Manos Scarf

I love Manos yarn--the solid as well as the varigated. This pattern is called, My So Called Scarf--I am not sure why--and it is a beautifu lway to show off the varigated yarn! It was a free pattern which appeared on the Sheep in the City Blog--she received it free at her local yarn shop after buying some Manos, and the girls were only to happy to share and pass along! The pattern is so simple. There isn't a copyright issue, so here it is:
Gather 2 skeins of Manos, and size 11 needles. Cast on 30 stitches.
•Row 1: K1, *sl 1, K1, psso but before dropping the slipped stitch from the left needle, knit into the back of it* repeat until there is one stitch left, K1
•Row 2: *P2tog, do not slip stitches off the needle, purl the first stitch again, slip both stitches off needle*
•Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you run out of yarn.
•Bind off and block, if necessary.
I love this colorway, but I am thinking of doing another one in blacks and greys which would be perfect for a man!

Pillow Progress

I am knitting along trying to wrap this pillow up as quickly as possible, so I don’t fall even further behind my friends in the knitalong. Here it is so far . . . after I finish knitting, I need to embroider, block, sew and stuff. . . whew! I love the colors, but I am a little concerned about the yarns thin-ness in some areas . . .

Knitted, Felted, Drying and Needs a Zipper

This little bag was knitted from this and that found in my stash, and then I felted it last night, and it continues to dry today! The idea/pattern is the Felted Stash Bag came from the infamous Weekend Knitting book. It measures exactly as the pattern said it would, 10" x 6" and is the perfect size for a gift! Once it is dry, I will put a zipper across the top--I have already started the 2nd of these!
As an aside, I used a variety of different wools; if you look closely, one of the orange striped--Mission Falls wool--didn't felt AT ALL. . . what is up with that?

To Do . . .

Now that Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is around the corner, I have dozens of "to do" lists I have to make, update, revise, and keep track of!!!! Here's this week's list of knitting "to do's"-----

1. Finish the large flower pillow + post my progress on the kal blog. . .
2. Knit a bizillion roses . . .
3. Start, finish, and felt another small bag, like the one which is drying and will be posted on the blog tomorrow . . .
4. Knit cupcake mittens to match the hat . . .
5. Mail my final gift off to my secret pal . . .
6. Pick up Tess of the D'Urbervilles at Barnes and Noble for December's Knit the Classics selection, and start reading . . .
I have to get busy . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Knitting . . . Happy Thanksgiving . . . Happy Day!

More Mitts

I made two more pairs of the fingerless mitts for two favorite boys of mine. This time In some merino, cashmere microfiber blends, I happened upon at AC Moore when looking at the Lion Brand Suede for a rose pillow soon to come! Question: what does it say if you knit 3 pairs of fingerless mitts on your holiday to do list, and you end up giving each pair to the intended recipients? Answer: cross these 3 things off the to do list, and add 3 more gifts back on for surprises under the tree! Good grief.

Not on my Christmas to do list, but certainly should have been, was a cute hat and mitten set for our favorite toddler, Isabella. I made the cupcake hat, which is a free, online pattern. I feel like everybody has knitted this, or seen it, but It is so darn cute, I had to give it a whirl. I changed the pattern somewhat: using my Lamb’s Pride stash for the cake and frosting, and some leftover fantasy yarn made for some sprinkles. The original pattern calls for a red “cherry” on top, but I opted for a knotted-eye-cord of frosting. The mittens are to follow shortly: 2 mini-cupcakes!

Secret Pal

I joined the knitty board’s holiday secret pal and it has been fabulous. I have had tons of fun treating my match to lots of goodies! Below are some of the terrific stuff my secret pal has sent to me: the chocolate alpaca is yummy; and she tells me the plum yarn looks felted when knitted--WOW! I have wanted a Pinnochio tape measure forever, but never bought one and now I have one! The magazines, snacks and lotions were so cute, but the card, with all these little sayings a mom would say is so fun! Not only has she spoiled me with treasures, but we have established an e-pal correspondence where we swap our ideas about knitting, holidays, our kids, and books! I will be sad when the secret pal round ends, but I can’t wait to know who my Pal is!

Flower Power Pillows

I joined my very first knit along a couple of weeks ago, to knit these beautiful pillows. This so much fun, with Susan, Sarah and Jenny as we share our knitting triumphs! No sooner did we get started when we expanded the knit along to all things floral! And Jenni joined us to knit a poncho!
Here’s the large flower pillow saga to date:
* joined a knit along with some wonderful knitting friends from our Yorick projects . . .
* Ran right out and gathered the yarn for the pillow: Lamb’s Pride: loved the colors . . .
* Knitted away, right along with everone else!
* Looked at my yarn color combinations and decided they looked like exotic crayon colors instead of lovely, heathery, muted colors. . . ugh.
* Pondered what to do next . . .
* Went to the crazy yarn shop which is 1000 years old. . .
* Found this french yarn which looked heathery, muted and lovely . . .
* bought some to TRY. . .
* Loved it, loved it, loved it!
* Went to get the rest of what I needed--asked if they could get more colors in, only to find that the yarn has probably been
in the store for every one of the 1000 years they have been open, and NO they can’t . . .
* Presently knitting the pillow and loving it, knowing that my yarn is unavailable and old!

She knits

He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his heart is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands, his heart and his head is an artist.
St. Francis of Assis

Go Fish!

I found this fish pattern on the web--after you knit go-zillions of these fishies, you interlock them to make a tessellating patterned blanket! Well, this is one way to use up all those leftovers (see the Lola fish?!) and yarn from the stash! I knit a couple of fish a week; in hopes I will accumulate enough someday for a big blanket. I am not looking forward to hooking all these fishies together . . .
Speaking of fish, yesterday's fish hat post scored me a hat trick on the cover your head knit-along site! yippeeee!

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess.
You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with
reward, you simply want others to love knitting
as much as you do. If someone wants to knit
miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them.
If someone wants to learn short row shaping,
you can help. There are no taboos in knitting,
only opportunities to grow. Everyone should
have friend like you around if they want to
learn to knit, and there's a good chance that
your passion has rubbed off on a few others.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
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Fish Hat

I knitted this hat one afternoon while I was "yarn shop sitting" for my friend, Barbara, the owner of Tangled Yarns. The pattern is from the Mission Falls book, Just Kidding! The hat was to be knitted in just two colors, but I chose to do it in black, charcoal and bone, all 1824 wool. It looks adorable on! The pattern book has a fish backpack pattern, too, but my son said one set of fish bones was enough!

Fast, fun and fingerless!

Pattern: fingerless Mitts
From: Weekend Knitting
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride, from my stash
Needles: 8 addi-turbos
Flower: Cast-on/Cast-off from Knitty

The pattern is written for a variety of gauges, so it is universal. The flowers were added to make it fun for my daughter. I finished these in just a few hours . . . Maybe I should scrap the Christmas To Do List and make everybody these instead!!

Ho, Ho, Ho . . better get busy

It is 41 days until Christmas, and I have written and re-written the “what I am going to make everyone for Christmas list”--why didn’t I start this list in July? Furthermore, why didn’t I start knitting the things on this list in July?? Here’s my state of affairs:

1. 2 scarves for teacher gifts . . . 1 is finished but not blocked, the other is 1/2 way to the finish line.

2. 3 other smaller gifts for teachers . . . thinking of treasure bags, and filling them with something.

3. 3 pairs of mittens . . . for my children . . . not started.

4. 8 friend gifts . . . thinking of the small felted purses from The Weekend Knitting book.

5. 1 Flower Basket Shawl . . . halfway finished, but this is looking like divine intervention may need to occur if this is to
become a gift for December 25th.

6. 1 Shawl for a mamajon. . . this may be another divine intervention situation.

7. Something for my honey . . . I have a sweater idea for Valentine’s Day, so this needs to be something quick, easy, and
SOFT.
Do you think Santa would let me borrow some elves who can knit?

Suri Soccer Sweater . . .Done!

With a few minutes to spare before the game, I threw the sweater on and posed with my favorite soccer player. The sweater is oversized, unconstructed, soft and warm. The team lost, but I won by finishing it in time to wear it! I even had a few minutes to finish His Hat--pattern by Marnie MacLean. I used Reynold's Lopi on 10.5 double-points.

Meet Lola!

This is Lola, a hat I made for my daughter, from ina's pattern calendar tante sophie avait un chien. It was a quick knit using noro doubled, along with a single strand of Lamb's Pride. The bow in the back is adorable, although you wouldn't know, since as soon as I finished it, I plopped it on her head, took the photo, and sent her to the bus stop. It has since been shaped and blocked, looking a little more beautiful! My knitting friend, Susan, is also making one . . . imagine, we sent for the patterns to make a shawl, and ended up making Lola first!
Haven't picked up the Suri Soccer Sweater yet today . . . game tomorrow at 3:00----tick, tick, tick!

What am I doing?

MissyKnits

I am constantly thinking I have sooo many things I want to knit, and yet so little time, and here I am initiated a blog--what am I thinking? And yet, somehow or another it all makes perfect sense to me! If I am not knitting, or thinking about knitting, or chatting about knitting, I mine as well be blogging about knitting!

I have so many projects and knitting "to do" lists floating around, it is amazing! I have a dozen (more than a dozen, actually) things going on my needles, or waiting to be cast-on . . . The two most pressing projects at the moment are:

1. The large Interweave Knits pillow which can be seen at http://flowerpowerkal.blogspot.com/. My progress is slow, mostly because I have been setting up this blog, but my kal friends are doing terrific! Not only are they talented, and wildly encouraging, they are so witty! I look forward to all of our communications and all of our progress!

2. My Suri Soccer Sweater, which is based on the pattern found here: http://www.girlfromauntie.com/patterns/clothing/poncho. I am using KnitPick's Suri Dream in strawberry and holding 2 strands together--it is so wonderful to knit. I have been working on this throughout the fall, so that I could wear it to my son's soccer games. Well, he's got 2 left . . . Do you think I'll be sporting it this weekend? Stay tuned!

Persian Purls Played . . .