In search of writing inspiration

 The magpies fancy has a wonderful feature called ‘freewrite fridays’

Gigi Thibodeau is posting a weekly inspirational exercise to help those of us who want to sharpen our writing skills.  I was so happy to find her blog as I had set ‘become a better writer’ as one of my goals for 2011.  One of her first suggestions, get a portable size notebook and carry it with you. I was gifted this little beauty by my daughter.  Perfect.

Stop by her blog and check it out. What a great resource for those of us who want to become better at communicating with our blogging friends.  Since what I write about usually involves yarn, two sticks and/or a hook, I want to improve my ability to write blog posts that are enjoyable to read and comments that are both heart-felt and descriptive. Thank you Gigi...

Quick knit, Oh yes and fun too...

Have you visited the blog; Knit Creations of a Curious Mind yet? Olga posted this lovely free pattern for a cable-braided necklace.  While reading thru her pattern, I thought, oh the possibilities! I get so excited when I run across an irresistible pattern like this one and it goes right to the top of my ‘must make now’ list.

The yarn; for mine I used a bit of Malabrigo Silky Merino DK yarn stash to make up this fun quick knit.  The button; is from my vintage collection. 

It goes without saying that Olga is a very talented knitwear designer. I enjoy visiting her blog whenever I get a chance. Thank you Olga for kindly sharing your creativity.

Me, Stylish? How Sweet!

Thank you Angie over at lemon de sucrette for passing on the Stylish Blogger Award to me. How Lovely!

I'm to tell you all a little bit more about me.

Reading; The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig

Obsession; The I Phone, patiently awaiting the big announcement by Verizon

Favorite yarn; Merino wool, love it

Passion; Fingerless mitts

Enjoying; Twitter, especially any tweet knit or crochet related

Watching, DVD; Cranford and Return to Cranford, OMG…the costumes…

Learning; how to take photos using the manual setting on my camera, so scary

And I'm to pass this Award on to a few of my favorite blogs:

Jodie jellywares

Fiana Fianas knitting mode

Olga Knit creations of a curious mind

Angie vintageofficetype

Just Beachy

Best way to start off the New Year?  Why a beach walk of course.  This morning it was high tide and very low surf.  The Pacific looked more like a lake than an ocean.

But isn’t that the way of nature?  Ever changing and always surprising us mere mortals.  I wore the newly completed mitts to keep my hands warm and toasty.

They work perfectly as my fingers are free to operate and focus my camera.

I felt very special wearing something I made just for me.  Now, what projects will I tackle this year?  First of all, I’d like to get all the UFO’s under construction finished so I’ll need to round them up and review the situation.

New Knitting; Adult size sweater. Crochet; Baby granny square blanket. So off I go to look thru my pattern books in search of the next project.  What is on your needles and/or hook?

Just one more project to finish off 2010.

I found another adorable free fingerless mitts pattern to try. This one is from Dancing Ewe Yarns and is called Susie’s Reading Mitts.  Design by Susie Rogers & Janelle Masters. I think they are the perfect mitts to wear while reading one of my favorite classics, like Emma or Great Expectations maybe?  Can’t think of a better way to ring in 2011.

 So I picked up (2) skeins of Colinette Cadenza dk merino wool in the colorway 116, velvet plum for this project. I chose the size medium. This is a really fun quick knit.  Happy New Year to all of my wonderful blogland visitors.  Looking forward to lots of blogging fun in the coming year.

Tweet tweet...

The theme for our Holiday gift exchange between the Ladies at the office this year is Ornaments.

I knew I wanted to make my gifts, so when I saw the Birdie Decoration pattern Lucy posted at Attic24, I thought, perfect. The instructions are so well written that I’ve had a blast putting them together.

I still have a bit of stash yarn (Stylecraft dk Special) left over from the granny stripe blanket I made earlier this year, so I put together some fun color combinations for my little flock.  A few buttons, stuffing and beads complete the look.

We have a happy hour planned, so I’m glad I’ve finished, and, just in time.  Should be a fun get-together...What are your party plans this year?

Cuppa/coaster combo

I found these pretty cups and bowls on sale at my favorite store; Anthropologie. Don’t they have the cutest stuff?  I plan to use the set at my work desk to help cheer the place up a bit.  I decided to crochet a coordinating colored coaster to go with. I was over visiting ‘Crochet with Raymond’s blog and saw that Alice had posted this adorable mandala pattern. Soooo bright and cheerful. I made up a few using up stash yarn, and now I have to decide which is my favorite.  Looking forward to having a cuppa Via (my new favorite drink) while I’m busy tapping away at the computer.