Grandma Telford's slippers

Update:  Now available for free download on Ravelry here

Well, here is the pattern written up for my grandma's slippers. I'm posting it because someone asked, I've had it scribbled on paper for quite some time. Grandma taught me how to make these when I was about 6 years old, but she had been making these her whole life. I don't know where it came from, but I had never seen it anywhere else before (probably because no one can remember how to sew the things together! :-) Anyways, if anyone recognizes them, and knows of an original pattern source (again, my grandmother made these her whole life, so it would have to be a pretty old source :-) let me know. Again, this is written up from my memory of what she taught me...in about 1984. Thanks, Debbie

P.S. I couldn't find any other way to post this, if it's unreadable, and you want the pattern, send me a comment and I can email you the pdf that I made....I just don't know how to post a pdf on blogger :-)









PDF pattern link

DROPS 95-9 Casted on

Jane's shawl...and a pink baby bib

Wow! Can you believe it?!?! The shawl is done!Last night at small group I gave it to Jane. She was surprised that I made her something with it....but I think she liked it. Everybody liked the beads.
When it was all done, I really liked it myself, it's extremely soft and cozy.
So, then on Wednesday night, I whipped up this little baby bib for a couple of friends who just told us that they're expecting. We are soooooo very delighted and happy for them! This week I guessed that they're having a girl..so I went with hot pink :-D it's fun to guess!
Annnnd I actually casted on last weekend...but just this evening I was finishing the first row as I was waiting for hubby after work...so really..I started this today...and here's my progress. It's the DROPS 95-9 short sleeved top.
I'm doing my double decreases differently as described by Tracy Mine is a little different...I want to make it longer...and my gauge is finer, due to the yarn I'm using...and there are more changes...so...I'm sort of using the pattern as more of a guideline and using my gauge and measurements for sizing etc.

I'm still not sure if I should have gone down a needle size for this silk...but whatever...I'm enjoying the ride, and it will be a trial and error learning experience :-D

Oh ya, I have no idea why my pictures turned sideways...usually when I want them to do that I can't figure out how for the life of me to get them that way...today I want them normal...and they flip vertically! Go figure.

Knit night lives!

Monday April 28th we got together for another night of knitting and eating and lot's of talking. It was wonderful! We had one more person this time, my friend who hasn't knit in a few years was persuaded to cast on a dishcloth to come and socialize.Anita was helping me pick the "right white" for my new house. Yep we bought a house! The closing date is my birthday, June 18th. It's 5 years old, and in really great shape but desperately needs a paint job, it was clearly cheap builders paint, the kind that marks if you even look at it funny, and it's very worn looking. So, the first thing we're doing is getting the carpets steam cleaned upstairs (mainfloor is hardwood and tile..yeah), and painting the whole place.
It's very open concept so I think I want a fairly neutral colour for the main floor as it will carry all the way from the front door through the entire main floor and all through the upstairs hallways, there isn't really a good place to stop and change the colour...unless you wanted to just paint an accent wall...but for now...I need the right neutral!
So...a few days after buying the house....I was walking over to the cafeteria at work and there was a little art show set up....I saw a couple of things and declared them new house art! (shown above with Anita) it's mostly cool colours, but with lots of warm ones in the background ....soooo I'm trying to pull something out...Well..there's my ramble :-D

The boys had their own playdate, they dropped their wonderful ladies off at my house and went off to do whatever it is that they do....hey...do you think they're knitting in secret???

Knit Night!!!

So, the first ever knit night was oh so much fun. We ate munchies, although I think I might be the one who ate the most and knit the least, talked a LOT, and did some knitting.We started small because I had no idea how this would turn out. I figured if people enjoy themselves and want to get together again...GREAT! and then we can invite more people!I think we may have even converted my sister in law to knitting...I've been trying to two years or so now (that's who's lap I'm sitting on...I don't normally sit on just anyone for photo ops :-) She's working on a modern log cabin blanket from Mason Dixon. I bought some dishcloth cotton and needles for teaching people to night. That's my new go to teaching project since the scarf requires too much commitment for my liking, and I think you learn more doing the dishcloth where you start with 4 stitches and increase doing yo's up to about 43 then decrease doing k2tog yo k2tog till you're back down to 4. People seem to feel like they can do a lot more after this dishcloth pattern than they do after learning a plain garter stitch scarf...but...anyway.
Sarah didn't think her first knitting attempt dishcloth was even enough. She was chatty (which is why we love her) and always seemed to forget the yo on the same side. Soooo when she said she wanted to rip it out and start over, I made her take a picture with it first....can't lose your first knit right! Then, we ripped it and helped her cast on again with take home yarn for homework...hmmmm I've got to call that Sarah and see how she's doing...hmmmm come to think of it she hasn't answered my emails....hmmmm :-P

Next knit night will be soon!

Debbie's mini disclaimer hehe: Knit night was actually Monday April 7th....but I haven't posted because I was waiting to make sure that everyone was OK with having their pictures posted online. I haven't heard back from everyone so there are some photos missing...I didn't want to leave people out...but I really didn't want to post people online without permission.

Spring is in the air!

I started some plants from seed a few weeks ago..hmmmm March 20th. Some onions, some lettuce (don't ask me what I was thinking there) some tomatoes and some peppers. Here's what my tray looks like now.
The tomatoes are really the only thing that I'm paying any attention to....for obvious reasons :-)I planted two types of tomato plants Earlianna and Beefsteak. The Earlianna plants are the ones here and they look much nicer than the Beefsteak ones at this point. I only ended up with three of the Beefsteak type germinating, while all the Earlianna did very well (so far) and also, the Beefsteak ones have gotten taller and a little more spindly.
These just popped up this morning! I had lost all hope for the peppers, but must say I'm still pleased, since I only paid $14.22 for all my seed starting mix, little potting tray and all the seeds (I got more seeds than just these...I got all the regular garden seeds too..except for a few that I couldn't find like sugar snap peas). Anyways, I figured that the peppers just weren't good seeds and wouldn't germinate, but when I moved the tray under the skylight this morning I noticed that this one little cell had 2 pepper seedlings in it. Maybe I'll be able to grow a pepper plant after all. I'm still doing better than I expected. I really expected this seed starting business to be just a fun attempt, and that I'd end up buying the tomato and pepper plants. We'll see, maybe some of these will survive long enough to make it out to the garden!

I love my third!

My third skein of handspun.

This is the one I've made straight from the beginning. Well, almost from the beginning. I got it AFTER the sheep. I got it in the form of dirty fleece from a bag which I washed, and carded and spun. And now here is it. These pictures are from right after spinning last week. Before I "set the twist"

Here is it sitting with it's buddies, my first and second skeins, you can see how they compare. I've not being trying for any particular weight, I'm just trying to spin something...so whatever I get is what I get. This new one has turned out to be a very fine weight. I'm guessing somewhere around fingerling weight...but that's just my guess as I hold it up to other yarns in my basket of stash...maybe dk weight?It's now hanging from the pot rack in my kitchen with a soup can slung in the loop to weight it down to set the twist...I forgot to do that last week...oops...I hope that doesn't mess things up.I'm off again this week to spin a little bit more, I couldn't finish all that I had last week. So we'll see how this week goes.

Celebrate Spring!

Guess what!

There's a contest happening! Which really excites me, because I've always read about contests, and knit alongs and swaps, and all manner of such things about...oh...a year or so after they have happened. So, imagine my excitement! Thank you Cinnamongirl! I finally feel like one of the cool kids LOLOL!

Anyways you can read about the whole thing over on Cinnamongirl's blog site Happy Handwork. The grand prize is two skeins Malabrigo worsted weight yarn in the colour way velvet grapes. What a great prize! It looks fabulous...it seems I'm the only one who hasn't knit with this yarn yet. To be quite honest. I've never seen it up close. I don't know if it's carried in any of the local yarn shops here. I've certainly never stumbled across it.

Here is a little paragraph from her blog site...but really...check it our yourself :-D

So here are the rules. You can only enter one time. If you mention my contest on your blog with a link you will receive an extra 3 entries! If one of your friends enters because of your input you will get one extra entry. And lastly, just for fun, make sure to mention in your post one of your favorite flowers.

You'll have to visit her to find out all the rest of the info...like deadlines etc. etc....I'm tricky aren't I... :-) Not really, I know.

And...by the way...my favourite flower...always the daisy. The plain daisy (I think it's the shasta daisy?) The one I would sometimes find just growing wild by the side of the road when I was a child. Not all the fancy ones of today, I have nothing against those, but they're just another flower to me. My favourite is the old fashioned daisy.

I wanted a wedding bouquet full of daisies. We were is Cuba. Apparently there are no daisies in Cuba hahahah...so I got something resembling purple daisies in amongst some peach roses...still beautiful and satified my need for daisies in my bouquet. A close runner up is the brown eyed susan.

Here is the mohair shawl, I've not been doing much knitting, only a row here and a row there, so no real sit down and knit sessions. That's what I really need, a few good sit down and knit sessions.

It snowed yesterday , and we're supposed to get more coming in the next few weeks. It's not spring for us yet. I'm still thinking of my garden though. Here's a few pics of hubby playing with icicles in the back yard....heheeh, actually, he's shoveling snow away from the foundation of the house and knocking down the montrous 7 foot icicles that seemed to grow almost overnight. But...it sure does look like he had fun doesn't it. No, I wasn't much help. Yes, I did stay inside. Yes, I was in fact so lazy that I actually took these pictures right through the screen in the kitchen window. BUT. Yes, I did make him a nice hot chocolate when he was all done :-D And I cooked him dinner....he considered us even...so ...I do too :-)

Wow...It's March!

Ok, so apparently time is slipping away from me faster than I realized it. I can't believe it's almost the middle of March already. I was doing so well there for a while. I haven't done much knitting lately, just a row here and a row there.We were completely snowed in on Saturday so I didn't get to go spinning. :-( I did get all my carding finished though, so this Saturday hopefully I will get this big bag of batt all spun yeah! Here is a pic of the former coat of a lovely sheep named "Petunia"

And here is what still sits in my front yard, from Saturdays snowfall. It's Tuesday now and it's warmed up considerably if that gives you any indication of just what kind of snowfall I'm talking about here :-) It was a doozy.... we actually couldn't see the neighbours car at all...ha! I only wish I had taken pictures day of....the snowbanks were taller than I am!So, I've decided to plant a garden....obviously not right now (see above picture) but...I think I'll somewhat follow the square foot method, I was looking gardening things up online and stumbled across it on a forum, so I checked out the website, and it looks like the right method for me. Anyways, I got the book out of the library, but of course the new one is on hold, and I'm #3 out of 4 holds....so..I got the old one....I imagine the basic concepts are the same. I'm concentration on this tonight because my best friend finished her last day of work today and I'm super super sad about that. I'm very happy for her, she is a totally fabulous person I just love her, but I'm going to miss her soooo sooo much it just makes me sick. So, now I'm going to go read about gardening, maybe knit, maybe look at knitting online, maybe look at seeds online...who knows...gardening, knitting, seeds...yarn, hot chocolate...hmmmmm

In....just under the wire

I finished this at about 20 to 12..but since it's not midnight yet it's technically a February finished object. Annnnnnd, it means that I get to start the beaded shawl tomorrow. I'm very excited for this!

Here's my hubby, graciously modeling his new hat at 11:45 pm on a Friday night...we're party animals you know. hehehe

I asked him to do something cute and funny for the picture...and this is what he gave me. I don't know about his theatrical skills, but he sure is cute. (albeit scruffy today...but I like that ha!)
He says he loves the hat. This makes me very happy.

Spinning is SO fun!

Soooo, here's my very first handspun....I took these pics very late one night, and the flash turned the white wool...well, white, so I took the flash off.

It's not really a pretty skein of wool, actually, it's really messed up, but it's mine, and I tell ya, I couldn't be prouder of it. I was so happy, it was like someone just gave me a puppy or something!
There here's a little small half sized one. Kassy wanted me to try this stuff out, just for the sake of trying different things. I found spinning easier, but I think I was just getting more used to it. I did not like this stuff, but I forget what it was called, the white stuff above is from Romni sheep (or something like that...I don't know sheep types) this is something different...with guard hairs....s.c.r.a.t.c.h.y! It reminded me more of horse hair.
Here's my two first skeins...in a nice affectionate embrace. See, they know they'll always have a special place in my heart :-)
They sat quietly while a sadly inept photographer snapped pictures ...including this one slightly more close up

So, Last week Kassy sent me home with this.
That Kassy, she giggled with delight as she told me I'd better keep it in the back of the truck due to the smell. I've tried my best to follow the instuction given for washing. But really, it doesn't look much prettier. I assure you, it DOES smell better, but it still looks kinda ugg. I hope she's not disappointed in my progress. Hmmm, after looking at the picture again, it does look better, but certainly not all white and fleecy or anything...we'll see what she says tomorrow. :-) I'm learning carding, and some time dying, and then who knows what else!

Hmmmph!

Eww..What a day...what a week...whatever...so far..what a year... I've got lot's to tell you....and some pictures too....some from my spinning lessons...which are truly a joy lately...I so much look forward to them (even though I've just had two). Anyways...I'll have to do all that later. Hopefully this weekend. I'm around honest. And even online for little bits....just enough to read a bit...but not much time to write. And...now I'm feeling crummy...so I'm going to bed to knit...and sleep....tomorrow is another day right.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

Oh my goodness!

http://www.archive.org/details/irishcottageknitting

Seriously....she is soooo fast!

Here's my hat

It's sadly true. The tassle is undeniably too huge. Oh well, I'll wear it for a day (for the principle of it) and then somehow figure out how to reduce the tassle size by about half. I don't even want to think about how I'm going to go about that. Do I just cut half of it out...or actually take the whole darned thing apart. Gosh it's huge...I don't want to remove it from the hat ...it's so well stuck on there :-) Anyways, my sweetums is right. I do look truly goofy with this hat on....why oh why is he always right. I guess it doesn't matter, because I will probably wear it anyways...just cuz I can. I can look goofy if I wanna! ha! Just wait till he gets his hat....I've got about 3 1/2 inches done...have to go till about 8 and then start the decreases...wow....this one does take a lot less effort. I'm still reeling over the fact that I actually finished that hat...and it's not July...I finished that hat in less than a month! This is a knitting miracle...a true knitting miracle.

So close, I can STILL already feel the warmth

I'm finished the main part of the knitting. Now I'm just doing the applied I-cord. Good thing that there's been applied i-cord talk (and Eli Manning..ha! Go Eli!), and tutorial over on Mason-Dixon knitting lately...or I might never have figured any of this out...or at the very least I would have thought that nice lady who wrote my hat pattern had gone totally off her rocker!
So, I'm going to go keep working on the edging while my poor hardworking husband continues to bail out our basement, because it is once again filling with water.

And no...the landlords don't give a stitch about it...or the shingles that have been ripped off the roof, or the squirrels in our walls and ceilings that I'm sure are gnawing through all the ancient electrical or the dryer vent cap that is completely broken off, or the hole that actually goes directly from inside the house to outside the house in the basement, blocked only by the little bit of plastic siding covering it and the rags that I've stuff in the hole, or the leak that came down THROUGH the light fixture and into my kitchen sink, and when we first moved in it took me 3 months to convince them that there was a gas leak.

Finally one day, a Friday evening actually in February, when we were having people over for dinner it got so bad that I was calling about it again, I think she got tired and just wanted to shut me up so she sent the gas company out (she really did think I was nuts because she couldn't smell the gas at all..I think that's because she smelled like a rather heavy smoker and probably didn't have all that keen a sense of smell).

So the gas guy came out..and told me I wasn't insane, and we had two leaks, and he was very apologetic when he told me he would have to lock our gas until it could be repaired. He seemed like he was expecting me to yell at him or get angry because it was a Friday night in February, but I was just so happy that someone finally believed me I didn't care at all! Have I mentioned that our house is actually owned by the hospital next door....funny huh.

Yep...so...that's my unplanned little rant..ha! I'm going to go knit now :-) Notice that my i-cord is rolling up on the front of the hat...it's looking great on the ear flaps, but really rolling up on the front and back where I'm incorporating the live stitches...I'm hoping that this will block out flat. I was unsure of whether I should be going down a needle size for this or something....but I decided to keep going as I am, and just hope for a good block. Lemme know what you think...but ....it'll probably be too late :-)

So close, I can already feel the warmth...

Here's where I am with my hat. I finished one of the ear flaps. Boy...my knitting back and forth is much tighter (now I wish I'd gone down a needle size like I considered...but I have the right number of stitches per inch..so whatever), and neater looking that the stuff done in the round...but the colour work around the edges is all messed up. It's knit right (meaning that it correctly follows the chart) but my stitches look all funny...especially the last stitch of brown in the row. Oh well, I'm hoping it will all come together in the end. I don't think I'll have too much yarn left over though...I'm actually wondering if I'll have to order another ball to get a decent sized pom-pom for the top...not that I would really mind having to order more of this stuff...but...I will be disappointed if I have to wait to be "really done".

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the progress on my first colourwork project. I can't wait till it's finished...and even if it turns out to look ridiculous on me...I'm wearing it! And I will be proud!

A rather productive day

And finally there are buttons. I've got it all packed up to go to it's new home tomorrow. And....I've only got 4 rows to go on the second set of skiers for my hat...then it's just one more patterned section and the earflaps.

I'm not sure if it's the "only knit one thing at a time and maybe you'll actually finish something" rule that I've inflicted on myself (at least for awhile anyways), that's made me feel more productive...or if it's the audiobooks and the fact that I've totally been bitten again with that knitting bug...it's all I think about...even at work all I want to do it knit!

Wow...three posts in one day....what's wrong with me....