A Hand-y Post

As I was looking down at my knitting this morning, I noticed my hands. 

Oh, they're nothing special...no fancy manicure, and I'm a chronic nail-biter, so I'm easily embarrassed by my hands. So, when asked to take photos of a project I'm test knitting "on actual hands," I felt personally challenged. I started with this: 

These are, of course, not "actual" hands,  but Flat-Stanley-style hands I keep so my actual hands don't show up in photos. But then I got to thinking 🤔,  "Hey! I have friends with hands!"

And so I do! Though my friends were slightly dismayed when I asked them to don the mitts and display a silly mug, they did eventually agree...so yay! 

As I looked over the resulting photos from the 2023 hand sessions, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful these hands are. 

Their beauty is not the result of fancy polish or finger exercises...it comes from living and loving and learning, and their beauty grows as they keep going. 

Thank you, ladies, for letting me get silly and take pictures of you and your hands. And thanks for all the ways your hands have helped me through the years. 

Thanks also to Shana, who has helped me to see the beauty in my own hands. Maybe I won't balk so much next time! (By the way, if you like these gloves, Shana has a pattern coming out soon...seems like she always has another great pattern coming out! Check out Shanalines Designs to see all her designs and patterns!)

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

Sweater, Sweater, Mitts!

I think it's a little like "Duck, Duck, Goose!"...for knitters...right?!? Let's play!

Sweater (baby owls on a baby sweater!)...

Sweater (dog sweater on the cat...but not "on" the cat...she would not approve, and I am not that brave)...

Mitts! (I know...you've seen them before, but not alongside little sister's sweater!)...

Sweaters and mitts, so I won't have fits, when it's brutally cold outside (temps ranged from 0-7°F on my drive into work this morning...brrrr!)

Now that I am back inside, safely (and warmly) at my desk, I'd better stop blogging and get to work! I hope that you are warm, wherever today takes you!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

The rest of the story...flexibility

I mentioned on Wednesday that I've had to be flexible lately, and that has not changed. My boss was recently hospitalized, then diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer (no, he never smoked...not a single cigarette, ever). As you might imagine, this means a few more hours for me in the office, and (because I am the secretary of my church) out of the office, too. I am totally ok with that, but it has left me less time to knit and to blog. And again, I am ok with that. There is still knitting, but I tend to go for simpler, quicker projects these days, like fingerless gloves for my favorite 3-year-old:

If you are the praying kind, please pray for my boss, Tim. He is my minister, friend, mentor, boss, and brother in Christ, and one of the most extraordinary men I have ever known. And pray for our church members and leaders. Many have taken on extra responsibilities, most unpaid, to keep things up and running, and many are simply so stunned by the news that they aren't sure what to do next. There have been many days in the last two weeks that I have been unsure of what to do next, so I just keep going...praying and knitting to get through the uncertainty of what comes next. The owl-y baby cardigan I've been working on is a little more complicated, and it reminds me that I know "Who?" holds the future of all of it.

Thank you, in advance, for your prayers and good thoughts. Thanks for being a reader of the blog, and for keeping up with what's going on in my pretty knitty life. Thanks for your understanding if the blog happens along late, or short, or not at all in the next few weeks. Finally, thanks for stopping in to read the blog today, and each week.

Knit in Good Health.

Busy Hands!

My hands have been SO very BUSY lately! Christmas socks, Frozen hats, Peanut sweaters...gah! So much yarn (and so little time, as the saying goes)! So, to celebrate these busy hands and fingers, and because the thermometers are all telling me that winter will be here before I know it, I've done a little pampering for my busy hands! Enter these pretty mitts...

It was pretty difficult to get a good shot of both the color and the pattern in these stunning, colorwork mitts, but when I changed the camera angle just a bit...

Yep. BOOM! That's what they look like, pretty stunning (if I do say so, myself...and I do)!

How have you been pampering your hands as you prepare for the cold, dry weather brought on by Ol' Man Winter? Now is the time to take a breath and invest in those hands that will do all of the holiday creating for your family, and I'm so happy that your little break today included a moment on the Pretty Knitty Blog! 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Hat Trick!

So, when cousins in Italy love yarny things, and a cousin in Ohio loves to make yarny things, and all the cousins love the new Disney movie Frozen (and all its characters)...well, you had to know that THIS was bound to happen!

Crocheted hats for trolls, Anna, Elsa and Kristoff, but I think my favorite is Olaf...in Summeeeeer!

Well, actually, it'll be fall soon, and these are part of the Halloween fun...so, that's 5 hats for 5 cousins, and then there's the family dog. Looks like he is accustomed to headgear, so let's measure his head and make him some antlers, a la Sven the reindeer! What do you think, G?

I think he approves! I know that I approve of all the fun I have had, and will continue to have, on that last hat! Until then, when I'm not designing silly hats, I'm still knitting socks...and fingerless mitts - these are turning out great!

What tricks have you pulled out of your hat this week? If they're rabbits, you should know that winter holidays are way closer than Easter, and maybe you should reconsider your project list...just sayin'.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing part of your day! I hope that you (and I) have lots of time this fall to Knit in Good Health!

Wall-la! Wallaby!

Finally finished is the Wonderful Wilhelmina Wallaby!

Why Whilhelmina? Well, I'm not sure...the designer gave every size of the sweater its own "W" name, and this is the size 6, and the size 6 is Wilhelmina, and now I am the QUEEN of the run-on sentence! I might also be the Princess of the Wallaby, because this

is the FIFTH Wallaby I've finished since I started knitting sweaters! Check that out...the number 5 holds over for another Saturday...lol! Oh! You know what else? I started Christmas socks, pair 6...

...and a pair of fair-aisle mitts!

I have been a busy knitter, even in these dog days of summer-fall! I'm certainly glad that it has started to cool off a bit today, and I'm looking forward to finally using my oven a bit more. I really miss that home-baked smell of just about anything in the oven on a crisp day. (And then, without warning, a quick pic of Peanut, all ready for her first day of preschool this past week...she loved it!)

Totally distracted now...I hear that happens to Grammas! I hope that your week and the start of your school year (if that applies) have been good, and that your knitting and crafting have been productive! 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health, friends!

Weekend to Remember...

Those of you who know me, and those of you who read this Pretty blog pretty regularly, will know that Pop Pop and I are predisposed to Peanut visits! For you, this next bit of information will come as no surprise, no surprise at all. Pop Pop and I went to visit Peanut last weekend, and in anticipation of the trip, I cast on a tiny pair of fingerless gloves...

I was particularly excited to work on these mitts, because they were my first go-'round with my new Knit Picks Caspian DPNs. I love these needles*, and they feel fast! So fast, in fact, that I finished the mitts en route, somewhere during the 8-hour drive!

And then we were there! And we saw Peanut, and our hearts sang just to watch her play!

While we were there, I cast on a Scarf for Peanut...

...and she helped with her scarf...

...and we even finished the scarf, fringe and all! But as we got back in the car for the return trip (two short days after our arrival), I realized that I had not taken a photo of the finished piece. So, I did what any distraught-knitter-in-a-car might do, and I cast on another scarf (this one for me) on the way home...

...and I finished the next day, and I took a picture.

The yarn is an alpaca blend from my friends at That'll Do Farm, and the cats love it! (I'm not sure why cats love alpaca as much as they do, but they do!) I have a second skein left over that may end up as a matching hat, because, as you may or may not know, the temperature has been brutal here! I am so very glad that my warm-and-cozy alpaca scarf is ready for the wearing!

Anyway, once I finished the scarf, I decided it was time to get back to that Plum Frost Sweater that I ripped the hem out of last week. Can I just say that adding another 30 rows was a good idea, for sure, but the idea of re-doing the tubular bind-off of 262 stitches is a little daunting?

Because it is. Still, I will plug on...there's a Big Game Party for the knitters this Sunday, and I'd like to cast on a little something new at the party...but I don't know if I can (without twitching) before this bind-off is re-done! lol!

So, there you have it! It's been a busier-than-busy, and colder-than-cold, couple of days! It's likely that I will be a knitting maniac for the next couple of months...especially if it stays this cold! There's nothing quite like a lapful of cats and wool to keep a knitter warm and Knitting in Good Health!

How are you keeping warm this winter?

*For the record, there is one thing I don't like about the Caspians...I wanted size 4 in the 6" length, but that length only goes up to size 2...that was a little disappointing. Still, I love these size 1s (2.25mm)!

Hands Down, these are My Favorite!

Pretty pop-quiz time! Who knows this: What is my favorite thing to knit? Raise your hand if you think you know. Ok, ok...it seems like you think you know me. Ok, go ahead and put your hands down.

How many of you think I like sweaters best? I mean, I currently have two sweaters on the needles, and I went through a phase when all I wanted to knit was tiny sweaters...so I suppose I can understand why you might think that, but it's not sweaters!

How many of you think I like to knit socks most? Well, if you've ever looked at my projects on Ravelry, you will notice a LOT of socks there, in all sizes...but nope, it's not socks! It's also not scarves, hats, afghans or dishcloths, which seem to populate the majority of my most recent project pages! Sooooo, what's left?

You there...in the corner, with your hand up...what do you think I like to knit best?

::Fingerless gloves?::

That's it! I am currently in love with fingerless gloves! (And mittens, and gloves, and did I say fingerless gloves? I did? Oh, good.) Things for the hands are just so much fun. They are quicker than socks and sweaters, a little more fussy than hats and scarves, just the perfect small project to carry along almost anywhere. :) This is my most recent pair of fingerless gloves, made for Mindy's birthday, and she should have them by now...yay for birthdays and fingerless gloves!

And, since I was working on things for the hands, I put together a little bracelet for my darling Peanut to send along with the gloves. There should be something homemade for everyone in a package, don't you agree? Me too!

So, things for the hands (especially fingerless gloves) are my latest obsession, and I may or may not have already cast on another pair (perhaps in a smaller size for a pair of littler hands), because these are my favorite, hands down! (Also because I have some new KP needles I really, really want to try out with fingering yarn! Oooooh, Caspian DPNs, you are so very lovely...come knit with me!)

What's your current knitting (or crochet, or other craft) obsession? I hope that you are keeping warm and finding plenty of time to play with your favorite things & people this winter! 

It's Never Black and White

The cats in my life may be black and white, but nothing else ever is...especially the knitting! Yay for that! Although there is some gray...

...and dark gray, with colorwork, back on the needles again...

...usually my knitting looks more like this:

Wow! Now that's colorful! It's going to be beautiful when it's finished, but with FOUR projects  (including the ever-present hexipuffs) currently on my needles, I'm not sure when the finish will be. =/ In fact, it is quite unusual for me to have more than three OTN at any given time...it makes me twitch a little... Sooo, as black and white as this is not, of course I cast on just one more this week, right? Right!

And there you have it, friends. Pretty, the "Project Knitter" who twitches when things don't get finished, has started yet another project. Somebody stop me!!! (Or don't...I think I'm having fun! Just look at all the pretty I'm playing with!)

Thanks for stopping by, friends! There is no black and white here, so knit as many things as you would like, and Knit in Good Health!

Free Fingers!!!

They're Free!

Free fingers...

I couldn't very well sing you "Free Falling," now could I? That would make you worry. Because I fall down. It would make ME worry, too!

In any case, my fingers are free from their captivity, and they are pretty glad to be knitting and typing and just living their "digit"-al lives. :) On Wednesday morning, the doc looked over my X-rays and declared my fingers "well on their way to recovery." He said they will continue to be swollen and sore for another 6 weeks or so, but they are healthy enough to start using them all the time. Cleared for knitting? Well, you don't have to tell me twice! (I actually confessed to the doc that I had already started knitting, even before the clearance...he laughed, and assured me that knitting is good physical therapy, and I should knit as often and as much as my fingers would allow - Yay!!!) I've already finished the first in a pair of socks (that I started while still wearing the brace):

And, after knitting a pair of fingerless gloves (for Dollface, one-and-a-half knit before the cast, the second finished in the brace) with Chroma in Midwinter and a cream-colored alpaca/wool/nylon fingering-weight yarn... 

I've actually knit a third one in the last couple of days!

Can you see the color variation? Yeah, I love the gentle gradient that is Chroma, but after I had knit the second mitt, I noticed how different the colors were on each one...hmmm. So I thought I'd knit a third, and just match it to the closest of the other two...well, do you see what happened? Yep! Three mitts, each totally different in Chroma...lol! So, since Dollface said not to bother trying for a third, and since she liked the first two together anyway, I'm just going to give them to her and call it done. (If I have enough of the cream yarn left, I may make a fourth so I can have a mismatched pair that match hers...kinda...haha!)

In other Knitting Knews, it turns out that I've made quite a bit of progress on the alpaca scarf, even knitting on it a bit while I had the big cast on! So, this morning, it looks like this:

The variegation in the yarn (which I spun myself - squee!), is just so lovely! In the sunshine, it almost sparkles...it is the happiest brown I think I have ever seen!

It makes me so happy that I am taking it on a field trip to That'll Do Farm this afternoon, along with some spinning for a fiber day! If you're not doing anything fun yet, you should totally come on out to Farm Days and see us! (Or you could come to see the alpacas, or the very friendly chickens, or the very hungry goats, 

or the very busy bees, or even the sheep...they have sheep! So fun!) 

It's going to be a great day! Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope that you have lots of time to Knit in Good Health this weekend!

Handspun Hexipuffs

I know that I have told you about the hexipuffs, but if you are new to the blog, you may not have heard, so here it is...these are hexipuffs:

They are small, about 2-3 inches across, and I will need A LOT of them to make my beekeeper's quilt (based on this pattern), like maybe 400, or so. It takes me about an hour to knit, stuff, close and admire each one, so I will have 400 hours into this afghan (easily 400 hours) before I even get around to putting them together. This is what you might call a long-term knitting relationship, but it is not monogamous. Along with these tiny puffs (I am currently up to 126 puffs!), I am also knitting some fingerless mitts...

...a little sweater...

...and a bulky, baby blanket! (Yes...there is a naked baby doll in this photo. It is what it is.)

Still, I think my current FAVORITE knitting is the hexipuffs, because I am finally dipping into my own handspun to create one of a kind, very pretty puffs! Who doesn't love a pretty puff? No one! You all love pretty puffs, right?!?

So, you see, there has been knitting. Little knitting and big knitting, but today is a play-with-Peanut day, so that's where I'll be! Maybe she wants to knit a bit? We'll see...

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!