Last Friday,

the 16th, I ran into a dear friend at the post office. For a variety of reasons we hadn't seen or talked to each other for some months and were glad to see each other and do a little bit of catching up.
The very best part of catching up was finding out that she and her husband are about to finalize their daughter's adoption; the second best thing was getting to hold said daughter!


I am sure you all know what this means.

 

Last week

I knit a hat.

 

This week I got to deliver it.

 

This week I made another hat,

 

and today it is being mailed to its new home.

 

I have been doing

some knitting lately, but this was all done before my kitchen accident.
Another shawl, same pattern as the last one, except I made it a bigger before I started the lace section. This one is a gift for a friend.

 

A couple of baby hats, one is for a new baby at church and the other is for a friend of Hubband's. I know of six or seven more babies coming by summer's end; good thing these only take me about a day to make!
Socks continue to be worked on, but the ones I was hoping to have done in time for Easter aren't going to be done. Another stranded color-work pattern that has given me fits on gauge. Le sigh. Mastering that problem is probably going to be one of my knitting goals for this year. Right up there with finishing twelve pairs of socks, which I am quickly falling behind on. The fact that I have another shawl/scarf in the works might not be helping, but at least it is a different pattern this time.

Meet "Meadow Bag"

My downstream partner for the Dumpling Bag Swap has received her bag safely, So I can now introduce you to the one I made. My partner's name means “meadow where the beaver dwells,” so I was inspired to make her a Meadow Bag. Here it is in its pre-felted state,

 

with a close up of some of the cattails that seem to love growing near ponds and meadows.

 

This is what it looked like after it was all felted and dry.

 

It wasn't until after I was back inside and had it all packaged up to mail off that I realized I had forgotten a picture of the felted pond as well as the small stuffed beaver that had happily taken up residence inside his new meadow home. Oh well, the important thing is that PoMOGolightly loves it! Which she has told me she does and I am guessing she will put up a post about it soon. (She is busy teaching college freshman all about Freshman Composition, which is not an easy job.)

Signed, sealed, and delivered,

well, I guess that really is "Knit, bound-off, and delivered." The shawl will be blessed at the first service and given to the baby at his Baptism during second service.
Tomorrow I will return to regularly scheduled knitting.

What is it? (Part 2)

Awhile back I mentioned I was knitting a mystery project for WhoDoKnit. I have finished the mystery project and it is now winging its way across the country to Sharon. So for now I am just going to share more pictures of the pretty yarn, and what a patch of it looks like knit up.(Sometime next week after she gets it, I'll let you in on the mystery.)

What is it?

I started a mystery project yesterday. Well, I know what it is, but a mystery in that I am making it for someone else (for the WhoDuKnit One Skein Swap). Sharon sent me a skein of Sundara yarn to work with . So far there has been a lot of knitting, holding of stitches, stopping knitting, and starting all over again.

 

The rain storm that happened here in the "Mid-West" night before last left a little over two inches of water in our rain gauge (causing great problems a lot of places, but fortunately not for us). It did cause the mud balls to melt and one of them to fall to its death. Hmmmm, and they didn't even have green skin....
Also on the "What is it?" front, growth has recommenced and sand is being laid and leveled as I type. I need to be off to get a needed tool (DTY says she doesn't need it, but we'll use it for more than just this project. Guessing from the noise I just heard, she is going to be wishing she had taken me up on it several days ago.)

Essence of Baby

Well, that is how Hubband describes this blanket. He has pretty much summed it up, but he really does mean it in a good way. He knows the mom, he likes the blanket, and he knows she'll love it for her new baby girl. I figure that counts as a seal of approval (well, and the Grandma saw it while I was working on it in Idaho Falls and she says it is perfect).
The pattern is "Rambling Rows Afghan" by Pat Penney and Carol Anderson of Cottage Creations. It is a really great pattern and is designed for several different size choices (baby size through . The yarn is TLC Sparkle Soft in Orchid, Mint, Pink, Yellow, and White.

 

Here is the edge pre-I-cord;

 

front view of the applied I-cord;

 

back view;

 

and the corner view. (The corners are done by knitting three "rows" of I-cord off one edge without attaching and then attaching it to the next edge.)

 

I will leave you with a few random pictures of it, just in case you forgot what it looked like hanging out on "the chair" or wanted a close up of the mitered decreases. (The second picture is probably the closest to the true colors, but I am sure you all get the general idea.) I plan on taking it to show and tell at knitting tomorrow night and then it will be mailed off to it its new owner.

Gifts Revealed

The last package that I had sent with some gift knitting in it has been received, so I am going to let the rest of you see what has been on and off my needles lately. (For those of you that wish to see that is, I'm sure you know how to not look if you don't want to. If you don't, I am thinking that would be your problem to work on, not mine.)


I made a pair of Fetchings for my mom. She likes them and said they will be nice for when her hands get cold in the house. (Which is good, 'cause that was kind of the effect I was going for!)

 

I know Sharon has been busy lately and hasn't had time to post about her Defeat the Winter Doldrums box even though she and her family are enjoying everything. I will show you the knitting I sent her, especially since some of you reading this probably don't read very many knitting blogs. First off she got a football dishcloth in Eagles Green,

and she also got a variegated blue and white one, which I made out of Plymouth Fantasy Naturale. I had never used it before but you can be sure that I will be again!






I had decided to participate in the WhoDuKnit January Mystery Knit-A-Long. We were given clues, starting with “grab some worsted weight yarn from your stash” and then the knitting instructions were doled out in pieces over a couple of weeks. This is what I had when I was done and you can read more about it here if you want. So those are the knitted items that I sent in the DWD box to Sharon.

 

(#1) I believe that is it on gift knitting, but I will toss out some pictures of my first three hats; number four and number five are on the needles. Number four is this hat this hat in the same red yarn as #1. Number five is the same as #3, except that the spiral is going the other way. (#2 and #3 are the same yarn, but #3 without the flas is closer to the real color.)


(#2)

(#3)

 

In the rest of life, a friend is coming over with his snow blower to clean off our driveway. I asked him what I could do to repay the favor and he assured me that I didn't need to. It seems that he just wants an excuse to play with his small tank blower and since his drive is done, ours gets to be a Saturday playground. So of course I made him bread. His wife was trying to convince me it wasn't necessary, but I explained that I just needed to bake and didn't really need bread quite yet, so it worked out really well for all parties concerned. I am kind of glad he is coming over, since we are supposed to get somewhere in the neighborhood of four to six inches of snow on Monday.

Knitting update (a day late)

So as I promised yesterday, I will give a knitting update (feel free to skip over any of the details/pictures if this sort of topic makes your eyes glaze over!).

From the last week or two I will start with a missing (to be gifted) dishcloth, another missing (in use) dishcloth,

and move onto my standard ball band dishcloth

(with a close-up just because I love these colors).

 

Moving on, we have face cloths for Posies and Lemon drops. (There is another one on the needles and almost finished.) Then I finished up last week with a missing (also to be gifted) scarf and headed into the weekend knitting.

 

Just as promised, Fetching can be done in a weekend, or less. (I started Saturday around noon.) Instead of using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, I used Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran. I used two skeins since it has less yardage (and is a slightly larger yarn). Well, and because I couldn't remember which one it called for when I was at the LYS and the proprietor didn't know what pattern I was talking about. What is up with that?
I used the same size needles but made seven rounds on the thumb as I wanted it a little longer. I wasn't sure who these were for when I started them, but part way into the first one, I knew they were for me. (However, I did use a hand model for the photo shoot.)

 

After finishing those up, I moved onto starting this hat on Sunday afternoon.
I am using this yarn
in Bijou Blue.

 

In today's mail I got this really cute bookmark from Kathleen, who had gotten my
Zippery Wonder this summer. Well, I think it awesome because it is a pig.I always wanted a pet pig....

I also worked on my Giotto socks this weekend. They have been languishing for awhile . I had realized when it came time to do the lace section I had knit too many rows down from the cuff and had set it aside to make room for finishing up The Scarf. So the sock is all fixed and back on track.

Well there you have it, most of my knitting for the last couple of weeks. Tomorrow starts really early, we have to check in at the vet at 7:30 for surgery. Someone has reached that age in life. I am sure she will have something to say about her lack of food when she realizes I am going to bed.

I knit a lot of dish cloths

Seriously, I knit a lot more of them than I actually mention here. I make them and then they tend to get given away, rarely with their picture taken. I make them out standard stuff like Sugar 'N Cream, inexpensive and great colors. I use a few other yarns on occasion, but that is what is readily available. I don't generally call them dish rags, that would be what they turn into after they are well used and rather tattered. Operative word would be "rag" here. Hubbband has been known to call me a "Dish cloth machine" but he likes to give them away too.)
I also knit what I suppose could be called a face or wash cloth. I differentiate that from a dish one on how soft the yarn is. Sugar 'N Cream is OK for faces, but Cottontots is super soft. It is lacking a little in the great color variety department, but softness makes up for it. I will be mixing these into my "mindless dishcloth knitting" a bit more for a outreach ministry started by Patty. She is calling it Posies and Lemon Drops. It is an ongoing quest for super-soft knitted or crocheted face cloths for a women's shelter. I am really excited to have another place to share my knitting in a way that will make a big difference in some one's life. Check out the link and please think about making a face cloth or two as well.
The other "big" thing that I keep thinking about regarding dish cloths, "Why can't I find US #6 circular bamboo needles?" I have looked at every store here in town that carries knitting needles as well as several in the Twin Cities and one in Duluth and no one has them! #6 straights in bamboo, got those; #6 metal circular, they have those. I am not looking for something that complicated, I know they are made, just no one here has a spot on their racks for them. I never dreamed I would have this much trouble finding such a common knitting needle.

A hat for Miss E

It is too small for "The Head" (which really is adult sized).



It is a bit too big for the baby doll (which is a really bit smaller than a real baby).


But I am thinking it will fit my friend Ms. P's new granddaughter Miss E just fine.

 

Hat particulars: Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop Heart Hat. Hat knit double stranded on US #8 circular and US #7 double points for single stranded I-Cord and bind off. Knit in Blush and Light Sage Green Lion Brand Microspun. This is the second time I have made this hat and it won't be the last! It is a great pattern and knits up really fast.