Some finished items.

Do you remember a while back, when I mentioned intarsia knitting? Well, this is the first intarsia square.

I'm knitting the Mod on Mod Afghan, from Yarn Play by Lisa Shobhana Mason. I have some other squares finished by now, but haven't taken pictures of them yet. There are five yarn colors in this afghan. I'm using 4 - Mission Falls 1824 Cotton colors, and 1 - Wool in the Woods Cotton color (which is the varigated color you see in these pictures).

I love this afghan! There are 4 square patterns. The afghan consists of these 4 squares, in 5 rows. There are 5 colors of yarn, and each square has a different color combination. The squares knit up fast - they are 39 stitches wide and about 72 (I think) rows long. The intarsia keeps the stockinette interesting. I love using the cotton yarn, too. I can't wait to see all the squares put together!

Maybe 10 years ago, I bought this bedding set. Blue comforter, green flat sheet & pillow sham, purple fitted sheet and pillow sham. I love these three colors together.

I recently won this yarn from Pippi Knee Socks. The colors she put together for me almost exactly match my bed set (which means that I love them!). It took me a while to realize this. In fact, this is how much I knit before I realized the colors matched:

This is a Moebius scarf. It's my own pattern of knitting & purling.

Last Saturday, I happened to catch the Knitty Gritty episode that featured Cat Bordhi. I loved the lace pattern she showed for a scarf. So I ripped this scarf out (frogging a Moebius is not fun!), re-wound the yarn, & Sunday, cast on for the lace scarf. As I'm writing this, I am about 8 rows shy of finishing the scarf. So I'll have the FO picture in my next post. It's so pretty - I just love it, and can't wait to wear it!

A month or so ago, I signed up to knit chemo caps for kids with cancer. The kids love the eyelash yarn. This is a picture of the first hat I finished. I mailed all of the hats today & didn't get a picture of them. :-(

I ended up finishing 5 hats, my Mom did one, & two of the Nutty Knitters each did one - for a total of 8 hats.

The hats are a quick knit. Keeping in mind that they're for kids with cancer makes them knit up even faster. :-)

A local radio station is collecting Preemie hats for Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center/ Penn State Children's Hospital this month (February must be hat month!), so some of the Nutty Knitters & I knit some of those as well. We made 8 Preemie hats. I made 2 and two other women made the rest. I dropped them off today. They will be going here. I forgot to take pictures of these, too.

I think that's about all I have for today. It's still below freezing here. And the forecast is for more snow tomorrow. Hopefully, it'll be a little bit, and won't cause any problems with the morning commute on Monday.

MAKE it a great day!

An eventful weekend.

This is Smokey the Cat (that's his full name). I call him "cute cat" when he's doing things like this (he likes to be called cute cat). I haven't figured out how to take pictures of him in the house without making his eyes glow-y. Anyway, this "pose" was too cute! He had one paw up to his face & the other curled up. He often lays on his back like this, once the QP's in bed. He's 8 years old.


Here's my Socktoberfest sock. The broken finger really cut down on my knitting (and blogging!) time. I decided that I really didn't like how the stripes were looking so....

I frogged the sock. I did re-start it, I just haven't taken any pictures yet. I like the new pattern I'm doing much better!

In finger news, I saw my family doctor for a follow-up visit. She referred me to an orthopedic doctor. I saw him this past Thursday. He said that I no longer have to wear the splint, but still have to keep the finger taped. It's taped to my ring finger. He said these things usually take 6-8 weeks to heal. I can start moving it, but can't do anything major with it (like lifting weights). Thursday I knit my sock for several hours (with the splint on, I could knit one, maybe two rows and then my hand hurt too much). Friday, my finger was pretty sore. I can feel it when I've been knitting too much/too long. The finger's still swollen, but doesn't hurt as much as it did at first.

Yesterday the QP, my Mom & I went to one of the local alpaca farms. They were having an open house. The weather was perfect. Here's what we saw:

This baby was chewing/licking the opening to the feed bag.

Another baby.

The QP had to feed an alpaca, first thing. She said it tickled her hand.

The alpacas tend to move in a herd. It is an amazing thing to watch. The farm has over 60 alpacas.

Here they are, moving in the other direction. See the many shades/colors? They are beautiful!

I liked this one, with it's white forehead. It is owned by a boy who's in the 4-H club. He boards the alpaca at this farm.

The QP got to hug many alpacas!

After we were there a while, she got the chance to walk one around. Her name is Samantha.

Here's the QP, hugging Samantha.

And there were free kittens. No. We did NOT bring one home! Smokey would NOT like another cat in his house, sharing his people!

The open house was today, too. I'm glad we went yesterday, because it rained and was cold today!

Oh! The farm also has a store that's open year-round!! They sell sweaters, hats, gloves/mittens, scarves, shawls, stuffed toys , yarn and wool to spin!!!! The prices are reasonable. I WILL be returning to purchase some yarn!

MAKE it a great day!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!! We all know that New York drops a ball in Times Square to celebrate the New Year...around here, all kinds of things dropped or rose at the stroke of midnight. I have to tell ya, it's very exciting in South Central PA New Year's eve (we are quite the party people!). Here's a listing:

Things that dropped...

1. A white rose - in York,PA. York is the white rose city.
2. A bologna - in Lebanon,PA. Lebanon is famous (ok - so they're only "famous" around here! It counts!!) for their Lebanon bologna.
3. A strawberry - in Harrisburg,PA. Not sure why Harrisburg uses a strawberry!

Things that were raised...

1. A red rose - in Lancaster,PA. Lancaster is (you guessed it!) the red rose city.
2. A kiss (as in Hershey's Kiss) - in Hershey,PA. The reason's obvious.

I think that's all. Our local TV station showed all of the dropping/raising things at once (all 5 from this area + the ball in NYC). I told you! We are some wild, party people here in South Central PA!! :o)

Speaking of wild, party people. Did anyone see ALL THE PEOPLE in Times Square last night??? Bet it was fun trying to get home!!

We were in NYC one year for 4th of July (actually, we were there twice for the 4th, but I'm talking about the one time!). We didn't see the fireworks, but were in Manhattan that night. Well, we decided to go back to the Bronx (not even thinking about what time it was!!) at the same time that everyone was leaving the fireworks...we had to stand up on the train (the subway) the WHOLE way to the Bronx!!! For those of you who don't know, usually there are seats available once we get to Harlem. Not that night! Now I know how sardines feel!!

I'll leave you with a picture of one of the felted (knitting) needle cases I'm making. This was a free pattern from Paton's, that I found in my local art & craft store. I'm using Paton's Classic Merino wool & size 8 needles. It's a VERY simple pattern. I'm actually making two of these. This one is for my Mom. The other one will be for me (it's a dark grey). The outside of the case will have felted flowers on it. This is a picture of the actual case. I think I need 3 feet of this (it's all stockinette stitch), so I guess I'm a little over 1/3 of the way done.

Well, I have to get ready to leave. We eat our New Year's dinner at the church of a friend of my Mom. They have a sit-down, family-style dinner each year. They accept donations for the meal. The money goes towards their missions trips. For those of you who don't know, Lancaster County's New Year's meal is: roast pork & saurkraut (there are usually mashed potatoes too). The meal at the church is: raw carrots & celery, applesauce, rolls & butter, pork & saurkraut, mashed potatoes and dessert (the church ladies make all kinds of yummy cakes and things for this!!). Pork & saurkraut are supposed to bring good luck. Being vegetarian, I eat the mashed potatoes and saurkraut (Mom's friend keeps some saurkraut out for me - they cook the rest with the pork).

Here's to a healthy, happy new year for you all! And remember...you can MAKE it a great day!!