Yarn suggestion

I am participating in a class next year, a “block of the month” type of class, wherein we are knitting, wait for it….wait for it…A BLOCK A MONTH!   Anyway, this is going to be a blanket for me, and I’d really like to go with some blues, because the color of my new comfortor is blue.  But color is beside the point.  I’m wanting to make the blanket from Cascade 220, and wonder if anyone has any other suggestions that might be good for this.

My hats are coming along nicely   I’m working on a tan hat now, with a red strip aound the center.  Jennie tried to claim it as her own, but it’s too small for her head, so I told her I’d make her a bigger one, just for her, and that this one is for donating.

Speaking of Jennie, my five year old, she had her first filling today on one of her teeth.  She ran into the dentist’s office like it was Disneyland lol.  And this office is GREAT, we walked in, and before I even sat down, they took her back.  Then I started filling out some paperwork for an upcoming appointment for myself and my other daughter, and she was done before I was done with the paperwork!  And she came out all smiles and giggles!  What a great place   And the dentist is going to call later tonight to check up on her.  I’ve never had a dentist do that after fillings, I’m impressed.  This dentist goes to the same church as we do, so it helped Jennie to feel more comfortable to see someone she knows, and he is really great with kiddos.  If you lived in my area, I’d recommend him

Want a weather report for Brownsville, Oregon?  It’s raining.  I’m sure you’re shocked   It’s also cold. 

Hats hats and more hats :)

I’ve been working the last week or so on making hats.  I’m knitting and crocheting them, and really enjoying it.  I’ve made I think three or four so far.  I’m making all these hats to donate to the local WIC program. Right now, finances are tight for us, and we are participating in the benefits of this wonderful program, and when I went in the other day for their nutrion education expo they gave my son an adorable knitted hat. I asked if I might be able to donate some hand made hats to them, and they welcomed the idea, and said they like to have enough hats to give to each child person that comes into their program, be they newborn or adult. Matthew got the last hat that day. I feel that although it’s a minute gesture, it is a way for me to give back, and I hope to donate several hats over the next year. I encourage you to make a few hats to donate to your local WIC program as well, as I’m sure they could use them too One pattern in particular that I am enjoying is found here and is great. It’s a basic hat recipe, and I hope the designer doesn’t mind me mentioning it here. I have also crocheted a couple of hats, one in Oregon Ducks colors, and one that looks like a tomato.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you a very happy New Year!

Holiday giving

This year, for the little kiddos in our family (niece/nephews/friend’s kids) we’re giving something weird, homemade, and cool.  At least, I think it’s cool   We were watching PBS the other day and they were having their fundraiser, and this couple who own Kid Concoctions was doing their thing, showing how to make these totally cool globs of stuff.  Well, we decided this would be fun for the little people to play with, and we found a kit at Wal Mart (we weren’t even looking, just got lucky!) that had some ingredients, but most importantly the project book with the recipes.  We’ve made a couple of batches of Gooey Gunk.  Our first batch we did wrong, and it turned into a … Gunk Ball LOL.  I’m also going to make play dough.  My friend told me of a kool aid recipe for play dough, and I’ll google it later to see if I can find one.  My niece loves that kind of stuff, and it’s quite within my budget   Hopefully my cousin’s kids will like it, and my friend’s kids   I’m also making scarves and dishcloths for people as well.  Hopefully they’ll not mind all this homemadeness for Christmas, but I’ve decided that’s one of my favorite things about the holiday season, is giving homemade things to people.  It’s putting more thought into it, and to me, it gives that person a sort of connection with you, if that makes sense. 

My kindergartener has to have an eye exam.  She had one last year at pre-school, and failed, and she had one at her physical last year, and failed as well (both were around the same time) and the eye doctor I took her to disappointed me.  She said that her while her eye exam was abnormal, she didn’t want to correct it right now because she was too young.  I felt like this dr didn’t want to give me the time of day really, because I didn’t have insurance and had this certificate thing to pay for our visit and glasses if she needed it, and I just felt like that was the reason she didn’t want to prescribe lenses for Jennie.  I know that kids her age have glasses because my other daughter has had hers since she was 3.  Jennifer was 4 at this visit, now she is 5, and the school did their routine exam that they do every year, and of course, she failed.  She’s even complained to me that she has trouble seeing things.  She complained to her pre school teachers the same thing last year, but what do you do when the dr says “oh don’t worry about it, she’ll probably grow out of it by next year”  Clearly she did not, and now she needs to go see another eye doctor (NOT the same one) and that dr has to fill out a form to mail back to the school verifying that she’s been seen, etc.  I’m frustrated that I tried to take care of this, and was told not to worry about it.  I should have stuck to my gut feeling and insisted on her helping my child to see better.  I’ll be going to the previous office where she had her exam and getting a copy of the records to take to a new doctor and comparing notes. 

Hope all your holidays this season are happy