Forced blogging

OOOOOK, So, I seriously have to do something about this blogging slump I’m in. I toyed with the idea of giving it up altogether…, but I don’t want to risk losing touch with so many dear friends. Besides, every once in a while I want to say something.

Then, I told myself I’d just basically blog if something brilliant came to mind (not likely) or if I had an FO. Well, the blog’ll definitely die a slow death in that case.

Then, for the last two weeks I’ve just been telling myself to blog, about anything, just so people remember who I am… Well two weeks pass :o( No blogging.

So, for the past week, I’ve told myself I’m going to do a mini-NaBloPoMo… promise myself I’ll blog every other day for all of December, about anything, just blog, and maybe it’ll spark my interest again. My buddy Theresa said that participating in NaBloPoMo really helped, the more she blogged, the more she found to say! So, that’s my plan, that’s my hope. Here goes…

What am I knitting? Wellll, I think I left the pattern for Cobblestone in the trailer after our Thanksgiving getaway. I can’t find it anywhere. I definitely remember taking it out of the Little House and putting it in the trailer so it would get home, but I don’t exactly remember taking it out of the trailer with the rest of my stuff and putting it in the “real” house… So, Cobblestone is on hold until I find the pattern, go to the place we store the trailer and look there, or get to town and buy another copy. Pity, too. I’m in a real Cobblestone mood, and I just finished the body, to where you need to attack the sleeves and start the yoke… but I can’t make sleeves until I find the magazine! Oy.

That there on top of Cobblestone is a boot sock I started while away for Thanksgiving. I’m just winging those with the help of Kaity, no pattern needed, so I guess I’ll work on them while Cobblestone is on hold.

And, lets face it – if I’m going to be blogging every other day, brilliant idea or not, you’re going to be subject to lots of Layla pictures. Here she is on Thanksgiving at the Little House, she and her new boyfriend (my parents lab-mix) looking longingly at each other through the back door. Ahhhh :o)

Don’t worry, there are LOTS more Layla pictures where those came from ;o)

See you in 2 days, ready or not!

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Pass the wrinkle cream :o)

This one’s a keeper – I’m hiding it from the hubby :o)

Pattern:  Sideways Shortrow Watch cap (see last post, same pattern)

Yarn:  Noro Kureyon, color 178, one ball, plus about 2 yards of the 2nd.  (if you went straight by the pattern, you could get it in one ball)

Needles:  KnitPicks size 7

Modifications:  I apparently knit freakishly tight because I still had to add an extra “wedge” of short rows, and added 10 stitches to the length to get a brim.

Next up…. boot socks!

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Pinheads and hat stealers

Oh that hubby… don’t set a just-finished hat anywhere near him. He’s got some kind of “new knit hat”radar. He picks it up, says “ooh, this is a good one,” puts it on his head, and there it stays – it’s his now. Just ask Kaity – she’s lost many a newly knit hat this way.

That’s okay, while I really like this hat, and it was FUN to knit, I can only sport the bulkier type hats. This one is more of a beanie, and while it looks great on the hubby, or “Sally” up there, it makes me look like a pinhead.

Pattern: Sideways Shortrow Watch Cap

Yarn: Araucana Nature Wool, color 403, about 110 yards

Needles: Size 7, KnitPicks Options

Modifications: While the yarn is listed as Aran weight, in reality it’s barely worsted, so my gauge was small. This pattern is easy to adjust for different gauges, so I just added another short row to each wedge, and knit 9 wedges instead of 8. Perfect! (unless you have a pinhead)

Well, while I’m in a short row mood, I’m off to knit myself (or the hubby) another hat.

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Layla says “Hi”

…because I really have nothing for ya. Well, that’s not true, I did buy some yarn! But first, Layla. Doesn’t she looks seriously stylin’ in her new Old Navy polo? She wanted pink, but green was all they had in XXS. I think she rocks the green, personally. (Doesn’t she have the cutest little wookie feet?)
Ok – the yarn! It’s been a little chilly on the morning walk lately, so I figured some new hats are in order. Here’s the new yarn chillin’ on my Cobblestone Pullover WIP. Some nice Nature Wool, and a couple of skeins of Noro. What’s not to love? Pretty yarn and quick projects. Perfect, and I might just have a new hat to show you tomorrow, but here’s a sneak preview.

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Knitting for Charity

Yes! We are doing Christmas Knits for One At Time Ministries again this year! Thanks so much to the many of you who who have been asking. Below is the ministry, and details.

Would you like to knit something small, that would be of GREAT help?

My dearest friend, Marion, and her husband Ken have been ministering and to the homeless on Los Angeles’ Skid Row for about five years now. At first, it was just Ken, going down once a week with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches they had made at home, handing them out, and preaching the gospel to anyone who wanted to listen.

Their ministry has lead to One At A Time Ministries, a storefront church in the Ford Hotel in the middle of the most desperate part of the city, where they hold services every Sunday, and Bible studies during the week.

Skid Row in Los Angeles is the epitome of homeless life in America. It is a dangerous place, filled with drugs, gangs, prostitution, and crime… yet the Lord has placed an enormous desire in Ken’s heart to reach out to those who are among the most lost… It has been his calling to bring the homeless of LA the gospel, the only truth that can give them hope of escaping the lives they are currently living – men, women, and children – who cannot see any way out, any way to change, any way to better themselves, or the lives of their children. Ken and Marion are desperate to show them The Way.

Every week at my own Bible studies Marion gives us updates, and tells us what is happening in the lives of some we have come to know, and I have been feeling a desire for quite some time to help. It came to me the other day, that I can knit – I know lots of people who can knit.

I talked to Marion about my idea, of knitting small items that they could bring down and give away at Christmas. Maybe the only gift they receive this year. She was very excited and thought it was a great idea. She said one of the biggest obstacles for these men and women is that they don’t believe God can love them…. they don’t believe anyone can love them.

Receiving a gift of something new, knit just for them, would show love. It would be little, but it would be something.

Hats would be especially needed, but any small knitted items – gloves, wrist warmers, scarves, socks, etc, would be appreciated. Items are needed for men and women, even children. All ages, all sizes.

If you would like to knit something, please send your knitted gift directly to Ken and Marion at:

One At A Time Ministries
c/0 Ken Holladay
1007 Village Square
Fillmore, CA 93015

If you’d like to help even more, please put a link on your blog, or give it a mention. THANK YOU!

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Lacy Kerchief Scarf

Pattern:  Lacy Kerchief Scarf, Interweave Knits, Holiday 2006

Yarn:  Cotton Ease, color: Lake  3+ skeins

Needles:  KnitPicks Harmony, size 8

Dimensions:  90 x 13 inches

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Pets Can’t Knit

Here’s Carmen, looking very innocent, but seriously thinking about walking all over my blocking Lacy Kerchief Scarf (IK Knits, 2006 Holiday Issue) and making little cat paw dents.   Really, this is about the only way she bothers my knitting – not much of a knitter, that cat.  She doesn’t really bother yarn, or WIPs, but lay something down to block and she’s all up in your business.

The scarf is finished, and I love it.  I’ve always loved this pattern.  I’m not sure why, but I’ve just always known I would make it some day.  Tomorrow we’ll get you some properly modeled shots, with my new haircut :o)

What’s next?  The Cobblestone Pullover, for me (of course!)  I’m using this luscious grey-green Berroco Ultra Alpaca (6291, Yucca Mix).   Mmmm.  And, really, isn’t there just a simple beauty in a perfectly wound cake of yarn?

Layla, on the other hand, she’s all about the knitting.  She loves the yarn, she loves the needles, the loves the WIPs,  she loves the FOs…. we’re constantly saving various forms of knitting from her tiny little puppy teeth.  Oh yeah, she’s quite sure she can knit.  She’s quite sure she can do ANYTHING!   She ‘s not a delicate girly-girly…. um, no.  She’s a yarn stealing, bug-eating tomboy.  But she sure is fun, and CUTE! (insert another gratuitous puppy foto)

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