Knit Zigzag Afghan and Chilly Nights

Hello my dear friends.  Finally, here is a post about my passion; knitting.  For those of you who visited last week, you will remember that there was a memorial about my dear mother-in-law who passed away on Thanksgiving day.  We wanted to remember her and let extended family here in the US and Egypt know about her legacy.  I felt the best venue to do this was my blog.  So, thank you for your patience since I know it was an unusual place to publish this memorial.

We are having a cold spell down here in Southern California.  I'm not going to complain since we don't have snow or ice but the thermometer has dipped into the 40's and it's suppose to be even colder the next couple of nights.  I look back now at all the years I spent shoveling snow, scraping ice and getting bundled up to go outside.  My children and I grew up in this kind of weather and I didn't know any different.  That was until I moved to western Washington where we had rain and now to California where we have sun almost year round.  I still laugh when I see my  neighbors decked out in Ugg boots and down jackets.  It's still not that cold around here!!

Drum Roll.............Here is my finished afghan that I have been working on (and off) since July!  I finally finished it last night since it's a Christmas gift for my daughter and her husband.  I ordered the yarn from LoveKnitting.com.  It an Aran weight yarn with 25% wool.  The wool really gives this yarn a wonderful drape and feel and yet it's still machine washable.

Here is a link to the  pattern.   It's called Knit Zigzag Ease Throw and it's by Coats and Clark.

 

(Sorry for the poor photo).  As you can see, the pattern calls for three different colored yarns.  I used one color throughout my afghan and I think it shows off the pattern much better.

On a side note, I absolutely love LoveKnitting.com.  They have a great selection of yarns and if you sign up for their e-mails, you will receive notice of sales that many times include free shipping.  Another favorite online yarn shop of mine is Paradise Fibers.  They are located in Spokane, Washington and last year I had the opportunity to visit this shop.  They offer great online specials; one special was a $60.00 skein of yarn with a special price of $15.00!  They too offer free shipping now and then. You just need to check their website.

Back in the day when I started to crochet and knit, I would buy my yarn at the local dime store (do kids today even know that that is?).  There was no Michaels of Joanns back then.  Then, one day I had a pattern that called for a special type of yarn.  My son told me to go online and check it out.  I placed my first online order  and I received this beautiful, spun wool from a family owned farm in New England.  I still have some of this wool.

Since then (13 years +), I find patterns that call for special yarns and I go online (to my favorite yarn shops) and shop for the yarn.  There are great bargains to be had online since many times they have discounted the yarn since it was last seasons colors, etc.  As you know, once you knit with nice yarn you don't want to knit with your Grandma's Red Heart.  Please don't take my wrong, I love the Red Heart afghans my dear Grandmother made for me.  But part of the fun for me is finding the pattern, finding the yarn at a great bargain and making the item.

So, my knitting basket is literally empty now.  I am going to tweek a pattern I have for a knitted scarf.  I plan to add some beads to the pattern and see how it comes out.  I will let you know.

In the meantime, I hope each of you have a wonderful week.  Keep warm, be safe and remember to stop by Handmade Monday to see some wonderful crafts.  And, please don't be shy to comment on this post.  I would love to hear from you.

blessings,
Pat

P.S.  Do you like the new look of my blog?  My daughter Heidi created it for me and the picture of the Eiffel Tower was taken by Heidi during our night time walk back to our hotel!