Tuesday night with the girls

Always something new going on with my girls.......This adorable child's hat is as easy to do as 1-2-3. This one was done by Glenice with a pattern that Margie has copied for all of us to try. The pattern has a total of 5 rows and is done on regular straight needles so it would be great for a beginner. I'll be doing one soon so get your needle and yarn ready and we'll give it a try together. This is for children however the pattern adapts for adults. Check your Christmas list ........you might be able to check off a few names with this one. I'm going through my stash of yarn,just regular acrylic is fine. You want to be able to throw this one in the wash and dry so don't get too fussy. I believe she used #8 needles but,if you have 7 or 9 that's probably OK too.

Donna is back!!!! She is one of the main reasons we started our knitting group. However, hubby went through a spell of ill health and her first concern was getting him to all those appointments and treatments.

George is doing much better now and I think this might just be the fun project that she has been looking for.I'll see if she wants to join in the fun.I think when I tell her about the regular needle part it might just be the right incentive. Lord how this girl hates double pointed needles.............said the hobbit

What the girls are doing at Stitch Bitch

The girls have been so busy knitting and I have been sooo bad about telling everyone what they've been up to. Our group has grown to a steady dozen Every Tuesday night we take over our local Panera Restaurant.to start new project or research a pattern or just discuss what holding us back from trying a new stitch.

Tuesday night S&B

Still addicted to socks...........our group just can't seem to stop making them. This whimsical pair was made by Cynthia S.

A closer look at the butterfly gives you an idea of just how talented this girl is.

Of course we are working hard at getting that second knit-along carriage blanket done. Follow through is always a problem with my projects. I'm committed to getting a second one done and I'll be writing myself a note every week with a reminder to keep at it. Is this just me?? Does anyone else out there have trouble with finishing what they started??

Cynthia H. finished her second pair of socks and is now on to mittens and hats for her winter donation. Tonight we are off to Betty's for our get together. She has a new kitchen and we are going to give it the official S&B blessing...............should be a great time.

knit-along "the barn raising quilt"

Well we finally did it! After knitting pretty much for ourselves,our stitch and bitch group decided it was time to give back. So back it February of this year we decided to do something special for someone else.

I found a knitted quilt made from leftover sock yarn that I thought would be perfect.Each person would knit a square that I would then sew into a blanket.

The squares had a natural curl to them and that's how you join them. A simple running stitch just under the lip connect each one.

Then, crochet around the edge and it's done.

I tried to photograph it from different angles to give you a good idea of how it looks.

I hemmed and hawed about which square should go next to which and finally put them all in a bag and sewed them together as they came out.

Here is the finished quilt. It was four squares by five squares and will be just right for a carriage blanket. I'm very proud of my people, their hearts are always in the right place.

With 12 squares left over it looks like we might be doing this one more time. The carriage blanket will be donated to St Charles running nuns,click here for their story.It's a story worth repeating......................said the hobbit.

Tuesday night S&B

The girls are having a little fun this week! Check out the photo on the left. Some little toddler somewhere is sporting this monster bottom. Cindi S. found it so amusing that she decided to make a mini version to put on a friends bulletin board. So. she took out her graft paper and made a pattern from the picture.

Michelle my belle was busy knitting up a new square for the QUILT It's getting very close to having enough squares.

I'll be showing you the pattern of color pretty soon.

By the time our get-together was done, Cindi had completed her little project and even put a pull tie on the waist band. Have you done anything just for the fun of it?......................said the hobbit

THE KNIT-ALONG IS MOVING ALONG!!!!

Wow! Things have been crazy busy around here and I've been struggling to meet all the demands on my time from people that I can't and should not say no to unless I'm on my deathbed. To make matters worst I have tried to post 2 times in the past month only to discover when I pushed the publish button that blogger was in reader mode only till further notice. I hadn't even realized there was a problem. But enough with the excuses, everyone out there is up to their eyeballs in things to do so I just need to get better organized if I want to keep up with this blog.

I need to touch base on my knit-along. Have you forgotten. Just go here for a reminder and leave a comment if you want to join in the fun. The square is made up of 4 rows that you repeat till you have a 7x7 square. It can be done on 4 needles changing to a circular if you feel it's too many stitches. I used double pointed needles and marked my first stitch with a little safety pin See it there on the left hand side?

Hard to believe this will be a square when you finish. Looks like a flower doesn't it? This one is done with leftovers as are most of the squares.

I cast off the stitches on one needle here so you can see the corner and how it appears seemingly out of nowhere.

New squares keep coming in and I've given much thought to where it should be sent. I decided to make the afghan into as many stroller blankets as possible and donate them to my town's Running Nuns. That's right I said Running Nuns We have an orphanage in this town that takes in children while there families try to rebuild their lives. They are a young active and motivated group of nuns that you can see on a daily basis running through our city streets always pushing a carriage and accompanied by a dozen or so runners that the nuns have in"training" for things to come. Although this could be a most trying and difficult time,when you see them out there running and smiling and oh so focused on the task at hand, you just want to do something.It is for that reason that I've decided to make the mini-quilt to cover the little one in the strollers so they can sit back and enjoy the ride even when the weather is a bit more brisk. So take a minute to read their story and send me a square so we can help continue the good work......said the hobbit

Let's knit a Quilt

Well here it is February and I promised to keep you up dated on the progress we make on the BARN RAISING QUILT. What!!! You've forgotten!!! That's ok, just check out the past blog here.

Want to join in the fun? All you need is some leftover fingering yarn and about an hour of your time to be part of this quilt. The plan is to get as many squares as possible by Sept 1st , then we'll assemble what we have and give away a quilt, anywhere from carriage size to twin bed size. Of course I'd be tickled if we get the larger size done but, we'll see.

This is the most difficult part of making a square. It's started from the center and worked outward ,so, keeping every needle in it's place can be a little trying,but, once you've gone past this point it's all eezy peezy.

A little patience to start and then knowing how to knit a stitch and add a stitch and you could be part of this project. What do you think? come and join in the fun.

Here's what we've gotten so far and it's really starting to take on it's own personality.Don't have time? I've made no final decision as to where to donate the quilt. Have any thoughts on the subject? What would you do............................said the hobbit

Something new at stitch and bitch

Ok ,so life is crazy in this corner of the world. What's new? Although I'm short on time, my little brain is still in gear so here we go with a new project. Do any of you have this book?

It's Larissa Brown's Knitalong. I've had it for a few years now,always planning to do one of her projects. It's just filled with ideas of things you can do as a group to make the process more fun and enjoyable. We've been getting together for 4 years now and have geared most of our knitting to making our Christmas presents. It's been great but I thought we should take it a step further. How about making something for someone we don't even know? Giving is such an important part of Christmas and wouldn't it be nice to do for someone we don't even know?

This is the project we decided on. It's called the Barn Raising Quilt and the idea is to get as many knitters from all over to make the squares and then assemble them randomly to create a quilt that can never be duplicated. I would love for everyone to make a square. Yes that means you too. The book is available from Amazon or I'm sure you could get it from the library. I would be so excited if we got enough squares to make at least one quilt.

The girls at S&B have already gotten on the band wagon and are hard at work to make this possible.

The material used is leftover fingering yarn that we used for socks. That's right! This whole project can be made using up those bits and pieces that are too small to use on another pair of socks yet too precious to throw away.

I'm hoping we can create the most colorful quilt yet. E-mail me if you have any questions. The project will be on going till about September. Remember more is better so ask your friends too. Who knows? Maybe we can get 2 quilts done.Be still my heart.............said the hobbit