Terrific Fibers

Out with the old, In with the new

2012-01-30T13:18:00.000-06:00

As it goes with most remodeling plans, there is always a glitch. :) This glitch isn't the worst thing that can happen, but it happened none the less.

If you have been reading my blog for very long, you know that we bought the neighborhood fixer-upper house. It is one of the oldest homes in the neighborhood and really hasn't had the loving care that it should've had, from the previous owners. Now, though, it is being loved. :)

The current room under attack is the laundry room. New paint, new shelves, even a deep sink has gone in. I just love the deep sink!! Well, I have been ignoring the signs from the washer for several months. You know the ones, wetter clothes as the come out, sometimes, not all the time. Some weird spots on the laundry. Then on Friday, it took 4 times to spin the current laundry load to get the majority of the water out. I still had about 1 quart in the bottom and the sheets were dripping! So, I tried to squeeze out the water (ever done that with king size sheets?) and then put them in the drier for a little bit and then hung them to dry.

So, it is with great sadness, that I say good-bye to my faithful friend. We purchased it about 18 years ago, so it needs to be retired......

AND HELLO to my new friend. :) You know, with as much time as the laundry person(me in this house) spends at the washer, they are like a friend! Here is my new one. Washers have changed alot in 18 years. I knew that. I have continued to look at them in the store, to keep up on what is happening. But, I went with the top loader that will agitate. Mainly, cause I still want to felt and felt easily. :)

I do have to tell you. We purchased the new washer at Lowe's. What a fabulous experience we had. We were told there would be a phone call telling us the approximate time of delivery and sure enough. At 7 am, the phone rang. Running to the phone, I am thinking, "Who is sick, who was in a wreck...ack!" Banged my toe on the corner of the wall and answered the PORTABLE phone.(which could've been right with me, but it wasn't) The nice gentleman on the other end, says,"This is Lowe's and we will deliver your washer today, between 12:30 and 2pm." Trying not to scream "ow!" in his ear, I just said "Great!" and we hang up.

Promptly at 12:30 there is a knock at the door and the men with the washer are here! In they come and down to the laundry room they go. They hook it up and even try it out! Off they go and I am back in business!

Another Birthday!

2012-01-24T22:54:00.000-06:00

In my last post, I mentioned how I had computer issues and that those issues had kept me away from blogging. Well, no sooner did I post that, and our internet started having issues! It has taken until today to get it going correctly, again. So, here we are with a new post. :) Hopefully, the computer and the internet will cooperate for a while and I can keep posting. :)

Yesterday was my birthday. The UPS Store guy came home and took me to dinner! We went to the Cheesecake Factory! When dessert time came, I ordered their Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. I love that flavor. I have tried other flavors, but this is my favorite. What I didn't know was, he told the server it was my birthday! So, I was serenaded. :)

Pretty cake and plate, isn't it?

A couple of weeks ago, I received a box from my SIL Cathy. There were 3 birthday gifts inside. One for me, one for Rebekah and one for Anna. :) Our birthdays are within 4 weeks of each other. We were to open the gifts together, cause that would be more fun. The day after the box arrived, I couldn't stand not knowing what was inside, so, I drove to Rebekah's picked her and the girls up and then we went to Anna's home.

Cathy has been VERY busy this past year. We each opened up a quilt, made just for us. :) Mine is called Square Dance(because I am a transplanted New Yorker living in Texas and some of the reds look like a bandana), Rebekah's has flowers appliqued on it(she really has a pretty yard, with lots of flowers and she loves flowers!) and Anna's is blue, because this was the year of the boy. :)

Here we are modeling our beautiful quilts. We get to wrap up in them on chilly evenings and we stay really warm. Thanks, Cathy! You sure made us happy! :)

Thanks to our photographers, the granddaughters!

It Has Been A While

2012-01-12T22:23:00.000-06:00

Well, I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year's. We had a very busy time and a very blessed season. During that time of busy-ness, my computer decided it didn't want to turn on! Maybe it was because it knew that I was already busy and didn't need one more thing to do. So, I ended up taking out my notebook computer and did some things on that, but wasn't able to download pics to it very easily. So, my blog became a lonely site out here on the internet.

I am back! We think that maybe the black box will be working now and I can function as needed, again.

Even though it is Jaunuary 12, I thought I would show you some Christmas pics. :)

We had a very delicious cake for dessert! Anna made us a cake and decorated it. :) It is always a difficult task to cut into her cakes. They are works of art and sooooo pretty. But, then we think about how good they always taste and we can't cut it fast enough.

Here we have cousins. :) Two of our 3 cuties!!! The hat on "little C" is actually "big C's." She received it from her mom and dad, her mom Rebekah had made it for her. The only time C took this hat off all day, was to share it with her new cousin.

Grampa and Gramma(The UPS Store guy and me) decided to recondition an older doll bunk bed that I had found. C will be using it for her American Girl Dolls. The bed comes apart and can be used separate or as the bunk bed. The UPS Store guy sanded and painted the bed and ladder. I made some mattresses and blankets. C had wanted to learn to sew one day, so she and her mom made pillows. Since they had done that, I didn't make pillows.

With our Christmas tree in the background, we have N with her dad. I made her a scarf to go with her shrug and other clothing that we gave her. She is modeling the scarf here wrapped around her head.

In the background of this photo, is a yo-yo quilt. That quilt was made by my Great-great grandmother. It is a real treasure to have this quilt.

And here, I back us up to Thanksgiving. :) This is the family. Yep, we have trees in Tx. :) That is not a false backdrop, but honest to goodness trees. Our resident photographer, Rebekah, took this photo, while she was in it. Can you see the clicker in her hand??? I can't.

It's A Breeze

2011-12-11T14:11:00.000-06:00

Introducing a new pattern. :) This pattern is named "It's A Breeze." I didn't have a title for this one and asked for title ideas. The idea came from my tester Liz, because she said, "It's A Breeze to knit, so you should name it that." :) I have posted some pictures of it, previously, but posted again, so all would know which project(pattern) is done. The directions are written for fingering/sport and for worsted weight yarns. This pumpkin one is sport weight cotton yarn.

The gray one is out of worsted weight wool. Both of these scarves are for sale in my etsy shop.

As of now, the pattern is available through Ravelry. My Ravelry is TerrificFibers and you will find it there. I will get it into the etsy shop this week, but not today.

I had made one of the It's A Breeze's out of sock weight yarn and was wearing it. I loved it. AND someone else liked it so much they bought it right off my neck. LOL! So, now I will be making another one for me. :)

This aqua scarf below was crocheted. I had a lot of fun, changing up my mode of operation and going from knit to crochet. :)

AND here is another Queen Anne's lace scarf. I really do think these things are contagious, like potato chips. You cannot make just one. Sooo, pretty.

Well, I am off to do some more creating.

Homemade Rolls

2011-12-09T15:42:00.000-06:00

Many years ago, The UPS Store guy would travel alot on business. One of his favorite places to go was the Amana area in Iowa. They had a great restaurant there, or so I was told. :) I think he was right, too. One time he brought home a cookbook from their restaurant. I love using many of the recipes in that cookbook. One of my favorite is this easy dinner roll recipe. So, I thought I would share it with you.

This picture is of the rolls I made last week.

Quick Dinner Rolls

1 pkg dry yeast

3 Tbsp warm water

3 Tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp melted shortening

1 cup warm water

3 cups flour

Dissolve yeast in 3 Tbsp water. Add rest of ingredients. Mix well and knead a few minutes; let rest for 15 - 20 minutes. Pinch off dough, shape, and place in a greased pan. Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. Bake at 350 F, until brown. Makes 9 - 12 rolls, depending on the size you make them.

Note: I put my rolls on a cookie sheet, because I wanted them flatter. We used them for leftover turkey sandwiches that way.

I hope you enjoy these rolls as much as we do!

Never a Dull Moment!

2011-11-24T23:33:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We went to Anna's for dinner today. It was fun for all of us to be together for dinner. We are a very thankful family this year. For one, we have a new son-in -law and for two, we have a new baby in the family. For three, God protected my husband(Jeff, The UPS Store guy), our employees and our customers, from certain harm.

On Monday, I called to warn The UPS Store guy about a heavy rain storm headed his way and I hear him say, "I can't worry about that right now, a customer just drove through the front window." I said, "Are you kidding or serious?" You see, if you knew us personally, you would know that we love to laugh and have fun and tease each other. Well, he was absolutely serious. :\ However, no one was injured, a miracle!

Since I was at Anna's helping out, and he said that he had it under control, I waited until the next morning to go and see him. Here is what I found. The green car is the culprit, that turned our UPS Store into an open air market store. If you look closely you will see that the window is gone from the front of the store, and so is the door. The UPS Store guy is standing where the door and windows were.

This picture, below, was taken right after the accident. The car is still in the store. I am glad that I saw The UPS Store guy, before I saw this picture! Geez. She hit the copiers, the cards and card racks and we lost 2 counters/cabinets and some other things. All can and are being fixed and replaced.

The local fire department had to come and get the electricity turned off, so the car could be removed. Seems she pulled some wires in with her from the signs on the window. The the brave firemen, turned on her car and backed it out.

This picture, below, is one I took on Tuesday, the day after. The window/door man's tools are there. He has since replaced the door, but we are waiting on some windows. You can see the broken copiers and the UPS Store guy waving in the background. Yep, we were open for business.

So, you see, I have a lot to be thankful to God for this year, and that is just in the last week. Some repairs are being done now and some will be done in January, after all the Christmas presents are shipped.

If you are curious, like me, I was told that she wasn't on her cell phone or texting on her phone. She thought she hit the brake, but the car revved and in she crashed.

He's Here! and some projects too.

2011-11-23T09:36:00.000-06:00

What joy! A new little life has entered our family. Here he is with his beautiful and happy mom, our daughter.

Here he is with his handsome and kind dad, our son-in-law.

Here he is with his beautiful and happy aunt, our older daughter.

What fun to have a new little baby around. We are all very excited and so are his cousins, gramma and grampa. Will get some pictures of his open eyes soon. :)

On the project side. I have made another Queen Anne's Lace scarf. These are so fun! When done you have a gorgeous piece of lace and it really isn't a hard pattern. Same 3 step repeat over and over. About 200 yards and a J size hook made this one. I used Snowflake yarn from Hobby Lobby.

Don't think I showed you this either. I made this shawl this summer on my trip with our older daughter to NY. I used my Take 2 shawl pattern and my handspun merino yarn to make it. The merino used is called Snapdragon and from Ashland Bay.

Queen Anne's lace and it is almost Baby Time!

2011-11-14T16:54:00.001-06:00

I have shared a lot of what I have been knitting for our new grandson. Here is a sweater that I designed and knitted for him. I used a very soft wool for this sweater and made it to fit, so that he will probably be able to wear it as a coat all through winter, until March.

My friend, Laurie, called me a couple of weeks ago and told me about a great scarf pattern that she found. Hmmm, crocheted, too. So, I looked it up and printed out the pattern, but didn't go much further than that. It was and is very pretty, but I am test knitting several of my patterns right now and trying hard to finish them.

Wednesday arrived and Laurie showed her scarves for show-n-tell and I was hooked! (Pun intended) :)

I came home and searched through my stash of yarns, and decided to use some handspun yarn for my Queen Anne's lace scarf. I love this scarf. Making it is so much fun, too.

I used every bit of the ball of yarn that I had. My scarf isn't a real long scarf, but it is a great length and I will wear this. AND more are in the works, too. If you want to make this scarf, here is the link to the pattern.

My yarn was a bulky weight and I used a size K (US) crochet hook for it.

Time Flies!

2011-11-06T22:07:00.000-06:00

Wow! It is November already! It feels like I just posted about our extreme heat. Fall has pretty much arrived in north Texas, thankfully. But, it is still fairly dry here and we still need rain.

A couple of weeks ago, I had our younger granddaughter over and we made some cut out cookies together. I let her have a free hand at decorating the cookies, encouraging her artful self ,and we had some wonderful cookies to look at and to eat. It truly was a fun time!!! When I took her home, she was able to take half of the cookies home to share with her sister and parents. :)

I have two large plastic boxes filled with felted sweaters. Felting sweater is habit forming. Once you start felting your thrift store finds and realizing the great fabric that you have, you want to go and get more and felt more. :)
If you have never felted a wool sweater, here is how I do it. First, I have a top loading machine.
-I set it on the longest wash and hot water. Set the level of water appropriate for the size load that you have. If my sweater is all alone, I will put a t-shirt in with it. Be careful and put only similar colors together.
-Fill washer, with hot water and put in your normal amount of laundry soap.
-Check the sweater, about every 10 minutes, before the hot water drains. If it isn't felted enough at the end of the wash cycle, reset the cycle and agitate again.
-When sweater is felted as you want it, let the washer finish rinsing and spinning. I use a cold water rinse. Shocking the wool, with cold water helps it felt a bit more.
-When washer is finished, you can air dry your sweater, BUT I like to place it in the dryer for a short drying cycle. Make sure that you clean your dryer filter when done.
-After the sweater is dry, cut it apart at the seams, so that you now have fabric.
Hints: Use only wool or animal fiber sweaters. Cotton, or other plant fibers, and acrylic(man-made fibers) will NOT felt. You do need to use only wool or other animal fibers; ex. cashmere, angora, mohair.

So, I cut up several co-ordinating sweaters and then sewed the squares together to make a scarf. Then I used one of the sweaters and made some hand warmers. I crocheted a lace edging on the hand warmers, and did a simple machine stitch around the scarf. The scarf is made from wool, cashmere and angora. The handwarmers are from a wool/angora sweater. Soooo, very soft.

The set is for sale in my etsy shop.

In July, I decided to write a new pattern. I thought that I would get it done quickly, but no. I have knitted it several times and have had it tested. After receiving the tester's notes, I decided to put some more work into the pattern. I love that my tester is honest with me. :) Originally, the pattern was for fingering/sport weight cotton. Now I have been using wool sock weight yarn and wool worsted weight yarn. When this pattern is done, there will be many variations that will work .

This one is knitted from cotton sport-weight yarn.

This is the same scarf, stretched out lengthwise.

It, too, is for sale in my etsy shop.

This is Glass??

2011-10-22T09:52:00.000-05:00

Wow, this is phenomenal. I had to keep reminding myself that these items were glass. Especially near the end when he is reading his "book." It is flexible!

Happy Cows.....

2011-10-18T15:35:00.000-05:00

Make great milk......

This takes place in France. :)

A Big THANK YOU...

2011-10-12T18:31:00.000-05:00

...To my spinning and fiber friends! I have been spinning with a group of wonderful spinners for years and years. Some faces, in the group, have changed over the years while people move away and people move in, but the same "loving heart" has always been there in the group.

I was totally blown away today, when I arrived and found that they had decided to give me a Gramma shower. :) There is a money tree, so that I can purchase something for use in my home, when Tad and Anna bring the baby for a visit. Plus, there were other gifts!! I feel so blessed right now, that I wanted to share the items with you.

There is a handmade quilt, a pair of handknitted booties, two crocheted hats, a hooded towel and some socks, and a handmade Gramma brag book.

New Pattern!

2011-10-04T12:58:00.000-05:00

This pattern is my newest one. I have listed it on etsy and just listed it on Ravelry. There are 3 different looks to this scarf, depending on the cast on method you choose. That is described in the pattern directions.

I have used sport weight cotton yarn for this scarf, but I have seen it done in wool yarn and it looks beautiful in that yarn too.

The scarf is a long one and narrow scarf.

Adds to any outfit, whether it be jeans or something a little more formal.

Hope you like it. :)

You are going to love this!

2011-09-15T23:09:00.000-05:00

Don't you just love these?

Inspiration

2011-09-13T15:39:00.000-05:00

For years, I have been meeting once a week with a group of women. The group has changed over the years. People move in and people move out. Even the meeting place has changed, many times. But, the group has survived.

We usually spin, knit, or crochet during our meetings, but at home other projects are worked on as well. Here are some of the projects from a couple of our recent show-n-tells.

Below, Liz knit this gorgeous shawl, as part of a Knit-A-Long on Ravelry, with Stephen West. Liz's yarn is from her stash of handspun yarns. She does her own dying and her own spinning for her yarn.

Then we have Marlene's quilt. Isn't it gorgeous?? Marlene is a master at many different fiber arts and her work is always stunning.

This is Marlene's traditionally hooked rug. It is not latch hook or punch hook, those are different techniques. For this technique you use 1/4 inch strips of wool fabric and a tool that looks like a fat handled crochet hook. You hold the strip below your rug base fabric and pull loops of your strip through the fabric with your tool. The finished size of this rug(wall hanging) is about 18 or 20 inch square, I think.

Laurie the wonderful crocheter extraordinaire, made this great shawl using cotton yarn and a Doris Chan pattern named the All Shawl. Laurie did make a couple of custom changes and it looks fabulous.

Then last, is my show-n- tell. I designed and knitted this shawl from sock weight yarn. It started at the top neck and worked to the bottom. It was a lot of fun to knit, because I changed the stitch patterns frequently adding to the interest of the knitting. I even inserted a few beads too.

There you have it. Show and Tell. I hope that something here has inspired you to keep going and to keep creating. :)

A Tribute

2011-09-11T15:46:00.000-05:00

Everyone has memories of where they were on Sept 11, 2001. Me too. I was getting ready for work, when my daughter, Rebekah, called and said, "Mom, turn on the TV, a plane just flew into the World Trade Center!" I turned on the TV and together, on the phone, we watched live as the second one hit.... The rest is history. Children lost parents, Parents lost children, Spouses lost spouses, Uncles and aunts lost nephews and nieces.... The list goes on and on. Being a transplanted New Yorker, we were concerned for family and friends and went on the search to see how our friends and family were affected. Yes, we were hit with some of the disaster, as extended family and friends were hit with it.

So, today, as we remember 10 years ago, and needing to go to the local home builders store, Home Depot, I was able to get some photo's. Here are some pictures of what we saw in Texas, as Texans remember and honor our fallen heroes, from that day so long ago and those since.

Flags at half-mast.

Our local fire station, they will never forget.

Along Interstate 35.

The local hospital.

The orange truck is owned by a local lawn care company. They put up a lot of the flags for the businesses on every patriotic holiday.

We won't forget, will we?

Just an aside, the light brown ground, isn't desert sand. It is our very dry grass, as Texas really is in a drought situation.

News

2011-08-30T12:14:00.000-05:00

Having grown up on the east coast and being a transplanted New Yorker to Texas, we have a lot of family still back east. I am happy to say that even though some of them have had some issues during Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, that they are all OK. I thank God for His protection during this storm.

Below, is a new little outfit that I just finished. A customer had seen the little firefighter outfit that I make for infants and wanted one to resemble the US Navy dress blues. Since she is having a girl, we decided on a bib portion, some lace and ruffles. She found some great buttons, so she will be attaching those to the front.

Windowpane and Teeny Tiny

2011-08-14T12:49:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the knitting projects that I haven't posted on here, because they were made for shower gifts. Below is a picture of the Windowpane Sweater. It takes one large skein of sock weight yarn, about 450 yards.

Here's the back. The yarn is self-striping, so the color work came from the yarn changing colors, not anything that I did.

The pattern is found in this book which is found here.

The second project, that I finished, is this one. It is from my Teeny Tiny Baby Sweater and Hat pattern. The sweater and hat are included in the pattern, which can be found in my etsy shop. The cute little booties are from a free pattern that I found on the internet, called Little Footies. The pattern can be found on Ravelry.

When I was knitting the hat, I wanted to somehow add a little embellishment to it. I kept asking myself, what can you embellish onto a boys hat? My mind is so geared to girls, since I have 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters. I thought, what if I knit a little patch, that the button can be sewn to. So, that is what I did. I then stitched the finished patch to the hat, with the other color yarn from the sweater and then sewed the button to all the layers.

We're Ready and Dyeing

2011-08-13T11:37:00.000-05:00

Tad and Anna(our younger daughter) are expecting their first baby. We are all excited, and today is the day for a shower! Over the last few weeks, many family members around the country have been shopping and shipping. Gradually, the gifts have arrived at our home. I spent some time this morning, assembling them into their wrappings. It is soooo easy, now-a-days, to send a gift. Just put a gift bag and tissue paper in the box and when it arrives, someone can assemble it all for you. So, this morning I did that. I assembled and made bows and organized all the gifts, I had the best time. Truly. :)

I truly feel so blessed right now. As I finished and assembled the gifts in one place, I thought, "I have the best family ever!" Thanks, family!!

In my last blog post, I showed you my jars full of fiber and dye. They were sitting outside in our extreme heat and sunshine. It was a successful project, and to think I did it with the sun and no electricity, is even better.

Here are my finished fibers, except one.

One of the dyes said "purple." It came out magenta. The small pink fiber above is the color it turned out. So, the wool roving that shared the dye jar with the above mohair curls, is now back in the jar with some teal dye added. Looks like it will be a gorgeous purple, which is what I was after.

The funny thing and it is really funny. The jar is in the house, not out in the sun. Because we are getting rain and it is cloudy. I am not going to complain, one bit, because we have had a tiny break of the 100+ temperatures, as well as, we having some much needed rain.

Some Projects

2011-08-06T09:52:00.000-05:00

When I go on a trip, I always take some kind of hand project. Usually knitting or crocheting. In the last decade it has usually been knitting. When Rebekah and I drove off to NY, I had a suitcase for clothing and a very large tote for knitting projects. :) She had a project bag too, so she understands her mom. Good thing.

One of the items I decided to work on, was my Take 2 Shawl pattern. I used merino handspun yarn for this shawl. When I spun the roving, I added some white to clear angelina to the yarn, which basically just adds sparkle. I have really been into sparkle lately. The sparkle doesn't really show in the pictures though.

The yarn was smaller weight than I thought. No I didn't do the WPI test, I thought I could judge it. Silly me. The shawl turned out wonderful anyway, I think.

Here's the back.

Here is the the overexposed front. Sorry about that.

When I arrived home, I wanted to crochet. My friend Laurie has been crocheting a wonderful and colorful potholder. She found the recipe for it on Ravelry. The original is written in Norwegian and since I don't speak or read Norwegian, I had to take it to Google Translate. When you put it into google translate, you can sort of figure it out. But, after combing several crochet stitch books, I thought I would try using a stitch pattern that I found in there. Laurie's potholder has sharper triangle points than mine. The picture of the two potholders below is a picture from the original pattern.

Here's a picture of mine. The potholders are two layers. The picture of the back is below.

We are having unusually high temperatures here and no rain. Not any clouds to speak of either. So, since it is so hot, many of us are putting that great solar energy to work. Here are my solar dyeing projects from yesterday. I loved looking out the back window and seeing color. :) Made me happy. I have mohair curls, silk noil and wool rovings in these jars. Happy spinning times ahead.

Montauk Point Lighthouse

2011-08-05T11:38:00.001-05:00

This summer our oldest daughter, Rebekah, and I drove her van, daughters and dog to Long Island, NY to visit my mom. We were actually able to connect and visit with other family members who still live on LI and some who were visiting.

One of the days we were there, we visited the Montauk Point Lighthouse. It is on the south-eastern tip of Long Island. That is about 120 miles east of New York City. This lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington.

Below is a view from the grounds surrounding the lighthouse. The water is the Atlantic Ocean.

Thought you might like to see the crystal light, that used to shine to warn sailors of land. There is a new light up there now. It is truly a gorgeous sight to see in person, the way it reflects the light around it.

We climbed to the top of the lighthouse. Well, I climbed almost to the top. I stopped when the stairs became a ladder going almost straight up. I decided I didn't have the courage to go up those stairs and then another set just like them. Actually, I had the courage to go up, just didn't know if I had the courage to get back down them. I had visions of a helicopter having to come and rescue me from the top of the lighthouse. So, this view is as high as I climbed. Rebekah and the girls went all of the way up, calling to Gramma to come on up. :)

Spinning

2011-07-05T12:29:00.000-05:00

Normally, I don't get much chance to spin at home. I will spin on Wednesdays, at the spinning group that I attend.

I joined the Tour De Fleece 2011 on Ravelry. You are to make a challenge for yourself, to spin during the actual bicycle competition in France. Well, my challenge is to spin 20 minutes a day. That may not seem like much, but it is enough. :) So far, I have been able to finish a skein of yarn, by plying it. I had it spun as a single, but needed to ply it, so I can knit with it. It is now done.

The fiber is a blend of Jacob Sheep and Alpaca. It is a pretty soft yarn. I have 320 yards from 4 oz. I believe it to be about a DK weight, but haven't done the Wraps Per Inch yet.

Vintage Doily Vest

2011-07-02T14:14:00.000-05:00

Well, with the temperatures soaring into the upper 90's and 100's, my mind is still on accessories that I can wear that won't make me hotter, but add to my outfit. Hence, the Summer Waves scarf in a previous post and now a vest made from 100% cotton doilies.

One time at a Flea Market/Craft Market, I saw a very pretty vest made from Vintage Doilies. It was on a mannequin in a booth, that was selling Vintage Doilies. I thought the vest was absolutely gorgeous. So, I decided to purchase the doilies and make one for myself.

Of course, I purchased way more than I needed, but that is OK. I will make other items with those.

Here's how I did it. I washed all the doilies, and in looking at them, I decided to use different colored ones in the same vest, plus lots of different shapes.

After considering my measurements, and the ease that is needed for a vest(I like at least 4 inch ease), I laid the doilies out lining them up in a vest shape. Then I shuffled them, changed them a bit and finally came up with this.

Here is a front. I over lapped the doilies and stitched them together with my sewing machine, on a straight stitch.

This is the back.

The other front.

After assembling the fronts and back pieces, I then sewed them together at the shoulders and sides, leaving at least 10 inches open for the armholes.

Here is the finished vest.

Wow!

2011-07-01T12:12:00.000-05:00

In North Texas, we have several roads that are being expanded and new bridges that are being built.

Last Monday, I drove under one of the new interchanges that is going in. It was pretty strange sitting under this 4 layer high bridge intersection at the stop light. I just had to take a photo for you to see. The black car looks big, because it is near. Just past that large white support post is a white vehicle. That will give you an idea of the immense size of this interchange that is being built. OH, and those orange barrels are the 3 foot tall kind, that block off traffic.

We had the grandkids over to swim a couple of weeks ago. We have lots of "noodles" for swimming, but I didn't get any rafts this year. So, as a matter of invention Claire invented a raft from a plasitc chair and pool noodles. She did use all of the noodles for this, but that is OK, because I love seeing inventions going on in the minds of the kids.

Kirsten's back and a Prayer Shawl

2011-06-13T16:42:00.002-05:00

This is Kirsten. She is a 23 year old American Girls Doll. She belongs to our younger daughter, Anna. Well, as a wonderful aunt, Anna decided to share her dolls with her nieces. She had 4 of them, Kirsten, Molly, Felicity and Addy. Two of the dolls live with my granddaughters at their home and the other two are here at my house.

As can be expected, while in storage the 23 year old doll had a problem. Her leg came undone from her body. Eventually, I decided to send her away to get her fixed. So, we put her and her leg, in a plastic bag and then in a box. The UPS Store guy took her and shipped her to the hospital.

She came back last week and what a treat! She was in a clean box and looks beautiful.

Here she is all healthy and fixed, wearing her hospital gown and hospital bracelet. She even has been refreshed(cleaned) and had her hair done!

Here are the happy, and loving, granddaughters. You know, they loved her unconditionally. It didn't matter to them that Kirsten's leg was broken. They played with her carefully and loved her all the more.

______
When a loved one passes quickly, it is very difficult for those of us left behind. We had that happen in our family just a few weeks ago, when a cousin of mine passed away. I couldn't be there, but wanted to send some love to his widow, so I decided to make her a prayer shawl. I used one of my own patterns, the Column Shawl, and then added a ruffle to each short end.

I used a worsted weight cotton for this shawl.

Cupholder

2011-06-06T16:29:00.002-05:00

OK so, I just had to show you a great product, that I found, for use on a spinning wheel.

Cup holders! I can be clumsy at times and I have spilled my coffee and water, that I place on the floor next to my spinning wheel. I have also gotten wool fiber dropped into my cup on the floor, next to my wheel. Have you?? This cupholder helps eliminate these issues.

This is actually the second cup holder that I have purchased. The first one fits my Ashford Kiwi. I loved that one so much, I decided I needed one for the Joy. Recently, I have been taking the Joy to my spinning group and missed having my cup holder. This model has a slit cut out of the side, so you can use a mug in it too.

If I don't want to use a mug, I can use my favorite travelling drink cup. You know, they make these for almost every spinning wheel, too. Several gals in my spinning group have them also.

If you are interested, here is the link for FBN Plastics on etsy. By the way, they make them in New Hampshire, USA. :)

Summer Scarf and Bert with Sheep

2011-05-23T22:20:00.002-05:00

Accessorising in the summer in Texas, or any state I guess, can be hard. It gets so hot, that you don't want to put on anything heavy or warm. Cool and staying cool is the goal. So, I have been thinking that a summer scarf would be a great idea. I came up with and idea and tried it. It has been so popular, when I showed it to others, that I decided it needed to be a pattern. So, here are some pictures of the summer scarf. Pattern should be out soon.

Each scarf has a different cast on and that gives the bottom look a different look on each, when compared.

All of these are made from a lightweight cotton yarn.

So then today, my younger daughter, Anna found this cute Sesame Street you-tube and I thought it sooo cute, that I wanted to share it with you. Every spinner, knitter, crocheter needs to see this. :)

How Great Thou Art

2011-05-13T12:54:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite hymns is "How Great Thou Art!" Here is a beautiful performance by Carrie Underwood.

Lazy Katy Finished

2011-05-03T13:27:00.003-05:00

I have finished my Lazy Katy. Actually, I finished it last week, but it has taken until today to get it blocked. Here it is blocking. I love how it looks blocking. To me it looks very dramatic.

I don't have blocking boards, yet, so I am using two old bath towels on the floor. I place the pins through the towels and into the carpet. :) Of course, if you have small children, you wouldn't want to do this in a room where they have access. But, I don't have little ones here, so I can get away with doing this in my studio.

The directions for the pattern say you can use either size 8 US or size 9 US needles with the fingering/sock weight yarn. I used size 8 US. I did have just a bit of yarn left over, for which I am glad. Several knitters on Ravelry ran out and that wouldn't have been fun. But, I did have a second skein of the same dye lot, so I would have been OK. It took me just under 420 yards of yarn. Below is the left over yarn.

The Lazy Katy

2011-04-26T11:35:00.005-05:00

Several members of our local handspinners' group decided to have a KAL using the Lazy Katy pattern by Birgit Freyer. It is a pretty quick knit. The wrap is knitted assymetrically, and then has a wonderful lace border on the edge.

I am using NORO Kuryeon sock yarn. The pattern is supposed to use between 416 and 437 yards of yarn, which is one ball. I am working it on size 8 US needles.

Here we are about a week after the last picture. I have placed stitch markers on the needle, to help me keep the lace repeats in order.

I made the stitch markers out of a worsted weight yarn, so they are lightweight and big enough so they won't slip under the yarn overs in the lace pattern.

Firefighter Sets

2011-04-11T19:19:00.002-05:00

So, when you have a new baby and his daddy is an EMT in the local fire department, what should you make for him? Hmmm, well his mom had a great idea. A firefighter outfit. :) So, here is my version of a firefighter outfit. This is a preemie outfit. The suspenders are removable. I asked for his head and waist measurents, as well as, the bottom of his feet. The brim on the back of the hat is longer than the front and the hat does have realistic ribs in it. Here is a newborn size outfit. So, he can grow into it. Should handle about 8 or 9 lbs. I hope!

You know, I took these photo's yesterday and I didn't check the quality. The outfits were shipped today and I cannot retake the pictures. The red is Fire red, the yellow is a bright yellow and the black is black.

And this shot is for perspective.

April is Here!

2011-04-10T14:26:00.007-05:00

Where did March go? Did anyone see it?

The end of March brought a new grandnephew to my family. He was 10 weeks early and weighed in at 2 lbs, 12 oz, when born. God has been with him and I am happy to say that at 2 weeks old, he is now 3lbs, 3 oz. My niece and her husband have seen the hand of God on him every step of the way. I decided that I would knit up two preemie blankets, for them to use in the NICU unit, and sent them off. Here are my two blankets.

I have come across some vintage dishtowels and have started sewing them into small unlined tote bags. I am having a lot of fun with these. I love seeing the vintage fabrics and some of them bring memories flooding back to my brain. Here is one of the little totes. I have used pieces of the towel for handles and have sewn the bag using french seams, so that raw edges are not seen. The bag is sewn so that there is a flat bottom, too.

These bags can be used for craft projects or even lunch bags. This bag is listed and the others will be, and are, in my etsy shop.

When I was at Wildflower Retreat, in March, (oh, there's March!) we worked with color and blending colors in carding them together. I decided when I was done with my little batts, to blend them all together in a great yarn! Here is my yarn, all handspun and plied.

I named this skein Daydream, and it is 36 yards of color, glitz, glitter and softness. I did list in on etsy, too.

Wildflower 2011

2011-03-20T12:31:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, I had the privilege of travelling to east Texas for my favorite spinning retreat. East Texas is always so pretty, with its tall trees. The campground where we meet, for the retreat, is on a very pretty lake. There are tables and chairs outside, so we can just enjoy the view, when we want to.

This year we learned more about colors and using colors.

On Saturday morning, we played with watercolor paints. We mixed colors and lightened colors and watched what happened as we did so. By using the paints, instead of dyes, the exercise helped to build my confidence in blending the dye colors, that we used, on Sunday morning.

Here is the mohair roving that I dyed. I made the green and purple colors on the roving, by blending the turquoise with yellow(green) and then the red with the blue(purple).

We also played with the Fibonacci color sequencing. Colors and row/stripe numbers were aligned with letters of the alphabet and we were to spell our names. My name, starting with a "J" had 55 wraps of pink. You will notice that on the tongue depressor below. The rest of my first name ends with the orange, so I also did my last name. Funny, one letter of my first name, is still more than the rest of the letters in my first and last name.

However, the point is that the stripes do work with each other. Did you notice that my favorite colors, jewel tones, are not in this. Other peoples names had GREAT jewel tone colors. I had a good laugh over this and decided to continue using the name theme for the weaving project that we started. It is good to branch out to other colors once in a while, isn't it. Step out of my comfort zone. LOL! The project is a little change purse. Someday, it will be finished.

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

2011-03-08T12:51:00.004-06:00

One day my friend, Laurie, arrived at our spinning group and had some cute Sit-sters dolls. They were sooooo cute! I went home and made some too. The pattern for them is in this book:

Last week, I went over to visit Laurie and we allowed the dolls to meet. I have put faces, and clothing on mine. Here they are all posed for the picture. It was like posing real people, they all wanted to be in the back. :) But, some are sitting on ginger, some on the bananas, and one of mine took off to the carnations, she's a wild thing. One of the fun parts about these dolls, is that there are pipe cleaners, or as currently labeled, chenille stems, inside them. So, you can pose them! You also use the double knitting technique, of using two straight needles to knit a tube. They were fun to make.

So we go back to spinning. Cindy brought in this art yarn that she had spun. Cindy will be teaching a workshop, actually two classes, at the DFW Fiberfest this year. I believe she will be teaching the method of spinning this great yarn to her students.

I have been having fun spinnning art yarn too. I just finished this purple yarn. The darker purple is soft wool and the curly purple is really soft mohair locks. I added a bit of sparkle to the mixture and I did ply it to make it a balanced yarn, for knitting. It is for sale in my etsy shop, here.

Then the sad news. Yesterday, I went out to the car, to do some errands and it wouldn't start. We were thinking battery. But, alas, no. When The UPS Store guy came home and looked under the hood, he was in for a shock, as was I. A little animal had crawled into the engine and chewed up some wires. :\ After The UPS Store guy took the part off, and ran(drove) to the mechanic's he came home and said, "It was a rat. Apparently, this happens down here." Can you imagine?

So, this morning the trusty tow truck showed up and off went Knit Girl(the car), to the car doctor.

After the driver had her up on the road, he then flipped everything around and towed her backwards down to the car doctor.

I received word that she did arrive safely, but now am waiting for word that the operation was successful and is complete. Meaning: I can be out and about again. :)

Corespinning

2011-03-05T07:44:00.003-06:00

Several of my spinning friends, just took a workshop about spinning art yarns. Their yarn was very intriguing. I have spun art yarns and love the different techniques myself. Here is a video from youtube for you to see. This video is done by JazzTurtleCreations.

Here is a second video, by JazzTurtleCreations.

New Stuff

2011-03-01T13:11:00.004-06:00

1. Well, here is one of my newest household items. This is like the song from the movie/play Oklahoma, "Slowly, slowly, he sank into the sea." You see slowly, slowly, we remodel the house. :) We did purchase a fixer upper, I think I said that before. In the beginning of February, the light bulbs burned out in the tacky looking(in my opinion) lamp over the kitchen sink. So, when we went to Lowe's to get more bulbs, we left with a new lamp!!!! We arrived home from Lowe's, the UPS Store guy installed it, and we turned it on. LIGHT! and problem. The cute Folk Art looking navy blue shades were different dye lots. gag. I couldn't live with it, really. So, back we went. They didn't have anymore shades. We tried another Lowe's and their shades were chipped. So, we went with the other blue shades, which really are very pretty(in my opinion).

2. Let me introduce you to Ruthie Grace. Ruthie came to live in our home, most importantly my studio, a couple of months ago. She came to live with Doris, Cathy, Crayon, and Joy and the Traveller(who doesn't have a name yet). I figure since I have Cathy, after my SIL, and Doris, after my mom's neighbor, that it is time for Ruthie, after my mom. :) God has had grace and mercy for me again, hence the Grace portion of her name.

Ruthie Grace is a Schacht Matchless spinning wheel. She was made in Colorado, USA. The wood work on her is gorgeous and I am very excited to have her.

Well, as I see it, since I have 2 daughters and 2 granddaughters, I need 4 more wheels so they can all have family names. :) Watch for it. LOL! Oh, and I have nieces and other sisters-in-law too........

Two Plans Gone Awry

2011-02-15T11:26:00.004-06:00

A couple of years ago, now, I went to Boerne TX, in order to attend Kid-N-Ewe and Llamas too. It is a fiber festival. I had a great time there, knitting, spinning and shopping. One of the items I bought was this teal fiber, that I spun into the yarn used in this shrug. A couple of years before this, I went to Louisiana to the Cajun Lagniappe fiber festival. Met another group of great spinners and knitters there, too. I purchased the purple fiber, and spun the yarn in this shrug.

As I finished each spinning project, I had no idea what I was going to do with it.

THE PLAN: Then I saw a pattern in Knitter's Magazine for a shrug with sleeves. Not sure that I would have enough yarn for the shrug, I then thought that I could make the shrug using both yarns. Hence the back(below). In the magazine the back is a solid color, but I thought it would be fun to insert mitered squares and a slipped stitch pattern into it.

THE PLAN AWRY: However, the shrug in the pattern had sleeves, a great addition, but I didn't want sleeves. So, I left them off. Now, I am thinking that I need to put them on. The holes for the arms are too big without them. arrrrggg. I really had thought of that part before.

It does look acceptable on, I think. I do have more of the purple. So, I could add some little sleeves. Right now, the shrug sits downstairs in the studio, while I mull it over.

Next project. About 9 months or so ago, I purchased an 18 oz, batt of Romney fiber from my friend, Liz. She gets the Romney wool from a friend who owns the sheep and doesn't want the fiber. (gasp!) So, we willingly help her out.

THE PLAN: Anyway, on Saturday, Feb 12, I went to Farmersville, TX, to a FancyFibers dye day. I thought this was the perfect time to dye this batt. Mary has large tables, so that I could spread it out flat.

I striped the batt with several colors. Green, purple, turquoise and camel were large 6 inch strips. Then for little strips I added gold and fuchsia. Here is the finished batt, top view.

THE PLAN AWRY: If you noticed the camel, which should be next to the turquoise, disappeared, for the most part. AND the fuchsia totally blended in with the turquoise and purple.

Then this is the back of the batt. Totally different than the front. However, I did find a bit of the camel. :)

I did try to have a plan, because the plan was to spin singles and have self striping yarn, like Noro. But, the plan is now swept under the rug, again.

I will still spin this, because I absolutely love the colors and how it looks. But, I am not sure how self-striping it will be. :) I was thinking that I might put the batt back through my drum carder and have a more heathery look. Decisions, decisions.

AND I need two new plans........

Take a Look

2011-02-05T12:00:00.003-06:00

We have two daughters. Our oldest one, Rebekah, is a very talented artist, in that she designs, sews and sells clothing. I have mentioned her before.

Our younger daughter, Anna, is a wonderful artist as well. She doesn't have a blog or etsy shop, so I cannot link you to her work. Anna paints, gorgeous paintings and we have several of her pieces hanging in our home. When she was in high school, she drew the little sheep and bunny logo for my business.

Anna has, once again, out done herself. :) She decided to make a charm for me for my birthday.
She took some of her painters' canvas and painted a 1 inch square painting of sheep. What a task and my 50+ year old eyes popped out of my head when I saw it! I have made the charm into a necklace and I love wearing it.

While ice bound in the house, I have been finishing up projects this week. This wonderful yarn was spun from a batt that I received as a Christmas present, at the Texas Twisters Christmas party. What fun and oh, so soft!

This yarn was spun from some soft natural white wool and, extremely soft Texas Mohair locks/curls. I added some silvery sparkle to this yarn too. I listed it to etsy this morning, and it is sold already. I love this yarn.

Some Of My Projects

2011-02-04T10:31:00.002-06:00

Housebound, yet again. :) Production continues, so I figured I should start showing some of my projects.

Since it is soooo cold out, I figured the dolls needed some shawls. Here is Felicity in a new pink shawl and matching headband. I sort of improvised this pattern from my Terrific Shoulder Shawl. I actually made two of them, because there are two dolls that need them.

This next photo is of some handspun. It is a 2 ply 100% alpaca yarn. I have 223 yards of this ever so soft yarn. The fiber for this yarn came from my CSA(Community Supported Agriculture) Share of Jacob's Reward Farm. Cindy, the owner of the farm, has asked me to design another pattern for her shareholders. This will be the second pattern, that I have designed, for her shareholders. Now, a new pattern is in the works. I thought that I would use some of my handspun, from the share I received, for knitting up one of the design samples.

SNOW!!! Yes, on top of the ice, which still has not melted, we are receiving snow. It is still snowing at my house, as I type this. The snow is supposed to stop by noon. We'll see. I still love the way snow insulates the noise, makes everything sooo quiet outside and brightens up the inside. Oh, and snow in TX. Notice the Post Oak tree, still has leaves on it. But, it does make a nice contrast to the white and gray, as does the green cedar next to it.

A Wolf is Sheeps' Clothing?

2011-02-03T11:09:00.003-06:00

Ice. This is Tuesday morning, February 1.

This ice is actually about 2 inches deep. The sheep's clothing it snow. There is a dusting of snow on the top. So, if you weren't thinking you would think you were stepping on snow, when in fact it was ice. If you aren't prepared for ice, you would fall.

The interesting thing is, that today, February 3, it looks almost the same. The temperatures in north Texas have stayed below freezing. In the teens and twenties. The roads are still icey and we haven't had a lot of sun, either.

I know that alot, or most, people are having worse weather than us. However, this stops our community. I have enjoyed my time at home and been productive with office work.

Today I hope to knit and spin some.

Birthday, Pattern, Sunset

2011-01-23T14:40:00.003-06:00

It is fun to celebrate birthdays and today we celebrated mine and our older daughter, Rebekah's. We had a great time! The server was a bit confused. She saw the packages and new there was a birthday. She watched to see WHO was opening the gifts, but two of us started opening gifts! LOL! So, she brought a tiny little sundae and asked who's birthday it was and found out, both! We shared our little sundae and then had a few bites of our cheesecake, boxing the rest up to go home.

New pattern!! I have finished another pattern. This pattern is called Hugs and Huglette. It is for sale on Ravelry, right now. You will find it with my user name TerrificFibers, if you are interested.

Huglette is the scarf and I used a worsted weight yarn for it. In particular I used Brown Sheep Lana Loft. What a wonderfully soft wool! The purple is actually a gorgeous jewel tone, but I wanted to show the pattern stitches, so I lightened the photo.

This is the Hug. The directions also call for worsted weight yarn. I used some wool/alpaca handspun that I had sitting in my stash. What a great yarn that was to use! Knit flat and then, after a half twist is put in it, the two short ends are sewn together and it becomes a mobius.

We don't get much in the way of fall colors down here. BUT, we get fantastic skies. This is the sunset from Friday night, January 21, 2011. Don't you just love it??

Here is a picture with the phone turned sideways, to capture more of the horizon. Nothing is on fire, except the sun, in this picture.

Lucy Neatby and Navajo Knitting

2011-01-14T10:55:00.002-06:00

Lucy Neatby is a wonderful knitter and instructor from Canada. She has some great and inventive ideas.

This knitting idea is actually a type of plying technique when spinning. Take a look, I think you'll love it!

Graham Cracker Toffee Bars

2011-01-14T09:27:00.002-06:00

I love toffee. Do you? I tried to make toffee two times. It was a nightmare. The first time, I actually broke the Pyrex dish when I poured in the hot toffee. The next time, it was under cooked and I had a crumbly mess on my hands. Then I found this recipe. I don't just make it at Christmas either, I will actually make it a couple of times throughout the year. Valentine's Day is coming soon and this might be a great idea to make, a sweet for your sweetie.

Graham Cracker Toffee
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 box graham crackers
1 -12 oz bag of chocolate chips.(I use 2 cups of semi-sweet or bittersweet chips)

Layer crackers on a deep cookie sheet(15 x 10 x 1"). Melt butter and brown sugar, bring to a boil and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from stove and pour over crackers. Bake 7 -9 minutes at 350F. Remove from oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips over top while hot, so that the chips melt. When the chips are completely melted, spread them evenly over the top with a knife. Then cut into rectangles, or any shape you want, while still hot. Remove from pan and allow to cool on waxed paper.

One day, I will conquer real toffee. But, until then we enjoy these.

One of my friends suggested trying the recipe with a saltier cracker, so you get the salt, sweet, chocolate flavor. I think that would be great too!

The New Snow and the Resident Hawk

2011-01-11T16:53:00.002-06:00

On Sunday, January 9, we had some snow and ice. Then the temperatures dropped and today, Tuesday, we STILL had snow on the ground and on the trees.

I wanted to do some errands today. I bundled in my winter coat, a nice handknitted scarf and warm felted wool mittens and out the door I went. I was in the car and started it up and saw it.
The hawk, just sitting regally in the tree above the car. I rolled down the window and used my phone to capture this photo.

I wondered if it would get spooked if I moved the car closer and thought, why not. So, I put the car in drive and slowly moved the car. The hawk just sat there looking at me and then decided that the big metal box wasn't going to hurt it. :)

Took another picture.

Then moved a bit closer and got this one.

Here is one of my knitting projects. I am trying to make myself a shrug. I am using my handspun yarn and didn't have enough of either color to make the shrug. So, I am trying to use both yarns. The back is finished and I have picked up the stitches to go around.

Christmas Knitting Project

2011-01-02T11:40:00.003-06:00

Well, this year, I was so not prepared for Christmas. I did make it through and everything, except the cards, was done on time. Christmas cards are being addressed today. :) I know it is already January, but they are here and I have done the letter, so they are going to get mailed.

One of my Christmas knitting projects is this young girl set. I had thought to knit a scarf for each granddaughter, but when I was done there was a whole set for each one. So, I guess you could say that I actually knit 2 of these. When taking pictures, I didn't get a good photo of the handwarmers, I hope to get a better photo this week.

Here is the set: Miss Sophisticate

I really had a lot of fun making these, and I love the addition of the beads and fun fur. The pattern is not published, yet, though. Sorry, but I wanted you to see what I had been working on.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T17:10:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year. We had a quiet New Year's Eve and we are enjoying time off this weekend.

Before Christmas, I had the opportunity to visit the Kimball art museum in Ft Worth. My oldest daughter had won tickets to the Mayan exhibit and asked if I had wanted to go. I said, SURE!
So, on the Thursday before Christmas, she and her daughters and I, went to the museum. The museum had a very large Christmas tree, with some absolutely gorgeous ornaments on it. So, Nicole and Claire each picked their favorite on the tree. Here they are.

I think that both the ornaments are very pretty.

I took a picture of the next one, because I think it can be made very easily if you want to start on NEXT Christmas.

Looks to me like they took a simple pine cone and sprayed it with silver paint. While the paint was still wet, they used sparkles and sprinkled them all over the pine cone. It truly was a beautiful ornament.

The Mayan exhibit was very interesting. Unfortunately, and for good reasons, we weren't allowed to take pictures of anything in the exhibit. I would've like to have taken a picture of one item.
It was a 6 inch tall sculpture of a woman weaving on a backstrap loom. If my memory is right, the estimated date for it was 650 -950 AD.

My Christmas Tree

2010-12-26T16:43:00.004-06:00

Several years ago, before there were blogs. OK, so more than several years ago. I spent an entire summer knitting Christmas tree decorations. The owner of a local interior design store bought them from me. I made more than I sold, so that I would be able to use the decorations on my tree.

I thought that I would show you some close-ups of the knitted ornaments on my tree.

There are knitted hats, mittens, candy canes and sweaters. I have crocheted around silver glass Christmas balls, with white crochet thread. Recently, knitted ball ornaments are appearing on the tree too! Thanks to My Mom's Work for her gift and her new pattern! I have pictures on the camera for the new ornaments, but something is up and I am having trouble downloading them.

Fa La La

2010-12-13T20:26:00.001-06:00

I think you will like this. Get ready for a giggle.

Pumpkin Scones

2010-12-11T13:20:00.002-06:00

Ok, so my friend, Laurie, made some fabulous pumpkin scones. They were so good, and I have been thinking about them ever since I had one, which has been several weeks. So, I decided to do an internet search for them this morning. I found them. :) But, I changed the recipe up a bit and then made a different sort of glaze for them.

Enjoy!

Terrific Pumpkin Scones
Scones
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 Tbsp white sugar
3 Tbsp Dark Brown sugar
½ tsp salt
¾ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp ginger
6 Tbsp cold butter
½ cup pumpkin
3 Tbsp milk
1 large egg
Optional – ½ cup chocolate chips or ½ cups cinnamon chips, or ½ cups nuts, or anything else that might sound good to you.

In large bowl, mix flours, sugars, salt and spices.
-Cut in butter until about the size of peas or smaller.
-Stir in your chocolate chips or whatever you have chosen.
-In separate bowl, beat egg and add milk.
- Add pumpkin to milk and egg mixture.
-Next add liquids to dry ingredients and stir with fork until mixed well.
-Turn out onto a slightly floured surface and knead a few times.
-Divide dough in half.
-Press first half out on ungreased into a circle having it about ¾ inch thick on a cookie sheet and cut into 6 or 8 pieces. Move pieces apart slightly.
-Repeat above step for other half of dough, placing it on the same cookie sheet.
-Bake: 16 – 18 minutes at 425º F. They should be a light brown.
-Cool.

Glaze
½ cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of Cream of tartar
Place in a covered saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until candy thermometer reads 226º F and mixture looks like a syrup (sugar is dissolved).
When syrup is cooled to 110º F(lukewarm), add ¼ tsp of vanilla and 1 – 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar, until you have a nice pouring consistency. Beat until smooth.
-Pour, or brush, over cooled scones. You can do a second or third layer of the glaze. This does make a large amount of glaze.

NOTE: The can of pumpkin has lots more pumpkin than 1/2 cup. So, now I have frozen 1/2 cup amounts, so that I can pull one of those containers out of the freezer and make more scones. :)

Knitting and New York

2010-12-05T14:45:00.003-06:00

I have been having fun knitting in somewhat of a free-form style. I guess it is free-form, Joanne style. :) After I had made the purple scarf, I decided to try a blue one. I wanted to use only knit stitches this time and this is what I ended up with. I have this scarf listed for-sale in my etsy shop, TerrificCreations .

I used different weights of yarns, and different types of yarns. There are cottons, acrylics and wools in this scarf. Each yarn had a different texture. In using different stitches, I also created different textures. I doubled some yarns, sometimes and didn't other times, too.

I also made sure that it was asymmetrical. When I finished, I decided the scarf needed a ruffle.

Several weeks ago, I went to Long Island, New York for a visit. I wanted to show you that not all of New York or Long Island, is New York city. :) I took these pictures with my phone. Yep, this is part of the area where I grew up.

One morning Mom and I went to Panera Bread, purchased our breakfast and coffee. Then we drove to the docks about a mile south of her home. We parked the car, and ate our breakfast, looking at this scene. The day was overcast.

That was one view we had from the car. Here is another. There are actually two bridges here.

One of them you travel across the water to the beach and the other takes you back to Long Island.

Another favorite stop, to make, is Friendly's. I did get to go there and had my favorite ice cream sundae! Unfortunately, Friendly's hasn't made it to Texas.

Here is my Sundae. Hot Fudge and Peanut Butter Sauce over Forbidden Chocolate Ice Cream. Just delightful. :)

Thanksgiving Day and More

2010-11-26T10:04:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

We started out our day, driving down I-35 from our home to The Texas Motor Speedway. Run For Grub, was being held there and our daughters, both runners, decided it would be fun to have mom and dad participate too. :) I must admit, I thought it was a great idea. However, we had 84 F or so for a high temp on Wednesday and it was about 43 at the race track, plus windchill when we arrived. Admission was 5 cans of food for local food banks. So, we trecked on down to the track.

Food was going into the green trailer. Everything was VERY well organized, too. Here's proof that we were there. The UPS STORE guy and our daughters.

Me and our daughters. I wore my woolen handknits and stayed plenty warm, even with the wind chill.

It was really fun to be able to be down on the infield of the track. The girls ran the track and we walked. It was a lot of fun and I think we will do it again next year.

So, here is another really funny video from you-tube. Even though you may not weave, you will enjoy this. All of the items used are necessary to weaving cloth, although, don't need as many of them. Enjoy!

The Color Purple

2010-11-19T10:06:00.003-06:00

You know, I knit so much that I forget, sometimes, that I really do like to crochet. So, when my friend, Peggy, announced that she was going to be a Grandma, I was really, really excited. I think that being a Grandma is really a lot of fun and a blessing.

I decided right away, that I wanted to make something special for her little granddaughter. I went looking in the filing cabinet(yep a filing cabinet) and found a great pattern. I used to crochet this pinafore for my own girls, and for gifts, years ago.

I used a nice cotton yarn, worsted weight, so it will be nice for Texas weather and soft to her skin.

After I was done, I thought that I should make some little bloomers to go with it. My friend, Kay, and I went into JoAnn's Fabric and found this fabric. It basically jumped off the shelf at us and said, use me! So, I did. I finished the seams with French seams, too.

One of Peggy's favorite colors is purple. Since she is the Grandma, I thought it appropriate for her granddaughter. :)

A New Scarf

2010-11-14T15:10:00.003-06:00

So, last Sunday, November 7, I wanted to make something really different. I wanted to make a different scarf. I had been reading about freeform crochet and knitting. I have been working on my color skills, too. So, I went to the boxes and found all the purple yarns, that I had in them. All sizes, shapes and weights. All shades, lights, mediums and darks. Purple can be a bit difficult to match up, but I wasn't really wanting to match, but I didn't want to hurt eyes either.

I started crocheting and then added knitting and went back to crochet. On and on it went. I worked all week(off and on) on this scarf and it is now done.

I really liked working in this medium and will probably make some more. AND I didn't even use up all my purples....... :)

Spinning and Soccer

2010-11-13T11:58:00.002-06:00

Wow! I spent a lot of time, this week, spinning this White Ice Yarn. I used Corriedale wool roving and mohair roving while adding some wonderful silver sparkle to make this wonderfully fluffy yarn. It was fun to do and was a custom order for a customer on etsy.

I, also, wanted to show you my Koffee Koats. They are for using when you purchase a cup of coffee. You don't have to use the cardboard cozy offered in the coffee shop. You can use a handmade one, reusable one. The more I work on these, the more I love them. The one pictured has sold, though. I use felted sweaters to sew some of the cozies and then knit others. Not only does the wool cozy protect your fingers from the heat of your tea or coffee, it helps to insulate your drink and keep it warmer just a bit longer.

THEN, last but not least, by any means. I went to see our younger granddaughter play soccer last Saturday. She has had a great time playing soccer this fall and I am told will be back at it in the spring. I hope to make it to more games in the spring. She is a good player. The day was chilly and she is the girl with the black pants on over her pink shin guards and she is in a pink shirt, not the yellow.

Reminder to self: Don't park where those cars are. The soccer balls are known to, and have been seen, flying over the goal posts and banging into the cars. It is better to walk a bit from the parking lot. :)

Check this out!

2010-11-09T11:32:00.001-06:00

They are at it again, the choir in Philadelphia, PA. Just gorgeous.

November already?????

2010-11-05T11:13:00.005-05:00

The middle to end of October ended up being my travelling time. The UPS Store guy and I celebrated our 37th anniversary! We took a weekend and went to San Antonio. This is a scene of a plaza in the downtown area. As the crow flies it is probably about 1/2 mile, maybe a bit more, to the Alamo. Here on this plaza was a battle, the one before the Americans went into the Alamo.

It makes you think and remember the sacrifices given by not only our ancestors, but all through our history and even now, for our freedom.

After San Antonio, I went to NY to see my mom. I had a great trip and visit with her!

A few weeks ago, I had sold, on etsy, the light and fluffy yarn, pictured below.

Here is what my customer did with it! I think that the scarf she made is absolutely gorgeous!

While traveling, I had a great knitting project with me. I used my handspun yarn and knitted a shawl/mobius, for one of my spinning and knitting friends. This yarn is a blend of Corriedale and Alpaca. I took other projects with me too. I probably took a year's worth of knitting with me. Good thing Southwest Airlines, loves luggage and bags. :)

Funny! and Sweet.

2010-10-14T14:17:00.002-05:00

I heard The UPS Store guy listening to a funny lady on his computer this morning. I went over to watch and she was really funny. I wanted to share the recording with you.

Hope you enjoyed this. Have a great day!

Say, YIPPEE, for the yarn stash!!

2010-10-10T13:02:00.004-05:00

You know, sometimes we feel bad for saving yarn, for creating a yarn stash, for hoarding little balls left from projects, for keeping that which is just a tiny amount of yarn. We feel bad when our yarn collection grows, to need a second or third or tenth plastic box. Or we feel guilty that it will no longer fit under the bed, but graduate to a closet. What about when it reaches the point of needing its own room?

You laugh. But, because I have a business of supplying people with roving and yarn, I now have a fiber/yarn room. :) It is small, though.....

I have more than 3 plastic boxes jammed full. BUT, in the end, it is worth the conversation or guilt or, or, or...... Please read on.

Years ago, when I was a beginning spinner, I purchased some merino roving. My oldest was newly married and I had the brilliant idea of making her a handspun, lightweight, lace shawl. It didn't matter that she wasn't into lightweight lace shawls(at the time) and really could've used a heavier weight shawl or even a jacket, since she lived in Montana. :) Nope, mom decided to make a lightweight lace shawl.

So, I figured out how to spin very fine merino yarn, without it falling apart. Which for a new spinner was in itself a task. Then, I decided to knit the shawl. Well, I wasn't very experienced in lace shawls either and this was also before Ravelry, and the wealth of patterns there. OH, actually it was before we even had a home computer! Needless to say, I didn't have a lot of choices for a pattern. Meaning, that I would have to make up something simple enough for a beginner, like myself, to knit in confidence. I took out my tiny little stitch book and came up with, what I guess, was my first design. :)

A couple of weeks ago, the shawl appeared back at my home. She came in carrying it, looking very upset and sad. "Mom, I wore this last night and snagged it. It has a tiny hole."

Much to her surprise, I said, "No problem honey, I still have the yarn. I had some left when I knitted it!" :) YIPPEEEEE for the stash!!!! So, I went to the room, found the right box and upstairs I went with the yarn. :)

Truth be known, it was a bug that attacked her shawl. Yes, she was very careful with this shawl over the years. Stored with cedar balls, etc. But, much to her dismay and mine, there were several holes(not lace holes, but bug holes).

After spending time in solitary confinement, the freezer, the shawl made its appearance to the kitchen table. The holes are all mended and the shawl went home to live with its very caring and loving owner.

This is the same corner, as above, only fixed. THANKS to the STASH!!

Here is a picture of the shawl on the dress form, after the repairs.

The shawl was saved. Not only saved, but saved well. Because, I had the matching yarn from my stash. Don't feel sorry for having a stash. If you don't want to have a stash, then you may wish to give the recipient of your hard work, a small skein of matching yarn, sealed in a sealing plastic bag. They can store it in a safe place with cedar or lavendar, so if ever needed, the item can be fixed.

Truth be known, I don't really think it was moths, because of how careful she is. I think it may have been crickets. You see, living in Texas we have soooo many bugs. Crickets are a real problem and they eat it all, cotton, wool, cardboard, you name it.

Go Rangers!!! and Twisted Sisters' Headband.

2010-10-08T08:38:00.004-05:00

Here in Texas, where people live for football games, it is unbelievable that we actually have 2 pro baseball teams. When I say that people LIVE for football, I am truly serious. They show high school football on the major network channels, local college too. One major TV station actually runs a contest each week, to see which high school game they will show.

Now, to make matters worse, we are in the Dallas Metroplex area. Where the Cowboys reside. I am not a fan of the Cowboys, if the truth be known. But, people in this area worship this team! I am truly serious, worship is the word. :) We have major news stories about them ALL year, even when they are not playing or practicing. People have to know about their team and who sneezes when.

So, being from a home where my dad loved all sports, I don't get this singling out one sport thing. I will watch football, I played in the band in high school and played for the games. I don't always understand them, but I will watch them and KNIT.

But, I really, really like baseball and I really, really, really like NASCAR. But, I am trying to talk about baseball today. I grew up in New York, specifically on Long Island. So, I am not a Yankee fan, I am a Mets fan and now a Rangers fan.

I must confess, though, that I don't often get to see a game on TV. But, I try to keep track of their progress and have been very excited for them this year.

Our Rangers, have had a tough year. But, it apparently has been good for them. Because these guys, who didn't know what was going to happen to their team, are in the PLAYOFFS!! The UPS STORE guy has decided to show support, they are wearing hats in the store to show support!

Here is one of my new knitting projects, meet Twisted Sisters' Headband. A winter headband. This pattern was inspired by one that I saw in a fashion magazine. The designer label one was listed for $100. :) I thought, that as knitters we could make these. Mine differs just a bit in the cable design, because I wasn't sure how close to get to the designer's. I have the pattern listed on etsy and listed on Ravelry.

Happy Knitting! And GO RANGERS!

First Saturday Dye Days

2010-10-02T17:36:00.004-05:00

The sun wasn't up yet, but I was. I was sooo excited, because I was going to go to First Saturday Dye Days at Fancy Fibers Farm. This was a real treat for me. On Friday night, I had put some water and vinegar in a bucket and soaked my yarns. Then this morning I squeezed out the extra water and put my yarns in a plastic bag. I drove to The Colony, where I met up with my friend Liz, and rode with her over to the farm.

We had quite a drive ahead of us. But you know how it is, when two women are in the car chatting, time flies by. One hour later, we were there.

I brought two sock blanks to dye and one skein of very bulky and slubby yarn to dye. Others brought yarn and spinning roving, while others purchased roving and yarns, from Mary, to dye.

I took one of the sock blanks that I had dyed during this past winter. I had actually done two sock blanks the exact same colors. Don't know why, guess it was just "brain fade." When you think about it, who wants 2 pairs of socks the same color???? Not me. AND my kids are past the "Let's match Mom faze of life." So, I decide to over dye one of the blanks.

To over dye, you just put new colors over the old. You do need to think about what your new color will be, when you do this. You don't want to end up with mud and you want to end up with a color you like. So, if you have yellow and over dye it with blue, you will have some shade of green.

I love jewel tones and look best in jewel tones. I know, this will be on my feet, but they will go with my clothes.

Here is the pretty pastel, dyed with Easter egg dyes, sock blank. The BEFORE.

After much discussion and thinking and help from my friends, I used black on one half and then used Teal, Purple and Aztec Gold on the other half.

Ta Da!!!! How about that? The wind was blowing, sorry it is blurry. THE AFTER.

The teal/blue color on the end is what is called waste yarn, it will be unravelled and not used.

Here is the second sock blank. I used Crimson, Black and Aztec Gold. (I like the gold color!)

Below you will see, my skein of very bulky yarn all the way to the left. I used Chestnut Brown, Golden Ochre and (you guessed it) Aztec Gold. :) Then you see my two sock blanks and some rovings from the others there. Oh, notice the farm in the background. What you cannot see are the beautiful chickens roaming around behind the fence, because the yarn is blocking the view.

Last, but not least, there is clean up. Many hands make light work. Here is Kay busy at work cleaning and rinsing out all of our dye cups, brushes and applicators. Thanks Kay!

A Christmas Ornament

2010-10-01T15:23:00.002-05:00

I wanted to let you see something that I have been working on. I have been asked to test knit and sort of help edit a pattern for my friend, Deb. She will be holding a class for knitting this ornament at a yarn shop close to her home.

I really like this ornament and it doesn't take any time. Well, it does take some time, just not a lot. It is a great gift.

Those that live in the Anoka area of Minnesota are very blessed with the fact that they can take a class from Deb. She is a wonderful inspiration and a great knitter and teacher.

Deb has designed the ornament, so that different fair isle patterns can be used on it.

Below is my ornament.

New Yarns

2010-09-24T14:16:00.003-05:00

There comes a time in every handspinners life, when you look into the closet of yarn and think, "Did I spin ALL that????!!!!" And you think to yourself, yep, you sure did. Sometimes there is more than you can ever possibly knit, crochet, or weave in a lifetime.

So, what do you do with it?
Well, some put it right back where it came from. One spinning friend I had put it in a book case with glass doors, to decorate her home. Some, like my friend Fibergeek, layed it all over her living room floor to figure out how best to use it. She already has a woven ruana finished!

Well, in sorting through mine, I thought that I might list a bunch of it in my TerrificCreations etsy boutique. So, I have been doing just that. It is great yarn and I love it all. I have had fun spinning it, too.

I have discovered something really cool. If I am emptying out the bins of yarn and fiber, there is room for NEW STUFF. :) So, that is a wonderful idea. I will be working on new yarns now and refilling the bins and refilling etsy.

Here is one of those handspun yarns. I purchased the handpainted roving from CordovaStudios and spun it into a great yarn.

Next is an upcycled, recycled, eco friendly, or whatever term you like to use. I took silk fabric and cut it and spun it into yarn, then I dyed it the luscious teal green color that you see.

Fair Isle Knitting

2010-09-21T16:14:00.003-05:00

Fair Isle knitting, or changing colors in the row as you knit, can be a bit of a challenge. If you don't know how to knit in the continental fashion, you may wish to learn it, after you see this video. The gal is holding one color of her yarn in her right and one color in her left hand. Watch and see how much easier the knitting is that way. I have done fair isle knitting with only my right hand, but when I learned to knit continental, I was surprised how much easier it became.

This video actually shows you how to catch the loop of the yarn being carried. It is a simple thing and I have done it this way and love it. So, when I saw this video I thought I would put it on the blog.

The Ultimate of Spinners, Spins

2010-09-13T18:19:00.002-05:00

Meet Zippedie and Doo-Daa, master spinners.

One day, I went to the door in my studio and looked out. There was Zippedie. Spinning away on a web. I was, at first aghast at the size of the spider and the web, but then I realized that it was what is commonly called a Zipper Spider, and since they eat mud daubers and wasps, amongst other things I decided to just watch it for a few days. Not a bad spider to have hanging around a house in the woods. However, her new home has hindered my coming and going of this particular door. So, Zippedie will probably be moved, not killed, just moved off the door and into the woods.

These spiders are very intriguing, as they spin a web, with a zigzag in it. That part is much thicker than the rest of the web. I read that it is one continuous strand too. But, this human spinner is not going to check that out. Sorry.

Here's Doo-daa. Doo-daa, is over by the pool. The lighting is better for Doo-Daa and Doo-Daa is smarter than Zippedie, cause I do not have to move this web. It is nicely placed out of the walkway, however, it does sort of give me the creeps when I walk by it. However, I read that the Zipper Spiders are not aggressive. This I know to be true. They must have read on their spider computers that most humans are not aggressive toward them, because they don't even move, when I get within 2 feet of them. They just sit there. Maybe they are thinking, "Oh, good, if she gets stuck in my web, I'll have food for a long time. Maybe she won't notice me." Who knows, but they aren't aggressive.

Here is some scientific information on the spinners of all spinners, taken from the Dirt Doctor's website. For more info, follow the link, if you want. :)

Common Name: The black and yellow argiope is also called banana spider, yellow garden spider, zipper spider, golden orb weaver and writing spider. The largest orb weaver in our gardens is the black and yellow argiope (Argiope aurantia). The female is large, the males being much smaller by comparison. Although big enough to deliver a bite, these spiders are not poisonous or aggressive.

Down With The Old and Up With The New

2010-09-07T10:30:00.005-05:00

So, imagine. It is about 3 a.m, and pa and ma are tucked in their bed, he with his hat and me with my bonnet(or whatever). So sound asleep, that neary a word is heard. When what do we hear and see in our sleep? Not Santa, not reindeer, nope, but a quick flash and a bang, right in our room.

We wake with a start and ma grabs for her glow in the dark flash light, which tumbles to the floor and under the bed, retreiving it, they comment on what in the world was that flash and bang. It isn't storming and it isn't raining..... On goes the flash light and they see the fan over their bed has stopped.

Aack, what caused that? Pa pulls on the string and it is dead. Ma tries the light string and the light works. Of course, pa didn't appreciate the bright lights in his face, but he recovered. :)

Pa says the fan is dead. He feels the fan, it is cool, and says we'll deal with it in the morning. Ma is agast, "What, the morning??? It is the morning????? What if it is a fire, what if... what if..... " Pa shakes his head, touches the fan and mumbles something about the armberture(which mom doesn't even know how to spell, much less what it means). He lays down and falls back to sleep.

Ma is wide eyed and lays staring into the black night.

Can you relate? Basically, the motor on the ceiling fan seized.

When day time arrived, Pa and Ma went off to Lowe's, the friendly hardware store. They purchased a new fan and a remote. Ma was told she can control this remote! She actually can control a remote!!!!! Not the TV remote, but a remote all the same. LOL!

So, on Labor Day, my wonderful husband labored not only with some "honey do projects," but he took down the dead fan and put up a new fan. Isn't he nice????? I think so and to think, I have control of the remote........

The old dead fan.

The new fan.

KNITTING! This is the Chill-Chaser Shawl. This is the pattern that I have had a bear of a time designing. But, in the end it is done and what a fun pattern it is. The pattern uses either sock yarn or worsted to bulky yarn. Directions are given for both.

You knit it sideways and then pick up for the ruffle. You can use different colors or the same colors, but I recommend, using the same weight yarn for the shawl and the ruffle. I tried it with the different weights and ripped that one out.

This one is a worsted weight cotton.

This one is black mohair, which is labeled bulky. I purchased the black mohair yarn in La Samaritaine, a large department store in Paris, France. I have started purchasing yarn as my souveniers, when I travel places. The teal was some mohair, that I purchased from Cindy at Jacob's Reward Farm, as ecru, and dyed it for the ruffle.

The nature of this shawl, is that it can be used as a scarf if needed, but when you get to where you are going, if you are chilly, use it as a shawl. OR, use it in the summer when you are going to an air conditioned building to chase away the chill. :)

The blue and purple shawl was made from my handspun yarn, a finer yarn, like sport weight. It is gathered together, then wrapped around the neck and the ends pulled through the loop.

The teal and gray one was made by Mary at Fancy Fibers Farm. She used her worsted to bulky weight handspun. The fiber she used to spin the grayer portion is sari-silk, which she sells. She blended it with the teal as she spun.

The pattern, Chill-Chaser, can be found on my etsy site. Terrific Creations .

Finished Projects

2010-09-04T09:22:00.002-05:00

Now that the studio is done being remodeled and I have moved back in and hung up the pictures on the walls, I was able to set up the sewing machine on its desk and get it going again. It was a bit shocked when I turned it on, and we had to introduce ourselves to each other again, but in the end we were friends.

Before we had even emptied the room out, I had a pattern and fabric to make myself a spinner's apron. Actually, I had 2 patterns and couldn't make up my mind. So, I made one pattern and took it to spinning and it sold that day. :) Then I had a commission to make another one, that was nice! So, back to my apron, I had the 2 patterns and kept tossing it around. Well, the day came and the decision had to be made. I decided to go with an old Daisy Kingdom pattern that I had kept for years.(See a stash can be a good thing!)

Below is the pocket close-up, because I was hoping you could see the sheep. Spinner's apron/sheep, right?? Oh, I didn't use the pocket from the Daisy Kingdom pattern, I used a bigger pocket, cause spinner's can have lots of stuff to put in that pocket while spinning.

This is the whole apron. It crosses in the back, so you have to put it on over your head. If you aren't a spinner, and even if you are one, you may be wondering why I wanted an apron for spinning. Well, I am just tired of wearing my clean clothes to spin in and then having them covered with wool, mohair, bamboo(especially bamboo) and the other fibers that I work with. I do carry a lint brush, and that does help to get the fibers off of my clothes, but I thought this might be a good idea. It is worth a try and I love blue! :)

Finished! My Mr.Greenjeans sweater, made from black yarn. It fits and it is done, so that I can wear it when our temperaturs cool off. I am so glad to have it done. I used Ashford Tekapo yarn for it and I love it.

The pattern for Mr. Greenjeans is a free pattern on Ravelry. The designer named it such, because the color of yarn, that she used, is named Mr. Greenjeans. I did change the pattern a little. The neckline was very wide and I didn't want a sweater that would be falling off my shoulders. The sweater is knit from the top down, so when I cast on, I used the smaller needle called for. When done, I tried it on and it was still too wide, falling off shoulders wide. While picking up for the center front ribbing and back ribbing, I picked up across the back in 3 sts and then skipped 1. Thus, having 3 sts for every 4 across the back. It worked! I am very happy with the fit.

A Great Spinning Wheel!

2010-08-30T14:51:00.002-05:00

We spent college years in Minnesota. It was a fun place to live and I loved living there. Part of the great experience was all the wonderful people we met and made friends with. We still know several of those people and still communicate with them.

One of those families, Duane and Sharon, just went to the Minnesota State Fair. When they were walking through one of the pavilions, they thought of us. :) Why??? Well, because of this great spinning wheel. Isn't it fabulous?? The nameplate on it says, Patriot.

It actually won a blue ribbon.

In looking at it I noticed some similarities to the Majacraft Rose, which itself is a wonderful wheel, and made in New Zealand. But, as I looked closer, I realized that this wheel is its own design. They may have used some ideas from the Rose, but they went a bit further.

It is a great wheel, and I am sure the owner enjoys using it.

Oklahoma!

2010-08-29T12:07:00.005-05:00

A couple of weekends ago, we were able to attend a small family gathering at Sequoyah State Park in Oklahoma. Not all of our family was able to be there, and those that weren't there were missed. But, it was wonderful for those of us who could make it, we did have a good time.

We gathered on Friday night for dinner, then spent all day Saturday out on a pontoon boat on the lake. We went swimming and tubing. Yes, I did go tubing! What fun! We grilled out for supper on both Friday and Saturday nights. Then on Sunday we were able to spend some time together for breakfast, and The UPS Store guy and I headed back to Texas.

Our grown kids were there, with the granddaughters. My brother, Doug, and his wife, Cathy, flew in from New York! It had been almost a year since I had seen them. Also, my nephew, Craig and his friend Amy were there.

Below are some pictures that I took. I didn't want to chance having the camera on the boat. I know myself to well, as it is, I knocked granddaughter's goggles off the boat and they sunk into the "sea."

This was the view from our room. Yes, brown grass. Alas, they have been having the high scorching heat we have been having in Texas.

Boat marina, where the pontoon boat came from.

Camera was left in the car. The rest of the pictures are of us, after a full day in the sun on the lake.

Here's our wonderful, Anna. :) Some say she looks like me. Don't know about that....

Our wonderful Rebekah, granddaughter and nephew, Craig. Cousins.

Sunset on the lake. The view from the cabin.

The chefs hard at work. Cooking the hamburgers. Chad(Rebekah's husband) and The UPS Store guy behind the smoke from the grill.

My brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Cathy, waiting to put the cheese on the burgers. Cathy is the wonderful artist who painted my Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel. If you click on the link, I am sitting at it spinning.

Sequoyah State Park is a great park and we all had a wonderful time.

Knitting, Knitting and Knitting

2010-08-27T13:13:00.003-05:00

After the computer issues of last weekend, which were by the way, operator error, I have spent time knitting and taking pictures in different rooms. I wanted to see how I liked the lighting in other areas of the house. I have mainly used the front hall, under a sky light. That is great most days, until people try to use the front hallway, to come in the house. Then it isn't so cool. I have to say, "No, honey, don't come in the house." Truly, that is not a good idea, when it is 105 F outside and your husband is the one banned from the front hallway. :) Not to mention the continual mess in the front hallway.

So, off I traveled, around the house to other areas. I used a white piece of fabric as a back drop in some places, since alot of the house is still dark paneling, I ended up using my new studio room. So far, it seems to be working well.

This is a new cowl that I just finished. I used my handspun yarn in this project and listed it to etsy today.

This little pixie hat is knit with acrylic yarn and is on etsy too. It fits a toddler to about 4 years old.

This is the newest pattern that I have just published. It is for baby girls. The pattern comes in two sizes, 6 months and 1 year. It is listed both on etsy and Ravelry. I like this pattern, because the cables form X's and O's and that means hugs and kisses. :) The name of it is Hugs and Kisses Poncho.

A Treasury!

2010-08-22T13:32:00.005-05:00

Today, one of my etsy items made it into a treasury! Here is the Trinket shawl that can also be a scarf. You can wear it either way, making it a totally fabulous garment. Not only are there finished ones in my etsy shop, TerrificCreations, but the pattern is there too.

So, try as hard as I can. I cannot figure out how to post the entire treasury here. I have done it once before, but I have read and read and am not able to figure it out again. This weekend has been one of those weekends, where the computer and I are not friends.

I know this because every time I ask it to do something, it says nope. :) Friends will sometimes say yes. :)

It reminds me of a quote from the movie "You've Got Mail."

"You think this thing is your friend, it is not. " said by Greg Kinnear, talking to Meg Ryan about her laptop computer.

I think of this quote a lot........ Off to better things, like knitting.

You know, knitting and yarn are your friends. You say knit, the yarn does it. You say let's rip out, it does it. No back talk from the knitting needles or yarn. Hmmm. I am going to find my real friend right now. The knitting project waiting downstairs.

Oh, and the chocolate and coffee, they are friends too.

Knit Cast Ons

2010-08-09T11:02:00.003-05:00

Wow! On my etsy knitters list this morning, Mette, one of our moderators, posted a link for the following Berroco Yarn Company's Cast On video. This is a great video. If you are an experienced knitter, you may already know how to cast on as suggested in the video.

BUT, near the end of the video is a great idea for the long tail cast on that I have never seen before. I am going to start using it for sure!

If you use the long tail cast on, you won't ever run out of yarn while casting on again.
Check it out. :)

Hope you enjoyed the video.

Rainbow Sherbet

2010-07-27T15:17:00.005-05:00

Well, this isn't the frozen treat, but my last handspun yarn made during the Tour De Fleece.
As the finale Lil' D, Charity(the sheep), and JoJo wanted to present it to you in grand fashion. They insisted since it was summer I should have the lighthouses present. The lighthouse on the left is out on the southern most eastern tip of Long Island. It is called the Montauk Point Lighthouse.
The one on the right, is on Fire Island. Fire Island is a long thin island off the southern shore of Long Island. It is actually in the Atlantic and is where I spent many, many hours at the beach when I was younger.

Here is another view of Rainbow Sherbet. I have 296 yards of a sport yarn. It is 14 wraps per inch and 3 ounces. After spinning the yarn, I plied it on itself.

Hummingbird 2 and Coffee Cake

2010-07-25T11:40:00.003-05:00

This week proved to be very interesting in the hummingbird world, around the house in the woods. I had allowed myself to use up all of the store bought mix for the hummingbird drink, because I wanted to try the homemade mix that I had a recipe for. I had found the recipe on the internet.

When I refilled the fabulous blue feeder, with the red spout, all was quiet and then it happened. We started having hummingbird wars! Good grief, didn't they know there was plenty to go around? I thought about lecturing them on sharing. I thought about time out, but couldn't find a pattern for a hummingbird chair. There was just no talking to a bird. LOL!

So, I capitulated. Today we went to Lowe's. The UPS Store guy purchased his man stuff, but we also went to the bird aisle and found hummingbird feeders. Here is one that I found and purchased. Maybe I can show them there is plenty. We'll see.

This one has 4 little spouts and I still have the blue one up. If they cannot figure out how to share and still want to have wars, then so be it.

Yummmm. I have been looking through the cookbook, that I found those cinnamon cookies in, and found this very easy coffee cake. Simple ingredients and much less expensive and can be better for you than a purchased one. You can substitute part whole wheat flour for part of the white flour. You can also use extra virgin olive oil, in place of the shortening. If you do that you just mix the olive oil to the flour, there is no need to cut it in, obviously. I did replace the shortening with the oil(extra virgin olive oil) and it tasted very good.

Coffee Cake

Filling and topping
½ cup brown sugar 2 Tbs. melted butter
2 tsp cinnamon ½ c chopped nuts
2 Tbs flour ¼ c dates or raisins
Blend these ingredients together well, set aside.

Coffee cake batter
1 ½ c sifted flour ¼ c shortening
3 tsp baking powder 1 egg
¼ tsp salt ½ c milk
¾ c sugar
-Mix dry ingredients in bowl and cut in shortening.
-Beat egg well, and add milk to egg.
-Pour liquid into dry ingredients, mix.
-Spread half of the batter into a greased 8x8” or 9x9” pan.
-On top of this sprinkle half of the filling.
-Next spread the other half of the batter on top of the filling.
-Last sprinkle the remaining half of the filling on top.
-Bake 375 F for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
-When cool sprinkle with confectioners/powdered sugar if desired.

There you have it. Hope you enjoy this coffee cake. :)

Wait There's More

2010-07-23T14:24:00.002-05:00

I am still spinning yarn every day. You know, I hadn' t been doing this much spinning and I am really enjoying it. I will have to keep it up, when the Tour De Fleece is over.

Below is a 3.8 oz roving, handpainted by Cordova Studios. I have named it Rainbow Sherbet. The fiber is a superwash merino, and I have tried to spin it pretty fine.

Here's another WIP that I have just finished. I purchased the roving for this when I went to Kid and Ewe, in Boerne, TX Nov, 2009. I have a lb of it and it is a wool/mohair blend. Altogether, I have 889 yards.

Hummingbird, Yarn, and a Smart Car

2010-07-18T12:43:00.005-05:00

As a gift this year, one of our daughters gave me this absolutely beautiful blue, Hummingbird feeder. I haven't ever had one before and I didn't know if this lone feeder, in the woods of Texas would attract a hummingbird, but I was willing to try. And since the feeder was so pretty who wouldn't want it hanging up outside?

The UPS Store guy quickly hung it up and then I finally filled it, and within several hours I saw a hummingbird at it! It is truly amazing. I can see this fabulous feeder right outside my kitchen window and when I am washing dishes or cooking I look and see hummingbirds now.

So, yesterday, I went outside and sat in the 100 F heat to take pictures. Thankfully, it is in the shade. I sat very still and here came a hummingbird. The first picture is the approach, while they check out the surroundings.

They generally do a "fly by" and come back in, after it looks safe. Amazing little creatures.
Here is one drinking. If you look closely you can see the shadow of their wings, as they flutter back and forth so quickly.

I noticed that there is a dead branch that they will sit on, while they scope out the surroundings, too.

Oh, and my wind-chime. Here is an idea for you. Not my original idea, but Rebekah's. We went to Canton, the flea market, and found these old army spoons, with holes in the tips of the handles and found some metal strainers. Using fishing line, we tied it all together in the shape of a windchime and it works! It is a great piece to have hanging outside on the porch.

Part of my Tour De Fleece yarn is this fabulous red yarn. I had carded the batts and made the roving previously on this blog. Well, it is finally finished. I added the mohair curls for texture and some white angelina fiber for sparkle. Then I plied it with red thread, to add more texture. In the skein pictured, there are 116 yards of a very soft bulky art yarn.

Another view.

Last but not least. This little Smart Car was seen in Rome, Italy. Cute, isn't it? With crocheted granny squares all over it. Wonder what my Chevy Blazer would look like wearing a sweater or even the UPS Store guy's Pontiac. Hmmm. Could have some fun with that one. LOL!

The Infinite Loop

2010-07-15T18:23:00.002-05:00

Every once in a while, a new design comes along that is pretty fascinating. My friend Cindy, from Jacob's Reward farm, posted this and I wanted you to see it too.

You can purchase her pattern for $10, it includes the directions for wearing it as well as knitting it. Here is her blog link should you decide you want to purchase this pattern.

Knitting and Spinning

2010-07-09T13:32:00.002-05:00

Lately, I have been busy knitting baby items. Here is a baby dress. The size is up to 6 months. This morning, I was able to get the pictures edited and put up into my etsy shop, TerrificCreations. This was fun to knit and I really do like how it came out.

On Ravelry, there is a Tour De Fleece happening. We are spinning our wheels in support for the bicyclers in the Tour de France. :) Truthfully, I think they have the harder job, but I am having a lot of fun. There are teams for this. I am on Team Coffee and Chocolate. (we figured we needed these two food groups to be successful) The discussion on our team is happening under the group of Texas Twisters.

We were to challenge ourselves in our spinning projects. I thought that a good challenge for me, was to spin EVERY day. So, that is what I am trying to do. So far, I have made it. Well, the first day, I almost missed, because midnight came to quickly. But, I went and spun before I went to bed, so I consider that the first day still.

I have been able to finish a large spinning project that I think I started in February. It is 2 lbs of fiber and I spun it at about a worsted weight yarn and plied it. I have 1700 yards!! Plenty for a sweater. It is a gorgeous dark teal color.

Now, I am working on the RED. I have some red mohair curls and I am adding the curls to the wool fiber as I spin. By holding the curls up to the spinning wool, the curl will catch into the wool and be fluffy. Here is my red yarn, so far.

Another knitting project has been, another Playtime Sweater. I think I have knitted it 3 times now.

Learning

2010-07-04T11:18:00.004-05:00

For my birthday, I received this great little notebook. Being such a computer geek novice, I have used it in limited amounts. Basically, scared that I might break it. :) So, this morning when we decided to go to the local Panera Bread for breakfast, we decided to take our notebooks. Sitting here at the table, I learned some more info about connecting to a public WiFi and then the suggestion was made to open the web cam.

A whole new world has opened up to me!

Behind us was a man who we have seen before, from afar. The first time we saw him we saw him playing chess with a girl and he was using his computer. I was thinking why would a grown man need a computer to beat a little girl at a game?????? After thinking about it, I thought maybe he was a chess teacher. Turned out, that was right, as we discovered this morning.

Knitting, Spinning and Baking

2010-06-29T09:20:00.002-05:00

Last winter, wow! that seems like a long time ago, when I was carding some batts and working with the red fiber, I carded this batt. It consists of a very soft white shetland and some of the excess colors from my licker drum of the carder. The licker drum is the smaller of the two drums. Not knowing what to do with the wool pulled off of it, I thought I would blend it with this white and spin it very fine. Fine, that is the operative word here. Joanne does fine, slowly. Cause she does sometimes get bored with it and wants to hurry it up to move onto the next project. So, I leave it on the bobbin and do move on and come back to it. The red is STILL waiting to be spun, by the way.

These are two pictures of the same skein. The skein weighs in at 1 0unce of yarn and has 270 yards of yarn in it. I spun it very fine, and then plied it with sewing thread for an interesting texture and so that I would have more yardage in the skein, without having to double it up for plying on itself.

There are several different colors in this yarn and even some sparkle.

Meet Playtime! This is my newest pattern. It can be made for a boy or girl and the directions are for sizes 6 months, 1 year and 2 years. This can be found in my TerrificCreations shop and on Ravelry under TerrificFibers or Joanne T (designer). Worsted weight yarn is used for knitting all sizes of this sweater.

I saved the best for last. :) Yesterday I was looking for a different cookie recipe to make. I was looking through a Mennonite Cookbook, that a friend gave me. The first printing of this book was 1950 and the one that I have is 1978. I just love old cookbooks!

The cookies are great by the way. Even The UPS Store guy liked them, and so did the employees.

Cinnamon Cookies

2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
3 cups of flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon soda
½ cups chopped nuts (optional)
Combine sugar and cinnamon.
Beat eggs until light and add sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Sift flour.
Measure and add soda. Sift again.
Add sifted dry ingredients and stir until smooth.
Add chopped nuts and blend into dough.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet, spaced 2 to 3 inches apart.
Bake at 375 F for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned.
Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Note: I am not Martha. :) I didn't sift flour and then add baking soda and sift again. :) I stirred the baking soda into the flour with a teaspoon. There really is no shortening/butter in this recipe.

I hope you enjoy these cookies. We are.

A Happy Time

2010-06-27T13:52:00.007-05:00

Every once in a while you receive a link to a perfomance that happens in a mall, train station or another public venue. It seems to be somewhat of a surprise to the people around but, in the end you see those people relax, smile and be happy, while watching art in one form or another.

I hope you will enjoy this little clip of art and it will help you to relax and smile today. :) If you don't see the whole video, try clicking on the video itself, after it starts and the whole picture should show up.

On Saturday, April 24th, the Opera Company of Philadelphia teamed up with the Reading Terminal Market Italian Festival for a large-scale "Flash Opera" event! Over 30 members of the Opera Company of Philadelphia Chorus and principal cast members of LA TRAVIATA performed the famed "Brindisi" in the aisles of Reading Terminal Market, entertaining hundreds of Philadelphians, and proving that the perfect accompaniment for all things Italian is a little Verdi! The Opera Company sincerely thanks members of the Opera Company of Philadelphia Chorus and cast for generously volunteering their time and talents... BRAVI TUTTI!! LA TRAVIATA ran from May 7 - 16 at the Academy of Music. For info: operaphila.org

Before and Almost After

2010-06-22T15:35:00.004-05:00

When we moved to the house in the woods, several years ago, we knew we were buying a fixer-upper and that it would take time, money and energy to get the house to be what we would like. But, we were both willing for the challenge and took the plunge.

So, I "got a bee in my bonnet" back in November, 2009, that I wanted to paint the paneling in the sewing room. I wanted to see in there. The 1960's paneling is all over this section of the house, with an old gold and brown rug. Talk about dark.

Well, the UPS Store guy said, "we should just do it right and take down the paneling and put up wallboard." So, we(he) did just that. There were a few trials along the way, aren't there always?
Then he decided the rug should go too. I would've ripped it up for him, I was so anxious for that to go, but he said that he would do it. And he did.

Well, here are the before pictures. They are taken with a flash and lights on. The almost done pictures were taken with lights off and no flash. :)

Damage on this desk. You cannot really notice but all the paneling was pretty scratched up too.

The desk is a great built in. We left it.

Here's the during! The toe moulding and flooring aren't in yet, in these pictures.

All of my knitting books have fit into the shelves above the desk! For the first time, all of them are in the same room! No more running around the house, looking for just the one. Well, of course, that is assuming I don't leave them out somewhere. :) The front of the desk is navy blue, with the insides white.

Walls are a VERY LIGHT light blue. Notice the new window and the frame around it. When he took out the single pane window, he replaced it with a longer one. The flooring is in below, but still no toe moulding.

Better picture of the window, with the view of the woods and pond. :) That's the flooring on his table.

Now I am busy loading it up with my things. I will get more pictures soon, so you can see it. This room is now officially the STUDIO. Where I will be writing patterns, designing patterns, sewing, and any other project I can come up with. The UPS Store guy says, "Great, she will be too busy, to design another room." LOL! But, I can multi-task, he'll see.

Happy Father's Day and A Basket Class

2010-06-20T14:16:00.005-05:00

First and foremost on our minds today is: Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. My dad passed on in 2000, but I still think about him on this day, well and on many other days too to be honest. My dad was a great person. He taught me about God. He taught me how to love people unconditionally. He taught me to be honest. He taught me to be funny and love God, family and country. He was a WWII vet. He is always in my heart.

Today I wish a Happy Father's Day! to my husband, son-in-law, brothers and nephew and any other guy that might find this blog. :)

Here are two special dads. The UPS Store guy and our son-in-law. Thank you, both, for being the men that you are. :)

Well, one of the crafty things that I have been doing lately is taking a basket class. I love baskets. They are all over my house. I haven't really ever purchased an expensive basket, but I love the ones that I have. At spinning one day, the subject came up, "Let's make a spinner's basket!" We all thought sure, we can do that! It didn't matter to us that most of us had NEVER made a basket, we knew we could do it. Piece of cake. (hahahaha!) I now know why baskets are expensive. :)

So, we scheduled the class and about 12 of us showed up for that class. The instructor was/is great. But, we needed a second class. So, we went back in shifts. 12 people, most beginners, was really too much for one class.

The day arrived for my second class. It had rained and a cold front had moved in. Yipppeeeeee! A cold front in TX in June is a miracle. The temperature was about 78F, when I arrived and arranged my things.

One of the first things that I saw was a hummingbird. Just lovely and I had to share it.

Here is my basket. The basket is made in two levels. At our first class we made the bottom level and the second class was for the top level(which is attached to the bottom level). Not really for beginners, but our teacher, Nancy was great about it and helped us! She is a spinner too.

Notice the ice water, ice melted. The spray bottle was used to spray the reeds and to spray ourselves. Our cold front quickly heated up to 95F and sunny.

Kate is working hard on her top basket. We made the top basket and attached it to the bottom basket at the same time. (Notice another spray bottle) It was hot.

Kay finished her basket, isn't it pretty!!! (notice water spray bottle and 2 water bottles to drink from, remember it is TX)

Kate's basket is finished! Just wonderful! On Kate's you can see the dowel rod that sits into the handle, to hold your bobbins.

Laurie finished her basket too. She did some fancy weaving on the bottom of her top basket. Pretty isn't it? (another spray bottle) :)

On to my basket. From the top. I put in a little bit of extra on the bottom of the top basket too. The holes in there were pretty big.

When we made the second basket that sits on top of the bottom one, we could add more color, I used more blue and some orange with it.

Here it is all finished, ready and waiting for spinning fiber!

Before leaving, Nancy, gave us an ice cream cone! Thanks Nancy! We are so grateful to her, that she was willing to help about 12 spinners make a spinner's basket, and that she has E-Z pop up tents, so we could work in the shade.

Oh, and we told her that we would love to come back (in the fall) and take a beginner class now. Seriously, we did tell her that and we do mean it. It was a lot of work to make this basket, but it was fun.

And you know, I love baskets. :)

New and Old

2010-06-12T07:30:00.005-05:00

Just a week or so ago, we had Camp G-G going on here. I think it is safe to say that we all had a good time. The day that their dad and mom came home, we had gone to the house and turned up the air conditioning, it was 95 F outside, and then we were able to get everything unpacked and ready for their dad and mom's arrival. We even hung Welcome Home signs around the house. I had thought that that would be a good activity for the day, because I could just see them standing and watching the clock allllll day, and running to the front window, waiting for the magic time. This way I kept them busy and before you knew it their dad and mom walked through the door. :) Sneaky Gramma, aren't I?

I stayed a few minutes to ask about their trip and hear about the cruise. They did have a great time. Before I could go, I was pleasantly surprised to see this fabulous basket/tote emerge from the suitcase! It was a gift for me! I love totes, who doesn't, AND I love baskets. :) I have it all in one. I was told that they went into a booth and were watching the local women making these totes. They decided to purchase one for me. There was also one there decorated like Dora the Explorer. Phew! Thank you for not purchasing that one for me.

This is the NEW. The new absolutely gorgeous knitting bag! The center of the flower has small sea shells attached.

The OLD??? Well, when I married The UPS Store guy in 1973, Avocado Green was the color of the day. Actually, so was an Antique Gold color. I went with the Avocado Green. No blues, no stainless steel, not even black appliances. Avocado Green. OK. So, when shower gifts and wedding gifts arrived, and they were appliances, family and friends purchased Avocado Green for me. OH, and if you remember or are too young to remember, we didn't have the great registries that are popular now. We couldn't go to Target and sign up and have a list print out for family and friends around the country. Actually, I don't think we even had Target yet. Geeeshh.

So, our moms would keep a list. They would take us to the store, recommend items and write the list. Mine had a notebook she kept the list in, with everything else we had to remember. We didn't have wedding planners(the people) then either. Family and friends would call and ask what was on the list and she would tell them. The choice was made and their name written next to the item. Mind you, we didn't have lots of model choices either, so we didn't have to be too explicit. A green blender. A green waffle maker/ griddle. A green electric skillet.

Also, in 1973 Teflon II was the BIG rage. I received several appliances with that form of Teflon II and I still have them. This weekend I decided that it is time, after 36 1/2 years, to ditch the waffle maker. (I hear my girls cheering in the background) You see, the Teflon II never really worked well, for me anyway. Yes, I seasoned it and seasoned it, and seasoned it, but the waffles always stuck. They stuck on the bottom and the top, so when you opened the maker you had a split waffle.

Appliances have come a long way in the last century, so I think maybe now there might be a better one. I am tired of eating waffle chips, as we named them the other night. They split and I have to stand there and scrape them out.

Say goodbye to the old.

You know, the plates come out of this and flip over to be a griddle for pancakes or a squished sandwich maker(the precursor to the panini).

You ask why on earth did she put up with that for sooooo long????? The answer. I don't know. :)

New Knitting!

2010-06-05T09:05:00.004-05:00

In the creative mind, there are always new ideas floating around, but never enough time to get those ideas produced. At least in my mind and in my time schedule.

I would love to be able to write everything I make into a new pattern. I try, but some patterns take me several months to write and some of those designs, I will actually knit up 3 or 4 times, before I hand the pattern to my trusty test-knitters to knit or editors to read. You see, I do most of the work by myself on my patterns, from the beginning sketches to the knitting, editing, layout, photography, picture editing, tech editing and final printing/publishing. I even do some of the charts, BUT, most of my charts are done by my good friend, Liz. Thank you Liz!

Sometimes, I just have a brain-freeze and need to just create, knit, take notes and NOT write a pattern. It is like a vacation for my brain, I guess.

This project is just one of those times. It is a baby girl dress, made out of cotton yarn. No one in my family is expecting, that I know of anyway. So, I have listed this dress for sale in my etsy shop. It should fit a 3 to 6 month little girl.

It is fun to knit items for babies and try new ideas. I used a picot edge stitch for the hem and for the edgings around the armholes and neckline.

I used the Daisy pattern, that I sell, for the bodice embellishment and then embroidered some lazy daisy stitches on the skirt of the dress. The stripes are knitted in.

Then I thought, what about a shrug for a baby? Not just any shrug, but a lacy shrug???? So here is my lacy shrug. It fits a 3 month old and it is in the etsy shop too.

Here is the back, you can see the lace stitches better on the back.

Ever Done the Nupp Stitch?

2010-05-31T17:39:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I received the link to this you-tube video. Have you ever done the Nupp(noop) stitch? I haven't but it looks like a pretty cool stitch to add texture to your knitting projects.

I hope everyone has had a safe and fun Memorial Day, with some time reflecting and being thankful to the brave soldiers who have given their lives in service to our country.

Painted Bags and My Spinning

2010-05-30T11:00:00.001-05:00

Camp G-G ended with finished bags, full of yarn. Imagine that? Gramma filling the bags with yarn, some knitting needles and crochet hooks. I thought it a good idea, that I was starting the girls with their yarn stash early in life. :) The bags were painted by the girls and then the next day I added rhinestones to the bags. I used the Darice Gemstone Setter that I purchased at Joann's Fabrics. The girls were excited to have glitter added to their new bags.

I have to tell you, it was a precious sight for me, to go checking on the girls, to see what they were doing, and finding them sitting, knitting and crocheting. I loved seeing the creative juices flow in the projects this week.

Camp G-G is over. Daddy and Mommy came home from their cruise. Did I mention they were celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary with a cruise? CONGRATULATIONS! To Chad and Rebekah.

Saturday arrived and I was off to the Sassy Spinster in Lancaster, TX, with my Texas Twisters spinning group. Sassy Spinster is a wonderful yarn, fiber, weaving and spinning shop. The owner let us invade her store to spin. I say invade, because we were a group of about 11 people yesterday.

I carpooled down there with 2 other friends, Terri and Laurie. I met Laurie and then drove to another parking lot to meet up with Terri. Terri offered to drive to Lancaster, which is south of Dallas off of I-20.

Well, The UPS Store guy was wondering how 3 women, 3 spinning wheels, our fiber, our knitting, our snacks, our drinks(it is 90+ now in TX, so we take drinks everywhere), and our chairs would fit into a Toyota Prius! Yep, a Toyota Prius. Truthfully, Terri, Laurie and I wondered the same thing, so we had my Blazer as a back up.

I am happy to say that we did it! Yep, we got all of our stuff into the Prius and headed down to Lancaster.

I am still amazed at how much this Prius held. And if anyone from Toyota sees this, yes, we are available for an ad. LOL!!

Oh and I forgot to mention that we went shopping, of course. What woman doesn't shop, when in a store???? Then we browsed in other stores, too, and made some more purchases. If that wasn't enough, we also were bringing home 5 dozen eggs, total, not a piece. We managed to hook up with Mary of FancyFibers and purchased some of her wonderful farm fresh eggs.

Mary has a CSA(Community Supported Agriculture) farm. She is selling shares to her farm and you can find her info here. Her share purchase includes spinning fiber, if you are a spinner OR yarn if you are a knitter. Check out her info. You will receive other benefits too, and you will know where your yarn/fiber comes from. It will come from an independently owned farm in the USA. :)

Now back to the Sassy Spinster. We made it there and what a great day we had spinning. I took my Ashford Joy wheel, I packed small, knowing we were trying to take the Prius. It fit like a gem behind the front seat.

I have some great wool/mohair blend that I am spinning on it and managed to get this bobbin filled. I am aiming for a worsted weight yarn. We'll see what I end up with.

I do have a skein of the yarn plied and ready to go. Thought you might like to see it, too.

Weighing in at only 11 lbs. The Ashford Joy wheel is great to take places. It now comes, standard, with Ashford's new sliding hook flyer. If you would like an Ashford Joy, you can find them on my website.

Knitting, Crocheting and Painting

2010-05-27T09:46:00.001-05:00

Another day of Camp G-G and we were busy again.

Here is our new knitter in action.

Here is our new crocheter in action.

Our arts and craft project for the day was painting tote bags, with our some of our favorite things on them.

N is putting names of her friends on hers.

C is using stars and hearts to decorate her bag.

Today we plan to put rhinestones on the bags! We have bubbles to play with AND a pool to swim in. We have been in the pool each day this week.

Camp Grampa and Gramma

2010-05-26T15:21:00.000-05:00

Or as commonly known: Camp G-G, is now open. We are having lots of fun. The first day of camp we made fancy flip-flops by tying 5 inch to 6 inch ribbons on the straps.

We had pink, gold, ecru, blue, and polka dot ribbons to tie onto the flip-flops. Lot's of glittery ribbons. Here they are done! They are just fabulous.

Knitting and crocheting are also activities going on at Camp G-G. Here we have C's first knitting project. We decided it would be a shawl for her doll and we have added a button to it for a closure.

Tea Parties are a must at Camp G-G. We have lots of fun outfits to wear to tea.

Friday Night Play

2010-05-23T11:27:00.000-05:00

The Public Library Children's Theatre

Presents

King Thrushbeard

The Brothers Grimm

I arrived early for the dinner and play and as I waited in my car, I looked up to see the flags that I had parked under. What a wonderful sight! I had to show you. Glistening in the sun with the gorgeous blue sky in the background.

Older sister was not in the play on Friday, but she would be in the play the next night as it would be performed two times. That way every child would get to perform. She was to play the princess on night two.

Younger sister was in the play I went to see. She played the character of the maid. She would open and close the curtains between the scenes and talk to the other maid about the story line. This Gramma thinks she did a fabulous job.

She is the one on the left in my pictures.

After the play her mom and dad gave her roses. A happy girl, who loved the play and asked immediately to be in next years production. :)

Good job!!!

In a Treasury

2010-05-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

On etsy, a member can make a treasury of some of their favorite things. Treasuries help others see what items are for sale, without having to look to hard for them. They are fun to see and look at, because you see what others like.

Yesterday, I was in a treasury. My shop, http://www.terrificcreations.etsy.com/ was featured by http://www.cordovastudios.etsy.com/ in a great treasury. Not only that, but when I looked at the treasury, the first picture is my daughters shop, http://www.sunnybrookfarmdesign.etsy.com/ . That is fun to see. My friend, Mary, owns http://www.fancyfibers.etsy.com/ and she is in there too.

Thank you Kay for including us all in your Treasury!

SunnyBrookFarmDesign is the first picture on the left.
FancyFiber is the green mohair fluff on the top row, right.
CordovaStudios is the bottom row, right.
and
TerrificCreations(mine) is the center bottom row.

Happy Mothers' Day

2010-05-09T14:58:00.000-05:00

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY TO YOU!!

I am hoping that you had a wonderful and relaxing Mothers' Day today. We were able to go to brunch with our daughters and our oldest daughter's family. We had a wonderful time.

Being a creative person, I tried to instill creativity into our daughters when they were small. Both are very artistic and create wonderful items. It does this mother's heart good, to see the projects that they both work on. In turn, I love to see art being passed on to the next generation. Below is a necklace made for me by my younger granddaughter. She and her sister are blessings in our lives and I love my necklace. I put it on and wore it into the Cheesecake Factory, with pride and happiness. :)

Do you ever hit a road block when you are working on a project? I do. These past few weeks, while I have been trying to work on knitting and writing a new pattern, I hit a road block of frustration. First off, I made my first 2 prototypes from a yarn, that doesn't really have a typical gauge. I discovered this after the fact.

I wrote the pattern using the gauge for that yarn, only to discover that when I tried to make a third (yes third) one, that the new yarn didn't meet the gauge of the first two items and it was knitting up toooooo loooooose. :) Sooo, I added a new gauge and size to the pattern. THEN, when finished, I discovered that the yarn I had just used, didn't really meet any other gauge either. So, at this point, I decided I would have to knit this item yet again. Yep, a fourth time.......... This time using yarns that have normal gauges for their size. You know, like a real worsted weight, or a real fingering weight, not an acrylic/mohair blend or a fluffy cotton yarn. Yep, that is what I had done. At this point, I was also wondering where my brain had gone. Do you see it anywhere???? So..... I put it all down(no I didn't throw it at the wall) and decided to do something fun.

Here are my fun dolls. The first one that I made is in the center. She was actually made 10 years ago for my oldest granddaughter, but had lost her clothing, while being played with. First, she had a pretty new dress knitted and embellished for her. Then onto 2 new dolls.

None of the dolls have a name. Anyone have any ideas?

And going on with family creativity. My SIL, painted my gorgeous teapot, the matching tray and 2 matching mugs, that the dolls are using for chairs.

One of these days, my new pattern will be able to be seen. It will be funny, when I introduce it to you, because it looks like it should be the easiest thing in the world to write. AND it should've been, except I used unusual yarns. :)

Canton Revisited

2010-05-08T11:47:00.001-05:00

Last weekend was the First Monday Trade Days in Canton, TX. My oldest daughter and I like to travel over there a couple of times a year, to see what treasures we can find. We usually have a list of what we are looking for, because it is very easy to lose track of what we need. This time, we both came back hauling large bags of doilies. She plans to use hers in a slightly different way than me. But, both will be creative. I have mine washed and dried, but that is as far as I have gotten.

I found several other items there, but no big furniture purchases for either of us this time.

However, here is an item I was truly shocked to find. The phrase, "One man's trash is another man's treasure," is fitting here. This is a great picture, for a knitter anyway. There is an older woman, who we would assume is the grandma, teaching a much younger person how to knit socks.

I had picked up the picture to take a look and then put it down, thinking about it. The man in the booth decreased, yep, he decreased the price and said, "The frame is probably worth more than that. The picture is not valuable." :) That is when, the knitter in me came out. I was thinking, "Well, the frame may or may not be valuable, it is dirty and old, that is for sure. BUT, the picture is what interests me." So, I said, "OK, I'll take it." Here is a picture, of the cleaned up frame and picture.

The second item that I wanted to show you is this tiny doily. The diameter is about 5 to 6 inches. Lying above the doily is a toothpick, to give you an idea of the doily's size. This doily looks handknitted. The yarn used by the knitter, looks to be cotton sewing thread. It is that fine or finer. My guess is that the knitting needles were about a 0000. Truly a tiny needle.

Wildflowers

2010-05-02T15:57:00.000-05:00

In Texas, we love our wildflowers. As a matter of fact, our state flower, the Bluebonnet, is a wildflower. Sometimes, when the spring arrives and the grass starts to grow, people will say, "Cut your weeds! Your lawn looks terrible." But, if you let it go and see what happens, you may find, like our neighborhood did, that you have quite a collection of gorgeous wildflowers.

About a week and a half ago, our oldest daughter and her daughters came over for a visit. As you enter our neighborhood, your eyes feast on color, glorious color! The wildflowers are in full bloom and they are all over the fields at the entrance to the neighborhood.

Upon seeing the gorgeous flowers, the girls wanted to pick wildflowers. They came excitedly into the house asking, "Gramma, can we go and pick wildflowers?" So, we did. They each had a gorgeous bouquet of flowers to take home with them. Below is the picture of both of their bouquets together.

What do you think????
Do you like the wildflowers?

Spinning Wheels and Knitting

2010-04-18T12:55:00.001-05:00

The other day, I went over to my friend Laurie's home to get some extra spinning time in. One thing great about spinning is that, it can be a very portable hobby. Some spinners, when purchasing a new car, will take their spinning wheels with them. If the wheel doesn't fit in the new car, then forget it(the car, not the wheel). Spinners can be very dedicated to this hobby/craft/art form.

Well, the story behind this "new" wheel of Laurie's is a great story. Just so you know, Laurie has a Louet S-10, which is a great wheel and she has spun miles and miles of yarn on that wheel and will continue to spin on it. However, one day she went to look at a wheel that was advertised as an antique wheel. It was being sold, locally, by a person who was moving to Canada and didn't feel like moving the wheel again. Seems she had brought it to Texas, from Canada, some years ago. When Laurie walked into the room and took one look at the wheel, she was smitten and just gasped. This wheel was going to be hers, she knew it. She grabbed her cell phone and called me so we could talk about a double drive set up, she pretty much understood the "Greek" I spoke to her that day and decided the whee was, for sure, going home with her that day.

The wheel, will disassemble and fit into Laurie's car, so it is portable too. :) Thanksfully, she owns a mini-van, so she can get the wheel around town and has brought it to spinning since purchasing it. This is all good news for her husband. He doesn't have to worry about purchasing a new vehicle to fit the wheel. LOL!

I thought you might like to see Laurie spinning at the wheel that took her breath away, Arabelle.

If you look closely at the wheel, you will notice some pieces colored gray or black. Those pieces are actually cast iron. This wheel is truly a gorgeous wheel and I am soooo happy that Laurie found it and was able to purchase it.

Here is a sweater that I have just finished. It is a size 6 months and is for sale in my etsy store.
I love to knit baby sweaters. This sweater is made from 100% cotton and feels so nice and soft.

2010-04-13T14:45:00.000-05:00

You know what it is like, when you send around you-tube links? You keep finding all of these funny ones. Well, this one was sent to me, by my daughter. Here it is:

Hope you enjoy it. :)

Spring is here!

2010-04-12T15:19:00.001-05:00

It is wonderful weather outside, right now. We are having sun, warm temperatures, not hot, and cool nights. The wildflowers are blooming and I have seen some Texas Bluebonnets, our state flower out along the roads. Bluebonnets are a wildflower, and usually grow along the highways. Some people will stop along the interstate or highways, get their children out of the car, sit them in the bluebonnets and take the pictures. I probably won't do that, my kids are safe. :) Being they are 33 and 30, they will make their own decisions on it anyway. OK, I digress.

I wanted to show you two of my knitting projects. This black sweater, below is from the pattern Mr Greenjeans. It is a deep v-neck cardigan, worked from the top down. I just love those top-down patterns. Not many seams when done and I can try it on while I work. Below the armholes there is a cable and rib section. When I am done with the cables and ribs, I will put the sleeves back on the knitting needles and finish the sleeves. It will be a long sleeve sweater when done.

These purlple socks are made from a bulky weight wool and will be slipper socks. I made these in a knit-a-long with the knitters at my local library. We meet one morning a week, at the library, and knit. The name of the pattern for these socks is: Tropical Punch Slipper Socks.

Both patterns are available on Ravelry, if you go out there.

You are making what???????

2010-04-06T18:06:00.001-05:00

It all started a couple of months ago, when Liz wanted to make herself some clothes. She started looking on-line for mannequins and how to make one. One that will be your size, so that you can use it to size clothing, that you want to make for yourself. She came to spinning one day and asked if anyone wanted to do this with her? Does anyone want to start making some clothing for themselves? OR will anyone PLEASE come and help.

We asked her what was involved. She said, Duct tape(yep, duct tape), an old T-shirt, polyester fiberfil, and PVC pipe and maybe an old office chair(or something else for a base).

We were stunned. Was she serious?? Yep, she was serious. As we thought about it, some of us thought, cool idea. Let's do it. The date was set.

On the day for the project, 5 of us, I think, showed up. The rest of the spinning group was staying home, taking bets to see if we would REALLY do it. "We want to see them," they would say. :)

Well, after being taped for about 2 hours, and seeing our REAL body shapes, we became a little shy to show them to anyone else, that wasn't there.

I had promised pictures on my blog, but thought about it later and decided to crop out heads and hands. :)

It really is a pretty cool idea, if you want to sew clothing for yourself, though.

Below is what we looked like, from the back, when we had 3 layers of tape on. Talk about hot and sweaty. UG. We had t-shirts on and had two people taping one. This is not me and I am not telling who it is. LOL!

Before we were able to take our tin-woman costume off, we marked it with X's down the center back and lines at our waistline. Let me tell you, I don't want a corsett, don't even think about it.
See the X's(below), we cut along them, so we can tape the tin-woman back together.

A look from further away so you can see more of the cutting. This is my tin-woman, by the way.

Below is mine, open. We cut through the t-shirt and it becomes the lining. The tin woman will be taped back together and now stuffed. I have finally purchased my stuffing, but need to work on the base before I can stuff it.

Right now, she hangs in the closet, feeling neglected and lonely. Some day she will be finished. But, I am busy knitting........

A New Toy or Tool?

2010-03-30T17:59:00.000-05:00

After spending a couple of hours on the computer, working on a new baby sweater pattern today, I remembered that I hadn't posted out here in about a week. Time sure flies!

I had taken these pictures a couple of weeks ago and just didn't get to blog about this amazing toy. Well, it really isn't a toy, it is a tool, for work, or for PLAY. :) It is an amazing drying rack.
There is a fan at the back that blows out room temperature air, but the air is channelled up to the different layers of shelves.

I wanted to show you the box, so you would know what to look for, if you decide you like this toy.
The fan runs on regular electricity, not 220 like your dryer. Therefore, it is economical. You can just leave the fan off too.

The shelves are great, should you wish to wash wool sweaters and have a place to lay them, flat. The shelves lift very easily up and off each other, so it is easy to lay your items on each shelf. Also, if you are washing fleeces to spin and needing to dry fiber, or yarn, that has been dyed, this works great, too. Turn on that fan and you are ready to spin and knit in no time. (Hence the toy title.)

So, if you are doing laundry, the tool title, you can attach the side pieces and hang shirts there. You could use the side piece to hang yarn, too.

Several of us, bought them at Kroger. The Signature Krogers, actually. Well, really I didn't even find it at the store. Everyone in the spinning group was looking for them. Joyce found a bunch at the Signature Kroger near her. She called and ended up purchasing about 4 for us. Imagine she rode around with these things in her car for a week! The boxes were about 40 inches long, by 12 inches wide and 8 inches tall. She, and her family, deserve a reward for that!

They can be purchased on Amazon, too. But, Kroger had a special sale and we were able to get them for about half of what they were on Amazon.

Trinket, a Scarf and Shawl Pattern

2010-03-23T15:04:00.000-05:00

I have finished a new pattern! We have been working on this pattern since November. Kay of Cordova Studios has helped me in the designing and knitting of this pattern. It was a delight to have her design ideas with this pattern.

There are four ways that you can make this pattern and all directions are included. The picture above is the scarf, in sock weight yarn.

This red one is the shawl, in sock weight yarn. Notice it can function as a scarf as well.

Isn't the ruffle wonderful? It makes it so feminine. I like the bell ruffle pattern, but that is worked backwards, so to speak, of the ruffle we needed. So, I came up with a ruffle that is sort of a bell ruffle.

The yellow scarf is from worsted weight yarn. There is a dropped stitch design in this pattern too. There are different amount of stitches between the dropped stitches, adding some great interest to the pattern.

Last, but not least, is the worsted weight shawl. This is such a great size. It can drape up and over the wearer's shoulder or hang down as pictured. Believe it or not, it can really be a scarf, too. It makes a heavy scarf, too. Great for cold weather, I tried it out during our snow this past week. :) The bias knitting and dropped stitches allow the shawls, both yarn weights, to scrunch up and be scarves.

This picture, is so you can see the differences in the widths of the sizes within the pattern.

If you decide you like this pattern, you can find it for sale in my shop on etsy, TerrificCreations. If you go there and don't find it, don't be afraid, it will return, it just means that someone bought the one listed and I will relist it.

Saturday's Doings and More Snow

2010-03-21T11:26:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, March 20, 2010, dawned to be a fairly dismal day, weather wise. It was raining a cold rain. The rain that happens when the temperature is right above freezing. The temperature was 38F, with a wind chill about 28F. It was the Spin-in day at Jacob's Reward farm. I was scheduled to be helping people get to know their spinning wheels better and help them with any "tune-up" issues they might be having.

So, I loaded up the Blazer and off we went. I made it there safely, in the rain, after sitting on the interstate for a wreck between two other SUV's. One of them had ended up on its roof, the other was still on its wheels.

It was a fun time at Jacob Rewards farm, always is! Nothing like being with other spinners and knitters.

When at Cindy's we meet in the Little Red Barn. It is a great space with her fiber and yarns all around. BUT, behind the Little Red Barn is a small quiet creek. However, we had had so much rain during the night and that morning, that the little calm creek, had become a raging little river!

In the barn, Mary and Pam were hard at work on their knitting, while Smokie(the cat) had found a new lap to lay on.

Cindy is trying out a new drop spindle that was handmade by Cara's husband.

Here is some absolutely gorgeous yarn being spun on a Louet Victoria wheel. That is a cute little wheel and weighing in at only 7 lbs, an ease to carry around.

Another handmade drop spindle, made by Cara's husband. (So great to have husband's like this!)

The roving is what Cindy had wanted to spin. Isn't it pretty? Don't know if Cindy was able to get busy on that roving or not.

Then thismorning we woke up to SNOW! Yep, March 21 and we had snow on the ground. The sun hasn't really made it out yet. We expect the snow to melt, today, but right now, it is just being blown around by the stiff north wind.

Winter has not given up, yet, in north Texas.