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!

END OF SUMMER KNITTING....

Sadly, the summer is winding down. I had gathered my dishcloth leftovers together last week and felt a bit overwhelmed at that time with just how much bits and pieces are laying around in little balls of color in my yarn room. Usually I end up knitting my standby Ballband cloth with the the odd balls, but this time I wondered "what if?" and discovered by altering a few stitches and rows I could achieve a ridge effect in each segment that resembled, I think, tiny pumpkins. I haven't seen anything like this before, so I don't think I infringed on any one's copyright. Amazing what you can end up with when you fiddle around with your needles and scrap yarn. Just in time for the fall!
I jotted down the stitch pattern as I knitted the cloth. Leave a message in "comments" to let me know what you think, Gentle Knitter, and if there's enough interest I'll post the pattern.

Speaking of dishcloth, I seem to have knitted a few since my last post.

Each one of these were knit from leftover cotton and were gifted to friends as "thank-yous."

Calling this one "Chicken Scratch".

Half a ball of Sugar n Cream makes a great "Grandma's Favorite!"

Truly a "Scrappy Little Cloth"!

A heart pendant? Key fob? Luggage tag?


Not much down time before another is on the needles! Care to guess which pattern it is?

A baby bib knit for Eileen, a Grammy once again! I used Bib'O Love as a base and played around with the stitch pattern until I got a look I liked. Works nice for a baby boy, I think...

Knitting for my cause....
I decided to focus on knitting primarily mittens for our holiday community project, while some of the ladies in our group are knitting scarves and hats. Whereas knitting mittens for kids moves along in a snap, it takes a bit more time investment to knit mittens sized for a man's hand. Since I hate knitting that second sock, the same ire applies to knitting the second mitten. I knit both pairs cuff down on one long circular needle. Bless you, Magic Loop! The green mittens were based on Ann Budd's Hand Knit Patterns book, while the gray ones were knit according to Elizabeth Zimmerman's 36 stitch pattern. Has an afterthought type thumb, which I prefer over the tapered thumb. I need to knit several pairs more by October.

Debbie Bliss baby hat pattern from "Simply Baby" knit flat, in garter stitch, with Bernat " Jacquard" yarn. Makes it's own pattern. Comes in an assortment of different colors.
Again, same yarn knitted in a basic baby beanie pattern. Notice the nice color design you get with this yarn. The top is finished with a goofy little butterfly.

This is our baby fit model, Knitasha, that our group uses to display the knitwear we donate. She gets a different outfit each week.
Here's a small portion of our Knitting Ministry's output. Getting ready to donate to the local pregnancy center, with the hope that our knitting will do some good for some family.

Hold onto to summer as long as you caaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Apologies to John Cougar.

Happy knitting!

SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS...

Well, Gentle Knitter, it's high time I blog a bit about what I've been up to since my last post! Enjoying the summer, swimming, family day trips to the Jersey shore and Knoebels, lazing about, and of course, knitting several projects all at once. Thankfully, I was able to complete a few. No, I'm NOT working on Mike's wool sweater at this time! Not even inside with the central air. Those never-ending sleeves have totally done me in for now. My sweater sabbatical will end once September arrives.

The further adventures of a very wet Peep....
As you recall last month, Peep needed some help surviving his first few days out of his nest. His doting parents, the Cardinals, were constantly about our property providing him guidance. I'd hear them in the trees around our property and soon became familiar with their chirping. One day I happened to be walking past the arborvitaes at the deep end of our pool when I witnessed Peep testing his wings. The poor baby fell into the pool! Quickly, I scooped him up in my hand and placed him in the shaded bird bath under our pine trees. Soon after, Mom and Dad were right at his side scolding him. My son said it all. "Mom, Peep sure is a lot of trouble for one little bird"! Happily, he seems to have survived his baby stage and can be seen and heard about our yard these days with his parents. My theory is, since he no way resembles those cardinals, that he was a misplaced cowbird that luckily ended up in the care of surrogates. What do you think?

Celebrations:
The Three Amigas enjoy lunch at Balasia, to celebrate Jeanie's' ** birthday. Delicious vegan/ Asian cuisine, and that's coming from a dyed in the wool meat lover!

As for me, I've been on a health improvement regime since April. I've been successfully reducing my weight and increasing my overall stamina through a medically supervised calorie restricted program. Today I am almost 40 pounds lighter! It's YMCA for me 3 times a week now. Feeling terrific too!

In a word...Knit-therapy:









My summer garden survivors- what ground hogs and bunnies don't like to nosh!


Until the blogging bug strikes again, may you have time to sit and knit in a shady place!

BACK YARD ADVENTURES.....AND THEN SOME KNITTING.

This is the time of year when I love sitting on my back porch,enjoying the scent of
the blooming roses as I knit myself into a state of backyard bliss.

But, my backyard seems to have turned into an unofficial sanctuary for Mother Nature's misplaced and down-trodden!

"Are you my Mother"?



Several Saturdays ago, my family and I spent a good portion of the day worrying about the futures of this family of kittens who were using our partially covered basement window well as refuge. Thankfully the SPCA was able to send Trapper Ron to gather up the Mom cat and her babies! We've already decided that we're adopting one of the litter once they're old enough to be spayed.

So today, anticipating a nice, peaceful morning of back porch knitting I was, instead, needed to assist, yet again, in reuniting our resident Cardinal Family. Having found a young cardinal on the ground last evening, scooped it up and placed it in the bushes within mom and dad's reach. Not the end of that saga!

" Are you my Mother"?

Hearing a racket in the rose bushes and seeing Mom and Dad Cardinal frantically calling and searching for their young bird, I located him and placed him off the ground. meanwhile, the parents were busy fending off a Blue Jay who'd been curiously hanging about in our trees, as well as a particularly screechy squirrel!

Meet "Peep".

I don't know what it is with this family? You'd think these birds would keep better track of their wandering baby. So, wanting to be of some help, I phoned our Aunt Kathy, who is THE world travelling Birder, for some advice.


"Where's that kid of mine"?
Aunt Kath gave some good tips on how to deal with this situation, so it was agreed that Peep would have a better chance of surviving and being found by Mom and Dad if he was placed among the herbs in my whiskey barrel. Notice Dad is getting warmer as he continues his search.

" MOM! I'm over here"!

Finally, the parents spied their baby. I was relieved, but still concerned because Peep can't seem to fly up to them!

"Gimme shelter"!

So, since it looks as though Peep is going to be with us until he can "spread his tiny wings and fly away" ( apologies to Ann Murray) I decided I needed to provide some sort of temporary housing for him as his family continues to teach him the basics of being a bird.

"It not Trump Plaza, but to me it's home"!

We all need watching over sometimes.

Knitting related:

Warmer weather means it's officially dishcloth knitting season! This is my version of the fun to knit Squidge, knit with Peaches and Cream Peppercorn Ombre. Thanks Sasha for a terrific pattern!

Finally got around to trimming the knotted yarn tails off of "Whiskers".

When I'm not knitting the Never-ending pair of sleeves belonging to mike's Never-ending Sweater I knit a mitered square for the Mandarin Jacket. The lure of Koigu is compelling! So much joy from a 2 3/4 square!
I continue my love affair with viewing British tellie and knitting books courtesy of my local library.

Mi Amiga, Nan, recently celebrated a birthday, and had asked me a while back for some dishcloths in colors to match her kitchen.

Thanks heavens for Peaches and Cream cotton. Yes. The one on the right is a crocheted cloth.
Just a few more for a set of 6 cloths. I also knit 2 smaller versions and will cover with material/ flannel to create a pair of hot pads/ pot holders to complete the gift.
More birthdays, and baby showers in the coming months. More knitting to be done!

Until next time Gentle Knitter, happy knitting!