Sometimes Your Kids Make You Proud

Tony has been buggin' me for at least 2 years to draw him a scorpion to get tattooed on the inside of his right arm. So Friday I did it. Here (on the left) is my drawing. I couldn't find a good, black and white rendered picture of a scorpion so I wasn't real sure about the face. The tail says, Luke 10 19... which is,

"I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing shall harm you."


And here is that drawing translated into ink, fresh off the press, "in the flesh," so to speak. The tattoo was done this evening by John Goad of Alter Ego in Knoxville. He reworked the face but left the tail, with its meaning, intact.

We watched Jeremiah while they went. When they got back, Beverly thought she had to have a tattoo too. So here is hers. And, then Jeremiah wanted one. Nana drew him a "guppion" of his very own. And he wanted a LOOONG tail, like his daddy's. I didn't ask how long. There are some things a Nana doesn't need to know.

Desiree also got her nose pierced. She has a nice nose for it, and I think it looks fine. Tony likes it too. We all had steaks with mushrooms and onions on them and pasta salad with dill and veggies and good 9-grain bread when they got back.

Getting the grill out, I got SO mad at my dh. He is a packrat of apocalyptic proportions. No joke, one time we had to clean out a 1-car garage in order to build a bedroom, bath, and laundry area in it, to shoehorn our growing family into our first, tiny, 2 bedroom house. We filled a 20-cubic-yard pull-car dumpster 2/3 full from that garage. Well Tony built us a new cube a while back (a whole other sore spot with him, Richard thought he would "improve" the design), and R has already proceeded to fill it disorganizedly with stuff. Took me 35 minutes to get the grill out. After 26 years of his stuff packed everywhere, he is lucky I don't divorce him. Don't think I haven't weighed the option. One thing is for sure, I would have this junk out of here before the ink was dry.

Speaking of which, I have wanted a little tattoo for years, and he won't let me. Says he doesn't want me to go through any "Pain." ?!? This from the man to whom I have borne 7 live babies. I told the kids, when he dies, I will get a tattoo on the way to the wake (actually I think my words were, before his body is cold.) LoL. Maybe I am even kidding!

I listed ONE new item today in my HeartFeltFun shop at Etsy. Here it is... a poncho from mohair, LOTS of glitz, and turquoise fun fur. This is one of the 100% charity donation listings. Gorgeous!

Stuff We Gave

Well we had a good Christmas. Not materially huge, but we had a nice time and managed not to have any family shouting matches at my sister's house, which is a rare gift in itself. We really did try to keep to the theme of "Buy Handmade" or "Give Handmade." I thought I would post some pics of stuff we gave for Christmas.

I had made a quilt top for a Weird and Ugly fabric Challenge that I called "The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil Points" because my tree points were TERRIBLE and my star points were PERFECT. LoL.
My mom admired it so I had a notion to finish it for her for Christmas. Des says, hey mom, instead of backing it plain, why don't I throw together a simple quilt of squares and put the kids' handprints in them? Mom's favorite color is red, so this gave us a chance to throw in something just for her. We put the handprints of all the grandbabies (and Tony, LoL) and the 2 great-grandbabies, and left space for more to come. Beautiful!

Next up, I made my BIL two earwarmers... one from a Shenandoah batt that I handspun and knitted (pic to the right is inside and outside), and one from some handspun, hand dyed Falkland wool from FeltStudiosUK at Etsy. He likes to keep a window open in his office. It keeps the computers there from overheating. But in cold weather, it can get a little chilly in there!

I knitted some fingerless gloves for Jade, which are in another post. Some friends of ours have a little boy, Riley, and a baby girl, Michah. We got Riley a Firehouse Dog stuffed animal with a fireman outfit. For Micah, my daughter Desiree knitted a pointy stocking cap with a BIG pompom, and I knitted two little Jester bootees with bows on the toes and ties around the ankle to keep them from kicking off! Too cute!

While we were at it, we gave Tara (the mama) a Water Bottle Coozy made out of the same felted sweater as these fingerless mitts (sold on Etsy, sorry!) and Brandon this knitted ear warmer. He works outside, so he was happy to have something warm but not restricting to wear. It is knitted out of the same Falkland wool as the one I made for my BIL, but I overdyed my BIL's with denim blue.

A while back, I posted some handspun yarn I had made from a Happy Begonia Batt that I bought off Etsy. I used some of that yarn, some lime green Cascade 220, some lime and pink fun fur, and fabric "yarn" that I cut from a cotton batik fabric, to make "The 'Oh Look, Key Lime Pie!' ADD Scarf" for our music pastor at church. They are always teasing her about being ADD, and her favorite color is lime. This scarf was very freeing to make, because if I got bored, I just changed stitches or yarns.

Oh and we gave my BIL some "man art", a framed collage of robots and dollar signs. I bought the robots from Jessica Pierce off Etsy too. And some pin-back buttons, a card case, some T shirts from Juror2.

I also made my quilting Secret Pal and her dh matching quilted stockings, and a stocking for my baby Beverly. It has a cuff that is little gold swirlies on cream. She loves RED so it had to have red batik prairie points and a bow on it, and there are little curly-haired sheepies on the stocking that she says go "bah."

And lastly (well really not lastly, but the last of the handmade stuff), I made this scarf for my 13yod Diantha. She is a Fashion Plate... always has been! So this trendy, narrow, long scarf is just right for her! It is about 3" wide (spreads out to about 5") and 10 feet long! I made it from a bamboo batt I bought from KittyGrrlz at Etsy
Not bad for a bunch of amateurs! LOL!

About Those Gloves

Last year Jade didn't have a date to the company Christmas Dinner. She said she wasn't going to go, but my dh told her he would get one of our sons to accompany her. We strung Artemas along for a week or two. Every time he would ask what this lady was like, we would say, she makes good conversation. She wears sensible shoes. You'll probably like her. She isn't anything like a librarian. She isn't a day over 60.

We told him he should take her a gift, since he was her "date." So he did... scented candles and handmade soap. How cute. When she finally arrived at the dinner, he about fell over to find she is less than 2 years older than him. Blonde. Nice. Cute.

Later she was a cashier on the returns desk where my dh works, and it was cold near the doors. I said, Jade needs some fingerless gloves, so she can wear them and still use the cash register. Another co-worker was standing nearby. She said, "Do you know Jade?" I said sure... and then at the same time, Jade and I said, "She has been dating my son for about 3 months now (since Christmas)!" LOL. So it has been a running joke. But not really a joke to my son, he is absolutely smitten with her.

When I joined Etsy, I bought some hand dyed wool in her favorite color (green). Of course non-immediate things get pushed to the back burner. This past week, my dh says, Jade says she and her roommate, who works here too, are going to the Christmas party and her "date slot" is open, LoL. So I broke out the needles and the wool and some Patons Fun Fur and knitted these fingerless gloves, so my son would have another gift for his "date."

I think the wool was originally Cascade 220. I used a size 5 needles. Knitted 36 st, 10 rows in 1/1 rib holding the 2 yarns together... then 12 rows in 1/1 rib, knitting the k stitches through the back loop, and using 11 st on the front of the glove for the 9-st cable and a purl on each side. I did the cable in twisted stitch too. Increased 4 st around (to 40 st total) and knitted even for 14 rows. made a gusset for the thumb until I had 14 st. Put the glove body on holders and joined the thumb, worked 6 rows and bound off. Picked up 4 st on the bottom of the thumb, and knitted around for 5 rows. Began the 1/1 twisted rib again, still cabling up the front for 6 rows. Then twisted rib only for 6 rows and done. I actually did short-row across the palm of the glove and back once, to make the palm longer for when the hand is extended.

The cable is 9 st, the cable is worked over the first 6 st and to the back every 8 rows, and over the last 6 st and to the front every 8 rows, offset by 4 rows from the first cable crossing.

My own design and only my 2nd attempt at a mitt with a true thumb (as opposed to just a hole in the side), and I didn't have a pattern. I think they turned out quite well!