Ten on Tuesday

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know there was a BIG Powerball jackpot this weekend. I generally don't play, but when the jackpot gets big, I'll buy a few tickets just for fun. Except for this weekend when I forgot to buy a ticket! As the saying goes, you can't win if you don't play. So play I do when the prize is big and then we have some fun dreaming about what we'd do with the money.This week's 10 on Tuesday prompt is:

 10 Things I'd Do if I Won the Big Powerball Jackpot

1. Tell nobody!  Except my husband, of course.
2. Hire somebody to clean my house for me.  I love my home, but some days I feel like I am a slave to it.  Paid help would be awesome!
3. Meet with our financial advisor and attorney.
4. Pay off the house.
5.  Set up educational funds for my kids who still need it, my niece and nephew.
6. Buy my dad a new car. I don't think he has ever had a new car and that would be fun to do for him.
7. Go on a luxury vacation in Italy.  It's one of a few places that Tom and I would both love to visit.
8. Buy a vacation home, somewhere away from it all.... :-)
9. Do something fun, like restore an old home that's fallen by the wayside to it's former glory.
10. Make some anonymous charitable donations.

That's a little bit of the fun that I would have.  What would you do?  Visit Carole's Blog too and see what other people would do too.

A Finishing Fest

It's been a few weeks since I last blogged, and I've been busy looking back at what's been on my needles. I've decided to finish a few things and to let go of a few things. So let me show you what I've finished!

This Tulips Sweater may be the cutest darn thing I've ever made! I made it for my sweet niece who turned 1 last month.  I did purchase a kit from Webs so that I didn't have to buy full skeins of 8 colors but I didn't like the color that they chose for the border.  I was able to get a skein of Cool Fire at Spinning Yarns to substitute and I loooove the end result :-)

The only thing that I didn't love about the kit was the pattern.  Honestly, I found it to be poorly written and I would not recommend it for a beginning knitter.  To be honest, I'm not sure if it's the original pattern that's included in the kit or if it was reformatted to fit on one page for the kits and "stuff" got left out.  But I did more ripping back and reworking on this sweater than I think you should have to.

Next, I had a request from my Bama Boy to make a hat for his friend Ashley.  Apparently she loves the hat I made for him for Christmas and was constantly "borrowing" it.  Her birthday is next weekend and they are going skiing in Colorado this week for Spring Break.  She was pretty excited when he received his care package this week and there was a hat in it for her.  Happy Birthday Ashley!

I needed a new pair of mittens this winter.  I had intended to make myself a few pairs this year, but my time got sucked up by the hockey hats.  When I finished those, the first thing I did was finish these Fallow Mittens that I had started for myself.  I used Madelinetosh Vintage in the color Norway Spruce.  I wasn't able to get a good picture of the color, they are more green than this picture shows.  I love them! They are by far the most comfortable and best fitting mittens I've made for myself.  The pattern also has instructions for making them as fingerless mitts too.

Last finished project is my Hamantaschen socks.  The pattern is from the October 2012 Cookie A Sock Club.  I started these in October with the Hazel Knits October Club yarn, Artisan Sock in Sandlewood.

I was glad to have a finished pair of socks.  I hadn't finished a pair in 10 weeks!  I signed up for the 26 Pair Plunge and this is pair #9.  The plunge ends June 30th. I don't think there's any way that I can finish another 17 pairs by then, but I do intend to keep going and see how many I do finish.  There's always next year too :-)

I hope you're enjoying some Spring weather.  We still have lots of snow in NH!  Warmer weather is on the way next week.  I'm looking forward to it and doing some spring cleaning!

Mission Accomplished!

The Great Brady Hat Challenge is complete!

It all started with this hat...

A simple hat with earflaps, in school colors that looks like his hockey jersey, complete with his number on the back.

And then in January I began the challenge to knit hats for the entire team.  Some of these I've already shared, but I thought it would be fun to see them all together.  So here they are....

The seniors.... Thomas, Craig, Carter, and Casey.

The juniors... Mike, Shelby, Birdie, Nick, Brandon, & Derek.

Next up was Pickles.

Somewhere along the way when the kids were trying to guess who was getting the next hat, I told them that if they scored in a game and didn't have a hat yet, they would go to the to of the hat queue.  In the next game...

Spenser scored!

and so did Zach!

Next up were the Andrew's... Andrew Y and Andrew C

Then it was Brendan's turn

then Matt's

And last, but certainly not least Michael and Byron.

So there you have it. 20 hats!  19 of them knit between January 7th and February 23.  I really was not sure that I could get it done, but each hat that I finished made me more determined to finish all of them before the end of the season.  I know the kids love them.  I see them around the rink, waiting on the bus, and a couple other times around town.  A few parents have told me that their kids wear them ALL the time, and one dad told me that "if it made sense to wear it in the shower, he would wear it then too!"  Is there anything that warms a knitters heart more than knowing their hand-knits are this loved?  This ended up being such a fun and rewarding challenge for me.  I'm so glad I did it!  Thank you to all of you for cheering me on too :-)

Goodbyes

I don't know how to start this.  I've been thinking about it for days and I really could not come up with a good way to begin. I thought that maybe I would not talk about it here, but really, how could I not?  If you're friends with me on Facebook, then you already know that my mom passed away last week.  It was a shock, and yet it wasn't.  It's heartbreaking and yet it has brought some peace to my family.  Her health had been failing over the last few years and she had been in and out of the hospital for months.  It's been really hard on her in all the ways you can imagine.  Physically, mentally, and emotionally.  She missed her life as she knew it terribly, and as much as we all tried to help and support her, it did not bring her the comfort she needed and craved. Last Monday she left all the pain and struggle behind.  I know that she's at peace now, I know that she has that wonderful sparkle back in her eye and her smile.  I also know that I miss her.  I don't think you can ever be prepared for the day that you lose your mom.

In preparing for her memorial service I came across this picture from Christmas 2008 and wanted to share it. It reminds me of how beautiful she is and of the many happy times we shared.

Cora Claire Hancock

March 11,1943- February 18, 2013

Wife, mom, grammy, friend

If your mom is still with you, call her today and tell her you love her.  You'll be glad you did.

The Great Hat Challenge Continues

I'm still knitting hats as fast as I can! May I present "The Juniors"

These are for Mike, Shelby, Birdie, Nick, Brandon, and Derek!  Chandler is a junior too, but he got his hat first.

Grand total: 11 hats complete, 10 to go.  I've officially crossed the half way mark and am still on track to finish for the end of the season on February 23!

Ten on Tuesday

10 Ways to Beat the Winter Blahs

Are you tired of winter and need a little something to help pass the rest of the winter season?  Here are some of my ideas...

1. Buy some flowers.  They're always cheery and personally I don't do it very often so it's always a treat.
2. Paint a room.  You know that room in your house that you're tired of the color?  Change it.  For me it's the half bath.  It's small so it only takes a  day to do.  And then I can....
3. Buy some new hand towels in a fun color
4. Read a great book.  There are a couple ladies in my book group who always want a "rich epic tale that they can sink their teeth into" in January/February. It's a great time of year to get lost in a book!
5. Bake some fresh bread.  I did this Sunday, completely from scratch, for the first time.  It was delicious!  I can't wait to do it again!
6. Rent some Oscar nominated movies.  Oscar season comes and I always wish I had seen more of the movies that have been nominated.
7. Plan a Date Night.  Sometimes you just need to get out of the house.
8. Do something out side, other than shoveling.  Even if it's just going for a walk, the air is so fresh and crisp that it can be really refreshing.
9. Get a manicure. Does the thought of walking out of the salon in flip flops make you shiver?  Get a mani instead!
10. Wear your hand knits.  Or better yet, start a new project.  There's still plenty of time to make a new hat or mittens!

Now if you'll excuse me, there's some fresh snow outside.  As soon as the driveway is cleaned up I'm going to snowshoe on the lake with the dogs!

Visit Carole's blog to get some more ideas.  And please share your favorite way to beat the blahs!

A Little Variety

The hat knitting continues!  8 hats are finished, hat #9 just needs braids, and I have started #10!  The reactions I'm seeing from the kids has been great fun, and honestly, it's what's kept me going on these.

But I have to admit that I needed a break form the hats.  Other projects in my queue and some knit-a-longs have me yearning for something new to knit.  So I decided to take a break Sunday and cast on what is currently calling me.

I started with the Hazel Knits Mystery sock.  Wow is this pattern gorgeous!  All the clues and the name have been revealed, and as it turns out, I can double dip with the SKA group January theme.  This is the beginning of Chinese Bell Flower.  Click on the projects and you can see some beautiful finished socks!

  I have also been wanting some new mittens, so I cast on Fallow Mittens yesterday too.  I'm ready to put the thumb stitches on waste yarn and finish the hand.  I'm using Madelinetosh Vintage and it's working up to be nicely thick and plush!  

I also finished a great book last week. If you haven't read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn yet, I highly recommend it!  It was wonderfully twisted and kept me guessing and turning pages until the end!

Now it's time to return to my hats.  12 more to go....