Happy Birthday Mom!!

Aren't you glad you're not in St. Louis today! We got about 7" of snow over the last two days and Tiki doesn't like it. He said the new hat doesn't match his outfit and he would like to return to the tropics. Meanwhile, I got a snow day so I'm not too sad. My car is sitting on the city streets buried so I can't even tell it has tires and I just wasn't into the idea of digging it out. So, vacation day spent and snow day achieved!

So, on to the blog. And Mom, if you are checking my blog today, you might want to wait a couple of days since I'm not sure the package I shipped has made it to you yet. If you keep going, you'll spoil the surprise. :)So, what to give your Mother who can buy herself what ever she needs. Well, hand made Dishtowels of course! There are several great things about dishtowels:

• They look awesome


• They work great


• Everyone needs them


• They use up yarn in your stash


• You can practice stitch patterns and have something useful when you're finished


• And did I mention, they look great?!?!?

So these are Mom's new dishtowels on their way, if not already there. As you may have guessed from my list of reasons I love Dishtowels and I was looking to try out some new stitch patterns with this set to kind of "kick the tires" on some different patterns.

First up is the Ball Band Dishtowel. This can be found on the ball band for Peaches and Cream yarn or you can find it in the first Mason Dixon book. I absolutely LOVE this color combo! I bought a number of cones of Peaches and Cream cotton and I've been slowly working my way through them. And I decided it was time to finish up the cone of Fiesta so you will see a considerable "theme" in next several projects. The next one is a sample of the Diagonal Slip Stitch Rib from Barbara Walker's A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns I got as a gift for Christmas. This was a fun stitch pattern to try and I like the way the yarn colors highlight the diagonal. I think this would be a fun pattern to try with some hand painted yarn and make some socks. I might give it a try. The other two towels were just a classic dishtowel knit on the diagonal and a Bastketweave pattern I made up. Both were simple and make nice little additions to the set. To finish up the last of the Fiesta, an eco-friendly Market Bag. I modified the handle to be a single one going from one side of the bag to the other. I really like this version and I think I will use it going forward. The handle is wide enough to distribute the weight of what ever is in the bag and big enough to slide easily on my shoulder. I'm pleased.

Oh, and that cone of Fiesta....
Lookin' good!