JUST TRYING TO REPRESENT KNITTING.....

Just on a whim I had decided last week to enter a contest sponsored by The Morning Call Newspaper and
Just Born, makers of those cute little Peeps candies so popular during Easter. The theme this year was "Hanging With My Peeps " so folks used various props with their peeps.

My entry was peeps knitting and modeling hand knit hats and scarves. Well, surprise! I'm among the top 10 finalists, .......but, sadly, am placed at the very bottom as far as votes are concerned!

I'm seeing this as a serious disregard for the craft of knitting.
My Peeps are pure knitting-no flashy or stylized background!
I've kept my props to the minimum BECAUSE THE KNITTING SPEAKS FOR ITSELF!

Now, I'm not hoping to win (as the competition has some very clever entries) or even place second, BUT I DO HATE THE THOUGHT OF BEING IN THE VERY LAST PLACE!!!! Sort of reminds me of the school days fear of being the last one picked for dodge ball....

So I 'm asking all of YOU KIND AND GENTLE KNITTERS out there for your support!

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME!!! Go to THE MORNING CALL

DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, APRIL 6, AT 12 NOON.

AND CAST YOUR VOTE FOR THE PEEPS KNITTING CIRCLE !

Help knitting go public ESPECIALLY IN THE LEHIGH VALLEY, PA! Say YES to knitting by voting for my Peeps!

Enough of my shameless plea.

Onto what else I've been up to....
I've been reigning in my tendencies to buy knitting books since I've undertaken organizing my knitting room. Sadly, I no longer have the space to store any more books and let's not even discuss the outrageous amount of yarn I've acquired over the last 10 years. A small yarn shop has sprouted in my spare bedroom. Anyway, I frequently borrow knitting books from our local library. A great way to see new knitting, get inspiration, save money, and space as well!

I would consider purchasing BOTH of these books if I had the room for them!

A most adorable hat, don't you thinks so?

I succumbed to a great WEBS sale and plan to knit either of these terrific patterns into a throw for my downstairs t.v. room. Very hard to resist a good yarn deal, isn't it?

HAPPY KNITTING AND IF YOU DECIDED TO VOTE FOR ME, MANY THANKS!

HOMEBOUND ON A SNOWY MONDAY....

This was the snowy view yesterday from my front door. Schools were cancelled, poor Mike had to venture out to work, and I fiddled around with laundry, the crock pot and some random knitting.

I 've received a few knitting goodies in the mail recently, so nothing more was expected....

Kringle, my 15 year old stroke survivor, seemed content to sit at his usual perch and watch the snow flakes fly by.....

I was too lazy to light the fireplace, and keeping with our family tradition of maintaining the thermostat at 65 degrees during the day in order to conserve oil, I was thankful for having recently discovered and finished a long forgotten project from the Scarf Style book, Tevya Durham's Turtleneck Shrug.

http://www.knitpicks.com/books/book_display.aspx?id=30529

I grew disenchanted with knitting this for several reasons, which were all my doing:

1. Having modified this pattern from worsted weight to chunky Plymouth Baby Grande Alpaca, I had to swatch and fiddle a lot with stitch counts to properly size the sleeve lengths and the circumference of the turtleneck.

2. Had to frog the sleeves several time as the sheer weight of the sleeves made them badly hang and sag from underneath the arms.

3.Shoulder area became too oversized and droopy.

4. The neck was too tight.

5. the neck was too big.

6. I had a badly needed 50 lb. weight loss.

7. Being a post menopausal knitter, I had failed to take into account just how hot this baby was going to be and that i wouldn't really be able to tolerate wearing this for any length of time.


But, loving the yarn and the designer's creation, I forced myself to blow the dust off this sucker and gave it another shot.

After succeeding this time to correctly knit proper sleeve lengths, I decided to modify the turtleneck to give some more options.

Instead of circular knitting a tube as directed, I knit straight in the rib pattern the collar for 8 inches and bound off in the rib pattern. Attaching 5 tiny pearl-like buttons on the wrong side enabled the collar to be buttoned closed, folded over, and were barely visible to the eye. No need for button holes either as the buttons easily slipped through the knit or purl stitch sections. I'm thinking of replacing them with toggle buttons so they are more noticeable and fit a bit tighter in the stitch openings. We'll see....

When things felt a little steamy, I just undo the buttons and I cool off! Then it wears like a shrug with a square collar in the back.

Buttoned up again and not folded over keeps my nose and face warm, but steams up my glasses a bit!

And, of course, you can slip your arms out of the sleeves completely and wrap them around your neck, collar folded over, collar up or collar open, so you're wearing a heavy scarf.

So, whilst I was roasty-toasty warm I decided i needed to tackle a serous problem that's been plaguing my happy home for some time..

The curse of the soap-scummy bathroom soap dish! Having seen an oval version of a crocheted sponge sock in a knitting magazine-cannot remember which one- I crocheted one to cover a square sponge to fit my bathroom wall soap dish.

I just chained a length equal to the long side of the sponge. A snap! A great way to use up leftover dishcloth cotton too! I didn't time it, but I was done in minutes.

So, there you have it! Now my family is free of scummy soap dish angst!

Stay warm and happy knitting!