Traveling HK Project

This is my "travel" project. Its easy to take out in an airport while I'm waiting for a plane, its easy to drag out when everyone is sitting around watching TV. Perfect Project! When I'm done, I'll have a great looking scarf. The pattern was inspired by the Tiny Toes scarf kit I made last year. I bought Tiny Toes at a yarn show in Asheville and wanted another one but didn't go back this year so I decided to make my own kit. I bought some Bamboo yarn from Hobby Lobby and the beads are an assortment called "Mahogany". Then I decided to buy some purple beads as well, thinking I wasn't sure which ones I wanted to use. When I started stringing the beads on the yarn I found I needed around 4400 of them, 2200 on each side of the scarf so I ended up pouring the purple and mahogany beads in a shallow bowl and started stringing them on the yarn at random. The mahogany beads are all different shades of gold and brown and even a few white and unfortunately even though they were labeled 6mm, they seem to be all different sizes, some didn't fit. Pretty much the purple beads, which are also 6mm seem to all fit on the yarn.

So far I've only strung one ball of yarn. When its finished, I string another ball full and make the other side of the scarf. The idea is to cast on 5 stitches, string on 10 beads, 5 more stitches, 10 beads, across. Next row is the same, then 9 beads, 5 stitches twice, next is 8 beads, 5 stitches, etc....till you're down to 1 bead. I atually cast on 3 stitches on one edge and 2 stitches on the other edge. You knit till you run out of beads and then take off on waste. Knit the other side exactly the same way and then Kitchener stitch the scarf on the center back.

Next project is a scarfvest which is a scarf that looks like a vest in the front. I'm going to weave mine but more about that later.

Great Grandson's sweater, charted with Knitware Sweaters with shaped hood. I love the sweater, you can tell he does too

Information on Knitware is at www.greatknitdesigns.com You can buy the Basic, Sweaters and Shawls and Skirts. Basic has doggie and doll patterns as well as adults basic sweaters and includes pants for all sizes. Its inexpensive and I have all 3 sets . The plus with this software is, it is written for hand knitting, machine knitting and even crochet. What a deal! Its so easy to use I haven't EVER read the tutorial (but then I'm known for not reading help files...I'd rather fumble my way around than read.....still, I haven't done a lot of fumbling with this.
(No affiliation with this software, I just like it because its easy and quick)

Ruffles Scarf Finished

If you look back at November 12 and 13, I bought some ruffles yarn from Lion Brand. Its really different, its like very thin stockinette strips and you knit it by poking yur needle through it about half a thumbs length from the needle, which makes it ruffle. I changed the pattern a little, between the ruffles you knit 2 or 4 rows of stockinette. Mine didn't look that nice knitted stockinette so I knitted mine in garter stitch between the ruffles rows. The ruffles have to be knitted in stockinette, when I knitted the ruffle yarn, the ruffles went behind the work, when I purled the ruffles it went in front of the work so I had to make sure I was knitting or purling at the right time. Between the ruffles rows is rows of stockinette. Turns out these rows are the center back and the side neck. The ruffles are centered at front neck and a set of ruffles on each side.

If you look at the picture you see there's a hole in the big ruffly rows at the beginning. The very end is 2 rows of ruffles. The 2 end rows of ruffles fit through the hole once its wound around your neck and end up filling the hole. Very clever.

The part I don't like about it is finishing. It became impossible to weave the ends of the ruffle yarn into the back and actually hide the stuff. The back looks messy. I was going to give this to a friend for Christmas but changed my mind. I'm afraid its way too ruffley for her and I don't like the messy back so I'm keeping the scarf for myself. Honestly its a bit too ruffley for me too but I think it would look nice under a coat.

Biscuit is Published!!!!

Can you find biscuit in this picture? It's from the Spoiled Maltese Forum. People submitted their maltese pictures and here we are, a cute calendar. I wish I could show you all the picture...well, I guess I can. Go to Cafe Press and have a look at all the pages, they are super.....: http://calendars.cafepress.com/item/2009-spoiledmaltesecom-wall-calendar/337126469

Here's the picture I sent in for the calendar:

Check Out This Yarn

I love this yarn, Bernat Baby Jacquards. Its self patterning. I tried to match the patterns as I knitted each piece but it seems to be impossible. I almost matched it on the 2 fronts but gave up when I saw it wasn't happening. So, for the sleeves, I decided to make each one a different color. On the hood, I just decided to let it flow right from the ball of yarn rather than trying to unwind to a certain spot.
I really, really love the yarn. It comes in 8 different colors, and I don't like all of them but Love the Lemon Pie and Boo Berries, Spearmint and of course the one I used, I'm A Big Boy which is my favorite and the one I used for the sweater above.

The pattern was charted with Knitware, I used the Shaped Hood rather than the Simple Hood because I was getting an error with the Simple Hood, that it wouldn't fit on the neck that I chose. Since I didn't get the error with the Shaped Hood, I went with it. I had no idea which hood I preferred because I've never used the hood feature before. I'll use it again because I do like it and it was very easy to knit. The directions were great.

Check out my little boy

Here he is, all clean. I let him soak overnight with Spray and Wash and then washed with Gain with Bleach. After the wash he was still pretty grubby so I poured Gain with Bleach on the worst parts and scrubbed him with a brush. Let him sit for a while with that to soak in and then washed again and this time also added bleach. I was absolutely surprised that all the dirt was gone this time. Unfortunately his hair is pretty bad and since I had thrown in a towel to wash with him and balance the load, he has a lot of towel fuzz in what hair is left. No matter, I'll brush that out with the doggie's brush and then make him a hat.

Next I want to show you something VERY SPECIAL. Jean McCain posted on the Knittingmachine group that she likes to make beads with clay and travels around always looking for clay but had never had any Georgia Red Clay. Well, I knew my neighbor's pond was surrounded with red clay so gather up a zip lock bag full and sent it to her. She sent me some beads back. I LOVE THEM! To make it even nicer, she sent me samples from Franklin County, Arkansas andOzark Arkansas Clay beads. My beads are pretty much one color but look at those that have the dark streak through them. Absolutely beautiful.
What makes these so special is that I never saw red clay until I came to SC back in 1960. Actually I hated it because it got in our clothes, on our shoes, on the house, car, etc. We couldn't wash it off. Now that I've been back so many times and finally live here, I have grown fond of the red clay. With these beads I will have a forever-memory when I move. Thank you soooo much Jean.
ps... 2 of them broke, so I quickly ran to the drug store and got some clear fingernail polish and gave them all this nice finish. I will keep them safe I promise.

And, check out that sculpture she made.

Hand Made Dolls

A couple months ago I went to visit a neighbor. She doesn't live here year round but comes every couple months to mow the lawn, check the house over and camp out in their house. The house is sort of a get-away for them, here in the mountains. She is a seamstress and has a huge sewing room in her house here and in her other house as well. While I was visiting with her on their back screened in porch, I noticed a doll laying on the table. It was mildewed and the seams were popped open in places. She told me she was going to throw it away, her girls were now grown and no one wanted it. So I asked if I could have it. (I have no idea why I asked for it, it was pretty nasty really). When I left, I forgot to get the doll. A few weeks later, I was knitting a baby sweater for a contest the Carolinas Guild was sponsoring for the members. The contest was to knit the Baby Surprise Jacket as written up on www.junebugsplace.com or use the Susanna Lewis machine pattern for that jacket. The original was a hand knit jacket designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman.
I decided to give the jacket a try and once I finished, I needed a model. I thought about the doll I forgot to get and told myself I'd go see if I could get on the porch. If not, I'd go to Walmart and get myself a life-size baby doll. Luckily the doll was still there but oh, what awful shape it was in. I brought it home and sprayed it with pre-soaking solution (Spray and Wash) and left it sit in the bathroom sink overnight. I didn't have a lot of hope. The next morning I threw it in the washer and threw in so much bleach I was afraid the whole thing would disentigrate. Well, she turned out beautiful. Her hair was pretty much gone so I did make her a hat. The hat pattern is from Knitters Edge, lesson # 2. Here's a picture of the doll wearing her BSJ (as we like to call the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket).


Honestly I was afraid to show it to the neighbor when she came back, I just knew she'd want the doll back but luckily she didn't. She did ask for a picture of it to show her daughter. Yesterday she came up to see me and brought me another doll. She called it the "brother" to the first doll. I thought I'd take a picture to show you how dirty and nasty it is, before I clean it up. I took the picture yesterday as he sat in the sink soaking with Spray and Wash. Today I restuffed his arms and sewed them up and he's now in the washer. My fingers are crossed that he'll turn out as nice as his sister did.

When I get time, I will make him a sweater and hat to match his sister's. BTW, my neighbor originally made these dolls for her girls. They have beautiful little faces, don't you think?

MONEY MONEY MONEY

Valeria says:
Money saving ideas for knitting?
1. Any yarn you are sick of seeing, donate it to a charity knitting group. You
can deduct the fair market value from your income tax as a charitable donation.
2. Use even tiny yardage of leftover yarns to design unique items: tote bags
(particularly felted ones), Joseph's Coat sweaters, kaleidoscope scarves or
shawls.
3. Stick your wool yarn in the freezer to protect against moths.
4. Make your own needle-retainer bars (lots of instructions on the Internet).

I have a couple more hints for the house.
If you have a fireplace that has to be vented, close it up and stuff insulation up near the vent. Stuff insulation around the fireplace surround also. Yesterday it was soooo cold in my house. I read this hint in a magazine and ran out to the garage where I had put some extra insulation in a plastic bag to keep it from getting moisture in it. I brought it in and stuffed it into the fireplace as I said above and couldn't believe the instant difference in my cold living room.

I also have laminate floors and love them but they are cold so I went to a local Freds (discount store) and bought a $35 rug for the middle of the room. It makes a lot of difference in the warmer look and the warmer floor, believe me.

I also read to get lined curtains. I have a sliding glass door and its cold, cold! I do have a rubber lined drape and kept it closed all day yesterday. That made a big difference in the warmth that stayed in the room.

Here's a couple more hints from Ladies Home Journal that I didn't know:
Try making holiday meals in a slow-cooker. According to Progress Energy, a North Carolina energy company, it costs 2 cents an hour to use a slow-cooker. Only 18 cents for an eight hour roast. Fire up an electric oven burns more than 22 times as much power per hour (who knew?)

Use ceramic or glass when cooking, it allows you to lower your oven temperature by about 25 degrees F and the food cooks just as quickly.

BACK TO KNITTING:
Knit yourself a pair of pants, you'll be shocked at how warm as well as nice and cozy they are. Can't do it? Don't be silly, pants are just elongated sleeves with a belly, butt and waist band. If you don't know how to chart your own, go get the demo version of Knitware Basics (which has standard pants built in to the program) www.greatknitdesigns.com. Make your first pair out of some leftover yarn that isn't the best in the stash. That way, you can tweek the sizing once they're done and my first pair are definitely great, just a bit too short in the leg and a bit too big in the thigh. Who cares, I still love them. The second pair eliminated that problem and I can wear them in public .

Knit some socks, you won't believe how warm knitted socks are, I LOVE every pair I have. And socks make fabulous gifts. My daughter, Natalie, made me and my husband both several pair of socks. I have them all now and its a wonder I haven't worn them out, I wear them inside and outside (with shoes of course).
Make yourself some slippers while you're at it also. And if you are going visiting for the Holidays, definitely take a pair of your homemade slippers with you. When you're visiting you don't want to run around barefoot but you can slip on your slippers to wear while you're sitting around visiting and keep those tootsie's looking guest-worthy. Last year I visited Tacoma and Spokane and rather than pack an extra pair of shoes, I bought and wore some LLBean Winter Mocs. When I was in the houses I slipped on my slippers and when I went outside I slipped on the mocs.

Last hint: KNIT CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. Who among us doesn't have a huge stash of yarn they need to use up. Knit something wonderful for gifts. Right now I'm knitting a Lion Brand kit, the ruffle scarf for a friend. If I hurry I will make 2 more for a couple other people I usually give a gift too (the mail lady and the post mistress). OK, so that didn't come from my stash but....the stash has dwindled thanks to EBay.

That's it! Tomorrow I have a couple things I want to show you that have nothing much to do with saving money but are something I'm doing...stay busy!

More Money Saving Hints

These great tips came from the LK 150 group

MILK:
One tip I have is when you see milk on sale buy extra and freeze. Most people don't realize you can freeze milk. I found out cause I tried and now do it all the time, the extra bonus is I always have milk on hand for my 4 kids!
Karen P

Just make sure it's all the way thawed before you use any of it. The water thaws at a different rate than the milk fat and it really throws the flavor off if you don't let it completely thaw before using. I do this all the time too,and it's a great way to take advantage of the 2 for 1 sales on milk :)
Clarisse >^..^

I buy large quantity of milk also and there are only 2 of us, so what I do is transfer the milk to the large ziplock freezer bags. They lay flat in the freezer, and thaw quickly when you need it. Take less room than a 1 gallon bottle.
Jeannette

BANANAS
I like to make banana bread and cakes so therefore, when I buy bananas I usually buy a big bunch. When the bananas start to turn or after you have eaten all that you want------Peel the banana and put 1 or 2 or 3 (your choice) in a zip lock bag and smash right in the bag and put in the freezer. Then you have bananas when you want to bake without having to bake the minute they start to turn. Plus they are never wasted or thrown away.
Joan in Longwood, Fl.

Did you know that you don't have to peel the bananas or put them in an air-tight container if you are going to use them within a couple of months? Just toss them in the freezer as-is, and peel them when you take them out. Saves the cost of a plastic bag, plus they are fairly mushy when they thaw anyway. However, in banana bread or muffins or pancakes, you'd never know they'd been frozen. It is rather disconcerting to the unsuspecting spouse when one opens the freezer and a frozen banana pops out, though.
Valeria Truitt

I freeze bananas too, I prefer them already peeled because they're cold and harder to peel frozen. I use them for banana smoothies. Add them to a glass of milk, sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon and sugar (or sugar substitute) into the glass and blend. (I have one of those little hand held blenders that fit perfectly in a glass or cup).
Roz

I throw mine in the freezer to use in bread or smoothies or what not. I either let them thaw for about ten minutes or pop them in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds. Snip of the end and sqeeze out what was a solid banana. It's already mush.
Celine

VEGGIES
Another thing that we do, ever since we became empty nesters, we noticed a lot of food was spoiling, especially vegetables like carrots, celery, onions, bellpeppers etc. So while they are still salvageable, I chop them up (I'm lazy so it's usually a quick spin in the processor) and put them in a gallon freezer bag, adding to it as I go, and before you know it, I have all the chopped up veggies for a very nice vegetable soup stock. They do lose some crispness,especially since they are on the limp/beginning to wrinkle side of fresh to begin with, but because they are simmered a long time in the stock pot, it doesn'tmatter and nothing is being wasted anymore. I reuse my waste yarn over and over, you can imagine how difficult it must be for me throw away food LOL!! I've also broken off frozen chunks to saute for scrambled eggs or fried potatoes too.
Clarisse

I freeze my chopped up fresh veggies when I go away but never thought about freezing them when they start to get soft. I did buy the Debbie Meyers green bags and keep my salad veggies in them. They really do work great and I don't have near as many fresh veggies go bad since I started using them but of course they won't last forever in those bags.
Roz

Keep the hints coming, Love them all. To keep them off our knit list, send your comments to rozporter@wildblue.net or send a comment to this blog.

Save Yourself Some BIG Bucks

Yup, I don't have anything to sell but I thought I'd tell you how I managed to save a little money.
I saved $1784 a year on my phone bill. (sounds like one of those email scams, right?) Here's what I did... I called the phone company and cancelled the "special plan" that gave me Caller ID and other features that I never used. I liked Caller ID but I have an answering machine and if anyone wants me to know they called, they can leave their name and number. Then I cancelled Inside Repairs...which I've NEVER used, EVER! I also cancelled Long distance. After all I talk to my kids and my grandkids all the time on IM and by email and we share tons of pictures. My monthly bill went from $91.20 a month to $28.03 .

BTW, I do still have long distance, I went to Google and typed in the words "cheap long distance" and found a service for $ 0.02 a minute. This month's bill was $6. Last month's bill was $2.50.
To sign up for my old land line long distance I had to pay a montly fee to get $0.05 cents a minute so I had an additional monthly fee tacked onto the bill. This new service doesn't have a monthly fee, just plain old long distance, I dial a number (1-area code and number) just like I used to and get who I want to talk to. BTW, the prices I paid for LD included tax.

Second thing I did was fill my SUV's tires with Nitrogen. Now my tire pressure stays the same whether its cold outside or hot outside, always the same pressure. If you have an accident that causes a fire, Nitrogen won't burn like oxygen does (so the car guy told me). If I get a flat I can fill the tire with air until I can get back to the Nitrogen guy. If its just a little low, a little bit of air won't hurt. My gas mileage went from 19.5 MPG to 21 MPG. I know exactly how much my MPG is because my car has a button I can push to see it. Fabulous!!!!

I got rid of that extra stuff on my cell phone and now I have a basic plan. I loved to surf the net while I was sitting in a dentist office waiting but its not worth the cost. My cell phone bill went from $90-to $100+ a month to $39.00 a month. $1080 saved (@$90 a month) now $468 a year.

Since I live alone, I don't got to the store if I run out of milk. I wait till I have an appointment or more than 1 thing to do in town and do my shopping. I keep a growing grocery list on the counter and grab it as I go out the door. Everything gets done all at once. Bonus is, I have more time to stay home and play with my knitting machines AND I've saved myself some gas.

If you have some ideas on how to save money, send me a comment so everyone can share it.

I spent all afternoon finishing a sweater I've been working on on the LK 150 mid gauge. I wanted to make a size 3 sweater using Natalie's pattern but Natalie had written the pattern for her standard gauge machine. I don't want to dig out my standard machine because it's packed and ready to move so got some "Baby Bee" yarn from Hobby Lobby, its called Sweet Delight Prints, color is Kitty. I got 2 4-oz balls of it and hoped that would make the sweater. Well, as you can see, it not only made the sweater, it made a hat and I had enough left for a Pom Pom. This is for my great grandaughter, Jada. By the way, I suspect this yarn could be knitted on a standard gauge machine, my gauge was 6.33 sts, 10.7 rows per inch.

...Natalie's pattern is at http://www.nataliesknitting.com/, click on What's Natalie Doing Now and scroll down just a little...

Next on my list is a Baby Surprise in a size 12 mos for Jada's new brother. I bought the most wonderful yarn for it, its Bernat Baby Jacquard in blues and greens. I'm hoping to match the stripes on each side of the sweater so we'll see. First though I have to work on charting it for a 12 mo size.

Ruffles Scarf Started

Yesterday I showed the picture of a Lion Brand scarf kit using their Ruffles Yarn. I thought I'd show an update today. I sat down and did my cast on, 1 row knit, 1 row purl with the Lion Cashmere yarn and then knitted 1 row with Ruffles. It went fast BUT second row stumped me and I'm going to have to sit and watch the video with needles in hand trying to figure out how to purl with this yarn. Honestly I'm not sure I'm supposed to purl or if there's 2 rows of knitted ruffles yarn because of the way its written. Oh, you know I just looked at the back of the label that has the same pattern (written differently and it says to do 5 knit rows with Ruffles. I'm positive the .pdf says to do 1 row knit and then repeat last row. Well---ok so I knit another row (or 5 rows). Hummm.

Anyway here's what got finished yesterday. First picture shows what happened when Biscuit got ahold of my yarn. I suppose he figures if I can knit, so can he. I THOUGHT he was being pretty quiet when I was getting ready for bed. Thankfully he didn't get to the actual knitting.

Here's what the 2 rows of Cashmere and 1 row of Ruffles looks like. Tonight I'll try to knit another row of it and re-read the pattern to see if I do 1 more row or 5 more rows.

ONE OTHER THING: In case you didn't know this:

Just leave it up to Google to come up with something like this Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone, or your home phone speed > dial: 1-800-goog411. This is an awesome service from Google, and it's free -- great when you are on the road. Don't waste your money on information calls and don't waste your time manually dialing the number.

I am driving along in my car and I need to call the golf course and I don't know the number. I hit the speed dial for "411Google" that I have programmed. The voice at the other end says, "City & State." I say, " Garland , Texas ."He says, "Business, Name or Type of Service." I say, "Firewheel Golf Course." He says, "Connecting" and Firewheel answers the phone.

How great is that? This is nationwide and it is absolutely free! Click on the link below and watch the short clip for a quick > demonstration.

http://www.google.com/goog411/

Lion Brand Ruffles "Yarn"

Honestly, after I received my kit for Lion Brand 's Knit Elegant Scarf, I realized, we could make this yarn on our machines. (trust me, I'm not making any at this late date, I'd rather just knit with it). Its interesting stuff. It looks like very thin yarn knitted on a small gauge knitting machine at the highest tension. Probably no more than 20 rows and it rolls (as knits do of course). The content is 50% Merino, 50% Acrylic. Its soft and great to knit with. What you do is thread your right hand knitting needle through the back side of the yarn, however many stitches you want to knit, that's casting on. To knit a row, you first put your RH needle through the stitch on the LH needle and then thread 1 stitch from Ruffles, then knit. I'm at row 3 which is a purl row with Ruffles so am going back to watch the video to make sure I know exactly how to do a purl stitch, I think I just thread the yarn as I did on the knit row but need to make sure. No matter--what you create, is "ruffles". I bought the kit which contains 2 balls of Ruffles and 1 ball of Lion Brand Cashmere (72% Merino, 14% Cashmere, 14% nylon). I'm going to make a scarf for myself and I've ordered 2 more kits, I'm going to make another one for my friend who lives in Spokane, and one for the girl who delivers my mail...guess I'll get 3, one for our postmistress as well. If there was time before Christmas I'd get 5 more but hey, lets be realistic, I really want to send out Christmas cards and do some other things as well, I can't sit around and watch TV while I knit when I don't have enough time to do everything. But first....my scarf

10 Months Old

Biscuit is now 10 mos old. He's twice the size of what the breeder says his mom weighed (4 lbs) In fact more than twice the size, he weighs 14 lbs. I can't imagine his mother carrying around this gigantic dog in her belly.

Well, honestly, I found the breeder on the internet and they sell several different small breeds. I wonder if a mistake was made and Biscuit isn't a Maltese. He's all white, he's black in the right places. so he could be a throwback to a larger Maltese but he could easily be a Bichon Frise, his hair is curly, his ears and tail resemble a Maltese but so do Bichon's. He seems to be a bit more independent than a Maltese is reported to be, he likes to be near me but he definitely isn't the couch potato they are reported to be. According to a Google search, " The normal Bichon weight is approximately 10 to 18 pounds". Again, according to a Google search, "Maltese es Average Weight: 6-8 lbs". I don't care but I did buy him to travel with and right now I don't know if I can stuff him under the seat of an airplane as planned. Phooey! I hate putting him in a crate and making him ride under the plane but that may be the way we have to go. If so, I'm going to be doing a lot more driving than flying. Too bad, I love to fly.

Please don't forget Veterans Day tomorrow. Stop and at least think about our veterans and pray for those who are fighting. I'm going to the VA Cemetery tomorrow.

Leaves at their peak of glory in Upstate SC

Just look at the beautiful view I get when I drive out my road. It was so pretty yesterday, today I took my camera and drove all around our valley just to look at the sights. No matter where you go from the middle of the valley this is what you see.

And here's a picture of my house, looking toward the back of the property which actually goes up a mountain too.

You can see the sun is bright today, its 68 degrees out, Biscuit and I have been out all day fooling around with the pond (he's walking around trying to figure out what it is jumping in the pond just ahead of him (its frogs).

Just a little later I'm going to go out just before the sun goes down behind the mountain in front of the house. Yesterday afternoon this same view was breathtaking about that time.

Spiral Scarf

I looked around the internet to find a scarf to match my spiral hat and this is what I found (at Lionbrand.com). I started it last night and finished it this morning. 11 rows total. Hand knitted because you start out with 110 stitches and increase every stitch row2, 5 and row 9, the other rows you knit. How simple is that? Problem is, unless you have a 40" circular needle, you're in trouble because you end up with 873 stitches on your needle. I ran out of yarn last row so found some white fuzzy yarn that I thought would look pretty nifty on it and after I bound off with the fuzzy yarn I decided to crochet on the cast on row with the same yarn. . later I took out the white, didn't like it near as much as I thought because it doesn't really match the hat with the white and the hat doesn't need the white, it would hide the direction of the spirals changing at the top of the cuff. The silly thing sticks together if you just give the 2 ends a twist so you don't have to tie it or anything if you don't want to. If I ever made another one I might cast on about 90 stitches so the end result would be shorter but I love how it twists.

My new hat and jacket

My son gave me a pretty red polarfleece jacket that I quickly embroidered a fuzzy dog on. I started wearing it this week when it turned cold and I had to walk the dog twice a day. I decided I had to have a hat to match it because it REALLY turned cold.

Since the Spiral Hat pattern Marg Coe put in the Knittingmachine group files, is my most favorite of all time hats, I decided that was the hat I wanted to make but I didn't want to buy any more yarn. I dug out some Red Heart self patterning yarn from my stash and it has red in it so I started the hat on my LK 150 machine. YUK, about halfway through I wondered if I was going to like it but you can't tell with this hat until its sewed together. Variegated yarn definitely is the way to go with that pattern, I already knew that but who in the world would have thought it would turn out as great as it did? I didn't really know until it was sewn what in the world I was going to end up with but I absolutely love it. Check it out when I fold up the cuff. The cuff has little spikes where the increases were which I dearly love about this hat.

BTW, Marg calls it a Garter Bar Project but I couldn't find my GB for the mid gauge machine so I just *took it off on 3 rows of waste, rehung the pattern stitches and quickly zipped the waste off, repeated from * It took me 1 day to knit, no swatch necessary. Because the yarn is thicker than the other hats I've made with this pattern, I only knitted until there were 9 plain sections instead of 12 as suggested in the pattern. Then I hoped it would fit. It did!

Teddy is modeling the jacket with the hat, you really can't see the difference between red and pink in this yarnunless you click on the picture to enlarge it, there's a pretty red in there as well as a denim heather.

Biscuit's Sweater is finished just in time

.

back of sweater, chain buttonhole loops are on the belly wraps on the inside

Man alive, just in time, its cold and windy today. I bought a sweater kit for biscuit from Lion Brand Yarns (pattern # 80100M-L, SoHo Cables It comes with the pattern and yarn Wool Ease, all for $6.96. Its an easy pattern but its definitely for small dogs. Biscuit weighs 13 lbs and although I knitted the size Medium, I had to make it as long as the Large and widen the belly band even bigger than the large. But then, maybe its my dog? He's so fuzzy its hard to fit him because you never know if you're measuring fluff or body. I've written notes all over the pattern, next time I'll make him a large. And I'm going to make it on the LK 150, definitely it can be made on it. It could be made on any machine but I like Wool Ease for this, its warm and breathes better since it has wool in it. The belt band calls for 18 stitches each side of the center piece for size medium, large calls for 22 stitches. I used 24 stitches. I knitted and knitted and knitted thinking I was finished, I would take it off the needles and try it on him and it was still too short. Finally I finished it, tried it on him and unraveled the bottom yet again. I added 3 more inches to the bottom ribbing and really it could still stand some more length. The belly band could have been wider, I did widen it some but didn't want it too wide for a boy. With all that said, I love the sweater. .

BTW, I laid the sweater near him so he could smell it and I just now went to get it and put it on him and doggone, he's chewed one of the beautiful wooden buttons I bought for it. (Hobby Lobby buttons). Guess I'll go find some plastic ones in my button box.

picture of inside, piece goes over head, down chest and around belly" Awesome design, I never would have thought of designing one that fits like this.

Its not going to keep him super warm in a really cold environment but I'm one of those who thought God gave dogs enough fur to keep them warm. Unfortunately, I don't know if that's true for a Maltese, especially if their hair is kept short.

He has a bare little pink belly. So I have also bought him a Sherpa coat for visiting colder climates.

Crochet Baby Blanket Revisited

My grandaughter put a picture up of her baby wrapped in his crocheted blanket that I struggled with all summer. I love how it looks now that I see it wrapped around him. What do you think?

Crochet Baby Blanket Revisited

My grandaughter put a picture up of her baby wrapped in his crocheted blanket that I struggled with all summer. I love how it looks now that I see it wrapped around him. What do you think?

Raggedy Ann and Andy

These 2 beauties were made by Villie Nobile in Florida. She sent them to me once when she had told me about them and I told her I'd love to see them. I had no idea she would send them to me but she did. I showed them to all my club members and actually took them to a Carolinas Guild's seminar fashion show. Then sadly I had to send them home to Villie. I had so much fun with them while they were at my house and so did Villie--so she made me my own pair. I love them. I suggested she write to Alles who published the original pattern and ask her to republish the pattern because I was talking about them on Compuserve at the time and everyone wanted that pattern. Alles did republish it but I'm sorry to say I can't remember which issue of News and Views it was in. They are perfect replicas of the original dolls I think and very large. They live in my loft now, sitting on a pile of yarn and watch me knit, sew, etc. I am as amazed at Villie's attention to detail now as I was when I first saw them.

Wendy Phillips Sideways Sweaters for Adults

This is the Wendy Phillips Sideways Knit for Adults that I made a long time ago. Natalie grabbed it on one of her visits and I never saw it again. Its really a pretty sweater. I think I used Magic Color in the center and on the center of the sleeves but the rest was the colors Wendy used if I remember right. I loved the sweater but it was pretty warm for South Carolina which is why I let it go to Natalie, after all she lives in cold country.

BSJ Figured Out

After 4 tries, 4 rewinds, I think I have finally figured out how to rechart the BSJ from http://www.junebugsplace.com/ to fit any size. It finally makes sense. I haven't finished it yet but yesterday morning I rechecked my figures one more time and knitted it. Whoops, there were a couple things that weren't right so I sat down with it and figured out how to change those things and tried again. I knitted both in 30 minutes once I knew what I was doing. Of course, now I have to finish it and my fingers are crossed as I write this...I hope I don't screw it up now.

To quote Elizabeth Zimmerman in the Knitting Workshop "Hey Presto Eurika and LO a baby sweater"

(Don't you just love the way she writes?

New Great Grandson Is Here!!!

Hunter Rokuro McCurdy. My 3rd grandbaby, 2 girls and now a boy!!! Guess GGM needs to get busy and get that BJS finished.

Ohhh, my bad, I got his last name wrong . There's just too many kids in this family all of the sudden. Anyway, I definitely see the family resemblance in this one. He's definitely related to me.