Need a beanie?

Apparently Kevin's friends do. Every time I finish one, another friend asks for one. Kevin's pretty proud of the fact that they all want knitted beanies by his mommy. :-)

Marlene's Mitts

Marlene asked for a pair of mitts to match her scarf and she wanted the same pattern that I made Kathy. I cut the pattern down by 1/3 because Marlene has very small hands. She says they fit perfectly. YAY!!!

Surprise for Kathy

I had this beautiful yarn made from 100% baby alpaca but I wasn't sure what to do with it. I then realized that it was the absolute perfect color for a gift for Kathy. I love the way they came out. Merry Christmas Kathy!!!

"Mom, Disneyland ate my hat"

Kevin put his hat in the front ride-pouch while riding Indiana Jones and forgot to get it out when the ride was over. He loved that hat and asked for a replacement.

His friend Laura liked Breezy's yellow hat so much that she asked for it's fraternal twin in black.

Christmas for Janet

I finished these over Labor Day weekend but I think that Janet reads my blog so I couldn't post until I knew she'd opened them. She LOVED this pattern and I nonchalantly asked her what colors she'd do them in if she knitted them. I also knew she'd not have time between then and Christmas so they're a gift from me. Months later I decided she might want a matching hat so here's the set.


She lives in Tennessee so I also sent this neck warmer as part of her Christmas gift. It came out a bit longer than I wanted after it was blocked but I'm hoping that just keeps her warmer during the winter.


She opened it all this morning and says she may not take the mitts off for weeks. Now THAT'S knitting appreciation. :-)

Breezy's Yellow Hat

Kevin's friend Breezy requested a yellow lacy hat. I rarely knit with yellow but there's something happy about knitting with that color.

Crystal's Kitty Ear Hat

Kevin’s friend Crystal wanted the same hat as Kevin but instead of the top tassel she wanted kitty ears. I improvised the ears and think it came out pretty decent.

Scarf for me

I've probably knit easily one hundred of scarves. Out of all those scarves I have never knit one for myself but our weather doesn't tend to lend itself much to scarves.

After I knit Marlene's red one I fell in love with the color and decided that I needed one in red also. I had to decide on what kind of yarn but there was no hesitation in my yarn choice, Malabrigo in Ravelry Red. The color in the finished photo is not correct but the picture of it on my table is very close to the color. What a pleasure to have around my neck. I might even make myself another scarf someday.

Need a Christmas Gift?

Here are some good places to look:

Mona's Handspun

Susan's KNITSnTHINGS

Wilma's MontanaNana Designs

Sallee's Bags

Dawn's Soap/Lotion Site

Christmas for Dona

Dona, if you're reading my blog before Christmas Eve, close it now!!

I don't think she tends to read my blog unless I specifically ask her to look at something but just in case I'll put the picture lower.

Dona asked for a Spring Shawl earlier this year and I had a really hard time figuring out which pattern to use for her. It took awhile but I found this one and knew she'd like it in light blue. Here it is, modeled by my 13 year old son.

I love when my Christmas knitting is coming to a close. I have two other posts waiting to be published after the giftees open their things.

Marlene's 2009 Scarf

Happy 2009 Scarf Marlene!!

Why do reds and purples not show up correctly with my camera. The scarf is more of a true red not orangy. I'm sure Marlene will like it. The pattern was very very easy to memorize.

Word Fun

My friend Kathy sent me to this site to play around. I put my blog in and this is what it spit coughed out. I tried it with family names and a couple of random characteristics and came up with this. Too fun.

Hats, hats, hats

Dona asked for a dishtowel

Feather & Fan Pattern
Details in Ravelry

Yarn Giveaway on Mona's Blog

Mona's giving away a beautiful skein of her handspun yarn. Click here for details.

(picture stolen from Mona's blog)

It's finished!!!

The middle section is wrong. I found out at the end sections that because I was left-handed I had to undo it and do them differently than the pattern said………. the same was true for the middle but I didn’t realize that until I knew that I messed up at the end. I just wasn’t looking closely enough at it.

I love it and no one but another girasol knitter will know that I messed up.

I measured it and it’s just over 6.5 feet in diameter…………. it’s sooooooo perfect!!!!

Girasol Update

I couldn't get the border right on the girasol and so after searching other borders I opted for the Hemlock Ring border. I'm hoping to finish it today and block it this week.

Invasion

Three more aliens have come for a visit on their way to their new homes. They'll be leaving tomorrow but they had a nice visit with their cousins.

Aliens and Hats

Justin already had the green alien. Kevin asked for a yellow one for a friend so I made her one. Then I decided I wanted a bigger one and used the thickest yarn I had. Here's the family before the yellow one went to his new home.

A friend needs chemo caps. :-(

Help me win a pair of UGG boots please!!

I've been invited to participate in a contest. If I can get 40 people to click on this link, I will win a pair of Ugg boots. I doubt that 40 people read my blog but I can hope. I'm also not entirely sure how this lets them see that it came from me but this is the reply I recieved from the lady who invited me:

When someone clicks that link it has a little code (the xref=arielzoe.blog) part which records all visitors that visit from your link.
If these visitors continue to enter it stores the entrant details under your code as well.. A bit confusing I know but basically I end up seeing a report with entrant numbers every day..

Please click here to help me win. Thanks!!!

BOO!!!!!

What a fun fun knit!! The pattern can be found here. Thanks Anita!!
Happy Early Halloween!!

More Chemo Caps

These are for Judi's mom. She just started chemo. :-(

Chemo Caps

My friend Susan is knitting chemo caps for the Cancer Awareness Center in Alamogordo, NM. I thought I'd help her out a bit.

Yarn Giveaway

My friend Mona is hosting her first contest. Take a look at her blog and enter to win this skein of her beautiful hand dyed and spun yarn.

Nut Cup (or is it for M&M's)

One of my favorite designers, Anita Wheeless, was looking for test knitters and I volunteered. She had several items she needed tested but I asked for something easy. She assigned me a nut cup. I'd never been a test knitter before and this was very fun to knit. Technically it is a nut cup but when I test knit it, it was around Valentine's Day and the pink and white M&M's were plentiful. The pattern isn't ready for publication yet but keep an eye on her Ravelry page or blog. She did say that I could post it on Ravelry and my blog. If you like it, please let Anita know.

Thanks Anita!!!!

Linda's Bottle Sleeve

My friend Linda was constantly drinking someone else's water when she was exercising at Curves. I improvised this bottle sleeve so that she'd know which water was hers.

Angels vs Oakland

I'm not a big sports fan but a friend of mine has season tickets to the Angels games so we tend to go once a year. One thing about baseball, I understand the game. We had a great time!!

Final score:
Angels 11 - Athletics 7

Girasoling along

I just finished the second repeat of Chart E. 30 more rows to go and then the border. It's not easy taking a picture of it at this point. I'm still loving knitting it.

When I started there were 590 Girasol projects on Ravelry. I checked Ravelry as I was posting this and the count is up to 750. WOW!!

Girasol Update

I'm on the last row of Chart D. 640 stitches on the needles. I just counted and I have 47 rows to go not counting the border. I can't even really guess at the diameter at this point, somewhere around 40" unblocked.

Round Dishcloth

I think this is the largest dishcloth I've ever made, 11.25". Isn't it so pretty. You can find the pattern here.

Jumping on the Girasol bandwagon

WIP

I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it. And really, how can anything designed by Jared Flood be bad. Knitting his version of the Hemlock Ring blanket was probably one of my all time favorite knitted things.

I did need a little convincing to start it and once I decided to knit it I labored over which yarn to use. Happily though, I found the yarn I wanted - Berroco Ultra Alpaca / Lavender Mix - thanks to my friend Kathy. It also helps to have five online knitting friends that are knitting along with me.

Point of interest:
Including mine there are 590 of them being knit or have been knit on Ravelry.
I wonder how many there will be when I finish mine.

Sending some Sunshine for a swap

These two dishcloths were for this round of the Ravelry Sunshine Envelope Swap. The front one is this pattern and the back one is a simple basketweave.

Weird Knitting Of The Day

Why you ask? The rubber on our fridge handle started to rip. I looked on on the Sears parts department web site it would be over $200 to repair it. Well, not for one but we'd need two if I wanted them to match. The freezer one is fine but is starting to look worn. My hubby asked if I could knit a cover for it. So I did. Fridge Handle Cozy!!!

More Dishcloths

I joined the Cloth & Soap Swap on Ravelry. It's an easy swap, just one dishcloth and a bar of soap. Of course I can add goodies if I choose. These are the two dishcloths I sent. The first is a ballband, because they're pretty and easy. I was going to reverse the colors but then went searching for another two-colored cloth. This is the pattern I found. I hope she likes her swap envelope.