My Brother Gordy

Posted on by Happy Sheep Creations

It’s hard to believe that a year ago I submitted my first blog post.  This would never have happened if it were not for my brother Gordy.   Let me tell you a little bit about my brother.  Gordy always had a mischievous grin on his face and you knew just by looking at him that he was up to something.  Whatever that something was,  he never let his fear (if he had any) stop him.  And his laughter was infectious.  You couldn’t help but laugh along with him.  Gordy lived in the moment.   He was so very different from me.  I am more of a planner and always thinking of the “what if’s”.  I have gone through life playing it safe and never taking chances.  That is up until last year.

After losing Gordy to cancer, I realized how short life really is and not to get caught up in all the what if’s.  I am definitely not the same person I was a year ago.

Thank You Gordy!

 

 

 

 

 

Confessions of a Yarn Addict

Posted on by Happy Sheep Creations

Like most knitters, I love yarn.  And like most, I have a yarn stash.  I never really thought my stash was getting out of control.  Any yarn I purchased had an intended project associated with it.  But lately, I have been feeling a little overwhelmed when I walk into my yarn room.  I also have been having a little trouble remembering exactly what all those projects were.  So today I decided I had better organize my room.  As I was pulling out all the boxes of yarn that was starting to pile up, I realized I may have a problem.

There was  a box full of my favorite yarn from last year’s Black Friday Sale.   I found all the beautiful balls of wool perfect for those Fair Isle hats I am going to make.  More and more treasures were being discovered in drawers and closets.  I even found the yarn for the blanket I was supposed to make for my daughter when she moved into her first apartment (that was at least 3 years ago and she has since moved).

To those of you who are not a yarn enthusiast, you may say I do indeed have a problem with yarn.  But after closer inspection of my collection, I realize there is always room for more.  🙂

I would like to be able to show you my before and after pictures at this time.  Unfortunately there is still much more work to be done.  I have, however, included the progress I have made so far.  I do think I’m off to a good start!

Before:

Boxes and 1 closet of yarn that was on sale
The yarn for daughters blanket and other things
Drawer full of left over yarn
2nd drawer of left over yarn

My Progress so far:

After 1

Memories of a young Mom to Be

Posted on by Happy Sheep Creations

Both of my children’s birthdays are in July; my daughter just celebrated her 28th birthday this past Saturday.  She asked me what time of the day she was born.  I knew it was early Saturday morning but I wasn’t sure if it was 3 am or 4 am.  I started pulling out all the baby items I saved looking for her little hospital bracelet.  And then I  came across the blanket I crocheted for my son (who  just turned 31).  Looking at the blanket brought back so many memories.  I was only 22 years old when I crocheted this blanket.  I was a child myself.  All the hopes and the fears came flooding back–would I be a good mother,  would my child be happy, would he be a boy or a girl.  And I remembered all the love I felt while making this blanket for my little someone.  I look at my two wonderful children now and I think I did alright.  I am truly blessed.

Billy's Blankie

 

Process or Project Knitter

Posted on by Happy Sheep Creations

I love listening to VeryPink Knits podcast.  The two ladies keep me smiling.  Episode 2 they talked about Process vs. Project Knitters.  A process knitter they said was a person who just loved the act of knitting.  If they make a mistake they have no problems ripping back.  A project knitter, on the other hand, is more interested in getting the project done so they can enjoy the finished item.  If they make a mistake, they tend to just keep on knitting (unless of course it is a big mistake and affects how the project will look).

I keep thinking about what type of knitter I am.  Sometimes I think I am a project knitter because I want to hurry up and get the item done.  I usually have another project that I want to start working on.  To me that sounds like a project knitter.  But I also am a perfectionist and end up ripping back when I make a mistake (no matter how small the mistake is).  Today I think I finally figured out which type of knitter I am.  You can be the judge.  I currently have 3 blankets going on at once (2 baby blankets and 1 pet blanket).  The reason behind why I have 3 blankets going on will explain why I think I am a process knitter.  I first started working on a baby blanket using cotton yarn.  The blanket is made up of mitered squares.  After I completed 3 rows, I decided I should probably block it.  While the blanket was blocking, I wanted to knit.  Of course the logical solution was to start knitting a pet blanket using up scrap yarn.  What could be better!  I needed to get rid of my left over yarn.   Then a few weeks ago, I ran out of the white cotton yarn and had to stop the baby blanket in order to wait for my yarn to come in.  At the same time the pet blanket was on my blocking table. Oh no!  I didn’t want to wait until the blanket was finished blocking.  I wanted to knit.  Good thing I have a big enough yarn stash.  🙂

So would you agree that I am a process knitter?

process knitter

 

Perseverance or Just Being Stupid

Posted on by Happy Sheep Creations

The very first thing I crocheted back when I was a mere teenager was a ripple afghan. It was easy for a beginner and I really enjoyed making them.  Now as an adult knitter I really wanted to whip up a baby blanket for my niece (since her shower is in August).  Instantly I thought of the ripple blanket.  Perfect!  I had seen a knitted version on Facebook.  I could have that blanket done in no time, right?  Oh how wrong I was.

Back in the day, I could easily watch TV or talk to a friend while crocheting this blanket.  It was easy to count the stitches and see exactly where you needed to crochet 3 stitches in the chain to make the mountains and valleys that made the ripple.  However, knitting is an entirely different story.  With knitting, you keep those 120 stitches on your needle and even though there are only two rows that you repeat throughout, they are entirely different.  Also until you have actually completed several rows, it’s hard to see what stitches make up the mountains and valleys (and to be totally honest, I still have trouble telling).  And if you make one mistake (knit 8 stitches instead of 10) the whole design is off. Of course you don’t realize this until you reach the end of the row!  So after countless hours of tinking back and only having completed 6 rows in 2 weeks, why didn’t I just give up and crochet the blanket instead?  I did think about it (quite a lot).   But I was going to conquer knitting this blanket even if  said baby was now going off to college. 🙂   I also thought about adding stitch markers to remind me when the pattern changed.  I could say again it was to conquer the pattern without any help but, to be honest, I was just too lazy to get up and search for that many markers.  In the end and after countless hours of tinking back,  I found enough stitch markers.  I even went online and ordered more.

I am happy to report I am moving along nicely now; although, I still can’t chat with my daughter while working on this (yet).   🙂

Ripple

 

Here is a progress update on the  blanket.  I am actually moving along  nicely now that the markers are in place.  Maybe I will have it done for the baby shower after all!  🙂

ripple update