And the winner is....

Thank you all so much for leaving your thoughts on the last post. I can get so caught up in worrying about what would be the "right" gift for someone that I lose sight of the thought. After reading so many different ideas for gifts I realized I needed to take some of the pressure off myself and let go of the idea that mine would be just the right gift and focus instead on finding something nice that said Thank you to a wonderful preschool teacher. But enough about my thoughts on gifts and let's get to the good part :)....

I went here to get my winner and it is Lecia. So Lecia please email me your address and I will be sending you a present.

I will be crazy with Thanksgiving prep this week (we are up to 19 people and I'm hosting) but I am going to try and get some photos of some finished projects, Lecia's gift, and of course my finished gift for the teacher....

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A little Xmas help

I need some advice....
My daughter is in preschool three mornings a week. We love her teacher, more importantly she loves her teacher. I am trying to be organized about the holidays this year and I was making my lists and checking them twice. Doing budgets and such and I realized I need a teacher present this year...what to do?

My husband and I had a somewhat lengthy and terribly boring conversation regarding different gift options. I have a few ideas about what to do but I don't know if they will sound lame or what (we are back to my gift giving anxiety I'm afraid).

Here are some of the thoughts I had but I am totally open to suggestion.

1. A knitted dishtowel that we would use as wrapping around cookies.
2. This little knit bag from Handknit Holidays and fill it with some cookies or candy.

3. These bath mitts from Lily Sugar & Cream and maybe some nice lotions or bath salts.




4. Or maybe some mittens and a gift card to a local coffee shop (I have no idea if she drinks coffee but they have tea and hot chocolate)

These are my ideas....and here is my Xmas give-away to all of you. Leave me a comment on this post with either your vote or a different idea and I'll do a random drawing and send you a little present by Christmas time. I don't know what yet but I'll figure it out. It will either me something handcrafted by moi or something purchased that is local. A mystery give away if you will (neither of us know what the prize will be).
I'll leave this post open until the 23rd of November and then I'll do the drawing....

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The things kids say....

My daughter is only four years old. She is still young enough to think her mommy can do anything. When she wants a hat she says, "my mommy can just knit it". When she wants a blanket for one of her "babies" we dig through fabric scraps and whip one up. One day she wanted a "kennel" for her puppy and after looking through the garage I found an old....ahem....beer box and quickly covered it in contact paper, lined it with a small pillow and blanket and voila we had a kennel for her puppy. My point is that my kids think nothing is too hard for mommy to make. While perusing the Potterybarn kids magazine she saw this photo

Her response..."mommy can we make this?"....."no honey, mommy can't make that".....
a small pause followed and then, "maybe you could just knit it for me, or something"
Yeah....or something :)
Knitting. The possibilities are endless.

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Millie

Well I finally finished her. Were there tears? No but close :). There was definitely some naughty words whispered under my breath at times. Did I learn anything? Yes I did. The first thing I learned was that I HATE bobbles. I am talking definite loathing. Whenever it came to panel B row 13 I would cringe as I got closer and closer to the dreaded (k2, MB) 3 times. It was torture for me. Either they would be too loose or too tight or they would try to poke through the back. I really think they had a mind of their own. Anyway I will probably be avoiding any and all patterns with bobbles in them for the foreseeable future.

But back to the pictures.....here is an illustration of what drew me to the pattern originally.
On the top is the picture from the pattern book and on the bottom is my daughter in my knitted version.

Not exactly the same picture but you can see the similarities right?

Pattern: Millie from the Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran Book
Yarn: Nashua Handknits Ivy
color Ivy
Needles: Size 6 circular and size 8 circular
Size: There is only one size in the pattern and that is for children 4-6.
My daughter is four and usually wears a five so this is a little bit big on her but not too bad.
Mods: I didn't do the pockets because they were more work than they were worth in my opinion so I left them out. Everything else according to pattern.

Another thing I learned is that once I got past the intimidation factor I quite enjoyed the cables. I was feeling quite accomplished the moment I realized that I had more or less memorized the pattern. I never got so far that I could give up my multiple row counters to keep track of where I was in each panel but I got to a point where I knew what each cable was and more or less where it went. I hit my stride and could even watch (or at least listen to ) a television show in the evening with my family.

I haven't added the buttons yet (I will tomorrow) but I couldn't wait to post and since I had the pictures..

An action shot :)

The last thing I figured out while doing this pattern is that Debbie Bliss patterns are in love with seaming. Everything is knit in pieces and then sewn up (lucky us). So in order to keep track of everything I made a copy of the pattern and then took notes. That way I avoided counting things out later or worrying that I was off by a row when measuring and had two different arms lengths, sides, whatever. It made knitting the opposite piece to something very easy when I knew to end after Panel A row 4.


All in all I am very happy with how the cardigan turned out. There was one mistake I found and thanks to all of you another confusing portion was cleared up. I am going to post all the details for this on Ravelry.




Don't be surprised though if you see some stockinette stitch for awhile :).

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One Vote

This is not a forum for political discussions in my opinion. It is a place I like to disappear too and find inspiration and entertainment.

None-the-less this is a very important day for all Americans so I leave you with one vote...

In 1776 ONE VOTE gave America the English language instead of German
In 1800 - Thomas Jefferson was elected President by one vote in the House of Representatives after a tie in the electoral college.
In 1845 ONE VOTE brought Texas into the Union.
In 1867 - The Alaska purchase was ratified by one vote, paving the way for future statehood.
In 1868 ONE VOTE saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment
In 1876 ONE VOTE gave Rutherford D. Hayes the Presidency of the United States.
In 1876 ONE VOTE changed France from a Monarchy to a Republic.
In 1916 ONE VOTE won Woodrow Wilson the Presidency by carrying California by less than one vote per precinct.
In 1923 ONE VOTE gave Adolph Hitler leadership of the Nazi Party

Every voice counts so I urge you to vote!

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No words...

Suzanne at Yarnhog gave me this award.

I am so new to the blog world and have found so much joy out of so many blogs. I went from not really understanding blogs to having a blogroll that requires a lot of scrolling down to get through. I am touched beyond words to say how flattered I am to get this, especially from a blog that I look forward to reading everyday.

As part of the rules I get to nominate five blogs that I enjoy reading. Since Suzanne has already been nominated I will pass along five more blogs that I look forward to each morning.

The rules for award acceptance are as follows: 1. The winner can put the logo on their website/blog. 2. Add a link to the person who gave you this award. 3. Nominate at least 5 other websites/blogs. 4. Provide links of the nominated websites/blogs. 5. Leave a message at each website owner that you've nominated.

I am nominating:

Gabes was one of the first blogs I started reading and I am continually amazed at how creative she is and how much she manages to get done while running her house with three small children.

Mary is a fantastic knitter who always has great posts that include fun recipes, finished knits, and many other things.

Philigry is another blog that I enjoy. She has amazing crafting skills and manages to get it all done with three children under the age of six.

Knitterella is "graphic designer with a passion" to knit according to her bio and all I can say is her posts are fun and creative.

Zebra Knits is full of fantastic knitting and gorgeous photographs and she makes the most amazing quilts.

Thank you all for keeping me inspired and entertained with all your lovely blogs!

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