Patience is a virtue

It's a virtue because I finally got these pictures to post. It took photobucket 24 hours to cooperate with my plans for this post. Anyway, here are the 3 projects currently on needles. The beige is a prayer shawl I and the ladies in my knitting group, Knit Together, are making for my friend Jannette, who just had brain surgery for an unknown type of tumor. It is Lion Brand Homespun, which is soft and comforting to knit with. The blue is a cardigan I am making for my 2 year old grandson, Kyle. I made a camouflage sweater for his older brother, and he immediately placed an order for his own. I like this yarn much better than the camouflage sweater. This is Red Heart Plush and is super soft. It is also washable, important for a 2 year old. The black is a poncho I am making at the request of my DIL. She provided the yarn, Lion Brand Chenille. I hate knitting with this yarn. (Not because it is for my DIL. She is a terrific young woman.) It is stiff and doesn't slide on the needles or on itself. And the pattern is just 2 rectangles. BORING. But I will get it done. I promise.


And these lovely things are kits that Amy brought me over Thanksgiving. They are felted flowers which I am to create. Amy will then use them as decor in Yarntopia. I can hardly wait to get started on them, but I really must get the aforementioned 3 projects completed this fall. The flowers really can wait until spring. I will feel like I did when we lived in Ohio and Icouldn't wait for the crocuses to annouce the arrival of spring.

Yippee!!!!!!!!!

Did you notice the button? When trying to get it on here before, I neglected to click on Republish. We learn from our mistakes. The button is a little slice out of a picture of the skunk that kept visiting our back porch. I thought that went along with the "menagerie" name.

Next challenge to myself is to get the blogline thing going. I feel badly that I haven't been checking in with those of you who have been commenting on my blog. Now that I have the button thing behind me, I will move my attention to what the rest of you are doing.

Meme that Amylovie tagged me for

First of all, the reason all the pictures that were on my blog are now red Xs is that I deleted them from photobucket. I thought once they were on the blog, I could delete them. WRONG! We learn from our mistakes. I don't plan to replace them. It is too much work. You all saw them already anyway.

I am avoiding working on my button, so I'll respond to the meme that my DD sent to me. (By the way, why is it called a "meme"?)

What is your all-time favorite yarn to knit with?
Since most of my knitting life I had very little to choose from, I don't have a good answer for this.

Your favorite needles?
I inherited a whole needlecase full of needles from my mother, ranging from #2 Addi Turbos to a whole set of vinyl circular needles from Winns. There are double-pointed ones and aluminum ones. Anyone of these remind me of her, so I love them all.

The worst thing you ever knit?
When first married, I knit a sweater for my husband. It was a solid, dark-brown cardigan with no pattern at all. It was too big and I used the wrong weight yarn for the pattern. He never wore it that I can remember. But we were young and in love, so who cares.

Your most favorite knit pattern?
The blankets that I made for Amy's girls. (There is a picture in the archives on her blog, Aug. 2005.) I had that pattern for over 20 years before I got to knit it. It was a terrific challenge, but I am exceedingly proud of having done it.

Best knitting book or magazine?
No choice here. I care more about the pattern, not where it comes from.

Your favorite knit-along?
I've only done one, the hour glass sweater with my DD

Your favorite knitwear designer?
No choice here either. I have never really paid attention to who designed the pattern. I probably should.

The knitwear item you wear the most?(How about a picture of it)
It's probably a toss up between the beaded purse that Amylovie and I both made (she has a picture on her blog) and the orange tunic (there was a picture on my blog, now deleted, sorry)

Who to tag?
Since I'm guessing that there are not that many folks out there reading my blog, and probably all of them have already been tagged for this, I decline to put anyone on the spot.

Button disaster

I was SOOO proud. I created a button. I got into my template. I cut. I pasted. I checked the draft. RED Xs everywhere. I moved the button under the doll. I moved the button after the previous posts. I could move it everywhere, but it was still a red x. And what was worse, every other picture was a red x. If I were a woman given to coarse language I would be saying#########. I deleted the code for the button from the template. Still red Xs everywhere. **#*#*#*#*#*. I am going to have to give up for a while and settle down. Maybe when you all out there check this blog the blog fairy will have visited here and helped me out. But I doubt it.

Moderate progress so far

I am posting this from my new computer which my wonderful son, Allen, helped get up and running. I still haven't learned how to do a button, but Allen showed me about pixels. Maybe I can get it on my own. I also need to get my bloglines set up so I can be speedier about reading the blogs of all you bloggers who are checking my blog. I am on a dial-up connection and it takes FOREVER for some blogs to open. So checking everyone everyday is not working for me. Amylovie told me about bloglines, and I will do my best to get that going.

Excuses, Excuses

I know this is my 3rd post today. but I just learned my new computer is being delivered this afternoon. It is my birthday gift from my DH. I will be 60 on the 15th. Anyway, since I am getting this new computer and will have to get everything from my old computer loaded onto the new computer, my blogging will be interrupted for a while. My youngest son has agreed to help get things going, but I would really like to see how much I can do before he gets here this weekend. It will be a test of my techno-smarts. I'll get back to blogging as soon as I can. Maybe I'll be able to get the button thing going.

Projects completed P.B. (preblog)

Here are some items I finished before I got started with this blog. The camouflage sweater was a special order by my oldest grandchild. It is acrylic, so is not the softest yarn, but is definitely sturdy and washable. The cute baby is my youngest grandchild. The hat is cuter than it looks in the picture. It has a perky pixie point in the back. It too is from a washable acrylic. Both acrylics are from the extensive WalMart collection. The orange tunic is a Vogue knitting pattern and made from Rowan handknit cotton. The embellishments are embroidery with a flat metalic ribbon (never to be used by me again) and crystal rhinestones.
I still haven't figured out how to arrange text and pictures while creating a post, so I hope the arrangement of all of these is not too confusing.

Final update on girls' skirts

Well, here they are. Finished, long enough, and not falling off my hipless granddaughters. Thanks, Amy, for sending the photo.

Update on update and Boerne fiber festival

In the continuing saga of the skirts for my granddaughters, I think I am finally done, at least I can't think of anything else to try. The waistbands are folded-over 1x1 ribbing, which looks good but has no elasticity to keep the skirts holding on to tiny little girls with no hips. The yarn is Berroco Suede, by the way. After trying 2 different arrangements of drawstrings, I settled on 1/2 inch elastic inside the folded-over ribbing. I had to make a tunnel of big yarn loops to hold it in place, but I think it will work. Anyway, I sent the skirts home with the girls. I neglected to take a picture. Maybe Amylovie will post the final result for me. (Hint-hint)

Amylovie and her girls and I spent the day yesterday on an outing to Boerne for the fiber festival. It was really interesting to see the process of yarn production from beginning to end. There were alpacas to meet (the girls' favorite thing), spinning to observe, and yarn to buy. I wish there had been a demonstration of dyeing. There were also some looms, but no one was weaving while we were there. We had a great day. I know Amylovie took pictures there, so maybe those will get posted on her blog.

Skirt update

I have completed the reworking of the skirts I made for my granddaughters. (See photo in "What a pair" posting.) The skirts were too short, and I didn't like the way the hem tended to roll up since they were knit in stockinette. I ripped out the bind-off and added an inch in length. Amylovie suggested an "I" cord to finish the edge. I whipped out two "I" cords and whip stitched them onto the bottom edges. That worked great. Thanks for the idea, Amylovie. The girls should be here this weekend, so maybe I'll get a picture of the new and improved version.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button

I have been trying to create a button for this blog. Amylovie sent me a tutorial on how to do that. So I dove right in. First step: create a graphic that is about 105x39 pixels. Okay. How does one know the size of a graphic? I have Printmaster and have several options for designs, but I have no idea about making it the above-mentioned size. Do any of you techni-knitters have help for a blog beginner?