Happy Holidays...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

My new art work, from Tracy Fisher Arts http://www.tfisherart.com/, sums it up for me.  Looking forward to spending time with family.  I hope you all have a joyuous holiday season!!  See you next year!!

I love how she did the packages under the tree with all our names, including little Diego.

Santa Sack...

I can finally post a fun project I was working on for my knitting group (gave them away today).  I found these cute handmade ornaments (made in the good old USA) at A Good Yarn Shop in Port Orchard.

Now, I didn't want to put these ornaments in just a plain old gift bag so I went onto Ravelry to see if I could find a cute little gift bag to make.  I really didn't see anything I liked so I hit the caffeine and put my wee little brain to work.  I'm not really a designer but hey you have to start somewhere right?  I made up these adorable Santa gift sacks with some really pretty Lamb's Pride yarn.  This yarn is so nice to work with and I love how it knits up.  I dug deep into container after container of yarn in my garage and finally found some white fun fur, made my way through the maze in my craft room to find some ties and jingle bells and sat down to see what I could do.  Each bag is a little different, I had to experiment with the number of stitches, increases and decreases to make it turn out like the pattern in my head.  In the end I am happy with the results and I think everyone liked them.  I'll have to put these on my Christmas list for 2011.

Busy, busy, busy...

I'm keeping myself so busy these days I just haven't had time to blog.  I'm working away on last minute Christmas gifts and I'm still not sure who is getting what.  I made these fun santa hats which I thought about selling at the bazaar at my kids school but, as usual, my kids confiscated them.  I just love them!!

The middle picture is Hailey demonstrating how her marshmallow shooters work.  I'm so proud of my kids for making and selling out their stock at the bazaar.  They were so excited to get some "fun" money, not so excited about paying for their expenses out of their profits though.  What a great lesson!!

Wool alternative...

Allergic to wool or does it just plain make you itch?  I have a great alternative yarn for you!  It is from Berroco called Remix.  This yarn is a blend of 27% cotton, 10% silk, 30% nylon and 24% acrylic.  What a combination you think?  Well, you would be surprised at how nice this yarn is and how well it knits up.  The picture above is one of my newest sweaters made with the Remix and I LOVE it!  It feels so yummy on I just don't ever want to take it off.  And, the best part is yesterday when I was at Allyn Knit Shop (http://www.allynknitandspin.com/) for a class she had made up a baby sweater sample and had already washed it up.  When I felt it I was pleasantlyy surprised at how well this yarn washes up.  It feels so incredibly soft, I can't wait to wash mine up to get that same feel.  I also love the colors... I love the color of my sweater but when I saw the colors that Lois had in her shop I immediately racked my brain for a new project I could make.  Her baby sweater sample was knit up in a gorgeous denim blue and she had a pretty red color along with a lighter grey and black.  I've never been a huge fan of all black but this black was just beautiful.  Now I just have to decide what project to do and what color to choose.  Heck, maybe I just need to find projects for every color :)  Check it out for yourself... I don't think you will be disappointed.

Pattern on Ravelry - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/harvest-moon-2
Yarn - Berroco Remix - http://www.berroco.com/shade_cards/remix_sh.html

Sock it to me...

Last night I drove out to Allyn Knit Shop for a class on making two socks at the same time using two circular needles.  I've tried to self teach myself with magic loop but I wasn't having much success so I decided I needed someone else to show me.  I'm SO glad I made the trip out to Allyn... the class was wonderful, the teacher (Lois) was wonderful, the company was really funny and entertaining and I learned that I LOVE using two circular needles now.  I'm so excited to start my own pair of socks and finish them both at the same time.  No more socks with one foot/cuff shorter/longer than the other.  If you ever get a chance to take a class with Lois DO IT!!  She is so amazingly nice, is a wonderful teacher and her shop is pretty cool with a huge selection of yarn, needles and other fun little gadgets.  (http://www.allynknitandspin.com/)

Here are the mini socks I made, they are going to be felted eventually.  I made them with pointy toes hoping that they would look like little elf socks once they are felted.  We shall see... I'll probably turn them into ornaments, maybe put a jingle bell on the toe.  Wouldn't that be cute!!

What a sight...

Isn't this a cool picture?  You'll never guess where I took it... in my own neighborhood.  Last week the kids came home from school and this is what they saw when they got off the bus.  What an amazing sight to see an owl right in your own backyard.  It was really cool to watch him, his head turned almost all the way around without even moving his body.  He was gorgeous and just sitting there staring at all of us.  Although he might have been staring at our tiny little dog Diego thinking "ahh... lunch time".

November storms...

Winter storms officially hit last night here in the great pacific northwest.  The wind was blowing, the rain was falling and power went out.  But, I couldn't sleep so what did I do?  I got out my candles and knit by candlelight.  That was definitely a first for me and I hope it will be the last.  It was not so easy to see but luckily I was working on a project that was straight stockinette stitch.  It actually was kind of funny and pretty amusing.  My husband would have been rolling his eyes at me if he had been awake.  If I had thought about it, like one of my friends did, I would have broke out the camping lantern and had lots of light.  But, hey, that wouldn't have been any fun now would it?  Luckily the power is back and knitting was much easier tonight... that is until the next storm blows in tomorrow.

This is the sweater I was working on in the dark.  It's from ravelry, called Peasy and is made out of Classic Elite's soft linen.  The verdict is still out on the yarn but the pattern has been really easy.