Home again, home again...

Yep, I made it home without any of the luggage issues we saw at Thanksgiving. AMEN TO THAT brothers and sisters! And we had a bit of shopping at the very end, too.

See how pretty a 'Chocolate' Christmas Lace Dishcloth can look? See, you don't have to stick to just red, pick your color and let the lace fly!

Add a bit of local beverage and some holiday chocolate and you're in business.

Enjoy the view from the back bedroom window.....before heading out for a trip to 'find' a yarn store when they forget to tell you that it's actually 'downstairs'....so at night you're driving around Harvard Square area over and over and get lost a bazillion times on the one way streets. Then you stop some ladies who were walking and ask if they know where Woolcott & Co. is. AHHHHHHHHHHH no..they say...then ask, you don't know where a yarn shop is? And then they point directly across the street from where you're standing and say..oh a yarn shop..well, it's right there! ahahahahahahah....oy! and by then you're tired, wet from the rain, and really glad they've never met you and will never know who you are!

However, once I scampered inside, I hit the jack pot! I had no idea they were having a 25% OFF sale in the store! I thought I'd been lucky to find solid sock yarn and size 4.0mm double points! I found out about the sale when I went to ring up the order, and didn't see that they threw in an extra skein of yarn (silky wool) until after I got back to my daughters! Now, how cool is that?

I am going to miss that window sill for taking pictures! Perfect lighting, and nice shelf space to lay my stuff. And the kiddo isn't a knitter! tisk tisk tisk...waste of a great sill I tell you!

The next day, I braved the 'wintry frozen' northeast and headed out the door. Oh wait, it was sunny, the snow was fairly well all melted..and it was warmer walking around outdoors than when I'd left Southern California! I got roasted in my jacket and scarf!

I went on the "T" for the second day in a row and it was so much easier than trying to find a place to park, or getting lost! I do believe, I love the 'T'. Even after the rain and the puddles.

I went past the old South Church...and it was sunny!

Found Newbury Yarns and had a wonderful visit with the lady who works there.

Found the Misti Alpaca that I truly wanted to sit and pet all the way home it is so soft! And a hank of Louet's Euroflax linen. Can't wait to try the Mason-Dixon Hand towel with that!

Pretty soon, it was time to head on over to the airport. But there was one last stop along the way. My favorite new place in the Boston area-why that would be Mike's Pastry! To quote Rachel Ray...YUMMO!!!!!!!!

See what I mean? HOLY COW! That is soooooooooooooooooooo good!

And they traveled well home, too! 6 hours by plane. And not a single one smushed!

Through the traffic....

Said good-bye to the sunny skies...and the cleared roads....

And made it to the airport early. Hugged the kiddo goodbye..and answered the cell phone after she drove off telling me to quit crying. I do believe she knows her mom!

It was about this point that I realized that I'd left my cane hanging on the railing of the building as I loaded my suitcases into the car for the airport. Brilliant, huh?

Guess what....pattern up next! See what happens on a 6 hour flight home? It's called..lots of knitting time! Call your Bloomington friends...it's nearly ready to post.

Quick update...

Now, doesn't a Tribble make this a complete set? I think so! In case you copied the pattern early..Row 25 was omitted from the towel pattern, it's been replaced. It should read: repeat row 21. Hope that didn't leave you scratching your head over this. Thank you Carol for catching that for me! If you guys ever find something else that needs to be fixed..please let me know! I appreciate all extra sets of eyes around here.

As for now, I'm trying to do the last few things around here, pack my bags and make it to the airport on time for this evening's flight. If you're on board, I'll be the one knitting! And of course, now that it's time to go home, the sun is in full force, the rain has disappeared, and the snow is just about gone. Figures---huh?

Stay tuned...more patterns on their way! Thank you for all the wonderful comments you have all sent to me. I'm having a blast with these!

Christmas Lace Dishcloth

Ahhhhhhhhh it's a 2 for 1 kind of day around here! Here's the companion Dishcloth to the Christmas Joy Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel that I just posted a few moments ago. Now, If Christmas isn't your thing, why not make it in another color? My youngest daughter loves browns, tans, and beige colors. I'll be making her one shortly in a chocolate brown to go with the KBB Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel set I gave her the other day. It's based on a pretty lace pattern that I found in a baby blanket pattern some years back. [ found the information! It came from Sweet Layettes to Knit by Carole Prior, specifically the Perfectly Pink sweater set] As soon as I remember the name of the book that it originated in, I'll post that name here as an update. I want to give proper credit! But, since this was for a Christmas set, I gave it my own name. Please feel free to pick your own colors and your own reasons for making this pattern. Don't feel limited by my choice of Holidays or by my choice of Lion Brand's Lion Cotton in Poppy Red. Now, all I need to do, is to make up a Tribble to go with this whole set. See? I told you they were addictive! and I've got just enough cotton left to do that. But, I wanted to get these patterns posted for you all to enjoy.

Christmas Lace Dishcloth
©Cathy Waldie, December 23, 2007

Lion Cotton, (US) 7 (4.5mm) needles
1.1 oz/32 g of cotton/ 58.8 yards/53.8 m in length to knit up.

C/O 34 sts

1-6) Knit for bottom border

Begin pattern

7) K3, *K3, K2 tog, YO * 5 times, K3, K3

8, 10) K3, P28, K3

9) K3, *K3, YO, Sl 1, K1, PSSO,* 5 times, K3, K3

11 – 50) repeat rows (7 – 10) for a total of 11 pattern repeats.

51-57) Knit for top border

58) B/O in P


Cut cotton, weave in ends, and steam block...and you're ready to pair it up for gift giving with the Christmas Joy Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel (pattern in previous post), or use it alone! (not to mention..you're now ready to do the dishes......)

Here's hoping that during these last few weeks of the year, you have the chance for a little time off with a whole lot of family and friends smothered in hugs! Hugs to you all!

Christmas Joy Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel

)

The other night when I was supposed to be packing my bags to head out to Boston to spend a few days with my daughter, I ended up charting and typing out 10 different patterns. This is the one that I worked out while flying from LAX to Logan. Now that it's all finished, blocked and has a cutie little snowflake (thank you Joann's for 50% off holiday buttons the other day!) stitched on, it's ready for it's grand entrance. Granted this might be a bit late for this year's gift giving, but we'll just say that it's early for next years patterns!

Once again, I've used the 5 oz skein of Lion Brand's Lion Cotton, in Poppy Red. I think it makes a great festive holiday red color. (OOOOOOOOOOOO, I'm now thinking as I type it would be a great color for that 'February' event as well. ) OK, back to the pattern. I have paired this towel with another Dishcloth called Christmas Lace, but I'll post that pattern separately, next.

Christmas Joy Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel

©Cathy Waldie, December 23, 2007

Lion Cotton, (US) 7, (4.5mm) needles

Sl 1 = Slip 1 stitch
K = Knit
K2tog = Knit 2 stitches together
P = Purl
YO = Yarn Over
Sl 1, K1, PSSO = Slip 1 stitch, Knit 1 stitch, Pass the slipped stitch over the previously knit stitch
Kfb = knit into the front and the back of the next stitch
C/O = Cast On
* * = repeat directions between the asterisks the number of times given

C/O 58 sts.

1-6) Knit 6 rows for bottom border.

7) K3, *K4, YO, Sl 1, K1, PSSO, * 8 times, K4, end K3

8 and even rows) K3, P52, K3

9) K3, *K4, K2tog, YO, * 8 times, K4, end K3

11-18) Repeat Rows 7-10, for a total of 3 times

19) K3, *K4, YO, Sl 1 K1, PSSO* 2 times, K28, *YO, Sl 1, K1, PSSO, K4* 2 times, K3

20, 22) K3, P34, K2, P16, K3

21) K3, *K4, K2tog, YO, *2 times, K28, *K2tog, YO, K4, * 2times, K3

23) repeat row 19

24, 26) K3, P33, K4, P15, K3

25) repeat row 21

27) repeat row 19

28) K3, P32, K2, P2, K2, P14, K3

29) repeat row 21

30) K3, P31, K3, P2, K3, P13, K3

31) repeat row 19

32) K3, P24, K3, P4, K3, P2, K3, P13, K3

33) repeat row 21

34) K3, P23, K5, P3, K3, P2, K3, P13, K3

35) repeat row 19

36) K3, P22, K7, P2, K3, P2, K3, P13, K3

37) repeat row 21

38) K3, P21, K3, P3, K3, P22, K3

39) repeat row 19

40) repeat row 38

41) repeat row 21

42) repeat row 38

43) repeat row 19

44) repeat row 38

45) repeat row 21

46) K3, P15, K4, P3, K7, P23, K3

47) repeat row 19

48) K3, P14, K6, P3, K5. P24, K3

49) repeat row 21

50) K3, P13, K8, P3, K3, P25, K3

51) repeat row 19

52) K3, P13, K3, P2, K3, P31, K3

53) repeat row 21

54) repeat row 52

55) repeat row 19

56) K3, P18, K3, P31, K3

57) repeat row 21

58) repeat row 56

59) repeat row 19

60) repeat row 56

61) repeat row 21

62) repeat row 56

63) repeat row 19

64) repeat row 8

65) repeat row 21

66) repeat row 8

67-74) repeat rows 7-10 for a total of 2 times

75) Sl 1, K28, M1, K29

76-78) Knit, slipping the first stitch

Begin decreases for the Towel Top.

79) Sl 1, K7, *(Sl 1, k2tog, PSSO), K7* 4 times, end, (Sl 1, K2tog, PSSO) K8. (49 sts.)

80, 82, 84, 86, 88, 90) Knit (slipping the first stitch)

81) Sl 1, K6, *(Sl 1, K2tog, PSSO), K5* 4 times, last 10 sts: Sl 1, K2tog, PSSO), K7 (39 sts.)

83) Sl 1, K5, *(Sl 1, K2tog, PSSO), K3* 4 times, last 9 sts: (SL1 K2tog, PSSO), K6. (29 sts.)

85) Sl 1, K4, *(Sl 1, K2tog, PSSO), K1* 4 times, last 8 sts: (Sl 1, K2 tog, PSSO), K5. (19 sts)

87) Sl 1, K3, (K2tog) 6 times, K3 (13 sts.)

89) (K2tog) 3 times, K1, (K2tog) 3 times. (7 sts.)

Tab Section of Towel Top

90-91) Knit, slipping the first stitch

92) Sl 1, K1, P3, K2.

93-106) repeat rows 91 and 92 of the tab section.

107, 108) Knit, slipping the first stitch

109) Sl 1, K1, P3, K2

110-123) repeat rows 108 and 109 of the tab section

124) Sl 1, K1, Bind off center 3 sts, K to end (4 sts) (creates buttonhole)

125) Sl 1, Kfb next st, Kfb next st, K1 (6 sts)

126) K2tog, K2tog, K2tog

127) Knit 1, K2tog, pass first stitch over. Pull tail through last stitch. Weave in ends, wet/spray block. Sew button into center stitches on tab decrease row #90.

Up next, the Christmas Lace Dishcloth pattern that I like to pair with this towel. Hope you're all finding something special at this time of year to celebrate, no matter which celebration you and yours enjoy! From our house to yours....Happy Holidays...all of them!

HO HO HO.....

So...how's your week coming along? Me....well...I got another Tribble done the other day..this one is going into my Mother's package that will be mailed at some point. I'm supposed to be packing right now. Well, I'll be finished here shortly...I promise. But, while doing laundry...and vacuuming..well, I kinda, sorta...a little bit....got sidetracked (what a shocker!)... OK, I was doing laundry out in the garage and I was looking for a 'particular' shade of blue. Why? 'cuz last night I stayed up and charted, wrote, and printed out 10 different new patterns.

Not only did I chart out a few more patterns, but in the process started collecting all the 'left overs' of cotton yarn as I went through my bins. See what I've found? Yep...those are 2 gallon bags there. 2. Not 1. And that would be 3 of them. I'm thinking there'll be Tribbles galore in the foreseeable future around here. Now, how many pots and pans do I have to wash if I make these?

Tribbles...tribbles...tribbles...

There are two ways to find the Tribbles...if you got to Ravelry, you can either search for them, or go to my page and click on my projects...once you there there, it'll give you a link that will take you to the ravelry page that says...Tribble by Abigail-1870pearl.


Or, you can Google Tribble Knit Pattern, like I did and come up with the link to the pattern... http://1870pearl.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/02/rubadubdub.html and that will take you to the blog 1870Pearl for the pattern.


I am loving this quick pattern....but one thing..I have been using my (US)7's(4.5mm) bamboo needles for this pattern. The original pattern is for (US)6's..but I generally like the fabric that my 7's give me.

More finished projects...

These little guys are amazing...I found the pattern on Ravelry, called Tribbles. Then I remembered that I'd heard about them a long time ago, but never got around to whipping them up. I won't forget about them again. The coolest part?

After knitting up these Dishcloths and Kitchen Hanging Hand Towels, I was able to knit up a matching Tribble for each of these sets and...

Still had a wee bit of yarn left over! I used a 5 oz skein of Lion Cotton for each of the sets. I love the fact that I could do a whole set of 3 out of one skein of yarn. Yippee! Can't wait to knock a few more things off my to-do list, so I can dive into my cotton left overs and knock these out quickly. They're sooooooooo fast..and soooooooooooooooo easy! And no more left overs that I have no clue what to do with!

Out of Lion Cotton, another KBB Dishcloth...unblocked here... to go with the KBB Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel I posted last week.

Then, added a Bridal Shower Lace Cloth out of the Jute colorway from Lily's Sugar 'n Cream...

To make this Kitchen set to wing over to my daughter in Boston..with luck she won't be looking here before Christmas. Yes, that's another tribble there out of the left over Jute color.

Don't you love that book, "Hat's On!" by Charlene Schurch? I have made a lot of patterns from there in the past. Here's another Classic watch Cap out of Ella Rae, 100% wool, Cherry colorway. I found this yarn from a LYS that is sadly closing for good this month. I've had many a great day knitting with the group over at Sit 'n Knit. Going to miss you ladies!

Rumor has it...

Rumor has it that there is a 'wee' bit of snow in Boston. How do I know? My daughter just spent the last 47 minutes on the speaker phone with me trying to help her stay calm while she made it home to her apartment. This morning it took her 20 minutes to get to work. However, it took her 4 hours and 38 minutes to get home. While giving her long distance snow driving tips on the ramps...I went online to look up the weather report. Funny, she's telling me about 4-5 inches of snow and hour, and the Weather Channel has it at only 70% chance of snow!

Mommy knitting while stressing over your kids, isn't fun. It certainly comes out all wonky. This was worse than when I was making her red and white scarf while she went skydiving! At least then, she was with 2 other sky diving instructors who had her safety as their priority!

Now, before I was aware of how fast it was coming down and the volume of snow in Boston, I not only got the Hail to the ... Dishcloths and Kitchen Hanging Hand Towels finished, but I got them all steam blocked as well. They certainly look much nicer all fixed up.

Hail to the ... Kitchen Hanging Hand Towels, Lion Brand Lion Cotton in both Sunshine and Navy. (US)7 (4.5mm) needles. Funny how using the same pattern and same pair of needles made these come out a bit different in size. All in the yarn, I tell you...all in the yarn.

Hail to the ... Dishcloths, also with the same Lion Brand Lion Cotton, Sunshine and Navy and (US)7 (4.5mm) needles. These take me 1 1/2 hours to knit up each. And one towel and one dishcloth can be made from one 5 oz skein of Lion Cotton. I just love the color of this Sunshine. It's the perfect shade of 'maize' for this set.

And the whole set ready for gifting now. Someday, I'm going to actually make a set to keep for me! Now, the daughter is home, out of the car, and in a warm place...I'm back to the needles! Heaven knows I'm not in the snow...so I have no excuse for not finishing a few more projects. Stay warm everyone! And stay safe.

Roll Out Sugar Cookies Recipe

When I was still in school back at home during the Michigan winters, Christmas time was a really big deal in the house. My mom would bake and bake and bake for days so that when we'd have Christmas dinner with the 33 of us in town, there were cookies allllllllllllll over the house! I'll bet she made more than 10 different kinds of cookies. And she never made just one batch of each kind. She made enough cookies for us, the family, cookie plates for each of our teachers, and quite often dinners for the Church Council, too.

Today, I'm going to give you the recipe for my Grandma's Roll-Out Sugar Cookies. So often we'd get plates of cookies with other Christmas shaped cookies that just didn't taste as good to us. We were spoiled. Grandma had a knack of finding recipes that were really good! This is no exception to that fact.



***Note, this recipe must be chilled ahead of time to make the dough cold. You could put it in the freezer, but I would recommend that you chill it overnight for the best results. The recipe says one hour, but if your refrigerator is opened as often as mine is at home, it's not going to be cold enough.

Roll Out Sugar Cookies

by Grandma Brown

3/4 C. Shortening (Crisco)
1 C. Sugar (white, granulated)
2 Eggs

1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 C. milk
3 1/2 C. flour (I use unbleached)

2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. salt


Mix dry ingredients together with a wire whisk. Add to wet ingredients and knead into a ball. Chill thoroughly before rolling out. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface and use ~3" cookie cutters. Transfer to an UNGREASED cookie sheets and bake in a preheated oven @ 400*F for 6-8 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

ICING:

3 C. Sifted Confectioner's Sugar
3/4 tsp. Salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbls. water or cream
mix all together as you need it. This will dry rather quickly, so use an assortment of colored sugars and other decorating choices for your holiday wishes.

While we generally keep this recipe for our Christmas baking, I have been known to make them for other holidays with different shaped cookie cutters. When my oldest daughter was in kindergarten, her class had many Valentine, St. Patty's day, Dreildels and other cookies at snack time with of this recipe. Just change your cookie cutters and the colors of decorations and you'll have a lot of hungry fingers reaching for more cookies.

On the knitting front...I just need a button for this KBB Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel

And this Hail to the ... Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel is well underway....

The knitting with datelines...is heading toward a finish line! How are you all doing with your deadlines? I thank you all for your comments about the blanket and the pasties. Just in case you're wondering...they were really good! Lip-smacking good! And a cookie to finish it off? YUMMY! Isn't this time of year really delicious? Happy Hanukkah for those of you who celebrate!

Challenge-day six: Done, Done, and Yum!

DONE!

DONE!

AND YUM!!!

Details: 3 1/2 skeins of TLC wiggles, 34" square finished size, NMCRS Basketweave Baby Blanket, V2, directions over on the left side of the page <<<------

5 year old hands hard at work making Christmas Cookies-my Grandma's recipe:





Pasty time! Beef on the left, chicken on the right...both are small sized. The large size was sold out!

And now, onto the rest of the list! KBB Kitchen Hanging Hand Towel in Natural, Lion Cotton.

Challenge-day five

I'm sitting here looking at this picture today, and it appears to be smaller than yesterday's picture. But, I promise you, it's not. I've completed 6 and 1/2 pattern repeats out of the needed 8 pattern repeats before completing the top border. We're getting closer!


But it bugs me that I've done this pattern in the past much faster than I've been able to complete my knitting lately. I'm thinking talking about HBO's recent U of M vs. Ohio State documentary last night 'might' have had something to do with the current chapter of slow down here. The blanket WAS on my lap, and my needles were at the ready...but I cracked up over the jokes during the ending credits. Well, let me rephrase that, some of the jokes. Wasn't so crazy over the Michigan cookie one, for obvious reasons.

Now, back to knitting! I want to make Christmas cookies this weekend! AND have a pasty!

Challenge-day four

We are on a roll here! See what no talking can do for me? Click, click, click...and we've gotten to just below the 60% level by 'just this much'. Gotta love Ravelry with all it's little gizmos to keep you from knitting. Ravelry and talking. They're going to get to me yet. Love 'em both, but APPARENTLY, they slow me down.

I am enjoying the comments you guys are all leaving here about my Mom. OY! If only you knew this lady with her proper ways of doing things. I'll have to let her know this weekend about the 'other' ideas you thought her Granddaughter bought for her birthday. She's going to do one of two things. She'll either blush terribly, or crack up laughing. Mom has always been so modest in her manner of dress, but she takes teasing pretty well. Yep, going to have to share this with her. Since she is computerless, she hasn't heard the comments, yet. I will get some pictures up soon of the pasties. Given time AFTER I get this blanket finished, I'll have to dig out the family recipe to make them. We have eaten a lot of these over the years-generally family style but the pictures you get first, will be the individual types. They are the most commonly known. I gotta say, it's really nice that some of you are getting hungry with all this food discussion going on, and it's just not me!

I have had several emails and comments about people knitting up my patterns. I'd love to be able to post pictures here if you send them to me! I find it interesting how you're making them your own with different choices in yarns. Who wants to second this idea? You email me the pictures with the bruinmom99@yahoo.com email address, and I'll post 'em right up here. Make sure, please to tell me in your email that you give me permission to post them, please. I think it would be fun to see how many different ideas you all have.

OK, OK, OK, now...I have some more waiting time today. I'm going to do my best to knit WHILE I talk. Heaven knows, I just can't not talk, but I'll attempt to let others have more words than I do while my needles are clicking along. Well, that is unless I'm asked questions where I have to explain something. I can multi-task quite well. You should have seen me 20 years ago when I was on a bowling league after my youngest daughter was born and was still a nursing baby. Now that, I tell you, was the ultimate in multi-tasking! Hey, they were going to make me miss my turn! Not.going.to.happen. I like my yarn, and I like my turns. ahahahahaha.

Send duct tape for my mouth if this doesn't work today. I need to get this blanket in the mail soon! Then, I'll see about getting my left ear unplugged...yesterday marked the 4 week mark I've been dealing with it. Not in pain, but annoying as all get out!

Challenge-day three

Like the little engine that could-I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...I'm still trudging away. Now, what's today's/yesterday's excuse? "Apparently" I talk too much! *Gasp! WHAT A SHOCKER!* ahahahaha...

While knitting in public yesterday during my 'waiting' time, a lady from across the room commented that she liked my knitting and wondered if I was making a sweater. Nope, a baby blanket for my Niece's first baby due on Christmas Day. By then she came over to touch and feel the blanket and gave her ooo's and ahhh's (*sigh, if only my kids would learn to do so well...) and added her compliments for the chosen yarn. She not only liked the color, but the bits of colors as well.


Now, with all the sitting on the fence that I've been doing about this yarn, that did it for me. I am now convinced that this will be a finished project in the very near future. So long as I don't stop to talk. Because while I can knit and watch TV, knit and go to the movies in the dark, knit and watch my kids' soccer games, or UCLA football games at the top of the Rose Bowl, watch baseball games and knit, or read the paper and books and emails while I knit...APPARENTLY, I can't talk and knit at the same time. *Sigh*....go figure! (did you hear my kids just roll their eyes and groan????)

Now, before I go hit the needles for today, I need to clear up a little something about my Mom's birthday. What she was given originated in Cornwall, England. They are properly called a Cornish Pasty or Cornish Pasties (plural). They are not the items worn by exotic dancers. I'll promise you she'd never do that! Now, to explain....As one of many Great-Granddaughters and Great-Grandsons of a Quincy Copper Miner, we all grew up on these things. (That also means we came from Yoopers) They are pastry filled meat pies that the miners took down into the mines for their dinners. My whole extended family (except for my kids...sheesh..where did I go wrong?????) love them! In fact, with the family loving them so much, Grandma and her four daughters started making them in deep dish pie plates and serving up wedges ala apple pie style rather than in individual servings. Traditionally they are made with beef, rutabagas and potatoes in the pastry and shaped like half circles and dipped in gravy. We grew up with a lot of ketchup on them rather than the gravy, but today I prefer BBQ sauce.

Near my house, is a place called the Pasty Kitchen which makes them in both beef and chicken. When my parents were younger and able to travel, they'd come out to see us every 6 months to make sure they spent time with their only grandchildren (at that time). Dad decided it would be 'too much' for me to make dinner that first day, so it became a tradition for him to run over and pick up dinner. (Personally, I think he didn't want to wait for dinner once he got off the plane with the 3 hour time difference.) For awhile they also made vegetarian pasties as well, but I haven't seen them lately. Guess they didn't go over so well.

Man oh man, am I getting hungry just thinking about them! So, I think what I'll do is to make that a goal for finishing up this blanket. Once it's done, I'll pick up a few and post pictures of them on the blog for you to see what they look like. (thought I had some pictures already, but I guess I deleted them-rats) To quote Rachel Ray...YUMMO!

(Dangit. I'm now really hungry!)