Hooks & Needles

IMG_1874, originally uploaded by Cinnom Designs.

I have finally finished my overhaul of the Playtime Purse that I designed not so long ago. It is in pdf format and available for free for a limited time. I plan on selling it in the near future, as soon as any volunteers knit this little piece up and let me know that there are no errors.

By knitting it again myself I won’t be able to fully see any pattern errors. I have added more information on finishing in two different ways, neither of which I used in the original.

There is absolutely no seaming and it is knit flat. Want to know more?  Download here and get to knitting.

The Watchers

Originally uploaded by Cinnom Designs

This is probably my favorite picture of Brendan my son. He loves the dogs and they love him. All three stand guard at the fence to fend off potential intruders.

Freckles is shown on the right. She is the mother dog. Freckles can be seen at any time licking my son from head to toe. Got a mess, Freckles to the rescue. She is an Alapaha breed dog. Recently she had surgery on her right knee. She is going to be spayed today and in a few weeks she is going to have surgery on her left knee. She blew the ACL on her left knee and the right was very week and on it’s way to being blown as well. She is getting spayed because she is not a breed quality dog.

Dozer is to the left. He is an American Bulldog and has been neutered. We consider him the guard dog. As you can see he is bigger than my son but is very loving around him. He can tolerate a lot and just walks away instead of being aggressive. To us he is a huge teddy bear, but to strangers a vicious dog you do not want to cross.

Of course my son is pictured in the center. My pride and joy. He will be turning 2 at the end of June. I cannot believe how much time has passed. He has grown so much and changed in so many ways. My little boy.

1skeinswapwip

Originally uploaded by skullsnbats

We finally got our information for my knitting group’s swap yesterday. The Sweet Stitchin’ Betties have their third anniversary in July. We were given a swap buddy and have to knit something from one skein of yarn.

It will take me a few days to figure out what perfect item I am going to make. Time to search their blog and ravelry to see what would be perfect that only takes one skein.

Ok so in my last post I was talking about the baby kimono I had made. Here is a picture.

Of course this isn’t the only thing that I have completed of course!

I have also made two baby hats for my best friend’s friend. I have to send the out in the mail though because I didn’t get them washed and dried before she left for the baby shower, which is over 4 hours away. I love the colors and the way the hats came out. The pattern can be found here. For those of you on ravelry, your link is here. Of course I have to share a picture!

I also completed another baby kimono for someone else. My son’s old daycare teacher had a baby. I love the way the colors popped in this.

I also started a Mason Dixon Ballband Dishcloth for my aunt in Missouri. She is going to love it! I have to make quite a few more before I ship them off.

I also started my Clapotis. But I will detail that in a later post!!

Ok so I am working on the Mason Dixon Baby Kimono, but in cardigan style. I started the second front section on Monday at the knitting group. I realized that I forgot to decrease the stitches to make the sleeve. Of course this was about 30 minutes before I left! So I ripped and started over. Then I realized a few days later that I had never started increasing for the neckline. So I ripped again and started over. Last night was the rip that upset me the most. My knitting looked funny. You see this cardigan was in garter stitch. Now I know that I spent a few mintutes when I started over the second time to look it over and make sure that I was knitting on the purl side and not the knit. Apparently I was distracted because plain as day there was stockinette in the middle of my sleeve!!! So I ripped it out and knit.

I could have been done by now! I have no choice but to finish this because it is a gift for a friend. It was a Christmas gift for her son (infant) and well now that she knows about it I can’t just do something else. I also designed a purse for her daughter (toddler) and have to attach a pompom for the “button loop” closure.

I had hoped to be done with this darn sweater by now, but it looks like I won’t be done until this weekend.

On another note, I do have to make at least one more of these before the month is over.  This one for my best friend’s oldest friend’s baby shower.  At least that one should go quickly since I made all of my mistakes on the one I am currently knitting.

You can read the information regarding the following post here:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbjuviemurder0107sbjan07,0,5681303.story?coll=sofla_tab01_layout

I don’t normally speak about certain things, but in this case I need to unload my thoughts. For those who know me I do not read nor watch the news. I feel it is all about the negatives and nothing about positives. I am an optimistic person by nature and have trouble finding the negative side to any situation.

My co-workers often talk about news and I overheard this. I generally get the cold shoulder when it comes to what I think about a topic. If mine doesn’t agree with their point of view they argue trying to persuade me of why I am wrong and why they are right. Instead of listening to what I have to say. Well no one can sensor me in my own blog so here goes.

I don’t care about past convictions and about Lionel Tate and how he was tried. Every situation is different as every child is different. I believe there is a huge problem in the world regarding the rearing of children. By no means and I stating that anyone is necessarily a bad parent or am I accusing anyone of anything. Right now many kids are getting into lots of trouble because they lack proper adult supervision. I don’t necessarily blame the child involved unless they have the mental capacity to make adult decisions.

A 12 year old child should not have been babysitting a 17 month toddler. I have an 18 month old. Never in a million years would I ever allow anyone under the age of 18 to babysit for me. I am 23 and I have trouble keeping up with him, why would I ask someone half my age to watch him for me?

I do not know this family personally nor do I know anything about them. I am speaking in general terms and using this situation as a basis for what my beliefs are. I am not placing blame on any party nor am I an expert.

If a responsible adult was present it does not seem very likely that this would have occurred. Sure the children in this situation were related, though they were unaware of this. This 12 year old possibly had no prior experience with a child that age and if he did I am certain that an adult was nearby.

While what occurred was inexcuseable, there may or maynot be anyone at direct fault. The adults who left these children in this situation should have known better and this pre-teen should have better. But I place more fault in the adults than the child.

Again I say that I do not know this family or anything about them that was not covered in the article that I have linked. I just have to wonder if this 12 year old was able to watch whatever tv he wanted without adult censorship. If the adults didn’t censor his television then there is a high likelyhood that violent shows were watched. If they did then I would have to say he learned to hit when angry from someone. He is only 12. Sure he knows what is right from wrong, but did he intend to kill the toddler - probably not.

The questions that need to be explored most are: Why did he pick up that bat instead of calming the child? Why were they left unsupervised?

From what I have said one can say that I do place the blame on the adults who left the children alone.

I haven’t posted much (at all!) because it has been a very busy month.  With the holiday’s and me moving the week of Christmas I barely have time for myself.  I did want to share this link with everyone.

 http://twentyfivedays.wordpress.com

It’s about making a difference the first 25 days in December.  It is written by a child and if you are not too careful it will put tears to your eyes.

Ok I decided that I wanted to frog my old blog and start a new one.  The old one wasn’t working.  I joined ravelry a few days ago and have spend most of my time there.  My username is cinnomdesigns … how unique huh.

I plan on posting here quite often to keep my wips updated for those who don’t have ravelry.  Sorry the blog isn’t much now, but it will be updated as soon as I get my camera working.

 I took it out for a few photos and they were all blurry, by the way it looks I will have to get a new one.