Heads Up......Your Hat Is In The Mail!

A year ago last October I went to a Harvest Fair in New Hampshire with my daughter. While perusing the little craft booths we came upon a woman selling knitted winter hats and  headbands. They were unique and quite lovely.  We stopped and tried them on. I quickly settled on a mustard colored headband that I liked. It isn't often I find a hat that looks good on me. My daughter Meagan tried on several and couldn't decide so I confess, in order to hurry her along I told me not to worry that I could easily make one for her within the next few days if she just told me the color. She decided on black. (Ok, I know what you're all thinking. Meagan of all people should know I can't keep a promise when it comes to finishing anything so why did she fall for that line right?  Well she did.)  Once home from New Hampshire I actually bought the yarn and the pattern. My intention was to make the headband for her for Christmas 2011. When that didn't happen I promised it again for 2012.  Nada! I have no excuse that you haven't heard before but if it helps I do feel bad. Every now and then my daughter would ask about my progress and I easily changed the subject. Thankfully she stopped asking. Sometimes when she visits she borrows my headband leaving me hatless; that's OK with me as it helps ease my guilt. Yesterday, Lo and Behold, I found the time and inclination to finally make my daughter the coveted headband. All in all I am happy with the results and just to make sure she gets it before winter is over I packed it up and gave it to my husband. (who by the way finishes everything he starts) He took it to the post office.

 You should get it Thursday or Friday

 my dear, patient daughter.

Enjoy! 





Odds and Ends....Using up my STASH

“SABLE- A common knitting acronym that stands for

 Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.”

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Yup,that's me; I buy yarn whether I need it or not and I doubt I will live long enough to use it up. I buy yarn that I love and know that I will use and I buy yarn that I don't like so much but know someone else will. Of course I buy yarn for a specific project too. I  have to admit that while my yarn stash grows my memory of why I bought it fades. So in keeping with my commitment to finish projects and use up materials, this Christmas I made and gave several hand made gifts using stash. (Thanks to Pinterest there was no shortage of ideas only shortage of time) I made my sisters buttoned cowls, my grand children hats and I even finished two pair of fingerless gloves, one for me and one for Dylan's mom Mary. Everyone seemed to love their gifts and little by little my stash is shrinking. I wish I could say the same for my

 butt.

Happy New Year Everyone!

May PEACE, LOVE and Prosperity be yours!!

My grandson Grant loves owls but hates the hat!

Hello Dolly!!!

Here they are, my neices Nina, and McKenna proudly holding their American Girl dolls for every one to  see. Cousin Gabby sits in the middle making the picture  just perfect. I finally gave Nina and McKenna their promised doll outfits and I couldn't be more pleased. This picture was taken yesterday at our annual Family Christmas Party. These little girls were so appreciative of the doll dresses and I was so touched that by the end of our annual gathering I had already promised them more outfits for Christmas!! What is the matter with me, you ask? Who knows, I've barely made a dent in my "to do" list  as it is and here I am already adding more things right? Well, I am helpless. I am a sucker for little girls and their dolls so I will keep my promise to them. I know this will cause much disappointment but I have decided to move the pine cone wreath back indefinately. Whew, what a relief, I've been putting that one off for a while,  now I finally have a legitimate excuse.

 Happy Holidays!

OOOOPS! BLOG WENT OUT BY MISTAKE. SORRY

Oh My gosh........my blog went out by mistake.

 It was in the early early stages 

before editing......

please disregard and 

DO NOT PASS IT AROUND.......

THANKS, JACKIE

Cheat Cheat, Never Beat!

Today I am going to cheat and ask for a little slack. About a year ago a friend shared with me a knitting pattern for "fingerless" gloves. You've seen them; they are like mittens but with your fingers sticking out. In my opinion these are the perfect little accessory for the cold weather. They are great for driving, texting, (not at the same time please) or doing anything that requires use of your fingers and still keep your hands and wrists warm. Well like I am prone to do I decided that they would make great "sister swap" gifts for my sisters and sisters-in-law; and in staying in the almost 40 year tradition that we have  of exchanging small, thoughtful tokens of love each year at Christmastime. I couldn't wait to whip up 6 pair of these babies over the course of the year to present to my gal pals. Impulsively of course, I ran out and bought all kinds of yarn without bothering to read the instructions first. I didn't know at the time that once again I would be working with my Nemesis.....the DOUBLE POINTED NEEDLE. Over the course of the year I tried numerous times to follow the pattern and failed. I put all the stuff in a bag an there it sat until I came across an interesting prospect on the Internet at a wonderful needlework and social networking site that I subscribe to called  Ravelry.  http://www.ravelry.com .  As coincidence would have it there was a woman there looking for people to take part in testing out her first ever pattern design. None other than the fingerless glove. The reward for helping her would not only be  entry into a yarn raffle but the free pattern and the onnline help executing it  I WAS IN!   I signed up and followed along with the successful result of not only becoming more proficient with the double pointed needle but learning and mastering a new pattern. People posted questions and answers helping each other as we went along.   Check out  the spicy homemaker at:  http://spicyhomemaker.com/2012/10/26/spicy-knits-the-good... 

 

Here is the glitch. I am a slow knitter......If I knitted every day all day until our family party which is December 2nd I would still never finish 6 pair of mitts . SO..... I am declaring that I have

Finally Finished ONE of the six  pairs of "Fingerless Gloves" that I committed to a year ago.

   Whooo Hooooo! Happy Holidays!

W.W.G.D? (What Would Grammy Do?)

O.k,  so I find myself moaning and groaning to anyone and everyone who will listen that I can't figure out how to finish the green baby sweater. Well meaning advice has been everything from "throw it out" to  "pay someone else to do it".  But the fact remains that I need to  "blanket stitch" the little holes around the bottom and on the cuff of the arms and I don't know how to do it. I have tried and I am making a mess. Mine just doesn't look like the one in the book.   Life was less stressful for me before Pinterest!  Unfortunately the only people I know that could help me are otherwise "indisposed";  my mother who just isn't up to it these days and my grandmother who sadly is not longer with us; so...... short of contacting the Long Island Medium to ask "grammy's"  advice I have to figure it out myself.  This is unfortunate because my grandmother would be able to help me. She could do anything creative with or without a pattern. Sewing, embroidery, cooking, knitting and crocheting you name it.

This is evident in the tablecloth I came across while searching for of the white embroidery floss that I needed to do the "blasted blanket stitch". 

 This gorgeous work of art was crocheted by my grandmother with dainty thread and a tiny hook; and I am sure without one bit of complaining.

 Like every thing she did, she did it with love.

  I guess I'll go now to You Tube and try to figure it out.

This time without complaint but with old fashioned ingenuity and perseverance.

Because that is what Grammy would do!



Ok, so my "inner voice" lies

Ahh.....Yet another tiny baby sweater left undone!  As most of you know, almost three years ago when my daughter told me she was pregnant I was so certain that it would be a girl I began several "baby girl" projects. When we found out that it was to be a boy I abandoned them and went to work on some boy things that I could leave  un-finished. It's not that I like girls more than boys or that (gasp!) I subconciously wanted a girl, it is just that my intuition rarely leads me astray. Ok,  so there were  a few times I should have ignored the " inner voice", like back in the 80's when I thought that a small town white girl could rock an Afro!!  And oh yeah,  maybe my guide was a bit off  a few years ago on Halloween when I dressed up as Princess Leia to surpise my grandson Dylan who was going as Darth Vadar.  But that my friends is another blog for another  day. Let's just say  that I have been asked not to dress up for halloween from now on. Hmmmm I suppose he was just jealous of all the attention I was getting right? So here we go one more sweater to finish . Except for the collar all the pieces are done now and I will begin the process of putting it all together and then sewing on buttons and embroidering little flowers on it.

Onward and upward faithful readers! Thanks for your encouragement; it makes the sometimes daunting task a little easier.

Stay tuned for the pinecone wreath.

Peace and Love, Jackie (aka Leah)