Sunday, November 28, 2004

Dressup Finished!

I finally finished the dressup scarf, hat and gloves for my 2 and 1/2 year old great niece. I think she will really have fun with these. They came out really well, except I noticed that the color lot seems to be different between the scarf and the hat and gloves. The hat and gloves are the same color, but the scarf seems to be from a different dye lot. I hope this doesn't matter and that maybe it will not be noticed. I also made an identical Fun Fur scarf for my niece (the great nieces' mother). I guess she saw the one that I had that her daughter was playing with and decided she wanted one too. I'm glad they like them well enough to both want one. I thought it would be fun if they had the same color scarves.


Hat and Gloves Posted by Hello


Fun Fur Scarf Posted by Hello

Monday, November 22, 2004

Special Little Corner

Today I was reading in Willa's book Fallen Angel. I just love the description in the book of the main character's special corner in her home.

"She had her special little corner built there: the chair had a needlepoint footstool, a small round table beside the chair with a lamp, a stack of books on a shelf underneath, and an afghan flung over the back of the chair for the nights when it seemed like too much trouble to get up and go to bed."

I hope to make my special corner in our sunroom when it's finished. I would love to have a special corner like that. Eddie and I have bought identical chairs and lamps, and will probably have identical tables too. But, I would love to have a place like that where I can go to read, knit, or write in my journal, especially in the mornings on the weekends. A place to relax and unwind at the end of a stressful day. I'm thinking that this area in our new sunroom will be the ideal spot to establish that place.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Knitting Dressup

Monday night I went to my knitting guild meeting. During the first few minutes of every meeting, we go around the room and have show and tell. I took my sock monkey stocking for my show and tell. Some of the women had some of the cutest things. One lady in particular had something that I'm going to make for my 2 1/2 year old niece. My niece likes to play dressup, and I think she would like these things. The lady had some small children's gloves that she had bought at Walmart for $1.24 for two pair. They are little knitted girls gloves and they come in different colors. She had crocheted a cuff onto the gloves with some Lion Brand Fun Fur and they were so cute. She had some pink gloves and had crocheted a cuff with white Fun Fur. She had knitted a hat in the light pink yarn to match the gloves and, holding two strands together (one of her knitting yarn and one of Fun Fur), she made a really cute white brim with that, and then dropped the Fun Fur and just knitted the rest of the hat in white. She also had some white gloves that she had added a crocheted brim in a light green Fun Fur. They were so cute. She said she was making them for her grandchildren. I thought about my niece and how she loves playing dress up and decided to make some things for her, too, for Christmas.

The lady was really nice and told me all about how she made everything. So, last night after work, I went to Walmart and bought a set that had two pair of girls gloves (one white pair and one red pair), and another set with a pair of pink gloves and then a pair of pink gloves with white stripes. They are really cute and I can't get over the fact that they were only $1.24 for a set of two pair. So, I basically got 4 pair of gloves for approximately $2.50. Then I went to the yarn department in Walmart and bought some purple Fun Fur and two skeins of a pretty coral looking Pink (not the hot pink) to make another scarf for myself, and one skein of white Caron Simply Soft yarn to knit a hat with. I already have a purple Fun Fur scarf that I made awhile back for myself, but my niece enjoyed it so much when she was at our house that I decided to give it to her for Christmas. I'm also knitting a white hat with the purple Fun Fur brim, and I'm going to crochet a cuff onto the white gloves with the purple Fun Fur. I think it's going to be really cute and I'll post pictures later. I debated on whether to make her another scarf, but time is running out to get these things finished before Christmas, so I decided to give her my purple Fun Fur scarf to save time and be sure I get the other things finished. I can always make myself another Fun Fur scarf.

One of my coworkers came in this morning wearing her blue Fun Fur scarf that she had made and it was really neat looking. It was kind of a denim blue and very pretty. The pattern for the scarf is on the Lion Brand web site, but what you do is using size 11 knitting needles, cast on 22 stitches. Slip the first stitch as to knit at the beginning of each row. Work even in garter stitch (knit every row) until piece measures 60" or you have 1 1/2 yards of yarn left. Bind off, then weave in loose ends. It takes 2 skeins of the Fun Fur. I get tickled at Eddie because he calls my Fun Fur scarf my "hussy" scarf. He's something else.

I almost forgot to mention something that another lady had that I'm going to make. She was wearing a pretty greenish turquoise color turtle neck sweater. Then she had on a triangle shaped scarf. She had knitted it in garter stitch (knit every row) using one strand of Trendsetters Flora yarn and one strand of Trendsetters Eyelash yarn held together. You start out by casting on about 3 stitches, and then increase a stitch on each end of every row. Keep doing this until the scarf is a big as you want it and then bind off loosely. She said that she does her increases in the second stitch and the next to the last stitch of every row because the yarn is bad about slipping off the needles. The scarf was just so elegant and classy looking. She said the pattern was on the inside of the label of the Trendsetters Flora. Yesterday at lunch I went to my local yarn shop and bought the yarn to make one of those with. I tried to find a color that would go with lots of different things. They were limited in their selection of both, but I bought a multicolored (almost a rainbow color) of the Flora and I bought a skein of the red Eyelash yarn. I forgot to check the label to see if the pattern was there, but I found some directions on the Internet that sounds very similar, so I think I know how to make it. When I finish these gift for my niece, I'm planning to start on the scarf for myself. It will have some red in it so, hopefully, can get it finished to wear for Christmas. Pictures to come later.