Crochet Stitches and a Sore Foot.

I had a foot op on Thursday, so a bit of pain a little more than I expected.

(Nothing major, a ganglion that had to be removed)

I ran my knit Cafe on Friday, forgetting to cancel.

And not one to be a let down;-0.

I slightly over did it!

So A lot of mindless stitches have been stitched,

This is a bag that been on the go for a couple of weeks

(Train crochet/small project bag)

Odds and ends.......

As you can tell it blends in well with my Africa Cardi
(As I used all the odds left so far)

I completed the strap,

Attaching by two button holes,

That I made at the top of the bag.

Pushing the strap through the holes

Attaching with an over sized button.

Strap and Button

Major foot rest day = feel sorry for my self!
(Big time)

So a whole lot of mindless stitches as the concentration is at a low level!;-(

The front flap flap the bag was one of my practices pieces,

from when I was making the Blythe shawls.

It fitted pretty nicely and then I edged it with the denim acrylic

To give it some weight.

My cute Pup, well teenager!

Rasmus

He needed to get some rest to, dreaming about his ball and grass

And not having the horrible snow;-)

Come on Spring..........

Ravelympics Day 14: Wrap-Me-Up Pup

I've finished knitting this little puppy his very own knitted blanket...

And that, my friends, is the completion of my Ravelympics projects for this year!

This pattern "Wrap me up Puppies" is also from the book Itty Bitty Toys.

I just love this book. This is now the 3rd pattern I've knit from it.

I'm pretty sure that Susan B. Anderson is a toy knitting genius.

My daughter absolutely loves putting her stuffed animals and dolls to bed.

That is by far her favorite playtime activity. From the first time I flipped through this pattern book, I knew that this is a toy that I would definitely make one day.

I just love how you can wrap this little blanket around and fasten it up like a little puppy burrito.

Very clever.

This puppy and blanket only took a few days to knit,

and was the easiest toy out of the 3 to make. I would definitely consider making this one again.

My daughter is of course thrilled to add puppy to her knitted toy collection..

...which is growing quite large these days...

inside blooms

February is probably my least favorite month of the year, so it is hard to believe it has seemed to fly by.

And,

despite the snowy weather we've had on & off...

Inside,

flowers are blooming...

Come fall, I bring inside most of my potted geraniums. Some spend the winter in the basement under lights, and some are put near windows upstairs. These two in my sewing room are planted in some olive oil cans.

Flowers are also blooming on two pillows I made for the living room...

I have been holding on to this fabric for over a year, unable to decide what to use it for. I realized that it would make perfect pillow covers--such a cheerful pattern seemed perfect for this gray time of winter.

I only had enough print for the cushion fronts, so I used some white linen remnants for the backs. Whenever I'm at Joann's, I search the remnant bins for discounted linen--it always comes in handy for something.

I made a few more pillows, I'll show you next time...

Ravelympics Day 13: Almost Done

Almost done with toy #3!

This little sleepy puppy just needs a knit accessory from me before it is completed.

He's awfully cute, isn't he?

Crochet is like lego

Crochet is like Lego.........

This is what I love about crochet, its just like Lego. If the house isn't tall enough, wide enough you just add another row of bricks.

Or in the case of my cardi, two new stripes of crochet(lego blocks).
I now have the shape but is was not wide enough at the front, it seems I'm not of mannequin proportions......... ;-(

Plane crochet..........

Plane Purse Crochet............

In photo shop fun.

Crochet flower in Central Park Graffiti.

Central park Crochet and my Africa flower travels, final stop NYC central park.
Mini Story Time........... We have early morning coffee, my family then walks to the park, heading for the Guggenheim. A chill in the air a glorious spring morning. My son stops still in his tracks....... Shock and horror on his face, he just realised that his bran new 18th Birthday, lap top that's in his bag........is back at the Star Buck's, Oj oj oj.

Quick Thinking...... Monet and I wait in the park(Add flower Graffiti), bean and dad hop in a taxi back to coffee shop, quick smart we sit saddened for Bean.

Fingers and toes crossed!! Yessss it had been handed in, the kind morning joggers
of central park;-) I love a good ending.



NYC Knit Shop.............

Knit shops

Fouth time to NYC (showing off,yes)
1st before knit
2nd one shop I'd googled(why) never found it!
3rd Romance and really we just sight saw.
4th for sure, we found knitty in the city.(Rich bless him) (Funny as it's a play on a name Quirky had thought up!)
1st impression a blast of colour, fab little knit cafe corner and the most books I have ever seen to read and buy.

Really helpful ladies, Well stocked with lots going on, and yes I introduced my self;-)

Brought some acrylic.......I know but I love it, loved the bag idea, clear so the world can see.




Plastic Roll on kitchen towel stand.........

Why? Trying to crochet but very unsuccessfully ,too wide, I tried to tape together then the dog hair just ping's to the yarn, end product it's looking a complete mess.

My house at the moment seems to be 100% static and I don't know why!, and the dog sheds enough fur a day to stuff a duvet, instead of duck down, I could have dog down;-).

Ravelympics Day 12: Odds and Ends

I've now gotten started on toy #3 for the "Ravelympics"!

This time I am pleased to be using up some partial skeins of yarn from projects past.

The tan skein is leftover from my daughters knitted horse from ages ago.

The blue is leftover from the reversible blue bird I knit up recently.

It feels so good to knit things from scraps!

Spontaneous Scarf #423,098,982

Here is the Spontaneous Scarf I made with the 3 new yarns from Stitch Nation: 1 skein each of Bamboo Ewe, Full of Sheep, and Alpaca Love. Basically I cast on somewhere between 200 and 300 sts on a long size 8 circ and did seed stitch using one color per row with about an 8" tail for knotting at each end for fringe. For more info about the much-loved Spontaneous Scarf, I did a blog post HERE that shows a scan of many scarves from the original Spin-Off article.

I added stripes in this scarf but most of my versions have been just one color in as many different yarns and fibers as I could manage. These scarves are a perfect way to use up all those odds and ends of yarns that result from a lot of color knitting.

MORE OLYMPIC KNITTING LINKS

Hannah Kearney, Olympic moguls gold medalist, is a knitter. HERE is an interview Sarah from Knitting.about.com did with her.

The free pattern for Mitts for Medals uses colorwork and cables.

HERE's gold medalist skiier Lindsey Vonn wearing the Dale of Norway Valle sweater. Personally I wouldn't  pair it with a La Perla bikini and high heels but I'm just boring that way. And HERE is the same sweater for purchase. I can't find a pattern for the sweater unfortunately.

HERE is a graph of the Olympic rings motif to be used for knitting.

HERE are lots of photos from the Kama web site of the athletes from Andorra wearing those gorgeous colorwork sweaters around the events.

Go check out MariannAn's beautiful Wintersocks for Ravelympics 2010. They're one of the most beautiful Ravelry knitting projects I've seen lately.

Sunday at the lake

Sunday was so sunny we just had to get outside. We headed to one of our favorite summer places, which is also pretty great in the winter too...
We bundled up and set off on the hiking trails.

...along Lake Ontario,

...along the creek,

...and through the woods.

These tracks had us puzzled at first until my very observant husband noticed the huge hoof prints that went with them...

They were from a horse drawn sleigh...I could just imagine what fun that must have been!

{fingerless gloves pattern ~ toasty}

~

Hot cocoa was the perfect ending.

Ravelympics Day 11: Lamby

Yep! Its a Lamb! Isn't he cute?

This was a pretty fun pattern to make.

It only took me a couple of evenings to create. I knit my Lamb from the Itty Bitty Knits book,

but you can also find this pattern for free online here in Petite Purls magazine.

What knitter doesn't love a knitted lamb?

My daughter loves him too.. especially since she didn't have to

wait a long time for him to be done.

I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Astrakhan for his nubbly woolly body, and O-wool Balance for his legs and face. The combination makes for quite a cuddly little toy. I love the boucle texture of the Astrakhan yarn but it was sort of a pain to knit with on such a tight gauge. The results were well worth it though! I think that the textured body really makes him extra special.

His I-cord legs are stuffed with pieces of a plastic drinking straw to make them rigid so that he can stand. I think that I made my legs a little too long, so Lamby is not so great on his feet. My daughter helps him though.. :)

Well.. its 11 days into the "Ravelympics" and I have 2 out of 3 toys completed!

Don't Francis and Lamby look so cute together on my daughter's shelf?

I've been working very hard on my Ravelympics projects and I'm glad that I'm ahead of the game. I didn't plan the end of this month very well.. and now I have Stitches West, the Ravelympics and a new podcast episode due all at the same time! Ahh!

What exactly was I thinking?

Ravelympics Day 10: Halfway There

I am almost done with "Ravelympics" toy #2!
I just have 2 more legs to attach and a face, ears and tail to knit.

I think I might be able to finish it tonight!

This little guy is from one of my favorite toy books, "Itty Bitty Toys".

Anyone know what kind of animal this one is?

Ravelympics Day 9: Onto The Next..

I've started my next "Ravelympics" toy!

Working with this soft boucle yarn is a welcome change

from the thin cotton I was using for Francis.

I think that this new little animal will work up awfully fast!

Meanwhile.. my daughter is having a lot of fun with her new turkey friend.

I love the way Francis the Turkey turned out..

but I don't think I would ever want to knit him again.

The pattern was a bit fiddly with lots of pieces, sewing, intarsia and woven in ends.

Was it worth it? Yes! Was it fun? Not exactly. :)

Blogging From NYC

Mon che, stacked.(In my day Cheeka Boo)

1st stop FAO Swartz........

Unfortunately the rumour of stocking Blythe,

Was not true, but looking was fun.

Edward
(Edward my new ken............)

Below my shocked Blythe at the no new clothes!

It seems ill never grow up, as a child I had one second hand Barbie,

As an adult I have Blythe so I have made up for that.

But never a Ken, so on seeing Twilight Edward Ken!

I had to have one.

Hotel Tv fun, we don't watch it!

Just take a photo using reflection.

Time Square Cocktail

Steps in Time Square,

This is new and its above where you que to buy the tickets for the shows,

You can just sit and look out at a,

Hectic Time Square.

Finally my crochet story (pic's to follow)

I mean it is titled Knits and purls! after all.........

Stripy plane knits, it was officially the most uncomfortable long haul
flight ever, Continental whom I will not ever be flying with again.
(except to get home,of cousre)

Three veggies dishes booked, turned into two veggie (no idea what veggies eat)
And one gluten free! YUK

And then the fast crocheter that I am I knitted up the threes balls the I had for take off in lightening speed.
(No sleep was happening, I had to sit so up right, my back was broken)

On standing to look in the over head for the rest of my stash, I realised,
that in all the Cufuffle of boarding this family.......you know the sort
decked out in designer, more hand luggage than is needed for a weeks worth of flying for one flight, squeezed everything into my over head.
(well not my personal, you know what mean.)

This equalled, I could get to nothing!!!

I voiced my upset loudly, but this got me know where as they had sat half way back on the plane,oj,oj,oj and so I sulked.