Heart Dish Cloths

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4 Embossed Hearts Cloths and Heart Lace Cloths

4 Embossed Hearts Cloths (hot blue & hot green)

Heart Lace Cloths (hot green & hot blue)

Since I picked up so much kitchen cotton this year, it was time for me to start using some of it! So I made some heart themed washcloths to make a "set" for gifting. They're all knit with Lily Sugar & Cream, in the "hot" colors. The hot green color is quite bright.

Heart Lace Cloth (hot blue)

Heart Lace Cloth (hot green)

Pattern: Heart Lace Cloth
Yarn: Lily Sugar & Cream
Needles: 4.5 mm (US7)

This cloth is a quick knit that can be done in a little over an hour. A little while back I added an alternative method for doing the D4 decrease, since some people were having difficulties with it. Give this one a try, you may find it easier to execute.

The alternative method for doing the D4 decrease, where you take the next 5 stitches and reduce it down to 1 stitch, is done as follows:

1. SSK.
2. K3Tog (knit 3 stitches together).
3. Pass the SSK stitch (from step #1) over the K3Tog stitch (from step #2).

There's always more than one way to shear a sheep... :-)

4 Embossed Hearts Cloth (hot green)

Pattern: 4 Embossed Hearts Cloth
Yarn: Lily Sugar & Cream
Needles: 4.5 mm (US7)

Here's Miss M helping me with photographing this cloth. She loves to move or pat the knitting. After receiving her "help", I should probably call this my Flattened Hearts Cloth! lol

Something I probably never mentioned before is that I was originally going to call this cloth "Windowpane Hearts". I've never been very good at naming things. People would probably like this cloth more if I had stuck with the more catchy "Windowpane Hearts" name instead of calling the pattern what it really is, which is "4 Embossed Hearts".

4 Embossed Hearts Cloth (hot blue)

To help make the hearts "pop" more, when you block the cloth, push up the hearts from the back side and press down on the purl background around the hearts.

Is blue and green an odd color combination? I wasn't sure how to pair up the hot green color. Did I mention that this is a really bright green color? I think you'd notice it more when you have the yarn in front of you.

Heart Lace Cloth and 4 Embossed Hearts Cloth

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Speaking of dishcloths, check out these cute Pacman cloths.

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Booking Through Thursday - Libraries

Whether you usually read off of your own book pile or from the library shelves NOW, chances are you started off with trips to the library. (There's no way my parents could otherwise have kept up with my book habit when I was 10.) So … What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any funny/odd memories of the library?

My first library was the Noe Valley branch on Jersey Street in San Francisco. I remember walking up the (many) stairs to the main (second) floor and then forward through to the children's section. I spent much of my time there as a kid. I can't recall if there was an elevator in the building (I don't think accessibility was a big thing back then), however I do know that the building has been closed for renovation recently and will probably have an elevator if there wasn't one before. My mom would take me to the library. Other times I would just walk the few blocks over to the library on my own. Yes, this was back in those days when it was safer for kids to walk about on their own. I used to walk to school too. I don't think parents would do that today because times have changed.

I vaguely recall a library van that went around the neighborhood with books you can check out. Unfortunatly I have no further details. My memory of this is quite hazy.



I remember library cards being green. Then there was a long period when I stopped going to the library. I guess I tended to buy more books during this period. Later on, I applied for a new library card and was surprised to find them white colored with a barcode/magnetic strip on the back. This was apparently in May 2006 cuz I happened to blog about it. I've checked out mostly children's books (for Miss M) since then. And then stopped using my San Francisco library card when we moved in September 2007. I remember being surprised at all the changes to the library system. Everything is computerized now. There are no longer small colorful due date papers slipped into pockets on the front cover of books. Or due dates stamped on a piece of paper that is on the book. The best part of these new changes is that we can do catalog searches online and renew books online.

The statue pictured on the library card is outside my current library.

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Friday Fill-In #86





This week Amy provided the questions; thank you, Amy! And...here we go!

1. Dancing to the music while people are watching makes me feel self-conscious.

2. The last time I went to Target (after dropping off Miss M at day care) I spent nearly three hours there!

3. When I drive I feel like I'm being tossed around like a ragdoll by all the other crazy drivers around me.

4. I saw my toddler standing on a stepstool, figuring out she could open the pantry door by doing this.

5. Give me hamachi (yellowtail), give me maguro, give me sake. I'm back on the sushi/sashimi eating boat again!!! :-)

6. Next week I am NOT looking forward to my doctor's appt.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finishing Elann HUGe swap item #8, tomorrow my plans include taking care of Miss M who has a 104+ fever and Sunday, I want to veg!

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Miss M woke up early this morning and hasn't been feeling well since. She took a 1.5 hour nap in the morning after breakfast and when we took her temperature it was 104+ ºF! (That's 40+ ºC) I'm surprised that she is up and about in relatively good spirits for someone which such a high temperature. I remember having a 104ºF fever decades ago and I spent that time in bed feeling miserable.

I finished item #8 for the Elann HUGe 2008 swap. I haven't gotten around to taking photos of it yet. Now I have 2 more to complete and then mail all 10 to Theresa by October something. I haven't decided whether I will wrap each of them. I'm inclined to leave them "open" so Theresa can see what colors they are. I have the feeling she has a good idea of who would like which color when she is putting together the swap boxes.

Besides the heart dishcloths I made above, I did finish another one last week. It's a lacy dishcloth. I'll share photos of that one another day.

I've been meaning to frog my February Lady Sweater because I need to start over using smaller needles and make larger button holes for the buttons I got for the sweater. I just hadn't gotten around to doing this yet and now I'm afraid the yarn will be too "curly". Trish is using the same yarn, Elann Superwash Bamboo, for her February Lady Sweater and she has posted some interesting findings from swatching with this yarn.

I've been too busy lately to keep up with blog reading and notice that my blog reader says I have 1000+ posts to catch up on. Right now it feels like an overwhelming task to try to catch up. Would it be terribly wrong to mark them all as "read" and start over with a clean slate? Will the Blog Reading Police come after me if I do this?

On the other hand, I have found myself stealing a few minutes here and there to chip away at "A Suitable Vengeance" by Elizabeth George. I'm reading her novels out of order and am thrown off by the fact that (in this book) Thomas Lynley is about to marry Deborah Cotter because I know in later books he's actually married to Helen Clyde. I've made it halfway through the book without Miss M pulling out my book mark. :-)

And when I'm knitting in bed, I'm chipping away at "The Two Towers", book #2 in The Lord of the Rings series. This is an audio book. I love audio books as they allow me to knit at the same time.


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