Do you know who your neighbours are?

Ever hit the button above that says, "Next blog"? I have some interesting neighbours, to say the least! Some blogs are in different languages, and others contain interesting content... Click on the button above (after visiting with me, of course) and see what blogger.com has to offer to anyone who signs up for free. Very interesting! Now, if I could figure out how to go back to visit my neighbours on the other side of me...

I hope that if you are visiting my site for knitting patterns you have downloaded my free snowboarder instructions (see link to the right under "Val's Freebies"). If you do the design I would love to see your work! I have a few thoughts in mind for my next freebie offer. Let me know if there is something that you would like to see charted.




As for knitting, I've signed up for a few Yahoo! knitting groups. Several of them do a KAL (knit-along) that I've participated in. Here are a few. The Snoopy cloth was KAL #5 from Rachel's Knitting Room. I did it in Bernat's "Sage Green."










The whole idea of a KAL is that everyone who knits it doesn't know what it is until they are nearly done.

Hmmm... is it a tree? Okay, it's a BROWN tree!

Nope! Not even close! It's a.....

BIRTHDAY CAKE!

The "Birthday Cake" was MonthlyDishcloths' September KAL. Mine was done in Bernat's "Jute." I wish that I'd done it in any other colour than brown... It's chocolate, maybe? Hmmm...

Freebie for you - Sim's Snowboarder

This is my first knitting design! Can you tell what it is?

I designed it for my long-time friend, Simone, who absolutely loves snowboarding. (Shhh! It's a gift for her this Christmas!)

It was meant to be a dishcloth, but it turned out a bit larger. I knitted it up with 4mm needles in Bernat's "French Blue." Its dimensions are 9 1/2" wide by 12" long, unblocked. Enjoy!

SIM'S SNOWBOARDER Copyright 2007 by Val Campbell

Supplies: Cotton yarn and 4mm needles. Model stitched in “French Blue.”
Finished size: 9 ½” wide by 12” long.

Cast on 46 stitches.

Rows 1 to 3: Knit across.
Row 4 and all remaining even-numbered rows: knit across.
Row 5: k3, p40, k3
Row 7: k3, p5, k5, p30, k3
Row 9: k3, p6, k6, p28, k3
Row 11: k3, p8, k5, p27, k3
Row 13: k3, p8, k6, p26, k3
Row 15: k3, p10, k5, p25, k3
Row 17: k3, p11, k5, p24, k3
Row 19: k3, p13, k4, p23, k3
Row 21: k3, p14, k5, p21, k3
Row 23: k3, p14, k6, p20, k3
Row 25: k3, p13, k8, p19, k3
Row 27: k3, p13, k9, p18, k3
Row 29: k3, p13, k10, p17, k3
Row 31: k3, p13, k4, p2, k5, p16, k3
Row 33: k3, p12, k5, p3, k5, p15, k3
Row 35: k3, p12, k4, p6, k5, p13, k3
Row 37: k3, p11, k5, p7, k5, p12, k3
Row 39: k3, p11, k5, p8, k6, p10, k3
Row 41: k3, p11, k4, p10, k6, p9, k3
Row 43: k3, p10, k6, p10, k6, p8, k3
Row 45: k3, p10, k8, p7, k8, p7, k3
Row 47: k3, p10, k11, p3, k11, p5, k3
Row 49: k3, p11, k18, p1, k6, p4, k3
Row 51: k3, p13, k15, p4, k5, p3, k3
Row 53: k3, p13, k15, p5, k5, p2, k3
Row 55: k3, p14, k14, p6, k4, p2, k3
Row 57: k3, p3, k1, p10, k13, p8, k4, p1, k3
Row 59: k3, p2, k3, p10, k12, p9, k3, p1, k3
Row 61: k3, p2, k4, p9, k12, p8, k4, p1, k3
Row 63: k3, p2, k6, p6, k12, p6, k6, p2, k3
Row 65: k3, p3, k23, p1, k10, p3, k3
Row 67: k3, p4, k32, p4, k3
Row 69: k3, p6, k29, p5, k3
Row 71: k3, p7, k25, p8, k3
Row 73: k3, p12, k19, p9, k3
Row 75: k3, p13, k16, p11, k3
Row 77: k3, p15, k12, p13, k3
Row 79: k3, p15, k7, p18, k3
Row 81: k3, p15, k7, p18, k3
Row 83: k3, p15, k6, p19, k3
Row 85: k3, p16, k4, p20, k3
Row 87: k3, p40, k3
Rows 89 to 91: Knit across.
Bind off.

Copyright 2007 by Val Campbell.

More dishcloths!

This is the second cloth that I knitted. It was knitted in Bernat's 100% cotton handicrafter "Lemon Swirl."

The pattern for this is here. It is called a Simple Ridge Dishcloth.

There are so many free knitting patterns online! I decided to try a picture cloth, and this sailboat is my first attempt. I love it! The free pattern is from Knitting Knonsense and is available here. I don't know if you can see it, but there is a little heart on the sail. Great pattern, and a lot of fun too.

The dishcloths below are all free patterns from Knitted Kitty. (You will have to sign into Yahoo! Groups to get the free patterns.) These were all knit in Bernat's Handicrafter "Off-White." Very nice! (Thank you, Carol Callaway, for such great patterns!) I think that I like the seagull the best. Anyone have any tips on photographing knitting?

Val

September 15, 2007 - Happy first blog entry!

Hey! Who ever thought that I'd be writing a blog entry?

This blog is going to be a place for me to post photos of my knitting and cross-stitch projects. I taught myself to cross-stitch and have been doing it since November 1995. I only officially began knitting since taking a class in July 2007. Before then I could do the knit stitch, but that was it! Now I can actually do a few things more than just the knit stitch. ;-) I first started with knitting a dishcloth and I am now officially hooked.

This is my first knitted cloth (in Bernat's 100% handicrafter cotton, "Violet Veil Ombre"):

It ain't perfect, but who cares?



I also did the same pattern in Ivory (see photo, right). I think that I really prefer the solid colours to the variagated.


The pattern is called "Knit Eyelet Dishcloth." It can be freely downloaded from here.


My other interests include genealogy, reading, and collecting recipes. I also like to write my own book reviews so that I can remember what I've read. You can see what I have on these subjects on my web page.

Anyway, I plan on posting more photos and uploading some patterns that I've created myself. I LOVE finding free stuff online so I would like to offer up some freebies, too!

Have a great day!

Val