A fun break

Knitting a couple of teddy bears was a fun break from knitting the Lover's Knot blanket, my latest expansive off white cable project for my son and daughter-in-law.

Meet my new nameless friends:


and what they look like from the back:
Stitchin girl's bears were my inspiration for these bears. Hope she doesn't mind me copying her idea. Her bears look like bears....I'm not quite sure what animals (or aliens) mine resemble. I like hers much better. I've been admiring her bears for quite some time now. She does have a knack for bear making!! She's made more bears than I can count, even small key chain ones. My boys think my bears look scary, but I think they kind of cute.

The construction of these bears is pretty simple, but the fun comes in embellishing them. I thought a ruffle skirt or tutu was a cute addition to make one of bears look a girl bear....then I added overalls to the boy bear. The pair is a gift for my friend's daughter's new baby and big sister. Hope they like them.

I'm still plugging away on the blanket...not much progress this week. Hopefully by next week I'll have a progress picture for you. I have to focus and just get it done.

Happy Knitting :)

The halfway point

Reaching the halfway point in knitting the Lover's Knot blanket made my day! I just finished the 7th pattern repeat of the braided cable. It is really getting heavy on my lap, but it does keep me very warm on cold nights. I laid out the blanket on my bed today to see if it will be the right size or the size I envisioned. Looks like it is the perfect width, but I can't really stretch it out until it is off the needles. One thing though...there is way too much off white yarn which is getting boring. I really need to work with color, so I did start a side project yesterday. It should be fairly quick to finish. I'll try to post again soon so I can show you.

In the meantime here is some of the dishcloths I finished this past summer, but never had the chance to post. I still have more to show you....which I will in the coming weeks just to add some color to my blog.

The first set is the Star Cloth. A few variations that I played with. It's been so long since I knit them that I can't even remember what I did. That's bad, but I do remember having fun with this stitch.
I also tried Kay's Linoleum Cloth in a couple of color combos. They were fun to do. I LOVE mosaic slip stitch patterns. Finally I leave you with a photo of the silk flower arrangement I made for the after wedding party we had for my son and his new wife back in November.

I feel better now. I really needed the color :)

happy knitting :)

Some finished items

Slowly I'm finishing a few things. The blanket for the 2009 Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon is complete. I finished it yesterday and I am very pleased with the results. Back in November I attended the Knit-a-thon with a group from my church. While there, we finished one blanket and a partial second. One of my church friends brought that one home to finish. I brought home a bag of squares to make a blanket. With the wedding and Christmas approaching fast I had to put sewing the blanket together on hold until after Christmas. It took me just about a week to assemble it. Instead of sewing it together, I crocheted it together flat, side by side, using a chain stitch to join the squares.
The squares were all different in size and yarn weight. I eased them together with the chain stitch, adding a border of three rows of single crochet. I think it looks pretty good. Hopefully the person who receives it will be very happy with it. The important thing is-- it will be very warm. This is such a nice and worthy project to work on. Pine Street Inn provides homes for homeless people in Boston. The Knit -a-thon raises money and makes blankets. They give a blanket to those moving into a new home. I must get started earlier next year knitting my squares. My goal for the 2010 knit-a-thon -- I would love to be able to knit 35 (9 '') squares, for a blanket myself...we'll see.

I also finished the two baby blankets I have been working on.
One of the babies was born on Thursday. I finished just in time. The baby is huge...10 lbs 13 oz! The other blanket is for a baby due sometime in March. I used one of my favorite patterns. I don't know the name of it or where the pattern originated. All I know is it is a pattern my mother had. Wish I knew where it came from.

Next, is a finished item that was completed back in October.

It's the shawl I made to wear to my son's wedding. I was afraid that it was going to be freezing that day, but I never actually wore the shawl at the wedding. It was a very rainy, but warm day. I'm sure I'll wear it for some other occasion in the future.

The pattern is Barbara Breiter's Shell Lace Shawl. It was very easy and I am happy with the results.

I'm still working on the Lover's Knot blanket. I just joined the sixth skein of yarn of 13. Looks like I'm almost at the halfway point. Yay! It is getting rather monotonous. I really miss color while working on this huge off white project. My next project will have to be very colorful :)

Well, guess that's about it for today. Happy weekend and happy knitting :)