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December 31, 2004
A New Year just around the Corner
So 2005 starts in just a mere few hours. And so will start my 100 things to do in 1001 Days list. I'm up to number 84 on the list. I've decided to just keep adding to it and hopefully have it completed by the end of January.
Not too much knitting going on here lately. The CTS in my hands/arms has really flared up and to top all that off I've got pnemonia with a sinus and upper resp. infection. That means bed rest. YEA RIGHT! A week off of school with a little guy and I'm supposed to stay in bed. What a joke! The 10 program of meds from the doctor are now over and I'm still waiting to feel better.
Being sick makes one rather mean!
Tomorrow we venture to Virginia. Saturday is the ever popular annual Christmas Party! Most of the family shows for this and we have a really cool gift exchange that can go on and on for hours and at times get a bit "cut throat? even.
Then on Sunday it's dinner and gift exchange (the more domestic type) with my husband's sister and her family. I haven't seen my nephew in a year -- almost to date. So I look forward to that. Seeing my nephew that is.
So, I wanted to wish all you who actually read this a Happy New Year and to keep those lights lit so the New Year will find it's way to us and burn brightly.
Posted by Genia at 09:58 AM | Comments (2)
December 23, 2004
Getting closer to Christmas
So today I don't really have any knitting content. Though I admit that I am frantically trying to get a few more things done. I wanted to share with you all a scarf that my cousin made me for Christmas. It's totally fabulous and so quick and easy you'll wish you had thought of it sooner.
It's a fleece boa and here's what you do:
Materials needed are:
Fleece material - at least 1-1/2 yards long by 6 inches. You'll need two pieces.
Thread
Scissors
Place the fleece pieces on top of each other lengthwise. Now stitch up the middle of the fabric from end to end lengthwise. The zig zag stitch works best here. Now cut fringe up both sides of the scarf apporximately 1 inch wide. When you are done this looks like a very cool boa without the feathers.
Mix and match your fleece. With fleece being approximately 42 inches wide, you can get 7 scarves from two pieces of fleece. That would be 7 gifts for under $20.00.
Now if you get together with a couple of friends, each of you can buy different pieces of fleece so that you can all have 7 different scarf boas.
These would also make great items for donation.
Merry Holidays to you all!
Posted by Genia at 09:13 AM
December 17, 2004
The List
I'm up to number 79 on the list. I had no idea how hard it would be come up with 100 items. Here's the list so far:
1. Scrap, sand, and paint the bathroom ceiling
2. Rip up and replace the bathroom floor
3. Rip out and replace the walls around the bathtub. (seems my bathroom needs lots of help!)
4. Spend more time with my folks
5. Organize my yarn stash
6. Submit 3 of my designs to magazines
7. Make my designs available to other knitters
8. Organize my books
9. Organize my family's books
10. Empty out the junk drawers (I have three)
11. Weed out the closet
12. Clean off the deck
13. Clean out the storage bin
14. Learn to take better care of my car
15. Teach my teenagers to drive
16. Teach them to take care of the car
17. Save more money
18. Visit my friend G1 in FLA
19. Write more letters
20. Go to New York City
21. Go to Boston
22. Re-tile the chimney floor
23. Hang my 2 sided mirror
24. Spend less time wondering “what if” and more time doing
25. Learn to spin
26. Learn to felt
27. Take a business class
28. Volunteer more at the school
29. Start a workout program and stick with it at least one month
30. Go to Canada
31. Get CPR certified again
32. Take Nathan to a baseball game
33. Go to Mardi Gras
34. Visit my cousin in South Carolina
35. Finish more projects
36. Frog what won’t get finished
37. Repair the screens on the front porch
38. Visit a dude ranch with Myla
39. Spend more time with friends
40. Make more desserts
41. Take the kids to see the National Christmas Tree
42. Learn ASL
43. Learn to drive a bucket of balls
44. Design and knit more mittens
45. Successfully design another adult sweater
46. Blog at least 3 times a week
47. Use up more of my stash
48. Visit and write reviews of more yarn shops
49. Fix the kitchen faucet
50. Kayak further
51. Attempt to leave a comment on blogs that I read
52. Be a better housekeeper
53. If 52 fails then be a better knitter
54. Stop binge shopping
55. Spend more time on my bicycle
56. Open my own bank account
57. Pay off my credit card
58. Buy a fleece
59. Re-write my Resume
60. Re-write my patterns
61. Organize my knitting diaries
62. Make a slip cover for the couch – that I like
63. Go on a date with my husband
64. Talk more with my neighbors not just the family
65. Launch my website
66. Take Nathan to all the Smithsonian Museums
67. Go horseback riding with Myla
68. Stop complaining for 3 weeks
69. Take a knitting class
70. Organize my magazines
71. Learn to understand the computer
72. Program the VCR (really)
73. Bake more cookies
74. Knit 45 hats for charity
75. Organize a family vacation – and then go on it
76. Repaint the hand rail
77. Build a new step
78. Call my SIL once a month
79. Learn Fencing
80. Read more books
81. Brick in the flower beds
82. Re-plant the flower beds to be more useful (herbs)
83. Find another part-time job
84. Keep a daily journal
I realise that some of these items seem trivial but they aren't to me. I mentioned the list to my DH and looked at me it was another of my wild ideas. We shall see. When making the list I have actually placed a sort of value on each of the items. This way when something is completed it will be more like having accomplished a real task.
Posted by Genia at 01:31 PM | Comments (2)
December 16, 2004
A History Lesson to share
This came thru my email today and since I thought it was interesting and I don't have anything to really blog about today here's the lesson:
HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE FINGER
or Giving the Finger
Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future.
This famous weapon was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").
Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, "See, we can still pluck yew! "PLUCK YEW!"
Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant
cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentals fricative ?Ǭ?F?Ǭ?, and thus the words often used in conjunction with the
one-finger-salute!
It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird."
And yew thought yew knew everything ?Ö !
So now you know.
By the way, I'm still working on my "100 Things to do in 1001 Days" list. This is not as easy as it seems and I'm really having a good think over it. I'm more then half way done now, so hopefully tomorrow or Sunday I'll have it posted and started working on it.
Posted by Genia at 04:37 PM | Comments (1)
December 08, 2004
Wrist Warmers
I have taken a real liking to Noro's Kureyon yarn. And because there are so many colorways to choose I can never decide on which one to knit from and end up with lots of single skeins.
So with the Holidays really approaching fast (only 17 days to Christmas) I worked out a pattern for some really quick wrist warmers. **Please note that these are not copied from anyone else to the best of my knowledge.** These wristwarmers are worked up using just one skein of Kureyon.
Materials needed:
1 skein of Noro Kureyon (or any worst weight yarn of choice)
4 size 8 double point needles
or
2 size 8 circular needles
or
1 40" size 8 circular needle if you prefer to use the "Magic Loop"
1 Stitch marker
waste yarn (2 - approximately 11 inch pieces)
Yarn needle
Cast on 32 stitches. Join stitches, place marker, and knit ribbing of 2 x 2 for 5-1/2 inches.
Thumb Gusset
On the next round, k1, make 1 stitch (m1), k1, m1, continue in rib pattern to marker. **For making or increasing a stitch, I prefer to pick up the loop below the stitch previously knit. This prevents the gusset from having any unsightly holes.**
Next round, knit.
Rnd 3: k1, m1, k3, m1, continue in rib pattern.
Rnd 4: knit
Knit each odd round increasing 2 stitches on the gusset until you have 12 stitches for your thumb. On the next round, place these stitches on a piece of waste yarn; cable cast on 2 stitches and knit in rib pattern until piece measures 8 inches from cast on edge.
Bind off in ribbing.
Thumb work:
Place the holding gusset stitches onto two needles. Start knitting these stitches, when you get to the top of the gusset, pick up one stitch from the stitch just knit; pick up two stitches from the top of the gusset; place marker; knit one stitch, m1. You now have 16 stitches on the needles. You may want to arrange this a bit to make the knitting more comfortable.
Knit one round. On the next round you'll want to decrease the thumb down to 14 stitches. Keeping the original 12 gusset stitches, knit the 12th and 13th stitch together, then knit the 16 and 1st stitch together.
Continue knitting around until the thumb measures approximately 1 - 1/2 inches. Bind off weaving in all ends.
Knit your second wristwarmer.
Questions? contact me.
Next up: 100 things to do in 1001 days. Go to Michael Green's Blog.
Here's a great photo of the Magic Loop being used.
Posted by Genia at 08:40 AM | Comments (2)
December 02, 2004
December
And I was just writing about it being November! Tomorrow is my little guy's 6th birthday. Talk about time flying, last week he also lost his first tooth and now has another loose. He'll be a toothless wonder before long and asking Santa for front teeth.
With everyone running around looking for gifts for this holiday season, I thought I would offer to you a few really quick gifts that you might even be able to knit from available stash (depending of course on what your current stash looks like.)
This first pattern is one that my dear daughter Myla had requested on the evening before going on vacation. They are mittens that I was able to knit up in an evening. Please note that I am not a speedy knitter rather a marathon knitter (slow and steady.) The scarf I knit to match the mittens will come later.
Myla's Mitts:
size 9 dpns (you'll need 4) or two circulars or a 40 inch long if you prefer to knit using the magic loop.
One skein of chunky yarn**
Waste yarn -- approximately 16 inches per mitten of a contrasting color.
Yarn needle
Stitch marker
**Chunky Yarn: if you don't have a chunky yarn be creative! Pull together two or three yarns that will look really cool together. Throw in something furry, or eyelash, or the railroad Eros type yarn. The idea behind these mitts to keep the hands warm, look neat, and knit up quick.
Cast on 22 stitches, place marker, join and knit a ribbing of either k1, p1 or k2, p2 for 10 rounds. Your piece will measure approximately 2 to 2-1/2 inches. If you prefer a longer cuff - hey go for it. They're your mitts.
Knit every row (sliding your marker as you go) until the stocking stitch part of the mitten measures 2-1/2 inches. If you pulled the mitten on, it should reach the webbing part of your thumb or the thumb of the intended hand.
Here is where your waste yarn comes in. Knit one stitch beyond your marker and drop your yarn. Pick up your waste yarn (fold it in half) and leaving a tail of about 3" inches knit the next 5 stitches; turn and knit back the same 5 stitches. This is where your thumb will go.
Now pick up your main yarn and continue knitting in the round (it's okay to knit over the thumb stitches) until the piece measures to the top of the little/pinky finger.
Decrease the round by two stitches. (20 stitches) The purpose for this decrease round it make the rest of the decrease rounds even. Knit one round.
Rnd 1: knit 3 stitches, k2tog around to marker.
Rnd 2 and every even rnd: knit
Rnd 3: knit 2 stitches, k2tog to marker.
Rnd 5: knit 1, k2tog.
Rnd 6 knit
Check your mitten length now. If it is long enough to cover your hand, break yarn leaving a 8 inch tail and draw the yarn through the live stitches using your yarn needle. Finish and weave in the tail. If it is not long enough, knit another round. Then finish as described above.
Thumb:
Using a dpn, pick up the 5 stitches just below the waste yarn. Then using another dpn pick up the 5 stitches above the waste yarn. Now cut the waste yarn and pick it out.
Pick up and knit the bottom thumb stitches (knit 5 sts) and pick up two stitches on the side. Knit the top 5 stitches, picking up two stitches on the opposite side. Use your favorite method of picking up stitches, or you can pick up the loop below the last and first stitch of the thumb opening.
Knit one round on all 14 stitches.
Next round, k4, k2tog, ssk, k4, k2tog, ssk. (10 stitches remain)
Knit every round until the thumb measures to top of the thumb. Break yarn leaving a 6 - 8 inch tail and draw the yarn through the live stitches pulling them tight and weaving in the tail.
One mitten done. Now knit the second.
Clear as mud? or still too murky? Let me know. Now get knitting folks, the Holidays have begun!!
Posted by Genia at 11:55 AM | Comments (1)