My First and Last Vogue Lace Knitted Shawl

On Ravelry here are all the notes about knitting this shawl.  Curse words were deleted for family friendliness, and just the facts were included; this is the end result.  Mind you, I will never, ever knit this pattern again.

But the hearts, once they were blocked out, do make an interesting motif down the center panel.  It is five feet in width, so the shawl will wrap around the neck/body with appropriate warmth.  Although I am not a big fan of picot edging, it was included as a part of the pattern, so who I am to argue with Vogue. (?)  So it was picot edged.

Linking with Natural Suburbia and Fiber Arts Friday where other fiber related crafts can be seen.

Gift Enclosure Cards and Fiber

Everyone has favorite images saved on their computer, just because.  So take a few of your favorite pictures, sandwich them between plastic laminates or clear plastic sheets from recycled products and make some interesting gift tags or book markers with the help of your sewing machine and left over bits and bobs of ribbon, buttons or bows.  (Clear plastic sheets can be purchased at any craft store.)

Images are held between clear plastic pages, then stitched to separate pictures. Cut beside the stitching lines to create open topped envelopes.

Now an enclosure card, your business card, or just a quick "thank you" note can be slipped into the opening of the card you made.

Here are a dozen made within an hour.  (Be sure to discard your needle after sewing because the plastic will dull the point of the needle when sewing through the plastic.)

Joining in Finished Objects Friday and Fiber Arts Friday, here is a finished Looped Loop cowl made from Shetland hand dyed and hand spun wool.  It was completed right before going to Phoenix for the Scrabble tournament, but it was too warm there to wear it.  Never fear, more snow will blow in Colorado this March, so it will get lots of use.

Mouse, Mice, Meece

How can you not think mice are cute?

Not the destructive type of mouse, that varmint type, that eat grain, sneak into your pantry and eat a hole in your Cheerios box ... but the type of mice as portrayed by Beatrix Potter and other whimsical artists.

Let your mind wander to sweet mice, funny mice, darling mice, like these

And even knitted mice!

This is a family of mice I knit from the book Knitted Cats and Kittens by Stratford.  An odd choice for knit?  Maybe.  But I think that one or two peeking out from the brim of a hat might give a chuckle.

 

 

Again linking to Fiber Arts Friday and Finished Objects Friday!

 I do think mice are very nice.



Post Christmas Post

Time to bring down the ornaments after the Christmas holiday.  And don't you know Amazon and FedEx employees are about fed up with their jobs by today?

A little catch up: lunch with the ladies in an uptown restaurant on Monday.

We lost Maureen, one of our original set of coffee/lunch cancer support group members, to breast cancer in November.  She really did not want to leave us.  We mourned her passing, prayed for her family, and are trying to reconfigure our group without her.   But we gained her daughter and daughter-in-law as new friends in a younger generation.  We toasted Maureen and remembered her with fondness and love.

Linking with Tami for a Finished Object Friday and with Fiber Arts Friday is the Derecho Shawl (the small size is a big shawl).

 

Forget that dopey facial expression and concentrate on the shawl.  Pattern and details here.

 link

Click on the link/picture above to see what others are up to this Friday.

 

A thought to ponder:

See you Monday!

Week in Review

December 7-14, 2013

• Weather

Record low temperatures this week here on the western slope of Colorado with -15 degrees!  Also we had 8 + inches of snow here.

• Something New (to me)

Audible.  Love listening to books.  I've never bought more than a dozen audible book downloads, and usually from iTunes or Amazon.  But after listening to one of my favorite podcasts (The KnitGirllls), I was convinced to try an Audible subscription, with the first book free and twelve credits thereafter for a reasonable price.  As of yesterday, I'm listening to Life after Life, thanks Jean, and just purchased The Winter Sea by Suzanne Kearsley, thanks  to Woolythyme.

• Knitting

on the Derecho shawl:

• Food and recipes

Especially enjoyed root vegetable stew by the husband, Martha Stewart's cornbread and sausage dressing WITHOUT garlic and served with Cornish hens (thank you, Steph at KnitspiringOdyssey), spritz sugar cookies, and new coffee creamers (Mexican Cinnamon Chocolate by Lucerne is my favorite this week)

I may make cakes adapted from Gretchen's Nativity Cake recipe for the neighbors who so graciously shared their bountiful pumpkins, tomatoes and squash with us during harvest time.

• Reading

finished The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani.  Giving it a grade of A-.

finished Amy Tan's Valley of Amazement.  Lots of reviews of the book out there.  Here is one recent review.  I would give it a grade of  B- for overall enjoyment.

 

still picking up Fredrick Beuchner's digital book Secrets in the Dark

• Mailed

Cookies for Julie and a few little gifts

completed fairy for the fairy ornament swap.

• Apps:

plugging along on "Flow Free" and  compulsively playing "Words with Friends".  Invite me to play under the name "templeton7" and we can compete on this sorta' Scrabble app.  Also using the new Audible app for listening to books and doing the daily word puzzle on "7 Words"

• Christmas decorations

Set up Madonna and Child icons and votive candles

 

• TV

the never ending funeral of Nelson Mandela, incredulous at the sign interpreter (did you see Jimmy Kemmel's take on the schitzoid interpreter?  I laughed.)

Enjoying some of the sweet little Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel, and movies from the books Diary of a Wimpy Kid (thanks, Charlotte).

"Magic of the Snowy Owl" (Nature), available through Dec. 25 on PBS Roku Channel

• New blog friends I am stalking:

 barefootcrofter in Scotland
 Gladsome Lights in CA
 The Ellen Report

• Linking to

Yarn Along with Small Things

link

A Deep Freeze

It is beginning to look a little like Christmas around here.  I'll have some pictures to show you on Sunday, along with a post about Advent.  Floss in the UK sponsors a blog-along relating to Advent, and I have been reading up in anticipation of remembering the Baby's birth during Advent. 

For today, some cooking, perhaps.

 

 

It is -5 degrees outside and could almost look like this if we got on our snow clothes and took a picture! But we have not had nearly as much snow as my friends in the North, nor have we experienced those dangerous icy conditions on the roads.  Friends, remember to drive safely!



It is pretty outside since we had eight inches of snow in the past few days.  But I'm in my jammies (yes, still), perusing Pinterest and about to continue reading Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement.  Finished another pair of ballet slippers and linking to Finished Objects Friday and Fiber Arts Friday.

 

How about you?  What's cookin' ?  Scones or cookies in this kitchen...

PS: you MUST see this Life Sized Nativity (Knit-tivity) Scene !  (and you thought YOU knit excessively?)

Fair Isle Slouch Hat Finished

Taking the Hydrangea Fair Isle Slouch Hat:

Modifying the colors with these Jamieson wools:

And one wool hank dyed with marigolds:

This is the finished tam:

It is a bit slouchy on the manny head.  I played around with colors using the color wheel, and it proved to be a good exercise in knitting with differing strands of colored yarn.  It will be a warm hat and a labor of love.

Linking with Fiber Arts Friday and Finished Objects Friday.

Checking In with Finished Objects Friday

Since it is Friday and after 9 AM with nothing to show for the day yet except for having finished off refrigerator left overs for breakfast, I'll post on Finished Objects Friday at Tami's.  (I had the last of a batch of gazpacho and some chicken salad.)  Go on over there to see what others are doing.

This pattern by Tin Can Knits, published by Handmade in the UK, is VIVID, a blanket pattern.

It is written for three weights of yarn.  I used a sport weight and a sock weight yarn and made these as samples.

These samples will be used for coasters during the summer.  When cool weather rolls round again, it might be time to go ahead and knit up 20 squares in various colors and make a blanket from the squares.  It is a fun pattern and a square can be knit in a few hours.

And from the garden, our first bloom from our newly planted Rose of Sharon bush and hollyhocks:

 

 

Happy Friday!