The Buddy Walk-inspired Hudson Hat

I finished this up last week for Cindy at Life with Five Leggs and got it in the mail to her Monday. I'm really happy with how it turned out, this yarn is so incredibly soft! The Hudson Hat pattern was easy to follow and worked up pretty quickly. I'm motivated to make three more before Christmas for my kiddos!



I took a few photos of Sean wearing it before I washed it to get an idea of the fit. I used the child-size pattern and am wondering if the toddler size would fit too. It's very stretchy.




This week I've been knitting a dress for my friend's daughter and trying to pull together plans for Aidan's 8th birthday party this weekend. The kids have Friday off of school due to the end of the trimester. We have family coming in that evening and big plans for the party on Saturday. Lots of photos to come of that!

Are you ready to see the winner???!!!!

My yarn is ready, my needles are set...



so who's the winner of my Something Snuggy for your Buddy contest to celebrate 31 for 21? Well, I posted 36 blog updates this month and, minus the replies I made, I had 87 comments to choose from. Awesome!

I used random.org to select a winner and number chosen was: Comment 44 (sorry, I couldn't figure out how to make a screen shot to post)

Cindy said...

Hurray for Grandparents!!! I love that picture of her hugging!! :)
October 24, 2010 6:50 PM

Congratulations to Cindy from Life with Five Leggs!!!! Let's figure out what size you want and I will get started on your custom Hudson Hat! Thank you to everyone that left comments this month. I loved the feedback and I loved meeting new readers. I added several new blogs to my blog roll and that is always a great part of the 31 for 21 Challenge- meeting new families.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Down Syndrome Awareness month! I promise to keep blogging as we go into the busy holiday season. November has a lot of the calendar for us: we are hosting a church family super club, we have Aidan's 8th birthday party coming up, Doug is playing guitar at a rock show in Lawrence KS, then there's Thanksgiving. Plenty of photo/blog ops ahead. :)

Editing to add: Tiffany made a huge effort to keep me motivated this month- she left a whopping 19 comments here and daily comments on facebook. I'd like to offer a runner-up prize of a gnome hat to you, if you'd like one. I will link to some colors to choose from. They are less expensive to buy yarn for and quicker to make, but still very cute! :)

Less than a week till we pick a winner!

Don't forget that your comments put your name in the hat to get a custom-knit Hudson Hat! :)Something Snuggy for your Buddy!

Something Snuggy for Your Buddy!

Each year I've participated in the 31 for 21 Challenge, I've sent a gift to a reader at the end of the month. This year, it's something very special and very fun that combines two loves in my life: Down syndrome Awareness and knitting!

I searched through hand-dyed yarns and found a perfect yarn for my giveaway, this gorgeous fiber dyed by Laines Magnifiques in their French Provencal colorway. It's a blend of superwash merino wool and cashmere, so it's so super super soft and heavenly. A beautiful, subtle color combination that coordinates with the traditional Buddy Walk logo.

Photo credit: Laines Magnifiques

Once I ordered it, I started looking into what I could make it into that would fit a variety of sizes and appeal to many. A pattern came to mind that I haven't knit yet, but wanted to, The Hudson Hat. A generous knitter friend offered to purchase the pattern for me and donate it to my cause. I think that makes it meant to be!


Photo credit: The Mad Hatter.

The yarn is in route to me and I will knit it to the size the winner chooses after I draw a name on Nov. 1st. I expect it to take me 2-3 weeks to knit, so it will be done before the Christmas holidays, should the winner wish to give it as a gift. This pattern can be knit in Newborn, Infant, Child, or Adult size, but please note that I will have to add coordinating solid colored yarn to the larger sizes in order to have enough yarn for the pattern.

So how can you win this lovely prize? Simple! Leave comments on my blog posts this month. For each post you comment on, your name gets entered in the drawing. And since the whole point of 31 for 21 is to spread awareness, I'm offering additional drawing entries if you let me know you shared a post on Facebook or on your blog. Just make a note in the comment section that reads, "I linked you today!" If you found an old post you'd like to share, that's fine with me. If you comment on it, I will get the notification and count that entry, too. Please make sure I can email you if you win!

Spread the awareness, share the love, enter to win something very snuggy for your buddy!

Read. Speak. Rock. Winner!

Thanks to everyone for leaving comments during my Get it Down: 31 for 21 Challenge!

I had a total of 159 comments for the month to enter into my Read. Speak. Rock. giveaway. I used random.org to pick the winning comment and it chose #84: Kim from Charlie & Calvin's Up To. Congrats, Kim! I will set things up with Karen and you can go shopping for a custom shirt.

A Rocking Shirt and a Rockin' Give-Away!

Talk about feeling the love! Today Sean got another awesome gift! Karen, from The Rocking Pony, sent a custom Woody shirt to him. Oh.my.goodness! The cuteness! The yeehaw-ness! The rocking-ness!

It was so sweet of Karen to cheer Sean up, that I want to spread the fun to someone new. So here's the deal, I will enter everyone's name into a drawing for a gift certificate to get your own Rocking Pony shirt! For each comment left on a 2009 Get It Down: 31 for 21 blog post at Sunflower Stories, I will enter your name in the drawing. On Nov. 1, I will announce the winner and get a gift certificate to The Rocking Pony sent your way.

I will count the comments left prior to today, but look forward to seeing more as the month unfolds. Thanks, readers!

*International shipping is okay, US shipping will be Priority mail.*

Life With My Special Ks: New year... new YOU!! (Blog style)

Life With My Special Ks: New year... new YOU!! (Blog style)

I need this makeover! I would love to have a pretty, more unique blog layout but have no idea how to make one. Rebecca at Rebecca Creates is so talented at putting together great designs. Wish me luck in this contest!

Blueberry Models

My favorite pocket diaper company, Blueberry Diapers, is having a contest! The prize is a $25 gift certificate to their store, so of course I had to enter. Luckily, they let you enter as many photos as you want and each one that the choose gets a gift certificate. It would be so fun if one of my photos won! Here's what I sent:








They look pretty darn cute to me and how cool would it be to see a cutie with Down syndrome selling dipes!

Get Caught Reading!

Now here is a fun contest I'd like to win, errr, I mean that Sean would like to win! Kelly at Where There's a Will is having her second annual Get Caught Reading contest. She has some fabulous prizes that would be a great addition to our bookshelf.

We love to read. With Aidan learning how to read this year in kindergarten, we've been trying to make it more of a priority at home. Sean has several favorite books that he likes us to read to him. Since the Christmas season is approaching, our favorite Christmas book, Are You Grumpy, Santa, will be getting a lot of use again. Sean loves to act out the story as we read it.

First, Santa stubbed his toe. Oochie Ouchie Oh!


Then the shower was too cold! Brrr!


And Mrs. Claus puts him on a diet. Where's my food?


So eventually Santa reaches his limit. I'm a Grumpy Santa Claus!


Well, you'll have to get the book to see how it ends, Sean doesn't want to give any spoilers. ;)

Doh!

I listed my email wrong when I announced my blog giveaway winners! So it's fixed now & I'd love to hear from you if you won.

Thanks!

Roadmap to Holland Book Winners

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Congratulations, Jenn and Laura! Email me at: dougndeborah AT sbcglobal DOT net so I can get your mailing addresses.

I am taking the weekend off to celebrate Halloween with my family. See you Monday with trick-or-treating photos. Happy Halloween!

My First Blog Give-a-way

I noticed today that my last post was post #31 for October! Cool! Since there are only a few more days until the end of October, I thought I'd celebrate a successful month by treating myself to a book I have been eager to read, Road Map to Holland: How I Found My Way Through My Son's First Two Years With Down Syndrome by Jennifer Graf Groneberg. I have been following Jennifer's blog, Pinwheels, for a couple of years and I just love her writing. To share the celebration, I'm going to give a copy to one of my readers, too!

Leave a comment on this post to enter the drawing and on Oct 31, Sean will draw a winner!

Maybe now I can finally find out who it is in Pakistan that reads my blog every day.

She's One Chatty Momma!

Renee at My Special Ks is celebrating her one year anniversary of blogging. She has written over 500 posts in a year! Wowsers! She's doing a gift basket giveaway to celebrate her anniversary, so go check it out!

Get Caught Reading

Kelly at Where There's a Will is having a great contest involving books. Doug and I grew up with a great love of books and have a nice collection of children's books to share with our boys. Within the last six months or so, Sean has finally gotten to the age where he will sit and listen to almost all of a book. He hardly even eats them anymore. ha ha ha

Kelly is asking for readers to send her photos of their child with T21 reading a book, or being read to. At the end of the contest she is giving a selected winner a gift certificate to their local independent bookstore. I don't think there is one in our town, so I will just share a couple book pics here.




I also got tagged by Melissa at Banana Migraine to post a list of Sean's seven favorite books. He gave me a book report of the following nonfiction novels and said they were best sellers. :)

1. Hand Hand Fingers Thumb by Al Perkins
2. Baby Einstein See and Spy Counting by Julie Aigner-Clark
3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
4. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
5. Thomas & Friends: Good Morning, Engines by Rev W Awdry
6. Tails by Matthew Van Fleet
7. Little Cricket's Song by Joanne Barkan

I'm suppose to tag seven others to make a reading list, but I am not sure if I know seven others that haven't done this already. So if you haven't played yet, feel free to do it now!

31 for 21 Swap

In case you haven't been to Unringing the Bell today, Tricia is planning a wrap it up swap for the participating bloggers. Hope on over there and sign up!

I Guess I Forgot to Mention This

Just a short blog today, I have a little man on the loose in the living room.

1. When Sean went to the Pediatrician this week, she mentioned that one of Sean's ear tubes fell out & is laying in the ear canal. She couldn't see the other tube because his ear had too much wax in it. I totally spaced this off and forgot to ask what we do now, so I stopped in the next day and spoke to her nurse. Her nurse said that usually they don't get them done again until a hearing problem occurs again.

This does not sit well with me, since the reason Sean has tubes is because he gets build up and then hearing loss. He doesn't get infections that much, just too much fluid. With cold season approaching, I want to keep his ears healthy. He has already been sick twice since he started school. So I am calling the ENT myself to hear what he has to say about this. Sean has had a great sign and verbal language burst this summer and I want to keep the progress coming!

2. I also got the test results from his blood work. All is normal! yay!

3. The eye doctor said that Sean is now showing signs of minor far sightedness. This is probably why he is squinting. He suggested we wait and see if there is improvement. We go back in three months to see if there is change. If it isn't better, we will give glasses a try.

4. Doug discovered today that Sean knows how to unlatch the backyard gate by himself! Apparently Sean let himself out, with his push mower toy, and headed down the sidewalk to go for a little stroll. The neighbor two houses down brought him home. Doug said, "I don't know how he got out, I latched the gate and made sure the yard was secure!" He took Sean out back and said, "Did you open this?" Sean said yes, then showed Doug that he can do it himself now. Or lord... this little man is just too smart for his britches! I guess we need to put a better lock on it tomorrow. Thank you God for watching over him on his adventure!

5. There's a great book of photos of children with Down syndrome that I'd love to own. Since my German is extremely rusty, I will just have to enjoy the photos! YOu can check the book out here Prince Vince Contest

2 in one day, don't faint

I was following the trail of bloggers doing the 31 for 21 project and found the cutest piece of sunshine in Europe! http://christinamolin.wordpress.com/2007/10/02/get-it-down-31-for-21-post-4/ Prince Vince! And since his sweet mom is offering up a pair of fun boots, I thought I'd give them a shout out here. Wouldn't my little puddle splasher look cute in those shoes?