Oodles of Cables

I know I've been missing as of late, but I'm back briefly to show you what I've been up to.
A BIG cable project is my latest endeavor. I'm showing you the start of it, because I think I'll be working on it probably until the spring. It a cable blanket that my brand new daughter-in-law picked out. I can take no credit for finding such a beautiful and appropriate pattern. It's the "Lover's Knot" blanket from Lion Brand Yarn.
It comprises of mainly two cable patterns...the oxox and clustered braid. This is the photo she found and then I searched and found the pattern. It's not exactly the same, but it is close. I wanted to make them a big blanket for their new queen sized bed and asked my DIL what she would like. Actually their blanket is the original pattern doubled, so you can see it will take a while to complete. She, jokingly, thought I would have it done by the time they returned from their honeymoon!! Didn't happen, but I'll do my best to finish it by springtime.

Speaking of their honeymoon, the wedding has come and gone, in addition the family party as well. Yay!! Despite the torrential rain on November 14th, everything went well and they both are very happy!! They say rain on your wedding day brings the wedding couple lots of luck...well in thir case -- buckets :) Here's the happy couple:
They are both very shy about having their photos out in the internet, so I hope they won't mind me showing you a few of their photos.
Here you can see the detail in her dress, very beautiful.

And of course their cake, delicious chocolate with raspberry between one layer and chocolate fudge between the other. They have the top saved for later on in their freezer.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we're on to next big thing -- getting ready for Christmas. I'm already behind and it is coming so fast. I've already decided that there will be no new knitting for me this Christmas. I'll have to plan on next year getting an earlier start. Eventually I hope to catch up on my blogging, too...but for now I'm not expecting miracles in that department. Just know that eventually I will find some time to catch up. I'm very thankful for my google reader. I'll not miss much ;) Until next time....happy knitting :)

Time flies when you are ...having fun....

Thanksgiving Cactus 2009

....and being very busy. My last post was August 22nd. I really can't believe it's been that long. My only excuse is that I've been busy. Yes, I've been knitting and cleaning. More cleaning than I've done in awhile I hate to say. The reason....my son's approaching wedding....this coming Saturday. Yikes! He gave his girl a ring around the time of my last post and then almost immediately to our surprise there was a wedding in the works! They are having a very small wedding, but there is, nevertheless, a lot to do. I can't believe it's almost here! I'm very happy for them that everything fell into place. They just want to be together! Since they are having such a small wedding we will have a family party for them the weekend after Thanksgiving, so even though the wedding will be over, I'm still not in the clear for a little while :)

Besides cleaning I have been knitting, but I'll have to wait and show you what I've knit for the most part later. I will try to be a little better about timely posts in the future. I just think I got out of the habit of posting and reading blogs. I never seem to have enough time to do everything I want to do. I did make time this past Sunday to go into Boston with a group of women in my church to the 3rd Annual Knit-a-thon for the Pine Street Inn. A very worth while cause. You can read about the Pine Street Inn here.

In total, the five of us brought with us 329 squares! That's about 9 and 1/2 blankets worth!! These were all knit by the ladies in our church and some even came from the Senior Center. I didn't knit as many as I usually do. Here are my squares:

I made only eleven this year, but we were able as a team to sew together one blanket and about 2/3rds of a second one. Sewing the blankets together is very labor intensive, but it is a labor of love. One of the women brought that one unfinished blanket home to finish and some of us including myself brought home a bag full of squares to complete a blanket. Here's my pile of squares:
During the time we were there (from about eleven in the morning until about 3:30pm) around thirty something blankets were finished. It was very impressive to see all the finished blankets.

This was my first time going into Boston for the event and I found it very interesting about how they go about constructing the blankets. When you arrive you hand over all your squares. Then they sort the squares in regards to color and whether or not they are hand or machine washable. Your group is then given 35 squares to sew into a blanket. First we had to sew the squares into 5 rows of seven squares. None of my squares were in either of the two blankets that we put together, but I was determined to find some of my squares in the bunch of squares that I selected to take home to do later. Two of mine were in the pile! Yay :) My collection of take home squares are quite the miss mash of different weights and sizes of squares. I hope it will go together nicely, but no mater what it looks like in the end, one thing I do know for certain is that it will be warm

Before I left I bought a tote bag
Next year when I make my squares I'll have the perfect project bag. Hopefully I'll be able to go again next year....it was a lot of fun. One thing we anticipate doing perhaps next year is to do a little prep work ahead of time. Have a night at our church before the event to sew some of our squares into strips, so that we might be able to make some blankets with more of the squares from our church family. Wouldn't that be nice? Of course I forgot my camera. I wish I could show you our completed blankets, but I will keep you posted with the one I'll be working on at home. Here is one of the blankets finished, not ours though.

Hopefully once things settle down I'll be able to get back to some regular blog reading and writing. In the meantime I do hope all of you are happily knitting away. I'm anxious to see what all of you have been up to!! Until next time.....

Moving on

Now that I have finally finished stitching my longest (20 year) project ever, a counted cross stitch, I can move on to my knitting (actually crocheting this time)! You can see what my project looked like back in 2006 here. Next I need to wash it and get it ready to be framed. Way back when, I actually took a class in framing cross stitch pictures using the lacing method. I did frame several pictures, but I'm not sure I remember everything I need to know. I will have to make a trip to the cross stitch store soon and do some investigating. Maybe if I tell them what I remember they can tell me if it's possible to do it myself...successfully that is. That's one thing you don't have to worry about when you knit...no framing required ;) I like that!!

Now, that I have that off of my mind so to speak, it let me be free to try something that I have been wanting to try ever since I saw it (sort of - I will explain) in a February 1977 Family Circle magazine that I came across last summer. Looking through the index I saw a craft that was new to me. Clothesline Crochet. I was soon very disappointed because by the time I found the appropriate pages to my chagrin I found that they had been cut out of the magazine. No pictures to see what this craft looked like. I was not very happy, but at the back of the magazine the instructions were intact! Yay! They used strips of fabric and there were 6 patterns to choose from. I wasn't sure that I wanted to go the fabric strip route. I did that once knitting strips of an old flannel sheet into a rag rug. It was very hard on the hands and I anticipated the same thing would happen crocheting strips of fabric. Definitely a good recycling craft, but I wanted to see if some one else had did it with yarn. A google search led me to these instructions - using yarn. I used the information there to start my experiment and here is what I came up with, a small basket:

Basically you use regular old clothesline,( yes, the stuff you string up to hang out your wash on) as a core which you crochet over and it gives your crocheted item a stiffness, almost like when you felt, but not. I think you get my drift.


Here's the basket...you can look inside of it:
I made handles similar to the ones on my plastic big bag. It was rather fun to try and there are numerous possibilities for making other items.
Before I forget again I want to show you what my sister sent me for my birthday back in June: Some beautiful handspun yarn that she spun for me. The lavender skein(didn't photograph too well) even has a metalic shiny thread running through it. Next on my to do list - must be on the lookout for the perfect pattern for this yarn. For now I just keep petting it as it is sooo soft! Included in the package was a teabag holder that her husband made from scratch from a piece of myrtle wood. I wish you could feel the smoothness of the wood. It is very special and I will treasure it forever :)
Well, as of the beginning of this week I was pretty caught up with my blogging and then pep band camp happened and I was quickly back to square one. It was worth it though as this year I helped with the uniforms, fitting the kids and altering the uniforms to fit them was rather fun. The kids were very appreciative. Between all the hems and buttons I had a pretty sore finger though. The first day I forgot to bring a thimble. The second day I had it and it was much better. Between that and bringing my middle guy to look at colleges, we have been very busy and there has been a little excitement in the family as my oldest son gave his girl a diamond engagement ring last Friday. No date set yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if a wedding is in the works sooner rather than later :) I know I should have taken pictures of them both (I'm a bad mother) but it was a bit confusing when they were here for dinner last night. There was a lot to catch up on as we had not seen him since the 4th of July weekend.

Well, hope this finds you all happy and enjoying the little bit of summer that is left. The time goes by way too fast. Never ever enough time to do everything you want to. Happy Knitting everyone :)

Twins

There is very little knitting-wise that has excited me lately. I made a big mistake in picking my projects as of late. Two pairs of socks, same pattern, one after the other is a bad idea!! The other day I finally finished the second pair of socks that I knit from the same pattern. You can tell that I really enjoyed knitting the first pair.....

....so I just had to knit up another pair. The pattern is Socks of Kindness: a Recipe. The stitch pattern is easy, but looks intricate

I loved how they turned out and right away I cast on for another pair of the same. The yarn was pretty much the same as well, which added up to a lack of interest after a fashion. The first pair was camouflage and the second looked very much the same, instead of green- the major color was blue. Talk about second sock syndrome, second pair syndrome is worse.! I learned my lesson this time :) I think I need a break from socks.

I always have a take-a-long project in the works.
The latest one finished is another baby prayer blanket with yellow and green alternating stripes. This was mostly knit while I was doing my physical therapy and as a passenger in the car. Easy, boring knitting as well.

Now I need to find a new and different project to work on. I have some ideas. but first I need to finish a counted cross stitch project ( "A Little Girl's Fancy" by Paula Vaughan) that has been in the works for about 20 years on and off. I am very close to be done!! I HAVE to complete this before moving on!

Here it is in the summer of 2006:
It was supposed to be finished that summer. That did not happen. Every summer since I have worked on it a little bit, but I must admit I get tired of it very quickly.

Hopefully by my next post I'll have a finished piece to show you. At least I have good intentions!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying what's left of summer. Happy Knitting :)

Felted Walker Pouch Pattern

A while back I made a felted walker pouch for my Dad. My 91 year old father was in need of something to attach to his walker to carry things in, so I made this felted pouch for his walker. He loves it! People are always asking him about it and are quite interested in how it was made. It holds all his essentials and has proven to be quite useful. I have yet to see another felted walker pouch anywhere else so it is quite unique as well! Recently someone reading my blog requested pattern. Looking back at my notes I wrote up the pattern and thought I would add it to my Design Page. Hopefully it is accurate as it's been quite a while since I knitted it up.

Click here to download the pattern in PDF format.

Please contact me if you have any questions about the pattern.

happy knitting :)

Resurfacing for a little blogging

Wow, what happened to May? I can't believe the last time I posted was April 16th. I've been very neglectful in my blogging...just have not been feeling up to it. My Dad is fine this time...I'm the one with the troubles. I know this is a knitting blog, but I feel I owe you all a little explanation. I've been having a problem with my knee. I thought I was going crazy because my knee felt very wonky and I was in a lot of pain. In actuality I do have a loose knee cap which I have been going to physical therapy for. Between that and doing my PT homework, my oldest son moving out of the house to New Hampshire (he landed a fabulous job) plus all the end of the school year concerts and programs and parades...I've been quite busy. Once school's out for the summer I hope things will settle down.

Yes, I have been knitting. That's one past-time that really keeps me sane. I even get to do some knitting while I'm doing my PT. A whole twenty minutes while I'm getting the differential and ice pack :)

Here's some of the items I have finished in the past month and a half:

A baby prayer blanket using leftover pink and white yarn and Grandmother's Favorite dishcloth pattern.
Socks, my basic toe up sock recipe using the stitch pattern from the Show off Stranded Sock pattern.
More socks - a gift for Kate, my basic toe up sock recipe using the stitch pattern from Monkey Socks.
and more socks using my basic toe up sock recipe with the herringbone stitch pattern from the Charade sock pattern...
I've been knitting so many socks one after the other that I have become quite good wth my toes and heels....I don't have to refer to the directions any more. I probably could knit them in my sleep now!

I even won a prize from Aunt Kathy, gorgeous stitch markers. I really want to put them on a chain and wear them as a necklace :) Thank you dear AK!!
...and we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on the 19th of May.
I was pleasantly surprised with beautiful flowers, lovely earringsand even a triple chocolate cake :) ...sorry no photo!

Last but not least my youngest's last art project: I'll definitely be framing this one to add to all of my boys artwork which adorns just about every wall in my house!

You can see now that I have been busy :)
Hope every one is well and I will try to catch up with every one sooner or later...

happy knitting :)

Left Overs are a good thing!

I needed to make a baby gift and wanted to use up yarn that I already had, so I looked and found just enough softee baby to make one more blanket. I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I have to admit the pattern wasn't very imaginative - just good old grandmother's favorite, but I think the garter stitch stripes look pretty cool.
I used a smaller sized needle this time. The blanket is super soft. The other three blankets were knit with a larger needle. Do you remember the pink one and the blue one and the combo of pink and blue ? I can't remember how many skeins of yarn I bought to begin with, but nevertheless I am very happy that I was able to make four blankets out of it! Now I can go back to knitting my socks!

happy knitting :)

Long time...no blogging...

...sure hope you haven't forgot about me :)

Where do I begin to tell you about what's been going on here? Why have I been missing? How did everything spin out of control?

It's all my dear 92 year old father's fault. On the evening of February 11th, I came home from a meeting at church to find out (bad me, my cell phone was turned off) that my father blacked out, fell back and hit his head, hurt his back and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Because of the black out they kept him in the hospital for four days to find the cause. No cause was found other than syncope. He was lucky, very lucky that he didn't break any bones. He was bleeding profusely though, so he did call for help with his lifeline this time, thank goodness. He went to rehab for 3 weeks. He actually enjoyed rehab this time. He was very social and didn't seem to be anxious to go back home. He felt safe - I'm sure of that. The nurses thought he would do well in assisted living, so I did some investigating and found a family owned and run lovely place. Even though it was recommended to go there directly from rehab, he didn't want to go there without seeing it first, so he was discharged and went back home. I can't say that I blame him for that as this was a big decision. The very next day we went for a tour and he did in fact like what he saw. A plan for his move was put into place and exactly one week later he moved into his new assisted living apartment which is really only one room with a private bathroom. Need I say more...deciding what to bring was prioritized and the rest (My Dad never threw anything out...so much to go through, you should have seen my living room after the move. Glad to report that I just have a couple of boxes left.) was left to me to figure out what do with what remained. I worked hard, really hard and then was exhausted, partly because of the stress and lack of sleep. The whole week he was alone at home I didn't sleep much worrying about him. Fortunately that feeling didn't last long and good sleep has returned with the feeling that he is now safe, and has all the help he needs and deserves. He is happy and seems to like his new living arrangement. The food is fabulous with delicious desserts. He loves his sweets. Everything is good now :)

I hope you'll all understand why I've been missing in action. With so little extra time, taking care of my family was high on my list and unfortunately blogging was real low. Now that things are getting back to normal, slowly I'll try to catch up with everyone. Now to show you some of what I've been working on. Yes, I was determined to find a little time to knit.

I manage to finish my River Rapids Socks:
Another prayer shawl was completed:
as well as a pair of shortie socks made out of leftover sock yarn. Nothing special, but good mindless knitting:
I even had a nice Valentine's surprise this year:
What I can't believe is that Easter is right around the corner!

Before everything went out of control I did actually buy myself a new camera, a Cannon Powershot SX110 IS. I LOVE it! I'm still learning....the zoom is super and videos come out great. It had already been put to good use, even though it took me a while to get it out of it's box.

For now everything is GOOD. I'll be sure to stop in and catch up with my friends as time allows. I think I'll be playing catch-up for quite some time. Enjoy the spring and hope you have time for some extra happy knitting :) I know that is what keep me sane.