as I dated a guy there and did apply to be a student there. I felt I needed to donate a couple squares to help wrap those that needed in love and healing for the blankets. It goes without saying that the oddball projects are important. I've knitted on 2 oddball blankets and I hope that when they are complete they will really wrap someone up and provide warmth and love. Maybe a battered women's shelter or a halfway house.

The baby/preemie blankets I knit b/c I love babies. They are so innocent and many times are brought into this world with nothing. But then there are also the ones that come into this world, only to leave us. I, myself have lost a baby. At 14w5d I gave birth to a stillborn. Yes it was only 14w but the baby did have eyes, arms and legs. It was a baby, it was MY baby. So knitting blankets is something I can do to give back.

The prayer shawls I knit for church are just that. We give shawls to those that need it within our church and in our community. We have given away 7 shawls so far, one of which was given to me during the lose of my baby. I've crocheted one so far and in the middle of a 2nd.

So if you ask my why I knit for church, I might ask you, well why not? Haven't you ever been given something at just the right time or someone said or did something for you when you needed it most. It's the same thing :) I knit with my hands but it comes from my heart!

~danielle~