I Specialize in Squares and Rectangles

So...how many of you know that I knit? A show of hands...don't be shy.

A few of you -- probably those who received some of my handiwork as Christmas gifts or baby shower gifts, right? What you probably didn't know is that my dear Mom taught me to knit when I was about 10 years old, and I was happily making baby doll blankets and pot holders for a couple years. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out casting on/off, or any other stitches besides the basic knit...so I didn't keep the interest much beyond age 12 or so.

"How the @#$%^& do you find the time to knit???? You're keeping up with 2 kids, working part time, blogging like mad, making Whoopie Pies and bad potato dumplings!"

Easy, I ONLY knit when I'm either (a) sitting on my ass in front of the TV in the evenings after the boys go to bed or (b) sitting on my ass in a moving vehicle. I did an entire baby blanket (Faith!) on a round trip on Amtrak between Cary, NC and NYC.

So why the recent resurgence? My church started up a Prayer Shawl Ministry summer 2006 and thanks to mill end 1lb. sacks of yarn at A.C. Moore, I was able to quickly make up about a 1/2 dozen or so simple shawls in the latter half of 2006. Before we knew it, the 10-12 ladies contributing were up to our ears in shawls and ended up slowing down our work. In the meantime, I was working on other projects to train myself on all those techniques that I didn't have the motivation to learn as a teenager. The book "Knitting for Dummies" (again, thanks to my Mom) was great, too! I made up about 10 shawls and simple scarves for friends for Christmas in 2006.

I think 2007 was the year of the baby...I ended up knitting 7 baby afghans in 2007, they've ended up all over the place! Let's see if I can recall: Steve and Heather B., Will and Casey B., Rich and Naomi W., John and Bethany H., Joe and Keri T., David and Dawn H., Paul and Faith T. I have two more in the queue...I hope to start on my next one next week for Baby Girl Courtemanche in St. Louis. I've my pink and purple yarn all ready to go.

What am I working on currently? Well, for the first time, I'm making something for my family. Dave asked if I could make up a simple afghan that would match our couch. Poor Dave, I've been squeezing the afghan in between all these baby blankets and plastic bag crochet projects (see below about the crochet). With this pattern, I've been practicing making cables (i.e., a pattern that looks like twisting rope). Here I am sitting on the couch with the almost-completed afghan. I think I have two more days worth of work. Now, in the lower right you can see a clump of the same pattern...I have two edge panels that will be attached to the final product that will make this pretty big when all's said and done: about 48" x 66". Definitely my largest project ever!




I even started crochet recently -- but that was in enthusiasm of a cool project I learned about back in October. The recycled plastic bag bag:




This is the last one I'll be making for a while...unfortunately, each of these bags takes 100-125 plastic shopping bags from Target or Walmart or Food Lion, but I think it's the ultimate message when it comes to recycling. It was unbelievable how quickly I cleared out my piles and piles of plastic bags and started soliciting friends for theirs. I was able to do 3 of them for this holiday season, and thanks to Maryann G. and Wendy W. for your bag donations. Megan H., Maryann and Lisa C. are the recipients of my first 3, and if I accumulate enough bags to make another one, my sister will get the next one for sure! These 4 ladies are my favorite reusers/recyclers!


This bag was also the first non-blanket/scarf/shawl I'd done. As the title suggested, I'm most comfortable with simple patterns -- I've yet to attempt a sweater, hat or anything fancier. I'm part-way through a sock and lost interest in that quickly. Meanwhile, my Mom is putting together matching sweaters for all 5 of her grandsons once a year! I remember last Christmas she said "I think I'll make some mitten ornaments out of leftover Christmas yarn." One hour later, she had a little pair finished! I'm not that good, but I really enjoy it.