Toby

TOBY

FEB 14, 1996 - DEC 20, 2007

DEVOTED AND MUCH LOVED FAMILY PET

"YOU WERE TRULY ONE IN A MILLION"

Millie's Sweater - Pictures

Millie wore her new sweater to work today. It looks good on her, so I think this project turned out well!

Millie's Sweater - Finished!

Finally finished Millie's Big Jacket sweater. It was mailed out on Thursday. I'm anxious for her to get it and see if it "works" for her. It is not a sweater that just anyone can wear. Here a picture of the finished project. Hopefully I can post a picture with Millie wearing the sweater soon.



Here is the picture from the pattern.



Definitely not your common cardigan!!

Felted Bucket Hat

The sleeves to Millie's sweater are being knitted on now. I expect maybe another week to finish unless I run out of yarn. I'm getting anxious about the amount of yarn I have left. It doesn't look as if there will be enough - keeping fingers crossed.

I ordered a pattern for a Felted Bucket Hat from Lion Brand Yarn by Chic Knits. It was a really quick project - took only a couple of days of knitting to finish. I used Lion Wool and it felted so nicely. I can't wait to make more. Pictures below are of the finished hat, then the hat before it was felted and finally the yarn I purchased for this pattern. I will use the gold yarn for the next hat.

Sweater for Millie and Ebay yarn

As you can see from the picture below, I'm working on the right and left side of Millie's sweater at the same time. Right at 1/4 of each has been finished. Millie seems excited about how the sweater is coming along and I'm anxious to see it finished, too.

I won an Ebay auction for 13 balls of Lily's Sugar Babies yarn. It is 100% cotton and makes great baby blankets. Since it has been discontinued, I was excited to be able to get ahold of these.

Sweater for Millie - Finished Back

The back of Millie's sweater was finished late last night. I worked on this piece for one week. The right and left sides are worked exactly the same as the back. I think I will cast-on both sides onto the same circular needle using two balls of yarn and knit them at the same time. That means I will not have a finished part of the sweater for two weeks, but at that time I will be ready to start on the sleeves.

Sweater for Millie Continues

After knitting on Millie's sweater for six days here is the result. The back is 4/5 finished. My goal is to knit a ball of yarn in two days. That is right at 50 rows. If I can maintain that progress the sweater will be finished before the end of Oct!

Sweater for Millie - Third Day

The back of Millie's sweater has gotten off to a good start. The pattern is easy to remember and the yarn is wonderful to knit with. So far - so good!

Sweater for Millie - First Day

The swatch for Millie's sweater measured correctly for the size needles called for in the pattern, so I didn't have to make a change of needle size. I cast on the stitches for the back and knitted 12 rows last night.

I'm down to weaving in yarn ends on Ann's striped sweater.

I found a new pattern for dishcloths last week titled Nubbins. I have made a couple, mailed one to Ann at college (because it was pink). I'm using some new (new to me, at least) cotton yarn from Michaels called Twist for these cloths.

Sweater for Millie

I received the yarn for Millie's sweater today. Recently I have been knitting on dishcloths and a baby blanket (pictures coming at a later date). I almost have Ann's striped sweater finished. My knitting time now will have to be divided between Ann's sweater and starting on Millie's.

It is impossible to have such wonderful yarn in the house and not be knitting with it.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Where oh where has this year gone! Can not believe it is already June. Most of us are up, going and blowing this am. Ann has left for the barn. She is working a few hours a week at a new tanning salon here in Cabot. That will give her a bit of spending money. I think I will try out the new sunless spray-on tan and Jill wants to give the massage table a go. Jill has an dental appt at Children's Hospital this morning - just routine. Want to keep those pearly whites looking and working good for the time Jill starts eating "real" food again.

Striped Sweater

Received this in the mail on Monday . . .

to make this for daughter in college.

The yarn for this sweater is just yummy. The gauge was exactly what the pattern called for (knitters will understand that statement) and of Friday morning I have back and left side completed. It is working up much faster than I expected. I think I will be able to have it finished early next week. I hope I don't run into trouble with the ruffle.

Spring Flowers

Pretty flowers in the yard become pretty flowers on the kitchen table.

Cecil Bennett

This is an entry I've been postponing. I thought about skipping it completely, but found I couldn't continue to post if I did.

.

My Dad passed away last month. His health had been failing steadily and the family knew the end was coming. I thought I was prepared for his passing, but wasn't really.

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With Mom and Dad both gone now, it seems like my roots are gone - an ending of a phase of my life.

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The entry to the right is the first page of the Family Focus Newletter Dad's church publishes on the internet monthly.

Click on it to enlarge. I think it is a nice tribute to both Mildred and Cecil Bennett, my Mom and Dad.

Bragging

Have to brag a little on youngest daughter. Ann is the third from the right. She attends William Woods University majoring in Equestian Science.

More Dishcloths!!

As you can guess by now, I really like knitting cotton dishcloths. They are very quick to knit and require very little thinking. Plus a dishcloth is an item all households require. Here are the two newest cloths I have finished.




Below is the Double Woven Dishcloth, sometimes called the Darrell Waltrip Dishcloth (because of the letters DW) . To the right is the Diagonal Ripple Dishcloth. Both were made from cotton yarn on size 6 needles.

Lovely Day

We had a lovely day here in Central Arkansas yesterday. Jill was able to sit out on the back deck for a while. She had to come in the house to get ready for her chiropractor visit but was wanting to stay out. Toby came around to get a treat. The trees are still bare, but you can see how sunny the day was.

New Knitting Book Arrived Today

Received February's book from Zooba.com today. It makes for a
good day when I get a knitting book or magazine in the mail.
The cover describes this book as " tucked away in a valley surrounded by a luscious landscape and rolling hills, Morehouse Farm is home to two former Manhattanites-Margrit Lohrer and Albrecht Pichler-who sought refuge from city life to raise Merino sheep and create the plushest wool of them all. "Morehouse Farms Knits" opens the gates of this magical farmland with a true city-to-country fairy tale and a fresh crop of patterns for merino handknits." I may not knit any of the patterns from this book, but I will enjoy reading the story of Morehouse Farm and looking at the knitted items.

February Weather

It is cold here today and the wind is really blowing. Even though the sun is peeking out, the cold temps and wind chill is going to keep us in the house today.
Ann called last night with the news that central Missouri is getting snow yet again.
She has seen more snow and bitterly cold weather this winter at college than she experienced her whole life here in central Arkansas. I'm so glad she loves her college or she might be wanting to come back home! Here is a picture she sent after the first snow they got in Fulton.

Bennett Hall

The last weekend of January one of Jill's caregivers stayed overnight and helped James with Jill while I made a visit to Corinth to be with my Dad and sisters. The church my parents attended and at one time pastored had a dedication of Bennett Hall as a memorial to Mom. Story and pictures can be found here.

More Dishcloths

One more dishcloth to show. This one has been in my knitting bag for a few months. The pattern was published in Mason Dixon Knitting and it is also known as the ball band dishcloth.

Heart Dishcloth

I found this interesting heart dishcloth at http://smariek.blogspot.com/.

There is one more dishcloth I want to try to make at http://criminyjickets.blogspot.com/2006/07/garterlac-dishcloth.html, then back to knitting socks.

Horse Dishcloth

I had to tweak the pattern a bit for it to come out correct, but I knitted Ann a dishcloth/facecloth with a horse!! Very appropriate for an equestrian science major!

More Knitting

I finished another cap. This one for Jill to wear. I don't like it as well as the other two because it wasn't knitted with wool yarn. The others were softer and probably warmer. I also knitted a heart dishcloth to send to Ann at college for Valentine's. I have a couple of dishclothes I want to knit and then back to socks! My fave!

Dishcloths

I have joined a group at Yahoo! Groups for knitted dishcloths. They are great fun to make and better to use for washing dishes than store-bought ones! The group has two knit-a-longs a month. This is the first one I participated in. The dishcloths turned out to have heart motifs. The yellow one doesn't show the pattern well, but it looks like sunshine to me. You can see the hearts knitted in the red cloth a bit better. It changes to a different color because I was trying to use up left over cotton yarn.

Knitting caps

I came across the Cold Weather Hat on www.headhuggers.org and have made several caps using this pattern. I couldn't find anyone to model so Jill's white bear was drafted. These caps were made out of Muskoka yarn, 100% merino wool in Denim Marl. I'm going to make one more, but out of Berella "4", color Wine Mist. All were made using size 9 needles.