Where did the time go?!

Every year I vow to have everything that can possibly be done for Christmas finished ahead of time.  Sigh.  It's been a long time since that's actually happened.  I just realized a couple of days ago that Monday is the deadline to mail items to The Humble Stitch Project in order for them to meet their deadline of getting the clothing to people who need it.  All I have finished for this last shipment for the year is the hat and scarf pictured.  Then I suddenly remembered that I had specifically bought some bulky weight yarn in order to be able to whip up some scarves and/or hats or gloves quickly and easily.  AND I finally get to use my size 35 vintage knitting needles, too.  The second pic shows one of the size 35 needles
next to a size 11 which is a standard size that many people use.  Quite a difference.  Using them reminds me of those huge pencils we were given to learn to write the alphabet in Kindergarten.  Only I'm using two of them and I've found some great patterns that work up super fast.


Here's the scarf I'm almost finished knitting with the
size 35 needles.  It's a bulky (6) yarn called Red Heart

Light & Lofty.  This color is called Salt & Pepper.  I found this type of yarn a real pain to work with when I made a pair of slippers for my mother last year.  However, it makes a big difference when you're using needles this large.  This is a great dropstitch scarf that only requires casting on 7 stitches.  The pattern can be found here.  It's called the Marley Scarf and the pattern is free.  There are other free patterns on this site that also work up quickly that I may try.  I do have other bulky yarn that isn't 'fuzzy' like the Light & Lofty so I may be able to squeeze in another couple of items before the Monday mailing date.

This scarf measures approx. 5.5 inches by approx. 70 inches when it's finished and I have to say that the Light & Lofty yarn is incredibly soft to the touch and should keep someone very warm.  After I finish with the last of the Humble Stitch items, I still have a few gifts to make.  I'm on my last Santa ornament mentioned in the previous post.  I'm also making a bracelet for my niece and a couple of goldfish that I'm going to fill with catnip for my nephew's cats.   I've been assured that they'll like them. 

Amigurumi Bunnies and Vintage Needles

I just finished the three Amigurumi bunnies I made as gifts for my nieces for Easter.  Of course, they'll also be receiving the requisite M&M's with them.  Just as I did with their Valentine's Day goodies, I wanted to finish in plenty of time after my hurry at Christmas to finish the Amigurumi puppies in one week! 



I have to thank the blogger at Nerdigurumi for sharing this

easy and fantastic pattern that she created.  Not only can you make these bunnies with this basic pattern but you can also make other 'critters'.  Be sure to check out her site. 

I've also been busy knitting and crocheting items for The Humble Stitch and Knit-A-Square.  I have enough items to ship to The Humble Stitch and the package will go out by the end of the week.  Right now I'm still working on the ladies drop stitch scarf I showed a few posts ago but I did finish the man's long scarf and the cabled hat to go with a beanie, 2 sets of fingerless gloves and 2 other scarves.  These are a combination of knitted and crocheted items.

As I mentioned previously, I came across some vintage plastic and bakelite knitting needles when Duane and Linda and I were roaming antique shops near where Duane lives.  I loved using them so much that I managed to buy another set from the same store and then decided to look on eBay.  I scored with 2 separate lots of vintage needles (some of which I've shared with Duane and Linda) of almost every size.  I don't know if I'll ever use metal knitting needles again.  These are a mixture of plastic, bakelite and a few wood sets.  I was hesitant about bamboo needles because I had heard pros and cons about them when it comes to speed and breakage.  I first learned to knit on a child-size set of plastic needles when I was 11 years old.  I made a few (very) simple things for my 'Heidi' doll -- mostly capes with pretty buttons as a fastener.  After I outgrew the doll, I stopped knitting and didn't pick it up again until late last year but I find it very relaxing.  I decided to 'display' my knitting needles in tall glass vases I had around the house and they now sit on my midcentury modern coffee table in my home office.   I am now officially a needle and yarn junkie.