My Mom and Long Island, NY

I just arrived back home, to Texas, from visiting my mom in New York.  We had a very good visit, as always.  :)

Mom lives on Long Island, not far from so much devastation left behind by hurricane Sandy.  Her home survived this hurricane all right and only lost power for 2 hours.  However, we have had damage from hurricanes, that have come before, and have had power outages for a couple of weeks before. So, our family is used to the loss due to storms.  This time we feel very blessed that all is OK.

Here's mom! We were having lunch in her kitchen and I snapped this photo!



One day we decided that we would take a drive around town, to see the damage that some of her friends were dealing with. By the time I arrived to NY, most folks had gutted their homes of walls and carpets, cabinets and furniture. They were working on rebuilding and fixing. Her friends' homes were being repaired and starting to look pretty good.

We drove to the local boat docks along the south shore of Long Island, near her home, and stopped in our favorite spot for just sitting and looking at the sea.  It was an extremely calm and beautiful day. But, here is some of the damage that we saw.

This is a local seafood restaurant.  They were getting it repaired, so they could open back up and serve the public.

Some houses being repaired. All the first level floors were being ripped out, while the families were inhabiting the top floors. If you look close you might see the wood leaning against the houses.

More houses and more devastation. But, repairs were under way.
All of these homes are right on the bay, the bay opens into the Atlantic.

This, below, is one of my favorite views. :) Why? Cause it is a picture of the bridges to the beach and I LOVE the beach. Yes, there are two separate bridges there, but they are built close enough, that from a distance they look like one.  We noticed that cars were crossing, so I started the car and we drove to the bridge and tried to get to the beaches.

 After we crossed this bridge, and a draw bridge, we couldn't get to the third bridge, that leads to Fire Island.  The bridge was ok, but the road on the other side isn't.  We tried to visit a couple of other beaches, but they are all closed, due to damage.  So, we turned around and went home......

We had a great day, visiting with each other and seeing the water.  We both always enjoy just looking at the different views of the water.

Finished Teddy Bear

This past summer during the Olympics, I participated in the knit along on Ravelry. One of my projects was this adorable teddy bear. I was to cast on, knit and finish him during the Olympics. Well, this project didn't make it to the finish line in time, but I did finish him.  :) 

BUT, I couldn't show it to you until now. Here he is, Coe's bear.

Coe just turned one! AND we were able to give it to him for his birthday.  I think he likes it. Here is a link to the pattern for the bear on Ravelry.

This project is from the pattern named Revontuli, a free pattern on Ravelry. It was one of the projects just sitting and waiting to be done. So, I finally finished it!! I really am happy with the way the colors stripe in this. 

I did dye the yarn to be self-striping yarn,, hoping that my experiment would work,  It did and I really like it!

Here it is blocking. The knitting starts at the neck edge and you work down to the bottom edge. I did work the bottom edge differently than the original pattern. I added some lace and a ruffle. 

Pumpkin Cake and Projects

Most of us like pumpkin. :)  I Love Pumpkin pie and Pumpkin cakes and Pumpkin cookies. I have a lot of recipes for making them from scratch too. BUT, sometimes you need one in a hurry.  I found a recipe, that is quick! It uses just a yellow cake mix and a 15 oz can of pumpkin.  While I was mixing it, I thought that it might be a little bland. In checking out, on the internet, what others did I saw that some used a spice cake mix instead of a yellow cake mix. It was too late for that.  :) What's a baker to do? I took out my cookbook and added the spices that I would usually add to my pumpkin pie.  AND I added extra cinnamon for good measure.

Pumpkin Cake
1 Yellow cake mix(the 2 layer size box, Duncan Hines, Pillsbury).
1 15 oz can of pumpkin.
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
1/8 tsp nutmeg.
1/2 tsp ginger.
1/8 tsp ground cloves.
Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and beat until smooth.
Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan, level out. Bake 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Glaze for topping
1 1/2 cups powdered(confectioners) sugar
3 Tbsp Apple Cider
1/2 tsp cinnamon
When cake comes from oven, you can cool for 5 minutes and turn out onto a plate, BUT, I don't have a plate for a 9x13 cake. So, I left it in the pan. Pricked holes all over and poured the glaze onto it. The holes enabled the glaze to drip into the cake.  You don't have to do that step. You can wait for the cake to cool and pour the glaze over the unpricked cake.

If you are a lover of cream cheese frosting, you could also frost it and omit the glaze.


I have launched a new pattern!!!!
This pattern is named Nicole(after one of our granddaughters) and is in the etsy shop and on Ravelry.

This pattern gives you the choice of using fingering/sock weight yarn or worsted weight yarn. You can have a ruffly type lace edging or flat edging.

The shawl starts at the top back neck and you work to the bottom edge.



This blue/lavender shawl, is made with fingering weight yarn from Harrisville Yarns.

The plum and gray one is also fingering weight wool yarn, purchased at JoAnn's. The lace on this one is the "ruffled" one, which helps the shawl to curve nicely around your neck.

This rose pink shawl is knit with Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride worsted(superwash).

The light pink shawl was knit by my friend Liz.  She does a lot of test knitting and editing for me and is so faithful to always help!!!! Thanks, Liz! Liz used a DK weight yarn and followed the directions for the fingering weight yarn.

You know, I don't always knit. It seems like that, but I don't. Once in a while, you can also find me doing traditional rug hooking and even sewing. Years ago, I drew this picture of the Montauk Point Lighthouse, which is out on the eastern end of Long Island, and then I used my hand spun yarns, to hook it. The picture resides on the wall in my hall bathroom, where we have decorated with lighthouses.



Dying Self-striping yarns

If you are a knitter and have worked with the self-striping yarns, or you have been the recipient of a project that was made with self-striping yarns, you have probably been totally amazed and wondered, "How in the world did they dye this yarn?"

I wonder how they figured it out, too.  :)  It is totally amazing to me. Here is a youtube video on it.  My friend, Liz, sent the link to me and I thought I would share it with you.

The video is in German and even though I don't understand German, I did enjoy the video. Hope you do too!

A Bunch of Hugs

On Wednesdays, I attend a meeting with a great group of women. We are all hand spinners and knitters. Some of us also crochet and some also weave. Meaning, we all love yarn in all forms and fashions!  :)

Once in a while, when one of us needs a special hug, we are able to do something about that.  Today we were able to give Marlene, a beautiful shawl. It was hand knit by Kate, using our hand spun yarns.  I think at least 10 of us contributed yarns to this shawl.

Kate used a pattern from Jane Thornley, named Color Streams. It was a great pattern for putting together a lot of different yarns.



I think that Kate did such a good job, that I wanted to show the shawl to you.



Pool fun and Yarn Shop Video

A couple of weeks ago, I had fun in the pool with our younger daughter and her 9 month old son.  :) 



Then I thought, since this little video is going around, you might like to see this shop in Maplewood, NJ.  A fun time can be had at knitting and crochet groups.  We do have fun at the spinning group on Wednesdays and the craft group on Thursdays.

Ravellenic Knitting

My first Olympic knitting project was this Citron Shawl. I had entered it in the Works in Progress Wrestling event.  :)  I had started it a year ago, but quickly put it away, not sure if I liked the colors.

I took it out at the start of the Olympics and it is now finished.  I have to admit, that when done and blocked, I love the colors!  Who would've thought.

This spring I had purchased some cotton sock monkey brown yarn and sock monkey red yarn at Hobby Lobby.  I wanted to make something with it, so I found this tiny sock monkey pattern.  I had entered this little guy in the Toy Toss competition. 

 My third project was cup cozies.  I actually planned to make one, from the left over yarn above, but had plenty of yarn to make 2! Actually, I still have yarn, but it is in the stash with the other cotton yarns that I have. The cozies were entered in the Homestuff Hammerthrow competition.

I have one more project to go.  It is a stuffed teddy bear. It is started, but not near finishing.  I have 3 days to go.  Not sure if I will cross the finish line with this one, but I am going to try.