Snow Days Knitting

The last time I posted I had begun teaching a class of seven little girls ages 8-10 at the Senior Center where I teach needlework. The class was for five weeks and I don't know who had more fun ..... the girls or myself. Several of the mothers also tried learning while "helping" their daughters. One of the girls was also teaching two older sisters and another was teaching her brother. Although my class was for seven, they were having so much fun that at home at least six others were also learning. In fact one of the mothers brought her project as well as the other two daughters projects to "show 'n tell" how much they all were enjoying learning to knit. At the completion of the class all seven were presented with certificates and also got to choose two bracelets that I had knitted them. I also gave them all another ball of yarn to practice with. They all finished their headbands (which was the learning project) and began a second project .... some chose to knit scarves and others chose to knit a small purse. They are all eagerly awaiting the next class where a larger project will be knitted. They will also learn to use circular and doublepointed needles in the next class. Although this class was garter stitch several of the girls learned to purl and worked ribbing on a circular hat I had begun for them to practice on ..... as you know if you take or teach a class there are always some who work faster than others, so it is important to not only keep their interest up but challenge the students.

The first photo shows the knitted bracelets I made for the girls. They loved them and know how to make them for themselves.


This winter has been one of much snow in the part of Virginia where I live and there were quite a few days where I was snowed in so knitting was a big part of what occupied my time .... I mean what better fun is there than to sit and watch the snow fall than with some knitting.

You know how I love my knitted socks ...... only five days to knit this pair, but I worked on several different projects. The yarn makes its own design and although you are "supposed" to begin each sock at the same color portion, I choose to do my own thing and just begin each sock at the beginning of each skein. They don't have to "exactly" match for me color-wise. When I'm working patterns I'm very particular that each sock looks as it should. But I find more fun and interest in the different color patternings.



Snow days accomplishments - three differnt scarves. The one on the left is knitted in a shaded purple worsted weight wool using the garter stitch dishcloth pattern. It sure doesn't look purple does it? The chair is a soft aqua and looks green. What a difference the lighting makes when I try to clarify color with the brightness/contrast on GIMP. The middle scarf is knitted in a bulky lime green acrylic with a double cable and only took three days (about 8 hours of knitting) to make. Also attached fringe which I normally don't. The scarf on the right is knitted with the "mistake" rib pattern using a worsted weight brown tweed. The mistake rib is one of my favorite patterns for knitting hats and works wonderfully well as a scarf.


The shaded blue pineapple bookmark is crocheted with a size 10 crochet thread. I'm trying to use up lots and lots of odds and ends of crochet threads that have been given me over the years and bookmarks are an excellent choice. Another snow days project.



Here is a cross-stitch band with darning patterns above and below that I stitched on a linen sampler round robin that I'm doing with one of my groups. I did add some aqua beads to finish.

This is what the whole band looks like at this point in time. The Assisi work band at the top was stitched by a fellow Virginian. The Hardanger band was designed and worked by the owner of this band who lives in Australia. The incomplete band in the middle was begun by someone who had to drop out, so the owner will "fix" that when her sampler returns to her. The blackwork band was stitched by a gal who lives in England, and then my band is at the bottom. The sampler has arrived back in Australia for another Aussie to "do her thing" and then it will go home.

I woke up with a headache this morning (very unusal for me) so had to miss my bobbin lace class again today. We were snowed out for several classes. Need to bring my current project up to date but not today.

I'm beginning a color theory class with my StitchMAP group and need to finish gathering my color groups to photograph and post in my album for evaluation. Hope to "see" you soon and in the meantime have a blessed week.