This Is It!

Tomorrow the 2015 writings of Knitting: A Love Story will go to the printer.  I can't wait to see what it looks like.  I must say, Thanksgiving was fabulous.  Just Dick, Jan, Lucy, Murphy, turkey, Detroit Lions football and Spartans basketball all in one day.  It just doesn't get any better than that.  My Spartans won the Big 10 East in football and are on their way to Indianapolis for the Big 10 Championship game.  A win there will put them in the Final Four of football.  WOW!  Then the Spartans basketball won the John Wooden Tournament.  Things are pretty exciting for the Spartan nation.

​I had a goal.  By the end of Sunday, November 29, I wanted to have 16 of my little purses made.

There they are.  16 of them.  Aren't they the cutest thing ever!?!?! M & M's and Hershey went all out for Christmas this year.   I needed to have 16 done because I was supposed to host one of my bridge groups tomorrow.  In the middle of the night, I throat started screaming.  My soulmate Dick shared his illness with me.  Ain't love grand.  I had to cancel my party.  So I really didn't have to have them done after all.  If you are interested in making one of these adorable bags made from a candy bag, you can find the pattern in Block Late Summer Vol 2 Issue 4.  It is a book put out by the Missouri Star Quilt Company.And believe me, if I can do it, you can do it.  Hanging around with all of these quilters has kind of piqued my interest.  

Now, let me show what I was able to finish because I got my purses done early.

Isn't this fabulously funky!?!?!? Is that still a useable word?  I finished this for my niece Erin.  It is four strips knit in different colors then tacked together with knots.  I love this pattern.  This is the second one I have given to special people.  

The strips are different colors but different lengths.  It is so random and amazing.  I've had the pattern for years.  I found it in the Style series by Interweave Knits.  It is called scarf STYLE by Pam Allen with a copyright date of 2004.  I think around 2000 was a significant time for knitting.  Things changed greatly.  Designs went from my Mom's knitting to my knitting.  Color became very important.  And I mean BOLD colors.  You would really love this book.  It has many wonderfully different scarfs.    

This is called 5th Avenue Shawl.  I love this pattern and got beautiful yarn from the fabulous ladies at Knit Purl in Portland, Oregon.  I knit it thinking it was for me after all, I loved it so much.  But one day, I lifted it up to Dick and said, "Who does this look like?" and like that it became my sister-in-law Andi's.  Now let me show you the finished product.

Isn't it beautiful!?!?!?!? It is soft, a beautiful color and will look great on Andi.  Of course, it would have looked great on me, too.  Oh, well!  It is better to give than keep (or something like that.)

So, we were able to organize the gifts that will go to Kansas because I was ahead of the game on the purses.  Oh, yah, I made Andi and Erin purses.

The Dove is for Andi and the Mike and Ike is for Erin.  I had a a hard time finding a bag of Mike and Ike since they are primarily theater candy in a box.  But it's cute.  My plan was to put the candy in the bag bug I found out I LOVE MIKE AND IKE.  Where has it been all my life.  It kind of between a jelly bean and a gummy but better than both.  

​I really want to show you my other purses close up.

I think you should try to make one.  The next time I write, it will be the beginning of book 3.  Let the Holiday Season begin!