Lemon Cookies and Potholders

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stir and Drop Cookies

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

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

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

Vintage Chairs and some YARN :)

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

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

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



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

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

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

                                     


Here is my batt! 

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

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

Finished Projects

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



Upcycling or Reusing a Sock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Helping Moore Oklahoma tornado victims

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Before

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



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

Blocking

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Lace Cowl pattern

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

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

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

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

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

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

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