Prayer Scarf for Charlie

I have been promising to make a prayer scarf for Charlie. His favorite color is blue (and sometimes green) and since I had a skein of I LOVE THIS Yarn #80 Royal and was up at 6:30 AM so I decided to knock this one out.

Icthus, Magen David, & Menorah

The eyelets are really not wonky, I just have not completed the blocking of the scarf. I had a bit of yarn left so I made a yarmulke based on the top portion of Diana's Tam.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

It seems that everyone is either pregnant or just had a wee one and therefore gasp I am behind on knitting! I am coveting a new USM so that I can have the Queen Kong of Bond machines. Until then, I am knitting small baby blankets and adding a decorative crochet edging. I spent most of the weekend knitting up some new rag hems that will accomodate the larger sizes that I intend to knit with the monster machine I am dreaming of. I told Big Daddy that I needed longer weights and he came up with two 4-foot and two 2-foot lengths of rebar and even painted them for me.


They work great!
I do love a man who knows how to fulfill my wants and needs and does it while recycling too. I wanted something to hold the larger 1-pound skeins of yarn so that the yarn would roll off like paper-towel or... err toilet tissue... The result is what I call my "Holy Roller"

Big Daddy's creation made of left-over fence posts, a dowel and an old 2 X 4

A man that recycles makes me hot... oh wait... that could just be menopause!

The Holy Roller sure made knitting the diamond baby blanket flow so much easier than chasing the yarn around my studio. Not to mention having to pick out Siberian Husky hairs from the yarn.

Katherine Olivia's Diamond Blanket off of the machine

I will let the blanket rest for awhile before starting the crochet edge. Eden watched the process all the time remarking just how beautiful the blanket is (pink is her favorite color) and just who is this baby that Goodie is taking time away from making her things? Eden loves to talk and practices talking and talking and... She was looking at photos that are on my screensavor, one of which is a photo of Big Daddy when he graduated from medical school. She said, "Pop Pop is a docter, is that right Goodie?" I told her that she had it right. She was unusually quiet for a few minutes then she put her little hand on my shoulder and stated, "Pop Pop is a doctor Goodie, but you are the Queen and I am the Princess!" Now that girl certainly does have a firm grasp on the natural order in the universe. I can't wait until Big Daddy comes home...

Eden's Fiesta Skirt

USM
KP 2
MY= Caron - Black 4-Ply (You will not need all of this yarn for the skirt)

Trim Yarn= Red Heart CLASSIC Mexicali (You will not need all of this yarn)

CO 100 needles - closed CO

Knit to desired length (this skirt = 12 inches)

Waistband - change to the Mexicali yarn and knit 20 rows, fold to create a casing for elastic.

Mattress stitch the edges of the skirt and waistband.

Cut elastic 2 inches less than waist measurement. Insert elastic into knitted casing and bind edges of elastic.

Using a size H crochet needle, single crochet around the bottom of the skirt. Join. Slip-stitch in first sc space of first row, 2 double-crochet in next sc space, single-crochet in next sc space. Repeat all around the bottom of the skirt evenly. Bind off. Weave in ends.

NO MORE FEATHERS!!

Eden is a princess. Every princess has to have a feather boa... well... Meka (Siberian Husky) thinks she has to destroy every boa that comes into the house and it takes a toll on my carpets. I am knitting some hats from Haute Fur that I purchased at Hobby Lobby and slowly I am replacing all of the feathery, fuzzy, float in the air boas.

Kat wore one of my boa creations to work and now the older princesses are wanting one to wear as a skinny scarf.

Knitted on the USM

7 needles (every other needle) N 0 N 0 N 0 N 0 N 0 N 0 N (N=needle 0= no needle)
Loosely crochet cast on 7 stitches
KP 4
Knit until there is only enough of the fur yarn left to crochet BO

Carefully brush/lift the fur fibers on the knit side of the boa. Don't actually brush it, simply begin at one end of the boa and lift the fibers up with a brush without catching the stitches in the brush.

This boa passes the twirl-test with flying colors!

Scrap Dawg

He doesn't look like much of anything... yet.

My mother always used her fabric scraps to make patchwork dogs for all of the kids and she would donate them to local churches for bazaars and fundraisers. Her dogs were always a hit and I so wish I still had mine or at least one of the kid's. They were used as pillows and to hug while sleeping. Back in the day when mother's didn't know better than to prop a baby's bottle on a pillow, these dogs held many a bottle upright so mom could use her hands for other things like sewing, knitting, crocheting,...

I am finding that I have so many little balls of scrap yarn left over from projects that just are not big enough do do much with. I am using these scraps to make a patchwork puppy pillow.

Cocoon Winder Thingie

Age has crept up and smak'd me in the joints! So I am always interested in ways to avoid situations that puts stress on them (yep I am aware that my grammar is wonky). I prefer to "cocoon" my yarn instead of rolling the yarn into a ball which always seems to get away from me. A cocoon will sit where I want it to and rarely knots up. I've been knitting many a scarf over the past few weeks as gifts for the grands' teachers, bus drivers, and Big Daddy's staff members. I have fallen for a yarn that I found at Hobby Lobby called Espais A Colorfusion Yarn. There is simply too much of it to wind a cocoon the old-fashioned way (around the hand) so Big Daddy made me a DIY winder.

Top of the Yarn Cocoon (This will become the bottom as soon as it is removed from the frame)

The bottom of the cocoon (Now becomes the top or where you pull the yarn from the cocoon)

Big Daddy's Cocoon Winder - simple but effective

  

Washing of the Hands

One of the sweetest moments of my week is to watch my Bershert and the grands welcoming the Sabbath...

Tam Set for Eden

One would think that since our family celebrates Chanukah that I could avoid the Christmas gift making/giving frenzy... think again! The children attend a public school that promotes Christmas themed activities and Big Daddy works at Fort Hood. Most of my friends celebrate Christmas and we exchange Chanukah/Christmas gifts. Ok, any excuse to play with yarn! and my Bond USM!!

Last Friday was hopefully the end of the parties and I still cannot tear myself away from my USM (code-named Knettie). Yes, I named her. Yes, I name my other appliances too... and my cars.

I love, love, love knitting and crochet'n for Eden. She is such an ego booster for this old bird. Any time I pick up yarn and needles she gets so excited and wants to know what Goodie is making for her. Usually, I am knitting something for her. She saw a sales advertisement in which a young girl was wearing a tam and asked me to make her one. I went looking for a pattern that I could use on the USM and I found one, a perfect one, while doing a Google search on Diana's blog "Diana natters on..."

It is a 81 degrees outside and she wants to wear her new  tam and scarf

Alternate the beginning row to create scallop

Spun Sugar Stripe