New Charity Project

This little gem is a cup sleeve. What is a cup sleeve you ask? Well, it slips over the paper cup that holds your hot coffee you buy at any convenience store or specialty coffee shop. A friend gave me the pattern and I am knitting them for the Pet Pantry of Centre County. We provide cat and dog food to the food banks in the county so people who want to keep their animals, but are having tough economic times, can feed them and keep them. Pets are important to many people. I know they are to me.

I am using superwash worsted weight wool and am waiting for an order from Knitpicks. The project goes quickly and little yarn is used. These will be great lunchtime knitting projects. We are going to sell them for $1 each and of course are reusable. All money will go toward the cost of pet food and will keep those paper cup covers out of the landfill. A win-win.

Check out the website: http://petpantry.yolasite.com/

WTAJ-TV did a story on the Pet Pantry. I don't think the link is still available, but here is the text from the spot.

Centre Co. Pet Food Pantry
Reported by: Adam Paluka
Monday, Jun 8, 2009 @03:32pm
COLLEGE TOWNSHIP, CENTRE COUNTY - As the economy continues to sputter, more and more local families are making some tough budget decisions. In Centre County, two women are determined to make sure feeding the family pet is not a casualty of the recession. “Since the middle of last year was about the first that I've heard someone on the phone say 'I really want to keep my dog. I really love my dog. I can't afford to feed it,'” Kim Bierly, of Centre County Golden Retriever Rescue, said. In less than a year Bierly and Caitlin Rivers have the Pet Pantry of Centre County up and running. In three weeks the two have distributed more than 700 pounds of donated dog and cat food. They believe the family pet cannot be forgotten in an economic downturn. “People just aren't willing to give up their dog because it's inconvenient and that's putting people in a really bad spot, and it's my job to make sure that doesn't happen anymore,” Rivers said. The goal is to eventually get one thousand pounds of dog and cat food donated every month. Their efforts are not going to end once the economy picks back up. “(Think about) our senior citizens on fixed incomes. For them, it's a permanent situation. They need the companionship, but sometimes their cat or dog is the only living creature they see everyday,” Bierly said. Currently, only dog and cat food is being collected, and the ladies are using a trusted distribution system to get Fido and Felix their meals. “People are already going to the food bank for human food donations, and a lot of them are the same people that need additional support for their pets. We're using the human food banks to distribute the food primarily,” Rivers said. Some donations come from local businesses, but Rivers and Bierly hope the bulk of the pet pantry will be stocked by local residents. For more information about donating, or getting some help from the pet pantry click here: http://www.petpantry.yolasite.com/ .

Adventure Hat

The Adventure Hat is finally finished. My teddy bear model is quite cooperative and loves the hat! It is knitted from two strands of yarn. The bottom part is one strand of taupe wool and one strand of multi-colored taupe/black/grey wool and the top is two strands of the taupe wool. A stunning combination, I think AND a great leftover/stash buster.

I am helping my friend, Libby, who owns Mad About Ewes yarn shop in Lewisburg. 12 of us knitted this hat pattern for female freshmen students at Bucknell University while 12 others knitted hats for male freshmen students. Freshmen are given a list of shops in the downtown to stop in and get a special "Welcome to Lewisburg" gift. I do believe Libby's will be a hit and are wonderful. Just like Libby.

Brandeis 3-8-96 to 8-13-09

My Sunshine is gone. He was stoic and brave these last 6 weeks and was ready to sleep. I will love you forever. You were my first Golden. This photo was taken 3 hours before your death and about an hour before you went downhill dramatically. We had a wonderful summer sitting on the downstairs porch. Brandeis got fresh air, was able to see the world pass by, bark at baby strollers and bicycles, and to sit at the fence to be petted by our neighbor. The weather was cooler than usual and a lot of sun...for my sunshine.

I did easy knitting -- dishcloths -- while sitting with him. They will forever be known as "Deisy's Dishcloths" and will be sold to benefit Golden Retriever Rescue of Central PA.

Orange Socks

The first sock is progressing nicely. It is now a bit further toward completion than when I took this photo yesterday. I have the heel flap completed and the heel is turned. On to my favorite part of socks -- picking up stitches for the gusset and then the decreases! I love this part -- seriously!

New (to me) Websites

It is always fun to come across new knitting-related website -- whether blogs or places to purchase knitting necessities (translation...yarn and/or patterns). I feel so lucky because in the past two weeks I have discovered three blogs that are all well written by extremely talented knitters/designers, very different from each other, and they also sell their designs via pdf downloads. Translation: you pay with credit card by whatever means they use and within minutes you have a pdf of the pattern to download. Yes, you can save it to your computer in case you need a clean copy at some point or need to replace the pages chewed by your Golden Retriever...ahem...we won't go there...will we Teddy Bear??!!

The first site I came across is Brooklyn Tweed. Jared's designs are fabulous and it seems that he is coming out with a book of patterns within the next month or so. I can't wait. Some of his patterns are available for purchase from the internet site Ravelry.

Last Monday I somehow came across the site for Pink Lemon Twist. She has great sock patterns and I purchased some of her downloads. I LOVE her patterns for various reasons ... first and foremost she knits top down on dpns as I do. Nice top down sock patterns are tough to find these days since many people are knitting toe up. Just not my thing...I so prefer dpns and top down.

The last very pleasant "discovery" was later in the week. A Scottish designer/knitter named Ysolda who has a wonderful pdf booklet called Whimsical Little Knits. Absolutely amazing patterns. I immediately had to cast on for the gorgeous scarf with its lace border. I am not an overly accomplished nor overly confident knitter but I think it is a pattern I can handle and will enjoy. The pattern also comes in a shawl size, but the yarn I chose is enough for the scarf which I will wear more than a shawl. More on it in a future posting.

Not A Lot of Knitting

Haven't gotten much knitting done lately, and obviously even less blogging. Been cooking all the meals for my 13+ year old Golden. He is now eating again and is lively and he is my priority.

I am knitting a pair of socks for a friend's birthday. Shades of oranges and yellows with some green mixed in. Not my color scheme but her favs so that is why I chose this yarn from Fleece Artist.

Will photo this weekend and add to the blog posting.

Also plan a new post about two other blogs that I have come across recently and absolutely LOVE!

More soon....

New Knitting Projects

Slight alteration of plans for the sock pattern. Instead of the Opal Petticoat colorway -- which will be knitted into a vanilla sock -- I pulled a gorgeous skein of yellow/teal blend hand-dyed by Earthly Hues from the stash. This yarn is labeled a fingering weight and I am knitting it on size 2 needles. It is really, really close to a sport weight -- at least Lorna's Laces sport weight -- in my opinion. I knit sport weight on size 3s but that won't work for this pattern. Will post photos when more is completed and there is actually something to see. The pattern was knitted in a one-color yarn but I think will work OK in the yarn I selected which is a yummy blend of merino wool/cashmere/nylon. I'm not frogging unless it turns out to be way too large, which I don't think will happen.

While organizing stash I came across a HUGE amount of dish cloth yarn. Really nice colors and plains. So, I am now on a dish cloth knitting frenzy. They will be donated to Golden Retriever Rescue for our sales table.

I love hand-knitted dish cloths. My sister has me spoiled by knitting them for me. Uh-oh...she reads my blog! Guess I'm busted! She will insist that I knit my own from now on. LOL!

Photos of the cloths, too, when more are knitted.

Yard Sale and Of Course New Socks

Our town has a community yard sale weekend that officially began today, but many people (myself included) got a jump start on the weekend. Last night many of my knitting buddies showed up to check out the yarn that was for sale and help support Golden Retriever Rescue which benefitted from the $121.50 made at the sale. Thanks ladies!

I continued the sale today with some household items, books, etc. etc. More of the fun tomorrow morning. I had forgotten how much work a yard sale can be. My muscles won't forget for a while!

I am knitting the second sock of Summer Sox. I consider it to be the nicest of the summer cotton blends that I have used. But my hands are itching (figuratively speaking, of course) to knit with wool again, so I'm starting another pair of socks.

Opal is one of my favorite sock yarns and I haven't knit with any in quite a while. I pulled from my stash a skein in the colorway "Petticoat" and can't wait to knit on it tomorrow. Not using the usual basic sock pattern but rather am going to finally knit "Waving Lace Socks" from Favorite Socks book. I usually knit on a size 2 needle with 56 stitches. Because of the design in this sock pattern, I have to drop to a size 1 needle because the repeats require 64 stitches. This will be interesting...

The yard sale provided quite a bit of entertainment today for Patches and Lily. As you can see in the photo they needed naps. Patches is pushed against the glass bow window but Lily decided to stretch out on the chair. AAAAHHHH, that's the life!

Knitting in Public

Today is World-Wide Knit In Public Day. I am out-of-town so was unable to participate in the events in State College and Lewisburg but celebrated in my own way since Thursday. I have been attending an outdoor event which gives me a lot of knitting time. I don't get much opportunity to knit these days, so take advantage of every minute I can squeeze out of the day for knitting.

I finished the first sock from "Summer Sox" yarn and the second is on the needles. Truly, it is! I didn't have the second ball with me when I finished the first, so I picked up my Pi Shawl and started knitting on it again.

It is coming along. Progress is slow and will get slower when I get to the next k1, yo round which will take me to almost 600 stitches per row! Yikes. The Noro sock yarn is keeping this rhythmic knitting interesting as the colors change. The colors are bright and fun and do "pop" as I knit. That is the only good think I can say about this one-ply yarn. The spinning of it is inconsistent and changes from think to thicker to unspun roving in a short span. Then I go for a while and it is the normal fingering weight thickness. Also, I think it is rough so would not want it for a pair of socks. My other complaint is how tangled it is in the center of the ball. I pull out a short amount of yarn and a glob of tangled fiber pops out. I think I spend more time gently untangling that knitting. But, this will get done.

I am planning an garter stitch edging that also serves as the cast off. I think it will look very nice and will keep the edge from pulling toward the middle. Blocking should be interesting. More on that when the time comes.

Baby Socks -- 1 pair done, 2 pair to knit

These cute little baby socks are a gift for Isaac who was born last week. His mom is a receptionist at the vet offce where we go. Isaac is her first child and I know she and her husband will be wonderful parents. They are also great parents to Grizzly, their Golden Retriever.

I used a yarn from KnitPicks that they don't make anymore. It is a combination of cotton, acrylic and nylon. I don't like knitting with it so fortunately these sockies don't take too long to knit. The yarn is soft (or I wouldn't use it for a baby) but it tangles/twists and drives me crazy!

I think these colorful ones are cute. I have more of this colorway and also some of a blend of beiges with blue. Good thing I have a stash of it because another receptionist (who my Stratton loved his whole life) is expecting her second son and also one of the women in our knitting group is expecting her second baby. These little socks are good lunchtime knitting projects.

Weekend of Golf, Reading and Knitting

Spent Thursday through Sunday in Corning, NY for our annual trek to the LPGA tournament. This year was the 31st for the tournament and the sadly, the last. Tournament sponsors can no longer afford or justify the costs associated with sponsorship. Corning is a lovely community with a terrific downtown filled with cute shops, museums, restaurants and coffee shops. I will miss our trips there.

Thursday evening was fun. Keith and I attended a cookout at the campsite of our friends, Jackie and Eddie and their boys O'Connor and Sullivan. I took some wonderful photos. But you won't get to see any of them. After returning to the hotel and turning on the camera to view what I took, all I got was a message in the screen -- "memory card error." I couldn't and still can't believe I no longer have photos on that card. Kodak ate my pictures. I think I will contact them. It won't bring back my photos but I think they would want to know about a defective card.

On Saturday we left the course mid-afternoon and headed about 20 miles further north to Watkins Glen. Keith checked out the sporting goods store while I headed to Fingerlake Fibers yarn shop. If you ever get to Watkins Glen or even nearby a stop in this shop is a must. A lovely play with a wonderful assortment of fibers, patterns and books.

Caught up on some novels on my Kindle so now looks like I need to find some more.

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day.

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

I can't believe a week has passed since our busload of chatty knitters, spinners and weavers visited the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. We all had a wonderful time -- despite the rain accompanied by mud that Mother Nature threw at us.

I love MDSW and look forward to it each year. This was my 7th year -- I was surprised when I figured it out. I didn't take any festival photos this year. Why? I think it was a combination of the weather and being tired after organizing the trip for 55 people. But it was well worth it. Many have already said they want to go again next year!

I actually didn't buy as much as usual -- but did not go away empty-handed, as the photos indicate. Because of the weather the indoor vendors were busier and people were pushing a bit too much for me. I also learned -- after the fact -- that some vendors moved into the animal barns. I will be sure to check them out next year.

I did do stash enhancement and will describe what you see in the photos (please click on them for a larger version):

Shawl knitting is becoming my passion thanks to my good friend Billie. She is very helpful and encouraging to me. One of Billie's ways of encouraging me was to buy me this book "The Best of Knitter's Magazine" Shawls and Scarves which is a wonderful addition to my ever-growing knitting book library.

The sock yarn stash enhancement includes, from left: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Wilderness colorway; a lovely multi-colored skein of merino/nylon blend from Ellen's Half Pint Farm in Vermont (one of my very favorite vendors and one of the nicest people; Sockin' Sox from Plymouth yarn which will probably be used as a Christmas gift for Irina; medium-pastel shades of my favorite colors from Tess' Designer Yarns (which was packed with people as always...the weather doesn't stop Tess' devoted fans even though her booth is outdoors); and Socks That Rock Never on Sunday colorway.

Yarn for another shawl. This time from a dyer and booth owner new to me. I will be a returning customer. Kiparoo Farm in Maryland had this beautiful hand-dyed wool and mohair worsted weight yarn which I will be using for the shawl pattern shown in the photo. I saw the shawl knitted and knew I had to have the materials for knitting it.

Last, but certainly not least, Carodan Farm Wool Shop had several grba bags of sock yarn for $25. I got a bargain. Enough for 2 pair of summer socks and the plain black to knit for under my short dress boots I wear with suits in the winter.

A wonderful shopping time and a great event again.