STICKING WITH THE PLAN.....

Please excuse the poor quality photo, but I wanted to provide evidence that I am, indeed, dedicated to my mission to complete Mike's Christmas Sweater by his March 31 st birthday.

Exhibit A: the sewing on the button band-button side. A tedious process, more so than I care to admit, but I am pleased with how nicely picking up the bars along the outer edge joins the garter band to the sweater body.
Thanks Jeanie and Eileen for the sweater consultation last Wednesday night at Kraemers Yarn Shop.

If you, Gentle Knitter, live in the Lehigh Valley, you should really try to visit this great yarn shop! Located on Main St. in Nazareth, PA, and undergoing renovations, this shop is run by friendly, helpful people who sell great yarn made on site at reasonable prices. Go here to see the yarns they offer.


A present for Patty...

My high school chum, Patty, a new knitter and fabulous glass jewelry designer, has gifted me so many times with her creations that it's high time that I returned the favor! I had some Wilton icing dyed and Koolaid dyed wools from last year stashed, waiting for inspiration. I made this Felted Oblong Basket so she can display some of her jewelry at the upcoming craft show at Easton High School. The base is a crocheted (!) that I just kept increasing at both sides until I got the base size I wanted and from there I just knit in the round till I reasoned it was tall enough to shrink to a shallow depth. I started with a crocheted chain of 50. I popped it into a pillowcase and agitated for 4 cycles in hot, sudsy water, checking frequently for desired felting/shrinking, put it through a rinse cycle and then a final spin. I know some don't recommend machine spinning your felted pieces, but I always do without any adverse effects so far. I'm edgy that way! Oh, and cheap too! I have a collection of yarn sample bits and pieces that I've acquired from yarn shops and manufacturers over the years. I took some of these and threaded through the unfelted bag at random points to get the splashes of linear color you see on the finished bag. Just an experiment. Not all to visible in the photo, but maybe better seen on closeup? I like the results and that I was able to reduce my scrappie yarn sample collection!

Neapolitan Ice Cream anyone?

Must still knit my dishcloths, but needed to revisit the beloved Log Cabin Dishcloth to play! I knit this one on size 6 needles and use leftovers from stash. When I ran out of the brown and pink variegated I merely continued with the pastel pink ( top of cloth).Then I made the right turn, picked up stitches on the next side, knit one row and then bound off. I repeated the process on the remaining 2 sides. Now, what to do with it, as it doesn't match my kitchen. Does it really matter? It's so pretty!

Found Treasures....

These are the squares that were discovered among the bags of yarn donated to my Knitting Ministry Group. All of them are 7 inches, just the right size needed for Grammie Pammie's Ghana Project Afghans! Must get them in the mail to her this week!

My Furry Treasure...

Sweet kitty dreams to all you knitty kitties out there!