So Sad!

I am so sad! I can't bring myself to blog about knitting. I keep reading all of the news about Katrina and it is all so awful. People having to shoot holes through their roofs in order to escape the floods, looting, bodies floating in the streets, no food, no water, shelters are flooding...It's awful! My brother Nick is getting sent there for a month to help in the relief efforts. I feel utterly helpless. All I can do is pray. Sorry for being such a downer. I just couldn't go about the blog as usual with all that has happened. If you would like to donate to the Red Cross, click here.

Slow Down Katrina!!

Today's Show N Tell is being interrupted so that I may make a request for all the prayers, good thoughts, and finger crossing you can muster for the people in Katrina's path.She has left four people dead here in Florida, and it is estimated that she could leave 1 million people homeless. I was watching the news today, and I saw where many people in Louisiana are without transportation or a place to evacuate to. I can't imagine the fear they must be experiencing. We went through three hurricanes last season, but none of them compared to the size and force of Katrina. I just hope that the government is doing what they can to get the people without transportation evacuated. I'm sure that they could even use school buses if they had to. Get out while the getting is good people! I'll be praying!

Waiting For Butterfly

While I'm waiting for the yarn to arrive for Butterfly, I have been going through my book Knitting On The Edge looking for the perfect edge for ChicKami. When I asked my husband to look through it and tell me what he liked he proclaimed, "There is an entire book of nothing but edges?? Are you serious?" Well yeah! Duh! He just doesn't get it does he. If you haven't seen this book before, you should go and check it out. It is a wonderful resource for people who are learning the ins and outs of designing knitwear. Today we pick out an edge. Tomorrow we design the whole sweater. Yay!! I can't wait! My ultimate goal as a knitter is to design my own patterns. I think that would be so incredible! I have always admired people that could do that, and I want to be one of them! Take Bonne Marie of ChicKnits for example. She is an incredible designer! I don't think I have seen a design that I did not like yet. I wish I could hang out with her in hopes that some of that talent might rub off!

Anthropologie.com

I seriously need to learn how to knit something from just looking at a catalogue picture!! The sweaters on this site are too awesome! My favorite is this one. The sleeves are just too cool!! Isn't it funny how I couldn't make myself shell out $128 for the sweater, but I would fork out $128 to knit the sweater. It's a sickness I tell ya, a sickness.

Butterfly It Is

Well I have definitely decided to knit the camisole version of Butterfly. How could I resist? It is such a beautiful and feminine pattern, and I can't wait to get started. Instead of using Kidsilk Haze, I have opted to go with KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud. The Kidsilk Haze is beautiful without a doubt, but I didn't want my top to be fuzzy. It's just personal preference. It took me a while to figure out what color I wanted Butterfly to be. After much

Ok have you ever fallen asleep right at the keyboard. I mean completely knocked out asleep with your hands on the keyboard ready to type. Well just thought I would let you know that is what happened here. Ok back to the entry. Where was I? Oh yeah...

After much debate I chose Peppermint. It is just so girly and so delicate that no matter what other colors I looked at I just kept going back to pink. Did you also notice the price of the Alpaca Cloud? Yay!! I went ahead and ordered three hanks of Shimmer for the Peacock Feathers Shawl in Turquoise Splendor, color cards for all of their lace weight yarns, and a bottle of Lavender Wool Wash. My total was a whopping 32 bucks!! Yes you read right, 32 bucks. I didn't even have to pay shipping!! Now all I have to do is wait. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Show N Tell: Treez Entry

This is a doll believe it or not!


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Hello, my dear friend Veronica Phillion showed a bear of hers which is the most adorable little bear ever that I have seen. She has suggested to me that I show you my doll I recently sculpted as she thought you would be keen to show it? His name is Joshua and he is a full size sculpt and took many months to make. He was a commission for a lady and friend who resides in the USA (Im in the UK). He has a cloth body that is jointed so his arms and legs move freely and his eyes are made of solid glass, german made. His hair is dark brown mohair and he has the cutest little button nose and the sweetest smile. Joshua was made from polymer clay and I am so pleased with him and I hope his new Mummy will love him as much. I hope it shows that he was made with love. :O)

Big hugs,
Treez
www.splendorincloth.co.uk
www.picturetrail.com/pollyscloset

Oops

Show N Tell will have to wait until I get home from work today. I was out with my hubby and some of his flight school buddies last night. It was fun!! Have a great Monday everyone. See ya around six :)

Updated Bag Links

Alright everybody the Bag Links are Updated. There are now 263 free bag patterns!! Yay! I'm getting tired of sitting on my booty updating links so this will be it for me today. I gotta get up off of this couch! :)

Teaching Kids To Knit

I was lucky enough to have a kid in each of my last two knitting classes. Teaching children to knit is always interesting to say the least. You never know what is going to happen. You could have a squirmer that can't sit in his/her seat long enough to learn how to cast on. You could have the impatient temper tantrum type that rips the yarn off the needles and whines incessantly. You could have the kid with the great attitude that doesn't make it past cast on during the class and is still as happy as a Stacie with a chocolate bar. But then when the knitting gods are smiling down on you and the moon is in the right phase, you will get kids like the ones I have had in my last two classes.

The first was 9 years old, and she totally blew my mind. She picked up knitting faster than most of the adults I teach. I think I only had to show her how to cast on twice, and she took it and ran. I can tell 99% of the time how a class is gonna go by how fast the person learns to cast on, and I knew I was in for a treat in that class. This kid even corrected her knitting without me showing her how. She TINKED you guys!! If this kid keeps on knitting, she'll be INCREDIBLE by the time she is my age. There will be no stopping her.

In the second class I had a 7 year old who was super enthusiastic and very impressive as well. She joined the class with her mom because her mom didn't know if she could handle it. Can I just say she BLEW HER MOM AWAY!! I got so tickled at her when she would hold up her knitting and say, "Hey Mom look how much more I have done than you!!" Kids are amazing I tell ya. If you ever get the chance to teach a kid to knit or crochet, do it!  It makes me feel so good to have given them the gift of knitting. I know that sounds cheesy, but I really mean it :)

I looked up some links online that give some tips on teaching kids if you are interested.

To Knit...

http://www.maggiesrags.com/tips_children.htm
http://www.woolworks.org/kids.html
http://anacleta.homestead.com/knittingwithchildren.html

To Finger Knit

http://www.kidscanmakeit.com/AC0023.htm


To Crochet..

http://www.crochet.org/teach/toc.html
http://crochet.about.com/library/weekly/aa050199.htm
http://www.geocities.com/crzy4hook/

Waiting Game

Don't you just hate playing the waiting game! I'm so ready to make the next step in my life but everything is on hold right now. The job is on hold until they schedule me for my last training test, and the move is on hold until we settle on where we are going to live. I think we have decided on which apartment complex we want to live in, but we're still hoping to find a house. In this state, that is way easier said than done. People are coming to Florida in a steady stream and they aren't leaving. The state isn't getting any bigger either. This means properties are selling very quickly at huge prices, and rent is through the roof! We just don't have through the roof incomes, so we'll probably end up in an apartment. Man, I sure do miss my house!

On the knitting front, I'm also at a little stand still. I'm trying to figure out what I want to knit next. I was thinking of knitting ChicKami and adding a little somethin' somethin' to spice it up. Maybe a lace edging? I have that book Knitting On The Edge which will probably come in handy. I also want to knit Butterfly from Rowan 37 which would involve me buying more yarn, and I'm trying to use up the yarn in my stash. I wonder if the fingering weight Alpaca Silk would work. It can't hurt to try right. I was saving that yarn for a lace sweater project, but I just might scrap that for Butterfly. She's just so pretty! Check out the one that Eilene knit. Gorgeous! These two aren't the only things floating around in my head that I would like to knit. Let's see there's the Peacock Feathers Shawl, Apricot Jacket, Cut Away, and a few more that I just don't happen to remember the names. I wish I could sprout an extra set of hands! Maybe two extra sets!

Show N Tell: Cindi's Entry

 
  
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I design and make felted purses. I'm sending my favorite style - all attached purses are the same pattern, just knit with different yarns. The picture titled "June Purses" is especially cool becuase I picked the hairy yarn (I think it's called Color Lash) up in Iowa on a trip in May. I found a bunch of remnants in a bargain bin at this yarn store. I couldn't believe how inexpensive it was. I go by yardage and I was finding 150 yds for $2.

Okay, back to the "June Purse" I knit a lot with Fun Fur and knit in the round. When I knit with this hairy yarn, I purled in the round since the hairs come through more on the purl side than the knit. Then prior to felting, I pulled all the hairs through to the right side of my work. The yarn is more like thin crochet cotton with long pieces every inch or so.

Also, on that same purse, check out the beads. They are from old necklaces I picked up at a local flea market. I bought a box of old jewelry that a lady buys at estate sales. She wanted $.50 for each necklace. That's right fifty cents. When I first saw them, I thought they would work great for beads on my purses. So I told my husband to hold out his arm and I picked out the ones with colors that would match my yarn. When he was holding about 8 necklaces, he asked how many I was going to get. (Not that he cared). The lady said to him, "I haven't made her a deal yet." I asked how much she wanted for the whole box. (The box was a large shirt box - the kind you would wrap a shirt in at Christmas and it was heaping with necklaces.) She said, "$10." I said, "I'll take them." When we got home, we counted 35 necklaces and most had 3-4 strands of beads. I felt like I'd won a million bucks.


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My husband, Ben, knits all the bottoms and the handles of my bags.  He also knits some of the bodies. When my sisters/ nieces found out, they all wanted a purse that he knit. I call it, "Bodies By Ben" or "Bottoms By Ben". He made the maroon and black "Patty, Kathy, Delaina Purses".

He only wanted to learn the "knit" stitch - so I cast on, he knits the number of rows I ask him to, then I pick up and knit for the body onto circular needles. If it's a plain bag, he'll knit the number of rounds I need. If the pattern requires any dec/inc, he has me do that particular row then on he goes again - I bind off the stitches. It's a hoot!

You can see by this picture that he is not a small guy and it was real awkward for him at first. He had me take this picture as a joke (like I caught him sleeping on the job) when our families kept saying they wanted to see a picture of him knitting.

I retired a year ago July 31st (early out at the age of 46). Ben retired this Dec. at age 55. When people asked him what he was going to do once he retired, he'd answer, "have Cindi teach me how to knit." It started out as a joke at first, then the more he said it, the more he wanted me to teach him s he could knit our son-in-law to be a scarf for Christmas. And he did! ow, when I get an order, I send the picture of Ben and say, "I've got my best guy on it right now."


Hope you enjoy my purses. To see more of my work, visit my website at http://www.geocities.com/cdowner321/index.html

Cindi
Lakeview, Michigan

Where I'm From

I'm from crayons, coloring books and juicy Tang
From Easy Bake ovens and tangled Slinkies

I am from the tin roof house up in the mountains by the river
Swinging bridges and cow pastures
From Bluegrass music and guitars played by the fire

I'm from honeysuckles and they're sweet smell and taste
Dandelions strung into a crown
I'm from crab apple trees and weeping willows

I am from black-eyed peas and cabbage on New Year's day,
Thanksgiving day food fights and red hair,
From Overton and Broughfman

I am from weakness and strength in all their varying degrees
I'm from that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger
From you'll understand when you are older

I'm from Jesus loves you this I know, Bible camp and Sunday school
I am from Lonestar church,
Singing praises to the Lord,
And Pawpaw giving me a dollar for the offering plate

I am from the Appalachian mountains,
From Griffith's Knob,
I am from collard greens and macaroni and tomatoes

I'm from my grandma who ran and jumped in the pond in her pretty Sunday dress
My mom who eloped with my dad at sixteen
From Summers exploring waterfalls, picking blackberries with my sister and learning to dive

I'm From songs on the radio and the memories they bring
From the box in my closet of pictures and old letters
I'm from the photo albums at my mother's house,
And the stories we tell when we are together

I found this writing assignment on Trish's blog, and you can read all about how to create your own poem here. You can also read some poems written by other bloggers here.

One Skein Wonders

Here are the pictures of my recent One Skein Wonders. The pink one is made from Cotton Ease in Bubble Gum. The white one that is temporarily missing it's seed stitch border is made from Sugar N Creme cotton. The pattern calls for a ribbing around the edges, but I wanted to match the seed stitch from the sleeve edge.

Now I hate that I have these two tops just laying there on the couch and not in a much more creative photo. You can thank my mean ole husband for that. He was too embarrassed to take the picture I actually wanted because we were in public. This from the man who actually wore RED WHITE AND BLUE bell bottoms and a orange green and red tie die. Together. At the same time. In public. This is the same husband that dressed up as a woman for Halloween complete with purse and lip gloss that he seemed to have a lot of fun reapplying, in public. So why you ask would he not take my picture, in public? Well it's not like I was naked but for the OSW or anything. I was fully clothed. Could Rob perhaps be getting a little long in the tooth? Could the ripe old age of 30 be taking it's toll? Could that grey hair I found in his eyebrow be really long and wrapped around the fun spot in his brain? The world may never know, but I bet enough nagging could get that photo taken, in public.

Show N Tell: Helene's Entry

Helene is showing off two of her beautiful projects today. You can read all about them on this blog entry. Just scroll down a little for the English translation. You are quite talented Helene and you have wonderful models! Thanks so much for participating again :)

WOW!

I had been debating whether or not to post about why I haven't been blogging, and I'm so glad I did. You have no idea how much your comments mean to me. I made sure to email each of the people that commented, but I also wanted to publically thank you all for everything. You really brightened my day and woke me up to the fact that I do have friends out there in the great WWW that I can lean on when times are hard. I am going to quote something Heather wrote in an email to me.

"Although you can't *touch* us we can always touch each others hearts."

Amen to that! I just wish I could invite you all over for coffee or something heehee! Big Hugs to you all!!

Excuses excuses...

You may have noticed that I have been slacking off on my entries lately. The truth is that I have been in quite a funk for a while and haven't been feeling very motivated towards blogging. I try to keep this blog cheerful and positive, so I haven't mentioned anything about this before. Today, I decided that I you all live in the really real world and know people have problems, so I'll just spill the beans about my sporadic blogging.

Some of you probably already know that I'm not from Florida. I moved here a year and a half ago from Virginia. I had lived in Virginia  my entire life and have never lived more than thirty minutes away from family and friends. The friends I have there are ones I have had for years and years. I grew up with them. One day Rob decided that he wanted to move to Florida so that he could become a pilot. Although the whole idea twisted up my insides, I knew that I was not going to deny him his dreams. Off we went to Florida, and I was uprooted from friends and family and all I had ever known my entire life. I cried almost the entire way down. I had an incredibly hard time adjusting to the move, and became pretty depressed. Rob was gone a lot, when he was home he was studying, and I didn't have anyone here. (That was relieved a bit when my grandmother moved here. Unfortunately we aren't able to see each other that much, so the relief is usually short lived.)

Rob finally graduated school and got a job as a flight instructor so that he could build hours to apply at an airline. Now he is gone from waaaay early in the morning until waaaay late at night. This means that I get to come home from work to an empty house six days a week. He's off on Sundays, but I am rarely off on Sundays so that doesn't do me much good. I still haven't managed to make any friends other than my knitting group that I never get to go to because I always have to work. My boss doesn't allow us to talk to each other at work (can't even take breaks together) so I'm not really able to form friendships there. "We're not paying you to socialize. We do not promote friendship in the workplace." I have gone from being surrounded by my tight knit friends (I haven't seen them since I moved) and family (I haven't seen them in almost a year) to sitting at home talking to my cats. I work. I come home. I knit. I eat. I sleep. I am alone.

My blog sucks because...

I haven't taken pictures of myself in my recent finished projects. I just haven't felt very pretty like. I come home from work, and all I want to do is get in my PJ's and knit. The last thing I am thinking of doing is putting on makeup and fixing my hair for pictures. Plus, it totally stinks trying to take pictures of yourself even if you have a tripod. I haven't blogged much because I can't think of anything to write, and what I do write is at best mediocre. I haven't updated my links because I just haven't felt like it. Mostly I just knit and read other people's blogs.

I hate to be a big ole downer, and I don't want you to feel bad for me. I just felt like getting this off my chest. I am working on solutions to my problems. I am working towards a new job. It's one that will enable me to have a flexible enough schedule that I can return back to school.  This new job will also allow me to be off on Sundays! This means being home with Rob on his day off and getting to go to church.  School and Church=People Interaction, People Interaction=Friends, and Friends=Happy Stacie! Actually the job training is my most recent blogging inhibitor. I work a full eight hour day and then go straight to training for my new job. Oh and then there's the fact that we are moving to another City. Me busy? Nah!

Just bear with me a little while longer, and I'll get it all back together. All my blogging plans will one day come to fruition. I'll get my yarn inventoried complete with pictures. I'll get my gallery set up. I'll update my pattern lists. I'll take some bleepin' pictures of myself :) If you have made it all the way to the end of this entry I congratulate you! Thanks for stickin' it out. Cross your fingers for some darn pictures and have a fabulous week. I'm going to bed before I fall asleep with my head on the keyboard.

Show N Tell: Sue's Entry

Here we go - This is made with double strands of basic acrylic worsted weight. I then used the "Aleene's OK to Wash" glue to place the patch on the end. I will be doing several of these for Christmas gifts. I also did some military scarves for some friends who are British veterans. In that case, I found their "Regimental Colours" from tie-makers in England. I then "translated" the pattern to something I could crochet. I've attached one of those along with the Marine's scarf. The RAVC refers to Royal Army Veterinary Corps. Again, I thank you for having such a neat place for all of us to "get together".

Have a wonderful day,
Sue Merritt
- in the Log House