Knitting Dragonflies

In the hot, humid summer days we have been catching up on yard work, house work, and discovered Roku! A great cheap way to get our TV. So I’ve had some TV knitting! We have had just an antenna for about 4 years now, so there are all kinds of shows out there I’ve never seen. I’m starting another quilt. More on that later. And thinking of letting my hair go grey. The coloring is becoming rather tiring. Every two weeks is too expensive to go professional. I have been using henna for almost two years. Love the feel of my hair with it. But e-gods it is messy, and with the increasing greys, comes more of an orange color vs.: auburn. I found Anne Kreamer’s book Going Gray , and have been inspired to give it a go, after all I can color it again if I don’t like it. I also found this web site, Going Gray and Looking Great , if my hair actually looks like any of these ladies does, I’ll be happy. Anyone out there letting their color grow out? I’ve been coloring since I was in my mid-late 20’s,...

This summer has been busy! My brother got married to a wonderful gal who has a cool edgy daughter. I am super excited to have a sister-in-law and be an aunt all at once! Lots of yard work! We are enjoying beautiful flowers, and even have some tomatoes! Of course I’ve had help from Syd, who loves to oversee (and help with) any digging in the yard. In the way of knitting, I finally took stock of my UFO’s and decided that the toe up sock had sat long enough, I frogged it and started a plain sock in self patterning yarn in the two circular needle method! Paula who blogs as The Quilter , urged me to try this method. I have tried various methods and always returned to the dpn’s. But this one is a keeper, easy, fast and great for travel knitting! No dpn’s to slide out of my stitches and get lost! Take a look at this You Tube video on using two circular needles to knit socks, it is easy and fun! The Video is by Cat Bordhi and is the same method as her book. (which I recommend, it has a...

No vacation for us this year. I've got my surgery scheduled, so there goes my PTO time. So I'll have to enjoy everyone's vacation photos, and do some knitting while I'm at it. May your knitting needles fly as fast as Dragonflies.....

Back to my same theme, who doesn’t love Elizabeth Zimmermann?? Her baby Surprise jacket ( rav link )  is the evolution of several patterns. From what I can piece together, that pattern is the result of her playing around with the basic idea for a bit. I see that she made the Baby Garter-stitch Jacket: The Prequel, which is published in Wool Gathering #61, sept 99. A very nice simple baby jacket. I also found the Surplice Jacket, ( rav link ) published in Woolgathering #50 . I also found the Tomtem jacket ( rav link ), which has a hood, and I love this addition to the pattern. Although this pattern was written for a child, I decided to give it a go, and try to make it for a baby present! Yarn:I settled on some Organic Cotton, I had knitted a small project with this and fell in love with it. It just keeps getting softer and nicer. I also wanted a color that wasn’t a baby color, and finally decided on this one called “spice”. I fearlessly cast on, knit about 6 rows and real...

Frogged my toe up socks, couldn't figure out where i was in the pattern and started some generic socks using the two circular needle method. ---------- Sent from AT&T's Wireless network using Mobile Email

Time to put the zipper into my baby jacket! I’m planning on hand stitching it in. So I’m off to find some good zipper tutorials…I find they fall into two methods, using the sewing machine and hand sewn in.  I ran across all kinds of interesting ideas. Hand Sewn insertion links… Beat Knitting has a great zipper tutorial that also tells me how to measure for my zipper and shorter it if necessary. Splityarn uses blocking wires to help with the zipper insertion ! Lobolita shows us how to put a zipper in using a crocheted steek !! Getting Stitched on the farm ’s tutorial reminds us to wash and block first!!! I go to search for some videos, I find Eunny Jang with a great zipper tutorial , using a latch hook device called a knit picker, which makes the zipper into a knittable item to incorporate into the sweater! Pauline Designs shows how to use the knit picker to knit the zipper into the sweater in one step!! Machine insertion links… Pickin and throwin has a method that cove...

My brother is getting married, and after much consideration, I decided to make a quilt. I haven’t made one for a number of years, so I asked much advice on the pattern. It is a fine line between too simple and too complicated. *grin*  I liked the Irish Chain quilt pattern , From the simple single pattern to the more complicated looking triple pattern, it leaves quilt a bit of room for creativity. So I set the four patch blocks alternatively with plain squares. Current documentation on the Irish Chain quilt pattern indicates that it was developed in America in the early 1800s. Quilt historian Barbara Brackman, states that 1814 is the earliest known date for this pattern. She goes on to say, Dated examples appear consistently across the decades, indicating the design's popularity throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This quilt pattern leaves a nice solid space between the chains to display the maker's needlework skills. Choice of fabric design and color can give...