More on the Holidays and Being Creative!

Hi Everyone,

Today, I am showing some of the weaving and embroidery that I worked on for the holiday shows in November. It was great to find that the shows were picking up in activity this year. After a couple of years of lacklustre sales, due to the economy, this year seemed better. Among the shows that I did, I certainly enjoyed being at Francis Farm for the Carpenter Museum Show and also the Co-op show that Arlene McGarahan has always hosted, as well as Saint Thomas' Episcopal Church's show.

Roger made me some new set-up frames for the Tea Towels, which you can see in the pictures below. They are made of PVC piping. These days, I have noticed that most shows require a

backdrop of some kind, so this actually serves two purposes for me! He had a bit of PVC piping left over and used what was left to make a small corner stand for the quilted table runners.

I'd like to also mention that the scarves in the pictures are a new design that I started making this year and are a combination of acrylic and rayon chenille. I had a hard time keep up with the sales on these, so I was pretty happy about how they have been received.

Have a great day,

Barbara

Merry Christmas!

Hello Everyone,
I hope your holidays were fun and enjoyable. I had a very busy time, finishing up projects until I had a repetative stress injury that completely side-lined me! Well, in the midst of all that, Diana had asked me to help her with a tee shirt quilt project for Christmas presents for Craig and Sarah, her boyfriend and his sister. Both of them are big fans of Jimmy Buffett (as is Diana) and Sarah had a large supply of tee shirts from the various concerts that they attended through the years. When she was thinking of getting rid of them, Diana took them and asked me if I would help her to make them into the two quilts.
So, as my first installment in what I have been up to this holiday season, I will show Diana's beautiful quilts' construction. By the way, she has never made a quilt before and she did almost all the work-- and a great job! See for yourself!
Barbara

Halleluia Chorus the fun way!

Hi Everone,
Someone just sent this to me and I thought it was pretty good, so I'm imbedding it so you can see it. Not exactly where I'd expect to hear the Halleluia Chorus, but fun to watch just the same!

Have great day,
Barbara

Happy 25th Anniversary to Lynda and Kurt!

Hello Everyone!
What a nice accomplishment it is to attain 25 years of marriage! I know how great it was for Roger and me, and now we are over 30 years married. Hard to believe!
Roger's sister, Lynda ( and not only my sister-in-law, but in reality, a true and real friend beyond the "in-law" status) and her husband, Kurt have just celebrated their 25th wedding aniversary. I am including a picture of the cake that I was priviledged to make for them in this writing.

It is good to take the time to celebrate special moments that lift our spirits and point to what is truly good and life-giving in our day-to-day lives!


Congratulations, Lynda and Kurt!


Barbara

Back in Town and getting ready to be busy

Hi Everyone,
I have been away for a time, because my father has recently passed away, after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. It made us sad to loose him, but to have him linger would only lengthen the "long good-bye." I now understand what that means in a very personal way, and will have a greater understanding, hopefully in the future to help others.
We drove from Rhode Island to Pensacola, Florida-- 1,400 miles each way, through the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains, and by some of the most beautiful pastoral settings you can possibly imagine. It helped me to find peace and get ready for what awaited in Florida.
The trip went quickly, too because I am one of those lucky people who can knit in the car and I will share these pictures of what I made on the trip-- 8 baby hats for Kent County Hospital and a scarf, almost completed for the Navy Christmas Project. (There is a Watch Cap that goes with it as well that I haven't made yet.)

Well, I am glad to be home and ready to get to work on projects for the holiday show season. It's coming up so quickly!

Take care,

Barbara

Krissie and Joe's Wedding

Hi Everyone!

Yesterday was a wonderful day for all of us, as we watched my nephew and new niece get married in the lovely ocean view setting of Blithewold Mansion, in Bristol, Rhode Island. It was just about the most beautiful setting for a wedding that I have ever seen! They were married out on the lawn, with a georgeous view of the Bay, across a lovely flower bed and grass that seemed to roll on forever! The reception was fantastic and the food, which was catered by Pranzi Caterers, was absolutely magnificent.

I will have pictures of the wedding soon and will post a few, but until then, I am posting a picture of the wedding cake that I made for them. I hope you like it!

Have a great day,
Barbara

Blocking Garments

Hi Everyone,

Today I want to talk about blocking garments. It always seemed so mysterious and hard to me, and I never thought I'd get used to the idea of taking a steamer or water to something wonderful that I had just created to make it flat!

Well, KnitPicks has a wonderful tool to help. It is a set of blocks, really, that are made of a durable foam rubber and they link together like a puzzle. The box contains nine 12 inch squares that are 3/8 inch think. You can fit them together for any size-- long, square, rectangle-- whatever you need. As you see here, I was working on scarves, one a new lacy scarf that I just finished for myself, and one striped scarf to go with a hat for one of my favorite charities.

Be sure to check to see which form of blocking works best for your garment. Not all can handle the direct contact of a steam iron, or can be soakes in water. If you ask your knitting specialist, they will be happy to tell you what might work best for your particular piece.

Happy Knitting,

Barbara

PS I am having some fun reading some knitting murder mysteries by Mary Kruger. Just finishing with "Died in the Wool," and will start "Knit Fast, Die Young," perhaps later today!

Fall Jewelry

Hi Everyone,

This week I have been working on design and creation of my Fall Jewelry. I am uploading some pictures so you can see what I have been up to!

Jewelry is one of those things that you can get really crazy about. I love designing and creating new motifs. As you can see, some of them reflect similar lines and pieces, but some are quite original and "one of a kind."

There are many places that you can go to learn how to make jewelry. AC Moore, Michael's Crafts and JoAnn's Fabric and Crafts are just a few suggestions where you can find classes and supplies. Of course, if you are in a business, you can get your supplies from companies like Fire Mountain Gems.

My next project in jewelry is to learn how to make a bead braid, so one day, I will show pictures of that!

Have a great day,

Barbara

Edible Fruit Arrangements!

Hi Everyone!

And now, for something completely different: this week I made an edible fruit arrangement, much like the ones you see from the company, "Edible Arrangements." It was fun to do, and didn't take as long as I had suspected it would. I have had a working kit on the shelf for a long time, and just have not found the occasion to use it. So this week, I wanted to do something special for a friend, and fruit was the perfect thing for a hot day.

The kit I used is called "Centerpiece Gourmet," and it was one of those, "As Seen On TV" promotions. I have looked for it, and it is no longer available, but if you want to try this, all you need is wooden kabob skewers, a basket, a pearing knife, a small head of lettuce, some kale for topping and hiding the lettuce when you are done and cutters of whatever shapes you want your fruit cut to.

Fruits that work well include, but are not limited to watermellon, honeydew melon, mangoes, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries-- really, whatever you want to try. You can also dip the strawberries in melted chocolate (the kind for candy-making) for a "gourmet" feel to the arrangement.

You can also use luncheon meats and create a meat, cheese and cracker appetizer. It has opened up a whole new set of ideas for me, when trying to think of something unusual to make for someone-- and everyone loves fruit! You'd be surprised how fast it disappears!

Have a great week,

Barbara

Organizing your patterns so they make sense

Good morning!

Today I want to share an answer to the frustration of following complicated patterns. There are many solutions to this problem. Some people like charts, some like written direction. I can do either one, but I like the written directions best.

Sometimes, though, it is hard to follow a pattern laying on the table when you are working in front of it. I made a wonderful discovery recently. For some time now, I have followed the lead of our Knit Happens leader, Sue, and made large size print copies of the pattern lines and put them in a flip notebook. That was fine, except I kept breaking the spine of the 1 inch binders that I was using.

So, one day, my husband said, as he watched me find yet another broken spine in the latest notebook, "Why don't you use a presentation binder?"

Well, I went to Office Max and found this presentation folder. It has several clear page holders and you can add more if you need them. It has two snaps-- one for when it is closed and one for when it stands up open for use. When open, it makes a triangle shaped stand, which will not fall over and the spine is made to accomodate this, so it will not break.

I use a colorful, plastic coated paper clip to keep my place on the line that I am working on. Voila! A better way to follow your patterns!

As you see, I am working on a lace scarf, and I really need to make sure that I am on track. If you loose one "yarn-over" or one ssk, you can go 3 lines before you find that the numbers are not right, so being accurate is pretty important. This pattern, by the way is available at http://www.purlbee.com/checkerboard-lace-scarf .

Have a fun filled summer day!

Barbara

Socks!!!

Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all coping well with the heat. I am knitting inside quite a bit, when not in meetings and services. I have had a book on my shelf for months now that I have been avoiding because it seemed to be a very difficult thing to learn. However, my desire to begin to learn how to make socks has overpowered my intimidation and here is the result: I have learned the "2-at-a-time"

circular sock technique, using one circular needle!
If you are a fan of Magic Loop in circular knitting, you will pick this method up in no time at all. The book is clearly illustrated and the directions are, for the most part, clear and acurate. I did have to reference the Knit Witch video for help with the heel and gussett that I am linking to here:

This was because the information in the book wasn't clear enough for me regarding turning the heel, and the gussett and heel are probably the most important things to learn in this project. For me, they were, anyway.

I use Magic Loop for every knit-in-the-round project that I do, so I am very familliar with how to use it. That made the learning experience much quicker and easier. If you haven't tried it yet, don't try to learn this sock technique until you make Magic Loop your friend! You will thank yourself in the end.

Here are the pictures that I took of my sample socks as I made them. Melissa Morgan-Oakes suggests using two different colors of 4 ply knitting worsted for the sample set. This helps to keep the two socks and their yarn from getting tangled while you learn how to do this.

This method is really quite remarkable, and I recommend that you at least try it if you are serious about sock making.

Have a great day!

Barbara