"Baby Genius Burp Cloth" blanket

The blanket that I am knitting for my son's girlfriend for Christmas is what's on my needles right now. (Yes, I'm still working on the fushia colored prayer shawl as well. I carry that project with me for anytime I'm sitting waiting for something or someone.) The blanket pattern is from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book and it's actually the "Baby Genius Burp Cloth" made into a blanket. I've cast on 150 stitches. Hopefully the blanket will be big enough. I want it to be a throw type of blanket for her dorm room. Her roommate is forever leaving her fan on and Kate gets chilled. Thought this would be good for her to wrap around herself when she's studying. She loves fuzzy things and the yarn I'm using, Joann's Sensations Rainbow Classic, fits the bill. It's so soft. I'm loving working with it. This pattern is making a wonderful fabric, nice and thick and soft and when you pet it, it has a satiny feeling as well. The skeins are huge (11 oz./ 615 yards). I bought four of them and I'm secretly hoping I'll enough left over so I can find something else to knit with it as well. Here's a closeup of the pattern:


This past week I also finished up three scarfs and another pair of pocketbook slippers for my church's Holly Fair "Kid's Only Shopping".

For the scarfs I used the Curly Purly scarf pattern, which is a very easy dropped yarnover scarf pattern and a very fast knit. Thanks Marnie for sharing your pattern. I think I'm done now. I did try the tree pattern ornament, but frogged it as soon as I finished it. Don't know what I did to it or if it was the yarn I used, but I couldn't for the life of me get it to lay flat, short of ironing it. I wouldn't try that pattern again! :(

Finally finished my "Garterlac Inspired Felted Bag"!

Wow, this project really took me a long time to finish. Granted I did knit other things, which did sidetrack me. Remember the yarn I was so excited about back in August?

Well, this is the yarn (Paton's Classic Merino) that I used to knit my "Garterlac Inspired Felted Shoulder Bag". After making my Garterlac dishcloth this summer I knew that this garterlac/entrelac pattern's destiny was to become a felted bag. Thank you so much Dave for sharing your wonderful Garterlac Dishcloth pattern.


This is a picture of the bag before felting:

Finally this is the finished product:

I really loved how it turned out. This bag is much bigger than the Sophie bag I made earlier. Once again I can not praise the Paton's Classic Merino enough for how it felts. No piling what so ever, even when the zippered pillow case broke open and my bag escaped. Beautiful fabric results from the felting process. I love all the new varigated colors, too. They are a perfect choice for the garterlac pattern. I'm already thinking about my next felting project....

Ruby Slippers

The Christian Education Chairperson at my church asked me to knit up a few things for the children to buy as little gifts for family. They buy their gifts and wrap in secret (no parents allowed) at the Holly Fair, which is coming up in November. The older church children volunteer to help them wrap their purchases.

First I knitted an angel and a bell ornament. I found both of these patterns at Knitting Pattern Central :

Not sure how these will go over with the kids, but I knew after making them I wasn't enthused enough to make more. Not my cup of tea as they say!

Then I remembered seeing a while ago a pattern for pocketbook slippers. Once again I found the pattern at Knitting Pattern Central. While I was knitting them I was very skeptical they they could ever possibly fit anyone other than a child. This is what they look like before you put them on:

and this is how they look after they are on:

I LOVE them! I have dubbed them my "ruby" slippers. They fit me...and I wear a size 10! I'm totally amazed that they fit my big feet. :)

I would definitely recommend making these. They really are cute and would be good to keep in your pocketbook during boot season. I'm just not so sure if the kids will know what they are! Must make some sort of a tag for them. I will definitely make more of these!

Edited: Friday, Oct. 27th

I just found this pattern for teeney, tiny pocketbook slippers. Too cute!

Two Color "Swirly Flower Power" dishcloth

Hot off the knitting needles is my "Swirly Flower Power" dishcloth. This is the latest knit-a-long for Dishcloth Fun KAL. I thought it might be nice to try the pattern with two colors. The pattern is from Whimsical Knitting. There are three variations of the Flower Power pattern and I must say I wasn't sure which one to pick. I really like how the "swirly" one turned out. Thanks Whimsical Knitter for the "fun" pattern :)

Pretty cactus flower and a new yarn to try

My Christmas (really Thanksgiving) cactus always rewards me soon after I bring it back into the house with beautiful blooms every year. It loves to spend the summer outside. This plant is twelve years old. My husband gave it to me when my youngest son was born on Thanksgiving Day 1994. I don't think it is as pretty this year. It is very pot bound. I really should think about repotting it sometime soon...may be after it finishes blooming. I also have another Chistmas cactus in bloom that my mother gave to me. It has three colors, white, peach and the fuschia. She made the pot from cuttings of her three plants. Here's a picture of the tri-color one:

I went to Joann's this week and bought some new yarn, Joann's Sensations Rainbow Classic brushed acrylic yarn for my son's girlfriend's (Kate) Christmas present:


I'm planning on making a throw for her dorm room. Kate loves anything soft and fuzzy and when I saw and felt this yarn I immediately thought of her. Must finish my project that I am currently working on first, but I can't wait to start knitting the blanket. The yarn must be brand new, because the last time I looked it wasn't even on the Joann's website. They also have shades of purple/fushias and a shades of browns/ beiges similar to this denim one. I hope she likes it. I love knitting for Kate because she is so appreciative of what I knit for her.







She went crazy over a blue Fun Fur and Paton's Boa scarf I made for her two years ago and she really loved the one I made with (blues and browns) Bernat Soft Boucle and Moda-Dea Flip for her last year.



Today I finally checked out for the first time the Tuesday Morning store in Dedham. I had heard that it was a good place to pick up yarn bargains. I had a doctor's appointment in Boston and decided to take a different route home and stop in and see what they had for yarn. I really wasn't that impressed with the store. Rather messy store, but I did snag three skeins of Fuschia Lion Cotton for $1.99 each. I bought the last three skeins of Lion Cotton they had. It's a good price. Joann's has it at $3.99 each. The other yarn that they had were novelty yarns. I wasn't really interested in them. Not sure what I am going to use the Lion Cotton for, but it's good to have on hand in my stash...you never know when you might need it, right?

Pumpkin Bran Muffins

These Pumpkin Bran Muffins just came out of my oven and this time I actually got a picture of them before they got eaten! They hopefully will be still around for the next few days for breakfast. They are one of my family's tried and true favorites and they're healthy, too!

In case you would like to give them a try, here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Bran Muffins

3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
(raisins & nuts optional)

4 cups bran flakes
2 cups pumpkin puree *
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt & spices and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine bran, pumpkin, and milk. Let stand 2 minutes until cereal softens. Add egg and oil. Beat well. Add sugar, mix well. Mix in flour mixture completely.

Place paperliners in jumbo or regular muffin tin and spray with vegetable shortening spray. This recipe makes one dozen jumbo muffins or 2 dozen regular sized muffin. Fill cups 3/4 full using and bake in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or less until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

*pumpkin puree or how to cook a pumpkin: Cut small sugar pumpkin in half. Clean out seeds and fibers. Place shell side down upon clean cookie sheet. Cook in oven at 350 degrees till soft (easily insert fork). Approximately 45 minutes - 1 hour. Scoop out the pumpkin and puree till smooth.

Enjoy!

My "Candy Corn Illusion" dishcloth is finished!

My "Candy Corn Illusion" cloth (Dishcloth Fun KAL) is finished. Getting good pictures is rather difficult. I had fun knitting this illusion cloth. When you look at it head on it looks pretty much like a striped cloth....
....but, at an angle it's a different story......
Can you see the image of the candy corn? I have to admit I enjoyed knitting it, but I can't truthfully say it's one of my favorite dishcloths. I think in the future I'll probably stick with the ball bands, which are my all time favorite! I must say though it is fun to try something different.

(edited by hakucho on 1/7/2007) Judith deleted the Dishcloth Fun KAL blog, and started a new KAL: FunknittingdishclothsKAL. She also has a separate blog for all the patterns we have done so far. You can find links to all the patterns there. The pattern for the candy corn illusion cloth can be found here: http://www.knittingknonsense.com/candycorn_illusion.html

Happy Knitting :)

Delicious Cornbread Rolls

Last night I made Janice's (from Willow Ways Knitting) recipe for "Cornbread Rolls". They were fabulous!! They were ready just in time for dinner, so unfortunately I didn't even get a chance to take a picture of them before they got all gobbled up! The recipe is Janice's mother's who took 'grand champion' at Ortonville, Minnesota county fair. Thanks so much Janice for sharing the recipe. This recipe is definitely a keeper in my house. :)

It's a mystery??

The new knit-a-long for Dishcloth Fun KAL is a mystery! We were told to have on hand for supplies:

size 7 knitting needles
1 oz each of white, yellow, and pink, orange, or brown cotton yarn
also 2 oz black cotton yarn.

Every day Judith will post a few lines of the pattern, therefore keeping us in suspense!

I was a little bit behind because I couldn't start the knit-a-long until last night. I have three days worth of the pattern now finished and thought I'd show you what I've done so far.

In my travels through knittingland I have heard about shadow knitting, but I've never tried the technique. In my opinion I think this is definitely shadow knitting. I have strong suspicions that this cloth probably has a Halloween theme because of the color palette. Do you think it might possibly be the candy corn pattern? I have a hunch it is. :)