Oh Nuts

This is the first pattern that I ever used when I first learned how to knit. And I am a little surprised that I still had the pattern. Because for a while I didn't know where I had put it and thought that I had thrown it out. But I found it again and it is being stored in my pattern binder along with the rest of them. While it might look a little disheveled now I still have the scarf that I made with this pattern. Although the label is from a Red Heart Super Saver yarn label I made my scarf with Lion Brand Homespun yarn. Even though it is a beginner pattern I thought I would share it here because it knits up really easy and looks pretty, so it will make great Christmas or birthday presents. Red Heart © Super Saver®: 3 ½ ounces 319 Cherry Red Knitting Needles: 5.5mm [US 9] Yarn Needle Gauge: 17 sts = 4"; 25 r = 4" in pattern. Check your gauge. Use any size needles to obtain the gauge. Cast on 22 stitches. K 2 rows. Now work as follows: Rows 1 & 3 (Right Sid...

Whenever possible I try to include a knit item in with the Christmas present that I give to the sibling that I have for that year. Two years ago I made a scarf for my sister to take with her to school, and last year I gave my other sister a pair of hand warmers that I made. This year my sister's friend T from school joined us for Christmas and was included in the sibling secret Santa and I picked her name. Since T is still in college I wanted to make sure that the presents that I gave her were light and easily transportable. So I decided to make her a hat using pretty yarn that I had found on sale at Jo-ann Fabrics earlier in the year. After finishing the hat, and including a pom-pom on top since my mom and sisters said it finished off the hat, I used the rest of the yarn to make a coordinating ear-warmer/headband. The pattern that I used for the hat is called "Horizontal Rib Hat" and I found it in a knitting book called 'Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders.' For the ...

I honestly don't remember exactly when I came up with the idea for this project, but once it showed up it didn't want to leave. Part of how this project came to me is that I had purchased the wood at Michael's for something else that ended up not working with the piece. Since I had already removed the packaging I couldn't return it so I had to think of something else to use it for. The picture I took and used. Again I don't remember how I exactly thought of this but I went with it anyhow. But since we have multiple stencils with the alphabet in different fonts on them I grabbed them out of the draw that they are stored in and then picked the one that I liked the best. After I traced the words onto the wood I plugged in the wood burner that we have and went to work burning the letters. With the wood burner it didn't take that long to do the letters and I like the way that they turned out. Before I actually did the letters I used a heart stencil on the ba...

This blanket started out as an idea that I based off of something similar that a friend of mine did. And the thought for this blanket came to me on Halloween of last year (2017) and I went with it though it took a little bit longer to actually form into a physical blanket. Since I wanted this to be a surprise for my sister and her husband, I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it all myself. So I enlisted the help of my grandma and some friends to make some squares for the blanket. I also made a bunch for the blanket as well don't worry ;). Originally it was supposed to be finished in time for my sister's bridal shower back in April, but that didn't happen. The day before the shower I went over to my grandma's house to start sewing the squares together so that my sister wouldn't be able to see it. As my grandma and I were laying out the squares that we had on the table, we both realized that we needed to add another row of squares as well as make several...

Back in September, I wrote a post on one of my many knitting projects, with this particular project being a Ten Stitch Blanket that I am making from balls of yarn left over from previous projects, etc. Well, today I was able to get more yarn, for free, for the blanket so that I can continue to add to it. <---- The stash for the blanket with the new yarn added to what I still had on hand. As you can see from the picture I have a lot of yarn for this blanket, and that is not counting the couple of balls that I had already set aside to use once I am finished with the purple that I am adding to the blanket. I may have mentioned this group once or twice before but at the library across from my house there is a small cafe inside of it and once a week on Wednesdays, they meet there twice from 9-12 and 5-8 to knit, crochet, embroider, etc. And once a year they have what they call a Stitch-In and what it is is one Saturday in May, which happened to be today, they get together from ...

This knitting project came about when Aaliyah said that she had a hard time getting warm. Since we always pick a sibling to get a present(s) for Christmas, instead of getting presents for 8 people, I got Aaliyah as my person and I decided to make her a pair of hand warmers. I created my own pattern using ideas from other patterns, that I found on Ravelry. Cast on 36 stitches using the long tail method*. Row 1: knit all the way across  Row 2: K3, P3 all the way across Repeat these two rows until you reach your desired length then bind off. I made them 7 1/2 inches long. Repeat pattern to make a second one. I made these using straight needles and used the tails that I left at both ends to sew up the edges. But it is super easy to make these on double pointed needles if that is what you prefer. And I used a size 8 needle, unfortunately, I don't remember the brand name of the yarn that I was using. *If you don't know how to do the long tail cast on method, whic...

Back in August I wrote a post about how I was testing out yarn dyeing . Since it wasn't the right kind of yarn, it didn't retain a lot of the dye. Several Weeks ago a friend and I stopped in Hobby Lobby for a few minutes and we were over in the yarn section and I discovered that they were selling skeins of dye-able yarn. Even though I really don't need more yarn I bought a skein to try dyeing again. This time I tried kool-aid instead of Wilton food coloring. This time around, instead of heating the coloring/yarn combo in the microwave, I tried the dip-dyeing method. When I was looking for a dyeing method I just put it in Google and then found a set of instructions that I liked for dyeing the yarn. I used Black Cherry kool-aid, the sugar free kind, and I used five packets, and I like how the color turned out. Since I used the stove-top method for dyeing yarn it had to cool down to room temp before it could be rinsed out. At Wal-Mart the kool-aid packets are 24¢ each,...

At the end of January I picked up a skein of Red Heart Green Tones yarn and decided to use it for a project that I will be starting. The yarn color and something that my mom said inspired me to make shamrocks for the current knitting project that I am working on. So off course I started looking around on Pinterest for an easy pattern for knitting shamrocks and the pattern that I am using can be found on the site Studio Knit . Since St. Patrick's day is just under a month away you can knit or crochet up a couple shamrocks to add to your outfit or to carry around so that you have some green and don't get pinched. Even though I don't crochet there are patterns for shamrocks as well. The yarn that I used to make the shamrocks is the yarn that I dyed back in August. Here is a picture of the shamrocks that I have made. picture by me I don't know what brand of yarn I used for this because I got it for free and it didn't have the label with it. When I made it I us...

Because a 120 letter word would be a bit hard to remember how to spell correctly all of the time, there typically aren't any words that long. And no this isn't a crossword puzzle. Instead this is a post on one of my favorite topics: knitting!!!!!! Since I have a lot of yarn sitting around and collecting dust, I wanted to make something with it. After thinking about it and looking at the color options that I have, I decided to make a relatively neutral colored baby blanket. When finished I plan on giving the blanket away, though I don't know to who to give it to yet. The name of this post came about because I am creating my own pattern for this blanket. I love the way that the stockinette stitch looks, but hate how the edges usually curl under when finished, so I am creating a border for the blanket by doing the rib stitch around the edges to keep the blanket from curling under. The way that I am doing the blanket is that it is 120 stitches across, the length is current...

The picture to the left is a picture of all of the knitting needles that I own. Also fetures is a kitting gague, which I haven't ever used, a cable needle, a stitch holder, and place markers. Not pictured are the point protectors and yarn needles that I own. Lately I have been thinking of starting another knitting project, even though February is almost over and we are getting closer to spring. So this evening I pullef out my bag of knitting needles and started organizing them all on the floor. That was when I got the random idea to do a blog post on them. The first pair of size 8 needles that I got, not pictured, were given to me by my grandma years ago. My grandma also gave me a pair of size 10 circular knitting needles. My grandma taught me how to knit, though we use to different styles. Since then I have added more needles to my collection. So far I have only bought two sets of needles out of the 18 sets of needles that I own. I bought a set of double pointed needl...

Here is the story behind the pillows that I was making, that I said I would tell here. Middle Picture: the original idea. Right and Left Pictures: The pillow cases It all started back in January when I decided to knit a blanket for one of my cousin's who had just gotten engaged. After looking for the right yarn and Michael's, and Wal-Mart, I found fluffy white and black yarn at Hobby Lobby that I decided to use. Once I got several balls of yarn I started working on the blanket. The first blanket pattern I used wasn't turning out like the picture that came with the pattern, I think that was because I wasn't reading the pattern correctly. So I decided to ditch that pattern and start over with a different pattern. After five tries and a lot of tears, hand cramping, and frustration, there wasn't really any tears I just thought it sounded good, I gave up on trying to make anything with the yarn. It was a pain in the neck to use and by the fifth try it wasn...

Well it's actually only one ball of yarn and I just took a couple pictures to share here. I originally wasn't going to post at all this week, but then I changed my mind.  The idea behind my ball of yarn came off of Pinterest, like the majority of the things that I mention on here. A while ago, as I was scrolling through Pinterest, I came across a pin that showed you how to turn the scraps of yarn into one big ball without having to tie knots. So I saved it and decided to give it a try not to long ago. Well I couldn't figure out how to do it like how it was being shown in the picture, so I gave up and started tying a bunch of knots in the yarn. As I kept going and finding more yarn to add on, the ball ended up turning into what is seen in the pictures. Now that I am pretty much finished with adding yarn I have no idea on what I am going to do with it. I had thought of using it for a blanket, but I don't know if there is enough yarn for that. Not to mention ...

--1-- I finished the pillow last week. According to my siblings the pillow is the first project that I have finished in a while. It is only like that because I was trying to make a blanket with yarn that was really hard to use and figure out. And I already started working on the second pillow and I will post one or two pictures when I remember too do so. The yarn that I am using for the second pillow reminds me of cotton candy. --2-- School is going good so far. This week and last week I just had my speech class and starting on this coming Tuesday my two online classes are starting. One of my online classes is a continuation of a class that I took back in the spring, so it shouldn't be that hard and the second online class is just learning about the ins and outs of Microsoft Word. One thing that I like about my Speech teacher is that she has been doing activities in class that help us with listening.  --3-- A couple weeks ago I was at the library in town and ...

Since January I have been working on and off on knitting a blanket. Currently I am on try number 5 for this blanket and hopefully I will be able to finish it with the pattern that I am using for it. Tries 1 thru 4 involved knitting it with a couple different patterns and trying to crochet it. I only tried crocheting because I was bored one morning and didn't know what to do so I decided to teach myself, by watching you-tube videos, but it ended up not working out. So now I am back to kitting the blanket again. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of my past attempts but I did take pictures of the yarn being done into balls. My brothers were very helpful and willing in the winding endeavor. Look the end is in sight! the finished balls This is currently what the blanket looks like right now, and hopefully it will stay that way. Back in March I had acquired a boot box from Payless and decided to save it and paint it so that I could use it to put a gift in. I had...

As usual I was scrolling through Pinterest when I saw something that caught my eye. What caught my eye was a pattern for a Doctor Who scarf!!!!!! Of course as soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted to try and make it. Though I decided that I would at least attempt to finish two of my three current knitting projects first before I went and did this.

While I am not working on them all in the same day I have three different knitting projects going on at the moment. The first project that I started making was a blanket and I started working on that over a year ago. Project number two is a rug. This one only came about because one day I randomly decided that I wanted to give t-shirt yarn a try since I had a bunch of old t-shirts laying around. The last project is a pair of hand warmers for TJ because he asked me to make him a pair. Because it is the smallest project and the easiest to transport the hand warmers will be the first project that I finish.

In preparation for winter and chillier weather in general I made another scarf. The yarn that I used for this project was spun and dyed by my friend Elena.  I could have made the scarf longer, but I ran out of yarn before I could. So it could work for a smaller child, though Julie makes a wonderful model for the scarf.  Or, as I decided the other night after I finished making the scarf, you could use it under your coat without having to deal with a longer scarf.  Now that I am done with this project I can go back to working on the blanket that I have been knitting since last year.

I was originally going to do a post about the really cold weather that we are having but then I changed my mind. Since you have probably heard me talk about making this hat for a little while now I have decided to share the finished project. The hat pattern that I used can be found here and the flower pattern can be found here .

Even though I won't be able to make it to the March for Life this year I think everyone who is going should do this!