by Sarah

I like crafting...

The next time I post will be 2009...
(I'm going on vacation til after new years.)

I am bringing a few carefully chosen projects along with me:

A noro stripey scarf, a long forgotten lace shawl I am knitting myself, a pair of vanilla socks (don't worry I have a ball of backup sock yarn too) and some beads and wire for more jewelry knitting, as one of the ladies I am vacationing with is interested in learing how to knit wire jewelry.  I debated brining my Ariann sweater, but decided not to lug it, as it is rather big, and I go thru balls of yarn like crazy.

I am really excited to get working on some more spinning and weaving when I return.  Mostly spinning as I have amassed a bit of fiber I am really looking forward to playing with this winter, but have neglected lately in favor of more portable projects.  Spinning seems to lead to more weaving inspiration for me...as it often seems like the best way to showcase special artyarns!  And of course,I will be sewing up those fleece jackets I cut out yesterday too.

Also when I return, I will have some new roommates. For now, a shot of the cats enjoying a displaced mattress set:

 

A little sewing...

A little sewing before I leave for my trip... First, I cut out some two tone fleece jackets. Why make one when you can sew three, that's what I always say:

Then, I whipped up a wee Christmas tote bag for a sweet little girl (yes its late):

Measuring about 6 inches by 9 inches and 2 inches deep, it has a sweet little patch pocket inside, and I used gross grain ribbon for the handles:

I also made a belated Christmas tote bag for her mom. It has a lot more pockets inside.  I think this was my favorite fabric purchase of the year.  I am very glad I got two nice big bags out of it.

Then I wrapped them all up and mailed them to their destination.

One more blog post before i fly out of town for a little warm weather and R&R. Stay tuned.

Murph Says Merry Christmas From the Beach...

Click to be magically transported to our flickr account for about 50 more photos of Murph and I playing at the beach on Christmas Eve! 

Merry Christmas to all.  And to all a good night.

Christmas Cooking...

This afternoon I was sitting at my desk thinking:  "How great is this.  I have no more Christmas knitting.  I can knit anything I want tonight."  Alas, no knitting for me.  I had forgotten I had Christmas goodies to prepare before I head to my parents home tomorrow evening.

For my parent's annual christmas eve open house, I baked about 100 snickerdoodles (2 batches) made a batch of cheesecake dreams, and stirred up some dip for the veggie tray I will be putting together Wednesday afternoon.  Still to come for that party - mini pigs-in-a-blanket.  For christmas breakfast, I put together a big fruit salad, and made some veggie cream cheese to spread on bagels.  I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which.  I definitely recommend both sweets recipes, people always ask me for the cheesecake one when I take it to parties.  Of course, I added a little red and green sugar to make them more festive.

I guess I can get back to knitting tomorrow.

Thank you due...

Debbie showed me this book not too long ago, and flipping through it put it on my must haves list.

I loved a bunch of the patterns, but especially this one:

Then she gifted it to me for christmas, along with a super cool wine bottle holder (to be used for carrying drop spindles - what a clever idea!)

Thanks Debbie!

In other news...
I finished another turn a square hat.
I used about a half a skein of Aracunia nature wool, along with half a skein of Plymouth Boku - a noro kuyeron knock-off.  I rather liked the colors in the Boku, and lack of VM, but it tended to break more than Noro.  Either way, I like the way the hat came out! (Another christmas gift.)

This is the post where I tell you what a COMPLETE IDIOT I AM...

My mom wanted a triangular shawl.
I was sick of knitting the pattern she picked out, since I had knit it twice already.

I picked out something else instead.
I bought the yarn, I started knitting it in plenty of time to finish for christmas. 
I even made a sneaky "sorry I wanted to make you a shawl but I just couldn't" decoy gift for her out of my weaving.

Then I totally messed up the first pattern!!  I knit it for approximately 3 weeks and then realized that it was the wrong shape.  I learned a great lesson...if you are knitting a triangle shawl by casting it on from the neck down.  YOU MUST do a double increase at the center as well as increasing at the edges.  Now I know.  This is the OPPOSITE of the shape I was actually going for:

Luckily, the messed up one was re-purposed into something really cool:

I got the idea from this pattern - (I just subbed in the bad shawl).  And yes, I knit all of those Bijouerie.  In one evening actually.  Try out pattern three, its swell!

So I cast on the originally requested Adamas Shawl last Friday.  And I completed it, blocking and all, in 10 days.  (There is something to be said for knitting patterns you already know.)  I think this is a great pattern for new lace knitters.  It is REALLY well written out, free, and I found it pretty easy to memorize (especially on knitting my third one).  It was also very easy for me to see when I was making mistakes.

Here is the new shawl while blocking (and a second pic preblocking).  Hopefully, I can give you some modeled shots, post christmas.  (I plan to gift it on christmas eve.)

The yarn for all these projects was knitpicks gloss (merino silk fingering weight) in the black colorway.  I used two skeins for the messed up shawl, and three for the adamas.

Snow...

Dad's Pens and Spindles...

Still for sale 'til Friday.
More details here:  Spindle & Pen Post

Acquisitions...

I have acquired some cool knitting and spinning swag over the last few weeks...that I thought I would share with you.

AWESOME GIFITES!!

Christmas socks knit for me by Sarah.  I LOVE THEM!! THEY FIT PERFECT!!  I know the second picture is a little blurry, but I wanted you to see the awesome way she wrapped it up - the label has the pattern, yarn name and even the needles she used and the date she completed them!!

FIBER AND STITCH MARKERS:

FatCatKnits Falkland Wool Combed Top in colorway Taos purchased at Cloverhill Yarn Shop when I was down in Maryland.

Knit One Spin Too Hand Dyed Roving in Laser Tag and Everlime.

Fiber and Stitch Markers gifted to me from my friend Cindy. 
(I do some test knitting for her.  Check out her patterns on Ravelry.)

YARN AND PATTERN:

Ball and Skein Weatherfield and Oh! Canada pattern to knit with it!

Ball and Skein Sock Yarn in a gorgeous blue gray color...just feeding the stash!

Warning...Addictive Knitting Highlighted!

This is a good pattern.
And very addictive to knit.
I made all of these earrings yesterday and today. 

I still need to add the earring wires.