Bicycles For Sarah

 Mittens are done.

Pattern: Bicycle Mittens by me. (Unpublished)

Made For: My daughter Sarah

Size: Womans Medium

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Wool
Content: 100% Superwash Wool, Worsted weight
Colors: 227 and 863

Needles: Circular size US 5 (3.75mm)

Started: November 19, 2025
Finished: February 26, 2026

Comment: I actually started with a free published pattern called Ragbrai Mittens, written by Bill Turner, but there were problems with it, like I couldn't get gauge using size 5 needles. That's the size required, but he did make a note that it might have been size 3 and there was no way I was using size 3 needles on worsted weight yarn. They would be cardboard! 

Back of hand

The size was written for men and I would have to recalculate the whole pattern to make it women's size Medium. Since I was going to have to recalculate anyway, I decided to just integrate a few things from the pattern that I liked, like the bicycles, and do my own thing. In other words, it's been "modified".

Palm side

I decided on Corrugated Rib because it's so pretty. Then, to really girly it, I put in a Latvian Braid.

Here's a close up of the bicycle on the back of the mittens. It's a pretty easy knit. I put in some spotted diamonds. I didn't want to get complicated.

I kept the diamond pattern for the palm side. It was easy to memorize so I wouldn't have to look at the chart. The chart for the back of the hand was complicated enough.

I used the thumb chart from the original Ragbrai pattern because I really like it. This is the back of the thumb.

This is the inside of the thumb. Again, this was easy to memorize so I only had to follow the back side chart.

I am very happy with how they turned out. They fit perfectly, and they will be nice and toasty warm, being made of wool.

That is the last Christmas present I needed to finish. Just need to get them into the mail now. Better late than never, of course.

The weather has warmed up again. It was a glorious sunny day with a high of 50F today. It's supposed to be the same tomorrow. I really wanted to spend some time out in the sun but it didn't work out for me. Too much indoor stuff to do. Anyway, this winter has been so unseasonably warm that my Salome daffodils have sprouted, in February! I sure hope everything doesn't suddenly drop into subzero temps and tons of snow. If it does a lot of buds are going to be killed off.

I have finally ordered the knee braces my doctor told me to get for my arthritic knees. They've been pretty painful the last few days. I've been doing the physical therapy exercises and I got a little bit carried away last weekend and did way too much.

I got the mittens finished on Thursday and found myself without a project to take to Knitting at the Rathdrum Library. I was going to start another pair of mittens but I couldn't find a pair of size 2 circular needles. They're around here somewhere. I can't believe I haven't found them. I must have at least 5 pairs of them, all 24 inch circulars. Argh! Time to start putting the unused knitting things laying around the house away so I can find them when I want them. My house is such a mess right now. I'm such a pack rat. Anyway, I have a scarf pattern and the yarn for it that I am planning to make, so I started that at the meeting. I'll blog about it some time.

Live long and prosper. \\//

The Green Ripple

 One of the unfinished Christmas gifts is finished. 

Green Ripple for Ruth

Pattern: Shaded Ripple afghan by Melissa Leapman

Made For: Daughter Ruth

Size: 52 x 68 inches

Yarn: Maximum Value by Mary Maxim
Content: 100% Acrylic, Aran Weight
Colors: Aran, Light Green, Medium Green, Dark Green

Needles: Circular size US 9 (5.0 mm)

Started: October 3, 2025
Finished: February 2, 2026

Comment: I can't believe it took me 4 months to get this done. The daughter is happy with it, thankfully

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. The hills and valleys aren't as wide as the purple one because she didn't want me to stretch block it out like one usually does with a lace pattern. She likes it the way it is.

Ripples are so fun to knit.

Zoey has given it her seal of approval.

I have bought yarn for a 3rd one. I want to make one for my oldest daughter and her partner. I guess I'm in an afghan knitting frame of mind.

I am working on finishing up the mittens now. The body of the first mitten is done and I'm about a third of the way through the second one.

I'm hoping to get them done by the end of this week.

This is my back yard as of earlier today when I took this picture,

and this one.

Notice the lack of snow. The first week of February and there's no snow! It actually got up to 50F degrees last Wednesday. It's been an unseasonably warm winter. There is very little snow up in the mountains. We've had plenty of rain though. I don't know what to think of it. I am a little worried about my flowering plants. They are starting to bud out. It's too early. Now we run the danger that temperatures will drop down to where they are normally this time of year and all the buds will be frozen, killing them. I hope I'm wrong.

Two weeks ago I saw an Orthopedic Surgeon about my knees. I got to see the x-rays of my right knee taken earlier in December. They were very interesting. The doctor explained to me what I was seeing. There is no cartilage on the inside half of both me knees. Plenty on the outside half though. He also showed me the arthritis. It was horrifying to see. Arthritis is bony growths on the bones. I figured they were small bumps. They aren't. They're huge triangle shapes pushing into everything around them causing a lot of inflammation and pain. I've been told my knees are pretty bad and I should think about knee replacement surgery. I'm surprised. I didn't think they were that bad. 

I have a high tolerance for pain, which I did not know. I've always thought I'm a real wimp. I don't want to replace the knees yet. I want to start with physical therapy first, so that's what we're going to do. I've been referred to one just a couple miles from my house. I'm supposed to wait until they call me. I'm not to call them. I expect at least a month wait, maybe a couple weeks longer. In the meantime, I've googled some mild exercises to do while I wait and they are helping quite a bit.

I've been beading the last couple weeks. I've made 5 bracelets and 1 necklace and I'm really having a good time doing it. I've been doing two-needle Right Angle Weave. More about that later.

That's it for now.

Live long and prosper. \\//

The Snowflake Throw

 Finally! I can blog again. I'm going to post the finished details of the Snowflake Throw today.

Pattern: Snowflake Throw by Mary Maxim
Made For: A Special Friend

Size: 48 by 54 inches.

Yarn: Big Twist Soft
Content: 100% Acrylic, Worsted Weight
Color: 5020 Dark Denim

Yarn: Big Twist Value (Solids)
Content: 100% Acrylic, Worsted Weight
Colors: 5001 White, 5018 Light Denim, 

Needles: Circular size US 8 (5.0 mm)

Started: June 13, 2025
Finished: December 22, 2025

Comment: Oh my gosh, I love this afghan! I love the colors and the yarn I used for it. I loved working on it. It was a wonderful, enjoyable, challenging project. I'm so glad I made it!

It took a lot longer to make than I thought it would, but so worth the effort. Actually it's more accurate to say it took me longer to get it blocked than I thought. I kept procrastinating, which put me in a not so good position when we got back from our trip to get it finished. Sewing those 5 seams took quite a bit of time!

This is a free Mary Maxim pattern called Snowflake Throw. It is 6 panels sewn together. 

There are 4 stranded-knit square charts. 

The 3 colors are varied from square to square giving lots of varieties of squares.

So I never got bored with making them.

Between the stranded squares are rows of seed stitch and bobble stitch patterned rectangles. They were knit in all three colors too.

Another thing that was a challenge with the stranded squares is that the fairisle bit is in the middle. I had to be careful I didn't leave holes where it started and ended.

The blankets recipient is very happy with it. I offered to line the back, which I had planned to do (even bought the fabric) because I wanted to protect the floats from getting fingers caught in them, but ran out of time. 

As it turns out, I didn't have any loose ones anyway because I wove the floats every 3 to 4 stitches. 

It was great fun watching my friend open the present. She was so surprised! I'd worked on it right in front of her several times. I stopped doing that when the panels were done.

I did not finish the mittens for my oldest daughter or the afghan for my youngest daughter. Sigh. I didn't get nearly as much knitting done on the trip as I'd hoped. First, I found out I get car sick if I knit in the car while it's moving (Rats and Phooey!). Then, about a third of the way into the trip I started having problems with real pain in my knees which made it hard for me to knit for some reason. I couldn't concentrate on it.

I will talk about the trip in my next post, but I did manage to accomplish repetitive stress injuries in both of my knees, though the right one is way worse. The doctor said it probably was caused by getting in and out of the car so often, because we did a lot of that every single day of the whole three weeks. My Prius, being a sporty car, is low to the ground so I have to push up more to get out of it. It's time like these that I wish we had a two story house. I would have much better knees if we did because I'd be used to going up and down the stairs all the time so they'd be a lot stronger.

I was advised to use ice packs and rest my knees until the swelling went down, and she referred me to a specialist who has yet to call me. I think the holidays slowed things down. I'll probably hear from them in the next week or two. In the meantime, trying to get ready for Christmas  was pure torture. My knees got in the way, plus being extremely stressed because I couldn't do the Christmas preparation I really wanted to do. I had to really scale down my expectations. I was relieved to get what I could done, and it all turned out fine anyway.

We didn't get the tree up until three days before Christmas. I don't think I would have even done that much but I'd bought new lights and we wanted to see them on the tree. So we put it up and put on the lights. That's it. I intended to get some ornaments up but just didn't have it in me.

The lights are pretty. A little more purple in real life.

Last week I caught a nasty flu bug going around and it was one of the worst flues I've ever had. It was extremely painful! Every joint in my body hurt so bad I could hardly move. I cried quite a bit the first night because it was so  unbearable. I can only take Tylenol, which didn't do squat, because I'm on blood thinners. So I suffered. I'm much better now. I hope you don't get it.

Our weather still has been weird. There was NO SNOW on Christmas. In fact, we were still getting temps in the 50's. Some of the plants I have in pots on the deck are still alive, and unbelievable amounts of rain! Good lord! I haven't seen rain like that since I lived in California! It melted all the snow on the mountains and we had flooding everywhere. Only one pass going to Seattle is open because there was so much flooding and mud avalanches. It was so sad seeing so many peoples homes flooded. I'm so glad I live on a hill.

It snowed the day after Christmas. We got a couple inches, then things warmed up and it all melted and still, the rain. Our ground is not frozen yet, which is probably a good thing under the circumstances. That will change. The cold will be moving in to the area in a couple days.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Socks With Squares

 I have finished a Christmas present! I'm calling these

Socks With Squares

Pattern: Socks With Squares by Linda Jo Park (No pattern)
Size: Mens 8

Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Fabel
Content: 75% Superwash Wool/25% Nylon, Fingering weight
Color: Off White

Yarn: KnitPicks Stroll Fingering

Content: 75% Merino/25% Nylon, Fingering weight
Color: 25025 Aurora heather and 23699 Pumpkin

Needles: ChiaoGoo circular size 2 and 3

Started: March 18, 2025
Finished: October 3, 2025

Comments: I have designed these socks and intend to write up the pattern during the winter. It took awhile to get them done because I put them on hiatus while I worked on the blue afghan.

I started these socks from the top with an inch and a half 1 by 1 rib cuff.

I love the little stitch pattern. It's easy to knit and easy to memorize. I used it on a pair of mittens I made last year. 

For the heel, I tried something new for me called The Mock Short Row Heel. It's much easier than your typical short row heel. You'll find a video tutorial here: Mock Short Row Heel.I highly recommend trying it.

I did my usual toe, though I did try something new on it at the end. I usually do a 3-needle bind off because I don't like doing the Kitchener Stitch. I've never been happy with the finished product of Kitchener stitch. I actually finished the first sock as usual.

Then I found the Finchley Graft. No complicated setting up of rows and stitches. Just a quick easy to learn weaving with a tapestry needle, from the wrong side. I like it a LOT! It has a very nice seamless look. I undid the toe finish on the first sock and redid it with the Finchley Graft. I will be using it from now on.

Serious knitters want to see the inside of stranded knits, and I'm particularly proud of this one, so here ya go. My tension is getting better and better.

I tried these socks on because the last couple pair did not fit Opal. I looked at what I did when I made them and I don't know what I was thinking but in both cases I didn't cast on nearly enough stitches. I will have to remake them properly. In the meantime, these ones are plenty big enough.

I took quite a few pictures of these socks. I just love that stitch pattern so much.

It looks like a 3-color stranded pattern but there's only 2 colors in every row.

My Marigolds are still going strong so I picked it and used it for some arty photos.

There's no frost coming for at least the next two weeks. The weather has cooled off from the 90's so it's much more comfortable. We've had a bit of rain too, which is helping with the smoke from wild fires. The leaves have started turning and the air has the strong smell of autumn. Winter is on the way.

Sweet Hubby's heart is still beating steady and regular, like it's supposed too. He has so much more energy, and he's sleeping better. It's nice having him back in good health.

The new afghan kit from Mary Maxim's arrived. I've cast on and started it.

That's the news for today.

Live long and prosper. \\//

Feather and Fan Afghan

 I finished this a couple months ago, but it's been difficult finding time to take pictures. I finally got it done.

Pattern: Shaded Ripple Afghan by Melissa Leapman

Made For: Myself

Size: 70 by 65 inches.
Yarn: Mary Maxim Maxium Value
Content: 100% Acrylic, Worsted Weight
Colors: White, Light Violet, Medium Violet, Dark Violet

Needles: Circular size US 9 (5.5mm)

Started: January 8, 2025
Finished: March 28, 2025

Comment: I love this afghan! I love the colors and the yarn I used for it. I loved working on it, which was a huge surprise because the last time I knit a blanket it was not fun. It's so snuggly wuggly! I used Melissa Leapman's pattern because it was the first one I ran across that was free for me. I can't remember where I found it. Maybe Google? I used 4 colors instead of 3. I just needed to know the basic stitch pattern.

I really like the Mary Maxim Maximum Value yarn. It is very similar to the Big Twist yarn from Joann's. It was my favorite Joann's yarn. I'm hoping another company will take it. In the meantime, Mary Maxim it is.

Feather and Fan has been around forever. It's a well known Shetland pattern. Sometimes it's called the Old Shale pattern. Officially, they are two different patterns. The difference is Old Shale has a 17 stitch repeat. Feather and Fan has a 14 stitch repeat. It is also called the Ripple stitch or Chevron stitch. 

The back is all purl stitches and every bit as pretty.

I have it here on our California King sized bed. I blocked it on my bed.

I'm going to enjoy warming up under this.

In February I mentioned that I thought the horrible chronic cough I have had for at least 8 years might be gone? Well, it is! It wasn't the bronchitis though. The cough came back. A few weeks later I caught a cold that was so bad my doctor asked me to come in. A combination of a sinus infection and very irritated vocal chords turned out to be the problem. Apparently I have had that sinus infection for years. It took catching a cold for my doctor to notice it. A very strong antibiotic was the solution. I haven't coughed like that since. It's so nice to lay down and not start coughing and feeling like I'm going to drown in my own mucus.

Live long and prosper. \\//

FO's

 I did quite a bit of crafting during March and April. It helped with the stress and anxiety that's been going on in my life. Today I'm sharing two of them. 

My daughters birthday was near the end of April and I decided to sew her a market bag. 

It's a very large bag. I found the pattern for free on the blog iThinksew. The name of the pattern is Martha's Market Bag. As I've said before, my daughter is a huge My Little Pony fan, even though she's 40. I found the Pinky Pie fabric on Ebay. It was just a yard, but thankfully it was enough. I got the aqua fabric from an online fabric store, whos' name escapes me. The project was challenging because I don't have much experience making bags. I used to sew a lot of clothing when I was younger. Especially after I got married because my husband is very tall (6'5"). Regular pants and long sleeve shirts don't fit him. We had to shop at specialty stores that sold clothing for Big and Tall guys, and they were very expensive. We couldn't afford to shop there. So I sewed his clothing for him. Making bags is a relatively new thing for me.

I used heavy interfacing in the bag so it would stand up on its own. I really wrestled with it too. I was so glad when it was done. Sarah loves the bag and wouldn't be adverse to me making her some more. I call that a win.

I also finished Choo Choo Santa for my daughter-in-law. 

Her birthday was last January, so I sent it to her as a belated birthday gift in the same package the bag went in. I worked on this a lot. It was a very intense project with over 100 pieces to stitch together. 

I've taken close up photos of the stocking from top to bottom starting with the hanger loop, which I modified. It was supposed to be just a piece of red felt but I fancied it up some. 

I recently joined a Facebook group devoted to making Bucilla felt applique kits. I was inspired by photos of some of the members hanging loops they've modified. The group has been great, and I've learned quite a bit that has improved my skills, such as taking a small stitch on the back, after each sequin is done. This helps to keep it firmly sewn to the fabric.

This is the top with my daughter-in-laws name on it. The first train car shows too. 

You may be wondering how I got the name to look so nice. Usually I use my MS Word program to create the name, then print it out, pin it to the stocking, and embroider right through the paper. When I'm done, I carefully tear the paper off, leaving just the stitching. This time I did a little something different. An alphabet comes with the directions on how to make the stocking. I got a piece of tissue paper, traced the required letters, then pinned that to the stocking for embroidery. It worked great. I liked it better than what I usually do. It's a lot easier to stitch through tissue paper than regular printer paper.

Doing it with tissue paper got me to thinking. I wonder if there's tracing paper that can be put through printer. Then I could use my word program like I usually do and print it on the tracing paper. Lo and behold, I found some on Amazon. I'm looking forward to trying it out on the next stocking, which I've already started, by the way.

This is a close up of a couple of the cars. That bear turned out so cute!

This is the engine with Santa. I made a change here. Instead of using the clear beads with the sequins on Santa, and the beads on the Christmas tree, I used some white pearl seed beads from my huge collection of Miyuki size 11 seed beads. The other white pieces have the clear beads that came with the kit.

One of the things I learned from the Facebook Bucilla group is how to mark the stocking with my signature, so to speak. I never thought about doing that on my stockings. I do it to all my Cross Stitch projects! It's a logical thing to do, so I cut out this little blue heart, did some really bad embroidery of my initials and the year I finished it, and sewed it onto the back of the stocking. I wish I'd had more time, I would have redone it until it was decent. It was 1:00 am when I was done with this one. I had to put it in the mail in the morning. I decided it would have to do. I was just too tired. I went to bed.

As usual, I made a lining for the stocking. It turned out so beautiful. The stitching at the top where I sewed it in is so even and neat and the lining fit perfectly. I'm quite proud of it.

Since the theme of the stocking was a train, which is something my daughter-in-law is very enthusiastic about, (She even has an extensive electric train set.) I bought fabric with trains on it. Here is a close up of one of the trains.

I finished my Feather and Fan blanket too but haven't had a chance to photograph it yet. I did take a picture when I was blocking it though. I used my bed because it's so nice and big, being a California King and all.

I'm planning to take pics tomorrow, so stay tuned.

I am also planning to do a WIP post on Wednesday. Until then...

Live long and prosper.\\//