Knitting...my new addiction!

June 20, 2010: My 28th birthday. Why is this significant you ask? Well, on this day, I decided I needed a new hobby. I love hand knitted items, especially for babies, so I decided knitting it would be! I had my husband take me Wal-Mart where I purchased the "I Taught Myself Knitting" kit and 2 skeins of yarn. Then, I went home and started learning!

Now, my husband, being the skeptic that he is (because he knows me), swore I would put it down within a week and never pick it back up. Well, even if I had wanted to do that, I couldn't now because he would then be right...not gonna let that happen!

But, much to his surprise (and mine), I love it! It has now been roughly 6 weeks since I decided this would be my new hobby and I am going full force. I was strictly needle knitting to begin with until a friend suggested I try looms. She said it is much easier to use and doesn't make your hands hurt as bad. So, I went out to Hobby Lobby and bought the Knifty Knitter round loom set...well, now I am completely addicted!

I knit all the time now. At home, at work (I run my own shop), in the car (when hubby is driving, of course), and anywhere I can find the time. If I go a full day without knitting, I feel like I haven't done anything that day! I still needle knit some but mostly I use the loom. I now have the Flower Loom and I am enjoying making embellishments for my baby hats. But, I plan to get the long looms in a couple of weeks and then I can make so much more!

My problem lately is finding patterns for the round looms. I can find thousands of patterns for needle knitting, but I really want to use my larger looms. So far I have only used the small blue loom to make the baby hats. If I don't learn to make something else soon, I am going to have to build a room onto the house just for the baby hats, ha! If you know of any good loom pattern sites, please pass them along to me :)

Here are three of the hats I have made...I have plenty more! My Etsy Shop is open and I will add items soon; be sure to visit - Hip Knits.

Baby Boy - Variegated Brown/Green/Blue/Tan

Baby Girl - Variegated Pink/Brown/Beige

Preemie Girl - Variegated Pink/Black/White

These two are my first order! They are for a friend who is just beginning her photography business :)

Please visit her site: Shatera Marshall Photography

Baby Girl - Pink

Baby Boy - Blue

Makin' Memories

Yesterday was such a great day and a wonderful blessing! I have a great friend who is a wonderful wife and mother. Like everyone else, they have been having a hard time lately. She has two awesome kids and wants nothing more than to make them happy. I decided she and the kids needed a day trip.

I had tickets to Dollywood, a local theme park, and decided we should go. It was awesome to be able to take her and do this for her and the kids. They had never been and she hadn't been in many years...we had a BLAST!

Sometimes you don't realize what something means to a person. As we were leaving the park, Steph told me "thank you" for about the 1 millionth time...but this time it was different. She told me thank you because I helped her make memories with her kids, something that is priceless but she could not have afforded to do herself. While I did not do this for the "thank you", it was nice to hear. It hurt my heart a little to know how appreciative she was but that she couldn't do it without someone's help.

While memories are made with your children every day, it is something special to be able to share with them memories from your own childhood. I know Steph was so grateful for this opportunity and will cherish these memories for a lifetime.

My prayer is that all families have the opportunity to make the memories they want. I pray that people who have the resources to help others will do so, whatever that may be. I also pray the people helping will do it, not for the "thank you" or the recognition, but for the knowledge that they were able to help someone who wasn't able to do it themselves!

My "Heart Sister"

God has blessed me with a wonderful friend...she is my "heart sister." Monika and I met about 7 years ago when I got a job where she was working. We didn't hit it off right away; I thought she was snob and she thought I was a little out there because I am very outspoken. But, as time went on, and we worked together a lot more, we found out we had a lot to talk about. It was the beginning of a great friendship!

I quit working at the store about 2 years after I started. I had gotten married and was pregnant with my first child. I wanted to stay home with him for a while so I quit working. After I quit, Monika and I lost touch for a while. I would still see her at the bookstore, but the she got another job. There was a long gap in our communication at this point.

I am really not sure what exactly brought us back together. I think a lot of it was her getting married. When she got married I was the only friend she had who was also married, so it was easy for us to relate. We began talking more, and the friendship blossomed.

Fast forward...

We are now great friends and she is expecting her first baby...a precious baby girl they will name Sophia Belle. Today, I had the pleasure of hosting her first baby shower. I decided to theme the shower based on Monika's personality and love of animal print and pink :) So, here are a few pictures for you to enjoy!

I think I moved...

...and someone forgot to tell me! It is H-O-T! I live in Tennessee where the weather is usually average and life is good with the A/C on 74...notice I said usually :) This is NOT normal!!!

The past few weeks have been sweltering and this week "takes the cake", so to speak. At 11:30 am this morning, it was 94 degrees outside...94!!! That is what it would normally be on a hot day at the very hottest point in the day :/ But, with the heat index included, we have hit up to 105 this week; today we could make it to 108...geez!

At this point, it is too hot to even go to the pool/lake and try to cool off. Lawson has been begging me to go to the splash pad lately and I hate telling him no, but it is too hot for him or me to be out.

I must say this weather is not great for the business either. Because I am right in a historic district where shop access is from the street, people are just not out. I pray the weather will give us relief soon and people can enjoy some time outdoors before the cold weather decides to grace us with its presence :)

Wow...10 years!?!

This weekend brought my 10 year high school reunion. I happened to be on the committee of planning and very much enjoyed that part. But, I still can't believe it has been 10 years since I graduated high school!!!

Friday night was a family night - fun night for the kids. We had it at the Field of Dreams in Dandridge so we could all sit around and visit while our kids played. It was great just chatting with old friends/classmates and seeing everyone's children. You know...time changes people, and so do children (usually). 

Saturday night was our adult night in Knoxville - too much fun! We had everything at the Crowne Plaza which was a great choice. Dinner - dancing - drinks...great night! I ended up sitting at a table with someone I never thought I would speak to again, due to a past history. But, we ended up laughing, talking and having a great time! Like I said...time changes people, even me :)

All in all, I think the reunion went very well! It seemed like everyone had a great time just laughing, talking and catching up. I hope we will all get together again soon...probably in 5 years!

*I will post pix as soon as I have some. We had a photographer so I have to wait until I get my DVD of pix.*