Bit O' Baking

Birthday cake for Mother. It whips up nice and everyone loved it. Not too sweet either.

Bread fresh from the oven. It is made with a no-knead recipe from a recent Mother Earth News magazine.

Handmade Valentines

This organized chaos is the beginnings of making valentines.

You can see one completed valentine near the back of the picture.

Trees...Snow....

Sugar Shack

Sun through the trees

The swamp

And some very interesting bark.

Free Fingerless Mitt Pattern!

Hurrah! I finally have a free pattern for you. Okay, pictures first and then instructions.

Oh, and please leave a comment when you stop by. I would love to know what you think of my pattern!

Long Fingerless Mitts.

220yds Worsted Weight Wool Yarn

Needles US 7,6,5, & 4 double point

Arm:

Cast on 36 stitches. Divide onto 3 size US7 double points. (12 stitches on ea. needle.)

Join in rnd, placing marker at the beginning.

Work in a K2,P2 rib for 2 inches.

Switch to size 6 needles and work in st, stitch ( knit every round) for 1 inch.

Switch to size 5 and knit for another 1 inch. The mitt should now measure

4 inches from cast on edge.

Switch to size 4 needles and continue for another 3 1/2 inches. Mitt will now

measure 7 1/2 inches.

Thumb Shaping:

Switch back to size 5 needles.

Rnd. 1 K2, inc in next stitch, place marker, knit to last three stitches of round,

place marker, inc. in next stitch, k2.

Rnd. 2 Knit around.

Rnd: 3 Knit to one stitch before marker, inc in next stitch, slip marker, work to

2nd marker, slip marker, in. in next stitch, knit to end of the round ( 40 sts. )

Rnd. 4 Knit around

Repeat rounds 3 &4 until there are 50 stitches.

On last round 4, knit around to last marker, remove marker, knit 4 stitches,

then bind off 12 stitches.

Continue knitting in the round until piece measures 1/2 inch from the thumb hole

Next round K2,P2 around, will end with a K2. Repeat this round until cuff measures

2 inches. Bind off in rib.

Pattern notes:

This pattern is pretty flexible. You can try it on as you go which is a big help if you find it is too tight or loose.

If you have a very slender arm you may want to drop down a needle size for the arm. The mitts pictured are for someone else. If I was to make them for myself I would probably use a size three needle in the wrist area instead of size 4.

Lengthen or shorten the arm as desired.

Same goes for the cuffs

If you have any questions, or I didn't explain something clearly, feel free to leave a comment and I will get back with you.

Happy Knitting!

Knitting News

A hat for my not-so-little brother!

Nice detail of the top decreasing.

Doesn't he look so handsome? I found this pattern for free on Ravelry, but I have no clue what the name is anymore. Sorry. Just search men's hats in worsted weights and you should find it.

It is a very easy hat. In fact, if you want the pattern and can not find it just leave me comment and I will type up the pattern for you. It's that easy

By the way, it is 100% worsted weight yarn.

Spun Silk

Here is the promised spinning! I haven't actually done a whole lot of spinning lately. My cousin can't wait to see what this will become, but I don't know when on earth I will ever make it into anything. But we'll see.

Look at all that delicious looking roving! Pictures don't do it justice. It was bought locally, has a gorgeous sheen and and is a dream to spin. Plus it's in one of my favorite colors. What's not to love?


First full spindle was wound off onto a bobbin.

A chicken coop makes a great prop for photo shoots.

Thanks to Jon for his assistance in the photo shoot. :)

Those mitts he is wearing were made for him by his own dear sister.

Hodge Podge Glimpe Of My Life Recently

We don't have much snow on the ground because it melted away in a recent thaw. But it sure has gotten chilly in the last day or so! Last night the temperature was several degrees below zero. And on the hill where we live the wind chills were pretty extreme.

I know it doesn't look like a hill from this direction...

Just looking at the picture makes me chilly! We have had a bit of sunshine and that has been wonderful to see. It goes a long way in cheering everything up.


This here is a little red work quilt that Mother and I made as a gift for Grandma. We had started it about five years ago, but never finished it. Time, and the busyness of life kept getting in the way. We finished it this week and gave it to Grandma last night for her 80th birthday.

I loved doing the red work. I would like to make one of these for myself someday. Isn't it such a dainty picture? I wonder what she is working on?

Hollyhocks and Daisies.

There were fresh eggs out at Aunt Sarah's. I could not resist taking a picture. This is several days worth of eggs. The lighter colored ones are really blue, although they don't look it.

We are hoping to get chickens come spring. We've been doing a great deal of research on the different breeds. I am looking forward to having chickens. Keeping chickens is not too difficult, not time consuming and you end up with a healthy and wholesome food. Plus you know right where your eggs came from and what the chickens were fed.

Grandma's 8oth birthday party was lovely. We are blessed to have so many years with this sweet and wonderful lady. Grandma is truly a gem. :)

Since I have been sick all the last week ( I still am as a matter of fact), I have not had much knitting done. I have several projects in the works. And many more that I want to start! But we'll see what happens this week. If only I could shake this nasty bug that has settled in my throat. I have not spun in awhile either. I have some beautiful silk roving that I am spinning. It was a gift for Christmas from my parents and is a dream to work with.

So long for now!

Baby Blanket

Sort of my own pattern. I just knit up 20 -7 inch squares then seamed them together.

It's a gift for a friend. It's a nice easy project and a good way to use up leftover yarn. I used a worsted wool yarn.

More Knitting News

When Christmas was over I was not in the mood for knitting at all. I had done so much in such a short time. I'd rather not knit when I have a close deadline.... it is too stressful! However after a day or two I was back in the mood for knitting, but I wanted to do something fun. So I decided to try this fair isle hat from Louise Harding's book "Knitting Little Luxuries"

Actually I had never done any sort of fair isle before. This is a good beginner project because it is worked on straight needles. There is a three needle bind-off at the top, and then the side is seamed up.

Lastly the tassels are made and attached. This picture shows both tassels at the corners.

View of the back.

My first few rows of fair isle was a little tight but once I got the hang of it things went smoothly from there. It is made with a worsted weight wool yarn. I can't wait to get another started. It is such a warm and cozy hat! I'm also making a pair of mitts in the same color. I didn't think about it until I finished the first mitt, but I should have incorporated the motif from the hat into the mitts. Ah well, maybe next time.

Remember the little quilts I posted back when I first started blogging? Well, here they are again, but now there is a proper bed for them to lay upon. My brother made this doll bunk bed as a gift this Christmas.

And of course we couldn't part without leaving you all a shot of my bedroom window the other day. It was covered in all sorts of gorgeous designs. It was kind of difficult to take a picture of the frost because there is a layer of plastic over the window, but I did my best.

They remind me of ferns in the forest...

Wintery Weather

Collecting Eggs.

The woods at my Aunt's place.

This was after a night's snowfall.

Beautiful!