Secret Pals are activated

Already my Secret Pal 3 has emailed me a warm welcome. (S)he is full of excitement and good cheer, brightening my otherwise stressed out self today. Thanks Secret Pal! I'm going to enjoy the next three months tremendously.

Now, that's it for me today. Must toddle off to bed for my beauty rest, much busyness in store for tomorrow again. No knitting/quilting being done around here right now. Watch me get real cranky real soon if this keeps up!

Flower Basket Shawl Condundrum

As promised to myself, I cast on the Flower Basket Shawl after chores were done. Wimped out and used the 7 stitch cast on, then ran into a conundrum. When I follow the chart for this pattern, should I read every row in the same direction, or should I read the chart back and forth? And do I start reading in the bottom right corner or the bottom left corner of the chart? Does it even matter? Since every second row is just purled, I suspect it does not matter, but it can't hurt to make sure! Now do you see why I used the easy cast on? I am easily confused!

I left a comment asking this question (the chart one, not the rhetorical one) at the knit along. I'll lurk in the comments over there for a while in case I get a response.

By the way, I've made it to row 6 and had to frog twice. Perserverance is going to be an absolute necessity for this project!

****************

P.S. Someone has finished this already! Go here to view. It is really, really lovely. Congrats!

Booga Schmooga

Can you say "tangled mess"? I garter stitched my 34 rows, then picked up stitches all around the rectangle and knit (with great difficulty) a row. Bleh. Time to put this away for a bit. After I do some weekly chores I'll be ready to knit again. As a treat/incentive for doing chores, I think I'll cast on the Flower Basket Shawl. Will I be brave and try the crochet cast on, or will I wimp out and just cast on 7 and get ready to motor? Stay tuned .....

Posted by Hello

Booga Bag

I know, I know. I'm supposed to be working on the Flower Basket Shawl... or the Sitcom jacket, or Sonnet, or the Lorreta Lynn poncho. Instead, I'm three feet into the icord handle for the booga bag. So sue me.

Oh, and I found a new LYS that's about, at the most, 25 blocks from my home. Too cool. Place is called Tangled Skeins. Will post a (glowing) review when I have time to be properly witty about it. Suffice to say that my first visit there made me giddy with joy and resulted in purchase of yarn for said booga bag. The proper Noro Koreyon yarn, not some wussy substitute. I know where my weekly allowance is going for the forseeable future!

Flower Basket Shawl Knit Along!!

All together now ... lets knit along. My thanks to the reader who alerted me to this knitalong by leaving a comment. I joined immediately because there is safety in numbers!

To join the fun, go here.

Cast On, Change Mind

Well, I started a sweater today, got about an inch along, then changed my mind and started a different sweater all together. I started to make Sitcom Chic, but I'm struggling with the sizing so will wait until I have a little more experience. I might look for the suggested yarn too, which should help. So, until I find the right yarn, I'm making Sonnet instead, in a very pretty purple acrylic/wool blend. I'll get photos up just as soon as I get my mitts on the family camera.

Sweet (but scary) Shawl

I am going to make this. Yes, I really am. I have the yarn and everything. Photo of yarn will be posted when I get my camera back from DH. The cast on is a little scary (you start with a crochet hook, ... eep.) I have to work up the courage to begin. Wish me luck!

Posted by Hello

Poncho Pattern

Hey, I found an easy knitted poncho pattern HERE. The yarn is so cool, apparently it stripes by itself! Of course, I won't find this yarn in NS. I guess I'll make random stripes myself. This is going to be my Poncho Along project.

Why do I quilt?

Daddy likes his quilt. Need I say more?

Close Up: Liam's Quilt

Liam's quilt in closeup. The centers are redwork, done in blue. I already knew the baby was a boy, so I felt safe to use blue.

Poncho Along

Me? Knit a poncho? Never! Well, O.K., but just one ...

Knitting Photos

What! No photos of knitting finished objects, or even work in progress? Umm, not yet. I just started knitting again a couple of weeks ago, so don't have much to show yet. Soon, though, real soon.

Liam's Quilt

A baby quilt, made for my nephew Liam. I designed it and used these colours to go with the decor of Liam's parents house. Although untraditional baby colours, I quite liked the finished look.

Daddy's Quilt

I made this quilt for my Daddy's 80th birthday. The ribbon is a Japanese symbol of best wishes, called a Noshi. The small squares are hand quilted in blue, a traditional Japanese quilting technique. I designed this for Daddy because he likes Japanese art. This is the second quilt I ever made.

Duchess DOREY

Here is Dorey, my Cavalier King Charles spaniel. She is totally sweet and knows how to use those big brown eyes to get what she wants!

Princess KOBIE

This is Kobie, my ChiChin puppy. She loves people, and greets everyone with frantic tail wagging. Despite her size, she considers herself the boss of every other dog on the planet. She also has an abundance of personality ... more than some people I know!

Allrighty Then

Well, this time it worked. Here is the button. Aren't you glad I tried so hard to post it! Now look out for a veritable waterfall of photos. Mwhahaahaaa.

Rocket Science

Grrr, I'm trying to figure out how to use Hello and Blogger Bot to post the really cool SPIII button here. It isn't rocket science, but gee whiz ... I can't get it to work. Sigh. Soon, real soon.

Secret Pals III

Whoo Hoo! I made it into Secret Pals III!

Let the shopping, begin .... wait, I have to be assigned a pal first.... hmmm, but one can just look, can't one? Tee Hee

Photos to Follow

Please bear with me while I iron out the kinks of this blog. Photos of knitting, quilts, puppies and cats are forthcoming ... I promise!

Stitch Witch is born

Just what the world needs ... another blog. But, this one is different, she says earnestly. This one is about ... wait for it ... knitting and quilting! Yes! Not one, but two of the noble needle arts. Can you stand the excitement?