Wordless Wednesday : ICE!

Linkin' Lookin' and Blog

While mindlessly knitting and finishing this scarf for charity, I've come across some interesting
web sites to share. How about an advent calendar for knitters? Click in each day to find another free pattern on the Christmas tree at http://www.garnstudio.com/julekalender.php?lang=enI've already printed two patterns that I intend to make, though I do admit to being a pattern stasher like some people are yarn stashers.

Want to build your vocabulary while performing a charitable act? Go to http://www.freerice.com/ Warning!! This is addictive, but for a very worthy cause!

Here is the fantastic stripe site at http://www.kissyourshadow.com/stripe_maker.php After you plug in your colors, a stripe pattern is generated specifically to meet your color scheme. I find it very useful since I can put colors together, but the patterning gets me every time!

How 'bout some levity? This holiday site just makes me laugh at all the garish sweaters that users can create. Of course, some are quite tasteful. Since this type of sweater is not something I'd typically wear, I thought it was hilarious! Allow yourself some time at http://weloveholidaysweaters.wehatesheep.com/ and release your inner designer!!

Here's a simple knitter's ornament to make. Wouldn't it be fun to have a tree with a knitting theme? http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=211860.0

It's a snowy day in the neighborhood--sparkling, bright, and new!

Another couple of inches are predicted to fall tonight. Wonderful stay-inside sort of weather.

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Please pray for the families of the victims of the shootings at two worship centers here in Colorado.

May the glory of the Lord rise among us.***

Snowy Saturday

A bright winter day like today always reminds me of the children's book A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Gently falling snow, icy snow packed roads, truly a day to stay warm and cozy in the house. Silly Squirrel feasted on nyjer seeds clearly not intended for him/her/it.

More mindless scarf knitting while I spent the day online. With some eyelash (that was given to me) and some Mission Falls gray cotton, I used size 10.5 needles to make another scarf for Scarves from the Heart.


Here is a typical pose with the ever-patient Max enjoying his rawhide while Princess Lailah lounges on him. She does keep her Teddy bear nearby. The surgery didn't phase her;she's doing great. Thanks for asking, Donna.

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Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right. Psalm 97:11

One Day One-der

A friend and I decided to have a knitting afternoon yesterday. In need of mindless knitting --since we tend to do a lot of talking and laughing-- I grabbed a ball of Jo Sharp worsted wool and a small spool of Spice by Knitting Fever. Armed with my size 8 needles and a simple garter stitch, I managed to finish this cheery scarf for Scarves from the Heart. Now, back to the Argosy Scarf. I'm still plugging away!

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Joyful are people of integrity, who follow the instructions of the Lord.
Psalm 119:1

Wordless Wednesday

Of Misaligned Merchant Ships

argosy -- laden merchant ship: a large richly laden merchant ship, or a fleet of such ships

Just wondered what the word meant. I thought it meant "rip out 12 inches even though you tried to fudge stitches to keep the pattern and it didn't work".

In other news, after my initial excitement about the Hot D blanket and several changes of needles and yarn combos, I concluded that I did not enjoy working with the huge -- size 19 and 35-- needles and the bulkiness of the knitted fabric. Hot D turned to Cold D after about three days.

Now Argosy with its simple, repetitive pattern is beating me down! Perhaps, this is why I am a process and not a product knitter!! I'm not getting anything done!

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I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!Lamentations 3:24

A Lovely Thank You Surprise

Totally astounded, I opened a thank you package from the Knitorious Mrs. B http://theknitoriousmrsb.blogspot.com/ to whom I had sent gift packages for SP11. This is the first time I've received a thank you package from the partner whom I gifted.

Thank you so very much for your thoughtfulness, Mrs. B! The Spice Cake candle is burning now and each item will be put to good use!!

He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. Psalm 40:2

Dogs on Thursday: Life With Lailah

Lailah is now six months old. She often has this quizzical expression as she encounters so many new experiences. She is one peppy princess. Always into my yarn, knocking over bottles of Diet Coke, dragging things around the house. Energetic in the extreme!!

Lailah peeking to see if she's in trouble maybe?

Me: "Lailah, what have you done NOW?"

She enjoyed celebrating DGD's birthday by playing with the helium balloons. Those things were incredibly unpoppable!! (yes--new word!)

Since she couldn't manage to sink her teeth into the balloon, she decided to drag it around by the ribbon -- which was not easy---or by the knot in the balloon. Clever girl, she is!

So, this morning, DH brings her home from the vet where she had spent the night after having surgery to spay her yesterday. She got home around 10 AM after having a pain pill, so naturally I expected her to do this all day. You know pain, discomfort, anesthetic wearing off, pain pill. Doesn't that equal sleep? Lots of sleep? Nope! She was zipping around as usual--dragging pillows off the sofa, trying to get to Max's collar, distributing my yarn through the entry way, banging into things with her undeserved halo. You know, the usual. These cute sleepy pictures were taken at 9PM ! She was hustling all day!

I'm calling her "Sister Mary Lailah" now.

Wordless Wednesday: Gnome Homes

Hot D Ghan

The Hot D ghan is a simple repetitive pattern. I settled on using four strands of the yarns I have. I do wish I had used a larger needle than the 19s for a looser look.

The combination of stockinette, garter, and dropped stitches make a warm, attractive ghan. More info about this ghan is in a previous post.
We had a grand Thanksgiving. Hope you did too.

Lailah welcomed two-year-old DG#7 who chose to wear his Spiderman costume for Thanksgiving.

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He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5

RAK

Sincere thanks to a fellow Raveler who made this beautiful assortment of stitch markers as a RAK. She enclosed a packet of knitting notes, as well. Thanks SO much!!

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You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth.

2 Kings 19:15

For You

~~ Happy Thanksgiving ~~

WOW, BABE!

My November partner truly gifted me expressing the theme of thankfulness and inspiration. I look forward to getting into the three books with themes of friendship and caring. Also included are a thong bookmark (very pretty), angels--glass and two small cards, a small Victorian calendar, green apple and strawberry candy swirls, and surprises for my doggies Max and Lailah!! They are bouncing around with joy! Just look at the dog cookies in the plastic bag. Wonder if she made those? The Boxer magnet is precious! And, the best for last....will you look at those glittery collars for Christmas??! I love those! The doggies will be sporting those all through December. I love the Pilgrim woman and added her to a Fall wreath arrangement on our dining room table. My deepest thanks for all the thought she put into these gifts.

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You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Isaiah 26:3

Holey, Wholly Scarf

Its nice to have a Christmas gift completed! This scarf was made with red Plymouth Encore. Since I had only one ball of yarn, the scarf is not of the long, wind-it-around a few times variety. It is just right to wear tucked in or hanging out of a coat. I know my dear friend will be thrilled since knitting is a complete mystery to her. The YOs make it holey and it is wholly complete!

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Christmas, my child, is love in action. ... Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas. --Dale Evans Rogers

The Yarns -- They Have Gathered

Here we have a basket with twists, mohair, metallic, tweed, alpaca, boucle, bulky, worsted, chunky, and size 19 circs. Know why? With four or five yarns held together, I am making the "Hot D#@*" afghan. This will include some knitting, purling, and dropping stitches. It seems that this baby only takes several hours to complete --- we'll see. This is my mindless knitting for when I am tired of the Argosy pattern. I must say that the Argosy is a fun pattern. The pattern for the afghan along with info about the origin of the name can be found here:
http://www.knitting-crochet.com/found/hotdamn.html

The Argosy scarf is at http://www.knitty.com/

Happy knitting!

Saw this at http://soulfulknittingministries.blogspot.com/ and decided to do it too! The things I have done are in Bold Print.

Afghan

I-cord

Garter stitch

Knitting with metal wire

Shawl

Stockinette stitch

Socks: top-down

Socks: toe-up

Knitting with camel yarn

Mittens: Cuff-up

Mittens: Tip-down

HatKnitting with silk

Moebius band knitting

Participating in a KAL

Sweater

Drop stitch patterns

Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn

Slip stitch patterns

Knitting with banana fiber yarn

Domino knitting (modular knitting)

Twisted stitch patterns

Knitting with bamboo yarn

Two end knitting

Charity knitting

Knitting with soy yarn

Cardigan

Toy/doll clothing

Knitting with circular needles

Baby items

Knitting with your own handspun yarn

Slippers

Graffiti knitting

Continental knitting

Designing knitted garments

Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)

Lace patterns

Publishing a knitting book

Scarf

Teaching a child to knit

American/English knitting

Knitting to make money

Buttonholes

Knitting with alpaca

Fair Isle knitting

Norwegian knitting

Dying with plant colors

Knitting items for a wedding

Knitting socks or other small tubular items

Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn

Knitting with dpns

Holiday related knitting

Teaching a male how to knit

Bobbles

Knitting for a living

Knitting with cotton

Knitting smocking

Dying yarn

Steeks

Knitting art

Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously

Fulling/feltingKnitting with wool

Textured knitting

Kitchener stitch

Purses/bags

Knitting with beads

Swatching

Long Tail CO

EntrelacKnitting

Machine knitting

Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn

Stuffed toys

Baby items

Knitting with cashmere

Darning

Jewelry

Knitting with synthetic yarn

Writing a pattern

Gloves

IntarsiaKnitting

Knitting for preemies

Tubular

COFreeform knitting

Short rows

Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers

Pillows

Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine

Rug

Knitting on a loom

Thrummed knitting

Knitting a gift

Knitting for pets

Shrug/bolero/poncho

Hair accessories

Knitting in public

Knitting with buffalo yarn

Knitting with pygora

Dying with food dye/drink mixes

Dying with chemical dyes (acid, etc)

Oh-my-garsh!! Just lookit that list!! Is it obvious that I have been knitting for decades??! I still enjoy it, probably even more than when I first started in high school!

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"Be excellent at what is good! Be innocent of evil!"

---Bob Fitts

Of Yarn and Books

As a very satisfied customer, I must sing praises of http://www.yarnmarket.com/ . Every time I order from them, I am amazed by their fast-fast-fast service! This Noro Silk Garden Lite is now being knitted in the Argosy pattern on http://www.knitty.com/ for my MIL's Christmas gift. This is a fun and fast pattern. You might want to give it a try!

If you're interested in the Book and Book Mark Exchange (BABE), check the web site at http://dabookswap.blogspot.com/ This is a terrific monthly swap of a book and bookmark loosely centered on a theme. I received this package from Canada yesterday for the October exchange. The Evanovich book went to DH while I thoroughly enjoyed flipping through the crochet book. I did spot a thing or two that I hope to make. I'm having a birthday party for my DGD who is turning four next week, so the candies will be perfect to add to the treat bags.

Hope you have a marvelous weekend!

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Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ?...Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Philippians 2:1-2

Dogs--Books--Thursday

Max enjoys sleeping in the sun on the deck.

... but I’m curious how many of us write notes in our books. Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?

I definitely am a footprinter in books I plan to keep. Notes, symbols, and other reactions fill my books, particularly for phraseology that I especially enjoy as well as new vocabulary. My Bible has many, many notes, dates, underlining, and markings that help to guide my reading and study.

What about you? Do you write in your books?

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Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.

Revelation 3:20

B4 minus 1

The B4 bag B4 felting

The pattern is by Trish Bloom from Once In A Bloomoon Creations and include

B1 = baubles (Otherwise known as a version of the popcorn stitch.)

B2 = bumps

B3 = beads

B4 = buttons

These are not necessarily in the correct order as described by the designer. I used three of the four Bs, so my bag is a B4 - 1 bag.

B-hold the torturing that the B4 bag endured B4 B-coming the B4-1 bag that it is. I used Noro Kureyon and size 11 needles. Here's the thing: I am so excited about getting this into the mail to surprise my B-leagured sister, who lives across the country, that I forgot to take a B-after pic to display the gloriously finished bag!

Surprise #1 actually was how loooong it took me to dig around in my mother's button jar to find buttons that looked absolutely perfect on this bag---what with the colors and all. Imagine the buttons sewn in the dark purple to light purple band. On one side of the bag is a medium size orangeish button in the center with smaller orange-ish buttons on either side about an inch and a half from the center button. On the flip side of the bag is the same configuration with a brownish & gold button in the center and smaller gold buttons on each side. The buttons are circa the '50s - '60s, add a nice finish, and are special beyond description because they belonged to Mother.

I then affixed a magnetic snap closure that is not used in the original pattern. I like to put them on tote bags to avoid the inevitable dumping-out-of-the-contents when the bag is set down.

Surprise #2 was that having finished the finishing, I efficiently wrapped the bag in golden yellow tissue paper, slapped a Fallish sticker on it, slipped it into a plastic bag-like envelope, wrote a note on a card and added that to the contents, taped the heck out of it, printed an address label to kiss the front of the package, and added the return address label. There!

Now, to post it finished in Ravelry and on my blog. There! No pic of the artfully finished bag. Just the torture shot with plastic bag guts spewing forth. (The plastic bag is holding cans to further torture the wet, felted fabric.)

Trust me, it is one fabulous B4 -1 with just the right buttons on it!

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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hebrews 13:8

Dogs-n-Books-n-Peppers

Hey!! I'm ready to go! Somebody?!

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger?

More? Less?Why?

Since retiring, I have more time for pleasure reading. I am doing much more knitting and reading and enjoy the leisure time. However, I must confess that I do not keep up with professional journals now.

How would you characterize your reading at this point in your life?

To Moo: About those beautiful peppers in yesterday's post, DH uses my Nonna's recipe to make Pickled Peppers. A quick and easy recipe:

Combine
2 quarts cold water
2 quarts white vinegar
1 cup kosher salt

Stir until salt is dissolved.

Tightly pack the peppers into the jars.

When using banana peppers or Hungarian wax peppers, pack the whole pepper into the jars.

Add 2 cloves garlic and 1 Tablespoon olive oil into each jar.

Add vinegar solution to cover the peppers.

Allow two weeks before eating. Do not refrigerate. Then,

Happy eating with love from my dear mother and my bella Nonna!

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Door Sign: Let those who are coming in first.

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Sky

Please send holiday cheer to a wounded soldier or to several by sending Christmas cards to

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20307-5001

The original info is posted at http://warmtheworldorg.wordpress.com/

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By his divine power,
God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
2 Peter 1:3

Books and Dogs on Thursday

Max and Lailah celebrated Halloween by playing with this cute skeleton rope toy that a swap pal sent. All three seemed to enjoy it equally--crazy skeleton!

"What with yesterday being Halloween, and all . . . do you read horror? Stories of things that go bump in the night and keep you from sleeping?"

I really-really don't! I don't watch that genre of movies, TV, or read horror books. I don't finding it entertaining....I'll just pass those books on to someone who DOES enjoy them!

How about you? Do you read horror stories?

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Favorite quote from current book:

"Nixon never lost the ability to look into the camera and make the truth wince."

Wordless Wednesday: Leaves Leaving

WIP - ing

The B4 bag in Noro is my activated project right now. The pattern has interesting handle placement for this bag, which will be felted. I am making this to send off to one of my sisters who needs a little boost right now. You can see assorted B4 bags and get info on the pattern at http://b4bag.blogspot.com/ It is a fun and fast knit! I am using size 10 needles. This is going to be smaller than I had expected, but I don't feel like ripping and restarting----onward and upward we go!

In basket #2 we have the Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket for DG#7. He is an active 2-year-old, so this hardy garter stitch is perfect for him! I'm using red for the main color and only white for striping. I decided to make fewer stripes than indicated in the pattern. My pattern is in EZ's book The Opinionated Knitter and is also available in other sources available at http://www.schoolhousepress.com/. Here is a page with notes for the BSJ: http://www.knitting-and.com/wiki/Baby_Surprise_Jacket

Oh, and yesterday morning...you know, the day after the Sox not the Rox won the World Series...it was time to check on ticket refund$, cancel the hotel room in Denver, cancel our reservations to board the dog-n-puppy show, and think...wow! the Rockies just saved us some serious $$$ !

"There is no joy in Mudville, Might Casey has struck out."

Saturday Sky:Evening

Dogs and Books on Thursday

Max Guards the Door

Try not to wake him on your way in!

I would enjoy reading a meme about people’s abandoned books. The books that you start but don’t finish say as much about you as the ones you actually read, sometimes because of the books themselves or because of the circumstances that prevent you from finishing. So . . . what books have you abandoned and why?

Evensong by Gail Godwin Lost interest in the story line

Lazy B by Sandra Day O'Connor Ho-hum.....zzzzzz

A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel Stirred emotions/memories that I didn't want experience

The #1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith Distracted by the dialect

How about you? What are some books that you've tossed without finishing?

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…I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,...

Philippians 3:13