This is my self-named scarf. It is my first finished object of 2011 and I really love the way it turned out. This is going to be my donation to the Helping Hands auction.  I hope it goes for a lot of money! If I were to put this in my Etsy shop it would retail for $125.

Yarn: Tilli Tomas Rockstar– 100% spun silk studded with European glass beads.  I used the Atmosphere colorway. Needless to say, this was the most expensive skein of yarn I’ve ever purchased. But, I got it on sale during the year-end clearance at Personal Threads Boutique in Omaha.

Pattern: I used the drop-stitch scarf pattern found here. It is based on the Seafoam stitch from one of Barbara Walker’s Treasury books.  My one skein of yarn (150 yds) made a scarf approximately 58″ inches long.

My pictures really don’t do this yarn or scarf justice. The color is a beautiful silver and the feel of the silk is really beyond compare! You can’t forget about the shimmer from the glass beads. It is an absolutely gorgeous scarf and I can’t wait for it to go to a good home for a good cause!

I was determined to make my kids some super warm hats and mittens before the weather turned cold. I managed to do all the knitting over a couple of nights in September. I didn’t manage to sew on the button until after the first snow. Small victories.

The hat is from this pattern.  I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick. I chose that yarn because it is machine washable but still has the warmth and water repelling qualities of wool.

For the mittens, I didn’t want to go out and buy some larger double-pointed needles. So, I used what I had and made up my own pattern. These are knit flat and then seamed up the sides. It really isn’t my first choice but, I was too cheap. Below you’ll find the pattern for the mittens. They are easily adapted to accommodate larger sizes of hands if you’d like to make some for yourself!

Thick and Quick Mittens Pattern

1 skein Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn (you’ll use approx. 1/2 the skein) or other bulky weight yarn

Size 11 needles

Stitch markers, stitch holder or spare yarn

Plastic needle for seaming

Size small (my daughter is 5) as written. Larger sizes (M, L) written in parentheses.

k= knit

p=purl

pm= place marker

m1= make 1 stitch

k2tog= knit 2 together

Cast on 21 (23, 23) stitches.

Starting with a knit stitch, work k1 p1 rib for 7 (9, 11) rows.

Work in stockinette stitch (k 1 row, p 1 row) for 5 (7, 9) rows.

Next row: Knit 10  (11, 11) stitches, pm, m1,  k1, m1, pm, knit to end (3 sts between markers)

Next row: purl all stitches

Next row: Knit to marker, m1, k3, m1, knit to end (5 sts between markers)

Next row: purl all stitches

Next row: Knit to marker, m1, k5, m1, knit to end (7 sts between markers)

Next row: purl

MEDIUM AND LARGE SIZES ONLY:

Next row: Knit to marker, m1, k7, m1, knit to end (9 sts between markers)

Next row: purl

Next row: Knit to marker, m1, k9, m1, knit to end (11 sts between markers)

Next row: purl

ALL SIZES:

Next row: Knit to marker, place sts between markers on a stitch holder or a spare piece of yarn, knit remaining stitches.

The stitches on the the holder are your thumb stitches. Just leave them be for now.

Next row: purl

Continue in stockinette stitch for 2 (4, 6) more rows.

Next row (right side): *K2tog, knit 6 (7, 7), k2tog* repeat to end

Next row: purl

Next row: Knit all stitches

Next row: purl

Next row: *k2tog, k 4 (5, 5) k2tog* repeat to end

Next 3 rows: stockinette stitch

Next row: *k2tog, k2 (3, 3) k2tog* repeat to end

Next row: purl

MEDIUM and LARGE SIZES:

Next two rows: stockinette stitch

ALL SIZES:

Next row: *k2 tog, (k 1, k 1) k2 tog* repeat to end

Cut yarn leaving a tail of approximately 12 inches. Place on seaming needle and thread the yarn through each of the remaining stitches on the knitting needle. Pull taught and leave until you’re ready to seam up the mitten.

THUMB:

Place all stitches from stitch holder onto knitting needles.

Knit in stockinette stitch for 7 (9, 11) rows.

Next row: k2tog across all sts

Cut yarn leaving a tail of approximately 10 inches. Place on seaming needle and thread the yarn through each of the remaining stitches on the knitting needle. Pull taught. Using the mattress stitch, seam the thumb to the edge of the mitten.

Using the tail from the main mitten, finish seaming the side of the mitten using the mattress stitch.  Hide all yarn ends.

Repeat for second mitten.

I am so in love with this little crocheted cap. The pattern is free and can be found at the Coats and Clark website.

I used Lily Sugar n’ Cream cotton yarn that I had in my stash.  The cap and the flower each used about 1/2 of a ball. I bought that yarn for around $1 each.

The cap took me about 1 hour to crochet. The flower also took about that same amount of time. Not bad for two hours of work and $1 worth of yarn!

I attached the flower with an alligator clip so if I ever decide to make more flowers in different colors, I can switch them out. I also didn’t felt the flower. Because I used cotton yarn, that just wasn’t possible. It made the flower bigger, but I like it like that! If you wanted a smaller flower without felting, just leave off the last layer of petals.

Wouldn’t these make the greatest gifts for the young girls on your list?

Our local knitting guild is participating with the Lands’ End Feel Good campaign to provide afghan squares to Warm Up America. Lands’ End donated this yarn and we were given some cones of it to knit up for the charity afghans.

The yarn is a really soft cotton blend and it knits up nicely. For this block, I used a pattern called “Double Ric-Rac” from a stitch book that I can’t remember.

This green is pretty bright–but I love it! This stitch is a traveling cable with some bobbles. Bobbles are really fun to make and are an easy way to add some texture to your knitting. I’m planning some more knitting videos in the coming weeks/months and I think how to make bobbles will be one of them!

This is another traveling cable but this time it goes in a trellis pattern with bobbles in the intersections. What can I say? I was going crazy for the bobbles. I have another square almost finished and I hope to finish at least a few more before we’re ready to seam up the afghans!

You  might remember this picture from a post I did from my trip to Italy/Switzerland.  I took this picture on the train from Venice to Geneva.  I knit happily on that scarf for several more hours over the course of that trip.  Somewhere over the Atlantic, something went dreadfully wrong and I didn’t notice until I came home.

See the mistake?  There is an extra big hole off to one side.  Oops.  I know exactly what I did wrong and how to fix it but I lost my motivation.  Plus, I decided that this scarf would look better if I knit it the other way (vertical instead of horizontal).

Last night I unraveled the whole thing and started over.

Good thing I love the process of knitting just as much as the finished project!

I’ve been knitting quite a bit on this trip.  I spent a couple hours on this project during our train ride from Venice to Geneva.  I had some licorice, a Coke Zero, and some amazing views.

The knitting is pretty easy once the pattern is memorized.  It’s definitely not a project for beginners.  But I think any advanced beginner could follow along with the pattern no problem.

I’ve been doing some shopping, too.  This picture gives a hint to one item that will be going in the August craft challenge packet. This is a cute little stationery store that I found near Campo Del Friari in Venice.  I have a limited number of packets available for August, so if you want to participate–get your packet before they’re sold out.

Last night as I was packing, I realized that I didn’t have a good knitting project to bring along.  I did a search on Ravelry and came up with this project that fit perfectly with this skein of mystery yarn I got from Julie.  I’m modifying it a bit to suit my taste.  I’m making it into a scarf so instead of 15 repeats of the wavy pattern, I’m only doing 5.  I didn’t have enough yarn to make a shawl, anyway.

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture.  It was late at night and all I had was my camera on hand (the other camera was packed).  You can’t really tell how beautiful the yarn is.  I should be able to post some in progress pictures over the next few days.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so excited about a project!

Here’s another project from years ago.  This is the Pinwheel Jacket.   You can find the free pattern at Elann.com but you need to register there to have access to it.

I made this sweater using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.  It held up surprisingly well over the years.  My daughter is still able to wear this sweater.  It has grown well with her.  The nature of the pattern really allows for it to grow along with the child.  As they get bigger, the collar gets smaller and smaller and you can unroll the sleeves.  I don’t think it will last until next fall, but two years worth of wear for a child’s garment is not too shabby.

I used a basic grosgrain ribbon to tie the front.  Even that ribbon lasted this whole time!

The pattern is also available in adult sizes.  I may go through my yarn stash and see if I have something suitable to make this for me!

This dishcloth pattern comes from the famous Peaches n’ Cream ballband.  Mason Dixon Knitting brought it back into “vogue” four-five years ago and I jumped on the bandwagon a couple of years later.  Looking at these pictures made me remember just how much fun these are to knit.  They are a super quick project, too!

Here is the link to the free ballband dishcloth knitting pattern.  You can get a couple of dishcloths from the two balls of cotton yarn.  It is so much fun to mix and match.  There are so many great cottons out there now that I think I may need to make some more.

Need a quick wedding gift idea?  For a couple of bucks and a couple hours of your time, you’ve got a nice handmade gift to pass along.  Pair it with a Pyrex casserole dish (one of my best loved gifts from my wedding) and you’re good to go!

Don’t know how to knit?  Why not check out my Knitting School series?  Good times.

This is the pattern that first caught my eye.  It is the Tappan Zee.

image copyright Amy King

I really like the overall design.  The lacework on top will keep it interesting.  The major benefit?  No seaming!

This next pattern is Emmaline.   It wasn’t love at first sight but I kept coming back to look at it.  I don’t know if this would be the most flattering on my body type but I think I’d like to try and knit it.

image copyright Jennifer Wood

I think this will be a quick knit and I can fit it to me.  I like the square neck and cap sleeves.  Another bonus?  No seaming!

Remember how last year around this time I was thinking about summer knitting and picked out this project to never mention it again?   I did actually start on the sweater and made quite a bit of progress.  Then it got to a point where I couldn’t stand to knit on it any longer.  Knitting is supposed to be fun and that project just wasn’t.  So, here’s to hoping that one of these projects will work out for me and I’ll have something good to report!

Do you have a preference?  Because, I’m still on the fence.  Help me decide!