Things You Never Thought Would Come out of Your Mouth

1. "No, Zack. I don't want to play with your squeaky wet rubber chicken." Told to my Collie as he pushes his favorite rubber toy, snout and all into my hand.

2. "Wesley, get that train out of the toilet. It'll clog it up." Told to my then three year son as he imitates the island of Sodor from that evil show, Thomas the Train.

3. "Regan, you are not a cat but a beautiful Mommy Muffin." Told to my three year daughter as she meowed her order to the Sonic carhop.

4. "Not tonight dear, my eyeballs are completely dried out from heat and dust." DH told me as he crawled into bed.

5. "Zoe, please don't eat Zack tonight--I've got get up early to get to church to sprinkle some holy water on this chemo cap that's possessed by a devil." Told to our Aussie girl in hopes she leaves the Collie alive and intact. The chemo cap which caused concussions by the maker apparently is doing well with a cancer survivor.

6. Last but not least, I can't go the yarn store sale--I have something more important to do- go home and roast a chicken


Someone please post something sillier in the comments. The funniest will receive a skein of cascade superwash.

Soldier's Connection Needs Your Help

A local charity in Loganville, GA called Soldier's Connections sends care packages out each week to soldiers/sailors stationed overseas in the Persian Gulf area as well as Afghanistan and other countries.

One of the organizers goes to my church in Monroe and has asked crafters to make knitted hats and scarves for the soldiers to be shipped in August. Any pattern is fine but the colors need to be dark (no pastels, white, etc) b/c of safety issues. They also need travel soap/shampoo/hot chocolate packages, etc.

Any help is greatly appreciated. The charity is entirely staffed by volunteers through the American Legion in Loganville. The volunteers also pay for the shipping out of their pockets.

If you have any questions or need me to pick up scarves, hats or supplies, leave a comment! I'll get back to you!

Pax.

Half a Rainbow Baby Blanket Pattern

Yet another pattern for your consideration....

Using 4 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun (one each in mint green, light lavender, cotton candy pink and baby blue) and size 17 circular with 29 inch cord. You can use any other type of yarn b/c a friend gave me a lot of this yarn.

CO on 50 stitches using two strands of the mint green (pull one end from center and the other from top), knit every row until skein runs out (about 40 rows or so--depending on how much you got in the skein).


Join two strands of purple, knit 8 rows.

Join two strands of pink (and cut purple), knit 20 rows.

Join two strands of purple (and cut pink), knit 8 rows.

Join two strands of blue (and cut purple), knit until you run out of blue yarn.

Bind off.

It's a very nice, colorful pattern--perfect for a baby. For a nice touch, I'm told you can crochet an edge around it using the left over purple yarn. I don't crochet as I'm genetically unable to do that skill.

Pax.

Sale at a yarn store

Unfortunately, a local yarn store is going out of business. Quilted Hearts in Gainesville, GA is slated to close the end of July. Right now everything is 30% off. Just a little sad that a LYS is closing.

Pax.

Happy Birthday to the Knit Wits of Georgia.

It's been one year since my friend Jen and I started the Knit Wits of Georgia. Both of us are (and in my case, was) social workers. Social Workers are at the bottom of the job scale (both in pay and respect) and we both needed an outlet for our fiber addiction. And it needed to be cheap, preferably free.

We advertised on meetups.com and in the local newspaper for two weeks and we got 15 or so people for our first meeting.

Since then we've had a field trip into Atlanta to visit the Knitch, Why Knot Knit, and Dunwoody Yarns. Whoever said half the fun was getting there never road with a gaggle of Knit Wits. Belated apologies to that bicyclist on Peachtree Road in Buckhead. I truly didn't mean to make you run into a fire hydrant. Also I'm sorry to that guy in the silver BMW (not really b/c YOU made the mistake of thinking I actually care about the appearance of my car). And since I'm at it, where do you get off thinking North Georgia College alumni are mean? Excuse me, Mr. Bulldog but UGA is not the only institute of higher learning in Georgia. NGC is the senior military college in the state.

But I digress (a lot). I've had the best time organizing this group. I've met the most incredibly generous but mentally unstable group of people and I've grown to love them all.

PS If you'd like to join us, click on the link on the left.

Pax.

Creation Afghan

I'm sure everyone who knits has heard of the prayer shawl. My husband's co-worker's wife has been diagnosed with breast cancer and though she is responding to treatment, everyone knows it is an emotional roller coaster for the supportive spouse. So in their honor, I designed a simple prayer afghan knit in Lion Brand Homespun. You can use any other type of yarn b/c a friend gave me a lot of this yarn. Just use similar colors. I combined the idea of a prayer shawl, the Lion Brand two hour scarf and a variation of the "Easter Jelly Bean Prayer". I call it the Creation Afghan.

You'll need 14 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun. Two in each color. All stitches are knit--no purls.

Color A: Deep blue
Color B: Red
Color C: Yellow
Color D: Purple
Color E: Green
Color F: Cream (or white)
Color G: Dark gray

Each stripe is knitted with 2 strands of Homespun held together throughout.

Using size 19 circs with 32" cord, cast on 100 stitches with two strands of Color A. Do not join as this is not knit in the round. Knit until you almost run out of Color A. At the end of a row, join Color B and knit with Color B until that stripe is the same width as the first stripe from Color A. Do the same with Color C and Color D and so forth

Bind off and weave in end. If you want, add tassels.

You end up with a 7 striped afghan in blue, red, yellow, purple, green, white, and gray.

I send a note with the afghan that explained the signifigance of the colors.

Creation Afghan (or Shawl)
“to remind us of God’s plans”

Gray: In the beginning, the earth was a vast wasteland
White: God separated the light from the dark.
Green: God brought forth the fertile land.
Purple: God called the darkness at sunset “night”
Yellow: The sunlight drenched the earth during the day
Red: God made all life—beautiful in its color and diversity
Blue: God rested in the heavens as the earth teamed with life.

This is based upon the creation story in the first book of the Bible.

Please feel free to knit it differently--stockinette, ribbing, etc.

You can also use only 7 skeins (one of each color) and make a smaller version and call it a shawl.

Also please let me know how yours turned out or even send a picture.

Pax.

"Knit Your Bit" for our veterans!!!

Attention all Knitters: It's time to "Knit Your Bit" for our veterans. This is a great group project. The Knit Wits donated twenty or so scarves last year and we are going to top that! Below is the link for FAQs. This campaign is sponsored by the National WW2 museum in New Orleans. They collect scarves and send them to area VA centers for vets who want the comfort of a handknit scarf. It is an awesome charity. They don't have many rules--just email them if you have any questions.

http://www.nationalww2museum.org/education/faq.html

Pax.

Junk Yarn Dog Afghan

I have designed another knit pattern--something to use up my bits and pieces of leftover yarn. At least one strand of Red Heart Super Saver in a burgandy color is knit throughout. It took about 10 skeins of Red Heart plus leftover accent yarn.  If you are using this as a pet blanket, you will need to cut the ends so there will be no chewing/eating/swallowing.  I was lazy and didn't do it before the picure.

Using size 15 circular needles with 60" cord, cast on 130 with one strand of Red Heart Super Saver and one strand of accent yarn (I used recycled silk). Do not join as this is not knit in the round.

Knit one row.

Cut recycled silk and join another strand of same color Red Heart. You will be knitting with two strands of Red Heart.

Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: Purl

Cut one strand of Red Heart and join another accent color yarn (I used Hobby Lobby's Yarn Bee in Decandance in green and brown which was left over from a scarf). You will be knitting with one strand of Red Heart and one strand of accent color.

Knit Rows 5 and 6

Cut accent yarn and join strand of Red Heart. You will be knitting with two strands of Red Heart.

Row 7: Knit
Row 8: Purl
Row 9: Knit
Row 10: Purl

Cut one strand of Red Heart and join another accent color yarn (I used a green crochet type yarn). You will be knitting with one strand of Red Heart and an accent yarn.

Knit Rows 11 and 12

Cut accent yarn and join Red Heart. Repeat Rows 7-10.

Then cut Red Heart and add accent yarn. Repeat 11 and 12.

Repeat pattern and vary yarn until afghan is desired length.

The last four rows--Copy the first four rows so afghan's top matches the bottom. The first and last ridge of double Red Heart will be reverse stockinette which makes a nice ridge.

Mine was about 6 feet long.

It's a very fast knit and warm according to my husband who, apparently has no blood circulating in his body.

Pax.