Lamb's Lace Cardigan

This is the first sweater I've ever knitted, and I'm pretty pleased because it turned out wearable! It's the Lamb's Lace Cardi pattern available on Ravelry. If I had it to do over, I'd make a couple of changes to make it fit a little closer across the back, but all in all I'm happy with it. I finished this a couple of months ago, but it took a while for me to get a pic....and even now, it's a headless one! Oh well, that's what you get when you are shooting yourself.

Knitted Fish Scarf

It's a fun pattern to knit up and goes pretty fast since I used a size 6 needle instead of the 2s I use when I knit socks. The info on the pattern is here. The yarn is actually a little greener than it looks here...with lots of blues  mixed in...pretty!

And here's one of me wearing it. I made it 11 repeats instead of the 9 called for, to make it a little longer. Please excuse the foggy mirror...it's an oldie, and we all get a little foggier with age.

One Fish, Two Fish, Knit Fish Scarf

I'm spending a little time working on a scarf...it's cold out and I need one. I have lots of sock yarn, so I figure that's the way to go. This pattern is the School at Play Scarf from Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders: 101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks!. If you are a sock yarn addict/collector this is good book to have around. There are so many beautiful hand dyed sock yarns out there, and it's easy, easy, easy to find yourself with more sock yarn than you will ever knit socks from. This beautiful yarn is from Suzan at Barking Dog Yarns.  And here's why I'm happy to be sitting inside watching a movie and knitting:

Broadripple

I've always loved making things. There have been a few times (very few actually) in my life when my maker mojo left me, and the last couple of months is one of those times. I've been doing some art journaling, but that's about it. Then the day before yesterday, I got the urge to cast on, and make a pair of socks. Thank God. This pattern is an easy one and the colorful yarn does all the work. Very soothing actually.

Oh Baby!

My niece is expecting, and you know what that means...sweet little knitted baby things! I'm working on a little dress and bonnet. I love knitting baby things. They are right up my alley...small, fun, pretty projects that don't take forever to finish. I'm making this from Mandarin Petit yarn. It's a wonderfully soft 100% cotton that's machine washable (a must with baby things).

Hat Knitting

Today I finished up a hat for friend who is undergoing chemo treatment. I hope it fits her. It's the pattern called "Checking on the Colonel" at Woven n Spun. It's very easy and knits up fast. The yarn feels fabulously soft. It's called Cotton Supreme from Universal Yarns. It's 100 percent cotton, which I hope will make it comfy for summer, and machine washable and dryable.

I think the way they worked out the decreases in the crown is pretty elegant way of continuing the pattern.

Here's a very out of focus, nighttime, in the bathroom mirror shot...but at least you can kind of see the shape. Well, I'm off to block it so Colleen can take it to her tomorrow.

Lace Fence and Window Progress....

I'm not a big fan of chain link fencing, but the Lace Fence company has done some amazing things with it! Visit the gallery on their site. Some of it is too busy for my taste, but the simpler ones are quite beautiful. Apparently they can do any design you'd like with this technique.


While I've been off working on my car, Joe has been finishing up that window in the guest room. He managed to match the stain very well. I love how it turned out...now I guess I better put the hardware on it, and get back to painting that room!

On Saturday and Sunday, I knitted up this little guy during slow moments at the shop. I think he's downright cute, and I may make a few more and turn them into a mobile. It's the Frida the Fish Pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. Well, it sort of is that pattern....I hate knitting a bunch of little pieces and sewing them together, so I rewrote the pattern to be worked in the round. I think I got it pretty close. I'm making another one by my pattern, and if I have the bugs worked out of it, I'll put the pattern on here for free. Or if you like to do a lot of seaming, the original pattern is also free and can be found here on Lion Brand's website.

I love Lucy.

I like how the Lucy Bag turned out. It's actually a little redder than this photo shows...more like in the photo below. The only change I made was to add some bobbles at the bottom. For now, I attached one of the felted pins I made a few years back. I may still line it.

Here it is before it hit the washing machine...huge! These are fun to make because you knit them on large needles and it goes fast. And then there is the magic of watching the transformation as it felts. Maybe I'm just easily entertained, but that's OK....I'm rarely bored!

And here she is all felted. I have yarn to make another that I will be giving away as a birthday present.

Hardware and Softwear

This is the hardware. My son moved out this weekend, to the home that he and his fiancee will share when they are married. I was looking around the empty room, being sentimental and thinking about all the changes....and all the work I want to do to this room in the next month! I noticed again one of the things I love about this house...the hardware. I like the little x's and o's on the hinges.

I get aggravated about how the old stuff doesn't latch quite right, but isn't it charming?

And this is the softwear....I'm making a new felted bag from some beautiful Malabrigo yarn. It's such lovely stuff to work with. So soft! We went to see Cirque du Soleil in Champaign, IL and while we were there I visited Needleworks and Klose Knit. Both are lovely shops with a nice variety of yarns and supplies.

Kool-Aid Dyed Yarn

Last night I dyed up some yarn. I just started doing this last year when Tracy showed me the way, and have had so much fun with it. I like to use Kool Aid or food coloring because I work in my kitchen, and this way I don't have to worry about toxins. I'll tell you a little about how I did it last night, but if you really want a good tutorial you can find one here on Knitty.com.

I started with Knitpicks Bare superwash sock yarn, but you can also start with any yarn that is high in animal fiber content...the higher the better! I've used yarn from my stash and dyed over lighter colors I wasn't crazy about with good results. I left my yarn in the skein it came in because I was lazy last night, but if you want longer repeats you can reskein it into a much longer skein. Put the skein in a tub of water to soak. Let the fibers really soak for a good while (go watch some TV and knit!). You want all the air out so it will take up the dye nicely. When the yarn is good and wet, gently squeeze the extra water out so you can transport it to your bowls.

Next, I boiled up a big pot of water and poured boiling water into 3 bowls. I dissolved 3 packs of unsweetened Kool Aid to each bowl and immediately draped the yarn into the bowls. If you are using kool aid there is enough citric acid that you really don't have to use vinegar, but I added a splash to each bowl anyway...never hurts. I want that color to stay! Move the yarn around a little with spoon so it all gets a chance to soak up the dye. Pretty quickly I shifted the yarn so the white parts were dyed too. If you feel your water cooled too much, you can wrap your yarn in saran and microwave it 2 minutes to make sure the heat has set the dye. My water was still extremely hot after the yarn soaked up the dye, so I didn't bother.

You can see here that the yarn has taken up all the dye and the water is clear again.

Let it cool a bit in the sink and then rinse. I like to add a little dish soap and give it a light wash at this point. No dye came out at all, so I knew the dye was set well. Then squeeze the extra water out gently (you don't want to felt it!) and put it in a towel to blot the extra water out.

Finally, hang it up to dry......and in the morning you have some nice new colors to work with!

There are all sorts of variations on the technique...you can dye in pots on the stove, handpaint and then microwave, or even use a crock pot. Fun!

Happy New Year!

Honestly, I can hardly believe it's 2010. I remember when 2010 was some distant date they used in the old sci-fi movies!
We shared Christmas day (and dinner) with family...a large group this year, including lots of children, which is always fun! This is me (in the middle) with my sis and sis-in-law/cousin.

I've been such a bad blogger...never posting. A couple of months ago I painted the dining room and changed it from red to a light green. The paint is from Ace and I think the color is called Prairie Grass. This room was red so I did prime it first, but usually I don't even have to prime with Ace paint. It covers really well. The red was nice, but after 6 years, I was ready for a change and I'm loving how much lighter the room is now.

I love having a place for the books!

Joe was building a bookcase in the living room and last month he finished it out and we painted that room too. It took two tries, but I like the color we ended up with. Every year I seem to get out less Christmas decorations. This year it was the tree, the mantle, the nativity and a couple of wreaths. Simple, and easy to put away too.

With the windchill at -12 degrees, I'm enjoying knitting up some warm socks that much more. Just started this pair yesterday. My sister and I are planning to get away to someplace where we won't even have to wear socks, and hopefully we'll get lots of drawing and relaxing done while we are there. Tell you more about that tomorrow, if I can actually bring myself to write posts two days in a row!

Knitting my way through Arkansas

I spent the last week wandering around Arkansas with my sister-in-law while she visited with her parents. I got a lot of knitting done in the hotels and in the evenings while chatting with Susette and her mom. And we enjoyed some beautiful scenery and fall weather. No knitting in the car when you would miss scenery like this!

While we were in Arkansas, I found this great old swift at an antique mall. It works like a charm. No more winding by hand....happy, happy!


I started 2 pair of socks before I left and finished both. I love this pair. It's a complicated pattern, but cute. The pattern is the Solid Socks June Mystery Pattern on ravelry.com and is a free pattern.

Please excuse those cobwebs under the cabinet....I swear I cleaned them up after I saw this photo. LOL

And this cheery pink pair. This pattern is called Spring Forward and is free on knitty.com.

Arkansas on Dwellable

Crafty Goodness at the Lake

We went to the lake for the 4th of July. It was beautiful...the fireworks were loud and bright and lasted pretty much all night...perfect! But what I was really excited about was this:
Apparently the young ones are discovering knitting. This is my niece, Nicole. She is just learning to knit and is making a baby blanket for a friend.
The scarf on the left is Angelica's...she's loom knitting it. The one in the orange bikini is my daughter, Colleen. She's making a hat for a friend's baby. In the background is my sis, drawing in her sketchbook. Usually I'm the only one who brings up knitting, so I was so excited to come in and find all these young ones knitting away and chatting!
Here's the first sock of Jen's birthday pair. It's a pattern called Milo out of the wonderful new book by Cookie A. Complicated patterns...but really beautiful! If you buy the book, be sure to print out the errata...it's got a lot of corrections.

Unexpected Vacation and More Socks!

Well, I finished Kylie's socks awhile back, and while she was home on spring break she picked them up.

I guess she likes them...goofy girl!

And this makes me so happy and excited I can hardly see straight!

Oiling Wood Floors and Knitting Socks

These floors are in our shop and boy, are they ever ever dried out! Believe it or not, the floor on the left is actually clean.... just dry as a bone. They seem to have no finish on them, and a floor man who was here for another part of the building told me I could just oil them. I decided to oil them little by little as I'm rearranging the shop for spring....ufff. What was I thinking?!! Anyway, they are going to look a lot better.


I'm using tung oil and it really isn't too hard, just a little time consuming. I clean the floor first using an all purpose cleaner in water and a microfiber cloth, rinsing often. Those cloths really pick up the dirt. Then I let it dry thouroughly.

Next apply the oil in a small area at a time...this floor is so dry, I pour some on the floor and then spread it around with a rag. Let it soak in for 5 minutes or so, and then buff with a different rag. Move on and do the same to the next patch of floor. I will apply a second coat tomorrow. It makes such a huge difference.

If these floors were in our house I would be trying to get off old paint when I come to it and really make it look more perfect. These floors are in the 100 year old city hall building in our town. I rent space here for our shop...there is a lot of traffic through the building. I just want to bring some life back to them and protect the wood a little. I thought I share the project here, because you could certainly finish the floors in your old home the same way.

eta: I've been reading on the web that this finish, while it says tung oil in the name, does not actually contain tung oil. Fortunately, many people seem to have had good luck using this on their floors even though the label says "not recommended for floors." I was happy to hear this, since I really don't want to put a poly over this wood. Poly can't be renewed without a lot of sanding and I think I can refresh this easier with out having to remove all my stock. I'll let you know how it works out!


I finished my socks and I love the Mountain Colors yarn. I will definitely be buying more of it...it was soft while I was knitting with it...but after I washed it, it is just the softest and warmest pair of socks I have.

Now I've started a new pair of socks for my daughter's best friend Kylie. Those are some pretty wild colors, but take a look at Kylie:

I think she has enough attitude to pull off wearing socks like that.



My friend Dawn passed an award along to me. With this award I'm supposed to tell you 6 things I'm thankful for and pass the award along to 6 other bloggers.

I am so very thankful for...

• My relationship with Jesus and that I have his word to guide me.
• My husband and kids and all our extended family.
• Having my parents living in the same town.
• Our home
• My dog
• My health...including my eyesight and the use of my hands because I love to make things. I don't take this for granted after seeing my grandmother lose both to her battle with rheumatoid arthritis.

I'm awarding:

• Tiny Old House
• One Woman's Cottage Life
• The Cottage at Wit's End
• Creative Little Daisy
• Equus Villa
• Daily Yarns n More