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Presently Gifted

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Well I hand delivered a gift to my sister over the Thanksgiving holiday.  We exchange Christmas gifts and birthday gifts during this holiday and it is so much fun to open up an extra gift.  This year I decided to make her a special surprise.  I made another ruffle scarf  for her.  The only modification that I made was to increase to 55 stitches instead of 65 stitches.  I really wanted the scarf to be more narrow than the original one.  I also wanted to be done sooner (it is always about me!) and I had a tiny fear that I did not have enough yarn.  Here is a photo: I received a lovely yarn gift at the end of summer and recently decided what to make.   The Anthemion Wrap  looked like it would be just perfect with this wool.  Now for a picture of my Elderberry Wine Shawl :

Long Dirt Road

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The very last Christmas present is complete for my side of the family. Now I have to wrap up all of the presents sometime this weekend.  This scarf is for my aunt: My husband and I have been walking Frodo down a long dirt road at the bottom of our hill.  It is quite beautiful and serene.  The bonus is that there are very few cars if any that drive by us.  Frodo loves the walk.  Anyways, we remembered to take a camera on one of the walks.  All of the leaves have dropped and have turned brown but my husband spied these pretty mushrooms! Today is a sunny bright day which is really a nice change.  We were having cloudy days one to many in a row.  The only time I like a cloudy day is when it is snowing.  I would love a flake or two right now!  The TV music channels have already been playing holiday music so why not.  

Sock it to me

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Well, it has been some time since I posted.  I really really wanted to complete a pair of socks for my Dad for his Christmas present.  So that is what I have been focused on.  I am happy to report that I finished the socks!  Here is a photo of them: They are made from Trekking sock yarn.  I believe this yarn is the most durable of sock yarns.  I have two or three pairs that are still going strong without a hole or showing wear and tear.  My dad does like the color brown, so luckily this yarn was in my stash just waiting to be a pair of socks.  I only have one more present to make which is another scarf.  I started it today but forgot to photo it.  So next time I will have a picture. Last week while walking my dog around the property, I happened to snap a couple of photos. Last but not least here is Frodo basking in the sun on the pool cover! He is such a funny little character.

Fruit Display

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We had a very busy weekend.  Our company arrived on Friday and left on Monday morning.  So naturally, my husband and I decided to go out for lunch and do a bit of shopping.  One of the things we bought was this: I am hoping that my fruit decays a lot slower now that there is air circulation.  The bananas are not looking that great right now. Oh well.  On the knitting front, I managed to start and complete two scarves for Christmas gifts during the weekend.  I only have two more gifts to make and I am ready for my visit to Pittsburgh during Thanksgiving vacation.  That is when my side of the family exchanges gifts.  After that holiday, maybe I can start some gifts for my husband or kids.  (Or maybe I will be selfish and knit just for me.)

Ancient yarns

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I thought I would squeeze in a tiny posting today.  Tomorrow we have weekend company arriving and I am sure come Monday I will be in a massive clean the house state of mind.  I really am caught up on what needed to be finished for the company.  I like to do a little bit each day rather than everything all in one day.  So I made a list about a week or so ago and I have been crossing each task off.  I feel quite accomplished at the moment :) Anyways, I have finished two Christmas presents!!  I decided to make two hats for an uncle and a dear "adopted" father-in-law.  The pattern is called Seaman's Cap . It is a wonderful pattern that knits up very quickly.  I decided to use an acrylic/wool blend from the bottom of the stash.  The yarn is ancient.....20 years old?  What is sad is that I bought it so that definitely ages me. Thankfully tweed yarn seems to stay in style. I also started on a scarf for another adopted family member.  I wanted a skinny worsted weight sca

Buttons

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Well it has been a while, hasn't it?  I have had a nasty little virus that was not that bad but it kept me from doing everything I wanted to do.  Like blogging or up-dating my Ravelry project page.  Today is the first day that I feel almost like myself. I also have finally finished the Tweed Cardigan .  I completed this sweater on Thursday night.  I then had to search for nine buttons!  I live in a very little college town and I knew that it would be a challenge.  My LYS does have some interesting buttons but I really wanted plain, understated buttons for this cardigan. After two more stores I found some buttons.  Overall I am quite happy with the results of the sweater.  The pattern is well written and of course you cannot go wrong with a top down construction.  I think I am addicted to top down sweaters.

Rain Rain Go Away

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Wow it has been raining a ton around here.  Everyday it is rain and even though I am very grateful for the cooler weather, I wouldn't mind a break from the rain.  Yesterday during the afternoon there was a tiny break from the drizzle.  The sun popped out briefly, less than two minutes.  I ran outside a took this photo of the mist coming off the pool cover.  What a temperature difference! As you might have guessed, the rain came back and the sun hid behind the clouds for the rest of the day. I finished a Christmas present yesterday.  I guess this officially starts the holiday season for me.  I have not decided who will receive the scarf.  I will be making two more then I will decide who gets which one.  The scarf pattern is as follows: Worsted weight wool Size 10 needles Cast on 28 stitches  Row 1:  *K2, P2* repeat across all stitches Row 2 and 4:  Knit the knit stitches, purl the purl stitches Row 3: *P2, K2* repeat across all stitches. Repeat thes

Electric Blues

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Yesterday after an early dinner, the electricity went out due to a severe rain and wind storm.  Apparently some trees were down on some power lines.  We did not have power until 1:15 a.m.  How do I know this?  Well the TV downstairs was blaring away when the power came back on. Our life was restored to normalcy once more.  It is funny that a couple of days ago, I announced that I wanted to finish a book by September 30th.  Who would have thought a power outage could have helped me almost make my goal!  I finished the book this morning.  I also have a warm appreciation for my electricity and everything I can do with it  My coffee this morning tasted better than ever..  I am sure my thankfulness will wear off soon and will return with the next power outage. I have made some progress on my sweater this week.  I have completed one sleeve and I am half way done with the other sleeve.  Here are some pictures: Last but not least, here is a photo of our dog, Frodo.  He's a

Odds and Ends

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What can I say?  I love the scarf now that it is off the needles.  I am very happy to have used up a considerable amount of leftover sock yarn.  Using eight different colors of sock yarn creates a beautiful woven stitch design.  Even though I grumbled about the project about how long it was taking to complete it, I will definitely make this scarf again.  I have tons of sock yarn scraps!  I think I might use size 5 needles next time instead of size 4 needles.  I hope it will feel like I am knitting faster than the speed of light. No matter how fast the knitting goes, I am quite sure I will grumble about the second scarf in between the beginning and the end.

Red Roses

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My husband surprised me with a bouquet of red roses for our anniversary. That was more than a week ago.  I now have four left that are still looking beautiful.  I moved them into a bright red vase and placed them in the family room.  Because I cut the stems again, they might just last another week. My tweed cardigan is coming along nicely.  I just finished the 2x2 ribbing of the body of the sweater.  I did not change needle sizes because I do not like tight ribbing.  I also started one sleeve.  I have really been liking the yarn and the project.                                      The linen stitch scarf is just taking to long for me.  It does not help that I have not worked on it much in the past week.  I decided yesterday to dedicate more time to this project so I can be done with it!  I do like how I am using up all of my odd ends of sock yarn.                                           It does look pretty though!  That will definitely make me crea

Acorns and lists.....

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I just had to post a picture of these little acorns I bought at the fiber festival.  Aren't they cute?  I will keep one for myself and the other will be for my sister.  She gets to pick which color she wants because I am the best sister ever! I cannot believe that I have actually started to write out a Christmas List.  I always have great expectations of what I would like to knit for family members.  But then, sometimes I end up not liking the project, or the yarn or just the pressure of getting it done.  There is nothing like getting a notebook out to make the list full of promising ideas. I did start a scarf for a gift yesterday but I do not know who it is for yet.  I just decided a simple double moss stitch would do.  I did not want the scarf to curl on the edges and I wanted both sides to look the same. I am enjoying this scarf project so far because the pattern is quite simple. I have been working on the Tweed cardigan and have just started the ribbing of the