I'm still alive and knitting.

There are two new finished projects since the last post. One I was out of my mind when I agreed to knit...TWENTY THREE Bluebirds for the end of school. In the long run they were loved by my son's 3rd grade class. There are even requests for more which as of right now I will not be making.

Dear to my heart is a completed feather and fan shawl. It's knit with the yarn from my frogged sweater. The shawl was finished just after Mother's Day. Soon there will be pictures of the shawl. For now enjoy these wonderful Bluebirds.



Everything was knit according to the pattern. The only changes were I used fabric paint for the eyes and some left over orange yarn for the beaks.

Baby Cable Rib Socks

This pattern was simple and looks nice. Next time I'll add more stitches to the foot so the cables are closer together. The pattern came from Sensational Knitted Socks. Instead of knitting the sock cuff down I knitted it toe up and used a short row heel. The yarn is Knit Picks Essentials on size 1 needles. DPNS for the foot and 2 circulars for the heels and cuffs. For some reason I like doing the heels on 2 circulars. Usually, I switch back to DPNs for the cuff but, this time I just kept them on the circulars.

It's nice to finish a pair of socks. Besides the Easter Eggs and these socks there hasn't been any finished projects this year. My sweater is going to be frogged. It ended up too big and the fair isle was knit too tight. It wasn't a good idea to knit it while DH was in Germany this past January.

This winter has been a struggle. My head has been stuffed up since Christmas between colds, sinus infections and ear infections I haven't had much energy to do much. I don't remember a winter I've felt so lousy.

Little Eggs Big Smiles

Little did I know how much these little eggs would make big smiles on the faces at my son's school. Last weekend, this pattern was posted on a knitting group. To my amazement my 3rd grader fell in love with the idea of Mom knitting 21 eggs for his class. So, off to the store to pick up some Sugar N Cream yarn in his choice colors. It took me all week to knit them. He stuffed them and brought them into school today. So many comments were made regarding the eggs. Several wanted to know how they were made. The knitters wanted the pattern and a few non-knitters want to learn how to knit. Overall, the kids thought they were great. Lots of smiles all around.

Yarn: Sugar N Cream
Needles: 4 DPNs size 6
Pattern modifications: Increases 2nd stitch and decreases 2nd to last stitch on all 3 needles.

Warm ears....

My husband has been complaining about cold ears. The hat I knitted him last year ended up in the dryer and shrunk. He has a fleece hat from a few years ago but, it never covered his ears. With the cold and snow we've had lately I just had to knit him a hat. The joke has been I'm knitting him a hat so he can leave me for a week. Work is sending him to Berlin Germany in January. He's happy with his hat it's the same yarn I used to knit his basket weave scarf last year. For his hat he decided he wanted a simple knit 2 purl 2 hat. His ears should be warm here and in Berlin.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!!!!!

Sewing machine challenged!

Yes, I'm sewing machine challenged. When I was in elementary school all the way through college I used an old Singer sewing machine. It was my great aunt's sewing machine and she was a seamstress. It was a heavy black sewing machine with ton's of attachments. The thing weighed a ton. Not sure where it is now but, I do miss it. My sewing machine is about 14 years old and it and I never got along. It challenges me every time I use it. Anyway, after our battle this is the outcome.
A Christmas Gift for Mom/Nana.

My MIL is a huge baseball fan so the kids thought these would be great for Grandma. I'm sure there will be a discussion between her and the kids that not all are about baseball.


My father has been commenting that I haven't knitted him anything. So, he'll be getting these dish cloths. He'd really like an afghan...maybe in 2008.

All of these were knitted with Sugar N Cream yarn. The pot holders were from a pattern at MagKnits The only change I made was using Insul-Bright for the batting.

My FIL asked for knitted mittens last year...a year later. Dh was nice enough to model them for me. The yarn is superwash wool.

Yummy!

These mittens and hat were made for my 3 year old niece for Christmas. I'm hoping they keep her nice and toasty this winter. There's a request to add a cord to hold the mittens together in her jacket...not sure how long or if it should be crocheted chain or an i-cord...any recommendations? There's a request also to make her a scarf. I have plenty of yarn but, we'll see how much time is left between now and Christmas. It may have to wait until after Christmas. There are adult hats and mittens to be made and hopefully finished before Christmas.



Yarn: Webs Valley Yarns Superwash Grape and Bright Pink

Hat Pattern: Cupcake Hat

Mittens: Snowflake Mittens Knit with both Grape and Bright Pink w/o the snowflake.

The mittens were knit with both Grape and Bright Pink. The cuff is 3" long to help keep them under her sleeve.

My 14 year old niece took the other hat which was just knitted. It was a cable hat knitted with Lions Wool. The hat was going to go to the soup kitchen but, my niece fell in love with it. Just a few weeks ago she insisted she'd never wear a hat. She was too "HOT" for a hat. Little did she realize that she'd love a hat and look good wearing it. She received her afghan today and loved it, (pictures in November 1st posting). She loves the Grape and Bright Pink. She kept saying it's sooooooo soft. She loves the heart pattern of the afghan. She's thrilled her little sister will have a hat and mittens to match her afghan. She'll have a battle keeping her little sister away from her afghan. No afghan in the near future for my 3 year old niece. She received an afghan last Christmas that was crocheted with hearts with a dusty pink yarn.

My mother visited today and showed me she was wearing her Two-Toed Sock from the August 2nd post. These socks were originally going to be a Christmas gift. However, my grandmother past away a couple weeks after they were finished and it was a nice way to brighten her spirits. She's enjoying the socks and hoping for more socks in the future.

Heads of all sizes

This hat and the hat below were knit with Moda Dea Washable Wool. It is 100% Merino Wool Superwash. The pattern for this hat is k1p1 on size 7 circular & dpns. The hat below was knit with the same needles just k2p2 for the ribbing then, knit.

What a tinny hat. It will be good for a premie. It was knit with Caron. I will never use this yarn again. It's 100% acrylic and made my hands and wrists ache with every stitch. The hat below was made with the same yarn. I knit the larger hat first and only had a small amount of yarn left over for this premie hat. Both hats were knit with size 7 circular & dpns.
These hats and the two from last week will be dropped off tomorrow to Knitting for Angels for the Nashua Soup Kitchen Holiday Baskets. The premie hat will to be available for a hospital or other location if not needed at the soup kitchen.