In the Blink of an Eye....

One of my goals for the weekend was to create this hat. A friend asked me to come up with a pattern for a garter stitch hat. It was supposed to fit an adult sized head. My first attempt became a toddler or child-sized hat. It was a very quick knit, maybe less than four hours from start to finish. The resulting pattern is here. It's a PDF file, so you should be able to just right-click on it and save it if you like. I may keep working at it, and add a size for adults, but for now I wanted to share it, in case anyone is looking for a quick gift idea.

I'm only learning the ins and outs of blogging, so I'm not sure how to get that file to open here in the blog. If you have any problems with it, please let me know.

Finally, Rollie says "Don't look now, but I think I'm being watched..."

From One Bag to Another...

After the Booga Bag, I was hooked, and promptly started another. This one took me a little longer to finish, but today I gave it a second fulling with the laundry, sewed on a vintage button, and called it done. This pattern was in the Jamieson's Shetland Book #3, and it was designed by the "Two Old Bags" ladies. I don't care for that name very much, but I didn't like the previous name of their business, "Wool You Order" either. The pattern was very good, up until the handle. The handle was in plain stockinette, and it curled a lot when it was fulled, which made it a tiny bit skinnier than I would have liked. I'd make the bag again, but change the handle to something flatter and wider. Maybe double knit, or seed or linen stitch.

The yarn was the same as the Booga, more Tahki Ambrosia Slim. I already have a third bag started, this time a Market Squares bag from Knitter's. I made this pattern a few years ago, when it came out, but only made it half as big. It turned into a lovely hat. The yarn was some coned 2-ply wool from Webs. Very nice to work with.

I'm using more of the Ambrosia Slim in the new bag, but in a different colorway. This yarn is fulling very nicely, so it's fun to work with.

Now that summer's almost here, it's hard to find knitting time. I am so far behind in yardwork, housework, eBay work, you name it. I get a little knitting squeezed in during lunch and meetings, but that's only on small things, like socks, washcloths, booties, etc. There are so many yarns and patterns waiting to be made. As soon as I finish this, I'm going to sit down with my needles and knit for the rest of the evening. Wish I didn't feel soooo sleepy....

Finally, Rusty shows just how boring it can be to be kept inside when all the little birdies are outside just dying to play with him...didn't know cats could sulk, did you?

Knit One, Rip One

This has been a hectic week. On Monday, my computer at work caught fire. Luckily, I was still able to back it up, and remove the hard drive, send it up to tech support, and will be getting a replacement by the end of the week. However, being without a computer for even three or four days just feels wrong. I've been trying to get some things done, but I'm definitely out of sync.

Tuesday I thought I'd just knit and relax in the evening. I picked up three balls of Lion Watercolor yarn in the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby, and thought I would make a baby sweater. Found a pattern on the internet, and cast on. After knitting for a couple of hours, and almost coming to the end of the first ball, I realized that I should have made the smallest size instead of the largest, because I was probably going to run out of yarn. So I ripped it all out. Normally I wouldn't have noticed, but this time it really felt like two hours wasted. I guess I'm just having an "off" week.

Wednesday wasn't much better, with a tick bite that landed me at the clinic. I did manage to transplant 46 strawberry plants, and start a new bed, so that makes the future look bright. This is such a busy time of year for yardwork, it really cuts into the knitting time. But I'm really feeling like I need to relax with my feet up and the needles clicking. Maybe Friday night...

Finally, Rusty says "Don't bother me, I'm getting my catnip fix."

Have VW, Will Travel....

Yesterday was adventure. It's hard to schedule an adventure - sometimes they just have to happen. But, because my brother and I both have to work for a living, sometimes they have to be planned. We both managed to get a Friday off, and decided to ignore the skyrocketing gas prices and take a road trip.

I had been hoping to go further afield, but we stuck close to home, relatively speaking. We explored the better parts of Vernon County, Wisconsin, located in Southwestern Wisconsin. On our way there, we made a stop at St. Joseph Ridge, to visit this grotto.Because the weather was against us, raining and spitting snow, and 40 degrees, we did't stay too long at the grotto. But I'll say right now, these types of places fascinate me. There are enough of them located in my part of the state to do an in depth study on. I'm kind of "collecting" them - grottos and sculpture gardens. This one was built in the 1920's. Someday, I'd like to build my own. Most of the grottos and sculpture gardens I've seen have been made by immigrants, but they didn't start building them until they were in their 60's or later. So the way I figure it, I've got about 20 years yet to do my research, and collect my rocks and pieces of glass and other interesting articles. Every grotto or garden seems to have religious symbols, and patritoic symbols. Maybe I will put in some knitting symbols as well.In addition to man-made structures, it's fun to find geologic features that seem to defy reason. Here's a landform called "3 Chimneys", located between Viroqua and Westby. I'm going to have to do a bit of studying on this one too. My brother knew where it was located (in a farm field on a country road), but neither of us could find out why it was formed or what material it was. We were in an unglaciated part of the state, and I thought we were too far away from the areas overrun by glacial meltwaters, but I'm not sure.
In addition to finding unique landforms, we were also exploring Amish country. At first, we bought a few things from a "commercial" shop that carried crafts by local Amish and other artisans. Then we started going down the country roads, and finding the actual farmsteads, many of which sell their goods right from home. At one home my brother bought a peach pie, fresh from the oven. It was too nasty a day for a picnic, so the pie rode in the backseat, filling the car with the most wonderful aroma! Every place we stopped, when we got back in the car, the fragance of baked peaches made us swoon. At another home I bought a bent hickory footstool and we visited with the carpenter in his woodshop. Later we realized that we had only found one of several Amish communities in the area, so another trip is planned.

In spite of the weather, we had a good time, probably spent too much money, learned a bit more about the Viroqua area, and basically had a nice break.

Coming soon - KNITTING CONTENT - I promise, really I do...

Happy Birthday, Ma...

Today would have been my Mom's 90th birthday. She passed away nearly eight years ago, and I still miss her so much it hurts sometimes. She would have loved today - the weather was beautiful, the May flowers are blooming - it was a picture perfect day. We could have had a wonderful birthday celebration.

In her memory today, I baked cookies. Lots of cookies. Over 300 - we are having an event at the refuge this week, and I offered to bake cookies for the volunteers and presenters. Ma would have loved the baking day - she taught me to bake when I was very young, and she had a huge recipe collection. I'm not sure how many actually got made, but she was forever clipping recipes or copying them down. I still have most of her recipes and need to sort through them and get them organized and preserved.

She taught me a lot about needlework too. Embroidery, sewing, crocheting, but surprisingly, she didn't teach me to knit. She claimed not to know how, but I think it came and went. I have a baby sweater she knit for me, and I remember asking her to knit a garter stitch sweater from a "Woman's Day" magazine for me when I was in high school. She did, but it was terribly heavy and uncomfortable. I think she ripped it out and used the yarn in an afghan. She was an expert crocheter, and among other things, made beautiful lace hankies, many of which she gave as bridal or anniversary gifts.

Perhaps her best known trait was to be able to make something out of almost nothing. She was very creative, and saved almost everything, because you never knew what you might need it for. Juice cans were lashed together and upholstered and became footstools. Scrap lumber and molding became a triple decker bunk bed for my dolls. Old curtains were used to make the doll's bedding. A large piece of plastic draped over piled up timbers became my swimming/sliding pool. I could go on and on.

It's that creative spirit that I hope to carry on, whether it's in cooking, or knitting, or gardening. You can see from the photo that she had a pretty good green thumb. Tomorrow I hope to start in on the gardening, and I'm sure she'll be with me in spirit. I can't wait. Happy Birthday Ma!

Knitting Find...or Should that be Fiend?

The Village Wide Rummage Sales are over for another Spring. I think there will be another one in the Fall, but I will probably only be a consumer at that one. My sister and I did pretty well. We each made a small sum, but better than that, I had three less containers of stuff to haul back home! One box of stuff will go to Goodwill, one goes back into storage, and the remaining books will go back on Amazon.

I decided to be good yesterday, and not go around to any sales. My brother though, was instructed to look for and pick up any "things I'd like". This is one of the items he came back with - a cute little knitting tin, complete with the hole on top for the yarn to feed through. There's also a kitty on the other side. Sweet. For a dollar, no less!

Not much else going on knit-wise. It's raining today, and it would be a lovely day to put on some old movies and knit away, but I need to get busy and catolog some of these books I keep bringing home and get them on the new shelves my brother put up for me last weekend. There's another book sale coming up in May, so I need to make room for more.

Finally, Rusty asks, "Why is there no mention of me? I thought this was supposed to be my blog...I demand some attention!"

Something to Tide You Over...

I realize that it's been too long since I've updated this blog. Now loyal readers are starting to wonder what's up. (Didn't realize I had loyal readers...)

I've plunged headlong into Sparkpeople, and it's consumed a lot of my time. But the results have been oh so worth it! I've lost 15 pounds in four weeks! I'm starting to notice a difference in the way I feel; the clothes are getting a little looser, I'm not soooo tired, and some of the health issues are starting to fade away. How wonderful. On the downside, though, I've been camping out on the Spark website so much, that I've gotten little else done. I realize that after a month, it's time to start getting back to my normal routine.

Wait, my normal routine was work, come home, sit on couch, knit, sleep. That doesn't sound very good. I'll have to find a new normal, one that's fun and exciting, that won't put you dear readers to sleep!

I am getting ready for a rummage sale at my sister's house this weekend. It's the annual Village Wide Rummage Sale. Actually, I've been putting this off too, but I'm off work tomorrow, and as soon as I finish this I'm heading for the basement to sort through boxes and have a good clear out. I promise. No hopping on the treadmill and then getting too tired to work. No way. Not even 10 minutes. After all, I need money to pay for the darn thing, don't I?
So I will leave you with this interesting little photo. Many years ago, I bought one of these little gadgets from The Nature Company, that lets you see the world as a fly sees it. A curved, faceted lens sunk into a little piece of wood. Similar to a teliedescope, it gives you a fresh look at ordinary objects. Great for anyone who likes to design and combine colors. This picture was taken holding the lens in front of the digital camera, and it's a picture of the stained glass light fixture that hangs above the dining room table. Cool, yes?

After Booga

Here's the Booga Bag, all finished! I like the way it turned out, but I am going to change a few things for the next one. I think I will put in some yarnovers to make holes in the top of the bag, and string a large shoelace or something through them during the fulling process, to keep them open. This was a suggestion of some of the knitlisters. Also, instead of knitting one long length of cord and cutting it in half, I'll make two cords instead. That way all the cording will have the same tapered end, instead of a sharp edge on two ends.

I have some two-ply worsted wool coned yarn I got from Webs a couple of years ago, and some boucle novelty yarn - maybe for an accent stripe? The next bag beckons.

Finishing a project always leaves me a little bit at loose ends. Should I start something new, like another bag, or something completely new, or go back to an unfinished project? I did work on a couple of old projects last night. Decisions, decisions!

Finally, Rusty and Rollie want everyone to have a great weekend! Here they are, looking very comfy...

Booga Before...

Here is my first Booga Bag, all knit and ready to be fulled with the laundry today. I still have to dig out my zippered pillowcase, but it's down in the basement somewhere. I couldn't find the Noro Kureyon that I planned on using, so I used some old Tahki Ambrosia Slim instead. This yarn is about 20 years old, but looks great! It was way ahead of its time, with the gradual shading effect. The bag and cording only used 1.5 balls, so maybe I'll make more, once I see how this one turns out.

Last week was kind of frustrating. I bought a new treadmill, and let's just say, for the record (broken record, actually) that I despise Sears. But Sears was where I had to go to get my Nordic Track. Buying it wasn't so bad, except I had to wait over 30 minutes before a salesperson would talk to me. Several walked by, but it wasn't their department, so apparently they weren't allowed to even acknowledge my existence. Finally the lone sales guy was free, and the actual demo and purchase probably took less than 10 minutes. Two days later, my brother picked up the crate, which weighed 250 pounds, and it filled up his pickup! We strapped it to his appliance dolly and managed to squeeze it down the stairs to the basement, with me on the bottom going "yeah, I got it", and hoping he wouldn't let go.

I'd only cleared enough space for the machine, not the machine plus the box, so inching it out of the carton took a while. Finally the two main parts were free, and then we started looking for the directions. No directions. No hardware. No manual. It's 8:30 at night, and we're screwed. I call the store, talk to a different guy, who says "If you want to bring it back, we'll give you another one." I politely explain that there's no way on earth that I'm going to get the thing back in the crate, much less ask my brother to pull 250 pounds upstairs. And get to the store in the next 30 minutes. In my head, much colorful language was floating around. Luckily, none of it came out of my mouth.

Finally the guy told me to come to the store the next day, and they'd give me a parts kit and manual from another machine. Which is the probably the reason why mine didn't have any. So the next day I left work early, drove another 40 mile round trip to Sears, talked to three different guys, who all scratched their heads for about 30 minutes, and was finally given a parts kit and manual.

After all this frustration, is it any wonder why I headed to the nearest yarn store?? And here's what I bought, to calm myself...
Lovely, soft, Australian Merino that will someday become a pair of socks. I love the tweedy yarns, so this was right up my alley.

Hours later, and two free dinners in a row for my brother, the treadmill was finally put together and running. That night I was on it for 48 minutes, and almost couldn't walk when I got off! Since then, I've learned a little moderation. Still haven't figured out how to knit and treadmill at the same time, but that's coming...

Hippity Hoppity/Casting a Vote!

Here's the bunny, all finished at last! I don't like the arms, but I guess it's cute enough. If I can figure out a way to make the arms more seamless, I might make more. Actually I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to knit back and forth for a few rows, then join back up and knit the head and ears, which would leave an opening to pick up stitches for arms. I'll have to try that, but not right away. I need a bunny break. I suppose it didn't help that I made this prototype with fingering weight yarn. It was very tiny to turn inside out, only a couple of inches across. I have a big ball of worsted weight acrylic that I could use for the next one.

Voting - I actually got to knit while queuing to vote today! Not too long, but for our small town, that's a first. I didn't even have to wait in line at the last Presidential Election! The hot item on the ballot today was a school referendum where the school district is asking permission to go into debt and raise the tax levy $800,000 per year for the next five years. Financial type votes always bring out a crowd. I was number 273 in the voting line-up, with 3 hours to go. School board and village board races also had multiple candidates, which is again unusual for teeny, tiny Trempealeau. Most people run unopposed.

Tomorrow I get a big new toy - a Treadmill! I am serious about this lose weight, get healthy kick, and have wanted one for years. I would love to be able to knit and walk on it, but I have visions of the yarn falling and getting tangled in the belt, and the motor burning out!! We'll have to see - maybe one of those waist hooks or knitting pouches will come in handy.

Shake Your Bootie

I finished these baby booties on Friday night. This is the kind of project I take along in my knitting bag, to work, or in the car, so I always have something with me to work on. The projects are usually small, like socks, washcloths, booties, and caps. This pattern is one that I adapted from the book "Knitting Tips and Trade Secrets" from Taunton, called "Stay On Booties". I do wish Taunton would publish a knitting magazine. The knitting articles they had in Threads were wonderful, then it became an all-sewing magazine. I actually have a tip published in this book, on page 113! The yarn I used for these booties is some leftover Tahki Socka. I think the bright multicolors make a nice change from all the pastel baby items.

My goal for the weekend is to finish the bunny (the ears have been ripped out and re-worked), and then to start a Booga Bag, which I finally have the pattern for. It's raining here today, and it's supposed to last all day, so I feel like pulling out my "Rebecca" video and nestling in on the sofa with needles and yarn, tea and kitties.

Finally Rollie asks "Why did you shut the door on me yesterday and leave me upstairs in the knitting room for three hours while you went galavanting? Why? Was it something I did?"

Wascally Wabbit

I didn't get very far on the knitted bunny this weekend. After finishing the second ear, and starting the arms, I realized that I would indeed run out of yarn. Phooey.

Also, I didn't like the top of the bunny's head. I'm modifying the original pattern, and I don't like what I did. I left two stitches on the front and back of the head to make a space between the ears. The stitches would be Kitchener stitched. Have you ever tried to Kitchener only two stitches? It doesn't work very well. Plus, there were some gaps where the ear stitches were joined, and in trying to pull everything together, I only managed to make bunny look like he had a bad brain surgery episode.

With only enough yarn left to make one arm, I put the bunny aside and picked up the Baby Blocks Afghan that I've been working on for the past few months. I started this last fall, and since it's for no one in particular, I 've only worked on it when I needed a no-brainer project. The pattern is from "The Shop on Blossom Street" by Debbie Macomber. I enjoyed reading here two "Shop" books, even though they were as sweet as marshmallow fluff. I tried reading one of her other novels, but just couldn't get interested in it. I guess it was the yarn shop setting and knitting content that held my attention.

Today I went upstairs and lo-and-behold, I found more bunny yarn! It was another partial skein of Bernat Meadowspun - from the 1950's! I forgot that I was trying to use it up in this project. Still, I think I going to rip out the ears, and give them another go, modifying the top of the head yet again. How many days until Easter?

Kitty Update - I made Rusty sick on Saturday. I had to run an errand, and since we had been outside exploring that morning. I thought he might like to come along with me in the car. He's done it before. He was fine going, but coming back he got very green (surprising, for an orange cat) and tossed his breakfast. When He got back to the house he just sat in front on his food dish, feeling empty, but not able to eat. I think his world was spinning, poor thing. I felt so bad for him. I hope he's not traumatized for life by this little episode. Cats have an amazing memory for such things. He's still not forgiven the vet for cleaning his teeth!

First Knitting Content!

These are some of the pieces I've completed in the past month or so. I missed the dealine to enter the Official Olympic Knitting challenge, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I set a goal to see how many Dale of Norway accessories I could knit during the Winter Olympics. The first piece I completed was this hat - from the 1995 Thunder Bay Book. I used Dale Heilo, and #1 needles, since I knit loosely. The hat turned out great, but it's too small for me. I made the ladies size, but this would really fit a a child. I wasn't paying attention to gauge, I just wanted to make a fabric that had a nice body - not to tight or too loose. I think if I make another in the man's size, it will be fine for an adult head.

The next thing I made were kid's mittens, also from Thunder Bay. Because the Heilo hat turned out small, I found some worsted weight yarn for the mittens, thinking they would turn out bigger. Nope, still kid sized! The light yarn here is an anciet ball of Bernat Berella, from when it was 100% wool, and the dark is K1C2 Parfait Solids. They have been sitting in my odd ball bin for a long time, and they go well together. I had yarn left from the mittens, so I decided to make another pair, in an adult size, but reversing the light and dark. This pattern is from the 1999 Vail Book. I didn't get these finished, I kind of ran out of steam.

Here's what I'm working on this weekend. It's a bunny, from an old (1970's) McCalls Special Baby Issue. I'm altering the pattern a little bit, to make most of it in one piece. I thought I might run out of my ball of leftover yarn, but now I think I'll be ok. I had planned to have a bunch of these done before Easter, but now I'll be lucky to get this one done. I'm still not sure how it will turn out.

Long time, no Blog...

Happy Spring! Even though it still feels like winter today, the generous amount of daylight is helping me wake up just a little cheerier each morning. I am not looking forward to the time change in April, when I get plunged back into darkness in the a.m. Just another thing the government messes with.

I really doubt if anybody's looked at this blog, but if they did, they probably gave up on it right away. I did too, until today, when I was reading someone's knitting blog, and remembered that I had one too! Well, sort of had one. Thanks to blogspot for not dropping me for no activity. I had tried another blog a year or two ago, and after 30 days of no postings, the host site dropped me like a hot potato. So I'm slow.

Anyway, maybe now I can devote a little more time to this, and have some fun with it. To that end, here's a photo of the two kitties, Rusty and Rollie, happily napping. Rusty is an 8-year-old British Shorthair, and 3-year-old Rollie is just Rollie. I got them both at the local Humane Society in 2003, after my cat Dusty passed away at the ripe old age of 18. Rusty is mellow, and Rollie is a spitfire. They keep me entertained, and are more fun than most people!

First Post

Ok, after fumbling around trying to figure out an easy way to make my own web page, I decided to try blogging. I'm not really sure why I even want to do this - maybe just to satisfy an urge to get my thoughts a little more organized! So far, this has been easy setting things up, but I think I need to go away and organize my ideas so I can present a really good post that somebody besides me will be interested in reading!