Warm Woolies

One of the groups I belong to on Ravelry is Malabrigo Junkie's. For the month of June we are participating in a charity KAL. One of the charities is Warm Woolies. This vest is my first item that I am donating to Warm Woolies. It's also my very first vest I have knitted. You can find the vest pattern here. Warm Woolies knit warm wool items for deserving children living in orphanages in Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. The organization also donates to Native American Reservations in the United States.



Do you remember a quite a few years back when Diane Sawyer reported on the state-run orphanages in Russia? It's a story that has stuck with me since it first aired in 1989. I know that many children were rescued from the horrible conditions and continue to be adopted to loving homes. The winter conditions in these nations are brutal. They don't have the luxury of well heated buildings. About 8 years ago a very dear friend and I made several baby quilts for hospitals in Romania. I quilted the fabric together and Ann Marie sat at the serger sewing the edges together. I'm not sure how many we made but it was a lot. Any little way I can try and help some little child that needs to be kept warm is well worth the effort.





Part of the requirements for the knitted items are they must be made with animal fiber. Also you must knit in bulky weight. I used worsted Patons doubled for the vest. It's knit on large needles size 10 1/2. I used 2.25 skeins for this size 6-8 project. The great thing about knitting with bulky yarn is instant gratification. It knits up super fast too. I'm going to knit a hat to match next. I wanted to start today but I got caught up in mulching the flower beds.



A very good friend of mine gave me a whole case of vintage natural wool. I am planning on making more 100% wool items for Warm Woolies. I plan on dyeing the vintage wool in bright colors. I have experimented with Kool Aid and will share that with you later in the week. If you would like to join me in a charity KAL for Warm Woolies please check out the link at the top of this post.

Bowled Over

I didn't do much knitting the past month. I have been in a knitting slump. After ripping out my last scarf I felt burned out. Frogging back 400 stitches per row will do that to a person. I set my scarf aside and kind of gave up for a while. I knew I needed to find something small to work on that was totally different and new. Knitted and felted bowls. There is something so unique about a handmade bowl. It defies all logic.



The pattern is pretty simple yet so creative. I got it from the book One Skein by Leigh Radford.
The fun thing about these projects is how you can use them. They look so darn cute with a few eggs inside.




I think a felted bowl full of buttons is so sweet!




How about a bowl filled with sewing notions. It just fits.




Or how about adding an adorable knitted strawberry to a handmade bowl?




I love this itty bitty pattern. You can find it here. These bowls would make a great gift filled with the recipients favorite things like chocolate perhaps. The best thing for me was I got my groove back! Yippee!





Thank you for stopping by. I have a ton of stuff to share over then next few weeks. I have been working on all kinds of things. Everything from knitting to quilting and gardening. I leave you with this final shot of my first small harvest from the garden. Mmmm, fresh radishes!

Psalms{128:2} For you will eat the labor of your hands.
You will be happy, and it will be well with you.

What's Going On?

I was so surprised to notice how long it's been since I have written a blog post. Time seems to go by so quickly. So, what have I been up to? Actually lots of stuff. Today I wanted to share this cute little baby ruffled hat. The pattern is called Lilly and you can find it here.



The yarn is Bernat Cotton Tots colorway wonder dreams. I used size 9 needles. It's a fairly fast knit. Perfect for a little baby girl. I have finished a few other items this past month. I'll blog about those later. Lately my mind is not on knitting.



It's spring and my mind has been on gardening! Look what's growing in the basement. Yup, I've got lots of tomatoes and a few mini pepper plants growing.



I also started herb plants. I've got basil, sage, dill and thyme ready to transplant into larger pots.



Lat Thursday I spent most of my day playing in the dirt. It was wonderful to get my hands in the warm dirt. My mind swirled with grand gardening idea's! I bought a few plants at Home Depot.



Here are a few of the items that have been planted: Bok Choy which tastes great stir fried. Several broccoli plants, red romaine lettuce plants. By accident I purchased some iceberg lettuce plants. Those plants should be interesting. I planted radish seeds and all kinds of greens including my favorite, arugula. Yum!



This morning I checked the progress of the garden and look what I saw. You have to look closely. Yes, the greens are growing! Now if it would only stop raining and dry out a bit. I have lots more to plant.

Spring Has Sprung!

It's such a joy to see a pretty flower among the brown colors of early spring. I have these tiny Iris's growing in my perennial bed. They are the very first to greet the change in season. The iris's only stand 5" tall. The sight of them reminds me of all the colors to come. I am so grateful that winter is over.




I love the sound of spring also. This morning the birds woke me up with their beautiful singing. Such lovely sounds. The robin's arrived a few weeks ago.




I am amazed at the Lord's creation. New life springs forth!




How about a little knitting? I have been working on a really unique and pretty scarf.
Just Enough Ruffles is the pattern. I was able to finish it in time for our trip last week down south. I used a Malabrigo yarn in worsted weight. The color is pollen. The colorway looks like spring to me.




I love how soft it is. I am calling it my butter ruffle. I cast it off too tight so I didn't get all the ruffling I wanted. I still love it. I also learned a new short row technique.




Here is a goofy shot of me and my butter ruffle in Nashville. I sure needed the extra warmth that day. It was 40 degrees and raining!




I want to try the pattern again and get the ruffle right. This is Malabrigo worsted in Floral colorway. It is just gorgeous! This screams spring to me.




The garter stitch border is finished. The next step is the short rows. What do you think? I've got lot's more to share with you. I have lots of finished knitting and even some quilting to show off. Thank you for reading. Thank you for your comments. What are you working on?

Unbelievable!

Imagine my surprise when I was notified from Grace that I won her shawl give away contest. Grace bloggs over at Lovin Comfort Knits.




The shawl is beautiful! Look at all of the work put into this beauty.




This shawl is called her red heart shawl. Can you see why? The hearts are so pretty! Grace, I can't say thank you enough. I am so blessed to receive such a wonderful,incredible gift. Thank you!

Gifts for Baby

My hands have been busy working on gifts for babies this past few weeks. In a perfect world I would make baby quilts for each newborn. I have come to the realization that I can't make a quilt for each new baby. Now I make receiving blankets for each new child. Here's my process:

All blankets are made from 1 yard of pretty flannel fabric. I serge the edges and then fold under the edge and press with an iron. After searching all of the stitches that came with my sewing machine I pick up a complementary stitch pattern. I get comfortable and start sewing. The stitch patterns take a bit of time so be patient. After the pattern is complete I finish off the hem with a simple straight stitch.





Since my machine can embroider I stitch on the last name initial monogram. I have been making these blankets for several years. They are always well received.




It's been bitter cold in my area for the last two weeks. In this kind of weather you must wear a hat. I wanted to make a few hats to keep the new babies toasty warm. I did a ravelry search and found this simple pattern from Major Knitter. It's a great easy pattern. I knitted almost the entire hat while watching the super bowl. The yarn is from the Bernat cotton tot line. The colorway is wonder dreams. Size US7 needles. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I am planning to make another solid blue hat too. Thank you Jennifer for the great pattern!




I also cast on for these cute booties. Christine's stay on booties have been knit by many a knitter. Click here for the pattern. By the way it's a great story too. Since I have never knit socks I am having some trouble with this project. Size 1 needles are my first issue. How do you use toothpicks to knit?!!! I don't know, maybe this will get better as I go. For now the going is slow.

Want to do a little stash busting?

Each January I take stock of my household and try to organize to bring some order to my chaos. I go from room to room and try and put everything in it's place. I had an urge to knit some gifts for my sister and sister in law. After going through my quilting room I couldn't justify buying any new yarn. I have some yarn in a plastic bin that I have not touched in a few years. Most of the yarn is stuff I bought when I first started knitting. Several pretty acrylics and other novelty yarns. As I sorted through the large pile I was reminded of an old saying that I love. Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without. I love that saying. Because I am knitting gifts for non knitters I had to use washing machine friendly yarn. I searched through Ravelry and found a great pattern. Fourteen is the name designed by a guy knitter. I thought his design was very clever but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to knit the brioche rib stitch.




I am the kind of person that has to see something before I can learn how to do it. I found a great video on you tube that really helped me master the stitch. Click here to watch the video. It's ever so easy. For this neck warmer I used Lion brand wool-ease thick and quick color claret.




You need to find some bulky or super bulky yarn. For the blue version I used 2 strands of Lion Brand Jiffy yarn held together to use it up! The colorway is midnight blue.





I really like this brioche stitch. Look at the definition. Notice the prop?
After knitting my first neck warmer I made a few changes in the original pattern. Here are the details:

Yarn- any bulky weight yarn or use two strands held together for extra stash busting

Needle size- 13US

Cast on 15 stitches. You must use multiples of 3.

Knit 4 rows.

knit brioche stitch each row until neck warmer measures 24".
*With yarn in front slip one as if to purl, with yarn in front k2tog, rep. from *

Knit 1 row.

K3, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, k2tog, k2, yo, k2tog, k3.

Knit 2 more rows.

Bind off in garter stitch.

Go find some large funky buttons to add some flair to your neck warmer. That's it! I made 2 of these neck warmers in 4 hours.





For this one it's Lion Brand wool-easethick and quick color raspberry.




I hope you decide to do a little stash busting. Let me know if you decide to make a few of these quick projects. I would love to see yours!
Now back to chores!

Rebel With a Cause

Have you ever done something that seems so wrong yet felt so good? I feel a little like a rebel. I was taught from a very young age to never put a wool item in the wash. I was also told that if you made the mistake of washing wool in the machine don't think about drying the wool clothing in the dryer. I have been guilty of shrinking beautiful sweaters down to toddler size by accident. Hmm, that was a long time ago. How things have changed. I have found that I adore shrinking old wool sweaters in the washing machine and then burning them in the dryer to felt the fabric even more. Here are a few of my creations. I had a pincushion swap last month and my mind went crazy with ideas. I was only suppose to make one pincushion. I can never seem to make just one of anything. If I'm going to go through the process I going play and let the creative juices flow.



You start out with some thrift store wool sweaters. Most of the sweaters I purchased were way out dated and already felted.




I found a few really nice wool sweaters from Ireland that I'm not sure I can cut up.






After the washing machine does it's job and felts the wool like magic start cutting.






To make the handle for your tea cup you need to make lots of i-cord. I found this cool tool that makes I-cording at Joannes. Remember to read the directions for the cording tool. You can only use a skinny 100% wool yarn.




You just use the colors that you like and create a cool tea cup or coffee mug. Here is a great video of the pattern here. I love the way this one turned out. I'm sure that if I hit some other thrift stores I could find better patterned sweaters.






I couldn't stop with the teacup. I had to create a sweater pincushion.




This one is made out of a cashmere sweater. I made sure to cut the sweater so I could put the cable to good use. Cashmere is a little harder to felt.
It's cute!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my little pincushion parade!

Happy 2009!

Happy 2009 to you! Wow, I can't believe the year is 2009. I feels like we just rang in the year 2000. Time sure marches on. I hope everyone reading had a wonderful Christmas holiday. Our family had an awesome time together enjoying each others company. As much as I delighted in all of the festivities it's good to get back to daily stuff like knitting, quilting and fun sewing. I worked on only one project during Christmas. I decided at the very last minute to knit a scarf for my DS's girlfriend Bree. I know I shouldn't have started a Christmas knitting project 4 days before the great day. You could call me a glutton for punishment. Even my DH looked at me and said,"You can't get that scarf done on time." How right he was. I finished January 1, 2009 at 11:50p.m. Ha! So, here are the details of my very first FO (finished object) of the new year......




Scrunchable scarf is the pattern. It's very simple to knit and the stitch definition is great. I modified the original pattern. Here are the details:
Cast on 26 stitches.
Slip the first stitch as to purl with yarn in front.
K2, P1 until the last stitch K1.



I chose a gorgeous merino wool from Malabrigo. The colorway is velvet grapes. The variegation is stunning.
Needle size: 10 1/2
I love how the color makes a zig zag pattern. I may add some fringe to the edge.



Slipping the first stitch and knitting the last makes a fine edge. It was a nice project to knit. It's been almost a year since I knitted my last scarf. Now I remember why. It seems to take forever to finish.





One of the best gifts I received this Christmas was an Ott light. Boy, what a difference a little more light can be. Here is a shot of my favorite chair with normal lighting. You can see the Ott light but I have it turned off.



Same shot with the Ott light on. What a difference.



Here is a hat I'm working on for my son. Just the floor lamp is turned on.




My project illuminated by the great Ott light! The Ott light makes all of my close up work including reading more vibrant. It's a great tool. Not real pretty but who cares when you can see good! I have lots of fun felting projects to share with you this week. Please drop by again. Happy 2009!