For our Military, who have given service and sacrificed for our freedom!
Afganistan isn’t on this old picture, but please note that those veterans are certainly included! I would like to take a moment to thank all those veterans who fought in the various wars and “police actions” for our freedom. Thank you for your service, and thank you to your families for allowing you to do that.
This is from the Polypay fleece a friend gave me that I had processed into roving, then I spun, dyed and knit into a scarf to thank her for the fleece. It turned out a deep sapphire blue and she really was hoping for a little lighter blue so I bought a skein of off white lace weight super wash merino to knit with the blue to help lighten it up, but it was kind of a stark marled color so since I had over dyed the blue I washed it again in hot water when I was done knitting (being careful not to felt it), and the off white soaked up enough of the blue to be a pretty light blue actually lightening the color visually. I then soaked it in vinegar again to set the light blue color, this also finished releasing the rest of the over dye. I will give this to her tomorrow, I’m sure she will be pleased :).
The pattern was the daisy from the Daisy Rectangular Shawl I designed (tho’ the daisy is an old Shetland lace pattern). There was a beautiful lace weight scarf on Ravelry someone had made from the shawl pattern using one daisy up each side, but since this was sport weight yarn and she wanted a skinny long scarf I chose to just do one in the middle. Following is the pattern, as before, you may make the scarf to give as a gift but you may not sell the pattern or give the pattern to anyone. If someone wants the pattern, please refer them to this site :). I hope there are no typo errors, I did check but you know how that goes sometimes. I’m not a great pattern writer so I hope that you can read my pattern :).
Little Lace Daisy Scarf
B = Border
K = Knit
P = Purl
K2tog = Knit 2 together
yo = yarn over Note: yo twice is a double yarn over and on the purl rows, knit the first yo and purl the 2nd yo
ssk = Slip stitch, slip stitch, knit the two stitches together (see http://knittinghelp.com/videos/decreases for video of how to make the stitch)
** repeat rows between the two *’s
I used hand spun sport weight with a strand of lace weight, and size 7 knitting needles
Cast on 20 stitches
Knit 3 rows in garter stitch for the bottom border. Keep 3 stitches at both ends of each row in garter stitch for the border throughout.
Knit the next row
B, p to last 3 stitches, B
Start pattern rows
*Row 1 – B, k5, k2tog, yo twice, ssk, k5, B (on the even rows the border will still be knit but I put the B on the end so you can make sure you have the right amount of stitches before the B starts J)
Row 2 and all even rows – B, p to last 3 stitches, B
Row 3 – B, k3, k2tog, yo twice, ssk, k2tog, yo twice, ssk, k3, B
Row 5 – Repeat row 1
Row 7 – Repeat row 3
Row 9 – Repeat row 1
Knit the next row
B, P to the last 3 stitches, B
Knit the next row
*B, P to the last 3 stitches, B
Knit these pattern rows until the scarf is the desired length and then end with only one knit row and one pearl row (keeping border) after the lace pattern row 9, and then 3 rows of garter stitch and bind off.
Comfort Shawl 10-14
Updating from my last post. I have finished the comfort shawl and have given it to the friend that lost her babies. Comfort shawls are always nice because it helps let the receiver know that someone is thinking about them and that they don’t have to be alone in the grieving process. You can’t see the colors really well (not sure if it’s my camera or my lack of photography skills :P) but it has red, orange and a turquoise color in it. I have also finished knitting the scarf I was working on but will post a picture along with the pattern later this week, it’s blocking at the moment and I wanted to get a nice picture of it to post with the pattern. Now I can work on finishing the sweater I started for the special little someone, who is still reminding me it’s getting cold and she needs it, lol.
Annual Soup Cook-off 3rd Place Winner
Well to the right you see a picture of an award I won last night at the Annual Soup Cook-off at my church. It’s in conjunction with a ward get together and “trunk or treat” for the kids. We had a nice array of soups to taste. There were 25 brought in and they were all so yummy. I didn’t bring mine in with any intention of winning anything and actually kinda winged it with a last min addition to my taco soup. I usually add canned green chilies (mild) to my soup but I forgot to get them, so to add some zing I added a dry packet of Guacamole to it. It added a wonderful little bit of spicy flavor. The judges must have thought so to because I won 3rd place. The little awards they gave us were very cute and I was so surprised when they called the number on my crockpot (they put numbers on a bit of tape on all the soups as we brought them in and put them on the tables.) The 1st place was a long wooden spoon painted gold, the 2nd place was a little shorter painted silver and the 3rd was a short spoon painted bronze. HAHA, very cute, someone went to a lot of work to prepare them for us :).
Melissa Gilbert – New Cookbook
I talked my daughter into giving me an early Birthday present. She took me to see Melissa Gilbert (Laura of Little House on the Prairie) who was in town, yesterday, to promote her newest endeavor, a cookbook. The cookbook is wonderful and as a bonus it has many photos of behind the scenes things and stories of the Little House TV series, and in the book she also answered questions that have been asked regarding the series. All in all a very fun cookbook, and she was very entertaining. She talked for a little over an hour, including letting the audience ask her questions. At the end, she signed the all cookbooks. The audience was so large that they ran out and not everyone was able to buy one, they brought 100 books to sell at the promotion – they hadn’t expected quite so many people, I had told my daughter we needed to get there at least an hour early, so glad we did :). Yesterday was the 1st day of it’s release, so my daughter and I got one of the first 100 books sold on the first day of it’s release. It was a very fun day!! 🙂 She is a delightful person :).
I am working on 4 knitted items, in this order – a comfort shawl for a friend who had her twins too early and they didn’t live (it’s close to being done), the scarf from the handspun from a friends sheep’s fleece, finishing the sweater I promised a very special little one, and a pair of prairie boots I promised another special person. 🙂 Pictures will be provided when I am done with each. 🙂
In Memory
As we remember the 13th year since this heinous attack was perpetrated, may we take a moment to remember all those who died on this day 13 years ago and thank those who helped in the aftermath. I would like to salute those heroes on flight 93, and all those who, on that day, willingly and unselfishly sacrificed their lives to save the lives of others. I also salute those in our armed services who have given their lives and those who continue to fight, selflessly putting their own lives in jeopardy to protect us and others from terrorism. They are all heroes to me and I will never forget.
Are you ready for some football?
WOOT WOOT, Yes, preseason exhibition football has begun!!! If late summer has any redemption, this is it :). I love summer but late summer is generally soooooo hot. It hasn’t been extremely hot this year so I can’t really complain too much. ;P So here is hoping “The Boys” do well this year, I’ll be watching :).
Polypay singles
Polypay plyed and dyed
Well I did finish the Polypay roving I was spinning. To the left is a spool of singles (this was 1/2 way through the 2nd spool). I finished this last week. I dyed it with Jacquard acid dye in Sapphire Blue. The friend that I spun this for is the friend with the Polypay and Polypay/Suffolk sheep, this was roving from the fleece she gave me from one of her Polypay ewes. She wanted a blue scarf so now all I need to do is to knit this into a scarf for her. She will be so surprised that I have this done BEFORE winter :P. The pattern I chose is to use the flowers from the Daisy Rectangular Shawl that I designed. I saw a beautiful use of these flowers on a scarf on Ravelery. (I tried to post a link to her ravelry site but you have to be signed in to ravelry to see it, if you don’t have a ravelry sign in I would suggest getting one, there are soooo many very cool patterns :). ) I’ll post a picture when it is done. 🙂
Happy Birthday USA!
I love the video of Red Skelton in the following youtube link reciting the Pledge of Allegiance – he’s one of my favorite old time entertainers.
Ok the day is just beginning but it’s already been a Murphy’s law day. I work at the Family History Center this morning and I babysit on Monday-Wednesday mornings. I have time, barely, to get from the babysitting, back home to eat and finish getting ready and then to the Family History Center. This morning the dad (who works days) as he was leaving for work forgot to the let the dogs out to go to the bathroom (they are in cages at night to prevent accidents and a knocked over kitchen trash can) and I will usually let them out when he forgets because I feel bad for the dogs. However, the mom (who works nights) has planted a garden and if the dogs are let out they have to be watched so they wont dig it up. If only you knew where I am going with this. I didn’t let the dogs out because getting two small children bathed, fed, dressed, teeth brushed, lunch made and off on the school bus takes my full attention. The biggest dog (of course) had an accident in the cage, which is in the kitchen, sigh. The little kindergartener did not want to go into the kitchen, lol, not that I blame him, but that meant I needed to let the dogs out, watching over them or not. I do not have time, nor did I want to clean out that cage :P. While all this is going on the lady that reads the water meter came in the back yard and was a bit intimidated by the dog – so I had to come out and hold him so she could read the meter, all this time I’m thinking, are they going to miss the bus? They made the bus and I sent a text to the mom (who I was hoping would be home before I left so I could tell her in person) saying I’m sorry that I couldn’t put the dog back in the cage and it was a mess and I hope he didn’t tear up her garden. And I am sitting at work (on a break) enjoying some peace and quite and wondering who will be in trouble tonight, it wont be me, I’m family and I do this without any compensation lol. I made the sign above and will print a copy to give her to put on her door for the future to let “Murphy” know he is not welcome in her house.
In Memory of our Fallen Heroes
I give a special reverence to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, their lives, for what they loved, a free and safe country for their families. May we honor them in all we do and may we always keep this country free and safe in their honor. I also want to thank all those who are now serving or have served, in any of the branches of the Armed Services, for your love of freedom and for being willing to serve us and your country without regard for your own lives, you’re all heroes to me. May we always remember that Freedom has a price and all those that have paid that price.
LDSVenus-knits 