Ready...Set...Go!

Ready, set, go?  But I'm at the finish line already...

I finished this just yesterday!

Wait...is that the letter K?  Big whoop...

I know that one single letter doesn't look like much, but it's more about what this letter K represents to me.  

Even Elmo can see that this is a very Special K!

This letter K is the last letter in my alphabet soup project! Super Yay!  Without a K, I couldn't even spell KNIT, like this:

Now I can KNIT!  Now I can KNIT!

Maybe that's why I was having so much trouble with the mojo.  Yeah, let's go with that explanation!  With this K finished, now I can move on to my projects for the Ravellenic Games 2012 (which coincide with the 2012 Olympic Games, which is more than a mere coincidence)!  I only have small projects planned for the games, some dishcloths and a hat, but the challenge is to start and finish them during the 17 days of these summer Olympic Games...I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...

This little guy (girl?) thinks I can, too!

I missed the mass cast on during opening ceremonies last night, but I'm hoping to get some work in today...and hopefully have something to blog for Wednesday's post...we shall see, no?

What will you be working on to celebrate the Games?

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

PS - Don't forget to rest and stretch those paws occasionally!  Knit-, Spin- and Crochethletes can suffer overuse injuries just like any other sport!

Am I mad?

"Do you think I've gone 'round the bend?"

"I'm afraid so.  You're mad, bonkers, completely off your head.  But I'll tell you a secret.  All the best people are."

-Lewis Carol, Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is one of my very favorite books, and one of my favorite movies, too!  That Johnny Depp is something else as the hatter!  I'm not really sure why I am so fascinated by him, but I am.  I mean, I totally know that his movie characters are dark...and really kinda creepy...still, I just can't seem to get enough!

I also still can't seem to get enough of the dishcloths.  Here's proof that I may be headed 'round the bend myself:

Yes, this is a dress for the dish soap,
and it is a cloth for washing dishes.
Yes, I am quite aware...

On the dishcloth front, I am apparently mad, bonkers, completely off my head.  But you know what?  All the best people are!  =P  (At least, that's what I've heard...)  I love the way that classic literature centers me, and I love to knit dishcloths.  If you don't, well then, OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!  Just kidding...you should knit what you love, just like I do.  

What knitting projects send you 'round the bend?

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Too young?

Back in the day, "they" all said we were too young. 

Too young to fall in love...

True love's kiss...

Too young to know what we wanted...

Too young to get married...

At this point, we could barely believe we did it!

Too young to move so far away from family and friends...

Too young to have kids...

Two kids in  a little under two years.
Wow! We look young...and tired.

Too young is what we've always been, so we'll keep going, and our own kids have followed our lead.  Both chose wonderful mates, and married in their early twenties (we were 18 & 19), and last year our oldest and his wife made us grandparents!  Just in case you think we are too young to be grandparents, here's a video of our Peanut with her Pop-Pop (from July 2011)...

And if you need a little extra dose of cuteness, here's a little video from just last week, too!:

We are totally rockin' this "too young" thing, don'tcha think?

Have you ever been too young?  What did you do?

Sounds like it's time for Saturday

There was a lot of life crammed into this week.  Some stress, some surprise, some sickness and some sitting around waiting.  While I waited, I stitched some on a scarf...see?

Everyone is fine, and life goes on...so does the HitchHiker!

Sometimes life is like that, you know?

I think I'll take today to regroup, and revitalize.  Maybe I'll even cast on a new something...any suggestions?  :)

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Today's post is brought to you by the letter S...seriously!

Grumbly Tumbly...

I have officially finished the 25th letter of my Alphabet Soup project.  It is the letter N, and I'm pretty jazzed!  It took awhile to accept, but I do know that knitting the alphabet has become an addiction, because now I seem to have a bad (and colorful) case of the munchies...

See?  Munchies.  Right there.  With the toys.

It was to be expected...addictions come with drawbacks.  I guess the only question that's left is do I want fries with that?

Well, if I didn't before, I do now!

Aaaand, I guess I did!

What's your latest knitting addiction?

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Got it covered!

I've got it covered over here in Pretty-ville!  

You've got what covered?

The beds.  More specifically, the doll's beds!  So excited...

Wait, you still play with dolls?

No, silly!  Don't you remember?  A friend asked me to make blankets for some American Girl dolls...so I did!  Here they are:

They turned out FABULOUSLY!  I have seen this yarn over and over, and I've always wanted to try it...if you can't tell by this post, I LOVE IT!  So pretty!  And for kids' toys, acrylic is a really good choice...tough and lovely.  :)  I also love that this is a lighter weight yarn, so the "scale" of the smaller stitches is right for dolls...can't wait to hear how the girls like them.  

Know what else I've got covered?  I started the new blog.  (squeee!!!)  Check it out at THIS LINK.  This one's all about family, love, memories and all that fun stuff that comes with being part of any family, functional or otherwise.  Follow or not, your choice, both blogs will be active...and I love to hear your comments (and commiseration, as necessary!).  (:

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit (and read blogs) in Good Health!  

You want a cookie?

Welcome to the new blog! (Edited to add that Pretty has decided that two blogs were silly. She merged the two in December, 2012.) If you have come from a link I've posted, you probably already know that I am Pretty.  If not, Hi!  I'm Pretty, and this is my new blog!  If you want to know a little bit more about me, please check out the "About" page, and maybe the "Meet the Family" page.  There will be more detail as we get to know each other.  :)

Since there's lots of time for us to get acquainted, I thought I'd start with a cookie recipe.  Everyone loves cookies, right?  Right.  So, check out this link for Grandpa Joe's Anise Cookies.  I'll wait while you go and have a look...

Here's a picture, too!

Now, looking at these cookies, you might have guessed that they don't have chocolate, or creme centers, or oatmeal in them.  This is a cookie that my very Italian grandparents kept on the kitchen table at all times.  As kids, we would come in, sit down and open the round, white, cardboard cookie container (the kind that comes filled with sugar-sprinkled Christmas cookies in December) and have a cookie. They were always dry, not too sweet, and tasted faintly of black licorice...that's the anise.

Sometimes, if you timed it just right, Grandpa Joe would come into the kitchen to refill his coffee cup while you sat there with your cookie.  He would add milk from the quart in the fridge,   filling his cup to the very top, and then he would bend down to the counter to take the first, slurpy sip without lifting it.  Then, he would take a cookie and there you were, eating cookies in the kitchen with Grandpa.

Of course, it was usually about this time that Grandma came in to shoo Grandpa out, and rush around the kitchen to cook the pasta and toss the salad so that we could all eat!  I don't remember her ever shooing me out of that kitchen, tho.  And I don't remember her ever telling me that I couldn't have a second cookie...or a third, or a fourth.  

I love the memory of my grandparents' kitchen, and these cookies are only a part of the magic.  I love knowing that my Grandfather baked ridiculously large batches of these cookies, and stored them in a box in the pantry, covered with a towel.  Most of all, I love the way being in that kitchen with my grandparents made me feel loved. 

What's your favorite cookie?  

Ho-Hum...

Knitting.  It's what I do.  Even when I don't know what I want to do next, knitting is always there.  Take this week, for example...this week has been one of those weeks that I just don't feel like doing anything.  It's summer, but it's not super hot (like it was last week)...there are activities available, but nothing seems all that appealing...I just feel a little blah. It's even been hard to get motivated to knit the things that are on my needles. 

Whether it's PMS or half-life hormonal changes, I've been lacking motivation.  There are just 2 more letters in the Alphabet Soup, the Baseball Sweater is only lacking it's second sleeve, and the Hitchhiker has been trying to thumb a ride to the knitting couch for several days, but none of that interests me.

However, since I know that knitting can cure almost anything, I finally tried casting on something new...a couple of doll blankets for a friend's granddaughters...and they are very pretty:

Gauge swatch?  On a doll blanket?  Are you kidding?

I think the bright colors have kept me going, but I almost quit on the purple one last week.  I knit it to the proper length before checking my gauge to see if it was the proper width...why am I so against gauge swatches again?...and you know that I then had to rip the whole thing out and restart with fewer stitches.  (Sigh!)  The upside is that I know the pink and yellow one will be the proper width, right from the start!  :)  I guess that another upside is that I know the second blanket won't take me too long...after all, I've knit the purple one TWICE in the past few days!  =P

There's always an upside, if you look for it.  I've had to look extra hard this week (what's up with that?), but I think I can see a silver lining around the laptop screen...yay!  Maybe looking at my Racing Hearts Socks will help:

Princess sole, for more comfort walking or running.

Hey, I think that DOES make me feel even better!  I don't remember if I blogged the big finish when I bound off these socks, but I know I told you about the charity design. So, here they are finished.  They're pretty sweet, if I do say so myself (and I do).  :)  All the links to the pattern and yarn can be found in THIS POST.  It's pretty great stuff, if I do say so myself (and I do)!

Well, that's about it for today.  Here's hoping your "hump-day" is better than ho-hum.  Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!  

I'm hooking again.

Yep.  You read that right.  I'm back to the hooking.  

Oh, it's been awhile.  I even thought, for a brief time, that perhaps I would finally walk away from it for good...but apparently, it's in my blood.  I mean, I've been doing it since I was 10...my grandmother (my dad's mom) taught me everything I needed to know, then she sent me to the streets.  I've been hooking, on and off, ever since then.  But, no matter how long I've been away, I always fall right back into it.  I suppose that you can take the girl out of the city, but you can't ever totally take the hooker out of the girl.  Here's a picture that might help you understand why I keep going back:

Afghans beg to be crocheted!  This motif, with it's little hearts, is
just perfect for a gifting occasion that will soon be on my horizon!

You see, with the knitting, the fabric is thin and drapey and textured on the right side, but it takes quite awhile to get a substantial piece of fabric.  In CROCHET (hooking...), an afghan square is a small piece that can be worked up in an hour or two, and it's even a good craft for the hottest of summer days!  (When I get to piecing the thing together, air-conditioning will be my best friend!)  As a bonus, while there is a wrong side to a crochet piece, it's usually just as pretty as the front, and only another crocheter would be likely to notice if you tossed it on the sofa with it's backside exposed...  

Psst!  Shirley!  Look at that afghan, with it's backside hanging out!  In my day, that kind of indecency was against the law!

Yes, the charms of hooking have lured me back to the mean streets, and into the yarn  shops, for another lovely afghan.  Of course, that doesn't mean that I have abandoned the knitting, no, Sir-reee!  As a matter of fact, I've even cast on a New Project in the last few days...a blanket for a dear friend's doll bed.

There will actually be two of these when I am finished.  Enamored by the crochet, I was sure that these small projects would fall into the hooking category, at first.  However, when I decided on the yarns, I just HAD to knit them...I mean, crochet is fine and good, and I love it...BUT, this yarn begs to be knit!  How can I argue with the yarn?  I just don't have it in me, to tell you the truth, to argue with any yarn...but especially a yarn that is shouting what it wants to be!!!

So that's where it sits for me.  Still knitting, hooking a bit too, and really trying to keep cool in these dog-days that are summer in NE Ohio!  Is it hot where you live?  What do you knit when it's hot?  I hope that you are keeping cool, and that your summer is not too much hotter than you like it.

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!  

Happy Birthday!

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!," says Frosty the Snowman every time the kids manage to get that hat up there on his head...and I love me some Christmastime claymation!  However, this post really has nothing to do with any of that.  This post is about another birthday, one often celebrated with cookouts, picnics and fireworks...at least in the U-S of A.  So happy birthday, America!  If I had any fireworks, I would surely set them off in your honor, but this is the closest Pretty comes to fireworks:

Pretty and the Amazing Technicolor Dishcloths!

Not as exciting as something that can blow a finger clean off, but still pretty explosive when they all fall out of the knitting bag at the same time! Yes, still knitting dishcloths...sigh! And, since it IS a holiday, here's a gratuitous shot of Peanut, examining her prizes from the 4th of July picnic (held on June 30th), where she was the first to hit the annual Piñata:

What IS this?  It doesn't look like candy, Pop-Pop...

Have fun today, however you celebrate, and be safe!  Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!