Mid January Dishcloth

This is my version of the mid January dishcloth KAL. Its kind of hard to see but the texture, Its a cable with garder stitch cable. It was again fun to do. I know that it kind of tripped up a few on the list but I was able to get through it OK. I used cotton tots. I can't wait for the next one in a week or so.

The Borah Scarf

It seems everyone I run into has been making a ruffle scarf,or potato ship whatever you want to call it. So not to be out done. I had to make myself one,too. I mean what I kind of band wagon jumper would I be if I didn't. Now As you look at this scarf you might be thinking Oh boy she is a Green Bay fan. Nope. My daughter goes to Borah High School in Boise Idaho and their colors are green and gold. So I'm a Borah band booster instead. I once again chose to use an acrylic yarn and when with Caron's Simply Soft in hunter green and gold. That way when my daughter sole it to wear at a game it could easily be washed. I have designed this pattern myself. The big difference is I made a rather long scarf then folded it over and crocheted the cast on edge together. IF you do not know how to crochet you can always sew it together. I like how this one turned out. I think by sewing it together it makes the ruffles stand out more. Its more like a boa. Below is the pattern my final length is 46 inches long but if you wanted to make it longer I would suggest you cast on 20 to 30 more stitches,but keep in mind you will need more yarn then I have listed.
The Borah Scarf 1 ball of simply soft in hunter green or about 200 yards of a worsted weight yarn
1 ball of simply soft in golden yellow or about 150 yards of a worsted weight yarn
Size 11 32 inch circular needle
Size K crochet hook
Cast on using the crochet cast on 180 using hunter green
Row 1: knit across
Row 2: inc in each stitch across.
Row 3 -5 knit across
Row 6 Knit across
Row 7: changing to yellow knit across
Row 8: inc in each stitch across.
Row 9: changing to green knit across
Row 10: inc in each stitch across
Row 11-12: changing to yellow knit across.
Bind off.
Fold scarf in half and with K hook sc in each of the cast on stitches. End and weave in all ends.

Baby Top Down Sweater

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time you know how much I love to knit the www.knittingpureandsmiple.com top down sweaters. I have never made a baby one. You see I'm to old for babies and to young for grandbabies so I don't end up knitting little things very often. One of my girl friend's daughter had a baby boy a few months back and I have just now been able to get a sweater done. Like the adult size this one works up fast. I think it took me about 24 hours to knit, but it is done on a size 9 needle after all. I am a total yarn snob as a matter of fact I really hate to use anything by natural fibers. But for this one I decided to use Caron's Simply Soft. If you have to use an acrylic this isn't a bad one. The colors are blue white and just a little bit of yellow. I made the size 12 months so that he will be able to wear it next year too.

My Boot socks

I have been working to get a bunch of UFO done. These socks aren't quite a UFO but I wanted to get them done before Christmas. My plan was to wear them when we went Christmas caroling back in early Dec. Well that didn't happen so I think I will save them for next year. They are made from some of my hand spun yarn. They are a three ply. Its kind of hard to see but they are camel brown, white and olive Green. The camel color is alpaca , the white it corridale, the olive green is merino. They are at about a worsted weight. I knit them on a size 4 needle. I made them from the middle and did the foot first then came back and knit the cuff. The pattern will be added later if there is interest in it.

My new favorite Mug

This is my new favorite mug. Yesterday after my daughter and I went to the YMCA to work out. I must say we were so tired that we could barely get out of the van,when we got home. When we did get home there was a box at our door. For the life of me I couldn't remember ordering anything. So my wise daughter said the only way you will find out what's inside is by opening it. Well inside was this really cute mug. The verse is "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good His love endures forever." 2 chor. 16:34. Its kind of hard to see but there is a flower on the other side and a little bee on the inside. I also got the book "get out of that Pit" by Beth Moore. Which so far is pretty good. Thanks so much Denise for the wonderful pick-me-up.

Yet another Top down sweater but with a twist

Yet another Top-down sweater but with a twist. Or should I say lace. I'm in the process of teaching a class on the Top down sweater and this is the one I did in class. The difference in this one is the neck and cuffs and the bottom band.To start with the yarn is Cascade Cloud 9. Which is a 50/50 blend of merino wool and angora. The color is what I would call periwinkle. What I did different this time was instead of the usual collar and cuffs. I picked up the stitches for the collar and then using two strands I bound off in purl. I did the same for the cuffs. On the bottom I added about 3 1/2 inches of a lace pattern which was.( Yo,k2 k2tog,k2,Yo, k1) repeat around. I think it make the sweater look a bit more famine which works well with the softness of the the yarn.

Monthly dishcloth KAL number 1

Here is my first dishcloth of the year. This snowflake was made from sugar and cream ecru and I used size 7 needles. Also this is called a snowflake I would say its more like a quilt star. Again it was fun to knit and I'm looking forward to the next KAl that starts on the 16th of this month.

My goals for the New Year!

Every year I try to start the year with some goals. I hate to call them reslultions becasue they are more like goals. SO this year is not different. My lofe goals are as follows:

My general life goals
1. read through the Bible in one year- so far so good I'm doing it through the Quick study plan ( a TV show I watch on the NRB network).
2. Read a non- fiction book a month. ( I love reading but its not every often that its not a mystery) Right now I'm reading Battle Field of the mind by Joyce Meyers.
3. Loose 40 pounds by my birthday. In late April So far I have lost 8 pounds.
4. right a praise list everyday. (I bought a journal calendar at Christmas time that is for this purpose).
As for my knitting/spinning goals
1. Working on improving my spinning skills. More even singles and then ply's, and better yarns with fine fibers.
2. make a gansey
3. keep up with my projects. I don't work well if I have several going at once.
4. Keep up and finish all the Kal from the Monthly dishclolth list on Yahoo groups.

Wow Thanks SP9 Partner

Thanks so much goes out to my SP9 partner. What a great surprise was waiting for me on Saturday when I got home from work. The chocolate was a great pick-me-up, I can't wait to get started on the Koigu socks. Its kind of hard to see what the colors are earth tones. I wish you all could smell this box of goodies. The lavender soap is just wonderful. Thanks again for all the great goodies.

the Shawl

A little known fact about me is... I love to knit shawls. I almost never wear them but they are so fun to knit. This is a perfect example of a wonderful pattern for a shawl. It comes from Fiber Trends and is called the Landscape shawl or scarf. Yes you can either make a shawl or a scarf. I have made this before a few year ago and it has just the right amount of challenge to it. I'm not a real big lace wearer so this one isn't to lacy for me. Each band has a different texture to it. The first being garder, then seed, then stockinette,then moss then finally reverse stockinette. Another great feature of this pattern is that you can use just about any weight of yarn you would like. Anything from fingering to worsted weight. This particular shawl was made with three balls of Gallaway in white. I did have a friend knit this with a multi colored yarns and in my opinion it didn't look as nice as a sold. Some times when you use a variegated yarn you loose the textured of the piece. In this case the texture is what makes the shawl, so I would highly recommend a sold color. I have made this shawl with Mountain colors mountain goat and it turned out just as nice.