SILENT BOB AND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

I know what you are thinking - this is supposed to be a knitting blog but with the holidays approaching so quickly I thought I would share a little.
I would like you to meet Silent Bob. Silent Bob (my kids named him long ago) was a Christmas school project that my son made when he was in first grade. Silent Bob has been sitting on the hearth everyday for 15 years since he was presented to me by a cherub faced little boy who was so gleeful at his completed snowman that I thought he was going to burst. Every year when I am putting away the Christmas decorations, I pick up Silent Bob and remember the sweet faced boy and Silent Bob never quite makes it into the decorations box. Silent Bob got a makeover last year with a newly knitted hat and a new ribbon around his neck.


This is the 10 foot tall pine tree that sits on the hill next to the house. My son brought it home when he was in kindergarden and he proudly planted it with the help of his dad. The tree was little more than 6 inches tall and we never thought that it would live -especially because the kids were constantly sledding over it when they were little and the snow called them to this little hill with sleds in hand. It now stands tall and proud - just like me whenever I think of that little boy and his sister with the ruby red cheeks - sledding down that hill with the dog chasing them the whole way. Those beautiful little faces that would sit and drink hot chocolate with marshmallows after a long afternoon of sledding.
Thankyou to my wonderful son and daughter for all of the memories that you have given me at this time of year. You are my blessings.

DINOSAURS........

A cutie dinosaur sweater for the grandbaby trousseau! A eweCANknit pattern #015 Dinosaur Fairisle knitted in Encore Worsted Yarn (superwash because this is a size 2T - Can't you just see the sticky little hands now?) Size 7 needles for the fastest fairisle knit in a long time. I thought I would take a little break from the Dale of Norway patterns on size 1 and 2 needles. How cute is this?



I think the dinosaurs need a little more color - Colored spots maybe? What do you think?



Last week, JoAnns had a sale on beads and I went a little nuts. Hubby was great about the bucks I dropped on my evergrowing bead stash. I threw a few pairs up on ebay because I could never use all of the stitch markers I make. It is good therapy for me - when I need a break from knitting.

CHOO CHOO..................................

Another baby sweater to add to my grandbaby trousseau. A wonderful fair isle pattern from Sandnes (patterns are similar to Dale of Norway). Book # 0105 Size 2T - Knit with Baby Ull yarn on size 2 needles. I love the look of the baby fair isles and although it is tedious knitting with such small needles the results are just great! What do you think?

A WELL USED SKEIN OF YARN.....

Last Thursday, I went to a doctor's appointment. It was just supposed to be a follow up but it turned into an adventure in knitting! I packed my knitting bag for the 4 hour trip and brought more than enough knitting for 8 hours in the car and an hour in the doctor's waiting room.
I also packed my brand new copy of One Skein Wonders thinking that I could have a chance to really look through and think about simple one skein projects to debulk my growing stash of orphan yarn. Little did I know that my quick little appointment would turn into a 6 day hospital stay!
Between tests and treatments, I kept my mind and thoughts busy with a little red baby sweater that was just pure knitting in the round. I even made the IV team place my IV in a spot on my arm where it would not interfere with my ability to knit! They got a real hoot out of that request.
Once the red yarn for the baby sweater was used up - I had only one lonely skein of Lambs Pride Wool left in my knitting bag. It was a lonely leftover from a previous project and had gotten lost in the bottom of my gigantic knitting bag. I pondered my options and decided to make a scarf out of this lonely little chocolate brown yarn.

I finished the scarf and had nothing left to knit. HMMMMM.......... I ripped it out and made a fancy hat. With still another day before I could go home and no more knitting to be had ---- I ripped out the hat and made this cute little brown bag! A skein of yarn well used I must say!

A lesson well learned to always, always pack as much yarn in my bag as possible and it will be a very long time before I knit anything brown again!!

By the way, this is a great book with excellent patterns. I highly recommend it!

IT'S GETTING MIGHTY COLD HERE IN THE MOUNTAINS........

With the temperatures here in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, dipping into the teens at night - I decided to put a little warmth on the needles!
Reynolds Odyssey Pattern #82226 is a great knit! The diagonal stitching on the cuffs was a breeze to do and sure look gorgeous in this yarn. Stampato Extra - 100% Merino makes these mittens so soft and warm. I tried them out this morning with a walk in the garden.


I came across this Paton's Rumor Yarn on Sale at the Korner Knitters in Standish Maine. Hi Guys!(They follow the blog). I bought 2 skeins with no idea what to do with it but hubby chimed in that it would make a luxurious scarf - Okay, I'll give him the right part just this once!











This yarn is an Alpaca blend and is so soft! On size 10 needles it worked up quickly! I found the pattern on the Yarn Harlot Blog and it was just a repeat of 4 stitches!

UNDERSTANDING SELF STRIPING SOCK YARN...

I decided to take a break from my large projects this week and make up a pair of gorgeous socks for myself. I had bought this self striping sock yarn - Big Mexiko from Schoeller Stahl - last spring on sale for just this purpose. I have used this yarn before for another pair of socks and knew full well that it takes 3 skeins to make a pair of socks. The sale was too good to be true and these 2 skeins were the only ones left - therefor I knew they would have to be short cuff socks. I checked the lot and color numbers and Voila! they were the same.



Rules for using self striping yarn -
1. The socks are never ever the same striping pattern no matter how hard you try.
2. You have to buy the same lot number or you need to make one sock!
3. The finished project is always always gorgeous!
4. You must always pull from the same end for each sock. If you start with the middle strand for one then don't pull the center for the second.

But - with all of my self striping yarn know how - I never expected this! Look! These socks are exactly opposite striping patterns!!! I pulled the yarn from the outside of the skein for both and I knit both from the top down! Thank goodness they are for me and I love being different!



What do you think?