Houdini

At our house, we have been very fortunate to have 3 cats. But yesterday, one of our cats, who has been looking really bad and just not doing well, started pooping and puking at the same time. I took him to the vet and the bad news, is that he has kidney failure. This was his final picture ever. He was put down on 3/30/2012. We only have a guess on his age. We think he might have been 13. We rescued him from the street, when we were living in Kentucky. He had been severely abused and required a lot of care to get him better and trusting. But he came to us as a loving cat. After I had my first child, I was trying to get up (I had had an emergency cesearan section and so getting up was difficult). My husband was changing the baby's diaper to bring her to me (I was nursing) and I looked over at the door and the cat had his paw under the door trying like mad to open it. He kept me company in the late hours of the night, while my husband was at work. He entertained me with his antics and loved me, no matter what happened. He will be missed. Here is his final resting place. The girls helped me gather stones to put over his grave and flowers to mark his place.

Forgive Me....

When I post photos of things I made, I try very hard to make sure to include the person who made up the pattern and/or a link to their site, because I feel that they have done such wonderful work, they should have the credit for it. Sometimes, in my rush to post, I forget the links and/or the person who wrote the pattern. When I realize, I do try to go back and post this information. I do post it on my ravelry page, because I have a tendancy to make the same things over and over and over again.

Socks....Yeah I made some

I have been wanting to make socks, but have stumbled on turning the heel. But I made some "Tiny Socks," pattern by Yarn Zombie - Jacki. It helped. I now understand how to turn a heel. Great Pattern and the socks are cute. http://yarnzombie.net/patterns/tiny%20Socks.pdf is where you can locate the pattern for "Tiny Socks."



The yarn is a teal color and the camera is from my phone and taken last night after finishing the 2nd sock. So if you want to learn socks and want that aha moment for heels, try this one and then move on....that is what I will be doing...I will be attempting a pair of socks for my girls (they won't be that small, but smaller than for me or my husband).

I better make some notes real quick. I did 10 rows of k1, p1 ribbing. I then did 8 rows of stockingette stitch instead of 3 rib and 15 ss. I also did a 3 needle bind off for the toes.

It Is Finished!

I finished my dad's scarf this morning. It turned out really nice. Now for delivery. I am having my husband take it down to him for me, when he goes to see his mom (at the nursing home).

I made him the Cable Sampler Scarf. Something that would let me learn cabling and see how it actually worked. It was good practice and now I am ready to try some others.

If you are interested here is the link: http://www.debbiemacomber.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=nnp&pageID=265. It is from one of Debbie Macomber's books and free on her site.

Still Catching up....

I thought tonight would be a good time to share more of the things I finished since I posted in January 2012 and today.

First I finished:
This is a sample afghan block I made to show people things they could make, when I was employed at Michael's. I brought it home and then this year, I attached it to a homemade pillow (that is where you take some fabric and make a pillow and then I attached my block. The pattern is from Red Heart and is called Liberty Square Afghan Square

Hats: Don't know what I was thinking making hats for my girls....it never got cold enough for them to use three or four in a week. These are Loom Hats. Quick and Easy and large yarn.

Scarves: Again, what was I thinking...usually we have some snow and the girls play on the hill with sleds and get wet and need many hat, scarf and mitten changes, not this year. This is something I threw together adding beads and the putting a cross in the center (over the neck). The grey beaded one with the cross, is for my neice. The other two are Brilliant Zig Zag Scarf from Lion Brand Yarn.

Purses: I made one for each of my girls. I just finished the older girl's purse and then I made one for a little girl at the school who is going through a hard time. The one in purple is from a book called Knitting: Learn to knit 6 great projects by Anne Akers Johnson. The green one is something I was playing around with to make a wider purse and give it more stability on the handle, also added buttons and changed row starts.

Cowls: One goes to a friend, the other is for my youngest....can you see how much she loves it!

Finally, Dishcloths: I made more than these, but these were the ones where someone wrote some wonderful patterns down for me to make.
The blue dishcloth is Hummingbird in Flight by RaAnn Clegg. The red one is Year of the Dragon 2012 by Kathleen Brundige of Aunt Kathy's Place.

The Prayer Afghan

I made this prayer afghan for a little guy who has kidney cancer. Just thought I would share what I did.

One square is a knit square using a size US 5 knitting needle (and since I like circular needles, it can also be made using a set of straight needles. I then used a sport weight yarn. I cast on 3, knit first row and increased on 2nd stitch by reverse yarn over (wrap opposite of usual....so there aren't any holes). I went for 47 rows (50 stitches on needles) and then knit one row and began to decrease on 2nd stitch by k2tog, once each row until only 3 stitches left and cast off.

On the granny: Size F crochet hook. Same weight yarn. Lots of colors. 1 color matched the knit squares (this is the color you will need the most of). Other colors can be just enough for 2 rounds. Using the opposite color (i.e. yellow) chain 2, place 3 dc, chain 2, 3 dc, chain 2 until you have four groupings of 3 dcs (double crochets) and 4 of 2 chains. Join. Change colors (main color i.e. blue). Go to a corner (ch 2 space) and ch 3 up, this is your first dc. 2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 2, go to next space and 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 2. Repeat to beginning of round and join. Change color (i.e. yellow). Ch 3 up to creat first dc, 2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 2, *go to next space and 3 dc and ch 2, go to corner 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc (all in one corner), repeat from * to end and join. Change color (i.e. blue) and repeat with 3 dc only in each side and 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in corner.

Figure out how many of each square type you want and put them together in any order you think is pleasing and have fun.

Morse Code for Knitting

My friend and I meet most Tuesdays, sometimes other days, at Frisch's Big Boy in Lebanon at 9 a.m. for about 2 hours. We bring our knitting and patterns and laugh, knit (or crochet) and make things. We share ideas and thoughts and have fun.....a lot of fun!

We garner a lot of attention with our knitting. So one Tuesday, a man came up to us and told us about how some knitters would knit morse code into a knitted item to help send messages during war time.

Hmmmmm.....an idea started brewing. Stay tuned to see what comes from it.

My Dad is So Funny

I have been working on a new scarf for my Dad. It is using brown wool/silk mixed yarn. It is the Debbie Macomber book pattern of Cable Sampler Scarf. It is taking me some time. For many reasons: 1. I need to be alone. Every time someone talks to me when I work on it, I lose count and have to frog a portion or tink back a bit. 2. I can only work on it at home. I have the pattern in a binder along with other patterns that I want to make and in sheet protectors to keep it a little safer. 3. I am rarely home and/or alone. But I am making progress. So for my mom's birthday, I made her some mittens (my first ever attempt at mittens). The mittens are from a book by Michelle Edwards. The Pattern is called Quick and Easy First Mittens. and a scarf using mohair in the Universal Scarf Pattern. Because of this my father came over to my knitting bag (which held his scarf in progress and my mother-in-law's 2nd prayer shawl. He started pulling things out of the bag to search for his scarf. So today, for awhile I will work on his scarf some more.

But to show what else I have finished since my January post:
My mother-in-law received 2 prayer shawls from me. Both are the same color and one was something where I was just playing around with yarn overs and the other was one from Debbie Macomber book, also, called Triangular Prayer Shawl.
I finished a prayer afghan for a little boy who has cancer of the kidneys. Talking with the man who knows the family, the little boy is just so very strong and grounded.
I finished a Clown that I made my niece. I have been working on this for what seems like forever, but is actually just years.
My middle daughter doesn't like to take care of her hair, but she loves to wear headbands. I refuse to buy any more for her because she doesn't take care of them (notice a pattern), so Luciana from Facebook shared a pattern that she likes to use called Arrowhead Lace Headband. I made a few changes the most basic being a smaller needle so it would be a little narrower.
If you belong to Ravelry, you can always find me and check out the things I have made.

So Long Away

I have been so very busy. I have been knitting or crocheting as much as possible and I have been learning how to make a mitten (the 2nd one is in the works). I have also been working more at the schools this school year than I have in the past. I have also had some very sick (ill) children. We had pneumonia come into our house and run through. As of now, the girls are starting to get better and we are winding down on basketball. Soon, I will post a pattern for a kid's purse I have been working on. I will post photos of things I have made. But for now. Have a good March!