PASSION

     Passion: the emotion a carpenter bee exhibits as it buries itself into the passion flowers growing on our front porch arbor.  Bees and orange butterflies find these flowers irresistible. The vines are thick with buds and when they open I'll have more pictures to share.  I'm amazed by the complex structure of this flower. 

      As much as I enjoy knitting, I'd say it's my passion.  I also enjoy thrift store shopping and when I find some lovely yarn I get excited about its possibilities.  Last week at Goodwill I found two big bags of wool and wool blend yarns some in whole skeins others in smaller bundles. SCORE! as the clerk said.  Traditionally, the pattern comes first then the yarn to make the pattern.  But starting with the yarn and finding a pattern or creating one yourself is a challenge I enjoy.  In this bag of yarn, I found three skeins of Berroco Duo (now discontinued) 98% wool, 2% nylon.  So I made a scarf - a long one in garter stitch which is knit every row.  The color change is in the yarn and to show it off I kept the stitches simple. So cool. 

    The scarf is about 5 x 65 inches. Had enough for fringe.  

      Yellow iris popped up in the middle of the garden.  Not sure how she got there since other irises are in the back against the fence.  She must be a rebel and found a place where she could be the center of attention. 

     "Kingston-Axel’s journey through life" on Facebook

KBG Foundation

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MAKING

      Even though I haven't been Blogging these past two years, I have been knitting and crocheting. Always.  Often my knitting is for a cause like the Special Olympics or the Red Scarf Project. But knitting for this little person, Kingston-Axel Hodge has given me the best reason to knit. The pilot's cap keeps his head warm but also holds his hearing aid and glasses in place.  The booties are just to keep toes warm. 

     Kingston-Axel has a genetic disorder calle KBG syndrome, a rare disorder that affects several body systems.  "KBG" represents the surname initials of the first families diagnosed with the disorder.  Common signs and symptoms in individuals with this condition include facial features, skeletal abnormalities, and intellectual disability.   

     Kingston-Axel is a sweet little boy with a large loving family.  You can see his progress first hand on Facebook. Look for: Kingston-Axel’s journey through life   

     

     I also saw the call for wildlife rescue nests - knit or crochet.  I chose crochet - so much easier than trying to knit round things.  Enjoyable to make.  I made a dozen and sent them off to The Carolina Waterfowl Rescue Group.  Thinking about making some larger baskets for myself now that I know I can.

     I've also been making a few baby blankets.  I had two large skeins of blue and white yarn so I worked about a design using "grandma's favorite wash cloth pattern" that starts at a corner increasing to a preferred size, then decreasing to the opposite corner.  I like the way I worked the stripe pattern.  Had enough yarn to crochet a border. 

More knitting to come.  Will try to include the sources of patterns I used.  It's important to give credit to knitting designers who often share patterns for free.  

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JANUARY 2017

        I'm publishing this post two years after I created it.  I'm returning to my blog after a long lay off.  I had some trouble getting back in, but as usual, reading the instructions in Blogger Help, I'm back and so happy to have found all that I had published.  It's a record of much of my knitting and our gardening. I'm still knitting, the garden is flourishing, and I plan to post more.  So here's a little about Christmas knitting 2017.

 Christmas knitting for little girl gift baskets for the Eagles Aerie Auxiliary kept me busy for a few weeks.  Knitting hats and scarves can take time that I didn't have, until I found bulky yarn in my stash and a knit-flat pattern for the hats.  I can knit in the round, but find knitting with double-point size 13 needles to be frustrating.  I took the projects with me while being a substitute at Elk Creek Jr/Sr High School in order to keep up the work.  Kids there now expect to see knitting in progress when I'm there and some have asked that I teach them how to knit. The scarves came together easily using an easy rib pattern or just knitting every row adding a few stripes or by letting the variegated yarn do its thing.  

You can find the hat pattern here: 

http://www.gina-michele.com/2015/01/3-hour-chunky-ribbed-hat-knitting.html

I've been told the hats and scarves were a hit and appreciated by parents and kids both.  Now that I know about this Christmas tradition, I will add this knitting to my list of projects.