And So It Begins

With summer finally over and autumn colors piquing my interest, it's time to turn off the gardening gene and turn to my winter knitting activity. And so, I'm starting a sister blog to The Giddy Garden Gnome to document my winter activities.

I enjoy getting together with my weekly knitting friends down at Shirley's Yarns and Crafts store in Hancock, Maine. We are an eclectic group of ladies who enjoy knitting together. Some of the ladies are beginners and some are quite experienced, but we all love sitting among the warm, colorful yarns while spinning a few "yarns" ourselves.

Our knitting gatherings are held in the store, surrounded by all those luscious yarns!


I am the only one who knits Continental so far so I'm not able to help out the newbies as much as I'd like, but I do try to give a few helpful hints now and then.


Right now, I have several projects on needles; another vest, another pair of socks and a pair of Mukluks (which are giving me fits!). All are meant to be Christmas presents so I'm fighting the clock on all of them and it doesn't leave me as much time as it sounds as I still have fall cleanup to tend to in the garden.

I've also been given the opportunity to work a few days for my friends, Shirley (yes, of Shirley's Yarns and Crafts), her husband Dick, and their daughters Kim and Kiana. They are a delightful family and working among all the fabulous yarns and other fun stuff is a nice change of pace.

Here's Ms. Shirley herself, celebrating her birthday this past summer.


Here are pictures of some of my recent projects:

This is a wine cozy which worked up quickly with some left over cotton yarn. It made a very nice hostess gift.

I knitted this vest for my Dad's 86th birthday. Unfortunately, his birthday is in early August, so he'll have to wait a bit to wear it!

Of course, I couldn't knit something for Daddy and then send nothing for Mom, so I knitted this cotton vest for her.

The pattern came from the July 2009 copy of Creative Knitting Magazine. I really like this magazine as it has lots of patterns I like to knit and wear. I'm not really in to the "modern" or "hip" stuff.

Hope everyone is having a great first week of autumn!

Hugs, Giddy (aka Sandy)