time to catch up

 This is the last of the Christmas knitting.  A cowl for Cory and  the pattern is my own.  It is a knit 2, purl 1 rib until I wanted to widen the bottom.  I increased in the purl sections until I had enough stitches to do the 2/1 rib again.  This is my handspun yarn.
Now I can knit something for ME.  Maybe finish one or three of the three pairs of socks I have started or work on one of the many shawls I want to do .
December is a very busy month for us. We have three Birthdays, one anniversary (now 2) and Christmas.
We celebrated Cory's Birthday and mine at our house and Jill made us a lovely dinner. The photo below is one of the highlights of the day ..................
a new version of the Three Monkeys.

 This was part of my gift from Cory and Aaron.  They thought I needed a distinctive glass for my wine.

We celebrated Brianne's Birthday when she came over on December 27.
Our Son and his finance arrived Dec 23 and we had a great visit with them.  He hasn't been home for about 6 years so we were really happy to see him.  I had met Liz before as had Cory but not the rest of the family.  Everyone really liked her so she has the family seal of approval.

Here the 2 Elizabeths are getting to know each other. They are both full of mischief so they should get along well together.

The older one married our son Che December 31 in Vegas so there are now two Elizabeth Bonters in the family..................DOUBLE TROUBLE ......
if I ever saw it.



We did try to get a family photo but they all turned out rather .....................I don''t know what to say about them................. We all posed and Jill would set the time delay on the camera and then run for the couch.   This is the best of the 8 or 10 we took............  I think I need to figure out how to combine the photos so we have the best of each of us in the final photo. I wonder when I might get around to that??????

 

 This photo is of my three lovely Granddaughters.

The hairy creature on Shelby's lap is her new puppy,  6 months old and .......................    Lucky Jill has a teething baby and a teething puppy,  both of whom chew anything and everything they can.
So far she needs to replace a computer cord and a video cord compliments of Princess the Puppy. 

My son who we are very proud of and who has more gray hair than I do ................ premature graying runs in my Dad's side of the family and all my Children seemed to get that gene. Let me assure you that they are not pleased with me for passing on that gene ........................ but then there have been other things in the past that they haven't been pleased about either.  AAAAAAAHHHH  the joys of raising children .................. the only thing is it is so hard to get an "OH MUM" out of them anymore.  Cory says the only way I could shock them now is to act normal............. I ask you "Is that a nice thing to say about your Mother".

Some of the family got some very strange things for Christmas as seen below.  That is a soother in her mouth.

This lovely girl is our step granddaughter.  Cory's husband Aaron is her father so we get to add her to our family.  Oh  Yes now that Liz is an official family member we have 2 more step granddaughters plus  2 step great grandchildren .......  one girl and one boy.  Neat hey...........

 One of the crazy knitting groups I belong too is on Ravelry (an internet site for knitters and crocheters) swaps wee tiny socks.  This month we are doing things a little different.  We are in teams and having a "Wee Sock Scrimmage".  Here are the rules

1. Partners assigned 2-jan-11, mail by 20-jan-11
2. Use an official Sock Scrimmage pattern.
3. Use minimum one color from your team.
4. Send a list of points earned with your sock.
5. A flag on the play: -5 per day late mailing.
6. Icing -20 if you use an unofficial pattern
7. Bonus points: in general, each bonus counts once per sock.
8. Touchdown (5): When both socks are received.
9. End Run (5) both team colors in 1 sock.
10. Extra End (5): send your mascot
11. Double Pass (10): both team members work on one sock.
12. Handoff (10): Child knits.
13. Heavy Ice (10): Adult male knits.
14. Naked bootleg (5-15): handspun - 5, your own - 15
15. Red dog (5-15): handdyed - 5, your own - 15
16. Fair catch (5): LYS yarn.
17. Field Goal (5): Earliest postmark
18. Inward double (5): mini skein in receiver’s favorite color
19. Traveling camel spin (5): surprise inspired by a post
20. Grubber (5): Photo with mail carrier.
21. Ruck (5): Photo with landmark.
22. Salchow (5): Photo on transportation.
23. Lead pass (5): Photo with stranger.
24. Reverse somersault (5): Photo with animal.
25. Hat trick (5): 3 photos.

This is our mascot next to the yarn I dyed for the wee sock I am making.  I dyed this with food colouring and vinegar as a mordant. There are 2 shades of green as those are the two colours we have chosen for our team colours.  Gail likes dark green and I like in-your-face neon green.  Our green mascot is a Dragon Jill and Shelby gave me. Please note that she is a knitting Dragon........ ..........  I mean really what else would you expect from a knitting team mascot.   I don't believe you can tell but she is knitting a wee sock.
This is the yarn I spun from the fleece.  At this time it is growing into a wee sock using a pattern called "Gwee". 
Rule 24 was a photo of the sock with an animal  so I decided to take a photo of it with Charlie.  I put the sock knitting on his paws................ he sniffed it and then looked at me as if to say"THIS ISN'T FOOD" what is it doing here.  He did pose for me to take the photo.  That's it for now but I will try to write more frequently this year.