<3-felt(ed) wishes

The baskets are felted. The darker one took 3 times as long to felt as the pink. It's the kind wool.. Makes sense that Vermont aran (designed for fisherman sweaters) would be heartier and more difficult to felt than merino. At any rate, they're both drying but I thought I'd post some pictures for all to see.

The first:

Pattern: Heart-felt wishes by Carol Bristol
Yarn: Vermont Natural Wool aran weight double stranded
Color: Handyed by me with easter egg dyes and food coloring
Needle: US13
Amount: about 3 oz.

The second:

Pattern: The same as above
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino double stranded
Color: 210 Petal Pink
Needle: US 13
Amount: about 2 oz.


Interesting to note the size differences between the two baskets. The only variable was the wool. The Paton's fulled in 1 wash cycle. The Vermont aran needed 3 cycles to full. The thickness of the wool has a result on size but the texture also had an effect on the final result.





All in all, filled with chocolate, I think it will be a lovely gift. One that I, for sure, would love to receive. It's a quick knit and the only part I didn't enjoy was picking up the stitches from the bottom to knit the sides of the basket, but that's always my least favorite thing to do, pick up stitches. I'd make it again for the right person. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the pattern is still available online. I downloaded it quite some time ago and when I went to look for it the other night, couldn't find it online.

update: Carol's pattern is NO longer available online. If you're interested in it, contact her, maybe she'd sell it to you.

the 2nd is finished

heart that is.. at least the knitting. The felting will commence Thursday evening (yes that would be later today as it is about 3:30 am here in the eastern portion of the US) I cast on tonight and kept knitting to finish as I listened to the latest episode (#60) of Cast On with Brenda Dayne, only to discover that it will be another month until I get to hear the next. I totally understand and support where she's coming from and her podcasts are so worth the wait. I'll listen to Sticks and Strings between and catch up on some episodes there as well as Lime and Violet that I've been hearing good things about.

For Christmas I got DH an adapter for the iPod in the car. It picks up an FM frequency that isn't being used and plays your iPod through that frequency. It works OK in the car that we both use for me to and from work, but for long journeys (like DH when he has to go to his church job) or to my parents the amount of FM stations in use is unbelievable so it can become cumbersome... I perservere but I think he doesn't have the patience. At any rate, I've been listening to KnitPicks podcasts on the way home from work if the NPR stories don't interest me. It's about the right lenght to allow for some channel searching mid-trip and the podcast is OK.

I really need to go to bed now so that I can get about 3 hours sleep before starting my day (with all those little kids!)

Good day and happy crafting

hearty wishes

the basket is knitted.. well basket #1 that is. I dyed the wool on Saturday night and CO on Sunday evening after the kids were in bed, whcih came after I got home from visiting the folks. Then I finished knitting last night (after the grocery store trip and putting the kids to bed) Now to knit #2 so that they can be fulled at the same time. Unfortunately there isn't enough of the handdyed wool left to knit another, so I guess I'll hit the stash. I think I have some pink Paton's classic in there and it takes less that 100g total. I can't wait to see them after they're fulled (and filled with candy of course!) One of these days I'll knit for myself LOL

Happy crafting

pictures

The little Panasonic point and shoot is now the camera I'm using. The kids got if from Red for Christmas. I don't know about the Kodak... I'm so sad about that camera.

Here are some pics:

Pattern: show your colors shawl by Spunky Eclectic
Yarn: Jeannie by Kraemer Yarns
Color: Handyed by me "berries in the snow"
Needle: US4

The color in this picture isn't great. The picture below shows its best color. I made a few stray yarnovers that are noticeable upon close inspection, but it's barely noticeable. The new thing that I learned while finishing this shawl was the knitted picot edge. I like it and it's easy peasy! Also this was my first real blocking and a chance to use the wires I bought at Joann.com with a 50% off coupon :-)




Here's mom with her newly acquired shawl. I drove down to my brother's house this afternoon to give it to her along with some other things for she and dad. I think she likes it. Hope she uses it in good health!



Tami over at Tami knits is hosting a contest in celebration of her 100th post. Go leave a comment to enter to win some yarn and stitch markers and tell her I sent you!



DD's rug has been started. Her room is pink so I chose pink. She had a fit and wanted blue So we compromised and put both colors in with white as a buffer. I'm modifying the flower power towel pattern.


That's about it for now.. Happy crafting

:-/

My camera seems to be broken. I'm wondering if little hands got hold of it. I have a shawl to show off and some new projects I'm working on. One is a knitted rug for DD's bedroom. I'm adapting the flower power hand towel pattern by enlarging it and using triple stranded cotton on 10.5 needles (well 2 of the 3 strands in the triple strands are double worsted, so it's like 5 times the thickness of the towel)

My brother called at 11 PM today asking for some remedies to my father's incontinence problems as a result of the recurring tumors in his bladder. well not a solution to the problem, but rather ways to deal with it. Seems dad isn't doing well with adult dipes... a. doesn't want to spend the $ (and probably isn't changing as often as he should to make them effective) and b. is getting confused as to how they work. So at any rate, they aren't working out very well. I grabbed some prefolds that we have sitting in the house waiting to be liberated and some Malden Mills fleece I bought oh so long ago and fashioned a super thick pad... by folding and sewing the prefold in thirds and sewing the fleece to the back to act as a waterbarrier. I made two tonight and hope that DH (who is battling the flu) is on his pins enough to let me run down there in the afternoon (it's a 60 mile trip each way) to deliver them and show him how to use them. I was thinking maybe I should try to knit up a wool soaker for his as well. I'll have to get him some briefs though because these won't work so well in boxers. The man is so thin I could wind up getting teen briefs. He 6' tall and only weighs about 130 pounds so a size small should do fine. I have a wool pad that is made from a felted sweater, double thick (the back and front parts of the body are sewn together) that I then lanolized so that he could sit on that in case of leakage. How ironic that DS2 has been out of dipes for about 6 months now and I'm still working on wool and cloth. Getting old isn't any fun!

I found a gorgeous cloth pattern on Ravelry that I think I'll knit for myself. It's really pretty. It's called Ivy's cloth. It was a part of the cloth of the week KAL that I belong to but haven't had time to knit... one of these days.

WIth any luck I'll find the software to install on my computer for the kids camera they got for Christmas so that I can upload the pictures.... I'll bet they won't even fix my camera :-(

oh my

it's been over a week with no posts. Shame on me.

Here's my brother's mittens finally finished YEA!!!!!!

Pattern: The mitten wardrobe by Kate Atherly
Yarn: Bernat Camouflage
Color: Outback
Needle: Size 4 and size 6 dpns




I married two mittens from the wardrobe and came out with this child. The left mitten is the regular mother's mitten a simple convertible mitten. The right one is the mother's mitten wed to the bad habit mitten.


Since my brother will most likely be wearing these hunting (don't get me started), he needs a trigger finger on the right hand. One was finished for Christmas and the other almost. At church on Christmas eve I sat and knitted and when he tried it on, the flap was too long, so while ripping I lost my mojo... and it sat, and sat. I had more important things to do like knit cloths for mom and dad and work on mom's shawl and I hated knitting with acrylic.

But now it's over and I'm so happy. If I was a tad more wasteful I'd burn what was left of the second skein. But I didn't use much of it, so I'm hoping to get a hat for him yet.


I finished mom's shawl during the inservice with 2 hours to spare. Now it needs some blocking, but the colors are gorgeous.... Hope she likes it. I'll post a picture after it's blocked. I wish I had taken something wlsee with me to work on. It was a boring in-service.

Dad went in the hospital again on Saturday. His port was leaking on the left side. The don't know what's blocking the ureter.. I have my suspicions, but fear if I say them aloud, it will make them true. DS2 and I got to the apt. just as the nurse and security had arrived. He was slightly (haha) agitated that they were sending him to the hospital, but they didn't want to mess with a leaking port. He has surgery well today now in the afternoon to open up the ureter again. My heart aches for him.

Well DS2 just came down the steps crying. He still feels a tad feverish.....

another year older and no smarter

the half century mark is approaching more and more quickly. I was so glib to tease my brothers when they turned 50, I'm sure it will come back to bite me in the behind when the day comes.

DH was so generous to me... I'll post pictures soon, but right now isn't the time. I can say he bought me almost all things wool but nothing for me to make. In other words, no yarn, already FOs... from Donegal Square (one of my favorite stores downtown) and a beautiful necklace from the same place.

We went out and got the 2 oldest kids new mattresses. Ready to be picked up Thursday.

It's snowing now.. I can pray for a snow day tmrw. Half of me wants it and the other half dreads it.... never make this old woman happy!

I worked on mom's shawl this weekend. Was knitting on the way to church (a long commute) and noticed a dropped stitch before the last lace section... so I'm frogging back to the stockinette section. I was so hoping to finish it today, but I'm afraid that won't be happening.

We went to see the folks today. My younger older brother brought dad from rehab to the apartment both yesterday and today so that he and mom could spend some quality time together (and to get him out of that place) so we all had lunch together. The kids were pretty well behaved but 3 hours of being in the 'village' was about all they could handle. Next week I'll go alone and try to get something accomplished for them. I know the visit with the grandkids was good mental health for mom. Dad gets annoyed with them behaving like little kids (which of course they are.. he'd reather have grandchildren that were 3 5 and 7 that behaved as if they were 18 and older) He's back to his old self again... but he's looking worn. I hope he gets to move in the apartment soon. He needs that.

Happy crafting!

2007 totals

well just to give myself an idea of what I accomplished knitting wise in 2007:

• bathmats: 2
  
• blanket rectangles: 14
  
• bookmarks: 1
  
• Chakalaka: 10
  
• Easter eggs: 4
  
• felted baskets: 3
  
• felted changepurse: 1
  
• felted slippers: 3 pair
  
• felted purses: 3
  
• fingerless mitts: 2 pair
  
• hats: 5
  
• headbands: 1
  
• mittens: 1.5 pair
  
• peeps: 3
  
• pumpkin: 1
  
• scarves: 2
  
• socks: 2 pair
  
• warshrags: 40
  

hmmmm not as impressive as I had hoped.. guess I better get knitting!

Miracles DO happen

Well mom is in her new digs. Dad is SO much better... thanks to all of you who held him up. They moved him out of CCU yesterday to the telemetry unit. His BP is stabalized without meds, his kidneys are fully functioning with drains in them to 2 bags because both ureters are blocked (which explains why he wasn't urinating... hard to get it out) So his potassium levels are great now instead of deadly and the creatinine levels are good as well. He does have MRSA in his bladder, which needs to be dealt with but it's really a miracle that he made it through all he did. Praise the Lord! Pop said to me Friday night he guesses he has something else he has to do in his life.

On to knitting, which of course is kind of the purpose of the blog.

Cloths for the rents new apartment:

Pattern: Zigzag lace by Maile Mauch
Yarn: Lily Sugar n Cream
Color: Potpourri Ombre
Needle: US7
This doesn't look like the example on Maile Mauch's page at all. But it is really pretty



Pattern: Tuscany Tile Roof by Maile Mauch
Yarn: Lily Sugar n Cream
Color: Potpourri Ombre
Needle: US7



Pattern: Carlsbad Flower Fields by Maile Mauch
Yarn: Lily Sugar n Cream
Color: Potpourri Ombre
Needle: US7




Pattern: Mad Dash by Maile Mauch
Yarn: Lily Sugar n Cream
Color: Potpourri Ombre
Needle: US7

The center of this cloth is completely screwed up. I was knitting this at the New Year's Eve party when I got the call about dad and tried to knit it off and on in the hospital, when I wasn't holding his hand.. but I really wasn't concentrating on the pattern and it's obvious when you look at the cloth!

And finally, the last installment to my SIL's Christmas set:

Pattern: Snowbird by Sue Schaefer at Harvest Moon Designs
Yarn: Lily's Sugar N Cream
Color: wine
Needle: US6

frantically knitting

to finish the dishcloths. 5 of 6 are complete. Pictures to be added later. TOnight I have to go down to pack up some of the rent's things as the move is scheduled for tmrw.

We almost lost dad Monday night... and things are looking pretty grim Just taking one day at a time. So it won't be until after the weekend when I post. Keep him in your prayers....