Hop on the Bus, Gus

Click on the title of this post to see this pattern. It is my latest FO and my crocheted scarf entry in the Lake County Fair. Wouldn't you agree that it's an apropo design for a school teacher? I'm thinking about embroidering the name of our school corporation on the side of the bus just like our real ones. I will probably raffle it off as a class fundraiser once school starts. We'll see.

Lace Leaves Scarf

I decided to make this as my entry in the knitted scarf division at the Lake County Fair. I finished blocking it this morning. I used the Yarn Harlot's suggestion. It saved me from spending an insane amount of money on steel blocking rods. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Watercolor. I loved how the yarn looked on the Yarn Grove's website so I bought it. They offer free shipping so what the heck! I really like how it turned out.

Well, It's about time the hostess got in on this!

I am hosting this month's -along at get Stitchy! I know I should have posted this a few weeks ago. Bad girl! Bad girl! It's been fun so far. We are creating items for those with the XY chromosomes. I've been slow to make something. I think I'll call E and ask if he'd like anything special this month. He is my godson, after all. In the meantime, I took this -along as a chance to make a rabbit for J, my four-year-old nephew. He has imaginary rabbits so Cleo asked if I'd make him a "real" one. Here's his "real" rabbit. I added eyes to it since I took the picture. Cleo gets weirded out by faceless creatures.

Spring Felted Bag Exchange

I got my first package from my pal in the Spring Felted Bag Exchange. It's almost like the girl knew me! Here's a picture. The yarn is her own handspun wool/silk blend. It's 110 yards. I don't know what I'm going to make with it, but whatever it is, it will be for ME!




Just look at this gorgeous yarn!!



In addition, she sent some goodies for D, too. Here they are, yarn and stitch markers. He'll be so happy when I send them along.



What I think is so funny about this package is the fact that I told Lisa that I wanted to Mex out my place. You know, give the decor a touch of my heritage. If you look closely at the lower left-hand corner, you'll see the ceramic jar that my pal used to hold the stitch markers she made me. It is so perfect for my decor plans. Check out the close-up.



Secondly, the notecards and notepad she sent (bottom row of items in the next pic) match perfectly with the notebook and pen that the PTA gave me for Teacher Appreciation Week.





Spring Felted Bag Exchange Pal,
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! The gifts were wonderful. I can't wait to start using them. You know, a knitter can't have too many stitch markers (especially if she's working on the clapotis). I love all the goodies. I used one of the notecards to explain to D why I'm sending this extra yarn to him along with the yarn he forgot at school on the last day. He'll be as thrilled as I am. Thanks again.

I almost forgot

I did make myself a fat-bottomed bag with the leftover cotton from the stained glass flower potholder. Here it is.




Here's the lining I chose.



I even made a cell phone holder from the leftovers.

First Official Weekend of Summer Vacation and...

I've started stitching like the yarn ho that I am.

I crocheted a skull potholder. I took the idea of the skullholder from the Stitch 'N Bitch Happy Hooker book and used this graph from the bag I made Sandra for her birthday. Methinks this will be the potholder I enter in the Lake County Fair.


I started working on Short 'n Sweet from the Stitch 'N Bitch Happy Hooker book about a week and a half ago. I chose dusty pink yarn because that's what I had at home and, truth be told, I needed to get rid of some stash yarn. I hope the pictures are clear enough. Taking pictures of yourself is a pain. My arm only stretches so far from my torso. The sweater isn't blocked yet because I was so excited to try it on and because I'm not really sure how to block it. I don't make garments very often.


Left side...


Right side...


I also started working on a scarf for the knitted scarf section of the Lake County Fair. It's the Lace Leaves scarf from HeartStrings FiberArts. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Watercolor. I've completed 3 of 12 repeats.

My crocheting made the newspaper...sorta

Actually, a picture of one of my students playing Juliet in our annual Shakespeare production appeared in the local newspaper. In the picture she's wearing the Juliet cap I crocheted for her. I let her keep it. I'll make another one next year for the next Juliet. That's it for the fiber connection.



Our sixth grade classes performed abridged versions of Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream for the second year in a row. It started a couple of years ago when Scrappy and I decided to have our classes perform at Washington Park on the stage behind the greenhouse two years ago. Last year, the sixth grade team (Go, team!) decided to each take a play and perform. Shakespeare in the Park was born. Unfortunately, it rained on us (Did somebody utter the name Macbeth?) and we had to hoof it back to school. We performed in the auditorium. This year we didn't want to take any chances with the weather so Shakespeare in the Park became Shakespeare in the House.

We gave two perfomances. The first was at 9:00 AM for classes at school and parents who couldn't make the noon performance. We had a packed house. The sixth-grade actors were magnificent. The grandfather of a boy in the 6-2 class came to the 9:00 show and asked what time the second performance was. He returned with two more relatives for that show. That little boy must have been so proud of himself. They made the sixth-grade team of teachers look like the most awesome teachers ever! The noon show was covered by the newspaper and by our local cable channel 21 for broadcast beginning next week. I swear I got all choked up and almost cried as I introduced Romeo and Juliet to the audience. I can't tell you how proud of them I am.

Here is the entire cast of the 6-1 production of Romeo and Juliet. The other picture is one of the lead actors.

You all remember D, the crochet fanatic in my class from a previous post...

I took D to a yarn tasting at Loopy Yarns and blogged about it. I bought him some Plymouth Yarns Baby Alpaca DK in baby blue. He started crocheting a pillow with it as soon as we boarded the South Shore to come home. Well, everyone, here is the FO. The yarn is perfect for the pillow since it's soooo soft. He's so proud of his pillow. ...and he should be.

Two Bags and a Potholder

I finished one skull tote bag and one fat-bottomed bag (from the Stitch 'N Bitch Happy Hooker book) for the girlfriends of two nephews. They both have birthdays in May. Then I finished a stained glass flower potholder for the May Flowers-along at get Stitchy! and the Lake County Fair. I'm really liking the stained glass colors. I'm thinking that a fat-bottomed bag in stained glass colors would be just dandy for summer. Hmmmm...something to think about. Well, without further fanfare, here are the latest FO's.

Week 3 - Question (from the Spring Felted Bag Exchange)

Where's your favorite place to knit or crochet? Describe (or show!) us where you sit and how you most enjoy your craft!

My first response is EVERYWHERE! But, in all honesty, I prefer to knit/crochet in my living room on my couch. I sit in the same spot (as evidenced by the imprint on the cushion) right by the lamp to illuminate my work. I keep my stitching notions in a small pouch inside a plastic box that doubles as a sewing box or footstool since it's always by my side. My crochet hooks are handy and easily within reach in a pretty mug on my coffee table. I keep my straight knitting needles in two vases. They're really for decoration now that I've been using my Denise needles, Addi Turbos, and some bamboo circulars. I realize that I'm no longer a fan of straight needles. I think I'll give some to D since he's now learning to knit. My second favorite place to knit/crochet is at Bean Counters Coffee House in Highland. I meet with Rachelle and Sandra on Tuesdays (used to be on Mondays). I usually get an iced tea and set myself up at the table in the Gathering Place at the coffee house. The plasma TV is usually set to some rerun of a long-cancelled network series. I get so caught up in my stitching that I don't really pay attention to it. Sometimes the TV is set to a news channel. The three of us sit around the table and talk about our projects or yarn or whatever is on our minds. We're usually there from 5:30 until closing at 7:00. We seem to always be the last ones out the door. They have a new owner. Nice guy. Friendly. Doesn't rush us out the door at closing. I like that. Finally, I sometimes enjoy knitting/crocheting at Borders. I don't go there as often as I'd like. I have also been known to knit/crochet in Barnes & Noble and Washington Park by my home. I like to sit on a bench along the walkway entrance to the park. Tomorrow we are going on a field trip to see the Railcats play. I'm going to be making another dream swatch headband for Lyd and a Juliet cap for our class production of Romeo and Juliet. Thank goodness I have a class of responsible students who will behave so well that I'll probably be able to finish at least one of those two projects. Whew! Short question and a long-winded answer. I think I'll take pics of these places and blog about them in more detail at a later date.

A Yarn Tasting Event at Loopy Yarns

I had no idea what a yarn tasting event was until Friday night. Loopy Yarns on State Street in Chicago hosted one that night. In a few words, the new yarns are placed into courses (like a fancy meal) and those in attendance receive about a yard's worth to try out. The hostess describes the yarn and suggested patterns. I had a great time. It was especially fun because I brought along D, the crochet fiend in my classroom. I took a few pictures to chronicle the day. I'm not sure exactly where D gets his yarn, but I believe he gets it at Walmart and from the stash I keep in the classroom. I thought he might enjoy trying out some good quality yarns so I invited him to join me. Here's the story...

I picked him up at about 4:15 PM so we'd have ample time to find a parking space and wait for the 4:47 PM South Shore train to Chicago. He brought along his ever-present yarntainer with two balls of yarn. However, he forgot his crochet hooks at school. The email from Loopy Yarns listed the knitting needles we should bring. I brought along my Denise interchangeables and two bamboo crochet hooks for D. I eventually let him keep them since he liked them so much. As soon as we boarded the train, he tried out the bamboo J hook on his yarn.


We decided to eat dinner next door to Loopy Yarns at a place called Pizza-Ria. D ordered sausage pizza.


I ordered a garbage salad that had at least 10 different items in it. We shared some boneless chicken wings.


While I finished my salad, D checked out the jukebox. Here he is with his yarntainer in hand.


We had some time to kill so I taught him how to crochet a bobble stitch and make a granny square.

We walked next door just before 7:00 PM and browsed around while the earlier group finished tasting the yarns. D was in heaven. He said, "I think I need to come here more often!" We seated ourselves and I figured D would bust out the bamboo hooks to try the yarns; however, he said, "I think I want to learn knitting now." I let him borrow some size 8 needles from the Denise set and showed him how to do a cable cast on and the knit stitch. That boy got it within five minutes! He started stitching with the first two yarns he received. I got to try out the yarns without coaching him anymore.


Before we left I told him I"d treat him to some yarns. He opted for a skein of Checkenheaton Merino in red, a skein of of Plymouth Yarns Baby Alpaca DK in baby blue, and two skeins of Berroco Bonsai (a yarn we "tasted") in white and some rust color. He said he was going to use the Bonsai to make something for the Lake County Fair. Here's his haul. In all, it only cost about $20. Not bad since I've been known to drop four times that amount on myself.


On the train ride back, D couldn't wait to try out some of his yarn. He took out the K hook and started making a pillow with the Baby Alpaca.


He fell asleep with hook in his hand and I had to wake him when the train arrived at our destination. He said he had a good time. I told him that maybe we could go back on some other Friday for their open stitching night. He'd like that. I also told him to bring his yarn to school on Monday and I'll bring my yarn winder so we can wind the Bonsai before he uses it. I'll put a reminder on the bathroom mirror so I don't forget.

Week 2 - Question (from the Spring Felted Bag Exchange)

Where you live, what signifies the beginning of Spring? A favorite flower blooming? Snowmelt? Pollen (Cough cough, gak, here in ATL, thanks) Post something up describing how you knew 'Spring had Sprung' for you!

One of the first signs of spring in Northwest Indiana are the political sign "weeds" that crop up overnight on people's lawns. Another sign of spring is the fidgety behavior of my 6th graders. And yet another sign is the beginning of construction on the local highways. But in all seriousness, the first signs I notice are the appearance of buds on the trees and the birds that sing outside my window. I don't suffer from allergies so pollen and stuff like that doesn't affect me. I also notice all the kids in the neighborhood out on bikes and walking around. I happen to live a block away from a park and right next-door to McDonald's so all the people out enjoying the rising temps find their way to my neck of the woods. But the biggest sign for me that spring has sprung is my own need to go outside for recess to get out into the warm air.

More for the FO Pile

I finished Lisa's cable footies a couple of weeks back. Here's a picture of one of them on my hand.



I hated doing the Kitchener stitch to finish them. The toes came out a little pointy. When I make these again, I'm going to finish them several rows before so I won't have such pointy toes.

For Mothers' Day, I plan on knitting shower puffs for my three sisters who are mothers. The pattern is in the book One Skein. The cable footies pattern is in the same book. I kinda like the puff now, but that Himalaya Aloo yarn was hurting my finger before. I think I just got a stubborn skein because the second puff is working up really fast. I started it yesterday and I'm about three quarters of the way done. The puff just seems like the perfect companion for oatmeal soap. Here's what they'll look like before I pair them up with a bar of oatmeal soap.

Interesting News for Designers out There

The good people that publish the Knitting Pattern-a-Day and the Crochet Pattern-a-Day calendars will be publishing a few (three, I think) of my patterns in their crochet calendar for 2008. They've just announced a pattern contest for their 2009 calendars. Check out the flyer here (pdf format).

A- Maiz-ing!

I bought some SWTC A-maizing yarn from The Yarn Grove, one of Get Stitchy!'s sponsors. I only got one spool because I had no idea what to make, but I knew I just had to play with the yarn. I love this stuff. It's like a very skinny tube of even tinier knit stitches. Since a few people at Get Stitchy! made the Dream Swatch wrap, I decided that's what my corn yarn wanted to be. I don't really care to wear anything on my head for fear of squashing my paltry 2" of hair, but this actually looks kinda cute on my head. Go figure!

Here it is.

This Week's Question (from the Spring Felted Bag Exchange)

How did you get interested in felting? Did you learn it from someone, see a bag you liked? Just want to try something new? If you have a picture of your first project, please include it!

My friend Lisa told me about a bag she'd seen someone sporting at Stitches Midwest last summer. I wanted to make that skull bag that she'd seen, but I'd never felted before. I decided to try something simpler in case I screwed it up royally. I crocheted a simple gray granny square bag from Reynold'd Lopi yarn I purchased at Stitch by Stitch in Highland. I blogged about it here.

Stitch Marker Swap (Part 2)
I finally got around to taking pictures of the stitch markers I received from Keely in the Get Stitchy! stitch marker swap (see previous post). They're cute and delicate. I like the butterfly beads on them. I received five jump ring type markers, three markers that I can use on my crochet work, and one row counter. I'm sorry that these pictures are crappy. I just couldn't get them to not look fuzzy.

I immediately used the five jump ring markers on my evolving clapotis. I also used the row counter when I finished section two (increase rows) of the clapotis. Perfect timing on the stitch marker arrival.

This picture shows three of the markers on the clapotis-in-progress.



This pic shows the row counter and the other three stitch markers.

D, The Crochet Fanatic in Room 243

In December I taught my students to knit and crochet. Some have since abandoned the needlecrafts, but others have continued. D is one of those who continued. While I have a handful of girls who have gone on to make scarves and scrunchies, none of the boys have kept up the stitching. Save for one - D. D is one of those kids that has trouble when routines change. It is my understanding that in the past, if routines changed too much, D would vomit. Poor kid.

After mastering the chain and single crochet, D was in business. Literally. One of the first things he made was a purse originally intended for his mother. Another boy offered to buy it and promptly gave it to his girlfriend. Cha-ching! D just racked up his first sale.

One day on the busride to school, D dropped his ball of yarn. Of course, being on a moving vehicle, the yarn rolled around. Some other kids on the bus began kicking it around. D eventually got the yarn back, but not before the bus driver scolded HIM for causing a disruption! Never mind that the other kids chose to cause trouble instead of picking up the yarn and letting D be. The bus driver told D he couldn't bring yarn on the bus anymore. Ms. Sh and I decided that if D wants to take yarn on the bus, D can take yarn on the bus. I don't need to go into great detail here. Long story short...I ordered two yarntainers from amazon.com and had them delivered to D at school. Yarn-rolling-around-the-floor-of-bus problem solved. He ALWAYS has a yarntainer and a project with him. It's kinda cool.

During bathroom break about three weeks ago, D walks up to me in the hallway, hook attached to ball of yarn, and asks, "Do you know how to make a shell stitch?"

Soon after that, during another bathroom break, he walks up to me carrying a yarntainer of yarn and a binder open to a print out of a Lion brand free pattern for fingerless mittens. He declares that this is his next project. Never mind that spring it trying desperately to free us from the jaws of winter. D wants fingerless mittens. He walks up to me and says, "Can you help me get started with the ch 19 at the beginning of the pattern?" Here's a pic from that moment in crochet history.



Tuesdays and Thursdays D has speech class. On Tuesday, we go to the computer lab right after D finishes speech. This week he walks over to his computer and starts opening the email I sent. As I scanned the class to see if everyone was on task, I look at D's hand. There it is. It's not quite the original pattern. Sitting on his right hand was one white wool fingerless mitten. So what if it's April! D wants fingerless mittens NOW! Here is a picture of Tuesday afternoon in the lab.

Another Washcloth and a Purse
I already posted a pic of this cloth in progress. Here's the final version. It has a red glow to it because I took the pic with my phone while in my car when I picked up my mom for our Friday dinner date.

I gave it to my mom because she likes all my stuff. Maybe I'll make some more for the sisters for Mothers' Day. Now that I think about it, I need to find some patterns for Mothers' Day. Unoffficially, I'd like to make all my gifts for every giftgiving occasion this year.

This is a purse I made with some Karaoke yarn (Dipity 300) I got at Loopy Yarns.


Somebody (Ruth?) at Get Stitchy! used Karaoke for a scarf and some of the colors ran together. My yarn was fine. I felted the purse and gave it to Glor before she went back to New Orleans.

Soon I'll be posting a pic of the cable footies from the book One Skein. I was going to make them for me but decided to give them to Lisa instead. I have one done and I'm on the heel of the other. I used some self-striping Universal brand yarn (color 9612) that I got at Loopy Yarns back in January for 70% off. I love a yarn bargain.

Stitch Marker Swap (Part 1)

At first I wasn't interested in joining the Get Stitchy! stitch marker swap. But then I reread all the postings about stitch markers different members had made. They were all very pretty. And, let's face it, the small plastic rings are a wee bit boring. Simply Knitting Magazine then had to go and give away four free stitch markers with last month's issue. I was hooked. I joined the swap. Shortly thereafter, I received my partner's name. We exchanged addresses and whatnot for the swap.

I went to this bead shop in Highland around the corner from the Town Theater. I'd never been there and hoped that I could find cute beads for my markers. I was a little bit scared since the only time I work with wire and beads is for art class at school. I usually start the class on something and I don't have to finish it. This time I would need to start and finish a wire project.

The owner of the shop had no clue what I was talking about when I told her I wanted to make stitch markers. I told her that I, too, was clueless as to how to make them. At any rate, I scoured the drawers and bowls full of beads. I settled on about five different beads and some earring wires. The owner then helped me pick out some wire, pliers, and cutters. I was ALMOST ready to start.

The earring wires I chose would work for crochet stitch markers, but not for knitting markers that have to stay on the needles. I still needed some sort of rings. I found them at Walmart - toggles! I tossed out the sticks and kept the rings. While at the store I also purchased a small package of green and pink beads. My swap partner likes the colors pink and lime green. I couldn't find lime green, but I did find green. Sweet!

Well, I was still apprehensive about making stitch markers so I let the tools and materials sit for almost a week before I even took them out of the bags, which I did today. I started by cutting wire and twisting it on the toggle ring. Then I added beads and twisted the ends to secure. So far, so good. I got one marker in the done pile. It wasn't so bad. As a matter of fact, I kinda liked making the marker. Each one I made was just a bit easier to get done. Long story short. Twenty-four stitch markers later, my swap partner, Sandra, and I all have brand new, handmade stitch markers. I would have made more, but I ran out of beads. I'm feeling an itch to buy more beads. Soon.

Part 2 of this stitch marker swap posting will include pictures of the stitch markers. I don't want to spoil the surprise for my swap partner by posting pics before she receives the real thing.