Halloween Two-Stepping while I knit ...

Just finished some socks for the occasion!
Finished just in time for my October socks to go dancing in the streets of Salem on Halloween night.


Perfect for the Halloween celebration don't you think? The yarn is from Brooklyn Handspun and the colorway is Spook. A special colorway for the Holiday Sock Club. And the sock pattern is Charade by Sandra Park.

Knitted Things by Karla Kuskin

There was a witch who knitted things:

Elephants and playground swings.

She knitted rain,

She knitted night,

But nothing really came out right.

The elephants had just one tusk

And night looked more

Like dawn or dusk.

The rain was snow

And when she tried

To knit an egg

It came out fried.

She knitted birds

With buttonholes

And twenty rubber butter rolls.

She knitted blue angora trees.

She purl stitched countless purple fleas.

She knitted a palace in need of a darn.

She knitted a battle and ran out of yarn.

She drew out a strand

Of her gleaming, green hair

And knitted a lawn

Till she just wasn't there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And notice some of the witch's hair got knit into these socks ...

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Knitting is trying to take over my life ...

Do I mean it hasn't already? I might be knitting too much you say? Well I do take an occasional break. Like this past weekend ...




I promised some pictures of the new wee one and the visit with grandkids. so here's a couple of Jayden & James.

Wait a minute. Will the real Jayden Munchkin please step forward?

Now that's more like it, LOL.










And James Henry wants to know who that strange lady is.


Well ...... I just have so much to do right now. I figure I need a break away from the computer and will just dive into my knitting and get it all done. Well the Christmas gifts anyways. After all ... most are Christmas gifts right now and it's not far away now right? I don't want to be in a panic come the last few days before Christmas day, now do I. We all do it. But not this year, I won't be included. Not intentionally anyways.

You don't expect me to join you in your misery do you?
(Oh, you do huh!)

Multipling like a Bunnies ...

The ISE5 scarf is DONE. And I really, really, really love it! Hope my Pal does also. I loved knitting it and I love the way it came out. I really must knit one for myself also.

It's the Vine Stitch Wrap in the Vogue Knitting on the Go: Shawls book. I used JaggerSpun Zephr DK weight, in Iris. Yummy yarn to knit with, btw.

And what's this?

It just HAPPENED over the weekend!

Remember the Handspun yarn I got from Weaver last June? ... not sure of the fiber content but it feels like Alpaca. Soft & yummy.

Well over the weekend it became this ...

Another scarf! They're multipling like bunnies.

This one is the Uptown Scarf from Weekend Knitting.

All that and we still went up to New Hampshire on Saturday to see the grandchildren and new great-grandson (a picture to post later) and Sunday we went down to see the motorcyles ride in for the annual Halloween Witch Ride.



It was a beautiful day, so I'm sure over 5,000 bikes came thru town this year.



Oh, I love these moments in Salem!

The Year of the Scarf/Wrap is here!

Last year I went into a frenzy to knit and mass produce ... fingerless gloves. That's right. A pair for everybody. I knit 27 ... make that TWENTY SEVEN ... pairs. Granted, two pair were for me but I gave away the rest for Christmas gifts. What ever got into me, I don't know.

And this year? This year is quickly becoming the year of the scarf slash wrap. I consider wraps as being somewhat like a scarf. You can wear it around your shoulders, but also around your neck as a scarf. Hence, the Scarf/Wrap. Well I have finished ... oh a few. Let's see ... It started with the Silk Haze tube scarf. Which I did finish and it is for me.

And then I started planning for this year's Christmas gifts. But have only finished one so far. The Clapotis scarf ...
That's right. As beautiful as it is, I plan to give it away. To someone special of course. Nope. Can't.tell.you.who.

But behold all the scarf/wraps presently on the needles or in unfinished stages ...

But all of these didn't keep me from casting on this one this past Monday ...


And behold the yarn waiting in the wings ... to be cast on at any moment.

Oooooo, that's Alpaca.
And more Alpaca ...

Out of all those, one is for the International Scarf Exchange. One is for me but I'll keep you guessing on which one that might be. But most will be gifts. IF ... I can finish in time!

All of this craziness going on behind the scenes at the StitchingNut's home ... but here's something that I finished ... yes, it's knit with the dreaded acrylic. But washable for a baby. It's an Afghan for James Henry ... knit by Great-Grandma!

And up close ... it's purrrty.

Only took me nine months to knit! M-m-m-m, wait ... I think this pattern would be really nice in a scarf too. Don't you think so?

Is the Cotton and Acrylic stash piling up?

Would you like to find a home for the extra cotton and acrylic taking up room in your stash, as well as help others at the same time?

Donate to a charitable organization that put's both cotton and acrylic yarns to good use. Yup, the evil acrylic is wanted and needed by the ladies at NH Services who knit items for needy children and residence of nursing homes that require machine washable items. They use the cotton for kemo hats ... the softer the better. If you have a lot, consider the tax deduction you could get also. The RSVP Volunteers (there are 60 total) ... love to knit ... love to crochet ... and love contributing to others. This is something they do all year long by the way.

I've recently received this note from the Volunteer Services Director, Dee Martin that I want to share with you.
********************************************************************

Emailed Oct 12, 2007 12:38 PM to Rhonda the Stitchingnut

Hi Rhonda,

We would like to share with you the wonderful support from various places in the country that have responded to our request for yarn because of your website. Yarn came from all over New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia and many many towns in Massachusetts.


Our volunteers, in turn, create beautiful knitted and crocheted items (such as hats, mittens, scarves, afghans) which are delivered to needy families, non-profit organizations, and nursing homes throughout the area.


Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Dee Martin
****************************************************************

Below are a few pictures of just a few of the lovely ladies doing the knitting & crocheting for others in need. In fact, The first picture is of Helyn Malay (93 years young) who had started a knitting group called "Yarn It All" to knit hats, mittens and scarves for low income area school children. The other pictures include what they've been knitting and crocheting that are ready to be distributed during the Holidays.

I think I would also like to give every one of them a big hug.

SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE SERVICES, INC.

The Community Action Agency for Hillsborough County

Dee Martin, Volunteer Services Director

40 Pine Street, Manchester, NH 03103

Telephone: (603) 668-8010 ext 6022 Fax: (603) 645-6734

dmartin (at) snhs (dot) org www.snhs.org

Introducing my first Great-grandson ...

James Birthday020
Originally uploaded by heidicaswell

Born October 5, 2007.
... 8 lbs 6 oz.

Welcome to the world, James Henry.

What comes after ...

finishing the Clapotis?

I loved doing this shawl and love the Sheep Shop Yarn Company Sheep 3 that I used. Soft. And the color mix is perfect for me and the Fall season. But now I need some challenges. What!? Am I crazy? More of a challenge than the Poetry in Stitches cardigan? I have gone back to knitting the kit I bought a year ago. Bought the book just before that. Dieing to make it ... but alas it went into hibernation during the Holidays last year and I didn't get back to it until now. But I'm back. Honestly.I.am.

Well maybe something not quite this challenging, but different ...

Another drop stitch?

How about The Diagonal Drop Stitch Shawl from
Vogue Knitting: On the Go!

I have the yarn ...

Will Startitosis strike again?

A Day at the Fair ...

Today was filled with blue skies and ...

DH and I just got back from the Topsfield Fair in Danvers, Massachusetts. And I am so, so, SO tired. Whoa, it was a nice sunny beautiful blue sky day. But between the heat and all the walking, I just might go to bed early tonight. I'm ready to collapse right now in fact. But what about the tea cozy did you say?

Oh ya, about the news flash ...

Here's just a couple of the lovely Volunteers that watched over all the entries and especially my tea cozy. Although there's a rumor it might not be there when I go to pick it up on Tuesday, I just know that these really nice, pleasant, happy stitcher's wouldn't let that happen. They were a lot of fun to talk too and they were trying to talk me into being a volunteer next year. I can't just yet because I work fun time as you all know ... but I will definitely consider it when I retire in a few years. What fun would that be right? After passing out a few Moo Cards, I have a feeling I just might hear from the girls again about volunteering. The ladies all made a really good pitch you know. And I really want to do it ... but I'll be making other entries for the next few years first. Then I'll join them in the "corral"! Or was that the "playpen"? [hehe, I think it was]

Did I promise to tell you about the tea cozy?

Do you want to see the ribbon(s)? ...

1. First Place in it's category ...

AND

2. Best of Show. How cool is that? Gives me goose bumps.
In fact, I don't think I could ever top that again.

So my "Little Felt-tea Farm Tea Cozy" now goes into retirement.


She'll be keeping my tea warm from now on.

And it's not about knitting ...

What? No knitting. Oh, a Parade ...

Yup, it's that time of year again. When all good goblins and witches come out to haunt Salem, MA for the month of October. And they kick it off with a parade every year on the first Thursday of October for all the area school children. Big and little. After that there's some sort of event right up through Halloween night. The traffic is horrendous ... but what a fun City to live in. Here's just a little show of last night ... starting out with the Mayor and her family. [Oh BTW, they always have a theme and this year it was "The Wizard of Oz"]

Click on this link: View as slideshow ()

And speaking of a non-knitting post. Did you know that I have a hobby? No not knitting. Knitting is my Life. I do photography for fun.


The magazine editor from New England Ancestors wrote and asked if they could use one of the photographs that I took from my Virtual Tourist website. Of course, I said yes and here's the article that went with it. I was just holding off from saying anything until they sent a couple of copies of the issue when it came out. Cool huh?

Do you want to see a close up of the picture? Okay

Here it is ...

It looks even more provocotive in the black & white print in the magazine.

Perfect for the Halloween City, don't you think?

Remember this tea cozy of mine?

Well stay tune for more news about it later in the week. We go to the Topsfield Fair on Saturday ... BUT
A news flash came in yesterday!