Gates of Pearl-God Sized Dreams

Excitement, excitement for me, because Gates of Pearl is a project I've been working on for a very, very long time and am so happy to finally complete my small dream.   I have all my loves into this, love of God, love of  photography, love of quilting, love of knitting/crochet, love of stamping,  love of reading, love of flowers all combined together.

 I'm not a writer, so creating a book is really just a love of photographs and words from the Bible (http://zondervan.com/bibles) and some other's written inspiration, photos with scriptures along with a couple of prayers and inspirational pieces.   I've created this into 3 separate books (which can be ordered in softcover or as an e-book)  from HP Magcloud :  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/609976

 I thank my heavenly Father for the inspiration and gift of creation and Holly Gerth (http://holleygerth.com/) for the encouragement through "God Sized Dreams".

As always, anytime you try to encourage other's, which I hope that this does, it always comes back and refreshes yourself.    Blessing to you, Michelle

 

Pink Saturday-knitting & flowers & Stamping

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Linking up with above, stop over and visit all the pink inspiration.

I have been admiring these color palette templates other bloggers have been posting and thought I would give it a try.  Wow they are very fun to create.   I found a free template and tutorial over here:  http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/  Thank you Rita.   

More orchids from Botanical Gardens visit.

I used a varigated cotton in pastels for this dishcloth and just made the pattern up I thikg I casted on about 35 stitches on size 8 needles, did about 5 row St, then a checker border of 5 st each SS and G and for a number of rows alternating then repeated 5 rows of St and binded off.  I'm not doing an edging on this one, heck it's just a dishcloth, but a pretty one to smile with at the sink when chores call, don't you think.

A few of my latest stamped creations!

We're getting a a little snow this weekend and it's very cold.

Happy Pink Saturday, Hugs, Michelle

Knitted Finishes

I have three knitted finishes to show you today.  A dishcloth, a decorative scarf and a very warm cowl.

I started with a ball of cotton and just cast on about 30 stitches and made a pattern of garter stitch rows, alternated some knit 2/purl  2 pattern stitches and garter rows at other end...then crocheted a border.  {7 needles/F hook)

This decorative scraf was composed of various fun fibers, all in the green's families.  Used about 12 stitches on size 19 needles.

This cowl was knit on size 50 {yes fifty} needles with two strands of Super Bulky Blue Sky Alpaca/Wool blend.  It ended up to be a pretty tight fit, but will be extremely warm for outdoor wear, of course it knit up in no time at all and I just love the buttons I found at Joann's.  Thank you to my sweet daughter for modeling.

Now I only have 16 more projects on my needles to finish, yikes I just get so inspired.  Have a great day, hugs Michelle

Knitted Dishcloth finishes and Spa cloth

Cotton knitted dishcloth, finishes, two, spa cloth one.  My daughter was in the hospital for six days last week and I took some yarn and needles, there was lots of down time.  {she is on the road to recovery}. 

I like how the sunlight was coming in the window and leaving shadows on this.

I just made the pattern up, knitted a few rows at the beginning and end, did a repeat of multiple seed stitch rows and stockinette rows.

I love these colors...they are definitely me.

This next white one is a spa cloth, with a cable detail.

 The pattern for this can be found here:  http://andrea-needlenotes.blogspot.com/2010/02/cable-spadishcloth.html

I love the way these cotton cloths feel, they are great to use. 

Blessings, Michelle

What's on your Needles?

Needles, yes they do make a difference... I can definitely knit better with nicer needles.  I had a pair of green metal, very long needles I started knitting these cute little booties on, had enough of that after a few rows and went out and bought these "sweet" wooden needles, love them.  I knit these little booties up in a weekend, felt so good to have a project finished, usually most of my items take a while, so a quick finish it was and just in time for a baby shower last weekend (quilt went to the shower too, I'll show that in another post).  These were 3 months size and the first time I ever knit booties on straight needles, usually I do bably socks on double points.  Found this little pattern on a daily knitting calender I got for Christmas, and has 3 different sizes to knit.  How do you knit your baby socks/booties, straight or double point?

What's on your Needles?

I'm almost done, this has been such a no brainer, fun project.  This Gossamer Shawl, so light and delicate and lacy and EASY...I'm hoping to wear it with a "little black dress".  I love the little tinsel like silver threads running thru the light blue mohair.  So tell me, what's on your needles?  I'll post a finished photo soon.
Here's the pattern in case any one is interested.
Gossamer Shawl, size 17 needles, cast on 35 stitches, work in st st until scarf is desired length and bind off!  It's that easy. 

Felted Bags

I also love to knit and these are a couple of bags that I knit and then felted. I use the yellow one in the fall and wear on weekends with jeans and the clutch can go dress up or down, used a black wool and a charm strand, both very easy to make.

Knit hats

I made three of these up, they are with chunky wool and knit up on circulars extremely fast. They are very warm and comfy, unisex.

Debbie Macomber-hits another great one

"Knit Together"...I loved, loved this book. I'm planning on re-reading it...I read it the minute the hardcover hit the store...now after some time has elapsed I think I want to read it again...I don't say that about too many books. This is a keeper in my library and one I loan out and recommend highly.

Knitted Ringlet Scarf

I was looking for a scarf with a different "twist" and found this. 1-55" long circular needle, size 10 1/2 or 11, cast on 90 sts, Row 1 knit, r-2 knit into front and back of every stitch, r-3 knit, r-4 knit into front and back of every stitch, r-5- knit, r-6, knit into front and back of every stitch, r-7 knit, knit {change to a different yarn if desired for fancy edging} 2 rows and bind off {a lot of sts, ha, ha}.

Fun, Fast Scarfs

I've probably made about 100 of these scarfs, seems like for a few years they were a new craze that was getting non-knitters into knitting and re-newing the fever for long-time knitters to pick it up again. No hard fast set rules, here....I've used anywhere from a size 13, 15, 17, 19 needles with 1, 2 or 3 strands of various types of decorative yarns/threads. Depending on yarn, I've used anywhere between 8 to 12 stitches. All you really need to know is how to cast on, garter stitch, and bind off and weave ends in...for these simple scarfs the yarn textures and color is what really makes the scarf. Very fun, can probably knit one of in a little more than an hour, depending on needle size and yarn size and length. I've seen them from short to very, very long. From decorative sweater accessory to warm coat necessity. have fun and try different combos.