Bathtime Blossoms

Ooooooh! I’m in love with these Evelyn Clark “Bathtime Blossoms” patterns. I’m not sure that I would want anyone to wash their hiney with them, as they are a little more work and a LOT more concentration than lots of OTHER patterns that could be used for such purposes, but who am I to judge if someone wants to pamper their hiney!?! I used Paton’s Bumblebee Baby Sport yarn and size 3 needles, and they are just SO pretty! There is a third one in the set, and also 3 soap sacks, but I haven’t gotten around to those just yet!
My new trick for knitting cloths with baby sport cotton on size 3 needles is to pull out the ole double points, put some point protectors on the ends (ummmmm, only put a point protector on ONE end of each needle :oP)…and knit away to your hearts’ content with nice short needles…a LOT less strain!!!! Now, of course this won’t work if you have a LOT of stitches – but these cloths are worked in short rows and have only 25-30 stitches or so at any one given time on the needles :o)

Landscape bathroom

There are a lot of things about moving that really SUCK! But, we’re military – so we are “used” to it- and as a matter of fact almost embrace this way of life. Like…now, we’ll be leaving sunny southern California – for a nice little island in Japan called Okinawa. It's beautiful there, and LOTS of cool things to do - and they even have really cool yarn stores!!! And besides - I bet Clover knitting supplies are cheaper over there - without all those cute little taxes they put on all imported goods!
But, I digress! Besides doing the normal “decluttering” that every military spouse must do before that BIG MOVE – I’ve been thinking a LOT about what colors I want in which rooms! (A lot of thinking that has only turned into ONE good solid decision, but I have plenty of time - we'll be leaving sometime in the summer!)I’ve decided that OUR bathroom MUST be the colors of Sugar N Cream “Landscape” yarn. Not sure why exactly – I just know I have fallen in love with these colors! So, over the past few days, I’ve knitted a BUNCH of cloths for our new bathroom :o) TEN to be exact – well, I KNITTED 11, but the one in ecru doesn’t match, so I didn’t count it, poor thing!
Do any of you ever see colors in a ball of yarn, and absolutely fall in love with them, even if they weren’t colors you ever even thought TWICE about before?!? Something about the light green, white, and tan just seems so CALMING to me – and nope, I never even KNEW I liked those colors together ha! So anyway – here are the cloths…..some of them are from copyrighted books so I can’t share the patterns, but I’ll be more than happy to tell you WHERE they came from! :o) PLUS, some of them are from online sources..so those I CAN pass the URL along to you in case you don't already have it!

DomiNO it isn't as hard as it looks!

I was having serious troubles with this cloth – I know how to pick up stitches, but I couldn't figure out WHICH sides I was supposed to pick the stitches UP from, and therefore my diagonal lines were forming an "X:" where the designer had them all going in the correct direction! It turned out that I was just over-analyzing the situation, and with the helpful hints and “you can do it”s from my online friends – I finally got it done! I’ll post the specifics later on, but for now – you can see what mine looks like and here's the URL for you so you can make your own! I think this will be a really cool way to use up those bits and pieces of cotton yarn that I've always made scrunchies or "ugly" cloths from!!
http://www.keyway.net/crafts/shesser.html

You want HOW much for that?!?!?!?!?

Hmmmmm…..Happy New Year everyone! I have so much to say – and NO clue where to start. SO – I’ll start in “order” – with little snippets of things that have happened in my life recently – thank heavens they’re mostly FUNNY or SILLY – nothing painful or expensive! (yet – having said that out loud, I’m sure SOME new bill or illness will strike me!)
I went to Wal*Mart in the middle of December, mainly to purchase some fabrics to make some Christmas-y stuff. I still have the fabric…the Christmas-y stuff never happened – maybe THIS Christmas!
Well! I had such a pleasant experience back in the fabric department – the gal and I joked, laughed, talked about kids, hubbies, knitting…and had a GOOD ole time! I was happy to see that FINALLY our local Wal*Mart had hired someone in the fabric department who knew what she was both DOING and TALKING ABOUT! WOOHOO!
After standing in the checkout line for 15 minutes, while watching CSMs chat merrily about their antics with their men the night before (don’t be shocked – normal fare here at my Wal*Mart!), and listening to the cashiers on duty whining about not having had their breaks yet …I get to the register. Plop down all my Christmas-y fabrics (and the HUGE wad of pink and olive green sweatpants material that I just HAD to buy because it was only $1.00 a yard!)…..and man my stations. That means I run to the other end of the register so I can read the display as things are scanned – I can’t TELL you how many times I’ve saved a few cents by doing this! (“Nuuuuu-uuuuuuuuunh!!! It’s priced $8.94 NOT $8.97!!!” HA! Gotcha! Sticking it to the man!!!)
But, this time I saw a price go by, that didn’t look quite right to me – it looked like five hundred something – but I just knew that wasn’t right! Neither hubby NOR the checkbook would allow THAT sort of purchase – and besides – I don’t think there is anything in Wal*Mart that I would WANT to buy 500 bucks’ worth!
But – the cashier rang it all up, turned to me and chirped – yes, CHIRPED!: “$648.66 please!”……the cents’ part may not be totally correct – my ears stopped at the “648” part! I look at her incredulously (translation: like she was an IDIOT!) and said "648.66". Statement. NOT question. Total disbelief. She looked at her display again and said – “mmmmmmmhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm!?!” I said – “there is NO way – this is Wal*Mart, and I have two bags of fabric – there is NO way!” She just looked at me. “Do you want me to call a CSM over?” she asked finally when she sensed she was losing the stare down.
WELL DUH and KISS MY GRITS – hell YEAH I wanna CSM – I want ole Sam himself to come over here and tell me how to fit 650 bucks worth of crap into 2 Wal*Mart bags!!!
So, the CSM came over, and I explained to her, that one of the fabric tickets rang up at 500 and something – and now I had TWO of them looking at me with blank stares…O M G…..I swear my IQ drops 53 points every time I walk into that door! (I must add a disclaimer: I like Wal*Mart, and I know that people make mistakes. I am not in any way picking on Wal*Mart (the corporation) nor it’s employees (most of them are pretty decent folks, and most of them can understand what I am saying to them!) But this gal didn’t understand what I was saying, she called over a CSM who then started speaking in rapid Spanish – and I’m not fluent in Spanish, but the gist of the conversation was this: “She bought a lot of stuff and she likes cream corn in her handsome beer”.
OK – I didn’t have a clue what they were saying – but I know that a THIRD person came over, and HE, yes HE – fixed it for me – they voided the whole transaction, and then rang solely from the fabric tickets they had in the drawer. Which made me a lot RICHER in fabric that day – for only about $20…..because they missed SOME stuff! (I may not be a genius – but $648.66 minus $510.24 still equals $138 and some change – and this isn’t with the erroneous ticket corrected) When I told them they were WAY undercharging me, they just smiled and said “It’s ok, Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!” . I think they were getting a little tired of me by that time LMAO! I wasn’t mean by ANY means, but it sure irks me when there is a problem, I can see the problem, THEY can see the problem, and instead of correcting the problem – they have to call 6 OTHER people to TELL them about the problem – stop TELLING people about the danged problem – FIX IT!!! :oP
But I survived, my checkbook survived, and I’m sure the employees involved in the little fiasco all got promotions and a raise and maybe even a Mexican cruise!!! (that’s how we do things in southern Cali)

The Elijah Blanket

I recently finished a baby blanket for a friend's grandson. It turned out very well if I do say so myself! It measures about 28" by 38" so it's kinda small - but it only has a cast on of 120 stitches, and I just used my 14" needles instead of circs....it was originally supposed to be WAY smaller, but I got a little carried away. Grandma wanted him to have something little to carry around and chew on....but I told her I'll have to make him one of my baby feet cloths for THAT purpose - I wouldn't want him chewing on his blankie that took 18 hours to knit LOL!!! Besides, cotton would be a little easier on his gums than acrylic, dontcha think?
Anyway - here are the pics - I am SO glad it's finished - I get so bored knitting with the same color for too long LOL!! That's why you'll see a little pattern change above Elijah's name - I was planning to do "stripes" all the way got got VERY bored and so threw in a little variation, and it turns out I like the variation better than my original plan - I love it when things work out like that, don't you?

Mr. Brown meets the love of his life

Have you seen the “get your free skein of Disco yarn” posts floating around? I got mine….and I actually like the Disco yarn. Not too darned sure about the color – but hey! Free is free, right?

A word of advice…when you throw eyelashy yarns into your closet with the other “I’ll sort them out later and figure out a project too!” yarns…..make sure there are no hidden little creatures in there.

Like lint rollers.

You know, the ones that have layers and layers of tape wrapped around, and you roll them across whatever til it’s covered with dog hair and potato chip crumbs, then you peel off that layer of tape, and have a fresh new one right there – and you can do the NEXT square inch on your couch!

Well!!

I like these things – they’re cheap, they actually work (kinda like the ole “wrap the tape around your hand inside out” method that most of our mothers and grandmothers probably used. (Mine did (do/does) anyway!)

But I bought one a few weeks ago, and promptly misplaced it.

Little did I know that I threw it in the closet – right into my “I’ll sort them out later and figure out a project too” yarns……..*gasp* without it’s protective cover (aka wax paper)

When Mr. Brown went into the closet, apparently he found my little friend “LaRue Lint Remover”….and boy oh boy, did they ever hit it off!!!

I took a picture, but only one, it was getting a little risqué in there!!

Wonder what kind of kids they’ll have?!?

Elf name.....

Christmas Elf Name My Christmas Elf Name is Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

Patterns without pictures......

I really really have a hard time with patterns that are posted without pictures...I know sometimes people who design these cloths don't have the equipment (like a scanner or camera) to post a picture, but I REALLY have to be bored out of my mind before I attempt one of these pictureless pretties. I mean - how can I tell if I even want to spend a good 2 hours of my time knitting one of these up?!? I might HATE it or WORSE - I might love it and wish I had had that pattern last MONTH for momma's birthday or something!!!
Having said this - I have decided that I am going to knit ONE of these orphaned patterns a week...then post the picture and the link here! So! I present to you: my orphan pattern of the week:
And here is the URL!!!
http://www.woolworks.org/patterns/zigcloth.txt

I really like this pattern - it is WAY too big for my liking, but I would make it again - also with a bigger border :o)

But all in all - a NICE pattern, and like it says - "you'll have the pattern memorized very quickly!

Knitting Knonsense Knoel cloths

Ooh ooh ooh!!! I’m in the mood for Christmas!!! I received my “Creative Knitting” magazine on Friday – and have done nothing but knit THESE ------
ever since!!!
I was HATING the red-green-black-white yarn till I made some of these – it’s not so bad now…it’s growing on me I think! That and the fact that it takes about 45 minutes to whip one of these up – that’s practically NO TIME – especially in the knitting world!
I love the Silky Tie Wrap too – definitely going to make this one – probably even more than once – we shall see!
So…..hmmmmmm……that’s it for now! I’m planning to post a couple new patterns to my website – VERY SOON – so stay posted there!

weight loss tips for the holidays - or - go ahead and leave the stuffing in and store that carcass on the counter!

Oh heaven help me – I’ve just downloaded Blogger for Word, and am already liking it – I can use different fonts – WOOHOO!  Look out world – here I come!
   Quote of the day:
Thursday evening on a local (Los Angeles) channel, they had a bit about storing your leftovers properly – so you don’t get sick.  After the usual “don’t store the whole carcass in the refrigerator” and “remove all the stuffing before storing” tips…they cut back to the studio – where the newscaster, hmmm maybe I should learn his name if I’m going to talk about him – but anyway! He said, “then again, there’s nothing like a little food poisoning to help get rid of some of those excess pounds” – O M G !!!  TOO funny!  Gross and funny – my two favorite things!

What the limbo is this!!!

ok, first let me say this: "limbo" is another word for "he-double L"...it's true, I just looked it up in my Roget's thesaurus!
anyway! This is what I found in my refrigerator the day before Thanksgiving. I was cleaning out the frig to make room for the inevitable leftovers, when I came across my nice white Corning Ware dish, that had canned pineapple in it.
hmmmmm the last time I opened a can of pineapple was in September - has it really been in there all this time? at any rate - look what happens to pineapple that sits in the refrigerator for upwards of 2 months (no, I am not nasty, and nope, my refrigerator is not filthy...this was just a dish that escaped my attention - that's all! for real! WHAT! like you never found anything icky in your refrigerator!!! :oP
SO! I went looking on the dubya-dubya-dubya...and couldn't find this particular strain of mold anywhere! thank heavens anyway - it's pretty gross!
any mold experts out there?!? "orange" you glad I showed you this picture - I bet you're feeling pretty darned smug about the current state of your own refrigerator LOL!!!

Who needs shoes when you've got yarn?

Knitters (and other yarn collectors!) often see things in a different light than the rest of the world.
Which is why my husband thought he was putting together a shoe storage cabinet for his lovely wife (ok, not so lovely, but still his wife!). Said husband apparently hasn't noticed that his wife has only 3 pairs of shoes...tennis shoes for work, PINK tennis shoes for when the white ones are in the washing machine, and one pair of black pumps, circa 1989, because they still fit and they go with most of the dresses in that far right corner of the closet! The part of the closet where most people put their clothes, is filled with yarn and knitting books. I'm serious...I'm not kidding! I want all my knitting supplies right NEXT to me should some tragedy happen to our house in the middle of the night! He'll grab the kids and dog, I'll grab as much yarn as I can and a couple sets of needles. But I digress!
Here is my new shoe storage cabinet:
Isn't she just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!? I had so much fun emptying those 3 baskets full of cotton yarn, and deciding if Gettysburg should go with "blues" or "grays" and other such life altering decisions! Of course, the hubby is now complaining that it was VERY hard to put together, and he didn't know he was doing that for "just yarn" - bah humbug! JUST yarn?
I would be the happiest woman in the world if he got me "just yarn" for every holiday and special day throughout the year..."just yarn"?!?!?!?
And if he got me "just yarn", I wouldn't have to fret that my navy blue dress looks absolutely horrible with these black pumps, albeit VINTAGE black pumps~~:o)cuz yarn goes with EVERYTHING!!!