SailingKnitter

We had our first MYSTERY knitalong on the Holiday Mystery Gifts Yahoo group this past week and really stumped the crowd. We provided no photo, and no explanation as to what the final product would be. The knitterly folks just had to have faith and follow the knitting "clues" each day working with sock/fingering weight yarns.

The little 3-Day/3-Clue design revealed itself to be a goofy functional item - a HOT CUP PINCHER! Come on...haven't you grabbed a hot cup of coffee/tea/whatever on the run and had your finger tips scalded? Well, for knitters that can spell disaster! No knitting? Never! So, keep this little Hot Cup Pincher with you at all times and practice Safe Sipping.

Other designers also provided some free patterns to the group this week - here is my version of Tricia Pendergrass' Waterfalls Back Scrubber knit in worsted weight cotton yarn. I love it and use it often! Vicki Mikulak shared 2 beautiful designs - a crocheted Wisteria Shawl and a knit Stole-n Moments Stole. Co-founder Mindy Albright gave us all a cute little set of Dollhouse Curtains and Valance knit in fine crochet cotton. Whew! This is just the beginning of our pattern sharing knitting and crocheting along adventures too!

A new feature this year on our group are ELVES! with HATS. I created this simple little knit elf (just a square of stockinette over a 2" styrofoam ball) and two hat designs (so far! hint, hint). Other designers have come up with additional hats and we will release new hat patterns as part of the series.


I feel so relieved to be finally able to share these with you! Keeping secrets is so dang hard. Okay, so there has also been regular knitting going on (like that was ever a secret).


I found some lovely naturally colored black Shetland wool yarn in my stash that I had picked up at a fiber festival several years ago. It was just enough for a big pair of warm mittens for the kids at the orphanage in Kazakhstan. These are adult size large with a palm length of 8 1/2" for some big kid with long hands. Some of the mittens in the past years had hands that were too short, so I made sure that I just kept on a-knittin.

It's been pure heaven to be able to just knit without having to take constant notes for writing up a pattern later. Plus the large sized needles (US size 4 / 3.75mm) made the work go so fast.

Oh, yep...the mango gansey is still plodding along, as are several other knitting projects. I like to flit from projet to project as my mood, level of energy, and circumstances permit. So...now...off to knit on something simple.