Monday of FO's

I finished a few items, quick knits all.

First, hand warmers with a bracelet knitted in to them. Kits and pattern for these will be available through Clickitysticks.com
I used Jitterbug sock yarn and a metallic yarn. accenting the bracelet with beads.

I think these will be a gift, one of my sisters admired them and there is always Christmas. Or just because! I think they are going to Stitches first though. At least that was the plan.



Next, bed socks. Soft, warm and cozy bed socks. The pattern is called winter socks by Bev Galeskas and can be found in the Fiber Trends booklet #2013 The Magic Loop. I used a lovely acrylic wool blend yarn by Ella Rae called Amity. Both the yarn and booklet were purchased at Knitter's Palette in Lakeville.



These went very quickly, can be done in two or three days for the pair.

I want to make another pair before winter, maybe add some fair isle work to it.



My most recent FO is a cute little coin purse called "Change your socks" I purchased the kit by CiDesigns at Knitter's Palette and I used Noro Kureyon from my stash to make the little sock. So cute, so quick and gratifying.

Oh, knit this up in a few hours. perfect little last minute gift.

I was so excited, I had to put coins in right away. I could make a few more pairs with this skein of Noro. These would make cute gifts, I htink the next one will drop a needle size, I did get the guage for the ribbing, but the sockseems a bit larger than the samples that were at Knitter's Palette.

Happy Stitching

Projects and musings

Musings

I was thinking the other day and I don't think I believe the old saying, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." Of course it is meant to let us know that, we always like or want what we do not have, better than what we do. I would not trade places with someone in a third world country, my grass really does look greener than the neighbors, and I have to purge belongings. Yes, some things could be better in life, but I am fortunate in a lot of ways, God has blessed me with a clear thought path, knowledge to be wise enough to check myself first and evaluate my life on going. That does not mean I am perfect, I do, as we all do, critique those and things around me, but if I do not say it, do not assume I am thinking it. I am outspoken and will give my opinion when I feel it matters and it is my business if you throw your drama in front of me in life; if yo are not trying to fix it and are just whining, I will say something, if only to say I do not want to hear it because it has been cycled through so many times before.
I could have it worse in life; I have a friend in the hospital with congestive heart failure, this on top of a laundry list of aliments, Lupus, Parkinson, Heart disease, Diabetes, wow am I thankful! Her brother is in a coma, lost his colon and is in rough shape. These things are real, not like the drama some like to perpetuate in their lives, I guess I am having a lot of trouble understanding why one would want to perpetuate drama, life is too short and riddled with things that can go wrong for real, I just want to enjoy and be thankful for everything that is good.
There are crops being lost and peoples lives being up heaved by the floods in the Midwest, I have not been flooded, I know people who are and have been and I have to say it is so humbling. I have been in a flood, your life is changed, you have to pick up and in many cases start again. I know they are called acts of God, but I do not believe God has anything to do with it or allows it. These are the dark forces of nature that can and do take periodic hold on our planet. I commend all the effort that is given unselfishly to help others during these crises.

Projects

I am making progress on my sock contest sock, deciding changes as I go along and keeping track in writing. I am very excited about this project, I truly would like to if not win something, have my pattern published. There are so many talented people in the world of needlework, so the competition is going to be quite steep. I am making the effort and my results are something I am proud of, even if I don't win or get printed. Even though I would like one or both of the preceding to happen.
I began bed socks earlier in the month and then left them to hibernate, I took them with me to the hospital Tuesday when I called an ambulance for my friend. One bed sock finished and the second one is ready for the heel flap. these are going to be great and I would like to make at least one more pair by this fall or winter.
I am working on lace hand warmers and will focus on those for a while. I do not retain heat well, because of my thyroid problems and it is hard for me to get warm again once I am chilled, so it is important to have warm things.
I am actually going to work on two pairs of lace hand warmers, one is a demo Clickity Sticks design I am knitting for her, the other is a pattern I found on Ravelry, it is by Whitney Van Nes.
I have been a bit remis in taking and uploading pictures, but I will need to get more pictures of projects etc.
My shawls are hibernating at the moment, but I intend to pull them out soon, to get going and finish the two I have on needles up. I have more to get going on with patterns and yarn at the ready.
I hope to make a bit of Progress today, I wold like to start the lace panel on the hand of the Clickity Sticks hand warmer, and finish that as well as my last bed sock by the end of the week. I am starting the ones by Whitney Van Nes today as well.
So much to do, so little time.
Speaking of time, its time to go switch the laundry.
Happy stitches.

junk email, handwarmers and socks and more

So I wonder, does anyone think that forward emails require a response? Do they constitute real communication? I have often wondered if people really think that way.

I do not much care for forwarded emails, and know may people who feel the same, I for the most part just delete them. I have never understood why, if you really care for someone you would send them an email, full of love and blessings, which then tells you that if you do not r=forward it, all sorts of awful things can and will happen. Hello, talk about passive aggressive. I would rather delete and have the bad luck/karma end with me than to send it on to someone I care about. I’m just saying, do people really understand what they are sending?

I do not count forward emails as legitimate communication, write something simple, what is wrong with Hi, how are you? If you are thinking of me and really care, then write something, otherwise I see it as you are just using me as someone to dump you forward junk mail on.

Okay, enough of that, I am finishing up a pair of hand warmers, which is a co-operative design created with two other people. Tamara of clickitysticks.com added a bracelet piece and will be selling it on her web site and patterns will be available at The Yarn Garage in Rosemount, MN.

I have decided to design a sock, for the Think Outside the Sox Contest, I am very excited, I am working down the leg of the first sock and I just love them! I of course am prejudice on that point.

Good news

We had a stormy weekend, and it has been over cast, partly cloudy and rainy ever since. Not a complaint, although a ray of sun shine would be nice. I have good news, the results of my CT scan I had on my lungs Monday is stable, so if I have a stable scan this coming November, I can stop having them again. I have spots on my lungs that are said to be non cancerous nodules, but if any changes are detected along the way I have to have CT scans every six months for two years to make sure everything is okay.

Ted Kennedy seems to be carrying on well, Lots of good thought for both he and his family, He had really been a champion for health care.

I have been queuing a a few things on ravelry, and working on hand warmers and my campanula socks. I think the next pair of campanulas I make will be on size one needles, I like my socks more fitted. I know I have said it before, but I love this pattern. I look forward to wearing them later this year.

I am knitting a series of hand warmers that are a collaborative effort of fellow knitters Sara D., Tamara D. of http://www.clickitysticks.com and myself. the hand warmers are decorative and lovely. I am experimenting with positive and negative ease with them, since I have chubby wrists, I want to see what will work best for me. I have listed the hand warmers on my notebooks project page in my Ravelry notebook, right now there are just pictures of the yarn I am using; jitterbug sock yarn by Colinette and Karabella lace. Pictures of yarn Below.









Linden Hills Yarn shop in Minneapolis's Linden hills area is a welcoming environment, I have been stopping now and then for a quick fix for my yarn and knitting needs, as well as following related threads on Ravelry. knitters are welcome to go and sit with their knitting and enjoy conversation.

Happy knitting/crocheting to all and to all a good stitch.

Yarn trial and progress.

So I thought I thought I had enough yarn, Oh, how wrong I was!
I was looking at my Ravelry queue and thinking AI should try to get something moved into projects and going so I could get it done. I thought, ah, the Luna scarf. Crochet so its quick, a simple and lovely pattern, finished it would make a lovely gift.
I had two skeins of Lana Grossa in a worsted weight, that should be enough; here was my first of a few mistakes in my yarn trial this weekend.
By the end of the first skein I knew that two would not be enough, my poor judgment came out of knitting more than I crochet and underestimating my yardage, soooo, I popped into the NU Outlet on Sunday and YES! they had more in the same color way. Now my second trial error; overconfidence regarding how much I would need was rampant in my brain.
The very pleasant person in the shop suggested taking two skeins, oh no, I would only need the one. By evening I could see i was cutting it close, by the time I came to the end, 14 stitches shy of being finished, I was telling myself, I knew better than this, why not the other skein, how goofy of me.
So, here on Monday, I sit with a scarf not yet complete, 14 stitches shy of finished, and praying that last skein will be there tomorrow and believe me, I will be there when they open! The outlet is only open four days out of the week, unfortunately for me, today is not one of those days.

In the upper right hand corner of this photo, you can see the loop where I had to stop because I ran out of yarn.

It is a beautiful scarf pattern I found on Ravelry, this was originally designed for a Harry Potter swap by: Pinkleo and published in the Craftster.




Here is the full scarf folded up a bit; I will keep it for my self if the additional skein cannot be had, I will just work a picot and run the end in, but I am hoping to find the next skein tomorrow and if there are two skeins I will get them and make some quick little wristlets to go with the scarf, which will round it off as a lovely gift.




Here is progress, I pulled my X an O socks out of hibernation and finished them! Ta DA!

These socks are sooo soft, they are made with Cherry Tree Hill hand dyed Louet Gems yarn. Soft and smooth merino yarn.
These are for me and will be wonderful to wear this winter.


I am not an expert on deities of India, but, I have so many things lined up , cued up and in progress that I need all the arms o Kali to make good progress.

Well off to dig in the project pile and pop up with wrist warmers to knit, have to wind the yarn first, but would like to get these done quickly, so I can keep moving through the projects. Yeah!

Free skin cancer screening

This is a short post that I want to put out as a single topic post, because it is important and it's good to be screened.

Olay is again sponsoring a free skin cancer screening. If you go to the web site below, you can go to the site, follow the link to find a Dr. in your area to receive a free skin cancer screening,

http://www.skincancertakesfriends.org/sctf08/

We can make sure that not only ourselves, but the people we care about are skin cancer free.

urban sprawl in who ville

I spent yesterday doing some cleaning. I decided to do some laundry and began by stripping the bed, it had been a week since changing and so I washed bedding. Before remaking the bed I thought, hey, flip the mattress and box spring to access cleaning the floor easier.
HOLY WHO VILLE BATMAN, urban growth and sprawl had hit Who ville, It had become MUCH larger than a microcosm. I guess its been awhile because dust bunnies does not even begin to describe the dust carpet I found (there will be NO pictures).
Undisturbed the allergen blanket was not much of a problem, disturbed, I was in trouble. I am feeling better today, but I can't get the screams of the who's, resounding over the whir of the vacuum cleaner out of my head.
I need to find a decent mask that does not allow dust in the sides of it, nothing I buy seems to fit well enough to not allow air seepage through the sides, even the heppa ones, maybe just need to walk around like a space alien in a respirator.
Too bad I don't have a neighborhood kid I can hire for those dust jobs.