I hope you all enjoyed your day of Thanksgiving. We had a lovely day with all of our children, a daughter-in-law, a boyfriend and both granddaughters! I am avoiding the whole Black Friday vortex by vegging, doing some laundry,...and maybe a enjoying a snooze later.

I did find some links to more quick & easy gifts to knit: At the Berroco website you can find the 2009 edition of Minutia ornaments, and you can also register to win a set of Barbara Walker's stitch compendiums, http://www.berroco.com/polls/poll_112509.html.



Schoolhouse Press is offering a pattern for Scandinavian style house slippers, http://www.schoolhousepress.com/kalf09f.htm

Another web magazine Knitcircus has a cute Candy Cane Scrubby pattern, http://www.knitcircus.com/currentissue.html.

If you need something to watch while you're doing all this knitting, order one of the BBC produced Hamish McBeth mystery series from Netflix. The photography of the Scottish highlands is gorgeous, and the mysteries are of the "cozy" genre ---no gore, no serial killers. Make yourself a cup of tea and relax with your knitting.

For me the scary part of Halloween is how quickly Thanksgiving and Christmas follow! But remember when we were kids how slowwwly the time passed waiting for Christmas.

My knitting queue:
Hanna Falkenburg Pogode jacket - closing in on the finish line.
A Christmas stocking - finishing details, embroidery, etc.
A Perfect Tee for fall/winter - half finished.
Gingerbread Boy for Whitney -
Mug Cozies for teacher gifts -













It is ready to raffle! ... pictured on 11/5/09 - the Half-Fast Knitters Northshore charity afghan and some of the knitters who worked on it.


11/17/09 update
Nicky Epstein has a new book out: Knitting a Kiss in Every Stitch: Creating Gifts for the People You Love. Just a few of the adjectives I'd use to describe the projects in this book are clever, pretty, practical, and fun to knit! There is something for everyone, including furry ones :-) Nicky says " And as an extra juicy sneak preview of the book, I'll be giving away 4 free patterns on my site throughout the month. The first yummy bites are the 3 "Jet Set Travel Tags" from page 114 of the book."


KnitPicks has free downloadable gift and care labels in the Community Knitting section of their website. My teacher gifts this year are little baskets with the KnitPicks cabled mug cozy (free pattern) wrapped around a mug and a a package of gourmet tea or coffee---maybe I'll include a book too. http://community.knitpicks.com/page/freebies-1




Jean Greenhowe is a British knitting designer known for her darling character dolls for play or display. Her website has a generous number of free ornament patterns; these would be adorable package tie-ons too. http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/patterns.html

11/13/09
This week's quick and easy pattern is an lovely lace scarf to knit from the ethereal Kid Silk Haze (just one ball). It would be easy to knit in some Miyuki beads on the edges of each end. Leave a comment if you would like to know more about knitting with beads.
http://www.canknit.com/free/kos.html

November 2, 2009

Yesterday was a perfect day, and we decided to rejoice in it. We put some comfortable chairs out, relaxed, chatted and watched the chickens. I read several chapters of Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchey between conversations and sky gazing.

I also took a break from knitting, having finished one side of the Pogode Jacket. I have a lot of ends to weave in before I can proceed. I made the decision to cut rather than carry the different colors for the stripes, but I wish I had woven the ends in as I knit. Oh well, I will do that during the Saints game tonight.

I've got good news for those of you that want a custom knit Christmas Stocking---Debbie Adams will make it for you. Email her at tworetriev@aol.com for rates and additional info. She also has a pet friendly Florida beach condo to rent: http://www.addieagogo.com/

Here is the first of the links to easy, quick, free patterns for gifts to knit. Enjoy!

http://www.alpacadirect.com/Details~Small-Felted-Purses-Pattern~1~prodid~2100~category~8~secondary~48.htm