Going On To The Next Round

My work on the Beth's Little Star Afghan I started continues to progress. Almost finished with round 16!. The afghan looks great. Added a row to the knitted afghan, watched American Idol. My plan is to spend sometime reading tonight. It is hump day and I am on the downward slide to the weekend.

My First Knit Afghan

Last night I started my first Knit afghan. Over the weekend I brought 5 skeins of Bernat Baby Blanket in Pitter Patter. A very pretty color. It is a chunky soft yarn . Friday night I tried the Beth's Little Star and did not like the way it looked, then tried The Crazy Stitch did not like that either. So last night on Ravelry I did a search and found a few projects using the Bernat Baby Blanket. The project that stood out for me was the diagonal blanket you can find the pattern on plymouthyarn.com it is a free pattern number F 138. You have to use circular needles. Even though I learned to knit in 2007 I have never used circular needles to knit straight or in the round. I have used double pointed needles. So after reading the pattern and what you needed to get started, so I went in search of size 15 24" or larger circular needles. Found them in my bedroom. Took a deep breath and cast on. Went to youtube to find a video to make sure I was going in the right direction. I feel like I am off to a good start. Added two rounds to the Beth's Little Star Afghan. My friend Angela called me tonight to help her with her Beth's Little Star Afghan. Tomorrow at work I will help her and make sure she is off to a good start. The Afghan is knit like a Grandmother Favorite Dishcloth you cast on four and knit two rows after that you knit 2 yarn over and knit to the end of the row. You repeat this row until you have 62 stitches on the needle. Over 40 rows end and so far so good. Getting ready to go to bed an read. Happy Crafting.

Great Day for Reading and Crochet

Spent the day reading and crocheting. Picked up a book at the library yesterday, and started reading last night. The book is A Plain & Fancy Christmas, by Cynthia Keller. I Know a Christmas theme book well what can I say it appealed to me. So far I am enjoying the read it is about the Amish and I love books involving the Amish. Working row 10 on the variegated Beth's Little Star Afghan. Marvelously long week ahead of me and I am trying to prepare. All crafty people craft on!

Cold and Windy Saturday

Well today has been a cold windy day. Also a shocking day just found out not long ago Whitney Huston died she was only 48. She was a tremendous singer and I feel so bad for her family, especially her Daughter. My day started with me getting up and putting to bags of can goods on my front door step , every year the boy scouts leave bags and come back a week later to pick up donations. Did not have a much to give this year and I really feel bad about giving less this year. The for next year is to be better prepared. Went to the library to meet my friend from work she wants to crochet a baby afghan for one of her friends. So I told her I would help her get started on an afghan. We tried some chucky yarn first and a different pattern than what I thought she was going to use. This did not work out well so we went to a pattern I felt it would be easier for a beginner. We used Beth's Little Star Afghan. I am not sure the website is still up for this pattern, but I think you might be able to find on Ravelry. To me this pattern seems easy and you repeat the same stitch's over and over again. In order to prepare on Friday night I practiced getting started and the first few rounds of the afghan. Then I started one today at the same time she did so she could see how to get started read and work the pattern. So now I have 3 Beth's Little Star Afghan started the plan is to finish all three no need to rip them out. Last night finished reading Behind the Seams, by Betty Hechtman. Great book loved the ending. Can't wait for the next in the series.

Quite Sunday

Spent most of the day in bed watching Say Yes To The Dress on TLC great show I love it. I am watching Dateline on ID love the show. I enjoy watching all the shows about murder and other mysteries. After finally getting out of bed sorted my laundry let the cats in and started watching tv. Finished a Red Hot Hat, so far so good on the use up all my cotton scarps and cotton before buying anymore. While searching for all the cotton yarn I found a lot of I love This Cotton! from Hobby Lobby. It is a great cotton for baby washcloths. It is a very soft cotton. Well I have loads more than I realize once I gathered it all together. When I get around to cleaning out my closet something tells me more cotton yarn will be found. Another goal for the year is to get all the stash yarn organized and use as much of it as possible. Next weekend is the annual sheep shearing at Rising Meadow it is free and open to the public, they will have yarn, lamb meat, and roving on sale. You get to see a sheep shearing in person and help if you want. Would love to attend but not sure due to fiances. The yarn sold at Rising Meadow is beautiful, it is always a temptation. The lamb is great and I hate it when I can't buy a leg of lamb. I have some lamb bones and meat that I need to cook. Just not sure what to do with the meat and bones. Maybe lamb stock with the bones and then maybe soup or lamb stew. Posting a picture of Hermes, don't let the sweet look fool you. I have a very hard time keeping off the counter's.

Potholder's

Crocheting potholder's for my Daughter. Using stash and scrap cotton yarn. Still Reading Behind the Seams by Betty Hechtman. Great book and I love all the Tarzana Hookers. Quite Saturday got up went to Greensboro Public Library to return over due books and books on cd. Then made my way to the grocery store and back home. Killed time watching tv and on the internet. I am watching 48 Hours a Mystery. A rainy day but not to cold. This has been a very mild winter in North Carolina. So far no snow or freezing rain. Very happy about this because this means my heat does not come as much. I love snow and watching it snow but still happy about the mild winter. The time I have spent alone has been wonderful. I used a pattern from ASE Knits 'n' Crochets http://asenc.blogspot.com/ Sunflower Potholder/Hotpad . Posting a picture of my version of this potholder added a lot more petals to the potholder.

Cotton Yarn Stash

This weekend I spent time going through my Cotton yarn stash. When you spend a lot of time knitting dish cloths you have a lot of left over yarn. This weekend I spent a lot of time rolling left over yarn into balls. My goal for this year is to not buy any cotton yarn. I think some of my left over yarn can be used to crochet Hot Hats and potholders. Another plan is to knit or crochet grocery bags. Still reading Behind the Seams, by Betty Hechtman. So far a very good read and I am sure I will enjoy it to the very end. So far no knitting, crochet, or reading today. My Daughter was here yesterday for a visit. She wanted to try cooking Chicken Marsala. She loves the Chicken Marsala at Olive Garden. So she brought half the ingredients and we brought half. She found the recipe online. You need to give yourself a lot of preparation time. Chopping and slicing. My Daughter was not pleased with the final product. She did not like the sauce. She felt like the dish had to much Marsala wine. So I told her maybe she should consider reducing the amount of wine. I liked the sauce myself. I hope she will give the recipe another try or find another recipe. Really enjoyed the time spent in the kitchen with my daughter and our time spent together. I crocheted two potholders for my Daughter and forgot to take pictures of the potholders. I have another potholder almost finished. Plan to start another tonight. The potholder are for my Daughter. After the potholders the plan is to crochet as many Hot Hats as I can out of my cotton yarn stash as I can. Yarn stash picture to follow. Happy crafting.