A Cowl for a Friend

I'm baaaaack! Whew! The fast, short trip to Florida went well. I have decided that even though it was beautiful there this time of the year, a visit to the beach in February or March is much, much, more precious! I guess I love autumn too much to really want to miss any of it! Except the leaves....just spent two days helping to rake our leaves at the cabin. On top of a sore throat and earaches imported from Florida. Don't feel too sorry for me...with the leaves off the trees and at the yard waste dump, I have an even better view from the studio. Sparkly water, blue sky, and still some rust leaves to tease me with their dropping. Perfect. While on our trip, and a few days since I have been home, I managed to knit a cowl for a friend. She sweet talked me into making it for her because she said her hands hurt...hmmm...I fell for it. Only because she is a good friend from my old neighborhood. We had a short chance to catch up before I left and it was fun thinking of her and old times while knitting. Isn't that a fun thing about making something for someone? You think about that person the whole time. I hope you haven't lost interest in Jerisew(s) over the long break. I have a quilt to show you tomorrow! Jerilynn

Jerisew, What Have You Been Doing and Where Are You?

Walking on the beach, looking at sunsets from front balcony, looking at sunrises from back deck, and watching dolphins and manatees frolic. Believe it or not, I miss Beaver Dam Lake! Jerilynn

Clothesline Bowl

Indygo Junction did a blog interview with me on clothesline crafts that you can read here. Head on over and make a comment or two! Above is a fabric covered clothesline bowl. I used 1 1/2" strips that I cut rather than tear and I decided just to leave the other side of the bowl with the raw edges. It actually looks pretty cool! It is pretty big and currently houses my extra knitted dishcloths. I need to get back to my sewing machines and do some new sewing. I will be away from the studio for a few days and the knitting is much more portable than the sewing...I will probably bore you with more knitting shots in the next few days....Jerilynn

Funky Funfetti Bibs

I have been using the dishcloths with the exposed knots and must confess I like them a bunch. So, I had the idea to add the "funfetti" look to baby bibs! I realize that it might be hard to distinguish between chunks of food and the knots, but it all comes out in the wash, right? I like this bib pattern: the strap has three buttonholes so you can adjust the bib to fit. I used two buttons for each bib - layered them for more color. You can find the instructions for the basic bib here . Jerilynn

What All the Lamps are Wearing this Autumn

Finished Bandana Cowl. I tried it on almost every lamp in the house to get a picture. Heaven forbid I put it on and take a picture of me looking in the mirror. The first lamp is in our condo living room and I think it is a good stand-in for me. The second shot is the lamp in the upstairs guest bedroom. I think the scarf looks like a crazy long shore fisherman with a pointy beard. Don't you agree? Jerilynn

Roseanne Bandana Anna

I would love to claim this as one of my newest knitting projects, but, alas, I cannot. It is the Bandana Cowl from Purl Soho, and you can find the pattern here. I had a great ball of yarn, multi-colored, and made one! It is being blocked as we speak. Stay on the edge of your chair for the big reveal. The pattern uses short rows, and in the Purl Soho tutorial they reference another tutorial on how to do short rows. Of course, the first time I did them, I misunderstood exactly how to do it and discovered waaayyy into the knitting that something was not right. Good thing about yarn, all I wasted was a few hours. I ripped out the goofy knitting, re-read the instructions, and was happy to see it looked good this time. I should find some multi denim blue yarn and make one of these...a good nod to the traditional bandana. As much as I love color, however, the pictured neutral yarn is calling to me. It looks like the kind of accessory that you could throw on when you are having a bad hair day and get tons of compliments on how stylish you look. Understated chic. Classy. Okay, maybe I can't pull it off, but I still like the color. Jerilynn

Triangles

I found some leftover stripey sock yarn and decided to knit a triangular scarf. I started with three stitches and increased one stitch at the beginning of each row. Toward the end of the project (aka beginning to run out of yarn), I increased three stitches at the beginning of two rows to make the tie ends a bit longer. I blocked the project, and I think I will look very jaunty with it tied casually around my neck and under my chin(s). Quite oddly, I read that there is a big bandana revival going on...who knew??? A couple of posts ago I showed you the mess of buckaroo bibs made out of bandanas and washcloths that Ellen made for a craft fair. Am I picking up a random triangle vibe out there? I will keep my eyes open for other bandana-type spottings. Prior to now, the big scarf fad was with long scarves...I just may get to pull out my old square scarves, fold them diagonally in half, and be on the cutting edge of high fashion. Jerilynn