Loves Music, Loves to Knit

Last night the hubs and I had a rare special treat,  we went out to a concert. We had our 25th anniversary a few weeks ago, so this was to celebrate it. We went and saw Kansas, Styx, and Foreigner. It was a great show and I had forgotten how much I liked Foreigner.  As all of you who are parents know, the kids always come first. When you are raising a large family there's often no time and and even less money to do things like that. So we really enjoyed ourselves.

The concert venue was just over an hour away,  so I brought along my knitting to keep me occupied in the car. I made pretty good progress for just over an hour's work. This scarf will be going to the Michigan Special Olympics, which I posted about recently. I am knitting it in mistake rib, which couldn't be easier, it's great for those times you just want mindless knitting -  cast on  a multiple of 4, plus 3 extra stitches. Then k2, p2 across, and p the last stitch. Just keep repeating this row.  I am knitting it on big size 10 needles, so it goes fast and feels nice and squishy:) This will be scarf no. two, I don't know how many I'll get done this summer.

Apron Fun

After working for so long on the white/beige rag quilt, I desperately needed some color.  I've been wanting to make a new apron, so this was a good time to play. I couldn't find a pattern to suit me, and I rarely follow directions anyway, so I designed my own.

 I wanted the neck strap to button rather than tie, and since I am left-handed, it needed to button on the left side. As I mentioned previously, I love birds. So when I came across this bird fabric, I knew it was the one. I pulled out a green from my stash that matched the foliage, and finished it with canary yellow bias tape that matched the color of the goldfinches. For the waist ties, I cut a 3" horizontal strip, folded it right sides together and sewed it like a tube, then turned it right side out and pressed. Cut it in half and sewed one tie to each side. I did this for the neck strap also, making a buttonhole on the end of the left side of the strap, and sewed it to the top of the apron on the right side with a button on top.

 This used only half of a yard of the bird fabric ( I had a yard so that I could use it lengthwise-I cut it in half on the lengthwise fold), along with some of the contrasting green fabric, and was quick to make. I still have half a yard of the bird fabric left, so I may make another apron in a different style.

I cook a lot, as you will know if you read my vegetarian cooking blog and I tend to be clumsy and spill/drop things regularly, so I love aprons!! Here is a shot of it being worn-pay no attention to the model, it's not a good shot of me, it was 90 degrees when this was taken ;)

          

My Prize Arrived

I won the giveaway for a charm pack that  Eileen at Ladybug Lovelies was having. Thanks Eileen!! She is very talented, creative and fun, check out her blog! On Saturday, this arrived at my house and was so cutely packaged. Green is my favorite color, so I was thrilled to recieve this charm pack of  45 pre-cut 5"  blocks in greens. Here is the assortment-

I will have fun creating something with these! I spent a good deal of the weekend at the hospital, I had to take my dad in to the er on Saturday, and he was admitted. So recieving this charm pack was a real bright spot this weekend. Thanks so much Eileen!                       

Rag Quilt Finished

I finally got this rag quilt finished yesterday. Last night I washed and dried it along with one of my dogs' tennis balls and the edges frayed nicely. It's nice and soft. I made this in order to use up the large amount of white, cream and beige fabrics I had. I do not care for white at all, so I am really not sure how I ended up with so much of it in my stash.

In my younger days, I went to Catholic school.  Every day for 12 years I wore a white blouse as part of my Catholic school uniform. Then I had to wear a white uniform in cosmetology school, and for the first few years I worked as a cosmetologist. Needless to say, I will never again own or wear a white blouse. In fact, I don't have any white clothes. And I don't care for white in my quilts either, I prefer lots of color. So I am glad to have this used up. On the bright side, it will not show the dog hair from Cosmo-

 Or Oscar-

                                                          
It's not a good photo taking day for me, I'm having lighting issues, but here is a closer shot of the quilting. I machine quilted stars on all of the plain blocks and x's on all of the four-square blocks before joining them.

And this one is more true to the colors-

This was a fun project, and I would like to do another one in more fun colors.

                                                       

Summer Knitting For A Good Cause

It's been unseasonably cold here, but I know it will soon be too hot to continue handquilting the queen size quilt I've been working on. So I've been thinking about my summer project.

There are so many bad things going on in the world today, including the devastation of the gulf and the poisoning of so much wildlife, that it is easy to let them get me down. Helping someone else even just a little always makes me feel better. So I decided that my summer knitting project will be for a good cause.
 I then found out that the Special Olympics group in my area is asking for scarf donations for their Winter 2011 games.  Each participant of the winter games will recieve a hand knit or crocheted scarf. Perfect! These special folks put their heart and soul into everything they do, and I feel honored to be able to contribute.  This is a great project for the warm months and is portable, so I can take it everywhere. Now I know what I'll be knitting all summer:)

The one I started in the photo above is knit using the fibonacci sequence. I will post my progress as I go.

They can use a lot of scarves, so if you'd like to help out, I've posted the info. I recieved from them below. 

Scarf Project for Special Olympics Michigan Winter Games

Scarf Project Deadline January 15, 2011

Yarn: Coats and Clark Red Heart Soft Yarn #9518 Teal

Yarn: Coat and Clark Red Heart Soft Yarn #9925 Really Red

These are the official colors of the Special Olympics Michigan.

The requirements for the scarves are that they are hand knit or crocheted using a combination of the above two colors. Sizes for the scarves are 6 inches wide and 50 to 60 inches in length. You may use any pattern.

A Sample Pattern

Main Color (MC) 1 skein, Contrasting Color (CC) 1 skein, Size 8 needles straight or

28” circular needle. With MC cast on 220 or 200 or 180 stitches, *With MC Knit 4 rows, with MC knit 4 rows, repeat from * 8 rows 4 more times. With MC Knit 3 rows, bind off all stitches. Finish narrow ends with 5 one pompoms on each end or a one inch fringe on each end.

Please send or deliver completed scarves to:

Special Olympics Michigan 
3800 Hamlin Road
Auburn Hills, MI 48326

or

Virginia Schultz
21 North Main Street
Clarkston, MI 48346

Any questions 11 am to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday 248-625-3122

We need 2500 Scarves-Start Knitting. Yarn Available thru Coats and Clark Website

Thank you for your help in helping our Special Olympians look fantastic! The games are February 2-4 at the Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City!!!!

Sew What I Did With My Giveaway Prize

 I recently found a great blog written by the creative and talented Suzanne, Love My Fiber. She was having a giveaway, and I was lucky enough to win it! Thanks Suzanne, you rock!!  This arrived in my mailbox on Saturday. It is a kit containing instructions and felt for an applique sweatshirt jacket.  The sheep kit is sooo cute, but the jacket really wasn't me. I thought it would be more fun to use the kit to make a bag for my knitting. I am not one to follow recipes or directions, so I changed some of the applique too.  In between working on the garden over the weekend, I worked on this.  The bag is fully lined, with a flat bottom, so it's sturdy and stands up well. However, I had trouble trying to photograph the sheep with it standing up, so I layed it on the floor for pics.  Here's the finished product.  The front-

And the back-