My hubby and I headed up north to visit my parents, who live outside of  Show Low, AZ,  this weekend.  We had a gorgeous trip coming and going with perfect weather!  I must say that I really do miss the colder weather and the crisp feel of the air.  Last night (Saturday evening) we went outside to look at the stars and the Milky Way ~ magnificent.  I do miss the dark skies because you can’t see to many stars in the city!

I took a photo of a pear tree in their yard that is just now turning and dropping leaves  -

And a quite a few photos of our dog, who is such the little “miss personality” -

And of course, my husband who always likes to act goofy -

I have found the perfect lunch time knitting project…. mug cozies!  I’ve knitted up 3 so far and have 6 to go.  Looks like I will be able to knit about 3 cozies per left-over skein of yarn that has been accumulating in my basket.  This was a grand idea!!!

I’m excited too that I have the perfect buttons to use ….  I don’t even remember where I purchased these!

Tomorrow is going to be fun.  Hubby and I are driving up to the Show Low area to see my folks tomorrow.  The weather will be much cooler than here in Phoenix and I’m happy that I might actually get to wear a sweater and maybe even a hat.

Happy knitting !!!

The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are just around the corner and during this time of year,  I love to bring out all my family recipes to see what I’m inspired to make.  There’s so many to choose from but one that is quite yummy that my sister and I both make at Thanksgiving  is a cranberry salad.  This is a quite recipe with a yummy result. I hope you enjoy!

Cranberry Salad

1 pound fresh cranberries

1 cup sugar

1 pound miniature marshmellows

1 can drained crushed pineapple

1 16oz. whipping cream (or you can make your own, which I do)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (your choice, I use pecans)

Directions:  Grind cranberries or put them in a blender and chop up fine.  Add sugar, mix well and let the mixture sit for about 30 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and store in the fridge.  Keeps up to 5 days in the fridge.

As mentioned earlier, I’ve decided to dedicate the month of November to slippers .   I have decided to give the following patterns a try, which  I’m very excited about and feel they’ll make great gifts.

Arwen Slipper Socks by Tabitha’s Heart Designs (photo: Tabitha’s Heart Designs)  Adorable and very feminine, these slippers will be perfect for someone special.  Construction is top down, with heel flap and gusset, and standard decreased toe with grafted closure.

Aran Isle Slippers by Jennifer Lang (Photo: Knitting Daily)  Very stylish slippers knitted in Filatura Di Crosa Zara Plus (100% merino)

Lace Slippers by Patons Yarn – Booklet #861 (Photo: Patons Yarn)  Cute  Mary Jane-style slippers with lacy pattern and button strap closure.

Textured Slippers by Patons Yarn – Booklet #861 (Photo: Patons yarn)  Very practical and warm knitted in Patons Classic Wool #238 Paprika.

So, this week I’m casting on the first on the list, Arwen Slipper Socks,  and will keep you informed of my progress.

Happy knitting!

Dear Followers ~

I have purchased my own Domain name and have officially moved here to my official website  Peacefullyknitting.  You will be able to follow by RSS feed, post comments and keep up to date with new patterns, changes, etc.  I appreciate all of you so very much and hope that you will continue to follow me here in my new home.

Please note that I will keep my former blog site active until December 31, 2009.

Thank you so much and happy knitting!

Tina 

I’m so excited!!!! My Painted Cables Scarf was included in a great treasury on Etsy by Emptynestegg.
I was also happy to see many of my favorite sellers included as well…..  Waterrose, DeShawnMarie, CinLynnBoutique and ByYourSide2009  I feel honored to be in such great company!

I love cable patterns and the other day when I was in Michaels, I ended up purchasing a new booklet from Patons Next Six Steps – learn to cable.  This booklet has 5 patterns that I can’t wait to try, including this  “Mug Hugger”.  Now this project is super fast and perfect for lunch time knittinig!

Mug Hugger This easy mug hugger is great cabling practice and adds a refined touch to your mugs while protecting your hands. Size 4.5mm (U.S. 7) knitting needles. Sizes Approx 3.5 x 9.5 ins [9 x 24 cm] Materials 1 ball Patons Decor (100g), #87522 Pale New Green

With Christmas only 8 weeks away (yikes, that’s too close for comfort), I’m busy knitting mug cozies for a few of the gals I work with that will go around the perfect white mugs I found at the dollar store – I’m so thrifty.  I’m using  the Cabled Mug Cozy pattern by Knit Picks and plan to use up   left over scrap yarn that has been accumulating in my yarn my basket.  This project is great for me to take with me daily to work and knit on during my lunch hour.  Hope to have them done very soon.

Next on the project list is my second pattern for socks.  I’ve decided to knit another pair out of the 2008 Interweave Holiday Issue, the Aran Isle Slippers by Jennifer Lang.  I have several skeins of yarn in my stash that should work for this project and I have been leaning towards my skein of Cascade 220 in a light teal.  I have taken a lot at all the finished projects on Ravelry and have been very impressed with the choices of yarn knitters used.  Can’t wait to cast on!

Happy knitting to all!

I decided to cast on another set of slippers that was destined to be felted.
I used the Ribby Slipper Socks pattern as before, but this time I selected 2 skeins of Debbie Bliss SoHo in colorway 37504 that has been sitting in my stash for months…. I mean months!  I also used up a little bit of my left over Louet Riverstone in Glacier that I used for the knitted cuff.
I love how the slippers turned out before I felted them.  The SoHo knitted up beautiful and the pattern required just about 2 full skeins.  I increased the pattern by 12 stitches for felting, as well as increased the finished length to 10.5″.  This worked very well.

Photo 1: Before felting

Photo 2:  After felting

Check in next week online at Examiner for slipper patterns that are free to download!

We’re soon coming up to November and I’ve decided to try a few different slipper patterns for gifts for friends and family.  I’ll be sharing my progress on each project, along with photos, any issues with the patterns and I will be giving the pattern a rating - 5 star (really fun/ easy to follow/read) to 0 star(very poor) and will also provide a knitting experience level.

For my first project, I will be knitting Cathy Carrons Ribby Slipper Socks that was featured in the 2008 Interweave Holiday issue.  If you do not have access to this pattern, sign up with Knitting Daily and download the “6 Easy Knitting Patterns“.

Rating:    4 Stars – While this pattern is very easy to make and knits extremely fast, there are a couple of areas in the pattern that might be an issue for new knitters to understand fully.

Difficulty:  Very Easy and a good choice for a beginner knitter.

I used Knit Picks Cadena in Peat for the slipper and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Fairy Tale for the ankle.

Photo 1:  Toe up – beginning the knit 1, purl 1 ribbing for 5″.

Photo 2:  5″ of the ribbing completed, starting the leg opening. *Note for beginners: At this point of the pattern it indicates that you will knit back and forth across the rows.  It means exactly that – you will not work in the round.