Mail-Yarn and Bobble Scarf

I whipped up the bobble scarf in ONE HOUR!... it is only 5 stitches wide and four feet long, and light and cute!

I also got some mail-yarn while away, and here it is. It is from Elann, ordered days before my trip on a huge full bag sale. 10 balls of Elle Elite, wool-cotton DK yarn in teak for $15! (sorry, sold out quickly). It has a cottony feel, but is 50% wool, so should be warm and easy to knit. I am planning a short sleeve, cowl neck pullover, maybe with a bit of a pattern stitch to amuse me. Still have some gift knitting to finish, so may be a bit delayed on this one.

Arizona Knitting!

Sorry to step away from the blog for a week, but we were in Arizona, for golf and sun and fun... and although not too much knitting was being done, I did manage to find a lovely yarn shop in Carefree, Arizona. The place is Bonnie's Yarn Crafts, and it is LOADED with lots of yarn and wonderful ladies. They even engaged my hubby in chatter about where we are from and things other than yarn (great instincts on their part!). I found some cool sock yarn ....

Classic Elite Yarns, Alpaca Sox. It feels so soft. Here feel it....

And also Gnocchi, from Lana Grossa, a bobbly yarn for fashion scarves. One ball makes a scarf, so I snagged three! Knit on fat needles, you cast on 4 stitches and knit back and forth until the yarn is done! You only catch the skinny part of the yarn and let the bobbles hang free. Photos to follow really soon, as this is a QUICK knit!

Here is me, looking for my golf ball in the desert... what an amazing place to play golf.The lush green fairways are surrounded by desert and cactus! A cool contrast that never got boring to me!
And of course, the roadrunner made an appearance!

Quick I-Cord Headband

I am growing my hair a bit longer, and have taken to putting it in a short ponytail when busy working on my stuff. I like the look of those skinny headbands, especially when worn in twos or threes. I bought some in the past but found they were SO tight, they slipped back and hurt my head! So I dove into my stash and found some leftover Esprit (cotton with lycra stretch) in black. The pattern is easy:

Yarn: stretchy worsted weight (suggested knit on 4.5mm needles)

Needles: two 4mm *double point needles* (or one size smaller to make a tight cord that still stretches)

Cast on 4 stitches: Knit across row. WITHOUT turning slide the stitches to the other end of the double point needle and starting again from that side, knit across row. Instructions for I-Cord knitting is HERE.

Repeat I-Cord stitch until the length is about one inch short of length to go around head (without stretching) then bind off and stitch ends together.

I will make a few more of these, in several colours. EASY!

Lost and Found

While I can't show the work in progress (Christmas surprises) I do have a cute tale to tell.
Rick and I were golfing on Sunday, and it was a bit overcast, so he was trying to find his non-tinted glasses (the ones he keeps in his golf bag for days when he can't wear his sunglasses - which he also keeps in his golf bag). They were not there! Rick always has two sets of glasses in his golf bag to cover all weather conditions, and had used the sunglasses almost exclusively for the last few weeks (lucky us, a sunny fall). So he grabbed one pair from the car (of course he has clear and sunglasses there too!). As we played, he wondered where he could have left these glasses. He came to the conclusion over breakfast at the club, that he may have wandered into the club with them, and removed them to eat a meal, then left them on the table by accident. I asked which frames they were (he has so many) and he thought the black metal with the plastic arms. While he was changing shoes in the locker room, I asked the waitress to check the lost and found for black frames.... There were not in the basket where they toss the lost glasses, although there were LOTS of lost glasses! Oh well.
As our meal arrived, the hostess (knowing we were in the glasses business) asked if we knew where they could donate these lost glasses to a good cause, and I told her we collected them up and sent them twice a year to Cuba and India, and other points of need. With our check came a bag of specs for donation!
When we got home, Rick found the black glasses in the Truck (two more pairs there) and realised that the missing golf bag glasses were the rimless brown frames. The waitress did not look for THAT frame.... so we opened the donated bag of glasses ... and there they were!!!
Funny how things sometimes work out.....

Inukshuk Kit on the Net!

I have been plugging away at Christmas knitting, and the photos will be lacking due to the wow factor of the recipients! No need to spoil the surprises, right?

For those who have thought of making the Inukshuk from this blog, I will again offer the kit on eBay, including the pattern, all the yarn and the pre-cut foam shapes, numbered and ready to knit and assemble. Since the Olympics are only a few months away and the symbol for the Vancouver games is the Inukshuk, I think the time is good for more Inukshuk knitting to be done! To that end, I give you the link to the eBay kit sale, HERE, and the link to the pattern for the Inukshuk doll HERE, and lastly the Inukshuk sweater HERE!
Hope all your Christmas knitting is progressing well, and you manage the stess of the season as best you can. I like to plan ahead, and shop on the net (hate the malls in December). Keep things simple, that's the secret! Remember, life is more about who you spend time with, not what you spend money on! The joy of the hours spent knitting, the rhythm of the needles, the feel of the yarn in your hands, that is the true gift. Your time and your heart. Who would not love hand knit socks after all that. Happy knitting!

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