Happy Holidays!!

I'm obviously overdue for an update. My last post was Halloween so it's definitely time for Domo and the pumpkins to exit. But I don't want to talk about Christmas. I'm woefully unprepared for the holiday this year so the less said the better. We're getting some serious snow today in the Philadelphia area and I can't even get my shopping finished. I might be one of those crazy people you see on the news in the mall on Christmas Eve.
So, with 2010 right around the corner I thought I'd take advantage of this snow day at home to say hello and share my knitting plans for the new year. After knitting Fountain Pen, my first lace weight shawl over the summer, I caught the lace bug. Through the fall, I knit several of those smaller shawls like Traveling Woman , Ishbel and 198 Yards of Heaven (all rav links).
I recently finished the Dane Shawl by Jane Tanner, knit in J. Knits Superwash Me Sock yarn. The colorway is called Michigan. I'm very happy with it and my new shawl pin. But please let me know, am I wearing it wrong?? Stick pin up or down? Is there a right way?



So guess what I'll be knitting in the new year? More shawls. Hopefully 10 shawls because I joined the ravelry group 10 Shawls in 2010. The group was started by Pillen, an awesome knitter from Vestfold, Norway. She came up with the idea to challenge yourself to knit 10 shawls over the course of the year. Here's what she wrote on the group home page.

"The minimum requirement of meterage is 250 meter (ca 273 yards) for 8 of these shawls, whereas 2 must use at least 500 meters (ca 546 yards) of yarn.

There are no upper limits to meterage if you want to knit 10 big shawls :) Any shapes will do - and you can even be your own designer!

The plunge starts at January 1st and ends 31st of December 2010. NO WIPS count!
In the very beginning of January 2011, there will be a prize draw (picked at random of course) amongst those who have completed the 10 shawls following the criteria.

There will also be monthly prizes! :) "

Sounded like fun to me!! I already had several shawl patterns in my queue and now that I've joined the group my queue has exploded. I think I’m going to start with Swallowtail, but of course, I reserve the right to change my mind any time between now and midnight January 1st. And I’m sure that over the course of the year a new shawl pattern might catch my eye (ummm... Bitterroot and Citron) but here's my list of potential shawls to knit for the challenge.

Swallowtail
Ishbel
Cedar Leaf Shawlette
Aeolian Shawl
Shetland Triangle Lace Shawl
Mountain Peaks Shawl
Gail (aka Nightsongs)
Percy Shawl
Springtime Bandit
Aestlight
Luna Moth
Heartland Lace Shawl
Centrique
Butterfly Forest Shawl
Saroyan
Laminaria
Agatha
Night Blooms Shawl
La Cumparsita
Go Fly a Kite Shawl
Ethereal Fichu
Echo Flower Shawl
Woodland Shawl
Rueschenstola

So you should see some finished lace shawls on my project page on ravelry and here on the blog in 2010. And if you think you'd like to knit some shawls too, why don't you join us?

Happy Halloween!

Stay safe and have fun!

Finishing Feels Fabulous!

This has been a week of finishing! I've had several projects on the needles that I've been cycling between and I got to the point with each of them that it was time to just settle in and finish. I reached my "tipping point". Some had been on the needles longer than others but they all got their share of dedicated knitting time.

First off the needles was my newest project. In this case I think I have the KAL to thank for the quick turn around time. I caught the beginning of the September KAL on the ravelry Beginning Lace Knitters group for the Traveling Woman shawl by Liz Abinante. I'd had my eye on this shawlette and had been considering knitting it this fall so it seemed like a sign. August 31st found me casting on.

I thoroughly enjoyed knitting it. The yarn was yummy. The color was a treat to my eyes. The details are here on my ravelry page. And it was great to be part of the KAL and see everyone's yarn choices, progress and the finished shawls. In fact, the KAL is still going strong so if you've been considering knitting TW, stop by and visit the group. I joined earlier in the summer when I cast on my "first" lace weight shawl. I've found the Beginner Lace Knitters group to be a really sweet, supportive group of lace knitters who seem to welcome and enjoy helping newbie lace knitters (like me).

That lace project also came off the needles last night! I've been working away on it all summer. I'm a little apprehensive about blocking it. Can I mess it up at this point?? I hope not. So more about that when I have some nice pictures post blocking. And now, I must get off the computer and back to Liesl. I've just picked up the stitches for the second sleeve so that should be done very shortly too!

And all this finishing.... means I can cast on some new projects.

Happy Knitting!

It's What's for Dinner...

Squash!! I love summer squash so I was very happy to come home tonight and find this perfect yellow squash as I was on my way in the back door. It's been many years since I've had a garden. But my daughter had a couple extra squash plants that wouldn't fit in her smallish, first vegetable garden so she sent them home with me. I popped them in at the end of a sidewalk border right by my deck and now... I have dinner! Just steamed with butter (tonight I settled for Smart Balance), salt and pepper = yum!!

I also have another recent FO to share. The yarn, Knitting Fever Jumbo Merino, was an impulse purchase that I was sure was destined to remain in my stash because I foolishly only bought 2 balls. A grand total of 66 yards! I was going to try Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Unoriginal Hat but after looking at various projects on ravelry I was certain I'd run short. It was really bugging me that I'd bought this yarn that I was really drawn to - loved the earthy colors and softness - yet I bought it without a plan and couldn't find a pattern to use with it. So last weekend I just decided to knit a rectangle with a cable down the center and see if I could get enough length to make a neckwarmer. I made a buttonhole and one end and then knit down to the very end. And after blocking and giving it a little tugging it looks like it might work!


And a project currently on my needles is Liesl!

You might recognize this yarn. It was last seen as Vienne, (my ravelry project) which ended up in the frog pond. Who knew that frogging a whole sweater that had been washed and blocked with the ends woven in (really well I might add) would be such a chore. Took me a whole evening. And then more time washing and rewinding the yarn. But now I have the pleasure of knitting with this lovely yarn again and I'm optimistic that this project will be a success!!

Happy Knitting and thanks for all the nice warm wishes on the new little grandbaby!

Why it's a Finished Object or Two!!

Apparently I'm never going to be a regular blogger. I have trouble with commitment. Ask those who know me. Daily or even weekly is more than I can commit to. But this weekend I got a couple of projects finished, which always feels so good. So I thought I'd post a quick update. And now that something's come off the needles, something else can go on. Like Liesl and Ishbel and Selbu Modern and .....!

This is a little out of season... a winter scarf that stalled on the needles when spring arrived and then spent the summer patiently waiting it's turn again. I don't know what prompted me to pick it up this week. It's been quite warm and sticky here in the Philadelphia area but I dug it out of the "zzz" basket and would not rest until it was done. I knit until I ran out of yarn.


Pattern: Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun Scarf
Yarn: Araucania Nature Wool Chunky 2 skeins / 262 yards
Needle: US 10 / 6.0 mm
I've used this pattern before. It's a (usually) quick, easy knit. Unisex. And I think it works well with variegated yarn and would work equally well with a nice solid color. It may become my 'go to' scarf pattern.

I also finished my granddaughter Devin's school sweater. I don't think I ever blogged about it. It started out as a navy blue cardigan, per uniform regulations, but I did fancy it up a bit with some feather and fan. Hope that's acceptable for school standards. I'll take some photos and update my ravelry page next week.

And there's one more FO in my life I should share.....



Born on August 13th. I'm smitten. He's beautiful. Now I have 5 grandchildren to fill my heart. And knit for.

Hello!

Hi! How are you all doing? I'm doing well myself. Sorry gals but I lost my knitting and knitting blogging mojo for a while. I don't knit as fast as some of you, and I always felt I had to blog a novella every time. But Suzy Girl was kind enough to point out, that a few words here and there are all that is needed. A weekly hello would suffice. And she is so right.

So without further ado, here are two little book marks I knitted up recently:

First one was for a book blogger friend of mine Marcia from The Printed Page.

And the second is for me:

Not sure how well these will work, but I had this beautiful left over sock yarn I wanted to use. What else could I have done with it? That sock yarn log cabin blanket is never going to get made. Lets face it.

So that's it for now. I'll see you all next week. Happy Knitting!

P.S.

Barbara, I know I said Sunday for my post, but since Susan posted I decided to wait until Monday. Thanks for giving me another friendly kick.

Buttons!!

Well, I tackled a long overdue chore yesterday and got my button sewing done so I finally have some projects that are now officially OTN and FO. I don't know why I procrastinated so long on getting these buttons sewn on. Once I got started it didn't take that long. But in my defense, I had a hard time finding really cute buttons. Who knew cute buttons were so hard to find.

So anyway, here's how I spent Saturday afternoon.....

Sewing on plain, tiny blue buttons for the Little Boy Blue Sweater for my grandbaby.

Pattern: DROPS b17-23 (used this for the sweater and hat)
Yarn: Brooklyn Handspun Soft Spun - Superwash Sock Yarn
Needles:Size 1, 3, 4, us
I couldn't find a top down pattern for the sock weight yarn so I ended up using this pattern from Drops Design. This was knit from the bottom up, a first for me. Drops has a ton of free patterns on their website.. a great resource but I didn't like the decrease technique in the yoke area. It's a newborn size so I don't expect he'll get to wear it too often. His next sweater will be a top down and I will find cute buttons.

Still sewing... this time little pink buttons for a coworker who is expecting a baby girl.

Pattern: Easy Baby Cardigan by Diane Soucy (the Knitting Pure and Simple lady)
Yarn: Berrocco Comfort
Needles:Size 7us
This is a really nice quick and easy pattern. The buttons are little flower shapes but you can't really tell that from the picture.

And finally... buttons for a collection of bibs knit for my daughter. I started these early in her pregnancy. I was itching to knit for the baby but at that point we hadn't found out the baby was a boy. The colors are awfully bright and I probably wouldn't have chosen them if I had waited and known "he" was a "he". But if they catch food dribbles then I guess they've served their purpose.

Pattern: Baby Bib O' Love by Kay Gardiner and Anne Shayne from Mason Dixon Knitting
Yarn: Lion Cotton-Ease
Needles: Size us 6

And to complete my baby knitting... the sheep hat is done. In fact, I made two. I had enough yarn to make little thumb-less mittens and a second hat for a friend of my daughter's who is also having a baby boy.

Pattern: Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare - Superwash Merino DK Weight dyed with Wilton's food colorings.
Needles: Size 6 us
The original pattern was made with 64 stitches, which seemed a bit small, so I reworked the hat a couple of times and finally settled on adding 20 stitches to the original chart, keeping the same number of sheep, for a final cast on of 84 stitches and used a 2x2 rib rather than the rolled brim.

Now we just have to wait for baby to make his arrival.

Happy Knitting!