Its been a long time...

Well, life has got in the way and I have hardly had any time at all this month to knit. My knitting friends told me they are worried about me. A musical I am directing has apparently consumed my every waking moment, and it is only now, at 12:40 a.m. that I have a few moments to write before I go and drop into bed. I just wanted to share the pattern for the latest KAL that I made for my group. I thought it was kind of pretty. My show, well it goes up next weekend, so I only have one more week to dedicate to it -- then I am going on a binge of knitting!!!

This pattern is called the zig zag and although I wrote it for an afghan square, you can easily knit it with cotton for a washcloth. The pattern is listed on the right -- just scroll down under free patterns.

Another Rune Alphabet Letter

Well I finally took some time to go back and create another Rune Letter -- as you can clearly see, the letter R or Raidho (pronounced "rye-though"). With all my obligated charity knitting and assembling of afghans, etc., it is nice to have a little creative outlet. I'll admit, I'm not particularly happy with the way this "R" turned out, but I think I will leave it for now and continue. If it continues to bother me I will go back and redo it.

I've also been very busy assembling a U.S. Afghan for my charity group. Women from all over the U.S. and Canada made state squares and mailed them in. When I finish this puppy it will go to Warm Up America. I'm actually enjoying putting it together, but I am only working on it a little bit everyday.



Finally, I just have to show you an adorable book that I have been wanting to get. But it is now no longer published and was going for $45 + online. One of the members of my charity group, lovely Leslie Pinney from California, apparently found the book and surprised me with it as a gift. Can you believe that. I'm still just speechless and touched. The book is called KNIT A SQUARE AND MAKE A TOY. It is patterns for all of these super cute stuffed animals, clowns, mermaid, etc., and they are all made from knitted squares. Very creative. I can't wait to get started on making one, or more. Leslie -- you rock girl!!!

Easter egg!

Well, Easter is right around the corner and I couldn't resist designing a little Easter Egg afghan square/dishcloth for my KAL group and to give in my two dishcloth exchanges.


So if you need a last minute little Easter gift, this is a quick knit.


I am in the process of assembling the USA afghan and will post an "in progress" photo later this weekend.

Oh, if you would like my little Easter Egg pattern, you will find it on the right -- just scroll down to free patterns.

Mitts from Penney

In a knit exchange group I belong to we exchanged either gloves, mittens or fingerless mitts. I think pretty much all of us made fingerless mitts. I just received mine today from Penney in Canada. The wool is gorgeous and very, very soft. I'm just not sure about the little gold coins attached though. I mean I give Penney an A+ for creativity, but I''m just not sure that I would wear them with the coins as I couldn't drive with them being in the way, and since I'm not much of a jewelry person, I think I would feel a bit conspicuous(sp?). Anyway, I do really love them. I hope Penney's feelings would not be hurt if I decide to snip off the coins. Exchanges are so hard because you make something for someone you know nothing about. But I do really love them. I just have to wait until it gets cold again.

My first Afghan!

I did it. I finally did it. I made my first afghan and I crocheted it! The afghan actually went pretty quickly. It was sitting down to do the border that took 3-4 months. Altogether I'd say the afghan took about 4-5 months.


I belong to Annie's Scrap Crochet Club and that is where I got the pattern. And boy, let me tell you, it really did use a lot of my scrap yarn! I didn't realize that the blanket was going to be so big.


I am planning on donating it to charity although my youngest daughter is begging that I let her have it. I'm flattered because she never wants anything that I make. I think I might let her use it for awhile and then I'll wash it and give it away. Now I want to start a second scrap blanket, just not such a big one.

Rune Alphabet

A member of one of my groups put out a request for someone to design afghan squares or dishcloth squares with the Rune alphabet on each square. I love a challenge, so I requested a try. Having made the first letter, the member of my group liked it so I am on my way to creating 24 other squares. Click http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/pronunciation.html to find out more about the Rune Alphabet. What is a Rune Alphabet you might ask? Well, I asked the same thing. Apparently it is an ancient Germanic language. "They were used throughout northern Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Iceland from about 100 B.C.E. to 1600 C.E. Runic inscriptions of great age have even been found in North America, supporting stories that the Vikings arrived in the Americas long before Columbus."

So, if you have any interest in the Rune Alphabet, you can start checking my blog periodically to get a free pattern for each letter. Although I will show the letter here, you can get the pattern by scrolling down on the right and look for the title "Rune Alphabet". Each letter and its pattern will be listed there.

Okay, here is the first letter that I have -- the Letter F or Fehu (fay-who).

And baby makes three...

A friend of mine, well actually my husband's co-worker's wife who has become a friend since we have started knitting together, is just about to have her first baby. As we have a knitting group that meets at my husband's office every week, the other knitters there and I decided we would each make her something and have a little shower in the office for her. Since I finally finished this sweater and gave it to her today, I can now post it.


This is made with Debbie Bliss cashmerino - pure heaven, and I used the Debbie Bliss pattern in baby cashmerino 2 pattern book. It was very easy, but I'll admit it really was not all that fun and it took quite a bit longer than I thought for a baby sweater. Probably because I just had a heck of a time getting into garter stitch. And, even though I matched up gauge, I still ran out of yarn. Naturally because it has taken me so dad-blasted long to knit the thing they didn't have the same dyelot. Oh well. despite the bad photo that you see of it, I still think it came out rather cute.

In my charity group I run two KALs a month. We just finished one and so I thought I'd post the picture here. You can get the pattern in the free pattern section over in the bar on the right.


Clearly I need to learn how to operate my camera better. I created an adorable Easter KAL that will start April 1st in my group. I'm really excited about this one. It could be an afghan square or a dishcloth!!!