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! 

New Year, Same Pretty

It is only day two, but so far this year, I have made some accomplishments:

I finished a project I started last year (ok, on December 29th, which was last year), a pair of birthday gloves. 

I cleaned out a closet. (I know, it is still cluttered...you'll have to trust me that it is better, or ask one of my kids!) 

And I went through some old photos, uncovering this gem (which you may already have seen on Facebook or IG).

The latter was prompted by the recent loss of my mom's sister, my Aunt Mickey. 

My mom and her sisters were like those little monkeys you sometimes see in figurines depicting "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." When they were together, they had a lot of fun! Sometimes they kept each other out of trouble (I think my mom may have been the biggest troublemaker...), and I am sure that sometimes they spurred one another into mischief!

Through it all, they leaned on one another...even when they weren't always happy with each other. Their sisterhood, both literal and figurative, is what sisterhood should be. I can only imagine the heart-voids my mom and her older sister are experiencing, and I feel it too.

As I grieve with my mom and aunt, my uncle, and my cousins, I remember most that my Aunt Mickey always made me smile! A few years back, for my 50th birthday, she sent me a singing card that proclaimed "50's the New 40! At least it is on you!," and that card made my whole year! 

I remember calling my aunt to check in, while she was recovering from some procedure or other, and she lifted my spirits and told me how much she loved seeing photos of my grandchildren on Facebook. 

I remember the birthdays that were made special by a "16 box" or a "21 box," I can visualize her eyes lighting up as she counted out 16 band-aids or 21 q-tips to include.

I remember once going with her to a wedding, she had made the cake, which was "drooping" in the heat of that summer day. In the lobby of the church, I watched her stuff styrofoam plates into one of the layers to level it, then frosting over the fix and attaching sugar flowers she had made from royal icing to finish the repair. I also remember that we left that wedding long before the cake was cut! 

I remember spending a week with my cousin Mary (her only daughter, Mary had 3 brothers) at Aunt Mickey's tiny house in the summer...I was 12 or 13. One day, it was my turn to take out the trash, and I did not know how to do that. It wasn't a chore I did at home, and I was literally clueless as to how and where to take that trash bag out! She was gentle (through her laughter), and she taught me a new thing. 

My Aunt Mickey taught people to laugh by laughing...I rarely saw her without a smile close at hand.  She taught people to love by loving them well...I never have to look far to see many who were loved by her, even in their less-than-lovable moments (myself included). She taught us to cook and to bake, and she has children, grandchildren and other relatives (like me!) who will do our best to be sure her recipes go on, and that our families are loved through taste-buds and tummies as well as hearts. 

It is hard to start this new year in the knowledge that I will not see her smile again, except in pictures, so I am going to keep looking at the pictures. I will not taste her cooking, except when I follow her recipes, so I will keep cooking. I will not hear her encouragement, except in my memories, but I can keep encouraging others. 

Uncle Bill, Billy, David, Mary and Jimmy, spouses and kiddos and significant friends and family, I am so sorry for your loss, but I know she would not want us to dwell. As we grieve, let's also do all we can to spread the joy she has left behind...and let's make 2021 a good year! 

Live, Laugh and Love well, like Aunt Mickey did.

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.

I'm done with Barbie...

My fingers and I are glad to announce, without a bit of reserve, that I am done with Barbie! Well, I am done with her new wardrobe, knitted on teeny, tiny, size ZERO (2mm) needles, at least! 

My goal was to knit 24 pieces of clothing for Mork and Mindy to put into Peanut's Advent Mittens for her to count down to Christmas...remember the mittens? 

Anyway, I ended up accidentally knitting 25 pieces of clothing. (Please pardon the background in that first shot. Barbie was picking out her outfit this morning, and she didn't have time to tidy up before I arrived. I was so excited to see the Princess's new clothes that I just barged in there with my camera.) There are 9 short-sleeved tops, 2 sweaters, 8 pencil skirts (one with a ruffle), 2 fuller skirts, 1 pair of pants and 3 dresses. So glad I finished in time to get them into the mittens before Dec. 1st! Whew! But my fingers are ready for a change, so you know what I'm going to knit next?

That's right...lol! Glove/mittens, in fingering weight yarn, on size 1 (2.25mm) needles for Peanut! After that, maybe some bulky knitting? And maybe not...I seem to be smitten with the tiny, tiny knittin'!

What are you smitten with? A contest perhaps? Or is it something in your knitting basket? Tell me in the comments for a chance to win a Christmas surprise from Pretty!

Thanks for stopping by, and 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!

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!

Not a Secret Any More!

Well, here it is, December 28th, and I can finally reveal all the secret holiday knitting! I think I look forward to this post more than any other during the blog year, because I generally spend most of November and December just dying to tell you all what I'm knitting...but not wanting to let the cat out of the bag! Well, the cat's out of the bag now...in fact, she's sleeping on my lap as I knit hexipuffs!

So here is the Christmas Knitting revealed!

Only 8 of those photos are gifties...that last one, the one in the middle, is some tiny sweaters I got distracted by after the Christmas knitting was done. :) Made from leftover sock yarns, how could I resist? Oh, that's right, I couldn't...lol! Anyway, the rest are as follows:

1. Transitioning to Winter socks - knit for Mindy, my daughter-in-law (who tells me that my granddaughter has taken them hostage, because "everything Gramma knits must be for Peanut!" lol!).
2. Hat for Peanut, knit to match the mitts in #5...because everything Gramma knits must be for Peanut.  Right? lol!
3. "Ugly Christmas Sweater" for my son, in miniature...based on a conversation we had last Christmas. He loves it.
4. Hat and mittens for Peanut because, well...see #2.
5. Convertible mittens for Peanut, because (as it turns out) she likes gloves better than mittens, and her mother and I know that mittens are warmer than gloves, and see #2. 
6. Cowl for Dollface...I wish I had gotten a photo of the way that she just put that thing on as soon as we were done opening gifts, and then wore it the rest of the day...but I was too distracted at her insistence that my house is too cold, so I turned up the thermostat a little instead of taking a picture. =/
7. Afghan for Mork and Mindy, because they live too far away to hug every day. Unfortunately, it seems that Mindy and Peanut fight over this one (success!) while Mork sits shivering in the corner (sad face). In case you are keeping score of the battles, I think Mindy is winning this one...Peanut has two afghans I've made just for her already! =P And finally...
8. Socks for Snake, my son-in-law, who opened them and put them on right away, over the store-boughts he was wearing...and I did take a quick shot of that!

So, as you can see, our Christmas was a success! As I said, we missed having Mork, Mindy and Peanut in town, but we got to spend time with both Sweetie's family and mine, as well as Snake and Dollface, and we had a couple of very nice days. I hope that you did too! Now, I'm off to knit some more hexipuffs...they have kinda been on hold since sometime in September, but I am back at it...at least until the knitalong starts!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health as you prepare to welcome 2014...oh, my! Where has this year gone?!? :)

Hand and Foot Disease

The day before Thanksgiving, in my house at least, has always been designated "Bread and Pie Day," because it is the day I traditionally bake the bread and pies (and cookies) for our feast! This year, we will be feasting with the family a day late, and I am glad...

You see, just in time for Thanksgiving this year, it seems that I have caught a little case of Hand and Foot Disease! Please don't be alarmed by that...I promise it's not contagious. Well, if you're a knitter, I suppose it might be, but I really don't think it is. Even if it is a little bit "catchy," it's not all that bad. The very worst symptom is that all I to do is knit and play with things for the hands and feet! For instance, there are the gloves that Peanut put her request in for last week, now finished and ready to be on their merry way to her chilly fingers:

And then there's the second pair that I've already started, because a girl can never have too many pairs of gloves, right?!?

I've also recently finished this pair of fingerless gloves for me, and they are so very fuzzy and lovely in purple and alpaca...

Then there are the extra mittens for Peanut's advent calendar:

Too small for anyone's hands, but so cute when stuffed with a sticker, a hair bow and a chap stick! Look! Black cat wonders if they are mittens for her! Haha! Silly kitty!

But, with all those mittens and gloves, let's not forget the feet...and all those Darned Socks!

Can you see that? At the bottom, on the heel? This is just one of the three pair of hand-knit socks that I have actually darned in the last two weeks...it's crazy, I tell ya! I only have photo proof of that one, tho...the yarn doesn't match, so it's easy to see where it has been darned. If I'm going to do all that work to fix a heel, I certainly want you to be able to see it in the pictures!!!

So, on this Thanksgiving Eve, I am feeling very thankful and accomplished in my yarny endeavors. :) Now all I have to do is stay busy until it's time to take turkey to the table...I know that I am up for that challenge! I love holiday meals, and this year we get to spend time with all of us together: Sweetie and I, Snake and Dollface, Mork and Mindy, and Peanut! It's gonna be a blast!

Thanks for stopping by on this "Bread and Pie Day!" I hope that your holiday goes off without a hitch! And, if you're a knitter like me, I hope that you find time to Knit in Good Health this weekend!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!