Olympic Gold

I have won Olympic Gold and created a medal since I haven't sen one yet. If anyone else finished the Knitting or Crochet Olympics before the last day and earned Olympic gold, feel free to post a copy of this medal on your site (no need to give me credit). You earned it. My reward was being able to start a new project and finish another. I added a few more rows to a poncho I made earlier and needed a little more length in the back. I also started knitting a vest. I have a few ideas for dishcloths but we will see what happens with that. I also edited a pattern for a baby sweater on my site. Needed to sit with a calculator and sketch pad to fix it. Now onto writing more papers for my class (yuck).

Olympic Scarf Finished !!!

I finally finished my multidirectional scarf on Wednesday but my IE was giving me problems until now. I did 10 triangles with 6" of yarn left at the end. After the first 3 triangles the pattern was no longer the challenge. The challenge changed from the pattern to working on this project and ONLY on this project for two weeks. I always have a minimum of 4 - 5 projects going on at one time and work on all of them almost every night. It was difficult to work on this project alone. By the end I was glad to have it done and didn't enjoy it as much as if I had time to work on it and other projects at the same time. Right now I have socks on the needles, an afghan on the circular and planning on working on a baggy sweater just posted to Lion Brand Yarn website in crochet. I have a mint green yarn I want to use and need to see if I have enough.

Day 9 - Olympic Knitting

Well today is day 9 and I haven't given up yet. I am in the middle of my 7th triangle with a few more to go. I plan on knitting until I either run out of yarn or the flame goes out and I have to do the final triangle for the scarf. I will add the fringe afterwards as an added touch. Between all of this and work I have also typed several papers for my class I am taking leaving very little time for anything else. I have 7 classes (including this one) until I am finished.

Right now I am trying to cheer myself up since I am a little depressed missing my granddaughter since my last call to her was a sad one with her wanting to come back and live with me. She wants me to get enough money to come and get her. She really has not acclimated to her new surroundings and is used to being around the only family she has ever know other than her Mother. I'm praying that things will get better but it hasn't so far so I push myself into my work, my classes and my knitting to keep my mind on other things. I have designed a spring dress in crochet that will fit a 2 - 3 year old. It has butterflies around the middle using the ones designed by Chris Simon in the square she designed. The rest is my design and will be posted as soon as I can get it typed in. Right now it is written in a notebook on my sofa. Hoping to get it on here instead of my website very soon.

Day 2 - MD Olympic Knitting Scarf

Well, here is Day 2 on my multidirectional scarf. I am working on day three right now. I figure that each day I will do 1 or more triangles and see how many I have done at the end or when I run out of yarn since I have 2 super saver skeins to use. I have never gotten further than the first 2 triangles so I am now going into uncharted territory (for me). I did have a bit of a damper and would be further but I smashed my middle finger on my left hand Friday twice (long story).




If you are queasy you won't want to read further.


I finally had to relieve the pressure since the nail was deep red and the area around was swelling and turning dark red. I had to use a needle to rough up the spot I was to poke the hole. I have a jeweler's drill that is hand held with very tiny bits. I put this off until today (coward) and the pain was to the point that I wanted it done. I just held the drill and turned it back and forth a little, not around. I just wanted to break the surface. The pressure was such that the surface was broke and sprayed before I hit anything that hurt. Boy does my finger feel better. It is also a better color, though I will loose the entire nail in a week or two. I just didn't want anything to snag on my yarn and really hurt. At least it isn't a finger I really need to knit or crochet with. It just makes it fun to type with.

2006 Knitting Olympics

I am now showing my case of temporary insanity. I am working full-time, taking college classes again full-time, and have joined the 2006 Knitting Olympics. I am using Red Heart Super Saver in Aurora Print with needles size 8 or larger (haven't decided yet). I am knitting a multidirectional scarf that looks like a challenge but will also be quite fun. If I finish I will try another project but want to try this one first.

I have been trying various gauges to see what size I want to do. I will probably use a circular from a set my Mother gave me from a kit she bought years ago. It has all the different needles, cables and joiners. Need a few more cables and joiners as I am also knitting a round afghan and will eventually run out with my 36" circular. I figure that if I join enough of them together I can have a really big afghan.

I will try to post a photo of my olympic yarn and needles and show my progress as I go.

Maybe next year I'll join the Crochet Olympics.

Breaking All The Rules Hat - finished

I finished my hat and have started on another smaller version to fit a child. My hat uses 90 sts but could have used 80 instead for a better fit. The one for a child's head is 60 sts. When you start the decreasing you use k8, k2 tog and continue in the pattern. This is a great way to use up extra little balls of yarn. I plan on making a bunch for my charity, Steven's Comfy Toes. A scarf can be done the same way by just casting on 20 - 25 sts and knitting back and forth on the rows until the desired length is done. You can see the pattern (pdf) on the following page: Breaking All The Rules Hat. I plan on doing some with the I-Cord top knot, a tassel or a pom pom.

Spiderman Afghan

My Grandson, Brody, enjoyed the Superman socks I knitted him and the Spiderman slippers my Mother made him the year before for Christmas, but he mentioned that Spiderman has "WEBS" on him. That's when I realized he noticed the lack in both projects. I started his present for next year to make up for it. He is getting a Spiderman Afghan. I am using Red Heart Hot Red and True Blue to make squares using the 12" Dream Catcher square from Heartmade Blessings. Each square has a dream catcher, which is a spider web, in the center. I am making half the squares in red and the other half in blue. This way he will have an afghan that Spiderman would use. I have the red squares finished and need to get my blue yarn to do the blue. I did all 6 red squares using one Super Saver skein. Then I will get a shade of darker blue to join and edge them. I think he will like this afghan. Maybe that's what I will do for them all. Good thing I'm starting now.

I'm also working on a felted knitting bag I saw on the Berroco website this month. I have a bunch of odd skeins of 100% wool yarn from my mother and am grafting them together at odd points to make my own varigated yarn for this project. I've decided that I love felting and can't wait to see how it will work out. My booga bag turned out wonderful and I can't wait to make more. I felted my older grandson, Justin, a belt holder for his gameboy. Felted really nice and fits perfectly.

I'll try to post pics as I can.

New Year Projects

Well, I finished everything I had planned to make for Christmas gifts before Christmas. I had to start in August to do it though. I made socks for almost all of my family. My son got socks in Chicago bears colors. His son Brody received Superman socks. the others received socks but these two pair were in special colors and patterns. Brody asked early on for colors of Superman to go with his Spiderman slippers my mother knitted for him last year. Of course he now wants Spiderman ones with the webs knitted in. A new thing to learn. I learned to knit and crochet balaclava's this last year and made one for my son and one for my Step-father. I knit and crocheted socks, sweaters, mittens, hats, scarves, dishclothes, ponchos, squares, wooden hanger covers and so much more. The sad part is that I was in such a hurry to get everything wrapped that I forgot to take photos of my creations to post. This time I am going to get some pics taken first while I remember and am starting early this year, in January. I have so far crocheted a 12" square (Chris Simon's Cygnus www.geocities.com/cdjsimon ) that will be put with others for afghans, a knitted Edgar scarf www.knitty.com that looks like diamonds using red heart circus print, and a knitted Quaker Ribbed Bottom Hat www.frugalhaus.com/homepage/quakerhat.htm .
I'm hoping to post more pics of what I have done and the link to the pattern if possible.

Magic Scarf

I'm working on creating a magic scarf. I saw a photo the other day and had to make my own. Here is what I am doing incase you want to knit along.

I am using a very large size circular needle. I think it is a size 15 and the needle length is only about 20" max. I am using one strand of Red Heart Gemstone (greens and purples- Super saver size) and one strand of Bernat Eyelash White held together. I have 2 skeins of the eye lash to use on this.

I have cast on 36 stitches and am working in knit around in a circular piece. I am going to work until I have run out of both skeins of the eyelash yarn. When done I will post the bind off method I learned and will tell how to make it magic so it can gbe used as a scarf, a cowl hood, etc. So far I am almost finished with my first skein of eye lash yarn and ready to add on the other. My sample swatch I practiced on workied out great so I can't wait to finish and pull to create this magic scarf.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!!!

I am chugging along on all of my Christmas gift projects and I am almost finished. I crocheted matching ponchos for my daughter in law(Aurora) and granddaughter(Pandora). I made a stadium blanket for my daughter(Mandy). A sweater, and socks for my other granddaughter(Mariah), superman socks for my grandson(Brody), thinking Harry Potter items for my other grandson(Justin), and reknitting a baclava(spelling?) for my son (Walter). The Blaclava is a sort of form fitting ski mask used by soldiers. He works at an oil refinery that gets cold in winter. The first one I did would fit an elephant-LOL. After all that time I was going to fix it with a needle and thread. Then decided thatI would never be able to handle seeing him wear it that way so I reluctantly frogged the entire thing and am doing it AGAIN on size 6 needles instead of 8's like before. I am also knitting him some socks in Chicago Bears colors since he faithfully watches this team play. The toes and heels are orange with a white stripe and the body is a soft navy color.

Walter, his children and my nephew (Billy) that just returned from the army are coming over today to help put up my Christmas lights. This way I don't have to try to do it when the snow is flying. As soon as I get a chance I will post pics of my finished and in the works projects.

2 more OPH ghans finished

I finished 2 more OPH ghans this past week and sent them off.

One is in Red, White and Blue, the other is in Purple and White.

I have also finished 2 more bearghans and a bunch of totes.

I will post the other pics later.

Bearghan pic

This is a bear comfortghan I made for the grandson of a friend who lost his older brother in a school bus accident. These are made for children that have had something tragic happen in ther short lives.



I have two more in progress plus a few Operation Purple Heart Comfortghans. One of the purple/white ones is finished and a red/white/blue one just needs an ourside border to be finished. I will post these pics as I finish them. These colors are just so pretty.

1 down, 6 - 7 more to go

I have enought squares sent to me by people that were sending them in bulk that I needed extras to make up the afghsn I am assembling for Operation Purple Heart(Heartmade Blessings). I am edging each square, joining them together, bordering the afghan and weaving in the ends. I just finished one purple and white one last night and am now working on a red, white, and blue one. I have one more PW one to finish, three RWB after this one to finish, two bear afghans that we make for small children, ten to twenty totes (for the afghans), one banked afghan (one needed in an emergency), and then I can go back to knitting my socks or working on my poncho.

Linda's Lists

This is my first blog. It is going to be an off-shoot from my main website:

http://www.lindaslists.com

I am always working on my knitting and crocheting. I am going to college full time for my BS in Business Administration while searching for a new job. I also have many other hobbies which I will discuss such as:
Rubber Stamping
Polymer Clay
Scrapbooking
and so much more. This will become an extension of myself.

I also have a charity that is on going:

http://www.geocities.com/lindaslists/stevenscomfytoes.htm

We make and collect slippers to give to children in December.

I also work with Heartmade Blessings. We create afghans for people who have gone through something tragic in their lives. We created them for 9/11, teh sniper attacks and military deaths besides peole that are dealing with life threatening diseases. If you would like to know more try:
http://www.heartmadeblessings.org