Mom's Finished Knitting: 2008

Big Yellow Afghan
Dishcloths - Frog, Owl, Garter Ridge, feather and fan

Dena's Finished Knitting: 2008

Shoebox Dolls
Felted slippers for mom
Hemlock ring practice afghan - done
Socks - two for Christmas, one for dena, one for Fred,
started another for Fred, another for dena
Mom's sweater
Bordhi fanny basket - 6 or so
Dishcloths: all 8 plus 3 angel designs
Tiny angels - choir plus second choir
Fiddle Faddle - stars, angel
Baby Afghans - Entrelac, round (3), star
Poncho - done but . . . .
Helmet liner, scarf

Teresa's Finished Knitting: 2008

Needlenook Nosh yoga socks & wrist warmers, Elf, Scarf & Hat, Grazing Sheep Bag, Green Numma Socks, Pink Elann Socks (S), Turq Elann Socks (M), Austermann Step Socks, Baby stuff (2 hats, socks, mittens), Flat Feet Socks, 3 Huggable Hedgehogs, Adipose, Cat/Bear, EZ Baby Surprise Jacket, 3 felted fish, Design a Sweater(Checkerbaord), Numma Numma socks for contest (2 pair), Pink/Green felted purse (disaster), Headbands (2), Danish Night Cap, MalaCable Hat, Amanda Hat, Selbu Bag, Ping Pong Wristwarmers, Embossed Leaves Socks, Felted Yarn Bucket, Knit Headbands, 'nother Rat, Jamaica chevron top, Red Shawl, Valentine's Hearts & Olives, Knit Elfs (need hair/beard), Hemlock Ring Blanket, Baby Socks & Hat (2 sets), MardiGras socks, Korknisse, Wreath pins, Tiny Angels, Fiddle Faddle, Knit a Dead Rat (2), Knit 7 Washcloths, Steffie's socklets (2 pair), Maddie's Socks, Gift Washcloths, Miss S's Cotton Sweater, Felted Fish

Meet The New Elf!!!

This is the new elf I knit. She's a little bigger than the old elf, but the size could be adjusted just by using a smaller needle if you wanted. She's about 5" tall where the old elf was less than 4" tall. Still, I think she's cute and she's soft and smushy. She'll make a terrific Christmas decoration or toy (not for under 3's) and is just darn cute. I've written down the knitting portion of the pattern and am considering posting it on the blog. Still have to put in the finishing information and that'll take more time than the knitting stuff.

Knitting Books! (and lots of them . . .)

Well, we did have a bit of a party on Miss S's birthday even tho Dad was out of town. We opened all her birthday presents and all the lovely Christmas Presents that Mom sent. I'm actually glad they arrived after Christmas because they were so special and we had so much fun opening them all by themselves.

I didn't take pics of the makeup or perfume or mittens but they were all appreciated none-the-less. The girls were both absolutely thrilled with them (and me too!).

I was even more thrilled with the knitting books. And overwhelmed at the number of them! I have already begun reading the Knitting Yarns and Spinning Tales and am enjoying the stories immensely.

And I always love Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, so Free Range Knitter is next on my list!

As for the sock books, I have a substantial stash of sock yarn that is waiting to be knit. I still have some of the yarn Mom sent before and need to find a pattern for my husband's socks. I should be able to find something in either The Eclectic Sole or Folk Socks. I wonder if I can use some of my sock yarn to knit a pair of mittens from Folk Mittens?

And the dvds were definitely the hit of the party! Everytime a new set came out of a bag, someone screamed! Miss S had a friend spending the night, and the two of them stayed up till 4:30 in the morning watching the new dvds - that wasn't so good for them, but at least we know they enjoyed them. And I've been fortunate enough to have gotten to watch a few shows since they were opened too! We leave for the beach today and the Dr. Who and Torchwood will come with us!

And, last, but not least, some knitting that's been happening! I've been knitting and ripping and reknitting these fingerless Mitts for Miss M for about a month now and it looks like they might eventually be finished. I didn't use a pattern, just kinda did what I wanted and not all of it worked. These are down to the thumb gusset tho, so it looks like they'll be finished before we get back. Hope so cuz I'm tired of them.

Presents!

First off, Mom's package arrived today - a little bashed here and there, but everything inside seemed to be ok. I took all the presents out and put them on the counter with the other birthday gifts and we will have an opening party later. Girl went to the spa and had a facial, massage, manicure and pedicure with a friend for her birthday. She liked all but the facial - which she said she would never do again in a million years.


This is the gorgeous ring that she got for Christmas from her very cute boyfriend. He came over again yesterday and went to the movies with us. He also gave her a birthday gift a day early - a pair of lovely amethyst earings to match the ring.






This is one of my favorite Christmas presents - Miss S gave it to me. It's a Feed 100 bag that she bought at Whole Foods. The profits from the sale of this bag feed one school child 100 meals.








It starts out folded and zipped up in a burlap case that's about 8" wide and 6" deep. It says Feed on one side and 100 on the other side.














Then you unzip the burlap and open it up and it forms the bottom of the bag. The bag falls out of the burlap and becomes a bag - white cotton, printed on both sides.

The first side says "FEED the children of the world" and the second side says 100.

It makes a terrific knitting bag because the handles are just the right length and are affixed with both stitching and metal grommets (brads?). It also has pockets on the inside which is really nice - the side pocket is big enough for a pattern and the end pockets for your bits or phone and such.

I was instructed to fold it up, zip it up and keep it with me to use as a grocery bag, but I declined. I figure it won't get too much use that way - it's much better as a knitting bag.

Cool, hunh?

Remember this?

Mom might remember this little elf that I made when I was a teenager. It's been hanging around for a very long time. It has been a toy and a Christmas Ornament and just something cute, forever. Well, I looked once to see if I could find the pattern and I never could. I got it back out last week and tried to figure out how it was made. I'm sure it was crocheted and since I try not to do that anymore, I decided to knit one up. It's almost done, and I've written up a pattern for it. Not sure if there will be any interest in it or not. (Also wrote up a pattern for the blue cabled hat, but again, not sure there will be any interest.) Anyway, I should finish the elf today, so pics tomorrow!

One more of Mom's lights -

They are really beautiful!

Merry Christmas to All!

Ok pics! First we have the Viking's that are now available thru playmobil. They call them the barbarians and they are supposed to attack the romans, but they are vikings none the less.

And don't you know there had to be pigs around for Christmas?

And these are the lovely lamps that Jeff sent us. I'm sorry the pic is so bad that you cannot see the butterfly and dragonfly that are suspended over the glass but I had turned down the flash so I could take pics of the pig and dog and forgot to turn it back up. He also sent a lovely, larger lamp that is made out of a dragonfly and has a dragonfly glass shade that hangs down. Unfortunately the screws that are supposed to hold the lampshade on the lamp are gone so I can't put it together.

And this is the GPS that the kids and their dad got me for Christmas. Next time I go to Asheville, it won't take me 6 hours to get home . . . at least we hope it won't! (And please note the route drawn up and ready for me to take.)

And some funkeys, whatever they are for the girls. Apparently you plug them into the computer and go into some web based wonderland and play. I don't get it, but they do. Someone got the most gorgeous ring with a heart shaped amethyst in it from her boyfriend . . . pics later if I can get a good one.

Dad got a giant scepter - no really, it's just an umbrella but we had to disguise it so he would be surprised.

And the fluffy dog found a bag that smelled really good and so she stuck her whole head in there and reached way down to the bottom of the bag and found a dingo bone. Then she spent the next hour eating it all gone.

And afterward, she decided it was time to relax and take it easy . . . .

Finally Finished!

Finally finished both the hat and the scarf that I've been working on! They are for me. I've knit probably several hundred scarves and hats in all the years I've been doing this, but I've never managed to keep one for myself. Well, I do have the hat that I dyed at knitting camp, but most of it was knit on a machine. But I don't have any scarf at all.

The scarf is knit using Malabrigo Merino worsted and the Reversible Cable-Rib Scarf pattern from www.lilsproutknits.com (tho I don't see the pattern available on the website.)

The hat is made using the same yarn, but it's a pattern that I made up. I might write it up and put in on the free patterns if I end up liking the hat. Tho I'm not sure it's worth the time and trouble since there are so many gazillions of free hat patterns out there.

My Christmas Lights

I havent been on here for so long I've forgotten how to do it. But they are very pretty.

I Love Santa!

But I hate that my kids are growing up and think that they are too old for him. One of them refused to talk to Santa this year - didn't even want to go near him. After much cajoling, she finally stood next to him and allowed a picture to be taken, but she absolutely refused to talk to him or be in any video of him. So this year, it's back to one child in the video and most pics as it was before I had the second child. Sooo sad. Told my youngest that next year, I am going to sit in Santa's lap with her!

Thanks!

This is Mom's wreath, hanging on my back door. It is really pretty and really festive and I'm glad I have it. See the little gold angel on the bottom?

Lots of Knitting (mostly not mine)

So there has been a rush of knitting going on around here, but not all of it by me. Darling Miss S has been busy knitting her fingers to the bone for that cute boyfriend of hers. As you know, she liked the hat she made him so much, that she had to make herself one too. So she's made two hats using the Chunky Cabled Beanie Pattern from Stitch Cafe (see bottom of post for link). She used the Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande for everything and it's so soft and nice.

Then she made a scarf for him too. She made it in a knit 4, purl 4 rib on size 11 needles. When you spread it out, it's about 16" or more wide, but when you let it go, it pulls in on itself and is less than 6" wide. But when it's pulled in, it's about an inch thick, and so is very heavy, thick, lush and cozy. He's going to love it. When she finished knitting it, she turned up one end and stitched it to make a pocket. Then she knit one of my little hearts and tucked it in the pocket. It's a very nice gift.

So, I showed the hat to a friend of mine who was pregnant with a girl the same time I was pregnant with my girl (in fact she was pregnant both times I was pregnant, but she managed to have a boy the second time). It seems that her daughter was looking for a great gift for her boyfriend and couldn't come up with one. Turns out her boyfriend always wears a hat. Well, one thing led to another and I went out late yesterday afternoon and grabbed another hank of this yarn and made the Friend's Daughter's Boyfriend hat this morning. Took less than two hours and it's gone to be wrapped.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080131214353/http://stitchcafe.com/freepatterns.html

I LOVE this Camera!

It's a Canon Powershot S3IS and I really, really love it. Everytime I play with it, I find another cool thing that it can do! I think I'm going to look for a photography class after New Years and see if I can learn how to use all these cool settings it has. Anyway, here are two pics taken with the Sepia setting - don't my girls look good like this?