Machine Knit Preemie Hats

Our little grandson was born 6 weeks early this year. Our daughter, Spunky, and her husband received so much help from neighbors and friends where they lived. Two people took care of the dog, others watched the house, many sent gifts which were delivered to their home by co-workers.

My daughter and her husband stayed in the Ronald McDonald house since the hospital was 3 hours away from their home in rural Maine. They said they will forever be grateful for the Ronald McDonald house and continue to donate to them.

One of the sweetest gifts they received was a hand-knit hat from the NICU. Spunky decided she wanted to give back.... she wanted to learn to crochet or knit so that she could donate some hats back to the NICU.

She learned to crochet all on her own! I was so proud of her!

Earlier this month they were able to move back to our home state. They didn't want to leave Maine, but they wanted to be close to family, both hers and his. We are all so glad to have them here!

On Friday Spunky brought little QT over and she re-learned how to knit on a knitting machine. I made up a pattern and it came very close to matching the size of QT's first hat.

The little hat on the left was the one that QT was given at the NICU. The one on the right is the first one I knit from my pattern.

Spunky knit four more.

Not bad for a beginning knitter!

I'll post the pattern and more photos in a few days.

Canning Turkey Broth

One of the projects I got done today was canning some turkey broth. I pressure cooked all the bones with about 4 onions, 6 cloves of garlic, and 6 carrots yesterday. After straining the bones and chunks out, I put the pot in the fridge overnight.

This morning I skimmed the fat off the top and simmered it for about 2 hours to condense it a little bit.

I pressure canned the pints at 15 psi for 20 minutes.
One didn't seal so it's in the fridge and I'll use it to make some Turkey soup this week.

Canning USA has more information about canning broth.

If we don't finish off the turkey by Sunday, I'll be canning the rest of the turkey, too.

I'm not letting any turkey go to waste this year!

Quilt Back Done

This is the back of Blondie's first quilt. There were some mis-cut pieces and lots of scraps. This is what we came up with so we didn't have to spend $100 on backing material.

You can see the front here.

It's at the quilters.

It should be done before Thanksgiving.

We're pretty excited to see it so close to completed!

Socks for Sandy

One of the blogs I subscribe to started a drive called 'Socks for Sandy'. You can read more about it here.

I'm not bragging, I was only able to buy a few pairs of socks, but I thought if there were more readers who were interested in helping so I wanted to write a post about it and hopefully inspire a few people to send a pair or two.

Only 12 pairs of women's hiking socks. These are my favorite socks, so warm and comfortable!

It isn't many pairs.

But a few pairs is better than none.

And to people who have lost everything, it will be a blessing to have toasty toes while they are staying in a shelter.

Oregon Trail Quilt Back, Done!

The back of my quilt is finally pieced! It is now at the quilter's and will probably be done before Thanksgiving.

I'm happy to have one project so much closer to being completed!

You can see the front of the quilt here.

Yay for less yard work!

Sandy

Here's a little conversation I had with Prion before Hurricane Sandy hit. She's on the East Coast on the fringes of the hurricane.

We're so glad she was safe and warm...

And that she got to start her next rotation in a new lab.

Although she appreciated the opportunity she had to work in the first lab, she knew it wasn't a match for the next 5 years of her life.

She has always been over-the-top dedicated in every lab she's worked in. We're very proud of her and all she's accomplished in her life so far