Summertime!

I can't believe summer is flying by so quickly but I have been busy!! some knitting on doll clothes only because I purchased this 18" Springfield doll named Lindsay and knitted her this outfit with others going on the needles!






Working here at the house, painting, re-finishing furniture and trying to grow some tomatoes. I don't really have a green thumb but they are coming along finally. We have had a lot of rain and thunder storms this month so it has been a challenge, the weeds sure do like it!

My dd and sil are coming up from Va. for a visit and then my sister and 3 little girls will be here. We have plans to go to the beach and the fair and take my mom out to dinner for her 70th b-day( it's a surprise! :)
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer too!! I know I am ;)

Happy Fourth of July!!

My husband and I have been very busy working on our home and rental properties. I have been crocheting a little and have a stack of patterns I want to knit but just can't seem to find the time!!! Of course summer is here and I am out walking and started a weight lifting program trying to get into better shape. The winter months and bad weather allowed me to gain about 10lbs which doesn't make me happy, ;( so I guess that's where I am putting all my efforts at the moment!! Yes, we still plan on leaving the area and heading south to either Virginia or Florida, just the thought of packing and selling everything is mind boggling, but it's our ultimate goal.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July!!

Look at my Knit Picks Sampler!

Look at the beautiful gift I rec'd!!
You can read all about the sampler here
I can't wait to try these yarns, the colors are so pretty and yarn so very soft! You also receive the free patterns in the pack and the yarn will make all of the projects!! Lace Cap, Lace Mat, Morning Glory Purse and Ruffled Wristwarmers

A Wish for all Moms out there!

Crochet potholders are the thing!

I have been obsessed with my stash of cotton yarns- Sugar N Cream and Peaches n Cream making oodles of potholders, hot pads and a few dishcloths. meanwhile my UFO pile of baby sweaters and other goodies are piling up!

Here's just a sample of what I have been up to:

Seed Stitch Baby Sweater

I finished this little goodie last week, pattern from Lion Brand, click here. I used Bernat Satin solid in color lagoon. I added in the buttonholes to avoid using the ties that are in the directions. Great top down design. I have some yarn left and hoping I could find a nice bootie or hat pattern with seed stitch to match....



While knitting I also started this crochet baby sweater using some Red Heart TLC Lustre ( disc. yarn) from the stash, it's cute pattern with stars on the front, more details to follow.




So while I was in the crochet mood, I rec'd from a friend an order to crochet up a dozen of these Dolly Potholders, now the ones I am making for her have 2 potholders hanging below and are secured with a large button BUT they are taking FOREVER to get done! I am having fun mixing and matching colors, she isn't fussy about which colors I make, she will take whatever I work up, so I am using up the stash of Red Heart worsted weight. Today tho my wrists are aching and slowing me down not to mention I am tired of making them argh............................ but I will keep smiling :) and crochet on!

Sailboat Baby Blanket update & pattern

pattern is from the book The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber Page 20 “Boats for Cameron”, I re-designed the pattern to be worked all in one piece adding in my own cables and seed stitch borders and using only the boat design from the book. There are 3 boat sections and 4 cables. You will need size 8 circular knitting needle either 24" or 29" in length and worsted weight yarn at least 1500 yds. This also depends on how long you would like the blanket, it may take less. I have 6 skeins of TLC Essentials by Red Heart ( coats & clark) color is light lake blue. (I am 12 rows into the my 2nd skein at this point. You will also need stitch markers and a cable needle.

Begin by making a copy of page 22 from the book because you will have to re-number the pattern rows to make it easier to follow. :)
Boat panel begins with 6 rows of stockinette stitch ( K 1 row, Purl 1 row). These are rows 2-7 from the book ignoring row 1. Now re-number the rows as follows: Row 8 becomes 7 , row 9 becomes row 8 and so on ending with row 27 changing to row 26 and rows 28-37, those become rows 27-30 which are 4 rows of stockinette. In between each sailboat panel I stuck in 4 rows of seed stitch but you could eliminate this part if you choose. Ignore the rest of pattern from the book.

The cable pattern I used is the following:
Row1: k2, p2, k6, ps, k2
Row2: k1, p1, k2, p6, k2, p1, k1
Row3: k2, p2, k6, p2, k2
Row4: k1, p1, k2, p6, k2, p1, k1
Row5: (Cable twist row)k2, p2, slip next 3 stitches to a cable needle and hold in back of work, knit next 3 stitches, knit 3 stitches from cable needle, p2, k2
Row6: k1, p1, k2, p6, k2, p1, k1

I cast on 148 sts ( 2 side borders of seed stitch 10 sts each) (3 boat panels of 24 sts each) (4 cable sections each 14 sts) start by knitting 10 rows of seed st for the bottom border. Grab 8 stitch markers ( PM=place marker)and begin knitting 10 sts seed stitch, PM, Row 1 of cable pattern (14 stitches), PM, work row 1 of boat panel ( this is your first row of stockinette, all knit), PM, row 1 of cable pattern, PM, row 1 of boat panel, PM, row 1 of cable pattern, PM, row 1 of boat panel, PM, row 1 of cable pattern, PM, 10 sts in seed stitch. Continue working with row 2 of boat panel
( all purl) and row 2 of cable.
Note that each boat panel starts and ends with 6 rows of stockinette, followed by 4 rows of seed stitch.
I use post-it notes to keep track of my rows,being sure to cable twist every 6th row.
Click on the picture to get a close up view
If you need help please leave a comment with your email address.

2nd Tulips Cardigan

We have arrived home after our extended vacation to Florida, all rested and relaxed. Average daily temperature was 75 and sunny all the time!! I love that type of weather and hubby and I are now planning to move to Florida, yay!! I love the fresh produce we could buy just down the street, especially the strawberries and tomatoes, delicious! We did a lot of walking too, hit the beach and found lots of nice shells and went boating/fishing in the Gulf. The picture above was taken at Sanibel Island.

While gone I cast on my second baby cardigan called TULIPS by Dream In Color Designs. link here.




The yarn I used was Baby Bee- Little Britches , a Hobby Lobby yarn. The print/color is "carousel" and only took 1 skein using size 6 needles. The yarn label states that its a bulky yarn but I would say it's more a worsted weight.

Okay, back to reality now and perhaps start another little sweater or maybe knit on the sail boat baby blanket, that is if I can remember where I tucked it ..............

Some seaming to do!

This is my progress on the baby sweater from the previous post. Body all knit and the sleeves which need to be "set in" and the lace to knit for the collar trim and sewn in place. If you get a chance please try this pattern!! I haven't knit any lace in a long time and I think I'm hooked!!

Hubby and I are headed to Florida for our annual trip, this time we will stay with DD #2 and her BF in Ft. Myers, 3 weeks of sunshine and fun!! Of course I'll bring some knitting and/or crocheting along, I'd be lost without it. DD mentioned if I could knit her a sweater so she's looking around for yarn shops in the area. She wants to pick out a pattern, YAY! I'd love to knit for her!

now another baby sweater!

I started the baby sweater pattern in the book Lace From the Attic by Nancie Wiseman page 77. This is a lovely book that Nancie wrote back in 1998 depicting the knitted lace patterns written by Miss Blanche Beau. Her diary was given to Nancie after it was found in the attic of Miss Beau's home. I found the book at the library, it is published by Interweave Press.

I am using Bernat Softee Baby in baby pink marl and size 4 and 5 needles to get gauge. The pattern calls for Tahki Cotton Classic and size 5 & 6 needles. I have 2 balls and should be plenty for the sweater and the hat as shown.

You knit on just 9 sts for the lace first and then bind off leaving one stitch, pick up and knit across the straight edge and begin the body of the sweater. What you see here is the length up to the underarm.

In between I have knit on the sail boat blanket just to keep my legs warm!!! It has been VERY cold here in WNY. Great knitting weather, a hot cup of tea and my knitting what could be better?

Crochet set "Baby Pastels", a FO!

I have finished the crochet set called Baby Pastels, a pattern by Julie Armstrong, this pattern came from an ebay seller.

I used white Red Heart TLC baby yarn and colors of baby pompadour I had in the stash. A lot of treble crochets in this one but a fun and easy pattern to follow.

here is the close-up shot.


and a few more pics.






okay, now back to knitting on the sailboat blanket!

Happy New Year Everyone!

The Christmas holiday was wonderful but not much knitting or crocheting for me!! I am home again and getting back in the groove. I also had lasik eye surgery while in Virginia, no more glasses or contacts for me, yay! If you are interested the procedure I highly recommend LasikPlus Vision centers
I'll be back after I get settled with hopefully with a few FOs to show you. again I wish a happy and healthy New Year to all!!
2008 is gonna be great!

Just checking in...

I have been so busy, no time for blogging it seems.
I have been doing a small amount of knitting but not within the last few weeks!
This is the sailboat & cables baby blanket I revamped from a Debbie Macomber pattern in The Shop on Blossom Street. The design in the book is worked in strips and all seamed together, of course something I'm not a fan of!! So I redesigned the baby blanket using my own cable, borders and her sailboat. This is the start, you can see I'm just beginning the second sailboat. The yarn is Red Heart TLC Essentials in Medium Lake Blue.

The other project I have going is a pretty crochet baby layette set called Pastel Shells, see only one sleeve is completed. I had to put this down to do some requested potholders, towel hangers and hot pads as christmas gifts. Which are all delivered and I have no picture!!!!

anyway, back to hustle and bustle of packing,hubby and I will travel to Virginia for Christmas with DD and SIL, our youngest daughter will meet us from Florida, it will be wonderful!! This will be my first christmas out of New York state.
I sure hope this finds everyone doing well and enjoying your holidays!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

bunting and booties

The bunting project is over! I finally finished the other day, seamed and buttons sewed on last night! I had some yarn leftover ( Red Heart TLC Essential in powder blue) so I whipped up the booties this evening. The pattern is out of an older American School of Needlework book- Booties, Booties, Booties by Mary Thomas book number 1049, cute book that has knit and crochet booties 15 patterns in all. Dated 1987.

The bunting pattern came from this website check out their other patterns, unique designs, I would like to own them all! Easy to order too, they send the patterns in pdf. By the way the bunting is knit top down, the hood is added after and the car seat slit I sort of made up as I went along. The length from the underarm to bottom ribbing is 15", the picture doesn't look it though. That part was knit in the round and it went fast! This was my first attempt knitting a baby bunting and I rather enjoyed it! The pattern is one I will probably knit again, you know for my future GC ;-)

A Knitting Update...

click on the pictures to get a close up



Stopping in to show you a sweater I have had finished and just finally got around to taking pictures! This is the Eyelet Baby Cardigan Jen designed and is available on her blog here. I used size 3 needles and Bernat Softee Baby in antique white. I truly enjoyed knittng this pattern, why not stop by her blog and check out her other free sweater patterns, her work is a pleasure to see and so inspiring!







Next is a raglan baby sweater, newborn size using Red Heart TLC (discontinued) in natural. I added a few appliques for some "prettyness"
is that a word? LOL




On to the baby bunting I have been asked to make. Size 9 needles and some Red Heart TLC Essentials in powder blue, nice soft yarn.
This is knit from the top down, will have 7 buttonholes, a slit for the carseat and a hood, I better get going and finish this! The baby is on the way she tells me, maybe sooner than they thought.


also I have started designing a baby sweater/jacket, so far so good, stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Cutie Baby Bootie pattern is ready!!

I hope everyone likes the pattern, it's easy & so quick to knit up!

Cutie Baby Bootie

Sm amount worsted weight yarn
Size 7 needles
Scissors, yarn needle
Size: newborn: sole measures 3 ½”

Cast on 39 sts, leaving a 10” tail for sewing the back seam

Row 1: K 14, with yarn in front slip next st as if to purl, K 9, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, K 14.
Row 2 (RS) : K 4, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, K 29, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, K4.

Repeat these 2 rows for 8 ridges (16 rows) ending with a RS row.

Next row: cast off 6 sts, K next 7 sts, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, K 9, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, K across to end of row.
Next Row: (RS): cast off 6 sts, knit across all stitches.

Row 1: working K 1, P1 ribbing over next 8 sts, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, K9, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, rib last 8 sts.
Row 2 (RS): Rib 8 sts, K11, Rib 8 sts.
Repeat these 2 rows 5 more times, (12 rows), ending with a RS row.

Next row: P2 tog 4 times, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, K9, with yarn in front slip next stitch as if to purl, P2tog 4 times. 19 sts remain.

Cut yarn but leave a 10” tail and thread yarn needle and draw thru remaining sts, pull tight and knot, continue to sew instep seam to where the ribbing stitches end.
With tail of yarn from cast on, sew entire back seam to bottom of bootie, gather the 9 bottom/sole sts by weaving in and out of the ends of sts, pull tight and finish off. Can add satin ribbon bows or pompoms, being sure they are attached securely.

Please note that this pattern is my original design and may be used for personal use only. If you wish to share this with friends, please direct them to my site.

Back of booties

Bottom of booties:

Rindy's Raglan & booties

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE PHOTOS FOR A CLOSE UP LOOK!


Back home and back to knitting! So far this week I have completed Rindy's Raglan baby sweater , worsted weight & sized for a newborn.


Here are the booties, a pattern I have developed and it seems to go well with this sweater! Besides I had yarn leftover, just enough actually to make the booties.





The yarn I used for the project is a skein of Red Heart Lustre TLC ( which is discontinued) from the stash and one of my favorites, the color: Sweet Dreams on size 7 needles.




here is close up of the bottom of the booties

they are newborn size with 3 1/2" sole

I will share the pattern in a few days as I am pressed for time today! More later!!