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Showing posts from December, 2007

Quilted Hat by Al

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I call it the stained glass window hat. She calls it the Quilted Hat as this is the name of the pattern. She used two skeins of Koigu, black and a bluebase. She found the pattern on our last trip to MN. Pattern: The Quilted Hat Pattern by Shelly Kang. She knitted it for her friend Karen who goes to college in Montana. Now, she is knitting one for herself. It is a slip stitch pattern. Shelly Kang writes out how to do all the decreases to keep it very clear and doable. I'll bet some of you will be wanting to make this beauty. Or perhaps you already have!

Headlamp knitting

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I doubt the inventor of this headlamp envisioned this simple knitter using it. I love this gift that Santa brought. My husband and son prefer the only light source in the room to be the glow of the television screen. Al can knit in the dark anyday. Now, I can stay in the same room and knit away. If, by chance, I become a spelunker I'll be all set. Cave knitting.......hmmmmmmm

Generations of knitters

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I did not have time to knit my Hungarian Uncle a scarf for Christmas. Al knew this. On Christmas Eve morning AL, said she wanted to knit him the scarf. By Chirstmas afternoon when he arrived, it was finished. Leftover encore from the reindeer sweater. She knit it length wise. Uncle was nearly tearful when he opened it. He said no one had knit him anything, since his Mother had years ago. He's wearing it as he headed home after Christmas dinner. Supposedly his sister, Rita, knit a sweater that never was worn. She was very talented and artistic. Uncle says she entered it in a contest or something and it was traveling around the US. Uncle embellishes a bit...but it is fun to know my Aunt was such a good knitter!

Merry Christmas to All our Blog Buddies

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I've saved Al's finsihed gift sweater to show you today. The zipper was put in after the image was shot. Aren't the reindeer wonderful? it's all Encore. Have a wonderful Christmas. May you enjoy the giving of your gift knits. May you find a way to catch a cat nap. May you knit heart be light, and May you find a little wool wrapped up under the tree.

THe curse of the verse?

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Was it the curse of the verse for this gift? It seemed that the sock gift would never be knit, It seemed it was doomed from the very first cast-on perhaps the sock gift would never be passed on. Then when it seemed that it couldn't get worse, something just happened, and reversed the curse. It wasn't a Cub fan bringing a goat, it wasn't a knitting doll with pins in its throat, I'm not sure what happened that brought round good luck could it have been the magic of good old dog Huck? Perhaps he just willed it, he knew I was blue, I think that he blinked, not just one time but two Whatever did it, the socks are now knit, they are darling and warm and a truly nice gift I thank you dear readers for all your support, Perhaps now the blog posts will have to resort, to my usual blah blah blah knitting reports!

Fashionable Knitting Deer

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This Deer little ornament hangs on the tree, Irisheyes Lynn gave this cute gift to me, She gave another deer knitter to Al, Lynn's a good knitter, good boss, and good pal. As for the socks that are still being knit, I thought I had run out of yarn, and I quit, Sometning inside me knew there must be some more, I looked through the stash and I pulled up the floor, I searched in each bag and each tote I had stash in, my whole Cara sock plan was coming down crashin', and there in the bottom of one little basket, I saw the small ball and I reached out and grasped it. It was the rest of the colorway and I knew , I just knew Cara would not just have one sock, she now would have two! I can finish the knitting tomorrow, I think, and the Christmas blog rhyming may end then, wink wink

The sock knitting goes on

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I was up in the wee hours the other night Rummaging round the knit bag sans light I came upon two cuffs, knitted up fine, STR no less, they were just divine. My knit heart began racing, Maybe Cara WOULD see, a pair of warm socks sitting under tree. I took out some chocolate sent to us all and I started to taste some, the round and the small. The wrappers would indicate progress you know, I finally have some sock success to show. The last sock is my knitting for most of today Al took the chocolates,she put them away, I hope I can manage on soynuts alone, please finish the last sentence, take this one home..........

A hat is a hat is a hat

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Well, just look at that, a hat, hat, hat, hat. Al's presents to cousins just need to be wrapped. She knit without whining, she knit wihtout woes, She started this summer and lo and behold, her hats aren't mishaped, they aren't to tight, in fact they have turned out precisely just right. Perhaps I can knit a hat, worthy of giving, I've got one day off, I won't work for my living, if I knit up with fat wool and sit for a day, maybe, just maybe I'll knit it okay. Maybe the socks weren't right for the gift, maybe a hat will give me a lift. A hat is so useful so essential so warm Cara will need in every snow storm. So I'll look for the pattern that will be just right, and I'll knit and i'll knit way through this cold night.

bah humbug

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I knit in some fairisle, just under the cuff, the sock needed something, and I had the stuff. I really had fun with my two-handed dance, Mixing the yarns so, and taking a chance. How could I forget that the sock that I knit, Would be so darn tight that it just wouldn't fit! I was nearing the toe part when the thought crossed my mind, why I'd try on the sock, our feet are the same kind. I knew in a twinkiling I felt my heart drop the sock was so tight, it was just a big flop. I quietly frooged the second try stocking, I am such a foolish one, my thoughts were all blocking. Can I bear to cast-on again, 10 nights from the eve, a hat would be easy, nothing with sleeves, The holiday gift knit, may not come to be, my knit heart is shrinking, for you all to see. Oh the stupid mistakes I make take out my steam I'm going to sleep on it, maybe to dream. With some chunky warm yarn, I could whip up a drumpet I could knit it right up to the top of Mount Crumpet.......

Another Christmas Rhyme

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Twas nearing the Christmas and all through the room, the mood began changing, no longer gloom doom. The gift sock reknitting was coming along, the short sock itself was becoming quite long. The Pony Pearl double points clicking away, this gift might be finished, I heard myself say. Finshed for Christmas finished in time, perhaps then the Christmas posts won't have to rhyme. For now, though, the rhymes will just have to stay I don't want to jinx this, socks do go astray, we've all had it happen, the second sock way...... Fear not dear blog readers, the lurkers and all, the poets, the bloggers, the small and the tall, with coffee and Coke and a lot of time still, Cara's sock will be finished, it will, oh it will!

The sock gift that wasn't

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Twas the weeks before Christmas and all through the house one knitter was knitting as quiet as a mouse. The stockings were not hung by the chimney with care, we know they'd all stretch if they hung in the air. Me in my fingerless she in her cap, I'd just gotten up from another good nap, Well, I cant make it all rhyme at least not today. Suffice to believe the sock shown went away. The colors were ugly, they just didn't go, this Chirstmas gift sock was a no no no, no. With the holiday clock ticking loudy away, Al took back the stitches without disarray. I'm knitting a new scheme, you'll be happy to know, I'll be posting it soon, and it's worthy to show!

Magical Match

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Anyone who reads this blog will know I could not have planned for these socks to match. I'm was all smiles when I noticed how they'd knit up. I started with one skein, knit all the way through it, which took me midway through the second sock. Then I started the second skein. I think this is a knitting miracle. There is probably a mathematical or some other explanation for this. If there is, don't tell me. I want to believe it was a Christmas Lorna Lace miracle.

the Huck model missing in the post below.

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the Huck model missing in the post below.

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Its a wreath, its a collar, its a

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Magic Circle Vest in progress. Modeled by Huck. I hope I can finish this by next week. Also on the needles, Christmas gift socks. Merry is a new reader without a blog. She's going to use markers for the first time. She'd like us to teach her all about them. I'll start: Merry, Stitch markers simply tell you that something happens here when you are knitting. They remind you to do something. Al needs the computer now.

To Merry who had a question,

Dear Merry You are not butting in at all. I love that little one seam teddy. I hope you enjoy making him. (or her with a pink sweater)! SLM means slip the marker. Does that make sense? Do you have a blog Merry? You can leave it for us in the comments and we'll visit! Happy knitting kathy b irisheyes

The sister loves her vest.

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Well, she looks great in it, doesn't she? She was thrilled with how the colors complimented her red hair. Wow, is that the vest I knit? This half Hungarian sister is also....well, half-irish. Looks just like my mother. Born the day after my mom lost her dad. Genes are really really incredible. I get to see this in my work. Powerful things. She's the only one of us with red hair. When she visited over the Thanksgiving holidays she mentioned that now that she is back in the Midwest, she notices how we end our sentences with prepositions. We do? I am probably the worst at this. I guess I'm am not such a language snob after all, eh? I am well aware that my English teachers would cringe at my writing habits. I prefer to think of the blog as a dialogue with you. So I write as I speak, sort of. Heee hee heeee. This means I am really choosing to use share our vernacular in this little blog. So there. It is what the blog is made of......Sorry Sister Catherine Madi

My favorite ornament........row counter

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THis is my new row counter. Aint' she cute? I have Marcie at Moosieknits.blogspot.com for the little gem. She quickly and very reasonably made me this very basic row counter. It looks like a little Rosary to me. I do rely on prayer for my worstest mistakes that I keep on knitting past. As in, "it'll be a minor miracle if this turns out unnoticed" .......or, "please Lord let this mistake felt into unnoticeable oblivion....." Which begs the question, Are there knitting angels? Enough. You slip the little rings over your work at the end of the knitting in the round row, If you are very easily distracted during your sock knitting, dishrag knitting, etc. this little abacus works. Say you are knitting away and the phone rings, and even though there are no less than 6 other hands, idle mind you, in the house, you end up answering the call. You can go right back to your knitting and just look at the number of beads dangling from the big bead, and know e