Summer is coming to an end for us and we must return north.

I just bought a bunch of yarn for hats, socks, and cowls. I am hoping while I am knitting these up I can decide on what sweater to design next and knit this winter.

I am actually really glad to be returning to Alaska as it is to hot here!

Anyone started to think about fall knitting besides me?

We really did enjoy our two trips to Alaska. Almost became residents in 1957 but our lives took a different turn. I will be starting another Grandchild Afghan in the Fall. Jo-Ann Sensations, all 66 oz of it is awaiting me in Columbus. Just two more to go. Knit Ripple is my favorite. Every other row I can talk...LOL!! Some year I WILL complete Level I. IF I live long enough. 'They' keep changing the requirements. (That is my excuse and I am sticking to it...) Grace, Love and Prayers. God Bless.

I forgot !!! Has anyone seen an Acrylic yarn in Lime Green??? That is the next request. Thanking you all in advance. Grace, Love and Prayers. God Bless.

Well, there's the Elisabeth Lavold sweater with the dragon, maybe even two headed, that I've been thinking about. I have the nice dark green Nature Spun but haven't been able to get to it. There are starts of two afghans. I just finished a bits and pieces baby blanket for the homeless shelter that looks pretty good. I used some of the donated yarn at the shelter and carried white with it to help unify it. I can't really start anything else though until I get the 100 or so crocheted snow flakes that I promised for the church Christmas sale done and stiffened. If anyone has any really good way to do the stiffening, I'd love to learn it. I've been dipping them in a mixture of Elmer's glue and water and pinning them out. I end up feeling that I've been dipped in Elmer's and water. Ugh!

Somehow the summer knitting is just marching into fall, although fall knitting seems to run to knitting for Christmas.
First I have to finish a pair of socks that got sidelined by the purple handspun, and then it is time for my best friend's birthday socks. Meantime I will be needing a hat for me, because my hair that was somewhere between chin and waist length all the years of my grown up life got chopped to very short, and for the first time since childhood my ears are exposed.... besides my hoodie was loved by someone else more than was good for me and it dissapeared. So I need a new one of those. This is going to be fun.

knitterb,
Try this if you can find it. I used powdered laundry starch and there was a recipe on the side of the box for boiled starch. I always made the recipe for the stiffest solution. I would put my snowflakes in the hot, freshly boiled starch and let it cool enough to handle. Then squeeze out the excess and pin out to dry. It does have the same drawback as the glue method you used, and that is that items can become limp in highly humid places. But at least you won't be as sticky when you get done.

Have you also considered some of those bottled stiffeners? They are permanent, but maybe not as messy.

I've so many ufo's that they should be my fall knitting. However, I want to do a cable afghan for my great-niece for Christmas - she will be going off to college next fall and I would like her to have something from home to wrap up in. Also several charity projects. The classes at my lys will include toe up socks and a steeked cardigan based on EZ's percentage system. I'm not brave enough to try the last one on my own so am really glad to have guidance on it. We did a steeked teddy bear sweater earlier, but doing one in adult sizes still intimidates me. Right now I'm working on a vest for me with a lace panel up the front and an Irish Hiking Scarf for my great-niece with pockets on the ends. She is one of the student managers for her high school football team and I thought it might help keep her warm this fall/winter. So many ideas, but not nearly enough time to do it all.

For stiffening snowflakes -

The liquid starch you buy in the laundry aisle of the market works very well. I used it for 11 years to stiffen caps, sunbonnets, collars, etc while working as a historic interpreter. Mix it down to the stiffness you want (see bottle instructions), soak until saturated, blot and spread into shape. Then hot iron according to the fiber you are stiffening. The stuff is still heat set, but no boiling. You can also saturate the items, squeeze them out and wrap in a towel for a while until you feel like ironing. Put a sloth between the starched item & the iron to avoid dirtying the iron.

this stuff will wear like iron, unless it gets wet again. Then just reiron to restiffen.

OOPS, I mean cloth, not sloth. Obviously a hairy animal will not help your snowflakes at all! Especially if ironed!

quote:

Originally posted by MAX:
I forgot !!! Has anyone seen an Acrylic yarn in Lime Green??? That is the next request. Thanking you all in advance. Grace, Love and Prayers. God Bless.

Hi MAX:
Red Heart "Super Saver" has a wonderful lime green yarn in worsted weight called "Spring Green".

quote:

Originally posted by yarnmeg:
OOPS, I mean cloth, not sloth. Obviously a hairy animal will not help your snowflakes at all! Especially if ironed!

I'm not an experienced knitter, so I was all set to go surf the web to find out what a "sloth" is in this context.

quote:

Originally posted by MAX:
Has anyone seen an Acrylic yarn in Lime Green??? That is the next request. Thanking you all in advance. Grace, Love and Prayers. God Bless.

I've got a "one pound" of "soft sage" from Caron. It might meet your needs.

NO fall knitting unfortunately. The shawl I started before Christmas last year will take me months to finish and then I have two more to make. Meanwhile, I keep seeing projects I would love to make but for now I'm obsessed with getting these done for my sisters. I call them my secret projects because they are, well, SECRET!
Sandra

Thank you for the yarn suggestions !! I will have her 'look them over'. My Grandson said, I like the color of Mountain Dew and it ended up Paddy Green. I have learned that the color is in the eye of the beholder. Especially Grandchildren. Thank You... This Board is the 'greatest'!! Grace, Love and Prayers. God Bless.