Tag Archives: Knitting

Promises to Myself

Posted on January 2, 2010 | Comments Off on Promises to Myself

I have thought a lot about making New Year's Resolutions again this year. Because the truth for me is that they normally get broken very quickly, I have decided against making any. Instead, my choice is to make some promises to myself. On the surface, it might not seem like there is much difference in the two. For me there is a huge one. A promise is a firm decision that must be kept. A resolution is not nearly as strong.

Here are a couple of promises I have made to myself, listed in no particular order:

  • I will work on losing weight and improving my over all fitness on a daily basis. I do not  want to  end this decade of my life  overweight and out of shape. One of my Grandmothers died a miserable death of heart failure and and I am going to do everything in power to avoid the same fate. 
  • I will use the contents of at least one of the four 19 quart containers of yarn in my stash. These containers and others have  yarn from Grab Bags purchased from Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Co. in the past couple of years. There are already some specific plans for it.
  • I will try some of the patterns from a variety of sources that I have been saying for years that I will try. This is the year to do so.
  • I will finish the partially completed baby blanket that has been waiting to be done for months.
  • The gift for the grand daughter of a friend of mine will be finished and delivered.
  • My dishcloth blog: Dish and Wash Cloth Mania will have much more time devoted to it than it has had for a very long item. It has been ignored all too often in the past two years. From now on things will be different.
  • I am going to try very hard to blog here at least once a week. One of my goals is to be more creative in how this is done. This is a work in progress.

There are lots of things I want to do and write about this year. I am not making any promises about them. We will have to see how life works out.

May each of you have a Blessed New Year!

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Lost In Stitching

Posted on May 1, 2009 | Comments Off on Lost In Stitching

I suddenly realized that it has been more than six weeks since I have written anything here. The time has flown by quickly!

I have been lost in stitching. The moderators of one of the groups to which I belong on Ravelry announced a contest which consisted of making Amigurumi Food. Up until that time I had been a very practical knitter and crocheter that would not indulge in making things for the fun of it. One must be practical.  I thought about taking part in the contest for a couple of days.  After doing some research on the topic and with a lot of encouragement from my husband, downloaded a simple pattern. My first project was Little Fried Egg by Ana Paula. I still recall my sheer joy and delight at completing it. I had never made anything like that before. Not only was it three dimensional, but it was fun!! I laughed and giggled with glee!!! Listening to me that day you would have gotten the impression that I had accomplished a great feat. For me, I had. that was the first time in my life I had ever made something just for the fun of it. I was hooked. This was the start of a new aspect of fiber arts for me.

Much of my free time that weekend was spent looking for; downloading and printing free patterns from the Internet. I also looked for books about amigurumi on line and went on successful  searches for them at some local bookstores and one nearby LYS. My fascination with making food was growing.

I discovered Easter Eggs by Nikki Anders on Ravelry. Not only are they quick and easy, but they are gorgeous and use so little time and yarn. In very little time, i was making one of these every few days. I found other patterns on her blog as well as on the blogs of others. Pattern searches on Ravelry and Google and  led me to more patterns, a lot of free ones and some for purchase. How awesome! There are patterns available for almost every food imaginable.

I began spending time every day making some food item. This soon became more than an addiction, it became an obsession. I stayed up late at night and got up early in the morning to play with yarn and food. There were days when all that meant only 10-15 minutes, but that was all right. At least it was a bit of time to play with my newly found interest.

As time went by, I discovered  ETSY. It was there that I discovered Crafty Anna and KTB Designs.
Wow! They sell patterns in sets and cute ones at that in my opinion. 
Not only that, but based on price per pattern, they are not expensive. Now, several weeks later, I have a collection of patterns from
ETSY. There are other wonderful designers there as well. These two
happen to be my favorites.

At some point, I began to look at food in terms of color. For example:
is the inside of an apple Ivory or ecru? Is the inside of a banana
yellow or a different color? What is the best shade of red for the outside of an apple or carrot?  This has been  gloriously mind stretching. What a great way to learn to look at the world differently! I will never be the same.

Thank You Maile and Flo! Once again you have enriched my life and those around me forever.

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Busy and Having Fun

Posted on November 15, 2008 | Comments Off on Busy and Having Fun

The past couple of weeks have been busy, especially on the knitting front. I have been involved in making Ballband Cloths as part of a contest for a Ravelry group to which I belong. This has been taking as much time as I could spare. I did not get as many  cloths  made as I wanted to,but still had a lot of fun. One of my goals, which I met,  was to play around with color combinations and to try out shades of yarn I might not normally use. That was fun. There are still some color combinations I want to try, but they are on hold for now. It is time to turn my attention to other projects.

One of the things needing my attention is  a baby blanket as a gift for an acquaintance. The blanket is found here . It is being made with Shades of Spring. I have not decided if it going to have the crocheted border or not. It is an easy knit which is progressing fairly quickly. I started off using a 32 inch circular needle but have moved up to a 60 inch one to allow enough space for the growing number of stitches. This was a wise decision. I will post pictures once it is completed.

I finally got around to posting pictures of a Comfortghan I made for a friend who lost her son more than a year ago. The afghan is made from Red Heartv yarn in Paddy Dreen and Aran. The square is of my own design. It was a very special gift for a very special lady.

Have a fantastic week!

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Excited!!

Posted on November 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Excited!!

In the scope of life this is a minor thing, but at the moment it is a big issue. My Flickr Photo Album is working. I had to install Java in order to access a Chat Room for a knitting group to which I belong. After doing that, it dawned on me to check to see if that action made a difference on this blog. It did.  the one Photo Album I still have up is now  functioning properly!  I learned something I did not know before today. The next time there is a problem on this order I will double check to see if Java has been installed.

There are new Ballband cloths posted as of today. Take a look at them if you want. The ones I make are fairly small to meet my own needs and wants. The pattern is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. The possibilities are endless, in terms of size and color combinations.

Have a fantastic Day!!

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Vacation and Patterns

Posted on September 2, 2008 | Comments Off on Vacation and Patterns

This has been a gloriously busy and relaxing week all in one. We  chose to stay at home on in order to get some projects finished around the house. Those are coming along a lot more slowly than planned. They will be finished before the week is out. My vehicle developed engine trouble and spent a day at the mechanic's shop being repaired. 

Most importantly, there has been lots of time for us just to be together as a family. When left to our own schedule, we tend to eat several small meals a day.  Our family talks a lot and meal or snack times are the perfect time to indulge in this activity. We have been enjoying the freedom to do this.

I have added a new page to this blog with some free patterns on the right side bar. It is titled Rose Trellis Ensemble. The set includes patterns for a cloth and towel. I have also added more Flickr widgets on the left side bar.

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Vacation Has Begun

Posted on August 24, 2008 | Comments Off on Vacation Has Begun

We are into Day two of our vacation. I am having so much fun. My craft/computer room got de-cluttered and dusted. I know that in the scope of life this is an ordinary activity, but to me it was important. The room got cluttered with a lot of things that did not belong in it over the past couple of weeks. There were papers that required filing and yarn that needed to be put away. off  It looks and feels so much neater and cleaner.

On the knitting fromt, I finished knitting the current cloth for the Cloth of the Week group to which I belong. It is a pretty cloth that was worth the time spent on it. I did have a couple of problems because of not paying attention to what I was doing. I mis-judged the size and started making the small cloth. It was too small and I decided to frog it. My second attempt at this little beauty should have been super easy. It was not. The problem was my own failure to read the directions and cast on the right number of stitches. I got so far as to almost complete Row 1 of the pattern before realizing it was one stitch short. It was also frogged. My third attempt was successful and was well worth it. The pattern worked up quiuckly and easily. I used Peaches and Creme Worsted Wt.  I will post a picture of it later this week.

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Vacation-Yes!

Posted on August 21, 2008 | 2 comments

Following the proper procedure set forth by my employer, I requested vacation time two weeks in advance. My request was for two whole weeks, including weekends, one of which is my regularly scheduled one to work.  The  new schedule came out today and it shows I am on vacation after Friday of this week!!

I am so excited! We have been planning this time off for the past month and a half.There is lots of family time planned for fun and household projects. A lot of my free time will be spent completing some UFO’s; starting some new projects  and working on both of my active blogs.  There is so much to do and only two weeks to do it. 

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Fiber News

Posted on August 15, 2008 | Comments Off on Fiber News

Some of you may remember me talking about the Comfortghan that was started a year ago for a friend of mine a little more than a year ago. It has taken a long time, but the squares are finally done!  I am now weaving in the loose ends on them. In typical fashion for me, most of them have been done as I go, but there are still the ends from the center and a few extra long ones that need some attention. My goal is to complete this task by a week from tomorrow. I want ot get the afghan completely sewn together the following week when I am on vacation from work.

On the knitting front there is not much going on. I am limiting the amount of knitting to a bare minimum until the crocheted afghan is completed. The one project being worked on is a rug  made from Peaches and Creme Double Worsted by Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Co. The design is my own and will be posted when the rug is made.

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Everyday Activities

Posted on June 29, 2008 | Comments Off on Everyday Activities

I have been wanting to write for a while, but have not been able to think of anything to say. That is strange for me, since I normally have lots to say. There has been a lot going on in the past several weeks, but most of it is a part of everyday living. 

The weekend after my cousin died, which was Mother’s Day weekend, we had a bit of a minor crisis. The water pipe leading to the refrigerator broke after the refrigerator was moved. it happened late Saturday night/early Sunday morning  resulting  in a minor flood in the kitchen and into the basement. Luckily for us were able to find an all night plumber who came and stopped the leak. The remaining  plumbing repairs were completed after the weekend.  We filed a claim with our homeowner’s insurance and are going to have the final repairs made in the next few weeks. While we are waiting for the last  detailsto be worked out,  we are cleaning out the basement to make for some of the items that will be shifted around while the work is  being done. It is a major task but is progressing quite nicely.

Since then, I have been busy finishing up a couple of projects which have been needing to be completed. One of them is the comfortghan for my friend who lost her son last year.  It is almost done.There are less than ten squares remaining to be made before it can be assembled. Once it is finished, I will post pictures and share the pattern for the square. 

A couple of years ago !I listened to the first one or two pod casts  by David Reidy of Sticks and Strings. Life happened, and I lost track of it. In the past couple of months I have rediscovered it. Originally, I was going to listen to it while walking. That did not work out so well. Instead, I now listen to it and knit. It is much more enjoyable. I downloaded all the past episodes and am up to number 46. That only leaves 23 more to listen to until I am caught up.  I enjoy his style and variety of topics. I know that there are other good fiber related pod casts available. It just happens that his is the only one I am listening to at the moment.

One thing is happening on the knitting front this week that is exciting. One of the Yahoo groups to which I belong  The Cloth Of The Week, is celebrating its’ First Year Anniversary starting July first. The owners, one of whom is  Maile Mauch have some fun activities  planned for the group. You can also learn more about the group  on Ravelry if you arebelong there. This past year has sped by quickly with lots of learning taking place on my part. There is so much more to learn about and do with knitting.

Have a great week!

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Glorious Weekend

Posted on April 21, 2008 | 2 comments

This has been a most glorious weekend in my part of the world. On the surface it has been an ordinary weekend except that I have been home for the past three days. We have had plenty of time for rest and play, mingled with some weekend household chores.

I have kept busy with an assortment of fiber related activities. As I mentioned in my previous post on Friday, an order from Pisgah Yarn And Dyeing Co. arrived that day. I had been planning that order for months, waiting until there were several of the Kits and other special items available that I wanted. My motivation was simply to save on shipping. When I got home Friday night,

The box of yarn was pretty big and had lots in it. This was a good thing, until I took it out of the box and spread it all over the floor of our small living room. Most of it stayed on the floor until early Saturday morning when I put it away. Now that does not sound like too big of a job for a grown woman to do….Or does it?  What it meant in reality, was doing a bit of re arranging of my stash. It took a couple of hours to do this by the time I brought up an empty large plastic bin from the basement and  washed & dried it before filling it.   

One of my other goals for this weekend has been to post pictures of my knitting efforts on my Flickr account so they can be seen here and on Ravelry. This meant weaving in a bunch of loose ends and taking lots of pictures. In theory this was not too big of  a job. What happened was that most of the batteries for my camera were not properly charged. so as a result, what was to have been a little bit time consuming became a major time eater. There are still a few more items to be posted, but not many. If you are interested, go take a look at my Flickr album on the left. You will see lots of new things.

Most of the cloths I make are by my two favorite designers, Sue Schaefer and Maile Mauch. although their styles are somewhat different, I enjoy them both because a lot of time the patterns they create challenge me to think and learn new ways of knitting. Besides, their designs are pretty. :)

Due to family needs, I have unsubbed from most of the online knitting groups to which I have belonged in the past. One of the few to which I still belong is the Cloth Of The Week. This group, run by Maile, is different than any other group  because of its  emphasis on learning about knitting. there have been time when life has not allowed time to do each week’s cloth. In the past couple of week, I have been working on some of them.  In my opinion, it is fun learning with no pressure. I will try to post pictures of some of the cloths made from this group on Flickr.  Please do not ask me for the patterns because they are only available for group members due to copyright laws.  I spent some time this weekend making at least of the cloths from this group.

I also allowed myself the luxury of printing and filing a lot of knitting patterns. Some of them were freshly printed one while others had been in some piles for a while waiting for my attention. In the course of this at some point, I cleaned out a bookshelf and made room for notebooks containing patterns. It is not exciting stuff to do, but goes a long way in terms of organization and how I fee about myself.

May eacn of you have a wonderful and knitful week.

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