Knitting Dragonflies

I’ve been caught up in some family health matters, and away from home. In the process got a nasty bug myself and had to recover from that. I’m back now and trying to get caught up with everything. What Dorothy said is true….There is no place like home…. I am knitting on 3 shawls and a sweater. And have a quilt that I’m still looking for more fabric prints for. Also doing some spinning. Hope everyone is well, I’ve missed reading what everyone is creating! Until then, check out this new Knitty Spring/Summer 2013 !! Happy Knitting

Five fun links…. -I like this idea of monograming your own mugs , Hey and Valentines day is coming up. Thanks Design Mom! -I love reading Threadbanger! Here she has found a tutorial on making a cuff watch out of a mens shirt! - Sneezerville teaches us how to unravel a purchased sweater , find some great yarn in a bad sweater? Turn it into a beautiful item with a little work. - Print your own calender with Sofia’s World ! Free and pretty too, get organized! -How about sewing  a Memory quilt with Todera , use some of your memory filled fabric or clothing. -And I couldn’t resist this one, make some Monster Spray for your little one. -- Knit Fast, Dye Yarn "Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass... it's about learning how to dance in the rain."

I was making several plant hangers for my plants to save space ( see post here with free crochet plant hanger patterns ). I ran across this YouTube video from JoeyFingis. I though it was interesting that he up cycled a 2 liter pop bottle into a planter with a water run off reservoir using a water bottle, and made a acrylic crochet plant hanger to hang it with. I think the idea is stellar. Check it out! I thought this would be good for starting seeds, and cuttings for plants. Which started me thinking about all kinds of things. I found this quirky idea of hydroponic gardening with a crocheted net from grubbycup on urbangardenmagazine I’m ready for spring, and definitely going to try this, let me know if you do!!

I’ve become a casting on fool. While at my Dad’s house, I cast on the LaLa Shawl by Laura Linneman (free pattern) with the yarn I had at hand which was a multicolor yarn by Paton's Lace. I wasn’t sure if I would like the color changes, but I turned out to really like the look of it and the yarn. I’m still working on my Dummy Clap Shawl , I just keep knitting, and thinking it is not long enough, I am knitting it in a fingering weight and it is never ending. I’m trying to decide if I should just cast off and be done with it. *grin* Love the pattern, but it is a little to mindless, after a bit, if I had made it with worsted weight (I believe it calls for that) I would be done by now. My Dad lives 4 hours away from me, so I had picked up a skein of Paton Lace from JoAnn’s, not being close to any real yarn stores, It is described by Paton's as a Soft lace weight with a beautiful halo. Beautiful range of gently shifting colors. The fiber content is 80% acrylic (I know, this made

I’ve had to travel to my Dad’s house due to some of his health issues. Thanks to everyone that has expressed concern, he doesn’t have internet access and am sorry if I’ve not gotten back to you. I’ll be traveling back and forth in the days to come, just wish I could knit in the car, I could get so much done! Was at my Dad’s house and he looked out the windows and we saw this beautiful sunset. Had to try and capture it. Of course this is about 30 snaps in, love digital cameras! I don’t know about you but I love to listen to knitting podcasts! Especially since my car cd/radio is broken! My favorite’s right now are Knitmore Girls , Stash and Burn , and a new one I heard about Jane and Jen KnitFunny (I really enjoy listening to these girls!) Of course there is Cast On (my classic). Please let me know if there are some that you listen to and enjoy, I have lots of driving time to fill! Now on to knitting. Over the years I’ve discovered I like to have 3 types of projects going (at leas

It is so disappointing to pick out a knitting pattern, agonize over the yarn choice. And then complete the sometimes long process of swatching for gauge. Only to discover that you are so confused by the pattern that you give up. I’m sure this has happened to many of us for many reasons. Skill level of the knitter, and skill level of the pattern author, may be the foremost. Pattern writing is not easy, nor is understanding patterns. On the knitters side of things, I’ve found a good resource to help understand what the pattern is telling us to do, take a look at Dummies.com Understanding Knitting Patterns and Techniques. It covers abbreviations and knitting terms, common phrases and how to follow written stitch patterns, and also charts. This and your local yarn store, (along with Ravelry, I like to look there and see if everyone that is knitting the pattern is having any trouble or it is just me), will help you discover your way. Don’t forget to Google and print out the errata page

Finished up my Christmas trees, have a pink one and a white one. Pattern is from Helen Free, it is a fun and fast pattern. I would recommend it. White Christmas Tree, no ornaments yet, I’ll pick those out next year. I used snowflake buttons and some sparkly glass beads for this tree. I’ve been listening to Stash and Burn podcast while driving back and forth to my Dad’s house, which is about a 4 hour drive one way. I’m getting inspired to get knitting and am going to keep track of the yardage of yarn I knit up this year. *grin* see the KnitMeter.com , on my side bar, this tool is available for crochet, spinning and knitting, you can add it to your ravelry page and any blogs. Have fun and keep track of how much you knit with me this year! Now that I’m done with the holiday projects, I’m ready to start working on my Zuma tunic from Wendy Bernard’s Custom Knits 2 book. I’ve gotten to just below the arms, and I’m ready to get going on it again. Zuma tunic is a top down knit in the