I am most pleased at the moment. The gusset on the second slipper sock has been started successfully! I was very careful this past week at my knitting lesson to make sure I understood the pattern and could knit from it without anyone around to interpret it for me. The fact that I did this is encouraging. It means that the next pair of socks I make from it will be able to be done on my own.
I will post pictures of the completed slipper in a couple of days.
For quite a while I have also been considering the enormous size of my stash; the amount of storage space in my house and the relationship between the two. My stash is too large for this house. That is all there is to it.
I am also keenly aware of the needs of those less fortunate than my family and I. Even when life has been hardest we were blessed to have a roof on our head; a bit of food on the table and our other basic needs met. If we had needed more blankets, hats, scarves or other warm items my hands and stash could have provided them with a minimum of time and effort. Others are not so fortunate. I know. I was a home health nurse who went to some of the poorest sections of our metropolitan area and witnessed some of the needs. .
These two facts, combined with the inspiration from this post: 40 Days For Others: Scarves, have resulted in much of my knitting or crocheting time being devoted to knitting scarves to be given to at least one local charity.
I cannot claim credit for the pattern since there could be one already written for it. What I did was use 4-6 strands of yarn, depending on the thickness of the strands and a pair of # 19 knitting needles. The yarns were not always the same texture or thickness. My goal is to have a thick warm item.
I cast on 14 stitches ( For those who understand the concept of multiples I used Multiples of 2 plus two. ) and worked a 2 x 2 ribbing of Knit 2, Purl 2 one row and Purl 2, Knit 2 on the next row. I did these two rows until the scarves measured about 60 inches or one of the strands of yarn ran out. For a couple of scarves there was more than one skein of the same color in my stash. If the scarf wasn’t quite long enough to suit me, I just attached the next skein and continued. The width is about 5 inches.
For the first couple of scarves, I knit the first row or 2 before starting the ribbing and knit the last row or two before binding off. I didn’t the way this looked and decided to just work the entire scarf in ribbing.
I must give credit to my resident Color Experts also know as Husband and Child #1. They very willingly gave their help with color and texture choices for these items.
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Tagged Charity, Free Pattern, Giving, Knitting, Scarves
It is Saturday and the first of two days off in a row!! I am a tad excited to say the least. I enjoy my job a lot, but weekends off are a treasure.
About a year ago I took one knitting lesson with the idea of taking a series of them. My first goal was to learn to knit socks. I have wanted to learn to do this since I was a teenager. Life didn’t work out the way it was planned and the knitting lessons had to be put on hold.
The sock was put away until I was able to schedule another knitting lesson. The lesson was this past Wednesday. I learned to turn a heel, make the heel gusset and began shaping the gusset. It was enthralling to watch my tubular piece of knitting begin to look like a sock. The turning of the heel is an amazing process which I think will always fascinate me.
This is only my very first knitted sock. There are flaws in the stitching. Some of the stitches are not even. I have not dropped as many stitches on one project in a long time. That is all right because this is a learning experience.
There is a lot more to be done on this one. I will post more pictures in the days ahead. The mate to it will be made and they will be worn with pride and joy.
It is only one of many yet to be made. I am already addicted to sock knitting. There are so many styles to make and so many colorways and types of yarn waiting to be tried.
I woke up very early this morning before dawn. There are those who would possibly complain about this, but it was a treat for me. It has given me a chance to update my other blogs, to knit and have a quiet breakfast alone before my family wakes up. My bagel is whole wheat topped with Clover Honey.
As I prepared and looked at my food some sweet yet poignant memories went through my mind. My Grandfather on my Mom’s side of the family was a beekeeper and raised roses for many years before his death more than fifty years ago. As children and young adults my siblings , cousins and I knew the taste of Grandpa Mahoney’s honey from his Honey House. Some of the honey he processed existed for more than twenty years after his death. This was honey with parts of the cone packed in the jar. We ate it on toast, had it in tea and milk. Over the years it sometimes crystallized in the jar to the extent that an open jar had to be placed in a pan of water on the stove and heated in order for it to be usable.
The Honey House was really the garage in the back of my Grandparents’ home that had been turned into my Grandfather’s storage area for his beekeeping hobby. It was small but full of honey and other treasures from his labors.
The other legacy he left was roses. He grew them in their yard. The sidewalk leading from the back door to the Honey House was lined with rose bushes. They were of almost any shade and hue. The front yard had rose bushes growing on trellises on either side of the house. The colors were beautiful. In the Spring and Summer the aroma was intoxicating. To this day I have a difficult time passing a rose bush without stopping to inhale the sweet fragrance given off by its flowers. When I do, I am almost instantly transported to those years when his rose garden flourished.
As you see, this morning’s humble breakfast was more than a Bagel with Honey and a beverage. It was a journey into a part of my life and heritage.
May your day be as Blessed as mine has already been.
Here is a picture from this weekend’s ice storm:
Many of the trees in our area are being adversely affected by the weight of the ice on them. We have been fortunate because despite the storm roads are not bad. We lost power twice this weekend, but only for relatively short periods each time.
The first time occurred overnight Friday night and into Saturday morning. We had electricity again before noon. This was pretty impressive for our neighborhood.
The most inconvenient time was yesterday afternoon. The electricity was out for most of the afternoon. It would not have been a big issue except that our plans for that time included doing laundry and cooking for the upcoming week. Instead, my family played Chess while I started knitting an afghan that is on my list of items to make in the next few weeks. We used a combination of daylight and battery operated lanterns as light sources.
Here is the beginning of the afghan:
It is based on the Take It Easy Scarf. After doing a gauge swatch I cast on 150 stitches on a #15, 47 inch circular needle. It is an easy pattern that is working up quickly and easily. I am using some one strand of blue and one strand of a dark rose acryclic from my stash. I may change colors at some point, but have not decided right now.
The afternoon turned out to be fun. We had some good family time and I got some knitting done. After the lights came on we resumed laundry and cooked.
I am one of those people who cannot seem to stand only having one project being worked on at one time. In typical fashion, I have another scarf for the Red Scarf Project on the needles.
This is one of the softest scarves I have ever made. I am using Caron Simply Soft White and Yarn Bee Infatuation in Rouge. There are 20 stitches on # 15 needles and is 6 3/4 inches wide. These yarns are a good combination. The next scarf will have fewer stitches to make it less wide.
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Good Causes, Knitting, Red Scarf Project
Yeah!! I did it!!! I learned how to add buttons to the sidebar of this blog. I am super excited. There is now a “Knit From Your Stash” button on the sidebar. It took a bit of playing around and checking out the code from one of my older blogs. Thanks to the forums at WordPress and Lisa from Calming Seas ( who showed me months ago how to do the same on another blog).
For those of you who have been doing this for a while it is probably not a big accomplishement. Right now for me it is a big accomplishment. The next time it won’t be nearly as much of a challenge.
The best part of this experience is that I now have more freedom to customize all of my blogs.
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Tagged Blogging, Buttons, Calming Seas, Knit From Your Stash, Knitting, Word Press
Yesterday evening I spent a bit of time going through some FO’s and took pictures of them. Here are some I would like to share, just for the fun of it and because now I can do so.
This was made using some scraps of yarn from my stash. It is an 8 inch square.
May each of you have a Happy New Year!!
Today was fun. I am more excited tonight ( by now it is really morning ) than I have been in a long time. DH and I decided to get me a digital camera today while we were running some errands. I found one I liked at the first store we went to but In typical fashion thought it best to check out some other stores in our area. We did and learned that the first place we went to had the best buy for our money.
I have spent much of the past several hours learning to use the camera and taking pictures of some knitting and crocheting projects. Below is a picture of the scarf I am knitting for the Red Scarf Project.
It is being made of 2 strands of worsted wt. acrylic yarn on # 15 needles. I cast on 24 stitches and used the knit stitch on the first two rows. The rest of the scarf is being made in a 3 by 3 rib. I will probably knit the last two rows before binding it off. This scarf is working up quickly and easily.
I have been thinking about my goals related to knitting and crocheting for the upcoming year. This includes projects to finish and do; books and other items to buy; changes to make to my blogs; and new yarns/threads to try.
I would like to finish:
Some items I would like to buy are:
Here is a list of books I want to add to my collection of fiber related books:
Most of the fiber related tools and books will come from a favorite LYS or nearby bookstore.
I want to try out some of the novelty yarns that I have not been able to purchase while I was not working. The list is long and will change as I explore some LYS’s and other places.
Another goal is to post to all of my blogs more regularly and often. Purchasing a digital camera will make it possible to post pictures of projects while making them and once they are done.
Some of the items I want to make this year are:
This list does not include other items made that go to charities. My philosophy is to keep charity giving a private matter, with two exceptions. The first is my support of the Red Scarf project. The second is that I will discuss it with a charity related online group to which I belong.
Some techniques I would like to learn or improve my skills with are:
The year 2007 promises to be a very busy people and fiber filled year. It sounds like fun. :)
What about yours?
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Tagged Blogging, Crochet, Crocheting, Good Causes, Knitting
