Five Golden Rings

On the fifth day of Christmas

my true love sent to me,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

And I had an itching to knit on my Inishmaan sweater! This is the Alice Starmore sweater I am working on for the Mara KAL. As you may recall, I am focusing on UFO's throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas and trying to get them finished up so I can enter 2009 unburdened by lingering projects.

There is no possible way I can finish this sweater during the Twelve Days of Christmas however, I can get the front finished which was my December goal. This sweater is supposed to be completed for the knitalong by mid-February.

The MUM Organizes Her Mind

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas behind me and the New Year before me, I've had time to slow down, take my thoughts captive and ponder the year. "Taking your thoughts captive", have you ever contemplated that? This is something I continually tell myself and encourage others to do. Have you ever considered that, by changing a negative thought into a positive one, you can get a whole new perspective about your life and your surroundings? It has taken me a lifetime to learn this and I continue to grow in this area. It's been a hard journey since I tend to over analyze things and look at the cup as half-empty instead of half-full.

My plan is to have a more organized life in 2009 and the first step in doing so is to organize my thoughts and clear some mental clutter. I know that 'clutter', whether it is physical or mental, tends to drain my energy and make me feel overwhelmed. When I am feeling overwhelmed then I start to think I cannot possibly accomplish the things I need to get done and that results in the "P" word - procrastination.

This Weeks Goals

Get a minimum of seven hours of sleep per night.

A little tough while my nurse-daughter is living with us because she works the night shift and wants me to stay up late with her on her nights off.....REALLY late.

Start my day by jotting down a reasonable To Do list.
The key word here is 'reasonable' since I have a tendency to set lofty goals, far more than one can get done in a day.....that is, and still knit!

Start writing in my journal again.
I love reading my old journals but I have been far too sporadic in my writing through the years. This is something I highly regret. This year I will write but not feel pressure to write in it every day.

Have daily quiet times of meditation and prayer.
I don't have a struggle scheduling quiet times to read and study my Bible because I find great comfort and guidance in it. However, this year I would like to spend more time meditating and praying which requires that I don't let the pressing duties of life cut this short.

Schedule time to exercise.
This has been very difficult lately since I have a recurring ankle injury. I need ideas on how to continue exercising in a non-aerobic way, perhaps yoga. And, I know I need to do some weight bearing exercises for my bones.

Schedule time for just "me".
Of course, since I do not work outside my home and since my children are grown, I have more free time than most do but I would like to start going to my LYS to knit with other knitters and develop some knitting friendships.

Eliminate energy drainers in my life.
Clutter control! Unfinished knitting projects! Unfinished scrapbooks!

Take control of my time.
And I when I seize control of my time I would also like to be a good steward of it. I will set goals and then break them into doable daily To Do's.

I've been contemplating ways to cut back on the amount of negative information and images that I let come into my mind. One avenue that has worked for me in the past is to be selective about television, movies and books. Have you ever read a book and certain characters in the book reminded you of someone you knew? Then, before you knew it felt angry towards the real-life person? Or, have you watched a violent movie and then went to bed with fear in your heart or had a nightmare? But another way I can limit negative influence is through the internet. Something I've noticed recently is that there are many blogs out there filled with complaints, gripes, profanity and other negative information. Now, I know we have the privilege of free speech to express ourselves, and I respect that, but I have decided that reading these blogs is not necessarily healthy for me. As I've read them, I've often thought of something Dale Carnegie once said, 'If you want to gather honey, don't kick over the beehive'.

Unfortunately, I've kicked over a few beehives this year. The consequences have been ones of growth for me and, even more fortunately, the beehives have been kicked over on people who love me and are willing to work through conflicts. I'm resolving to be more positive this year and less critical in the lives of all those I know.

Criticism is futile because it puts a man on the defensive and only makes him want to justify himself all the more. Have you ever noticed that? It is also dangerous because it wounds and arouses resentment. I don't know why it has taken me so many years to figure this out and, this year was the one that finally brought it home to me, again. Seriously, how many years does it take one to learn a lesson?

Buzzzzzzzzz......beehives.........resolving to have a positive influence on your lives in 2009!

Four Calling Birds

On the fourth day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

And I remembered a pair of LIZZY SOCKS I started for a family member because the pattern reminded me of her. I've lost motivation to work on them but maybe using some bright fuschia double point needles will make it a bit more fun. If not, these may end up in the frog pond because I'm really not enjoying the Wildfoote Yarn.

Three French Hens

On the third day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

however, I wasn't thinking of French Hens but Cat Mittens.................

The verdict is still out on these. They may be frogged on December 6th because they are a wee small. The pattern is fun but I think it may work better with a sportweight yarn instead of a fingering weight yarn, we'll see.

Two Turtle Doves

On the second day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree..............

And I remembered that I once was very excited about watching the clues unfurl for the Socktoberfest Mystery Sock and somehow got distracted from finishing that second sock! I'm picking it up once again on the second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas..........

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the first day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me

A partridge in a pear tree......

And while he was doing that, I resumed knitting the MAD WEAVE SOCKS with the yummy Lorna Laces sportweight yarn.

12 days to work on unfinshed projects!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

I have almost finished my Christmas knitting. I'm down to one extremely large sock for my husband's extremely large foot and when I finish it I will be done, done, done!

There has been little time for knitting the languishing projects on my needles that I promised myself would be done-or-frogged by December 31st. When I saw the Twelve Days of Christmas KAL on the UFO Ravelry group I immediately decided to give myself a grace period for finishing those unfinished projects. I joined immediately.

Starting December 26th and the eleven days thereafter, you are to focus on unfinished projects and not cast on anything new. Twelve days of getting those needles free so that we can enter 2009 afresh! Perfect! Can you envision how wonderful that will be? Come join me! It is only twelve days of focused knitting...........

Knitting Technique: Chain Selvedges

The Noro Scarf is finished and somewhere along the way I learned a new way of knitting a chain selvedge. When I first started knitting this scarf I was not pleased with the way the selvedge was coming out. Neither side was uniform. It looked a bit wonky.

So, I set out to ask everyone I saw knitting the scarf if they were having similar problems and received several different suggestions. Then, I went to the Brooklyntwed Ravelry group and read several other opinions about the wonky selvedge edges. Wondering why so many people had varying techniques to achieve the same result of a uniform selvedge edge, I pulled out my trusty knitting reference books. I read everything I could find on chain selvedges.

In these books I learned that there are several ways of obtaining the same result. The one that worked like a charm for me was the following method:

• Right-side rows: slip knitwise first and last stitches
  
• Wrong-side rows: purl first and last stitches.

I block my scarves by putting them in a zippered sock bag and washing them in cold water on the delicate cycle of my washing machine. If I have Eucalin around, I use it but if I don't have any I use Woolite. Then I put my puzzle foam pieces together for the length I need (I love these things) and pin them to the shape and length I want.

Both scarves are for my newlyweds and are on their way to Tennessee. By the way, the second scarf is the Yarn Harlot's One Row Scarf made with Malabrigo yarn. It is for my daughter. The Noro scarf is for my new son-in-law. And while I'm giving you all the pertinent facts I might as well tell you that my very favorite needles for knitting scarves are the 9" Takumi needles by Clover. I have sizes ranging from US 5-9 and they rest in a jar that one of my daughters decorated when she was a little girl, priceless to me now.

Holiday Baking

My mouth has been watering this week as I've read many of your blogs about your holiday baking. I've copied down a few of your recipes for my own baking.

This week I got a very well known catalog in my mailbox that I suspect a few of you also received. You may recognize this cover. I'm not telling you which one it is but,..................would any of you knitting bakers out there have a recipe similar to this one? If you don't, I'm heading down the mountain to stock up on a few tins of this delicious peppermint bark.

An Elf Makes An Elfin Scarf

Like many of you, I have been a busy little elf knitting Christmas presents. It doesn't look like I'm going to make the deadline on a few of them having not factored into the knitting-timeline-equation that most presents have to be mailed this year. How many Christmas Eves have you stayed up late trying to finish that one special gift? Guess I won't this year. Guess someone will get a post-Christmas package or two. Bummer. But, I did finish my mom's Elfin Scarf late last night and will share it with you (Merry Christmas, Mom!).

My mom? She loves anything that I make for her just because I took the time to make it with her in mind. You know how moms are! How many things have you hung on your tree this year that your kids made for you that are rather silly looking? You treasure those items forever just because your kid made it for you with you in mind, right? There is quite a bit of love that goes into something made with ones hands and there are memories you have of the recipient knit into each stitch. Wouldn't you agree?

This Elfin Scarf combined with the Elfin Hat are a perfect hat/scarf combo but mom doesn't do hats, unless she is skiing. I would consider this pattern more of a muffler than a scarf although I'm not sure that word is used anymore. The scarf is only 42" long and is perfect for those who don't necessarily want to mess with a scarf but do want to have a warm neck.

I used Malabrigo which made it ohhhhhh.....so soft! I want one for myself and will most definitely be knitting and Elfin Scarf for myself in 2009. Another great thing about this pattern is that it is reversable and both sides look pretty much the same (if you don't look too close). I think the stitch pattern resembles crochet. For those interested, the pattern can be found in the Fall 2007 Interweave Knit magazine.

This elf must get back to some more Christmas knitting, baking and decorating. Did you notice in one of the pictures that my tree is up but has nothing on it?

How Does My Garden Grow?

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Do you remember that nursery rhyme? I have a garden, too. My garden is a Noro Silk Garden and it is growing. When I knit my husband the Noro Striped Scarf last year for Christmas, I KNEW I would be knitting it again. For who? For me! I spent the summer combing the internet to locate the exact colors that Jared used in his infamous Noro Striped Scarf. I found the most obscure skein from a Raveler and made her an offer she couldn't refuse and she accepted it.

Although Jared says he holds no claim to designing this scarf, he most certainly has influenced its massive production. As I write this post it is the second most popular scarf on Ravelry. There are 2,390 projects in 2,519 queues!

Why is this scarf so popular? Why does it mesmerize so many knitters? I think partly due to a rapture of colors. The subtle color transitions in the Noro Silk Garden are spectacular. When you alternate two different dye lots in this simple ribbed scarf you find that you are addicted to watching the mystery colors unroll. The yarn itself is wonderful. Silk Garden is an Aran 10-ply silk, mohair, wool blend and is ever so soft.

My Noro Scarf is restricted knitting designated to be knit only as I read through blogs. Up until I started this project my blog reading had suffered serious decline. But now you will find me lurking around YOUR blog and checking Bloglines more frequently to see if anyone has posted.

So, how long will my Noro Striped Scarf be? Well that, my friend, depends on how frequently YOU post on your blog.

My Shepherd

I am speaking at a ladies' Christmas church function on Saturday and my topic is 'Why a Shepherd?'

I've been spending lots of time this week researching sheep and shepherding. I've selected special music to accompany the devotion and happened upon this beautiful song by Michael Card, one of my favorite musicians. I wanted to share it with you although I know many of you do not share my faith. For those who do, I hope you enjoy it!

Personal Sock Club 2009

This morning I read about the Ravelry Stash Knit Down 2009 group on Theresa's blog. The plan this year is to knit 100 balls of yarn. I did a quick calculation in my mind of all the upcoming projects I have planned and realized that this is a goal within my grasp. So, I hopped on over to Ravelry and saw some great sub-groups to cheer this endeavor on.

The Personal Sock Club 2009 really grabbed my attention because I have way too much sock yarn that has been accumulating through the years and far too many patterns that I have longed to knit. Unfortunately, those patterns never get attention because I've been focusing on whatever challenge Socknitters Anonymous has going on for each month. This has left me with little time to knit the patterns that I have bookmarked.

Now, don't get me wrong - Socknitters Anonymous has exposed me to several designers that I would not have known about had I not been participating. But the negative side of that exposure is that the designers I love get no attention at all from my pointy sticks.

The idea behind the Personal Sock Club is that you package up in a brown paper bag a sock pattern with accompanying yarn and staple the top. You do this for each month of the year and then select a 'mystery bag' each month. I like this idea. You KNOW you will like the sock and you are knitting down that massive stash!

I spent the morning combing through patterns I have printed off and sock books and came up with fourteen pairs of socks that I MUST knit this year. Then I picked stash yarn for each pattern and packaged them all up together. Thirty-two balls of yarn all in brown bags ready to go for 2009! I am going to call this Brown Bag Mystery Socks. Mix them up! I'm ready to go come January 1, 2009.

Now I'm off to figure out the other sixty-eight balls of yarn. Which ones will make the cut?

Monkey Stitch Marker

In ages past I have hosted several Monkey Sock Swaps that have been tons of fun. We knit and exchange Cookie A.'s Monkey Sock and throw a few monkey items in the package for kicks. I love receiving gifts and generally could never wait to get home to open the package properly with camera in hand. Instead, I ripped into the package then and there.


This past week the husband and I drove down to Texas to visit my family for Thanksgiving. We almost always fly because it is such a long, boring drive but on this occasion we drove. I spent two days packing up several knitting projects, six to be exact. I always spend more time packing the "fun" things and sometimes end up unprepared in the area of clothing when the climate changes wherever I'm visiting. But, when faced with three long days in the car six projects sounded reasonable.



As I was lifting up the seatbelt to get back into the car on one of our rest stops, my eye caught the eye of a teensy monkey face staring back up at me from under the car seat. What the heck? To my surprise it was an adorable monkey stitch marker that could have only come from a monkey sock package. One of my six monkey pals must have given it to me and in my avarice of tearing into wrapping paper it must have fallen out! Imagine my delight in finding him!

Now I really must find out WHO gave this to me! Does it look familiar to anyone? Isn't it just the cutest little stitch marker? Please let me know so I can thank you properly!

Mittens with CATS

After seeing Kathy's lovely Moose Loves Roses Mittens, designed by Jorid Linvik, I went in search of Jorid's patterns on Ravelry have been completely smitten by her mitten designs!





This pattern is called Mittens and Hats with CATS and I couldn't resist casting on last night. I found the pattern very addicting and hope to share a completed pair of mittens with you in a few days.



I'm knitting the mittens using stash sock yarn and 2.5mm needles. They are a little snug but that suits me just fine. My hands are on the small side and I almost inevitably struggle with mittens and gloves that are too large.

Sockdown: November!

I tried to knit TOE UP SOCKS for the November Sockdown Ravelry. Really, I did. Unfortunately, I just did not enjoy the process and decided that knitting socks this way was just not for me! So, my Kaffe Fassett yarn is in the process of being knit into some plain vanilla socks and I've cast on with different yarn for the November Sockdown Ravelry challenge. Taking on the challenge of knitting a slip-stitch pattern, I chose the MAD COLOR WEAVE pattern by Tina Lorin.

After choosing the pattern, I happened to be reading blogs and saw Pat's beautiful version using Lorna Laces Sportweight. She told me they knit up pretty quickly on 2.75mm needles so I thought that would help me with the time crunch!

I had a bit leftover from my Baby Surprise Jacket and will order another skein. This yarn is wonderfully soft!

Lucky Penny Coat

Last Sunday afternoon I knit my teacup poodle, Snooks, a little indoors dog sweater.
He wasn't much in the mood for a photo shot this morning as he lay snug in his bed. The best I could do was to get him to stand up momentarily but he wasn't about to let me pose him in any more pictures.
The husband told me that when he took Snooks outside in sub-freezing temperatures to take care of business, the pooch looked at him like, "Why didn't she make this sweater any longer! It's too short!" I informed the hubby that it was an indoor sweater and was supposed to be short. The daughter thought the sweater looked a little effiminate for a boy dog and I reminded her that Snooks is a teacup poodle and most people don't even consider him a dog!


I personally think the pooch really likes the comfortable armholes. And, who would not love this yummy Lorna Laces Worsted yarn, even if you are of a canine variety?

By the way, this is the Little Penny Sweater from Doggie Knits by Corinne Niesnerr.

Sockdown OCTOBER and NOVEMBER

What's this? TWO tales of the Sock Knitters Anonymous Challenges going untold? With my recent sweater obsession my socks have gone neglected and unfinished. The November Sockdown Ravelry Challenge is underway and I still have not finished the challenge from October! And, I might as well confess that my pair of October Mystery socks have gusset stitches to be picked up! I really need to get all three pairs finished this by the end of the month. Fortunately, I will have a road trip to Texas in a couple weeks with lots of time to knit in the car.


The October sock challenge was to pick a Stephanie van der Linden pattern. This is a new designer for me. The minute I saw the Lizzy pattern I thought of my daughter Jennifer and knew the socks would be destined for her feet. I'm not sure if it was the celtic lace knotwork or the 'whiteness' of the legs on the model. Or perhaps it was because the sock on the model was knit in her favorite color, blue, and I remembered some blue yarn I had bought for her when I first started knitting. Whatever it was....these Lizzy socks will be for Jen-Jen.

Pattern: Lizzy by Stephanie van der Linden
Yarn: Brownsheep Wildfoote in Peasant Blue
Needles: 2.25mm

The Loopy Ewe had a sale on Regia yarn last weekend and I jumped at the opportunity to purchase some Kaffe Fasset yarn. I always love his colors and this 'Canyon' colorway is no exception. Isn't it lovely?

Because I did not want to obscure the colors I decided this needed to be a plain vanilla sock. Then, I remembered that Wendy D. Johnson was one of the designers we could choose for the November Sockdown Ravelry. Having read her blog for several years, I knew Wendy to be a a toe-up girl so I picked one of her basic toe-up patterns. This one will have a gusset.

Here is the start of a toe! It is always exciting to learn something new, isn't it? BTW, did I mention that I started the My First Toe Ups group several Socktoberfests ago to learn how to knit toe-ups? That blog isn't very active anymore because we have a group on Ravelry. With the hustle and bustle of managing the participants, I never learned.

Now I have a question for YOU - which method do YOU prefer? Cuff down or toe up? If you are a toe-up fan can you tell me why you prefer this method?

Mara KAL

The MARA Yahoo Group started a Fall/Winter KAL a couple weeks ago. Participants could pick any pattern from Alice Starmore's Fisherman Knits book, one of her few books still in print. I have missed several other knitalongs with these nice ladies and have regretted it. I've generally had 'something on the needles' and couldn't justify casting on another project. Well, it has only taken me a few years to realize that if I hadn't done this I would now have a lovely Marina sweater, Mara sweater and Oregon sweater in my wardrobe!

I have long admired the Inishmaan sweater design and knew this would be my pattern choice for the knitalong. I am thouroughly enjoying knitting this sweater. In fact, I'm forcing myself to put it aside every day to work on other knitting projects. I've never enjoyed a pattern this much and don't think I will have any problems finishing this by mid-February.

The Starmore patterns are incredibly well designed and this one is no exception. I love the ribbing on this one and how the little honeycomb cable extends up into the sweater body. The cables have been easy to memorize with the exception of the center cable.

I'm giving myself a special treat tonight as I watch the election returns and devoting myself fully to this lovely Inishmaan!