Rude Awakening

Recently I took a detour to knit squares for the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon. Our church formed a team to knit squares, but I wasn't able to attend. You can read more about all that happend at this event on Major Knitter's Blog. Thank you Major Knitter for keeping us informed!
After I finished knitting the squares I immediately plunged into knitting pocketbook slippers...lots of pocketbook slippers. Last year I knit two pairs of these wonderful (and super easy pattern) for items to be sold in the "Kids Only Shopping" portion of our church's Holly Fair. They were hugely popular...in fact after the fair I had many people including adults asking me about the slippers...so I thought I should make a bunch for this years fair, November 17th. I knew I waited too long to start, but it's not like my knitting needles have been idle at all at any time. Oh, well. Here I am knitting away and then I get an email from my sister-in-law the day before yesterday asking us to save the date for our family's holiday get-together December 8th which takes place in the western part of the state. Needless to say we don't visit them too often because it's a bit of a trip for us. At first it didn't register and then I got the horrors...the baby blanket for my husband's niece and godchild who's baby boy is due right after the holidays. I was supposed to have it ready to bring Christmas. Some how I have had it in my head that I still had plenty of time, but no not really...so last night I cast on. Sure hope I can finish it by December 8th??? (I know there is always the mail as a last resort!)

I might not get too many more slippers done. I have one on the needles to take with me for a take-a-long project...maybe I can manage one more pair. Here are the slippers I have made so far:
How do you like my stripey ones? I took a chance and used two colors because I didn't think I'd have enough of the green yarn. My instincts were right and it was a wise decision. I don't think everyone will like them, but hopefully someone will!
Now I have to start taking deep breaths for I really know now that the holidays are soon upon us. Haven't even started my Christmas knitting (forget about Christmas shopping - what's that?). There might be a lot of IOU's this year :) Guess once the baby blanket is finished I'll have to make a list and prioritize. For now - I'm just going to try and not think about it...just keep my mind on happy knitting :)

Garter Stitch Stripes are a Good Thing!

When I started knitted the 9 x 9 inch squares for the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon blanket project I was very excited to be using my 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Calendar Book, trying out the various stitches. It was fun...but I started running into difficulties. I couldn't depend on the fact that if I cast on a given number of stitches I would end up with a 9 x 9 inch square. Finally I caved in and started knitting boring garter stitch stripes. Actually I didn't find them boring at all. They were rather fun and I was actually using up quite a bit of my little odd balls of yarn. You know what I mean. We all have those "too little to do much of anything with balls" of yarn or" too afraid to start anything balls". These garter stitch stripe squares really turned out to be my favorite. I just knew if I cast on 38 stitches (size 6 needle) the way I knit with worsted weight yarn I would end up with a 9 inch square in the end. How could that be simpler and in my case therapeutic as well. Lately that's the kind of knitting that suits me best :)

Here are the a few of the ones I fiddled with before coming to my senses:
A tri-color (until I ran out of blue and switched to white) Double Woven (a.k.a DW cloth) from Oct. 20 and
Garter Stitch Ridges ( Sept. 22 ) and Checkerboard (June 19).

Our church's fundraising website has been doing pretty well in addition to the knitting of the squares. It will be very interesting to find out the actual number of squares knitted by everyone. I knitted 15. I wish it could have been more, but I just have to move on to other things.

Now, to change the subject....drum roll please....I won my very first blog contest ( and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary either)! Thanks to Jeanne of Jeanne Knits, I being her 2001st commenter, she so generously gifted me with a wonderful gift certificate to Yarn Chef. There are so many beautiful yarns at Yarn Chef that I am really looking forward to picking out some pretty yarn for a new project...now I just have to figure out what I want to make and then I'll be all set. I was really having a rough week and you really helped me through it. Thank you so much Jeanne :)

Well, here we go again...another week and can you believe it October is just about gone. Where is the time going? Don't know what I would do without my knitting, because I do think that's what keeps me sane. While I may not always have time to be blogging, I do make sure I can get some knitting in some way or another :)

happy knitting :)

Small Clutch from Recycled Grocery Bags by Patti

I can't take credit for the knitting in this post, but none the less I had to share this with you. Patti (Knitting by Patti - Patti doesn't have a blog, but she has an awesome photo album filled to the brim with lots of wonderful handmade items - please go and check it out for yourselves...you'll be glad you did.) emailed me yesterday. Here's what she wrote:

"Hi,

I was very impressed by the idea of knitting with plastic grocery bags.

So, I thought I'd give it a try. I thought I'd start out small, and just use the garter stitch to see how it knits up.

I continued and it was easier to knit with than I thought!

So, I continued knitting and then was trying to think of something to make with this rectangle I had on my needles............

I came up with a clutch, and even put velcro on it for a closure and also made a chain stitch piece for a handle, which can be placed in or out, according to whether you want to use the handle or not.

Thanks so much, and I would like to try something larger in the future. Right now I have other projects in the works, but had to stop and try knitting with the plastic bags.

I've attached a link of couple pics of the clutch for you to see.

Once you are on this link, you can hit next to see the 2nd pic-

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a187/patti819/Bags%20-%20Purses/?action=view&current=10-07005FinishedBag.jpg

Thanks again,

Patti :-)"

To make a long story short - this is what she came up with:
A wonderful small clutch.... knitted from....well...yes...plastic bags! Isn't it cute and I think it's quite stylish! She says small...but it sure holds quite a bit: wallet, eyeglass case, lip gloss and a few other items. When I first saw it I thought to myself, now that would make a great coupon organizer... but according to Patti it probably would be a tad too big. I'm sure it could be scaled down. She uses velcro as a closure. Isn't Patti clever? Here is a photo of what this mighty clutch will hold:Patti very kindly gave me permission to post her pattern to make the clutch in case anyone is interested. This would be a great little project to see if you like knitting with plastic before you get too involved in one of the big bags. Patti was amazed at how easy it was :) Thank you Patti for sharing your pattern with us.

Small Clutch from Recycled Grocery Bags

Finsihed Size Approximately 7 1/2 inches wide by 5 1/2 inches tall

Materials Needed

#13 knitting needles (next time I will go a bit smaller)

Plastic bags prepared, cut in strips then looped together

Tapestry Needle

One Velcro hook & loop closure

Thread (embroidery)

Cast on 17 stitches

knitted in garter stitch for approx. 10 inches

Then start the decrease to make the flap or leave it and it will be straight across.

Decrease one stitch on each side of every other row (2 & 3rd stitch knit together, and next to last stitch and last stitch knit together) until there are approx. a 2 inches left.

Cast off.

Assemble Bag

Fold up the bottom to just before the decrease starts.

Stitch the sides up using a tapestry needle and the plastic yarn. I used the mattress stitch.

Use a velcro closure for the flap ( I used pressure sensitive back, then put a few stitches with thread).

Make a chain or I-cord with the plastic yarn for the handle.

Loop it thru on the upper corner of the clutch-

Enjoy!

Copyright © 2007 Knitting by Patti, All Rights Reserved.

Questions or comments you can contact Patti via email at patsch819(at)verizon(dot)net