Tube Ski Hat Thingy....at last!

I seem to be having trouble finding the time to blog, and I really hate that because I do enjoy it. I have been so tired lately that I have actually been in bed before 3am! That's unusual for me. Then I have the two boys in the daytime, so there's no way I can write then. I need to figure out a better way to do this.

Guess what? I finished the tube ski hat thing. I think I will call it the neck warmer hat. It's really quite good at keeping the cold air off of your neck and head, and half of your face if you want it to. I think I will make some for the kids who live in cooooooold Tennessee, and those that live in Utah, too. Maybe a few extra ones to have around when anyone comes to visit Montana! The photos could be better, like if they were of an adult that the hat fit instead of my 2 and 3-year-old grandsons, but I think you can get the idea. And they thought they were hot stuff, trying on grandma's new hat thing, even though it drowns them! The pattern is really easy, too. I used the largest yellow circle loom for the one I made, and it's about right for an adult. For youth or children, I would use the next size down, the green loom. I used three yarns for mine because I wanted it to be heavy and really warm, but you could use just two if you don't want it quite so heavy.

Knit 16 rows, then form a cuff or brim by reaching inside the loom and bringing the first row of loops up and putting them back onto the pegs, keeping the rows straight. Bring the back loop over these loops and off the peg. Now continue knitting as usual, until the piece is about 15 or 16 inches long. Work the knitting off the pegs as you normally would, except don't draw the yarn up tight. Instead, make sure the cast off yarn is loose enough to stretch over your head. Tie it off and weave your ends in and clip them off. That's all there is to it! And man, is it warm!

My poor littlest grandson is suffering from allergies, and I think he's having a reaction to the medicine. He has diarrhea so bad that he has welts on his little butt from where it touches his skin. When I changed his diaper tonight to get him ready for bed, he just screamed because it hurt so bad. I finally took him into the sink and sat him in some warm water to get him clean. I felt so bad for him. He hasn't felt good for 4 or 5 days now, and I hate it when they don't feel good. It makes me hurt. He has been spending a lot of time on my lap, and when he does that, I KNOW he doesn't feel good, because he's a mover and a shaker. He doesn't usually stop for much. We're going to give him some children's Imodium, and I hope it will help.

Independence Day just came on and I have to watch it. I watch it every time it comes on. I love this movie! I think the President's speech just before all the pilots take off is a classic. And of course, the movie is just plain good! I own it on video and I still watch it every time it comes on TV.

I'm trying to get back to working on my genealogy. There is so much left to do, but now that its a three and a half hour drive to the temple, I'm not getting as much done. When we were in Nevada, I went to the temple almost every week and I was getting so much work done. I think I might send some names down there to friends and see if I can't get the work done a little faster. I have come to some brick walls in some of my lines, and its really frustrating. I especially have one that is nigh unto impossible to figure out. My grandmother's grandfather came from Germany during some type of political unrest there. The family was nobility, and his father sent him and his brother out of the country to get them away from being conscripted into the army, where they would have been sent to the front lines and most assuredly killed. Our family has heard this story many times, and we all know that their name was von Markus, and they changed it to Markus, and then to Morris. What we didn't understand was the depth of their fear that if found, they would be sent back to Germany and killed. My grandmother spent a lot of years trying to find a connection in Germany to trace the family line, and not too long before she was put in a rest home, she received a letter from a lady who told a different story. She said that the von Markus name was her family name, and that the two brothers traveled with her family to America and used their family name so as not to be caught. I assume those two brothers were so afraid of being sent back that they never told anyone the true story. The big problem is that now I don't even know what name to look for, and the work that has been traced back to Germany isn't our family. I don't even know where to turn or where to start. I know he married Mary Gertrude Schmidt, and that connection is how we got this tidbit of information, but I don't know the name of the lady who wrote to Grandma, and I never found the letter after she gave me all of her genealogy paperwork. If anyone has any ideas for me, I welcome any and all.

Well, I think it's time to close for tonight. I will try to be better at keeping this going. Next post will have a really good recipe in it! Take care and remember to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. Don't wait until it's too late. Night, Gramma G.