Holidazed

Over the river and through the woods to Grandmothers house we go......

More like through the snowbanks, dealing with crazy people who can't drive in snow, the threat of sub zero temperatures and explaining to my parents that I still don't have a job. On top of 30 hours of driving, 2100 miles and covering 7 states in 9 days.

I have never been in such an UNholiday spirit ever.

Current projects..... all on hold until I land in Oklahoma in 4 days...after day 2 of driving.

I can update pics and post from there.

I have made 2 kippahs for a friends Bat Mitzvah. Really easy pattern using magic loop method. Will write up directions in a few days, with pictures.

Frogged the cable knit hat for bear because DP's and I JUST DO NOT AGREE!!!! (anyone wanna trade a set of size 10.5 nickle plated dpn's? for a set of wood modulars from knitpicks I need size 4, 10 or 14. could use a 40" cable too.)

Now I am doing a "noro style" single rib scarf that IS working. I am using some pattons soy wool stripes yarn in natural blue and natural pink (I frogged the drop stitch scarf to recover the yarn for that but I think I will need more anyway). It was a good chance for me to work on knitting the ribbing continental style instead of throwing it. It is working well, my arms aren't nearly as tired.

I was trying to get my profile all set up on Ravelry, but keep finding myself spending hours searching through patterns instead. I will have to update that soon as well.

Well it is time to pack suitcases, shovel the sidewalk, change the cat box, clean the living room and load the car.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

It's begining to look a lot like.........BREAKFAST!

As you all probably know, The holidays are coming.

I'm sure you also realize that just about every holiday seems to include food traditions. Latkes at Hanukkah, Big ham dinner at Christmas, Cookies, Candy, etc.

Whats more fun than trying to get kids to EAT on Christmas morning BEFORE it is time to open presents?

Well I have my ways *rubs hands together maniacally*

FROSTING!!!!!!!

My mom assigned me the task of Breakfast on Christmas Morning sooooooo off to the lab..erm....KITCHEN, I go!!!



Now I rarely cook anything totally from scratch, But I also rarely leave anything alone.

This morning I ran a trial of some cinnamon rolls.

*Basic tube of orange cinnamon rolls
*additional cinnamon sugar sprinkles
*Lemon Juice
*Confectioners sugar

No realize I have NOW IDEA how to make a glaze other than watching my grandmother when I was too young to care.

I cooked the rolls in a small springform pan that I sprayed with butter flavor spray and then dusted generously with the cinnamon sugar before the rolls went into it.

to make the glaze......

I poured an undetermined amount of lemon juice in a small bowl, likely a few tablespoons though it felt like more. Then I started adding confectioners sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Dump in sugar, mix until blended, dump in sugar, mix until blended, lather, rinse, repeat until the glaze looks like...well...a glaze. I ended up adding a LOT of spoonfulls of sugar, I lost count around 15, I am sure it was considerably more. Next time I start with less liquid.

Once the rolls were done, I plopped them on a plate and poured the packaged glaze over them. It pooled in the middle and then formed blobs around the edges didn't look thrilling. I then drizzled as much of MY glaze as I could over the top.

I am now an insane 2.5 rolls in and I will have to STRONGLY resist the urge to polish off the whole plate before lunch! Or else I will need to take a long walk in the balmy -5 degree temps we have running right now.

Honestly, It's a tough choice!

French Memo Boards

I moved a couple of months ago and in the process found an ungodly amount of craft supplies from silk flowers and raffia to all manner of fabric, ribbon and even a large collection of semi precious beads.

Among all of this were a few started and unfinished projects.

3 french memo boards, 1 complete, 1 needing only some apple green buttons, and one that needed some ribbons and buttons.

WOOT! Teacher gifts!!!.

These are killer easy.

Materials:
*Pre stretched artists canvas. (purchased from Michaels)
*Staple gun and staples.
*quilt batting big enough to wrap to the back of the canvas.
*Fabric to cover front and wood on back of canvas.
*Matching ribbon, the smaller the canvas the thinner the ribbon.
*buttons for each intersection of ribbon. I needed 5 per board.
*Small bits of stabilizer for back of buttons (you can use smaller plain buttons, cardboard or squares of plastic canvas)



Put batting over canvas and then stretch fabric over the batting. Starting from the centers of the sides staple fabric to the inside edges of the wood frame. Fold the corners however it works for you and staple down (I kind of did a folded mitered corner, It won't really show).

Once all of the fabric is secured snugly around the frame, you start stapleing the ribbons across the front. Make an x, then a diamond, making sure you fold over the ends of the ribbon so it does not pull out.

Once the ribbons are on you need to sew buttons at the intersections. Use the stabilizers on the back or the ribbon could pull through.

I always add 2 extra lengths of ribbon stapled to the back as a way to hang the board from a hook. One each on a long and short side.

That's about it.

Oh and the Berrico snowflake kicked my butt one too many times. It is no more!

Found an easier pattern that starts in the middle and works it's way out instead. Not as fancy of a pattern, I can make up for it with pretty fibers instead.

Will post something about that later. I PROMISE!!!!!

Snowflakes for Hanukkah

I am determined to have a decent go at my first attempt at Cable Knits.

I have a friend who will be celebrating her Bat Mitzvah during Hanukkah this year. When she mentioned she needed a new Kipot that wasn't plain, but not too fancy either. I KNEW I could find something to make for her. Little did I know this "small project" would kick my butt more than once this week.

First I flexed my Google Fu and looked for patterns for "snowflakes"

3 hours and 8000 hits later I found one! This Berroco Snowflake pattern was a free download able PDF.

OK looks simple....
My first challenge was that it works from the outside in, my mind has issues working flat pieces from the outside in.
Second was it wasn't in the round and I hate seams, but I would manage.
third, I don't own a cable needle and I have NEVER stitched a cabled anything in my life.

Found some simple baby yarn in my stashes, grabbed the smallest cabled needles I own (size 7) and started.

Cast on, started the first row and ended up with too many stitches.
Frogged it and started over.

Cast on, marking the 6 sections, figured out what I did wrong the first time and used a diaper pin as a cable needle and got to row 3 before I screwed up the counts again.
Frogged it, found thinner yarn and started over again.

Cast on, marking sections, get to row 5 and realize that even though it says gauge Isn't important on the pattern, it looks like crap, I wasn't going for lace
Frogged it again.

Went to local yarn store, pattern in hand. Showed the nice lady there what I was trying to make, and asked her what needles and yarn I should use. Got that all ironed out, bought a set of wood cable needles (short ones for cable stitches, not the long ones attached together that I knit everything on) and a ball of Drops Fable Superwash sock yarn to try again with.

NOW I have started again, using my little size 3 double points...have I mentioned I hate double points? Yeah, I ALWAYS loose stitches off the back end when I use DP's.

So I am using a set of sz.3 DP's that I made little plugs for the ends of out of some hair ties, the same hair ties I was using as markers lol.

I also decided to knit this up as a round because I have a total inability to leave any recipe, pattern or set of instructions alone.
All of my even numbered rows will now be reversed. Where the pattern says Pearl, I knit. Where it says knit, I pearl. But only on the even numbered rows.

It took 3 starts (due to dropping stitches off the back ends of my DP's) but I made it through row 4.


We shall see how this goes.

Nuff Said!

Isn't this just the way of addictions?

This would be my PSA post for the stringers that follow this blog. IF you happen to have pets in the house and IF you happen to have multiple projects going at once. I would highly recommend adding a "project bag", that can be securely closed, to your supply list for EACH PROJECT!!!

I have used fabric bags, old purses, older kids backpacks and even ziplock freezer bags. Something that you can stash all of your materials, instructions and WIP in to keep your furry friends from trying to "Help" you.

I have only had this happen to me once, cat was in 7th heaven, found an open basket with balls of yarn I had just spent a week untangling and rolling into balls. I then spent 4 days making the yarn into balls again.

Remember only YOU can prevent loose ends!

Cheap Finds

Im not ashamed to say I really like Dollar stores and Big lots.....
I'm cheap, they're easy nuff said.

Now and then I find some things I never expect to find there. Eyelash confetti yarn at Dollar Tree where its $3.50 a ball in the same colors at Walmart, and now this....

Landscapes. I made this panel, currently about the size of a pot holder to see how well the stuff felted down, I am hoping for a slightly large coaster.

I actually made this on a 7 hour bus ride with 2 kids Easter weekend last spring. I think this was the ONLY good thing that came out of that trip. Well other than my parents helping me find a new car so I wouldnt have to repeat the trip on the way home.

ANYHOW, I also have these



All I can think of for them would be a drop needle something, Scarf perhaps? maybe I should learn to felt, might get a couple of coasters by the time I am done.

Waiting.........

I'm sitting here in a great coffee shop, supposedly working on my worthless resume. and I look up and see these pretty yellow awnings across the street!


What do I have sitting in my car? A Hank of soft dove gray wool yarn that came from the ex's grandmother.

Why do these things connect?

Those awnings belong to my Local yarn store, Yellow Dog Knits.

I have a cup of Hot Caramel Apple Latte, a White Chocolate Raspberry Scone and a lovely winter view of a textile junkies small corner of happiness. Now I will spy on them until they open and THEN I will go fondle such things as Baby merino wool, SoySilk and even a few bobbly and bright varieties while I consult them on how to handle a 25 yr old hank of yarn that really wants to be something pretty.

Weekday Quickie!

This was just a little something I threw together with the leftover Soywool yarn.

You can either count out a set pattern or just go random here.

Cast on however many stitches across you want your scarf to be.
(Knit rows)Knit as many rows as you want on both sides.
(Loose row)Front Side: Increase every stitch on a row by wrapping your yarn over between each stitch. If you want longer loops wrap the yarn over twice. ( I think that's what I did on this one)
Back Side: Drop all of the wrapped stitches as you knit across. You don't knit any of the wrapped stitches, just the already knitted ones.
Then knit again.

It's an easy stitch once you get the hang of it. I have used it with a few different types/sizes of yarn to make "jewelery" scarves for friends.

way too long

I got poked by a fellow knitter last night to actually UPDATE this blog.....

Is it really UPDATING if it's been over a year since the last post?

Anyway, Last year I found GOOD yarn. I started collecting, playing, then got too busy to have a hobby. Now I have some time again and I am trying to make a few holiday gifts for friends and family.

I used a new material for me last year, a Soy-Wool blend. I loved it but it was pricey. THEN I found a similar yarn at Micheal's and bought a bunch since it was about half the price of the first ball I bought. I then had to find something to make out of it.

Here ya go......




That is the inside band of a beret type hat and a scarf that matches that was knitted lengthwise. No real pattern for either other than the hat was done on round needles using a magic loop method. I think I cast on 150 stitches and did a few ribbing rows, then I reduced by dividing the stitches evenly into a set number of sections and doing a K2Tog at the end of each section until I only had 1 stitch for each section left on the needles to run the tail thread through and tie off.

The scarf was started by casting on 250 stitches, doing a few ribbing rows, then knitting 5 stitches at each end and doing knit on the front side and pearl on the back side, then finished with ribbing a few rows. I did it that way because the yarn looked better striped lengthwise than shortwise.

It was all done on KnitPicks nickle plated interchangeable size 10.5 needles on a really long cable. It was a fun project and I am still wearing the hat and scarf.

I have 2 balls of this stuff in blue, haven't decided what to do with that yet.If anyone has any ideas they might want to use it for, let me know. I think I could handle bartering or selling some of my unused materials.