Baby Pants

We've had about 6 snow days so far this season. It is snowing hard today and school is in session but I'm not scheduled to work today. I've had lots of uninterrupted knitting time, during which I knit some baby pants.
I put them in the mail for a friend's new baby boy. I hope Griffin will get a chance to wear them before it warms up outside. The pattern is "Baby's Denim Drawstring Pants" from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.

Now I'm working on a soft, angora baby sweater. I'm not sure who I will give it to yet. Unfortunately it is not machine washable, but the yarn was so soft and it really wanted to be a baby sweater. I got the yarn from my pastor who found it at a thrift store. Great find! It's a yummy shade of green.

The Secret Life of Yarn

I wonder if yarn has a mind of its own. Yarn, when it becomes part of a “stash,” goes on to give birth to more yarn that you don’t remember purchasing. Yarn seems to tell you what it wants to be. On the weekend I purchased a handknit sweater at the thrift store. It was gigantic and a beautiful shade of orange, and it didn’t want to be a sweater.

I thought it wanted to be felted into a rug and the sleeves wanted to unraveled and transformed into something new. It turns out that it tricked me into thinking it was 100% wool, and therefore feltable. Unfortunately it didn’t react that way when washed in hot water so I believe it's hiding another fiber besides wool. The former sleeves are now balls of yarn waiting to become something new...maybe socks?

Kinda Fishy

My friend Christy is visiting from Kansas. We're having a great time catching up. She'd never walked on water before, so we walked out onto the lake and checked out the fishing holes. When we spotted a long crack and heard a popping sound we ran the other way and we lived to tell about it.


I tried to measure the depth of the ice with a long stick. It was at least as long as the distance between my hands in the photo, and probably thicker.

We went to the beach in South Haven, where a surprising number of people were exploring the ice and snow. I had no idea that so many people go to the beach in the winter.

Christy has been trying to emulate the photographic techniques of our friend, Kristin. Can anyone figure out what this is a picture of (below)? I'll give you a hint. It was taken on Sunday.

Of course, it was great to see Ember and Cheyanne again.

To see the entire slideshow from our trip, visit the Emerald Inn website.

Walking on Water

My brother and sister-in-law brought my nieces for a visit this weekend. I haven't seen them since Christmas break, except for in church last Sunday, and I've missed them. Ember told me, "I prayed to God last night. I prayed that I could come to your house." Very sweet.

The girls got to walk out on the lake with their dad. It's kinda freaky to walk out onto the middle of a lake. If you look really hard you might see 2 tiny dots in the distance, and that's Ember and Cheyanne.


They brought their Easy Bake Oven and, with help from their mom, they baked some treats by the heat of a lightbulb. I had one of those ovens when I was a kid and I have very clear memories of cooking up things in my basement.

An Advance

Last weekend we had a glorious weekend of knitting and feasting together. 3 friends from Minnesota, 1 from Wisconsin and 1 from Chicago all came for a visit. We actually met at my parents' condo since they are in Florida. We called it a retreat but I just remembered that I used to work with someone who preferred to call it "an advance." We had so much fun with sticks and string (and food, of course!)

Camping on Ice

Looking out the window today I saw a bunch of tents on the middle of the lake. The wide open space is usually water, but is now ice. I guess they must be ice fishing out there. They packed up and left when it started getting dark, but they spent most of the day out there. Brrrrrrrrrr...

Another Snowy Day

Wow! 3 snow days in one week. UNBELIEVABLE! I'm not in Kansas anymore. My friend, Kristin, asked if I really have a snowblower. Yes, I most certainly do. It's my new best friend here in snowy Michigan. This county touches lake Michigan and we're in "the snow belt," so you can imagine how much snowy fun we have here. I need some snowshoes. (Really, Kristin, people around here also have snowshoes. Weird, isn't it?)



My parents wisely chose to leave yesterday instead of today so they escaped to Florida before last night's blizzard. I'm glad they are on their way somewhere warm.