A Sneak Peek!

I was so thrilled when Janet Nogle asked me to participate in this years Dishcloth Calendar! I never dreamed that she would be interested in any of my little designs, but much to my surprise I have three that are going to be published!! The calendar goes on sale September 5th and there are 35 designs all together. In addition, there are helpful knitting tips, a bonus section, comparison of yarns and lots of good stuff! There are also some raffles so it promises to be lots of fun and a really great addition to your knitting library. (Oh, and there's a calendar too!) You can read more and see some of the patterns by clicking on the button to the right or here .
So, as promised, here is a sneak peek at one of my designs. This is the first bib that I've done specifically for a girl!

It also has a matching washcloth.

If you check the blog for the calendar, you'll see that Janet had already posted a picture of my bib for boys, but here it is again for any of you who might be interested in a second look.

It has a matching washcloth too.

And here it is done in a superwash wool. This shade of green kind of looks like Army trucks, doesn't it? Not my intention, but cute just the same!

Oh yes, I did say that I had three designs, didn't I. Well, if you want to see the last one, you'll just have to wait and buy the calendar, cause it's a surprise!!

A Little Test Knitting

I have a really good "internet" pal, Alli Barrett of Knitwits Alley and also Knitwits Heaven . If you're looking for some really nice and cute designs, these are the first places you should look! Anyway, Alli asked me to do a little test knitting for her which I was delighted to do. She knows I'm a huge fan of the Olympics and unlike most people, I prefer the Summer Olympics, so when she sent me this cloth, I couldn't resist. I did it in red and yellow since the Olympics were held in China. Alli shows this cloth in a solid color on her website which looks really nice too.

The second knit was a Water Lily cloth which I did in Apple Green. I love this color from Peaches & Creme. I think I'd like a whole sweater out of it, if it wasn't so heavy! Anyway, I thought this was a lovely design and the cloth already has a home. My son and daughter-in-law have water lillies in their backyard pond, so it seemed appropriate that they should have it.

The last cloth is a Shih Tzu. Alli has a new baby named "Frodo" and she designed this in honor of him. I had originally intended to give it to my mom so she could give it to a relative who has two Shih Tzus, but Alli told me she gave her cloth away, so I sent it to her so she could have one for herself. Of course, that means that I have to knit it again. Next time, I think I'll do it in a Silver Gray, either way it is a really cute cloth.

Thanks Alli for letting me be your test knitter! She has a couple of new designs in the Dishcloth Calendar (click on the link on the right hand side) that is coming out very soon. Next, I think I'll post a sneak peek at one of the designs I have in the same calendar!! Maybe tomorrow....

Turtle Butts

I'm in love with this new soaker pattern by Melanie Hoffman of Adorabubbleknits. It's called Turtle Butt" and from the first moment I saw it, I couldn't wait to make it. I bought my yarn in anticipation of making it and even bought matching t-shirts to go with it. Unfortunately (for me), it took Melainie a little longer to write it up than I had anticipated, so little Marty outgrew the shirts before the soaker was even made! Still, it was worth the wait, in my opinion, and I even got to be one of the lucky test knitters for the pattern! (Hmmm, I wonder if all the pleading helped?!). Here is the original test knit in kelly green and navy blue, one of my all time favorite color combos. It looks very preppy, which is appropriate since my grandson is brilliant after all! ;o) It's done in Cascade 220 wool.

Since the first one was so much fun, I decided to mix it up a bit and knit the second one with a variegated yarn as the contrasting color. This is done in Galway wool. I've never worked with this yarn before, but it was very similar to the Cascade 220.

This TB is done using scraps I had left over from other soakers. I bought some Plymouth Outback wool on sale at Webs and just matched the colors up. Since there are lots (and lots) of ends to weave in anyway, the pattern really lends itself to using up scraps.

I went a little overboard at Webs when their Cascade was on sale, so it was no problem finding rainbow colors, except for the purple. I discovered that I didn't have one single skein! It's the only yarn I had to buy in order to finish. I guess I just don't think of purple as a "guy" color. The other color you'll never find in my stash is pink! Hate it! I guess it's because when I was a child I was told that I could never wear it as I had red hair. Whatever the reason, it just makes me cringe!

My last TB really isn't a turtle at all, so I call it my "Mock Turtle Butt". It uses the pattern as a template, but the stitch pattern is from Barbara Walker's "blue" book. It's called linked stripes and I really like the way it came out. It looks pretty complicated, but it's very easy to do. You just have to pay attention to the stripe sequence. You only knit with one color at a time, so it goes pretty quickly. I'm thinking of trying it in rainbow colors. Hey, I've got to use up that purple sometime!