This Love of Mine

Didn't I say I was a purse knitting fool? I also told you I was making a purse and I knew her name was Carly. And here she is!

Goodness gracious, I love knitting. It kind of snuck up on me when I wasn't looking. I mean I remember why we started the group and I am sure I've told the story somewhere in here before, but who knew it would turn into this great and wonderful thing?

Do you know, there were times when I was constantly thinking about knitting? And it was very specific. I remember sitting in the choir loft at church, thinking about knitting with Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn - in the Pumpkin color. I can see it in my head clear as day. Finally I did knit with it and so that part is gone, but I still think a great deal about knitting. I've been known to obsess about something and then it disappears off my radar screen but this has stuck with me - so much so that I have now incorporated it into trying to make a living. And not just on the shop. (I love that yarn, by the way. It takes a great deal of arm strength to knit an afghan with it because it's so thick and heavy. It could harm a small child should they run into it.)

I do three things with some degree of skill: I write, I knit and I sing. And it has taken me this long to realize I can and should use these skills for the enrichment of body and soul. (This is yet another reason why youth is wasted on the young.)

Well, I don't know what to do. I don't have any pending projects. Everything has been completed; the needles are empty. I do have an idea for another purse. This one a little bigger than the last three. A tote bag with different kinds of handles and I'm thinking of buttons. I am also ruminating on a purse with a flap with a beaded band. I also have some writing to do for a couple of clients. So, I guess I do have stuff to do.

And to top it all off: It's the Cubs season opener today!

It's a wonderful life.

I Feel Pretty!

I am, for the moment, a purse knitting machine. You all saw the one from last week. Well, there's another one that was done on Friday.
Her name is Bling. Can you guess why? At first I thought I would put the pailettes on one side only (and I will probably make a version like that) but for this first one, I thought I'd just go pailettes crazy. And you would never expect this to be a soft little bag, but it is! And it manages to be soft and also strong - which is why I know she's a she.
I have another purse on the needles and she should be done some time today. The next one is bling free but cute nonetheless. Her name is Carly. Don't ask me why - that 's the name that came to me. I think it has to do with Carly Simon, but I haven't even heard a Carly Simon tune in...since the last time I heard one.
Bling has been placed in her protective bag until someone decides they want to take her home. She's in with Blanche, the purse I made the other day that has the iridescent pailettes. OK, I think I may be done with sequins on the purse, though I do have some ideas for scarves and wraps that have them.

On another, sadder note, I went to church this morning and learned one of my favorite people had passed. Cora was like a Mom to me, in fact, I called her Mom and she called me her daughter. You don't know Cora, but trust me when I say there's a new angel walking the streets of Heaven. But she left her husband Jon here on earth and this isn't going to be easy for him and he has not been in the best of health. So please say a prayer for Cora's Jon that he may be brought peace and comfort and that he stays wrapped in the love of the spirit.

See you tomorrow.

OOO Baby, Baby

Sometimes you just have to take a moment to sit in a small amount of awe:
Not because you did something particularly great, but because something really lovely came out of something so simple.
This is a very simple garter stitch shawl and the yarn does all of the work with the vertical and horizontal shading.

Someone knows how to blend some yarn.

The shawl was made with two different colors of yarn. The second color is sandwiched in the middle between the first color on either end.
Now, I know this particular yarn company is not very nice when dealing with charitable groups, especially when you consider how much money those groups spend making shawls for their groups - but there is nothing else like it for the money. It is an incredibly soft yarn with those variations that just seem to appear. I didn't expect to see the colors there when I turned Kenya (the model) around. I also didn't expect to see vertical stripes though it does make sense. And the colors just pop and are even better in person.
Sometimes we are too close to something to see the true spectrum of colors that exist within it.
Thank goodness Mr. Eastman and Mr. Kodak changed all that.

Don't Cha Love It

OK, so I went in search of a simple sock pattern. I just wanted to make a sock that looked like a sock because I shall not be defeated by the two sticks and some string that previously have been my partners and still remain a source of income. I could not possibly be out of sync with my passion. So I found a very simple pattern and started a sock before Joe and I had our date night. We went out, we ate, we came back and I finished the first sock....

Then I watched some T and V and worked on the shawl I have on my needles while watching some shows stored on the DVR....

and then about two in the morning I started the other sock. It is not unusual for me to stay up this late - in fact, I went to bed at about 4:30. But you don't care about that, do you? You just want to know what the socks look like.

Well, they look like this:

These socks are made for a 2 or 3 year old. They are very small and very cute. But I have not yet claimed victory because they were knitted flat and I don't like the seam so much because it's designed to be right on the bottom of the foot which means I would have to do some steaming to flatten it out a little and make it more comfortable. Other than that though, I'd say I've made some progress, wouldn't you?

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

OK, so the sock thing is bugging me.

Marilyn brought a book called Baby Feet to StitchCraft last night and there was a pattern for a pair of socks. You make seven pair and put them in a box and it's called Socks In a Box, one pair of socks for every day of the week. And the darn things were soooooo cute. It was then the sock started laughing at me though it was five miles away sitting on the sofa.

I don't think I've ever been the competitive sort. OK, that's not entirely true. I have been known to be competitive, but only with myself. I won't knock little old ladies down in a rush to get to the free samples in the drug store. (Unless it's chocolate then, sorry Granny, but youth has its perks.)

But I have been known to get an idea in my head and work towards it. The single sock is laughing at me. I will not put a photo of it laughing at me, but I have looked at it and it looks like it's having a giggle at me for not redoing it. Of course, I know I could unravel it and that would solve the problem, but I think it would come to me in a dream like I was Alison DuBois, the medium of all dead socks.

Death would be too good for the sock. I must make it swallow its own instep and shut up. I'm on the hunt for a simple sock pattern.

We'll Sing In The Sunshine

This is a very pretty sarong. It's made of cotton - I think it's the first time I've used it on a garment. I would show you a photo of Joe trying it on for me, but he's threatened me with divorce or death, whichever one he can manage.
Don't tell anyone, but I like working with yarn that is not acrylic. (I don't think I will ever get over acrylic yarn because I'm so...thrifty...yes, thrifty.) But I have these novelty yarns because I was on a novelty yarn kick and now I'm knitting stuff up. It's a new arena and I'm having fun.

I'm actually sick. I started feeling achy and congested a few days ago and now I'm freezing, even though it's nearly 70 here today. I got the thermometer and as I placed it in my mouth, Joe said: "It's gonna be normal."

100 degrees is not normal.

I told him that. And what do you think he said?

"Take it again." Like I'm a pair of dice. What keep rolling until I get the number you think I should have? Males. I tell you, it's because of the Y Chromosome. It's supposed to be an X and somehow it broke. That's why they are the way they are.

Of course I love men and I think they're terrific. But every once in a while...
You all have a great week!

Same Hat - Different Version

I love this hat. I think it looks vintage but it's only a few days old. Some lucky person can purchase this hat off my etsy site, but I would like to take this time in praise of good, old regular, acrylic yarn. Yes, I know there are those who turn their noses at acrylic yarn like it's a substitute teacher nobody likes or the computer geek who shows up at the football game. But there's plenty to be said for yarn that cost less than $3 a skein and can make not only this hat, but have enough left over to make another one that looks just like it.

Cheap doesn't mean cheap. Just like expensive doesn't mean better. You can drive a Toyota and you can drive a BMW. You may think you're better or you think other people think you're better because of the car you drive, but trust me, if they both get slapped by a train, people will feel sorrier for the Toyota owner.

Some acrylics have beautiful drape, glorious colors and delicious feel. I used to be in love with Caron by the Pound until I visited Hobby Lobby and touched, I Love This Yarn and I do love that yarn and if my house wasn't already filled with other yarn, I could just hang a Hobby Lobby light outside my house because you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I know where my LYS is and I've even been inside. I've purchased needles and books from there and I've touched yarn. Haven't bought any yarn there, though. I'm not a reversed snob. I don't turn my nose at them - I just don't open my wallet for them. I have considered it and if the economy turns around, I will probably purchase some of it - not for me, but to make garments or items that I can charge more for and expect someone to buy. I'm not a snob - I'm....thrifty, Yes, that's it. I'm thrifty.

So let's hear it for the fake stuff...or as some clever ad person thought up:
the authentic replica. It is the cornerstone of yarn-dom and I shall forever be true!

The Road to Hell

is paved with good intentions.

Intent is a powerful thing. I believe in intent. One can tell the truth with the intent of bringing harm and one can lie with the intent of protecting someone from harm. I intended to make a cute little baby blanket and I have started it twice with two different yarns.

It don't want to be made.

At least not by me. Or at least not in the two yarns I've started it in. I cannot even force myself to take photos of the wip for it shall not be a wip for long. It shall turn into a frog and then perhaps into a hat.

SIGH. Has this ever happened to you? You see a nice pattern and think 'Yes, I shall make this (fill in the blank) only to have the karma of the (fill in the blank) stop you cold? I am sure it wishes to be made but not in the brown variegated yarn I tried first and not the rainbow variegated yarn I have tried again. I believe it wishes to be made in the solid grape colored yarn that has been peeking out at from one of the cubby holes from my desk where yarn should not be.

The yarn should not be in my desk and therefore should be moved and why not move it to the needles where the unhappy pattern is being worked by yarn it does not favor? I am not so far along that I would consider the time completely wasted and if everyone ends up happy - all the better.

Yes, that is what I will do. I will start for the third (and last - I try patterns three times before moving on) time to make the pattern fairy happy and get this blanket done. Thy will be done, little blanket fairy, thy will be done.

Funkalicious Wrap

While you were all dancing in the new year, the stroke of midnight found me casting on for this drop stitch wrap.
I am officially in love with my steamer. The yarn was soft to begin with and I made it to the size specified, but I wanted to give it more width and so I pinned it to the press board and my steamer went to town on it. Not only did I get the size I wanted, but the thing makes the yarn so much softer and it smells so nice! I even believe it makes the colors pop ever so much.
It is six feet long and about 3 feet wide so it has plenty of wrapablilty. (Spellchecker will have a field day with that one!)
There is a story that goes with this wrap called 'How A Stash Gets Borned.' I shall save that story for another day - like tomorrow. But for now, I am enjoying this latest little creation. I snuggled with it for a little bit and it is now safely enshrined in it's bag ready for someone to claim it - for a price.

The Bon- Bon Cape from 'After Dark'

Because there is more to life than the latest scandal (and trust me, there is more to say on that) I have actually finished a project!

Here's the cape from After Knits by Jil Eaton. I tried it on my nephew's daughter who proudly told me she was too and it was a little too big. So, I'm guessing this will fit a 3 year old nicely.

Megan's mom asked me to make one in her size and I just might do that. This was a pretty quick knit. I think I worked on it for two knitting sessions which means if it were the only thing I was working on, it could have been done in a day. I blocked the heck out of the hemline and still it rolls, but I learned how to bobbles!

It was made with Red Heart Super Saver in Watercolor. It's a little rough, but should soften up. I believe I used number 9 needles, though it could have been 8. I added the pom-pom because I just like making them and will use them on anything I can. This will go right over to the last few days of the sale at Pleasant Home. (We didn't sell anything yesterday, but I believe we have already made what was my goal!) We're also doing the Sing-Along Messiah this afternoon, so I have to get a move on back to church!

What You Do When You're Supposed to Be Cleaning the Bathroom

1. I have cleaning the bathroom and hall on my schedule today.
2. I also have work on my schedule today and I did it.
3. I have a workout on my schedule today - and I did that, too. (Kendall Hogan is one hot dude!)
4. I earned a break after doing the work and the workout and not eating breakfast until noon.

I also have some work I need to do for a concert and church on the schedule and I need to stop at Marilyn's to fix her computer (it doesn't recognize her printer.) Then I have to go off to choir rehearsal. I also have to clean out my car. I could be doing any of that right now instead of being here. But I think it's important to show you the cute legwarmers I was working on instead of doing all the aforementioned things I coulda, shoulda been doing.

I love this color. It's claret from Caron By the Pound (eventually I will run out of the this yarn)
and I am using some Lion Trellis for the ribbon. The first legwarmer was finished on Thanksgiving Day when we were at my sister-in-law's house. I asked my niece to try it on and my sister-in-law pouted a little because I did not ask her to try it on. I have no reason for choosing one over the other; that's just how it happened. The other legwarmer was finished a little while ago and here they are. The pattern came from One Skein.

No, I am not going to clean the bathroom and the hall right now. I have to take a shower and get dressed and get to Marilyn's - I will get to the bathroom and all the other stuff I have to get to. But knitting waits for no one.

Special Olympics Scarf Project

The Special Olympic Scarf Project! I saw this when I was on the knitters-warehouse website. I often go there to look at yarn I will never buy. I wanted to make sure it was more than just a way for Coats and Clark to get us to buy more yarn so I googled it and found that it is a legit project and they have over 1000 scarves already and are looking to get about 5000 for the athletes, sponsors and dignitaries.

Now, you know I will use almost any reason to buy some yarn, but I remember a long time ago being a volunteer for the Special Olympics and really enjoying the day and this is something that is tugging at me.

The rules are quite simple:
Use delft blue and white yarn by Coats and Clark
make the scarf approx. 41/2 by 50
crochet or knit any pattern you choose
include a note to the athlete but don't include contact info on the note
send off the scarf so it is received by January 15 to:

2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games Scarf Project
3150 W. Main Street
Boise, ID 83702

Use the link above to find out all the official info.

If you buy the super saver size, those two skeins will be enough to make two, maybe three scarves and depending on where you buy it, it's less than $10. This is right up the old alley in so many ways.

So, will I do it? I think I must. I have the knitting-warehouse screen up on another window and I am looking at the yarn. I am going to order it on line because I know they have it in stock as opposed to going store to store (besides, there's snow on the ground out there! My workout today will be to shovel to the car and clean it off!)

I am going to order the yarn and put my projects aside and knit up some scarves and send it to kids who have a great deal of heart and spirit and can add a little of mine to the pile. If you decide do it, send me a photo of your FO or a link to your blog with it and we can have a parade of scarves!

When Is An Afghan Not An Afghan - con't

Remember a while back I knit all these squares to make an afghan and when I started to pull it together, it didn't work? I made two of those squares into a pillow, but I still have plenty of squares left and now some of them have become this kiddie scarf! There are still enough squares to make a matching hat and possibly mittens.

But here is the Take A Ribbing scarf from "Getting Started Knitting" I couldn't tell you how many colors are in it, but it's made from the Herschnerr's Chunky weight yarn which is really yummy to me. (I wouldn't know what to do with yarn that actually cost more than $7 a skein!) It's a nice yarn with lots of colors (obviously) and very lush. It's the shipping charges that kills the buzz for me. I wait until they have free shipping which they do a couple of times a year and then I buy a bunch of it.

If I get the chance, I will try and whip up a hat or mittens to go with it but the scarf will go on sale at the bazaar next month.

Oh Yeah, I Knit

Here are two of the scarves I recently completed. I just wanted to do something easy and mindless and these certainly fit. They were both completed sometime last month. The one on the left is the unixes scarf. Same pattern on both sides - it's kinda long (not nearly as long as my sunset strip scarf which could fit someone seven feet tall) but it works for both sexes.

As does the simple garter stitch scarf on the right. Here's the thing about that scarf. I was using yarn which was donated to our knit group and this yarn is so old it's marked with the Venture store logo. Venture has not been in business since sometime in the early nineties. I pulled out to skeins of green yards and gotta knittin'. It wasn't until I was almost finished when I noticed the greens were two different dye lots and were not the same. I had already started using the second ball -what to do?

I bound off the green on one end, picked up stitches on the other end and so it looks like the scarf is trimmed in one color and the body is knit in the other. - That's right, folks - that's what the price of a college education will get you!

Cuddle Up Baby Blanket - wip

So Cai is in the seam stage. I have already done one seam and strip 1 is connected to strip 2. I imagine I will do one seam a day and then get to working on the next project. Which is the Cuddle Up baby blanket.

This blanket is earmarked for a baby my nephew and his wife are expecting. The newest member of the family is only days away from his debut and then a few months to his baptism. Because my nephew belongs to my church, this blanket will be presented to the family during the baptism. (My craft group presents blankets to families at all baptisms taking place there.)

It's a pretty easy knit thus far (though I have altered some details of the pattern.) It won't be too long before this moves from wip to fo!

The Blanket That's Not a Blanket

So, when is a blanket not a blanket? When you make the squares and start to put them together and realize they don't match up well.
Then you're left with a handfull of 15x15 squares.

So, you pull out the old bag of fiberfill and make yourself some pillows. It's ok if the sides are slightly off because only one side really shows and when you want a little different look, you just change it to the other side. (That's my story and I'm sticking with it!)

These darling squares will now become funky pillows and they will be taken to the November Pancake Breakfast and Bazaar and they will go up for sale. I must say it probably isn't the best use of the yarn, but it is a use. I also have some cable aran squares that will make it to the pillow heap. They're supposed to be an afghan as well but what can one say?

Cutsie Hat & Scarf

Sometimes you just get distracted. It's true! You do a project, take the photo and say: 'I need to get this on the blog!' and then life intervenes.

I made this hat and scarf sometime in June. I know, I know, I track my projects by my blog posts...but I refer back to that life intervenes thing. I was doing other things. Like work. Work can mess up a perfectly good day.

I got the pattern out of a magazine - I don't remember which one mebbe Creative Knitting? Interweave? Geez, I really don't remember. It was pretty darn easy and of course, the yarn is Caron By The Pound in jonquil. I really do have other yarn - I just have a lot of Caron By the Pound. (Though I must admit, I may have found a new love in worsted weight yarn that's an even better value than CBTP - I have yet to knit with it so I will let you know what happens!)

I can't remember a thing about this project. I think it went fast. I don't remember the size of the needles or anything..I'm telling you, this is life's fault. I can tell you it's sitting in the inventory getting ready for the fall sale in November. If I run across the pattern again, I will fill you in on the particulars.

The Prayer Shawl - The Travis Wrap

I wish I didn't need to make this prayer wrap. A very dear friend of mine lost his son in an auto accident. I didn't know what to do for him. I've never seen him so vulnerable with hints of being lost. I told him how sorry I was and later as I was sitting and knitting, I remembered I started a knit group that had as one of it's missions to provide shawls for those who have suffered a loss. Though we have only given shawls to those who have lost loved ones in war; there was no reason not to give my friend a shawl to honor the life of his son.

I started knitting it and I worried it wasn't the right color because I started out with just the cream color. I took it out and added the purple. I didn't like the pattern stitch so I did my own. I love the generous size of it. It wraps around me and is very comforting so I am hoping he and members of his family find comfort in it as well.

The fringe was added at random - three to each tassel - some are all cream, some all purple; most a combination. I finished this while watching The Color Purple at 4 in the morning. My husband came downstairs to go to work, saw me wrapped in it and said "Very nice." I took it to church so the knit group could see it and they all thought is was great. One of the pastors walked in the parlor and he blessed it so it is now on the way to my friend. It will arrive at his home before he returns so it will be waiting for him.

It's the least I can do.

Photos from the Sit & Knit - Part 1

A bum knee and the registering knitters kept me in the lobby where Marilyn made this beautiful set up of the yarn. Knitters were free to come and browse through whatever skeins they wanted to take and there was more yarns in the boxes off to the right.
Hats and squares were the order of the day and this cute little pom-pom was a favorite. We think the pom-pom is bigger than the hat, but someone will be able to use it and they will look very cute in it!
This little hat is especially important to us because Sherry made it - it is her very first project EVER. She did not know how to knit when she walked in the door. This was actually a sampler to teach her how to knit and purl and we were able to turn it into a hat for a very small preemie.
Here are a bunch of preemie hats. You can see the subtle differences in the hats. Everyone was free to put their own spin on the hats and they did. They're cute in the pictures - you should see them in person!

These two were top favorites!
We had a great time! The Pleasant Home staff was great and everyone wanted to do it again. And so we shall...planning for the 2009 Sit & Knit at Pleasant Home has already begun!

The Knitter's Restaurant -Color Block Afghan

It seems like it took forever for this afghan to be done and when i finally laid it out - it's huge! This is draped over the dog's cubby hole with more to spare!

This was a very simple design and was a way to use up a whole bunch of yarn! This is mostly done in Caron By the Pound, but there's a few Red Heart and Herschnerr's in there somewhere.

Basically, it's six strips of seven blocks in a stockinette rib of 46 rows per color; 33 stitches per strip. I used the cream as the main color then just placed about seven other colors in a tote bag and pulled them out at random. I used size 8 needles.

It's fluffy, soft and warm. It is certainly colorful. It reminds me of the Twister game - though this would be very hard to play it on!

If you need to follow a pattern; the one which inspired this afghan is here.
It uses only three colors and is way smaller, but is a nice, novice pattern that produces a very nice result. You can follow it to the letter, of course, or just get crazy and do your own thing!

This will be placed in the completed project bag and held until the November craft sale.