Gingerbread Fun!

My family had a gingerbread contest on Thanksgiving. It was very fun! Everyone had very different gingerbread creations, and it was very hard to choose a winner. Here were the rules.
1: a premade gingerbread house that we provided had to be incoporated somehow.
2: Everything had to be edible.. except mechanical devices such as lights, and hinges etc..
3: All decorating had to be done on Thanksgiving evening when we were all together.

Here is a photo of each of the houses. From last place to first. P.S. all photos can be enlarged (alot) by clicking on them.


6th place: Uncle Mike... He was talking some serious game, but due to gingerbread malfunctions, could not complete his house. He decided to lend a helping hand to the rest of us contestants, but he is already plotting for next year. : )

5th place: Genevieve, and Ariana. They made a spooky gingerbread house, if you look closely you will see a little grave, some bones, and a couple of ghosts. Their house also had a blacklight shining on it for effect, and some dry ice (fog)
5th place: Mom, and I were going with a north pole theme. If you look closely you will see a polar bear, Penguins, and a snowman. We did not have enough time to finish. If I decide to finish it I will post Pictures on my next blog. 3rd Place: Eric and Amber. They were making an excavation site that they have been to in Egypt. there is a pyramid, an Obilisk, a caved in builing and an intact building. Cute little Gummy bears were their workers.2cnd place: Rob, Leanne, Matt, and Katie also did a nothpole theme. There are street lamps that light up in this cute village. There are alot of buildings, and people. Very cute : )

1st place: Jeffrey and Kellie went with an under the sea theme. They had an Octopus as Santa, and they are the mermaid, and merman. The mermaid has a pregnant belly, like my sister.

Hello again : )

I just wanted to share a bit about the designer, that let us use her Cabled Hat pattern for our last Mystery KAL. She is a wonderful designer, and her name is Meg White. She offers several designs on Ravelry.com. This designer spotlight is more of an interview.

You can find Meg White on Ravelry as Turbo. She also has a blog http://www.thekninja.blogspot.com/

Me: When did you start knitting?

Meg: My mother tried to teach me when I was very young, and a roommate in college showed me a hat she was working on, but it just didn’t stick with me. I didn’t quite get it, or maybe I wasn’t interested then. I think, really, it was a little knit bikini in “Bust” magazine that suck in my head.

One day, walking through a flea market, I picked up a ball of yarn and needles for $3. Why? I didn’t have any real intention of ever knitting at the time. That was a Sunday. On Tuesday I broke my leg. Lying on the couch, wondering what to do, I picked up the needles and yarn and started knitting. Yes, I just started knitting – and purling. Bizarre, huh? Somehow this latent knowledge had stuck in my brain along the way and came to me unexpectedly when I needed it most.
I bought more yarn and the “Stich’n Bitch” book, coincidently by Debbie Stoller also, clearly the godmother of my knitting. My first project was a scarf with random stripes and my second a baby blanket that turned out larger than expected. After the big blanket I figured I might as well go for a sweater and knit up a cabled pullover on the fly with some crappy acrylic, which ended up fitting my roommate better than me.
After the broken leg healed I found myself laid up again with a back injury. Well, rugby’s a heck of a sport. I’ve knit pretty much all day everyday since I started. Who would have known that it would become so important to my life?
I’ve made relatively few projects from patterns, although I like to read them and incorporate ideas and techniques from others’ work. Only recently have I started to record my work and offer it to others. I’ve actually written several sweater patterns that I don’t feel confident sharing yet. Does anyone want to test knit?

Me: How long have you been designing?

Meg: I’ve been designing since I started knitting, but I only began sharing my designs about a year ago.

Me: Do you have other hobbies?

Meg: I’ve practiced many textile techniques at some point, including sewing, quilting, weaving, embroidery, batik, and macramé. I crochet nearly as much as I knit now. I love to be outdoors hiking, playing Gaelic football, or working in my garden.

Me: Is there anything special you would like to share with my followers?

Meg: I’ve just finished reading “No Logo” by Naomi Klein. It’s about the invasion of corporations into the public realm, both aesthetically and politically, and the travesty of sweatshop factories in developing countries.
While reading it I felt a bit smug about being a hand knitter. To me knitting represents a lifestyle choice. I’m proud to be a knitter, to be developing a skill to extricate my life from mass consumerism, and to be able to share this ability with the people around me. I love being a part of our knitting community – meeting people who are similar to me or different, learning constantly, and admiring the art of all of our hands.

Mystery Knit Along #4 Week #2

Welcome back!!
This will be the last week of this knit along. This pattern was shared with us by Meghann White. I will be doing a designer spotlight on her shortly.

Knit 8 rows or until hat measures 6 - 7 inches from brim.
(Knit 10, place marker) repeat 8 times (around 1 row of the hat).
(Knit until two stitches before the marker, K2tog, slip marker) repeat on all rows
until only 1 stitch remains before each marker.
Thread yarn through remaining stitches and tie off.
© Meghann White, for personal use only

Thank you again for joining me

Heather

Mystery Knit Along #4 Week #1

Thank You for checking in. This is the first of a two week mystery knit along. A wonderful designer is letting us use this pattern. She is also on Ravelry, and I will tell you about her at the close of this knit along.

Here is the first part of her pattern. I hope you enjoy it!!

Materials:
Cascade 220 (uses less than ½ a skein)
Size 8 16” circular needles
Gauge: 4 stitches per inch

Row 1: P1, K2, P1, K4
Row 2: P1, C2B, P1, K4
Row 3: Repeat Row 1
Row 4: P1, C2B, P1, C4B
Instructions:
Cast on 80 stitches (or some multiple of 8)
Knit 8 rows.
Fold the brim up to show the reverse stockinet, and knit through both layers to
create hem.
Follow the chart 10x for 5 repeats, plus an additional rows 1, 2, and 3.
Purl 3 rows

Mystery Knit Along #3 Designer Spotlight

Hello!! The wonderful designer that is letting us use this pattern is Diana Troldahl, she goes by Otterwise on Ravelry here is her profile link http://www.ravelry.com/people/Otterwise
I will share more about her after our finishing instructions for this project.




To finish this project, bind off at desired length and weave in all ends. Thank You as always for joining in this knit Along! I will provide a direct link to her blog with this pattern in the page section of our group. I hope you enjoyed this pattern.

Diana has been crocheting most of her life. She learned how to knit in Japan years ago, where she knit her first sweater. She did not really get serious about knitting again until 2001. Diana knitted Japanese style until she started pattern testing for her sis-in-love LynnH, a fellow designer. Here is the link to Diana's pattern page, where she has patterns for sale, and patterns for free. http://www.ravelry.com/stores/diana-troldahl-designs

Diana started making her own designs at age 8, making crocheted animal patterns. Her friend Lynn inspired her to start putting her patterns on paper. Diana has a blog here http://otterwise.blogspot.com/

Diana feels that knitting has been her salvation. She has a disability that has progressed, and it has left her less and less able to do things she used to, knitting has helped her calm her mind, and given her new purpose. She loves hearing how a pattern she created is used by the person making it (there are some great stories on the projects pages of her ‘Cloud On Her Shoulders’ pattern) and knitting has also introduced her to some amazing people.

Knitting also allows her to give back. About once a year she creates a new pattern, and designates a portion of the proceed throughout its life to go to a charity. Cloud on Her Shoulders helps fund the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research, and the Kiva Bag helps fund loans for kiva.org. she also likes to knit for Warm Woolies. Through knitting and designing, she feels a sense of purpose. I think she is an inspiration!!!

The photos I included here, can be found in her pattern shop on Ravelry.

What you see here are the Allison bag (fits a laptop perfectly), and the Kiva bag.

Mystery Knit Along #3 Week #2

Mystery Knit Along #3 Week #2

Welcome back!!
Not much to this weeks instruction. Just continue on in the same manner till desired length. By now I am sure you have figured out it is a scarf. I am only about half way done, so I will show you the finished photos next week.










I did want to share how I weave in my ends. I hope the photos aren't too confusing. I will put up a better tutorial in our Ravelry group soon. I weave in my ends using duplicate stitch. It is where you follow actual stitches in your knitting, with your yarn needle and yarn.







For a knit stitch you start by bringing your yarn needle up through the base of your stitch as pictured.


You will notice the stitch travels up, over to the left then back down to the base (where you brought your needle up. Now slide your needle under the base of the stitch right above the stitch you are working on now, but on top of the yarn in the stitch you are following.







The yarn now travels back down, where it connects to the yarn below it. You slide your needle into the base of the stitch (where you first brought your needle up), and up through the base of your next stitch to the left.















You continue in this manner. It is much harder to see the body of the stitch in the purl. Feel free to pull on your work a bit the see the stitches better. The duplicate is worked the same way though.


Although you are bringing your needle through horizontal bars up through two, then down through the next two on the left

Mystery Knit Along #3 Week #1

Hello!!!

I am very excited to start another knit along. We have another designer that has let us use one of her patterns. I will share a bit about her at the conclusion of our knit along. This knit along will be 2 or three weeks.

This is a good stash busting project. You need around 200 yards of a main color, and scraps of other colors. Try to keep the yarns around the same weight. Enjoy!
**A note... The designer used the colors stated below. I will show a photo of her finished project at the conclusion of this knit along.

There are two 'mystic' bits about this project. One is how the appearance and intensity and color shadings of the main color change depending on which yarn it is paired with. The background color I chose is a light turquoise. If it is paired with a light blue, it appears a deeper teal, if it is paired with a green, it looks very blue. Each color changes the quality of the main color, producing a visual illusion of even more shades of color than I used. The second mystic bit is how this seemingly narrow project can expand to double its width due to the ribbing.

Size 8 needles (or needles of a size to work with your weight of yarns)

Gauge: not important

with main color, cast on 40 stitches.

row 1: k2, p2 across

row 2: k2, p2 across

row 3: begin new color, k2, p2 across

row 4: k2, p2 across

row 5: using main color, k2, p2 across

row 6: k2, p2 across

row 7: continuing with second (transient) color; k2, p2 across

row 8: k2, p2 across

Work in this pattern, changing between the main color(s) and transient colors, carry the non-working yarn up the side until its turn comes again. When the transient color you chose runs out, add in your next choice of color from the yarn scrap pile, maintaining pattern.

Work up to 30" this week.

Thanks for joining me again :)