Knitting – Page 13 – Thimbleanna

Finished Knitting

35 Comments / September 25, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Knitting

Hey guess what??? I got my little knitting project done, so now we can have a drawing!

But first, you know I must draw it out by telling you that I took the day off yesterday and went to visit TheFirstChild and his amazing SweetiePie. It was SO good to spend the day with SweetiePie and see how wonderfully they’re managing. TheFirstChild is consumed with VERY long days (8 a.m. to midnight) and SweetiePie is taking fabulous care of him and their adorable little apartment. She’s working very long hours too and I’m beyond proud of my little hard workers!

Now, onto the drawing! Things started out very slowly, with only one correct guess from MichelleB, I thought it would be a slam dunk for her. Then a few days later, Miss Jean snuck in there with a correct guess. And, just yesterday, Brigette threw her guesses in too, and one of them was good. Do you know yet?

They’re slippers! (Not that sexy, huh? LOL!) I love me some nice warm fuzzy slippers when winter comes and my old slippers are worn out. The part that I gave you the sneak peek of is a 1 x 1 ribbed cuff and I’m sorry, but I forgot to get a picture of the cuff — it’s concealed under my jeans. Below is a picture of the old slippers, and while I wanted to get away from purple this time, I have to say, I much prefer the way the purple ones look.

It really bugs me that you can see the stitch of the chenille yarn in the new slippers. With the purple slippers, the chenille was so dark that you couldn’t see individual stitches. It looked like a big fuzzy boot, which is just what I wanted. The right side of the slippers is the stockinette side, but I don’t like seeing those stockinette stitches, so I guess I’m technically wearing them inside out. Here’s my wrong side:

The slippers are made from THIS pattern with Lion Brand Chenille Thick and Quick (in Antique White) and Lion Brand Fun Fur (in Rainbow). I got the biggest kick out of Kristy‘s daughter who studied the sneaky peek picture and correctly guessed the yarn, yarn colors, needle size…everything really, but not the final product LOL! Excellent job R!

One thing I changed about the pattern is that I sew some jiffy grip to the bottom of the slippers. This keeps me from slipping on my tile floors and it also prolongs the life of my slippers.

I wear my slippers every day. When I learned how to knit socks, the teacher told us to never wear our socks without something to protect them. It’s a good rule to follow — I’ve never had a hole in my hand knit socks yet. I have, however worn out three slipper bottoms. And I hate to show such ugliness here, but just to prove it, here’s the bottom of one of the worn out old slippers, with two layers of hole-y jiffy grip.

So, get on with the drawing already??? I had TheManoftheHouse pull a name out of the bowl of three correct guessers, and he chose….

MichelleB

Congratulations Michelle!

And, just ’cause you guys are all so clever and cracked me up, I decided to draw for another Vera Bradley passport holder, just like the first one. So, if you had caterpillar as your suggestion, lost the first drawing (LOL), or ‘caught me on a technicality (a few of you did) I threw your names into the bowl too. (I also included Kristy’s daughter, because analyzing that little sample took a lot of work!) This time TheManoftheHouse (laughing about his contribution to the blog) chose….

TattingChic

Congratulations TattingChic!

Ladies, send me your addresses and I’ll get them off in the mail to you.

And to the rest of you, THANK YOU for a very fun guessing game! I had a great time reading all of your comments. I hope you all have a great weekend!!!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. From Jodi I’ve learned that there’s a new blog on the block and she’s having a great quilty giveaway that you’ll probably want to check out!!!

Guess What I’m Knitting

71 Comments / September 18, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Chat, Knitting

How’s everybody’s week going? I’m just doing my monthly hang-out-in-a-hotel thing, so I started a new knitting project. Can you tell what it is?

Anybody? It looks kind of goofy and that’s not the greatest picture for you to be able to tell. But I guess that’s sort of the idea. I’m thinking maybe we could have a little Guess What I’m Knitting contest. If you want to play, put your guess in the comments and everyone that has a correct guess will have their name thrown into a pot from which I’ll draw for a prize. (I’m pretty sure there’s something grammatically wrong with that sentence, but you get the idea!)

How ’bout a brand new, only-out-of-the-cellophane-for-this-picture, Vera Bradley wallet/passport holder?

No cheating. Not sure how you’d cheat, but I thought I should say that. I know someone will ask, so how ’bout three guesses per person? I’ll just leave the contest open until I have a finished project to show (which, at the rate I’ve been completing stuff lately, could be February!)

In case you’re not a knitter or don’t follow Little Cotton Rabbits (IS that possible?) I thought I’d repeat, as she said, “an opportunity to spread a little happiness.” If you’d like to take a few minutes out of your day to send a card to a very sick little girl who loves to receive mail, you can get the address and more info HERE. Wouldn’t it be great if this little girl received more cards than the wall in her room could hold?

(Update: Brilliant Brigette noted that the link above is a little confusing about where to send your card. It needs to be sent to the TN address. You can find out more HERE.)

And one last thing. Felicia posted about a book festival she attended recently and one of the attending authors was Billy Collins, a past US poet laureate. Several years ago I convinced two of my coworkers to go hear Billy Collins do a reading at the Library of Congress and we had an amazing time. I LOVE Billy Collins. He’s written MANY awesome poems (and has quite a few books available.) If you have a few minutes, you can check out my FAVORITE poem of his HERE. Oh, and you might need a hanky.

Have a great weekend!

XOXO,
Anna

Chocolate and Knitting

42 Comments / August 13, 2008 February 18, 2011 / Knitting, Recipes

Gosh, you guys are all so sweet and kind! Thanks for all the sympathy for my empty nest. I enjoyed reading all of your comments. Sweet Molly even left me a nice bit of prose from Erma Bombeck on her blog — if you haven’t been there, run over and read it. Thanks Molly, I love it!

So, while I sat around wondering where the last 24 years went, I managed to log into Ravelry since so many of you are participating in the Ravelympics. I always forget to check in on Ravelry and I think it’s partly because it just confuses me. There’s SO much going on there — it’s like it’s own separate blogland. One click leads to the next and pretty soon you’re lost. Today’s very short session got me lost somewhere in a food thread and I found this recipe for a 5 minute chocolate cake. Sign me up! Anything for a beeline to chocolate!

You make this cake in a coffee mug and the recipe goes something like this:

Stir 4 T cake flour (not self-rising), 4 T sugar, and 2 T baking cocoa into a mug and mix well. Add 1 egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in 3 T milk and 3T oil (several people commented that this seemed to be too much, so I only added 1 1/2 T oil) and mix well. Add 3 T choc. chips (optional — I opted not) and a splash of vanilla and mix again. Put the mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

Here’s how my cake looked through the microwave window at about the 2 minute mark. It grows way out of the mug, but the recipe said not to worry about that.

When you remove the mug from the microwave, it will shrink back into the mug. Allow it to cool, run a knife around the edge and tip it out onto a plate to serve.

There was a lot of discussion on Ravelry about all the possibilities for this little cake. Add ice cream, sauces…the sky’s the limit. I decided to sprinkle mine with powdered sugar.

How’d it turn out? Well, I thought it was a little rubbery. Maybe my microwave runs hotter than 1000 watts? Maybe it needed a little less egg? Proportionally a whole egg is a lot — doesn’t a whole cake usually only take 2 or 3 eggs? Maybe it really did need 3 T oil??? If you try this cake, I’d love to know what you think of it or if you found anything that made it be a little less tough. TheManoftheHouse ate it but I only had a bite. I guess I’ve just been spoiled by MeMum’s awesome chocolate cakes that are moist and delicious and loaded with great frosting. I really missed the frosting option about this little mug cake.

And while we’re talking Ravelry and knitting, here’s the precious little knitting that’s been happening around here. I was working on this dishrag a little bit at the rehab hospital when visiting BigDaddy, but then MeMum and I discovered that we can play Hand and Foot while we’re sitting around, so that shot my productivity all to pieces! Anyway, this pattern is called Washcloth Sampler and the quilty peeps got it from The Idea Studio in Chicago when we went there for the April quilt show. It was a freebie and there isn’t any kind of a copyright on the pattern so I posted it over in my projects section (here) for anyone who might be interested.

I sure hope you’re out there getting more done than I am!

XOXO,
Anna

A Finish and A Start

29 Comments / August 1, 2008 March 8, 2016 / Knitting, Socks

Whew! That pesto exercise was sure fun! Thanks for all of your great comments — you either love pesto or you don’t, huh? Several of you even left some great sounding recipes, so be sure and go read the pesto post comments if you’re a pesto lover.

Yipee! It’s the weekend. It will be very low-key here in Thimbleannaland. There are so many things that need to be done around here, so I’m just going to stick my head in the sand and do as little as possible. Maybe some reading, knitting and sewing. But very little cleaning (which is the most pressing need!) and cooking. Although, I do hope to finally try the No-Knead Bread recipe that everyone has been raving about. It looks yummy.

I did manage to finish my first-ever two socks on one circ socks this week. I thought they’d NEVER be done, so I’m happy that they’re finally finished.

I didn’t enjoy knitting on US size 0 needles one tiny little bit. I’m hoping never to have that experience again LOL. These were made from some Knitpicks yarn given to me by a dear friend. (Thanks Sweetie!) This yarn made for a nice, comfortable weight sock and it didn’t tangle or anything, but it’s not a real smooth, plush yarn with which to knit.

While I didn’t love knitting on size 0s, I did love knitting two socks on one circ. So when I was at Cami’s last week I bought a US size 1 needle. She was out of size 2s, which is what I wanted, but as it turns out, size 1s are perfect. I started these Mockery socks with yarn I bought at Cami’s last fall. I should probably call these my Cami Socks, especially since Cami is where I learned about mockery socks in the first place.

I’m having a great time knitting these. The yarn is heavenly and they seem to be going much faster on size 1 needles. I certainly wouldn’t have thought moving up only one size would make that much difference, but my progress seems to be much faster.

I thought I’d see how socks in progress look as earrings for Pooh Bear, but I see now that they should be modeled as ear muffs. Pooh would be so happy in winter and maybe they would keep his ears from cracking like his face has. Poor Pooh … I know how you feel. It comes with age.

Happy Weekend Everyone, cracked face or not!

XOXO,
Anna

Socks Anyone?

24 Comments / April 29, 2008 March 8, 2016 / Knitting, Socks

Gosh — you bloggy peeps are awesome! Thanks for all the cupcake cake love and birthday wishes for MyDadLovesMeBestSister! We had a fun family get-together and tried out a new local restaurant — Granite City. It’s a chain restaurant and they had a great Sunday brunch. I’m sure we’ll be going back.

When I flew home from New Jersey on Saturday morning, I plopped down in my seat and whipped out my knitting, in my usual oblivious-to-everything-around-me manner. Pretty soon, the “girl” next to me said “Oh, I brought mine too.” She was knitting a beautiful cashmere scarf. Pretty soon she said “Are you on Ravelry?” I laughed and said yes. (‘Cause I’m sort of on Ravelry — I get so caught up in blogs, I keep forgetting to go to Ravelry.) Then I said “Do you have a blog?” Nope. Darn it — but at least there’s Ravelry, LOL. (Anyway, Hi Liz!) It was really fun to sit and visit for the duration of the trip. Liz was working on a pretty complicated pattern so I had to try not to talk too much — I didn’t want to make her mess up! Here’s what I was working on:

Don’t look now Cami! I’m finally doing the two socks on one circular needle method that you swear by. Or two socks on one circ. Or magic loop. Or, I think I really like this method, but I’m not sure. No… come to think of it, I really like it. I was afraid I might have trouble adjusting to this new method, so I chose to do a simple stockinette pattern this time. I’m using a nice neutral knit picks yarn that my sweet quilty peep Jewels gave me ages ago. (Thanks Jewels!)

And thanks Cami for the encouragement in convincing me that I could do it. Cami also convinced me to switch from size US 2 needles to US 0. Man, it seems to be taking a lot longer (more stitches) but as Cami promised, the fabric is tighter, so in theory they should wear better.

I’ve noticed a few other knitters out there wondering about the magic loop, so I thought I’d share my thoughts so far on this method (I’m only about 1/2 way down the cuffs):

Pros:

Two socks at once! You won’t have second sock syndrome.
I’ve always struggled trying to make sure that the cuff on my second sock was exactly the same length as the cuff on the first sock by counting rows. With this method you don’t have that problem anymore, as you’re knitting both cuffs at the same time.
No more dpn’s to drop or stab myself with.

Cons:

Two socks at once LOL! It feels like progress is slo-o-o-w.
Getting these socks started is a pain in the … arsenal. I really struggled for those first two rows, just to keep the needles from pulling apart.
It seems that a fair amount of time is wasted shifting the needle cable around. It’s a necessary evil.

Surprises:

I’m amazed that the join between the two needles doesn’t leave big ladders all the way down the sock. But it doesn’t. Magic!
You have to work with a separate skein of yarn for each sock. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised that those yarns don’t get really tangled up — I thought for sure that would be a hazard of this method. Another pleasant surprise.

So, if you’re a sock knitter and you’ve been on the fence about trying this method, give it a go — it’s pretty fun! And if you need help, stop in at Clementine’s — Cami is awesome and I know she’d gladly lead another sheep off the cliff!
Before I scamper off to bed, I have to show you what loveliness arrived in my mailbox this week:

I won a blog drawing from Lisa at Colors Outside the Lines! Look at all the fun stuff! One of her fabulous aprons in beautiful blue vintage-y flowers and stripes. I’ve admired Lisa’s aprons from afar for a long time — I just love how she attaches a towel to the apron. I’m always searching for a towel, and therefore wiping my hands on my apron, when I’m cooking. This is the coolest idea and it’s detachable with buttons. And another cool thing — look how Lisa has used the fringing from the other end of the towel as trim on the pocket! Too, too cute! I’m just noticing that this picture is a bit misleading — somehow, the folds of the apron don’t really show that every other panel is made of the striped fabric. You can kind of see it if you really look — the panels are of equal width across the apron, alternating between flowers and stripes. It’s a very full apron and will provide great protection!

Lisa also thoughtfully included one of her famous shopping bags (to match the apron!), an adorable little fabric covered notepad (tucked into the apron pocket) that will be perfect for my purse (I’m a note taker!), and a fabulous doily — look at all those cute little flowers around it!

And I had to do a close-up — look at Lisa’s cool tags! Very, very clever! Thank you SO much Lisa — I love it all and I’m feeling so very lucky to have won your giveaway!!!

Now…nighty, night all you bloggy peeps and sweet dreams!

XOXO,
Anna