Birthdays and such....

Just a quick note...the fiber pictured above is from Willow Creek Farm Alpacas in Fulton, NY. It is 2nd or 3rd shearing from a male alpaca named Beau. It is the most incredibly soft alpaca I've ever felt! It nearly resembles angora!!! Anyway, I've been spinning up some of their fiber for them to resell in their store....a nice side job for me and a great item to offer in their store! They entered a bulky skein of my handspun(from this fiber) at the Empire Fleece Symposium at TurningStone Casino in Verona, NY and it earned a BLUE RIBBON! This is very exciting for me because I have never entered any of my handspun in a competition! Maybe I will now! ;)

This must be the prettiest yarn I've seen, ever....I found this on Ebay and had to have it! It's Opal yarn in the Magic colorway. I guess it's a tough one to find, too. I am more motivated to finish my first pair of socks so I can get started on a new pair with this lovely yarn!

This is my son, Brendan. He turned 5 last month on the 26th. As you can tell by this photo, he is a live-wire!! He puts everything he has into everything he does. Very intense little guy! We had a birthday party for my kids and sister at our home on the 28th of January, not much, but it was fun. He is playing with mini machines and cars that were a gift from my parents. He loves them....

This is my little doll, Caitlin Rachel. She turned 1 on January 12. She has such a personality for someone so little! She does have quite the temper though...have to nip that in the butt soon! She's been walking since the beginning of December and she has 8 teeth, 4 on the top, 4 on the bottom. (She's bitten her fingers a couple of times while munching...the look on her face is priceless....like she doesn't quite understand what happened!) She doesn't say too many words yet, but she understands A LOT....she likes to help me with the laundry, handing me clothes to put in the washer. :) There's a 4 year difference between her and her siblings, so after Brendan heads off to school this fall, it's just her and me all day.

This is the cake I made for the party...it was chocolate with cream cheese frosting. MMMMM!!! Everyone loved it....though Brendan only ate the frosting! Sigh.

This is Cara holding Caitlin sometime last month. Cara turned 7 on the 25th(yes, a day before Brendan). She's very smart, loves Care Bears...if she never had anything but Care Bears, she wouldn't care. She loves to play with Caitlin and is very good about watching her for me when I need to do something. She's very tall for her age...probably due to the fact that her daddy is about 6'1"! Very long, slender legs....we'll have to watch out when she becomes a teenager!

We decided to send Cara to a local non-denominational Christian school for 1st grade. I was homeschooling her for Kindergarten, then Caitlin came along in the middle of that. Needless to say I am terribly unorganized and I didn't want to mess up her schooling because of my lack! She was also very unfocused and wanted to play all day....nope, sorry. She's doing wonderfully now and loves school....can't wait to go back the next day!


I'm off to card some blue(natural) angora fiber....need to spin it up for a lady in Texas. She requested all the angora I have be spun! Thank you!

Blessings, joy and peace.....

Needling & Knitting....

I decided to try my hand at needle felting after oohing and ahhing over the beautiful creations at Bears & Buds.

My friend Eve, from Spinning Karma, sent me four felting needles to see if this craft was indeed for me. This little ball of fuzz was my first project...it is very loosely felted and not too bad for a first try with no lessons! My daughter, Cara, claimed it as soon as she stepped in to the house after school one day. :) She since asked for a tiny pink bear, which I made a few days later.


She stands a little over an inch tall. Eyes and noses are tough when they're so small...maybe next time I'm at A.C.Moore's or Michael's, I'll look for some seed beads.

The gray bear is a gift for my mom to cheer her up a bit....she's had a rough time lately...my Dad has MS and is bound to a wheelchair as well as rapidly loosing his eyesight. Please pray for him if you are willing!



This little cutie is an Emperor Penguin chick...I was inspired by the recent movie, "The March of the Penguins". What amazing creatures God has created! I highly recommend viewing this with your kids...it was just released to video/DVD. Anyway, this chick is made from gray Romney wool and black and white Corriedale. He stands exactly four inches tall. He is for sale...if you are interested, please contact me at atodt77@yahoo.com.





This project is a cute summer cotton hat for my little one. I think it may be too small for her, but we'll see after I've sewn the seam. This was a quick knit and I plan on making more of these as gifts! The pattern is in a book called "Hip Knits" from Better Homes and Gardens. There's also a matching pattern for a sundress. I've completed the front half and will be starting the back half soon.






This is my first attempt at knitting socks and knitting with DPN's. Not nearly as hard as I thought! It's just taking me forever to knit them because I have way too many projects going at once! I'm using Magic Stripes yarn....I just love this colorway. I'm hoping I can knit at least an inch or so every night.





I'm off to knit....

A New Happening...

Today is the first day of my new online adventure. I'm not too good at speaking what I feel or think, so this will be the perfect outlet for me. And I hope to share with others what my daily life is like as well as what current knitting and crocheting projects I'm working on. Maybe this will also keep me on track to actually finish my MANY UFO's! I love starting new things, but I'm absolutely terrible about finishing them. Some cheering would be most welcome!

Some new additions will be joining our family within a month or so....our only cat, Gracie, escaped our garage one night about a month ago and is definitely pregnant! My DH is not happy about this, but it's not the cat's fault! We should have had her spayed over 3 years ago.....but....I like to look on the bright side of things. This will be a great learning experience for our kids and besides...I'm a sucker for a baby animals! I've raised rabbits in the past...one day I had 3 does deliver a total of 16 kits! Talk about running out of cage space fast! :)


On another note....my knitting project today is a cute cotton hat that I'm making for my little one for this summer. I'm using Sugar n Cream yarn in a white, purple and pink colorway. VERY girlie AND....I've finished the front of the matching dress! Photos of that will be coming soon too!

Oh, Caitlin has woken from her very long morning nap...she'll be hungry, no doubt! Blessings to all who read this...may God grant you joy this day!