Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was filled with so many of my favorite things I felt compelled to share.

Friday we kicked off the weekend by having dinner at my parent's house with the whole family for the first time since Megan got married. We watched the wedding video Tyler's uncle had put together, and got to see the amazing photos Julie Linz took. You can see a preview video of them on her blog, (but if you do watch, ask me for an explanation why the last picture of Megan and me is so awkward looking, it's a funny story and doesn't involve drinking, I swear!).

If I don't move on, I'll start rambling and repeating the words 'amazing' and 'gorgeous' and I'm sure you can see for yourself. 

It was great seeing Lilly as well since she changes and grows so much between visits. I think she enjoys family gatherings too because she doesn't get put down once, she just gets passed from lap to lap. We are all completely smitten with the first Bartlett grandbaby/niece. My Mom watches her three days a week so I imagine we'll be getting a photo 'goodie bag' most of the days that we come by for family dinners.

These are just a couple that we came home with this weekend. 

Saturday, for me, began with meeting up with former small-group ladies for breakfast and we shared a wonderful time of catching up. Whenever we see each other I am both sad that our weekly meetings had to come to an end, and grateful that they were such an important part of my life for so many years. 

From breakfast Chris and I headed to the soccer field for our game. We play in a coed church league and thankfully we enjoy playing because this weekend we got steamrolled. I do not enjoy losing, but I love playing soccer and if you had told me 10 years ago that in my 30's I'd still be scrubbing mud out of my knees after slide-tackling some guy on the soccer field I'd be inclined not to believe you. Yet here I am, still unable to come home from a game not covered in mud and blood from the waist down.

This is me after one of our games last year.

Moral of this part of the weekend is soccer makes me happy even if we lose, and I'm thankful to still be playing the sport I love. The horrific lost also inspired a couple of us to hit the bar on the way home for a much needed beer, allowing us to sooth our weary bodies with a pint.

Finally Saturday night brought us to Sharon and Nate's house where we joined their annual Fall Harvest Party, bearing gifts of chips, guacamole, and of course knitted beer koozies. They had a fire blazing in the backyard, homebrew on ice, and tasty food filling every inch of the kitchen. What could be better? I must say, it was a perfect night for the koozies since there was a chill in the air and the koozies kept our hands from being cold while holding onto our frosty beers.

Sharon also used them to keep her fingers warm in between beers

Sunday was church at Crossbridge and a great message from Mark about teaching your kids to trust God and make wise decisions. I know someday we'll need all the help we can get. For now I'm headed to the basement to watch some football and get more knitting done. I've got a project I'm really excited to share with you that's almost ready for a photo shoot, so stay tuned!

I hope all my readers had as fabulous a weekend as I have had!

Again With The Beer Koozies!

When I first started posting pics of the beer koozies I had designed, a friend of mine immediately requested Pitt inspired koozies for herself. Not being from Pittsburgh myself I am not really familiar with the colleges in the Pittsburgh area, plus with the start of football season around the corner thrown in for extra confusion, my brain went straight to the Steelers. Fortunately, my friend is also a Steelers fan, so she was more then happy to accept my misinterpretation.

The process for knitting the multicolored koozies was something like this.

Getting started without getting tangled was a process in itself.

Bella was jealous of all the yarn because it prevented her from sitting in my lap.

I knit them on straight needles till the bottom piece when I joined it in the round. 

You can imagine how tired I got of weaving in ends after I finished each koozy.

A view from the right side.

Volia! The finished product! They look just as cool as they do in single colors!

The White House Home Brew

As you may have gathered, I like beer. I enjoy having a beer with dinner after a long day, or meeting up with friends at the bar for a drink and a Flyers game. While I am by no means a beer connoisseur, I do enjoy sampling new beers and finding new favorites. I'm not the kind of girl who will drink anything with "light" on the label rather preferring to have a pint or two of something special over imbibing half of a case of Coors Light.

I have to say that I especially enjoy homebrews made by family and friends that I have had the pleasure of sampling, as well as micro brews that can be found at places like the Iron Hill Brewery in the Philadelphia area. On a side note, I recently had a whiskey barrel brewed stout at Iron Hill that tasted just like an Irish Car Bomb without the chugging. It was a little bit of heaven in a frosty pint glass. Yum!

My Uncle Steve has been brewing since before I was legal, and I have a vivid memory of my Grandma yanking a very small glass of home brew from my hands before I had the pleasure of a sip when I was about 19. I must say, it was worth the wait, and continues to get better.

Therefore, I was very pleased to hear this morning that President Obama has brought the art of homebrew to the White House.

The President purchased the equipment himself and asked the White House chefs to come up with the first ever homebrew created for the President. Being homebrew enthusiasts, the chefs set about brewing several honey-based brews for such events as the President's Super Bowl Party and fufilling a request by former Marine Sargent Dakota Meyer who received the Medal of Honor and asked to have a beer with the President. The honey was harvested from the White House's own beehives and have gone into the White House Honey Ale, pictured above, as well as a White House Honey Blonde Ale, and a White House Honey Porter.

You can read more on Obama Foodorama's blog. But what I really want to know is, would the President like some hand knitted beer koozies in exchange for some White House homebrew? I can make them in red white and blue!

Beer Koozie Patterns

This is my first official published pattern. I'm actually really proud of these, and trust me, I have knitted them all several times so I can say without a doubt, the patterns are perfect!

Cabled Beer Koozies

Needles: Size 4 DPN’s

Yarn: 1 skein Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe, color(s) of your choice

Other: 1 blunt eyed needle

            Cable needle

            1 Marker (optional)

Basic Cable Abbreviations:

            C4F – slip 4 stitches to cable needle and hold to the front

            K4FC – put 4 stitches from cable needle back to DPN and knit

            K2tog – Knit two stitches together (decrease 1 stitch)

Serpentine Cable Abbreviations:

            C3F – slip 3 stitches to cable needle and hold to the front

            C3B – slip 3 stitches to cable needle and hold to the back

            K3FC – put 3 stitches from cable needle back to DPN and knit

            K2tog – Knit two stitches together (decrease 1 stitch)

Modified Cable Abbreviations:

            C3F – slip 3 stitches to cable needle and hold to the front

            K3FC – put 3 stitches from cable needle back to DPN and knit

            K2tog – Knit two stitches together (decrease 1 stitch)

Ladder Cable Abbreviations:

            C2F – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold to the front

            C2B – slip 2 stitches to cable needle and hold to the back

            K2FC – put 2 stitches from cable needle back to DPN and knit

            K2tog – Knit two stitches together (decrease 1 stitch)

Cast on 44 stitches to a size 4 needle

K2, P2 the next row, dividing stitches evenly on DPN’s (place marker if so desired)

Work 5 more rows of K2, P2 rib in the round

Basic Cable Pattern:

Row 1-5: K8, P3 (repeat to end/marker)

Row 6: C4F, K4, K4FC, P3 (repeat to end/marker)

Repeat rows 1-6 three more times

Work 4 more rows of K8, P3

Serpentine Cables:

Row 1-5: K6, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Row 6: C3F, K3, K3FC, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Row 7-11: K6, P5

Row 12: C3B, K3, K3FC, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Repeat rows 1-12 one more time

Work 4 more rows of K6, P5

Modified Cables:

Row 1-6: K6, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Row 7: C3F, K3, K3FC, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Row 8-10: K6, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Row 11: C3F, K3, K3FC, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Row 12: K6, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Repeat rows 1-12 one more time

Work 4 more rows of K8, P3

Ladder Cables:

Row 1-4: K8, P3 (repeat to end/marker)

Row 5: C2B, K2, K2FC, C2F, K2, K2FC, P5 (repeat to end/marker)

Repeat rows 1-5 four more times

Work 3 more rows of K8, P3

Bottom:

Row 1: Purl to end

Row 2: K2tog, K3 (repeat to last 4 stitches) K4, 36 stitches

Row 3, 5, 7: Knit to end

Row 4: K2tog, K2 (repeat to end) 27 stitches

Row 6: K2tog, K1 (repeat to end) 18 stitches

Row 8: K2tog (repeat to end) 9 stitches

Leaving a tail, cut yarn.

Using a blunt eyed needle, draw tail through remaining 9 stitches and remove from needles.

Draw bottom closed and weave in yarn tail to secure.

Seam top stitch and weave in end at top of koozie.

They look great in whatever color or colors you want to knit them in, honor your sports team, a wedding color, or just your personal favorite.

I would be glad to e-mail you a PDF of these patterns if that would make your life easier, just let me know where to send it. They also need to be modified slightly if you were to knit them in two colors instead of one, so let me know if you would like that pattern instead.

Happy Knitting!