New socks

So my girls don't like my socks because they only like the ones that come to your ankle. I thought I would try my hand at that once. I love it!! They are fun and comfortable. Practically weekend socks since I cut the size in half only doing the bottom half. I plan to make a belt and beaded choker necklace to match.

Sox... my favorite!!

These are my first sox from the pattern I borrowed from Vikki. Turns out that the exact same sock pattern was on the sock yarn when I purchased it. This was magic stripes from lions yarn. They no longer sell it, but if you have self striping sock yarn, most any socks can be made from the same pattern. It is a simple first sock pattern. Find it here.

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/kmstripe-socks.html

They only show the pattern for a size large now for some reason. Reduce the stitches by 4 for med and another 4 for small. Then knit to the size of the foot. That is what I do. I actually increased the stitches to 60 to make a bigger sock because I didn't think it was wide enough for my big feet.

And here are the open finger hand mitts that I made to match. This is an adjusted pattern of the sock turned into mitts. I like the open fingers because it allows me use of my hands all day while still covering my arms and keeping them warm. In this old 100 year old house, I freeze all winter. No one else seems to... but I do.

Cowl Fun

I have made several cowls this year. This one was a fun one, made from yarn I picked up at the knitting circle from my church. I don't know what brand or where it came from but ithe yarn was so full of energy that I had to do something exciting with it. Cowl and pom poms. No pattern. I just cast on a good amount of stitches on large knitting needles. I did not knit this in the round. I did a plain knit stitch back and forth and connected the cowl at the end. There is the essence of my favorite knitting. No pattern. Just knit until it becomes what I want it to. This doesn't always work as planned, but this time it did.

This cowl was made from a pattern I found in a knitting magazine at the library. I never cease to be amazed by the populated collection of books and magazines stored at the consortium of libraries in my area for yarn arts. Probably my favorite of the cowls I have made. Thanks to Brenda's steady hand for making a picture available for me. I am always the picture taker, seldom the picture takee (or whatever is the right way to say that. lol.)

Aunt Kate

Ok so I was extremely late sending out my sister's Christmas present. Not because I was working hard and didn't complete it all on time, but just because it all sat on my shelf undelivered for a month. Today, with school out for the day (pending snow storm on the way) I headed to the post office to send that stuff out to her. Way to drop the ball on Christmas, Melodie. 

So these socks came from yarn that does this weird thing... it isn't really self striping, but it "looks" like self striping in a spiral. I don't know what it is called. The yarn is worsted weight and it came from an online sock pattern found here...
http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/knitting/knitting_pattern_weekend_socks.php

I found it a couple months ago when I was looking for heavier socks. I do love the pattern and they are what they claim to be WEEKEND SOCKS. I plan to make many more like this for my cold winter feet!

Aunt Kate's feet are a size 6-1/2 or 7. Me and my girls all display big feet. Mine being a size nine, and my eleven year old daughter already a size 8. I had to use little Bret, who is only nine years old as my muse to fit the socks to a smaller foot. Hopefully they will fit Aunt Kate when her package arrives.

The slouch beanie came from a pattern that Brenda and I found a while back, as we looked for a pattern she could use for knitting a hat for a friend. I haven't been able to find the pattern again since, but when I want to make another one I count stitches on the hat we already have as a measurement.

The matching scarf is just a k5p5 pattern that inverts every 10 rows until it is complete. We finished it off with pom pom edges.

Finally, but not pictured here, we took a friendship rock (in Girl Scouts if you find a rock with a hole all the way through it, we call it a friendship rock) that we found on the Lake Michigan beach visiting Aunt Kate this summer. We strung it through some ribbon, added cool beads to it and made it into a necklace for her.

Happy January, Aunt Kate.

Why are we here...

My homeschool blog is leaving me feeling incomplete. Homeschooling these days pretty much handles itself. My girls are wonderful. They are blossoming like sweet petunias... or they might be more like the muddy spring afternoon after a good solid rain. That picture is just as lovely to me, probably more so than my flowers. 

But what I really love, what I spend much of my time on, what I cannot seem to get enough of these days is yarn. Socks and scarves, sweaters and hats, cowls, mitts, books, hooks, needles, scissors. So I wanted to dedicate my time to where my free time is going.

When I was young, maybe 8 or 9, my mom taught me the basic crochet stitch. So I knew how to go back and forth with my yarn and crochet needle, with what I suppose it the basic single crochet stitch?? **This surprises me, because both of my older girls rejected my teachings of crochet, but they took to knitting real quickly.** I made my first crocheted zig zag blanket at 19 years old when my first son was born. It fits a full sized bed and we still use it. In my 20's I moved in with my sister for a small stint. She taught me the double crochet stitch and I made my second blanket. My husband and I curl up with that thing at night still. It is his favorite.  in my 20's, I packed up my crochet needle and took out my sewing machine, where I, with little teaching, began sewing quilts, baby clothes, curtains, napkins, table runners, aprons, anything else I could get my hands to figure out with minimal pattern knowledge I had.

Turning 30, my mom had occasion to teach me the basics of knitting. Again I could go back and forth with the basic knit. She taught me to decrease and increase and that expanded my knowledge from scarves to wash cloths and dish towels. One day, sitting at my daughter's soccer practice I met Vikki. And Vikki was knitting a sock. She coppied her pattern for me, showed me how to read it, and introduced me to the amazing world of self-striping sock yarn. I revised that sock pattern to be useful in making hand mitts to match my cool socks, which my daughters all stole from me. That is how I came to read and understand those crazy patterns that previously looked strikingly similar to foreign writing.

Then one day, my oldest daughter's Girl Scout troop was collecting books as a service project and we ended up with an entire book dedicated to granny squares. Granny square hats, sweaters, shawls, afghans, wall hangings... Now I have had a soft spot for granny squares for years. They remind me of these crocheted pillows that my Granma by Ollie used to have on her couch. So that got me back to crocheting again. And here I am now. Not an expert knitter, or crocheter, or quilter, or any of those fab things I love to do. I just love to create and so I do when I have time. I haven't done anything really with this blog yet. And maybe I won't except keep my fun records. We will have to wait and see. :)