Flagel Knitting Files

A few days ago I suggested I can embroider or at least was able to do so with good directions decades ago.  There is a reason for my needing to brush off those skills.  I've decided to knit cake tops; specifically wedding cake tops.  This was inspired by Knitted Yummies from StitchinKitsch.com    The basic pattern for the cake is found in this booklet but I did want to add the more appropriate decorations; the directions were too simplistic for this project.  My first attempt was based on this cake top. Suzanne and Lex's cake Rather than ask the couple to save the top tier for a year and then eat it, I knit a cake for them. Note the hydrangeas used to top the cake.  I thought if I'd find a sphere big enough and cover it with flowers I could get the effect that would be appropriate.  This is what I came up with in yarn: Lex and Suzanne's cake top version As you can see it isn't perfect.  I need to improve on the hydrangea; the petals on my version are far

Knitting is everywhere, haven't you notice it?  I always laugh to myself because when I was pregnant, all those decades ago, it seemed as though every other woman was pregnant when in fact it was a change in my focus.  I just noticed pregnant women, that's all.  I've now lost or given up that focus and moved my attention to all things knitting.  Which brings me to the show "Person of Interest".  (The segue isn't my strength, I'm sure you dear reader agree.) In last night's "Person of Interest" (CityTV for those of you reading in the greater Vancouver area) even  Paul caught the knitting reference and suggested I write about it.  Oh, so sorry Paul, I think I may be a bad influence on you!   Mr Finch First, the show focuses on two main characters:  Michael Emerson plays Mr. Finch (I think they indicated last night his first name is Harold).  Finch is a very private, geeky billionaire who designed a computer system  for the US g

I can find knitting related items in many different areas of my life.  On the radio, television, at the library, online, at home, at work, in theatre or art gallery etc., etc.  Then there are some places I don't immediately expect to contribute to my knitting, like a grocery store. (Well that can't be totally true, I do knit food, don't I?) At any rate during a recent trip to the grocery store I had to stop in my tracks because of what I saw.  There it was in the meat counter something that was so awesome I had to take out my iPhone and go on a photo shooting spree.  Snuggled next to the beef steaks, roasts and hamburger were several packages of something labeled beef sausage.  Paul was forced to stop with me and hold up the package as I snapped away.  He did a great job balancing it with one hand over the shopping cart.  People around us seemed either mildly interested or concerned about what we were doing.  However, no one stopped us so here's the results: A rea

When you continue to share online, people find out.  Friends tell their friends; family members tell other family members and I talk about it at work.  My colleagues although patient probably get more information than they want and certainly more than they need about this blog.   Lucky for me a few colleagues also knit and we swap stories. One of these colleagues is simply a fantastic knitter.  She is a specialist in socks and lace, but she has ample skills in all areas related to knitting.  Her work is professional, neat and consistent.  When she dropped by the other day to show me this toddler sweater she designed, I told her I had to share. She told me the blue and gray Xs and Os design was taken from a  Scandinavia reindeer sweater and the owls were simply (??) designed on  graph paper.  Once she had the size of the Xs and Os plus the owls organized the entire sweater was proportioned around their  dimensions .  A ccording to the designer the collar was pretty much done

A gift given in the early 70's While I was taking classes to complete my undergraduate degree Mom was fascinated with owls.  She's not the type to obsess; she didn't collect owls of all types, but she made it clear that she would enjoy owl gifts. So I embroidered this one for her sometime in the early 1970s and was very proud of it, even if I do say so myself.   As a college student I couldn't afford to frame it; Mom did it well with the gold moulding emphasizing the eyes and the dark frame highlighting the dark browns of the owl and grounding the rather light coloured bird and background. This project started a kit so I had the right thread at my finger tips.  Plus the instructions must have been very clear because I was able to successfully complete the variety of different stitches required.  It seems to me I spent hours working on it, and I'm sure my eye sight was much better than it is today.  ( I struggle now doing cross-stitch as I often split threads

Google gives the owner of a blog basic statistics about who is looking in on their blog.  I have taken a look at those numbers and find people from over 10 countries have looked into this site.  Here's how these numbers breakdown about pageviews since I started in early October.  Readers have come from the following countries:                                          Canada          49.4%                                             Malaysia          .7% U.S.                33.7%                                             U.K.                  .5% Russia             9.9%                                              Brazill               .4% Germany         1.5%                                              Hong Kong       .2% Latvia              1.0%                                              Pakistan           .2%                                                                               Other             2.5% It is of no surprise that the bulk of my readers co

There are some who can plan ahead for deadlines and meet them.  In fact in my work life I am one who generally is much more comfortable completing a project well in advance of the deadline so that I have time to review it again and again before it is due. Then there is my personal life and in particular for this post, my attention to knitting projects.  I have in my head the things I'd like to get done as Xmas gifts.  The list is developed with more than enough time to complete everything.  This year I even finished projects in the summer for holiday giving.  But then something happens.  I seem to develop attention deficit disorder for knitting projects.  A small or new interesting project (or as some of us call it--the next new shiny thing) calls to me and I don't control myself.  I take it on and of course it takes far longer than I expected and then it is the end of November!  In fact I shocked myself this year because I had started to create a list of those things I would

As I blather along here and more folks find out about the silliness I make, I am beginning to get requests.  I love knitting and am happy to give things away, but I don't keep a stash of completed projects so people do have to wait for me.  (A part of what motivates me is knowing who will get the end product.) Here's the new piece of cake I made this week from Knitted Yummies : A vanilla cake So I made a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and a tea rose on top.   I wanted to make the point of the piece of cake more defined than I have in the past so I really worked to get an angle.  I think I accomplished my objective. The tea rose comes from  100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet .  It was crocheted and a lot of fun to make.   It does look enough like a tea rose to satisfy me.  Here's another shot of it. Another view of the tea rose Kathryn, thanks for asking me to make this for you.  A new hot dog, hamburger and fries will eventually be on their way.

I rarely have an original idea.  Mom made a hooked rug type of Xmas stocking for all her grandchildren.  I don't have a photo of one, perhaps someone will take one for me.  The stocking is red with a white snowman on it and included the person's name.   It seemed to be an appropriate design for a stocking; not too Christmasy in its design but easily something that relates to the holiday. So I decided to continue the tradition.  Last year I made a stocking for my step-grandson, Kai: Kai's holiday stocking I wanted to make another snowman as an homage to Mom's idea.  This was my first major colour change project and luckily for me it went pretty well.  The  pattern  is available for free at the link.  Instead of doing it in blue like the pattern, I did mine in shades of green.  I also added his name and a bigger loop for the hook, but I didn't do the back as designed; it was done in solid dark green instead. So when I sent this stocking to Kai's mom she

Mom, as I've mentioned before is a rather private person so my writing yet another post about her handiwork will probably not please her.  However, she is a very skilled craftsperson as the following will illustrate.  So at the risk of invading her privacy further I will continue to share her work. Money was tight when I was first starting out married life so the idea of spending on items that were only used one month or less a year seemed ridiculous to me (or maybe it was just me being tight).  Mom came to the rescue.  She would do sewing, painting, macrame, knitting and cross stitching of Xmas items.  I'll show a sample of things she made over the years here; more will be revealed in future holiday posts.  Much of what Mom made came with this label attached: Name has been abbreviated to protect the reticent My carolers Mom and her brother teamed up on this project some time ago.  My Uncle did the woodwork using a jigsaw to cut out the carolers; Mom did all the de

When I was with my family of origin I checked in on the fast food I'd made for my grand-nieces.  There was now a third one with Brenna born on November 14.  Let me introduce you to the three of them: The owners and operators of the knitted fast food - Callie, Ellie and Brenna Aren't they just adorable.  Don't let the dark hair on the baby fool you, she like her sisters will quickly replace it with the drop-dead gorgeous blonde that runs in that family.  This picture turned out pretty good considering I'm holding the baby with my left hand, directing the pose and shooting the photo with my right.  But the absolute best picture of the entire trip is this one. Grandpa and baby girl I have to say I captured my brother with his newest grand baby girl at just the perfect moment.  And since I don't use a flash, he may not even know I took it.  What a touching kiss.  My brother is a big guy who works hard with his hands, but the tenderness here is almost palpab

It 'tis the season to begin thinking about baking holiday cookies.  Although I do bake real cookies it seemed appropriate to check out knitted holiday cookies to see what might be out there.  I started the search by looking at free sources and found this guy. Knitted gingerbread man The pattern for this appropriately decorated cookie is available from  Ravelry  by Alan Dart from the UK.  If you'd like to make one Alan makes the pattern available for free, just check into patterns and then food.  (Ravelry is place for yarn artists of all types to track their stash, projects and pattern information as well as become inspired by others.  It's free to sign up as well.) But then the pickings got slim.  I did find these: Felted fortune cookies Tanya Brooks from the US shares the pattern for these felted fortune cookies that are really cute but not directly Christmas related.  Tanya suggests you can use them for Xmas, Valentine Day's or any other special occasion