New Pattern Added: A Knitter's Gift Bag

I am very excited about this pattern, it is fast, simple and makes a great presentation of your hand made gifts.



These can be whipped up in just a couple of hours. With no gauge, this pattern calls for very little yarn, which also makes it a great stashbuster.

$2.00

Basic Child's Sock pattern

My basic sock pattern done on one 12" circ has been added to the free patterns in the side bar.
You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it.
If you don't have it you can get it here
Adobe Acrobat Reader

Moving the free patterns

I have decided to put everything on one blog instead of trying to run three blogs at one time.
I am moving the H.O.G. cloth over here, and for those of you that missed it, here it is again.

Bernat Cotton Tots yarn
Size 4 needles (you need a realy dense fabric to help scrub out the ground in dirt)

K=Knit
P=Purl
Ktbl=Knit Through Back Loops

Cast On 35 sts

R1,3&5: K5tbl, P5, across
R2,4&6: P5, K5tbl
R7: K across

Repeat these 7 rows 8 times more.
BO on your last R7.
Wala! The bestest Grandkid scrubbing cloth ever made.

Pattern Posted

I guess I never posted about the new pattern, the Boxed Set towel and cloth.
This set is knit with KnitPicks Cotlin yarn, which everyone knows is my absolute fave for towels and cloth.
This yarn holds up very well wash after wash and the pattern gives just enough texture to keep it interesting.
This would be a great gift for brides, baby showers and even for yourself.

Boxed Set

$2.00

Back on my Soap Box....

You know, as we sit here and get ready for a predicted major hurricane, and I don't mean me personally, I mean, we, the Gulf Coast, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, I am sitting here watching the news, local and national and OMG..... another major hurricane could be headed for NEW ORLEANS!! OH NO!
Please people!!
Alabama and Mississippi were just as damaged, if not more from hurricane Katrina. We still have people living in fema trailers and hotel rooms.
Does anyone that doesn't live here know that the first newspaper after Katrina showed New Orleans standing tall. In fact that was the headlines, "New Orleans Still Standing" it wasn't the hurricane, it was the levys, and I am soooo sorry people that we don't have levys so that everyone will worry about us, here on the 'rest' of the Gulf Coast.
My SIL called his Mother, in New Hampshire, the day after Katrina, to let her know we were all o.k., the woman had NO CLUE her son had just went through one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the Gulf Coast in a half a century.
All she saw on the news was New Orleans. Don't get me wrong, I love New Orleans, what those people went through was horrific in some cases and I pray they don't have to deal with this all over again, but come on, there are other states, cities, houses, families and businesses besides New Orleans down here.
I know you didn't see Mississippi, Alabama and Florida all over the news, asking who was going to fix it all for us, you didn't see us because we were too busy, up to our elbows, tearing out sheet rock from flooded homes, helping family and friends throw out a lifetime of memories to the streets for the garbage company to come get, then nailing new sheet rock back up, putting new floors down, or in the worst cases, cleaning off concrete foundations, so the rebuilding, from the foundation up, could begin. We were too busy getting our lives back together to be on the news.
We didn't want to know who was going to fix it, we wanted to know how long we would have to work to get it finished, so we could move to our neighbors and help them begin.
New Orleans has some great people there, but did you see them on the news? No, I didn't, maybe I missed it, the ones breaking their backs to get back to a 'normal' lifestyle. I know they were there, somewhere, quietly rebuilding their lives.
I do feel awful for the ones who lost their lives when those levys broke and New Orleans went under water, but did no one know that New Orleans is a 'bowl' below sea level. She was bound to flood one way or another after the storm surge we all got from Katrina.
I just had to say, it was bad for all of us on the Gulf Coast, and, just in case anyone was worried, we are ALL preparing for a major Hurricane!

If you ever need yarn fast.....

KPixie is the place to go.
I saw the Everlasting Bag Stopper and decided it was a pattern I HAD to do. Not later, after all of the Christmas knitting is done........NOW..... so off to Ravelry I went.
I always go there and look at all the different yarns used in a pattern I am thinking about knitting. It is the bestest place to get ideas on using up the stash, but, in this case, the stash wasn't holding the prize.
As I perused the different FO's I decided that the best yarn, for me, for this project, was going to be the Allhemp6 that the pattern called for. It just 'looked' right, and there were quite a few comments on the stretchability of the different yarns used.
Not knowing where to get the yarn, Ravelry, once again, came to my rescue and I clicked on a link for KPixie's website. I had never shopped there before, and here I was at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning, in my bathrobe, a house full of people who had come here to ride out the storm, and I ordered the Allhemp6 and went on about my busy day.
Two hours later I get an email saying my purchased had shipped!!! Wow! I was so impressed I sent an email back, letting them know exactly how impressed I was.
This afternoon, with the mail, was a package from Kpixie, sitting on my doorstep when I got home from work! Now I am thoroughly impressed.
I don't think I have ever had such fast service from an online yarn store before.
So..., ladies and gents, when you need that yarn, and you can't wait to start that project, make sure you give KPixie a looksy and you just might get your yarn before the pattern fever wears off, or you find something else to occupy your fingers and forget what it was you wanted to knit with the yarn you just received.
Oh... and another plus, everything ships for a flat $5. USPS priority shipping!
They have won me over, have a look around, I think you will understand how I feel.

Bella Boop's Birthday....

Bella Boop will be 2 years old on August 30th. Her Mom was in Iraq for her first birthday so this promises to be one heck of a shin dig.


I have been working away on this placemat for her party.

This pattern comes from Rachel's Knitting Corner
Mine doesn't look as half as good as hers does, but I think Bella, and her Mom, will get a kick out of it.
Next I start the Christmas knitting. The Flame Cap
These are next on my needles, one for Brian, one for Kevin, and one for Cole