Irishknits

Thorpe

2008-02-23T21:36:00.005-05:00

Here is my version of Thorpe . If you scroll down on the right side of Kirsten's blog, you will find the pattern. I was not sure how to link to the pdf version. Still not as savvy as I would like to be about blogging . What a great pattern. The pattern calls for chunky yarn. I am trying to use up some of my acrylic stash. I used leftover Red Heart and doubled the strands. It was a little tough on the fingers. I am not a fan of Red heart.... but, my mother has given me quite a bit for my charity knitting. It does make a warm pair of mittens too. The hat is very thick and will keep some child warm. I want to make a few more of these hats. The other hat is called Rib a Roni. This is another nice pattern for charity hats. I made the small size. As you can see... I am still making mittens. I would like to make a pair to match the Thorpe hat. Speaking of mittens. I have a lone skein of Malabrigo in the purple colorway. I want to make a pair of mittens with it. I am thinking of using the Evangeline mitt pattern and finishing them off as mittens. I am not a big fan of mitts. I have made a few pairs and can't even give them away. I thought my nieces would love them. This winter has been way to cold for mitts. Anyways... I am not sure if there is enough yardage in the skein. It would seem like the cables would take up the yardage. Has anyone used the Malabrigo for mittens? If so....would love to hear from you. After looking through my stash on Ravelry, I am thinking a pair of socks might be in order. I went over to The Spinning Yarns in Dover yesterday. I went right over to the Mountain Colors "Bearfoot". I finally walked away...that stuff is addicting. I already have four skeins in my stash that need to be used. I just love the feel of it and it makes a gorgeous pair of socks. I purchased two skeins of Cotton chenille, which is why I went to the store in the first place. I was very proud of myself! I'll knit down that stash if it kills me :)

Mitten Mania

2008-02-16T22:21:00.005-05:00

Mitten Mania has struck again.... Most of you know how I love a good mitten. Let me tell you how much I LOVE the oatmeal mitten The pattern is called Very Cabley Mittens. I made these with a skein of Lamb's Pride in the colorway Oatmeal. They are so warm and cuddly. I am claiming these mittens for myself. I thought for sure I would run out of yarn. I had a very small ball left. I loved this pattern. I am sure there will be a few more pairs in my future. The felted mittens are the infamous pattern from Fiber Trends. I think it is called Snow Country mittens. I have made many pairs of these mittens. This pair was requsted by my sister. The yarn is gorgeous. I just wish I could remember the name. I bought it while away in Pennsylvania. She walks her dog every morning. She says her hands have never been warmer. The other picture is a pair of mittens I made for charity with a small earflap hat. I have belonged to ravelry for quite awhile now. I have just started playing around with it . Here is a link to my page Irish . I have been working on cataloging my stash. What a great feature. I am forever scrambling through the bins to see what I have. I am not going to catalog my acrylic stash. I can lose alot of time wandering around Ravelry. I learn something new every time I visit. I love being able to type in a pattern and see all the variation. It is quite an amazing site. I tend to spend time in the mitten section. There are some incredible projects.

So....anyone else ready for Spring? We have been hammered in New England this winter. As much as I hate mud season...it sounds very good right about now. Remind me of that if I start complaining. Happy Knitting everyone!

Happy New Year!!!!

2008-01-06T09:05:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! A new year and a new home. This is why my poor blog has been neglected. We moved in our new house just before Christmas.The second picture is the end that faces the lake. The view is just wonderful. I have to say it was worth all the headaches of the last year. We still do not have an occupancy permit. But, that is another story. I lived with my sister and her family for several weeks, while my husband and Miss Peaches lived in a tiny camping trailer. We all survived to tell the story . My computer also died during this time. We are the proud owners of a new computer too. We have had so much snow so far this winter. I think at last count it was 29 inches. I can not remember a winter like this in many years. That's okay....I will take snow over ice any day. I still have managed to knit during the craziness. My "Hat and Mitten" tree was quite sucessful this year. Of course, I did not get pictures because the camera was tucked away.I collected about seventy items to bring to the local shelter. I have already started knitting mittens for next year. I also made some knitted ornaments. I made stockings, hats and mini mittens for the tree. They were quite a bit of fun. I just finished a hat called "Le Slouch". I received some gorgeous handspun yarn for Christmas. I will be sure to get a picture of it. It was a great pattern. It actually does not look bad on me. I am not a hat person at all. Right now I am knitting baby things. Our first grandchild is going to be born on Thursday. We are heading to Pennsylvania in a few days. My step-daughter is having a C section on Thursday. I guess the baby is already over ten pounds. I have a bag full of knitted items for him. I made five wash clothes, a baby blanket, blanket buddy toy, gorgeous cabled hooded sweater and many hats and socks. Baby items are one of my favorite things to knit. While we are in Pennsylvania....I want to make sure to hit my favorite yarn store "The Yarn Basket". I even have a few gift certificates to use. They have a great selection of baby patterns. Well.... I know this is more that has happened, but that is all that comes to mind. I look forward to getting caught up on every one's blogs.

Foundation!!

2007-09-27T13:48:00.001-04:00

We finally have a foundation!!!! We are keeping our fingers crossed for delivery of the Modular next Thursday. This has been a long stressful process. After they set the house....they need six to eight weeks to button everything up. Maybe we will be in for the holidays. I may not be blogging these days. But, I sure have been clicking the needles. A few weeks ago I went to a Charity Knitathon at the Rochester Library. I had such a great time. I met some wonderful ladies and had fun to boot. They are meeting twice a week to knit for local charities. The local Wal-Mart donated $250.00 worth of yarn for the event. I am usually working when they have their meeting, so I have been knitting at home. Here are a couple of cute hats and mittens set I have been working on. Do you notice Ms. Peaches tail in the photos? She felt the need to eat her supper while I was taking a photo.The Child's Tassel Hat is a cute pattern. It has a few sizes from newborn to age 5. Hats and Mittens are in my forecast for the next few months. I am gearing up for the hat and mitten tree I have at the shop. I just bought some poster board so I can make new signs for the window. I have some customers who have been knitting mittens this summer. The trees are starting to change on the lake. I am hoping it is a beautiful foliage season. We are hoping to sneak away for an overnight. I will miss seeing The Old Man of the Mountains . We had stopped to see him the day before he fell. I have not been up that way since. This is my favorite time of year!

Baby knitting fever!

2007-08-29T16:03:00.000-04:00

Hello dear bloggers! I am still alive and well. The summer has been so hectic . I am sure you can all relate. The house project has been moving at a snails pace. I think in my last post....I explained that the surveyors had made a huge mistake. We had to halt construction four about four or five weeks. I am just thankful that we found out before the house was up. We have a frost wall and footings. We are waiting on the foundation walls. We had everyone lined up and the land mistake threw it all off schedule. We were supposed to have our foundation poured on July 5Th. All of our contractors had to move on to other jobs. Now, they are trying to fit us in between everyone else. Our modular arrived about three weeks ago. It sits in two pieces on a lot. Bruce and I go and visit it every weekend. We just peek in the windows and sigh. We are both trying to be patient. I have been out of touch with everyones blog. I look forward to seeing what everyone is working on. As you can see from this picture heavy post. I have been knitting. My youngest stepdaughter is having a baby in January. I have been working away on baby items. I have made several wash clothes and thumbless mitts. I have a nice baby blanket finished too. The little booties are the infamous Saartje's booties . They are just adorable and a fun pattern. I wish I knew the sex of the baby. I have sock yarn scraps that would make cute booties for girls. I really enjoyed knitting Bunny Blanket Buddy . This was made with Velvetspun from Lion Brand. I would like to make a few of these and put them away for gifts. What a great cuddly blankie for a child. I have an adorable hooded baby sweater I just finished too. I need to find the perfect buttons and then I will take a picture. So, even though I have been among the missing....my needles have been clicking. My nieces started school yesterday. Where did the summer go. I guess we say this every year. I always like to make spaghetti sauce at the end of the summer. I have a few local farm stands I like to frequent. Everyone is short on tomatoes this year. I guess the weather must have affected the crop. I did read in the paper that we are going to have a banner year for apples. I look forward to going with my family in a few weeks. My husband loves apple crisp, he will be in his glory. Hope you all enjoy these last days of summer.

Missing blogger returns!

2007-07-17T19:43:00.001-04:00

Life has been busy here. I have not updated or read my blogs in too long. I have no idea what is going on in Blogland. Bruce and I were on vacation for a week. We stayed around here and did a few day trips with the boat. We had quite a few house appointments that week. The last day of our vacation, we ran into a big glitch with the house. We had the surveyors out here. They were staking out the house. Then the foundation would be dug the following day. Well...... the surveyors have made an error. The house would not work in the area they staked. We had planned to live in our mobile home while the modular was being built. One of the stakes for the house place it inside the mobile. This meant we would have to move the mobile to finish the project. Finally the surveyor was out here today. He says they made an error in our land survey. They are going to have to redo the project. Meanwhile... the house is on the way from Canada. We are trying to stay calm, cool and collected. It looks like we may have to apply for a variance form the town. This is not an easy thing. They can not hear our case till August 15Th. Things will be clearer in a few days as to whether that will happen. In knitting news..... I finished and blocked my doily. I still need to pick up some starch to stiffen it up a bit. I am so pleased with it. I may end up framing it in a antique frame. I even started a new doily. I am sure that is hard to believe after all my sputtering about the last one. I have started Egeblad . It is such a gorgeous doily. I work on dish clothes when we go off in the boat. I think I have about ten or eleven finished. They are such a nice portable project. I'll be tucking them away for Christmas. I have been working on preemie hats too. I'll show some pictures of those next time. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. The gardens seem to be coming in slow around here. I am hoping to pick some blueberries this weekend. We have a great place to pick in the next town. I am hoping to catch up on some of my blog reading this weekend. I can't wait to see what everyone is working on. Happy Knitting!

Labor of love

2007-06-19T15:20:00.000-04:00

Let's talk about Doilies! I love doilies. They always remind me of my grandmother. I have crocheted a few small ones in my time. I got a bee in my bonnet about making some doilies for our new home. I purchased this book "Fresh Knit Doilies" from Leisure Arts. I started this doily the other month. I got about fifteen rows into the project and decided to put it down. I kept missing a stitch and was very frustrated. The other week I decided to pick it up again. I have been painstakingly working row by row. The pattern is not too hard. It is just the darn yarn overs. The middle section has so many yo's, ssk's and slip stitches. All it takes is one darn stitch and your all messed. up. I finally decided to break the pattern up with some stitch markers. Finally I decided to count the stitches every row. This has made life a whole lot easier. Last week... I almost ripped the whole thing out. I then thought about all the hours I have put into this project. I have been persevering and now am closing in on the end. I have about ten rows left. I have to admit I hate to give up on a project. I am so glad I did not frog this one. It is going to be a gorgeous doily. I showed it to my customer yesterday. She was amazed I would put this much time into a doily. What can I say...I love a challenge. She told me she would frame it and use it for a piece of artwork. That is a good idea. But, I am sure I will display it somewhere in the house. If you asked me a week ago, "Would you knit another doily?" I would have told you " No *&%$ way!!". But, now I find my eye wandering to other doilies. Here is a site with some beautiful doilies Knitted Doilies. Anyone want to join me in the madness? :)

Busy times

2007-06-01T19:37:00.000-04:00

I am long overdue with updating my blog. Things have been very busy for us. Bruce and I are in the middle of putting a new modular on our land. We are replacing a mobile home. Things have been moving at a snails pace for many months. I had a feeling everything would happen at once. We closed on the mortgage last week. We ordered the house on the same day that we closed. It is a Mapleleaf home. They are made in Canada.They have a wonderful reputation. We also have to put in a new septic system. We are hoping they will get going on that project in the next few weeks. Then we will have the foundation poured. We are putting in a full basement with a walkout towards the lake. It is a scary yet exciting time. I have not had a mortgage for 15 years. I will post some pictures as we go along. On the knitting front.... I have been working on charity mittens and hats. The hat pattern is from Charmed Knits House Hat. It is a nice hat and a great way to use up leftovers for stripes. I plan on making a few more of these. I also started a shawl from Victorian Lace Today. It is called the Melon Shawl. I will blog more about that next post. I have read a few books. I am a sucker for a scary story. I just finished Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. It was a good read. After the book was released, it came out that he is Stephen King's son. I just picked up a copy of The Historian . I have read great review for this book. I used to read every night before bed. I have gotten out of that habit the last few years. My bookcase is loaded with book . Hopefully I will read some of them over the summer. I do love to read when we are out in the boat. Well.... have a great weekend everyone. I think we are in for showers. Maybe they will be wrong. Happy Knitting everyone.

A new family!

2007-05-14T17:49:00.000-04:00

This morning while making my coffee, I glanced at the beach. I have a new family that seemed to appear over night. You really can't tell from the photo...But, there are five goslings. I'll try to get some better photos next time. Last year we had two families living on the lake. It is always wonderful to watch them grow. Speaking of families.... Mr. and Mrs.Rose-Breasted Grosbeak arrived at the feeders this weekend. Mrs. Grosbeak is extremely pregnant. She looks like she is due any day. My hummingbirds have also arrived. Although ,I wonder where they go on these chilly evenings. I just love this time of year! I am not even going to complain about the blackflies. The little buggers will be gone in a few weeks. Keeping with the family theme. I came across a wonderful project on Tracy's blog. It is called Rebuilding Greensburg- Block by Block . Laura lives two hours from Greensburg. She is asking for pretty easy squares in any color or yarn. Please visit her blog for the specifics. I watched the coverage on the news channels after this happened. It was unimaginable to see the devastation. The people that were interviewed had such gratitude for being alive. Even though they lost everything, they still had so much hope. I just think this is an incredible way to help. I'll close for now. Have a good week!

How does your garden grow?

2007-05-05T19:25:00.000-04:00

It may still be spring....But, look what I have been growing in my garden. They just keep multiplying.

Are they not the cutest little hats? I can't stop making them. I am using this great pattern from Knitchicks called Tomato Baby Beanie . It is one of the nicer fruit hat patterns I have seen. I have been working on these for over a week. I have another one on the needles now. The pumpkin yarn is a ball of Red Heart Soft yarn. I think I will be able to get five hats out of the skein. It is nice and soft to knit with too. I am putting these hats away till the fall. There is a clinic in town that sees many babies. My neighbor works there. She told me they have a huge need for baby items. many of the kids come in without hats during the winter. I have some blue in my stash . I want to make a blueberry hat. The best part is....this all yarn I had tucked away in the stash. I am making a good dent in whittling it down. I might make some baby mittens to go with some of these. These are great little projects to knit while on the boat. I will fish awhile...but, then I am ready to knit or read. I want to cast another pair of socks on the needles. I am trying to choose a pattern. There are so many wonderful ones out there. Speaking of socks , check out
Pat's beautiful Birdfoot Socks. They are just stunning! I just love cruising the blogs and seeing all the wonderful things people are working on. I still have a bee in my bonnet about buying Victorian Lace Today . I had checked a copy out of the library the other month. There are so many gorgeous shawls and scarves in the book. I would like to make one of the rectangular ones. It would be a nice summer project. In health news... I am really watching my carb intake for the diabetes. I am allowed 45 carbs per meal. I have dropped about ten pounds so far. I meet back with the educator this week. I have been taking my blood three times a day. I am hoping she will tell me I only have to check it once or twice a day. Well.... that is all the news from here. I have a pumpkin to finish.

Mittens...

2007-04-28T21:22:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for your wonderful support and emails about my last post. It certainly made me feel better. I met with the diabetic educator last week. I have a couple of books I am reading too.
On the knitting front.... I have been meaning to show you these socks I finished a few weeks ago. The wonderful sock blockers are from this ebayer chappywoman . I bought them the other month with leftover Christmas money from my Mother in law. I really love them. They have little cut out cats on them. I am thinking the sock yarn is Meilenweit. I bought this at Christmas in Pennsylvania. It's funny, it looks nothing like I thought it would. These are for my sister Mary Jane. They will be tucked away for next Christmas. As you can see I am making mittens. I am trying to match some of the charity hats I have made. They are such a great project for scraps. I usually prefer a four needle mitten pattern. This is an old two needle mitten pattern that I have had forever. I make both mittens at the same time. This way I can be sure I have enough of the scrap yarn for both mittens. Speaking of mittens... I have had my eye on this book for quite awhile. I would love to add it to my mitten collection. So many patterns, so little time.
We finally put the boat in the water last weekend. I was so hoping for nice weather this weekend. We did get to go out last Sunday when it was so beautiful. I am sure nice weather is just around the corner. I guess that is all the news from here. Have a great weekend everyone.

Hats abound!

2007-04-14T20:41:00.000-04:00

It has been a virtual hat factory over here at Irishknits. I have been knitting hats for the homeless shelter in town. As many of you know.... I put up a Hat and Mitten tree every Christmas at work. We then take all the donations and give them to the local shelter. I am still working on knitting through my stash. I have not bought yarn for three months. It feels good to be using up my odds and ends. The ribbed hats are made with the famous Ann Norling Spiral Rib pattern. I love this hat. I had picked it up at The Mannings over Christmas. It is written for many different sizes and types of yarn. The other hats are made with double strands of worsted weight yarn. It was a free pattern to use for charity. I can't remember what site it is from. Now, I need to get going on some mittens to match. Tomorrow is my 48Th birthday. I guess we are going to get some very heavy rains and messy weather. Spring can't be too far behind. I had my physical on Thursday of this week. I got some news which scares the heck out of me. I had some blood work run twice because my sugar was high. My doctor told me I am diabetic. I was hoping she meant pre-diabetic.But, she did not. I know people live with this every day. I am trying to wrap my head around the idea. Basically, I have been moping around since Thursday. I need to change my lifestyle and get exercising. When I meet with the counselor I will have a better idea of what I need to do. I quit smoking five years ago. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I know if I can do that....then I can get a handle on this. It just really scares me. My first inkling was to get on the web and start reading about it. I decided not to do that yet. I would end up freaking myself out. I guess I will close for now. Time to cast on some mittens to match those hats.

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T08:46:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter fellow Knitters! Here are a few pictures of what we woke up to last Thursday. We were without power on and off for two days. I have a pole by the side of the house that snapped at the base. You can see how low my lines are hanging. I have no idea when they will get out to fix that problem. I know they are still very busy restoring power to other areas. I hope it does not get too windy. It makes me nervous having the lines hanging like that. The pole is only being held up by a small tree. We will give Public Service a few more days and then call them. So, Where is Spring? The lake keeps thawing and refreezing depending upon the day. There is talk of another storm this week. I am heading to my older sister for Easter dinner this afternoon. My whole family will be there. We always have an Easter egg hunt for my nieces. It will be a chilly one...But, they will have a ball. We are celebrating my sister and niece's birthdays too. April is a busy birthday month for us. My birthday is next Sunday. There has been knitting going on at Irishknits. My batteries are charging for the camera. I will post pictures another time. I have been working on preemie hats and hats for the homeless shelter. The Yarn Focus Challenge will be winding up next week. I have not bought yarn in nearly three months. It feels great to be using up what I have in my stash. I need to finish getting my Secret Pals gift together. That needs to be in the mail later in the week. I'll close for now... I have carrots to glaze and a salad to make. Have a wonderful day!

Preemie Project

2007-03-27T19:28:00.000-04:00

I have been working on a few bereavement items to send to the The Preemie Project . Tracy over at Wool windings had a wonderful post on March 15th. If you have a chance click over and check it out. I did not realize how tiny preemie items need to be. There are some wonderful free patterns on the web. Here are the specifics for these outfits.

Green Gown

Pattern: 3-5 pound burial gown

Yarn: worsted weight

Needles: size 8

Yellow outfit

Pattern: Sleeper Sack

Yarn: Dreambaby

Needles: size 5

To fit a 1-3 pound baby

I have several skeins of Dreambaby in my stash. I am going to work on some hat with booties. I have finished a pair of socks too. I will have to post those next time. I have been fairly busy the last few weeks. My niece is visiting from Ohio with her three month old baby. He was born on Christmas day and is a special little guy. I had envisioned all kinds of knitting for him. My niece is not into sweaters or socks for him. I think an occasional hat may be okay. I did knit a few baby blankets for her. I am hoping to get to spend time with them at the end of the week. I am going to close for now. "Dancing with the Stars" is on in a few minutes. I am a big fan of the show. Happy Knitting everyone!

2007-03-10T18:57:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of finished objects to show you. I finished a felted bag for my sister's birthday in April. She just loves these bags. I made it over the Christmas holiday while in Pennsylvania. I just had to sew the handles on and felt it. I like to use magnetic clasps in my bags. I felt two small pieces and attach the clasps. The I use some fishing line to attach them to the bag. I wish I had taken a better picture....but, when in a hurry. The bag is made with some olive green Galway. The purple is Cascade 220 in a pretty tweed. It has flecks of olive green and another color mixed together. I usually never felt two different brands of yarn. These tow are very compatible. The hat and mittens are for my Hat/ Mitten tree next year. I also made a cute little Spiral Rib hat. My Mom grabbed that one. She thinks she would like to make a few. She always likes a sample to go by. The brown hat is a favorite pattern of mine. It is called "Ivy's cable hat" from Green Mountain Spinnery. I have had this pattern for a good fifteen years. It still is one of my very favorites. I am not sure if it is still in print.

I have Victorian Lace Today on loan from the library. I just love this book. There are some gorgeous rectangular shawl and scarves in this book. I am contemplating purchasing a copy. I am trying to decide which one to start. I might have enough laceweight for one of the shawls. I have some Knitpicks Shimmer in my stash that might be perfect. I had the Swallowtail Shawl on my list to knit. I love the looks of that shawl. I decided it just would not work for my body type. I am a plus size and that style is just too small. I remembered this from the Flower Basket Shawl. It did not look right on me. So, now I am leaning towards the rectangular style. Tomorrow is going to be a beautiful day here. My husband is planning on ice fishing. I think I might take my knitting and join him.

Slippers

2007-02-28T18:19:00.000-05:00

There has been slipper knitting going on at IrishKnits. After wearing huge holes in my last pair of Fuzzy Feet, I decided it was time for some new slippers. I made another pair of Fuzzy Feet. I let them go too many cycles. They came out big enough for a child. The plus side ....the neighbor boy has new slippers. Then I decided to make Mama Bear's "Tropical Punch" slippers. It is a great pattern using two strands of worsted weight yarn. These came out too big. The plus side.... Mom has new slippers. So, I decided to make another pair of Fuzzy Feet using up my grey scraps of Galway. I closely watched these during the felting and they fit fine. So, finally I have some warm and toasty feet. I think I could knit the Fuzzy Feet pattern in my sleep. I have made about fifteen pairs of these since Knitty published the pattern. I just cast a cable hat on the needle. I have not bought yarn since starting the "Yarn Focus Challenge. It is nice to be using up some of my stash. I am off to catch up on some blogs. I love to see what everyone is working on for projects.

Soup and surprises

2007-02-18T18:07:00.000-05:00

Look what arrived in the mail this weekend!It was a wonderful package from my "Yarn Focus Challenge Secret Pal". There is a gorgeous skein of red sock yarn called "Candy Stripes". I am not sure if she dyed the yarn. It has a "Kettle dyed" look to it. Then there is a Clover thread cutter. I have always looked at these in the catalog. I am anxious to try it out. There was the cutest little notepad and card. Thank you so much Secret pal....it was an unexpected surprise. In my last post, I posted about the "Blanket of Hope" that Rebekah is working on. Here are my squares for the project. The purple square is a pattern from page 8 of the "Second treasury of Knitting patterns". It is called the "Ripple Stripe" pattern. The wine color square is called "Square Lattice" from page 7 of the same book. I mentioned in another post....this book is well worth the money. It is a valuable resource. In other knitting....I am working on a pair of slipper socks. from a great little pattern. I will share those with you in the next post. they are just about finished. Julie was making chicken soup the other week. I have been craving some ever since. I just finished making a huge pot for our lunches this week. The recipe is from Paula Deen and available on the Food Network .It is my very favorite recipe for chicken soup. It has a wonderful combination of seasonings. Here is the recipe and I hope you enjoy it.

The Lady's Chicken Noodle Soup
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Stock: 1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) fryer chicken, cut up

3 1/2 quarts water

1 onion, peeled and diced

1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 bay leaves

3 chicken bouillon cubes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

2 cups sliced carrots

2 cups sliced celery, with leafy green tops

2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles

1 cup sliced mushrooms

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

1/3 cup cooking sherry 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 cup grated Parmesan,

3/4 cup heavy cream, optional

Seasoning salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Crusty French bread, for serving

For the stock: add all ingredients to a soup pot. Cook until chicken is tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Remove and discard bay leaves and onion. You should have approximately 3 quarts of stock. When chicken is cool enough to touch, pick bones clean, discarding bones, skin, and cartilage. Set chicken aside.
For the soup: bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package. When noodles are done, add chicken, mushrooms, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding seasoning salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread.

I am off to get a piping hot bowl right now.

Blanket of hope

2007-02-12T18:22:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to post about this project.
Rebekah is asking for squares for a "Blanket of Hope". This is being knit for a fellow knitbloggers husband. She is asking for any sizes on the squares. This is great , because it means no gauge issues. They also can be made with any color yarn. She is asking to use 100 % wool. It should be a beautiful blanket. She is going to use filler pieces here and there. If you are interested check out her blog for more information. I have been working on some using my Second Treasury of knitting patterns . I bought this book at The Mannings over the holidays. It is well worth the price and a valuable tool. We are waiting to hear on a Noreaster for Wednesday. I would not mind the snow day.

Project Compassion

2007-02-08T20:54:00.000-05:00

I have been working on some squares for Project Compassion . I love the way the lacy one looks. They asked for machine washable wool for these squares. I never seem to buy machine washable wool. The pink square is some leftover sock yarn from my stash. I just double stranded to make a worsted weight. The cream is some soft yarn I bought for a chemo cap awhile back. I have such a time getting gauge with squares. I knew they would "grow" when I blocked them. The pink square was ripped out a total of four times. I was about ready to scream after the fourth attempt. The cream square I made seven inches square. I blocked the heck out of it to make the required eight inches. There has been other knitting too. I made another pair of Cornflower Mitts . Of course I forgot to take a picture of them. They are off in the mail to my daughter in Pennsylvania. I also just finished a pair of mittens for my neighbor. He loved his son's mittens and asked could I make him a pair. His wife picked up some Paton's Classic Wool. I'll post a picture of them later. The weather has been so cold here the last week or two. But, at least we are not battling snow like upstate New York. I think they already have 70 inches and are expecting another 30 by the weekend. YIKES!!!!!! That is all the news from this neck of the woods. I am off to knit some slippers for me. I have worn a huge hole in my Fuzzy Feet.

Yarn Focus Challenge Secret Pal

2007-01-29T20:50:00.000-05:00

1. What type of yarn do you knit with most often? Usually wool or wool blends

2. Is there any type of yarn that you would love to try but haven't yet, such as bamboo, banana fiber. Maybe something with some silk in it. I have never tried cashmere.

3. In your opinion what is a luxury yarn? Anything that is soft to the touch.

4. Is there any type of yarn or fiber content you dislike or would prefer not to receive? I am not a huge fan of cotton.

5. What type of garments do you most often knit? I LOVE to knit mittens, hats and I enjoy lace work too.

6. What types of knitting books do you enjoy? I tend to buy hat and mitten books. I enjoy knitting for charity and it is usually hats and mittens.

7. What is a color you like but rarely or never buy yourself? Red

8. If you were pregnant and had to name your baby a fiber, what would her/his name be? Alpaca

9. Do you spin? Someday I would like to learn

10. If someone in your family or a best friend had to describe you in one word, what would it be? A bookworm

11. Please tell us one odd thing about you. I am anal when it comes to my knitting. I only have one project on the needles at one time. I never suffer from one sock or mitten syndrome. I would go nuts not making the mate.

12. What was your favorite cartoon when you were little. I really don't think I ever had a favorite. Strange ,huh?

13. Do you have animals? If so, please name them and tell us a little about them. I have a gorgeous long haired cat names Peaches. I got her from the local shelter about four years ago. We are crazy about her and she gives us much joy.

14. And last but not least, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? It would be right here in New England. I lived in Pennsylvania for four years. I loved it....but, could not wait to come back to my lake.

Squares and Mittens

2007-01-24T16:28:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to write a post for a week. What do they say about the best of intentions? I have been cold all day today. I just made a nice cup of Irish Breakfast tea ( Don't you just love Amazon? You can link to anything.) I just buy this in my local grocery store. I like my tea strong with a dab of milk, I love the flavor of this one. I would like to try some from other companies. If anyone has suggestions ... let me know. I am home early from work today. I have been trying to not overload my schedule. The shampooing and blow drying just kills my shoulder. I was grateful for a slow day today. I am still going to Physical Therapy and Occupational therapy. The OT is for my fingers. I injured the middle and index finger during my fall. These two fingers are working at less than 50%. So..we are trying some aggressive therapy on them. On the knitting front..... I finished three squares for an comfort afghan. I read about this on Mama Bear's blog about a week ago. They are asking for 7 inch squares in acrylic yarn. I used some Caron's Soft in a country blue. It is such a trick getting the squares the correct size. I always do my gauge swatch. The one that is plain garter stitch is a smidge bigger than seven inches. I hope it is still usable. I need to get those off in the mail tomorrow. Also I have a tale about mittens..... The mittens I posted are for the neighbor boy. He lost the ones I made him for Christmas. These are made from Paton's Merino Wool. I love the variegated color. He has a "camo" colored coat. These should match quite well. But....back to my tale.....I always use Double points for my mittens. I made the first mitten with double points. I started the second one and changed over to Magic Loop. I just felt like switching. Well....... I finished the second mitten, completed the thumb. When I held them together, the second mitten was considerably smaller than the first. I never imagined there would be a difference. Obviously I knit much tighter with magic Loop. So, the second mitten went into the frog pond. I finished the third mitten last night. It was a good lesson for me. Speaking of magic Loop...... I always use a 32 or 40 inch Addi Turbo. The last batch of addis I bought have a problem. The cable is extremely stiff. It feels totally different than all my other Addi's . I have three needles that came with these super stiff cables. I ordered them from an Ebay seller. Has anyone had this problem with their Addi's? I might try to contact Addi directly and see if they will replace them. I am going to cast a Chemo cap on the needles tonight. I like to make them using Berroco's Chinchilla. I have made many of these hats. They are very soft and comfortable with this yarn. The pattern I use calls for one ball of the Chinchilla. I guess that is all the news from "Irishknits". Happy Knitting and stay warm.

Cornflower Mitts

2007-01-13T21:42:00.000-05:00

Here is another Fun Fur Hat to send off for

Kate's project. This one was made with a bunch of scraps my mother in law gave me. I would like to knit a few more of them . The other project is some fingerless mitts. These are the Cornflower Mitts from the Holiday Gifts 2006 from Interweaves Knits.There are a few items in that issue I would like to knit. I want to make the Cathedral afghan as well as the Mosaic Mitts. I also have a pair of Lovikka Mittens felting as we speak. I better go check on those......
A couple of more cycles and they will be done. I joined Rebekah's Yarn Focus Challenge. I had fun with the one she offered last year. Basically, you knit from your stash. Once a month you get one free day to buy yarn. It runs for three months. I plan on dyeing some more of the Bartlett's yarn. I have quite a bit that was given to me a few years ago. The yarn is about ten years old and light heathered colors. I have had success dyeing over it before. I wish the Bartletts felted properly. It does not shrink down enough. I just made an adult mitten that ended up being a potholder. We finally have snow in the forecast. They are saying we could get six to ten inches on Monday. I am ready for a little snow. There is nothing like a snow day to knit.

A worthy cause

2007-01-09T19:33:00.000-05:00

I know I promised picture of "Gettysburg". But, that will wait for another post. My mother in law gave me a bunch of "Fun Fur" scraps before I left Pennsylvania. I am not fond of the yarn. I figured I would work it into some charity mittens. While I was surfing some blogs on Sunday I came across a touching post. Kate was asking people to knit "Fun Fur Chemo Caps" for Children's Hospital Boston. What a wonderful cause. If you have a chance read her post from a few days ago. I used a pattern from the Headhuggers site. I think I used five different scraps on this hat. I have another one started with all kind of crazy colors. It was a fun cap to knit, especially knowing a child would be wearing it. Also, I had a package waiting for me when I came back from vacation. The lovely Maureen over at Batty for Yarn sent me mittens for my Mitten Tree. I believe she used the Gifted Mittens from Kate Gilbert. I may have to make a few pairs of these too. Thanks Maureen. She is always such an inspiration. She knits beautiful items for CIC. I started back to work today. It was really strange after being out of work for four months. I overbooked myself yesterday. My shoulder certainly paid for it last evening. I am going to try to lighten my schedule for awhile. I have physical therapy in the morning followed by a doctor's appointment. We will see what they have to say. I'll close for now....I have a date with some Fun Fur.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-04T10:12:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! I still can't believe it is 2007. We are still on our trip , in Pennsylvania. We are heading back to New Hampshire tomorrow. I did get to spend a couple of hours at The Mannings yesterday. I will post later about that trip. We also spent the afternoon at Gettysburg. The weather was in the high 50's....hard to believe. I got some great photos on top of Little Round Top. My husband grew up about 20 minutes from Gettysburg. It is one of our favorite places to go. We used to get a cup of coffee and drive to Devil's Den on many a Friday evening. We have had a wonderful trip. Both of us are dreading the drive home. But, the forecast looks sunny and warm. I'll post some photos this weekend. I sure did miss reading my favorite blogs. Can't wait to catch up with what everyone is working on.

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-21T21:39:00.000-05:00

I stopped by the shop today to collect the hats and mittens from our tree. I am so pleased with the amount of stuff we collected. I had another bag that I did not put on the tree. That bag had about twenty pairs of mittens and fifteen hats. I just love having this tree every year. This is the fourth year of collecting. There are some wonderful crocheted scarves that someone dropped off too. I had another lady ...who is not a customer of the salon drop of a bag of mittens. Forgive the way the photos are posting. I am still using the blogger photo button. I need to check out Flicker after the holidays. I dropped all the donations off at the homeless shelter this evening. I think I was telling you that they have thirteen little ones ages one to four. They were very grateful for all the donations.
We are leaving for Pennsylvania on Saturday and will be gone for two weeks. We both are looking forward to seeing the kids and spending time with family. All of my family lives here in New Hampshire. I have been celebrating all week with them. They always have us for all the holidays the rest of the year. They are good about us not being here for Christmas. I am looking forward to checking out my favorite yarn store in Chambersburg, The Yarn Basket. If we have time... I would like to check out The Mannings . I have heard this is a wonderful store. If I think of it I will take pictures. I want to take a minute and wish all of you a wonderful holiday season. I am very grateful for all of my old and new blog friends. You have all enriched my knitting life in many ways. Blogging has been a fantastic experience. Again.... Happy holidays friends.