I live with my Giant Maso Mastiff, Sunny, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. I love to serve dinner out on the back deck, have a campfire with family and friends, and take my knitting, spinning or crocheting everywhere I go! Most of all, I love to bring some sunshine to another person's day and see them go on their way with a smile on their face!
They are Swedish Hasbeens, and I love, love, love them!
Since we are standing all day at work now, comfort has for the first time EVER been more important to me than style… but with these I have comfort AND style! Total Win/Win!
You know something else totally fabulous about these Hasbeens?
They will show off hand-knit socks really, really well!
I need to get started on a pair now, so they’ll be ready to wear when the weather starts turning cooler!
The only question is: Which socks to knit?! There are SO many gorgeous choices!
These Acorn Lace socks (knit by agentscarlet, pattern by Evelyn A. Clark; both on Ravelry) would be perfect for Fall!
I love Hermione’s Everyday Socks! Just pick a yarn you love and bam! Gorgeous socks! These were knitted by Dreamsinfiber, and the pattern is by Erica Lueder; also on Ravelry.
I’m also in love with these gorgeous stranded socks! They are the Stranded Knee Highs designed by Barb Brown from Vogue Knitting Fall 2010.
I’m also totally in love with ALL of the socks in the new Fall 2014 Issue of Sockupied! Here are just a couple of my very, very favorites…
I’ve mentioned before that blocking is not my favorite part of knitting…
…but it is an important part of finishing! It’s been said that blocking is to knitting like ironing is to sewing, and I firmly believe that to be true!
In order for your knitting to look its best, a good blocking is an absolute necessity.
So I recently scrubbed my bathtub good and clean and blocked a couple of large shawls that I had finished knitting a while ago but hadn’t forced myself to block yet!
Alpaca shawl going in for a soak!
Wool/silk blend shawl going in for a soak!
It was totally worth it because the stitches evened out and opened up, allowing the stitch patterns to be fully seen and appreciated!
Alpaca shawl drying on my living room floorWool/silk blend shawl drying on my living room floor
I always dread blocking, but I’m always so glad that I made myself do it after I’m done!
How do you feel/what do you think about blocking? Do you always do it? Never do it? Sometimes do it? Love it? Strongly dislike it?
I like to transfer my smoothie to my favorite cup-with-straw and enjoy with some fabulous knitting! (Although it didn’t quite work out that way this morning…) How you enjoy your smoothie is up to you!!!
African Flowers are beautiful, fun, and interesting to crochet! When I wanted to learn how to make them, I had a very hard time finding instructions / tutorials with both pictures and words. I hope the following is helpful to someone in similar circumstances.
Round One: Chain 5, join with slip stitch.
Round Two: Chain 3 (counts as first double crochet), double crochet in ring, chain 1; (2 double crochet in ring, chain 1) five more times. Total of six shells. Join with slip stitch to first double crochet.
Round Three: Chain 3, (2 double crochet, chain 1, 2 double crochet) in each chain 1 space from Round Two. Join with slip stitch to first double crochet.
Round Four: Chain 2, (7 double crochet) in each chain 1 space from Round Three. Join with slip stitch to first double crochet.
Round Five: Chain 1, (7 single crochet, 1 double crochet in the center stitch between petals from Round Three), repeat five more times, join with slip stitch to first single crochet.
Round Six: Chain 3, [3 double crochet (first side of petal), 1 double crochet, 1 single crochet, 1 double crochet (center of petal), 3 double crochet (second side of petal), 1 double crochet (between petals)] repeat around. Join with slip stitch to first double crochet. Cut yarn, leaving tail to weave in.
You can make lots of African Flowers and join them together to create a scarf, a bag, a throw… the possibilities are virtually limitless! What are you planning to make with your African Flowers?
When I was preparing for sinus surgery a few weeks ago, I thought, “Great! I’ll have lots of time for knitting during the weeks that the doctor told me I have to stay in and rest while I recover, right?!”
Wrong.
I have learned five things about knitting and recovering from surgery:
1) They put this gel stuff in your eyes to protect the corneas from scratches. I’m extremely grateful for this as I prefer that my corneas remain scratch-free! However, I learned that one should not expect to read or knit for several days after as the gel also makes it difficult to focus the eyes and it takes awhile for the gel to wear off.
2) Surgery has the general effect of leaving one deeply exhausted and in need of large quantities of sleep. Also, one gets tired very easily, needing to go back to sleep rather frequently. This depressing lack of energy leaves one with very little knitting time.
3) Effective pain medications intensify both of the above, and are a temporary necessity of life.
4) Patience is definitely a virtue, and I’m now looking forward to being recovered from surgery so I can get back to my knitting! Flexibility is also a virtue and sometimes we need to adjust our intentions/expectations to deal with reality. 🙂
5) I’m very grateful for Ravelry and Pinterest where I can appreciate the knitting of others while I’m practicing being patient and flexible! Here are a few finds that have been making me smile:
Gorgeous baby booties, pattern by Saartje de Bruijn available on Ravelry; these particular booties knitted by Leah. These are definitely going in my queue!
These Baby Bunny Booties made me squeal with delight when I saw them! They are definitely going into my queue in preparation for future nieces and nephews! Pattern by Sylvia Leake on Ravelry.
Baby Bunny Booties
How clever! Baby Mitts with no thumbs to worry about! These are definitely going into my queue! Designed by Susan B. Anderson, you can find them on Ravelry here, and the free pattern at spudandchloe.com (just scroll down the page a bit to find the Baby Mitts pattern).
I’ve recently become obsessed with hand knit washcloths, and these Vintage Hankie Washcloths by Julie Tarsha are too cute for words! I know just the friend to make them for!
Vintage Hankie Washcloth
I’ve never made a Tea Cozy before. Stinkymum on Ravelry has provided fabulous instructions on how to make a Proper English Tea Cozy! I definitely think its time I gave it whirl!
Proper English Tea Cozy
And someday (when I have all my energy back, of course!) I’m totally going to make the gorgeous Rona Lace Shawl by Anna Marie Jensen… I’ve never made a round shawl like this before and I’d love to learn how!
Rona Lace Shawl
What’s been making you smile lately? Please share in the comments, we’d love to see!
My friend Amanda, from work, introduced me to a delicious, delightful weapon against the deadly attack of the sugar craving!
Power Balls! They are super easy to make, very healthy, and satisfy my wish for a sweet treat quite thoroughly!
They also give a great boost of energy that lasts. Our co-worker, Kelly, shared the recipe for these with Amanda, who passed it on to me!
Here’s what you’ll need to make some Power Balls of your own:
3 Cups of oatmeal
1 Cup of peanut butter (the natural kind, with only peanuts, no other ingredients)
1 Cup honey (local raw honey is best)
1/2 Cup fresh ground golden flax seed (or 1/3 Cup ground whole flax seed*)
*I had whole flax seeds, so I used my Nutri Bullet blender to grind them before I did anything else. Grinding the flax seeds makes them easier for your body to digest, that way you can be assured of benefiting from all the nutrients available.
Mini chocolate chips or cacao nibs if desired
Bullet blender, oats, honey, peanut butter, and flax seed
Mix the peanut butter and honey together first,
Then add the dry ingredients because it makes a really thick mixture…
Then roll into balls…
Note: Your hands will likely get quite sticky while you are rolling the mixture into balls. Don’t worry about this. It will wash off very easily with soap and warm water.
Store in the refrigerator and enjoy at your leisure!
… and we all know what this means – Spring is Coming! In fact, it has already arrived! What a glorious thought! For anyone who has doubts, I even have proof!
Look at this…
I think these may be Hyacinths
And this…
Daffodils!
And this little guy…
I think this is one of the few Tulip bulbs to have survived the moles…
I got SO excited when I spotted this brave little guy already blooming away!
I think this is a variety of crocus
And then I nearly fell over when I came around the corner and found these beauties!
Crocus
So don’t worry guys! It doesn’t matter if it snows next week! Spring has arrived and Spring is tough as nails! A little (or a lot) of snow won’t scare Spring away – it’s here to stay! I don’t know about you, but that makes me really glad!
So glad in fact, that I couldn’t help casting on for a new Spring-time knitting project while I was sitting out on the back deck breathing the warm air, listening to the birds singing, and thoroughly enjoying this glorious morning!
Here’s a sneak peek…
What?! That doesn’t count? Okay, one more tiny peek…
That’s all for now! I’ll tell you all about it another time!
sarah inskeep designs 