Warm Woolies and Sweet Potato Fries

This is my last donation to Warm Woolies before they close. I am relieved that I finished the sweater in time to send it. I hope that I will be knitting for some new charity groups soon.




And pictured above are the seasoned sweet potato fries I made today. They were delicious, although not very photogenic. I used the recipe "My Yammy Spice" (cute name!) from the book Crazy Plates. Marmel bought an enormous bag of yams from Costco, so I decided to look for a recipe to use them.

Sock Challenge 2010

The first two pairs are each 24 cm long and made with single strand worsted weight wool.


I started working on the Mittens for Akkol annual sock challenge early this year in order to get a head start since we tend to end up rushing to meet the deadline in the fall. I got the first two pairs made and then something wonderful happened. The Warm Woolies Ravelry group decided to do a sock knit-along campaign to help Mittens for Akkol. The campaign is designed to honor Warm Woolies and WW founder Kimberly Turnbow and their impressive efforts to clothe poor children around the world. The sad part of that is that Warm Woolies is closing their doors at the end of the year. But the Warm Woolies Ravelry group will continue to knit for needy people around the world, which is wonderful.

I wanted to take part in the sock knit-along to honor WW so I made the pair above. They are 18 cm long and made with Mondial Ninna Nanna Baby, a chunky weight superwash wool.

Yarn Twins!

Hmmm...very curious. I ordered Happy Feet sock yarn in the colorway Summer Sweet from DBNY and Filatura Lanarota Fashion Toes sock yarn in the colorway #7 from Smiley's and they appear to be the same yarn. Not similar yarn...but the exact same yarn.

They look exactly alike, no?

They are both 90% superwash merino wool and 10% nylon. They are both made in Peru. Fashion Toes is 193 yds per skein. Happy Feet is 192 yds per skein.

Very curious indeed.

Now, I know that it is supposed to be bad luck to spot a doppelganger, but I consider it lucky to discover yarn twins.

The best part? I got both brands on clearance :)
Happy Feet was $3.49 and Fashion Toes was $2.99. Both are regularly $6.99/skein.

Spoiler Alert!

Spoiler Alert -- photos of knitted baby gifts that haven't been opened yet!!!

Hint: click on photos to enlarge

This little navy sweater is for Tiffany and Patrick's baby boy who will be arriving soon. I used Rowan RYC Cashsoft Chunky yarn which is delightfully soft and plush due to the 10% cashmere content, but still machine washable. The pattern is "Baby Sophisticate" by Linden Heflin.

The lavender sweater is for Tessa and Ali's baby girl on the way. The yarn is Berroco Love It, a cotton/acrylic blend. The pattern is Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss. And is the button cute or what?



Can't wait to see the babies in their sweaters!

Spumoni Socks

I knitted this pair of socks for my friend Meredith. They are mint green with multicolored flecks, which reminds me of spumoni ice cream. (See ice cream photo below). I also made a wee little pair of socks for her sister's baby.

Birthday Morning

I woke up to a light layer of snow on the ground (1st snowfall of the season) and the Bachman's delivery man at the door with a bouquet from my friend, Meredith.

You can see the dusting of snow on the deck and on the ground.

A lovely fall bouquet. Thanks, Mer!

4th of July in September?

I put up my Labor Day photos and then realized that I hadn't posted my 4th of July photos. We went to the North Shore area of Lake Superior.

There were lupines blooming everywhere.

We watched a sea plane in Grand Marais.

A tranquil Lake Superior view in Beaver Bay, MN.

Split Rock Lighthouse

Gooseberry Falls

A friendly deer at Gooseberry Park

I hope to be sitting in one of these chairs again soon!

Sock Challenge 2009 - Personal Goal Met!

I've met my personal goal of finishing 12 pairs of socks for this year's sock challenge for Mittens for Akkol! (See previous post for the other 10 pairs)

Red Wing

We spent Labor Day weekend in the charming town of Red Wing, MN. They have hundreds of beautiful flower baskets hanging from the streetlights. The flowers are purchased and maintained by private donations -- amazing!

This is Barn Bluff. We were at Memorial Park, standing on the top of Sorenson Bluff when I snapped this photo and the one below of downtown Red Wing.

We also went to Colvill Park, where we saw eagles flying along the river. Other trips highlights include taking a trolley ride through town and dining at Norton's (best meal I've had in ages!).

Sock Challenge 2009

I have met my personal challenge of making 10 pairs of socks for the Mittens for Akkol annual sock challenge! Yay! Since I still have time before the deadline, my new goal is 12 pairs. These socks will go to orphans in Kazakhstan. We attach a postcard to each pair - the kids seem to like them.

Six for Six

I finished my "Six for Six" contribution to Warm Woolies today. Six for Six is a summer knitting challenge to make 6 items for children age 6 or older. I got to try out some new yarns. Fun!

Rice Bag Art

I think the designs on rice bags are so charming and sweet. My mom saved four of them for me (thanks, Mom!) and I cut them to size and flattened them as best I could and framed them. They make a cool kitchen art collection, no? Of course, they are all stretched out from being filled with rice, so they are not symmetrical anymore, but I am choosing to think of them as delightfully unique rather than imperfect.

Let There Be Light!

I don't know if you can tell from these photos, but I have 2-story ceilings, which means I can't change my own light bulbs. Today, our family friend/handyman came over and installed this light fixture and replaced all the sky-high burned out bulbs in the living room and kitchen. So now I can take the desk lamp off my kitchen counter! Yay! And he hung the artwork on the wall for me, too. Which is funny because it is one of 4 different pieces of art depicting Venice that I have in this room and our handyman is French but grew up in Venice. Quelle coincidence!

Red, White, and (baby) Blue

How convenient that right before the 4th of July, the items I have ready to post are in red, white, and blue! I didn't actually knit either of these projects recently; they were both done a couple months ago, but I just photographed them today. Lately, I have been too busy to get much knitting done. I'm hoping to get a couple more pairs of socks done this summer for the Mittens for Akkol sock challenge.

Baby Gift

I made this little sweater for my friends' new baby girl. I finished it 3 months ago, but just gave it to them today, so now I can post it without ruining the surprise.

Brother Bears

I finished two more bears for the Mother Bear Project! I'm glad their faces turned out so sweet. I think they'll be lovable companions to a couple of kids in need.

Rectangles and Warm Woolies

This is a toddler sweater I made for Warm Woolies a few months ago, using Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky yarn. I finally grafted the underarm seams today, so now it's ready to send. I've been holding items to send to them until I finished all my lingering projects. Now that I've finished them all, I realize that I could have sent a box a long time ago because now there is so much stuff to send I'll need 2 boxes anyway. I hope there will be some nice person at the post office to hold the door open for me! There usually is.



Below are photos of some rectangles I've knitted for the Handmade Afghans Project. They crochet the rectangles together to make afghans for wounded soldiers. I am sending 14 rectangles.


The rectangle above looks brown, but it is actually green. I tried out a new stitch pattern, gulls and garter, and I really like how it turned out.


These 2 cream-colored rectangles are also examples of new stitch patterns that I tried. The rectangles are small enough (6" x 9") that they are great for trying out new patterns. It was fun. I got a little adventurous.

Stash-Buster Blanket

For a few years now, I have been accumulating a stash of leftover bits of wool and wool blend yarns. There wasn't enough of any one color to make a whole item, so I decided to use them to make a blanket for Warm Woolies. I used 2 plastic grocery bags full of partial skeins, about 2.5 lbs of yarn. I think there are 39 different yarns in all. I used worsted weight yarns doubled or bulky yarn alone on size 9 needles. This is one warm blankie! The final dimensions are about 45 x 52.