Mandy! oh! Mandy!

Do you remember the song? How could you forget??? Barry Manilow! LOVE his music - sing it all the time! So my son has a girlfriend named Mandy! He asked me to make her a scarf. He said she likes green.



I do NOT like green!!! But I decided to surprise her with a hat as well - my second hat.



Sure hope she like them!!! If not, she can always sing the lyrics.......

Crying in the night
The night goes into
Morning, just another day...

Just another day, just another scarf and hat! I really have to put an end to this!

But first, I have to make one for my sister who didn't get one yet! LOLOL!!!

More than scarves

I've been promoted!!! I am now making hats to go with all the scarves. I made this set for Kerry's daughter.....and I think she really liked it! I have to admit, it looked so cute on her that I might just have to make a set for myself!


And I will confess that I did not start with the easiest type of yarn (full of bumps and knots) nor the easiest pattern (I used 4 strands of yarn with a # 15 needle).

And I ran out of yarn....so I had to learn how to switch colors.  If you must know....I did this wrong 4 times and then decided to read the directions and got it right!  LOL!!!

But it turned out absolutely perfect and it will keep her warm (she lives/works up in the mountains).  Yes, I do think I'll have to make a few more hats.  I know, I know....where are the mittens???

Oh what fun

it is to knit on a freezing winter night! (OK....sing along with me!!!)

Woke up this morning to no heat. Temp inside is down to 52 degrees inside and -18 degrees outside. Brrr....we are in the middle of the worst arctic snap in Denver's history! Go figure! Gas company is on it's way out now. No gas coming into the house. But we have loads of back up space heaters and kerosene heaters - good thing we go camping!!!

I'm drinking hot chocolate and writing today's blog early....just in case my fingers get too cold to type! LOL!

I have so much left over fibers from the scarves I've been knitting....that I decided to make little scarves for Kerry's granddaughters....and their American Girl Dolls. This is "my" doll - I keep her as a model and for when the girls come to play, but isn't this scarf just too cute?

I used 4 skeins on a 17 needle and 3 stitches across....took about 20 minutes to knit the whole thing!

The matching scarf for the 7 year old is 6 stitches wide, same fibers:

And I made one for the 2 year old - this one is 4 stitches wide and 3 skeins on a # 17 needle.  

I couldn't make for the kids and not their mom....her's is really quite gorgeous.  Lots of gold metallic fibers.  Almost 4' long (I am really liking extreme length in scarves these days!)

And I will give one that I've already posted to Kerry's daughter.  So everyone gets a new scarf!   And I just boxed up one for his sister and his neice.   That takes me back down to 2 scarves left for me....and I still haven't given a scarf to one of my sisters or my own sister-in-law and niece.  Guess I will just have to knit more this week!!!

I've still got loads of scraps - anyone need a scarf for an American Girl Doll?  I'll send you the fibers!  LOL!!!

Eight Nights of Lights - coming soon!

OK, mark your calendars. Starting 12/21 at 7 pm and for 8 nights, I will be posting ATC tutorials each night. I'm going to be using products from After Midnight Stamps and Amaco. It will be in conjunction with Hanukkah and we'll be doing things that create light, like candles, or things that are light in weight, like snowflakes! And we'll be using products like opals, fantasy film & fiber, friendly plastic, glass, inks, copper....things those 2 companies sell. It should be so much fun!!! And of course, if you're not in town on those dates, you can always check back!

Ebay update:

I've loaded a new sub-banner on my blog and you can go there and click on it to access my ebay store. As long as I have active auctions, I'll leave the banner up on my blog. I've got 20 items listed, will post another 10 tonight....and hope to add 10 per day til I'm done (i.e. until the house is empty???) LOL!

More scarves!

I seem to be on a true creative role this month - like I just can't quit! Even when I sit with Kerry in the evenings watching TV, I've been knitting up a storm! I finished TWO more scarves this weekend - I think that's 7 that I've made now! This one has so much bling and glitter in it....but it just wouldn't photograph at all!



You can tell from the fringe how many different types of fibers I used.



It came out thick and warm!



This one was more blues and blacks and I really can't decide which one is my favorite!



I've given away 3, and will give away 2 more and just keep 2. But then I already have an idea for my next one....now that I've got the technique down pat...I need to experiment a little! LOL!



And I'm going to sign up for a class and learn how to make a hat and mittens. I've got my sis crocheting again. I tell you - it's contagious!!!

Kelly's fibers, part 1

Kelly has fibers and they are all for sale.  I'll try to take photos of the ones she gave me, but these are just gorgeous!  Scarf # 4 is using 4 skeins:

oh look!  I finally got the "bling" to photo!

I would call that ribbon, and then mohair with bling:

And sort of half velvet, half eyelash:


Together, the 4 skeins are looking like this, perhaps the prettiest scarf yet!

And these 2 skeins:

 and these 3, so I definitely see more scarves in the near future!

This is not Kelly's, I got it at a shop in Boulder, and for whatever reason, the bling in it just will not photo.  So frustrating!

If you want fiber, let me know and I'll hook you up with Kelly.  She has hundreds of fibers to choose from.  Beyond gorgeous!

Knit a scarf a day

Yep, having a bit of fun here. Problem is the photos don't show the metallic flecks in these. This first one - really long. This is it doubled around the neck:

 10 stitches wide, # 17 needles, 3 fibers, lots of eyelash and bling.  The colors are wonderful:

You can get a better feel for how long this one is.  Very light weight.

I made that one yesterday.  But I'm not going to tell you that I started it at least 20 times!  

Today, Kelly & Susan came over.   Kelly has a stockpile of fibers.  Ok, she was going to go in to the fiber business at one time.  So I picked out 3 types and knitted them together for this scarf.

I used 8 stitches wide and just the knit stitch on this one with size 17 needles.  

Kelly has fibers for sale and trust me, they are all gorgeous.  I'll be doing some other things with them this week so you can see some of the colors.  She has most of them pre-cut to 1 yard lengths.  If you are interested, just email me and I'll hook you up with her and maybe you can work out a deal.  These are great for ribbons on journals, ribbons on layouts - just a whole lot of fun things.  

We had so much fun today.  We put in the movie "Made of Honor" and sat knitting while watching the show.  And then I had a moment - I realized that we had all turned into our grandmas!  LOLOL!   This might just be my style of "grandma" - good friends, fun projects, no kids!  At any rate, it was a totally fun day doing something that didn't involve paper.  

The longest yard

And she knits, too! Yep, my "first" scarf. OK, Grandma House tried to teach me how to knit when I was in highschool and I totally failed. But my friend, Kelly, has a collections of fibers that just scream "make a scarf out of me", so this is my practice scarf - 2 yards long! No, I didn't use Kelly's fibers, I used new yarn from Hobby Lobby. Kelly will be here Monday and we are going to make a new scarf. In the meantime, I hope to make one more, just for practice.



2 skeins. You know, not the easiest thing to start with, but I did it in a couple of afternoons. 10 stitches wide, # 11 needles.



Loving the colors in this. Hey mom, do you want it? LOL! And how did I learn? Well, Lion Brand yarn has wonderful illustrated step shots, and Thread Heads has a perfect 5 minute video - in case you want to learn as well.



I just think Grandma would be happy that 40 years later, I finally knitted something!