Better Late than Never

OK- I Know I am only a couple hours away from next week but I am still going to claim that I made good I on my promise.

Here is a picture of the coaster:

Here is the pattern: (it is my first try at pattern designing, so all comments are welcome)


Cast on 19 Stitches with a size US 9 Needle

Row 1	Purl
Row 2	K1, Purl to the Last stitch, K1
Row 3	P1, K4, P3, K10, P1
Row 4	K1, P9, K5, P3, K1
Row 5	P1, K2, P10, K5, P1
Row 6	K1, P4, K12, P1, K1
Row 7	P1, K2, P12, K3, P1
Row 8	K1, P2, K13, P2, K1
Row 9	P1, K3, P13, K1, P1
Row 10	K1, P2, K11, P4, K1
Row 11	P1, K4, P10, K3, P1
Row 12	K1, P4, K8, P5, K1
Row 13	P1, K5, P8, K4, P1
Row 14	K1, P5, K6, P6, K1
Row 15	P1, K7, P5, K5, P1
Row 16	K1, P6, K4, P7, K1
Row 17	P1, K8, P2, K7, P1
Row 18	K1, P8, K1, P8, K1
Row 19	P1, Knit to the Last stitch, P1
Row 20	K1, P1, K3, P3, K3, P3, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 21	P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K3, P1, K5, P1, K3, P1
Row 22	K1, P3, K1, P5, K1, P3, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 23	P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K3, P3, K3, P1, K3, P1
Row 24	K1, P3, K1, P3, K1, P5, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1
Row 25	P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K3, P3, K3, P3, K1, P1
Row 26	K1, P1, K3, P3, K3, P3, K3, P1, K1
Row 27	P1, Knit to the Last stitch, P1
Row 28	Knit

Bind Off
Well it is almost Christmas time and we are getting ready here at my Knitting Fairy Godmother's House. We are watching A Christmas Story- can't believe that I had not seen this movie until last year?!?!

Let me know what you think of the pattern on a side note I did embroider the letters because they did not look right so small...

Merry Christmas everyone and to my Jewish friends, happy belated Hanukkah!

One of the many reasons

This will be a short post, but I will post again because as promised I have to get the coaster pattern up!

As I am sitting here in the auto shop trying to get my car in shape to drive it around for the holidays I am happy. (weird- right?)

I had to drop Kyle off at work this morning so we would be able to avoid some traffic on the way out of town. My engine malfunction light has been been off and on for the last week and it looks like it is the Catalytic Converter. Well apparently you are supposed to change your spark plugs every 30-60 thousand miles- who knew? (not me)

So I am at the shop with no way home(this us sort of a lie- the staff offered to drive me home) and no way back! I will be here for a couple hours and I am thinking to myself- what can I do in this time -- luckily for me the car is packed*-- I can knit, conveniently for me the hobby I have can fit in my bag!

I get to work on the project so popular on www.ravelry.com (Susie's Reading Mitts) see picture below.

*will the added weight in my car cause it to fall off the lift? Truck Falls off Lift--I am concerned, stay tuned to find out!

Nice trip see you next fall...

Ha ha- get it!

But seriously though I just took a trip back to Columbia! I gave away the coasters and because I am busy... I promised the matching set later in the year! I wish I got a picture of the Garnet colored coaster (it was my favorite)

While in Columbia I got to see a beautiful baby! I knit baby McDuffie a hat- here is a picture of Lacey with the hat on!

I think Lacey is cute but baby McDuffie is MUCH CUTER!

Isn't she adorable?

I promise I will post the pattern to the coasters later this week!

Oh yes- I forgot to mention Columbia was great I miss all my friends and it was great to see them!!

The Finished Product

Here is what the revised pattern turns out like! I like it the University's initials didn't look right in plain black so I embroidered them!

What do you think?

In between time

While I am re-working and re-knitting the coasters for :cough::cough: a week from yesterday... I wanted to post about something that means a lot to me.

Doing something you love for a cause that you care about...

This project was introduced to me by a woman I work with- fortunately the new job change has allowed me to be a little less stressed and actually less busy. This means that I can knit during my lunch breaks... I had my Christmas knitting at the office last week and she asked me if I would get involved in this project.

Scarves for Special Olympics

The project is to knit scarves for the participants, volunteers, coaches, etc. involved with the Special Olympics. That I know is a terrible description of the project so here is a description directly from their page:

Handmade scarves donated as a result of the 2012 Special Olympics USA Scarf Project will be a symbol of unity, support, compassion and empowerment, as the Special Olympics athletes, coaches, families, volunteers and supporters wear them with pride in knowing they have become part of the Special Olympics family.

The idea for a scarf project resulted from an opportunity to provide a gift of welcome for the athletes of the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games held in Boise, Idaho. A call went out for 5,000 Red Heart delft blue & white scarves, and by Games time nearly 60,000 scarves had arrived from every state in the U.S. and from 12 countries around the world.

Special Olympics Idaho, then, carried on the tradition with their own state scarf project in 2010, and again the knitting and crocheting communities opened their hearts and put their needles and hooks to work. Over 2,100 Red Heart cherry red and grey heather scarves arrived from 48 states in just five weeks for the Idaho State Winter Games, and the celebration of unity began as they were presented to the athletes, coaches, families, volunteers and supporters during the Opening Ceremony – for all to wear throughout the Games.

In 2011, the Special Olympics USA Scarf Project spread its wings and went national! Thirty-five Special Olympics Programs participated, and by the conclusion of the project in March 2011, we had received over 26,000 scarves and contributed to an unprecedented sense of unity, support and community for the athletes and the Special Olympics Movement as a whole.

 This time of year there are all kinds of ways for you to volunteer your time. I recommend finding something that you like doing (for me its knitting-- a no-brainer, I know) and find a way to do that for others... If you are interested in starting to knit this is a great project to get you started and teach you how.

The yarn they require is VERY inexpensive- I do not normally like knitting with synthetic yarns but for a cause I will do just about anything- except anything that might be a challenge on an episode of Fear Factor. Today I bout two skeins of the yarn at my local Hobby Lobby but you can buy it at almost any chain craft store or even Wal-Mart. each skein has 364 yards and only cost me $2.99 (Holy S***, does anything cost this little anymore?)

Scarves are how I started learning how to knit back in college and are very simple... You can do a couple and learn some basic patterns or you can be adventurous and use Ravelry's pattern search and find something challenging.

Whether you find your own project to participate or you participate in this one- be sure you do something... this is the season of giving!

The first pattern

Okay- so I realized that some people may not understand why my handmade hard work love should be wasted  spent on Garnet colored coasters... So here is my attempt at explaining the ceremony event that is South Carolina Gamecock football...

I understand that a lot of schools may have "great" tailgating but in my unbiased opinion The University of South Carolina has the best. It is hard to describe the experience without the help of pictures...

On Saturday mornings thousands of Gamecock fans load up their vehicles with the plethora of tailgating elements- and in South Carolina that is not limited to burgers, hot dogs, soft drinks and beer... Oh no any Carolina fan will tell you that the meals can consist of many of things (A full stocked bar, Smoked meats on site, fajitas made on custom grills)

 I remember my first noon game when I was a student we had steak and eggs- not just regular steak and eggs- we had fillet and eggs with Mimosas, Bellini's, and Bloody Mary's...

Williams-Brice Stadium

This stadium has played host to some of football's greats and soon to be greats..

I had the opportunity last year to see this stadium get louder than it ever has been before.

The Alabama game- when the South Carolina Gamecocks upset number 1!

Some people spend boatloads of money on owning their very own "Cockaboose." These railcars are fully equipped tailgating machines- with SC Wallpaper, bathrooms and kitchens...

They have been highlighted on tailgating countdowns and various football articles...

We have play figurines of our players, decorations that we hang from our Tailgating tents. We have tables stacked high with food... These tables would never be bland- they must have the spirited tableclothes, flatware and serving dishes all themed in The Gamecock Garnet and Black!

So now that it makes more sense as to why it is important to have my knitting love displayed at these awesome events I will show you how the first pattern turned out...

For a first try at pattern desgining I think they are not too shabby... they need some tweaking so they look more like one of the Continental U.S. and less like another Continent...

I am going to adjust some of the rows and re-try...

What do you think?

The Coasters

So I guess I am definitely more ambitious then I thought...

I decided I wanted to create my own pattern.

After making two of the lovely coasters from Purl Soho. I decided I wanted to make two more in a different pattern. Because the friend of mine that is receiving these coasters is a huge Gamecock fan, as am I. I wanted to make a SC themed coaster. After searching  Ravelry which is almost always responsive to my very specific pattern needs I came up with this Carolina towel. Unfortunately for me I did not want something of this size but I did want to use a similar yarn so going down a gauge was not an option. I decided I was going to create my own pattern. I have been thinking about creating my own patterns since my friend Camille Yanair saw me knitting.

Camille is what I would call fearless and free spirited  (I hope she doesn't mind that I said this.) Anyway I made Camille a pair of fingerless mitties once and she saw that I made them from a pattern. Camille is so crafty that she designs her own jewelery and clothing!  (What an inspiration!) Anyway- long story short Camille told me that I shouldn't be working from a pattern but be creating my own patterns.

Since this exchange with Camille I have been thinking about making my own patterns so it only seemed natural to start my first design on the smallest knitted item I have ever made, Coasters. 

As a side note I will still follow patterns faithfully- but I like the challenge of creating my own!

So at about 11:30 last night I was whining for graph paper... I SWORE that Kyle had some at some point. Although it may have been in college 4 years ago, I know he used to have some. I opened my laptop and decided if I didn't have graph paper excel would have to work. So I used the columns as my stitches and the rows as my rows. (that sounds funny) I drew out the shape of South Carolina on the excel file.

Not realizing the gauge would have to change from the previous pattern I casted on my 19 stitches and  started working. Needless to say I have learned ALOT about designing patterns and about the third try in and 1:15am I know I got it right. So I am about to finish it now and see if it turned out like the state of South Carolina or more like a blob of stitches in the middle of a square.  I will post pictures of my endeavour a little later in the day.

Christmas Coasters

Christmas knitting as a lot of people know is very stressful! You want to show people you care about them with your handmade hard work!

Last year I gave people wine for Christmas- this year I will try knitting all the gifts!

I am casting on tonight and following this pattern from Purl Soho:
http://www.purlbee.com/storage/chocolate%20bar%20coasters.pdf

I love Purl Soho next time I go to NYC I am definitely going back! If you are going to NYC you should visit them... I like presents!

Anywho I am hoping to get 8 or more done by Monday! Here's to a weekend of Christmas movies and knitting- what else is there to do when there is no more College Football?

What are you doing this weekend? Anyone casting on?

The Beginning

I have been wanting to write a blog for a long time but never could think of a central theme...

Well I guess since I have recently taken up knitting and am now addicted It is a great idea to make this my central topic...

Here are some of the knitting blogs I love:

http://blog.eatsleepknit.com/

http://www.theloopyewe.com/sheri/

http://theblackstitch.wordpress.com/

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/

http://www.purlbee.com/

http://chicknits.com/rambles/

http://www.stefaniejapel.com/blog/

http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/

http://tmatthewsfineart.blogspot.com/

As you can tell I love ellipses and knitting, sometimes I wonder what I get done in a day if I am reading these blogs all day