Can I Beat The Heat?

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Babette Is Growing

I'm trying to beat the heat and still work on the Babette Blanket. Crocheting the squares is tolerable in the heat, but seaming is another story.




Panel #8 is done and seamed up early this morning.





Mittenz Update

4th Set of 8





A Pair of Ocoze Mittens

Needs a little more tweeking....


Garter Stitch Paw Warmers


Great pattern from Panda Man's Knitting & Crochet

Pattern for Paw Warmers
Yarn - worsted wt

5 Pairs of Kidlett Mittens





A Pair of Crocheted Mittens


From Angel Hugs site

Crochet Mittens For The Family

Worsted wt yarn and a G hook

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's hoping you are all having a great day - I am!

I've been very busy all week, crocheting the Babette Blanket for my grandson.

Finished section 7 and getting ready to start section 8. It's so much fun to work with lots of colors and different shapes. I'm not getting bored in the least bit!






Mittenz Update

I'm up to pair #28 and still working on those "test" patterns.

The other wips have fallen to the side for now.

Too Many Ideas

And not enough time to knit them up!

I mentioned that the Kidlett mittens were in the testing phase.
Have not heard from my test knitters yet so I'm waiting for corrections or comments before I post the pattern.

Meanwhile back in the lab.....

I decided to convert the Wristerz pattern into mittens.

Here is what I came up with - Ocoze Mittens

(Ocoze means warm in Lakota)




Below you can see the two sts that are left at the end before you turn around.
I keep track by placing a marker on the ridge before the short row.



Here you see the marker, then two ridges then I mark the next ridge because I will be short rowing in this next row.


Pattern will follow soon - it is really easy - it's just the Wristerz again with short rowing at the tip and adding the full thumb like in my original Sideways mittens.



Babette Is Growing!



This is what is slowing my mitten knitting. I'm just having too much fun choosing the colors and adding the squares!

And The Race Is On!

No, not the Kentucky Derby - the Mittenz 2008 Challenge!

Here is my 3rd set of 8 pairs


Plus one more not in this set makes my total 25 pairs so far.

We have a database in our group site and 15 members have posted their counts.
The total to date is 161 pairs!
Jean is in the lead! She has made 30 pairs.


Pink Thumbless Mittens



I knit up a pair of cute little pink mitts and decided to try them sideways in garter stitch.



The picture above is what I came up with. Then I thought, why not add a thumb?
The picture below shows the result.



Kidlett Mittenz

Pattern still in the testing stage, but if we like it - I'll post it soon.




Babette Blanket


I just love this blanket and finally got the yarns chosen to match my grandson's room colors.
The pattern calls for 17 colors or more - of course I have more......


The pattern first appeared in Interweave Crochet Spring 2006 and is also for sale as a PDF on the Interweave Site.
There are some beautiful Babettes on the Flickr Babette Group - go take a look.

Ran Out Of Yarn In Colorado

A creek behind the Blue Cow Eatery in Morrison Colorado


Yes I did run out of yarn in Colorado! I thought I had taken enough yarn to knit some simple hats and I was sure my daughter had some extra yarn I could use.
I was wrong!
I knit too fast and dear daughter only had yarn that was assigned to projects.
We did go to Hobby Lobby, and we chose yarn to start my grandson's Babette Blanket, but I did not buy extra yarn for anything else.
Note to self - next time pack MORE yarn!

The Hats



The above trio of hats were knit from Wool Winder's Colorful Stripes Hat Pattern.
I used one ball of Lily Sugar n' Cream for the pink ones and odds and ends for the blue one.
The blue one fit my grandson's head - 72 sts on #4 needles did the trick.


Grow With Me Hats

The following hats were from from Cathy Cate's Grow With Me Hat.



Both took only 1 ball of Lily Sugar n' Cream cotton yarn.
The patriotic one above is for my grandson.



And no mitten knitting.......


Now for some more Colorado pics


My grandson




Coors brewery at Golden Colorado

Sunstar Burning Bright

Finished my 8 Point SunStar!



Pattern from Trinket's Crochet Blog
My mods: I skipped two at the “dips” and worked 2dc, ch2, 2dc shells at the tips.

Finished width at points - 48”
Finished width at dips - 40”
27 rounds of dc starting from row 4

Made with worsted wt yarn.

The Startitis Bug Bit Me!

This weekend as I cast on for my 7th pair of mittenz, I was bit by that pesky "startitis bug".
Or maybe spent too much time on Ravelry, looking at all the new patterns.....


7th Pair of Mittenz will be a re-do of my Original Sideways Mittens.



I am hoping to fiddle with the pattern to make it larger and also a longer cuff.
Using worsted wt yarn - discontinued Columbia Minerva Shannon from my stash.



Butterfly Hat Pattern

I saw this one and could not resist casting on!


Pattern here
I am using worsted wt yarn from stash and I only cast on 80 sts - got that tip from another Ravelry member!


Shrug This!

It's still a little cold in the mornings, so I cast on for this.


Pattern is Shrug This from One-Skein Wonders


Answers to some Comments:

Barbara wanted to know if the little yellow slippers that won "The People's Choice" award was one of my patterns.
Nope! They are from Comforts of Home: Simple Knitted Accents

And Monika asked : How many would you need to get everyone in the Rez new mittens?

And Ann answered with some very good info:
Many thousand.
Eagle Butte (where the Main is located) had a population of 2100 in 2000. But the Reservation itself is huge geographically (over 4000 sq. miles) and home to about 8500 people.

Thought I'd post this info so you know why we have a Mittenz Blitz!

Spring Flowers

All the flowers are starting to bloom over here.

Oh and the weeds are growing - well - growing like weeds!



These are so beautiful - but I forgot what they were!


Dutch Iris



Watsonia Flowers




The front bed is full - maybe too full?




My 6th pair of mittens made with my prize yarn - Lion Brand Landscapes



Pattern is from Weekend Knitting: 50 Unique Projects and Ideas

Quick and easy!

Mittenz 2008 Challenge

It's that time again! Mittenz Maddnez




The challenge is - 8 pairs of mittens ( knit, crocheted, sewn, purchased ) to be mailed in October to the Cheyenne River Reservation. Just in time to warm hands for the upcoming winter.

You can read more about it, where to mail, when to mail, rules, etc
on Ann's blog - and she has a contest going on too!

Last year 405 pairs were sent to the Rez - Let's make it more this year!


I've made 5 pair already - but you all know I am not stopping at 8.... Several of us are having a "Battle of the Needles" going on - great fun!


1st Pair



Pattern - Isela's Cabled Mittens from a LAL on the Loom-a-Long Raverly Group.
Worked on the blue Knifty Knitter round loom.
Yarn - Woolease Chunky


2nd Pair



Pattern - None - just improvised
Yarn - Chunky odds and ends.



3rd Pair



Pattern - I improvised on 32 sts with #6 needles on worsted wt yarn.
My first pair of mittens on 2 circs!


4th Pair



Pattern - South Dakota Mittens - I am working on writing this up.
Yarn - Odds and ends of worsted wt.
#5 & #6 needles


5th pair



Pattern - Anami's Mindless Mittens
Yarn - Columbia Minerva Shannon - discontinued
80% Orlon, 20%Wool
Knit two at a time on 2 #5 circs

Easter Basket

What a great Easter Basket I received this weekend!

I won all this as a prize!



Ann of Sheep Shots had a contest on her blog

People's Choice Award for Heet the Feet 2008

My little yellow slippers won the most votes!



Thank you!

You Are A Star!

Just a few more rows and I'll be finished with this 8 point Sun Star.



Kathy you wanted to know how I come up with these color combinations?

I found the inspiration for the Sun Star here.


Another quick hat - I used up odds and ends of bulky type yarn. This one was knit from the top down, with a 3" brim for extra warmth. No pattern - stopped increasing at 60 sts.






Little Poncho Is An FO!
Pattern is at the Lion Brand Site - Hooded Baby Poncho





Another Old Wip added to my "to finish" list!
A half circle shawl I started back in Nov of 2006 - found it in a bin.



The pattern is on my sidebar - Half Circle Knitted Shawl


More mittens & slippers are on the needles!

Hats & Hatz!

More Cranky Hats!




Using only Lion Brand Woolease, I made 5 hats to find the best fitting one.
Woolease works great, flows with ease thru the needles while cranking away.
It also stretches more so the hats (well the final one) actually fit my head.

Starting at the lower left side going clockwise is the Hat#1. I attached the brim after I took the hat off the machine. Ok, too short, brim a bit snug.

Hat #2 - I hand knit a garter stitch border and then attached it, stitch by stitch to the machine.
Too much trouble and still a bit snug.

Hat #3 - Brim width ok but could be longer - body of hat needed more length to cover my ears.

Hat #4 - Brim still not enough width but I think I got the body length just right.

Hat #5 - Center hat - TaDa! The brim depth just right so it's double thickness covers the ears and the body length long enough to hit just at the end of ears.

Here is my "Hat Recipe" for using Wool Ease yarn on the Innovations Machine.

Innovating Hats

Using LB Woolease gives a gauge of 3sts & 5 rows to 1”

Cast on with waste yarn for however many rounds you like (I knit 4)

Change to MC and knit for 40 rows,

After about 40 rows start attaching the brim.

Reach into the inside and pull up the bottom of the fabric, you need to find the corresponding st.

Pull out the stitch and place that stitch on the blue needle and adjust it downwards to meet with the stitch on there.

Crank the machine and feed the yarn to knit the two sts together.

Continue picking up sts from the brim, transferring them to the needles and manually knitting them together as you crank.

Knit 20 more rows then change to waste yarn, knit about 6 rows and take off to hand knit crown of hat.

I swatched first to find what needle size gave me the same gauge as the machine.

Crown decreases:

Rnd1: K9, K2tog around = 40 sts
Rnds 2,4,& 6 Knit
Rnd 3: K3, K2tog around = 32 sts
Rnd 5: K2, K2tog around = 24 sts
Rnd 7: K2tog around = 12 sts. Break yarn with a long tail to gather up these last sts.

Here's an inside view of the hats.





And even tho it took me about a day to crank out and hand knit the machine hat, I can still hand knit a hat in one night.!

One of our NAS group members, Mary, gave us a great link to some real easy hats.

So I made this one last night.




Basic pattern can be found here on Pat Hodd's Website.

Watch Cap Patterns

I used about 3 oz of worsted wt yarns and #6 needles.

The only thing I do not like about this pattern is the crown - I prefer a more fitted crown so my next one will be knit with the crown the way I prefer. This one was knit according to the pattern. And it really was easy!


Oh and I have not forgotten about the mittens - I'm getting ready to start another pair!