Going Green

Well everyone's doing it...Going Green...
so here I am knitting green stuff.

or perhaps I am just getting ready for March...
since I really still haven't finished
all my holiday knitting...but then
there's another way to view it...
it's now 2008, and I've got eleven
whole months now to get it done...hooray!

Recently found this lovely new book at the library.
Knitter's (put on horse blinders through this part of blog entry)



And since after paying the overdue library charges...
I still wanted to make almost everything in the book,
I went off to Barnes and Noble and bought it
for my growing shelf.
The tiny green bag, I whipped up at the retreat..
Intriguing, as it's made with nylon cord...
and I am always looking for unusual items to knit
or crochet with...
I will say it's a little rough on the hands...
but then it was a tiny project.
I had expected it to come out even smaller,
it was supposed to be a keychain purse..but pleased....
would make a lovely brief case for
an American Girl size doll.
I plan to find a tiny zipper and
line it with a nifty contrast fabric
to use as a cute coin purse.
The quarter in photo is to show scale.





Please note: button close up...we are so lucky
to have such a gorgeous button supply store
in our area: http://www.buttonboxquiltshop.com/index.htm
For anyone in Massachusetts or New England,
they are such a wonderful resource for lovely buttons,
and a great place to match a missing button
from an expensive jacket (been there done
that, at least a few times).

My other green item...I now have forgotten how I came across
this pattern, but so unusual, had to give it a try:
Knitted Celery...of course I could not resist this one:
see below for direct line to the pattern and the artist.
http://community.livejournal.com/crafty_tardis/46613.html






Four more days till February...
think I will be in a red knitting mood.

Knitter's Retreat Weekend in Rhode Island

Hi...I'm back and starving....
I have been away for a long weekend
with some of my knitting guild members
to a knitter's retreat...
pretty much all you do is knit, eat, knit,
some sleep, knit, eat, knit...you get the picture....
Starving now...because
my gourmet chefs from our wonderful weekend
would not come home with me....
the food was truly unbelievable...My favorite was a delicate
flaky pastry multi berry tart. Yummmm.
Our dessert finale was
Reeses Peanut butter cup pie, and there was also foie gras with our lunch...incredible.........anyway...
lots and lots of lovely photos to share..
so a few of them here...





The cottage I stayed in for the weekend was called Nettles.





Inside of Nettles, lots of lovely places
to sit and just knit...so relaxing.







The room in Nettles where the majority of us
gathered to knit as it had the loveliest light.






On knitting breaks, a few folks worked on this lovely
"KNITTING" (of course) puzzle...



And it was finally finished rather late,
the night before we had to check out in the am



Everyone wore their knitted best or were working on
amazing pieces or using amazing yarns...
and yes I had to pat many a yarn project.
So much inspiration everywhere...
Note the luscious beaded scarf in the making





view of my room and the beloved buffet....three times a day folks...
oh and great fruit/cookie snacks in our own quarters in between meals.






The whole location was surrounded by lovely ponds and
trails everywhere you could just meander around...
I even saw 2 deer rather close up, and took photos, but as it was getting dark,
it basically came out as though I had filmed the inside of a closet-
minus the deer.











Oh and yes I worked on several lovely things,
but as this blog has been my longest to date,
will be posting those to a future blog.
Almost forgot, in case everyone on the planet
missed it, just one more... hip, hip, hooray,
a final shout out to Peggy for all her planning
for this wonderful trip for all of us...
Thank You!

New Years Resolution #1
a new knitting adventure each month....
January was so satisfactory...will be hard to top this,
but can't wait for February's knitting adventure...
Can you spell yarn crawl?

Cupid in time for February

Yet another new member to the Monday Night
Mini Knitting Group...
Cupid is finally finished....



Pattern is from Simply Knitting Magazine, a lovely mag.
from Britain, February 2008 issue.
Designed by Alan Dart
I did have a rather funky time getting the face right, his
cupid is almost babyish age, very angelic, and mine, well
I guess he is an older, more mature cupid.
On a side note, the hair is rather strange also. this yarn was the closest I could find to the discontinued yarn called for in the pattern...plus the name of the colourway was "HEAVEN"....how could I go wrong with that.
well it was cartainly NOT heavenly to knit with...but it's done now.



In the future when knitting doll's hair,
I think I will use the same hair as I did
on the Harry Potter puppet, an experiment,
but came out even better than I had hoped.



Photo 1. Cupid posing with other knitting group members, mouse and Shaun.
Photo 2. Cupid taking a break reading Simply Knitting Magazine and drinking Starbuck's...yes I do think Starbuck's is a heavenly coffee...



Tic Toc the cat and cupid

Crespo playing with cupid's bow


Three other Valentine's Day/Feb. items in my knitting bag & partially done...have finished the lace red heart scarf, just needs the crocheted edging and to be blocked...photos by next week.

Monday Night Miniature SnB Knitting Group at Starbuck's

My new virtual reality knitting group at Starbuck's of course.
Where else, would I host this.
As in other online SnB groups, this group has already been
joined by other miniature members from Ravelry...
known to show up
with miniature chocolate chip cookies even.
New Members always welcome...and yes we do like cookies.
Stay tuned as new mini members will be joining
in the future.
Please no one over 7 tall can come...Starbuck's mini
building code regulations....7 inches that is.....

Cupid update:

Finally found the right type of yellow yarn for his hair...and it's called Heaven...can you believe it. that's gotta work!
Photos coming soon.

An In Between Post

Hello, still here, still knitting...posting will be a tad late...as I am working a bit extra these couple of days...stay tuned.
but the weather has been unusually balmy and the snowman are melting....




Had to post something crafty...made this on the bus trip to New York to Rhinebeck (Sheep & Wool Festival) and never got around to felting it...it was a crocheted teapot cozy, cream colored...which I felted first, then I dyed in the pot on the stove...
luckily it was just food color, the cake dye type...as husband took my pink dye spoon to serve up dinner. maybe I shouldn't have written that in...but there's your knitting/craft chuckle for the day!

It's 2008!

Can You Believe It, it's 2008 and it's snowing
AGAIN....
But then it's New England.


More knitting.............
Banana Republic Knock off hat pattern by metaphysical_muse from Craftster
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=197572.0
can you believe 98 people on Ravelry have this posted from a single free pattern
Mine is made from Noro Silk Garden





As it is still snowing... back to my knitting...........
Oh and this year am making
Knitting New Year Resolutions....thank you
Brenda Dayne from the wonderful Knitting Podcast,
"Cast On" who has done this very thing in the past....
by the way,
For those who listen avidly, Episode #59 is up!
and for anyone that has never heard her podcast...
She has such an elegant speaking voice and
there are lots of things to learn about
knitting as you listen
Her podcast can be found on
http://www.cast-on.com/

Anyway, My resolutions
1. Try artistic knitting.
2. Fair Isle knitting.
3. tackle one of those Japanese language only patterns.
4. and finally...Work on Da Stash...
If you think No. 3 is impossible, I have grave concerns
myself about #4.
I have very exciting ideas for #1,
believe me it won't be wearable...
but exciting, stay tuned.
Happy 2008 Knitting to All!