Following Up, Catching Up

With Christmas over I can post pictures of all of the dishcloths that I labored over to give as gifts! Most of my pictures are on my computer at work and I am off until January 2, but I did take some Christmas Day with my new camera.

I made these 3 cloths for Jason’s sister, Laura, who hasn’t gotten them yet due to an illness in her husband’s family. They are corner to corner cloths from the Lily/Bernat dishcloth booklet, Kitchen Kolors. I made them to match the woven stitch cloths that I posted about a while back. They are very cute and very easy. The pattern book also has a pattern for a dishtowel. Unfortunately, there was no time to make 3 matching dishtowels, but of course, it would have been a cute set.

This is a cloth that I made for Jason’s mother. It is also from a Lily pattern book, but this time it is The Best of Lily Dishcloths and it is their version of a granny square. This was the last cloth that I needed to complete by Christmas. I finished in on Christmas Eve with much time to spare!

Still to come: Knit Wit’s bath mitt made from a Knitpicks pattern in Shine Worsted, Aunt Jane’s 2 butterfly cloths and my aunt Tracy’s oak leaf cloth and heart cloth. Also, I will be posting my secret pal package pictures!

Because I’ve been mostly good this year, I bought some Christmas presents for myself. I gave in to temptation, so to speak, and finally ordered myself a Lexie Barnes knitting bag. I also got the Options set from Knitpicks and the Knit and Plenty Kit. I am a good Santa. 😉 I love the Lexie Barnes bag! It is really a great size with lots of compartments inside. I chose the pattern Viona, which I really like. The Knit and Plenty Kit is nice too! It has some very cool things included and I think that once I get going on some ‘real knitting’ that I will really get a lot of use out of it.

This week I have been working on my grandmother’s gift, the Stripey Throw from Erika Knight’s book, Simple Crochet. I will try and get a little more accomplished on it and then take a picture. I wasn’t very diligent today as I got distracted by a Silhouette Bombshell romance book. I am weak.

Quickly, An Update

Christmas went off without a hitch, almost. I got finished with all of my dishcloths by Christmas Eve and everybody seemed to really excited when they opened them. Yea! I heard a lot of, this is too pretty to use. For the time being, I am going to give dishcloths a break, but I do have some pictures to post later.

Jason and I made a camera trade, so he got my Canon SD600 and he got me a Nikon Coolpix S9 Magenta! While Jason was in NYC, he did a little bit of Christmas shopping for one of my presents. A bead bracelet from Tiffany!!!! There is nothing quite like opening a package and seeing that little blue box! 🙂

This year, Christmas was slightly different for my family. Christmas Day was very busy opening Santa presents, going to Jason’s family and going to my mother’s parents! Ordinarily, we always go to my Memaw’s house on Christmas Eve, but this year we had to do it on Christmas Day. My 11 year old cousin, Kaleb, had an asthma attack late Friday/ early Saturday that landed him in the hospital in Huntsville, AL. They let him out at 9 o’clock on Christmas. Poor little guy. He missed getting to wake up to Santa presents! 😦

This has really been a wake-up call for my family as we’ve known that he had asthma but never knew the severity. Thankfully, he is going to be all right with some new treatment and the knowledge this his asthma is a condition that is to be taken seriously. I am sure that if you have a loved one with asthma you know what I am talking about.

Secret Pal Strikes Again

I just got a wonderful package from my secret pal! Unfortunately I can’t take a picture of it right now because my camera is on vacation with my boyfriend in NYC. (When he gets back I will provide a photo.) Until then, I will do my best at describing my goodies!

My pal included a beautiful felted purse in varigated yarn with shell buttons, a kitty Christmas tree ornament which is nice since I just got a Christmas tree!, a journal, lavender herbal bath, some great handpainted yarn painted by my Pal!, 2 skeins of Patons Kroy in a very vibrant blue that would make a beautiful scarf I think, a fabulous smelling fig basil candle, a bar of Lavender vegetable soap, a skinny crocheted scarf in blue, brown and green which I LOVE, some See’s peppermints and 2 suckers, and a sticky-note pad. I love sticky notes!

My pal is so great! I really can’t wait to find out who it is, but until then she really is sending me some great things! Thank you!!!

Once my camera returns I will be able to post a picture of my new Christmas tree and the dishcloths that I finished since last time, as well as my secret pal package. I am almost finished with my holiday creations, Thank Goodness! Time is running out!

A Catchy Title Goes Here

Since Christmas is less than two weeks away now I have really got to get on it and get finished with my knitting! I was going to be super-productive last night and start on another cloth for one of my aunts but somehow I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30! Not much knitting gets done that way I am afraid. Ugh.

I have made 5 more cloths since last week and that leaves me about 8 more I think. I also have to make KnitWit’s gift and somehow finish the throw that I started for my grandmother. She says that I don’t have to finish it if I run out of time but I really want to get it finished! Falling asleep at 7:30 doesn’t really help matters out much. 😦

ClothRoll

Apple

This is for my aunt, Tracy, who is a First grade teacher. I hope that she likes apples and doesn’t feel that it is too cliche! I am sure that she won’t mind because she loves me and she will like whatever it is that I make her! 🙂 I am going to make her two more cloths, a leaf and then one with hearts b/c I love her! 🙂

Reindeer, From the Yahoo Group, Knitted_Kitty_Dishcloths, will add the red nose and eyes later

Stocking (Sorry for the dark picture!)

Rocking Horse, from the Yahoo Group, Monthly Dishcloths

These three cloths are for my other aunt, Amy, who is getting Christmas themed cloths. These will finish out her cloth collection. She is also getting Frosty the Snowman, the Welcome Angel, and the Poinsettia. I think that she will like them although with her, you never know! 🙂 She does like to get hand made things.

Crochet cloth, I made this one up

I ‘designed’ this cloth (ha, I am laughing) to match the Woven Stitch cloths that I made to give Jason’s sister. The stripe of varigated yarn matches the yarn used for the cloth. I will make 2 more of these to match the other 2 cloths and this will complete her gift.

On Sunday I met my mother in Tupelo and she bought me the most awesome basket at Pier One. (Check the description, it even suggests knitting!) I, of course, am using mine to house my ever expanding yarn stash. It is a very good size as evidenced by the large amount of yarn that is housed within. I put my fancy yarns in it to show them off!

I LOVE THIS BASKET!!!!

I also did a little reorganizing when I got home on Sunday, wanted to give my new basket a better view I suppose. I am getting a new bookshelf for Christmas, but I will still have plenty of books to put in it, so I cleared out a spot on my entertainment center and got them out of the floor!

I have some fancy books but all I ever seem to knit is dishcloths! 🙂 After Christmas I am going to make something else! I have a log cabin blanket that I started and abandoned for Christmas knitting that I will finish, and probably give to Brinn since I threw her poncho away! I want to make some washcloths for my bathroom (how different from dishcloths!) and some felted potholders. I have yarn for several things, and I want to start back collecting Tahki Cotton Classic for my Mitered Square Blanket! (Did you see the two skeins of it perched a-top my basket?) I can’t wait to get started on something else!

Still Planning

I took a bunch of pictures last night of my most recent dishcloth knitting, but I forgot to get the card reader from Jason so I am having a bit of trouble getting the pictures from the camera to the computer! 🙂 Guess I will just have to post again tomorrow!!

Since the new Knitty came out I thought I would discuss that instead. I was fairly disappointed with the selection because there is a LOT of colorwork going on in most of the patterns and not very much for a beginner/beginning intermediate to choose from. (Is it just me, or were there more than the usual number of patterns this time also?)  Here are my thoughts…

Patterns:

1. Center Square– This is cute and I have recently learned to make hats, but the colorwork is kind of intimidating and really, don’t you think that those circles just look a little too much like boobs??

2. Calorimetry– I actually like this, and it might be a good way to learn/practice short rows. I still think that I will make a Panta first.

3. Hexed– This would be cute for a child, but looks like a lot of work for a goofy looking hat.

4. Antifreeze– Wouldn’t it just be easier to go and buy one of these at the dollar store??? I understand the need for the ponytail hole and the strap slot, but really…

5. Binary– No thank you.

6. Argosy– This is pretty, but I would probably never make one.

7. Corazon– Very cute and maybe one day when I am feeling particularly brave (about 5 years from now) I will try them.

8. Tiffany– These are nice also, but really, did they need two complicated mitten patterns in one issue? I might try these one day, but it will be a while.

9. Legwarmer Socks– I think that these are cute, but I am still trying to figure out how practical I think legwarmers really are. Might be fun to knit though and it would be good practice for actual sock knitting since this can be made with or without toe.

10. Rolling Thunder– I have been wanting to make a sock for a while and I like the cuff on this pattern. Probably wouldn’t add the beads.

11. Monkey– Pretty sock, but looks more complicated that I am ready for. Mannequin leg makes me a little uncomfortable.

12. Eiffel– This is pretty and I would like to make this one day. I like the empire style waist-line and the lacy parts at the bottom.

13. Lauren– I can’t really get into this pattern.

14. Emerald– Sort of nice, sort of bulky.

15. Twinkletoes– I think that these are SO cute and as luck would have it I have some Rowan Calmer laying around! I might try to make these after Christmas.

16. Spanish Dancer– I like the little ruffle, but I am not to big on shawls. Looks nice though in the chosen yarn.

17. Slingshot– Maybe you have to be a coffee drinker to ‘get’ this but honestly, who is going to walk around with a full cup of coffee on a strap so that you can sling it around and get it all over yourself? This, to me, is dumb.

18. Babe– Since I don’t own a pair of ice skates this isn’t very applicable to me. I guess it would be a cute idea otherwise.

19. Venezia– These are clever.

20. Brown Bag– Cute idea, but a strap would be nice. Cool that a high schooler designed the pattern. I still like the lunch bag from Knit One, Felt Too better.

21. Starsky Jr.– Seems like a lot of work for a child when they are probably going to outgrow it in two weeks. Pretty sweater though.

22. Blended hues– This is sweet. Maybe I will have occassion to make a baby sweater one day.

23. Piggle– I think that this is adorable. The little girl in the picture is pretty adorable too!

24. Norberta– cute, but not as cute as…

25. Sheldon!– I love this turtle! He is just the cutest thing and I will make one one of these days. I just love the way he looks and he is so cute without his shell too! Yea for Sheldon!

26. The book of Knitty– This is very cute. Love how the words that it teaches are knitty patterns! Very cute!

Another Installment of the Same

After a while it becomes hard to wax poetic about dishcloths yet again, and I have come to that point I am afraid! So as not to spoil this experience for my readers, I will do the best that I can…

This is a woven stitch dishcloth in the back and one that I cannot find the pattern link for in the front! (I know that it came from Crochet Pattern Central!)

Next up we have 2 more woven stitch dishcloths in an lovely orange and yellow colorway Sugar n Cream has dubbed, Creamsicle. I made these a little larger, chain 35 I believe, so that they could be used as washcloths.

Bushy Stitch Cloth

I don’t really like this cloth as well as I thought that I would, but it was very easy to make. I still have a hard time reading crochet patterns so at least this was good practice!

Welcome Angel, from Yahoo Group, SusansKnitPatterns

I stumbled upon this Yahoo Group because of my other yahoo group, Monthly Dishcloths. This lady has A LOT of patterns, some are pay but a lot are free and they are available on her group.  (This one is free.)  She designs very lovely patterns! You will see some more of her cloths as Christmas gifts!

Poinsettia, Yahoo Groups, Monthly Dishcloths and SusansKnitPatterns

This is lovely and my first experience with bobbles! I like the seed stitch border on cloths better than garter, but I am not about to start doing it all the time! 😉

In other news, I started on the Stripey Throw for my grandmother from Erika Knight’s book, Simple Crochet. It is already very, very pretty and I’ve only done 2 color stripes! I am using Bernat Satin which is a very soft yarn in the colors Sage, Camel, Spring, and Silk. I will try to get more accomplished on it and do a WIP picture soon!