A Quick Knit

 On Tuesday night, Dec 17, we decided that my MIL, should receive a handmade gift this year. Preferably a shawl, one on the short side. She and my FIL had moved into a home during the summer months. And their son, the UPS Store guy, thought a shawl would be good for her.  :)  At the time, I am thinking, oh, no, a week to Christmas!!! What can I do in that short period of time.  Immediately, my mind went to my Ma Cherie pattern, https://www.etsy.com/listing/104371499/pattern-for-shawl-quick-lace-hand-knit?ref=shop_home_active .

On Wednesday morning, I went to JoAnn's Fabrics and purchased some Lion Brand Twist Stripes. It is a beautiful yarn and acrylic, for easy care. I love how this little shawl looks made from this self-striping yarn.

On Saturday morning, I finished the shawl, while at work in the store.  :) Good thing it was for the boss's mom.  :)  He took my picture and I took the 2 others.  I wrapped it, and we shipped the shawl and his dad's gift that very day.  It probably won't make it in time for Christmas, but the gifts should arrive before New Years!!  I am just glad that I wrote that pattern and that it really is a quick gift.



Free Cowl Pattern and It's Cold Out There!

Winter storms in north Texas usually are ice storms. Occasionally, we get one this early, but usually it is January or February.  Well, we have one today.  It started with freezing rain yesterday afternoon and then changed to sleet.  Cars that are outside have about an inch of ice on them.  When we looked out the window this morning, we had a light dusting of snow on top of the ice, so it is all bright in the house, like it was snowy outside.  :)  We do have some huge icicles outside on the house, I took a picture of the UPS Guy with two of them, that went into the freezer for the grandkids.  :)  I remember loving to get an icicle off the house when I was a kid. Did you do that too?

I just wrote a new pattern for a quick cowl.  I have named it Last Minute Cowl.  It takes under 170 yards of worsted weight yarn, to knit it on size 10 US needles.  Here is a link to take you to Ravelry to download your free copy of the cowl. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/last-minute-cowl-3

I hope you enjoy knitting the cowl.



Birthdays! Minion Hat and Mittens

Last night we celebrated 2 family birthdays! The UPS Store guy has turned 60 and our grandson C, has turned 2!

For part of C's birthday, I had crocheted a Minion hat and then knitted minion mittens for him.
 

 For the hat, I used a pattern that I purchased on Ravelry. Here is a link to the pattern. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/minion-hat-with-optional-earflaps-us-and-uk-terms

 For the mittens, I combined a couple of different knitting patterns to get the right size, so I cannot tell you a pattern to use. However......
-First, I cast on with the royal blue yarn to knit the cuff in a k1p1 ribbing.
-When the cuff was finished, I changed to the yellow and knit with it through the thumb gusset increases.
-After the gusset was finished, I changed to the black for a few rows to make the "headband."
-Then changed back to the yellow yarn to finish the top of the mitten and the thumb.
-To make the eye, I used a size F(US) hook and single crocheted the eye using the black, white and gray yarns. Securely sewed the eye to each mitten and embroidered a little mouth on each.

A hint on mouths.  :)  I always thought I had to do a perfect mouth. Just the right smile and the right curvature and the right placement.  So, I didn't think I was any good at faces.  THEN I discovered that I was all wrong!   Make the mouths crooked and a little off to the side on purpose.  Definitely make a smile, of some sort, and you are set! 

It doesn't matter if it is a minion smile or a regular doll, teddy bear smile. Just purposely put it off center and you will be just fine.

The Phillipines

Here at our home, our heat is on, the sun shown above today and the fall colors are starting to show up on the leaves outside. Today was windy, and cool, 46 degrees F at the moment and will get colder as the night comes upon us.  I love the cooler weather, helps it feel like Thanksgiving and Christmas when it is cooler outside.

In the Phillipines, though, portions of the islands are devastated by the typhoon Haiyan.  Winds about 195 mph and 230 mph gusts! Wow! I wonder how my house would do in a storm like that?

Our prayers and our thoughts should definitely be with these folks and with those trying to help. Samaritan's Purse was one of the first groups on the ground to assess the damage last Friday.  They are sending a 747 jet liner, full of supplies, over there this weekend. Here is a video of one home they found amoung the thousands.

Some cozy things!

I have been working on some fun and quick projects lately. One of them was a cowl, designed to look like pumpkins, with leaves.  I decided to use my handspun yarns for this, having spun some orange corriedale years ago, that came from my friend, Cary, at Serenity Farms.http://serenity-farms.blogspot.com/  She has beautiful Corriedale sheep and the fiber from them is extraordinary.

The cowl came out to be very warm, indeed.  :)  So, am not sure if I will be able to wear it come Thanksgiving.  Maybe I will turn the air conditioning back on and turn it down to 50 in the house, just so I can wear it.  :)  Wonder what the family will say to that.  LOL!!!! Bring your coats!

The next project that I worked on, was a pattern from my friend, Debbie, at My Mom's Work and has the pattern listed on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/starry-java-jacket-2
This was a very quick knit and fun project. 

The stitch pattern is fun to work and doesn't roll when finished!  Amazing.  I loved choosing my buttons and was able to use one that my mom had used on a red bathrobe that she made for me when I was a teenager! That button is in the center.

Then I wanted to embellish it and stitched on the button and little butterflies.

I also decided to add some puff paint to the back. That paint helps the cozy not to slip as much on the cup, making it more secure in my hands.  Those of you who know me well, know that I can drop and spill things.  :)  So, the precaution is well worth the effort. 



It's Our 40th!!

So, 40 years ago today, I married my high school sweetheart, the UPS Store guy.  :)

First I had to walk down the aisle, on my dad's arm, of a packed out church building. Who knew?! But, we had both grown up there, worked in the Sunday school as teenagers, my folks did too.

Here we are after we said, "I do."

Here I am, close up.

We looked at each other this morning and said, "We made it!" Been lots of ups and downs, but all is worth it, because we still have each other. We didn't do it on our own either, every step of the way, we had our faith and trust in God leading the way.

Flour Free Chocolate Cake

Several weeks ago, I found this recipe in a Joanne Fluke mystery novel.  I enjoy listening to them while I knit.  They are not the really scarie ones, that would keep me awake at night, but they are fun to listen to. This cake has no flour, or expensive substitutes in it. It truly was a good cake and I will make it again. :)

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Oven 375 F
1/2 c butter
8 oz chocolate chips (I used 1 1/3 cups)
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla (or rum extract)
4 egg whites
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Toppings
-sweetened whipped cream, shaved chocolate, berries or even ice cream.

8 inch spring form pan(I have one and used it, but next time, I am going to use my 9 inch square pan.)
Grease pan, if using spring form - grease it and line the bottom with wax papper.
-Melt chocolate.
-Beat 1/2 cup sugar with egg yolks, until lemon colored.
-Add small amount of yolk mixture to chocolate, while stirring.
-Pour chocolate into yolks, stir.
-Beat egg whites, with remaining sugar, until soft peaks form.
-Fold chocolate/egg mixture into bowl with egg whites until uniform.
-Bake at 375 F, for 35 minutes or until pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.
For spring form pan:
-Cool 15 minutes, loosen spring form edge and turn onto serving platter. 
-Remove wax paper, when cake is cooled.
For regular pan: Leave cake in pan and serve from pan.
-Serve with any or all of the above toppings, or make your own topping.  :)



Projects and More Projects

The end of September! It is getting cooler in most areas of the country, and although that is sort of true for those of us who live in Texas, we wish it was even cooler. High in the upper 80's and low 90's is still not fall for me.  But, I am thankful that the 100's are gone. :)

Where have I been all summer???? Well, not writing on my blog that is for sure. I miss being out here writing and showing my projects and little snippets of my life. So, if I haven't been on the blog, then what have I been doing????

Creating!  :)

The off-white shawl, was made using my Ma Cherie pattern. Then, I made some flowers to stitch onto it. I also took apart a vintage doily, that was in my doily stash, and appliqued some of those pieces on the shawl. This shawl is in my etsy shop.

This purple shawl, was hand knit from several different types of yarns and used several stitch patterns for a variety of interest. I love working on these artsy shawls.

I have written a pattern for this shawl, but it isn't published yet. The name is Butterflies In Flight. A knitting friend saw one of my earlier ones, which has sold, and said it reminded her of a butterfly in flight.  So, the name stuck! This shawl is also listed in my etsy shop.

On Ravelry there is a group called "Free Pattern Testers."  I joined that group, to have some patterns tested, and decided to test one for someone else.  The pattern that I tested was a crochet bag pattern. It had a pretty stitch on the bag, but was a solid bag, with no embellishment on it.  I decided I couldn't live with that, soooo, out came the books of crocheted and knitted flowers and leaves.  After the leaves were finished, I appliqued them onto the bag and then lined it. The plan is to use the bag as the fall temperatures come to north Texas.

The pattern that I decided to have tested in the Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry was this scarf.  I named it "Holiday." A few years ago Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet made a movie together named "The Holiday." I really like that movie, but also, Kate's character wore some great scarves in that movie and this one was inspired by those.

The pattern testing went well and I have now published this pattern on Ravelry and on etsy. It uses a self-striping yarn and a solid yarn in a simple slip stitch pattern. Knitting this scarf is a great stash buster, because you need only 239 yards of each yarn!

The pink and gray scarf, above, used a sock yarn with shorter color changes. The scarf below used a Noro Kureyon, fingering weight, with the longer color changes.

Last year, sometime in 2012, I don't remember when exactly. :) I purchased the Doris Chan pattern for this top, started it and then stashed it.  So, I took it out of storage and finished it.  I used the Hobby Lobby yarn named "I Love This Cotton."

And wait there is more!  I, also, took out the large and growing basket of doilies and pieced together another poncho.  This one was a bit of a challenge.  I was trying to safety pin the smaller doily pieces together on the mannequin. Gravity, or a doily magnet in the floor, was having fun with me. Hahaha!  Not a successful venture. 

Then my daughter, Rebekah, suggested that I use bobby pins!  Yep, the kind we use in our hair.  What a fabulous idea!!  Those worked great! To fix the gravity problem, I decided to make a pattern piece out of an old sheet. To figure out what the size of the finished rectange should be, I looked at several crochet and knitting patterns from several years ago. They were made by making 2 rectangles and then stitching them together to form a poncho. The patterns had schematics on them, so I was able to see the different dimensions and what each looked like. After that, I decided what look I wanted for this poncho and decided on the dimensions for my rectangles. I cut the sheet into the size of the rectangle, that I needed, and laid it out on a table. Next, I filled in the sheet pattern with doilies, bobby pinned the doilies together and then stitched them together on the sewing machine, removing the bobby pins.  Voila!

Then last, but not least I made this sweater.  I had purchased the yarn for this sweater in February, 2013. Several of my friends had purchased yarn to make this sweater too.  They made their sweaters right away, and that spurred me on to make mine.  The yarn is from Plymouth yarn and named Kudo. The pattern is named "Women's Open Front Cardigan." Here is the link to the pattern on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/womens-open-front-cardigan . The designer liked my finished cardigan so much, that she wrote and asked me permission to use my sweater on the page. :)  I was honored and of course, said yes.  :)

Well, those are some of the projects finished this summer. Hope you enjoyed seeing them and that something inspired you to be creative!!  :)

Knitting with Beads

Time is flying by! We had a little vacation to the beach, my favorite place to go.  Pictures will be coming of that trip, but not today.

I was so excited to find this little video on youtube, using the Fleegle Beader! We have had discussions about this handy tool, at my spinning group gatherings and I have seen one.  But, it is really great to see one in use!!! 

Lemon Cookies and Potholders

A while ago, we came across this great potholder pattern in my Texas Twisters hand spinning (yarn) group. When looking at the pattern, we discovered that it was written in Norwegian.  Oh, boy...... One of the members of the group, Laurie, was smart enough to look at the picture and figure it out and started mass producing them.  :) They are soooo pretty. 

Well, I took the pattern, Grytekluter - a potholder by Anne Paalandet, and put it into the google translater.  It sort of worked and I am able to make them now too.  They are so much fun to make and you can use any color combination that you wish. Which is why they can be addicting, I am getting to play with more color!!

The link for the pattern, is on Ravelry. It is a free pattern, but you will have to translate it. She has a translate button on it now.

In 1982, my Grandma's church put out a cookbook.  You know the kind, the ones with everyone's favorite recipe?  So, they are all wonderful!!  Well, here it is.  I must say, I didn't realize how used it looked, until I took the picture. LOL!
This last winter, I did ask the UPS Store guy to rebind it for me and he did so happily.  :)

I have been listening to some mystery books on CD, that I have checked out of the library.  They are Joanne Fluke books.  Well, our heroine owns a cookie shop!!!  Nothing worse than that, I end up craving cookies.  So, yesterday I broke down and went looking, in this book, for a new recipe that I hadn't tried yet.

This one was really good and I thought I would post it here for all to try.

Stir and Drop Cookies

2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cups oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp grated lemon rind
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Into beaten eggs, stir oil, vanilla and lemon rind. Blend until mixture is thick the 3/4 cup sugar. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix into other ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake 375 F until light brown. 10 - 12 minutes.

Just a hint: I have discovered, that if I cut my lemon in wedges and put it in the freezer, that it is easier to grate it for the zest. 

Vintage Chairs and some YARN :)

We had another trip to the Canton First Mondays Trade Days!  Actually, there were 2 trips, but I am so slow at getting to painting the first chair, that it was done with the second chair.  OH, and then there is the table. 

I am collecting chairs for my studio. I have a large work table down there and I thought it would be great to have vintage chairs around it, and have them painted wonderful fun colors.  It is my studio and color should abound, right?? Oh, the end table is for the living room.

Well, here are the chairs and the end table cleaned and with the Kilz on them.



Here they are painted!  I love my chair colors and they are done. The end table will take more work and the blue, which is only going on the table top, is supposed to be navy blue. At least it was on the card I handed the girl in the paint dept. The bottom of the table is being painted white and so is the drawer.  The handles on the drawer were really tarnished, but I was able to clean them successfully with Bar Keepers Friend.

Several weeks ago now, my friend, Debbie Coder came for a visit from Minnesota!!! We had so much fun yarn shopping, eating chocolate, talking, knitting, eating chocolate, making batts to spin, eating chocolate, and spinning!  Did I mention eating chocolate??? OH, and let's not forget the coffee.  :)

Well, this is Debbie's first batt. Isn't it gorgeous?!

                                     


Here is my batt! 

We had silk, mohair curls and soft wool in our batts, making them so soft and lucious.

Then here are our yarns.  Washed and drying on the back porch.

Finished Projects

Most creative people have more than one project being worked on at the same time.  Sometimes I get too many going and have to stop and get some finished. :) 

This first wrap, was actually a custom order for a customer who found me on etsy. It was finished quickly and sent off to her. It was made from two yarns, the black was 100% cotton and the brown was a blend of cotton, wool and silk.

This knitted I-cord necklace was inspired by something Deb(momartist) said and by a pattern from Berroco yarns. When Debbie was here, she said that she tries to always wear something that she made, to her knitting classes. (At least I think that is what she said) I thought it sounded like a fabulous idea! But, the issue here is, what in the world can I make and wear in 90, 100 or even 110 degree heat??? Not long after our conversation, I received the add for this free pattern from Berroco. :) 

I added knitted flowers and even knitted a leaf on one of  the ends of the I-cord. I used size 3 DMC crochet cotton/linen blend for the necklace. The yarn is basically a sport weight. I knitted it with size 8 US double point knitting needles. Then I used other small cotton yarns, from my stash, for the embellishments. After making the necklace, I made the flowers and green leaves, after which I sewed them onto the I-cord.

I have also been creating with doilies again.  I am having a lot of fun putting them together and making something new with them. This is one of the latest items that I have finished. 

I crocheted the doilies together and then crocheted flower embellishments and stitched them on the wrap. 

More pictures of this wrap can be found in my etsy shop, here, if you are interested. 



Upcycling or Reusing a Sock

Somewhere around 1997, hand knitting socks started to become very popular again. I started knitting my own wool and wool blend socks waaayyy back then. I have made lots of mistakes and learned many lessons over those 16 years. 

One thing I learned is that I LOVE to wear hand knit socks.  They are pretty, comfortable and warm. Just a note, so you don't think that I am crazy, I don't wear them in the summer. It is too hot here. 

Another little piece of info that I read, is that there are as many knit stitches in a pair of hand knit socks as in a hand knit sweater. oh......I haven't taken the time to count, you can though if you want to. :) Meaning, that it takes as long to knit these little items as it does a sweater.

The last thing I am going to mention today, about learning and mistakes, is the durability of your yarn. This pair of socks is one of the first pair that I made. I loved them. My close family and friends will now say, "Duh, they are blue!"  Yep.  :)

I used a soft 100% wool yarn that is a single ply yarn.  I did, however, reinforce the heel and toe. What I didn't know to do was to reinforce the BOTTOM of the heel.  So, because single ply yarns aren't as strong as a 2 ply yarn and the yarn wasn't blended with a stronger fiber such as nylon, the inevitable happened. A hole............ 

After all the work, I just couldn't throw them away, besides they were pretty. So, for about 10 years these socks have been hanging around my studio, neglected and, truthfully, collecting dust. What to do with a pair of unusable socks. Yes, I could've darned them, or needle felted them, but I thought I would feel the "patch." 

Then yesterday, I was looking for a small bag to put some double pointed needles in and I thought about these socks. YES! That's the ticket re-purpose them. The double pointed needles, that I wanted to use for my project, would fit in the ankle portion so, out came the scissors.

I turned the sock inside out, took a deep breath, and then I cut just above the heel.  I stitched across the bottom of the ankle portion, several times, on a small stitch on my sewing machine and here it is turned right side out.

I wanted to crochet around the top of the "sock," so I cut off the toe. After pulling out short bits of yarn, that appeared from cutting stitches in half, I eventually found the end of yarn that would unravel the sock's foot.

I crocheted a row of single crochet around the top of the ribbing, then a second row, with holes for putting the tie through and eventually worked a third row of single crochets and ended off. Note: If you don't crochet, you could knit this part on.

I discovered that my knitting needles wouldn't stay in my cute little bag very long, they slipped through the knitting. Of course they would..... :)

So, I dove into the fabric stash, recovered a cute piece of pink flowered cotton fabric and lined my little bag.

I did unwind the yarn, from the rest of the foot, and have it to use some other time.  I also still have the other sock, and will come up with a use for that. 

Helping Moore Oklahoma tornado victims

Oh my....... Last week, parts of north Texas were torn apart by tornadoes and then this week, it was Oklahoma. My heart aches, for all of those affected by these storms, and my thoughts and prayers are with these folks and the people who have been able to go and help them.

I wanted to share two possiblities for helping the victims, if you are wanting to help, and don't know where to give. 

The first organization, Samaritan's Purse, is run by Franklin Graham. Franklin is Billy Graham's son.  I have been helping them for a while and watching and reading what they do. It is truly amazing how they help. Here is a link to an article about their help in Oklahoma. Down near the bottom of the article is a link to how they are helping in Texas. 

Then on facebook, a friend posted this and I shared it on my wall on facebook, but thought I would put it on my blog too.

Knitters and crocheters are amazing. We are already getting such tremendous support for the Loops of Love for Tornado Victims initiative. We are working on di...rect contacts in Moore and Shawnee to send blankets to, but in the meantime you can drop off at either location or mail to Loops of Love, 2042 Utica Square, Tulsa, OK 74114. Blankets of any size would be great, as would handmade face cloths. Here is a very simple, free blanket pattern using affordable, washable Marble Chunky: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/swiminfan/grandmothers-favorite You can make this child size or family size. As shown, it takes 2 skeins of Marble Chunky, available here: http://www.loopsknitting.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=572 We will take 20% off any yarn purchased for Loops of Love, just mention it when ordering. And thank you in advance for your loving support - your time is the greatest gift.

To Block or not to Block your knitting, is that the question?

In my humble opinion, the extra time and effort it takes to block a lace shawl, or scarf, is totally worth it. Below is a simple example and because they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words," I thought a picture would be worth it.  :)

Before

While I was visiting my mom, I finished test knitting one of my patterns, using my handspun yarn, and was really excited that my concept had worked another time. ;)   I threw the shawl over the chair, in my room, and took the picture with my cell phone.  Then I packed it up in a plastic bag and brought it home.



 At home, it was time to block it. Using towels, that I put on the floor, I pinned out the shawl.  The difference is amazing.  Laying on the back of the chair, you didn't really even notice that there was a scallop looking lace stitch used at the bottom of the shawl.  You could see some  holes, but not the design.

Blocking

I thought I would tell you the steps, that I use, to block my shawls and scarves.

1. Fill a basin with cold water. Soak garment until wet. If you used yarns that felt, be careful not to mistreat them by agitating them. You don't want it to felt. :)
2. Squeeze water out of the garment, without twisting or wringing the piece.
3. Roll in a large bath towel, or several towels layered. Either squeeze, or my favorite, place on a tile floor and step on it. Move your feet carefully along the roll of the towel. This will remove a lot of excess water.
4. Carefully unroll and using pins, that won't rust, pin garment out to shape it. Either use a blocking board, towels on a carpeted floor, plastic tablecloth or foam floor matts(the kind you can get for kids pay areas or work areas).
5. When dry, remove your pins and enjoy.

Step 3 is very beneficial! Removing the extra water into the towel(s) can save days of drying time.

If I am in a hurry, I have been known to turn fans on, pointing them at the garment to help dry the item more quickly. :)

Here is the back, after the pins have been removed. Compare this, with the first picture. :)

The front. Even though you can still see the scalloping, the points that I had pinned out, aren't as prominent. That is ok, because the knitting stitch didn't really come to points, I was just aiming at having that knitting stitch, which was used at the bottom of the shawl, scallop and that can still be seen.

New Lace Cowl pattern

I hope that you are having a nice Easter Sunday.  In my faith, it is the day that I remember and celebrate that Jesus Christ, God's Son, was raised from the dead.  Because He is God's son, nothing can hold Him down. :)

In a couple of weeks, I will be launching this new pattern, named Ruth.  It will first be launched at a workshop that I will be teaching at the Little Red Barn on Jacob's Reward Farm, on April 13, 2013.

The yarn used in this pattern is sport weight alpaca yarn, purchased from Cindy at the farm.  That is what will be used in the workshop. 

This is a fun pattern to knit and to wear!  I will be helping knitters learn to knit in the round, read charts and to use stitch markers for guidance in their knitting.

If you live locally, and have the day free, feel free to contact Cindy and sign up for the class. The pattern is included in the price of the class. :)

If you are not local, and not able to join us on that day, watch for it to go on sale in my etsy shop and on Raverly.

This pattern is named after my sweet Mom.  :)  She is the one who shared her time, as well as her knitting and crochet talent, with me, by teaching me how to do both crafts.  THANKS MOM!!