Monday Morning Mug Rugs!

Over the weekend I put aside my Atta Girl Sweater knitting and picked up smaller needles to knit a few mug rugs.  I had (on Friday-Valentine's Day) seen a pattern called Pair of Hearts for mug rugs.  Hearts, flowers, and butterflies always suck me in!  We have a ton of heart shaped cooking pans.  Love them.  Including a heart-shaped cast iron Lodge skillet.  I love that pan even though it did not work the way I thought it would.  I will have to make several more things in the pan to see if I can make them work.  Actually, I have only tried making pancakes in that heart cast iron pan.  How did I imagine I was going to flip that pancake? It did not work...

Anyway, in the spirit of using up all yarn in the house this year, I made a dozen heart-y mug rugs!  I love how they look.  Here is the big picture:

The first one, in the upper left corner, was made using US 8 needles.  It was too floppy for me so I dropped down to US 5 needles. I like them a lot better. I would have used the US 6 needles but they are all in other projects (another plan for this year is to finish ALL projects that are on the needles!) so they were not available for this project.

These mug rugs are knitted using the mosaic technique.  This is a very easy way to do color work.  For garter stitch mosaic knitting you will need to knit over and back in one color only.  For this pattern you knit the background color then slip the contrast color stitches as you get to them WYIB (With Yarn In Back).  On the way back across you slip the contrast color stitches WYIF (With Yarn In Front).  On the second color row you will be knitting the contrast color stitches and slipping the background color WYIB, then on the way back slip the background color WYIF, and on and on until bind off.  The designer of this pattern uses the Chinese Waitress Cast On which I did not notice until I had actually finished the last of these dozen mug rugs. Oh well.  Maybe I will try it next time.

Here is an up-close (more or less)  mug rug:

As you can see-I did not actually lay the mug rug flat to photograph...I just laid it over the arm of the chair which is why is looks somewhat wonky. It really is rather nice.  At least I like it.  I will be giving these away today.  This makes me happy.  I love to share pretty stuff.

This one I chose to add to the post because it clearly shows that I am using up yarn!  I finished the white yarn then started in with yellow.  Yay!  One ball down, many to go!  

Mosaic knitting is:  So easy. So fun.  So colorful.  It just takes time

While knitting these mug rugs I was watching YouTube, as usual. There were some great spinning videos plus I watched a few Knicoleknits Knows Knitting videos.  One was on marling.  You will see that here in the future, at least you will see my efforts at marling!  When we were on our mission lots of yarn was given to me.  Eventually there was too much so I started a marled blanket project.  It was very fun to do.  

The yarn organization project is in full steam ahead condition currently.  I bought some hair clippy things to attach yarn ends to balls so there will be no more tangled messes.  To give you an idea of the magnitude of the "problem"--I have purchased four cards with 14 hair clips on each card.  Today I need to purchase more hair clip cards...!  Not quite finished with the ones I have but don't want to run out.  When I am on a roll, stopping is not a happy option...

A Quick Post: Hope-to-Make Edition

Today while going through Ravelry I found something I hope to make.  So cute.

This is it!  Cute heart coasters.  Some day I will knit them.  They are mosaic knitting which is very fun to do and so easy.  Once you wrap your head around it a little bit.  Watch for it here...but not any time soon!  Too much going right now.

Something Different, Plus Knitting Today!

 This morning in my studies I read this quote:

"[Satan] damages and often destroys families within the walls of their own homes. His strategy is to stir up anger between family members. Satan is the “father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.” The verb stir sounds like a recipe for disaster: Put tempers on medium heat, stir in a few choice words, and bring to a boil; continue stirring until thick; cool off; let feelings chill for several days; serve cold; lots of leftovers.

A cunning part of his strategy is to dissociate anger from agency, making us believe that we are victims of an emotion that we cannot control. We hear, “I lost my temper.”...

“He made me mad.” This is another phrase we hear, also implying lack of control or agency. This is a myth that must be debunked. No one makes us mad. Others don’t make us angry. There is no force involved. Becoming angry is a conscious choice, a decision; therefore, we can make the choice not to become angry. We choose!"

Elder Lynn G. Robbins

Years ago I read this quote for the first time, or if not this particular quote, the message in it: we choose how we feel.  It was eye-opening to me. I had thought that feelings just came to us.  Not so. I had an experience with anger that helped me learn it was not necessary in my  life and the life of my family.  (In short--one day I was terrifically angry, so angry that I was nauseous and almost faint.  It was such an awful feeling that I resolved never to feel that way again. And I have not.)

For anyone who has felt trapped by negative emotions/feelings, you don't have to be.  In fact, it is an unpleasant truth that we choose how we feel.  I personally choose to feel happy.

One thing that makes me happy is knitting.  I can make pretty things and give them away. This really really makes me happy.

Two of my most recent knitting projects: the blue potpourri bag--

and the purple and pink potpourri bag--

These bags have been a months'-long learning project as I have been "studying" mosaic knitting.  I am not at the top of the game yet, but am making progress.  The blue bag shows the rounded bottom of the bag.  The purple and pink bag shows that the rounded bottom really is a flat bottom so the bag can sit up.

The bags contain a small handful of botanical potpourri and a cotton ball with five drops of lavender oil dropped on it to give it a nice lavender-y fragrance.  These make me smile.  One day when I get the pattern just the way I want it, I will publish it here in case anyone else wants to knit some of them. It takes me less than two hours to knit. I am hoping to get it together so it is less than that!

Knitting Today: Completed Potpourri Mosaic Bag

 Over the weekend I had the pleasure of completing this mosaic knitted bag.  I really like the way it looks.  The only problem with it is that it is larger than I was expecting.  I will have to try again with new numbers.

The closure cords were knitted with i-cord which were knotted together at the ends that pull up tight to keep the potpourri inside.

Fun project.  More to come.