Six weeks of Christmas Knitting

Time to buckle down and put a dent into my Christmas Knitting List. First some socks. The hand dyed yarn socks are more than half done, and the new yarn was on sale at Michaels', only $5 a ball. I like this green mix colour.
I have not fully planned all the gift knitting yet, but the socks are a start. I have yarns for hats and scarves in my stash and will plan the rest while plowing through the socks! Besides, I have not decided what to do with some Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK that has been calling to me from my stash.

I finished the linen cardigan, and I am in love with this one. The yarn was sturdy, almost stiff to knit, but softened a bit on blocking, and sewed up easily, then I washed it again and it has a softer feel again, but not droopy or stretchy like cotton can be. I wore it today at work and was pleased with the comfort and sheen. This will not be the only linen garment that I knit!

This is the kind of fabric that can be worn all year round. It will look even better with a little white camisole underneath, but it's too cold right now rof that, so the turtleneck will have to do!

Thanks Kim!

Bohemian Scarf

In my stash were 3 skeins of Patons Bohemian, a super-soft fuzzy yarn in a fabulous orange called copper chaos. I whipped up this boa style scarf on big needles with 10 stitches across. Really easy and very cool....

3 skeins Bohemian (Patons)

12 mm needles (knit with three strands held together)
PATTERN:

Holding THREE strands together, Cast on 10 stitches.

Row one: knit all stitches

Row two: knit 3, purl 4, knit 3

Repeat these two rows until skeins are almost gone (3 feet left)

Last row: knit 3, cast off middle 3 stitches, cut yarn and pull end through 4th middle stitch.

Only 6 stitches remain on the needles, 3 on each side of the cast off stitches.

Pull 3 stitches off the needles and unravel one loop at a time down the side of the scarf, with each loop, make a knot at the base of the loop, pulling it tight so the knot is close to the body of the scarf. Work your way down the side of the scarf, making loppy knots all the way down. Repeat the loops on the other side, dropping the 3 edge stitches there too, and knotting the loops until all are done.

Happy Halloween

Boo

Puppets and Falling Leaves

I was away golfing for the weekend, and arrived home to find a bagfull of these...

Jane dropped off 14 bodies in my mailbox! She finished the knitted bodies of lots of POPPETS, and left them for me to embroyder the faces and attach the hair. For those that don't know, my knitting girls and I provide a friend with finger puppets for the local Childrens' Hospital. He mentioned he was needing more for the kids and the girls and I have kicked it up a notch...

This pattern is one that I get the most emails about, and the puppets are knit for kids in hospitals all over the world! I am the most proud of this fact and love to hear from knitters who are doing this too for their local hospitals.

Photos of the almost leaf-less trees in western New York....

the golf was cool but fun. I am not ready to hang up the clubs just yet.

Half-way done several things (but nothing is complete!)

I am at that lull time, when lots of projects are dreamed up, planned and underway, but nothing is near finish, so I just seem to be plugging away...

The Blanket, made up of Noro and Collinette yarns, has been underway for a month now. I pick it up when I want to actually watch a TV show. It is all knitting or purling, and every row is a new yarn, cut with a fringe at the start and finish. I can't remember off hand how many stitches are in the row, but I am using a 6mm Addi afghan needle and the whole thing is about 2.5 feet wide already (and about 6 feet long along the cable needle). That makes it around half way done. It is thick and wooly and wonderful already.

The lace linen cardigan is almost up the the armholes, so it is more than half done on the body, but of course I still have the sleeves to knit. I am at the plain stocking stitch part, so again it feels a bit droning on, but the split of the sleeves should perk me up a bit. The sleeves themselves are lace patterned at the cuff, so there will be some excitement ahead!

And also exciting is the new Vogue Knitting Magazine... I found this puppy...

And I can hardly believe that batwing sleeves are back! I used to LOVE wearing those, but had to put them aside in the 90's as they were hopelessly outdated! I should have suspected their return, as big eyeglasses are showing in the sales-reps' cases once more (definately an 80's return - fueled by the "kids" that never wore them before and think they are starting a new trend (eyes rolling!)) I pick and choose what new "styles" I am personally willing to embrace, balking a bit at the return of bell bottoms a few years ago (they can't be as cool as they were in the 70's), but I wore them, although not cut low enough to show a belly piercing (not going THERE!). Won't do the sideways trucker hat, or the velour tracksuit in baby pink with Juicy or anything else written on my butt (they remind me of the "leisure suits" and "pant suits" of the sixties. Did not like them then either! Mostly I am a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal, and of course fabulous sweaters on top. Can't go wrong with that :)

New blog!

I have decided to blog about sewing separately from the knitting. If you are interested in all the needle arts that I am you can bookmark the new blog HERE.
I plan to bump up my sewing time, and hopefully as winter is approaching, it won't cut too much into knitting time, but it will be a test of my leisure time management skills!
Hope you stop by both blogs and comments are more than welcome on either site! enjoy!