It's All About The Blues

I made this hat for my sister by her request. It is the Snowboarder Hat that Rocks you can find the pattern here. I do love free patterns and since this is made with bulky yarn it was fast! Sis bought the yarn which was super soft and squishy. Plymouth Yarn, Baby Alpaca Grande Hand Dye, used 1.25 skeins in the Turquoise color. I am also working on these socks. The Waving Lace Socks from Interweave Press Favorite Socks. A close up of the lace detail. I like socks with a pattern they go faster for me I think than plain knit ones.

The big Thanksgiving holiday is coming up soon and I have to finish the sweater for my dad. I'm off to get working on that. Keep on knitting!

Stripey Hat

Easy quick project for KD. Raveled here. It was a stash busting project that I brought on the trip. I finished it the week I got back on a night shift at work.

I was KD's idea to put the long blue tassel on the end with a pom pom. I am thinking of lining it with a little fleece so its even warmer and won't let the wind blow through. Probably my gauge is a little off but I love the end result and it fits.

Here's a shot of my trick or treaters, a mad scientist, black cat and Darth Vader were hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.

That's Miss M's poncho I made a while back. I blogged about it here.

I have Dad's Vest on the needles and am almost done. I should be finishing it up soon. Talk to you all soon!

Scatterbrain

Oops! Got busy and now I have tons of things to update on. This post seems a little scattered but here goes.


I managed to get KD to pose with his hat on. He will wear it at home but not to school. Already I have kids that are embarressed of me. I think it looks really cute on him, and he says its nice and warm.

I had a visitor the other day. This Piliated Woodpecker hangs around our house year round, but with the cold weather I haven't seen him in a while. Not the greatest picture but you can see how big he really is.
I love these kinds of things in my yard, handmade kid stuff! KD made this one warm day last week.

I joined Rani's, Year of Socks. Crazy I know. I really have to get going on Febuary's sock. I am planning to make these. The Azure socks are just the thing.

Rani nominated me for a "You Make My Day" award. She also is having a little contest so go see what she's up to.

So to spread the love, check out these blogs.

I have to return the favor to Rani, I check her blog out often.

A Few Things To Say - she's back from Hiatus! and quilting!

A Friend To Knit With

Probably a ton of people nominated the Yarn Harlot, but I do love her writing and she's wicked funny.

Christine at Too Much Yarn is a super fast sock knitter too. (Oh she nominated me too! Gotta keep up with the blogs more.)

Yarn Hog gets a mention too, she knits stuff I love at a hugely fast pace. We are knitting a sweater in the same yarn and color right now.

Oh there are just too many to name! If I didn't mention you consider yourself mentioned. I love you all.

Last on the blog front I just have to say Thank You to all who have ordered my yarns or have even checked them out. I am so happy to be doing the dyeing on the side and it means so much that you like the yarns. More is coming, I am putting in orders today for more stock. Watch the Etsy shop for updates or check back here, I'll put a note in when I add to the store. Thank You again!

On my needles:

Assymetrical Cardigan

Hat in Malabrigo of my own design

Azure socks

Baby socks

Better get to work! Knit On!

Winter Knits

So I promised pictures of finished objects last time. I added a couple of knits from last winter that I haven't blogged about in the past.

This hat and mitten set was made for KD last winter. Too bad he won't wear the mitts at all and the hat is getting too small.

So because those were too small, I made KD this Thorpe hat. I made it a little too big so it is slightly felted to fit. I couldn't get him to model it for me. Maybe he'll let me later.

Miss M got these mittens last winter but they were too big. She just recently has decide they fit a little better. The cuffs are knit in a mosaic pattern. That was a lot of fun to do, I should try that again in some other project.

These mittens are mine, I used Lamb's Pride worsted for them. I love them. Super warm. I can't remember the name of the pattern it is around here somewhere.

Since I liked my felted mittens so much I made these for Noley. I thought he might not wear them but he loves them! I could have left the thumb off though, he won't use that part. I did think they should be a little longer in the cuff area, so next time I'll have to remember that. This was an improvised pattern.

I dyed up the last of my wool supply the other day and put them up on Etsy if you're interested. Just a little picture to tempt you:)

I am loving the dyeing and 3 skeins are gone to happy knitters. I'll have to see how the sales go before I can convince BDiddy that this might be worth the time. I think it is of course but he needs a little more proof. My 3 favorites in the first batch sold right off the bat so I have to try to reproduce them. My current favorite is the Blue skein 2nd from the left. I call it Blueberry Pie. I know I can reproduce that one because I wrote down the formula. So I'll dye one up for me some other time. What kind of colors are your favorites? I like purples, blues and greens the most.

Well time to go do a little baking with Miss M for some Momma and Daughter time. Knit On!

What I did on my Christmas vacation

The craziness of the holidays are past and the new year has begun. Time to update the blogging world of my past few weeks. Has it really been since Dec. 18th? Of course there were trips to Grandma and Grandpa's house (both of them). Gifts were given and received. Some how I missed getting a picture of the SIL hat on the recipient. The niece and nephew enjoyed the slippers and hopefully will use them.

Every year my dad added to his list of things he would like us to knit for him. He was hinting not so subtly about what he might like and specifying the kind of fiber to use. We have to laugh at least he will wear what we (my sisters and I) make. I made him a scarf that he lost but that was years ago. Oh and a pair of wool socks in a bulky yarn a couple of years ago too. I don't count that in my sock making list because they were so bulky and seemed like cheating compared to "real" sock yarn.

Speaking of socks, my first Embossed Leaf sock is done! Here is the sock in progress.
Here is one finished sock. It fits perfectly. I was afraid it would be too small because of my size 10 shoe, but it is perfect.


So I need to cast on the other one to avoid the second sock syndrome. I don't think it will be a problem as I can't wait to wear these!

I made Noley a felted hat from a Fiber Trends pattern on my break. The name of the pattern is Felt Winter Hats. I plan to make one for KD too.
Below is the before felting and after felting picture.

I think it is so funny that it fits me before going in the wash. It turned out pretty cute don't you think. It might be the wearer though he is pretty cute:)

So what Christmas gifts what did you get that were really great? I was happy with everything I got. Even BDiddy did well and he often manages to wreck the surprise for me. I got a new polar fleece jacket and a nice undershirt for cross country skiing from him.

My mom and sister got me this and this! I love them! Ok the link for the ball winder may not be the exact one I got but you get the idea.

Last but not least KD and Miss M got me these for Christmas at the school gift shop. The frog is from KD. I don't know what it is for but I think it is to hold rings or maybe a candle holder? The glass tea light is from Miss M it is shaped like a mushroom I think. They were so proud that they picked them out themselves.

Hope you all had a good holiday and big plans for the New Year!

Winter is here! (and finished objects)

This morning I was greeted with this gorgeous sunrise from my kitchen windows.
Here's a good shot of how much snow we got this weekend. The play center is covered with snow but I bet when the kiddos get home today they will be all over this.

I decided to post my SIL's hat because I think she doesn't lurk here. Hopefully not otherwise surprise Andrea! I used Patons Soy Wool Stripes for this in Nature Garden. The colors are not great in this picture, I could not get a good picture of the real colors for the life of me. I used a hat pattern out of Rebecca Fall 2005 which I picked up on clearance at a LYS in the Twin Cities.

This is a little better picture of the true colors. It also shows the decreases I used to change the top of this hat.

I caved and gave this to BDiddy when it got cold. I really like how this turned out and the manly colors were nice too. This is in Noro Kureyon, I forgot which colorway though. Lost the tag. Used the same pattern as the SIL hat, but could not figure out the bind off in the pattern so this is improvised. I think it is close to what I was supposed to do.
Last but not least my selfish post Christmas knitting. The Bee Fields Triangle Shawl from Knitspot.

The yarn is from White Willow on Etsy. I think I'm gonna love it!

Canasta and Calorimetry

Monday night we played Canasta with our good friends, Jess and Dennis. We go in streaks with them some weeks we see them 1-2 times a week other weeks not at all. But we always have fun when we get together. The guys always get a little crazy and we laugh and laugh. (Inside Joke: Dennis I was still laughing about the credit card thing the next morning)


This is proof that the girls won!! We had been on a bit of a losing streak.












At the game night, I started the Calorimetry hat thing from Knitty, with the Lamb's Pride yarn I got last week .












I finished it today. Isn't it cute?
It seems a little wide on the top but I didn't check my gauge at all so I guess I deserved that. It will work for what it's for. It is soooo soft and warm. It was pretty hot today amd hotter still while I was taking these.

Party Time!

He liked it! I finished to hat last night just in time to give to my Bro today at the party. He wore it most of the day. Here he is wearing it during the pinata, I think it was a hit. Oh and I guess he has green eyes but it still looked good on him:)
Monica had a good party with very little crying on everyones part:) Here she is getting ready to open presents and sitting with her friend Madison. Thanks everyone for the great stuff!!
On to new projects, I am anxious to start back up on Kyle's sweater and the socks I'm working on. Yarn for the Secret Project will be forthcoming, and I have a plan for the recent Lamb's Pride yarn purchase! I'll save some things for next posting.

Brother Hat

This is the hat I'm making for my brother who so kindly commented that he was glad I had a hobby I enjoyed and shamelessly hinted for a knitted item. It is a simple baby cable hat. I found it online here. I'm using a skein of Bernatt yarn, 100% wool which felts nicely but I don't plan to felt this, and I changed the edging to a 1X1 rib. I think he will like it and it should look good with his blue eyes. Ask and you shall receive! Plus it was his birthday recently.

We went to the local state park and walked in the woods the other night. The kids had a great time.
Miss M was not inclined to have her picture taken but I snapped one from behind. She is 5 today! Happy Birthday Monica!!