Another Poncho

I'm working on my third poncho. This one is a faux mohair varigated yarn in pinks and peaches - very girly. I got the pattern free off the internet and it's simply double crochet with a gigantic hook (Q). Here's a photo of the work in progress.

Anyway, I've altered the pattern only slightly - 1) it said to start by chaining 58 but that didn't seem long enough to me so I kept chaining until it measured approx 50 inches 2) the pattern is only 10 rows which didn't seem enough for me so I'm adding a few more.

The photos were with my cell phone again.

Crochet Catch Up

For some reason, the autumn season seems to bring on crafty projects for me. In 2005, I had just gotten my sewing machine for my birthday and I was busy sewing October through December. This past November, I learned how to crochet. My first project was (of course) a potholder...

After that I was feeling pretty confident and since we had the girls, D & P, I made a baby afghan. The weird thing is that I apparently made up the stitch. I thought I was doing a double crochet but after showing my mom and my sister and then consulting several books, it was determined that I created my own stitch.

By the time I finished it, we no longer had the girls. So, I moved on to smaller projects - at first, ponchos...

And then I moved on to hats. Unfortunately, I haven't taken photos of every hat but here are two...

I think my next project will be another poncho - a style similar to the green one.

Sorry for the crappy photos - they were all taken with my camera phone.

A Year in the Life of a Waiting Family

As I was looking through my 2006 appointment book, I came across a very special notes page. I have kept a detailed log of all the children we submitted our home study on and how things turned out. I thought it would be interesting to put it out there...into space. I thought someone might like to see a glimpse of what it's like to be a waiting family. We already had T at this point...we were just waiting to see who would join the family. Here goes...

Oh wait...just a couple of points of interest... I jot down whatever is told to me by our case worker. Sometimes I have age/race/hair color/eye color/name. Sometimes I have nothing at all.

Jan 3 - submitted on A/A girl - D
submitted on A/A girl - K

Jan 24 - Four-way at 1:00 on D
Four-way at 2:30 on K
Up for four-way on 2/9 for baby boy K
*We were picked for K (girl)!! Court date for placement approval on 2/6

Feb 6 - Judge said that we could not have K (girl)

Feb 9 - Four-way on K (boy) rescheduled

Feb 14 - Four-way on K (boy) will be March 10th
submitted on: bi-racial boy - just turned 2
girl C - 3 months old
girl H - 9 months old, blonde/blue
girl T - anglo, heart murmur
bi-racial boy - 18 months old
girl K - A/A, 2 months old
multi-racial girl - 6 months old
A/A boy - 4 months old
girl E - A/A, newborn, tons of hair

Mar 3 - Four-way on girl K (born 12/5/05) scheduled for 3/20
Four-way on boy S scheduled for 3/14
Four-way on boy K was cancelled and we are waiting for reschedule
submitted on: girl L - born 8/05
boy F - born 2/06, bi-racial

Mar 14 - Not picked for boy S

Mar 20 - Four-way on girl E scheduled for Apr 6th
Not picked for girl K

Mar 27 - placement of brothers M & C (foster placement)

Apr 6 - Four-way on girl E
*We were picked!! Court date for placement approval on 4/10

Apr 10 - Judge said no

May 1 - Submitted on A/A girl - legally free for adoption - born Jan 06

May 5 - told our case worker that felt T needed a different home

May 12 - M & C move to foster-to-adopt home

Aug 31 - Inquired about sibling group

Sep 17 - discussed another sibling group with cw, decided not to pursue

Oct 12 - cw called about sisters D & P (3 & 2 y.o.)

Oct 13 - D & P placed in our home (foster placement)

Nov 29 - told our cw again that we felt T needed a different home and that we did not want to adopt him

Nov 30 - T moved to new home - D & P moved to new home

Frustrating, huh? So many hopes dashed. We have not had any children in our home (by choice) since November.

I can only hope that 2007 brings realizations to dreams that were put out of mind and if I can't have that - I at least hope for peace within my heart.