Yipee for Yarn!!!

Yarn is one of my favorite mediums to craft with! Thanks at least in part to one of my sisters-in-law I am having fun KNITTING (thanks, Debi!)!!! It is also exciting to be moving on to learning things I wanted to, but did not make/have time for while working on my degree the last several years.

I started learning the beginning knit stitches when I was younger, about the same time I was learning the basics of crochet. For whatever reason crocheting felt more natural to me and I took off with it, leaving my knitting needles aside and unused for a very long time...until recently!

Here is my first knitting project...

...a small purse with a shoulder strap, about right for slinging on shoulder or across shoulder to hip. I put a box of dry chicken noodle soup mixes inside to fill it out for picutres, so it's just a little bigger than that.

I just purchased an awesome stitch pattern book at Barnes & Noble yesterday, but I learned the main stitch for this project on YouTube of all places! Actually, it is a great resource for refreshing and learning techniques! I'm working on some stitches from the Knit & Purl book, but it's not very far along yet...I think I will make a shopping bag, since I've wanted to do that for a while...for shopping at farmers' markets and at the regular stores.

Here are a couple more pictures of my completed project, with close-ups of the stitches making up the bag and the shoulder strap...

So long for now...from a knitting knut!

5 Red Ribbons in my Cornucopia

My cornucopia is filled with things to be grateful for, and this past month has filled it to the brim and to overflowing. Since near the end of July and up through the month of August David & I have been so blessed to be able to visit with people we love, enjoy their company and travel safely~back and forth, to home again.

The last part of July and early August was a fun time for me as I fulfilled a small dream I've had of entering exhibits in a fair for display and also competition...yes, I'm a competitive type! :-) The California Mid-State Fair was the venue, and I have a couple of friends who especially encouraged and inspired me to participate this year. So I did! I crocheted and rubber stamped to my heart's content for a couple of weeks after Spring quarter ended, and this is what I came up with...

My medium sized afghan (approx. 36"x 50"):


A pillow, inspired by my sister, Amy:


A handy, dandy potholder (Thanks for showing me how, Renee!):


A notecard:


And...my Greeting Card:


Then...I had to drop off my projects late in June and didn't see them again until we went to the fair to find out how I did in the competitions. The displays were awesome, well organized by theme and color. They were, however, difficult to find things by competition category, so that made it like a scavenger hunt~fun! :-) I did look for the winners in all the categories I entered, but didn't find all of them.

I was so excited to see what comes next...here they are in the order I found them:











I especially enjoy the time to be creative, but it is fun and exciting to see...5 (FIVE!) RED RIBBONS!!! Yippee!!!