Knit With Love and Prayers

I have a completed project since the last time that I blogged! My pastor's wife, Karen, had to have emergency surgery for a brain tumor. When my husband heard about it, he turned to me and said "You need to knit her a hat." I guess I was surprised at how well my husband knows me, although by now I shouldn't be (allmost 23 years is a good amount of time to get to know someone!) . Sometimes I feel inadequate when someone is suffering, I feel that I want to make the perfect gesture, and whatever I do doesn't seem like enough. But I can knit, and I have made many hats for babies and people with cancer, so why not one for this beautiful, sweet lady?

Of course, it had to be the perfect hat to fit her personality. She is a very classy lady that wears alot of pink, and not just any pink, but bright fushia pink which compliments her coloring. Have you ever tried to find fushia pink in a small town yarn store? It ain't easy!

This was my first choice. The colors are nice with some brown and some texture, however, when I knit it up in a plain rolled brim cap pattern (it wouldn't have looked right with much of a pattern), it was very scratchy. So when I went back to the store I found Mulberry Merino by Plymouth Yarn Co. The color # I purchased was 5605. The picture of the colors on the site don't do it justice. It is a pretty pink. The yarn is a singles and feels wonderful, much softer than the first yarn that I bought.

The pattern is Rivendell by Hanna Breetz that I originally downloaded from Mag Knits several years ago. This is the second time that I have knit this hat.

I like the design on the top of the hat.

The cloche-type design will, I feel, fit Karen's personality. I hope she enjoys it. It was knit with love and prayers for her complete recovery....

Confessions of a Yarnaholic

Time for some updates.............

On the spinning wheel -

This is some wool that I bought about a year ago. It was washed and dyed, I teased the fibers open and carded it on my new carder. I have about 7 batts total. One batt fills up about 1/2 of a bobbin as you can see in the above picture. The color is allot nicer in person, more like a soft plum. I am hoping that it will be fine enough to knit a shawl or shawlette with it. I have about 6 oz total of this fiber.

My husband and I went to the Sacramento area a few weeks ago to visit son #2. Whenever we go to see him, I also get to visit some of the yarn stores in the area. Of course it would be unreasonable to expect a yarnaholic like myself to go to a yarn shop and not purchase something. I am truly blessed to have a husband that knows this, and knows that alll the crafts that I do help keep my spirits up. Soooo, here are some pics of what I recently purchased.......
The above yarn is Natural Shetland Fingering by Elemental Effects with Judith McKenzie. The pattern I will be using is the Slouchy Tam from the Knits - Holiday Gifts 2009 magazine. The yarn that they used (The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering) is very nice, but also cost about twice as much as what I bought. Since I had more yarn shops to check out, I didn't want to blow all my allowance in one place........
I bought eight skeins of this beautiful, teal Silky Wool by Elsebeth Lavold. I have had this patter in mind for a long time. It is the Ljod sweater from The Viking Knits Collection - Book 1 by Elsebeth.
I couldn't resist this book by Elsebeth Lavold. The pattern for this Silky Wool is Bjorg cap and mittens. The color of this yarn (very pale greenish) isn't my favorite, but it was on sale. I have been toying with the idea of trying to over dye it to get a color that I would like better. I do love the pattern. You know me and cables!!

New to the needles..........

My version of the popular Noro striped scarf. If you look here on Ravelry, there are 6700 projects. So, OK, I am part of the big/HUGE crowd. I was trying to resist it, but the pull was too strong, especially when my LYS just started carrying Noro Silk Garden. Really, folks, if you look at Jared's post about the scarf, how could you resist this project???? His photography is amazing. I wish I had that kind of talent!