Clickity, click, click, click ...

It's been one of those kind of weeks.

Starting with the New England Nor'easter last Saturday I stayed at home with my knitting most of the time working on the Christmas gifts.

Completed;

Handwarmers fit for a young man.

And finally finished the sweater for the 5 year old granddaughter which I had started last JULY.

And yes I'm still knitting more gifts only cast on the needles this week ...
 (don't ask me about the others waiting around for me to finish, okay?)

A shawl and more fingerless (handwarmer) gloves/mitts...

Seems like it never ends doesn't it? ... clickity, click, click, click.

Little things add up ...

First it's a trivet and then it's a pot holder ...

Grandma's Potholder

But that's only a prototype. I had to make an bigger and better one right? So I made this one ...

One with a little more imbellishment. But could I stop there? Oh no, there are lots more to do with those crochet hooks. And plenty of left-over yarn to use up. Waste not; want not. That's right ... they're all crocheted too. I don't know what's gotten into me. So I decided to do another 3-dimensional trivet. Another hot pad ...

I've got to keep this one for my tea pot. I might even make a few for Christmas gifts though.  And about those shawls that have taken over my life lately ... Well I finished one for my Mom too.

Blocked and put away for Christmas. If it looks familar it's because it's the Stacy Shawl pattern from the book "Wendy Knits Lace". I love that book and especially this shawl.

But then I also love the simple shawl by Stephen West called the Boneyard Shawl. I finished this one 2 days ago and before you give me high praise for being a really fast knitter ... let me explain that I've been working on this all Summer. It was my "go to" project when I needed something simple to relax with or to knit on while talking to friends.

I wore it yesterday and love this one as much as the others too. So that's the picture story of my knitting life lately ... with crochet stepping in now and then.


(All details for all the above projects can be found on my Ravelry page)

Go ahead and make something!

Knitting with seaweed ...

The beads are pale blue ... like water droplets. The yarn is the color of sun bleached seaweed on the beach. It might be the Stella Luna pattern but I think I'll call it ...

"Seaweed on the Beach". Why I might even take it down to the beach with me today.


That's right ... take it with me and get a little sand in it!!

Question of the day ...

If you keep knitting spaghetti,

will you continue to loose weight?

We'll see!

Christmas 2010 ... Am I done yet?

This is a little more than half of my Christmas Gift Stash. Consisting of; 4 shawls, 2 hats, mittens, ascot, shopping bag, 2 scarves, 2 headbands, 2 neckless knit wear and 8 neck warmers. Knitted through out the year. Maybe one or two left over from last year. (maybe) But most from various patterns in books, on the web, or magazines.

And then there's the other half of the Christmas Gift Stash all knit from the most recent Cascade 60 Quick Knits. I finished a total of 20 projects from this book. [plus more yarn waiting to be cast-on for next year -- YES, I intend to knit more from this fabulous book] So now I'm ready for this Christmas. Other than wrapping and posting some of these out to other States for family and friends that is.


Okay, I'm wrong ... I have two more on the needles. A pincushion and a pair of beaded fingerless gloves. Now ... if only the other half dozen projects recently cast on don't distract me to0 much I'll be all set for Christmas this year. Early!

Bring it on Knitting Gods!!

Knitting behind the scenes ...

As usual lately, I've been too busy to write much on my blog. First it was the delay in downloading my pictures from my new camera. Got a new Canon digital. Love it too ... but as always, it takes awhile to learn to use new digital gadgets and to set up & learn new software too. I'm still learning. Second reason I've stayed away is that I'm not only doing more knitting for the holidays, but I'm also getting over to see the DH whenever I can. Sometimes I just sit and knit while he reads a magazine or watches TV. If I ask him if he just doesn't want to talk, he says ... "Sometimes you just need a 'Say Nothing' day." How right is that, huh? Works for me.

So here's my pictures of a new scarf I knit. My friend, Cindy is modeling it. I not sure if I want to gift this scarf. Nope ... my thought is to wear it myself. It's a fun one and I have another in the bag that's almost done already. Might gift that one. See the specs below the picture ...

Yarn

ONline Linie 194 Solo

How much?

4 skeins = 88.0 yards (80.5m)

Colorway:

0201 Black & White
Needle used: US 9 / 5.5mm

BTW, it's not much of a pattern. You just cast on the number of stitches you want. In this case, I cast on 9 stitches ... which was only picking the stitches up along the top of the ribbon mesh yarn. When I got two balls knit on, I then cast on the other side and knit until those 2 where almost all used up and then I weaved the two ends together for the middle of the scarf that goes behind your neck. This makes both ends the same width and all. See?





And guess what ... I also finished an UFO. The All Ruffled Up Cape for my Mom for Christmas. Once again, Cindy was my model.



This is such a cute picture, Cindy.

Needles used:

US 8 / 5.0 mm

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (Aran)

How much? 7 skeins = 504.0 yards (460.9m)

And she even showed me how it can look cute as a skirt too. Well ... it does on her but Mom is built like me and ... well ... well, you get the idea.



I also got a better picture of my Woodland Shawl.



Crocheted!

Speaking of crochet ... I finished two crocheted scarves this weekend ... but once again, my pictures are sitting in the camera.

Just where does the time go?

On and Off the Sticks in record time ...

With all the recent purchases I bet you're wondering if I've gotten any knitting done recently. Or what have I got in progress? What? You're only mildly curious right? Okay, if you're not sick of listening to me by now ... here's my two FO's for this week ...

I cast on the Scrunchable Scarf by Susan McConne on May 15 and cast off May 18. This is a Christmas gift for one of my step-daughters. It's so soft and scrunchable, it lives up to it's name. Of course it helped that I used Cascades' Baby Alpaca Chunky.



Then I just finished another Shape It! scarf from the Knitting Experience book by Sally Melville. I used the Shire Silk yarn I bought at WEBs Saturday. Cast on when I got home 5/17 and cast off last night 5/21. But it still needs to be blocked. I already know it's going to be my Summer time favorite scarf.



Proper pictures later.

So now I'll leave you with my Work In Progress (WIP) ... oooooo, socks?





And let's not even mention the other 6 projects in hiding, okay?
No time to discuss that problem.

And what am I knitting?

Note: There's a contest to check out at Shut Up, I'm Counting ... tell her the StitchingNut sent you, Okay?

And the answer to my question:

Besides those little sock earrings that keep multiplying?


Well let's see ...

you all know about the Poetry in Stitches pg 126 sweater, right?

It's going to take me years on size one needles!

But then there's a valentine's gift I'm doing for the DH. Yah ... can you believe he was lookning thru the Knit Picks flyer that comes in the mail before I got home and says to me, "There's a sweater in there that I would love to have." What? A KNIT sweater? Let me show you, he says. Well it's a sweater VEST. NO sleeves. He loves it. Shouldn't I knit it? Doesn't this give me a reason to go out and buy more yarn, because of course I don't already have the right yarn for this project? The beige in the Knit Picks flyer isn't right for him of course. So I said, "A blue or grey would look really nice on you wouldn't it?" "Or RED," says the man.

Whoo-hoo I found cranberry red Cleckheaton Country 8ply at Seed Stitch Fine Yarn's year end close out sale. A SALE! So I cast on another project ... can I get it done in time for him to wear when we go out to dinner on Valentine's Day? Time will tell.

I was suppose to teach a class in "Painting with Wool" at Seed Stitch this Sunday but it had to be postponed and rescheduled for February 17. The "Sculpture with Wool" class I was going to give will now be held on March 16, 1-4 ... in case you're interested in joining me for a class. And here's what we'll be making ...

I've got to run now.

Many things are going on "behind the skeins"

at the StitchingNut's ...

p.s. Don't foreget there's a contest to check out at Shut Up, I'm Counting ... tell her the StitchingNut sent you.

Whaaat ! ?

And something we all figured out long ago but just posted on August 11, 2007 at "The General Information and News Website" ...
Knitting making a comeback

And if you didn't see "The Last Knit" last year ... here it is again for your enjoyment.

When knitting becomes an obsession

Thanks for the link, Kim!

Here's a very interesting article that Kim from "Knits with a Silent K" found at Redhat Magazine ...

Be careful who you knit for:
Copyrights and crafts

by Bascha Harris

Additional Note:
I was originally adding more to this post when my system went down. I thought I should add at least one picture. And so here it is, the LAST (hopefully) fingerless mitts for the season. This is the pair for my grandson. You know, the 8 year old that said he wanted a pair like his sisters because he thought they were cool. And and guess what .....
He's cool too!

The voting has begun ...

If you go tho the following link:
http://anleitungen.bestrickendes.de/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=164&catid=2
you'll find all the pics of the knitted objects in the contest I've entered. And if you click on a picture you get a "rating" table and some stars...
You can give stars to the things you like most. Each star is a point -
and the entry with the most points at the end will win the prize!
[which I don't even know what it is!] The voting will go on for 10 days and I think you can vote each day.

The voting is going on for 10 days ... so please stop by and vote for your favorites. It doesn't have to be just mine [altho I'd LOVE all the votes I can get!] but the ones you really do like, LOL. I've already given some of my competitors some votes ... the most lovely or interestingly unique. I have a couple of favorites of my own [hey including mine, hehe].

Let the games begin!