Isla Mujeres Mexico

I'm back from my fabulous vacation at

Isla Mujeres, Mexico -

a beautiful island 30 min. ferry ride from Cancun.

Portals to the Self: A Woman's Circle by the Sea

I stumbled across this small yarn shop.....

met the beautiful Cecilia and her

children on the beach

and visited the Mayan Women's Beading Collective.

ON VACATION

I AM GOING TO BE

in Isla Mujeres, a tiny island off the Yucatan coast in Mexico for

YOGA, RELAXATION, WOMEN'S RETREAT, SUN, BEACH, SHOPPING and

I'm delivering beads to a group of Mayan women and their small beading collective.

SEE YOU IN APRIL !!!!

Clapotis in progress

Gedifra California Color
How much?
8 skeins = 840.0 yards (768.1m)
Size 8 needles

Clapotis is the winner of the "What to make next?" question.

I'm using yarn from my stash !! What a great project.

Very fun to knit and

the online spreadsheets at

soulknitting.blogspot.com are extremely helpful.

Wish me luck !!

What to make next???

Inspired at my recent guild meeting.....what to make next??

REVONTULI Northern Lights Shawl

in Evilla 100% wool

OR

the one and only CLAPOTIS with Crystal Palace Panda Silk DK

CAST YOUR VOTE !!

For those of you who know me, I can't wear wool, so the clapotis in the silk looks and feels the best. But the shape of the Revontuli is nice and covers up alot! Which is easier? Both have charts and neither one uses anything in my stash !!

Field Trip !!

I'm looking forward to visiting the following two places in nearby Canton, Ohio with my knitting friends

Kimono as Art Exhibit

Yarnia - Yarn Shop and Cafe

Free Baby Blanket Pattern

KNITTING FOR CHARITY.ORG

I am making a baby blanket from one skein of

LION BRAND "POUND of LOVE" in color pastel green.

Here's an easy pattern for the baby blanket pictured here:

BRICKY BLANKIE

Size 8 needles, appox. 1 pound worsted weight yarn

Gauge: Doesn't matter

CAST ON 168 stitches

ROW 1: *K3, P3 repeat from* to end

ROW 2: same as row 1

Repeat these two rows once more then

ROW 1: *P3, K3, repeat from* to end

ROW 2: same as row 1

Repeat these 2 rows once more.

Continue working these two patterns until you have repeated them twice total (16 rows)

NEXT ROW: K3, P3, K3, P3, *K12, P12, repeat from*to last 12 stitches then

K3, P3, K3, P3

Repeat this row 5 more times then

NEXT ROW: P3, K3, P3, K3, *K12, P12, repeat from *to last 12 stitches then

P3, K3, P3, K3

Repeat this row 5 more times then repeat the first set of repeats 6 times (18 rows total).

NEXT PATTERN: P3, K3, P3, K3,*P12, K12 repeat from* to last 12 stitches then

P3, K3, P3, K3

Repeat this row 5 more times.

By now you should be able to see how the pattern is developing and

you should be able to continue with the pattern without more instructions.

NOTE: Finish off the blanket with 18 rows of the smaller squares as a border.

My Shawls and Scarves

More completed projects

My Felted Bags

Women4Women-Knitting4Peace

WOMEN4WOMEN-KNITTING4PEACE

The mission of Women4women-knitting4peace is to craft peace one simple stitch at a time by creating peace shawls for women and knit toys for children in areas of conflict around the world.

Founded in June, 2006, the group is now in 41 states and Canada.

Over 1,200 peace shawls have been created and sent to women in Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Guatemala, Sudan, Peru, Rwanda, and Haiti.

Shawls of any construction are welcome that somehow incorporate the number "3" which represent the creator of the Peace Shawl, the recipient, and the Divine Creator of all women. The number "3" also signifies the 3 major faiths - Christian, Jewish, and Muslim.

Each item is praised and blessed with a special (nondemoninational) prayer by the group before it is sent.

Participation is open to all, regardless of age, gender, or level of knitting or crocheting experience.

The first group formed in Ohio currently meets at the Beachwood Library. "These shawls are made with love, and each one is blessed upon completion" says Beachwood's "peace pod" leader, Iris November.

Free patterns for shawls and doll packets (with instructions and yarn) are available for your use.

Stash yarn is always welcome.

For more information contact Iris at lbrtyclub@aol.com

I am a MOBILE DENTIST !!

MOBILE DENTISTS

Mobile Dentists and its Smile Programs is an innovative, on-site, school based, dental outreach provider.

Our mission is to bring state of the art, preventive dental care to those students in need in the most comfortable and effective way possible.

Many children sadly find themselves without easy and affordable access to necessary dental care. We use the latest technology in portable equipment, to provide all services directly at schools.

We set up in the classroom, auditorium, gym and transform it into a fully functional “dental office” for the day.

For those students without Medicaid or private insurance and lacking sufficient funds for a subsidized fee, Mobile Dentists provides generous grant-assistance.

NO CHILD IS EVER TURNED AWAY

for lack of resources.

Free Patterns from Rosie's Yarn Cellar

ROSIES YARN CELLAR

I came across an ad in my new Interweave magazine

for this unique shop in Philadelphia ......

New Free Pattern every month....

check out this free Noro hat pattern and more....

Thank you Rosie !!

Thank you Secret Pal !!

Thank you secret pal for this terrific package !

2 skeins Knit Picks Felici color "Coastal" - my favorite colors !!

For socks.....soft and yummy

Interweave Magazine Winter 2008 - fireplace reading material

Knitting Noro book by Jane Ellison - my FAVORITE yarn

Best Buy gift card.....who knows what I'll find there....

and a soft cuddly pair of lamby slippers to wear while

knitting, reading, lounging...

THANK YOU !!!

BABY SURPRISE JACKET

Is too early to start knitting for future grandchildren?

This pattern is just TOO CUTE !!!

Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket

Flower Patterns Blog Brought Back to Life

Many new free patterns and inspiration have been added to my blog:
Check it out and submit your patterns and photos !

FLOWERS TO KNIT BLOG

Happy Knitting 2009

Ring in the New Year with 2 days of Knitting !!

Friday Jan. 2 we are meeting at STUDIO KNIT IN MEDINA

for sit, knit and chat then dinner at House of Hunan.

Saturday Jan. 3 KNIT IN starting at 10:30 AM and pot luck lunch at Mo's house in Shaker Heights.

Obi Jacket by Liz Tekus

From FINE POINTS on Larchmere in Cleveland....

Here is my yarn for the OBI Jacket :


What an amazing assortment, pre-arranged in a kit.

The base yarn is ERDAL CHANINETTE 100% rayon, held together knit on size 9 needles.... .I can't wait to get started !!


Berroco Sprite
NORO Sakura
Tahki Hand Dyed Cotton Classic
NORO Ganpi Abaka Tape
Fiesta Rayon Boucle
Katia Rumba Mix
Adelie d'anny blatt
Lang Opal Color

MAINE MORNING MITTS

Fingerless mitts pattern from

"The Knitter's Book of Yarn"......FREE PATTERN can be found :

HERE

YARN: Rae Jaspe Wool - 2 skeins = 176.0 yards (160.9m)

Purchased at

Studio Knit in Medina, Ohio

Notes:

Beautiful yarn. It worked out well to find the matching color sequence with the second mitt so that the two would match. I used size 8 double pointed needles (pattern calls for 7’s which I don’t have)

and it turned out fine.

Very quick knit and makes a great gift !!

GARN STUDIO FREE PATTERNS

Check out

GARN STUDIO and DROPS DESIGN

CHRISTMAS 2008 CALENDAR

with a New Free Pattern added every day.

Not just for Christmas, great patterns and ideas for everyone !!

GWEN BORTNER WORKSHOP

"CREATE A MASTERPIECE FROM LEFT OVER YARNS"

My knitting guild recently brought Gwen Bortner, owner and designer of

KNITABILITY

to CLEVELAND, OHIO

We all spread out our stash balls of yarn then we went around and made a "magic ball", borrowing from everyone's stash. We were told to make the lengths "RANDOM" and as we began to knit, we learned that

SHORTER lengths were BETTER.

My magic ball :

ALL ABOUT COLOR:

Gwen explained the following highlights:

1. It's easier to see color against BLACK.

2. Equal proportions are not always good and are in fact NOT good.

3. The PROPORTION of the colors is the KEY.

4. Black goes with anything.... or use a nearly black deep navy or deep brown.

HANDPAINTED YARNS:

these people really know color and will usually have the proportion right. Unwind it, look at the distribution of color lengths, the proportions.

Take a look at

LAURA BRYANT of PRISM YARNS one of the best with color in the knitting world.

HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR STASH:

Gwen says organize single balls by COLOR.

Using mulitple colors and don't know which to use next or when to switch???

ROLL A DICE, use a
RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR, try to be RANDOM.

TO KNOT OR NOT ??

I learned it's best NOT to knot, but rather work with both ends for several stitches then trim the ends. This saves having to weave in the ends as well and samples showed that you cannot tell where this was done.

Look at your piece at ARM'S LENGTH to really see

how it looks.

We went over various patterns including

"FUN WITH STRIPES", "SLIP STITCH", "BRICK", and "MOSIAC".

Gwen's 3 swatches pictured here were all made from the same MAGIC BALL of yarn (with black added to the first on the left) and each looks so totally different !

If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from GWEN, I highly recommend it. She is fun, down to earth, creative, and practical. Her only rule in class is "NO RIPPING OUT", we're here to practice and learn.

Also stay tuned for her book on ENTRELAC soon to be published.