Merry Christmas!

"For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord"
Luke 2:11

Today is a wonderful day (although it should be everyday) to remember what took place over 2000 years ago, predestined in eternity past before man had yet to be created. The birth of the awaited Messiah, the Savior, Christ the Lord. It is a day to celebrate not only His birth, while at the same time be humbled by the condition in which the God of the universe was brought into this world, but to celebrate His life, His death and His resurrection. It is a day, if you are a Christian, to thank God for His salvation which by His grace we have received; if you are not a Christian, today is the day of Salvation, a day to look within and see our wretched sinfulness and to look to Jesus the God-man who on the cross bore our sins, received the punishment we deserve, died and on the third day resurrected, so that we through repentance and faith in Him may be saved, and be justified before the Lord. It is a day to spend in prayer whether it be in thanksgiving and/or repentance, a day to celebrate Christ the Lord and saviour. So go spend it as you will but before you do and while you are still on the internet, here are a few articles/videos/blogs you should, I correct myself you must read:

1. The Christmas Story by Dan Phillips
2. Is it dangerous to Celebrate Christmas?: Deconstructing Christmas by Jen Guerriero
3. The Reason for the Season: It's about the Cross by Go Fish (A Video/Song)

4. A Classic: What Christmas is all about by Peanuts

Wooly Slippers

Project info

Name: Wooly Slippers

Pattern:

Pocketbook Slippers by Lisa Vienneau & Allison Barrett

Craft: Knitting

Made for: Me

Size: One size

Needle and yarn

Needle

US 7 / 4.5 mm

Yarn: Acrylic

How much?:

1.6 skeins = 96.0 yards (87.8m)

Colorway: Solid

Color family: Pink

Thanksgiving in Miami

I need help! I'll be spending thanksgiving day and weekend in Miami with my cousin and her husband's family and there are three items I'd like to buy but have no clue, and I'm sure they'll have no clue as well, where to buy them so ATTENTION all Christians (or anyone who might know) in Miami where can I get the following:

1. An Electronics Store where I can buy this item (if it has the shape of a microphone even better :D i.e. ) ?
2. A MUSIC STORE where I can buy CD's by Keith and Kristyn Getty and Sovereign Grace Music?
3. A Christian Book Store where I can buy the ESV Bible study?


This post will be up up until a few days before my trip, I leave november 26th. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Knitting Daily

Have you joined their mailing list yet? You should, they've got really great lessons and techniques on knitting, pictures, a forum, free patterns (and that is always a plus) and a lovely blog with weekly tips.

Today's Tip: How to Choose the Perfect Yarn

Caron Simply Shrug

Finally got around to knitting the Shrug This pattern again with modifications...I casted 10 extra stitches and increased the arm stitches to about 7 more on each side..
EDIT:
Sorry, forgot to post the pattern detail here's a plus:

Project info

Pattern: Shrug This by Toni Kayser Weiner

Craft: Knitting

Made For: My sister

Size: a larger size than the pattern offers

Needle and yarn

Needle: US 10 / 6.0 mm

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Ombre

254.0 yards in stash

How much?1 skeins = 254.0 yards (232.3m)

Colorway : striped

Purchased at Sew Crafty, NY

Another Slouchy Copy Cat Hat

I casted on 93 stitches this time, and increased the stitches to 135 with a little formula I devised.
(1 + n + 1)/2= X [why not n+2? its the same thing I've just written it that way so you'll know that each 1 is the increase you'll be doing in between stitches]
X being the amount of stitches that you'll be adding to the amount of stitches you already have.
x + n= Y
Y being the total amount of stitches in your needles, knowing this will help you decide how many stitches you want to have and how to get multiples of 5 in order to correctly knit the Faux Cable Eyelet pattern.
Example: (lets use the amount of stitches the pattern calls for: 76)
n=76
(76+2)/2=
78/2= 39
X = 39
X+n=
76+39= 115
Just like the pattern says it will increase to.
In my case I casted on 93 stitches, using the formula I got 141 sts total (140.5) I only wanted 135 sts cause I was in a hurry and had only 1 skein of Cascade 220 (but after I finished the hat I still had some yarn left over, so It think it wouldn't have made much difference had I increased it to 140)
How to avoid having those 6 extra stitches? By skipping an increase stitch every 31 stitches. (thats how many stitches per needle I have)
Sorry about the bad quality pictures, we were on our way to the airport.

Of speeches and things

This is by far the best speech ever!

Mail Call!

It is so exciting to get all my favorite stuff in the mailbox! (well its not exactly a mailbox, more like the Areopaq offices, but hey! it's still mail) Last week I finally got my lovely Cascade 220 Heathers, I ordered (at Jimmy Beans Wool, great deals!) for my sister's very own Summer Slouchy that I need to cast on and finish by Saturday...she's leaving Sunday *sniffles*
Knitted Items (by me) she'll be taking:
- The Lace Scarf and Edged Hat Set
- Caron Simply Shrug (Modified Shrug Me Shrug)
- Summer Slouchy
- Garter Slippers
I wanted to make her some gloves but I still don't know how, I've read several patterns and it just seems so difficult :S
The other yarn I got for *gasp* 0.99$ (also at Jimmy Beans Wool, great deals!), 195yds of Reynolds' Whiskey , its a 2ply sort of light sport weight.
I also got some striped candy (2 of 'em) with my yarn! aren't they sweet at Jimmy Beans Wool (they're not paying me for saying good stuff about 'em I'm just extremely satisfied with my purchase there)


I also got my Gospel of John tracts! I still have some left from last time I ordered them, but one should never run out, there's always one of those divine appointments in which you just might need one to give away.

Slouchy Summer - Done!

All done! with less than 1 skein of the lovely Cascade 220, casting on 90 stitches (16 stitches more than what the pattern called for) and during the increase increasing it to 130stitches (go ahead and increase it to 135 for more slouchyness action, distribute a few more YO evenly) and then just follow the pattern, the end result should look more or less like mine!
Happy knitting and God bless!

Slouchy Summer

On my trip to NY about 2 years ago I went on a yarn shopping frenzy, and bought 1 skein of different brands of yarn, one of these was Cascade 220 Wool, after going through all the patterns shown in ravelry I finally decided to knit the Slouchy Copy Cat Hat with it.
Here's a picture of my WIP Summer Slouchy:

As usual I altered the pattern, I casted on 90 stitches because 76, what the pattern called for, would've turned out too small for my 22" head. But that lead me to alter the amount of stitches I had to increase, I skipped a few yarn overs and the stitches increased to 130 giving me a good round number for the Eyelet Mock Cable Ribbing, which is done in multiples of 5.

World's Fastest Knitter

That is just crazy! 118 stitches per minute! 2 stitches per second! that is crazy!

Edit:
ok I couldn't help it so I timed myself...90 stitches in 5 minutes and 10 seconds using DPNs...boy am I slow! :P It's ok though.

Projects Completed

So I finished the hat, and now the Lace Scarf and Hat set is complete! I'm pretty satisfied, vacation ends this Monday so I don't know how much time will I have for knitting, but I need to knit a few more things before my sister leaves.

Lace-Edged Women's Hat

So yesterday I finished knitting the LionBrand Lace Scarf and immediately began knitting this lovely pattern by Julie Hentz.
As usual, I used Caron Simply Soft, worsted weight. I'm using a US size 8 circular needle as opposed to the size 6 the pattern calls for. Also, I added 6 extra stitches because my sister has a big head, so I'm knitting in the blind here not knowing how big the hat will be or how the end result will look, so far I love how the edge is turning out.
Hopefully I'll finish it by this weekend.
Here's a little sneak peak of how its turning out:

Looks like a little crown :D

Back Again

I realize I do that quite a lot..take hiatuses...in kitting its different, i had to stop. Coming home after spending the entire day touching people that usually are not very clean because of their circumstances, does not inspire anyone to knit. So I decided to stop until vacation time.
Now I'm actually in a hurry! My sister is leaving for Spain in september and I promised I'd knit her some stuff for the winter. I'm finally finishing the Lace Scarf, I've used up almost an entire skein of Caron Simply Soft worsted weight yarn, the thing is almost 6ft long. My next knitting project is going to be a lace hat to go with the scarf, and if I have time I might knit her another scarf and thats about it.
My biggest challenge will be to block the scarf. It's Caron Simply Soft. It's Acrylic.
So about that LYS I thought I had found, it turned out to be sham its just another Crafts Store, stuffed with acrylic yarn and the usual mercerized cotton.

Finally Found it!!!!

A LYS! an actual LYS!! I met this lady once outside the doctor's office, she was crocheting something and I intrigued as always sat next to her and started to ask her questions about her crocheting, we ended up her teaching me how to crochet and in the process telling me where she buys her yarn, I told her of my disappointment due to the lack of LYSs where I could buy the real stuff and not acrylic yarn. Well to my surprise such a place exists somewhere in the bad parts of town, I wrote down the name and asked for specific directions, she gave 'em to me and I vowed to one day on my own little self wander around those parts of town and see if I could find it. Anywho time passed by and I had forgotten about that place until this semester when choosing which hospital to go to for the Internal Medicine Internship, I chose one that is located in that part of town where the alleged LYS is supposed to be, and so again I vowed to one day after noon when i've left the hospital I could wander around. Well last night, my dad decided he wanted to eat out and so invited me and my mom to go to our version of "China Town" and as we are driving around "China Town"(which is nothing like China Town in the US or anywhere else) there it was!!! on the same street "China Town" is located, in a corner! With a painting of a ball of yarn as a logo and the name of the LYS Siragusa. It was obviously closed because of the hour, but I'm definitely going there sometime this week! Finally found the LYS! Praise God!
Well thats all for now...

Bluegrass

Something cute a special someone pointed me to.

Lyrics

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, let the cold winds blow

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

Neverending Lace

So the Lace Scarf has taken more than I thought it would only because the princess, my sister, wants it longer. It measures right now 57.5, even though the pattern calls for just 30 something inches, I just got tired of knitting and have been doing at leas 2 to 3 pattern repeats a day...

Blocking Acrylic

So I've been knitting this Lace Scarf, and as I stated before substituted the cotton yarn the pattern asks for, for Caron Simply Soft which is acrylic yarn. The scarf is a gift for my sister and as I explained to her that the scarf needs blocking because its Lace and so the pattern can be seen nicely, I began to wonder how am I gonna block acrylic! I've blocked cotton before when I began knitting the other lace scarf Branching Out, but never acrylic, the old legend was that it couldn't be done but I remember having read once in a website somewhere that it can. So I googled it as I do everything and voila!

Blocking Acrylic

"You need:

Blocking wires and/or rust proof pins, a cotton dish towel or a piece of cotton fabric, and an iron.

In Arctic Lace, I mentioned that you can't knit lace with acrylic yarns because they won't keep their shape when blocked. This is true if you follow the procedure above.

However, when I went to the Boise Lace Knitting retreat a couple of months ago, one of the other attendees, Pat Stevens, proved me wrong. Here's her technique for "killing" acrylic yarn to give it a gorgeous drape.

Wet your knitting, spin it out in a washer. Lay a sheet on the carpet. Pin the piece exactly the size you want. (I stretch my lace shoulder warmers pretty hard.) Lay a wet cotton dish towel or piece of fabric over it. With a hot iron press down all over the thing. Don't iron just press. I press until the top cloth is very dry. Then I leave it overnight to finish drying. It's that easy. I really press it a lot, it's the steam heat that makes the acrylic look and drape like rayon. You may want to knit a large swatch and test it out.

Edited to add this note in response to a question a reader sent me in email: Acrylic yarn gets "killed" by the application of the heat and it will remain dead after future washings and retain its new shape. You should only have to do this treatment once, as far as I can tell, whereas you normally have to reblock lace knitted in wool or other natural fibers after each washing.

Here's another tip that just arrived in my email from Renee' Wells, whom I also met at the Boise Lace Knitting Retreat (Renee' teaches some great classes on Japanese knitting and if you ever have a chance to take one of them, don't miss it!):

This can also be done dry. Sometimes I place the item on a towel with a wet cloth above. Press and then gently stretch the item into the new shape. You can pick up the cloth between wettings and see where more pressing is needed to even it out. The advantage to this method is greater stretch. You must be careful not to let the item hang over the ironing board it you are trying it there. The weight will skew the shape. I often kill acrylic baby blankets, they morph into lovely exotic feeling fibers! No longer just acrylic! And the mums that receive them use them over and over because they do hold their new drape."

Hopefully it will turn out great!

God bless!

My First Knit

This is the first thing I ever knitted, it ended up being a very deformed cloth. I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just knew I wanted to knit, whatever it was. It has tons of mistakes, I dropped who knows how many stitches, but I learned, and since then been able to knit socks, scarves, hats, and even lace! thank the Lord. I've met some wonderful ladies and a lovely community of knitters willing and ready to lend a hand, virtually speaking of course, whenever needed.
But now it is time to refocus my knitting toward something else, its time to really do this for God's glory as should everything in our lives be done, as Christians.
An amazing door has just opened up and boy am I willing and ready to jump through it!
Next semester I'm beginning the first of 3 semesters to come before I finish med school, I'm entering my Internship which lasts a year, hence the three "semesters". The hospital I wanted to go to sadly(or so I felt) was not an option this semester and so I was left with 4 other options, out of those four the one I wanted was full and so I picked one knowing that God has His will and not always will it be something we necessary like at least in the beginning. He didn't choose the handsomest king He chose David, He didn't choose the "better" son He chose Jacob. And likewise, this Hospital which I visited for the first time last week I think, while others saw it as unappealing and scary I saw it as a blessing!
My entire family from both sides have been raised catholic, most don't even believe in God or at least not the God of the bible. From my dad's side the first response after finding out I became a Christian, here that means "Evangelica" (Evangelical and sometimes confused with Pentecostal) my aunt said "But you were a catholic!" I simply sighed. Of course my aunt doesn't know me as a person, she only knows what she's heard from my mom and my mom would never speak ill of me even if I were a monster which I once was.
So what does this have to do with knitting for God's glory, with the hospital etc?
Well it all began last week when I visited my aunt's clothes shop, on the counter she had 3 gorgeous crocheted shawls!! I mean LOVELY shawls, incredible well crocheted shawls!! I was mightily impressed she told me she'd be willing to teach me! all I had to do was bring my crochet hook(s) and some yarn and away we'd go. Since I knew the hospital was somewhat in the area I asked my mom to take me there that I can finally see the hospital and see what its like from outside and the surrounding areas, the hospital I found out is at a walking distance from my aunt's house and from the shop.
But at that point I still wasn't sure I had passed my ob-gyn class (a long story) so while it all seemed orchestrated by God I just needed that last confirmation, that I would actually go to this hospital.
And today I found out I did pass! And as of May 6th will begin my Internal Medicine Internship at Padre Billini Hospital, and my "Internal Medicine" Evangelism at my Aunt's home!

Please pray for me and my Aunt!! Not just her, pray for her daughters, one of them lives there too and my grandfather a very stern and stubborn man who hates God and especially the bible, he also lives there!

God bless and Happy Knitting!
In Christ,
Rita M.

Lace Yet Again

Lace Scarf
Lion Brand^® Lion Cotton
Pattern Number: 70336AD

So I got this pattern from the Lion Brand newsletter I receive monthly, while I've had a bad experience knitting lace anything, the pattern seemed real easy, plus I have the yarn weight(although I'll be using Caron Simply Soft instead of the one the pattern calls for) needed AND the needles (I'll be using circular needles cause I've only got those in that size, 8) which is usually a rarity. So far its been going great! the pattern is not confusing and quick to knit. Hopefully I'll be done by either the end of the week or by next week.

Socks!

It has been quite a while since I last knitted something AND since i last wrote on this blog!! All due to lack of time for both things. I finally finished knitting the pair of cotton socks!! They are comfortable to wear, not too warm so they're perfect for the weather around here!
BEFORE


AFTER



I used the Silver's Sock Class pattern but had to adjust it for the yarn weight and needles I was using...i think I casted around 72 stitches...I should've casted at least 68 or something for a snugger fit. But oh well maybe sometime in the distant future.

Thats all for now!!
God bless! and happy knitting!