Sunday, July 27, 2008

Colorado Tales

My one little hat I made while I've been here in Colorado.
It's from Woolwinder's pattern - Made In America



A very easy pattern and she has more that I plan to make. I have a 2nd one on the needles right now. I've made a few more crochet hexagons and squares with little scraps of yarn I packed. So for now I'm ok but I do really want to go for a little visit to Hobby Lobby! Love their yarn selections.


Colorado Adventures

The sky here is so beautiful and I could not resist taking this picture of sunset.



What a treat - we saw mama deer and her bambi right outside grandson's summer camp!




We went to Macaroni Grill last Friday for a family birthday dinner. Birthday boy says that they have the best macaroni & cheese! Also the best chocolate cake :)

Birthday Boy with Nonni




The birthday parents!


The actual kids birthday party is today and I'll have pictures to post soon!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Will I Have Enough Yarn?

So I'm off to Colorado tomorrow. I'm still packing right now and wondering just how much yarn to take.... I remember last time I ran out of yarn!
If I could handle 2 suitcases by myself, I would pack another one with yarn.
But carrying my purse, and my carry-on with laptop AND one big suitcase will be all I can handle.
I've packed plenty of patterns and I've got more on my Ravelry Queue. Now that's one good thing about Ravlery - you can access your patterns anywhere as long as you have a printer!
But I have a plan -I'll try to hit Hobby Lobby in my first week there and stock up on yarn!



Going Square Crazy!
I very excited about our latest Blanket Blitz and have been knitting and crocheting squares with lots of colors! I already had some 6" squares, but added on a few more rows to get the 9" required.

The little hexagons are my contribution towards a blanket that I will be sending to the Main.






Telemark Pullover

I'm almost done with the Telemark Pullover( a free Ravelry download).
When I took this picture I was going to work both sleeves at the same time on circs. That idea did not work out too well as I would have been juggling 4 strands of yarn. I'm alternating a varigated with a solid to make sure I have enough yarn.




Mittens

Finished my blue pair of mitts for the NAS Mitten KAL! I love this Lion Brand pattern and I have more chunky yarn so I'll probably make more pairs. Next time I plan to convert this flat needle pattern to the round - no seaming !



Remember these I started on 2 circs? Guess I was not in the mood for 2 circs because I could not go on with them. I ripped them out and made another pair.

This is what I made - a simple 2 needle mitten, knit both at the same time on 2 pairs of straights. They're a k2,p2 rib which makes seaming nearly invisible and the mitten a snug fit.

Don't they look like little saguaro cacti?

Friday, July 18, 2008

Knitting Cold Weather Items

It might be hot weather in Southern Calif right now, but our group is busy knitting up cold weather items for the Cheyenne River Reservation.

There's a Mitten KAL going on and I've been working on these little blue mittens.
I'm knitting them slowly because I've been told I am supposed to "Knit-Along" and not knit them up beforehand :)

We've got 2 easy patterns - one flat like the blue ones below and one in-the-round.
Come and join the fun and knit up some mittens for the Rez!




Pattern: Lion Brand 2-Needle Mittens
Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky - discontinued
Needles to get gauge of 4sts/1" - for me those would be size 6

As you can see I love to use those little plastic markers. They're the best to keep track of row counts.

Knitting on Hatz has slowed down for me right now but I'm going to Colorado for awhile and I will probably take yarn for hatz. They're great for trips.

And stay tuned for news on our Blanket Blitz. We will be making squares and blankets.
I've volunteered to seam up the squares and that should prove to be lots of fun.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

How About More Mittenz?

Another set of Mittenz for the Rez



And here is another pair being knit 2 at a time on 2 circs.
They are really easy, just k3, p3 rib.


Remember the Babette Blanket? I put that away when I had company and now it is too hot to think about joining those panels. So it's taking a summer break.

But I've got a new crochet blanket I really want to try. It's called the Hexagon Blanket and I read about it on Ravelry. Ravelry can get one into trouble and they've got me "hooked" (bad pun intended).

The pattern is only available in a Japanese craft book and it's hard to obtain, but I think I have figured out the motif pattern pretty close to the original.
It's really just a round granny type motif with the last round making it a hexagon shape.
There's more to it's assembly and such but I'm just playing and having fun making little motifs right now.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Knitting Has Resumed

The Surfer Boy has gone back to Colorado and now it is boring around here....
So much fun to be with the young ones and going, going, going everywhere!
We went to all the old places I used to take my kids years ago.
This picture from my cell phone at Huntington City Beach, Calif.




Now for what is on my needles and hooks to keep me from being so bored :)

Neopolitan Baby Blanket
From Knit One, Stripe Too by Candace Eisner Strick
This one is for my soon to be granddaughter!




Still making mittens! Here is July's crop.




A little baby sweater on the needles - the Telemark Pullover
It's a free Ravelry download.




This is my July stack of reading material