Return to my knitting Mittens

This bag began months ago at the store. My goal for this week end is to finish it and get it felted. The yarn is mostly Lambs Pride Bulky plus some Classic Elite desert. There are 4 colors of yarn knit double fading from one to the next. I am anxious to see how heavy it turns out and how the color blending looks. I think it will be handsome. I will post a picture of the finished bag.

I have been pretty busy since my last posting. The days seem to fly by. I feel much lighter like a huge responsibility has been lifted from my shoulders. I do not miss going to work at the store. I do miss seeing my friends and knitting customers. Please email me and send photos of what you are working on. I am still willing to help with problems. We can meet at the Mercer Library to fix a knitting problem that can not be fixed thru email.

I joined Ravelry. It is fascinating to explore. I do not think I would want to share as much info about myself as I see some folks doing on this site. I keep wondering how secure it is. Check it out and add your name to the waiting list. I have joined a few groups on Ravelry and found a few friends that are also members. My blog is linked to the site.

I am still moving boxes around in my studio trying to find essential items from my office. It is going to awhile for me to get this mess organized. I have too much stuff. I need to have a yard sale to just get rid of display baskets and books and magazines. I hope I sell lots and Lots at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival Feb 9. & 10. Only 21 days from now. I need to find my workshop samples. I am teaching Knitted Felted Valentines and Gauge Mysteries Revealed. There is a link to the Festival Website to the right of this posting. Next year this Festival will be north of the city in Cranberry at a Hotel. I am so glad it is moving closer to us. The present location in the South Hills is hard to drive to. I got lost getting there last year and I might get lost again this year.

I just finished fingerless gloves. They are from Taos. I love the colors and the fit. I have been altering this pattern with each pair. I like the longer ribbing over the fingers. This can be folded back for working. I will post this pattern once I am happy with it. I need to make another pair and write down the pattern as I knit.




Christmas 2006 I set a goal for myself to knit mitters for all 7 children of a family we visit on Christmas.
Well due to moving and closing the store I only finished two pair. So last week I finished two more pair. On Monday I gave the mittens to the kids and they were very happy to have hand knit mittens. I was a little surprised. I even had requests for more mittens knit with very bright colors. One little girl about 6 years old said she felt these mittens would keep her hand warmer than the other kind. I hope to finish a couple more pair soon so my little friends will have warm hands for playing in the snow. Here are a few pictures of some of the mittens. I have a new job teaching knitting and art. There are 4 girls and 3 boys ages 2 - 15. I love working with children again. I was an elementary Art Teacher in the public schools when I was in my twenties and thirties. I love making art with children and look forward to my Monday afternoons with the kids.

New Beginnings, Knit and Spin

I am still moving boxes around in my home. Last week I managed to get the computers up and running except for the imac that I was using at the store. It did not move well. It will not start up at all and i did not back up anything on it so i lost a lot of patterns and all my records of the purchases and the updated mailing list. I have most of the important stuff in hard copy but I am not likely to spend the time to re-enter this stuff. I do not need digital copy anyways I would rather be knitting or working on new stuff than documenting the past. I visited Margaret on Friday to deliver her new spinning wheel. She has a Kromski Sonata. Her first spinning lesson went well. I could hardly believe that in all the years Mags worked at the store that I somehow neglected to teach her to spin. She will catch on quickly with a little practice. Mags gave m a beautiful pair of handknit cabled red socks. I love handknit gifts and these socks are the best. A perfect fit also. I wore them yesterday and they kept my feet toasty. I will post a picture when I can find my camera. In the chaos my camera is lost somewhere. So no new pics till it turns up.
Tom asked me what I wanted for my birthday a month ago and I asked to go to go to see The Golden Compase when it came out. I read the book several years ago and wanted to see the film on the big screen. We do not go to many films prefering to watch films at home via Netflix. The reviews are bad for this film but since I read the books I wanted to go anyway. I am a fan of fantasy films like Lord of the Rings. So today is the day. The snow has melted and the roads are good so the 14 mile trip into the Valley will not be a problem. The movie is at 2:40 so I need to go get ready to go. I will post again soon. Let you know how I liked the movie.
N

Empty Store

The store front is empty and I am still recovering. We worked till almost midnight on the 27th and were not able to move all the stuff. We got up at 6 and went at it in the morning and finished around 10:30. the closing was to be in Grove City at 11:30. With our car loaded with the last load we drove to Grove City totally exhausted like two zombies. We were so tired, our bodies ached that we could bairly get our selves out of the car and into McBrides office. Tom and I are just too old for this. We were 10 min early and no one showed up at 11:30. We sat and waited and finally Lucy our agent came and told us the closing was postponed till Monday. Mike was still in NY and called an hour and a half before the closing to cancel. We spent the next couple days recovering and moving boxes from one spot in our home to another. I got some of my office unpacked and set up the computer printer and phones. The closing took place on Monday at 11:00. I deposited the check in the bank and went to visit some friends to celebrate. New Years Eve was very nice. We has a lovely dinner with friends. Adriana and Aneldia prepared some wonderful food. We were home before midnight. I actually fell a sleep in my chair watching TV at around 11:30.