Tricks or Treats?

Happy Halloween Readers! There is a little trick in the Halloween photo today.....

and in honor of the frightful day, I give you: Maya Angelou's :

Life Doesn't Frigthen Me

Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all
Dragons breathing flame
On my coutnerpane
That doesnt frighten me at all
I go boo
I make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
etc.

Know what frightens me, Irisheyesreaders?
Seaming.....What frightens you?

IF I Could Turn Back Time......

Ahhhhhhh an extra hour of knitting. What a treat! I just may cast on my Mountain Color socks. (thanks again Lynn for the birthday yarn) This extra hour should be pure indulgence. No gift knitting.

To accompany the indulgence I might just have to try the new ice cream store in town.....I'll see if they carry my favorite.....cinnamon ice cream. MMMMMMMMM. If not there's enough Halloween candy around here to feed a class of 8th graders...so I'll find something.

What will you do with your extra hour?

A Halloween List .....or what to title this post?

1. Still using up the stash.
2. Just one more row......
3. Here lies Paige...she never checked her gauge.
4. Hair raising yarns
5. Knit a wrap for your favorite mummy.
6. Knitting her fingers to the bone.
7. Knit ghoul's guide to binding off.
8. Vampire Knits
9. UFO
10. ___________________ (what's your title for this post?)

This too shall FROG

I don't know exactly what went wrong.
It may have been the curse of the circular needles.
It may have been the distraction factor.

Maybe I shouldnt have knitted a pinwheel during Hurricane season.
I should have listened to the little voice in my head, saying, stop now.
Better not to bore the reader,
Suffice to say the pinwheel baby blanket in terry soft blues and yellows will be frogged.
Just because its finished doesn't mean its worthy.

Baby's R Us here I come. :(

Al's design

This is Al's malabrigo design. I think her pattern really shows off the yarn. She is working on mitts as well. So why isn't she modeling? Well, some days you don't want to be in the picture I guess. Frankly she's at an age where even rolling out of bed and stumbling to the kitchen, she looks great. My sister and I call it the age of beauty. Why is it that we didn't believe we were beautiful then either? Ah foolish youth.

On other knitting fronts, I am beginning the holiday gift knitting panic. Perhaps it is knowing that we change the clocks back this Sunday in our part of the country that is stirring it up. The colors of the leaves in Chicago this time of year are such a treat. Seeing the sugar maples leaves pooled under the trees makes me think I need to find a yarn that color. What's your favorite color in nature that you wish you cold find in a yarn?

I have made at least 3 people happy

Zach is happy to have his malabrigo fingerless gloves for guitar picking. He opted for the to the second knuckle version. This way he can roll the tops back when he needs to for certain songs, and leave them long for other times.

This should serve as a Finishing Friday entry for MajorKnitter Jen's blog, and for a Peaceful palm contribution to Nona's knit-a-long. There that's 3 happy people. :)

I used size 6 straights. Cast on 60 stitches and knit every row. I added a thumbhole about half way through, using basic buttonhole technique, and finished it off with a 3 needle bind off. I knitted in some very thin black elastic to help it keep its shape. One skein of malabrigo was more than enough yarn. Frugal hungarian cost: around 12.00 for the yarn and elastic. Happy son: priceless.

A pair of nines

I was doing some OWR knitting, (orthodontist waiting room) this afternoon, when another woman began her OWR knitting. Delighted I was, to knit with another. This may make me not look so geekish, to the son that is when he comes from the torture chamber, I postulated....Truth is he is so used to me knitting anywhere, everywhere, that he looks at me strangely when I am NOT knitting.

The other OWR knitter took out a lovely big baby blanket with a repeat pattern. She told me how it was easy to memorize (pardon me, but I have NEVER been able to memorize more than 3 step pattern rows without faling miserably. I have tried sticky notes and other tricks. I just cannot seem to knit quietly enough to keep my place.) Conversation went the way of LYS, blankets edges and finishing deadlines for soon to be born babes.

Then she mentioned to me that she only knits with a pair of 9's. She doesn't have any other needles, so she adjusts ALL her patterns to this pair of 9's. My first thought was, how smart she is. Imagine, you knit everything on a pair of 9's. That eliminates a whole bunch of catergories. (SOCKS, I gasped in my racing mind, that means no socks......)

So this begs the question: If you could only knit with one size needles what size would they be? Is there a universal size?

Hence my pair of nines, post, with Fanny Mae chocolate bar and birthday angora ....because I must be lost on a desert island if I can only knit with one pair of nines.....what do you think of this? And I was worried about what to post today...

Puff the little Dragon Costume

Here is the cutest costume this Halloween. Jen's silky terrier pup is a very brave dragon in his little puff ball costume. Custom knitted by Jen's mom, Jan, my best knitting teacher ever. She just knits in her creativity and comes up with wonders like this.

Sedie asked about getting her very own Crochet calendar. Sedie, they are available at Borders and Barnes and Noble according to the publisher. I wish it would have included feltable crochet patterns. I find it so much faster to crochet and felt, and actually think the outcome is superior to knitted felted outcomes.

knit wit's free-standing muffler

It is Monday, but this is what I finished on Finishing Friday. I am always surrounded by babies. Is it any surprise I love being surrounded by baby alpaca?

Treat not Trick

This treat came in the mail today. My grandmother's crochet apron appears on the Christmas Day page. I'm going to be treating myself to some calendar page reading tonight. I let you know what knitting/crocheting crossovers I can find.

I did finish something on Finishing Friday ; I'll show you soon. Mini-muffler in baby alpaca.......ohhhhh ahhhhhhh. For the price of 11.00 with Al's discount, I made this toasty littel camel colored neck warmer, AND my hands enjoyed the lanolin. They feel like new. I'm a baby alpaca fan now.

Sox and Rubbers

Well I was saddened to read Alison's blog today regarding the lack of committment that has become prevalent among sox clubs. Is this a Strictly American problem? Some of you are apparently uncomfortable with the whole 'sox in today's society' discussion. But, I am a believer that sox education must begin early. Yes, even sox in the classroom....

If one waits to try sox, until later in life, the entire topic becomes taboo for some. With the sudden surge in second sox syndrome, I ask you, what is the root of soxual dysfunction? Let's face it: its the inablity to finish. Plain and simple.

If the knitter is uncomfortable with sox in the 2000's, whose to blame? It seems it isn't enough to have sox anymore. You have to join sox clubs, buy sox toys and and protect yourself with diagrams. These diagrams are not always 100 percent effective; they have been known to become lost, rendering them almost certainly ineffective.

Traditional sox methods have butted heads lately with the invention of the two circular craze. Apparently getting it started is the biggest issue. It seems to me sox is sox and one can enjoy it anyway they wish. Its a personal preference. If getting started keeps you from your sox, you'll never know...the joy of Sox at all.

Take it from those of us with lots of sox experience: have protected sox and wear your rubbers. A tear can lead to unwanted sox and lots of tears.

I won't even begin to have the whole Sox envy discussion........

Be safe.
Your Cub fan blogger
kathy b

Al's finished Lucky sweater

This is not the best photo of Lucky. The best photo of Lucky would be Al wearing it. She won't. She thinks it is too big for her. Argh. She worked so hard on Lucky.

To my knit pals at GWOUP: For those of you unfamiliar, our knit group meets at our local Borders in Wilmette tonight. Our name is GROUP. We are working on the words that make the acronym. Mine are: Generally WOund UP People. I prefer Gwoup. Anyhow, if Deborah brings stitch markers and I cannot swing by after work, I want the one everyone thinks is the nicest. Okay? I have dibs on this. IF you are too young to know what a dib is, it means I called it, Okay?

Hope I can get there before you all depart at 8pm. I'm working until 730....

Knitter Heal Thyself

A synonym for heal is KNIT. :)

But, we already knew that.

Lynn's knitpicks i-pod cover is shown today. She's going to felt that beauty. It is for one of her daughters. I hope she'll post a picture of it felted for us. Maybe we'll get to see the Alpaca hat she made for her daughters Marching band competition, too. No pressure Lynn.......

Al says the knitting community came out in droves this week at 3 Bags Full. Knitters, heal thyselves. :)

This post brought to you by Kathy b.

Shaw-lette

Knit One Purl Too little shawl. (I call it Shaw-lette)

This is a definite for Holiday gifts. Under 20.00 and it would never tell. The frugal Hungarian with the Irisheyes will be happy to knit shawlettes and delighted to give them as beautiful gifts.

Al and I went apple picking last week. We carefully chose an orchid that would lead us past Artistic Fibers in Burlington Wisc. I found a Sirdar denim bulky (Ultra- cotton and wool) that should knit up fast for my Colorado sister's fingerless gloves. She got married in her blue jeans, neatest wedding I've ever attended.

My husband promises to bake us an apple pie today. I am using a Honeybaked ham bone to make confetti bean soup for us today. I love the change of seasons and the meals we lean towards when they change. What do you like to eat/cook/bake when the season changes to Fall? Do your fiber choices get woolier with the seasons getting colder?And does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?

Quiddity.typepad.com sock contest entry

I give you: my sock drawer.........

It is the one year anniversary of our blog

Lynn and I knit at the Chicago Botanic Gardens yesterday to celebrate blogging.
Al, a valuable irisheyes blogger, was sent off to school where she spent SOME time out of class anyhow at the nurse's office. We're calling it an alpaca reaction. She was knitting in shorts due to the Chicago heat, and the part of her left leg on which the alpaca rested, morphed into a nasty raised rash overnight.

Her wimpy Irish skin is rash happy. Has anyone else ever had a wool rash? Please respond yes, quickly , and mention it was not life-threatening and you were able to attend school uninterruptedly. My children have it hard, with a pediatric nurse mother and a paramedic father, they can't pass the wimpy stuff off on us. I threw down the gauntlet early in their little lives: "Show me the fever and we'll talk..."

Oh, I've digressed. I'm taking liberties now that I am not a rookie blogger.

Lynn and I celebrated on the Garden's patio and were graced by a hummingbird momentarily. Late for migration here in Chicago. Lucky to see ANY hummingbirds willy nilly in this area. We knitted and the time flew. The breeze was at its best.

Now if Lynn is in the hospital yet, she hasn't let on to me. The ultimate blog/friend/ appeased me by sitting outside all morning whilst the mold count was astronomically high amidst well, amidst the BOTANIC GARDEN trees, flowers and shrubs. She was not using an inhaler when we parted......

We (I) said we should talk about a few goals for our Irisheyesknitters blog. She laughed. (Excuse me, Mrs. promotion on the unit, goals are not just for the merit raises in life) She said, "Like maybe I should post again sometime eh?"
I said there was no pressure. I've had diarrhea of the fingers since I could type, so as long as she posts the photos of her incredible knitting, I was happy. I thought her goal should be writing a pattern to post on our Irisheyesknitters.

My goal is to keep it informative. Keep it fun. Keep up the frequent posts.

Looking back to last October we were the Knappinghouse blog, until I learned what a knapper was and decided I didnt want big strapping knappers finding my little yarn gibberish when they did a search and became the Irisheyesknitters.

Maureen, Lynn, Al and I all have blue irisheyes. This means we are blessed with smiling eyes more often than not. It means some of us are more Irish than others. Some are more Hungarian! It was the one thing we had in our common roots. A year later Maureen still hasn't bought her camera.

Too bad for us. She's a phenom knitter. Lynn continues to help me along in moments of tears related to but not limited to: seams, patterns, general knitting inferiority thoughts and computer photo crashes.

Al, is a big reason why its so easy to post. With two knitters under the roof, there is almost always something new going on. Her working at 3 Bags Full is always good for material. She is a great knitter, due to her wonderful math mind, her nourished art gene ( you should read her college essay, knitters be proud!), and the many many knitters she is surrounded by at 3 Bags Full in Northbrook. I would like a post of her knitting in class before she graduates high school in January. It was one of the only things that comforted her in high school. Not ONE teacher ever asked her to stop. She's the finisher around here, I'm Kitchener Queen. Its a co-dependency issue for us.

So thanks, Lynn, Al, and Maureen for blogging with me. Because you make my Irish heart happy.....

Its a prototype ....or I knit what?

It's a practice okay? While the pumpkin practice hat is almost acceptable, just wait until you see the real one. The next will not have a face. Who wants to look at a pumpkin face when the BABY'S face should be the focus. Putting practice pumpkin on a doll made it all look spooky. Think totempole of heads.

Fixation mixed with yarn at bottom gives it good stretch. Next time it'll match the base yarn. The vines are staying. They travel to the back as well.

I'm staking claim to the vine idea.....it is my own.