It's a SURPRISE!!!!

Happy Surprise Baby Shower, Cory!   Yeah, that's right...it was for CORY!  After all, he's about the only one who hasn't experienced a newborn baby yet.  Sandy's sister, Adriana, and her husband hosted about 70 people who came bearing gifts and best wishes for the expectant parents.  The shower was grand and glorious, a big gala event that lasted for hours and hours.  Lots of fun, lots of friends and even more family, ots of food, and lots of gifts from people who love them so much; great memories to last a lifetime.



Knitted shawl with 5,000 beads made by Mimi for Tiffany's christening and to be used later for her bridal veil or bridal shawl, a real family heirloom or keepsake.



Lucas picked out her first denim outfit.

There were many handmade items for Tiffany.

My good friend Sonja made the road trip with me to Florida, 2nd from the left.

 It was a whirlwind trip, but most enjoyable.  Only about 4-1/2 weeks till the due date, but Tiffany will let us know when she's ready to arrive.  Everyone eagerly anticipates her birth.  Here are a few of the items I've been making for her to wear or use when she gets here.

Crocheted sweater



Knitted romper



Knitted "lovey"



"Turtles for Tiffany" quilt



And, no, I haven't forgotten our little princess, Lindley!  But my computer has just decided not to cooperate so I can't upload photos from our last visit with her just now.  Stay tuned for more....

Winter Knitting Retreat 2011

Just returned from a week-long visit with my parents in southeastern Oklahoma.  My dear sister Judy who lives in California met me in Dallas and we drove together for the last leg of the trip.  It was indeed a wonderful experience, full of wonder and miracles--yes MIRACLES!  I witnessed my sister praying for relief of my mother's chronic and persistent pain and I witnessed it LEAVING!  I even experienced my own miracles this week.  God is awesome!

Baskets of Yarn's annual winter retreat begins next week.  Classes and projects abound!  Here are a few of the projects that will be shared and taught in Asheville, NC.



Stained Glass Triangular Shawl




Shipwreck Shawl




Shipwreck detail



In addition to these, there will be beautiful lace sweaters, scarf projects, socks and several technique classes.  Baskets of Yarn will have a condensed version of the store set up in the hotel for anyone who feels the need for fiber, needles, books, or patterns.  Other activities to look forward to are the traditional pajama party, yarn tasting, and late-night knitting with long-lost friends.

Meet the newest member of the King Family:  Ringo!

Ringo!



He's about 3 months old, black Labrador and Mastiff mix, cute as a button.  He will go into obedience training as soon as he has his second round of shots.  He weighs about 6 pounds now, but we expect him to reach 100# by adulthood.

And here are some of the latest pictures of Lindley (I knew you'd want to see these).  She is growing like a weed, getting smarter every minute and cuter every day.



Lindley is taking "golfing lessons" from her grandpa "Ga".



She gets as frustrated as "Ga" when she misses the shot.



She loves to tease "Mimi" (takes after her daddy on that one).



 I'll try to update this after the Winter Retreat.  Hope your spring is eternal!



Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  It's almost halfway through the first month of the new year, and I'm just now posting my first post of 2011.  It's been a busy year already.  We started the year with a trip to Gatlinburg, TN, with our son and his family from Orlando, FL.  There were 33 of us altogether, and most of them spoke Spanish with English as a 2nd language.  Most of the family is from Colombia, and some of them still live there but were able to visit the USA for the holidays.  I learned some new words (some cannot be repeated in public or in front of children), had lots of laughs, and felt special to be included in this wonderful group of people.  It's always a treat to be with them, and by the end of each visit the language barrier seems like such a trivial obstacle.

Isn't this a great-looking family?

We are so blessed!  Everyone had a great time:  skiing, helicopter riding, swimming, cooking (yummmmm) and eating, playing games together, going to movies, and shopping were just some of the activities during our trip.

Now it's time to prepare for the birth of a new granddaughter!  Tiffany Rose is expected to arrive in early May.  Several dates have been batted around, but the one I like best if May 9, the day after my birthday.  Can you imagine a sweeter birthday gift than the birth of a grandchild?  Her maternal grandmother's birthday is also in May.  This will be a special child!  Aren't they all?  Here is a photo of both grandmothers.



Mimi and Ita



As promised, here are photos...



Deanna Clark's Chevron Scarf



Here are photos of the Chevron Scarf knitted with bits and pieces of sock yarn.  You can see, it's not finished, but you can't see how much fun it is to knit! 

So little time, so much has happened.  First, the owner of my favorite yarn shop, Betsey Macholz, sold Baskets of Yarn to Patty Frame, who in addition to being a reputable and hardworking CPA is the Crochet Diva of the yarn community in Charlote.  First things first, the shop had to move.  Patty and her husband, Gary, and her mother, Nancy, along with the help of lots of "elves" found a fantastic location in Charlotte with lots of space and light and windows, and I just couldn't be happier.  The store hours have increased to include Tuesday through Saturdays, late on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with 2 knit nights and 2 knit mornings every week.  Rumor has it that the store will be open an occasion Sunday, too! The Grand RE-Opening was Wednesday, December 1, and continues through the week.  The store was crammed with knitters and yarn enthusiasts all day long on Wednesday.  So much fun!  Classes began yesterday with my beaded lace ornaments and will continue through the month of December with quick "little luxuries" for gifting.  Saturday will be a big day with Sue Dial and Patty teaching all day long.  I hope you will take some time and treat yourself to a visit to the new store.  Be sure to say hi from Margaret when you go in.

In the meantime, we've had big news on the family front.  My son Cory and his wife Sandy are expecting a baby in early May!  We already welcome little Tiffany Rose into our family and can't wait for her arrival!  She's already claimed her own space in our hearts and we pray for her healthy development and safe delivery when the time comes.  We anxiously await the arrival of her family here for Christmas later this month.

I'll be publishing a free scarf pattern in the next few days, so please check back often.

Margaret

Knitting Class

Hello again!  It hasn't been all that long this time, right?  I spent the day at Baskets of Yarn in Charlotte attending a class taught by Deanna.  She has created a chevron-style scarf using bits of sock yarn, and it is luscious!  We traded bits of sock yarns (about 20 yards or so), and she taught a join that was new to me, making it much easier to bury ends and not worry about them at the end.  The scarf is colorful and happy looking, makes me smile just to look at it!  Pictures later...

Hello, again....

Has it really been over a year since I last posted?  My, how time does fly.  Let's see, what has happened in the more-than-a-year since I last wrote to you....

Probably the most important event was the first year in our newest granddaughter's life.  Lindley Marie Rose is now 13 months old, walking, talking, laughing, and has the sweetest personality of any one-year old I've ever known.  She is the bright spot in the day, the light of our lives.  Her first birthday celebration was the party of the year, complete with decorations, lots of people, and decorator-style food.  Her mom and dad went all out, and it was definitely a party to remember.  (I hope Lindley remembers it.)  Here is the linen dress I knitted for her first birthday.  You can find more information about it here:  http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Quilter300/baby-dress

Most of our extended family joined us for a week at the Outer Banks of North Carolina last June.  We assigned each family unit a night to prepare dinner, played games, sang our hearts out to Beatles Rock Band and relaxed togther in the heat (and wind) of the beautiful NC coastline.  It was a vacation to remember. 

Soon after returning from our wonderful week together at the beach I had back surgery to remove a bone chip that had seated itself at the base of a nerve which was causing extreme pain and numbness in my foot.   My good friend Diane came to the hospital and helped me prepare for surgery and kept Gordon company while I was "under".  She was definitely our "angel" that day.  I'm still recovering, definitely improving every day, and thankful to God's gift of modern medicine and physical therapy.

Lucas started his Junior year at Lincoln Charter High School in August.  He also played soccer on the school's varsity team.  He has elected to play winter soccer this year, so we anxiously await the schedule for practices and games.  He really keeps us running up and down the roads, following his busy soccer schedule.

September brought its usual hectic activity with Lindley's first birthday, Lucas's 16th birthday, Gordon's and my wedding anniversary, and a knitting retreat thrown in for good measure!  Baskets of Yarn celebrated it's first fall retreat the last weekend of September this year.  It was great fun seeing good friends after many months and learning some new knitting techniques.  My good friend Maggie Farrell and I "tag teamed", teaching a sweater class together, and I taught a beaded lace scarf.  The hot, hot summer finally began to cool off that weekend, making it much more comfortable to be working with wool.

The first weekend of October started the annual quilting retreat at Beech Mountain.  Eleven quilters lived for an entire week in a 5-bedroom cabin atop Beech Mountain.  We participated in 10 different classes during the week, learning new techniques and interesting projects while working on quilts that we brought with us, too.  We took turns preparing meals and enjoyed the mountain air and changing leaves.  Here are some of the projects we completed: 

 

The next "big event" for me was the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival (SAFF) last weekend in Asheville.  http://saffsite.org/ is an annual festival of all things fiber including animal competition, fiber artists, vendors and classes.  Sue Dial of Harvest Moon/Clay Cat Designs allows me to help out in her booth where we sell her hand-dyed roving, handspun yarn, polymer clay jewelry and stitch markers, and wet and needle-felted items.  The "Popular Girls" make it a weekend, too, and we have a great time every year.

The highlight of the SAFF weekend this year came during a phone call from my oldest son, Cory, on Saturday morning.  He called from his home in Orlando to tell me that he and his wife Sandy are expecting a baby!  This will make 14 grandchildren for us!  We are absolutely thrilled, and they are "over the moon" with excitement and happiness.  This will be their 2nd child; their son Jesus Alfredo is 12 years old and is very happy to welcome a new baby into their family.  Can you imagine how much love there is for this unborn baby already?  I've already started knitting a blanket, even though it will be several weeks before we know the gender of this baby.  But between you and me, I can't wait to find out the baby's sex so I can start knitting dresses or rompers.

I think that pretty much brings you up to date.  I'll try to do a better job with this blog for those who enjoy reading about my chaos that I call life.    On the docket now is the Myrtle Beach Quilt Party in January 2011, and the 2011 Winter Knitting Retreat with Baskets of Yarn.  Of course, you can expect to be reading about babies for awhile, too.

Life and Times of Sheba the Kitty

The adventures of Sheba the Cat continue. She came into our lives as a kitten about a year ago and immediately stole our hearts away. She's much bigger than these pictures show because they were taken immediately after she arrived, but she still retains that kitten curiosity that will be a part of her forever, we hope.

After several trips to Raleigh to visit Lindley Marie to make sure she really is here and really is ours to keep, we decided to relax a little.

Ok, so I was knitting a cute little dress for Lindley Marie Rose, and the guys decided they wanted to go to the beach. After all, we had a 3-day weekend because teachers at the school needed a “work day” (don’t they work every day?), and it was our wedding anniversary and sort of close to son’s birthday. He wanted to invite a friend and celebrate his 15th birthday. Our ‘cat sitter’ friend, Sonja, was also out of town for the weekend, so we decided to be brave and leave the kitty locked inside the house with her litter box, food and water for the 3 days and 2 nights we would be gone. She usually has to fend off raccoons and other critters in order to eat her catfood when we're away, and then Sonja rescues her and gives her more food every day anyway. So this time we felt we were doing her justice so she wouldn’t have to fight the raccoons for her food.

She decided, left to her wits, to be very brave and kill one of the other critters who lived in our house, too. The critter was (and I do mean WAS) a skein of yarn that I planned to use in the dress I was knitting for Lindley Marie. I’m certain the skein of yarn attacked her first because she really had to fight it hard to persevere. I say that because the untorn label was on the top step of the stairs along with the largest wad of yarn (looked a lot like over-cooked spaghetti), but the yarn had literally been strung down the stairs, around the corner into the dining room, around all 4 legs of the table and all 16 legs of the dining room chairs, back up the stairs and around the legs of the bed in my bedroom. She must have also been fearing for her life, because she had bitten through it in one place. It took me over 2 hours to untangle it and wind it into balls (yes, plural). Thank you, Sheba, for protecting us from that killer yarn animal! And, no, I didn't take any pictures. I was too frantic to rescue my yarn before it really was "dead".

We did sneak a couple of peeks at the new baby on our way to and from the beach (wasn't that convenient??), and she's just as gorgeous as ever!
Smartest, cutest, most loved, certainly the most photographed child ever, I'm convinced!

But the thing that makes me most proud is the way her parents have both stepped up to the plate for her. She is the center of their universe, never out of their sight, and meeting her every need is their only desire. The most fulfilling part of parenthood for me has been to watch my own son experience all the feelings I felt for him when he was born, and knowing how happy it makes him to be a father. And Ashley is a natural-born mother, so instinctive, persistent, and tender. She appears to be calm in the face of every storm, and I commend her for taking the drama out of motherhood (so far). I'm sure that Lindley Marie will put some of that drama back into their lives as soon as she is able. Little girls have a way with drama, after all.