All Stressed Up and Nowhere to Go

September 5, 2015 / LDSVenus

Stress Zebra Bag
for larger view – click on image

A friend and I were chatting via email and she reminded me about a shirt I had embroidered for her with a zebra with it’s stripes falling off. I started laughing as I remembered the “Stress Zebra”. I NEED one of those I told her. So I found some of the canvas bags I had purchased to embroider on and put the stress zebra on it. It always makes me laugh to see that poor zebra. I’ve put a closer image of the zebra below.

I’m close to having that shawl done that I have been working on for my friend so I should have another picture to put up in another day or so of the finished and blocked shawl.

Stress Zebra
for larger view – click on image

I bought some really cute Minion and some pumpkins fabric at JoAnn’s Fabrics on Thursday (big labor day sale :P). I want to make some knitting bags, one like the canvas bag shown (but using regular fabric rather than canvas) and one called a knot bag. I have a pattern for the one like the canvas bag, but did not find a knot bag pattern at the fabric store. I’ll have to go online and look to see if I can find a good one. I’ll post pictures when I am finished with that as well. I have ideas on what I want to do with the regular bag, tho my sewing skills may not be good enough for what I want to do. Good thing I have some friends that sew well :). I might get one of my friends to make a pattern for me and teach me how to sew it :). I’ll have to work on that. Not sure why the interest in sewing all of a sudden, but hey, creativity is all good.

Hope you all enjoy your Labor Day Week-end.

Are You Ready for Some Football? 2015 and Some Knitting :)

August 15, 2015 / LDSVenus

Are you ready for some football?

Yep it’s FOOTBALL season again!!! I am excited to see how “The Boys” will do this year. They were pretty decent last year, a controversial call did them in at the end of the year. They have lost their first pre-season game, but it’s just that pre-season :). GO COWBOYS!!!

sock yarn from SpinningStreak

This is some beautiful sock yarn from SpinningStreak ‘s Etsy shop (she’s in England). She has some gorgeous yarns. I saw this yarn and tho the shipping from overseas is not cheap, this yarn was talking to me. I have a friend who recently lost her sister and I wanted to so something special for her and I knew this yarn was it. The comfort shawl I have decided to make is called Ethereal Shawl . It’s very basic and simple but because it’s a light weight yarn on large needles it will look light and airy, and should knit up quickly. I’ll post a picture when I am done. She also sent it in a really lovely organza drawstring bag.

July and August knitting

I have been watching some family little ones this summer and have been very busy and haven’t had a lot of time to knit, but here are some things I did work on this summer. A comfort shawl for a friend who had to have a defibrillator put in in case she has a heart attack, she’s really young for this kinda of thing :(. I don’t add the fringe when I make them, but that is just my preference. I like having something easy to work on, keeps my hands busy and keeps me grounded when I feel overwhelmed or stressed out and the dishcloths are perfect for that. The one on the left is called In-Thirds-knit-cloth by Michelle Crimm . It’s a free pattern from Ravelry, easy and very pretty. I love using the Sugar’n Cream cotton Stripes for this cloth, sooooo pretty. I made another one that I already gave to a friend and so I put the left over skein so you could see the lovely colors she got :). The dish (or face) cloth on the left is the old standby Grandmother’s Favorite dishcloth .

I packaged up and sent off the Polypay fleece my friend gave me earlier this year. Because I still have roving from the last fleece she gave me and I wanted to get a couple of hats for her husband and son out relatively quickly before it gets cold , I opted this year to have them process it into sport weight yarn. Cost me almost double but when I get it back in 5 to 6 weeks it will be ready to dye and knit :). It should be about 3 lbs of yarn. I always err on the side of caution when I skirt the fleeces and skirt it more severely because the sheep are not covered and I left too much ugly stuff in the first time and the roving was still full of stuff and noils because I also did not remove the short lengths from the longer back fiber. I don’t want to ruin nice roving because I didn’t skirt it enough. Her husband and son each will have a hat made from the fiber of their own sheep. Should help to keep them warm on their farm ;).

It’s a Mystery!! And Snow and a Polypay Fleece :)

February 25, 2015 / LDSVenus

Ok I have been very lax on keeping up with stuff going on and I’m going to start with the first thing which was the snow, so here goes. Yes that last winter storm a few weeks ago gave us a foot of snow. Pretty coming down but such a mess to drive in for a while. It melted off the roads and a little on the ground when we had a few days of nice warm up temps in the 20’s and a couple of days in the 30’s, woot woot. But it’s been cold again with -temps and today is snowing again. They say we will get 3 to 6 inches by midnight. sigh, is it Spring yet? It is suppose to be back in the teens and 20’s next week, looking forward to that for sure.

2nd thing that has happened, I went to visit my friend who raises sheep, and she gave me another fleece, how cool is that? Polypay is a fine fleece and next to the skin soft. When it warms up a bit, and I can take it outside and be comfortable, I will skirt it and get it ready to send to the fibermill in MO to turn into roving to spin, will probably be a month or so before that happens 🙂 How blessed can a girl be :).

Last thing I wanted to talk about is the Mystery. I have not ordered any yarn online lately, last thing was last year, some alpaca for a scarf I was knitting for a friend. But mysteriously this package with a pattern kit of 11 skeins of DMC Merino wool, called Woolly, and the pattern for two color stranded pillows, arrived at my door step this morning from the DMC company. I’m like “what?” I didn’t order anything and I wondered if I maybe won something from a contest, but I didn’t remember entering anything like that. There was no bill of laden or a congratulations you won something, just the yarn and the pattern wrapped in a beautiful pink paper with the DMC sticker and bubble wrap. I’m the curious type so I called the DMC company to see if they can figure out why I received this package, I didn’t want to be billed for something I didn’t order. She checked for a bit while I was on the line with her, but couldn’t figure it out so I gave her the tracking number to see if that would help, she was going to call me back with information. I haven’t heard yet. I will let you know if I hear anything. I’m VERY curious about this. 😛 The yarn is beautiful and very soft and looks to be a sport weight (it comes in a 50 gram ball with 136 yards per ball and it’s superwash!!. I’m thinking it would make wonderful hats and scarves for future projects :).

*UPDATE* She called me back and offered to give me a shipping label to return it, but I told her I wasn’t going to send it back until I found out why it came, incase a friend had ordered it and had it sent to me, that would be like buying something and giving it back with no refund. She had thought maybe they had sent it by error, but I told her since they didnt find me in their system (because I have never ordered on line from their company) that they would not have my name and shipping address in their system and could not have accidentally shipped it to me. She said she would keep checking. Anyone want to own up to sending it to me? 😛

Raggedy Ann

December 4, 2014 / LDSVenus

My sister called today and among our regular chit chat we started talking about the Raggedy Ann dolls my mom and grandmother made for us. Ah the memories, I told her the one I have was one that our grandmother had made for me one year when she asked me what I would like for Christmas and I told her that I would like her to make me a Raggedy Ann doll. She had made me one when I was much younger and of course it went the way of all things that little kids have, sigh. I am so glad she agreed to make me another one. She passed away in 1988 and it is so nice to have something that she made me. I don’t have one that my mom made, but my sister has one that mom made her. The difference is the one my mom made had embroidered a little heart on it with the words I love you in the heart. My grandmother sewed well but I don’t think it was her favorite thing to do. My mom sewed but it wasn’t her favorite thing to do when she was young because she was very into sports and band in high school so she learned her sewing skills after getting married, when it was more fun :P.

I’m working on a sympathy shawl until I get the yarn I need for the Little Lace Daisy Scarf I’ll be making for my friend’s wife. The scarf won’t take very long then I will get back to the sympathy shawl.

2 Scarves Finished :)

November 29, 2014 / LDSVenus

Ok, these two wool scarves are finished. The pattern called, on the Jacob’s Ladder (to the right), to start in the middle and work down on both sides, but I hate having to pick up stitches, seems like an un-necessary step to me (maybe because I’m a lazy knitter? :P), so I started at one end and after the full middle part when I started the other side of the scarf, I just reversed the cables. Worked out well :). I know that is not possible on all patterns, but on the items where I can (like cables) I prefer not to have to mess with a special cast on that I can unravel and to pick up stitches. Just my preference, other knitters don’t mind :).

I chose to do the same thing on the Horseshoe scarf (to the left) because I wanted the cable to both be coming up the same way and not having it upside down on the other side. so in the middle I just reversed the cable and it gave an added dimension to the middle of the scarf, which if you enlarge the picture by clicking on it, you can see at the top of the scarf). I will give these to the missionaries on Sunday. I’m sure they will be well used.

I can’t start the other set of scarves I need to make for Christmas until I get paid next week as I will have to buy the yarn since I do not have time to spin. I will go with Alpaca instead of wool since they are paying for the scarves and I’m sure they will be pleased with the extreme softness that fiber will have next to the skin.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you enjoy the Christmas season.

Jacob’s Ladder Seaman’s Scarf

November 22, 2014 / LDSVenus

I have been working on the scarves. I finished the first one, the Jacob’s Ladder Seaman’s Scarf, shown on the left. It was a fun knit (this picture was taken before blocking). I am working on the scarf showing on the right. I decided since the missionary I’m knitting this for didn’t want a seaman’s style scarf that I would do a different pattern and chose the horseshoe cable stitch from this scarf. I love knitting cable designs, they are interesting to knit and visually appealing. 🙂

My best friend in high school sent this to me. Her mother passed away this year but had been working on the things she always puts into a Christmas Craft Fair every year. Her mom had chosen the fabric and cut it out but didn’t get a chance to put it together. My friend decided she would like me to have it, so she finished it. How wonderful it is to have something from her and her mom. It is a very lovely wall décor piece and the sentimental value is priceless. Her mother was a wonderful lady who had many talents and was quick to share them. She will be missed.

First Real Snow for 1214

November 16, 2014 / LDSVenus

Yes we got some snow, not nearly as much as MN and other places, but about 1 & 1/2 inches. We got a dusting of snow a few days ago but yesterday evening came our first real snow of the winter season. I know it’s still fall per the calendar, but in IA this is the start of a long, cold winter. I was told the Farmer’s Almanac said it would be a crazy winter season this year. Guess we will see what that brings.

I’m working on 4 scarves that were requested at the last minute. I’ll post pictures of them as I finish them. For 3 of them I’ll be using the pattern Jacobs Ladder , the link is to the designer who like me allows people to knit her patterns for free :). The last one (tho’ I won’t be necessarily knitting them in that order) will be another of my new design little lace daisy scarf. Guess I will be busy for the next few weeks, knitting and being grateful that I have a warm place to live and a skill to keep me busy during the cold winter months.

Oh yeah, the Cowboys are doing pretty well this season. Unfortunately they play mostly on Sunday and I don’t watch football on Sunday, but I watch the NFL channel the next day to see the highlights :). I’ll just keep rooting for them, as a loyal fan :).

Little Lace Daisy Scarf

November 1, 2014July 22, 2017 / LDSVenus

Little Lace Daisy Scarf

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 Done

October 30, 2014 / LDSVenus

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 Promoting Her New Cookbook!!!

September 17, 2014 / LDSVenus

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. 🙂

LDSVenus-knits

This is about spinning, knitting, life and an occasional rant :)

Knitting

All Stressed Up and Nowhere to Go

Are You Ready for Some Football? 2015 and Some Knitting :)

It’s a Mystery!! And Snow and a Polypay Fleece :)

Raggedy Ann

2 Scarves Finished :)

Jacob’s Ladder Seaman’s Scarf

First Real Snow for 1214

Little Lace Daisy Scarf

Comfort Shawl Done

Melissa Gilbert Promoting Her New Cookbook!!!