Last Friday, my BFF and I headed over to our favorite yarn store for a night out.  She was showcasing a jewelry maker who makes stitch markers, but also makes earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.  While there, of course, we shopped for yarn.  In the course of time, I picked up several skeins to carry around with me.  But ended up putting each one back as I would change my mind and select another color or textured that appealed to me.  At the end of the evening, just as I was ready to check out, I put down the fuschia wool I was carrying and opted for a cotton cheneille in a gorgeous mango color.

The shop had a cute face cloth called the petal face cloth on display worked up in this cotton chenille.  I decided I would make that face cloth.  As a matter of fact, when I had to go back to the yarn store to pick up the bracelet I won in the drawing, I picked up another skein for my BFF so she can make the petal face cloth too!  Yes, I won a hand-beaded bracelet made by the jewelry-maker being showcased at the yarn sotre!

So, since the Mario Hats were finished, I decided to cast on the petal face cloth on Sunday night.  I wasn't feeling well, so I crawled into bed and knitted while watching a little TV.  Let me tell you, this seemingly simple cloth is NOT for the faint of heart!  Each petal is made individually and then left on the bar of a circluar needle to be joined together at the center.  There is a lot of danger of twisting, once you've got these all on the needle. (as a matter of fact I did twist mine and just left it there!)  The needles used are small (calls for size 6-16" circ) I used size 5 because I didn't have any 6's and wanted to make this project.  I would consider using a little longer circular, because there are a lot of stitches stored on that needle once you get to the part where you are joining the petals.  It's easy to get confused because of how the stitches are crowded onto that needle, hence the twisting of the petals.  You will need to drop to a shorter length quickly, though, as you begin decreasing almost at once.

Here's the finished product:

The yarn itself is really lovely.  I've worked with sythetic chenilles before, but never a cotton chenille.  It has a lovely hand once finished.  While working on it, though, it is slightly reminiscent of chewing on a paper towel.  You'll see what I mean if you every have a chance to work it.  The petals are garter stitch while the center is stockinette.  It doesn't curl with the combination of these two stitch patterns. 

My husband and I are taking the boys to Northern Minnesota in a few weeks and I'm trying to think of gifts to take for our family there.  I'm thinking I may wrap a hand-made soap in this face cloth as a gift for one of our relatives.  It is lovely in color in in texture.  If you could feel this cloth, it's incredibly soft!  I would love to wash my face with it!

If you're up for a challenge, give this pattern a try.  There are lots of ends to weave in, which is not my favorite thing to do, but it's worth the end result.  If you're not up for a challenge, try to find Crystal Palace cotton chenille and just use your favorite dishcloth pattern to make yourself a lovely face cloth.  You'll be glad you did!

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Well, I wrote to you earlier about making the Mario and Luigi hats for my boys.  Here's the finished products.  Aren't they cute?  The hats aren't bad either.

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My boys love that they can ask me to make something and it magically appears after a few days.  So, of course, I'm working on a special request project.  Our youngest son, T-bone, is in a Mario and Luigi craze.  So, he wanted me to crochet or knit a hat for him just like Mario and Luigi.  Actually Big Mac wanted Mario (red) and T-bone wants a Luigi hat (green).

I found our pattern here: http://whitterer-autism.blogspot.com/2008/12/mario-and-luigi-hats-best-ever.html

I'll give you pictures of our finished products as soon as they are...well...finished.

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Last week, our oldest son, Big Mac, had a dentist appointment.  Our dentist is right across the street from the local thrift shop, so we usually head across the street when dentist appointments have ended.  This day was no exception.

I found a long set of size 3 aluminum knitting needles and put them in my cart.

Although I didn't own any size 3s of this length, that isn't why I picked up these sticks.  On the end of one of the needles was an old stitch counter.  I've never seen one like it before.  My attraction to all things knit and crochet, as well as my attraction to antiques and different objects could not resist this stitch/row counter.  Check it out!

It says, "MORRELL KNIT COUNT" above the numbers.  It is made of a thin plastic.  There are two numbered disks attached by small brass rivets.  The disks rotate to display the numbers in the circular windows.  At the bottom is the patten information.  This counter slides on the end of your sticks as shown on the picture.  I just think it's so quaint.

So, that's my stitching find of the week!  Isn't it cool?

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I have two stitch counters that work great for crochet, but not as well as knitting, especially when I'm knitting in the round.  The counters slide onto your hook or stick and you turn them to count the rows or stitches.  As I said, I've used these counters for years while crocheting and occasionally while knitting.  But a situation arose this week where these counters would not work how I needed them.

I'm working on a hat for one of my boys.  The hat is worked in the round and I need to count rounds.  I needed a counter that could work as a stitch marker as well as a counter.  Because the counters I own are a little less than an inch in width they would create a gap while I'm knitting in the round.

So now you know the "my problem" part.  Here's the "how I solved it."

First, I attached a ring to a doubled length of jewelry wire.  I ran the wire through a round pink bead, then through my stitch couter then through another round pink bead.  At the bottom I wound the wire around my needle-nose pliers and snipped off some of the excess wire. 

Now I have a stitch/row counter that works great for my knitting projects!  And I didn't have to go out and buy a new stitch counter.

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Several years ago I was blessed by another woman at church with her mother's knitting needles.  I received many sizes of DPNs, circulars, and straight knitting needles.  Because I didn't have a storage system, I simply kept them all in a large tin.  Later, I put the DPNs into a little zippered pencil case to keep them organized.  As I learned more about knitting, I added to my needle collection and I used more and more of what was given to me.  Sorting through all the needles in a large tin was becoming increasingly complicated.

Then I found this at our local Goodwill (thrift) store:

It looks like a portable DVD case or maybe a lap top right?  Well, it's actually meant to be a travel bag for toiletries.  But that's not how I used it!

On the left is a section with a wide elastic band sewn to the divider every 1-2 inches.  This was probably intended for lotion bottles, toothpaste, toothbrush, etc...  I'm using it to store my double pointed needles. (DPNs)  On the needles for which I don't have the original package I used my label maker to print a label on that piece of elastic marking the needle size.

On the right is the zippered section.  I've got all of my circular needles in there that are in their marked package.  I don't have to worry about their sizes.  But then, you lift up the divider that holds my DPNs and you find this:

The middle section is a series of large see-through pockets.  I have my circulars sorted in those pockets and I used my label maker to mark what needles are in those pockets.  At a glance, I can easily grab the size I need by needle size and length.

All of my double-pointed and circular needles are stored in a small case that's easy to store and use.  I love it!  I wonder if the manufactures knew when they were making this makeup case that it would be great for a knitter?

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Hello again,

I'm still working on my three-button shawl, but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm putting in the last button hole tonight!  And then it's just a few more inches and I cast off!  Yippeee!!!  Now I just have to find some really cool 3-inch buttons.  Maybe I'll google that after I finish this entry.  Isn't it interesting how "google" has become a verb?

BUT I digress!  I want to tell you about a pattern I found today from the Joanne's monthly newsletter.  This is a pattern for crocheted Easter eggs.  I'm not sure how useful they are...and I'm all about useful crochet and knit projects.  But I do think they would be cute in a little basket (or perhaps a felted bowl?) sitting on an end table for the holiday.  Also, this is a great way to use some of the little balls of yarn left over from many projects over the course of the year.  I have a basket full of these little balls of yarn right now crying for a purpose!

Another yarn stash project I saw last weekend when we took our recycled yarn class was the cutest scarf made by knitting 3 inches from various weights, and styles of yarn.  It was very colorful and fun.  In some places the scarf was actually more narrow because a different weight was used, or because of the type of yarn being used, it would stretch more than other parts.  I really liked it and am planning to use up some of that wonderful basket of scraps to make one of these scarves.

Ok, so get your little bits and ends and start to make yourself some Easter eggs!  If you have children, maybe you could add these to your traditional egg hunt, use them for Easter juggling balls, or other games.   I'll let you know if I ever make that scrap-scarf!

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The day after Christmas the boys and I went on a "Day after Christmas Shopping Extravaganza."  The boys had some money and a few gift cards.  I had one gift card and a little cash well.  We ended our day at my favorite bookstore/coffee shop/hangout and I picked up the Crochet Pattern a Day calendar.  It was 50% off!!  Yea for me.  I had been eyeing this calendar since before Christmas, so I was really excited about it.

Then, my BFF called me to say that she got two Knitting pattern-a-day calendars and was giving one to me!!  Double bonus!  I have really been enjoying flipping to the current day to see what the pattern is.  I'm trying not to look ahead so that each day I can be surprised by the pattern. 

The pattern for January 7th and 8th in the knitting calendar was for knitted sushi.  I flipped to the pattern on the 7th and said, "How silly?  Now who would make that?"  Well, never say never my friends because I ended up knitting sushi for the past two days!  My sons saw the sushi pattern and said, "That's so cool!  Will you make it for us?"  My oldest went so far as to take the pattern, go back into my stash and pull out all the yarn I needed PLU get me the size 3 needles required for the pattern!  So, I made sushi.  It didn't take long to knit.  It was difinitely an instant-gratification kind of pattern.  And it made two little boys very happy.  They now play "sushi restaurant."

Save those "to go" containers for your sushi.  Packaging it makes it "so cool!"

Here you see the complete set.  I made two, one for each boy.  There is (from l. to r.) tuna roll, california roll, egg sushi, a dot of wasabi paste, and a coil of pickled ginger!

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