Preemies

I've been crocheting alot of preemie things lately. Here are a few of the things I've done. The pattern for the preemie hats is really easy and you can find it here. The pattern for the preemie afghan is also really easy and the pattern for it is here. I really much prefer knitting, but these things go so fast.

I've also been enamored with dolls lately. I bought this pretty doll the other day on sale for $5.00.

I have several other porcelain dolls too and one day I'm going to take pictures of all of them and put them in a journal or scrapbook.

I've also been into reading stories about dolls. Here are two of the books I read this season. These books were written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor.

Sweet Treat

This is not knitting related, although I guess it could be if I wanted to have a knit-in at my house and serve some of these wonderful treats. I was on my way home from work and I couldn't resist the urge to stop at the bakery and get some of these scrumptious looking petit fours. They are so pretty decorated with Christmas flowers. They are almost too pretty to eat. But not quite.

Felted Hat Finished

Actually, it's been finished for awhile. I know I've been woefully negligent of my blog lately. I just haven't seemed to have the time to post as often as I would like. Anyway, here's a picture of my finished hat. I really enjoyed knitting it, and it felted nicely. It was nice to have that experience of felting. After reading about so many who have felted successfully and unsuccessfully, I was a little afraid to try it on my own. Finally, one day I just got tired of putting if off and decided to felt it, come what may. It turned out fine, and was a great learning experience.


Last week I was off from work the whole week with a nasty cold/flu bug. Today is my first day back at work. A friend had given me a crochet pattern for an afghan that she was making. It looked pretty easy and relaxing and not too taxing on my brain. I had some yarn and I didn't really feel like doing anything else, so I just sat in my recliner while watching TV with Eddie and worked on this afghan. It's turning out really pretty and I already know that I'm going to love it. It's almost big enough to cover my whole body, and I still have a few more rows to go on it.


My friend loaned the book to me that has the pattern in it, but I can't remember the title. It's a book by Leisure Arts, and it's Quick Crochet Afghans, or something like that. I normally don't crochet that much anymore because I love knitting so much, but this pattern was so easy that I couldn't put it down. And did I mention how fast it went? It was a breeze. Before I knew it I had almost an entire afghan finished. If I had been knitting it, I think it would have taken alot longer and been in danger of becoming a UFO. That's why I usually knit small projects like socks and scarves. The afghan was a great thing to do while recuperating from a cold. It's really hard for me to go to bed when I'm sick unless I have the nausea type sickness. So, when I stay up I can't just sit and watch TV with nothing in my hands to do. I just can't do it. I have to have something in my hands that I can do like knitting, sewing, or crocheting, and this afghan just fit the bill.

Felted Hat

Last year a woman in my knitting guild gave us all a pattern that she had that is similar to the Fiber Trends Felted Hat pattern. I made it and then I put it away and never felted it. I kept putting it off because I couldn't find a bowl anywhere to block it on that I thought would be similar to the size of my head. I really wanted to felt the hat, but was afraid, I guess.

Anyway, last Sunday I decided that I was going to felt that hat no matter what. In the meantime I had been reading about how to felt, and I had bought a cotton pillowcase cover to put the hat in, since I didn't want all those fibers to get into my washing machine motor. I put the hat into the pillowcase cover, set the water to hot and put my washing machine on the lowest water setting. I put an old pair of blue jeans in there with it and let it fill up with water and agitate. To begin with I checked about every 5 minutes. When it seemed obvious it was going to take much longer than that, I started checking about every 10 minutes. It ended up taking about 45 minutes for the hat to felt and shrink to what I thought would be the right size. I then shaped it on the bowl I had found, and noticed that the edges were turning up but were floppy. So, I rolled up some washcloths and put them inside the brim of the hat all the way around. It looks like the shape I want, so I've been letting it sit that way for several days. I'll probably take it all off this weekend and see how it shapes out. It looks pretty good right now, so I'll see how it looks this weekend and if it holds it shape. I will try to take a photo of the block in progress and post it within the next couple of days.

I'm really excited about the hat and I hope it holds its shape and fits my head. Several of the women in my knitting guild had brought the ones they had made and they were really nice. They were all similar to the picture above, which is the picture from the pattern from Fiber Trends.

Socks Finished

I finally finished my Opal socks. I'm really pleased with the way they came out. They don't match, but they are snuggly and warm. I started another pair in a darker green with a different type of sock yarn, but I had to stop knitting on the socks to work on Christmas gifts for awhile. I have several different things I'm working on for Christmas gifts. Some are embroidered things, and some are cross stitch and some are knitted things. I'm almost finished with the embroidered and cross stitch items and I'll be glad so I can get back to knitting. I used to be really into cross stitch, but now that I've been knitting for so long, I find cross stitch to be tedious and nerve racking. Knitting is much more relaxing to me. I see a laying to rest, so to speak, of my cross stitching sometime in the near future. Unless it's really small things like Christmas ornaments or something like that.

I was in Dollar General over the weekend and I found this little guy for $1.00.


Eddie saw it and said, "What's that?" I said, "It's a little sheep I found at Dollar General." I said, "You know, knitting??? Sheep???" He said, "Oh." I think he got it.

Socks

I haven't been posting for awhile, and I've been working on several different projects for Christmas and other things. I must have ADD because I seem to go from one thing to the next alot. Right now it's socks. I'm in the mood for knitting socks. I've finished one sock and I'm over halfway finished with the second sock in this pair. I am loving this sock yarn. It's Opal Lollipop sock yarn and the color is 1010. I love the way the color stripes evolve as I'm knitting.

I love Opal sock yarns, but none of my local yarn stores carry that brand, so I have to order them over the Internet. You can go to this site and see almost all the shades available in this yarn. I especially love the Lollipop, Brazil, and I just ordered some yarn in Petticoat and Fish in the Rain Forest Collection. I really wanted to order some more, but I already have quite a stash from some sock yarn that I have bought at my LYS. They have a pretty good selection of self-striping yarns, but I wish they would start selling Opal. I know there are some other good ones out there and I would love to try them sometime.

Yarn Shop "Frequent Buyer Card"

Reading Willa's blog entry prompted me to let off some steam about my LYS's "frequent buyer card".

I understand her frustration about the frequent buyer card. My LYS has one too. I didn't know about it until one day when I was in the shop and the lady who was checking me out asked me if I had one. I didn't, so she gave me one and punched it for my purchases that day. Later on, I read in their newsletter that they charge $1 for the card, but I didn't have my receipt from that day, so I didn't know if they had charged me for the card or not. The card attaches to my key ring and has 10 places on it where it can be punched. Every time I make a $25 purchase they punch it and when it's full, I get $25 credit. So, that basically means that I have to spend $250 to get $25 in free merchandise.

The next time I went in I bought some things that didn't quite come to $25, but did once the tax was added. I was informed that it had to be $25 "before" tax. Another time I went in and bought some sale items and was told it didn't apply to "sale items". Another time I bought a kit that was $55 before tax, and I was on my lunch break and in a hurry, and realized later that I forgot to ask them to punch my card. I took my ticket back and explained to them and they said that they don't punch "after the fact" and said, "See it says it right here on the back of the card."

Now that's just wrong. I don't care if you forgot to ask them to punch it, and you have to ask them (because they "never" remember to do it on their own), but as long as you have your receipt I don't understand why they can't punch it after the fact. It's not like I stole the merchandise from them.

I soon realized that they are not going to really give anything away free that they don't have to. They are in it for the money, after all. I'm considering just taking the card back and telling them to keep it because it's not going to help me any since it has so many stipulations attached to it. If I had another yarn shop that I could go to, I probably would, but since I don't, I don't want to become the bad customer.

Idiosyncrasies

id•i•o•syn•cra•sy - a structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. Write down 5 of your own idiosyncrasies, then if you wish, tag 5 people.

Chie tagged me to write down 5 of my idiosyncrasies. I know about 2 or 3 so far, and I'll add some more later.

1. I love to read and become very absorbed in the story. I become annoyed when someone interrupts me when I'm reading.

2. I value my privacy and tend to retreat to myself and zone out for reading or knitting or other needlework, especially when I'm stressed.

3. I don't handle stress well, especially when it involves illness and/or death.

4. My dad passed away in 1993 and I'm still not over it. I probably never will be, I've just learned to live with it.

5. I don't have too many friends, but the ones I do have I'm very loyal to and I expect the same from them. That also goes for my husband and family.

6. I love animals and it really bothers me when they are mistreated.

Now that I've started this I can think of more than 5, but I better not post them all here because it could go on and on. I didn't realize I had so many.

Pet Afghan

Isn't this cute? I think I might make one for my cat Heckle. The pattern is here.

Latifa Progress So Far

I decided to post some pictures of my progress on the Latifa scarf. I have to say that I'm really, really enjoying knitting this scarf. I guess it must be because it's such a cool pattern and so easy to do. I love mindless knitting and lots of color and this pattern definitely fits the bill.

I've also just tried the new feature that Blogger has for adding images. It's great! Much easier than Hello. I'm so happy now that it's going to be so much easier for me to post pictures now.

Now that I've seen these pictures I feel like my digital camera definitely did do these colors justice. I really love this scarf. I'm afraid I'm going to have to be selfish and keep this one for myself.

The scarf kit came with 2 skeins of Koigu KPPPM in Color P114, Dye Lot 82, and 1 skein each of Silky Wool by Elsebeth Lavold in colors 21 (Blue), 20 (Green), 31 (Rust), and 26 (Pink). It's all handpainted, I think, and the colors are really rich and pure looking. I love them. There is one slight difference between the pattern on Knitty.com and the pattern that the yarn store sold with the kit. The difference is that the pattern from the yarn store says that when you are knitting with one color, you knit 36 rows (or 18 ridges), before you begin the next color. I think the pattern from Knitty says to knit until you have either 15 or 16 ridges. I like the 18 ridges better because it shows more of each color block.

Latifa Scarf

I finally broke down and bought a scarf kit at my LYS for the Latifa Scarf. The kit was pricey and I debated about it and decided, what the heck and bought it last week. I love it! It is so beautiful, and I'm really enjoying working on it. It makes me want to make some more, but with a less expensive yarn. As soon as I can make a picture that I can live with, I'll post one. I took one over the weekend with my digital camera, but I didn't think the pictures did the colors of the yarn justice. When I finish this scarf, I'm going to start thinking about making hats and scarves for Christmas gifts.

Shawlette Continued ...

I went this past Saturday and bought the ribbon yarn for the shawlette. After I got home with it I decided I didn't like it because it has alternating sections in it where the yarn is a solid ribbon, then another section where the yarn is sort of split into two smaller sections. It's hard to describe, but when knitting with it, I was having trouble seeing where I had knit the solid part of the ribbon and where I was knitting the split part. It was a headache. So, I just sort of put it aside. Then last night I went to my knitting guild meeting and got some fresh ideas for yarn to use for the shawlette. One person told me that our LYS was going to be getting in some Aurora yarn and it's 750 yds on a ball or cone for around $8 or so. She had already made a shawlette in this yarn and it was gorgeous. The price is much less than what I paid for the yarn that I don't even like. Someone else also said that the shawlette could be made from the Tartelette yarn. I happened to remember that I had bought several skeins of that awhile back for a shell that I never got around to making, so I decided to use that to make the shawlette. I started it last night and I love knitting with it, and I think it's going to be really soft. In the meantime, I'm waiting for some of the Aurora to come in at my LYS. I'm thinking maybe shawlettes for Christmas gifts.

I'll probably use that other yarn for some scarves or something like that. I hope to have a picture soon of the shawlette that I'm working on.

Shawlette

I was in my LYS the other day and saw a pretty shawlette that was on display. I asked one of the ladies there and she said it was a pattern that someone made up and it's not for sale and doesn't have a copyright on it, so I think I'm safe in repeating it here.. They give you a copy of the pattern when you buy the yarn to make the shawlette. I decided I'm going to make it in a soft ribbon yarn in a pretty rainbow color. The yarn is called Laines Du Nord Ombre.

The pattern is basically this:

You need 230 yards of the yarn, which would be approximately 3 balls of 75 yd Laines Du Nord Ombre. Size 17 knitting needles.

Loosely cast on 30 stitches
Knit in garter stitch (knit every row) increasing one stitch at the end of each row until you have 120-130 stitches. Bind off loosely. Crochet a decorative edge if desired.

The one on display had a crochet edging that was in a fuzzy type yarn that contrasted with the color of the shawlette. The shawlette was a variegated rainbow color. It is a really easy pattern and should be fun to make. I can't wait to get started. I'm going to the yarn shop to buy the yarn after work.

Stressed

I'm really stressed right now about my mom. A couple of weeks ago she found out she has an aortic aneurysm. It's not real large, but it's 4.5 cm. Today they are doing an arteriorgram and next week some other preliminary testing to see what they can do about it. Hopefully they can do the stint procedure and it will be a short recovery time.

I always stress when something happens to one of my parents. I lost my dad 12 years ago and I guess I have anxiety about losing my mom too. I know it's hard, but it's life and it's something we all have to deal with at one time or another.

I have been crocheting the Between Meal Doily using the pattern that Chie used to make hers. The pattern can be found at free patterns. It's a really easy pattern and is pretty repetitious once I get the pattern established for a row. It's almost as calming as knitting, but I think right now I need some mindless knitting. I don't know what to make except maybe a chemo hat, or a scarf. Something that is all garter stitch and will put me in a calming, meditative state. It really does help me to have some repetitious, mindless knitting when I'm stressed. It helps me to relax.

Triangle Shawl Finished!

I finally finished my triangle shawl that I have been working on off and on for about 2 years. Joy, joy! I don't know why I lost interest in it, but I'm really glad I picked it back up again and finished it. I just love it and now I'm inspired to make another one. This time I'm going to stick with it and finish it. I used LionBrand Homespun, and really like the colors that evolved. The only thing I didn't like and was time consuming was having to tie knots in the ends of the fringe because Homespun tends to fray so badly. I hope it holds up.

I read somewhere that instead of using the yarn for fringe on one of these, someone used some ribbon for the fringe. That sounds pretty. I might do that next time. That tying the knots was really, really boring and time consuming.

Triangle Shawl

I've been at loose ends lately, not really finding anything that I want to work on. Yesterday I found a shawl that I had started last year and, for some reason, lost interest and just sort of put it back. I'm over halfway finished, so I've decided I'm going to finish it. You can see the pattern at Triangle Shawl. It's a Lion Brand pattern using Lion Brand Homespun. It's really easy to do. Mostly mindless knitting, which seems to be what I need right now. Too many distractions to try and knit a complicated pattern. One of my coworkers brought in a beautiful Lion Brand Homespun project that she is working on. Its pattern is here. It's called Pretty Poncho and she chose an offwhite color to make it in. I would like to use that same color and make a shawl out of it instead of a poncho. The poncho has a hood and I'm not sure if I want that on a poncho. I could maybe still make the poncho, just have an opening for the head without the hood.

I'll have to see how I feel when I finish the Triangle Shawl.

iPod Sock Pattern

This is really ctue. I don't have an iPod, but here is a cute iPod Sock Pattern that can be knitted to protect your iPod. It makes me want to get an iPod.

Rainbow Scarf

Rainbow Scarf

I still haven't figured out how to do this on my home computer, but I took a quick picture this morning of the scarf I made for my 3 year old niece. My boss had bought some of this same yarn and made one for her granddaughter. She had an extra skein of it left and gave it to me. It didn't have the label on it, so I don't know the brand name. I do know where it is at my LYS and I enjoyed working with it so much, I might go back and get some more in another color. This was a fun scarf. I used size 13 knitting needles, cast on 10 and just knit every row until I used up all of my skein, leaving enough to bind off.

In the past, I have been using bamboo or wooden circular needles alot for my knitting because there is less strain on my wrists than using metal or plastic knitting needles. My problem lately with the circulars is that I usually have to buy a longer circular because the yarn store is either out of the shorter size, or they don't carry them at all. I buy the shorter ones because it's much easier to work with than fighting the longer ones. You have that plastic circular thing that just plain gets in the way and is cumbersome. When I have bought straight needles before, I have only been able to find either the metal or plastic in the really long ones and those really put too much strain on my wrists. I don't have carpel tunnel, but I could feel the discomfort using the long straights.

When I bought my needles for the scarf, I noticed that my LYS had the size that I needed in bamboo that looked to be about 9" in length. I decided to try them and I love them! They are super light and it hardly feels like I'm holding needles at all. I would love to go back and see if I can find some more sizes in this length. I would love to find one in a size 15 since I knit alot of scarves with this size needle.

I just happened to already have a size 8 in bamboo that are about 9" long and that's what I"m using to knit the Branching Out scarf. I started it at lunch yesterday and knit the first 10 rows. My hubby and I had someplace we had to go last night, so I went home last night and started knitting on the 11th row thinking that I could get a quick row in before we had to leave. I was also half watching TV at the time and half knitting. Needless to say, I messed up row 11 and after trying to frog to where I made my mistake, I just said to heck with it and frogged it all out. So, this morning I cast on again and got my first 5 rows in garter stitch done. I'll probably work on it some more this weekend. I may not have time to do very much this weekend since it's Mother's Day weekend and we have plans or both Saturday and Sunday. Just from what I knitted yesterday I could see the pattern for the Branching Out scarf evolving and it was very exciting. I can't wait to try it gain and this time pay attention. This may be one of those projects that I just have to find a quiet place and do since I can't seem to do two things at once. Or rather following a pattern like that while watching TV or trying to talk to someone. The pattern is not hard at all, you just have to pay attention to what you are doing.

Branching Out

I have been having some trouble posting pictures to my blog using my home computer. I thought at first it was the Hello software I am using, but after using it today at work with no problem (see my Journal), I realize it's my computer at home. We have dial up and it is painfully slow. I'm going to try again tonight because I want to post a picture of a cute scarf I made for my 3 year old niece.

After seeing Cara's Branching Out Scarf I decided to try one myself. The pattern is available from Knitty. The pattern calls for using Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool yarn, but I decided that, until I know what I'm doing, I would just use some cheaper yarn. Just for practice I'm using Caron's Simply Soft Baby Sport yarn in a soft lavender and size 8 straight knitting needles. I started it at lunch today, and I knitted the first ten rows. I can begin to see the pattern forming and it's really exciting. Instead of following the chart, I'm using the written instructions. I find that I do better reading the instructions than following charts becuase I'm always losing my place. Using the written instructions, I can just mark off each row as I finish it. I think it's going to be pretty easy, providing I don't get too distracted while knitting it and lose my place.

I said that the Caron yarn is cheap. What I mean is that it is a little cheaper in price, but I thought it would do well for practice. It's a good yarn for baby sweaters, and soft scarves. I'm not sure how it will behave for this Branching Out scarf, but since it's a practice scarf, it won't really matter. And, who knows, it might turn out to be a nice scarf.

Relieved

I thought since I had written in my last post about my husband not feeling well, that I should elaborate on that a little more. Last week, he had to have a colonoscopy, but everything is fine, thankfully. It was a little stressful for a few weeks before because he was having a problem that made the test necessary. It was nothing serious and nothing that can't be taken care of easily. I won't go into details because I think there is such a thing as too much information sometimes in medical things.

Last weekend we went to our wonderful Spring Creek Retreat. It was beautiful there, even though it was cold and raining. I got some great pictures and I'm in the process of trying to set up an account in Photobucket and hope to be able to post pictures as soon as I get it set up and figured out. I really miss being able to post pictures. That's one of the things I love about blogging is being able to share my photos, and one of the things I enjoy on others' blogs too.

While we were at Spring Creek I knitted a small scarf for my 3 year old niece. It's really colorful and I think she will like it. Again, I'll post pictures when I get set up to do it again. I have still been a little restless lately, not being able to stick with one thing. I have been going from knitting, to quilting, to cross stitching. It's bizarre and I don't know what's causing it. Maybe I can settle down soon.

Restless

I have been working on making some quilted tote bags. I finally got around to working on the one with the little crochet angel on it. I'm almost finished with it and the other ones I have been working on. All I have to do is put the binding around the tops of them and then make the handles to put on them.

I've been a little restless lately in that I can't seem to settle down to doing one thing. My husband is having some health issues right now that has kind of unnerved me, so maybe that's the reason for my restlessness. I haven't been in the mood much for knitting, so I have been working on these tote bags and when I get tired of that, I have been working on embroidering some pillowcases, then when I get tired of that I go back to knitting for awhile. It's like I have some nervous energy or something and I can't settle down to doing one thing. I can't seem to quiet my mind and body long enough to sit down and really get into knitting very much right now. It's awful because I love knitting and it's one of the things that really calms me down. The times I have settled down to knit I have noticed that my breathing slows and I'm noticeably calmer. Maybe it's because I don't really have a project that I'm interested in working on. I started a sock using some Opal yarn the other day. I still have that poncho to work on for my niece, and awhile back I also started knitting the baby blanket pattern that is featured in Debbie Macomber's book The Shop on Blossom Street. By the way, she has a new book that is a sequel coming out in May titled A Good Yarn.

It seems that I have been interested in doing alot of reading lately. There is a new novel out called Knitting by Anne Bartlett. I bought it, but I haven't read it yet. Then yesterday I was browsing in my neighborhood used book store and found a book titled The Diary of Emily Dickinson by Jamie Fuller. It is a fictionalized account of the diary that Emily Dickinson kept from 1867-1868. I was intrigued by the book and since it was only $2.00, I bought it. I really enjoy reading diaries and journals, so I thought this would be an interesting read.

I want to post pictures of the tote bags and some other things I have been working on, but something is wacky with either the picture software I'm using or my pictures file. The last time I tried to post a picture I couldn't access it from my pictures file on my computer. I know I need to try to figure this out because it's frustrating to not be able to share photos of the projects I'm working on. I love reading others' blogs and enjoy the pictures of their projects very much. It's one of the things that really attracts me to other blogs. I would like to be able to post more pictures, so I'm frustrated right now, but I will figure it out. I'm probably going to have to go with a different photo posting software.

Knitting Joke

Ok, I know this is corny, but I couldn't resist. My brother sent some jokes to me and since this one was related to knitting I thought I would post it here.

A highway patrolman pulled alongside a speeding car on the freeway. Glancing at the car, he was astounded to see that the woman behind the wheel was knitting! Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the trooper cranked down his window, turned on his bullhorn and yelled, "PULL OVER!" "NO!" the woman yelled back, "IT'S A SCARF!"

Diamond Patch Sweater

I went to my knitting guild meeting on Monday night and we learned to knit a modular square. Our teacher for that night, who is one of our guild members, brought lots of books and patterns to show us before she started our lesson. One of the books was Domino Knitting, and another one was Dazzling Knits, and there were several other patterns that she had ordered from Just One More Row. She brought a beautiful sweater that she had knitted called the Diamond Patch Sweater. I fell in love with it and there were lots of "ooohhs and aaahhhs" when she showed it. She made it for herself and then decided that the color didn't look good on her and gave it to one of our other guild members. I love the way this sweater hangs and it looks good on any figure. You don't have to be skinny minnie to wear it.

So, I've decided to make one. After learning to knit a modular square, which is using the same basic pattern that is used in the Diamond Patch Sweater, I love knitting these. I decided that I can make this sweater. So I'm going for it. I happened to have several skeins of one color of Berocco's Cotton Twist in my stash and decided that I would use that. I found one other person who has made one using Cotton Twist and I emailed her to ask if there are any tips she would be willing to share, how pleased she was using the yarn, etc. I haven't heard from her yet, but I'm anxiously waiting. I'm also anxiously waiting for my pattern to arrive. They emailed me and said it was mailed on March 22.

Last night I knitted my first gauge square in the Cotton Twist. I need to knit 2 more and attach them and then I will post a picture. I'm really excited, so I hope it goes well. I haven't read any complaints on the Internet from anyone yet who has made it. Everyone who has made it, loves doing it and says it goes pretty fast. So, we'll see how it goes.

My First Doily Finished!

I'm so excited! This is my first finished doily. It's a free pattern on the Internet. The pattern is here. Many thanks to Cara for sharing the information about it in her gallery on her blog. I wonder if everyone is this excited when they finish their first doily?

It just seems to me like I have accomplished the impossible. I never thought I could do it. I've tried crocheting in the past with the size 10 thread and the small steel crochet hooks and gave up without much success. It seemed like the thread and hook were so small, but my love of dainty, elegant doilies has won out. Ever since I crocheted the angel I've been hooked. Now that I have finished this lovely doily, I'm really hooked.

Tea Time Doily

After I finished crocheting the angel, my confidence was built up, so I decided to try some other things with size 10 crochet thread and size 7 steel crochet hook. I surfed the Internet and found this great site with doily patterns. They have lots of other crochet patterns too, but the doilies link is what I was looking for. I found this pretty Tea Time Doily that I thought I would try. I was doing really well until I got to Round 10. The directions in the first part of that line didn't make sense to me. I tried it every which way, but loose and nothing worked out or made sense. After several hits and misses and emailing the designer with no response back, I made a decision. Rather than scrap the whole thing and let the pattern outdo me, I just decided after completing Round 9 to just crochet a pretty border in white and finish it off. I haven't done that yet, but when I do I will post a picture. I hope to finish it tonight. It won't be as big as the original pattern, just a smaller version, but I will still have something to show for my efforts. And that doily is so darn cute, that I just didn't want to rip it out. Although, now that I think about it, there are probably some other doily patterns out there that are just as cute. I could still use two different colors in some of those instead of all one color.

While I was waiting on an email back from the designer, I thought I would try a different doily. A few years back my mother-in-law gave me two doilies that are the pansy doily pattern similar to this one. I remembered that a couple of years ago I had ordered one through snail mail from a company because I couldn't find one anyplace else. I started it, then for some reason, put it away and then found it again last night. I had already finished the white part in the middle, and all I have left to do is finish the pansy flowers and then I can attach them to the doily. I'm so close to having that one finished, that I think I'm going to finish it soon. I'll post a picture of that one when I'm finished too.

Then my boss wanted to go to our local yarn shop today at lunch. Well, I found a really cute poncho pattern that I want to try later on. It's made with Plymouth Encore and the pattern number is P471 from Plymouth Design Studio. It's a Mother, Daughter and Bear poncho pattern. It looks cute and fairly easy to do. I'm looking forward to working on it. I couldn't find a decent picture, but this one will give you an idea of what it looks like, even though the colors in the picture just don't do the poncho justice. They had one on display in the yarn shop. I plan to make it for my 3 year old niece. I couldn't find all of the colors that the pattern called for so I chose a pinkish mauve color (#180), a gray color (#194) and the main color (#2764).

I wandered around the shop for awhile and went into the back where some scarves were on display. I found a really pretty elegant looking scarf that would be super easy to make. The tag said it was made with one strand each of Tahki Cotton Classic and Trendsetters Eyelash held together. It said 15 and 15, which I assume means you cast on 15 and use size 15 needles. It looked like you knit 3 or 4 rows in garter stitch and then purl a row until it's as long as you want it. I know that I have oodles of cotton classic at home, so guess what? I'm going home tonight and see what colors I have and decide on one, then I'm going back to get some eyelash yarn and make one. I have discovered that every time I wear these neat scarves, I get all kinds of compliments and people want to know how they can get one. Or they say something like, "Ooohhh, I want one."

Crochet Angel

I know that my blog says Knitting and Other Stuff, and I guess this qualifies as "other stuff". On Saturday I was out and about and I stopped by this little gift shop at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo called Little Lace Lady. The shop has scrapbooking supplies, rubber stamps, and a little of everything. It even has a few cross stitch kits, and some fat quarter fabrics. As I went in the door, there were some tote bags hanging on a rack. I love tote bags, and a particular one caught my eye. It was just a very small bag that had been sewn out of some mauve colored pastel cotton fabrics. The inside was lined with a coordinating fabric, and on one side of the outside of the bag, the maker had attached a really pretty crocheted angel doily made from crochet cotten size 10. It was so pretty and delicate looking. Sort of Victorian looking, really. I looked at the price tag and it was $24.95. Well, knowing that I have so much fabric stash at home and a pattern for a tote bag just about that size, I thought to myself "I can make that." The only other problem was that I had to find a crochet angel pattern. Then, I remembered when Chie had sent me a really pretty angel dishcloth. It looked almost like the one that was attached to the tote bag in the store.

I went home and looked up the pattern. It's here: Crochet Angel Pattern. The only thing I did differently was to use the pattern for Angel #2 and crochet 44 stitches (instead of 24) around a 1" plastic ring. I used cotton crochet no. 10 and it was Spring Maid, or something similar, in a cream color. I used a steel crochet hook size 0. It took several starts and restarts, but once I figured it out, the angel came out so intricate looking. And so pretty. I'm really pleased with the way it came out. I made one in white and one in the cream color. Double click the picture to see it bigger.


Crochet Angel

I think I'm going to make a little bag like the one I saw in the gift shop, or I may crochet a few more and make a wall hanging. They are so quick to make that making a Victorian looking quilted wall hanging would be pretty quick too.

I must go now. Hubby is having a touch of a stomach virus today and is not feeling well. I guess it's that stuff that's going around everywhere. More later.

Longing for Spring

I started getting sick on Wednesday afternoon after lunch. My throat got sore and lasted until Friday. Then it went away and I felt pretty good, thinking that maybe I got off light. Then yesterday afternoon I started coughing and coughing and am still coughing. I sick of it, and it's only been one day. I'm afraid this is only the beginning. I know there are some other folks who have been dealing with it alot longer than that.

Hubby and I have been lounging around watching Oscar month on Turner Classic Movies. While I'm doing that, of course, it means that I can get some knitting time in. I knit until I get really tired and then I take a nap. I finished the pink Fun Fur scarf. By the way, the color is Raspberry. I started another Fun Fur scarf in black. My boss was wearing a black one the other day and I just loved it, so naturally I decided I needed one too. I'm almost finished with that one, and then I'm going to start yet another one in Caribbean. It's a pretty spring like color that I have never seen before. I have several things I can wear with it. When I'm on so much cold and cough medication, the garter stitch that I use to knit the Fun Fur scarves is just the right kid of mindless knitting that I need right now.

I'm longing for spring. These cold, dark winter days are getting me down. Physically and mentally. I have been thinking about flowering trees and shrubs. I would love to have a tulip tree. I think another name for it is a tulip magnolia of some kind. The blossoms on them are like tulips and they are beautiful. My mother-in-law has one in her yard and I'm so envious. I want one really badly. I'm sure my local garden center has them. First, we have to get our yard back in shape from the construction of the sunroom. There are many things left to do outside. The construction crew still has to come back and finish up some things before we can even begin to clean and landscape the yard again. Right now it just looks like an ugly old construction site.

Scarves

I've been on a scarf kick lately. I finished my first Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf and I made another one in Noro Silk Garden. That yarn was ok, but I wasn't thrilled with the feel of it in my hands while I was knitting, although the color came out great, but seemed a little artificial and not a natural looking color. I went to my LYS and bought some superwash merino wool in a variegated color to make another one. This yarn feels much softer than the Noro, even though it is wool. I like the fact that it can be washed and dried flat, whereas the Noro instructions say to dry clean it. I'm thinking about giving these scarves as Christmas gifts and I just don't want to give someone a gift that needs special treatment.

Last night I cast on for a Fun Fur scarf using a pretty pink color. I don't have the label with me, so I can't tell you the color number. It's not a light pink and it's not the hot pink color, but sort of in between, and it's a really pretty pink that I like. I think I'm keeping this scarf for myself since I gave the other ones I made as Christmas gifts. The scarf knits up pretty quickly. I'm already almost half finished with it. The pattern is on the Lion Brand web site, but I can tell you what it is. The original pattern says to cast on 22 stitches using a size 11 needle and just knit in garter stitch (knit every row) until the scarf is as long as you want it. I used two skeins of the Fun Fur. This time I cast on only 15 stitches and it makes a little bit thinner scarf, but that's ok. It's a light, fun scarf.

Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf

I have been working on scarves lately. I guess what got me started was reading Willa's knitting journal entry about the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf, and then I saw her pictures. These scarves are really easy to make and they come out so beautifully. I'm really enjoying making the one I'm working on now. I didn't have any of the Noro Silk Garden that Willa used to make hers, but I did have some Alpaca yarn in my stash and decided to use that. It's a variegated yarn and it's looking really good, having subtle color changes, but because I'm such a color person, I'm not really happy with the way the color is turning out. I think this particular yarn just doesn't do the pattern justice, so I ordered some Noro Silk Garden from The Yarn Market. They said they ship out the next day, so hopefully by the time I finish this scarf, my new yarn will be here.

You can't really see the diagonal pattern in the picture below. I guess the yarn is too dark. If you double click on the picture you can see it a little better.

It's funny because my local yarn store said that they used to sell Noro yarn, but they were not happy with it because they said it had a bunch of junk in it and that it was scratchy and hard to work with. Since I have never worked with it I can't make a judgment on that, but the Noro Silk Garden seemed like it should be soft. The yarn store recommended a wool yarn by Diakeito that seemed kind of rough feeling to me, so I didn't buy it. I really wanted to use a variegated yarn with this pattern because I want to see the beautiful color changes as the pattern comes together.

Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf 

Quilting

I had not realized that it had been so long since I had written in my knitting journal. I keep intending to take pictures of the projects that I'm working on and post them to my blog. I have no excuse now that we have finally cleaned the house and got all that sheetrock dust out of there. Everything was covered in layers of it. Everything feels so fresh and clean now. Before we cleaned, there was not a clean surface anywhere to lay anything to take a picture of, unless I put it on the floor.

I haven't really been doing anything related to knitting for the past two weeks. The college campus where I work always closes down every year for almost two weeks during the Christmas holidays. For about the first week I must have been so tired that I wasn't interested in doing anything except vegging out. I was almost in a zombie mode in the beginning. Finally, after about a week, I began to get rested and clear my head. For some reason I caught the quilting bug. I haven't gone so far as to quilt a bed size quilt or anything, but I was working on some small projects. I will take a picture tonight of a small top that I'm working on for a huge pillow. I'm about ready to put everything together and get it assembled. I decided that I would make it for our sunroom. I have found that more and more I really enjoy doing hand work rather than working on the sewing machine. There are some things that I sew on the machine, but I would rather hand sew, or hand quilt. That must be why I like knitting so much because I can do it in front of the TV and just relax. I don't particularly enjoy working at the sewing machine that much. I usually machine piece a quilt top and then hand quilt it. Some quilt patterns, like the Bow Tie, are better done by hand. I enjoy that too.

I did finish knitting one sock while I was off and started the other one. I have been using the Addi-Turbo size 2 12 inch circular needles to knit the socks. They are much easier than using 4 double pointed needles. At least for me, they are easier. I know everyone has their own way of knitting that is the easiest for them. I just know that, when knitting socks, the 12 inch circulars work the best for me. The socks practically knit themselves, and I don't have those "ladders" that occur with me between each needle when I use the double points. I have a pattern that was written for double pointed needles, but I have adapted it for the 12 inch circulars.

I have also started, and almost finished, a chemo hat that I knitted with DK yarn. I love to knit in the round. If it's a simple pattern I can just knit away and really relax. I will take pictures tonight and try to post them.