shawl collar jacket

I made many changes to the original Coats & Clark pattern. I love how it turned out, loose and boxy, with lots of ease, room to cuddle up on windy winter days.

After the collar was sewn to the neckline, the seam was bulky and unsightly. Satin ribbon was hand sewn to cover the seam making the seam beautiful to the touch. A long coil of i-cord and satin ribbon closes the sweater with small snaps. It's a lot prettier than button closures!

baby hat for charity

when you hear of someone knitting baby hats for a charity in need, and that someone is your 87 year old mom, how can you resist joining the effort. Baby knitting is so much fun because it's so small and cuddly. The original pattern is from Bernat Studio.

I Cord head band

Just finished this head band to wear with the matching scarf. I cord is really fun to knit and easy to learn.

I Cord Braided Scarf

This is the "Braided Scarf" designed by Susan B. Anderson as it appeared on Knit and Crochet Now! TV, Episode #3. The white scarf is super bulky weight yarn on size 13 and 17 needles. My scarf in burgundy, periwinkle blue and black double stranded worsted (Cascade 220) worked on size 9 needles. Very fun to knit, 6 feet long, about 4" wide in solid, knitted sections. Super comfy to wear in different ways, poking one end thru the i cord braids in a casual way. The matching hat is on the needles now.

I Cord Tricolor Scarf

Soap Saver

When Walmart stopped carrying soap savers, I took out my Peaches & Cream and thanks to Jennifer Hoel for her pattern, I knitted this one. Almost too cute to use, I look forward to its skin polishing qualities just like a loofa. Now I want another to use while this one is in the laundry. Don't know why it took me so long to make one of these, so sweet hanging in my shower.

KANV Guild - One hour Zipper workshop or what to do with those knitted swatches

My local knitting guild held a one hour workshop to learn about inserting zippers in knitted garments. We brought to class two small swatches and learned how to hand sew a zipper perfectly. After the class, I sewed up the sides, embellished the front and back with small seed beads and now have a cute cel phone pouch hanging from a keychain on my tote bag. The best part about using this is that strangers want to talk about knitting! FYI, zippers are inserted in knitting the same way as sewing with an optional knitted or crocheted edging finish.

wardrobe flowers

These flowers are knitted from Lesley Stanfield's beautiful book "100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet" and I've attached them to purchased satin hangers for gifting. Flowers are a great way to use up some stash of yarn and embroidery thread too. I'm going to make many more because flower projects are portable, pocket-sized for travel. How about some vegetables and fruit for a tote bag? It's in this terrific book too.

Paper Yarn and milk jug pull tabs

About a year ago I became fascinated with the pull tabs that seal milk containers and began saving them in a kitchen drawer. I was given a ball of R2 yarn made from nylon paper tape to use for a contest entry at my local knitting guild, KANV. It was a natural for the recycled pull tabs. I purchased an inexpensive glass vase at Walmart and crocheted a sleeve for the vase, seaming an edge on a rectangle hdc piece. I made many tiny bows and attached the pull tabs, easily done. My garden weeds look great here, don't you think? Stash buster and great gift idea too.

Apple App - Stitch Gauge - Must have!

This amazing app is from Ashland Sky and is so easy to use. Place two pins on your knitting, adjust the Ipod/Iphone needle graphic to match the points and read the stitch gauge. I am so grateful to a wonderful knitter pal who turned me on to this. It has made measuring very accurate and easy to check as my knitting progresses. I have found that a gauge of twenty stitches can be different from the body of a sweater and I want to frequently check my gauge to ensure that the finished garment fits just the way I anticipate it will. This photograph is from the web designer, Ashland Sky, who acknowledges Cat Bordhi in the creation of this app. Here's a link to learn more about Ashland Sky

Shawl Collar Cardigan progress

This is the back in progress for a casual, loose fit, Shawl Collar Cardigan from Knit 'N Style Magazine, February, 2007. The gauge on the yarn band is for 10 1/2 needles but I'm knitting on size 9s because I thought that the color changes looked better in the tighter gauge. Now I have to tell you about the gauge tool that another Knitting Guild member shared with me and it is now my favorite Apple App.

But what color is it?

Rowan Colourscape chunky yarn - color ID: Ghost 435
100% Lambswool

knitting for charity

With the holidays upon us, a call for caps to donate to the local hospice was more important than anything I could think of!

Vogue Cruise swatch pillow

On the Vogue Knitting cruise this month I made some of the flowers and embellishments to this swatch during Nicky Epstein's class. Nicky is such an enthusiastic teacher that she won many of her experienced knitters to her view point, knitting is for embellishing!

swatch pillow - back

Cotton sheepskin pillow backing, attached using blanket stitch embroidery and generously stuffed

knitted headband gifts

when three are better than just one! I love this pattern available as a free download on Ravelry.com. Thank you DROPS design studio. I received some yarn with tiny sequins running through it and combined it with the knitting yarn for the yellow headband. I think that this basic pattern is great for embellishment such as adding beads, or charms, knitted in or sewn on later.

Susie's headband

This comfortable stretchy headband is a free download from the web and Ravelry from Drops Design Studios and Garnstudio, a Norwegian yarn company. For inspiration, visit the pattern website from this company and you will be amazed at the variety and fresh, innovative design of their patterns. Here's the link to their headband page at

http://www.garnstudio.com

I made my headband in Cascade 220 , a 100% Peruvian highlands wool with size 6 needles and modified the pattern slightly so that the sides covering the ears was wider earlier in the pattern. On Ravelry, I read many pattern comments from other knitters complaining about the width at the ears. I think that the needle size in the original pattern (US 7) would not give the knitter the required 4 1/2 st per inch per the pattern (yarn gauge per mfr. is using US 4 or 5). Always check your gauge!

Drops Design - pattern photo

modified headband pattern

Cast on 19 stitches
work in pattern, repeating the two rows for the 19 inch band. Bind off and seam ends together or use
provisional cast on and three needle bind off.
Pattern:
row 1	k1	k2 p1	k2, k1	right side
row 2	k1	p2 k1	p2 k1	wrong side
all increases and decreases on right side rows (with k2 p1)
inches to knit	when band measures:			inc/dec	sts
0.0	0"				19
2.0	2"		inc all p1 to p2	5	24
2.5	4.5"		inc all p2 to p3	5	29
2.0	6.5"		inc all p3 to p4	5	34
1.5	8"		inc all p4 to p5	5	39
1.5	9.5"		center - place marker
1.5	11"		dec all p5 to p4	-5	34
1.5	12.5"		dec all p4 to p3	-5	29
2	14.5		dec all p3 to p2	-5	24
2.5	17		dec all p2 to p1	-5	19
2	19"				19