Greek Baby Name Blanket

I decided to try a Greek personalized blanket to add to my Hebrew and Vietnamese blankets. I found a great font that look terrific on the blanket. If you are wondering how this is done - read on.

I retired as a software engineer where I wrote programs for CAD - computer aided drafting. This background allows me to feel very comfortable with design software. The program I use to put the names in is called DAK. If you are familiar with fonts, you will know that you can download many fonts to your computer - you are not limited to the ones it came with. The Greek font I use came from the web.

Like all graphic programs (including Paint) you can create a text box and insert words. I do that with the Greek font. There is always tweaking to be done to get it to look good, but that is how it starts.

Maybe I will try Arabic next!

More Personalized Scarves

I had requests for several personalized scarves recently. I love getting these because people have such interesting ideas that I can work with.

One request was for a scarf in purple with all the names of a friend's cats. I added some cat graphics for variety. It turned out rather nice. Now I am hoping for some dog scarves!

Another was for a boyfriend. I LOVE the sentiment - "No Skinny Chicks". This one is super soft with a special gray tweedy yarn and a pattern.

If you have some great ideas, contact me. I would love to do a scarf for you.

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Empty Nest, Pendant Bags and Lip Balm

The last of the chicks went off to college and we are left with an empty nest! What to do with all that TIME? I got right back to the knitting machine.

In previous blogs, I told how those cell bags were made with no seams. Now I made them smaller for use as pendant bags and lip balm bags. You can see how small the pendat bags are. Use them for treasures - or the tooth fairy!

Check out the bags at http://www.blazingneedles.etsy.com/

Taking my time with personalized blankets

I guess we all try to do it - get the last mile out of a tank of gas before refilling, hoping there is enough milk for the cereal to save a trip to the store.

Now if you are a machine knitter, you know that the machine HAS to be kept clean. Gunk builds up on the rails and carriage from the oil used to keep the machine running. I usually clean mine every day ... but ... setting up for blankets takes a while and I wanted to squeeze the last blanket out before cleaning. Bad move. There right down the middle was an error.

Sigh. I lost my work and had to clean the machine and set up again anyway. I hope I remember this the next time I am tempted to extend my cleaning period. But I probably won't.

You can see my personalized blankets at http://www.blazingneedles.etsy.com

My first "Section Sale"

I decided to try something new at my etsy site http://www.blazingneedles.etsy.com/ The entire section with mugrugs and coasters is 20% off. As always, I would rather create than market!

The mugrugs have always been popular - they are unique and low priced. I have several more designs to photo, including a football.

There will be another "section sale" next week. I haven't decided which section yet, so check back!

New Hebrew Name Blanket

My original blanket design is now in a catalog, so I sat down and came up with a new one! Designing is half the fun. My designs are done on a computer and then translated to my loom. Ususally it takes a few iterations before I am happy with a new design. I plan to try a Greek name blanket as well.

Israel - day 8

Sigh - the last day. Rani takes us to the old city.



Rani knows everything about Israel. He takes us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the upper room of the last supper, the western wall, King David's tomb, shopping in the Arab quarter (got some great jewelry!) excavations of ancient sites and so much more.



It is a fantastic day and we leave for Ben Gurian airport tired, happy, sad to leave and wanting to come back.

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