Tuesday, August 31, 2010

buzzing along...

Ok, we're sailing aright along here...now if only I could find the blasted paper where I traced Mom's feet and wrote down all her measurements, I could figure out how long to make these size 11 socks! I love my Mom, I love my Mom...why does she not have puny feet like me? hahaha...
Now that my son has gone back to the mid-west, tailgate season is just around the corner and since he lost he IU scarf eons ago, he needs another one..so ... we're, as in I am knitting circles for the kid...
Using the Flaunt your Colors Scarf. Only this time I bumped it up to (US) 9 needles and I really like the way it feels. I may have to rethink that pattern!
How often do you get to meet the author of knitting books? This one is a gem...the book ain't bad, either! ahahaha....I suggest any chance you get, always have the author sign the book, it makes it a lot more fun! Can't wait to knit up some socks he wrote in here!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Shazam!

So I've been sick for the past several days. I hate being sick. It plain stinks. You start with a sore throat...spreads to making your eyes water, then your nose runs..well, you get the picture, right? But then all you want to do is get some sleep and will that doggone cold away. For me? That's when the crazy dreams start creeping in. Shazam! is what I heard in my sleep, as if I was channeling Gomer Pyle. Yes, complete with his voice, accent and all. And then it flipped to the socks I'm working on for Mom. Shazam! Like that, we have two socks going at once. But then a few hours later, I get Mike Meyer's voice running through my cold infected dreams hearing him in his best SNL Linda Richman voice saying, 'Like buttah' pointing to both the needles and the color of these socks. Ulg, I don't want to be sick anymore. But I am enjoying these socks. And the needles, "Give a call, we'll talk, no big whoop." Oh, Linda Richman, where are you these days?




Ok, so prior to getting sick, there was a whole lot of knitting going on. You now have the 'Simply a Rug' pattern ready for your kitchen floor, or bathroom, or back door....or where ever the stash of cotton you have will match the colors in your favorite rug kinda place. See? I used 4 strands of cotton at a time with big old needles to make a rug I love to stand on at my kitchen sink in bare feet. Because I used the 14-16oz sizes of huge cones and skeins, I have enough to make at least one more if not two more rugs and they will all match. I used two solid blues, one multi blue and one solid white yarn. The pictures don't even really show the yellow in the multi blue skein. I have a request now for a brown rug for baby daughter. That should be a good choice to keep the 'stuff' from showing the first week of use. I like having multiple rugs to swap in and out while doing laundry. I'm guessing that in the future, I'll end up letting these air dry rather than pop 'em into the dryer. Who knows, but I'll try and remember to let you down down that road. Can't wait to get a few more things off my 'to do' list so I can see how the brown rug turns out. I have soooooooooooo many of those cotton big skeins here, and now I know how I want to mix and match them up. Can you imagine what colors you can put together if you use Peaches & Creme and actually order colors you want  to put together, rather than just what you have sitting around? OOOOO girl, note to self...don't tap into that thought, the idea was to use up what you have and do some serious cotton stash busting! ya, ya, ya...I hear ya...
I know that this picture doesn't make these little bitty pink sockies look like they match, but they do. My baby brother's Step daughter is about to have baby #2 in September. And this time, it's a girl! When I asked him which colors she was interested in for a baby blanket, he said white and pink and the socks just hollered at me, that they just HAD to be knit up.
Big brother who was the recipient of this blanket back nearly three years ago, claimed his pawpawa's Tiger's inspired colored hat this Christmas, so I figured he needs to have his own big brother gift to open. He is a lover of all things 'Nemo blue' and this was made from some of the AC Moore blue yarn that I've yet to bust into to. I used the same Mushroom cap pattern in the 80 st cast on as all the other hats I knit for last year's Christmas gifts. I just love how the ribbing makes that hat fit soooooo many different sized heads. Granted some need to be longer, and some shorter, but you don't really have to worry about the width! yeah! If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I say.
Baby sister will have her own blanket now. All pink and soft to wrap her in when she arrives. I used Simply Soft again, for the ease of popping into the washer and dryer. The next step on my to-do list, will be to get these all mailed out before the little lady makes her grand entrance. Are you like that, too? Spend all that time knitting quickly to get the projects finished, but getting them all packaged up and off to the post office, well, that seems to be my downfall. I shall endeavor to improve! It makes me "a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves."

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Simply a Rug

Simply a Rug
©Cathy Waldie, July 31, 2010
Finished size: 21”x 33” Rectangle
24 ozs of yarn: 6 ozs of 4 different worsted cotton yarns/ 290 yds/ 263 m of each cotton (Sample knit with a mixture of Peaches & Creme, Sugar 'n Cream, Cotton Mill ends, and Handicrafter Cotton)
(US) 13 (9.0mm) needles (sample made with Addi clicks for width, but knit flat)
Gauge: 8 sts/12 r = 4”/10 cm

C/O = Cast On
Sl 1 = Slip one stitch
St(s)=stitch(es)
K= Knit
P= Purl
B/O= Bind Off

C/O 70 sts

1-4) Sl 1 st, K across
5) Sl 1, K across
6) Sl 1, K3, P62, K4
7-60) repeat rows (5-6) 27 x’s more for a total of 28 pattern repeats.
61-65) Sl 1, K across
66) B/O in P.

Cut Threads, weave ends. Apply rug backing to prevent the rug from slipping.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

BU Cable Scarf

 BU Cable Scarf
© Cathy Waldie, April 21, 2006
Found on the October 10th page of the calendar!


This is a double layered scarf knit in the round with cables running up the front side. Perfect for those winters in Boston when you're daughter is going to school. Or any other cold winter area when the snow is blowing sideways and the snow is deep when you're shoveling your car out at 5am.


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Just My Size Little Miss B's Preemie Baby Blanket

Just My Size Little Miss B's Preemie Baby Blanket
© Cathy Waldie, April 21, 2007
Found on the May 18th page of the calendar!

This is a Preemie sized baby blanket knit in your favorite DK/Sportweight yarn. The pattern can be found in the new 2011 Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar, currently available from Amazon.com found here.


Monday, August 9, 2010

I just might be in love again....

Wait, let me back that up a bit. Don't you hate it when you get out your pattern and your yarn, and then can't find the needles you need to knit it up? I've looked high and low, I can find the package for the 2.75mm double points that I just finished my socks with. But I can't find them anywhere! It's making me downright grumpy, I tell ya.


I want to knit up Island Fudge socks in the Wildfoote Lullaby for my Mom. And I can't find my blasted needles anywhere! When I was home with Mom recently, I found this yarn in two stores, actually. So now I have four skeins of it. Ya, brain cells not connecting at some point, I tell ya. Anyway, Mom's been partial to her yellow slacks and yellow top with the light houses on it. This color is a perfect match. Now that I've finally figured out the feel of making socks, I want to make her some with cables. Going through all the sock patterns that I've got marked over in Ravelry, I came up to this one that I'd purchased last year, and I think it's perfect for Mom! Not only is it named after the Murdick's Fudge Shop (where I worked the summer of 1979), it's got cables that Mom loves, and being a part of her 'Michiganisms' group of patterns, what would be better for a Mom in Michigan, than a pair of socks from a 'Michigan' pattern, knit with sock yarn that I bought in Michigan, knit from a Michigan hearted daughter? eh?


It all works out well, until you can't find the blasted needles you just finished a pair of socks with a couple of weeks ago. What's a knitter to do??????????????



*ahem* you go shopping. And you fall in love with a new pair of needles. May I introduce you to....


Lantern Moon's Sox Stix, 5" in Rosewood, size 2.75mm.


OOOOOOOOOOOh, baby! Yes, I think we'll have a very long lasting relationship. They come in a pretty sack with six, yes Six! double points!



Well, that is if I can keep track of where they go when I'm done with this pattern. See how fast they knit up last night? I love these as much as I love my Addi's. And y'all know how much I love my Addi's!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

This....

This...makes my yarn stash look like a very poor country cousin! Oh, to go play in the yarn at her house!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Raise your hand if....

You're like me, have 2 sets of Addi clicks, plus an additional set of cables...

And every single one of those cables now has a project on it. So technically, you can't start anything more unless you want to go back to other needles without the new blue cables. Right?

Today's newest, another NMCRS Basketweave Baby Blanket, ver. 2 My brother called last week to say that his step daughter was having a girl in September. Rats, sorta. I mean, I had another blue blanket all set to go! This is not the first time I thought I was smart and had a blanket ready to go, and found out I'd guessed wrong. Oh boy! wait. I meant...oh girl!