The Eve of the New Year - 2012

I sit here after the maddeningly rushed Christmas/Hanukkah season and wonder:Just where has all the time gone. I was soooooo busy in the month of December with Birthdays, concert, plays and then being sick for two weeks didn't help anything. THen tying to rush and get all the Christmas decor and tree up and then 3 Christmas parties with family that i think seriously... I was damn busy.  Plus throw in knitting Fish, Mittens, Mice and a Hat.

WHEW....   I know I'm not the only one who was busy... But I really look forward to some down time and getting back on track with some knitting projects that had to be put to the backburner (sorry Steph - Your socks are back on the needles), it shouldn't be long now..."

The New Year promises to hold some fun in some new knitting patterns that I picked up and hopefully be able to check out a new Yarn store that I hear tell about in Blue Hill Maine:

 http://www.stringtheoryyarn.com/home.php

Their yarn is gorgeous and they all have names that deal with String Theory (I love the play on names) and I have a sweater pattern with my name on it just waiting for the perfect String Theory Yarn to go with it.

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year.

~Keeping you in Stitches
Terry-Jo

The Hypothetical Hat is Finished!

I finally finish Meggie's Hypothetical Birthday Hat.... it turned out so beautiful. I packaged it up and shipped it to her this week. I can't wait until she gets it.

I had first started knitting this hat in a worsted weight yarn but I could quickly see that it was too bulky for my Meggie who lives in Phoenix. So I changed the yarn to Lace Weight from Knit Picks and it turned out perfect. Very light and airy and she will be able to wear it during the winter season down there... since its so cold at 70 degrees. Brrrrrr.  LOL

Addendum 12/24/11:  Added picture of Meggie wearing her new birthday hat!

Terry-Jo

~Keeping You in Stitches

Maine and the accidental Mouse

I haven't posted in a little while... I have been busy... I have been rehearsing for my Choir's Christmas Concert and then took a November trip to the East Coast to Maine and had a fabulous visit with my good friend Henry. It was during this Maine trip that we drove from Augusta to Freeport and visited the flagship LLBean store. AMAZING. Did you know its open 24hrs a day? Well now you do.

As we were driving to Freeport and were approaching the Maine Turnpike Toll Booth station there was a rest area exit and something called the Center for Maine Craft. I looked at Henry and said kiddingly "ooooohhhh what's that... a center for Knitting and crochet crafts?  ha ha ha. Its probably a place for boats and marine craft." Henry said he had no idea he'd never seen the sign before... so I wanted to stop and get some Starbucks coffee and as he waited in the car I went in.

WELL - low and behold it was a knitting and crafts store front sitting right next to the Starbucks. I called Henry on his phone in the car and said --- It's taking me longer because I'm stopping to look at stuff.. They were all local artisans who had put their craft up for sale:

Absolutely beautiful and amazing crafts and hand blown glass. This is where I picked up a few handcrafted wooden bookmarks. Just so pretty. Then I noticed this little basket of Mice. I'm a knitter and having worked on felted catnip fish - these looked like catnip mice - and they were. So cute - I picked up two. One for my Kitty ZuZu and one for Henry's Kitties: Sebastian and Slinky.:

They were a hit with all the kitties, especially Slinky and Sebastian. My cat is taking a little more time to come around to the idea of this new catnip mouse....  So since my Catnip Fish were a hit, I was on the prowl for a mouse pattern. I remembered there was one in the book that I got my Fish out of so yesterday I tried that pattern. The book is: Vogue Knitting - Knits for Pets". I must say I didn't care to much for the mouse after I knit it.

So the mouse on the left is the original from Maine. The one in the middle is the first one I did out of the Vogue book and its just shaped weird. The one on the right is from a Ravelry pattern search and it is the one that looks most like the one I bought in Maine. Its round and actually looks like a mouse....

I am about to felt the two I did.... and will post pictures of how they turned out but I am very excited the that second one I did is going to be perfect.

So I just got the mice out of the washer after being felted. Absolutely did not like the middle one at all. Really doesn't even look like a mouse. The Blue one was awesome just like I thought. It is in the dryer right now... Woo Hoo!!!

Here's the felted and stuffed final product. So cute!

Terry-Jo
~Keeping You in Stitches

The Birthday Hat

     
I started Meggie's Birthday Hat this week. I am making it in a beautiful purple made by the Skacel company. The yarn is Hikoo.

I can't wait to finish it and give it to her. I will post pictures soon....

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

Flamingo's

That's right... Flamingo's! My favorite Bird. I just found an awesome pattern for Flamingo Mittens.

I think these might just have to be the next mittens I knit for myself.

Love Them...

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

School of FishStyx

I have been knitting furiously this week on my Felted Catnip Fish. I found this wonderful easy pattern and it allows me to use up my leftover wool and novelty yarn stash. I am using all sorts of color combinations and they are turning out so cute.

I went to the dollar store and bought the Cat Teaser Wands and I am going to  attach my felted catnip fish to the end of the Teaser Wand and sell them as FishStyx!!!

I am getting these ready for the Fred Hutch Arts and Crafts Fair on Monday Dec 5th from 9-3pm. Selling them for $10 each... Shameless plug - I know...

SO excited to see how they go over...

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

School of CatNip Fish

I was home sick one day this past week and decided to occupy myself with knitting a couple quick projects: Felted CatNip Fish.

I am going to visit a dear friend next month in Maine and he just adopted a pair of young black cats. And Along with knitting Henry his blue mittens (see picture in previous post) I knit and felted two catnip fishes for his kitties.

Can't wait to gift them....

Terry-Jo

~Keeping you in Stitches

Mittens mittens mittens sock hat

No, this isn't a crazy version of rock paper scissors lizard Spock! It's just how incredibly busy I have been knitting. Tonight I will finish a third pair of mittens. Then I need to start the second sock of a pair and then knit a hat all before December... OY!!!!

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

Baby Shower Mittens

Mittens for a Momma and Child...

I was asked to knit these mittens for a baby shower called "My Favorite Things" from the SOund of Music... Yes you have guessed it, I was in charge of the "Warm Woolen Mittens" from the song.

I finished these wonderful classic mittens in Gray and Pink with alternate colored hearts stitched on. I knit them out of Lion's Brand Wool-ese... This yarn is wonderfully soft and can be machine washed and dried. Which is a bonus when you have a small child.

This mitten pattern is a keeper and it was so easy to do. I am now working an a third pair since they are so easy and fast to give as a gift when I Travel in November. The perfect host/winter gift.

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in stitches

Ok... enuf about socks already - Let's Talk Mittens!

I usually have two different projects going on at the same time. Especially if one of them is a longer project. I like to break up the monotony with another quicker project.

Hence when one of my girlfriends asked me if I could help her out by knitting a pair of mittens for a baby shower - of course I said yes!

The theme of the baby shower is "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music which is the mom's favorite movie. So my friend is throwing this party and will have all the items in the song decorating the party room.

So I am in charge of knitting the "Warm Woolen Mittens". The colors of the party are Pearl Gray and Pink (She's having a girl). The mittens are going to be in the Pearl Gray with Pink hearts stitched onto the back of the mittens.

These are going to be very fun to make and I hope I have enough time to make a pair for the baby in Pink with Gray hearts on the back.

I will post pictures soon....

Terry-Jo

~Keeping you in Stitches

One Sock - Ah, Ah, Ah!

Those were the immortal words of The Count from Sesame Street!

Here is the first sock with two totally different side views... I love how it is so different.

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

Sox Update

here's another update of my sox project.... These sox are a Birthday Present for Steph-ah-nee Lewis....

These sox are turning out so gorgeous. the patterns coming out are incredible.

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

Sox Update

Here's an update on the Hermoine's Everyday Socks. I love the variegated pattern this yarn is producing. The top part is Diagonal and the heel flap and bottom arch part of the foot is striped. So unique.

Loving it.

Terry-Jo

~Keeping you in Stitches

New Hermoine's Pictures....

Here's some updated pictures of the restarted sock.

Its so different from the first one that was striped. This time around check out the different sides of the same sock... Its a cool effect:

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

Hermoine's Sock - Part 4

So... Yesterday I started the new sock.... it's going great. Knitting them on the right sized needles REALLY helps. but the strange thing is... when I was knitting them on Size 2 DPN's the pattern was coming out almost a perfect stripe (See 2 blog posts ago) for the striped picture.

Now that I ripped out the old sock and restarted them with Size 1 DPN's there's no horizontal stripe patten - I'm a bit disappointed. But now it looks like they will be a mutated slanted direction, sort of. Hard to describe.

When I get a couple more inches i will take another picture and post so you can see the different they are.

It's absolutely amazing the difference  whole needle size makes.....

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

Hermoine's Sock update

so... I have ripped out the entire sock. SIGH.
I love the pattern but I didn't notice that I was using the wrong size needles until the sock was starting to look ginormous. Plus the pattern has a mistake in the "Modified" heel flap pattern.

On Friday at lunch I decided that it just wasn't working and I needed to rip out out and start again. I will also use the REAL "Eye of the Partridge" heel flap pattern in place of the one that is in the pattern.

I am getting ready to start this again.

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

Hermoine's Socks

I am loving this sock pattern:

"Hermoine's Everyday Socks"

The texture pattern is turning out really cool and look at those stripes!  Was that supposed to happen with this yarn? I'm not sure about that, however,  I love working with variegated yarn and seeing what pattern evolves from it. Its absolutely amazing....

Terry-Jo

~Keeping you in Stitches

~~Socks~~

So.... Yesterday I decided that I wanted to knit another pair of socks. Its been awhile since I have done a piar and I have a lovely skein of "X-mas Rock" by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. It was part of the Socks that Rock Series. I bought it off someone on Ravelry and have had it in my stash for awhile waiting for a the perfect sock project to come my way.

So I printed out a pattern I had saved within Ravelry called "Komet".


I cast on my stitches in the Twisted Rib fashion. This was a first and I really like the twisted rib look. However the pattern was a German pattern that left a lot of info out of the pattern because "THEY" assume you are a very experienced knitter and you would just "know" what to do. Well they were wrong and I was 3 rows into the pattern and just as confused and wondering if I was even doing it and understanding the pattern correctly.

I worked on this sock at lunch today and then I had the afternoon to think about it and decided that I just didn't "feel" the pattern. When I got home tonight I decided to pick another pattern and rip it out and start the new pattern.

My new pattern is called "Hermoine's Everyday Sock" by Erica Lueder.


It is named after the character in the Harry Potter movies and has a lovely textured pattern to it. I think it's going to look great with my yarn. Can't wait to start it.

~Keeping you in stitches

Down in the meadow....

My Dad used to sing me this song when I was little:

           Down in the meadow in the iddy biddy pool
           Swam three liddle fiddies and a momma fiddie too.
           Fim, Fim, Fim if you can
           and they fam, and the fam... right over the dam!

That's what I am singing all the time now as I knit up the little Catnip Fishy toys.... They are so cute and each one is a little different due to the colors of variegated yarn I am using.

I have knit up 4 more and will be throwing them into the washer tomorrow to felt. I will post pictures after I get them felted. I will also be adding them to my Etsy store... so check it out.... A CatNip fish toy could be your Cat/Kitten's next BFF! Let me know if you are interested. They are $5 each.

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

Cat Nip Fishy

So I finished the mittens and decided to make a few more Felted Cat Nip Fishy's. My cat ZuZu just loves hers. This one I aded some novelty yarn to that a friend gifted me. Teal Fun Fur... It looks like a Mane. SO this little Fishy is called a Lion Fish.  LOL

The picture on the purple blanket is what it looks like BEFORE its felted. The picture on the Green is the AFTER.  Fun Fun Fun....

    Before                                                                                            After

Its kind of funny that before it was felted it looked like a Lion Fish with the Mane. But after it was felted it looks more like a Puffer Fish!!!  LOL

Terry-Jo

~Keeping you in Stitiches

The Mittens

Short Blog today -  I am sitting on the couch drinking tea and it is my goal to finish these mittens today!!!!  I can't wait to send them to my Mitten exchange partner Kathy of Moon Stone Farm.

I've changed the words a bit but as Dory from the movie "Finding Nemo" would say to Knitters: "Just keep Knitting, Just Keep Knitting..."

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches

The Horror... The Horror...

So.... The first mistake was leaving my Yarn project bag on the floor next to the couch.  The second was leaving the dog slightly unattended.... I left with my friend Henry to go see a movie at the iPic Theater in Redmond. We left at 7:25pm and we walked back thru the door a little bit before 11pm... Walking thru the door and mind you I am so tired with a second late night that what I see on the floor is so colorful and I can't figure out what it is. My brain is not registering.... I keep looking and slowly my brain starts connecting the dots...  "Noooooooooooooooo"!!!!

The dog had sniffed out the mints that were in my bag and then drug out my yarn with the project still on the needles..... she chewed thru my baggie of highlighter pens, baggies of all sizes daisy buttons, baggie of black elastic. She even bit through a brand new rain poncho that I was bringing home to put in my Sounders FC game bag - In case it rains at a game....  LOL

The horror to look down and see your yarn all over the place and know Lucy (Dog) wasn't in it alone... her accomplice ZuZu (Cat) must have had fun playing with it all...

I am soooooooo Thankful that to that end not one stitch was dropped off my needles and the yarn was easily balled back up again.

So now I have Project back in hand to knit today during the Sounders Game.
Hooray - It could have been very very bad and it turned out ok... I will not be leaving my yarn project bag on the floor again.

Terry-Jo
~Keeping you in Stitches~

Tales of the Cables & Hat Vote

So... I have restarted the second mitten and I am making great progress and so far so good. no mistakes. *KNOCK ON WOOD*

I am having so much fun knitting these mittens despite having to rip it back twice to the cuff. But I have learned from those mistakes and need to pay attention when doing the cable pattern.

I am excited to finish these mittens because I have a cool HAT patterns waiting in the wings to start. I have a few patterns to choose from:

Indian Summer:       http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/indian-summer-4

or could it be this one:

The Shamrock Tam:    http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shamrock-tam-2

Or Perhaps this one:

The Shamrock Hat:      http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shamrock-hat-3

Its going to be VERY hard to choose. I'm going to want to do them all!!!!!!

Help me decide Please - I am taking votes for 1, 2 or 3...

~Keeping you in Stitches

Slippers!

At a very early age I watched my mom knit slippers as gifts. Pair, after pair, after pair. She found such absolute Joy in knitting and giving these slippers as gifts. Slippers in every color and variegated color you can think of. Slippers always found their way to us at Christmas and throughout the year as we wore holes in them. When I had my first baby (Meg - now 25) my mom knit her first pair of tiny baby slippers of the same pattern we had had as Kids and then as adults.

My mother was very creative... and she always told me on many occasions how she didn't think she was very talented. Oh Mom... how truly talented you were... you knit slippers, sweaters and socks - mind you argyle socks!! You created your own patterns that were knitted into the socks such as In mid swing golfers. I had no idea... until you were gone and found all your knitting patterns. Books and Books of them. 

My brother for gave me as a combined Christmas and Birthday present a shadow box that he had made of my mom's Slippers. In the heel of one slipper is a picture of my mom and in the other heel is a picture of my daughter Meg. In between the slippers is the slipper pattern. In the bottom of the shadow box is a knitting project that my mom was working on during her Alzheimer's. We would pull it out and work on it whenever I would visit.  I  had bought some needles and some pretty yarn and went about teaching my mom to knit. But soon the "teacher" was in awe of how those older hands remembered every knitting stitch and didn't even have to look at them as she knit. Amazing!

So now I have taken up the slipper making and gift giving. Below is the newest pair I have crafted. With some of the yarn from my mother's stash. 

Every time I take up my needles and knit, I think joyfully of my mom...

~keeping you in stitches~

Darn Cables... Back to the beginning - Again....

So... yesterday while at lunch in the break room... I was so excited to finish the first time thru the chart of my cabled mitten pattern when I notice, yet again, that I have made a mistake in the cables.

OY! I guess I shouldn't be knitting this while I am slightly distracted or watching TV...  :)

So I put it away and today during lunch, I ripped out 16 rows back down to the cuff and started all over again...

Third time's a charm that's what I am thinking...  I am keeping my fingers crossed...

~Keeping you in stitches~

I just can't KNIT with out that....

As as I share my love for knitting I like my mother love to share our gift with others. SO I'd like to share with you what I think you should have in your knitting bag and with you at ALL times. Seriously these are things I can't knit with out....

The first thing you should have is a small crochet hook - this is an invaluable tool. Used for picking up those dropped stitches... This is a MUST.

Always  keep a paperclip in there - this can be used as a stitch holder in a pinch.

A small pencil WITH an eraser - I use this to mark off my rows on my chart pattern. or just to make notes about what I might change if/when I knit the pattern again.

I also keep a small copy of the Kitchener Stitch for when I go to finish off the toe of the socks I'm knitting. The Kitchener Stitch makes for a very clean finish and make it look like there is no end to the knitting. It's a flawless Stitch!!!

Those are the most important ones. But I also have in my kit the following:
needle and thread
curved needle for weaving in the ends
Scissors
Cable hooks
Standard yarn weight system chart
pom-pom maker rings
HandKnit by Terry-Jo labels
T-Pins for putting sweaters together for seaming

I hope you find this a helpful tool for making your knitting kit.

Keep on Knitting....

Chucks!

These were so much fun to knit. It only took my three different knitting patterns to find the one that looked the best. I added a little string of elastic around the middle to help them stay on the feet of the babies. I even got excited and added them to my store on ETSY - an Arts and Crafts website. And I sold my first pair (the ones pictures) to a lady in Toronto Canada!!!  I was so excited. Now I need to branch out and make some in an adult size.  I'm thinking Christmas presents!!!

Activities in Cables

So... I was knitting a mitten for a gift. I finished the first mitten in record time. All was going so well.... until to my dismay today when I had finished the entire cable pattern I realized I forgot to add the hole for the thumb! ARGH... so I sat there at the lunch table and ripped it all the way back to the cuff. But now I am ready to begin again and luckily I had all my stitches and didn't loose any....

and so it begins...again...

TJ