An unexpected visitor...loom knit beer cozies, and a surprise

A few days ago we had an unexpected visitor to our bird feeder right outside our living room window. After a day or two, our "visitor" invited more of his kind on over and we had nearly 10 of them pecking around at the dropped bird seed from above. What a wonderful discovery! I am really enjoying living out in the country having such beautiful wildlife come right to my door....



Our Visitor


I just finished my sister and her husband's Christmas gifts. They were very simple, but it took me awhile because of the color work. Basically, I cast onto my fine gauge loom 45 pegs using the e-wrap cast on method. Second, I Knit one Purled one for 5 rows (a flat panel) in my contrasting color (slipping the end stitches on each turn). On row 6 I changed to my second (or main color) and knit two rows. Then following my graph I created in Excel, I started my color work. I finished up with one row of knit in the contrasting color and four rows of Knit one Purl one. I used the crochet bind off method with a single crochet in between each join. I used the mattress stitch to sew up the sides, and voila, custom beer cozies for the Minnesota Vikings fan. Now they wont get eachother's beer mixed up when they watch the game!





Anyone who is a member of my loom knitting yahoo group Decor Accents, knows I released my loom knit gloves pattern last Friday. Well, the glove pattern I am selling is by far superior to the first glove pattern design I made (my prototype). The first one made it possible for me to design the second version. I had a lot of issues with this pattern I wasn't able to solve. The worst of which was making the fingers larger to fit my hand without making the hand portion too large. When I did figure out a way to make the fingers larger, I got some holes that needed to be fixed. For anyone with slender fingers, or for anyone who doesn't mind mending holes, this pattern is offered here free for personal use. Feel free to share this pattern with a direct link to my blog!


Glove Prototype 1

Crochet cast on 45 stitches clockwise (or left to right on a single sided rake) onto a fg loom with at least 45 pegs.

Finger 1
Row 1: e-wrap and K all stitches across
Row 2: P10 K35
Row 3: e-wrap and K all sitches across
Row 4: P10 K35
Rows 5 & 6: e-wrap and K12 turn and K12 (clockwise). 33 stitches will not be knit on this row.
Row 7: e-wrap and K12 on stitch 13 reach down and grab the ladder from the stitch below with crochet hook, twist and place on 13th peg

(counterclockwise), e-wrap this peg and K bottom two loops over top loop, continue to e-wrap and K across
Row 8: P10 K35 and crochet cast off 12 stitches and single crochet after joining each stitch but do not single crochet after joining the last two

stiches, use the loop from this bindoff to begin row 9 (33 stitches will remain on the loom).
Row 9: Crochet cast on 15 stitches clockwise placing first cast on stitch onto the 33 peg (there will be two loops on this peg)

Finger 2
Row 10: Repeat rows 1 through 5
Row 15 & 16: e-wrap and K14 turn and K14 (clockwise). 31 stitches will not be knit on this row.
Row 17: K14 and on row 15 reach down and grab the ladder from the stitch below with crochet hook, twist and place on 15th peg (counterclockwise),

e-wrap this peg and K bottom two loops over top loop, continue to e-wrap and K across
Row 18: P10 K35
Row 19: Crochet cast off 12 stitches following method described in row 8 with bindoff to begin row 20 (33 stitches will remain on the loom).

Finger 3
Row 20: Crochet cast on 15 stitches using method described in row 9 and repeat rows 1 through 4
Row 24 & 25: e-wrap and K14 turn and K14
Row 26: e-wrap and K14 on stitch 15 reach down and grab the ladder from the stitch below with crochet hook, twist and place on 15th peg

(counterclockwise), e-wrap this peg and K bottom two loops over top loop, continue to e-wrap and K across
Row 27: P10 K35 and crochet cast off 14 following method described in row 8 with bindoff to begin row 28

Finger 4
Row 28: Crochet cast on 13 stitches following method described in row 9.
Row 29: Repeat rows 1 through 4
Row 33 & 34: e-wrap and K20 turn and K20 (clockwise) 25 stitches will not be knit on this row
Row 35: K20 and on row 21 reach down and grab the ladder from the stitch below with crochet hook, twist and place on 15th peg (counterclockwise),

e-wrap this peg and K bottom two loops over top loop, continue to e-wrap and K across
Row 36: P10 K35
Row 37: Crochet cast off 20 stitches following method described in row 8 with bindoff to begin row 38

Thumb
Row 38: Crochet cast on 13 stitches (first stitch placed on last stitch from previous row - there will be two loops on this peg)
Row 39: Repeat rows 1 through 8 two times (16 rows worked). Do not do a crochet cast off until you have worked the 16th row.

Finger 4 (backside)
Row 40: Crochet cast on 21 stitches following method described in row 9.
Row 41: Repeat rows 29 through 36
Row 49: Crochet cast off 12 following method described in row 8 with bindoff to being row 50

Finger 3 (backside)
Row 50: Crochet cast on 15 stitches following method described in row 9
Row 51: Repeat rows 20 through 27

Finger 2 (backside)
Row 56: Crochet cast on 13 stitches following method described in row 9
Row 57: Repeat rows 10 through 18
Row 61: Crochet cast off 14 stitches following method described in row 8

Finger 1 (backside)
Row 62: Crochet cast on 13 stitches following method described in row 9
Row 63: Repeat rows 1 through 7
Row 69: P10 K35
Row 70: Crochet cast off glove from loom.

Finishing:
Sew up each finger and side of glove using the mattress stitch. I also did a version where I slipped the loops created from the crochet cast off onto the loom with right sides of the glove together, then I took the top part of the glove I needed to join and slipped those loops from the crochet bind off onto the loom and knit off. Then I did an additional crochet bind off and whip stitched the tops of the fingers closed. Turn glove rightside out. Make another glove.

© Copyright 2007 Karen Gielen For personal, non-commercial use only. All rights reserved.

Sock it to me!

My Crowning Achievement!

Now you can create a pair of gloves with fingers in half the time it takes to needle knit a pair! Create a pair of these cozy gloves with fingers using your fine gauge round loom with 40 pegs (the fg adult sock loom from Decor Accents was used for this design). These gloves features a thumb gusset that swings both forward and backward making them interchangeable, therefore you will not have a right or left hand glove! I didn't officially time how long it took me to create a pair of these since I took lots of breaks to care for my family, however, I would guesstimate the time at approximately 3 hours for each glove! That's half the time of conventional knitting on DPNs! Once you get the hang of things, your next pair should go even faster still. Sized to fit a medium/large woman's hand, they make a great last minute Christmas gift for the women in your lives! The skill level is intermediate since you will be using some advance seaming techniques. A link for a great video tutorial on this advance seaming technique is provided for advanced beginners to broaden their looming skills! Enjoy!

Must be too many irons in the fire!

Man, oh man. I haven't posted since September 5th! Where exactly does the time go? I must be having fun...Don't they say that time flys when you're having fun? Well, we did have something extra special happen last Friday, September 21st...we got a very special addition to our little herd of alpacas. She is just a doll! She doesn't have a name yet. And no, we HADN'T considered Delilah! She was born bright and early in the pouring rain! So much for alpacas being born between 8 a.m. and 12 noon! Ha, ha! Oh, and so much for them being born on a sunny day! Well, it did clear off and turn into a bright and very warm day until about noon when the wind switched and it turned cold again. I am just happy it got warm shortly after she had her and she was able to dry off and get used to her new legs and surroundings while it was warm out instead of the bitter cold we had the few days before her birth.


Isn't she just the sweetest?

My son turns 7 today! We had his birthday festivities this past weekend. He's still crazy about Pirates and being the Aaaaaaaaartistic being that I am, I just had to create a Pirate party he would never forget. The cake was extra fun to make:


The cake surrounded with lots of loot

I sent the kiddos out to find pieces of eight all over the house, yard, and way out to the woods. My favorite clue was found out in our patch of woods, found hanging from a stake:

Hum, hum alpacas

Have ye any food?

Avast matie! Avast matie! Three bags full

One that isn’t opened

And one we don’t use

And one covered with a lid, which hides ye next clue


The kids had a great time with the water balloon fight despite NOT being able to create two giant pirate ships from cardboard boxes like I had intended. I had the kids walk the plank blind folded (a wooden board stradled across two cement blocks). The best part, I drew sharks with sidewalk chalk circling the plank and even had a shark emerging from the water ready to bite it's next victim. I should have gotten a picture before the kiddos threw water all over it during the water balloon fight. It was VERY cool! Makes me want to draw again!



Now, on a more crafty note. I joined in on the cloth-along going on with my looming dishcloth group over on yahoo. The group unanimously decided to include any type of dishcloths and NOT limit them to loomed ones. Here are my crocheted dishcloth dresses:



I decided to design an alpaca winter hat using the Fair Isle or Standed Color knitting method. I intend on looming my hat. It would make a cute bag too!
© 2007 Karen J. Gielen. All rights reserved. This design is my own creation. I was not able to find a pattern anywhere and had to make my own. Please do not copy, take or distribute without my written consent!

Have a great day!

RLS - Nightmare on County Rd 155

It's maddening. The more tired I am, the worse it gets. Night after night it is a ficious cycle. I am going crazy with it. How can it affect just one leg? I am trapped in a nightmare but I am not even sleeping! At midnight I got back out of bed to research this horrible disorder. I need to work on cutting caffeine from my diet. I need to try adding more folate. I could have severe kidney failure. Oh boy, this gets worse. Looks like I can expect it to get even worse as I age. Oh, wonderful!


Amanda in her Sunday best at Granny and Grandfather's Anniversary Celebration 8-26-07

We finally brought our alpacas home! It took a few days for them to settle in but now they are right at home. I just love going out there and feeding and stroking their soft coats. Our baby boy, Samson, is so friendly and just the cutest little puff ball of fur. You could just hug and squeeze him. I am well into reading this book on of the ranches gave as a gift to us on handling and herding Alpacas. No wonder I like them so much, their mannerisms resemble cats in so many ways. They even use a communial toilet area and do not go all over the pasture.


Paige in her Sunday best at Granny and Grandfather's Anniversary Celebration 8-26-07

Go to go feed the alpacas...

Up With The Chickens

Children are funny. My son has been attending summer school since July 9th and every day he has to go to school I have to shake him awake to get him up and ready for school (he needs to be out the door by 7:20 a.m.). He doesn't have school on Fridays and can sleep in if his little heart so desires. Wouldn't you know it, he is up with the chickens on Fridays. He was up at 6:00 a.m. this morning wide eyed and bushy tailed! My day to sleep in too, you know! My youngest was really crabby this morning too. During school days she sleeps til 9:00. Today she was up at 6:00 a.m. too and CRABBY! A mother can't win sometimes.

My husband took this photo at Twin Harbors, MN. It was a port we discovered by accident while looking for some other attractions driving along the north shore. We spent a couple hours near this port watching and waiting for the ships to leave dock so my husband could see it head back out to open water. There was this peer that went way out into the lake with a fog horn on the tip. That day it was incredibly foggy and there was this giant sign warning people to stand clear since the decibles of the fog horn could knock a person over. We didn't get to hear the fog horn on the peer but the ships horn was blarring as it head out to open water. There were two ships at port when we were there. One was able to leave port without any trouble, but the second one had to turn back into port and try the process again. It was a longer ship and was closer to the shoreline. It looked as though it was having trouble with the shallow water and rocks near shore.

This little tugboat is what brought us near the habor in Twin Ports. I spotted a sign that said tugboat tours while driving through Twin Ports. Turns out, it was just a tour where you got to look around the little tugboat while it was ported. We thought we might be able to board the tugboat and get a "tour" of the shoreline. Although we didn't board this tugboat, we were glad we came to the peer since we got to see a ship leave shore and got to see it up close. After we left Twin Harbors we headed up the north shore to Split Rock lighthouse. Up in the lighthouse is some of the most beautiful views of the lake and shoreline!


View from Split Rock Lighthouse

Catcicles

Ok, I know it's hot. It has to be hot when even the kids think it's hot. They thought the kittens were hot too apparently. They thought they were being nice to the poor little kitty when they put her in the freezer. If I hadn't gone out to the freezer to look for something to make for supper we would have had catcicles! I just wanted to ask my four year old if she did it and she must have thought I was really upset, I chased her all around the yard -- man she's fast! I sat the kids down in the house when everything settled down and explained to them that no matter how nice they thought they were being to the kittens, they would have killed the poor things. Oh, the things little children do.

I haven't posted in a while since I am so darn busy with all of the preperations for my parents 50th. I have completed the program flyer, you can see what it looks like here. Now I am working on the cake design. I was able to create a beautiful sugar rose from sugar paste this afternoon. I am practicing up so the cake is the best it can be. My intentions are to make white roses and dust them with edible gold dust. I took a picture of it and will post when I get my disc filled up. I just have finishing touches to make to the video presentation and that should be good to go. Now I just need to figure out how to project it from my computer onto a projector screen or the wall.

Our Little Getaway

Last month my hubby and I managed to sneak away up north to Duluth, MN for a weekend (with baby in tow) leaving the other five kiddos behind. We had a wonderful time sight-seeing at Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, and Twin Harbors. I had the pleasure of getting a Suddenly Slender seaweed wrap and was able to shed 6 lbs! No, I haven't gained it back and it is a whole month later. My hubby treated me to it for our anniversary. Duluth is the only location in the entire state of MN that has an authorized wrap facility. That got me thinking...maybe I should open one down here in central MN. Well, I sent for the info from Suddenly Slender and after reviewing the info and doing a little research, I determined it wasn't the right direction for me. I would love for someone else to open up a facility closer to me, however, you would have a guaranteed return customer!

Until next time...