Gift Knitting

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!  Now that the exciting day is over and my knits aren’t such a secret, I can finally share them with you.  Right around Thanksgiving I decided that a bunch of my family needs a nice warm and comfy hat for winter.  It all started when I made one of TFA’s Grammy’s Hats for myself…

I then had to make one for my mom’s Birthday gift, which I’m counting as part of my Christmas knitting since it was only a month beforehand, and the beginning of my hat kick…

Then I realized a couple of these would make great Christmas gifts for our niece and nephew…

While I was on a roll, how could I forget that my aunt and my cousin had put in a request for a red one and a grey one?  Being the great cousin and niece that I am, I didn’t forget, and wanted to surprise them with a little holiday cheer…

Turned out I loved that yarn, I picked up this Universal Yarn Classic Shades while on Thanksgiving vacation and it’s so soft, such a great deal, and packed with a lot of yardage.  197 yards for 8.50, and did I mention really soft?

Next I decided that my dad, brother, and husband need a new comfy hat…

And with the completion of dad’s hat, the clock ticked to Christmas Day.  So I am now working on my hubby’s, then will make my brother’s, THEN the Christmas knitting will be done!  I’m making their hats with the same yarn (different colors) as in my dad’s, Cascade Yarns Eco Cloud, and I love it!  It’s 70% undyed merino wool and 30% undyed baby alpaca, so it is really soft, comfortable, and I love the natural color.

Actually there is one more knitted gift that is missing here, and I will have to get a picture and share that later.  I made a simple but lovely pair of Grammy’s Mitts for my mom, to go with her hat of course.

I think I am Tanis‘ biggest fan of her Grammy’s Hat pattern!  It is simple and quick, but the 2×2 and 2×6 rib provide a little texture and gives you a very comfy, one-size-fits-all hat.  Perfect for gifts.

Eight and a half gifts down, one and a half to go!  And yes, I’m counting my own, because every knitter has to make a gift for their self every once in a while!  =)

A Q&A with the New Guy

Here in the Wilson home we recently did a Q & A with the new guy on the block, namely Jackson Wilson.  The interview went pretty well so I thought it would be nice to share and a good way for you, our long distance family and friends and blog visitors, to get to know him.

Q.  So Jackson, how old are you now and do you go by any other names?
A.  Oh I’m almost four months, have been living here with mom and dad for two months now, but it seems like it’s been about a year or two.  It’s a pretty cool place.  They call me Jackson, but I’m a.k.a. Colonel Jack, Jack, Super Stud, Mister, Dude, and Buddy, they throw all kinds of names at me and think I’m catching on.

Q.  I noticed you needed a nap in between our interview, are you pretty tired because you’re growing so fast?
A.  Yeah it wipes me out sometimes.  I’ve gone to the vet and found out I’ve been growing 4 pounds a week.  That’s about a half pound a day!  I now weigh about 35-40 lbs.

Q.  What are some of your favorite things?
A.  Treats, of course.  Also play time with mama and dad, meeting new people and other furry four-legged guys that bark.  I try to play with all of them but some of ’em are old and boring, kinda snobby, and just want to ignore me, snarl, and growl.  But I don’t mind I just keep trying to play with them and get them to act young again.  I also love fetching toys, love sleeping, smelling all the smells (especially of all the birds near home… pheasants, doves, geese), deer poop, horse poop (love that stuff but mom doesn’t let me eat it when I want), going for walks, running and exploring around the big wheat and straw fields by the house.  I’ve just started to like going for rides in mom and dad’s truck.  I really love anything that comes out of the laundry basket, socks, clothes, and shoes are good too.  These teeth have been bothering me lately so I really enjoy hard chewy things in my mouth, but I get in trouble most of the time when I get a hold of those things.

Q.  So you now live with your mom and dad, as the only child?  Do you have a favorite yet?
A.  Well I’m pretty much a mama’s boy right now, I spend most of my time with her.  She takes me walking and running every morning and evening, feeds me, and takes good care of me.  The ol’ Man is really cool, he’s my kind of guy.  He isn’t here at home everyday, but when he gets home after a few days it’s really exciting.  He takes me out in the fields and I find bird scents all over, he takes me off the leash a little more than mom, and he plays the best game ever with me using a fishing pole and a real bird wing at the end of the fishin’ line.  The wing smells like a real bird and I get to chase it, but have to listen to him say “Whoa” a lot, so I stand still and wait ’til he says “Fetch It”.  I’ve actually bonded to both of them pretty good already.  It’s a good life.

Q.  So they say you’re a Bird Dog, have you been hunting yet?
A.  Yeah I’m a Pointer.  Like I said, dad plays the game with me and the bird wing and is teaching me things to get ready to go hunting.  We haven’t gone yet but I really can’t wait.  He’s elk hunting right now but right when he’s done we’ll go get on some birds.  It’ll be a great family thing to do, I think we’ll start this Fall already.

Q.  What have you recently learned in life?
A.  Been catching on really good to a lot of the commands.  I now totally know ‘Whoa’, ‘Come’, ‘Sit’, ‘Stay’, ‘No’, ‘Fetch It’, ‘Get It’, ‘On Your Bed’, and ‘Heel’, thanks to the treats and the games that mom and dad play with me all the time.  Oh and I know “Where’s daddy?”, mom says that to me and I go look for him.  Mom also says “Go potty” when we’re outside and just started to catch on, I usually squat and pee when she says that if there’s a treat in her hand.  Also learning to hold my bladder and go pee outside, getting really good at that.

Q.  Would you like to give a shout-out to your extended family, anything to say to them?
A.  Yes I would love to see them soon, just tell ’em to come over anytime and play.  I haven’t met some of them yet, so hopefully soon!

A Taste of Italy in the Montana Winter

Last weekend hubby and I made a trip down to Bozeman, MT to spend time with family, go shopping, out to eat downtown, and have some quality time with my grandma.  I love going there, Bozeman is beautiful with lots to do, lots of good food to find, and full of young life and fun happenings as it is a college town.  I spent one semester there before I ended up settling in to the U of M, there are beautiful mountains and a lot of rivers.  Not many lakes, we have all the lake fun up here in NW MT.  Bozeman is kind of like a second hometown to me, it feels very homey, as I lived there for a little while on a few different occasions, and it’s where my mom is from so all of her family is there.  My grandma lives in her house still (on her own, at 88!) on a road out in the country that my grandpa had put in when they had their house built.  Soon after that my three sets of aunts and uncles followed suit and moved out there, so they live right by her, kind of in a triangle 🙂  Actually, all four of them built their home out there, pretty cool.

My Aunt Connie and cousin Nichole own an Italian specialty food store, All Things Italian, which now has my pantry accustomed to quite a few must-haves and cooking staples.  If you love to cook and love Italian foods, you’d love it there.  I love browsing through all the shelves of goodies and seeing what’s new.  …After enjoying a very satisfying Italian sandwich and a latte 🙂

It doesn’t take long to fill up the basket.  We grabbed the usual pasta and jars of soup, olives, and some awesome chocolate, and this time we picked out some beautiful seeds to start planting.  I really can’t wait to start growing these vegetables!

Lots of fun cooking ingredients

Shelves of eye candy

All kinds of Italian pastas

Delicious olives and capers

Specialty cheeses

Italian meats

My favorite- quality chocolate

Wines from Italy

Our chocolate indulgence

Doesn’t take long to fill up the basket!

Our beautiful Italian seeds to sow

Uncle Chris’s green thumbs at work, winter-time tomatoes

Aunt Connie

Plants getting ready for the greenhouse

Cute baby chicks getting ready for the coup

Lawrence’s boat

Soon to set sail

Pretty nice craftsmanship

Out for dinner

At Blackbird

Wood fired pizza

Nichole and Jared

We shopped, went to dinner downtown, and also had dinner at Connie and Chris’s and saw the cute baby chicks and all the plants Chris has getting ready for the greenhouse.  Also visited with my Uncle Lawrence who just finished building a boat for the first time!  It’s very cool, and they’ll soon make the sail to go on it.  And most importantly, enjoyed some quality time with my Grandma Anne…

Family, food, and shopping… it was a great weekend. 🙂

If you ever in Bozeman, MT stop in to ATI and say hi to Connie and Nichole!