SO far behind!

Ok, I must apologize for being such a lazy blogger lately! Sorry! I didn't realize that I haven't posted anything since APRIL! That was a long time ago! So here's a real quick update on my craftyness of late. I have some exciting plans for July, so I'd better get caught up in hopes of not getting behind in July.



I finished this little bear. Isn't he cute? I'm not really sure what to do with him yet. I think I might just let him sit in my craft room and knit him some accessories once in a while.


I spun this family of yarns. Though the one 2nd in from the right has moved on to a new home. I'm thinking of spinning another one that is similar though. It is truly missed from the family.
Then I spun this yarn.
And knit this sweater (it now has real buttons). I pretty much love it.

I also knit this blanket for twin A. I finished twin B's baby blanket b-4 they were born, and started on this one (in a totally different pattern), but then they were born 5 weeks early and I ran out of time. So the poor little guy had to go on without a hand knit blankie from mom until he was 2! But luckily he LOVES it! :)
I also knit this little hat for my niece who has had to stay in the hospital for WAY too long. Poor girl. I think pink is certainly her color!

And in June so far I have knit these socks.

And these socks.

And I finally finished this shawl which will be a Christmas gift for my 4yo daughter to use as a fancy shmancy dress up. But it's made with leftover acrylic yarn from DS's blanket so it's machine washable! :) And I like it so much I'm posting 2 pictures!

Tune in again next time to see what crazyness I've gotten myself into!

Betcha didn't know...

What I've been up to lately huh?

Well, I spun this on a spindle. It's 2 ounces of nylon. I bet you didn't now there were people who spin nylon into yarn huh? Well I did. It was fun. I think that I will dye this up one day and knit something for the kids. Though I haven't decided what I'll make yet. So until then it'll sit in my handsup stash looking pretty.
And I knit this hat. It'll be a Christmas gift for one of my girls I think. Go me!! I've started on Christmas gifts early for what my be the first time ever! Ahhh... It feels good! ;)
And it being Easter last week and all I just had to dye up some Eastery yarn. I call this "Have your peeps call my peeps" :) hehe

And this one is called "Jelly beans"

And this one is "Smells like peeps spirit" hehehe

And I knit this felted bag which I finished while watching general conference the week b-4 Easter.

And I finished these felted slippers just b-4 that. They're knit with some of my own hand dyed yarn in the "Pink Lemonade" colorway. They make my feet happy!

And I spun this yarn. It's 100% tussah silk in the natural honey color. I just LOVE it!!!! Tussah is SO fabulous to spin and knit with!! It's SOOO very soft too! :) I like to look at this one and pet it as it sits in my stash.

And this morning I finished this hoodie for my older DD. Though now it's too warm for her to wear it, so I think I may save it and give it to her when school starts again in the fall. She doesn't really have a jacket with a hood right now. So I think it'll be perfect for her when it starts getting cold again.

On to the next project! I've got TONS of them in the works!! I have them all sitting out on a table in my craft room. It's overflowing! I've gotta clear it off one FO (finished object) at a time. Maybe I'll show you a pic of my table later. Maybe. Have a great day!

Bet you wish you had a pair just like 'em huh?

I have just finished a fabulous pair of socks!! I'm just sure it'll start a new sock trend. But not only are these socks fabulous, they are 8 years old already, and have only been worn once! Well ok, technically they have not even been a completed pair of socks for a full day, but I did start them at least 8 years ago! Yeah, I know it's crazy to let a project sit around like that for so long, but I have a good reason!



Ok, here's the story: When my oldest daughter (who is about to turn 9) was a baby I decided to start crocheting a pair of socks for my friend who I worked with because she loved socks! I bought a crochet sock pattern book, borrowed a hook from my mom, and started on them with some yarn that my mom said I could have. Well, I was not very good at crocheting at that point in my life, so it took me a long time to do the little bit that I did. I also was not any good at reading a crochet pattern. I got confused too easily. Then there is the fact that I had a baby! Babies take a lot of time and attention! So, when I put the project down it was almost immediatley forgotten. Luckily for me I have had the oportunity to rearrange my crafting supplies many times, and even move ALL of it around from apartment to apartment, from house to house, and even from room to room in my current house. Thus, no craft project of mine has had a chance to be forgotten for long. I have had the opportunity to run across many unfinished projects through all these moves and rememver them. This has helped me to finish several OLD projects (that butterfly quilt, the sweater that took 6 years, there are others). This time it was the socks turn! Though I have lost touch with my friend that I started them for, so I finished them for me, and just in time too because my slippers had fallen apart, and my feet were tired of being cold! So, anyway when I started these socks I had no idea how to figure out how much yarn would be needed for a project, I just looked at a skein of yarn and thought, "Socks are small, I'm sure this is enough." Um... well, I was wrong! LOL!!! So, I ended up with 1 1/2 socks before I ran out of yarn! But seeing as how these are for wearing around the house I decided to just finish them anyway with whatever partly used skein of yarn I could finc so I could just get them done! And as it just so happened, today I finished them! And so, without further delay I will show you all a picture of these lovely socks that I just know you are on the edge or your seat to see. I call them fraternal twin socks!


Aren't these fun?! I mean who else has a pair just like them? Certainly nobody I now. And they are currently keeping my feet happy and warm. Now, admit it. They're cute! And you know if you'd taken 8 years to make socks like this you'd love them to! :)

Look! A hat!

Ok, so in February I participated in this totally crazy knit-a-long on Ravelry where I attempted to cast on a new project each day in February. Crazy huh? I mean, I hardly ever have more than 2 or 3 WIPs (works in process) at a time. Well, I didn't actually cast on one each day, but some days I cast on 5! So, yes I now have 30 WIPs sitting in the middle of my craft room floor just waiting for me to get to them! Granted it's a pretty pile, but still, 30!? And I finished 3 of the things that I cast on! But it sure was fun even though it was totally crazy! And the benefits are that now when I want to knit something all I have to do is pick something up and work on it, there's also plenty to choose from, and when they're all done I'll have at least a year's supply of hand knit socks! Oh yeah, and I'll get a few gifts out of this as well. Wanna see what I finished?

The first FO (finished object) was a pair of mittens for my 6 yo (soon to be 7) son.

The next FO is a hat for me! :) Isn't it pretty? Won't it look nice on me next winter when it gets cold again? Well I like it!

And then there's this scarf. It'll be a gift for one of my girls for Christmas this year.


If I get brave enough, one day I'll take a picture of all these WIPs in the middle of my craft room floor, but right now I'm too afraid of them to pull them out of their bags all at once. I fear they will either attack me, or that they will get all mangled up with each other, and I'll never get them apart, and all my time spent casting them on, and picking out patterns will have been a waste. Um... I think we're all safer if they all stay where they're at for now.

I'll be back with some sort of FO from that scary pile hopefully one day soon. :)

What kind of 1930's spouse are you?

Ok, this was a funny quiz I found on a friend's blog. I was rather shocked to see my score at the end. Apparently as a 1930's wife I'm "Very Superior" hehehe. Ok, just had to share. Take the quiz it's fun!

94 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

Free hat pattern!

Well, I've had to improvise a hat pattern because I couldn't find just what I wanted. So I figured since I went to all the trouble of figuring it out I'd share it with you here! :) So here's a FREE pattern! I call it Sweet Pea Ear Flap Hat.

Notes:
This hat is worked flat, and then seamed closed on top.


Sweet Pea Ear Flap Hat

Gague: 32 sts x 33 rows=4" in 2x2 rib
Needles: US 6 / 4.0mm
Yarn: Bernat Baby Coordinates, Strawberry Stripes


CO 82sts
work in k2, p2 rib until hat is 8 1/2" long
slip 41 sts onto 2nd needle, fold hat in half, and using a 3rd needle of same or smaller size bind off hat using 3 needle bind off.


Ties:
cut 3 pieces of yarn 36" long, thread them all through the corner of the hat, fold in half, and braid using 2 strands held together. Tie a knot in the end.

Weave in ends and you're done!

It's DONE!

So WAY back in the middle of June I "met" a lovely person in a chat room who dared me to knit a shawl from laceweight handspun yarn. I thought she was a nut! I'd never spun laceweight yarn, and I'd never knit a shawl. Laceweight yarn is REALLY thin! I wasn't sure I could spin that thin without breaking my yarn constantly in the process. But it did sound like a great challenge. So, while I sure took my sweet time about getting it done (5 months!) I began the journey anyway. I pulled out some tussah silk (lovely stuff!), and merino wool (also VERY lovely stuff!) from my stash, and divided it out, and dyed it in varying shades of blue. I was going for a blue shawl that would get darker as it went down, so I started with a rather light blue, and gradually got darker.Then I carded it up into these batts. I had 5 batts to begin with, but the first yarn ended up too thick, so I didn't use the first skein. This had me worried about whether I'd have enough yardage for my shawl or not. But I figured it would be close, but that I should still have enough yarn with just the 4 batts, so I continued spinning, and spinning, and spinning.
And came up with these 4 lovely balls of laceweight handspun hand dyed yarn. These are pretty true to the actual color :) Then I cast on for a lovely shawl called "Laminaria" that I got from knitty.com. And I knit, and knit, and knit, and just when I thought I would never really have a shawl, I would just be knitting with this yarn forever...
I finished! Yay! I know it looks kinda funny, and not real lacey at all, but this is when I got to have a lesson in blocking. I don't really knit a lot of things that actually NEED to be blocked, but this lace shawl definately needed it! So, I went on a rustproof pin hunt, and found them at JoAnn's. Came home, and blocked my shawl. So now not only am I much less afraid of blocking my knitting, but...
I have this lovely lace shawl! And I had PLENTY of yarn!! I suspect I may have enough left over for another shawl, maybe a much smaller one, but still, that's a lot of leftover yarn considering the fact that I was worried about running out b-4 I finished. Though I'm also thinking maybe the rest will be a scarf, or some sort of other item. Anyhow, I'm so happy with this shawl! And I plan on wearing it out to dinner this Friday for my 10Th wedding anniversary.
If I had to estimate how long this took me to dye, blend, spin and knit I'd have to guess it was somewhere around 102 hours! With 85 of those all being knitting! And I'm not kidding! There are about a zillion stitches in this thing, and some of them are far more complicated than just knitting. But that's why I like knitting it! Never a dull moment! I should've weighed it b-4 posting this. I wonder how much it actually weighs? I'll have to check on that and get back to you. Have a great day! :)