Knitting Dragonflies

This is my Aran Shrug!!!! Back!! Front!!! Almost done, just have to cast off and finish the ends. I will say I was very disappointed in the Rowan Big Wool Ice Blue. Color and feel of the yarn very nice, but in EVERY ball there was at least one piece that was cut half way through, definitely cut! Some balls had more than one, and also every ball had a knot in it. Just a warning. Also..I always loved to shop on ETSY now I am selling. But I am going to have Etsy Wed., every Wed I will feature a seller that I love. Of course I will confess I do love yarn and all things yarnish. Check it out!! I have a stash of yarn of various colors frogged from a pyramid sweater gone bad. I am checking out various things to knit with it. I keep coming back to this pattern, pinwheel sweater , but combining the colors in a more random pattern, I seem to be drawn to shrug patterns. Love to wear them. But I am still looking, so I guess that means I am not totally sold on this, I have been picking up more misc...

As you all can tell by now, I love a free pattern. I am a nut when buying knitting books and magazines. But nothing gives me the thrill of finding a great free pattern. With that in mind, here are a few of my favorite places online to search for that perfect pattern. 1. Knitting pattern central 2. The Daily Knitter 3. Crystal Palace Yarns 4. Knitty this should have been #1, I love this online mag!! 5. Knitpicks 6. Lion brand yarn does have alot of free knitting patterns, the ones I have picked out have had mistakes in them, and it is irritating to have to keep signing in. But maybe I have just had bad luck with my picks. 7. Chicknits 8. Woolworks 9. Craftbits 10. Helloyarn These are just a few. There are so many out there. I will pay any amount of money on yarn, but for some reason, if I have a free pattern, I'm a happy girl. Keep on knitting....

For Christmas I received the gift of fire, a magnesium fire starter. Remember how important fire is to mankind....before fire, we were cold, ate raw food, probably grumpy, due to being skinny and cold. Logically, of course, we may assume there was once a time when man had no fire, but very early he must have become acquainted with fire derived from natural sources, and made use of it; for no remains of man's art show him without fire as his companion. Many of the legends or myths relating to the origin of fire are vivid and dramatic, and while they vary in detail there appears to be a similarity in many of the episodes that form the fire-origin story in all countries of the world. Stealing fire from the Gods seems to be a popular theory, so when this is taken into account. This was a grand gift indeed. Of course water ranks right up there with fire, but I already had water...... (We are avid hikers and primitive campers, my husband more primitive than I, LOL, but nothing is less e...

Happy Holidays!! Christmas Eve Moon.

Merry Christmas!! The Elf got the Penguin done!! Although he looks like he may have gotten a bunion on one of his feet from the long trek from the north pole. Remember I've got needles and I'm not afraid to use them!

Yes it is Christmas Eve and here is our sorry Penguin, I have to crochet a foot, two flippers, and possibly a tail (a cheat on my part to make him stand by himself). My supposed 12 inch tall Penguin is 20 inches tall. I had to enlarge the white spot on the front and the bow tie, feet look OK. I'm pretty sure I will have to make the flippers larger. I keep crocheting and crocheting...... And still.... I am reminded of the classic cult film, Night of the Living Dead.... They move slow, but they are dead and they are all messed up. (great quote) LOL Reporter: Chief, if I were surrounded by eight or ten of these things, would I stand a chance with them? Sheriff: Well, there's no problem. If you have a gun, shoot 'em in the head. That's a sure way to kill 'em. If you don't, get yourself a club or a torch. Beat 'em or burn 'em. They go up pretty easy. Johnny: They're coming to get you, Barbara, there's one of them now! Ditch your tuna sandwich! Johnny:...

I started making a pair of penguins for my great niece and nephew. So far it has been really fun. Of course they live about 5 hours away from me and I am planning on mailing them. Well I always say, "if it is a handmade gift, you have a grace period to get it done and deliver it" now sometimes this "grace period" is quite a bit longer than other times. I have invoked it for up to a year once. Hopefully this time will be only several days. After all it is fun to get gifts after Christmas also. Right? I did alter the beak sightly, I made 2 rows of sc after the initial increases, I thought the picture looked a little "Mr. Magooish" I am hoping to get the pair of these done fairly quickly and am shopping for a penguin book to go with it, for them, after all if I'm late after all..... Pattern follows..... Since I am not an expert crocheter at all, and usually knit, I did loosly interpret these directions, I like the knitting way of increase 7 stiches over t...

Finished this up today. (I was off) I would recommend this pattern, it is easy, quick, and looks very nice when done. You could even start this and finish before Christmas. I am planning on doing one in a ribbon yarn. This one turned out large, I can wrap it as a scarf around my neck with a coat, and even put it up over my head, (bunch it up and it is warm and cool looking also). Keep on Knitting.....

I really do knit!! Here is what's on my needles. Simple scarf All knit Cast on 13 on #13 needles I am using Sensations Angle Hair Yarn . This is a nice yarn, especially for the price. Still working on my Black berry shrug from Knitty. Almost Done!! Here are a couple of my Christmas pickles, Knitted and crocheted. I added some "leaves" on the top of them. And my shawl from the pattern on the "joyfulabode" blog. For my girlfriend that loves purple. Until later.....Keep on knitting....

Everyone needs a pickle on their Christmas tree!! Here is a crochet pickle pattern !! And of course the knitted pickle pattern from a great blog, Mummble-Jummble2 . Check out the pattern and the blog and a super cute picture of it. I am searching through my stash for green yarn asap. If you are not familiar with the pickle story, check it out here . It is a fun tradition to start. And if you already are familiar with it, then you definitely need to make one, either for yourself or it would be a fun gift. Good luck, send me a pic if you make one!! Keep on knitting....

I've always wanted a knitting tattoo. I started looking around online for ideas, and pic's of examples. They are some very nice ones. 1. http://www.urbanaddiction.com/cool%20tat/Love%20Life%20and%20Knit.jpg 2. http://nwknitter.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/knit-tatoo.jpg 3. http://blog.oregonlive.com/knitting/2007/09/small_Cheris_KNIT_Tattoo.jpg 4. http://kneek.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/kitty_yarn_tattoo.jpg 5. http://www.goodcleanfun.net/DaveAttonito/TATTOOS/knit.jpg 6. http://www.handmadedetroit.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/knittattoo.jpg 7. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwyLRCvarHi8WonPIKkka6N2rj4CF17c_RR1N1HDI04QOhmt_VLEVTmFOBGcTlJjAgigcUs9W-wynVdKxqVLgYqOSAKDoxfG7HVYZ2Ros6zQC8Cqcu-nIkZZME1K9_-HO-86PF7pT5deK/s320/tat1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://vintageknits.blogspot.com/2007/10/knitting-tat.html&h=274&w=198&sz=13&hl=en&start=3&sig2=3_RGFSljAtHM12S0_gV03w&um=1&tbnid=9kbwuy5LB...

The Winter Knitty is up!! I love the scarf on the front!! This has begun me to ponder....am I inspired mostly by yarn I find? Or a pattern? It seems lately that I have spent a lot of time searching for the right pattern. I recently frogged a sweater (pattern inspired) and am searching for what to do with that yarn. I have gone through my stash and am on a mission to try to pick out something, or maybe a lot of somethings to do with it. Guess I am on a destash kick. I bought some Colinette Point five recently in the cardinal colorway, picked that out because I ran across the pattern in the yarn store and then started shopping for yarn to knit it in. (this was when I had just gone into the store to buy a pair of needles) Oops.. Looking at my knitting book library and magazines, I have come to the conclusion that most of the time I am inspired by the pattern and then go looking for the yarn to knit it out of. Which ends up to be something other than the pattern was written for (of course)...

Etsy :: Dragonfly Magnets These are so cool!!! I think I found something for my wish list!!

I soooooo need to start knitting!!! I had started knitting a plain knit scarf at the craft show, but ripped it out. I had bought the yarn before, it was Patons Devine in Amethyst , But this yarn is totally different, I don't have the original label from the first batch I had. But this is scratchy and it really irritates me to knit with it. I found a shawl pattern http://www.joyfulabode.com/?p=39 to crochet (at a great blog Joyful Abode) It looks easy and really cute. Although I don't have a ribbon yarn, mine is (acrylic, wool and mohair blend) I thought it might be interesting to try. (which will probably involve me going to the yarn store and buying some tape like yarn to use LOL ) instead of yarn from my stash. I had to laugh, how many of you out there wear hats? I love hats, but you know they squash the hair. So I wear them to walk the dogs and rake leaves etc...things I really need a hat for. So at the craft fair I took only scarves, I will wrap a scarf around my head a...

It's Mon. am after the craft show weekend. I was ecstatic Sun. when I sold three quilts and got an order to make a quilt for a throw to match a sofa. I was very surprised. The weather was bad, it rained like crazy, we must have gotten the after church crowd, Bless them!! My jewelry girlfriend did very well. Things I learned.... 1. The people that were selling there were great, so ready to help, give advice and tips. 2. I already have my inventory for the next show. LOL, this was pointed out to me when I was mood swinging between panic and tears. 3. It is worth it to discover what else is going on that weekend. We had two other, larger craft/antique shows to compete with. 4. Bring water, you will need it to wash the aspirin down. 5. Dress in layers, it was absolutely freezing on sat. and hot on sun. And socks, I was surprised at how cold my feet got, standing all day on a cement floor. 6. Take time to go around and meet all of your fellow sellers, they are likely to send people your...

Sat at the craft show was dismal. We finally decided that the silver lining was that we have inventory for the next one. I had many good comments and people saying they liked the quilts and scarves. Even a lady in the same building selling scarves for 6$ and they we very nice and long, and she didn't do good. Everyone I talked to that had a booth was very nice, and I would say overall a positive experience. But disappointed that we didn't sell more. My girlfriend with the jewelry did better. I told her I was there to boost her moral. Anytime she complained about how much she had made, I reminded her what my total was. On the positive side, I was amazed at the people that did buy from me. All friends and co-workers. I really appreciate their support. And anyone out there that supports themselves with their craft I have new found respect for. Keep it up!!!