Another Orange Hat

I just love making baby hats! After I made the first earflap hat, Ashley and I decided that we wanted to try one with different colors. This was my latest version.

Yarn Shopping

I have never gone yarn shopping like I did on Saturday! I have never spent so much money on yarn and never ever bought for three of four projects at once but it was very fun. I love Crazy Girl Yarn Shop and waited to get yarn for a new striped blanket project until I was able to get to Cedar Falls. I also wanted Ashley to help me with color selection. When we walked in the door I spotted a tub of some of my favorite yarns that were marked down almost half price. I have been considering a quilted looking blanket for myself for a year and it seemed like the perfect time to pick up some colors that I wanted for this very random, somewhat stained glass look that I want to achieve. I also realized that I have one more Christmas stocking to make this year so I grabbed more red. It was fun to carry a full shopping bag of yarn down Main Street to our patio lunch. I had to photograph this huge purchase because I know that Kymm and Jill will never believe that I have so much stash!

Ouch!

I got my very first wasp sting today...OUCH! It really hurts. I wasn't hanging out with them on purpose. Dale and I were in a little shelter at a park for more than thirty minutes before we spotted these creatures. Obviously they spotted us soon after that!

Perfect Summer Weather

We got perfect weather for our August weekend. It's comfortable to spend hours at the pool in the afternoon and also cool enough to enjoy an evening at the ballpark! It's been a very fun weekend. . . so far!

Pretty Produce

I stocked up with some healthy produce for the weekend. It looked so pretty that I grabbed my camera. Ashley is here for our last pool weekend of the summer. If we eat healthy at home it might help balance the hot dogs we will have tonight at the I Cubs baseball game. We are enjoying hours in the pool each day and even a morning walk around Grey's Lake. It's been a great weekend and it's only half over.

Rainy Day

Waking up to the sound of rain was a treat today. After such a dry summer it was a refreshing change. I wanted to curl up with a book and listen to the rain but instead I grabbed my umbrella and went to work. It cleared up enough for me to get some water exercise in the sunshine this afternoon which was perfect.

Still Painting

I am so enjoying my little projects. It's fun to get out paintbrushes again. These chairs are accent colors for my grandson's room which is mostly blue. Those spindles were very tricky. I am still tempted to sand and paint one more time but I will let it cure several days first. The rocking horse is my next project. He is pretty rough looking so I expect that he will look better soon.

Congratulations, Jay!

Tomorrow Jay starts a new job at John Deere. He and John Deere go waaaay back! This was one of his favorite little toys. Good luck to you, Jay! I am proud of you. I wonder if you will get to make any "yittle yoaders."

Crafty Weekend

I had the best time with Jill last weekend. Thursday night I called to see if I could come visit and she said yes. Finishing my quilt that I started years ago was one of the main reasons. (More about the quilt another day.) She agreed to help me with the quilt and give me a refresher course in crocheting. We got lots done but mostly we had fun! We did a photo shoot of some of her projects and took care of the chickens together. A highlight of the weekend was feeding the chickens in our nightgowns early on Saturday morning. Grandma Stone would be proud.

Jill drug her sewing machine downstairs and we worked hard...for hours and hours. I picked up on the crocheting pretty quickly and finished this baby hat. Izzie's doll made a good model. I even made a couple of crocheted newborn nests for photo shoots. It was productive and lots of fun. I think this should be an annual event but next time we need some ric-rac too!

It's a BOY!

The photo above is a gift box that Ashley and Travis presented to me last month to announce the gender and show me the ultrasound photo. It was very exciting to get to know a bit more about my first grand baby. . . my grandson! Now we know which baby hats we will be using.

Baby Hats

I have been knitting lots since I found out about the upcoming arrival of my first grand baby but haven't posted any photos. I bought this yarn for the berry hat in April when I first heard the news. I love the hat and it was so fun to knit.

Travis' favorite color is orange so I wanted to find a pattern to use this orange yarn that I found. I actually knitted four of these hats. The first three were weirdly shaped and not acceptable to me. So I just kept knitting till I got one that seemed to be baby shaped then sent it to Travis in the mail.

This flirty hat was a fun and easy pattern and since I had leftover pink yarn it seemed to be a good choice. It was fun and fast to knit.

These are hats for photo shoots....one for a boy and one for a girl. Gotta cover our bases! These were also very fun. I guess that I enjoy making baby hats! Maybe I just love grandma knitting.

Paint Project

This is my new project and it has occupied my evenings most of the week!

These little white chairs were in Ashley's childhood bedroom. She and her dad painted them together about twenty-five years ago and she has used them for photo shoots the last couple of years also.

She wants to use them in the baby's room and we both thought it was a great idea to brighten them up a bit. Last weekend Ashley was in Des Moines and we went paint shopping after the bedding shopping. I happily offered to do the painting.

I guess I had forgotten about streaks and drips. I had forgotten that it was more challenging to paint a little chair with spindles than a big flat wall. I sanded, primed, painted, sanded drips and painted again. I still need at least one more coat but I am really enjoying the project. It may be partially because it's been a long time since I did any painting but I think its mostly because it's for my grandbaby!