Knitting Passion

Okay, I don’t know about YOU . . . but when we get to the fourth of July I am starting to think summer’s over, it’s almost time for school to start, what the heck happened to my summer?

Am I the only one? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

We are having a MUCH nicer summer this year than last - I think we only had ONE day of summer in 2008. This year? Absolutely gorgeous May and most of June - and July looks to follow along the same path. I am grateful for that - because, even though I am not much of a sun-loving person (allergies to uv rays) I do enjoy seeing it from inside my house.

There is NOTHING like a sunny day to lift any bits of gloominess.

But . . . this is not a weather blog - this is a knitting blog. So, while I am listening to the sound of mowers down the street and a neighbor blasting a young Michael Jackson across the street, I am here writing to all of you.

And, I’m going to send you somewhere else . . . yup, today I’m going to share some other knitters’ blogs with you.

First off, I’d like to introduce you to Jessica - at Sticks and String. It’s all about her, you know. It says so right there. Jess is one of our fearless leaders at the Dishcloth KAL over at ravelry. And, she has designed a couple of very cool cloths - I’m going to have to knit them.

Next is Snookie’s Oz. She’s a fellow Big Brother crazee - we’re in a pool together. She has a pretty neat tutorial, complete with pictures, of an I-cord bind-off procedure.

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Lastly (for now), here is Diana’s Place. Diana is a BRAND NEW blogger so go on over and say hello and welcome her to the great big wide blog-o-sphere.

Leave a comment with your fave knitting/crafting space.

A challenge was posted in the dish cloth knit along group yesterday morning. The first person to complete FOUR specific dishcloths would be given two free skeins of dish cloth cotton yarn.

Well . . . I had not done the featured cloths before, and I am always up for something FREE, especially if it is of the yarny goodness variety. So, I copied off the patterns and settled down for some ME time . . . my own form of “self-care” that we preach to the guys who attend our Batterers Intervention Program re-education classes.

Hubby was working yesterday morning, so I would not be taking time away from him. I had yarn from the wally’s run he and daughter made a week ago. I had the laundry started. There was NO reason I could not settle in for some marathon knitting.

It helped that there were a couple of good movies on the telly yesterday as well. (Great Expectations with Robert DeNiro was one of them.)

By the time hubby had come home from work I had one cloth completed (first picture) and the next one well under way. I finished it after fixing and eating dinner - and while we watched tv together. (He really doesn’t care what I do - he just likes having me in the same room with him while he snores in his chair - lol)

I started the third cloth before going to worship service this morning - finished it afterwards while waiting for hubby to come home from work. (He works as a caregiver for two different agencies - part time.)

I cast on and completed the last cloth while cooking dinner this afternoon.

Competitive much?

Yup, that’s me. Challenge me and watch me go.

Here are the pics of the other three cloths:

Yes, I know this is a knitting blog (grin) but it is sort of a life of the knitter blog, too, you know? But, today I WILL be posting about knitting (and some other stuff) but knitting mostly. Hurrah, I hear you all shouting!!!!

This is a scarf I gave a dear friend for her birthday. Actually, her birthday was the day I went into the hospital, and it was not quite finished. So, I gave it to her at church this Sunday - on MY birthday. It’s a silk blend and feels just gorgeously soft. I cast on 40 stitches, using size 13 needles, then knit one row and k1, p1 the next row. It made a really neat looking pattern - sort of a rib on one side and a knobby rib on the other side.

Miss S loved it, so that made it worth it, huh?

Okay - there’s your knitting for the day - what are YOU designing - or what is on YOUR needles?

Now, for the other things - do you like giveaways? Oh, me, too. Although, they DO keep me in this chair for much too long so I have to confine myself to only a few moments going to the spots and signing up and then linking back, etc. Otherwise my cheeks get pretty tired and sore - and NOBODY needs to see that, as my granddaughter the Pup would say.

However, Summer over at Creative Mom Cafe has some very nice autumnal fabrics for a giveaway. Be sure to stop by and sign up and maybe give her a link back on your site, too.

And, while I tiptoed through her comments I noticed a few other giveaways -

Air Force Family is giving away a book my grandkiddos (and yours, too, I’ll bet) would love: Sea Animals.

And, for the romantic in us all - Eden is giving away a Nicholas Sparks book (The Notebook) over at her Goddess of the Home blog.

For even more - and this is where the tired butt syndrome comes on - check out the Bloggy Giveaways Winter Carnival at Rocks in My Dryer. There’s gotta be SOMETHING that rocks your boat over there. Have great fun, friends!

That, of course, is the sound I made as I completed the reading of the latest Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows today. I didn’t stand in line all night Friday to get my copy just past midnight. Instead my hubby and I did the movie theatre thing (unusual for us except for certain movies - HP, Star Trek, James Bond, to name a few) and took in the late showing. By the time we got out it would have been waaaaaaaaaaaaay too late to drive to the next town over to get my book.

So - we went home - slept in on Saturday - another rare treat for us - and then after breakfast we stopped to pick up my book. Hubby went off to do his thing (I have no clue) while I set in for a read-a-thon.

Slunk off to bed near midnight - and began reading again after church the next morning. Had to do the go to bed early thing Sunday because of the need to be at work Monday. But, after work I finished the last 100 or so pages. Ahhhhhhhhh - a big thumb’s up from this Gramma.

So - what has all that to do with knitting? You might well ask - and I will answer. A quick search of the internet found some neat things for all of you knitters out there to take on:

How about some House socks?
$4 for the pattern - pay via paypal and then download the pdf.

That wasn’t a free pattern - buuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttt - the site DID have a free house scarves pattern with color suggestions for your favorite Hogwarts House.

I have a question for you - what about knitting a Weasley sweater???

or, a Lupin scarf?

Now - if you should live in an area that you deem much too warm for a scarf of such sort - here’s a cute idea for you . . . how about a bookscarf to use to mark your place in the latest book?

Not so much into making your own - but have a costuming need for your next HP function? Try Alivan’s - makers of fine handcrafted magic wands where you’ll find everything from house scarves, sweaters, ties, etc.

The main thing, my friends - is to have fun with it. Enjoy yourself. Remember - it IS only a book.

harry potter, knitting, hogwarts, house scarf, weasley sweater, bookscarf, fun

I have tried and tried to read Mason-Dixon Knitting. But I am just so put off by the image on the front cover.

I don’t know why.

I have officially begun my first sock made with actual sock yarn. I am also using a pattern from a book called Knit Socks! (This book is so cute! It’s shaped like a sock. It’s set up pretty nicely, too, with charts depicting the directions so they aren’t that intimidating. Although I think there should have been more than one tech editor. The directions aren’t always clear, and sometimes make no sense whatsoever.)

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I originally started being serious with knitting when I read Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘N Bitch. The way she writes and teaches knitting through real-life experience and easy to understand illustrations, makes you feel like you’re hanging out with your buddy, laughing and learning a new hobby. She’s witty, and sometimes downright hilarious. (I have actually laughed out loud while reading this book, and subsequently received strange looks from members of my immediate family.)
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I didn’t post this before because of all the drama I was dealing with regarding all the sick people in my house. But now, here for your enertainment, is the list of knitting related gifts I received on Christmas.

Let me preface this by noting that the original plan regarding gifts to and from my mom, my sister, and my husband was that we would all buy our own gifts, wrap them, mark them as being “from” someone else (as mentioned above), and let that person open them Christmas morning. This was supposed to create some insight as to what we really wanted, as well as us actually getting what we really wanted, all without spending too much and having to worry about not having spent enough.

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