Category: Knitting

St. Louis Block

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My hope was to showcase the completed St. Louis block.

Can we just say that close counts in hand grenades, horseshoes and knitted afghan blocks?

Pattern for St. Louis Block (the first block in my “Ode to Quilting” afghan)

Recommended Knitting skill level: Easy

Yarn: Lion’s Wool by Lion Brand (see my links to the right for Lion Brand’s website) or substitute any wool yarn from your stash

Gauge: 4 stitches and 6 rows is 1 inch in Stocking Stitch
4 stitches and 6 rows is 1 inch in Moss Stitch
3.5 stitches and 6 rows is 1 inch in Seed Stitch

Stocking Stitch: Knit all stitches on RS (Right Side); Purl all stitches on WS (Wrong Side)

Moss Stitch: Row 1: (K1, P1) repeat to end on RS; Row 2: Knit the K stitches and Purl the P stitches. Row 3: (P1, K1) repeat to end. Row 4: Repeat Row 2.

Seed Stitch: (K1, P1) to end on all rows

Pattern: In Color A (shown in variegated yarn), cast on 10 stitches.
Row 1: Knit all stitches.
Row 2: K1, Purl to 2nd to the last stitch, K1.
Repeat these rows until 36 rows have been knit or until piece measures 6″.
Bind off.
Make 4 such knitted strips in Color A.

In Color B (shown in Pink yarn), cast on 9 stitches.
All rows: K2, (P1, K1) twice, P1, K2.
Repeat this row until 36 rows have been knit or until piece measures 6 inches.
Bind off.
Make 4 such knitted strips in Color B.

In Color C (show in Yellow yarn), cast on 10 stitches.
Row 1: K2, (P1, K1) thrice, P1, K1.
Row 2: K1, (P1, K1) 4 times, K1.
Row 3: Repeat Row 2.
Row 4: Repeat Row 1.
Repeat these 4 rows until 36 rows have been knit or until piece measures 6 inches.
Bind off.
Make 4 such knitted strips in Color C.

Arrange the pieces like so.

Or in whatever color combination you prefer.

Seam the long sides together, giving care to keep the ends even. (Remember: safety pins are your friend!)

Repeat this step 3 more times until you have four sets of 3-strip blocks.

Then, arrange your sets so that they look like the first picture.

Seam the block together, one side at a time. Below is a pic of the right side of my St. Louis block, seamed together.


Once finished, you will have the first block of the “Ode to Quilting” afghan completed. I will post a new block every Monday. I would love to have you knit along with me! Be sure to share your pics.

On other news, I have uploaded several gardening pictures on my Flickr account (see my link to the left). Mainly, I took pics of my favorite plants plus my new tomatoes that I planted this weekend. Hopefully, this year will be better than last year. I planted twice as many tomato plants just to be sure I will have enough to can. The herbs haven’t gone into the pots yet. Tonight is supposed to drop down to the 30s, so I’ll hold off until later this week.

Well, I’m off to dig a hole in my garden. (I’m transplanting yet another plant). Although, I am fortunate to have inherited such a large garden and truly, I shouldn’t complain. …. But, all the plants are crowded together and showing signs of strain from lack of space to lack of sun. I have a long list of plants that need to be moved or ripped out altogether. Hopefully, this year I will grab the biggest offenders and relocate them. Wish me luck!

Have a wonderful day!

One Sleeve Down

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While I was watching the Phillies win their game against the Marlins (OK…OK… so we pulled it out in the bottom of the 9th, but, hey!, a win is a win), I finished the left sleeve. It’s done! No pics please, though. It hasn’t been blocked or the ends weaved in or sewn to the sweater body. It’s not a pretty sight, plus my cam is on the fritz again. Hubby took the good cam with him and left me the “Sometimes I’ll work, sometimes I won’t” cam. You can guess which one it picked. Nothing but a black screen. Arg.

Back to the joy of finishing the sleeve: I even managed to save some brown yarn in the process. There are now 7 tiny balls of brown yarn ready and waiting for me to continue knitting the right sleeve. Oh, I suppose I have to at least try. I’ll wait to start until Monday. Monday is a good day to tackle sleeves that may or may not have enough yarn to complete, right?

I simply can’t do it this weekend. I have a left sleeve to seam together with the body. More importantly, I have a new quilt to start. I have decided to make my sister and her husband a wall quilt for their kitchen. It’s never too early to start making Christmas presents. (Every year I start all my Christmas projects earlier in the year in the hopes that I won’t be staying up past midnight on Christmas Eve trying to finish everything. It never works! This past year, on Christmas morning, I was still stitching up the matching doll pajamas for my younger niece.)

Here is my inspiration for my new knitting project: Ode to Quilting. (Many thanks to my good friend, Jen, for giving this to me as a Christmas present!)


This basket is filled with Lion Brand’s Wool (100%). I plan to use as many of the colors as I can to make an afghan in true quilter’s style. It will be an afghan that can use up a knitter’s leftover balls of yarn from previous projects. Shapes (mostly squares and triangles) will be knit up, then sewn together to form larger squares, and then these squares will be sewn together to make the afghan front. Lastly, the front will be seamed to the back. Minor details still have to be ironed out, such as what the back should look like. I’m giddy to start the gauge process. This project will combine two of my favorite hobbies: knitting and sewing/quilting. (I suppose true quilt lovers wouldn’t lump sewing with their hobby, but since sewing came first for me, I still have a fondness for it).

My other accomplishment today was building a wall around Big Brother (the biggest of my Weeping Japanese Red Maple saplings).


I’d like to see my husband mow him down!

Phills lost, but the pillow won

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The Phillies lost. Lee murdered us with all his home runs. This season isn’t starting well at all.

Some good did come of it. I finished my pillow while watching the game. And here it is.

(Yes, I stole my husband’s camera!)

Woo! The pillow is posted on my Etsy store. The pattern still needs some fine tuning. It won’t be posted until Monday. As a reward for all my hard work, I get to dedicate myself to all my painting projects this weekend. I have a dresser drawer to finish painting white. It’s the last one. Then, there is the frame around a mirror that needs to be painted dark brown. Lastly, I’m on to practice my stenciling skills. Having never stenciled before, I imagine I’ll be plain awful.

Pillow lining

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The pillow lining is making its way through the wash right now. I tested it in the knitted pillow and it fits like a charm! Since I’m having leftovers for dinner, I should have the pillow completed tonight. I’m always looking for a mindless project to do while the baseball games are on. (Go Phillies!) This should fit the bill.

The only trouble is – my camera is on the fritz. I managed to take a pic of the pillow lining as you can see, but I lost the rest of the pics I took earlier today. I really wanted to post a pic of my golden retriever. He is so handsome. =) I hope to have better luck later. If not, I’m stealing my husband’s camera from him.

Pillow Lining


I even made some progress with my hedge today. I’ll estimate that it is 75% completed. My speedy progress is mostly attributed to my neighbor’s kindness. He let me borrow his heavy-duty pruners. It makes mean work of the hedge! I think I have to get me a pair. I would hate to be the neighbor that never returns the tools. What is that show where they chatted about that problem? Tool Shop? I can’t remember.

Seaming a knitted pillow together

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Woo! I weaved three sides of my 4 pointed star pillow today. On a good day, I don’t like to weave my seams together. Fluffy yarn and diagonal seams did not warm my heart to this task today. Yet, it is done! I didn’t even dip into our port stash. I feel very proud. Next up (tomorrow … for tomorrow will be a better day), making the pillow insert. I plan to make the insert a little bit bigger than the knitted pillow, allowing for stretch of the knitted stitches. (I learned this lesson from a pillow gone wrong).

Other projects on the table: Sleeves for a Striped Woman’s sweater, XandO baby blanket, design of a shawl, and design of a fabric postboard

All my pride is going to wash down the drain when my sister calls me and asks me how the Disney plans are coming along. Um, right. I’ll get right on that. =)

First things first. Time to play with Jake, my 3-year-old golden retriever.