That's The Way The Cookie Crumbles

December snuck up on me really quickly this year and yet now it's nearly over...
Today is Christmas, at least what we celebrate in our household here in New England...Despite some recent rains, it
still is a white christmas outside....Quite recently we had a rather horrible
icestorm and lost electricity close to 24 hours. There were some branches
hanging pretty low over the pool out back, photos all taken from upstairs
open windows as I wasn't venturing outside anytime soon!











About this time also, had my second cookie swap and had camera along with the cookies. Took some closeups of cookies, a view of table, and could not resist
a quick sneak photo of this hostess' lovely staircase all decorated...She reads
this blog, so sure to spot it! Hope she does not mind me sharing a quick peek
with rest of world!







Was poking around for an interesting pattern to knit and suddenly came across
the following site, which I actually had never heard of and absolutely had to
share this great find.
It's called Pop Knits and can be found here:
http://www.popknits.com



There's a brief description on site by them as follows:

"Over the past few years, knitting vintage items has become popular again.
Whether the item is a revamped sweater from the pages of Vogue Knitting 1955
or a new take on doily patterns as shawls, vintage knitting is taking a modern
turn. Inspired by the thrift store finds sitting on our bookshelves, Popknits challenges you to take a new look at all things that have come before".

This site was recently created by avid knitter/blogger Stephanie J Pajonas.
They are already on their second issue and not only is this free to subscribe
to for their online site, but all the patterns are free also. Be sure and
check out the "La-La-Love-You Cowl" by Sandra Park which is most
definitely on my must knit list!



Finally a finished knitting photo to share...and how appropriate...a cookie man.



I would claim he's made of just molasses and assorted spices...but in reality,
he is yet another pattern from I guess one of my ultimate all time favorite
designers Alan Dart and of course out of my Simply Knitting magazine.
Frosting is a simple back chain stitch...and the coal like decorations are black
chunky misshapen beads...oh so coal like.



Ho Ho Ho
and hoping everyone whatever holiday they celebrate, including Boxer Day, got
lots of lovely yarnish goodies!
I got a few special fiberish treats myself, which I will have to photo for next
blog and share!

Christmas Lights Gone Wild

It's been a long eventful week with loads of things to post, but
since it's after 10:30pm on a Monday night and photos are still all
on camera, I think I will do my week of lotsa stuff to share on
Tuesday night-tomorrow.
Had found this questionnaire that lots of folks are doing, so
previously had started to do it myself...here goes....

SP 13 Questionnaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you
absolutely *not* like?
Favorite yarn: I particularly loved knitting with Baby alpaca Grande
and Blue Sky Alpaca...is there an alpaca theme going there...hmmm.
I am not crazy about knitting with fun fur type yarns...who can actually
see your stitches or even if you dropped one and
when it comes to seaming these projects...don't even get me started.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
sewing up needles- a tic tac mint container and knitting needles- a very
old sewn needle holder that have had for many years.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider
your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I have been knitting since a child, mother taught me basics, and self taught
all the more complicated stuff, i.e. lace, fair isle, cables...
I consider myself intermediate...have been told I am a beginner and others say
advanced...who knows.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? nope, should I guess.

5. What’s your favorite scent?
lavender, and jasmine.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
NO, But weakness for taffy, especially banana. oh and barley pops.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I am a new spinner, have a loom, but not crazy about weaving...love beading and
jewelery making, card making, and crochet. oh and fimo.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Any music especially European hits and broadway musical tunes. I am ok with MP3.

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?
I love purples and greens.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I am married, 3 sons, one elderly dog, 3 cats, 3 fish. Yes it does sound like
I am two dogs short huh.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes, yes, yes and yes.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Currently fair isle. Hats, mittens, misc. probably top choices.

13. What are you knitting right now?
Do I really have to fess up to all of them...
gingerbread man, fingerless gloves, hat, scarf....plus whatever else I've
forgotten...yarn fumes affect my memory that way.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Absolutely!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Double points are my weapon of choice, usually bamboo, but if size 0000-1, I
have to use aluminum as I just break those bamboos left and right. Sigh!

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes, I have both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
gone to get tissues as crying over this...thank goodness for yarn fumes...having
memory loss again...certainly longer than I want to admit to. How long has it
been since the dinosaurs roamed the earth?

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?
Probably Halloween. celebrate Christmas.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Sheep, not real ones, but trying hard to figure out a way to, knitting
magazines, at least it appears like I do, Dickens Houses, and cookbooks,
have about 300 is that considered a collection, insane or actually normal
for most folks....just wondering.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get
your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
If I could have any of books by Alice Starmore or any Alan Dart patterns
I don't already have...that's a hard one, i've pretty much got them all
covered. I subscribe to Simply Knitting from UK costs a small fortune...
think son's college payment is cheaper...lol but do it for Alan Dart
patterns and find myself knitting other lovelies as well.
But I adore any knitting books or mags, especially Australia mags,
British mags, and Japanese books.

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?
Everything! Hot on my list is double knitting, and shadow/illusion knitting.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Yes, but not obsessed at moment. foot is size 7 shoe USA

23. When is your birthday?
February 3

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what’s your ID?
yes, sheepish1, same as Plurk, same as blog, same as facebook, same as Stickam,
same as Skype, same as Twitter...am sure it's elsewhere too.

Finally recently....
Found on U-Tube ...Christmas Lights Gone Wild

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmgf60CI_ks

Trading Places

Okay so just home from my Monday night knitting group that meets in a Starbucks
in Sudbury. We are a rather large group, meaning we basically take over most
of Starbucks, and it's great fun as we are all in multiple directions with our knitting. I find we all inspire one another and it's not uncommon to go in a
week or two later and found someone knitting precisely what another person just successfully finished previously. i.e. I wore my calorimetry one week to group,
I think last year, and went back following week to find at least 4 members had
made one too. What a great group photo.

Anyway, Starbuck's has these new awesome must have cabled knit ceramic mugs. I
bought one tonight for one of our many group knitting yankee swaps coming up, but....I am rather in love with it....so thinking I might have to just go back
and pick up another one.



Also they had these lovely wreaths, yarn themed (balls wrapped in yarn)
too displayed around store.



They don't appear to be for sale...but it sure does make you feel welcome as a
knitter to have your favorite coffee shop decorated with lovely yarnish things.



Knitting Tip of the Day:
I learned yet another cool new knitting trick on my current project. I love
to knit on double points, but this would work too on circular needles.
When casting on and you go to join in one continuous round, it's always
difficult to get a secure joining. I have tried several tricks, and my
favorite up until now, was to cast on one extra stitch more than pattern
calls for. I always knit first row according to directions, and when I
get to final (extra stitch), I slipped that stitch purlwise then knit
first stitch of new second row and slipped the extra stitch over this
first stitch.

The new way is called "Trading Places."
1. cast on number of stitches called for in pattern.
2. then use tip of right needle to move the first stitch on left needle
to the right needle
3. then use tip of left needle to lift current second stitch on right
needle up and over the first and put it back on left needle. This will
now become the first stitch you knit.
It pulls work all up together nice and snug. I gave both ends a further
tug just to help close the join. I think I prefer this way to above,
but both work like a charm.
I found this latest great tip in the Knit Socks! book by
Betsy Lee McCarthy.

Blog of the Day is Crafty Pod and can be found blogging here:
http://www.craftypod.com/

Evidently it's also a podcast, so I will have to go to I-Tunes and check
this one out. There is something on this blog for everyone.

I especially like these salt dough cookies.



What's on the Needles for me:
actually a tv nonconcentration project....lace scarf, 100% very soft alpaca
lace pattern actually very simple, 4 row repeat so easy to remember. and it's
almost done and ready to photo plus use....as it's COLD outside!
Am I ever glad I knitted all those really warm hats!

I also have a strange (nonwearable) item going, slow progress though as I am
writing my very own sock pattern...of course it's fair isle.
Staying with just 3 colors....slow going as I have been having gauge issues.
Even though it was meant to be a sock, it initially would have fit around my
head, so have been doing a whole lot of tinking and swatching and now
I think I may have it.. at least it looks like a sock.

Besides these projects...ah hem...is there a rule about how many
projects you can have going at once....and please don't run over to
Ravelry and poke into my WIP list there...anyway, am also doing fingerless gloves...fair isle of course.
and remember it's gotten far too cold here!. They are all wool. One is
finished. see photo.



The pattern is from Classic Elite Yarns the Inca Alpaca Fair Isle Mitts.
Pattern can be found here:
http://www.classiceliteyarns.com/WebLetter/32/Issue32.php
and yes it's a freebie, and for me was rather fun. I hope there isn't such a
thing has second mitt syndrome...I am pretty sure that is just limited to socks.

An Eggceptional Usage of Hats

Day 30 is here and plan on going out in a big way...ummm...actually a
miniature "I guess" way, but eggceptional none the less.
and before you tee hee and giggle, I just want you to know it's really
cold in my refrigerator and yes I do feel everyone should have a nice
warm hand knitted hat.





As you can guess by all these photos, there were no takers for any of my
knitted hats amongst my relatives at Thanksgiving get together. All my
wonderful arguments in favor of hats went on deaf (and now soon to be cold)
family member ears. Sigh!

On that note, and since I've now run out of heads to dress. I've resorted to
making hats for my pets and household food products.












Okay so I thought about this yesterday, that on Monday it would be my last
official hat and 30 days of posting, and of course I am itching to knit anything
now but hats. Everything else looks good to me, even socks these days.
Did i honestly type that part about the socks...hmmmm.
Anyway, it's gotten really, really cold here in New England, and I have
decided to knit warm and comfy things, like hats...but yes my personal
collection of hats is now bursting at the seams...so have turned to gloves
and mittens...and of course, they have to be fair isle...yup still obsessed....does that wear off?

Anyway, today Monday the final day, it's actually warm outside...go figure...
so I planted my bulbs, I had given up on this idea as thought ground was
already frozen or so I thought.

And then in a short break, I started yet a new project....those that are new to
my blog would not know that I have a certain weakness for knitting the strange
and obscure....I have no idea what the wierdest thing I've ever knitted before
has been.
It usually begins with a thought and then I wonder if I could make that. and so I do.
From actual working wall clock, random Nintendo game figures, to knitted
garden tools, to 3-D parrots life-size on hanging ring, to water (yup knitted water) to rare breed spotted salamanders, etc....and many more, these patterns and
ideas (some no patterns) just call to me. So of course some of these
new creations snuck onto my needles today and all I can say is let the wacky knitting begin....stay tuned for a new weekly blog. Current project is a
little extreme, but perfect for December!

Also planned for December, is gloves and mittens...not such a stockpile of
those and sadly I believe the cold will be back soon...and if I run out of
takers for fair isle mittens, there are always the pets....perhaps the 3 little
kittens will find their mittens!

Oops Blog of the
Day nearly forgot: I searched Cat and Knitting and Blog for fun to follow up
my cat theme and came up with this....

http://www.xanga.com/csusch
Cat's Blog

I can't believe she is spinning Qiviut and there are photos of it too...love her things.
That Morning Surf scarf is gorgeous and also love, love that Mystic Light shawl, amongst other projects.
Nice eye candy here!

One More Day To Go

Coming to the end now of 30 days of Hats...and almost done NABloPoMo....
others are done today...but I started one day late...so I plan to post
my last day on December 1st and hope to go out with a bang...Fun hat
planned for tomorrow.
Today's hat is what to do with that leftover sock yarn hat...



Yup this is my go to baby hat done in self-striping leftover sock yarn with
a contrasting pompom added also made from same yarn.

Hat 2 (yes am posting two today)
still not finished is a more complex fair isle project only two colors.
I especially like the braid edge...my first. It's a twined herringbone edge.
This hat is the Turkish-Patterned Cap from Hats On! by Charlene Schurch.
I am eventually planning on posting finished pic, but as it won't be done today
or tomorrow and I have another hat set for tomorrow, will post it as a partial
hat as of today.



Blog of the day is: Fig and Plum
It's a little knitting, a little travel, and some yummy, yummy food...Love this
blog!
This blog is by Jessica from Brooklyn, NYC and can be found here:

http://www.figandplum.com/


Yummmmy!

In Which I Meet Louisa Harding

Today's hat is another low budget hat, which anyone could make. It is yet
again from Hip Knit Hats...yup really love that book.
It's called the Nina Hat.

My hat is knit with Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair yarn in Rainforest
most likely purchased with a coupon from AC Moore, although had been in
the stash for awhile. It has a cute roll brim and fits me nicely and as
I like the colors, it is in my own personal collection. I added the
crocheted little flower and leaf with added little buttons.
I am forever adding doodads to finished items.



Today's blog is: Feltmeupdesigns.
I was reading the special issue of Interweave Felt Magazine, and found this blog
listed under notables and had to have a looksee...It's really a lot of fun and
of course want to be sure and share it with everyone else so the perfect choice
for today's blog. How cute are these little felted birdies.



I could not find much of a bio on her...but seems we share same nickname, we
are both Mel's...how cool. She can be found here:
http://feltmeupdesigns.blogspot.com/

Back to Knitting Guilds and special speakers they sponsor who come and teach us
new things and even let us model their latest knitted treasures. This past
month, November, my Boston, Massachusetts Daytime guild hosted none other
than Louisa Harding of Knitting Little Luxuries fame and also ROWAN....
She is not from the US but from County Yorkshire England...
very lucky us.

She presented to our guild then had a small impromtu fashion show of our members
wearing her garments. She then stayed thru Sunday, and taught classes in a
lovely little yarn shop in Salem, MA. about 1 1/2 hours from my house.
Yes Salem the home of the famous witchcraft trials in Massachusetts.
It was my very first visit to Seed Stitch Fine Yarns yarn shop.
My initial impression was very bright and airy. Staff were very
helpful and so nice.

First two photos are of the yarn shop.





Next up is Louisa showing us and explaining how they came to be her
Miss Bea Collection books. I actually bought one of these and had her
autograph it along with a few other books, will blog about those another
day, as no photos tonight.

a few pics from fashion show.









Then some pics from our class, including a finished pic of bag we were making
in our class. First photo was Louisa showing us how to make cording for our
bags, her assistant Adam (aka one of her yarn reps) was holding other end of 5 strands of yarn at once to make the cording. I also forgot to mention this
class was held on same day as my first cookie swap. Lucky for
me a friend swapped my cookies for me. I made them Sat. and since Louisa said
her favorite cookies were peanut cookies to me on Thursday at our guild meeting,
I made peanut, chocolate, and caramel cookies for the swap but brought
along extras for Louisa and the group. This is now my family's new favorite
cookie, which they claim is "way too good for a cookie swap."
They did go very quickly in class and folks there wanted recipe too.









Oops almost forgot my way too good for a cookie swap cookies...Yummmm!

That Wild and CRaZy Colored Stash Busting Hat

Hey there that's one funky hat you're sporting there...
okay so I found this new hat pattern, which called for bulky yarn scraps...
which I had of course, did they match or harmonize together...not exactly,
so here goes.

I knitted this one on car trip yesterday, along with my regular fair isle
project...still in progress.

It was fun and fast to knit...
It's from Knit Hats! by Gwen Steege...and is actually the cover hat from
same book. Hat is called appropriately....Color Me Bright.
I cannot tell you any of the yarns used...as they were only bits and pieces
and labels long since gone...but any bulky weight scraps will do. Knit on
#10 circ.'s or double points it goes really fast.



Equally wild colors is this really cool blog I found while surfing around
in blogosphere Zebra Knits.
This is by far one of my favorites, her colours are awesome...wait until you
see the way she photos her knitting and general everyday life. It appears
to take on a life of it's own and kind of floats across her blog pages!
Fantastic job! She can be found blogging at address below:

http://zebraknits.typepad.com/zebraknits_a_knitting_jou/

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in our house means all of us being thankful for once again
to be able to go see family and catch up on everyone's goings on.
Many of my relatives actually the majority of both sides are
in New Hampshire, so we travel by car to meet in a relative's home...this is
bonus knitting time for me about 2 hrs. one way, so can't wait.
I also hope to persaude family members that they really would like
knitted gifts this year...wish me luck.
It would not be Thanksgiving without...in fact, I was told I have to have
this item as my holiday entrance ticket my Trifle.




This is a very popular recipe so probably most recognize this and I always
make it by just putting it together -no recipe...By the way, if anyone is
interested in recipe, will write up and post to blog...just let me know.
have lost count number of times I have made it...certainly way more than say pancakes.
Yup every Easter and Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember.
It's basically Chocolate fudge cake, layered with coolwhip,
layered with a special brand of dark chocolate pudding,
layered with crushed Heath Bars, and repeat...I used to put Kahlua in
the layers, but then the kids came along, and somehow now that they are in
high school and college, the Kahlua never made it back in again. Strangely,
it's one dessert I really don't care for, but then I am a fruit lover...
so someone usually brings cherry pie...which has the same reaction for me!

i.e. I am going home now and am taking this whole cherry pie with a fork
for long car ride back home as a snack if I get hungry. Of course, I really
just have my token king-sized piece...but I always think of that
just the same!

I hope to be able to blog when I get home late Thanksgiving night...but if not,
I will be back again on Friday...that insane holiday shopping day of the year,
happily blogging instead! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that reads my blog and
even those that don't!

The Husband Hat

Okay so I have blogged that the family so far has turned down all hats offered.
Perhaps if I threw scratch lottery tickets or game tickets inside they would
at least look at the hat.
and Tim, oldest son, if you are reading this you are excluded as you actually
requested a hat from me at one point...He's the one that his head was in Ohio,
and still is, and hat for him to be sized was in Massachusetts...Makes sense.
Anyway, I made the comment I would be giving some of my hats to friends, and the
husband said, you never make anything for us.
Well whoa pony....stop all knitting in progress and leave on those needles.
I immediately got out my most husband colorish yarn and decided subtle stripes
was my best approach...and I knit that hat up so quick, my needles are still
smokin'.
I bound off yesterday, and quickly put that hat right on his head...He seems to
like it....It is gnormous....but then I have a tiny head and he is definitely
men's LARGE...so it works...seemed pleased with results. It is not my favorite,
yet it cleans up pretty nice in a photo shoot! Must be those lucious husbandish
colours I chose.



The pattern I chose that would seem most mannish and acceptable to my household
was the Ribbed Cap pattern which can be found here:
http://tiajudy.com/ribcaps.htm
I added my own stripe pattern, I did not rib all the way through as in
pattern, I did stockinette instead...I used my new found method of Jogless
Jogging for the stripe rows, so they would be horizontal and not "Leaning
Tower of Pisa" stripes. I also forget the decrease instruction part of hat at
home, so I did mine completely different. I did however cast on same no. of
stitches and use sized needles pattern called for, but I think that's it...so
nope not too much like original pattern.
HOWEVER, important thing is, he appears to LIKE it...true test is if he
ever wears it....It is screaming to be blocked...so that's my next step.

Today's blog...did not spend too much time poking around as I have to get
baking for tomorrow's big day is: All Tangled Up...unsure too much about
author just that she is across the pond, so definitely not from the US.
http://www.alltangledup.com/
I did not realize that the Kiri Shawl was her original pattern until after I
had posted her blog on this site...I do love her scrolling galleries.

You Are Not Moosestaken

Today's hat is colorful, was fun to knit, is very, very warm and is made
out of yarn spun from....
wait for it....of course....Buffalo, you thought I was going to say
moose...personally thinking that this shade of buffalo equally exotic
to idea of knitting moose.
It truly is as warm as you would think, and not rough at all but quite soft.
I am envisioning the buffalo as bathed in a lovely bath salts and
creamy lotion applied liberally after his bath...unsure about all this,
but very soft yarn just the same.









The original yarn for this hat was purchased at the Ohio fiber fest, and have
currently misplaced buffalo clay button in pic to go on hat...so when it's found
I will finish hat with button.



Important to note that yarn unknit is most true to actual color...Today
was hat photo day and it rained...even playing with the lighting, I could
not make the indoors replicate the true colors...so what you see on unknit
yarn is exactly the correct color...it came out rather striped...this is a
new hat and due to cost and my secure belief that buffalo will be very very
warm, I do plan to keep this for myself.

Pattern is yet another freebie, the Button Band Hat by amazingly Kathleen
Taylor...I guess I do like her patterns, I had no idea, but liked the button
part, which I plan to add at a later date. Pattern can be found here:
http://kathleen-dakotadreams.blogspot.com/2007/10/freebie-friday-button-band-hat.html

In the news, if you haven't heard of this already, the Lion Brand Flagship
Premier Store opened this week in NYC...take a peek.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/knitting-through-a-downturn/

By the way, our neighbors across the street from us had a delivery truck the
other day...curious I watched a new washer being unloaded from the truck...I
immediately noted it was the kind that had the opening on the side of the washer
and my mind quickly thought...."front end loader, going to be much harder to felt
with that kind of washer, should have stuck with a toploader."
~and she doesn't even knit...now that I am a knitter 24 hrs./day/52 weeks/yr.
has my mind switched over to formatting all my thoughts based on how it will
directly affect me as a knitter....next I will probably rationalize that the
recent drop in gas prices is now more than enough reason to make that short
1 hour plus trek to WEBS...shucks...but gas is so cheap now....
hadn't really dreamed up the gas argument one but now that I read what I've
written on the blog, it's a pretty rock solid argument to me...just fascinated
that my brain was in "knitter mode" about the washer...even if the owner doesn't
knit at all. hmmm.

Blog of the day is Bowerbirdknits and can be found here:
http://bowerbirdknits.blogspot.com/
A very bright and colourful and well done blog. She has some amazing
patterns also, including HATS too!

Bunny Has a Tummy Ache

Okay here we go again, home tonight at 10pm...I did prewrite today's
blog, and have a lovely hat to post, but no photos yet...tried my old
approach to squishing hat into scanner and doing photos that way.
"Don't laugh, I have been known to put baked items, i.e. cookies
squashed into scanner to photo in same way"....less crumbs with hats
though.

Anyway, THE OTHER hat has lovely colors, but scanner shows
it as very drab and depressing colourway.
Thus, Monday's hat will have to be Tuesday's hat and will take proper
camera lens photos tomorrow as rather late at 10pm for good outdoor
camera lighting.

Therefore, I will pull up a hat I made a while ago, but not yet included in
my 30 days of hats...this is another one of my personal favorites.

The Banana Republic Hat Knockoff by metaphysical_muse on Ravelry.
This was first posted on Craftster, another website I also post to often.
Smaller pic is showing closeup of da button.





This is a free pattern and can be found here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=197572.0
This is what the original from Banana Republic looked like, so the pattern
creator rather than shelling out all the money for this hat, just recreated
it based on what she saw.


By the way, there are only 25 pages of photos of finished hats from this
pattern as of today on Ravelry.
Also this pattern calls for a bulky weight yarn, and I used Noro Silk Garden NOT
doubled, and not bulky, so cast on far more stitches and basically had to play
with pattern for awhile, but happy with results, love the colors, and it fits
great...This is also in my personal collection still. Nice hat for spring/fall.

Today's blog that I chose after having a lovely time new blog surfing
....is to me just eye candy...
will definitely be coming back to visit here again...please note that some
of her rabbits are knitted, otherwise
I would call this an all types craft blog.
But so nice!

Rachel Rabbit can be found blogging here:
http://rachaelrabbit.blogspot.com/

How cute is this rabbit from Rachel's site, she also has an Etsy store...
strange but still have not been able to figure a way to link over to any
other site yet from my own blog.
I am holding out for a copy of the book, Blogging For Dummy's, just as soon
as someone writes it! Can you preorder on Amazon a book you wish someone
would publish?

There's a Cat In My Coffee

Okay once again find myself not home from my long day until 8pm, and since I
am a huge Amazing Race fan, will need to sit and watch my show before I can
blog tonight. I have 2 t-shirts of this show which proves what a fan I am.
It's the travel part that appeals to me.
I have talked one of my kids into competing with me if we ever had the chance...however would need to get a lot more in shape before I would ever
take that event on...but would be great fun!



Regarding today's weather update...actually just checked thermometer 27 degrees
Farenheit...suppose that's balmy compared to yesterday, think it was 24.
Still too cold for me and am using all my scarves, hats, and
mittens, and wool socks too that I've knitted all year....
....brrr it's getting cold!!!
Speaking of winter on it's way and the holidays rapidly approaching...



"Workers hoisted this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree into place
November 14, 2008 in New York City. The 72-foot (22 meter) tall Norway spruce
comes this year from Hamilton, New Jersey, where it was planted nearly 80 years
ago. The Christmas tree has been an annual ritual in midtown Manhattan since the origins of Rockefeller Center in the 1930s. (Getty Images / November 14, 2008)"



As far as today's hat, as it's late, will post a simple hat for today...it's my
go to baby hat yet again, this one was the first hat I gave to one of my little
patients. I have actually made several for them now, each one has been different. This one kind of reminds me of a teletubby and it looked so sweet on. It was so tiny, thank goodness I think
this baby may have grown out of it by now.






Teletubby Hat and actual Teletubby pretty close

Blog of the day will actually be two blogs....one my children absolutely
adore and use as screen savers for their computers and a knitting/fiber one
of course.

First up you have to take a peek at this one:
it's kid tested and recommended, of course my boys are older...so not sure
about language content, but can imagine, some of them would need some screening
for younger viewers.



website is here:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/

The blog I chose for today is found here: http://idreamofthesea.blogspot.com/
I Dream of the Sea blog is by Kendra of the United Kingdom.
Be sure and take a peek at her lovely pastel baby block blanket.

There are so many awesome blogs out there, you can spend hours just looking.
Loads of wonderful ideas, such clever crafters!

I did by the way make it to my class today and I did meet a new to me yarn
shop, so will have photos and review tomorrow when I have much more time to
blog properly!

In Which We Finally See Cookie A

Today's hat is a strange little number called Cal by the creator of the pattern
but I simply refer to it as my pink bobble beret. When you look at the photos
you will see why I call it that and not Cal.

This is yet another hat from Hip Knit Hats
by Cathy Carron

Two different yarns are used in this hat and are knit together...
the off white yarn has little nubs of gray in it and is called Lou Lou
by Classic Elite and is a bulky weight wool yarn.
The pink is Montera by Classic Elite an aran weight wool and llama mix.
So it was very neat knitting these two textured and different weight
yarns together.










This hat is still in my collection as I have no one in particular pining away
for this unusual beret...Yarns if I remember right, were rather expensive, so
prefer just to keep in my private hat stash...yup it's growing all the time as
you can imagine.

For those of you reading my blog from Hawaii or Australia (where they are
celebrating spring right now~so envious of you), or any other warmish climate,
the temp. outside my house right now is a rather cold 20 degrees F.



The blog of the day is by Crowing Ram. I had surfed around reading many blogs
and then I often look to see what other blogs others are reading and it just
keeps mushrooming further and further and so found this one. The pictures are
spectacular, they are very vibrant, the best I've seen so far.
The site can be found here: http://www.threadbearfiberarts.com/cram/
Some interesting photos of Cookie A teaching a class and a nice write up...take
a peek. She is not as I had pictured her, but funny most folks never are to me.
Not sure it this is the same for others. I would imagine you picture me as someone
not at all as I appear in real life, but then again, maybe not.

By the way, I have an early morning class tomorrow on Sunday with a very famous designer, and am bringing along camera so don't let me forget to share all the lovely details on tomorrow's blog ~ the highlights of my day!
~and this is my only hint...

~The Weather Outside Is Frightful....

Hat of the day is my first ever attempt at a Fair Isle hat created by myself
adapted from a mitten pattern. Of course I had to monkey around with the
stitch count and play with motifs I wanted to use and add some extras,
but overall thrilled with outcome...
I took the basic premise of the skull hat by knitting a lining, then
you do a purl row (your turning ridge) then you go into pattern for
front.
The fair isle portion with floats actually creates a double layer of
knitting and since this is wool, double thick warmth...with the added
lining, it now has 3 layers...thus even warmer!
I am proud to claim that this hat is for me!

I got the original idea by pouring over patterns on Ravelry for mittens
and came across this clever designer, Kathleen Taylor who took a knitted vest
and turned
it into mittens.

see here on Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stranded-snow-mittens-child-size
I also did a blog peek of her blog back on November 10 which can be found here:
http://kathleen-dakotadreams.blogspot.com
Below is her mitten pattern, which is available for free.



This is my version done as a hat pattern, which I just emailed to Kathleen.
She asked to see any finished mittens, so thought she'd like to see the hat
as well.





Photo was taken while blocking and came out more fabulous when completely done,
but was anxious to get photos out, so just assume it tightened up nicely
and stitches were no longer loose as they are during the blocking process.

I did not cast on same number of stitches as in skull hat nor follow any of
pattern, nor use decrease finish, just created my own...I did however use
same needle size and idea of added liner. I also added beaded eyes and mouth
felt it looked better than the embroidery floss.

Speaking of the weather...it's 26 degrees farenheit outside right now in
Massachusetts where I live...I have a feeling it's going to be another long
cold and snowy winter again....We have no snow yet, but I drove by the local
small ski place a few miles away and they have been making snow for some time
by basically spraying water up in the air from pipes and because it's so cold,
it turns to snow, crystalizes before it reaches the ground.
I am thinking when finished Hats 30 days of posting...my next 30 days of
knitting had better be set aside for knitting woolen mittens...perhaps even
the snowman/snowflake pattern which could
match my lovely new hat.



Blog of the day is: Kathryn Ivy
She has loads of great patterns and ideas...check out the homemade mitten blocker
which could also be fashioned into a sock blocker pretty easily...I first found
her sometime ago for her delicious mushroom patterns...but I like the how to on
the little knitted felt patches, also ruffled scarf pattern, dyeing tututorials,
and particularly cool how to go about making your own yarn scrapbook/knitting
journal...I keep one of these myself, and sadly...do not post every project as
I should, but the ones I have posted are a great resource whenever I want to
revisit them.



http://kathrynivy.com/

Still Hat It Day 19

It's my 19th straight day of posting and surprising am still HAT IT.... And still not out yet of hats to share.

Today's hat is officially called the Vera Hat by Cathy Carron
and can be found in the book Hip Knit Hats.




But I just refer to it as the Chenille Hat...actually this is
probably the cheapest hat I've ever made, as the chenille yarn in
this hat was an acrylic purchased at Ocean State Job Lot,
and the pink isn't fun fur, but a similar readily available
lash type acrylic.
This isn't a recently knitted hat,
but one that has never been posted to either blog or Ravelry before.
I have made many hats from this book.
On Ravelry you can find some information on errata for this pattern, but
I either self-corrected as I went or never had a problem with pattern.
I remember it being a simple and rapid knit but that it came out a little
large for my small head...perhaps due to the stretchy nature of chenille.
Colors are certainly bold. The flower attached was one of my self
created gizmo's to add a little extra to hat.

From book description: A bit of a flirt, this eyelash-trimmed, flared-brimmed
hat goes easily from city to country and back again. Extra texture and color
nuance can be achieved by blending yarns from the same color family.





The following blog is today's peek and review, the wet felting is incredible!
Katie I am assuming it's her first name, is an amazing artist from the United
Kingdom who works in many mediums including batiks, but I am particularly
impressed with her highly creative felting...be sure and scroll down to bottom
of her blog and not miss these apples and other things she has made.



Her blog is called What Katie Did
and can be found here:
http://whatkatiedid.typepad.com/what_katie_did/

How to Joglessly Jog

Okay hurray it's finally done...and it was a sunny day and I was able
to take it's pic! Things went my way today in hat finishing/photo land!





Hat of day is by Jared Flood, called Turn a Square.
I actually made this hat twice, first time looked lovely but my jogs
were not quite jogless...however I had it figured out by decrease
round...so opted to pull out all my knitting back to very first
stripe and do it right throughout hat. Not too painful and a whole new
skill now in my pocket.

Jogging if you look at the hat...is the part where you make these lovely
stripes going around sides of hat...when you switch a color you basically
get this stair stepping, where one row of color is off from next...well they
invented a way...(knitter's are such clever thinking folks) to avoid this
jogging. so see further in post for details along with some good pictorials
on how to do this and note close up of hat...stripes look pretty behaved.
going around and around in the same line, it really works!
Yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca color 6205 and Noro Kereyon or Silk Garden,
not a 100% sure which as I tossed the label...silly me.

let's just say the alpaca is so soft and lovely...I may just knit
with alpaca from now on.

There are currently 886 projects on Ravelry as of today for this hat
pattern, and 61 pages of finished photos. Another more popular pattern.
By the way, this is a free pattern and can be found here:
if you are on Ravelry
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/turn-a-square

or at his blog, follow link on bottom of page
http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/

I was thinking of making Jared of Brooklyn, New York aka Brooklyn Tweed
be the blog of the day...but that seemed like cheating...
so instead will choose another see later in posting.

Speaking of jogless jogs, the best explanation I found and there are many
online was by Meg Swanson (no surprise there). See note here and good pics:

http://www.socknitters.com/kickback/joglessjog.htm

I definitely plan to knit another Brooklyn Tweed pattern as love them all,
very well written and easy to follow. Being a process knitter, I find I learn
new skills with each of his patterns...I love the challenge!

Okay poking around in blogosphere again and thought wouldn't it be lovely
to find a blog based outside the US as many visitors to my blog are from
other countries. So I found the following out of Australia, Monster Knits
and think it's a keeper to regularly follow...very interesting...love the gnome on the stocking, or at least think it's a stocking and also love those raspberry fingerless gloves. It does look a little bit like a shop's blog, but still
pretty interesting overall.

http://monsterknit.blogspot.com/

A Knitted Self-Portrait

The very first knitted item I ever sold was a hat. It's the pink felted
baby hat. I embroidered details after felting and added little flowers
and leaves. It's lined with a very soft pastel colored polkadot baby
flannel. This is one of my all time favorite finished knitted projects.
I remember bringing it to a guild meeting where a woman there asked me to
make an adult version and she would buy it.








Blog of the day is Color Joy! by Lynn H. of Lansing, Michigan
It is located at:
http://colorjoy.com/weblog/
Loads of cool stuff can be found there...but don't forget to scroll down
and check out the gorgeous purple polymer clay button. Also be sure and
go to this link and check out her own self portrait..
KNITTED and then done all in duplicate
stitch. Simply amazing!
http://colorjoy.com/weblog/archives/1419



Tomorrow with any sunlight help for photo taking...I can finally post my very
first finished Jared Flood pattern aka Brooklyn Tweed!!!
Oh and of course...it's a hat...goes without saying!

No Calories in This Calorimetry

Okay it's 9:45pm...and home late from work with loads to do
before I go to bed and get up and start my day all over again.
And remember I am a nurse, so I need to get my unwind time
in order to face Tuesday. Add to that hat I am working on, had
error, pulled out most of it...looking really fine now...but not
done...so should make it for Tues. post...so this is a recap
and the posting I typed out last night for tonight...will be
airing when that hat is done!

Today's hat is the Calorimetry. And I will admit to date, this is
my very favorite hat I've made for at least myself. It never messes
up your hair. It's warm as can be particularly nice for those very
late season soccer games when the weather has turned to its coldest
and you are freezing to death on the sidelines, wishing your highschool
son's game was just televised on NBC or something.
It's made of Noro Kureyon...one skein, so many lovely color changes and
too much fun to knit!





I have had nonknitting friends request me to knit them one, as soon as
they saw mine...so Emiko if you are blog peeking again...one's on its way this
winter for sure.

and Jana if you are blog peeking, I promise to bring mine to next guild mtg.

Since I have lots of blog peeking friends, it's quicker to get messages
out this way.
by the way, this is a Knitty pattern from the winter 2006 issue and can be
found
here: http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter06/PATTcalorimetry.html
Pattern is written by: Kathryn Schoendorf an art student from San Francisco

who also explains a calorimety as the following:
"Calorimetry is a scientific term describing the measurement
of heat lost or gained".

by the way there are a mindboggling 5,951 calorimetries posted to Ravely as of today's date. Noro Kereyon yarn was selected 292 times, and they are posted to
490 pages of finished pictures....YIKES!

Okay this is the part where I am guilty of Blog Peeking and this is the blog
I'd like to share.

Today's blog is Maglia! Confessions of a Knitholic "my kind of person!"
and can be found at:
http://knit4ever.blogspot.com/

Well end of posting for today off to peek at blogs and catch up on Plurk!
Do you Plurk? perhaps I had best do a blog post about Plurk soon!

Gryffindor is My House

Today's hat is the Harry Potter House hat for the Gryffindor House.
Which if I could choose my wizarding house, would be my first choice.



Yarn used was Plymouth Encore worsted weight...less than one skein each in
Burnt Sienna and Butternut colorways.

I found the free pattern online here:
http://media.wiley.com/product_ancillary/14/04700673/DOWNLOAD/0470067314.pdf

but I believe it's the very same pattern in the book Charmed Knits by
Alison Hansel
This hat did go to charity.

Today's blog peek and review is about woollywormhead aka Ruth
and can be found here:
http://woollywormhead.blogspot.com/

I was poking around in the blogosphere and found several interesting ones,
and in particular came across this link.
I have many of Woolly (name she prefers to be known by)
patterns for HATS queued up on Ravelry so knew she was an innovative
and prolific designer already...
but I had absolutely no idea that she had no one home base
but instead spent her life
~travelling~
around in a self-built house bus. I cannot even imagine yarn storage in this case.
She writes in her bio that she is a sheep whisperer. also cool, very cool.
This indeed is a blog to check out in more detail!



~and for those of you emailing me to write up pattern for Harry, as I am
all hat obsessed, it will not be happening in 2008, as I virtually will
have to reknit him from scratch.

"By George I Think She's Got It"

Have just finally discovered that fair isle is fun, fair isle is
fairly easy once you do it right...and fair isle is
addicting, when you've finally got it.

Today's hat is the Skull Hat...as seen first on Ravelry of course
pattern by Gina Doherty and can be found here:
http://knittwotogether.typepad.com/
had trouble linking directly so
when you get to her blog, just type in on Right column if interested in
free pattern...skull hat.

Yarn for hat is Patons wool, white and black...so with double layer because of
floats plus it's lined...there are 3 layers of wool...so will be very warm.
Unsure who will get this hat...hopefully one of my son's will finally claim
one of my knitted projects.

Photo is of youngest son with hat and cat...kinda like a Dr. Suess kind of thing.
Hmmm.





This is ta da my very first successful fair isle pattern
and actually came out looking pretty much like other's finished pics on Ravelry...hooray. I think I finally caught on...

I needed to do two color stranding one strand in
each hand...tried every other way and this actually worked!!
I am a thrower...who knew before I started knitting, I would be termed as a
thrower...if the shoe fits wear it I guess.
So in my right hand, I throw, in my left hand, I hold less dominant color and I
pick it continental style. This took some getting used to, however going pretty
quickly now, and it's too much fun...a great knitting friend of mind, she is a
great person and a greater knitter...(hello Barbara)...hee hee...
said that this style of knitting tends to be addictive
because you can actually see pattern developing while you knit
which in turn makes you tend to knit faster and faster.
I think she hit the nail on the head so to speak...
that is so true...My only problem is I knit so rapidly, that I tend to go
right into a second row of same pattern, and have to tear out stitches
and move my marker up a row...such an eager beaver.

I went to my third guild meeting this week...and someone
there actually commented on current hat...another fair isle project, and she evidently also loves fair isle and discovered it years ago...
told her I was a total addict and could
knit nothing else now....
~So how long does this addiction last?, I asked her...she said she is
still hooked many years later...

Also wondering if I will ever return to just one color stockinette knitting
ever again...
She also warned me that soon I would go past two colors...
but I was born with only two hands so can't fathom yet just how
this will work out for me.

But husband claims absolutely never is he going to be coerced into knitting. was secretly plotting that with his extra hand could actually work in third color but no....
He does however willingly stop at Patternworks in NH and sits dutifully in car
reading paper and is quite patient, and also xmas and birthday gifts are of a
creative and most importantly unsuggested fiber type gift....hooray...
Holidays in my house are going pretty spectacular fiberwise!!

Blog of day is by: Grumperina aka Kathy from Massachusetts
and no, I do not know her even though she lives in same state.
I bet most folks if you haven't seen her blog before will recognize her as she writes awesome patterns.
But her latest beaded hat is a must knit for me of course. Okay not
fair isle, but still part of major hat obsession....
She is guilty/most known for her patterns of Odessa and Jaywalker socks...yup
now you know who I mean.
http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/



and by the way, it's still raining again today...