Under Construction

 Short blurb so Google will not archive my blog.  In the famous words of Arnold Schwartzenegger, I'll be back.  

Color Me So Ashamed

I know.  I start a blog and then vanish.  Not very nice of me.  It is just that it has been so hot here in Texas.  Too hot to knit.  So I swished to Ice Dyeing as my summer hobby.

Before I show you pictures of Ice Dyeing, here is an inexpensive storage idea I found on Pinterest.

Unfortunately I have only one closet and one hanging/drawer unit so closet space is very valuable.  I might see if I can find a really thin one like for shoes or purses.  

So on to the Ice Dyeing.  Here are a few that I have dyed. 

Oh yes.  I'm definitely having fun.  I'll tell you more about Ice Dyeing in my next post. 

Tips and Tricks

Today I want to refer you to a post on Knitmuch.com entitled 3 Tips to Untangle Yarn Snafu by Michelle Nguyen.   This is Part 1 of a 5 part series.  I'm really looking forward to the other posts.

When I read the title of this post, it immediately drew me in.  I've had some tangle problems but nothing outrageous until ....  the grand girls came along.  The girls are 6 and almost 3.  The oldest grand loves all kinds of arts and crafts. Occasionally when she was making things she would need a piece of string.  I don't really keep a roll of twine around so I let her use some of my left over yarn.

She found a smallish ball of green yarn and I told her she could keep in the her craft box to use as she needed.

One morning I woke up and she had wrapped the living room in green yarn.  I couldn't be mad because she thought it looked wonderful and was so proud.  She also hung little drawings from the yarn with clothes pins.

It was wonderfully creative so after my initial shock I was okay with it. However when she had to eventually unwind it back into a ball she was not so happy.  She hasn't done that again.  I don't think the clean up was worth the fun she had decorating.  

Boy do I love that girl.

Shame on Me

I've neglected this new blog of mine.  I was cruisin' the web, probably Pinterest, and ran across something that said "Blog about what you Love."  Immediately I said to myself "you love knitting so you need to blog about it" and being the snap judgment person I am, I started this blog.

I do love knitting for the release it gives me.  If I have something on my mind I need to solve, I just pick up the needles and without trying to think about my problem just start row after row.

It slows those turning wheels in my head.  It relaxes my tense shoulders.  It gives me something to focus on other than my problem - or even my boredom.  What a fun and inexpensive solution.

I know that your brain my not work like mine (can I get an Amen).  You might not need knitting for the same reasons I do.

So many of you make beautiful projects that you can actually wear.  How neat is that.  And wool socks - of course in Texas I would only need them once or twice a year - but they must be so great in the cold weather.

This is why knitting is such a great hobby.  It can be whatever you want it to be.  Beautiful clothes to grace your family, warm spreads to cover your bed and, yes, even the little knitted scarf - a piece of love to wrap around your loved ones.

My knitting does slow down in the summer.  I try to leave the doors and windows open as long as possible to save on electricity.  Having a scarf laying across my glistening legs (girls don't sweat remember) is not ideal.  However, once summer is in full swing and the A/C is running I can go back to knitting again.

And isn't this the best thing about knitting, you can lay your piece down for a day, a week or a month and then pick it right back up just like a phone call with an old friend.

Thanks for popping in.

One + One Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs

I checked out a couple of books on scarf knitting from the library.  The first book I opened was One + One Scarves, Shawls & Shrugs: 25 Projects from Just Two Skeins by Iris Schreier and Lark Crafts.

I love this book.  It is full of the most magnificent designs.  There are scarfs, cowls, triangles and shawls.  If you enjoy variegated yarn like me, be sure to check out the Stepping Stones Shawl, my personal fave.  But never fear, there are also many solid colors in every weight and yarn type.  

Even though I have been knitting on and off since I was a teenager, I'm not really advanced.  I did find it a little difficult to read the directions because I didn't really understand the steps.  A cheat sheet would solve the problem but I'm not really sure how clear the instructions are for someone that can understand the instructions.  If anyone has an opinion, please let me know.  

I am now thinking seriously about taking a few more knitting classes.  I would really love to be able to knit some of these patterns but as a tv knitter I don't think I could count and follow directions at the same time.  However, there is nothing to stop me from having two projects going - one when I can concentrate and the other my strait knit tv watching scarves.  

  

You've Gotta See This

Source:  Casetify.com

You know knitting is cool if they have an iPhone 6 case for it.  I found this on Casetify.  Unfortunately, I don't have an iPhone but I'm looking for a Samsung S6 case to show the love. 

My Current Project

Yes.  I am hung up on variegated yarn.  I think it makes interesting scarves.  I bought this green and brown variegated yarn from the Deborah Norville collection at JoAnn's.

I can't lay my project down without my dog Buddy jumping up in my chair and laying on my scarf.  He agrees that this yarn is very soft next to your skin.

I bought three skeins but I think I will only end up using two on this scarf.  I cast on 14 stitches and right now it is about 42 inches long and I'm about 4 inches into my second skein.  When I knit narrow scarves I like to be able to wrap them around my neck a couple of times.  

The colors are not very good in some of the pictures.  When I reduce the pixels so they will load fast, I loose some of the quality.  I'll try to do better next time.

I only got about 9 rows knitted this week with the little Grand Girls here for Spring Break.  I'm going to try to get up to speed tonight but I find I'm still napping quite a bit.  I'm telling you, they really wore me out.  LOL.