On the needles Finish it Friday

Over the weekend I knit a pair of felt clogs pattern from Fiber Trends. They were monsterous in size but once through the washer and extra cycles in the dryer with bath towels they are close to the right size. They might be just right, they might get soaked and go in the dryer after Christmas then they can be shaped to the owners feet. My name brand clogs are in the picture to provide scale. I will defiantly be knitting more clogs.

Mittens and reading mittens are also finished, the reading mitts look like teapots without a lid. And another pair of felted slippers. The front load washing machine don't agitate the  slipper enough to  felt the wool (faint red line in photo above shows how much the clogs felted in the wash) the most shrinkage happened in the dryer so I soaked the clogs again in the sink and squeezed out as much water as I could then back into the dryer for a couple more cycles, which is how I plan to felt everything in the future. Before I soaked the slippers and scoured with soap and agitated in the sink and rinsed and scoured some more until my hands were all pruney.

Check out the knitting at Judy's On the Needles.  Happy knitting! --Ann--

Snow at the North Pole

I pinned my tatted snowflakes to my Welcome to the North Pole Quilt I like them there. --Ann--

tatted snowflakes

The tree is trimmed, the, house is decorated all the clutter ends up in my sewing room so now the baking begins and I am cutting back this year. At least I keep telling myself I will.  Today I'm sharing my tatted snowflakes. A few years ago when I was still a newly wed my Grandmother gave me a pair of pillowcases with a tatted edge. I was intrigued by how the edging was made so Gramma showed me then handed me a shuttle to teach me. It is one little knot on a loop sometimes with a little loop to make a picot. The trick is flicking the knot from one string to the other so that the series of knots slides on the loop. I made all these at least 30 years ago I can't remember if I could make one in an evening or if it took 2 evenings to make one snowflake depending on how complicated it was. Then they were starched and pinned straightening out each little picot.

I used to hang them on the Christmas tree with snowmen and white lights. I haven't done the snowman tree for a long time most of the playdough snowmen have broken or turned brown with age.

The biggest are about 3 inches across and the smallest 1 and a half inches. The things I did before children. May all your snowflakes be made of cotton string.--Ann--

Design Wall Monday

Nothing has changed on my design wall since a couple weeks ago, I'm still basking in the afterglow of finishing sewing all the curves of  After Image. I typically don't sew much after Thanksgiving until after the New Year. Its time to slow down and enjoy the season.

 We had more snow over the weekend it came down like sifted sugar. And really cold temps, it didn't get above 0 F a couple days. Brrrrr  And I have son's dog again so I had to bundle up to take her for a walk a couple times a day. Just short walks to get the necessary done. I found a pair of snow pants don't know if they belonged to one of the boys or I bought them for daughter or me but they are a medium in mens. Did you know that girls and womens snowpants have a lot less insulation than boys and mens??!! Which is why I would have bought them.   Anyway I put the snow pants on and can get it zipped  and after adjusting the straps I can breath and I don't feel as crushed and I'm not that big on top. There was a magical age when my years equaled my bra size. So I put on my down filled coat, scarf and hat then to put my snow boots on.....just try and bend over or sit down to lift my foot high enough to get my boot on let alone tie it. In the end it was easier to put on my winter clogs and stay on the path. They are fine walking in  less than 2 inches of snow. Mittens on and hood up, I'm feeling  guilty getting all bundled up to go out when the poor dog is going out in her pajamas. But she takes to the snow like a yellow lab in winter. Oh that's what she is. No need for me to feel guilty just glad we didn't have freezing rain if I fell I would never be able to get up. More tatted snowflakes tomorrow. Check out the design walls at Patchworktimes.  Hope you are staying warm. --Ann--

On and off the needles

 Much knitting was accomplished over Thanksgiving, amazing how much can be knit while riding in the car for four hours. Not so much after dark on the drive home. Cozy warm toesies!!

 More mittens and reading/texting/knitting mitts are on the needles and they are knitting fast with only 34 and 44 stitches on the needles.  Eight more stitches were cast on for the adult guy mittens than the ladies pair. I wish I would have knit a plain row between the decrease rows at the end of the mittens to make them a little longer. I have time I can think about and rip if I really want to.  The reading mitts called for a stretchy bind off, I tried that on the first pair I knit and ripped I thought that was too stretchy so I bound of the way my mother taught me by knitting a stitch and slipping a stitch over that stitch then knit another and slip the previous. It stays tighter around the fingers. I keep coming up with more ideas for hand knit Christmas gifts and I'm going to run out of time.  Note to self think earlier next year. Check out the knitting at Judy's on the needles and be inspired.--Ann--

advent quilt

We had snow and blowing snow the way it usually comes yesterday so between watching the snow drift and pile I put up Christmas decorations. The Advent quilt is a favorite, it has three times as many buttons as it should so each of my kids could hang an ornament everyday. Then the boys got big and thought they were too big to hang an ornament so daughter hung them all and now I don't even take them off the tree. That's what happens when they grow up and leave home. I should count my blessing here that they did grow up and leave home.  It seems like decades ago ok it really was decades ago I found a Christmas fabric with old fashioned ornaments that were perfect for and Advent tree so I rough cut them and fused them to backing fabric and fussy cut them  and attached a loop. I hand quilted with a gold metallic thread around each of the Santas and under the trees in the background fabric. And no label on the back I think I made it in the early 1990's. I miss the dark reds and dark greens of Christmas from 20 some years ago. --Ann--

simple elegance

I lead the ladies of my church in making new decorations for the Christmas tree in the sanctuary.
Last summer I got wheat from my brother who has a big long title with crop improvement and seed certification. The ladies got together in early November and tied little bundles of wheat heads into sheafs complete with a red ribbon. We also made 5 and 6 point stars from the straw. They were all quite skeptical as to how the decorations would look on the tree. The gold straw with the red balls is a lovely combination against a  fresh evergreen tree. --Ann--

Let us approach Christmas with an expectant hush, rather than a last-minute rush.
Anonymous