hakucho

New kitchen discovery instead of knitting

2012-01-07T11:39:00.000-05:00

Since I really don't have any finished knitting to show you I thought I'd share with you my newest discovery in the kitchen.

I think I have found the easiest and quite possibly the healthiest cinnamon rolls that I know of. They are so easy that you could make them everyday if you wanted to. I've even made a bunch and froze them. Twenty seconds in the microwave and you have a warm cinnamon roll for breakfast. My family loves them and me for making them :) The dough is just flour, yeast, salt...that's it. No eggs, no butter or oil. Fat-free! The only fat I used was just enough melted smart-balance margarine in making up the cinnamon and sugar filling.

How is it that they are so easy? Well, I use the master bread recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book. Here's the link to Zoe and Jeff's blog that shows you how to make the cinnamon rolls. I don't use the brioche dough and I use a simple icing of milk (skim), confectionery sugar and vanilla. I make the peasant bread version substituting 2 cups of whole wheat flour for some of the all purpose flour.You can even make them up the night before and let them rest in the fridge overnight and bake them in the morning.

I also have been making sandwich rolls using the same recipe. I have been freezing the rolls and making up sandwiches with the frozen rolls and then by lunch time they are all thawed out and you have a sandwich on a fresh roll. Delicious. Enjoy :)

Copyright ©2006-2012 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Good-bye 2011, Welcome 2012

2011-12-31T22:44:00.000-05:00

taken with Kodak EasyShare mini m200

I can't believe 2011 is just about gone in a few hours! It's been quite the year. There were lots of ups and downs and some big bumps in the road. One of the special "ups" was getting to meet my sister for the very first time when my sister and her husband journeyed by train clear across country to visit with me and my family here in Massachusetts. Then there were a few "downs" and I have to be honest to say that I am looking forward to a brand new year. New projects, old friends and new friends and hopefully good health and much happiness for everyone. Happy New Year!

Let's see, what have I been up to since my past post? You may not believe me....I have been trying to write this post for some time now (before Christmas to be exact), but life kept getting in the way. The time just flies by...it scares me. I'm here now, so here's the scoop....Christmas came extremely fast for me this year. We had a really nice Christmas. We celebrated my father's 95th birthday. Here he is blowing out his candles.

taken with Canon Power Shot SX110 IS

After dinner at my house, we piled into the car and brought all the desserts (vanilla and chocolate birthday cakes, apple pie, pumpkin pie and a new recipe that I tried, walnut maple pie) to my Dad at his assisted living place. The walnut maple pie was a big hit and will be the one to make every year from now on. I love that it is made with real maple syrup and not that yucky high fructose corn syrup. This pie is not as sweet as the traditional pecan pie. I LOVE this recipe! Sorry no photo, but here's the link to the recipe - walnut maple pie.

Despite the fact no one had any knitted items on their lists, I did manage to knit a couple of gifts. For my son's mother-in-law I knit her another pair of comfy socks pretty much just like the ones I made for her last year.

taken with Canon Power Shot SX110 IS

She had told me earlier how much she enjoys wearing those socks to bed just about every night. She was very pleased when she opened them up so that proved to be a good thing to give to her. I also knit a little mouse toy for my son's and daughter-in-law's cat, Neko.

taken with Kodak EasyShare mini m200

Poor Neko. They adopted her this past fall from a shelter and she was supposed to be about 2 years old, but when the vet checked her out the vet thought she was much older because of the condition of her teeth. In fact they were told she had thyroid problems and was diagnosed with lymphoma. It is so sad because they got really attached to her in a short amount of time. She's such a nice cat. I'm still hoping the diagnosis is wrong, but it seems from the ultrasound that the lymphoma has already metastasized. Needless to say she's being spoiled by all.

taken with Canon Power Shot SX110 IS

Here's Neko's mouse. She didn't get too excited when she saw it. I think she would have liked it better if it was filled with catnip. I'll have to find some catnip and make her another one soon :)

taken with Canon Power Shot SX110 IS

I got a new camera ( Kodak EasyShare Mini M200) for Christmas. I've been wanting a nice small one that I can carry with me in my pocketbook. This one fits the bill and it now resides in my purse. My non-smart cell phone's camera is lousy. This one is perfect.

taken with Canon Power Shot SX110 IS

It only weighs about 3 oz as compared to my good canon camera - new model link Canon PowerShot SX120IS. That one weighs almost 11 oz and doesn't fit in my bag.

taken with Kodak EasyShare mini m200

I'm really impressed with the quality of the shots for such an inexpensive camera, plus it's super easy to use. I've taken a few shots of all the sweets I made for Christmas.

taken with Kodak EasyShare mini m200

It was the first time I made gumdrops and caramels.

taken with Kodak EasyShare mini m200

I also had a mishap with my chocolate chip cookies this year. No worries, for I threw the half baked cookies back in the bowl with the missing ingredient and reformed the cookies. Because some of the cookies were partially baked before I discovered my mistake, the chocolate chips melted and I ended up with chocolate chocolate chip cookies. Bet you didn't know you could do that. Neither did I, but I was determined not to waste all those ingredients. Actually I got tired of forming the cookies and dumped what was left in a pan and make some chocolatey cookie squares :)

taken with Kodak EasyShare mini m200

Nothing wasted 3 bags of chocolate chip, brown sugar, butter, etc....I was happy. All's well that end's well...for the cookies were actually tasty despite my big mistake.

taken with Kodak EasyShare mini m200

Look what my sister sent me for Christmas... a row counter necklace. Love it to pieces, plus she personalized it with the leather and bead necklace. I'm really enjoying it immensely. I have a very thoughtful sister :) FYI-the above photo was taken at night without a flash...pretty good?

In case you are wondering, yes, I am still working on the circle cloth blanket. Still very slow going with not much progress. I have about 5 1/2 squares left to finish. I don't know why, but every time I sit down to knit on the squares it take about three or four rows and them I'm off to sleep...sitting up and head bobbing. I usually just give up and go to bed. I guess the TV shows I've been watching, plus the monotony of the squares just relaxes me so much that I can't keep my eyes open. I can't wait to start knitting some other projects. I'm half tempted to put the blanket aside, but I'm afraid I might never finish it. I just want it to be over and done with it. I doubt I'd ever tackle another blanket like this one....so it will be my one and only. Hope the recipient appreciates it :)

I'm wishing that this coming year will be very good one to all my friends. A happy and healthy new year to all. Happy Knitting :)

Kodak EasyShare mini m200

Thank You

2011-12-08T16:10:00.001-05:00

First and foremost I want to thank all of you who purchased my sister's Candy Cane Pony Pattern. Since my sister who is blogless and doesn't yet belong (I'm encouraging her to join) to ravelry, I'm helping her out by publishing her pattern on my ravelry design page. I usually offer my patterns for free, but this time I have offered the unique pattern for $2.00 through ravelry. I'm sending my sister all the proceeds from the sale after the fees are deducted. She is most appreciative for the money from pattern's sale and for my part in getting the word out about her cute Christmas ornament pattern.

The feedback so far on the pattern has been very good. It is a quick, easy little project. The candy cane ponies make great stocking stuffers, favors, little gifts, package decorations in lieu of bows. Here's some very festive Christmasy ponies made by knit2purlone. They can be unicorns if that's what you are into. Add a pointy shell for the unicorn and use pastel yarn...that's what SweetMama (ponies, no horns) intends to do. If you want to make a more permanent ornament you can buy Cane Cane Pens and use them instead of real candy canes. Check out Mary Gildersleeve's. Or you can use plastic candy cane ornaments like the ones I found in Michaels. They go for $4.99 a dozen , but I was lucky to get them half off. You could even make reindeer out of them using pipecleaners for the antlers and red pompoms for the noses. Too cute!

I've been trying to work on my Circle Square blanket for the Pine Street Inn. Very slow progress, but I feel the end is in site. I have just about one more row of seven squares to finish. I'm just about finished with the square on my needles right now.The countdown begins :) Hopefully I'll have it finished before the next Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon in November 2012!

Not to disappoint you, but I'm not doing much in the way of Christmas knitting this year. No requests for knitted items on the wish lists this year in my family. I have to confess that it doesn't really upset me. I've been falling asleep at night when I sit down to knit so that's probably why I'm not accomplishing much. It is freeing to know I'm not under any pressure to make the big Christmas Eve deadline this year. I can just let the holidays happen. I have plenty of baking to do, so don't worry I won't be bored :)

I am looking forward to the new year with some new projects in mind. Until next time...hope you are enjoying your holiday time and you are happily knitting away :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Rounding up the ponies....

2011-11-09T20:59:00.002-05:00

....just in time for the Holly Fair at my church. Christmas is coming and so are the ponies. They are all dressed up and looking for new homes.

I can't take any credit for the idea. My sister in Oregon is the one who came up with the design. Aren't they cute? They were fun to make and a great diversion from my blanket squares.

With their googly eyes they seem to take on their own personalities.
Thanks, Sis, for sharing your idea with me :)

happy knitting :)

Edited 11/10/2011 - - Since my sister is blogless and is not a part of ravelry yet, she has given me permission to sell her pattern for her. I listed her unique pattern for sale today. Details an be found here: Candy Cane Pony Pattern from Hollinger's Fiber Farm on ravelry.
Any questions or comments are welcomed. Thank you :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Not sure knooking is for me

2011-10-23T07:02:00.000-04:00

....but it might be for some of you crocheters out there! What is "knooking" you ask? It's knitting with a crochet hook. Actually it's a new technique (at least it's new to me) that incorporates a long crochet hook with a hole at the non hook end and a cord. You pull the cord through the hole and just let it hang there while you mimic the knit stitch, all the while the cord keeps you from dropping your stitches. I find the whole process very interesting and clever. While I would be interested in trying out the technique, I doubt it would make me not want to knit the old-fashioned way. I LOVE knitting, LOVE my knitting needles, LOVE the feel of the yarn sliding on my needles. Love the control. I do know how to crochet, but I do not LOVE crochet the way I LOVE knitting. I know there are many crocheters out there that either don't know how to knit or feel the same way about crocheting as I do about knitting, so if you LOVE to crochet and want to end up with a real looking, not an imposter knit fabric - not at all like the afghan stitch or tunisian crochet - try knooking!! Let me know if you do....I'm very curious as to how easy that would be? Check out the The Knook Kit, the new book (pamphlet) from Leisure Arts on knooking which comes with every thing you need to start knooking. When they come up a way to knit a crochet like fabric...then I'd really be excited. I wonder what they would call it..."critting"? LOL ;)

happy knooking :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

My one and only

2011-10-21T17:09:00.001-04:00

At the moment I have only one project on my needles. I'm diligently working on my Circle Squares (that sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?) for the blanket I will donate to the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon this year.

My progress is so very slow. As hard as I have tried to date I have only cranked out 16 squares. I need 35 to make a blanket.

I'm anxious to start joining the squares, but I must restrain myself. I need to finish all the squares first so I can decide on their placement. Can't wait. The knit-a-thon takes place on Sunday, November 6th. It's not in the cards for me to attend this year's event, so I guess the pressure is off. I will send the completed blanket in once it's finished, when ever that may be, hopefully before the end of the year.

Are you thinking about adding some new yarn to your stash? If you think you do need more yarn, be sure and check out the auction going on to benefit the Pine Street Inn and to help end homelessness. There are lots of great yarns up on the auction block. Thanks for looking :)

Last, but not least a special note to let everyone know that my Circle Baby Blanket Pattern is now available in Spanish with charts on Ravelry. Special thanks to Carmela Salcedo, my knitting friend from Spain for translating the pattern. To download the Spanish Translation just click on the Ravelry download link.

I think that's it for now. Once I finish my blanket I hope to have more to show you. Have a great weekend with lots of happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Trying to turn over a new leaf

2011-10-15T18:31:00.001-04:00

I've really been trying to be a better blogger, reading and posting, but it isn't working out. I guess I'm just not motivated enough. My only excuse is that I've been distracted by other things. I have way too much on my to-do-list that I get paralyzed ;)

Since this is a knitting blog, I'll show you some of my finished items, so you can see I am accomplishing a few things. First a baby blanket for my husband's niece whose baby is due in November:
I love this pattern, for it looks great on either side.
It's a pattern from Debbie Macomber. In fact this particular blanket was mentioned originally in one her (Hannah's List (Blossom Street) books that I read this summer and I found the pattern in Knit Along With Debbie Macomber: Hannah's List. This Leisure Arts book has other interesting patterns as well. In the future I'll definitely be making this one again. It's easy, plus the pattern keeps you interested and it doesn't get boring.

My sister, who visited me this summer, had a birthday in the beginning of October, so I sent her a little package.
I made her a couple of my favorite dishcloths (ballband and DW), a toilet paper cover and a set of crocheted potholders. I included some notecards and chocolate. She seemed pleased.

I also made a set of potholders for a friend. I used the same crocheted pattern.
They make nice hot pads. Decorative and useful...a very good thing.

I'm still ~~reading~~ listening to my audio books. I've really been enjoying Debbie Macomber's books. I've just finished the Blossom Street series and will start the Cedar Cove series soon. I've taken a little break from Debbie Macomber and I'm presently reading Room: A Novel. Initially I almost gave up on this book until I realized what it was about and then I had a hard time putting it down. Won't spoil it for you should you want to read it, but I recommend especially the audio version. If you are interested I've been keeping track of my books with Goodreads. Its ravelry for reading. Be sure and check it out as it is very clever!

Miss Pink is no longer blooming. She made me quite happy for over 6 months and is now working on a new leaf.
Hopefully she'll be nice to me and make me some more flowers. I've been feeding her, but not sure what else to do to get her to blossom again. I'll have to get her a new pot soon, too.

I was not very happy to find that my poor Christmas cactus had been attacked. I think the culprits may be either our resident chipmunks or the squirrels that live in our back yard. I've caught a squirrel digging up my daffodil bulbs. Not sure what happened, but I'm not happy. I potted some of the broken off pieces in hopes of salvaging the plant. Luckily it is all budded up, so I think the main plant should survive. Big difference from last year
though...how sad.

One of my main distractions lately is my interest in my family's history. Encouraged by my sister, who is an expert in her own right, I've been bitten by the search bug and at some point couldn't help myself. I've found out some interesting things I didn't know. It's so much fun. It's like solving a big puzzle. Now I have to put it all together with the photos and documents I do have. Once again I wish I had more time to do it all justice.

Not willing to make a promise I may not keep so I wont tell you I will post more often, but I will tell you I'll try not to wait so long in between posts. Guess I'm in a rut. Maybe my knitting is just not as exciting as it was before. I'm still working on the circle squares (my only project on the needles right now) for my Pine Street Inn blanket. I'm not going to be able to attend the knit-a-thon this year and I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish all the squares in time to assemble the blanket in time for the knit-a-thon. I'm determined to keep all the squares together, so I can donate a finished blanket. Last year I almost had enough squares, but decided to donate just the squares i did get done. It was hard to see them split up. I had envisioned a blanket with just my squares. Do you remember the ones from last year? Hopefully I'll get it done in time to send in, if not it will be a little late. Better late than never, right?

That's pretty much it for now. Bye for now.....Happy Knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Still knitting

2011-09-17T06:06:00.003-04:00

The summer really flew by and now I find myself right smack dab in the middle of September. Can't believe the month is half gone. It really feels like fall already. It is actually cold here with the temps yesterday barely reaching 60 degrees.

I have not been a very good blogger. At the beginning of the summer I thought I'd have so much time to do everything I wanted to do. Never happened. I did have a wonderful visit with my sister and husband, but the rest of the summer just flew by. We spent a little time at the cape. Then, once home had an extended power outage due to that nasty "lady" named Irene, mean Irene, as I have heard her called. The hurricane that hit New England pretty hard. We didn't have much damage, a few minor branches down, but we lost power, phone, cable, internet for almost four days. That was hard. We managed ok. I bought ice to try to save our food. Lost some, but not due to spoilage. Just couldn't refreeze what had thawed and couldn't cook and eat it all. Lost the ice cream I had. We sacrificed it, knowing the if we opened up the freezer to eat it, we definitely would lose what was in the freezer.

I have been knitting. I've been listening to audiobooks. Early in the spring/summer I discovered them and have not looked back. It all started when I borrowed one of those playaways at my library and I liked it! I also tried downloading audiobooks from my local library. My middle son was kind enough to let me borrow his MP3 player, a sansa fuze, and I loved it! Totally awesome and I found myself not only knitting with it, but cooking and doing my household chores while listening to my books. This takes multitasking to a whole new level for me. Doing something you enjoy while doing things that are not, well, exciting, makes me stay focused and I easily get the jobs done with less distraction. I also found when I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep, I really liked listening to my books. Since my husband didn't know what I wanted for my birthday in June, I suggested he get me my very own fuze. Which he did. I did a little research and found that the best model for audiobooks is the older model of the Sansa Fuze (See all MP3 Players), the same one my son has:
I found it surprising that the newer and "improved" fuze was not so good with audiobooks from the reviews I had read. Thankfully new models of the old fuze are still available. I bought mine on amazon. I have got to tell you I LOVE that little thing.

Now this leads me to tell you about what I have been knitting, well actually if you really must know know I did do some crochet, not knitting this time. I needed something to hold my fuze when I would listen to it in the middle of the night. I came up with this, a bed sling for my fuze:

Perfect to hang on the bedpost. It keeps it nice and handy for when I need it during the night. I can listen and I don't disturb my husband. Perfect!

Then I realized I could use a sling for me to wear around my neck. Most of my pockets don't hold much and some of my pants don't even have pockets. I didn't want to buy a special case so I crochet a similar little pouch to wear around my neck. The neck sling is ideal for a mobile fuze holder while I'm actively doing housework or just for sitting and knitting and when I knit and listen in the car. It's always handy. Can you tell how happy I am with the way both of these slings turned out?

The other project I worked on was a poncho for me to wear in the house this winter. I can wear it over my multiple layers when I get cold. I made it on the suggestion of my sister when she was here this summer. I used some of her handspun wool, plus some of my odds end ends of wool yarn that I have accumulated. It is a real stashbuster! She even furnished me with the pattern. Not sure where she got it from....have not been able to find it on the internet anywhere. Here it is:

I'm sure to be nice and warm this winter :)

Currently I am working on a baby blanket for a niece whose baby is due in November. It's a new to me pattern and I'm liking the way it is knitting up. I'm also still working on the circle squares for a blanket, but I have to admit there has been very little progress on this project. I In addition I have to get going on some gift items that I'll be needing soon. You may not be hearing from me, but I assure you ....I am still knitting away....happily :)

Bye for now....Happy Knitting :)

P.S. I'm getting very forgetful. In my last post, I forgot to show you the pepper mill my brother-in-law made for me:
It looks like a lighthouse and I love it!

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Sisters

2011-07-30T13:20:00.005-04:00

This post has been a long time in coming. I apologize for making you wait. I'm sure everyone is anxious to find out about how my meeting my sister for the very first time went. Let me start from the beginning. After two delays and re-routes because of the floods in the Midwest, my sister "D" and her husband "E" arrived here safely by train from Oregon on the evening of Sunday, July 3rd. The train was right on time, in fact it was a few minutes early. You can't even imagine how excited and nervous I was on that day. We has spent the day at my sister-in-law's in the western part of Massachusetts for a family get-together.. The whole day I anticipated the big arrival. It was hard to stay in the moment, as I was constantly thinking about the impending arrival. We headed back just in time to meet the train. We were only there a short time when the train pulled into the station. I saw "E" get off the train first and my sister followed. I knew it was them immediately as they approached me and I started ~~walking~~ running toward them. "E" had on his comfortable farmer overalls and "D" sported her hand beaded cap, beaded denim jacket and handmade beaded and tooled leather bag with her knitting inside. We hugged and greeted each other, introduced them to my husband and two sons. A little awkward at first, but what happened next helped to break the ice. The luggage....oh, my the luggage. Remember how I told you we spent the day at my SIL's, well we had to bring chairs to the event. I remember distinctly telling my husband that they would have luggage although they did tell me beforehand that they were traveling light. Well, to make a long story short...they had 3 large suitcases, a lap top and a cooler on wheels. We had 4 canvas and 2 old fashioned wooden folding chairs, plus a mid sized cooler in the back of our minivan. Keep in mind my two boys are both way over 6 feet tall. I wish I had my camera....after several tries and fails we eventually were able to get all the doors and back hatch finally closed. I still look back with amazement that we were able to get everything and everyone inside the car. Those boys were so good. Not one complaint. They were squished in the way back with no room for their legs, feet a top baggage. Luckily it wasn't a real long ride home, only about 25 minute. Once we got home, we got them settled. "E" emptied the cooler and presented me with some of his homemade sausages, which he brought all the way from Oregon in their cooler. He brought elk knockwurst, elk kielbasa, venison summer sausage, plus three different flavors of homemade jerky. Then there are the bowls. "E" brought the bowls that he made from Myrtle wood. Beautiful smooth wooden bowls.Wish you could feel just how smooth they are.

This one is the "acorn" bowl. He didn't plan on it, but the top fits perfectly and looks just like an acorn. This one is my favorite.

I have to share some of these with my other sister "K". We forgot to bring them when we met up with her. Looks like we'll have to have another meeting so she can get her bowls. I'm holding them hostage so it won't be another eight years before we see each other again!!

Day 2: We had a nice dinner and then we went back in the car to take a car trip up north to visit my eldest son and his wife. We had a nice ride and "D" and "E" could see some of New England. We had a nice visit. "D" and I knit and talked the whole time in the car. We talked and talked. I don't think I talked that much in a long time. Probably not since my dear mother passed away eleven years ago. The two of us could talk back then. Having "D" here was almost like having my Mom back again. She is old enough to be my mother as her two oldest boys are older than me. With all of the excitement of having them here I really wasn't sleeping well and I ended up with a massive migraine in the middle of the night. I had a really bad reaction to the migraine medicine that I have been taking for years...so bad that I ended up in the ER in the middle of the night. Imagine, having two people that I didn't really know that well sleeping soundly on the hide-a-bed in my living room and slipping out quietly in the middle of the night to go to the hospital! Well, I was there for 12 hours, while they ran all kinds of tests. I had been having some health issues previously and part of my symptoms was due somewhat to that. Overall, everything was checked out and I was released. Thankfully nothing serious was wrong. As you can see Day 3 ended up being a really big bust. They entertained themselves, took walks. "D" knit and I think they just relaxed. I manage to get back home just in time for supper.

Day 4: We visited my Dad. Went out to lunch. We had delicious crab rolls. Then went to the grocery store. I bought swordfish for dinner which was absolutely delicious. We don't have it very often so that was a treat. They had never had it before and they enjoyed it. They stocked up on items to fill their cooler with non perishable food items to take back on the train with them. Buying food on the train is very expensive. This saved them a lot of money bringing as much as they can.They also really enjoyed my grocery store. We have a lot things they don't have in Oregon, so it was rather entertaining for them. They were the best guests...very easy to please :)

Day 5: We met my other sister "K" at the Nautilus sub museum in Groton, CT. It was a half way point for both of us. We had lunch and talked....not much in the way of checking out the museum, but there were plenty of places inside in the AC that we could sit and talk and "E" could wander about while us girls were doing all the talking. It was fitting as our Dad, was retired USN. He never was on a sub, but spent many years on other Navy ships. On the way home we stopped in Mystic CT to take a few photos.

A historic site was our next stop, the first public library in America. Benjamin Franklin's gift of a set of books is what started the library back in 1790. Here a picture of the book collection that started it all:

Day 6: I had a doctors appointment in the morning, but my husband brought them to a concert at my youngest son's music camp where he had been working as a mentor for the past two weeks. I stopped at the German store on the way home and bought gelbwurst and fresh rye bread for our lunch and some weisswurst for our supper as we were heading to the cape for the weekend.

Day 6: A whirlwind tour of the cape in one day.
We started off the day with an early morning walk on our beach.
It was right after a massive rainstorm and there were lots of shells left on the beach.
Even an unusual folded scallop shell.

My sister was thrilled with all the scallop shells as she makes angel Christmas ornaments from the shells and sells them in her shop around Christmas time.

It was the first time ever that I could see Nantucket from our beach.

I'm not sure if it was because it was very early morning or the conditions were just right. Can you see the land way in the distance? Click photo to enlarge.

We packed a picnic lunch and then headed out on a tour of the cape. First we stopped at Chatham Light.
I've always loved seeing the light house and the lovely beach there.
The beach was closed to swimming because of great white sharks in the area.
Unfortunately the seals attract them, but I must say I got a thrill to be able to see all the seals off the shore. Be sure and click on the photos to enlarge them. They are hard to see, but there are seals on those rocks!

This was a first for me in all the years (my whole life) that I have been coming to Cape Cod.

After Chatham light we proceeded to check out more of the beaches.
and light houses

of the Cape National Seashore all the way to Provincetown.

Rose hips, better known as beach plums on Cape Cod.

For dinner we had lobsters. A real treat for them as they have nothing like the cape lobsters in Oregon. After dinner we visited with my uncle and aunt, my niece and her husband and daughter. It was like a mini family reunion.

Day 7: Time to return home and prepare for their journey back home to Oregon. Once they got everything together, we headed to the cemetery where our father is buried. "D" is a family history expert. Thanks to her I have the results of all of her research on our ancestors from Hungary. We also went back to the house where my mother and father lived on the second floor. My grandparent's lived on the first floor. It is the first house that I ever lived in and it is the place where my father died. I have fond memories of going down the back stairs to jump in bed with my grandparents. I had not been back there in a very long time. Once again I did not bring my camera. I've decided I need to buy a really small inexpensive digital camera to keep in my purse or pocket.

One last night together. Sad that the time went by so fast, but thrilled to have the gift of meeting my sister and husband. A once in a lifetime gift. Worried about getting them to Providence in time to catch their train we got up extra early the next morning.

Amidst tears and hugs we said our good-bye, but not real good byes because even though we might never again get to see each other in person, we will be calling each other and emailing frequently. Hopefully in the not so distant future we would love to make the trip to Oregon and visit with them. I know I'd love see what their day to day life is like. Off they go......

While they were here, I didn't even get one of my circle squares finished! "D" won the prize for getting the most knitting done. Once again no photos of her knitting, which I reget. She made 2 pairs of beautiful handspun mittens to sell in her shop. On the train she made a beautiful scarf knit the long way. I have a copy of her catalog if anyone is interested. Let me know in an email and I can forward it on to you. She did give me a pattern for my next project. I'm anxious to get started on it, but I want to finish the circle square blanket first. Since their departure though I have managed to finish seven squares finally.
It's slow going, but I'm plugging along.

Once I have the squares finished I'll be putting them together using a technique developed by my new friend Anita. Here's a photo of her beautiful finished blanket. Stay tuned for I'll be posting more of the how to's at a later date with her permission of course. Sorry, Anita for the delay as I'm not progressing with the squares as fast as I would have like to.

I'll leave you with a couple of morning glory photos for my DIL "K" :)

Happy Knitting everyone!!

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Too much to do, too little time!

2011-07-01T19:48:00.001-04:00

I can't believe June is gone. July is here...already. My blog has been neglected and my knitting has been slow going. I've been busy with all the everyday goings on, plus I've been busy getting ready for two special visitors. My sister "D" who I've never met is traveling with her husband from Oregon by train to visit me. I'm super excited and the wait seems endless. Originally the cross country journey was supposed to be three and a half days, but due to the flooding in North Dakota they had to be rerouted to a southern route through California which made the trip a day longer. Then once on the trip they were rerouted once again. This time they had to stay overnight in Denver. Again they were delayed another day. Hopefully if all goes well they will finally arrive here in the evening on this coming Sunday! I imagine they will be exhausted when they arrive. They do not have a sleeping car as one would have been too costly. I just hope and pray they have been having a pleasant trip. I'm sure there will be many stories to tell of all of their experiences!! Can't wait to see them!! Just to help you understand our relationship: my sister and I have the same father. My birth father who died when I was five months old, was previously married to "D"'s mother and divorced, before he married my mother. Even though we have never met in person, I feel like I know "D". I have only talked to "D" a handful of times on the phone, but have corresponded with her for just about my whole life. My other sister "K" who is 12 years older than me, met "D" when she traveled to Oregon to spend the summer with "D" and her family the summer (1963) she graduated from high school. The plan is to have a reunion with "K" and "D" and myself sometime this coming week. "K" lives in Connecticut and we'll meet somewhere at a half way point. This should be interesting for them to see each other again after all theses years. "D" is the one who always sends me her beautiful hand spun yarn for my birthday. This year she didn't send me any yarn. Instead she sent me an amazing knitting book. This book has everything you every wanted to know about knitting, plus a whole lot more. It was a very special gift. As you have probably guessed, "D" and myself share the same love of knitting :) "D" was worried that she would run out of yarn during her train travel, so she mailed a large box of gorgeous yarn to me to make sure she would have enough yarn for her return trip. All those days on the train...you can only imagine how much knitting she'll be doing! We are also looking forward to knitting together during her visit. Looking forward to having another girl in the house...I'm so much out numbered with all of my boys. Can't wait!!

Now on to my knitting progress...I did manage to finished a couple of things. A baby blanket for my husband's niece who is expecting a baby. She's visiting this weekend and I wanted to make sure the blanket was finished so she could bring it back to Florida with her.Not knowing the sex of this baby I decided to make a white blanket this time. Since it's a Florida baby I thought a lacy blanket might be nice. Pine Forest Baby Blanket is a very easy pattern, but I have to admit I did have a little trouble and I had to rip back so many times that I lost count. It wasn't the pattern's fault...it was all because of me trying to knit when I was too sleepy. I've been super tired lately and need toothpicks to keep my eye's open!

The other project I finished last night was another bubble up towel.
This time for me! It photographed poorly. The yellow color is very washed out. It definitely is a bright yellow towel. The yarn also had some imperfections. The solid stockinette really accentuate the flaws. It's for me and will be a kitchen towel so that's fine. This one seemed to take forever to finish. I think I should have waited a little bit longer after finishing the previous one. The typical "second" syndrome...you know like the second sock syndrome ;)I also have to report that there was no sewing involved. I tried the method of picking up the hem stitches and bound off at the same time to form the hem. I definitely will be using that technique again. You all know how much I dislike sewing!!

Well, for those of you in the US, have a very happy 4th of July weekend. I know this 4th of July will be truly a special one for me. Happy Knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Cute happenings

2011-06-18T18:46:00.002-04:00

I've been a little bit under the weather lately, nothing serious, but I've not had the inclination to blog. Now that I'm feeling better I thought I'd show you my cute little guy (or gal) who I've been spying on from my inside windows. We have a rather large rock in the middle of our back yard. Somewhere around or under this rock is the burrow or home of a chipmunk family. Pretty much every day this cute little chipmunk perches on the rock. He's either on the look out for predators or is sounding off in alarm to keep intruders away or just letting everyone know that they are not to mess with him (her). He makes quite the racket producing a vigorous clacking sound. I really think he wears himself out the poor thing. I know I get tired just listening to him! I was quite surprise that Chipmunks make any kind of noise at all! They really are quite noisy :) According to my research this is how he(she) protects his(her) burrow and wards off the predators.

Miss Pink is thriving. I think she likes the heat and humidity. All of her new buds are now open. She has only dropped one of her old flowers. She now has a total of five flowers open. One of them is one of the original flowers from when I brought her home last March!
I'm really getting the urge to get another orchid to keep Miss Pink company. I've received so much enjoyment from this wonderful plant. I'm afraid it might just be beginner's luck. One of these days if I find the right one...I may just bring it home :) Time will tell....

Knitting wise I have nothing much to show you. I did finish a pair of double knit potholders for my kitchen. That's about it for finished items.

I'm working on a couple of things...one is a baby blanket that has to be finished by July 3rd. It's been slow going. Falling asleep knitting has been a big problem. I can't tell you the number of times I've had to rip it back. The pattern is super easy and I really don't have any excuse other than being tired. Part of the problem I think is that I've started listening to audio book recordings. Presently I'm ~~reading~~ listening to Debbie Macomber's Summer on Blossom Street. It's my first knitting novel :) These self contained digital devices (Playaways) are really cool. Plus the price is right. I'm borrowing it from my local library. It's the perfect vehicle to read and knit at the same time. I just love it. Our library doesn't have a huge collection, but you can download audio books to your MP3 player or take out audio books on CD's as well.. I don't have a MP3 player so it might be nice to get one sometime in the future. That way you'd never be without a book to ~~read~~ listen to. Usually I'm watching TV and knitting, but the summer does not have the best quality when it comes to programing and I detest watching TV just for the sake of watching it, if you know what I mean, so I do think it would be worth it to invest in the hardware someday. I'm very happy and can't wait to find more interesting books to ~~read~~ listen to! Suggestions of good books to read are always welcomed :)

Well, time to leave you. Must try and do some catching up on my blog reading. Besides that I've been some what busy in preparation for a couple of special visitors who'll be coming to see us sometime soon. More about that later. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Now I can show you...

2011-05-29T18:30:00.004-04:00

...the kitchen items I made for my "knit loving" daughter-in-law. Her birthday is tomorrow, but she picked up her gift yesterday.

This is a photo of some of the items. Four of the dishcloths I made previously. You probaby recognized them. Top pair are the Corner to Corner Striped Set and on the right, a pair of Circle cloths.

The rest are a couple of the new patterns I tried out. Now I have some new favorites, like these double knit potholders. Very utilitarian, unlike the fancier ones I made for her for Christmas. She tells me they are decorating the fridge as she doesn't want to ruin them. I hope she'll use these new ones, plus I always tell her there are always more where they came from ;).

Another pattern I tried out was a variation of Grandmother's favorite which is a very easy and beloved pattern, so I never anticipated all the trouble with this picot edged cloth. It was unbelievably frustrating trying to follow the pattern.This pattern has short row corners, which I had never done before, so I was unable to see just where I was going wrong. I was just about ready to give up when I scoped out what others said about the pattern on ravelry. I'm certainly not the first to have a problem and it was a relief to find a kind soul who posted her corrections for the pattern on her ravelry page. She's not the designer, but was kind enough to share her solution to the problems everyone was having with the pattern. In the end, the end result was two very pretty cloths. As my "Knit Loving "- DIL, says they are too pretty to use, but I do hope she'll use them as I will always make her more new ones :)

This next item is what I think is a rather elegant looking towel. I think it would make a nice hand towel or a decorative towel to lay out on your kitchen counter to drain your washed dishes on. It's a little dressy so if you haven't had the chance to put all your dishes away, it will look nice and less messy on your counter. Here some shots of the bubble up towel, another of my new favorites. It looks difficult, especially the bubble work, but it was really easy. I do love it and have another one on the needles for my kitchen at the moment.

Of course I can not leave you with out giving you the latest news about Miss Shirley Pink :) One of her buds opened up this week and there will be another one opening shortly...

...need I say more? She makes me very happy!

Spring flowers also make me happy as well. Here's a little sampling from my yard:

1. IMG_1084, 2. IMG_1083, 3. IMG_1082, 4. IMG_1128

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Happy Knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

A question about joining Circle cloth squares into a blanket

2011-05-16T19:13:00.000-04:00

I recently received the following (ravelry) email from Anita and I thought I would share it with you:

"I work with a Warm Up America group in Lexington, KY. One of our members brought in a block of circle cloth and a copy of your pdf pattern. We were totally fascinated. One member brought in a block she had done over the week and that inspired several of us to create our own blocks. The idea of connecting the various blocks into a small blankie grew out of our fascination. We did agree on Red Heart yarn and that the back color would be white. There probably will not be sufficient number of circle cloth blocks to make the entire blankie so we will do simple spacer blocks. Now we have to figure out how to connect these blocks! I’ve thought of stitching or crochet to connect the blocks but wondered if you had any suggestions for me.
I would appreciate any suggestions or advice. Thanks for sharing such a creative pattern with us all."

I have a method in my madness in posting this email, as it would be very nice to have input from those of you who may have already made up a blanket of circle or similar cloths (ballbands comes to mind) into a blanket. I would love to hear how you joined your squares, so please leave a comment. I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated by many of my readers :)

First, I'd like to share with you my thoughts on the subject, but remember I've never tried to make a blanket out of circle cloths. The first method that always comes to mind is the good old mattress stitch, but as most of you who read my blog regularly know that I avoid sewing knitted items at all costs...therefore I can't really recommend this method. The mattress stitch would be very forgiving and adjustable given the fact that the circle cloths, as the original pattern has been written, have very untidy edges. If you don't mind sewing. This would be a good approach.

With that comes my next thought...when I recently knit my circle baby blanket I played with the idea of a neater edge for the cloths and subsequent baby blanket. It worked out great for the blanket and I rather liked how the edge turned out on my experimental cloths.

To turn the original circle cloth into one with a neater edge cast on 6 more stitches and do the following:
(right side) beginning and end of each row - first 3 and last 3 stitches = Knit 1, sl 1 wyif, knit 1
(wrong side) beginning and end of each row - first 3 and last 3 stitches = sl 1 wyif, Knit 1, sl 1 wyif

I think if I were going to make a bunch of cloths into a blanket I would plan on using this edge on my cloths. It would make the assembly a little easier.

Keeping a neater edge in mind, a couple of choices of joins comes to mind:

A plain old crocheted slip stitch, for example Lucy's slip stitch joining method which I loved using to join all those identical granny squares. I wonder how this method would work with knitted squares? Would you have to frame each square with single crochets first? Well I gave it a go first without the single crochets with two of my cloths with the neater edge:

I used orange yarn so you could see how it worked out. Looks pretty good to me and pretty easy to do with the neater edged circle cloth. If you didn't mind adding more work to the assembly edging the cloths first with single crochets might even be better. I imagine the original (untidy edge) circle cloth with the slip stitch might work as well, but edging the squares first with single crochets might be a necessity.

Then there is the braided flat crochet option. I have successfully used this method to assemble a tessellated fish blanket and two (Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon) blankets of all sorts of different types of squares, both knitted and crocheted and was happy with the results. This method is also pretty forgiving and I don't think a border of single crochets would be necessary.

Well, hope this helps. There are lots of options and I bet there are lots more out there.

Anita, sure hope you'll send me photos of your group's completed circle cloth blanket. I would love to show it off here on my blog! I am very happy and flattered that you are so excited about my circle cloth pattern and you are using it to help others. Good luck with your assembly and be sure and let me know how you make out.

happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Twin granny Square Blankets for the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon

2011-05-14T20:00:00.001-04:00

Here's the result of my recent project of joining 70 crocheted (not by me) Granny Squares into twin blankets for the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon. The assembly was super easy with all the squares being identical. I didn't have to worry about square placement as I did with the two previous blankets that I have worked on. This time I used Lucy's method to join the squares . The result was very nice. I recommend this slip (crocheted) stitch method. Sure beats sewing all the squares together! Then to dress them up a little bit I felt a scalloped border was in order. First I did a border of single crochets around the whole blanket, then I crocheted six triple crochets spaced with a single crochet in between them. I'm very happy with the results.

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

A rambling we shall go

2011-05-07T17:45:00.001-04:00

First of all I wanted to show you what came in the mail for me yesterday:
A Mother's Day surprise from my son and (knit loving) daughter-in law! Decadent handmade cocoa dusted dark chocolate truffles that are amazing. Absolutely delicious and so rich and chocolatey. Such a sweet and thoughtful surprise! I love surprises especially if they are chocolate :) Tomorrow the rest of my boys have a plan to take me out to dinner. A very good Mother's Day this year for sure!

Look at what I found today as I was breaking eggs to make some cookies...a double yolked egg, my very first! In all my many years of cooking and baking I have never found one until today. I guess they are not all that rare. There's a 1 in 1000 chance you'll get one. You can read more about double yolked eggs here.

I can’t take credit for crocheting these 70 - 9” granny squares. Yes, they are all identical. A friend from church acquired the 90 squares from the senior citizens center and asked me if I’d like to assemble them into a blanket for the Pine St. Inn Knit-a-thon (facebook page). Which by the way will be held in the Great Hall of the Massachusetts State House this year. This is the official page for the Knit-a-thon. I said sure. I have enough squares for 2 blankets with some leftover. I am using this method for joining the squares. No sewing and there are not as many ends to work in. So far so good :)

I am VERY happy to report Miss Shirley Pink is thriving. She's produced four more buds at least and there may be more coming. I am thrilled to pieces or I should say I'm tickled pink ;) Can you believe her original flowers are just as pretty as the day (March 23) I brought her home? I'm really getting so much enjoyment and I'm so happy that the flowers are so long lasting. Love, love orchids...they really are the best!!!

Well, I guess I've done enough rambling for now. I've finished a couple of projects that I can't show you just yet, because I'll be gifting someone special around the end of this month...then I'll be able to safely blog about them. So, for now that's about it. Hope all of you mothers out there have a very special and happy Mother's Day tomorrow! Enjoy....and of course hope there's lots of happy knitting going on :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

A little something...

2011-04-30T19:31:00.000-04:00

.....to use up your leftover sock yarn. My first attempt at knitted origami, a cute little change purse:

This a great way to use up little odds and ends of sock yarn. You certainly don't need much to whip up one of these little purses.
Don't look at the back!

I did a terrible job sewing it together. That's the only part I didn't like about this project....the sewing! I wish there was a way to knit it up in the round and seamless, but I don't think that will work. The parts consists of 5 squares knit on the diagonal.

Here's a view inside the purse. Isn't it cute? It's just big enough for a few coins or some jewelry. I had a hard time getting a good photo as the purse didn't want to stay open for me. Check out the pattern's page on ravelry. There are some better pictures there.

When you are finished sewing it together you need to block it wet in order to get it to stay flat. It was a fun little project. Just what I needed after knitting the circle baby blanket. I love quick little projects :)

Next on the agenda are a few projects that I can't show you right now. Instead I do have something(non knitting related) to show you.

Check out my new favorite kitchen tool:

It's a Danish Dough Whisk (See all Whisks). I actually bought two different sizes. The small one is great for making yeast waffles. No lumps using this special tool to mix the dough. I bought the larger one to mix up my artisan bread dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book. It really makes the mixing easy, plus it's an easy clean up. They are very reasonably priced. I'm planning on using the smaller one when I mix up my next batch of muffins. I bet there will be no lumps as well. Can't wait! Definitely a good investment when it come to kitchen gadgets.

Hope everyone is enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Looks like summer is right around the corner. Happy Knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Circle Baby Blanket Pattern

2011-04-21T19:38:00.001-04:00

Well, I did it...I finished the baby blanket on time with no extra time to spare! The recipient was very pleased with the homemade baby "quilt". The finished blanket was very soft and squishy, so I understand why she called the knitted blanket a "quilt". I am always very happy when someone appreciates my knitting :) If you are interested in making the Circle Blanket, which is based on my Circle Cloth, but has a much neater edge you can download the pattern here.

Circle Baby Blanket in PDF format.

Enjoy :)

P.S. You can also use the edging from this blanket on the circle cloth if you would like a neater edge.

Circle Baby Blanket in Spanish now available when downloading the pattern on Ravelry.

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

At the half way point

2011-04-01T19:36:00.006-04:00

I've reached the half way point with my knitting of the Circle Baby Blanket. Good thing -- because I only have less than two weeks to finish the blanket. I'm chugging along, but at the same time my mind wanders on to the thought of some new projects. I'm committed to getting this done so I must stay focused :)

A little update on Miss Shirley Pink. On one hand she's still alive and her two blossoms are just as pretty as the first day I brought her home a little over a week ago, BUT there has been some casualties. She has lost three or her buds, which never even opened. I'm sad. Here are the two bigger buds she lost:
There is one more bud, but it doesn't look like it will be around for much longer. I've done a little research and found there are few causes of bud dropping or technically speaking - - bud blast . Changes in temperature, not enough light, not enough or too much water, using water that has been softened or fertilizing too much, drafts, or fumes from chemicals or gas are all possible causes of bud blast. I have a feeling that my plant may have been temperature shocked. It was very cold the day I brought her home. I did put her in a paper bag and covered the top with a plastic bag. On sunny days the room she's in gets pretty warm, not hot, but then at night it gets chilly. She is also in a room that has a gas heater in it and I think the 2nd or 3rd night the heat was on to take the evening chill off. Perhaps the gas fumes from the heater may have affected the buds. Another thought is perhaps it's the tap water I've been using. May be I should try distilled water?

The good news is that on the tippy top of the flower stem is a tiny bud starting to form. It wasn't there to begin with, so I'm hopeful Miss Pink may produce one more flower. My fingers are crossed.

Other noteworthy news... particularly if you are on facebook, be sure and check out the Pine Street Knit-a-thon page.

The knit-a-thon is a great way to use your knitting and crochet skills to help end homelessness.

Be sure and "like" the knit-a -thon page. The more exposure the KAT gets, the more likely the KAT will attract the attention of national sponsors to support the Pine Street Inn. Farley will be announcing the venue for the 5th annual Knit-a-thon on November 6, 2011 soon, perhaps next week. I can only imagine the coming event will be bigger and better than last year. Come join us, either knit or crochet some squares or help assemble the blankets. It's all fun and for such a great cause. Can't wait to start my squares. The way the time is flying by, November will be here before you know it :)

Have a great weekend...happy knitting everyone :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Today...A very good day

2011-03-23T20:47:00.002-04:00

If I didn't know better, I'd think today was my birthday! Today's the day I brought home my new "baby". I'd like to introduce you to Miss Shirley Pink:

A Phalaenopsis Orchid, my first.

I've always wanted to try to grow an orchid, but was afraid to spend the money and have one die. Normally orchids cost $20.00 and up. That;s a lot to spend not knowing if the plant will survive.

Usually I don't name my plants, but thought I would this time, mostly in honor of my friend, De e (the enabler), who names her plants and she's the one who encouraged me to buy Miss Pink. I guess I should start my story from the beginning.

Yesterday I did my food shopping and while I was at the grocery store I started drooling in front of a table display of orchids. They were a special, just $7.99 and my goodness they were all beautiful and very healthy looking. I started talking to another admirer of the plants. I was very tempted to buy one, but I was too afraid I might kill it. The other woman told me about how she had killed them in the past. We both decided not to buy one.

I kept thinking about them all day yesterday and even told my husband about them. I also wrote to my friend Dee, a very successful orchid grower, who lives in Florida. Today after I read her email pretty much telling me -- to go for it, I had nothing to lose, I was a woman on a mission to go back to the market and buy one. I was afraid they might all be gone. This market is super busy, but to my delight they were all there. It didn't look like they sold any as far as I could tell or maybe they got another shipment. Well, low and behold there was another woman looking at them today and I again struck up a conversation with her. As it happens she also grows orchids and is a member of the garden club and she was very happy to help me. She gave me some advise and helped me pick out my beauty. Now time will only tell if I can keep Miss Pink alive. Thanks to Dee, as she patiently answers my questions, I'm hoping Shirl will have a long life and hopefully continue to bloom for me :) I've got lots to learn about Orchids. Hopefully she'll be patient with me while I learn :)

Now you probably saying this is a knitting blog where is the knitting content? No knitting to show you today but I do have something knitting related in a fibery sort of way. Here's my loot, a prize I won on Linda's blog contest recently. I really hit the jack pot with 4 skeins of wonderful yarn from Kraemer Yarns. Two greenish worsted skeins, one brown DK, and a yellow fingering weight. Love all of them! Aren't I the lucky one?

In addition she included a lovely hand crocheted dishcloth in my kitchen colors and knitting note cards (my first) and a pad of tulips for my friend. Everything is wonderful...Thank you, Linda, for your VERY generous surprise package!!! I really appreciate it and you made today very special.

So much for the spring weather last week, as we are now expecting 2-4 inches of snow overnight. The good thing is -- it shouldn't stay around long. After a taste of the nice weather I am getting very itchy for it to arrive and stay. Better get cracking and get back to my knitting. That baby blanket has to be finished by April 15th. Happy Knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

In quest of a neater edge

2011-03-18T20:42:00.000-04:00

For a while now I've been thinking about how to go about improving my circle cloth pattern so the resulting cloth has a neater edge. Over and over despite it's popularity I've heard the comment made that they love the cloth, BUT it would be nicer if it had an edge that wasn't so wonky looking.

Needing to make a baby blanket prompted me to pull out some kitchen cotton and knit up some circle cloths and try an idea I had to make a smoother looking edge. First trying it on a smaller scale with a dishcloth and then perhaps trying a blanket.

I was very pleased with my cloths and I think they look pretty good.

Then I moved on to a baby blanket. I'm still only on the beginning stages of completion, but so far so good and I am really loving the thick and cushiony blanket.
I'm using easy care Lion Brand Pound of Love yarn and it's so soft and silky. I even love the wrong side which looks similar to garter stitch stripes.
The secret to the neat edge is knitting the beginning and end of each row in a double knit.
I am very pleased with the results. What do you think?

Do you think possibly spring is really here? Sure felt like spring today with temps in the 60's. We only have a few very small snow piles left. You can finially see green sprouts trying to spring forth...oh, I can't wait...hope everyone is enjoying their own spring weather...perhaps with some outside knitting? Happy Knitting everyone :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

A Quickie

2011-02-26T18:33:00.000-05:00

After knitting my husband's sweater I needed a quick project to make me feel like I was able to accomplish something in a short amount of time. I chose to make something for myself - for a change. Armed with leftover odds and ends of my kitchen cotton, I decided to make a case for my earphones. This is something I've been wanting to make for a while now, but never quite seemed to get around to it. The new case sure beats the ziploc sandwich bag I had been using :)

My grandmother's button box which was handed down to my mother and then to me really came in handy.

I rummaged through my button tin of all kinds of old, really old buttons. I had a few different buttons to choose from, but finally decided on a navy blue one to sew on my case.

We also celebrated my middle son's nineteenth birthday yesterday. He's home from college for the weekend and we decided to celebrate his birthday early since his actual birthday is Monday and he'll be back at school. I can't believe he's nineteen! College is really turning him into a fine young man. I'm not sure how it happens whether living away from home makes them more tolerant of their poor old parents or what, but they do become nicer people in general. I know I observed this as it happened to my oldest son. It certainly makes me hopeful the same thing will happen with my youngest. Fun times ahead :)

I can't believe February is just about over. Where did the month go? I'll be glad to see the spring weather finally arrive. There are no signs of spring around here...still too much snow yet to melt. Good weather though to stay inside and knit. Happy Knitting everyone :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

An easy fix

2011-02-19T16:11:00.001-05:00

....thanks to Nancy. In my last post, a plea for help in stopping my knitted sweater from flipping up at the bottom, Nancy commented listing two Techknitting links: mysteries-of-knitting-part-1 and December 25, 2007 post. They were very helpful to me in seeing the error of my ways.

After reading the information and once I was able to digest it, I knew immediately what I need to do to fix my problem. No blocking, no ironing, no lining, no sewing, nothing out of the ordinary...just a little ripping back, an easy fix to fix a problem I created myself. Yes, you see I changed the pattern because my husband wanted the sweater to fit loosely. I thought if I just skipped the decrease row before the ribbing, all would be good. I was so wrong. If I had followed the directions to begin with, none of the flipping up or curling would have occurred. This was a very good lesson for me. Follow patterns as written, especially sweaters as there are reason for all the steps even if you don't what the reasons are at the time. Any way, all is good now, very good. Here's the sweater modeled by my husband:

...and he seems to be very happy with his new sweater. It's very warm and soft and I have to admit I'm going to miss it on my lap every night keeping me warm. Enough is enough and it's time to more on.

happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

Uninspired...and worried....

2011-02-15T10:24:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. All day yesterday I wanted to write a post, but it never happened. Such is life ;) The good news is that I made a point to post today and here it is.... Thought I would show you what my sweetie brought to me on Sunday: a lovely Valentine bouquet of fresh flowers...

My husband doesn't always bring me flowers, but this year he surprised me!

Here are the brownies I made for him:

I used a new recipe. They are VERY rich and fudgy and chocolaty. The recipe calls for 2 sticks of butter, but I substituted half a cup of canola oil for one of the sticks. Still can taste the butter, but halved the amount of saturated butter. I also do this with my favorite chocolate chip recipe and no one notices the difference. Here's the brownie recipe I found on the back of the King Arhur all-purpose flour sack. I didn't use the expresso powder. (It wasn't listed in my recipe from the sack.)

I've been diligently working on a project for my husband. I had hoped in the back of my mind to finish this sweater for him in time for Valentine's day. It didn't happen, but I am close to finishing. I'm really uninspired by this pattern. It's not totally the patterns fault. I am exited though as it's knit totally in the round. NO sewing, YES!! It's relatively easy, once you take all the measurements. You fill in all the blanks and it guides you through all the knitting. Lots and lots of stockinette stitch, not very exciting and I think that's the problem. I think I would use the pattern sometime in the future, but would do cables or a pretty stitch pattern, or color work. Then comes the sleeves. How can I put this nicely. My husband is a big guy, therefore he needs a big sweater. This is a really big sweater...and the sleeves are, well really big, too. The pattern only tells you a little about how to decrease for the sleeves. A knitting novice wouldn't know how to even begin. Even after I did all the deceases written per the pattern I was left with way too many stitches. I had to do some creative decreasing. Hopefully the second sleeve comes out the same as the first one. I jotted down notes as I went. I may need to re-work the sleeves....we'll see. I'll be glad when he can try on the sweater.

Another thing that is worrying me is the ribbing around the bottom of the sweater which has a mind of it's own. It wants to stay flipped up...both front and back. I used wool-ease yarn. Has anyone had this happen to them? Have you ever blocked wool-ease yarn? Do you think it will flatten out if I wash and dry it? I am very worried. Hopefully it will flatten out. I knit it top down, so didn't find this out until it was too late. Maybe I should take out the ribbing and finish off the sweater in a different way. Any of your thoughts would be greatly apprecited, especially from knitters who are familiar with wool-ease.

Here's the almost finished sweater. The actual color is a darker blue. The photos are washed out.

You can see me here, hoding down the ribbing:

Well, hopefully it will all work out. Wish me luck:)
happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

The end is in sight

2011-01-30T21:04:00.001-05:00

...of the unveiling of the final Christmas gifts of 2010. Thank goodness for I really need to move on to bigger and better things :) May I present to you a quadruple of toilet paper covers:

"K" requested toilet paper covers for ALL of her and my son's bathrooms in their new house. I was only too happy to fulfill her desires :) "N" and "K" have 3 bathrooms. A half bath off of the kitchen, a master bath and a guest bathroom. For the kitchen I decided to use my circle cloth and transform that design into a cover. On my first try I ended up with a Big Circle cloth motif:

Not sure that that was the look I was going after, I gave it another try and made a smaller version of the cover, which is more true to the original circle cloth.
Now I had two covers. Which one did I think "K" would like better? I ended up giving her the smaller version. This one was going to be for the half bath, with colors matching her kitchen. I decide to give the extra Big version to "K" 's mother. I thought it would look nice in her bathroom. (Glad I did, because she really like it !)

Next on the list was the master bath. I had the bright idea that "K" might like a Hugs & Kisses motif on the one for the master bath. It matches the big queen sized Lover's Knot blanket the I made for them last year. Basically I just used the "X"s and "O"s. She really like it :)

Then for the guest bath I decided to use my old favorite ballband toilet paper cover. Knit in colors that match the guest bathroom's pink and purple color scheme.

She was very pleased with all three, which made me very happy. I'm always happy to knit for my very appreciative and favorite daughter-in-law. Not having any of my own daughters, "K" more than makes up for the deficiency.

I'll leave you with another shot of my multiples of covers.

Now on to bigger and better things. Sure hope every one is finding the time to be happy and knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.

A couple of hats, plus some felting results

2011-01-23T08:43:00.005-05:00

I still have a few more Christmas knit items to show you. First, is a hat for my son's mother-in-law ("B"). I made it to go with the scarf I gave her a couple of years ago. I use the Intuitive Hat pattern (rav link). It's a reversible slouchy hat that can be worn slouchy or with a rolled up cuff. With the cuff you have a more traditional type of hat. "B" has a headful of beautiful natural curls so I thought she might like this style of hat. She seemed to be pleased and noticed right away that it (or the yarn) matched her scarf from a couple of years ago.

I also knit a Cashmere ribbed hat
for my husband who has a new jacket this year. It was fun knitting this hat on the sly so it was a surprise for him on Christmas morning. He always insinuates that I knit for everyone else and never for him. You can imagine how happy I was that I could surprise him. He's been wearing it a lot since Christmas. It fits him well. He's a big guy and has a rather large head, so I had to increase the number of stitches so it would fit. I have the details listed on Ravelry if you are interested in how I made an XXL hat. I was pleased with the results. This pattern is my all time favorite hat pattern for men. Very easy and it looks great on.

I took the plunge earlier in the week and felted my son's slippers. I really was a little hesitant doing it in my front loader. The potholder came out fine, but these slippers can be a little tricky to felt even in a regular wringer type washing machine. My front loader is a Whirlpool, Duet Sport and you select different wash cycles, spin cyles and water temp, BUT once you start a cycle the machine locks and you cannot open the door to check on the felting progress. It took 3 washes to felt the slippers to a satisfactory degree. Here's how I did it: I put each slipper in a pillow case tied with a knot. Added 2 bath sized towels and a little detergent. The first wash was a quick wash, hot water and no spin. This didn’t do much felting wise. On the 2nd wash I used a normal wash, medium spin with hot water. The knot came out once I used a spin cycle, so I added a rubber band the next time. With the normal wash it just started to felt, but it wasn't enough so I finished it off with one more quick wash, high speed spin and hot water. Had my son try them on and we stopped. Probably should have put it trough one more cycle as one slipper is a little loose going downstairs. Was afraid it may shrink/felt too much if I did it one more time. I sewed on non-skid soles. Once again I used the black rubberized self liner I bought in walmart. It's the same roll I used for all my other slippers I made previously and I still have more left. I'm sooo glad they are done. I'm not anxious at all to make another pair. Hopefully these will last a long time :)

That's enough for today. I think I have enough for one more post about Christmas knitting, plus I started a new project ....for my husband. Yes, the guy who thinks I never knit for him. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I sure hope everyone is happy knitting :)

Copyright ©2006-2011 hakucho, All Rights Reserved.