Merry Christmas

Here is wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season filled with love and stitches!

Today ...

My heart is breaking for the victims of the shootings in Connecticut. Words cannot express my sorrow. Colorado has had our share of sorrows. We lived through the Columbine shooting when my son was in high school. He went to a different high school, but some of the youth group in our church attended Columbine. My son said that they used to talk about friends, dating, parents, school classes, and their future before the shooting, and afterward, they talked about friends who died. I grieve for the children, their families, and for our country.

And Now the Fingerless Gloves

I wrote about my piano gloves on this blog
back in October 2011.

I found this ruffle in one of my
books on edgings. I like it
on these gloves, but not good
for a sweater.

 I just wrote about not liking to knit gloves, and I have had a few requests to post pictures of the fingerless gloves that I do like to knit. I have made several pairs and I sell them at that Renaissance Fair in the summer and a holiday artisan store in the winter.

I don't always feel obligated
to put thumbs in

Fingerless gloves are a great way to try out patterns without having to make a sweater or even a scarf.  I have tried several different lace patterns, slip stitch methods, and even fancy cables. I always use double-point needles because that's how I learned to make socks and like them. I know lots of people like the Magic Loop method, but this works well for me.

I love knitting socks as well, but I realize that if I had to separately knit each toe, I wouldn't like doing socks any more than I like knitting gloves.

Does this pattern look familiar?
If you follow the book/movie
series Twilight,
you will notice it is the
cover of the book.
Very popular
design.

This is a slip-stitch herringbone
pattern. Not only fun to do, but the slip stitching
makes it double layered and warmer.

Lace. How can you ever go wrong with lace?

Gloves - ugh

I decided I don't like to knit gloves. I like knitting fingerless gloves, but not regular gloves. Obviously, that must mean that I don't like knitting the fingers.    It isn't just knitting a few stitches on double pointed needles, it is also having to weave in the beginning and end of ten fingers.

I like the results, but I couldn't wait to finish this project. The yarn is a sock yarn that I have had a long time and I don't remember where I got it. Also, the gloves don't fit quite right. There is more material on the web between the thumb and palm on glove than the other. I am ready to go back to knitting hats and shawls. I don't want to work with fit right now. Besides, I have several scarves that I need to finish before Christmas.  Scarves always fit.

Back to the needles.

Foothills Living

Living in the foothills of the Rockies has its advantages, such as the beautiful views and ever-present wildlife, but every few days we have to traipse into town to run errands. We try to combine as many as possible, which always means that Ken needs to stop by one of the homer stores and shop. I enjoy hardware store about as much as he enjoys doing through a Cold Water Creek store. We are about to solve this huge divide of interests by visiting a shopping center in Highlands Ranch that has both a Home Depot and a Tattered Cover book store. Thank goodness for cell phones. He drops me off and I can wander around or sit down and knit, waiting for him to pick up some plumbing pipe for his solar panel invention, or some piece of lumber that he needs to shore up some joint. He calls me when he is done and I don't have to look at paint samples to pass the time.

My idea of heaven is a yarn and book store combination with a really good brand of coffee. The Tattered Cover is about as close as to heaven on earth that there can be even if I need to bring my own yarn. First, I head to the magazine section to see the most current knitting magazines. I have a rule that I don't buy a magazine unless there are at least three projects in the magazine that I would definitely make. I don't buy a book unless there are at least five projects that I would make. Additionally, if my local library carried the book or magazine, I take it home first to see if I am still in love with the contents before investing in it.

It's a dumb rule.